Jimmy Smith said Friday he was "ashamed and humiliated" by an arrest on drug charges and that will fight to overcome his addiction.

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Former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jimmy Smith said Friday he was "ashamed and humiliated" by an arrest on drug charges and that will fight to overcome his addiction.Smith was pulled over on a traffic stop and a Florida Highway Patrol officer said he smelled marijuana in the car. The officer searched the car and found crack cocaine, marijuana and a business card with powder cocaine residue in the car's center console, authorities said."I realize that I cannot be the husband, father, son and citizen I want to be until I overcome my addiction," Smith said in a statement released by Premier Sports & Entertainment. "It is my highest priority, and will be the toughest challenge of my life, but I am going to get the help that I need to achieve a complete recovery."The statement did not specify Smith's addiction and Amy Palcic of Premier Sports & Entertainment refused to discuss his treatment.Smith, who played 10 seasons for Jacksonville, was pulled over on Interstate 95 in Jacksonville for excessive window tint on his 2009 Mercedes Benz.
Smith was charged with possession of crack cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He is free on $11,500 bond. His arraignment is May 6."I am ashamed and humiliated by my actions and I apologize for the embarrassment I have caused my family, friends and everyone in the Jacksonville community who have supported me throughout my career," he said in the statement.Smith was arrested at a DUI checkpoint in August with an open beer and marijuana. He was charged with two misdemeanors and was in the process of trying to get those cases resolved before his latest arrest.The former Jackson State University star retired from the Jaguars in 2006 after playing from 1995 to 2005. He finished with 862 receptions and 12,287 receiving yards and 67 touchdowns. He was a five-time Pro Bowl selection.

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Scott Storch has been focusing on rebuilding his life, because he did, in fact, hit rock bottom.

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Scott Storch has been focusing on rebuilding his life, because he did, in fact, hit rock bottom.Lost in a three-year cocaine-abusing haze, he lost more money than most people reading this story will see in five lifetimes: $30 million. Yes, he blew almost his entire fortune on coke, cars, houses, lavish trips, partying and a series of what he calls “poor judgment decisions.”But he has come out of his white-powder fog. The producer says he is in recovery, and, as people who love his music will be elated to hear, he’s back making music. On Wednesday night, MTV News caught up with the Grammy winner, who at one time could do no wrong in the studio as he supplied classic beats, not mere hits, for people like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Fat Joe and Beyoncé.“I’m taking it back to square one,” he said, sitting in a Miami studio. The boards in the factory displayed his name and his publishing company, Tuff Jew. “I found myself slipping a little bit,” he said with a very anxious look on his face. “I got involved in doing drugs. I had to get myself into recovery. Being in the life that I was living — very fast-moving, option to do anything you want, go anywhere you wanna go — it definitely takes its toll on you, and you lose your concept of reality. I had to get it under control. I had to take it back to the beginning and back to the Hit Factory, where I made a lot of my hits.”Storch is currently living in a three-quarter house, where he is supervised by a live-in counselor but allowed to go to work in the studio as long as he’s back by curfew.

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Joo Ji-hoon was investigated and admitted to drug use

