J. SCOTT ORR
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CLINTON ACQUITTED BY AN ANGRY SENATE

Chastised President apologizes and asks nation to move ahead

By J. SCOTT ORR
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

WASHINGTON -- The Senate yesterday acquitted William Jefferson Clinton of high crimes and misdemeanors, preserving a presidency indelibly tarnished by scandal but unshakably sustained by public approval.

Clinton, condemned even by senators who had voted to keep him in office, survived only the second presidential impeachment trial in history as the Senate rejected two articles charging him with perjury and obstruction of justice in his attempt to conceal a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

"It is, therefore, ordered and adjudged that the said William Jefferson Clinton be, and he is hereby, acquitted of the charges in said articles," Chief Justice William Rehnquist declared following the second and final vote.

With those words came the end of a historic drama that paralyzed the political system, tried the patience of a scandal-weary public and brought the Clinton presidency to the brink of constitutional demise.

After voting 55-45 against the perjury charge and deadlocking, 50-50, on the obstruction charge, the Senate rejected a resolution to formally censure the President. Opponents of censure said it would have been a purely political maneuver.

A chastened Clinton — still facing a possible indictment, and confronted with the difficult task of governing during the next two years — responded with another apology for his misdeeds and called on Congress to join him in resuming the nation’s work.

"I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and the American people," said Clinton in a brief Rose Garden statement yesterday afternoon. "I also am humbled and very grateful for the support and the prayers I have received from millions of Americans over this past year.

"Now I ask all Americans, and I hope all Americans — here in Washington and throughout our land — will rededicate ourselves to the work of serving our nation and building our future together. This can be and this must be a time of reconciliation and renewal for America."

The vote for each of the impeachment articles sent to the Senate by the House of Representatives Dec. 19 was well short of the two-thirds majority, 67 votes, needed to convict Clinton and remove him from office.

In the first presidential impeachment vote since the 1868 trial of Andrew Johnson, the Senate first rejected the article that charged Clinton with perjury during his Aug. 17, 1998, appearance before independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s federal grand jury. Ten of the Senate’s 55 Republicans joined all 45 Democrats in defeating this article.

Minutes later, the Senate deadlocked on the obstruction count, which charged that Clinton tried to influence testimony and conceal evidence in a civil lawsuit and before the grand jury to hide his extramarital affair. Five Republicans opposed this article, along with all of the Senate Democrats.

New Jersey’s two Democratic senators, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Torricelli, both castigated Clinton for his misconduct but said the case against him was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt and never met the constitutional standards for conviction.

A Republican majority in the House, over the bitter protests of Democrats and in the face of midterm election losses and overwhelming public opposition, had rammed through the two impeachment articles in the midst of a U.S. aerial bombardment of Iraq last December.

While the Senate cleared Clinton of the impeachment charges, even those who opposed the two articles expressed anger over what he had done.

When the five-week impeachment trial adjourned yesterday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) offered a resolution to censure Clinton for his "shameful, reckless and indefensible" behavior.

But the proposal was blocked procedurally by Republicans unwilling to give political cover to Democrats who voted against conviction. Democrats may try to bring it up again after their mid-February recess, although prospects of success appeared dim.

The Feinstein resolution would have rebuked Clinton for giving false or misleading testimony and impeding discovery of evidence in judicial proceedings. The resolution accused Clinton of demeaning his office and creating disrespect for the law.

In comments yesterday, Republicans and Democrats alike criticized Clinton while stressing that the process worked and that it is time to move on to other matters.

"We had a constitutional duty to carry out. We did that," said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). "While I feel that the two articles of impeachment were proven and I voted guilty on both counts, that was not the conclusion of the Senate, and so that is done."

"This was a rebuke" of the Republican House managers who prosecuted the case, said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). "There is no question."

Daschle said the trial has been "a burden we are all glad to get rid of," adding that "at long last we can get back to the issues facing our country."

Rep. Henry Hyde, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who led the impeachment drive, said he has "no regrets."

"We fulfilled our oath of office to discharge our duty according to the Constitution," said the Illinois Republican. Hyde said he and his colleagues chose to ignore the polls and take a political risk because they believed they were right.

Hyde, though, called for reconciliation, and said he believes it would not be in the best interests of the country for Starr to indict Clinton when the President leaves the White House in two years.

The votes yesterday proceeded just as they had 131 years ago during the Johnson trial, which also ended in acquittal.

As the Senate legislative clerk called out the name, each senator stood and delivered a verdict.

