Marcus A. Hemmingway of Warren nearly choked to death Monday morning after swallowing a bag of crack cocaine, police said.Narcotics detective Melanie Gambill said it was the fourth time in the past two weeks that a suspect tried to swallow cocaine. She said swallowing of drugs is not a new trend, but it seems to be happening more often lately.‘‘We’re in a no-win situation,’’ Gambill said. ‘‘If we struggle with the suspect to try to get them to spit out the drugs, we get accused of police brutality. If we let them swallow it and they die, we get sued for wrongful death.’’Hemmingway, 31, 4145 Leavitt Road N.W., was admitted to Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital following his arrest about 3 a.m. Monday. He is set to be released today and will be arraigned in Warren Municipal Court on charges of felony drug possession, tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice, according to a warrant filed Monday by Warren police.According to a police report, Hemmingway was pulled over on Oak Street S.W. after he went through a stop sign at York Avenue.As officers were handcuffing Hemmingway, they noticed something in his mouth. He struggled with officers who attempted to get him to spit it out, the report states. Officers said they stunned him with a Taser on his collarbone, but it had no effect.Hemmingway started to spit out crack cocaine onto the back seat, but continued struggling with officers until he swallowed the bag in his mouth, the report states. Hemmingway went limp for a few seconds and was visibly struggling to breathe, so officers pulled him into a seated position and called for an ambulance.The plastic bag was stuck in Hemmingway’s throat and he was gasping for breath for about a minute before he was able to get it down, the report states. He spit more pieces of crack cocaine onto the ground while waiting for the ambulance, and hospital personnel said they recovered additional drugs, as well as the plastic sandwich bag, according to the report.Gambill said people buying a small hit of crack usually put it in their mouth to avoid detection during a pat-down. A $20 hit of crack is slightly bigger than a pea, she said.Gambill said it’s more dangerous for suspects to swallow larger quantities of cocaine for two reasons. First, they rip off the ends of the bag, which causes the cocaine to spill out and puts them at risk of an immediate overdose; secondly, the bag can get stuck and they can choke to death.Jamil R. Johnson, 24, died Oct. 2, 2004, following an eight-minute police chase in Warren. An autopsy report shows he died of acute cocaine intoxication and police think he swallowed the drug during the chase because cocaine was found in the car he was driving, according to reports.
‘‘Swallowing cocaine is the equivalent of putting a gun to your head,’’ Trumbull County forensic pathologist Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk said.
He said a person can die from swallowing crack cocaine if it’s a large enough dose, but even a small dose can kill someone under the right circumstances because swallowing it causes it to enter the bloodstream quickly.
Germaniuk said a high volume of cocaine in a person’s bloodstream leads to aggression and strength — what he called excited delirium — which results in officers having to use force to subdue a suspect. He said witnesses then claim police brutality, but the suspect could be in a cocaine psychosis and not even feel the effects of officers’ use of force.
‘‘The worst case scenario is the person dies from a drug overdose on the way to the jail, and the officers get accused in the death. Cocaine is a lethal drug, but there are a lot of factors that determine its lethality for each person,’’ Germaniuk said.
And of course, there’s always the possibility the suspect will choke to death on the plastic bag before the drugs can take effect.‘‘It’s a dangerous practice and I wouldn’t recommend it. Cocaine and plastic are not meant to be swallowed,’’ Germaniuk said.
“The criminal approach leads to death. Harm reduction leads to life,” said John Conroy, representing the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. Operators of North America's only supervised injection site for users of illegal drugs have gone to court to stay open.The facility saves lives, reduces harm to drug addicts and increases their motivation to seek treatment, lawyers argued in B.C. Supreme Court yesterday. As a result, they said, federal drug laws against possession of heroin and cocaine should not apply there. The controversial injection centre, known as Insite, has been operating under a special judicial exemption from prosecution, but that is scheduled to run out at the end of June. Site advocates fear it will not be renewed by the Tories because of ideological opposition to condoning the use of illegal drugs, even at a medically supervised safe injection site.“We are now heading into the beginning of May, and there is no indication from the government what it intends to do,” lawyer Monique Pongracic-Speier said.“The clinic has been operating in an atmosphere of continual uncertainty … with no chance for forward planning,” she told Mr. Justice Ian Pitfield. “There is an obvious and urgent need to decide the case now.”In Ottawa, as he announced $3-million in spending on anti-drug ads, federal Health Minister Tony Clement gave no hint when a decision would be made on Insite's fate.“That has to be made by the 30th of June. We're not making it today,” he told reporters.Ms. Pongracic-Speier was responding in court to the federal government's attempt to have the matter put over to a full trial, rather than have it decided during a 10-day hearing on the basis of expert affidavits and submissions.VANDU and the Portland Hotel Society, co-operator of the site, are asking for a declaration that it would be unconstitutional to apply federal drug laws against Insite users because the facility is a place for medical care, and therefore, under provincial jurisdiction.However, in a possible reflection of what the Conservatives may eventually decide, federal lawyer John Hunter questioned those who trumpet the site's benefits.“The harm-reduction philosophy is not universally endorsed by experts on addiction. It may well have harms,” Mr. Hunter said.He also played down the generally positive findings of an expert advisory committee appointed by Health Canada to assess the pros and cons of the site.According to the lawyer for the federal Attorney-General, the experts' report found no direct evidence Insite reduced drug overdose fatalities, curbed HIV infection or reduced public disorder.Mr. Hunter further noted that fewer than 5 per cent of all illegal drug injections in the Downtown Eastside occurred at the 12-stall site, where users inject heroin or cocaine in a supervised environment.“It's very difficult to assess the evidence just on paper,” he said.He said there was a need to dampen the enthusiasm of proponents for the site, which numerous peer-reviewed studies have found to lessen deaths from drug overdoses, reduce the risk of transmitting HIV and enhance the desire to seek detox programs without increasing crime in the area. Mr. Hunter urged Judge Pitfield to find that “these drugs are dangerous and harmful to persons who inject them, and that self-injection is not a medical use of those drugs, but a person's use of those drugs.”The judge said he would rule on the Attorney-General's call for a full trial after hearing evidence in the form of affidavits and other written material presented over the next two weeks. “I am mindful of the urgency of this case, with the exemption due to expire at the end of June.”Ms. Pongracic-Speier began by submitting an affidavit from a drug addict who said her regular contact with the staff at Insite had prompted her to begin methadone treatment after 13 years of using heroin.
