Steven Page to face drug charges today in New York court

19:55 Fayetteville 0 Comments

News Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page to face drug charges today in New York court FAYETTEVILLE, N.Y. - Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page is set to appear in a New York state court Tuesday to face drug possession charges laid after his July arrest in upstate New York. The 38-year-old singer, his 27-year-old girlfriend Christine Benedicto and her 25-year-old roommate Stephanie Ford were all charged in July after police found cocaine at a Fayetteville apartment.

Asian elephant spent three years in rehab for heroin addiction in southwest China

03:01 wild animal protection centre in the southern Hainan Island. 0 Comments

Asian elephant that spent three years in rehab for heroin addiction in southwest China has been declared unfit to be returned to
the wild, zoo authorities have said.The four-year-old elephant, Xiguang, was captured from the China-Myanmar border in March 2005 by illegal traders who fed him heroin-laced bananas. Five other elephants along with Xiguang were also captured by the smugglers, but the animals were captured by police two months later. Four of them, including Xiguang, were later sent to a wild animal protection centre in the southern Hainan Island. Xiguang was cured of his addiction after a three-year treatment that included methadone injections five times stronger than human doses.
The four elephants were brought back to the Yunnan Wild Life Park last month and will spend the winter at the Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant Valley in Yunnan. "Three years of domestic life and a huge amount of rehabilitation medication has changed the physical situations, odours and habits of Xiguang and the other elephants," said Pan Hua, the park's deputy manager. "They may become the target of attacks by other beasts if they are sent back to the wild. Some are easily irritable now and may hurt humans. They can't go back to the wild anymore," he said. The elephants will stay in the valley and be cared for by zoo keepers. The Asian elephant is the largest land animal in the region, with an estimated 50,000 living in the wild throughout the continent.

Jeff Dubay to be charged Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court with possessing a small amount of cocaine.

02:57 Ramsey County District Court. 0 Comments

attorney for KFAN Radio personality Jeff Dubay said he expects his client to be charged Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court with possessing a small amount of cocaine. Dubay was arrested last Wednesday night after his car was pulled over in Maplewood. Incorrect reports as to what charges he could face appeared on a news website, indicating a connection to methamphetamine. At least one television report also mentioned Dubay in connection with meth."On behalf of Mr. Dubay we're relieved that the formal charges will be brought forward so all the misinformation that was swirling in the press can be clarified and dispelled," said Mark D. Kelly, a St. Paul-based attorney. "I think there was a lot of distress when the allegations regarding methamphetamine and the misinformation on [the] website was posted that this was something that it wasn't. People relied on that to their detriment and to Jeff's detriment."Kelly said Dubay would have no comment Tuesday.The incorrect information linked Dubay to a crime that, according to Kelly, carries with it a presumptive prison sentence and involves six or more grams of something that could include methamphetamine.Dubay was arrested on suspicion of a fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance, which is a felony. Dubay could end up in a pre-trial diversion program, meaning the matter would stand to be dismissed after 12 months without any criminal conviction on his record provided he complies with the conditions the court imposes. Dubay, who has co-hosted the "PA and Dubay show" with Paul Allen on KFAN (1130 AM) since 1998, has not been on the air since his arrest and is currently on a leave from the station. Dubay also does work on Gophers men's hockey games for FSN North but did not appear last weekend. He was off the KFAN airwaves for an extended period this summer.Executives from the Clear Channel-owned station have had no comment about Dubay's job status. Allen did read a statement about his co-host on Monday morning that essentially expressed his support.
If the charges are filed against Dubay, the next step will be for a court date to be set. He likely will appear before a judge in the next few weeks in Ramsey County District Court."We will respond to the charges in due course," Kelly said. "There were multiple media outlet sources that got this story wrong and repeated it incorrectly. It was basically one source and that was somebody who had misread the Minnesota statute with regards what was put on the [Ramsey County] booking website."

Actor Ryan O'Neal faces felony drug possession charges in his arrest last month at his Malibu home, his lawyer said.