The Senate chamber and its surrounding galleries were silent as the jury of 100 was polled first on the perjury charge, then, on the obstruction count. There were no speeches; just a simple "guilty" or "not guilty."

The Republicans who crossed party lines to vote against both charges were Sens. James Jeffords of Vermont, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and John Chafee of Rhode Island.

Voting for the obstruction articles, but against the perjury charge were Republicans Slade Gorton of Washington, Ted Stevens of Alaska, John Warner of Virginia, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Fred Thompson of Tennessee.

Clinton, the 42nd president and the first Democrat elected to two terms in office since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, now takes his place in history as a leader whose presidency was saved only by his remarkable ability to sidestep a series of misdeeds, sexual and otherwise.

He has been called "The Comeback Kid" and "Slick Willie" for his extraordinary ability to juggle scandal and controversy while posting a list of accomplishments that include balancing the federal budget and maintaining the strongest economy the nation has seen in decades.

In the 13 months since his relationship with Lewinsky was first revealed, Clinton's job approval ratings have remained high in the face of relentless investigation first by Starr and then by the House Judiciary Committee. Surveys showed Clinton’s approval consistently above 60 percent during the crisis, with two-thirds of Americans opposing the President’s removal from office.

Clinton is now confronted with the challenge of salvaging the remaining two years of his term and a legacy that will be forever sullied by impeachment.

To govern effectively and carve out any lasting accomplishments such as a possible reform of the Social Security system, he will be forced to put aside feelings of retribution and work with his bitter Republican enemies who control the Congress.

Asked yesterday whether he can forgive and forget, Clinton responded, "I believe any person who asks for forgiveness has to be prepared to give it."

At the same time, Clinton aides say he will be focused on helping elect Vice President Gore as his successor and to recapture a Democratic House majority in 2000.

Elected to the White House in 1992,  Clinton already had successfully dodged persistent charges of sexual misconduct. In the midst of his 16-month-long affair with Lewinsky, Clinton was re-elected to the White House in 1996. That was two years after former Arkansas government employee Paula Jones went public with charges of sexual harassment against him.

The vote yesterday ended a trial that opened on Jan. 7, as senators were forced to bear silent witness as the case against Clinton was presented by 13 House Republicans. Clinton’s defense was handled by his personal attorneys David Kendall and Nicole Seligman, and by White House counsels Charles Ruff, Gregory Craig and Cheryl Mills.

The first article of impeachment rejected by the Senate specifically charged Clinton committed perjury when he testified before Starr’s grand jury by lying about the details of his relationship with Lewinsky. It also charged that he gave his attorney false information which the lawyer used in denying Clinton’s efforts to influence the testimony of Lewinsky and others.

The obstruction article charged Clinton encouraged Lewinsky to deny their relationship in a deposition to the Jones’ investigators, encouraged Lewinsky and Currie to hide gifts given to Lewinsky by Clinton, and prodded his pal Jordan to try to find Lewinsky a job in exchange for her silence. It charged Clinton obstructed justice in seeking to influence Currie’s testimony in the Jones case and that he gave aides false accounts of the relationship, knowing they would pass the information along to the grand jury.

The prosecutors argued repeatedly that the charges should be viewed as a "conspiracy of crimes" that were not about sex or private matters, but about public acts that threatened the rule of law, undermined the integrity of the presidency, subverted the judicial system and amounted to high crimes and misdemeanors.

They charged Clinton concealed evidence, tampered with witnesses and lied to prevent Starr’s grand jury from uncovering his affair with Lewinsky — all crimes they said demanded his removal from office.

The prosecutors persuaded the Senate to allow them to interview three witnesses, 12 fewer than they had wanted, and in the end had to rely on the use of videotape presentations rather than live testimony from Lewinsky, Clinton friend Vernon Jordan and White House aide Sidney Blumenthal.

The White House lawyers asserted the case was based on supposition and inference — a kind of "witches brew." They pointed to testimony from the Clinton's, Lewinsky, Jordan and Oval Office Secretary Betty Currie to argue there was no direct evidence of a scheme to violate the law.

The White House legal team also attacked the Republicans, accusing them of being focused on retribution and partisanship and of having lost all sense of proportion. The charges were untrue, they argued, but even if proven they would not justify ousting Clinton from office.

Starr’s pursuit of Clinton began in 1995 when he was named by the Justice Department to investigate the President’s alleged involvement in the failed Arkansas land deal called Whitewater that dated back to his days as governor.