The addict listed numerous benefits from having a safe site for injections, including the freedom to take one's time.“If you're in the alley, you're always looking over your shoulder for the police … At Insite, it's much less stressful. You can find a good vein and go slowly. You don't OD and your needles don't break.”
University academic Rowdy Yates, 57,vice-president of the European Federation of Therapeutic Communities was found to be double the limit. expert on drugs and alcohol addiction has been banned from the road after he was caught drink driving twice. Only four months before, officers had breath-tested him at twice the limit at his house, minutes after being tipped off about his dodgy driving.
He claimed he got home sober but then swigged whisky in his garden shed. But a sheriff refused to believe him afer hearing he would have had to down three large drams in minutes to give such a huge reading. Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: "It seems strange to be going out to your shed to have a glass of whisky. You would have had to drink a significant amount over a relatively short space of time." Yates has kept his job as senior research fellow at Stirling University's Scottish Addiction Studies Group despite his conviction. In the first incident, police went to his home near Auchterarder, Perthshire, after a taxi driver saw him driving erratically. He told officers he had a drink in the pub then drove home and "topped up" in his shed because his wife had a "problem" with his drinking. At the time he said he had only taken a swig from the bottle but a medical expert claimed it would take three very large whiskies to be double the limit. The academic admitted driving while nearly twice the limit in the second incident, in December. Police stopped him in his Vauxhall Frontera 4x4 close to his home because his registration plate was hidden by mud and smelled booze on his breath. Sheriff Foulis found Yates guilty of the first charge and warned him he would be banned for several years as a result of being convicted twice. He was banned from driving while he awaits sentence at Perth Sheriff Court. Sentence was deferred for community service and social background reports. Last night Yates refused to comment but a pal said: "Rowdy has had problems in the past and has admitted being a former drug addict. "The university are aware of that so it's unlikely there will be any implication at work." The university confirmed Yates was employed there but said: "We don't comment on individual staff members." Last month Yates criticised the Government for failing to speak to him in a consultation of Scotland's experts on their new drugs policy.
He said: "I hesitate to say that I'm incredulous that I've not been consulted because that makes me sound arrogant but the simple facts remain that I'm on their doorstep. "I'm vice-president of the European Federation of Therapeutic Communities, an ex-drug user who has provided a service for over 20 years and is regarded in other countries as an expert. Why haven't I been consulted?" Yates has worked in the drugs field for more than 35 years.
In 2000 he sparked fury when he claimed the ecstasy death of Leah Betts only gained widespread media attention because she was middle class and photogenic.
Before his job at Stirling University, he was the director and co-founder of the Lifeline Project - one of the UK's longest established drug services.
His published work includes a book on drugs, music and popular culture since the 60s. In 1994 he got the MBE for his work on the prevention of drug misuse.
Figures due to be presented to Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust board on Tuesday show that patient suicides have soared from four in 2004-5 to 35 in 2007-8.
The largest increase was among patients living in the community rather than hospital residents.So-called community suicides rose tenfold, from three in 2004-5 to 31 in 2007-8Inpatient suicides also showed a slight increase, from one in 2004-5 to four in 2007-8.The figures are revealed as part of list of what are known as Serious Untoward Incidents, which were recorded by the trust before and after the merger of the County Durham and Darlington Priority Services Trust and Tees and North-East Yorkshire Trust to form the bigger trust two years ago.While suicide rates among the general population in the UK reached a 30-year low in 2005, the North-East remains one of the worst blackspots.Some experts have blamed the region's high general suicide rate on a combination of unemployment and drugs.Health bosses in Teesside and County Durham have seen some improvements since introducing projects to try to reduce the death toll from suicides.A study in 2005 found that while two-thirds of suicides on Teesside have a psychiatric diagnosis of either schizophrenia or depression, only 28 per cent had been in contact with mental health services before their death.Board members will be told that measures are being taken to try to ensure that "timely investigations"can be made to head off potential suicides.
New checks have been carried out to ensure that nothing in the trust's hospitals can be used to help patients take their own lives.A spokeswoman for the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust said: "This is a serious issue. While we were pleased that the most recent figures were below the national average, we must continue to do all we can to prevent suicides. We are currently working with healthcare colleagues in the North-East to review all suicides and to see what lessons we can learn."
Juan dela Rosa—a specialist on mentally ill, drug addicted inmates—worked for the mammoth Prison Health Services, a controversial company, which runs jail medical programs in many states and holds a big money contract with the city. He worked in a program known as MICA at Rikers.
