Drug News

ALCOHOL - UK
Britain’s booziest Christmas ever - The Independent
Price wars in supermarkets and drink promotions in pubs are making alcohol cheaper than ever. And we’re lapping it up, as this exclusive survey for the ‘IoS’ reveals. Which is why police are calling for a ban on advertising aimed at young drinkers and doctors are warning of record levels of liver disease. Sophie Goodchild and Marie Woolf report

GENERAL - BRAZIL
Brazil’s teenagers - gangs and drugs - The Star
For teenagers in Rio de Janeiro’s mean slums, working in the drug trade is a lucrative way to make a living. It’s also a fast way to dying. Youths as young as 11 start off as messengers and look-outs for the drug gangs that control the packed shantytowns known as favelas, then earn promotion to soldiers or sellers.

ALCOHOL - AUSTRALIA
Baby labels on alcohol - The Daily Telegraph
Warning labels telling pregnant mothers they risk doing irreversible harm to their unborn children by drinking could be put on alcoholic products after the number of damaged babies has soared.

ECSTASY - UK
The Ecstasy and the agony - UK Times
As the first wave of Ecstasy users reach their forties, research suggests that the drug can cause long-term brain damage

COCAINE - COLOMBIA & ECUADOR
Ecuador just says no to Colombia coca fumigation - CNN
Ecuador will not back down from its demand that Colombia halt aerial fumigation of coca plantations along their shared border, President Alfredo Palacio said.

CANNABIS - US
Pot is called biggest cash crop - LA Times
The $35-billion market value of U.S.-grown cannabis tops that of such heartland staples as corn and hay, a marijuana activist says.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Sleep Medicine Ambien Abused by Teens - Join Together
Some adolescents are misusing the prescription sleep medication Ambien, which they say causes hallucinations and blackouts.

MARIJUANA - MEXICO
Mexican Officials Find Nearly 1,800 Marijuana Fields - Fox News
Mexican soldiers and federal police sent to restore order in Michoacan state have discovered 1,795 marijuana fields in the past week and seized or destroyed marijuana worth about $8.2 million, security officials said Monday.

MARIJUANA - US
OPD: 381 percent more marijuana confiscated this year
The Street Crimes Division of the Owensboro Police Department increased their arrests by 37 percent and cash recovery to 43 percent. But the biggest change, they confiscated 381 percent more marijuana than in 2005.

GENERAL - US
In jail study, most inmates used marijuana, cocaine - The Herald
More men and women are being booked into the Snohomish County Jail with marijuana and cocaine in their systems than any other drug, including methamphetamine, according to a new study.

CANNABIS - NEW ZEALAND
Police to target cannabis growing
Cannabis growing season is under way in the Taupo district and so is a police crackdown into the operations.

GENERAL - SCOTLAND
Cold turkey plan for Scots addicts - The Scotsman
The biggest shake-up of drugs policy for 20 years is to be pushed through by Labour in a bid to get Scotland’s 50,000 addicts off heroin and other deadly substances.

HEROIN - AFGHAN
Governor of Afghanistan’s biggest opium-producing province replaced; 5 killed in violence - International Herald Tribune
The Afghan government has fired the governor of its biggest drug-producing province, while clashes and a suicide bombing killed six militants and wounded six U.S.-led coalition troops, officials said Monday.

GENERAL - SCOTLAND
Cold turkey plan for Scots addicts - The Scotman
The biggest shake-up of drugs policy for 20 years is to be pushed through by Labour in a bid to get Scotland’s 50,000 addicts off heroin and other deadly substances.

GENERAL - US
Drugs might be the reason the season has been so violent - Our Midland
A carjacking and attempted kidnapping in broad daylight at a grocery store in Midland has a number of people wondering what is going on in our community. Even the police have taken notice, with one official saying that criminal behavior in Midland is changing and becoming more serious.

HEROIN - US
Three die amid ‘bad heroin’ fears - BBC
Three drug users have died in a week after injecting themselves with “contaminated” heroin, police fear. Two men and a woman, aged in their 20s, died in separate incidents while a fourth man remains seriously ill.

