Drug News

DRUG ABUSE – USA
Demi Lovato Opens Up About Drug Abuse: ‘Being A Celebrity Can Be Dangerous – ‎Huffington Post

But the part-Mexican singer, who spent three-months in rehab in November 2010 … how peer pressure and loneliness led her to experiment with drugs in 2010.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug abuse bill wins final passage – WSLS

Kentucky lawmakers have passed a measure that’s intended to curb prescription drug abuse in a state where more people are dying from overdoses than car wrecks. A compromise passed by the House and Senate would require all physicians in the state to use a prescription drug monitoring system so they can more readily spot addicts seeking painkillers.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Saint Jude Retreats Announces Length Of Stay In Drug Rehab Does Matter – PR Web
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The amount of time a guest stays in an alcohol or drug treatment center greatly impacts the outcome of the individuals success in that program.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Experts say communication key to preventing alcohol abuse among teens – Tri Cities
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Communication is the key to preventing alcohol abuse among teenagers. Many teens are exposed to the temptation of underage drinking at an early age, 40 percent of eighth-graders have tried alcohol and one in four is a binge drinker. Around 20 students, school staff and community members gathered for an evening town hall forum entitled “Start Talking, Before They Start Drinking” at Tennessee High School.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Free from drug addiction, former Menard High star returns to baseball – The Town Talk

The young man whose life on drugs careened and collapsed to such a degree that, at one time, he was homeless and nearly committed suicide, has shaken the addiction.

COCAINE – USA
Rihanna Showcases Drug Use, Refuses Rehabilitation? – Christian Post

Rihanna, 24-year-old Barbadian pop singer, recently posted pictures to her Twitter account that showed her breaking down what appeared to be drugs on the head of a man whose shoulders she was seated on in order to see above the crowd

DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT – USA
Veterans who complete intense treatment can have court charges expunged – Post Gazette

Together there are now 80 veterans treatment courts nationwide. In Pennsylvania, recidivism among program participants is just 1 percent. The statistics are even better in Allegheny County, where Judge Zottola can brag about having no recidivism among veterans whose cases he’s heard in treatment court.

DRUG ABUSE – USA
Early-intervention program helps teens with alcohol, drug abuse – Longmont Daily Times Call
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Through the clear eyes of sobriety, John Vandegrift looks back on his drug use and sees it for what it was: a coping mechanism. The 21-year-old Littleton resident said he began smoking marijuana as a high school freshman, and two years ago he moved to heavier substances. Heroine became his drug of choice.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Teen Deaths Related to Prescription Drug Abuse Skyrocket – Madison Patch
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Although many teens might otherwise shy away from illegal street drugs, more and more teens are turning to prescription drugs and over the counter medicines to get high.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Kentucky Doctors Must Join Pill Abuse Fight – Kentucky.com

There has been a 900 percent increase in people seeking treatment for substance addiction in Kentucky in the past decade. More than 25,428 Kentuckians were admitted to drug and alcohol rehab programs in 2010.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Drugs, Rehab and Bar Mitzvahs: An Afternoon Chat with Author Moshe Kasher – Laist.com

When I got to middle school I felt even more different, but then I found the fuck-ups at the school and started doing drugs and I forgot that I felt different. That was part of the great seductiveness of drugs at that age – it was not recreational, it was therapeutic.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin ring smuggled drugs from Africa to Maryland, feds say – Washington Examiner
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Four men have been arrested in connection with a heroin-distribution ring that allegedly smuggled the drug from Africa and sold it in Maryland.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Painkillers alter how addicts relate to themselves, others – Seattle Times
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Calling them painkillers is almost a misnomer. They don’t actually relieve the pain so much as they affect the way the brain perceives pain, and their extended use can result in the distortion of the brain’s pain/pleasure responses.

HEROIN – USA
As heroin death toll rises, antidote is available — but hard to find – Seattle Times
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Heroin-overdose deaths are rising in the Northwest, and a prescription opiate antidote was made legal in 2010. Unfortunately, authorities say, almost no pharmacies stock it.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – GLOBAL
Alcohol Abuse Screenings at the Dentist – World Dental

Health experts have warned that people who consume alcohol excessively are exposed to an extremely high risk of developing dental disease and mouth cancer.