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Popular actor Joo Ji-hoon, of movies Antique Bakery and The Naked Kitchen. A representative from the Seoul police’s drug investigation department told reporters on April 26, “Joo Ji-hoon was investigated and admitted to drug use.” Joo reportedly bought the drugs — which include Ecstasy and Ketamine — from a fellow celebrity. Two non-celebrity individuals were booked for drug use along with Joo, but the three were not jailed. Police have filed for arrest warrants for the traffickers, movie actress Yoon Seol-hee and model Yeh Hak-young. According to the police, Yoon is suspected of having received approximately 100 million won ($75,000) from Yeh and others between August 2007 through December 2008. She allegedly traveled from Japan fourteen times to purchase, smuggle, and sell Ecstasy and Ketamine. (Yeh supposedly accompanied her several times.) The drugs had been smuggled into the country by concealing them in underclothes worn by Yoon.Two actors and an actress, including renowned movie icon Ju Ji-hun, 27, were booked for smuggling and taking illegal drugs Sunday.The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency drug squad also requested arrest warrants for actress Yun Seol-hee, 28, and model-turned-actor Ye Hak-young, 26, who smuggled drugs from Japan. Ju admitted to taking narcotics on a couple of occasions around March, police said.
Ju and another two people were booked without physical detention for taking the drugs. Debuting in the hit 2006 drama ``Princess Hours,'' Ju recently starred in the movies ``Antique'' and ``The Naked Kitchen.''They are accused of having smuggled some 280 ecstasy tablets and 280 grams of ketamine on 14 occasions from August 2007, funded by 100 million won ($75,000) from Ye and others. Yun allegedly bought the narcotics from an acquaintance in Japan and smuggled them into the company in her undergarments.. Ye gave 3.2 million won to Yun to purchase the drugs and consumed them at clubs and in their residences.``It's the first time entertainers have funded and smuggled narcotics for their own use,'' a police official said. ``We're investigating and believe some 15 others have received drugs from Yun, and that seven or eight of them are entertainers.''Yun has appeared in several movies, including ``Tazza: The High Rollers,'' in supporting roles, and Ye is a model who has appeared in several music videos and commercials.Joo Ji-hoon is thought to have used the drugs on two occasions along with the other reported individuals, at a Kangnam club and at home. The 26-year-old Joo Ji-hoon shot to fame after acting the lead role of the prince in the incredibly popular teen drama Goong (Princess Hours) in 2006, which he followed with the dark thriller drama Devil in 2007. Most recently, he took the lead in the manga-adapted film Antique Bakery and the offbeat romance The Naked Kitchen.

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Portugal, in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs

Portugal, in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal's drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy. The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment — so why not give drug addicts health services instead? Under Portugal's new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail.The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to "drug tourists" and exacerbate Portugal's drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."
Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.

The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined. Lifetime heroin use among 16-to-18-year-olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8% (although there was a slight increase in marijuana use in that age group). New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003, and deaths related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half. In addition, the number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and money saved on enforcement allowed for increased funding of drug-free treatment as well.

Portugal's case study is of some interest to lawmakers in the U.S., confronted now with the violent overflow of escalating drug gang wars in Mexico. The U.S. has long championed a hard-line drug policy, supporting only international agreements that enforce drug prohibition and imposing on its citizens some of the world's harshest penalties for drug possession and sales. Yet America has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world, and while most of the E.U. (including Holland) has more liberal drug laws than the U.S., it also has less drug use.

"I think we can learn that we should stop being reflexively opposed when someone else does [decriminalize] and should take seriously the possibility that anti-user enforcement isn't having much influence on our drug consumption," says Mark Kleiman, author of the forthcoming When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment and director of the drug policy analysis program at UCLA. Kleiman does not consider Portugal a realistic model for the U.S., however, because of differences in size and culture between the two countries.

But there is a movement afoot in the U.S., in the legislatures of New York State, California and Massachusetts, to reconsider our overly punitive drug laws. Recently, Senators Jim Webb and Arlen Specter proposed that Congress create a national commission, not unlike Portugal's, to deal with prison reform and overhaul drug-sentencing policy. As Webb noted, the U.S. is home to 5% of the global population but 25% of its prisoners.

At the Cato Institute in early April, Greenwald contended that a major problem with most American drug policy debate is that it's based on "speculation and fear mongering," rather than empirical evidence on the effects of more lenient drug policies. In Portugal, the effect was to neutralize what had become the country's number one public health problem, he says.

"The impact in the life of families and our society is much lower than it was before decriminalization," says Joao Castel-Branco Goulao, Portugual's "drug czar" and president of the Institute on Drugs and Drug Addiction, adding that police are now able to re-focus on tracking much higher level dealers and larger quantities of drugs.