HEROIN - UK
Take the war on drugs to the poppy fields - The Observer
Heroin isn’t a snob. Nor, to be strictly accurate, is it an inverted snob. Here at least it cannot be faulted. Class As are impressively classless; heroin is happy to enter your bloodstream whatever your bloodline.

GENERAL - AUSTRALIA
Bongs set for national ban
The Howard Government is pushing for a ban on the sale of marijuana bongs throughout Australia. The Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Christopher Pyne, said the Government believed the legal sale of bongs sent a tacit signal that the Government approved the use of such drugs.

METH - AUSTRALIA
Ice smuggled in through ‘porous borders’
Cracks in Australia’s border protection are being blamed for the smuggling of the potentially lethal drug ice. NSW Police Minister John Watkins accused the federal government on Sunday of not doing enough to catch drug smugglers, saying more shipping containers should be checked for ice, also known as crystal methamphetamine.

GENERAL - US
Sobering Vacation
A new wave of addiction treatment centers is turning Malibu into the capital of luxury rehab — and raising questions about whether five-star service and recovery mix.

GENERAL - SCOTLAND
Scotland shakes up drug laws
Scotland is undergoing a shake-up in its drug policy, with proposals to help get the country’s 50,000 addicts off heroin and other drugs.

HEROIN - AFGHAN
Drug war, Taliban, poppies are all in full flower Opium, thugs bloom under U.S. policies in Afghanistan war
A little more than five years since the start of the Bush administration’s Afghan war, the “ousted” Taliban is back in full flower, and so is the notorious Afghan poppy. There’s no doubt the two are intimately connected.

HEROIN - UK
Three die amid ‘bad heroin’ fears
Three drug users have died in a week after injecting themselves with “contaminated” heroin, police fear.

GENERAL - US
Meth down, heroin on rise
Lately, when grand juries hand up indictments for drug charges, meth-lab cooks are conspicuously absent, and the drugs of choice now seem to be heroin, cocaine and pills.

MARIJUANA - UK
Drug dealers offer cash to home growers
After a police crackdown in Britain, drug dealers reportedly are paying customers to grow marijuana in their homes.

Slow, must be the weekend before Xmas thing. Here you go:

METH - US
Mobile Meth Lab Found in Marshall County
It’s a first for Marshall County and a potentially dangerous find for the West Virginia State Police. State troopers made a routine traffic stop Thursday night of a vehicle and conducted a search that turned up ingredients for a methamphetamine lab.

HEROIN - AFGHAN
US Drug Czar Announces Afghanistan Will Spray Opium Poppies
US Drug Control Policy head John Walters announced that Afghanistan’s poppy crops will be sprayed with herbicides in an effort to put a crimp in the country’s booming opium and heroin trade. But the Afghan government, which is not enthusiastic about spraying, has yet to confirm Walters’ pronouncement.

MARIJUANA - US
Prosecutors may change marijuana limits
Limits on the number of marijuana plants people with doctors’ recommendations are allowed to grow in Nevada County may become more stringent in coming months, as the district attorney-elect re-evaluates local standards for cultivation of the drug.

MARIJUANA - US
City aims to prohibit medicinal marijuana dispensaries
Simi Valley could soon become the first city in Ventura County to ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

HEROIN - AFGHAN
Southwest Asia: US Drug Czar Announces Afghanistan Will Spray Opium Poppies
Office of National Drug Control Policy head John Walters announced Saturday at a Kabul press conference that Afghanistan’s poppy crops will be sprayed with herbicides in an effort to put a crimp in the country’s booming opium and heroin trade. But the Afghan government, which is not enthusiastic about spraying, has yet to confirm Walters’ pronouncement.

METH - US
Governor Wants Money for Meth-Addicted Mothers
In addition to a big tax cut and a hefty gift for public schools, Governor Jon Huntsman Junior wants five million dollars to help meth-addicted mothers recover. Salt Lake City Meth Initiative Project Manager Marjean Searcy hopes the money will cut current waiting lists for treatment.