HEROIN – USA
New, Deadly Heroin Mix Kills Dozen-Plus in NW – KTVZ
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A new, deadly mix of heroin has been sweeping through the Northwest in the past month, causing numerous deaths in Washington state, while Central Oregon police and fire medics said Friday they also have been grappling with a rising number of heroin overdoses.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
System to Curb Abuse of Prescription Painkillers Goes Unused – The Bay Citizen
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Byung Sik Yuh, the owner of Nichols Hill pharmacy in Oakland, filled more than 5,000 online prescriptions for addictive painkillers before the California State Board of Pharmacy moved last year to revoke his license. The patients who picked up the prescriptions at Yuh’s pharmacy had never met their doctors, nor had physical examinations. They filled out a brief online survey and paid an anonymous doctor to write prescriptions over the Internet.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Meth fills hospitals with burn patients – Atlanta Journal Constitution

A crude new method of making methamphetamine poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment — a burden so costly that it’s contributing to the closure of some burn units.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription for abuse: difficulties for reform effort – Crosscut

Too many people are abusing painkillers, many of them young. Very few abusers are in treatment. And it won’t be easy reversing a history of lax oversight. Washington State has made an aggressive attempt to crack down on the prescription drug epidemic by passing strict new rules governing pain management. But even those may not be enough to stanch the flood of deaths from prescription opiates in this state.

DRUG REHAB – USA
A Bridge to Recovery on Campus – New York Times

In their undergrad uniforms of fleece and sweats, a clutch of Rutgers students gathered on the worn red couches of their dorm’s common room and told their stories. A good-looking, fun-loving 23-year-old described arriving at college freshman year with a daily pot-smoking habit and a close relationship with alcohol. He soon followed the lead of his alcoholic father and was binge drinking. For his self-diagnosed anxiety and depression, he secretly began taking Klonopin, which he bought from another student. By sophomore year, he was taking six a day. And when it ran out, he wound up in a hospital to manage withdrawal, followed by nine months of rehab.

ALCOHOL/DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Army report: Suicide rate sets record; some alcohol abuse up 54 percent – Christian Science Monitor

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars make up the longest period of conflict in US history. “There are second- and third-order effects that have grown out of this that our nation has never experienced before.” As much as 43 percent of active-duty soldiers reported binge drinking within the past month. 25-35 percent of wounded soldiers are addicted to prescription or illegal drugs while they await medical discharge. Oxycodone accounts for 95 percent of those prescriptions.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Top-ranked, with policies making it worse: Wisconsin once again is first in binge drinking – Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

Once again, Wisconsin is No. 1. But this time, we’re No. 1 in binge drinking. This isn’t just embarrassing; it borders on social pathology. A fourth of all adults report they are binge drinkers. That’s 50% higher than the national average. These statistics seem substantially underreported because Wisconsin purchases much more alcohol than it reports drinking. The fact is, we don’t take binge drinking and the alcohol-related problems it creates seriously. It’s cultural. Alcohol abuse and problems associated with alcohol have long been accepted or tolerated in this state.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin’s siren song: A force that’s stronger than will or reason – Post Gazette

Their life circumstances, by many measures, couldn’t be more different — he’s a middle-aged black man from a hardscrabble Mon Valley steel town; she’s a young white woman originally from an affluent suburb of Austin, Texas. But what they have in common — heroin addiction early in life — trumps what they don’t. That’s because heroin is as nondiscriminatory as it is destructive.

CLUB DRUGS – USA
Popular club drug replaced by a more toxic one: Cloud Nine – Pocono Record

A popular club drug has been replaced by a more toxic one — one that’s cheaper, more potent and deadlier. Cloud Nine or C-9 is the newest brand in a category of designer drugs that can cause erratic behavior, serious injuries and addiction. It’s among the newest replacement drugs for Ecstasy. Cloud Nine, based on similar chemicals as so-called “bath salts,” is a hallucinogen and stimulant. It’s sometimes marketed as plant food, insect repellent or fertilizer.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Horror no surprise in the U.S. meth capital; Pure ‘poor man’s cocaine’ blamed in wave of domestic slayings – Bend Bulletin

Chronic use of the harsh chemical compound known as speed or crank can lead to psychosis, which includes hearing voices and experiencing hallucinations. The stimulant effect of meth is up to 50 times longer than cocaine, so users stay awake for days on end, impairing cognitive function and contributing to extreme paranoia. “Once people who are on meth become psychotic, they are very dangerous. We’re talking about very extreme alterations of normal brain function. Once someone becomes triggered to violence, there aren’t any limits or boundaries.”

