1. Canada.com – Society pays a high price for the bad choices of a few. “I’m not much impressed with all the crowing and cackling in the national barnyard over the court judgment relating to Insite. I think it lacks considerable insight. Now before people start cancelling subscriptions to this newspaper I want to remind them that my opinion isn’t shared by its esteemed editorial board. So don’t shoot, please, that messenger.”
2. Etalaat – Drug Abuse in the Valley. “There are day to day changes in the society and so are the norms. Sometimes these changes abolish the past to the extent that the future generations do not believe about its real historical perspective as they cannot remember the past. These changes are going on and our Kashmiri society is turning into big spiral of social evils now and one of such social evils is the drug abuse.”
3. Vladivostok Times (Russia) – Month of Drug Addiction Prophylaxis Started in Primorye. “A month of prophylaxis of drug addiction, dedicated to the international Day of struggle with drug addiction, which is traditionally celebrated on June 26, started in Primorye. As the press-service of the Primorsky Territory Administration reported to RIA PrimaMedia, the whole complex of preventive activities is planned. These are visits of specialists to summer camps, round tables and conferences in children’s hospitals, a series of information activities, anti-drug actions in universities and even a public prayer.”
4. Globe and Mail (Canada) – Shooting up is a Charter right? “Let me get this straight. Last week, a B.C. judge ruled that Vancouver’s safe-injection site – where drug addicts can shoot up under the watchful eye of government health workers – is legal. The federal government, he said, has no right to end the temporary exemption that allows the site to operate. So far, so good, I guess. But Mr. Justice Ian Pitfield did a whole lot more than that. He created a constitutional right for addicts to shoot up. First, he defined the program as health care – on the grounds that addicts have a disease, and need their fix, just as diabetics need theirs. He went on to rule that denial of health care is a violation of Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which says: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”
5. ABC Online – Evidence of cannabis damage. “ELEANOR HALL: Drug addiction experts say research on cannabis published today should be taken as a warning to users about the dangers of the drug. The Australian study which is published in a leading psychiatry journal, has found the first evidence of physical brain damage in heavy long-term users. The researchers discovered that the parts of the brain affecting memory and emotion shrank in heavy users and that smoking cannabis can be as bad for your brain as a head injury. ”
6. Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt) – Opium of the masses. “While the current occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq look to be part of an ambitious plan of American domination of the Muslim world, both are proving to be a much greater problem than their shadowy planners supposed. And whatever conspiracy jigsaw puzzle Afghanistan forms a key piece in, it is certainly not one made in Russia, despite current attempts by the United States to paint Russia, formerly enemy number one, as enemy number two, after the current enemy du jour — Islam.”
7. The Telegraph (UK) – Amy Winehouse denies Israel drug rehab plans. “The artist, who was recently photographed apparently smoking crack cocaine, was allegedly planning to undergo a £6,400 operation to kick her well-documented habit. According to the Jewish Chronicle, the treatment was to take place at the Barzilai Medical Centre following a request from the 24-year-old singer’s representatives.”
8. The Daily Mail (UK) – While we revere rock stars, models and comedians who glamorise drug addiction, people like Ben will continue to die. “A father-of-two is murdered when he tries to stop a pair of drug addicts stealing his car radio; a boy is stabbed to death in a London street by a gang calling themselves MDP (which stands for ‘Money, Drugs, Power’); a popular, talented television presenter kills himself when his actress girlfriend dies after a drug-fuelled twosome; and we watch bemused as both Amy Winehouse and Peaches Geldof are questioned (although not charged) by police about possible drug offences.”
9. The Washington Post – Genes May Play Role in Quitting Smoking. “Your ability to kick the smoking habit may have a lot to do with your genetic make-up, a new study finds. Researchers have found gene patterns that influence a smoker’s response to specific smoking-cessation treatments. The researchers identified several genetic variations that appear to indicate the likelihood of success or failure with nicotine replacement therapy and the smoking-cessation drug bupropion (Zyban).”