On Oct. 4 at 208th Street and Union Turnpike, dela Rosa and an accomplice sold $100 worth of cocaine in two plastic bags, and the powerful pain reliever Percocet, to an undercover police officer, according to a criminal complaint. But police didn't bust dela Rosa right away, perhaps, letting him operate some more while they observed his movements and contacts.Authorities finally reeled in Dela Rosa on Jan. 6 at the mouth of the vast prison island in East Elmhurst, and found him holding more drugs: 105 packets of heroin, labeled “Black Gold,” in his front jacket pocket, plus two baggies of cocaine inside his rear back pocket. He had six more packets of “Black Label” heroin in his wallet. Sources say investigators also found drugs in his office on Rikers, raising new questions about the island’s security procedures for employees.Dela Rosa, of East Elmhurst, was removed from his office at the Anna M. Kross Center, where he had close contact with the most vulnerable inmates in the prison population. Every inmate in the unit had to undergo a urinalysis. A person who answered Dela Rosa’s phone refused to speak with a reporter. A PHS official insisted she had to get Dela Rosa’s permission before discussing his arrest.It’s unclear why the police did not immediately take him off the streets following the initial arrest, given his sensitive job. It’s possible they were watching him to see if any other jails officials were involved.Dela Rosa’s arrests were greeted with the standard no-hear, no-see from the city Department of Health, Prison Health Services and the Department of Correction. Each agency ducked or referred questions about the case and the broader security issues that it raises. It seemed not to trouble anyone that someone with a security clearance in a sensitive job was able to slip drugs into Rikers with impunity.None of the agencies would say how much dela Rosa made, what he did, or whether other people have been caught up in the investigation.
Correction sources say, shockingly, it is actually extremely easy for an employee to smuggle drugs and contraband onto the island and into the facilities themselves. There is no frisk of employees on their arrival, though bags and parcels are checked. Vehicles are search only on departure.
“It’s unfortunate, but if someone has those bad intentions, it could be done and quite easily,” a Correction source said.
The 33-year-old reality-television star, whose real name is Stephen Glover, entered his plea in a Los Angeles courtroom and was ordered to return on May 13 for a hearing in the case.Steve-O, the stunt-performing star of the MTV series "Jackass" and its movie spinoffs, pleaded innocent on Wednesday to a cocaine possession charge stemming from his March arrest in Hollywood."I've been clean for 44 days," he told reporters outside court while signing autographs for people reporting for jury duty in unrelated cases.Glover is one of several pranksters who made a name for himself doing outrageous stunts on the "Jackass" show. The two "Jackass" movies that followed in 2002 and 2006 were surprise hits at box offices with combined ticket sales of more than $160 million worldwide.Glover was arrested on March 3 at his residence in Hollywood after someone complained that he had vandalized a neighbor's property.He was reportedly hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation after his arrest and blogged about the experience on his Web site (https://www.steveo.com) in a post headlined: "You Should All Know I'm In The Looney Bin."The British-born performer has a long history of legal woes, some related to his outlandish on-stage antics.Authorities in Louisiana brought obscenity and assault charges against him in 2002 after a nightclub performance in which Glover stapled his scrotum to his thigh in a stunt he called "The Butterfly."
Andrea Townsend, 45, and Gemma Evans, 25, both of Pwll, Llanelli, are denying the manslaughter through gross negligence of Carly Townsend.The 16-year-old, who is Townsend’s daughter and Gemma Evans’ sister, died of heroin poisoning at her mother’s home in Bassett Terrace, Pwll, last May.The prosecution case is that Townsend and Evans were grossly negligent in failing to summon an ambulance for Carly when she collapsed after injecting heroin.Andrea Townsend, under cross- examination in the witness box, told the court this week that 20 of her friends had died due to heroin overdoses. She told the court an ambulance was not summoned for Carly after she collapsed because it was felt she would “sleep it off”.
The jury has heard a drug dealer from Llanelli, Andrew Taylor, was jailed for two years for supplying Carly with heroin.Yesterday, the court heard closing speeches in the case.Ian Murphy QC, defending, said, “Andrew Taylor was charged with an unlawful act which he pleaded guilty to, supplying heroin.
“But it’s Carly’s mother and sister who’ve been singled out for this very serious charge because the prosecution say they owed her a duty of care...that’s the trigger for this prosecution.”Paul Thomas QC, prosecuting, said, “No-one wanted Carly to die but in failing to act in her best interests when they knew, or ought to have known, she was at risk of dying, they are, the prosecution say, each guilty of manslaughter.”
They've suffered little, matured little and are not well-educated," said Modesto Salgado, who runs one of Spain's main drug rehab programs. "They live for the moment, to enjoy."
Salgado says Spain's predominant drug problem in the '80s and early '90s was heroin. Today, cocaine is by far the drug of choice: Nearly two-thirds of the patients in the 26 centers managed by his program, Proyecto Hombre, are cocaine abusers. Proyecto Hombre started the coke program only five years ago; it hadn't seemed necessary before that, Salgado said.
At his rehab center in Guadalajara, a bedroom community 35 miles northeast of Madrid, patients are in yearlong residential programs or larger outpatient regimens. Most are in their late 20s and are middle- or upper-class professionals.
On a recent evening, the mostly male clients were standing in front of the new brick building, having a smoke. Their mothers and other relatives were inside attending a special meeting for families; some emerged tearful.Rodriguez, the business student, was there. A tall, strapping man with good looks and an easy smile, Rodriguez said the danger of cocaine is that it sneaks up on you. And, compared with heroin, it's still socially acceptable and, in the minds of many, associated with glamour and success. Plus, it's cheap -- a line costs about as much as two cups of coffee."You think you can live normally, but you don't see what it does to your health, over time," said Rodriguez, who added that he has kicked a 10-year habit. "I couldn't finish anything I started. My parents didn't know where I was or what I was doing. The tragedy is the core of my family life was destroyed."