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
How N.J. plans to put a lid on pain pills – NJ.com

All it took was a single pill. A friend encouraged her to try it, then a doctor prescribed it, no questions asked. A single pill of the painkiller OxyContin and Brenna-Ann Haase was hooked, so much so that she stole cash, jewelry, DVDs, anything she could use to feed her addiction.

DRUG ABUSE – Guam
Dancers say no to drugs: Crew helps teenagers stay sober – Guam PDN

A recovering alcoholic and former Department of Youth Affairs corrections officer, is founder and leader of the Just Say No Dance Crew, a growing group of scrappy teenagers popping and locking their way off the streets and away from drugs and alcohol.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug abuse crisis is detailed – Buffalo News

Prescription drugs continuing to result in crime, overdoses and death. State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman’s 42-page report documents the year-to-year increase in the number of hydrocodone and oxycodone prescriptions being written in New York State, as well as prescription drug-related addiction and death.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
6 Rehab Movies That Will Leave You Fearing Drugs – Screen Junkies

Rehab movies are designed to warn people about the dangers of substance abuse. The highs and lows of the characters consuming these substances help to educate and enlighten audiences. The stories can ultimately be uplifting, but in order to truly inform people, filmmakers often end up depicting drug abuse as a horrible and arduous disease. They litter their films with many gritty and disgusting scenes to fully show off the horrors of abuse. Keeping with that theme, these six rehab movies will leave people fearing drugs and contemplating a life of abstinence.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Wisconsin has high rate of alcohol use by adults, teens – Herald Times Reporter
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Wisconsin has the highest rates of any state in the nation for adult use of alcohol, adult heavy use of alcohol and adult binge drinking.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Op-Ed: Mobile meth labs and meth addiction out of control in U.S. – Digital Journal
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“There is no drug better suited to making horrible decisions about your children than methamphetamine, which keeps you awake for days and then when you crash it’s like the sleep of a coma, during which you have no idea what’s happening with those kids.”

ALCOHOL ABUSE – GLOBAL
Higher alcohol prices may curb drinking: study – Reuters

Findings published in the journal Addiction showed that each 10 percent price hike in the minimum price of beer, liquor and alcoholic beverages led people to drink 3.4 percent less alcohol overall, with consumption of specific types of alcohol falling even more.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Opioid Use a Growing Epidemic in Workers’ Comp – Property Casualty 360

Opioids are intended for short-term use or end-of-life cancer pain. They are meant to be prescribed after major surgeries or major trauma. “Short term” is meant to signify a span of a few days or weeks—not years, as the current trend indicates.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug abuse kills more than heroin and cocaine – WAFF
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The Centers for Disease Control reports prescription drug overdoses account for more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Special grand jury to probe doctor shopping – Newsday
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A special grand jury will be empaneled in Suffolk County to investigate doctor shopping and the possible criminal conduct of physicians in the prescribing of painkiller pills. DA Thomas Spota said his office has seen a surge in fatal car accidents and criminal activity related to prescription drug abuse.

ECSTASY – USA
Feds nab police captain in coke, Ecstasy ring – Tallahassee Democrat
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A captain with the Opa-Locka Police Department and seven others were indicted Thursday after a two-year federal investigation into a cocaine, Ecstasy and Oxycodone ring operating in South Florida.

HEROIN – USA
Geneva woman has been to 100 funerals for heroin victims – Daily Herald

In the past 10 years, Lea Minalga estimates she’s been to more than 100 funerals in the West and Northwest suburbs — all for young people who overdosed on drugs, mostly heroin. Many of them were teenagers. “Sadly, I know most of them.”

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS/HEROIN – USA
Deadly resurgence – Denton Record Chronicle
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Heroin: That was the drug of the old days when junkies nodded on street corners, and it killed entertainers like Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin and John Belushi. Heroin: That’s the drug of today, when prescription medication abusers buy is as a cheaper alternative for the same euphoria they get from OxyContin, Vicodin and Dilaudid. It’s the drug of choice for half the abusers in Denton and the North Texas area.

ALCOHOL – USA
Sunday alcohol sales start in some Georgia cities – Anderson Independent Mail
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Retailers in several Georgia cities began ringing up beer, wine and liquor Sunday for the first time since voters in many communities statewide ended more than a century of banning alcohol sales on what many consider a day of worship. Keidra Dobbs of Duluth said she was “definitely excited” to be able to pick up some beer Sunday from a package store near her house before settling down to watch sports. “It’s been kind of an inconvenience,” Dobbs said. “Like last week, when I had to rush to get to the store by 11:45 Saturday night before they stop selling.”