Starr’s investigations expanded to include probes of the firing of the White House travel office, the misuse by White House personnel of FBI files, and the suicide of Clinton friend Vince Foster. These probes ended with no direct evidence against Clinton, but on Jan. 16, 1998, Starr received approval to delve into Clinton's relationship with the then-unknown intern.

On Sept. 9, Starr delivered 36 boxes of evidence to Capitol Hill along with a report that contained charges of "substantial and credible evidence" Clinton committed 11 potentially impeachable offenses.

The Starr report contained salacious details of Clinton’s White House affair with Lewinsky that was first revealed to investigators by Linda Tripp, who had tape-recorded dozens of hours of conversations about the affair with her former friend.

In the weeks that followed, the Judiciary Committee used the Internet to release the report along with thousands of pages of evidence. The panel also distributed a videotape of Clinton's grand jury appearance that aired on television.

Clinton had denied the affair to family, friends, aides and the public after it became public in January 1998. But his biggest mistake was denying having "sexual relations" with Lewinsky in his Jan. 17, 1998, deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case — the testimony that became the centerpiece of the Starr investigation.


THE KILLERS' LAST RANT

Between attacks, gunman mailed out a manifesto

By J. SCOTT ORR

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- "I did it."

Those were among the final recorded words of mass murderer Cho Seung-Hui, contained in a video he mailed to NBC News in New York in the midst of his deadly rampage across the Virginia Tech campus Monday morning.

NBC News called the package a "multimedia manifesto" that portrays a murderously angry young man but leaves unclear at whom Cho was directing his rage, other than vague references to the wealthy.

"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today."

"You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option."

"Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off."

Those were some of the chilling words delivered by Cho, a 23-year-old senior from Centreville, Va., in a quiet voice often difficult to understand.

In addition to 27 video clips, the package contained 43 photographs and an 1,800-word, profanity-laced document. In some of the pictures, Cho is wearing a black T-shirt, tan vest, a black cap, his arms extended and a black handgun in each black-gloved hand. It is not clear exactly when the photos were taken or when the document was written.

The material was received yesterday in a package mailed from a post office on the edge of campus at 9:01 a.m. Monday, meaning it was sent after the killing of two people at a campus dormitory at about 7:15 a.m., but before the deadly assault at a classroom building that began around 9:45 a.m. and left 30 more dead. Those victims included three New Jerseyans: Matt La Porte, 20, of Dumont, Julia Pryde, 23, of Middletown and Michael Pohle, 23, of Raritan Township.

"When the time came, I did it. I had to," Cho says in one of the video clips.

Cho ended the bloodbath — the deadliest one-man shooting rampage in modern U.S. history — by taking his own life.

The mailing seems to answer, at least in part, the question of what Cho was doing during the two hours after he claimed his first victims, before he moved ahead with his deadly plot.

Virginia State Police Superintendent Col. Steve Flaherty said the material could be "a very new, critical component of this investigation. . . . We're in the process right now of attempting to analyze and evaluate its worth."

The NBC News material reinforces an emerging picture of a severely troubled young man who displayed signals of imminent danger, even if no one was looking for them.

Cho's anger, violent writings, stalking, bizarre behavior and treatment for mental health problems all were known to authorities at Virginia Tech a year and a half before he unleashed his fury.

But at a news conference yesterday, university officials said they could not have taken action against Cho because he had committed no criminal acts, no formal charges had been brought against him, and his writings revealed no threats or criminal plots.

On Monday, whatever demons were gnawing at Cho's soul came to the surface with murderous efficiency as he used a pair of handguns to slaughter classmates and teachers.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said yesterday female students had complained in November and December 2005 about Cho's behavior but declined to press formal charges. Neither woman was among those killed or wounded.

"It is not unusual . . . when someone files a complaint, a concern, to then not follow through and actually have a hearing and ask that the charges be completed," said Ed Spencer, vice president of student affairs at Virginia Tech.

He said he could not speak specifically about Cho's disciplinary record, if there is one, "because that is protected . . . by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. And even upon death, that record is still protected."

TEMPORARY DETENTION

Chris Flynn, director of the university's Cook Counseling Center, said: "We know a significant number of students struggle with depression and anxiety. . . . The extent to which we can make a judgment about whether someone represents a danger or not is a separate issue."

Flynn said fewer than 1 percent of the 2,000 or so students who seek help at the center annually are hospitalized.