GENERAL - US
Bangor: Addiction treatment of mothers explored
The growing problem of opiate addiction was the focus of a presentation at Eastern Maine Medical Center on Thursday morning by national specialist and researcher Dr. Martha Wunsch, M.D.

HEROIN - US
Seizures Show increase in heroin smuggling
Officials report a substantial increase in the smuggling of heroin although seizures of other drugs are remaining stable . Seizures by the Santa Cruz County Metro Task Force have shown an increase in heroin smuggling.

PRESCRIPTION - US
FDA Set to Add to Antidepressant Warnings, Allow Emotion to Sway Policy
It seems all but a certainty that the FDA will proceed forward with its plan to add to the existing black box warning on SSRI class antidepressants. After hearing testimony and deliberating yesterday, the FDA’s advisory panel recommended that the current warnings be expanded to include warnings of increased suicidality among those receiving antidepressants up to the age of 24.

METH - AUSTRALIA
States urged to ban ‘ice’ pipes - ABC News
The Federal Government is pushing for tougher action from the states to deal with problems associated with crystal methamphetamine hydrochloride, the drug commonly known as ‘ice’.

ALCOHOL - AUSTRALIA
Parents warned about impact of supplying alcohol to Schoolies - ABC News
A Gold Coast city councillor says parents need to understand the consequences of supplying their teenagers with alcohol to be consumed during Schoolies Week.

ALCOHOL - UK
Drunk, disorderly and unpoliced: coming to a town centre near you
John Reid has surrendered town centres to drunken thugs over the Christmas party season by axing a police crackdown on their appalling behaviour. Police and trading standards teams normally receive an extra £2.5m of cash to flood the streets with extra officers, and stop shops selling alcohol to children.

GENERAL - IRELAND
Many suspected drink drivers on drugs
A new study has found that a significant number of Irish drivers who were suspected of drink driving but were then found to be below the legal blood alcohol level, later tested positive for a range of drugs.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Teens Using Ambien As A ‘Party Drug’
The government said Ambien is safe if you follow the directions, but teenagers and college students are using the drug to get high. When Ambien is abused, there are serious health risks. Users said the drug makes them high and even blackout. It is a party drug with street names including “A-minus” and “Zombie pills”. College students said they are seeing the drug more and more frequently on campus.

HEROIN - HUNGARY
Hungary to become a key transit country of heroin trade
With a sharp rise in Afghan heroin production, Hungary has become a popular transit country for drug traffickers supplying the western European market, national daily Népszabadság said on Thursday.

HEROIN - IRELAND
Explosion of heroin on streets of Carlow
A huge explosion of heroin has swamped the Carlow market as organised crime gangs target the town. Yet while the local market is awash with drugs and Carlow becomes the latest victim of thieving Dublin crime gangs Carlow gardaí remain desperately understaffed.

GENERAL - CANADA
U.S. Involved in Discussions of Canadian Drug Strategy - Join Together
U.S. government officials are keeping a close eye on discussions of a new national drug strategy in Canada, which appears to be moving toward a more tough-minded approach after the government embraced harm reduction initiatives several years ago.

GENERAL - MEXICO
New President of Mexico Launches Anti-Drug Blitz - Join Togehter
In what is being called the first major initiative since his inauguration earlier this month, Mexican President Felipe Calderon ordered the deployment of about 4,000 troops to help combat drug crime in his home state of Michoacan.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Some Prescription Drugs Not Approved by FDA
All of us, at one time or another, will need prescription drugs, but did you know that your next prescription may not have the government’s approval? Oxycodone, hydrochloride, Phenobarbital and chloral hydrate are all popularly prescribed medications, but none of them is FDA approved.

METH - AUSTRALIA
States reject ban on ice pipes
The states and territories have rejected a federal MP’s call for a uniform national ban on pipes used to smoke the drug ice.

METH - AUSTRALIA
Drug conference proposes new approaches to ice problem
Methamphetamine is the drug police forces seem to be most worried about at the moment. Also known as ice, crystal, or meth, it can be smoked, injected or swallowed.