ALCOHOL – AUSTRALIA
Alcohol causes ‘one in five’ deaths by injury – The West Australian
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Alcohol contributes to one in five of all deaths from injury in WA, including almost one-quarter of all road accident fatalities, new figures show.

CLUB DRUGS – UK
Third of clubbers who take mephedrone may be addicted, survey finds – The Guardian
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Three in 10 clubbers who take the drug mephedrone exhibit symptoms associated with addiction, a study has found. Many users of the banned substance, sometimes called “meow meow”, had several signs of dependence, including withdrawal effects, failed attempts to give up, and taking larger and larger doses.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
One Young Woman’s Descent Into Prescription Drug Addiction – WGRZ TV

It has become what law enforcement officials are calling an epidemic in Western New York: young people getting addicted to prescription pain medication. One of those young people- Destinee Henderson, one time straight A student and varsity soccer player at Newfane High School agreed to share the story of her addiction, whose eventually led her to selling her body and which nearly cost her her life.

HEROIN – UK
WILL heroin USAGE ROCKET IN A SLUMP? – Wales Online
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HEROIN use in Wales could rocket if the nation slumps further into recession, a leading drugs agency has warned.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Students don’t consider alcohol a drug – SW Iowa News
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Last October, a 17-year-old Harlan high-school student died from acute alcohol intoxication. Earlier this year, police arrested a 15-year-old girl at Storm Lake High School and charged her with possession of alcohol. A report found that nearly half of all high-school students use addictive substances, and 1 in 3 of those users are addicted.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Ga. doctors develop prescription drug abuse prevention program – ‎Atlanta Journal Constitution

The supply chain for abuse of highly addictive drugs often can be traced back to a doctor’s prescription pad. So doctors are capitalizing on their unique position to combat the illegal use of prescription drugs by leading a statewide campaign to keep such medicines out of the wrong hands.

ALCOHOL ABUSE/DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Study: Alcohol, Drug Hospitalizations Rise – Patch.com
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A rising number of young adults nationwide, between ages 18 and 24, have been hospitalized for alcohol and drug overdoses. One out of three hospitalizations for overdoses in young adults involved excessive consumption of alcohol. “Alcohol overdoses alone caused 29,000 hospitalizations, combined alcohol and other drug overdoses caused 29,000, and drug overdoses alone caused another 114,000. The cost of these hospitalizations now exceeds $1.2 billion per year just for 18 to 24-year-olds.

DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Family Dinners Linked to Less Risky Behavior in Teens – ABC News
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Compared to teens who ate with their families five to seven times a week, teenagers who had fewer than three family dinners a week were almost four times more likely to try tobacco, more than twice as likely to use alcohol and 2.5 times more likely to use marijuana.

ECSTASY – AUSTRALIA
Ecstasy crime ring smashed, says AFP – Sydney Morning Herald

A highly sophisticated drug ring has been smashed by federal authorities with the seizure of a record haul of a precursor drug capable of producing $70 million worth of ecstasy.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
War on prescription drug abuse has a need for speed – Tampa Bay Online

The number leaping from the page whenever the topic turns to prescription drug addiction is seven. Seven is the number of Floridians who suffer prescription-drug-related deaths each day. Seven also is the number of days, under the latest “pill-mill” statute, between reports pharmacies have to make to the state’s new database.

DRUG REHAB – CHINA
Teenage drug abusers fight addiction, seek rehab – China Daily

Eji Lhaze was 14 when he first took “ice”, thinking it was no different from cigarettes. “I was curious how it tasted, because my pals seemed to enjoy every bit of it and sleep like babies after a dose,” he said. “So I just tried a sip.”

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Florida laws get tougher to crack down on prescription drug abuse – Wink News

Today’s declaration that Florida’s prescription drug abuse crisis is a public health emergency is an aggressive launch of the strong criminal and administrative penalties that are now in effect and will crack down on pill mills in Florida. This ban along with the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program will strengthen the oversight of the prescribing of highly addictive drugs and save lives.

DRUG REHAB – USA
U.S. Supreme Court rules longer prison terms not allowed for drug rehab – Sacramento Bee

This was longer than it might have been, but the judge noted that it was long enough to make Tapia eligible for a drug treatment program at a federal prison.

ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE – USA
Nearly Half of US Teens Smoke, Drink Alcohol, or Use Drugs – WebMD

Nearly half of all American high school students smoke, drink alcohol, or use illicit drugs, according to a new report.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Hope and recovery – Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Thierry Wood said she was devastated when she called police in 2007 to arrest her 14-year-old daughter, Nina, whose behavior had become erratic and violent because of her methamphetamine addiction.

ECSTASY – SCOTLAND
Two men die after taking extra-strong ecstasy pills – Herald Scotland

Ecstasy tablets six times stronger than normal may have caused the death of two men in the west of Scotland.

HEROIN – MEXICO/USA
As poppy fields flourish in Mexico, heroin use surges in US – MiamiHerald

What was once a problem largely confined to hubs in California and Texas, Mexican traffickers have expanded into the Midwest and the Atlantic Seaboard. Using savvy marketing tactics, they’ve also repositioned heroin commercially, revamping its image from the inner-city drug of yore, with its junkies and needles, into a narcotic that can be snorted or smoked, appealing to suburban and even rural high school youth.

MARIJUANA – USA
Marijuana Driving Accidents On The Rise – Slate Magazine

Driving while under the influence isn’t just for drunks anymore. There’s a largely unrecognized group causing a growing number of accidents — minor and fatal — across the country: drugged drivers. And many of them may be causing accidents with their use of pot.

DRUG REHAB – IRELAND
An artistic form of drug rehab – Irish Times

Can art help transform drug users’ lives? A project in Dublin is proving that it can.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Lindsey Lohan’s Dad Fills Yacht Full of Women From Drug Treatment Center to Shoot TV Show – ‎Broward New Times

Michael Lohan, father of actress Lindsey Lohan, is trying to pitch a reality TV show involving a drug treatment center for women based on a luxury yacht. He already shot a pilot of one episode in Fort Lauderdale using a borrowed yacht and a dozen girls from a local center.

HEROIN, COCAINE – USA
14 indicted on heroin, cocaine charges – BurlingtonFreePress.com
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A four-count indictment has accused 14 people of conspiring to move heroin and crack cocaine from New York City to Vermont, and to sell the drugs in and around Burlington.

HEROIN – USA
Uprooting deadly heroin trio in East County – Portland Tribune

Gresham Police Detective Bob Peterson helped investigate two fatal heroin overdoses, including one in Rockwood, that lead to the arrests of three Troutdale men. “The word needs to get out that we’re going to chase these guys down on all of these overdose deaths. If they sell heroin to someone and it results in their death, we’re going to hold them accountable.”

METHAMPHETAMINE – AUSTRALIA
O’Callaghan ‘avoided asking son about drugs’ – The West Australian

Speaking openly about his son’s methamphetamine addiction this morning, Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan urged parents to ask difficult questions of their children. “You go through this whole process of asking questions and skirting around the issue because sometimes you just don’t want to know the answer,” he said.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Study Reveals Doctors Can Do More To Address Prescription Drug Abuse – Medical News Today

As prescription drug abuse reaches epidemic proportions, a recent study reports disturbingly low monitoring rates for patients taking powerful prescription drugs. Only 8 percent of patients taking opioid pain medications are screened by their doctor.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – THAILAND
Phuket an addicts haven – Phuket Gazette

Although illegal, over-the-counter sale and purchase of benzodiazepine derivative drug like diezapam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax) is common in Thailand, and is even tacitly accepted by many local authorities. However the practice exposes buyers to health risks including addiction or overdose.

DRUG ABUSE – CANADA
DUI: Driving after drug use a growing concern – Globe and Mail

The report concluded that “driving after drug use is a growing issue that is as prevalent as driving after alcohol use – and that drug-impairment may also be a contributing factor to collisions and fatal road crashes.”

ALCOHOL – UK
Amy Winehouse returns to rehab for alcohol abuse – TheCelebrityCafe.com

Amy Winehouse, who has battled substance abuse and mental health issues ever since she burst onto the scene with 2006′s Back to Black, has checked into the UK’s Priory Clinic to seek treatment for alcoholism.

HEROIN – USA
Cops say they’ve busted huge Park Slope heroin ring – BrooklynPapers.com

Federal investigators say that several “brands” of Heroin like this one called “Cream,” were readily available on the streets of Park Slope. The brownstone neighborhood is slowly getting a reputation as a one-stop shopping destination for drug buyers.