21:39 actor's lawyer Mark Werksman 0 Comments

Actor Ryan O'Neal faces felony drug possession charges in his arrest last month at his Malibu home, his lawyer said. O'Neal is best known for his roles in the movies "Love Story" and "Paper Moon." the 67-year-old actor and his 23-year-old son Redmond were formally charged Wednesday.They were arrested Sept. 17 for alleged drug possession after sheriff's deputies said they found methamphetamine during a probation visit to the house in a previous drug case involving Redmond.Redmond is said to have been in possession of drugs when investigators arrived while a vial of methamphetamine allegedly was found in Ryan O'Neal's room.Both father and son are facing one count of felony possession of a controlled substance, two misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of illegal possession of pepper spray, Those were not Ryan's drugs, he doesn't use drugs, and has nothing to do with them," the actor's lawyer Mark Werksman told People magazine shortly after his arrest. "It's a dangerous assumption for deputies to have arrested Ryan just because he was in proximity to the drugs. ... I have full confidence that Ryan will be vindicated." O'Neal's attorney didn't offer an explanation as to how the drugs might have ended up in his bedroom as police said, or to whom they may have belonged.

Redmond O'Neal ordered into a two-week treatment program Wednesday after admitting that he had relapsed.

10:01 Redmond O'Neal 0 Comments

The 23-year-old son of Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett, who was arrested along with his dad last month on suspicion of methamphetamine possession, was ordered into a two-week treatment program Wednesday after admitting that he had relapsed."You're a stand-up guy to come here and deal with your problem," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Millington told Redmond, who also checked into rehab in 2004 to treat a heroin addiction. "I want you to stay clean…You better stay clean or the hammer is going to fall."An attorney for the O'Neals didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.No criminal charges have been filed against either Redmond or his dad in connection with their Sept. 17 bust at the elder O'Neal's Malibu home during a routine probation checkup. Officers allegedly found Redmond to be in possession of what looked like meth, as well as a small vial of the stuff in his father's bedroom.
At the time of their arrest, Redmond was about two months into a three-year probation sentence for DUI and possessing heroin and crystal meth.Ryan O'Neal has maintained his innocence in the affair, his lawyer telling reporters that his client would no doubt be vindicated."Those were not Ryan's drugs, he doesn't use drugs, and has nothing to do with them," attorney Mark Werksman said. "It's a dangerous assumption for deputies to have arrested Ryan just because he was in proximity to the drugs."Redmond, meanwhile, characterized the situation as a "major misunderstanding. "Life goes on, you know," he told a pack of paparazzi who followed him home from a market the day after his arrest. "It's all I have for you, really...If I knew more, I'd tell you more."

According to new government figures, around 12m people in the UK drink hazardously

02:01 Alcohol Health Alliance 0 Comments

According to new government figures, around 12m people in the UK drink hazardously – over the recommended guidelines of two to three units a day for women and three to four units a day for men, the equivalent of two to three small glasses of wine a day. Over 800,000 people (four times the estimate 10 years ago) are hospitalised in the UK annually because of alcohol-related illnesses and accidents, at a cost of £2.7 billion. Around 600,000 underage Britons are estimated to be drinking alcohol recklessly and illegally. Pressure groups, like the Alcohol Health Alliance, blame the government’s liberal drink policies, especially the availability of alcohol 24/7 from many supermarkets. Yet immediate access to alcoholism treatment is available for only five in every hundred alcoholics (one in a hundred in the northeast). And there’s no dedicated budget for alcoholism. Contrast that with the UK’s 300,000 drug users, whose treatment access is virtually 100%, with a budget this year of £600m. This access mismatch, in the view of specialists and GPs, reflects the perception that alcoholism is largely the responsibility of those afflicted. As a result, according to a survey conducted by Mori and a London teaching hospital, a third of Britain’s GPs are encouraging alcoholics to detox by themselves at home without professional help. Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, warns of the dangers of unsupervised detoxes. “It’s hazardous, and things can go badly wrong,” he says. “In any case, detox is just the first step on a long rehab journey requiring professional help.” Colin Drummond, professor of addiction psychiatry at the Maudsley hospital, south London, echoes that warning: “A detoxed person is like a car without wheels; it’s the weeks and months of follow-up counselling and talk therapy that matter. And self-detox is dangerous.” So what are the dangers? There are no hard figures for detox deaths. They melt into the 20,000-plus alcohol-related fatalities in the UK each year: deaths caused by everything from liver failure to road accidents, from brain seizures to suicides. The detox hazards lurk within a set of arcane percentage stats. According to data provided to The Sunday Times Magazine by Professor Drummond, about 20% of patients with high alcohol consumption will have epileptic fits, or seizures, on a detox withdrawal. This proportion is considerably higher in people, like Tom, with many previous detoxes as well as severe alcohol dependence. Of those who have seizures during detox, about 3% progress to a prolonged epileptic state lasting 20 minutes or more. This in turn carries a mortality rate of 20%. About 5% of patients in alcohol withdrawal also develop delirium tremens, which can be fatal in about 35% of cases if untreated. A further claimed danger involves brain damage due to a lack of thiamine, vitamin B1, during detox. “Hence it’s dangerous,” says Professor Drummond, “to expect a severely alcohol-dependent patient to self-administer, or an untrained relative or friend to oversee, withdrawal drugs without medical supervision.”