The overwhelming majority of cocaine users in Spain, and of those who seek rehab, are men, Salgado and other officials said. Women still face more of a stigma than do men when it comes to using drugs and turning to treatment, said Antonio Cuadrado, a therapist at Proyecto Hombre.Around dawn on a Sunday, packs of young people are huddled at stoplights, or ambling down Paseo del Prado.Despite the hour, the day isn't just beginning for them. Like thousands of young Spaniards, they are ending a long night of hard-core partying that very likely included the unbridled snorting of cocaine.At crowded clubs and throbbing bars along Madrid's Gran Via, and on side streets radiating from the Puerta del Sol, the city's heart, a gram of coke is casually sold for 50 euros -- about $79 -- and quickly consumed in restrooms or nearby parked cars."It's easier to get cocaine than to get a library card," said Gustavo Rodriguez, a 31-year-old business student, recalling his nocturnal carousing before he went into rehab.
Spain has become the top consumer of cocaine in continental Europe, according to a recent European Union study on drug use. By a United Nations count, 3% of Spain's adult population consumes cocaine; that's a bigger percentage than the erstwhile leader, the United States, at 2.3%.Among younger age groups, the number of Spanish users has doubled, even quadrupled, during the last decade, the statistics indicate.
Part of the reason for the dramatic increase is that Spain is the primary transit point for cocaine smuggled into Europe from Latin America. In cargo ships and on airplanes, hidden in machine parts, frozen octopus or just about anything else, tons of cocaine arrive at Spanish and Portuguese ports every month.And you can't be a transit point forever without eventually sampling the goods.
It was a similar story a couple of decades ago for the world's top producing countries, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia; for years they boasted of being free of drug addiction in their own populations -- they merely grew and processed the stuff and shipped it onward. But it didn't stay that way.
In Spain, the rise in consumption is also linked to a swift transition in Spanish society. In barely one generation, this nation of 40 million moved from a long, repressive military dictatorship to a dynamic, youthful democracy with (until recently) a vibrant economy.With Spaniards' newfound freedom came a cultural reawakening and fast-paced change, an era called La Movida that also gave way to permissiveness and a breakdown in traditions. And though some of the hedonism of the '80s has evolved into something a little more sophisticated, a fresh crop of young Spaniards won't let go of a firmly held compulsion for frenzied celebration of the weekend."It's a spoiled generation. Police and some government officials question the ranking of Spain as Europe's top consumer. Authorities say they think they are getting a handle on the problem, and the Health Ministry says consumption among the young fell last year for the first time.But no one disputes the prevalence of the drug and the fact that cocaine being shipped through Spain is leaving a trail of dust and dope.Traffickers, peddlers and other purveyors of the powder "are finding a very good market here," said Jose Luis Conde Velazquez, chief of the drugs and organized crime police unit.Yet the government is still figuring out the best way to fight cocaine. Carmen Moya Garcia, an epidemiologist who heads the Health Ministry's National Plan on Drugs, said attention that has been focused on the interdiction of traffickers is finally shifting to include consumption.A four-year action plan launched last year by the government attempts to break the glorifying myths surrounding cocaine with TV and Web campaigns. And nightclubs, bars and other establishments of leisure are being asked to cooperate with authorities in prohibiting drug use on their premises, by posting signs and keeping bathrooms clear.
Moya said authorities have been able to argue to the clubs, with some success, that cooperation won't hurt business.
Last summer, in party mecca Ibiza, the government sent a message by shutting down three clubs on the Mediterranean island with such names as Amnesia for a month or more, at the height of the season, as punishment for what police said was flaunting of drugs.
Demand for rehab treatment has soared the way consumption has, and programs such as Proyecto Hombre are at capacity. The experts in those places say the crisis is a deeper phenomenon of questioned ideals and changing values, something that cannot be resolved merely by cracking down on clubs and rounding up small-time pushers, known here in slang as camellos.
"Society has gone from being very rigid to too permissive," said Cuadrado, the therapist. Cocaine abuse "is going to grow," he said. "We are only just beginning to treat this."
Toronto police have issued a warning about a potentially deadly batch of heroin circulating the streets after eight people were admitted to one hospital for severe overdoses in less than two weeks. Investigators say that Humber River Regional Hospital in north-central Toronto has seen eight people near-death from heroin overdoses since March. 26. The side-effects exhibited by the eight patients — some of which still remain in hospital — were more severe than those regularly linked with using the illegal drug. None of the patients have been charged, police said.
Toxicology reports were ordered over the weekend to determine if the heroin in these cases are from the same batch and whether the drug was laced with another substance.
TWO Asian expatriates have been sentenced to six months imprisonment following their conviction of possessing and using marijuana.
The criminal court of first instance, however, cleared one of them of the charge of trading in drugs “for lack of evidence”.
A medical test had proved that both the accused were drug addicts.
A total of 2.24gm of marijuana was seized from them but the court found no proof that it was used for trade purposes.
The court imposed a fine of QR10,000 against the two Sri Lankan convicts. Both of them have been in jail for nine months and so it is expected that they would be freed soon, a court source said.
According to the Qatari law, fines could be substituted according to the equation of QR100 for one day of imprisonment with a maximum of six months. In this case, a QR10,000 fine means 100 days of imprisonment.
Police had received information that the first accused, a 31-year-old Sri Lankan watchman in a private company, traded in the drug and an agent was asked to pretend that he was interested in purchasing marijuana for QR200.
Though the deal took place near a public telephone in the Mansoura area, police could not arrest the man as he fled the scene in a taxi.
However, he was arrested the next day, July 6, 2007, with the help of the same police agent.
The accused had in his pocket the QR50 banknote that he had received from the police agent. The bill was photographed earlier by the police.
The second accused, a 24-year-old Sri Lankan working as a cleaner, was caught in a police raid at his accommodation in Doha Jadeed following information provided by the first accused.