METH - US
Santa Barbara County Methamphetamine Prevention Summit Held in Buellton
Santa Barbara County’s growing addiction to crystal meth is the subject of the first ever county-wide prevention summit.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Antidepressant suicide warning may be expanded - CNN
Treatment with antidepressants increases the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in patients up to age 24, according to proposed changes to the drugs’ labels unveiled Wednesday by health officials.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Panel to Debate Antidepressant Warnings - New York Times
Public health officials, psychiatrists, grieving parents and outraged former patients will fill a hotel ballroom in Silver Spring, Md., this morning to argue the most bitterly divisive question in psychiatry: do the drugs that doctors prescribe to relieve depression make some people more likely to attempt suicide?

METH - NEW ZEALAND
Concerns over African methamphetamine-like drug in Hamilton
Hamilton Police are concerned an African plant with methamphetamine-like effects is being imported into New Zealand. Last week 10 kilos of the plant khat (pronounced cot or chat) were discovered during searches of two houses in Claudelands, Hamilton.

METH - NEW ZEALAND
Concerns over African methamphetamine-like drug in Hamilton - New Zealand Herald
Hamilton Police are concerned an African plant with methamphetamine-like effects is being imported into New Zealand. Last week 10 kilos of the plant khat (pronounced cot or chat) were discovered during searches of two houses in Claudelands, Hamilton.

METH - AUSTRALIA
Ice, ice, baby - Online Opinion
The rise in crystal methamphetamine (or ice) use in Australia has vividly illustrated how ineffective, and often counterproductive, current drug policies are. With a Federal Parliamentary inquiry about to hand down a report on how to constrain the illicit market for amphetamines and other synthetic drugs, the question is whether the major parties are ready to put aside political interests and fundamentally reform Australia’s drug strategies.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Panel Wants Broader Antidepressant Labeling - New York Times
Strong warning labels about the suicide risk associated with antidepressants, which now include children and adolescents, should be extended to adults under 25, a federal advisory panel concluded Wednesday.

GENERAL - ECUADOR & COLOMBIA
Ecuador, Colombia in border row - BBC
Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Francisco Carrion has described a renewed crop-spraying programme by Colombia along their border as a hostile act.

GENERAL - CANADA
U.S. shows us what not to do - Times Colonist
America’s hardline approach to battling drug abuse has been a costly disaster. It’s painful to watch the federal government stumble toward a disastrously wrong path in its search for a solution to the real problem of drug abuse.

ALCOHOL - CANADA
Students put a face to drinking and driving - Toronto Star
The statistics are numbing: About 1,000 Canadians are killed in alcohol-related motor-vehicle accidents each year. That’s roughly one-third of all road deaths in Canada, making it what police call the largest criminal cause of death in the country.

METH - US
Some Hunters Find Methamphetamine Labs in Their Midst - Join Together
Hunters in four states recently have discovered methamphetamine labs or their remnants during their excursions in the woods, as drug makers seek more remote areas in which to produce meth.

COCAINE - SPAIN
Spain sees sharp rise in cocaine use - Reuters
The number of Spaniards regularly snorting cocaine has doubled since 1999, taking consumption to among the highest in Europe, the government said on Wednesday.

HEROIN - SWITZERLAND
Decriminalization of Heroin Leads to Drop in Drug Use
Switzerland’s change in its drug laws that 10 years ago decriminalized the use of heroin have been closely watched to see if the result would be massive increases in heroin use.

ALCOHOL - US
Know your limit when drinking alcohol
Most of you know what alcohol looks like, how it is packaged and how it makes you feel. Perhaps something you didn’t know is that alcohol is a drug. Its scientific name is ethyl alcohol and it is classified as a depressant, the same drug class as a barbiturate or tranquilizer.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Misuse of drug an issue at colleges
When asked if she’s aware of students taking nonprescribed ADHD medicines to help them study, University of Notre Dame junior Mary Agee doesn’t hesitate. Her answer: “Definitely.”