COCAINE – USA
Officials push for stiffer penalties for cocaine possession – WLBZ-TV

“In the city of Portland, cocaine is the drug that is creating the most trouble, we have many stories of how the cocaine has ravaged communities, neighborhoods and families. This law is a policy statement that the state of Maine does not condone drug use,” explained Roy McKinney, director of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Ex-Drug Addict: I’m Forever Grateful to David Wilkerson – Christian Post

“The gang members became drug addicts. The same young men we knew as gang members, we started to know them as drug addicts,” explained Wilkerson, who still directs Teen Challenge Brooklyn.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Meth lab found in Loup City – Grand Island Independent

LOUP CITY — A 48-year-old Loup City man was arrested Tuesday when the components of a methamphetamine lab were found in downtown Loup City. Jeffrey Arnold was arrested on felony charges.

ALCOHOL – USA
Now is time to talk to teens about alcohol – Marietta Times

Youth who begin drinking before age 15 are 5 times more likely to develop alcohol dependency or abuse alcohol later in life. When drinking is delayed until 21, a person’s risk of serious alcohol problems is reduced by 70%.

ALCOHOL – AUSTRALIA
Territory doctors tackle alcohol abuse debate – ABC Online

We get lots of people who suffer injuries as a result of alcohol related violence but we also see the effects of long term alcohol use and very young people with chronic illness of many forms relating to alcohol from chronic brain injuries, from recurrent infections which are likely worsened by alcohol, chronic liver disease, acute pancreatitis.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug drop-off points being set up throughout county – The Flint Journal

The drugs eventually will be incinerated by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. With a rise in opiate abuse in the area and after a string of fatal overdoses, preventing prescription drug abuse is the major motivation for the drug take-back.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Police investigation leads to major bust – StarPhoenix

In total, 53 grams of cocaine, five pounds of marijuana, numerous prescription pills, a small amount of ecstasy, a large amount of cash and a weapon were seized, along with three vehicles. “We’re sending a clear message to those who choose to deal drugs. It is unacceptable to the good people that choose to live, work and raise their families in our part of the world. This is just the start.”

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Doctor labeled ”candy man” – TheDay

Drug addicts called Dr. Scott W. Houghton “the candy man” because he readily wrote out prescriptions for the controlled substances they sought.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – CANADA
Addicts getting desperate – TheChronicleHerald

KENTVILLE — Members of the group fighting drug addiction in the Annapolis Valley are warning of a possible rash of crimes as increased pressure from police, doctors and the provincial prescription monitoring program reduces the supply of pills on the street.

ALCOHOL – USA
Substance-abuse program helps pregnant women deliver healthy babies – Daily Press

Fetal alcohol syndrome can include mental retardation, abnormal facial features and growth, memory, hearing vision, behavioral and central nervous system problems. There is no cure. The lifetime cost for one person with fetal alcohol syndrome in 2002 was an estimated $2 million.

ALCOHOL – USA
Keep Booze in Bars, Not at the Pit – Daily Lobo

Scott Owens, the guy who killed four teens near Santa Fe last summer was acquitted. His attorney never disputed Owens’ 0.16 blood-alcohol level — twice the presumptive legal intoxication limit. He only disputed reasonable certainty that Owens was solely responsible for the crash. The reasonable doubt was created by the teens’ erratic driving before the crash.

METHAMPHETAMINE – NEW ZEALAND
Fake tour group busted in New Zealand with $8 million of meth stashed in their shoes – New York Daily News

A group of Malaysians posing as tourists was busted in New Zealand after authorities found nearly two pounds of methamphetamine stashed in each of their shoes. Officials said the 10 traffickers were posing as an innocent tour group in order to try to …

HEROIN – USA
Portsmouth man sentenced for giving roommate fatal heroin dose – Daily Press

A Portsmouth man who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after giving heroin to his friend was sentenced to 4 years.

ECSTASY/COCAINE – USA
Authorities charge 27 people in cocaine, ecstasy ring in Somerset, Middlesex Counties – The Star-Ledger

Baillie, 28, was one of 27 people recently snared in a three-month investigation that unearthed a cocaine and ecstasy ring in Somerset and Middlesex Counties.

ALCOHOL/DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Summit reveals the devastation of one bad decision – NorthJersey.com

“I brought alcohol, weed and pills to the party,” he said. Dean and his friends got drunk and took the drugs he had brought. Dean passed out. When he woke up he found out that his best friend had died from an overdose.