Lawyer, Abdul Hadi al-Marri, told Gulf Times that his clients would not appeal the verdict.
New research in monkeys suggests the feasibility of treating cocaine addiction with a "replacement" drug that mimics the effects of cocaine but has less potential for abuse -- similar to the way nicotine and heroin addictions are treated.Reporting at the annual meeting of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in San Diego, Calif., scientists from Wake Forest University School of Medicine said treating monkeys with amphetamine significantly reduced their self-administration of cocaine for up to a month."This suggests the possibility of developing an amphetamine-like drug for treating cocaine addiction," said Paul Czoty, Ph.D., lead author and assistant professor of physiology and pharmacology. "The research also demonstrates the usefulness for conducting studies in monkeys to test potential treatments."Czoty said the quest to develop a treatment for cocaine addiction has been ongoing for decades with little success. "While we have medications for heroin and tobacco abuse, there is no FDA-approved treatment for cocaine," he said.With both heroin and tobacco, there are treatments to replace the addictive drug with a drug that has similar effects on the body, but with less potential for abuse."With this strategy in mind, clinical researchers have turned to drugs currently available, including amphetamines," said Czoty. "While it's unlikely that amphetamine itself will turn out to be the best treatment, these drugs allow us to prove the concept of using a replacement drug to combat cocaine addiction."
Amphetamines have been used in clinical studies with some success, said Czoty. His research in monkeys may help identify the best dose and schedule for administering a replacement drug -- as well as evaluate potential treatment candidates and estimate potential side effects.For the study, a monkey was taught to press levers multiple times to obtain food or a cocaine injection. With each injection, the number of required lever presses increased so that the animal had to work harder for the cocaine."This procedure measures the strength of the reinforcing effects of drugs," said Czoty. "Each injection requires more and more work and eventually it gets to the point where it's not worth it to the monkey because more than 1,000 presses are required."Access to cocaine was then removed and the monkey was treated intravenously with an amphetamine 24 hours per day. When re-exposed to cocaine one week later, a dramatic decrease in responding for cocaine was observed. They tested three different doses of amphetamine and found that a moderate dose was most effective. Although the treatment also decreased lever-pressing for food--which could be predictive of side effects in humans -- this effect disappeared within one week while the effect on responding for cocaine injections persisted for up to one month.
"This was a very positive finding -- exactly what we had hoped to see," said Czoty. "Cocaine use was significantly reduced -- by about 60 percent."
The researchers are currently repeating the study in additional animals. They hope it could eventually lead to identifying a slightly different drug that will obtain the same results as amphetamines.
Czoty said the study is significant because it and other similar studies in monkeys duplicate what has been found in small studies in humans, which suggests that the animal model can be used to test other treatments. The researchers, for example, plan to test topiramate (Topamax®), an anti-convulsant drug that is sometimes used to treat epilepsy and may be effective in treating alcoholism.
"We have found a model we can use to test new drugs and have an idea of what positive or negative effects would look like," said Czoty.
The research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and was part of Wake Forest's Center for the Neurobiological Investigation of Drug Abuse. Co-researchers were graduate student Jenn Martelle, and Professor Mike Nader, Ph.D., both in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology.
rapper Beanie Sigel back in jail for another violation. This time he gave up somebody else's pee for his court ordered drug test. Beans has dropped dirty in the past, testing positive for Xanax and Percocet more than five times. He was already in a half-way house and had recently gotten his probation extended for leaving Philadelphia without permission
Bobby Brown is writing a book. In it he claims Whitney Houston only married him to deflect the lesbian rumors about her and her personal assistant, Robyn Crawford. Bobby writes, "I think we got married for all the wrong reasons. Now, I realize Whitney had a different agenda than I did when we got married. I believe her agenda was to clean up her image, while mine was to be loved and have children. In Whitney's situation, the only solution was to get married and have kids. That would kill all speculation, whether it was true or not. In the short, I think I got caught up in the politics and ended up marrying one of the biggest stars in the world." He also says it was Whitney who introduced him to cocaine. In the book he claims, "I never used cocaine until after I met Whitney. Before then, I had experimented with other drugs, but marijuana was my drug of choice. At one point in my life, I used drugs uncontrollably. I was using everything I could get my hands on, from cocaine to heroin, weed and cooked cocaine." Bobby also dishes on Karrine "Superhead" Steffans. "Yes, I've slept with her," he confesses. "Yes, I've spent several nights at her house. But she was only good for what her nickname stood for."
"Bobby Brown: The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But" comes out next month.
Paul Brown: ’Cocaine’s been big in Cumbria for about five years’ drug counsellors in Carlisle have warned that growing numbers of young professionals are coming to them with cocaine addictions.Self-employed men in their twenties are seen as an area of concern because many take home good pay and splash out on increasing amounts of the drug at weekends.The problem is compounded with dealers dropping the price, increasing its availability. Cumbria police say cocaine has a current street value of around £40 a gram.No official figures have yet been recorded but the Cumbria Alcohol and Drug Advisory Service (Cadas) has noticed a small yet increasing number of calls from people making inquiries about what help they can get.Managers raised the issue with Chief Constable Craig Mackey this week when he visited the charity’s new offices in West Tower Street.Cadas counsellor Helen Gregory said: “Cocaine is one of the challenges for us in going forward. The clientele we get is different with cocaine compared to other drugs. It’s men in their twenties who are self-employed in business, and at weekends they will binge on cocaine.“Because they are self-employed they don’t have a boss to tell them off on a Monday morning when they get back to work.”The charity’s director Paul Brown said: “Cocaine has been big in Cumbria for about five years but the nature of it is that people enjoy it for quite a lot of the time and think they can handle what they are doing.