MARIJUANA - US
Tulare Considering Regulating Medicinal Marijuana Dispensaries
Tulare County is considering regulating where medicinal marijuana dispensaries are located. Their biggest concerns are how close they’ll be to schools and whether patients can smoke marijuana on premises.

GENERAL - MAURITIUS
Alcoholism, drug addiction plague Mauritius, says NGO
Alcohol and drug abuse pose a major social problem in Mauritius with more citizens now addicted to the substances, according to Groupe A deCassis, an NGO fighting against drugs, alcohol and HIV/AIDS in the country.

METH - US
State meth cases down 31 percent in 2006 - The Chetek Alert
Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager recently announced that statistics compiled for the calendar year 2006 show a dramatic decrease in both the number of methamphetamine cases and methamphetamine laboratories in Wisconsin-a success she attributes to Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement strategies and the efforts of local law enforcement agencies.

GENERAL - MEXICO
Calderon vows war against notorious drug gangs - CNN
Soldiers stopped cars and frisked passengers Tuesday, searching for drugs or weapons. Helicopters swooped low over remote mountaintops, looking for signs of opium and marijuana fields. Ships patrolled Mexico’s main Pacific port, a hub for drugs arriving from Central America and Colombia.

OPIUM - AFGHAN
Walters Says Poppies in Afghanistan Will Be Sprayed - Join Together
The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) said at a news conference that Afghan poppies will be sprayed with herbicide to combat a steep rise in opium production in Afghanistan, the Associated Press reported Dec. 9.

GENERAL - MEXICO
Mexico launches drugs crackdown - BBC
Thousands of Mexican troops are patrolling the streets in Michoacan state in an anti-drug trafficking drive ordered by President Felipe Calderon.

GENERAL - UK
Christmas crackdown on city drugs - BBC
Anti-social behaviour and illegal drug use in Leicester city centre are to be targeted as part of a police operation to clean up the city. Plain-clothed and uniformed officers will work with the force’s passive drugs dog to “disrupt and detect” people involved with illegal drugs.

ALCOHOL - UK
What’s your poison? - The Guardian
Many of us would like to believe that different types of alcohol can produce very different effects. If only it were that simple, reports Emine Saner

ALCOHOL - US
B Vitamins Are Efficacious for Alcoholic Polyneuropathy - Join Together
Both the direct toxic effects of alcohol and alcoholism-associated vitamin deficiencies can cause mild to incapacitating sensorimotor polyneuropathy.

GENERAL - AUSTRALIA
Northern Rivers a haven for drugmakers: Police - Northern Star
The Northern Rivers is becoming a manufacturing centre for drugs aimed at the Brisbane and Gold Coast markets, police fear. And despite recent big busts, the problem is growing.

CANNABIS - US
Young cannabis users ’suffer from paranoia and blackouts’ - 24 Dash
Anti-drug campaigners have called for urgent research into the effects of cannabis on teenagers’ mental health after a survey found half of young users suffer paranoia and blackouts.

GENERAL - MEXICO
Thousands of Mexican troops ordered to arrest smugglers, burn marijuana and opium fields - Boston Herald
Soldiers stopped cars and frisked passengers Tuesday, searching for drugs or weapons. Helicopters swooped low over remote mountaintops, looking for signs of opium and marijuana fields. Ships patrolled Mexico’s main Pacific port, a hub for drugs arriving from Central America and Colombia.

HEROIN - CANADA
Addicts turn to hillbilly heroin - Edmonton Sun
Heroin use is fading out in Canada, but local addicts are increasingly turning to “hillbilly heroin” to bring them down from cocaine and meth highs, say cops and outreach workers.

HEROIN - US
City heroin’s havoc in hinterlands - Philadephia Daily News
I’ve been teaching at a northeastern Pennsylvania community college for the last three years. The region has been a gold mine for heroin dealers from the “Badlands” area of North Philadelphia that serves as an open-air drug market. I’ve quickly learned to identify those students who are users and have come to realize that heroin isn’t just an inner-city problem.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Waismann Method of Detoxification Successfully Treats Severe Morphine and Methadone Levels While Leaving Patients With Reduced Pain
The Waismann Method of Opiate Detoxification announced today the successful treatment of two patients taking dangerously high doses of prescription pain-relieving drugs. Both patients are now opiate-free and in less pain than they were prior to detoxification.