During the fall of 2005, as clues to Cho's deteriorating mental state were first being noticed, an acquaintance suggested to police Cho was suicidal. Cho was interviewed by a counselor and "a temporary detention order was obtained and Cho was taken to a mental facility," Flynn said.

Despite clearly exhibiting signs of danger, Cho was allowed to remain among the student body.

Spencer said students cannot be suspended from the university without a finding that he or she has violated school policies, one of them a ban on "abusive conduct."

"You have to have a finding of responsibility first. And, of course, on the front end you have to have someone who is willing to refer the case — you know, come forward with it," he said.

In addition to the reports from the two female students, Flinchum, the campus police chief, said police were contacted in the fall of 2005 by Lucinda Roy, co-director of creative writing at Virginia Tech, about disturbingly violent imagery in Cho's writings.

The papers were reviewed by police, but nothing was done because they "did not express any threatening intention or allude to any criminal activity," authorities said.

UNWANTED CONTACT

Flinchum said that on Nov. 27, 2005, a female student contacted university police to report Cho had made unwanted contact with her in person and through telephone calls. Flinchum said she described the contact as "annoying" and declined to press charges.

Fifteen days later, on Dec. 12, another female student complained about instant messages from Cho and "asked that Cho have no further contact with her," Flinchum said.

"We did not have any contact with him after December 2005," Flinchum said.

Though Cho was never connected to recent bomb scares on the campus, a warrant used to search his campus room after the rampage indicates authorities were looking for links.

Among the items police sought: "explosives, material used in the manufacturing of improvised/commercial explosives devices" and "writing utensils and/or paper similar to that which were used to communicate threats to Virginia Tech campus in the recent past."

As Cho was beginning his second assault on students across campus, police were interviewing Karl Thornhill in connection with the initial attack, the killing of two people in a dormitory near Cho's. Yesterday Flinchum said police no longer considered Thornhill, described as the boyfriend of dorm shooting victim Emily Hilscher, a "person of interest" in the case.

Flinchum and Flaherty said they were trying to establish if there was a link between Cho and Hilscher.

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said an investigative panel would examine all aspects of the massacre, including whether more should have been done to protect the university community from Cho. He said the panel would be headed by W. Gerald Massengill, former superintendent of the Virginia State Police.

The university is closed until Monday, and Norris Hall, the classroom building that was the site of the main carnage, is to be shuttered through the end of the school year.

When addiction is a click away

Millions already may be hooked on Net-filled prescriptions, and problem is growing

First of a series

By J. SCOTT ORR
STAR-LEDGER STAFF - WASHINGTON Kelly Knable, a 34-year-old mother of three from the Richmond, Va., suburb of Powhatan, didn't have time to be sick.

So when Knable was recovering from surgery that fused several vertebrae in 1998, her doctor minimized her downtime by placing her on a regimen of prescription drugs: first a narcotic called Lortab, then a nonnarcotic painkiller called Ultram.

For more than two years, she took two 50-milligram Ultram tablets three or four times a day, which allowed her to maintain her busy schedule.

Then her doctor moved. Unable to find a new physician to write her prescriptions, Knable turned to the Internet. By last spring, she was spending thousands of dollars a month at online pharmacies and popping 30 to 40 Ultram tablets a day.

"That first time I filled out a form and submitted it and it came back approved, it was like: 'Hey, I got my meds!' I started taking more and more. It was so easy. I couldn't stop," Knable said one day this fall, several months after enduring a painful detoxification.

With only a credit card and a computer, Knable had entered a multimillion-dollar shadow market in powerful prescription drugs that is growing in plain view of federal and state authorities.

A step beyond the gray-market sites that offer lifestyle drugs like Viagra for sexual dysfunction and Propecia for baldness, this market offers - without any direct contact with a doctor - some of the most sought-after and addictive drugs available anywhere.

The federal government estimates 46 million Americans older than 12, or nearly one in five, have abused prescription drugs at least once. But nobody knows how many people are feeding addictions anonymously through Internet pharmacies.

Whether seeking pleasure or fleeing pain, customers of online pharmacies described themselves in interviews, e-mail dialogues and Web site postings as functioning grown-ups who struggle to maintain jobs and family responsibilities while secretly feeding their addictions.

They all said at least part of the reason they use online pharmacies is for the safe, easy access to federally controlled medications.

Michael Montagne, a professor of social pharmacy at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science, said: "You've got controlled substances, painkillers, narcotics, OxyContin, tranquilizers like Valium and Xanax, stimulants like phentermine and Xenical. You name it. It's a very dangerous place.

