Former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jimmy Smith pleaded not guilty to several charges Thursday including possession of cocaine and marijuana.

10:16 Jacksonville Jaguars 0 Comments

Former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jimmy Smith pleaded not guilty to several charges Thursday including possession of cocaine and marijuana.Smith, 40, also pleaded not guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license. A fifth charge, possessing or selling a controlled substance, was dropped.
Smith did not attend the arraignment at Duval County Courthouse. He was represented in court by his attorney, Hank Coxe, who did not comment on the case after the hearing.Smith, who played 10 seasons for Jacksonville, was pulled over April 23 on Interstate 95 in Jacksonville for excessive window tint on his 2009 Mercedes Benz, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.The trooper reported that the inside of the car smelled like burnt marijuana. During a search, the trooper found crack cocaine, marijuana and a business card with powder cocaine residue in the car's center console.Smith 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.

16-year-old Orange County High School student has been charged with four counts of drug distribution after a bust at the high school

10:14 Orange County High School 0 Comments

16-year-old Orange County High School student has been charged with four counts of drug distribution after a bust at the high school earlier this month.
According to sheriff Mark Amos, school resource officer deputy Garcia Madison noticed a juvenile male student acting suspiciously around his locker.
Deputy Madison asked to see the boy’s hall pass and reported his behavior to school administrators. After school officials were notified, the boy’s locker was searched and investigators found 19 small bags of cocaine, the sheriff said.
Five bags of marijuana were also discovered, as were 17 pills of methedone.
Amos said the cocaine had a value of approximately $100 per bag (totaling $1,900), while the marijuana bags were collectively valued at $100.
The boy was charged with four counts of distribution and taken to the Rappahanock Juvenile Detention Center. Since he is a juvenile, his name could not be released.

Free Heroin,German lawmakers have voted to allow the prescription of synthetic heroin to long-term addicts

10:11 Germany 0 Comments

German lawmakers have voted to allow the prescription of synthetic heroin to long-term addicts who fail to respond to other treatments.The lower house of parliament approved the measure Thursday.It would apply only to people aged at least 23 who have been addicted for at least five years and undergone two previous, unsuccessful rehabilitation programs.A cross-party group of supporters says pilot programs in seven German cities found that controlled prescription of synthetic heroin, or diamorphine, at approved facilities helped addicts who failed to respond to treatment with methadone.Neighboring Switzerland has long had similar programs. They have been credited with reducing drug-related crime and improving addicts' health.

Group of active cocaine users and demographically similarly but healthy non-users had to push a button that corresponded to a word related

09:53 National Institute on Drug Abuse 0 Comments

Cocaine users appear to have less activity in the parts of their brains that monitor behaviors and emotions, a finding that researchers think may make them more vulnerable to addiction to the drug, a new research shows.Using MRI scans, the researchers saw there were issues in these regions of the brain when cocaine users were given a test in which fast, correct answers -- some dealing specifically with drug use -- were rewarded with money. The issues persisted even when the addicts did as well as non-cocaine users on these tests."Whether these brain differences are an underlying cause or a consequence of addiction, the brain regions involved should be considered targets for new kinds of treatments aimed at improving function and self-regulatory control," study author Rita Goldstein, a psychologist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, said in a news release issued by the lab.The study results appear online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.In the experiment, a group of active cocaine users and demographically similarly but healthy non-users had to push a button that corresponded to a word related to either drug use (e.g., crack, addict) or a neutral term, depending on the scenario. Fast, accurate answers could earn the test subjects up to a maximum of $75 for the entire experiment.Brain imaging showed that the part of the brain that normally becomes active when people monitor their own behavior was far quieter in the cocaine users, especially during the parts of the test in which no monetary rewards were being offered and only neutral terms were being used -- sections considered the least "interesting," according to the researchers. Participants who used cocaine most often during the previous month showed the least activity in this area of the brain.During the section of the test of most interest to the cocaine users -- in which they could earn money for their answers and the terms being used were drug-related -- activity was much lower than their healthy peers in a part of the brain that usually becomes quiet when a person is suppressing emotions. This, the researchers said, suggests the cocaine users were trying to fight off drug cravings to focus on the succeeding at the test."When you really have to suppress a powerful negative emotion, like sadness, anxiety or drug craving, activity in this brain region is supposed to decrease, possibly to tune out the background 'noise' of these emotions so you can focus on the task at hand," said Goldstein, adding that thoughts of past drug use or using more drugs would be the "noise" in this scenario. She went on to note that the cocaine users reported high levels of "task-induced craving" during this portion of the test.
Treatments to improve and strengthen activity in the behavior- and emotion-monitoring portions of the brain -- both found in the anterior cingulate cortex region -- may help addicts regain self-control and decrease impulsive behavior, the researchers concluded.

