1. CNN – Anti-drugs chief hits out at Winehouse, Moss. “The United Nations’ anti-drugs chief has denounced celebrities such as pop star Amy Winehouse and supermodel Kate Moss, saying that their alleged drug use was helping devastate West Africa.”
2. National Review of Medicine (Canada) – Addiction doc struggles with his demons. “The war on drugs has been an abject failure, concludes Dr Gabor Maté brusquely. For almost a decade he has witnessed the consequences of the government’s battle against illicit substances in his work with hardcore addicts in Canada’s most notorious skid row, Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.”
3. The Australian – Crackdown on NT drug dealers. “DRUG dealers who prey on remote communities will face tough new sentences under Northern Territory government plans to stop the “devastating” impact of illegal drugs on Aborigines. Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson said the tougher drug laws were aimed at making communities safer.”
4. Jamaica Gleaner – First-formers most vulnerable to getting hooked on drugs. “WHILE THE gender gap between drug abusers in the nation’s schools is narrowing, another worrying trend has emerged. The National Council for Drug Abuse (NCDA) reported in the National School Survey 2006 that the age for drug-use initiation is falling, with more than 39 per cent of children reporting that they consumed illegal drugs before they were 11 years old. There were also reports, although infrequently, of initiation starting at age five.”
5. CNN – Prescription drugs found in drinking water across U.S.. “A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.”
6. The Tampa Tribune – Drug Treatment Costs Far Less Than Prison. “There are now almost 7 million adults in our country’s criminal justice system, including over 2 million persons incarcerated in jails and prisons. Well over half of these individuals have significant substance abuse problems. The costs associated with building new jails and prisons to house those with drug addiction are enormous – $20,000 to $23,000 per year for each person incarcerated.”
7. Times Online – Drug dealers blamed for rising death toll in India’s hippy paradise
. “Since the 1960s, when the first hippies arrived with their tie-dye and LSD, Goa has been renowned for its pristine beaches, cosmopolitan atmosphere and plentiful supply of narcotics. But the suspected rape and murder of Scarlett Keeling, a 15-year-old British girl found dead last month on the famous Anjuna beach, has now shattered the Indian state’s reputation as a “hippy paradise”, free of worldly evils.”
8. ABC News (Australia) – Opium production surge ends ‘heroin drought’. “A joint investigation by PM and the Lateline program on ABC TV, has been given evidence that the purity of heroin is rising and prices are dropping. The so-called heroin drought of the early part of the decade, when it seemed as if amphetamine-based drugs had taken over, has ended. One reason is booming opium production in Afghanistan and the emergence of so-called ‘Afghan Brown’ heroin on Australian streets. Michael Edwards begins his report at the Emergency Room at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.”
9. Sydney Morning Herald – Heroin overdoses on the rise. “HEROIN is making a comeback on Australian streets, with health workers reporting more overdoses, methamphetamine users moving back to narcotics and an increasing presence of drugs from Afghanistan.”