"These sites are not your typical online pharmacies selling Viagra," he added.

Like all the experts interviewed, Montagne was careful to make a distinction between legitimate online extensions of traditional pharmacies such as CVS and Rite Aid that require customers to provide prescriptions from their primary-care physicians, and questionable sites that provide both doctor referrals and pharmacy services.

"It's doing a disservice to a lot of people. It's hurting a lot more people than it's helping," said Joseph A. Troncale, a physician and the medical director at the Caron Foundation, an addiction-treatment facility outside Reading, Pa. "This is really just another facility of the black market."

Troncale said people seeking drugs, whether to deal with chronic pain or to get high, are resourceful and will find ways to get what they want.

"The biggest problem that we see with all of the people who use the Internet is it takes away the deterrent of being caught by police, or by a pharmacist or a physician getting suspicious that he is being scammed for a 'script.' The Internet makes it more simple, safe and easy for people," he said.

CAUGHT IN APRIL

Knable said she had no problem maintaining an ample supply of Ultram, delivered to her door in her tidy, middle-class suburb, from a variety of online pharmacies.

She relied on the Ultram not to get high, she said, but to give her enough energy to keep up with the demands of her business and family.

"Without the Ultram I just wanted to quit everything and collapse. I knew that if I was tired at 10 p.m., with a couple more Ultram I could go to midnight or 1 a.m.

"We're very busy people. To me it was: I can't be sick. I can't be down," she said.

The lie she was living fell apart in April after Knable took her quest for drugs to a new level, phoning in bogus prescriptions to pharmacies. She was arrested and forced to admit her addiction and seek rehabilitation at the Coleman Institute in Richmond.

"It was humiliating to face reality and to say: 'Kelly, this is true. You have a major, major problem.' My husband was very angry. I lied to him, I spent a lot of money. It was a horrible, horrible illness. That's what drove me. I felt like I was going to die not having them."

Clifford Bernstein, medical director of the Waismann Institute, a Beverly Hills facility that specializes in rapid detox, said an increasing number of patients tell him online pharmacies were their principle source for drugs.

"Four years ago my practice was almost all heroin; now it's 70 percent prescription drugs. I attribute that largely to the ease of obtaining these drugs on the Internet. With the Internet it is easier and, legally, it is safer," Bernstein said.

Often addicts who use Internet pharmacies, Bernstein said, are middle-aged professionals who can afford the high costs of buying drugs online. Many times, they have a prescription from a doctor for painkillers and supplement them by shopping online.

Bernstein - who, as a pain physician, prescribes narcotics to patients - said patients in pain become dependent on drugs as the pain subsides. As addiction takes hold, tolerance develops and the drugs are needed for users to function and to avoid withdrawal.

"Once they are clean, these people do just as well off the drugs as they do on the drugs," Bernstein said.

The abuse of prescription drugs has increased dramatically in recent years, with marked increases in the abuse of some of the online pharmacies' best-selling products, such as narcotic painkillers and anxiety drugs like Valium. Hydrocodone, the active ingredient in Vicodin, Lortab and Lorcet, seems to have seen the biggest jump in usage.

In its annual drug use survey, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found prescription drugs were second in popularity only to marijuana among substance abusers last year.

In 2002, some 6.2 million Americans - 2.6 percent of the population 12 and over - were nonmedical users of prescription drugs, meaning they had abused drugs at least once in the month before taking part in the SAMHSA survey.

That figure was up from 3.8 million in 2000 and 4.8 million in 2001. According to SAMHSA, people admitted to emergency rooms with drug problems increasingly named narcotic painkillers as the source of their distress. Over the period of 1995 to 2002, those who mentioned painkillers more than doubled, from 45,254 to 119,185. (The 2002 figure was up 20 percent from the year before.) Mentions of Valium and similar drugs were up 38 percent over the same seven years, from 76,548 to 105,752.

FOCUS ON BIG VIOLATORS

FOCUS ON BIG VIOLATORS

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration are well aware of the hundreds of Web sites selling prescription drugs, and they do go after big operations from time to time. Still, federal authorities say they lack the personnel to go after every drug seller in the murky, ever-changing environment of the Internet.

"We simply don't have the manpower to sit there and surf the Net, looking for these operations," said Terrance Woodworth, deputy DEA director for the office of diversion control.