Samanth Orobator threat of a death sentence could still be invoked as she is only exempt from the death penalty while she is pregnant under Lao law.

11:14 Samanth Orobator 0 Comments

Communist officials who run Laos, the case of 20-year-old Briton Samantha Orobator - awaiting trial on heroin smuggling charges that could technically still bring her the death penalty - has become an embarrassment that this landlocked South-East Asian backwater could do without. What started out as a straightforward case of a young foreign woman acting with what appears to have been crass stupidity has instead brought the harsh light of international scrutiny on a controlling and secretive regime. The thing that has made Orobator's case a human rights issue is not the manner of her arrest or the conditions in which she is being held in Vientiane's notoriously tough Phonthong Prison. Rather, it is the fact that, eight months after her arrest, she is now five months pregnant. The Laos government refuses to say how she became pregnant but insists stubbornly it is 'impossible' that she might have been raped inside jail or made pregnant by a prison guard, still defying logic in some interviews to claim she has been pregnant since before her arrest. Orobator was made to sign a statement in prison declaring she had not been raped and that the father of her baby was not from Laos shortly after her pregnancy was confirmed in March. A hasty, behind-closed-doors trial now looks likely to take place, possibly within days, after which Laos is expected to hand Orobator over to British embassy officials so that she can be flown home to serve out a prison sentence in the United Kingldom. Little is known about what led Orobator, a Nigerian-born British citizen described by friends as extremely bright with ambitions to become a doctor, to fly to Thailand and then to Laos where she spent five days before her arrest at Wattaya Airport on August 5 last year. To the huge annoyance of government officials, however, far more attention has been devoted to the question of how she got pregnant in prison than why she may have tried to smuggle drugs out of Laos - and it is a question to which they are unwilling or unable to give a satisfactory answer. 'This case is not about babies - it is about heroin,' chief government spokesman Kenthong Nuanthasing said with a tone of rising annoyance. 'She signed a statement to say she was not raped. She did not have intercourse with any man in prison. There is no male close to her during her time in prison. All the prisoners are women and all the guards are female.' Asked who could have fathered the baby, he raised his eyes to the ceiling and said with an impatient laugh: 'Maybe it is a baby from the sky like [the Virgin] Mary.' So why was she made to sign a statement denying she was raped without explaining the truth of her pregnancy? Nuanthasing said: 'We don't want the outside world to blame us (for her pregnancy). That is why we asked her to write a letter to certify that she was not raped and the baby inside her is not a Lao baby.' Nuanthasing made it clear that in order to return home to the Britain, Orobator will be expected to confirm at her trial the statement she signed in prison. 'She will tell the court - otherwise she will stay here,' he said. 'Her court case will be dissolved.'Such a delay could mean Orobator's trial being delayed until after she gives birth and Nuanthasing stressed that the threat of a death sentence could still be invoked as she is only exempt from the death penalty while she is pregnant under Lao law. 'Nobody can guarantee she will not face the firing squad,' he said. The Laos government insists Orobator is being held in an all-female prison. In fact, Phonthong Prison on the outskirts of Vientiane holds male and female prisoners in separate blocks and has both male and female guards living in shabby quarters in the grounds outside. A French former inmate who spent five months in the same prison over a business dispute, said, 'As soon as I read about the case of Samantha Orobator, I knew it must have been a prison guard who got her pregnant. 'Female prisoners are fair game for the guards there. They weren't exactly raped but they were coerced into sex with promises. The guards would tell them they could get them off the death penalty or get them or shorter sentence, or make life inside more comfortable for them.' 'There is no humanity and no compassion in that place. It is a place where you are made to feel as if you are nothing. You are completely cut off from the outside world and you're left begging for the smallest sign of hope, the slightest promise of something better.' Orobator's mother Jane, who lives in Dublin, visited her daughter in the company of government officials and issued a statement afterwards to say her daughter had told her she was not raped and that the father is not a prison guard. That statement, while failing to resolve the nagging questions about Orobator's pregnancy, will have pleased the Vientiane government and may help speed up the process of her trial and deportation. Human rights lawyer Anna Morris, who spent a fortnight in Laos helping her government-appointed Lao lawyer prepare for the case, said: 'We will only know the truth about her pregnancy when she is home in Britain. Our priority is to get her home as soon as possible.'