OPIUM - AFGHAN
The Drug Czar Has Another Brilliant Idea - Stop The Drug War
Afghanistan is in flames. The Taliban are resurgent. The opium economy provides livelihoods for millions of Afghans. And now, US drug czar John Walters announces over the weekend, that Afghanistan will begin spraying the poppy fields with glyphosate, the same stuff we’ve been using with such great success in Colombia against the coca crops.

METH - US
White House tabs coalition: Anti-drug efforts recognized - News Zap
With less than one year under its belt, the Northeast Valley Coalition Against Methamphetamine garnered recognition from the Bush Administration. Paul Skoczylas, staff member of the President’s Office of National Drug Policy, presented to the group Nov. 30 a certificate commending the coalition’s meth prevention and education efforts.

ALCOHOL & GENERAL DRUGS - US
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, 2006 - White House
Each year, thousands of Americans lose their lives in accidents involving drunk and drugged driving. During National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, we continue our efforts to promote awareness of the dangers of impaired driving and encourage fellow citizens to never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

GENERAL - US
Drugs contract will put children’s rights first - The Herald
Whereas the focus of policy had been on the rights of addicts – to state support, treatment services etc – there is now a recognition of the rights of children, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to be free from abuse, neglect and maltreatment.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Drugs factor in car crashes, study finds
The focus on the dangers of drinking and driving may have overshadowed a similarly serious problem: the effect of drugs, including prescription medication, on drivers.

OPIUM - US
Opiate Addicts Find Fewer Hospital-Run Detox Beds Available - Red Orbit
Addicts who overdose on heroin or other opiates are likely to land first in a hospital emergency room, where doctors can often save them from brain damage or death.

OTC - US
Teen Use of Over-the-Counter Cold Medicines Rising - Join Together
Use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines has become one of the fastest-growing drug abuse problems for youths in California and elsewhere, and much of the increase is being seen in the pre-teen population, the Los Angeles Times reported Dec. 5.

OPIUM - AFGHAN
Afghanistan’s opium poppies will be sprayed, says US drugs tsar - The Guardian
Afghanistan has agreed to poppy-spraying measures in a desperate bid to deflate the soaring drugs trade, America’s anti-narcotics tsar announced at the weekend.

MARIJUANA - US
Laws Don’t Curb Teen Marijuana Use - Marijuana Policy Project
A new report from the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) in Washington, D.C., challenges the key assumption underlying present U.S. marijuana laws: that marijuana must be prohibited for adults in order to deter teens from using it.

METH - US
Stetson student busts meth myths
William Collum knew methamphetamine ruined addicts’ lives but was surprised to read the drug also hurt innocent victims — such as a family that moved into a house where meth was once cooked. The report showed how failure to clean the house properly left the air toxic and sickened the family. A financial crisis, breakup and divorce followed, said Collum, a Stetson University political science major.

GENERAL - SCOTLAND
Top traffic policeman warns officers are ‘powerless’ to tackle drug-drivers - Scotsman
Scotland’s most senior traffic policeman has admitted that officers are “powerless” to stop drug-drivers and that reliable tests capable of securing convictions are years away.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Ritalin on campus a growing problem - News Times Live
A 15-page paper to write. A major final exam to study for. When the pressure is on, college students sometimes feel they need a little help to make sure they can concentrate. Sometimes that help is a pill.

OPIUM - AFGHAN
For Many In Opium-infested Afghanistan, Drug Addiction Can Begin In The Womb
Farida’s son inherited her drug addiction in the womb, and drank her opium-laced breast milk. And when he cried and fussed, she calmed him with specks of opium diluted in tea.