CNN reporter Richard Quest has returned to the cable news channel after a hiatus stemming from his drug arrest and court-ordered counseling

07:02 CNN reporter 0 Comments

CNN reporter Richard Quest has returned to the cable news channel after a hiatus stemming from his drug arrest and court-ordered counseling, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based network said on Friday.Quest, known for his boisterous and quirky reporting, returned to CNN International in late June and has been producing general news segments and working on the August edition of "CNN Business Traveler," the show he hosted before his arrest, said Nigel Pritchard, a spokesman for CNN.
"We're very pleased to have him back," Pritchard said.Police stopped Quest, 46, in April for being in New York's Central Park past curfew, and they discovered a bag of methamphetamines on the British reporter.A judge ordered him to undergo six months of counseling in exchange for having the case dismissed.

05:07 Santa Barbara freeway 0 Comments

Locklear, a former star of drama show Melrose Place, was arrested on Sunday (Monday NZ time) after allegedly driving eratically down a Santa Barbara freeway.She was found by police sitting in her car blocking traffic.News agency Associated Press reported the woman who reported Locklear to police was photographer Jill Ishkanian, who sold photos of the star's arrest for US$27,000.a spokesman for Ishkanian said the photographer called police because she felt it was her "civic duty" and feared for Locklear's safety."The fact she witnessed Ms Locklear's erratic driving and reported it to the police did not mean she was disqualified from reporting the story, which she in fact did," the spokesman said.
Santa Barbara County prosecutors are waiting for test results to decide whether to pursue charges against Locklear.

Boy George says the best thing about Narcotics Anonymous meetings

05:01 Boy George 0 Comments

Boy George says the best thing about Narcotics Anonymous meetings is that “you can sit down and not say a word”. That I would love to see. He is impossibly candid, his tumbling words roughened by that gravelly, camp brogue and flurries of laughter: half-nervy, half-playful. Despite all the therapy and self-help he has immersed himself in, he’s as opinionated and indiscreet as ever. Today he’s got advice for Amy Winehouse and George Michael. He claims to have renounced drugs for good. He bellows across a car park for a cigarette lighter. George says he gave up drugs – specifically cocaine – last October, after returning from New York, where he swept the streets in orange overalls as his punishment for wasting police time. He had admitted to falsely reporting a burglary at his Manhattan apartment; when the police arrived prosecutors said they found 13 plastic bags of cocaine. Boy George said they weren’t his and charges of cocaine possession were later dropped. “It was surreal and quite fun,” he says of the street sweeping, apparently now inured to being the centre of media firestorms, although the US authorities continue to deny him a work visa, which means he cannot tour there. “But that’ll be sorted out,” he says airily. He has a new single. He’s just starting a UK tour. “Everything’s great.” Is it? There’s a rather large elephant in the room. George, 47, is due back in court next month in London, charged with falsely imprisoning a 28-year-old man in a flat he lived in temporarily in East London in April 2007. “I will be pleading not guilty, of course,”

Heather Locklear arrested in California for allegedly driving under the influence

22:43 California Highway Patrol 0 Comments

Heather Locklear,has been arrested in California for allegedly driving under the influence.The 47-year-old actress is best known for her television roles on "Spin City," "Melrose Place" and "Dynasty." She was arrested for suspicion of DUI and being under the influence of a controlled substance Saturday.
"Around 4:30 p.m., a female witness saw Heather Locklear driving erratically while leaving a parking lot in Montecito," California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Marshall told People magazine. "The witness said Locklear was revving her engine loudly and backed over a pair of sunglasses several times. ... The witness called 911 because she was concerned for Locklear's safety. When a CHP officer arrived, Locklear was found seated inside her vehicle, which was partially blocking the roadway."Marshall said Locklear was taken to a nearby police station because she seemed "disoriented and impaired.""Alcohol was ruled out as a factor but, based on the officer's observations, we believe Locklear was under the influence of prescription medication," Marshall said.