56-year-old Merrylands woman will face Sydney Central Local Court today charged with importing an estimated $400,000 worth of heroin into Australia.

10:58 Sydney Central Local Court 0 Comments

56-year-old Merrylands woman will face Sydney Central Local Court today charged with importing an estimated $400,000 worth of heroin into Australia.Australian Customs and Border Protection officers at Sydney International Airport stopped the woman and searched her baggage after she arrived on a flight from Vietnam yesterday (Sunday, 24 May 2009).During the baggage examination, officers became suspicious that the woman might be carrying drugs on her person.A subsequent x-ray of the woman's sports shoes revealed anomalies in the base of the shoes.The soles of the shoes were pierced and a white powder was revealed. Presumptive testing of the powder indicated a positive result for heroin. The weight of the powder is approximately 1.4 kilograms. Further forensic testing will confirm the exact weight and purity of the substance.The woman was referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and was charged with importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug contrary to section 307.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.The maximum penalty for this offence is 25 years imprisonment and/or a $550,000 fine.

Rapper/ reality TV personality Coolio should strongly consider a plea bargain.

15:42 TV personality Coolio 0 Comments

Case involving rapper/ reality TV personality Coolio, in connection with his March 6 arrest at Los Angeles International Airport on crack possession charges, was extended until June 26 in a Los Angeles court Friday.At Friday's court session, which lasted about 20 minutes, the judge told the rapper he should strongly consider a plea bargain. The rapper did not wear his Sunday best for the proceeding, clad in a multi-colored sport coat, jeans and tennis shoes, with his trademark crazy hair. RadarOnline.com has learned he was accompanied by his girlfriend and six supporters.
The 45-year-old Gangster's Paradise singer, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr., was taken into custody after an incident with a Southwest Airlines official after crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia were allegedly found in his luggage. The legal troubles subsequently caused the artist to cancel an Australian tour this spring.
"My case is going to settle because I'm not on drugs," Coolio told RadarOnline.com exclusively earlier this month. "I've been drug free for a long time."

air in Madrid and Barcelona is also laced with at least five drugs — most prominently cocaine.

22:37 U.S. journal Analytical Chemistry 0 Comments

Air in Madrid and Barcelona is also laced with at least five drugs — most prominently cocaine.The Superior Council of Scientific Investigations, a government institute, said on its Web site Thursday that in addition to cocaine, they found trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid — a relative of LSD — in two air-quality control stations, one in each city.But it said there was no reason for alarm."Not even if we lived for a thousand years would we consume the equivalent of a dose of cocaine by breathing this air," scientist Miren Lopez de Alda said in a statement.The scientific group stressed that "in no case should these levels be considered representative of the air in the two cities." It said the tests were done in areas where drugs were likely to be consumed.In Madrid, the test site was close to a ruined building believed to be frequented by drug dealers. And in both Madrid and Barcelona, the studies were carried out close to universities.
The group said the study showed higher concentrations of the components on weekends, suggesting that drug consumption was up in these periods.The research found cocaine in concentrations ranging between 29 and 850 picogram per cubic meter of air. A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram.Mar Viana, another researcher who worked on the project, said the levels were far higher than those found in similar studies in Europe. She said one study in Rome and Taranto in 2007 revealed cocaine levels of 100 picograms per cubic meter.According to the U.S. State Department, Spain is Europe's largest consumer of cocaine and hashish. It is also a major transit point for narcotics shipments from South and Central America as well as Africa.The scientists detected the drug by placing quartz microfiber filters in the air-testing stations. They said the method was new and could help in measuring drug use in towns and cities in a fast and anonymous way.The group said the findings would be published in the U.S. journal Analytical Chemistry.