“But then they spend more and more money on it and the habit starts taking hold.”
He added: “Because these people are spending more time on the up and up, the world seems dull and they can’t cope with that.
“For us, it is just starting to come through with people coming forward, but it’s the tip of the iceberg.”Mr Brown said cocaine was commonly seen as a party drug. He added: “Also with so many celebrities seen to be taking it, it is seen as a drug that can bring you success. People think it is a Hollywood drug.”
Cadas has moved into a new base in West Tower Street from offices nearby in Fisher Street. An official opening is planned later this year.
Bon Jovi guitarist, Richie Sambora, was arrested Tuesday night by Laguna Beach, California, police on suspicion of DUI.Sambora recently checked himself into rehab due to depression and alcoholism after his divorce from Heather Locklear and the death of his father.
Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora has been arrested for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol.The 48-year-old guitarist was arrested just before 11 p.m. Tuesday after an officer noticed his black Hummer weaving in traffic lanes, said Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jason Kravetz.Sambora was given field sobriety tests and arrested without incident. He was booked at the Laguna Beach jail and released at 4 a.m., Kravetz said Wednesday.“He was very cooperative with all the staff,” Kravetz said.A woman and two girls were passengers in the car, said Kravetz, who declined to release their names. But Celebrity Web site TMZ.com reports that a police source said Sambora’s 10-year-old daughter with ex-wife Heather Locklear, Ava, was in the car with him. Sambora, who had two stints in rehab last year, was given notice to appear in court May 7 on one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence, Kravetz said.Ken Sunshine, a spokesman for Bon Jovi, had no comment.
Sambora is a founding member of Bon Jovi. The band’s last album, “Lost Highway,” was released in 2007.
Elvis Presley's ex-wife Priscilla is reportedly undergoing corrective surgery for a botched cosmetic procedure she had done in 2003.The socialite and actress, who is among the celebrities taking part in the current season of US reality TV show 'Dancing With The Stars', was a client of Dr Daniel Serrano, who was jailed for injecting industrial, low-grade silicone into women's faces, reports TMZ.com.
Serrano claimed his injections worked better than Botox, but the non-approved drug he allegedly smuggled into America from Argentina left some clients with holes in their faces and paralysis.It is also reported that Dr Serrano was working without a license.Serrano was indicted for smuggling drugs, and the conspiracy and use of unapproved drugs, and convicted.He was released last week and is currently being investigated by federal immigration officials, and could be deported.
Steve-O of "Jackass" fame has been charged with felony possession of cocaine, according to court documents posted on celebrity news site TMZ.com.
The documents show that Steve-O, whose real name is Stephen Glover, was charged Monday. A message left for his manager, Ben Feigin, wasn’t immediately returned late Thursday.The 33-year-old co-star of MTV’s irreverent stunt show was arrested March 3 at his Hollywood home for investigation of vandalism and possession of a controlled substance.Glover allegedly had a small quantity of drugs on him, police said at the time.
"Steve started flipping out. He told doctors he wanted to hurt himself badly. He wanted to break every bone in his body one by one."
Jackass star Steve-O is being held on an extended mental hold at Cedars-Sinai Medican Center after threatening to kill himself. Friends and family say Stevie suffers from an untreated bi-polar disorder that he self-medicates with cocaine, causing his erratic behavior. In fact, Steve was charged Thursday with felony cocaine possession stemming from his March 3 bust following a run-in with a fellow tenant in his Hollywood apartment building.
His behavior worsened over the weekend when he e-mailed suicide notes to several friends, blaming a recent break-up. A friend and his bodyguard took him to the hospital around 2pm on Sunday, where he made a major scene.
Steve-O has been hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and has also been charged by the L.A. County District Attorney with felony possession of cocaine. First Steve-O was admitted to Thalians Mental Health Center last Sunday. Now he is in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after threatening to harm himself. A source said:
San Diego clergyman found dead inside his rented Tijuana apartment Wednesday had marijuana in his system in addition to heroin, the Baja California Attorney General's Office said Friday night.
Dr. Maria Guadalupe Licea, who oversees investigations in Tijuana, said an autopsy had determined that the Rev. Charles Lanier died of a heroin overdose that caused the blockage of a pulmonary artery, with heart failure listed as a secondary cause. Lanier had an enlarged heart, according to the autopsy.
Authorities believe the drugs were self-administered. A syringe was found near Lanier's body. Police were called to his third-floor apartment near the border after neighbors saw his body through his partially open apartment door.
Lanier was pastor of Unity Fellowship Church in City Heights. His family reported him missing Feb. 18, and his black CTS Cadillac was found Feb. 22 in a San Ysidro parking lot.
In the United Kingdom its now cheaper to buy a deal of ecstasy than it is to buy a bottle of mineral water, a pint of beer, or a single litre of petrol.What the hell do the government expect to do about reducing drug user numbers apart from threatening to lock more offenders up and stop social security payments?Thats right. Nothing! Punters in Doncaster are paying just £1 for ecstasy - making the drugs cheaper than a bottle of coke.The Free Press today reveals shock figures which show how substances, including hard drugs such as heroin, can be snapped up for only a few pounds. Health bosses have said the prices of drugs in Doncaster are among the cheapest in the country.Fill your boots because drugs have never been cheaper or more readily available.