Peter Reuter, a professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Maryland, like Kleiman, is skeptical. He conceded in a presentation at the Cato Institute that "it's fair to say that decriminalization in Portugal has met its central goal. Drug use did not rise." However, he notes that Portugal is a small country and that the cyclical nature of drug epidemics — which tends to occur no matter what policies are in place — may account for the declines in heroin use and deaths.The Cato report's author, Greenwald, hews to the first point: that the data shows that decriminalization does not result in increased drug use. Since that is what concerns the public and policymakers most about decriminalization, he says, "that is the central concession that will transform the

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Portugal, in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs

Portugal, in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal's drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy. The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment — so why not give drug addicts health services instead? Under Portugal's new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail.The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to "drug tourists" and exacerbate Portugal's drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."
Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.

The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined. Lifetime heroin use among 16-to-18-year-olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8% (although there was a slight increase in marijuana use in that age group). New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003, and deaths related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half. In addition, the number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and money saved on enforcement allowed for increased funding of drug-free treatment as well.

Portugal's case study is of some interest to lawmakers in the U.S., confronted now with the violent overflow of escalating drug gang wars in Mexico. The U.S. has long championed a hard-line drug policy, supporting only international agreements that enforce drug prohibition and imposing on its citizens some of the world's harshest penalties for drug possession and sales. Yet America has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world, and while most of the E.U. (including Holland) has more liberal drug laws than the U.S., it also has less drug use.

"I think we can learn that we should stop being reflexively opposed when someone else does [decriminalize] and should take seriously the possibility that anti-user enforcement isn't having much influence on our drug consumption," says Mark Kleiman, author of the forthcoming When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment and director of the drug policy analysis program at UCLA. Kleiman does not consider Portugal a realistic model for the U.S., however, because of differences in size and culture between the two countries.

But there is a movement afoot in the U.S., in the legislatures of New York State, California and Massachusetts, to reconsider our overly punitive drug laws. Recently, Senators Jim Webb and Arlen Specter proposed that Congress create a national commission, not unlike Portugal's, to deal with prison reform and overhaul drug-sentencing policy. As Webb noted, the U.S. is home to 5% of the global population but 25% of its prisoners.

At the Cato Institute in early April, Greenwald contended that a major problem with most American drug policy debate is that it's based on "speculation and fear mongering," rather than empirical evidence on the effects of more lenient drug policies. In Portugal, the effect was to neutralize what had become the country's number one public health problem, he says.

"The impact in the life of families and our society is much lower than it was before decriminalization," says Joao Castel-Branco Goulao, Portugual's "drug czar" and president of the Institute on Drugs and Drug Addiction, adding that police are now able to re-focus on tracking much higher level dealers and larger quantities of drugs.

Peter Reuter, a professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Maryland, like Kleiman, is skeptical. He conceded in a presentation at the Cato Institute that "it's fair to say that decriminalization in Portugal has met its central goal. Drug use did not rise." However, he notes that Portugal is a small country and that the cyclical nature of drug epidemics — which tends to occur no matter what policies are in place — may account for the declines in heroin use and deaths.The Cato report's author, Greenwald, hews to the first point: that the data shows that decriminalization does not result in increased drug use. Since that is what concerns the public and policymakers most about decriminalization, he says, "that is the central concession that will transform the

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Dancing With The Stars contestant Steve-O has admitted that he used to be a "cocaine-addicted clown".

Dancing With The Stars contestant Steve-O has admitted that he used to be a "cocaine-addicted clown".The Jackass star, real name Stephen Glover, confesses about his struggles with drugs and alcohol in his new MTV special Steve-O: Demise And Rise.
According to People, the show will chronicle the star's life from his days with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College to his mainstream success with Jackass and Wildboyz.
It will apparently show Glover's "extreme substance abuse, including the marathon nitrous oxide sessions, terrorizing his next door neighbour, his ill-fated attempt at being a gangsta rapper and several infamous public displays of self-destructive behaviour". The show concludes with Glover's attempts "to stay clean and sober" and his first appearance on Dancing With The Stars.