Tennis' world governing body has suspended French tennis player Richard Gasquet following a positive test for cocaine

22:22 Fla. , in Key Biscayne , Sony Ericsson Open 0 Comments

Tennis' world governing body has suspended French tennis player Richard Gasquet following a positive test for cocaine, pending a hearing.The International Tennis Federation says an anti-doping tribunal should be assembled within 60 days to hear the case.Gasquet says he is gathering evidence to prove his innocence, although both samples tested positive for cocaine.Traces of the drug were found in the 22-year-old Gasquet's urine sample at the Sony Ericsson Open, in Key Biscayne, Fla., in March.

Marijuana Growers caught selling even one plant to a friend would be incarcerated.

20:28 Marijuana Growers 0 Comments

Canada's proposed new drug laws, an 18-year-old who shares a joint with a 17-year-old friend could end up in jail.Small-time addicts, who are convicted of pushing drugs near schools, parks, malls or any other prospective youth hangouts, would be automatically imprisoned for two years. And growers caught selling even one plant to a friend would also be incarcerated. The Harper government's bill to impose Canada's first mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug crimes -- removing discretion for judges to sentence as they see fit -- has come under intense scrutiny in public hearings, which began last week.Several witnesses have warned the House of Commons justice committee the proposed legislation will fill jails with drug addicts rather than drug kingpins, who will continue to thrive while small-time dealers are knocked out of commission.
The all-party committee will likely get an earful again Monday when it hears from another half dozen opponents, including Ottawa drug policy analyst Eugene Oscapella."It's a wonderful gift to organized crime," said Oscapella, a lawyer who teaches at University of Ottawa."We're going to drive some of the smaller players out of the business and they'll be replaced by people who do not respond to law enforcement initiatives." The Conservative government proposes to automatically jail dealers and growers at a time when several American states, most recently New York, have retreated from mandatory minimum sentences, saying they are a glaring symbol of the failed U.S. war on drugs."We're going in exactly the opposite direction," said New Democrat Libby Davies, MPfor Vancouver East, whose party will vote against the bill. The Bloc Quebecois also opposes the legislation, which was originally introduced in late 2007, but died last September when the federal election was called.
The bill would pass in the minority Parliament if the official Opposition Liberals decide to support it -- and MP Brian Murphy cautioned that "the jury is still out"for his party."The aim of the bill is laudable, we have to crack down on organized crime and the cash cow for it seems to be drugs," said Murphy. The Liberals, at this stage, would probably push for amendments to narrow the bill's reach, rather than vote against it, he said.The United States experience in the last 25 years has shown that mandatory minimum sentences have flooded jails, with a disproportionate effect on drug addicts, the poor, the young, blacks and other minorities.
The U.S. surpasses every other country by far in incarceration rates and, meanwhile, the drug business has flourished.Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, who appeared at the justice committee to defend his bill, was unable to supply any evidence from other countries that mandatory minimum sentences have made any difference in reducing drug crime. Two studies prepared for the Justice Department, one in 2002 and the other in 2005, say that mandatory minimums do not work.But Nicholson asserted that the proposed legislation is a smart response to a public outcry to crack down on the growing "scourge"of drugs."I can tell you there is support for this bill from many ordinary Canadians who are quite concerned about drug abuse," said Nicholson, who called for expedited passage of the legislation.Davies has unsuccessfully challenged the government to supply estimates on how many more people would be incarcerated if the law passes, and the anticipated cost for provincial governments, who are responsible for jails housing offenders serving sentences of less than two years."It's going to clog up the prison system," she warned.Critics also contend the bill is poorly drafted because it is overly broad and unclear. For instance, the proposal to automatically imprison for at least two years anyone caught selling drugs "near a school"or "any other public place usually frequented by persons under the age of 18" could mean virtually anywhere in an urban area, says the Canadian Civil Liberties Association."Any place other than those where minors are not permitted could fall under that legislation and thus require a two-year minimum sentence be imposed," Graeme Norton, director of the group's public safety project, told the committee.
The proposed legislation would impose one-year mandatory jail time for marijuana dealing, when it is linked to organized crime or a weapon is involved.The sentence would be increased to two years for dealing drugs such as cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine to young people, or pushing drugs near a school or other places frequented by youths.The bill would mean minimum six-month sentences for growing one to 200 marijuana plants to sell, and two years for big-time growers of 500 plants or more. There are already more than two dozen minimum prison terms in the Criminal Code, mainly for murder and offences involving firearms.