Cecil Russouw was meant to be fishing with his son James this morning, but the planned father-and-son outing never happened.The charred body of James Russouw, 24, of Box Hill was found late on Friday in a burnt-out car behind a Melbourne sports ground where, according to police, he had often gone to deal small amounts of marijuana. The body was burnt beyond recognition, but Mr Russouw's father today said he had bought the dark blue 1997 Jeep Cherokee for his son and "it could only be James". Blood and accelerant were found next to the car behind an oval at the East Burwood Reserve. Investigators have established that Mr Russouw left his brother's home in Box Hill about 10.30pm on Friday and headed for a friend's place in Vermont South. He spoke to a friend on the phone about 10.45pm to get directions, but he never arrived. Police and firefighters discovered Mr Russouw's body on the front seat of the burnt-out Jeep Cherokee after concerned residents near the reserve reported that a car was on fire about 11.15pm.
Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles of the homicide squad said investigators had established Mr Russouw frequented the reserve to deal marijuana. "Although Victoria Police had no intelligence or evidence that he was involved in any criminal activity, as a result of speaking with some close friends, it's apparent that he was a low-level drug dealer selling amounts of marijuana and we believe that parking place was an area that he went to do drug dealings," he told reporters in Melbourne today.
Mr Russouw's family was not aware he dealt drugs, he said. An autopsy yesterday confirmed Mr Russouw had died of multiple stab wounds.
Mr Russouw's father said James had an older brother and a younger sister who was on her way back to Australia from Canada. He said he last spoke to his son on Friday evening, when they had "a normal chat about footy and fishing".
"We were meant to go fishing this morning, together."
Det Snr Sgt Iddles appealed to anyone who had seen the dark blue 1997 Jeep Cherokee with mag wheels travelling east along the Burwood Highway about 10.30pm on Friday to contact police. He also appealed to people who had been in contact with Mr Russouw on Friday to come forward.
French police officer caught stealing from a dead road crash victim was jailed Monday for growing and selling cannabis, violence and theft.Prosecutors at the court in Draguignan, southeastern France, said Eric Desvaux had "tarnished the reputation of a great state body." He was sentenced to nine months in jail, with three months suspended.The 39-year-old, a former European swimming champion, was arrested in May after his girlfriend accused him of stealing a camera from the body of a man who died in a road crash. When police officers searched his home they found the stolen camera -- and a cannabis plantation.
"tarnished the reputation of a great state body" - I'll say he has..In court, Desvaux did not deny he committed the crimes, but said he had suffered from relationship problems.
Greek Orthodox nunnery was turned into a marijuana plantation by two men posing as gardeners for elderly nuns, police said on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip-off, officers raided the nunnery in the village of Filiro, near the northern port city of Thessaloniki, and found more than 30 large cannabis plants in the enclosed garden."Two unknown men had told the two elderly nuns in the nunnery they would like to help them with the garden and then proceeded to plant the cannabis," a police official told Reuters.
"The nuns did not know what they were and assumed they were large decorative plants," he said.Police did not arrest the nuns and have launched a hunt for the culprits.
Letting celebrities get away with drug crimes is sending out the wrong message to 'impressionable' young people, a UN report warned Wednesday.The United Nations drug control agency has for the first time highlighted the damaging influence drug-using celebrities -- such as Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty and Kate Moss in Britain -- have on fans.Without specifically naming anyone, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report that leniency by police and courts towards famous people undermines the criminal justice system."There should not be any difference between a celebrity who is breaking the law and non-celebrities," said INCB member Professor Hamid Ghodse. "Not only does it give the wrong messages to young people, who are often quite impressionable, but the wider public become cynical about the responses to drug offenders."The UN agency urged governments to pay more attention to high profile drug abuse cases, saying the glamourisation of drug abuse is especially relevant for young people who are "often most vulnerable" to the cult of celebrity.The warning comes amid recent highly publicised examples of British celebrities getting caught with drugs.Musician Pete Doherty has avoided prison for drug offences on numerous occasions, while troubled soul singer Amy Winehouse was caught on tape smoking crack cocaine in January.And in 2005, supermodel Kate Moss was filmed snorting cocaine, earning her the nickname 'cocaine Kate'. Moss not only escaped prosecution, but even saw her career boosted by the incident.While not naming any names, Ghodse said: "A number of people have got a lenient response in the UK and around the world."Britain is one of the countries with the highest cocaine use in the European Union, along with Italy and Spain, the UN report says.
Home Office figures have shown that cocaine use in England and Wales rose from 2.0 percent to 2.4 percent in 2005/06 for 15- to 64-year-olds.
Duncan Haldane, now 17, from Possilpark, Glasgow admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin on 5, April 2007.The court heard Haldane had the drug stuffed down his trouser leg when police stopped a car in which he was a front seat passenger.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.Haldane admitted being concerned in the supply of the drug at the Travel Inn, Bowtree Services, near Kincardine Bridge and in London Road, Glasgow.Police targeted the car after they received information drugs were being couriered from the Fife area to Glasgow.
They followed the car from near the Kincardine Bridge to the city where it was stopped.Police found a supermarket carrier bag containing almost a kilo of heroin in Haldane's trouser leg. http://news.bbc.co.uk
The hip-hop star claimed he used to smoke the illegal drug with the 'Die Hard 4.0' actor during an interview on 'The Ramiro and Pebbles Morning Show' on Boston's JAM'N 94.5 FM radio station yesterday (05.03.08).
When questioned about the most famous celebrity he has ever got high with, Rick laughed: "Bruce Willis".
He added: "He doesn't talk too much when he's high - he'll just look at you, you know, 'I'm really smoking with this dude'. "You know, I had to introduce him to that African thing, I got him some African."In a recent interview, the hip-hop star also revealed: "I'm a weed fanatic. I've smoked blunts with some of the biggest people in the world. To me, that's my hobby. To be able to say I smoked blunts with Snoop Dogg, I've smoked blunts with Bruce Willis, I've smoked a blunt with Too Short. I'm what you call a Cannabis Cup Champion!"While Rick didn't reveal when he met up with Bruce, this isn't the actor's first encounter with the illegal substance.