"We don't have enough investigators to be determining what physicians or what pharmacies are doing right or wrong. A person that is a big violator might come under scrutiny. Do we investigate any and every kind of violation? Absolutely not," Woodworth said.

Woodworth's office, which is responsible for overseeing doctors and pharmacies to prevent prescription drugs from being diverted to illegal channels, has fewer than 500 investigators. Woodworth said about 50 cases involving Internet pharmacies are open at any time and those tend to focus on "major operations."

Federal law and laws in all 50 states mandate that prescriptions for controlled substances be written by doctors "acting in the usual course of professional practice."

In a memo published in the Federal Register in 2001, the DEA said this requirement means there must be a bona fide doctor-patient relationship for such prescriptions to be legitimate. "Completing a questionnaire that is then reviewed by a doctor hired by the Internet pharmacy could not be considered the basis for a doctor-patient relationship," the advisory said.

The American Medical Association also frowns on doctors writing prescriptions based solely on online questionnaires: "Treatment, including issuing a prescription, based solely on an online questionnaire or online consultation does not constitute an acceptable standard of care," the AMA said in its guidelines.

Beyond the domestic sites that contract with doctors and pharmacies to provide drugs to consumers, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of foreign sites that operate in violation of U.S. law by shipping controlled substances into the country.

"We have shut down a number of domestic sites, but then there has been an explosion in the foreign sites. The (foreign) local governments are not very aggressive in going after them. . . . It's not their job, and the drugs are going to America, so they don't really care," said William Hubbard, associate FDA commissioner for policy and planning.

"So many of these pills are coming in from foreign countries, it is very difficult to distinguish between what is legitimate and what is not. At Dulles or JFK (international airports) there could be hundreds of these packages a day. All the customs people are seeing are these little boxes of pills," Hubbard said.

This summer, the FDA and the Bureau of Customs conducted a series of spot checks at international mail arrival centers in New York, Miami, San Francisco and Carson, Calif. Of 1,153 imported drugs that were checked, all but 134 were illegally shipped.

The drugs, which came from Canada, India, Thailand, the Philippines and elsewhere, included narcotics and other often-abused drugs, along with counterfeit drugs and substances that lack FDA approval.

When customs agents find small amounts of controlled substances in international mail, they send the addressee what is known among online pharmacy users as "a love letter." It states that the importation is in violation of a host of smuggling laws. The letter contains scary citations of the laws that have been broken, but goes on to say that the government will merely destroy the drugs unless the customer wants to contest the seizure.

"If you fail to respond to this notice within the 30-day period, the controlled substances will be forfeited to the United States Government and the case will be considered closed," the form letter says.

In September, federal and state authorities shut down the Union Family Pharmacy in Dubuque, Iowa, saying it had filled nearly 5,000 prescription orders in 47 states for the Web site buymeds.com between Aug. 19 and Sept. 1.

Last month, the DEA shut down a pair of pharmacies in Davie, Fla., that were filling prescriptions based solely on online consultations.

In other cases, state authorities have used civil complaints to go after online pharmacies. Such a suit, filed by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, forced the Pill Box Pharmacy of San Antonio to pay a fine of $30,000 and to agree not to sell or market drugs to New Jersey consumers.

The Pill Box was also a target of the DEA, which charged that it sold more than 9 million doses of drugs, mostly hydrocodone and diazepam, over an 18-month period. Five people, including the pharmacy's owner and three doctors, pleaded guilty in the case and are awaiting sentencing.

In August, a federal investigation into an operation called the Mail Order Pharmacy, involving a Web site called success123.com, broke up an international drug ring that sold millions of dollars worth of OxyContin from a basement headquarters outside Knoxville, Tenn.

Four people - businessmen from Colorado and Tennessee, an Oklahoma City nurse and a woman from Ecuador - pleaded guilty in federal court and were given sentences of between 24 months and 57 months.

Authorities are hesitant to say what legal actions customers of these sites could face, though few have been charged. In fact, no consumers were charged in the Mail Order Pharmacy case, even though at least two spent more than $50,000 at the site and 22 others spent more than $20,000.

In warning against buying drugs from online pharmacies, the FDA notes that consumers could receive bogus products, wrong doses or no drugs at all. It does not warn, however, that there could be legal consequences.

Of six requests for drugs over the Internet, only one was denied

By J. SCOTT ORR

To test the ease with which drugs can be obtained online, The Star-Ledger attempted to buy six prescription drugs on the Drug Enforcement Administration's schedule of controlled substances. Four were narcotic painkillers: morphine; OxyContin; hydrocodone and codeine. The others were Valium, an anti-anxiety drug, and phentermine, a stimulant diet pill.