British Woman Pregnant From Prison Rape Faces Execution in Laos for Drug Smuggling

20:05 British Woman Pregnant From Prison Rape Faces Execution in Laos for Drug Smuggling 0 Comments

British Woman Pregnant From Prison Rape Faces Execution in Laos for Drug Smuggling.Those caught with more than the 1.1lb normally face a mandatory death penalty.Orobator, who is five months pregnant, is detained in Phonthong Prison in Vientiane, a collection of shabby huts, behind walls of razor wire, and watch-towers.Former inmate Kay Danes said the jail is little more than a torture camp. Torture, which she says is both physical and mental, and involves putting prisoners in medieval stocks.No explanation has been given as to Orobator's pregnancy but she is understood to be denying previous reports by Reprieve, which suggested she may have been raped.She is not thought to have seen a lawyer since her arrest but has now received her seventh visit from British officials.There is no British embassy in Laos and the nearest is in neighbouring Thailand.
Prosecutors say Samantha Orobator, 20, of London, was in possession of 1.5lb (680g) of heroin when she was arrested at Wattay airport, Laos, last August. Her trial has been brought forward and is due to start this week. Legal charity Reprieve said its lawyer, Anna Morris, has been given permission to see Miss Orabator on Tuesday. Miss Orobator has been held at Phonthong prison in the east Asian country since last August.
She became pregnant in the prison in December and is due to give birth in September, it is claimed. Reprieve says authorities in Laos have brought the trial forward a year to avoid her having proper legal representation. The charity says the decision to reschedule the trial was only taken after arrangements were made for her to see a lawyer for the first time. Laotian government spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing insisted that "the trial will be carried out fairly". He said it is expected to be held this week but was unable to confirm a date. Ms Morris flew into the country on Sunday after permission was granted to meet Miss Orobator on Tuesday. Ms Morris told the BBC: "Things are moving quickly. We found out only this morning that the trial wasn't going to take place today [Monday], but we still have no more information as to when it will take place. "We are of course concerned, given that the prison conditions are well documented, we are concerned for her welfare, and we are concerned for the sort of nutrition she's receiving, but we'll know more once we've seen her. She is five months pregnant, without ever having met a lawyer, facing a show trial for her life In Laos, anyone caught with more than 1lb (500g) of heroin faces a mandatory death sentence. At least 39 people have been sentenced to death in Laos since 2003. Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said of the pregnant Briton: "There can hardly be a circumstance where scheduling a capital trial is less appropriate.
"She is five months pregnant, without ever having met a lawyer, facing a show trial for her life." The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said British Embassy officials, including the Ambassador, have visited Miss Orobator a total of six times since her arrest. Jane Orobator says she is scared about her daughter's situation British officials said these visits had been limited to a period of about 20 minutes once a month. There is no British Embassy in Laos and the nearest is in the Thai capital, Bangkok. The Foreign Office only learned of her arrest when Australian authorities passed on information from another prison inmate.
The FCO reiterated the government's opposition to the death penalty "in all circumstances". An FCO spokesman said: "In cases where a British national faces charges that carry the death penalty or has been sentenced to death, we make representations at whatever stage and level is deemed appropriate. "We take every opportunity to make representations to the Lao authorities about our opposition to the death penalty." Miss Orobator was born in Nigeria and lived in south London from the age of eight. Her father lives in Nigeria and her mother and three sisters live in the Irish Republic.
She had been on holiday in Thailand and the Netherlands before travelling to Laos. Her mother Jane Orobator said she was "so scared" about her daughter's situation. "I'm just appealing to the British government, to the Laos authorities, to just please release her. They should just bring her back to me." Mrs Orobator added that she has no idea why her daughter was in Laos. Mrs Orobator last heard from her daughter in July, when she was on holiday in Holland.