OPIUM - AFGHAN
U.S. anti-drug chief: Afghan poppies to be sprayed with herbicide - International Herlad Tribune
The top U.S. anti-drug official said Saturday that Afghan poppies would be sprayed with herbicide to combat an opium trade that produced a record heroin haul this year, a measure likely to anger farmers and scare Afghans unfamiliar with weed killers.

OPIUM - AFGHAN
Opium poppy crop to be sprayed - Los Angeles Times
The top U.S. anti-drug official said Afghan poppies would be sprayed with herbicide to combat an opium trade that produced a record heroin haul this year.

METH - US
The fear on meth: Local lab output - The Boston Globe
When 12 pounds of crystal methamphetamine arrived in Seabrook on Oct. 24 , officials say, federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents and Seabrook police officers were ready. They arrested four men and seized the drugs, which had an estimated $1.5 million street value — the largest amount ever seized in New England .

METH - US
Meth ’superlabs’ move to Mexico - Daily Press
Even criminal enterprises are outsourcing jobs to Mexico. As a mark of success for the Methamphetamine Interdiction Team, it seems the push to shut down “superlabs” within San Bernardino County — capable of creating dozens of pounds of meth per batch — has created a booming industry just south of the border.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Blumenthal targets Internet sales of prescription drugs - News Time Live
The ability to obtain drugs without a prescription has grown not only from those who sell their pills to others, but also from sales on the Internet.

PRESCRIPTION - US
ADHD drugs may have ‘addictive and emotional’ side effects - News Time Live
They are drugs that doctors give to 8-year-olds. How dangerous can they be? Plenty. Medical experts said that drugs like Ritalin and Adderall are prescribed to children — and adults — with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, for specific reasons.

HEROIN - AFGHAN
U.S. anti-drug chief: Afghan poppies to be sprayed with herbicide - International Herald Tribune
The top U.S. anti-drug official said Saturday that Afghan poppies would be sprayed with herbicide to combat an opium trade that produced a record heroin haul this year, a measure likely to anger farmers and scare Afghans unfamiliar with weed killers.

GENERAL - TAJIKISTAN
Tajikistan Grapples With Drug Addiction - Washington Post
Central Asia’s poorest county is also one of the world’s leading transit routes for heroin, opium and other drugs from Afghanistan. Sergei Makhkamov has been caught in the flood.

PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS - US
Athletes’ unbeatable foe - LA Times
The worldwide sports anti-doping program, created to fight performance enhancing drug use in international athletics, imposes severe punishments for accidental or technical infractions, relies at times on disputed scientific evidence and resists outside scrutiny, a Times investigation has found.

HEROIN - US
Deadly heroin mix plagues region; ‘Drop Dead’ blamed for surge of overdoses - The Patriot Ledger
The Hanover man’s death is among a succession of overdoses recently - some fatal, most not - that have led federal drug agents and local emergency responders to sound the alarm over heroin’s ever increasing death toll.

HEROIN - US
A higher high, a deadly fall
Suburban parents, police and health care officials are alarmed at what they say is a two-fold problem: heroin use on the rise among a younger crowd, and users looking to punch up their high by mixing in prescription drugs such as OxyContin, methadone and other opiates in dangerous combinations.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Sac Fire Toughens Access To Engine Morphine Stash - CBS 13
The first tampered seal was November of 2005 when morphine vials turned up with damaged seals. Nothing seemed suspicious until the trend continued, and officials checked what was actually in the damaged vials. “Some of the vials looked like they still have liquid in it,” said Sacramento Fire Captain Jim Doucette.

METH - US
Serious crimes in Boulder down from last year - Your Hub Boulder
Serious crimes in Boulder are down for the first three quarters of 2006, but there has been an increase in daily contacts and arrests involving methamphetamine users, according to a Dec. 7 press release from the City of Boulder.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Addiction to Prescription Fraud - KJCT 8 News
Creating fraudulent and falsifiable prescriptions is unacceptable and unethical behavior, according to most pharmacists. Anyone can be unethical and get arrested. It’s supposed to be legal to offer money and the accurate prescription to the pharmacist, but people take advantage and eventually get caught.