Of the six, only the request for morphine was denied.

The other five drugs were delivered to a rented mailbox, some within days of being ordered. There was no contact with a doctor other than through an online questionnaire. The Valium came from an address in Costa Rica; the other four drugs came from domestic addresses in California and Florida.

The codeine, hydrocodone and phentermine came from U.S. mail order pharmacies, with prescriptions ostensibly written by U.S.-licensed physicians. The OxyContin came from a person named Carlos in San Diego, who demanded payment up front through Western Union. It took several weeks but, in the end, Carlos delivered.

The drugs were submitted to a pharmaceutical testing lab. There they were compared with brand- name samples obtained through a traditional pharmacy. All five of the drugs were at least 98.9 percent as potent as the authentic samples and some, including the OxyContin, were actually stronger.

The Star-Ledger's prescription for phentermine, a frequently abused diet pill that the DEA lists as a Schedule IV controlled substance, was requested through the Web site ValuePrescribe.com. The prescription was written by Ranvir S. Ahlawat, who practices internal medicine in Toms River and was based solely on an online questionnaire.

In a telephone interview that was cut short by Ahlawat, the doctor said he prescribes about a dozen types of medicines for ValuePrescribe.com based on medical questionnaires filled out by customers. He said he is paid by ValuePrescibe.com based on the number of questionnaires he evaluates.

"They pay me based on the consultation, not whether I write the prescription or not," Ahlawat said.

"I review the medical history form and make a determination if there could be any side effects or contraindications. It depends on the medical history and the condition the patient has," Ahlawat said.

Ahlawat declined to say how much he is paid or how many prescriptions he has written for ValuePrescribe.com. He also declined to say what medicines he prescribes based on Internet questionnaires, other than to say they are listed no higher than Schedule IV by the DEA.

The Star-Ledger's prescription for the codeine - a generic version of Tylenol 4 that includes 60 milligrams of codeine and 300 milligrams of acetaminophen - was written by Carlos Barrera of Miami, a Florida- licensed physician who did not return dozens of phone calls to his office over several weeks. The pills were ordered through Buymeds.com

The Star-Ledger's prescription for Vicodin Extra Strength, which includes 7.5 milligrams of hydrocodone with 750 milligrams of acetaminophen, was written by a Felix Rodriguez-Schmidt. No doctor by that name could be located in Florida or through national physician registries. The pills were ordered through Netpharmrx.com.

The OxyContin was ordered through an outfit called Mexrxonline.com, which asked that the money be sent through Western Union to San Diego. After some delay, the pills arrived via U.S. Express Mail in a plain plastic bag with no documentation.

The prescription for Valium was filled with no apparent doctor involvement by Americanpills.com, which turned out to be located in Costa Rica. It came with a note that began "Dear Valium Customer" that contained directions on how to use the drug and warning of possible side effects.

The note ended with a reminder: "You can purchase any of our products without paying for the medical consultation."

Bush and the nation mourn 7 explorers

By J. SCOTT ORR 

Johnson Space Center -- At 1:35 yesterday afternoon, George W. Bush wept.

The president dabbed a tear with his right hand and, with his left, accepted a tissue offered by the widow of shuttle commander Rick Husband.

Moments later, Bush eulogized the seven astronauts who died in the Columbia shuttle accident as possessed of "the daring and discipline required of their calling."

''The loss was sudden and terrible, and for their families the grief is heavy. Our nation shares in your sorrow and in your pride. We remember not only one moment of tragedy, but seven lives of great purpose and achievement," Bush said.

Speaking beneath a clear, blue sky to thousands of members of the shuttle crew's families and their extended family of NASA co-workers, Bush led a memorial service that remembered the five men and two women who died when the shuttle Columbia broke apart 39 miles above the earth Saturday morning. When the president was through, a bell tolled seven times in a staccato tribute to the lost astronauts. Then four NASA T-38 jets in tight formation flew low over the crowd, with one peeling off and heading into the heavens to symbolize the loss.

It was the second time this president has been called upon to lead the United States in an extraordinary time of grief. In the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bush offered words of hope and comfort to a nation facing grief unlike any before.

Bush turned to his faith to help make sense of a disaster that has left many to ponder the human toll of space exploration: "In God's own time, we can pray that the day of your reunion will come," he told the grieving families. While Bush mourned the seven dead astronauts, he promised that NASA would not remain Earthbound: "America's space program will go on," he said.