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Timothy Rutherford British expat was sentenced to life in jail

Timothy Rutherford British expat was sentenced to life in jail Sunday by Kuwait's criminal court after he was caught smuggling hashish and alcohol into the oil-rich emirate from neighboring Iraq in the latest case of drug trafficking that suggests a surge in abuse of illicit stimulants in the Arab world at large.Timothy Rutherford who worked as a civil contractor with British forces in southern Iraq was arrested last September while crossing into Kuwait with 49 kilos (108 pounds) of hashish, liquor and cash.
As a trade free zone Dubai is perhaps the busiest drug gateway in the GulfAlthough Sunday's verdict is not final and can be appealed, it is standard in a country where penalties for possession, use, or trafficking illegal drugs in Kuwait are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines.
In February 2009 three Americans were caught allegedly peddling marijuana in Kuwait City's downtown after using the military postal service to smuggle marijuana into the country.
Three major drug raids in Dubai recently – all involving foreigners -- yielded a haul of 651,000 Captagon pills at the airport, and several kilograms of heroin intercepted by police and customs officers.In the rush to start a new life in the UAE, many expats from Western countries ignore local laws that could land them a heavy fine, or jail sentence. In the last 12 months, 64 British nationals have been arrested in the UAE for drugs offences.
British DJ Raymond Bingham, better known as Grooverider, was sentenced to four years in jail last year after officials found 2.16 grams of marijuana in his luggage. American music producer Dallas Austin, who has worked with Michael Jackson and Madonna, was given four years for possessing cocaine and other drugs.The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the U.N. organization that monitors anti-drug activities worldwide, warned that the Gulf has increasingly become a gateway for drug traffickers. It said heroin that has passed through the burgeoning network of free zones, ports and airports like those in the UAE has later been seized in destinations as far away as Hong Kong and Australia.World counter-narcotics chiefs have warned that drug traffickers are “increasingly exploiting the situation in Iraq” to smuggle drugs like heroin and cannabis resin from drug-producing regions to Jordan and then on to the Arabian Peninsula. Syria Jordan and Iraq are major smuggling hubs for bringing drugs into the wealthy Gulf region, according to a 2008 United Nations report. A 2006 poll of 1.4 million Arab youth suggests unemployment as main cause of drug useAlthough the Gulf area would not normally be considered an area of concern with regard to drug abuse because of "the strict hand of government with regard to alcohol and drugs that are proscribed by the Quran,” according to the U.N. report, drug gangs are on the rise because the UAE's free trade zones have become international transit points for heroine, hashish and other illicit drugs. Almost a third of global seizures of amphetamines happened in Saudi Arabia where over 60 million Captagon tablets, 17 tons of hashish, 939 tons of Qatt, and over 70 kg of heroin were seized in 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, prompting the Directors of Anti-Drug Abuse Departments at the Gulf Cooperation Council to meet in Qatar last week to strengthen the level of coordination among member states for tackling drug smuggling.No accurate stats on the number of drug addicts in the Arab world exist, but INCB estimated that there are more than half a million heroin addicts alone.A 2006 poll of 1.4 million youth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region conducted by ImagineNations and the website of famous Muslim preacher Amr Khaled suggested that unemployment and the absence of job opportunities were the main cause of disaffection among Arab youth that lead to crime and drug abuse. Of all the youth populations in the world, those in MENA have the lowest participation rate in the labor force; 40 percent of young people are employed compared to a worldwide average of 54 percent.
Regulations and strict laws would not be enough to eliminate drug trafficking and abuse according to INCB. Poor level of awareness and the lack of an de-addiction drive among Arab youth and anti-drug campaigns are factors that slow down governments' efforts to reduce consumption

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Katie M. Luessenhop, 26,pleaded guilty to two counts of felony possession of heroin and one count of felony bail jumping.