He revealed recently: "Living in Manhattan was the most irresponsible, carefree time of my life. I had a great time going wild. I drank too much. I also smoked weed and tried various drugs.
"I only liked pot, though. I smoked a lot of pot and when I wasn't acting, I was out dancing every night. I had a blast and I could stretch $20 over three days - I would live off pizza and beer."
http://www.thecheers.org
A BBC journalist has been caught trying to board a plane to London with cannabis in his suitcase.Jonny Dymond, who is based in Brussels, was arrested and fined - but won't lose his job.The 38-year-old was detained by transport police at Vilnius Airport, in Lithuania, after two grams of the drug was found in his bag.
Dymond, a radio and TV news reporter, is understood to have been on holiday alone in Lithuania. He was checking in for a flight to London on Sunday, when he was arrested.
At a court hearing in the capital Vilnius, on Tuesday he pleaded guilty to carrying the drug and was fined £230 for possession.He told the court he bought it in a nightclub on Saturday night when he was drunk.Back at his hotel, the cannabis was accidentally packed into his belongings before police found it, he added. Dymond is expected to appear before BBC bosses to explain his actions. But a spokesman played down his arrest"We are aware of the incident, which happened in his own time. He recognises that he has been foolish."A BBC insider said it was not a sackable offence. "It's likely that the BBC will speak to him about this but it probably won't go any further."It was a very small amount and was clearly only for personal use. It was not a bigger crime than that."Dymond is married to the journalist Hettie Judah and has a seven-year-old son.A Durham University graduate, he has worked as a BBC Europe correspondent since 2005. Before that, he was the BBC's Istanbul correspondent for three years.Dymond is best known for his coverage-of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 when he was Washington correspondent.He joined the BBC in 1994 as a researcher on political programmes. He has also worked as a producer on Newsnight.
A Lithuanian police spokesman said Dymond may face restrictions on reporting from the country."There are no visa requirements between Great Britain and Lithuania, so it will not be a problem to come back to Lithuania. Of course, as a journalist, he may not be given a permission to visit the Lithuanian president's residence or parliament."
A new study has found that lithium carbonate may help long-term cannabis users quit the drug.The preliminary study showed short-term use of lithium significantly reduced depression, anxiety and other cannabis withdrawal symptoms.
Chief investigator Dr Adam Winstock says while a larger trial will be needed to confirm the findings, the early results are promising.
"There are a significant proportion of heavy cannabis users who do experience withdrawal," he said."At least in the very small, uncontrolled trial, lithium may have the potential to alleviate the discomfort associated with that withdrawal and that's important because it actually might help people quit."
Lithium carbonate has been previously been shown to be help in the treatment of symptoms from cannabis withdrawal.Dr Winstock says if a follow-up trial confirms the results, it will be one of the first studies to show medication can be used to help treat the symptoms of cannabis withdrawal."We hope this preliminary work will lead to a larger scale, multi-site, placebo-controlled study next year," he said."Given that cannabis is the most widely-used illicit drug in the world - and about one in 10 users become dependent on it - the possibility of finding an effective treatment to manage withdrawal is exciting."Twenty regular cannabis users took part in the seven-day program, which involved taking a dose of lithium carbonate daily.Of those participants, 29 per cent did not use marijuana at all in that time.
John Leaver, and wife Brenda, said he was now wary about who he lets his property out to after discovering the indoor cannabis crop
When buy-to-let landlord John Leaver went to do a spot of maintenance at one of his properties, he expected the garden to be a bit untidy.
But it was the inside of the three-bedroom detached house that was overgrown and Mr Leaver, 64, discovered his retirement investment had been turned into a cannabis factory.The sitting room and two of the bedrooms were carpeted with hundreds of plants with a street value of £100,000, while the rest of the property was being used to store tons of fertiliser.The kitchen had been turned into a bedroom and living space for the "gardener", who fled when the landlord arrived.
There were 50 huge ultra violet lights in the rooms, each with its own newly-fitted power socket.
It is estimated they were using £100 worth of electricity each day although the meter had been bypassed to avoid payment by drawing power straight from the mains supply.The house had been totally cleared of furniture and fittings and Mr Leaver found all his possessions crammed into the garage.Police filled six vans with the plants and equipment used in the industrial-scale cannabis growing operation.
Yesterday they said inquiries were continuing and they had yet to make any arrests.
Mr Leaver, a former mechanical engineer, said that students had previously rented the £180,000 house in Caerleon, South Wales. Then, in early December, a Chinese couple said it was ideal for their purposes."We agreed a rent of £650 a month. The rent was paid into my bank account on time and there were no reports of any problems."Last Tuesday, Mr Leaver arrived to find the front-door lock had been changed, and returned with a ladder."I opened a skylight and got inside. It was pitch black."There was a young Chinese-looking guy standing right in front of me on the landing. I was frightened, and he looked petrified."As the man escaped, Mr Leaver called police who forced the front door and found the huge cannabis haul.Mr Leaver, who owns three other rented-out properties, added: "It has made me wary of the sort of tenant I will rent my houses out to."
They're pleading now, asking for nothing more than a simple phone call.
Please, they ask, let them know you're OK. Let them hear you're really clean and sober. His closest friends and teammates don't care about Scott Spiezio the baseball player. They care about Scott Spiezio the man.The one they believe is killing himself in front of their very eyes."It's so tough watching one of your friends fall apart," says San Diego Padres center fielder Jim Edmonds, a teammate of Spiezio's the last two years with the St. Louis Cardinals — the team Spiezio left for 36 days late last summer to enter a rehabilitation program for substance abuse.
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