He spoke briefly about each of the seven shuttle astronauts, describing them as uniquely gifted as individuals, intrepid as a team.

"Each of them knew that great endeavors are inseparable from great risks. And each of them accepted those risks willingly, even joyfully, in the cause of discovery," he said.

Bush's lower lip quivered and he swallowed hard as he sent a message of love, pride and encouragement to the children of the astronauts.

"To the children who miss your mom or dad so much today, you need to know, they love you, and that love will always be with you. They were proud of you, and you can be proud of them for the rest of your life," he said.

Earlier, Capt. Kent V. Rominger, chief of NASA's astronaut corps, offered human portraits of the shuttle team, describing them as unflaggingly professional, yet fun-loving.

"The world lost seven heroes, we lost seven family members. . . . They were a generous and caring bunch with a great sense of humor," he said, recalling how a toy hamster became their mascot and how they were the life of an astronaut Christmas party last year, wearing temporary tattoos of the mission designation STS-107.

Capt. David Brown, he said, was known as "Smiling Dave" or "Doc," and once asked a colleague, "May I borrow your brain?" after a particularly grueling day piloting a shuttle simulator. Husband was fond of confusing his friends with the fractured phrase: "You know, I feel more now like I did than when I first got here."

Rominger credited Husband's leadership, which he said "molded seven individuals from different parts of the world into an incredibly tight-knit and productive family.

"I know you are listening," he said, addressing the departed astronauts. "Please know you are in our hearts and we will always smile when we think of you."

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said that although the "grief is overwhelming . . . we will persevere."

"Our duty now is to provide comfort to the brave families of the Columbia crew," he said.

The memorial service was closed to the public, but that didn't stop some people from coming to the Johnson Space Center to pay their respects on this day of mourning.

At the makeshift memorial established at the center's main gate, where flags, signs and notes of condolence and remembrance began appearing Saturday, Jeff Foster and his 14-year-old daughter said they thought President Bush's appearance would help the community and the nation to heal.

"It's a wonderful thing," said the elder Foster, a former NASA flight training specialist who said he knew most of the lost shuttle astronauts.

"It's a very sad day for everyone, but this is a strong community with a strong sense of family," said Foster, who now lives in Kentucky.

Foster said he also is grieving for the loss of Columbia itself.

"People that work on the shuttle program come to think of the shuttles as if they were people. They are a part of the family, too," he said.

Meanwhile, the search for shuttle debris continued in the forests and farmlands of East Texas. Retired Navy Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., who is chairing the independent commission appointed to investigate the cause of the Columbia accident, helicoptered into the area yesterday to observe the collection of a piece of debris in Nacogdoches County, 120 miles north of here.

Search teams in East Texas turned up pieces of the shuttle's fuselage, landing gear and circuit boards. Previous finds have included the shuttle's nose cone, a flight helmet and remains from the astronauts.

"I'm struck by the violence," Gehman said as military personnel examined a 3-foot piece of debris before placing it in a plastic bag to join thousands of similar fragments headed to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, one of two sites where debris is being housed for analysis.

"That's why we're out here," Gehman said. "You can't appreciate it unless you're on the ground looking at it."

Gehman said the investigation of the disaster could hinge on how much shuttle material can be located in the main debris field, which stretches from central Texas to Louisiana, and from other locations farther west.

"It's also important to know how much of the debris we have. . . . If we only have a small amount of debris, we can't be confident" in the clues it may provide, he said.

The Columbia broke apart as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere Saturday morning, sparking investigations by NASA, the Gehman panel and Congress.

Investigators are focusing on a theory that a piece of hard foam insulation weighing 2 1/2 pounds broke free from the shuttle's external fuel tank during the launch and damaged the craft's left wing. Just before the orbiter broke apart, its temperature sensors showed abnormally high readings on its left side that could have resulted from damage to thermal tiles that shield the shuttle from the intense heat of re-entry.

Michael Kostelnik, deputy associate administrator for the space shuttle and international space station programs, said in Washington that NASA was looking into several reports of possible debris found in states west of the main debris field.

This morning, the Israeli army said the remains of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon had been found among the Columbia wreckage and would be brought to Israel for burial.

NASA officials informed representatives of the Israeli army that the body of Ramon had been identified, the army said in a statement. The remains will be brought to Israel for a funeral in the coming days.

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