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Katie M. Luessenhop, 26, of 250 S. Edwards Blvd., No. 146, Lake Geneva, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony possession of heroin and one count of felony bail jumping.Two other felony bail jumping counts were dismissed along with one count of possession of cocaine stemming from an incident in the school parking lot Sept. 18.Luessenhop and Stephen M. Compton, 44, of 250 Van Bee Circle, Williams Bay, were arrested March 7 in Lake Geneva after Walworth County Drug Enforcement Unit deputies executed a search warrant on Luessenhop's apartment, according to the criminal complaint.The deputies, who were surveilling Compton and Luessenhop, executed the warrant after seeing them driving together in one of Compton's vehicles, a violation of Luessenhop's bond agreement, according to the complaint.They reported finding Luessenhop and Compton in her apartment and a bindle of heroin in Luessenhop's wallet.Luessenhop admitted numerous contacts with Compton while on bond and admitted snorting cocaine and heroin that night. She also admitted buying $3,000 worth of heroin using money given to her by Compton, according to the complaint.Compton was released from jail March 8 after posting $2,000 cash but was arrested three days later on a bail jumping charge. He has since been held in jail on a $100,000 cash bond.Luessenhop was bailed out the same day Compton was arrested.Compton is scheduled to appear in court April 29 for a bail/bond forfeiture hearing.Luessenhop is scheduled to be sentenced June 25.

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Convicted drunk driver Andrew Gallo has been charged with three counts of murder in the Thursday crash that claimed the life of Nick Adenhart.

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Convicted drunk driver Andrew Gallo has been charged with three counts of murder in the Thursday crash that claimed the life of Angels rookie Nick Adenhart.The Orange County District Attorney filed formal charges against Gallo on Friday, including DUI, fleeing the scene of a traffic collision and the murder counts. He could receive 55 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges.No matter what, "he'll never escape the psychological prison of shame knowing his selfish actions killed three people," DA Tony Rackauckas told reporters.He estimated Gallo's blood alcohol was almost three times the legal limit.Gallo was denied bail and is due to be arraigned Monday, cops said.

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Lavonia Underwood, 23, never showed for sentencing, scheduled for March 30, after making a plea agreement with prosecutors.


Lavonia Underwood, 23, never showed for sentencing, scheduled for March 30, after making a plea agreement with prosecutors.Perth Amboy detectives arrested Underwood and other suspects on April 22, 2008, after a search of her home netted an array of narcotics and drug paraphernalia, which authorities say belonged to her.The drugs included crack cocaine, marijuana and heroin, with a total street value of about $1,650. Also found were empty bags used for packaging and digital scales, authorities said.As a result, Underwood was charged with possession, possession with intent to distribute and possession with intent within 1,000 feet of a school zone — with separate counts of each for cocaine and heroin. She was also charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.Underwood's bail was set at $150,000, with no 10-percent option, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office.On July 17, Underwood accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess and distribute controlled dangerous substances, a third-degree offense, authorities said.But she failed to appear for sentencing last Monday. A bench warrant was issued for her arrest for $60,000, with no 10-percent option.She is 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. She has brown eyes and black hair, authorities said.Her last listed addresses are on the 300 block of Alpine Street and the 600 block of Charles Street, both in Perth Amboy.The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office is asking anyone with information on the fugitive to call 732-745-3362 during weekdays and 732-745-3300 on nights and weekends. Authorities are urging anyone coming into contact with Underwood not to try to apprehend her.The Middlesex County Prosecutors Office is offering a reward for up to $500 for information leading to Underwood's arrest.

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Redmond O'Neal, the 24-year-old son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal,behind bars today after police allegedly found him carrying narcotics

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Redmond O'Neal, the 24-year-old son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal,behind bars today after police allegedly found him carrying narcotics at a jail in Castaic, Calif.Redmond and a friend were driving to visit a locked-up pal at the Pitchess Detention Center South when they were stopped at a routine security checkpoint and he admitted to having the drugs, according to authorities.He was arrested on two felony counts—suspicion of possession of narcotics and bringing narcotics into a jail—and is being held on $25,000 bail pending a Tuesday hearing.The arrest comes amid news that Fawcett has been hospitalized since Thursday in her three-year battle with cancer.In February, a Malibu court issued a bench warrant for Redmond after he missed an arraignment for the 2008 drug bust, in which he and his dad were arrested.

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Detox programs

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I’ve always been skeptical about these programs that claim to help any addict to live a clean life. For me, all of their claims are just for publicity to drum up their business. For once, I would like to hear the opinion of others regarding this issue. I’d like to get as many opinions as I can so I can fairly weigh the pros and cons of these detox programs.

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