Professor David Nutt, who was the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, sparked outrage earlier this week

08:27 the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs 0 Comments

Professor David Nutt, who was the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, sparked outrage earlier this week after he criticised the decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug.It is understood Home Secretary Alan Johnson asked him to consider his position in the wake of the comments, saying he had "no confidence" in him.The charity DrugScope said the development was "extremely serious and concerning".Director of communications, Harry Shapiro, said: "There are few areas of policy as important but at the same time as difficult, complex and emotive as drugs policy. That is why it is vitally important that the Government receives advice that is not only evidence based, objective and robust but that is also public and transparent."However, former Government chief scientific adviser Sir David King said Professor Nutt had "stepped over the line" in criticising a politician.On Friday night, he said that advisers had to maintain the trust of both public and ministers and it was important to do that in a sensitive way."I think that where David has stepped over the line is being openly critical of the politician concerned," he said.

former girlfriend of drug kingpin Alton "Ace Capone" Coles

01:21 Coles "used the women in his life as tools of his trade." 0 Comments

Asya Richardson, through her lawyer, claims she was unaware that the man she knew as a music company impresario used drug money for the down payment on the house just outside Mullica Hill they bought in the summer of 2005.former girlfriend of drug kingpin Alton "Ace Capone" Coles, wants her money-laundering conviction, linked to the couple's purchase of a luxurious home in South Jersey, overturned.
"Asya Richardson was a naive young woman who fell in love with, and was duped by, Alton Coles, a deceptive, manipulative individual . . . who hid his illegal activities from her and used her as part of his legitimate front to the outside world," Richardson's lawyer, Ellen C. Brotman, argued in a post-trial motion heard today by U.S. District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick.Brotman has asked the judge either to overturn Richardson's conviction or grant her a new trial. Surrick, after an hour-long hearing, said he would take the issue under advisement. Not surprisingly, federal prosecutors argued that the conviction should stand.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bresnick said that Richardson, 28, knowingly went along with Coles, helping to launder drug proceeds by negotiating the down payment on the $488,000 house with cash transferred from his bank accounts and by lying about her employment and income records."All the evidence established that she knew Coles was a drug dealer and she knew his money was drug money," Bresnick said, describing the house purchase as a "classic money-laundering case."Coles was arrested at the Gloucester County residence, on Dillon's Lane just outside Mullica Hill, in August 2005 as investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms and Explosives launched a series of raids that capped a two-year investigation of his $25 million cocaine network. Coles and Richardson had moved into the property two weeks earlier.Richardson was later charged with money-laundering and conspiracy to commit money-laundering. She is the half-sister of former Philadelphia baseketball star Jerome "Pooh" Richardson, who called her hours before the raid to warn that the "feds were coming."Pooh Richardson testified for the prosecution this year at the trial of a former Philadelphia police detective who was convicted of obstruction of justice for leaking him information about the raid.
Aysa Richardson was convicted along with Coles and four others, including a second Coles girlfriend, in March 2008. Coles, 35, was sentenced to life plus 55 years. Richardson has had her sentence delayed pending the outcome of her post-trial motions. She could be sentenced to 78 months. Whatever the outcome, the motions have offered a look at the twisted relationship between Coles and the women he dated while under investigation.Brotman, in papers filed last year, said Coles "used the women in his life as tools of his trade."

SPANISH drug traffickers are now taking to the skies to avoid border controls.

01:17 SPANISH drug traffickers are now taking to the skies to avoid border controls. 0 Comments

Smugglers are loading up mini planes with sacks of marijuana in a bid to evade Moroccan security. Investigations carried out by Moroccan police have exposed dozens of Spaniards believed to be violating their airspace. Some 13 drug planes have already been intercepted this year, while just seven were seized in 2007. Last month, two Spaniards were arrested for undertaking a drug smuggling reconnaissance mission. They were spotted circling over the east of Morocco, in another trademark mini plane.

cocaine trafficking syndicate has been cracked in a series of raids on the Gold Coast

01:15 cocaine trafficking syndicate has been cracked in a series of raids on the Gold Coast 0 Comments

cocaine trafficking syndicate has been cracked in a series of raids on the Gold Coast, police say.The Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) and Gold Coast police simultaneously executed five search warrants on properties at Carrara, Southport, Burleigh Waters, Surfers Paradise and Molendinar on Thursday morning.Four people were arrested during the raids with charges relating to the trafficking of dangerous drugs, possession of prohibited drugs and possession of firearms laid.
A total of 2.5kg of cocaine was seized during the entire operation, with a street value estimated by the CMC at $750,000.Police also seized $37,650 in cash, steroids, a .357 Magnum firearm and ammunition.The raids signal the closure of a 13-month anti-organised crime operation led by the CMC in partnership with various Queensland and NSW police services.

Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation handed Yuri van Gelder a one-year suspension for testing positive for cocaine

01:11 Yuri van Gelder will miss 2012 Olympics 0 Comments

Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation handed Yuri van Gelder a one-year suspension for testing positive for cocaine at the Dutch Championships in June, ending his chances to compete at the 2012 Olympics.Van Gelder will be able to return to international competition in the summer of 2010, but International Olympic Committee rules stipulate that athletes who receive any sort of suspension for more than six months are not eligible to compete at the next Olympic Games. …
Gymnastics Examiner – After cocaine suspension, Yuri van Gelder will miss 2012 Olympics

Lambda Iota became a drug house during the 2006 - 2007 school year.

01:10 former University of Vermont student will spend six months in jail for supplying drugs to his fraternity's cocaine ring. 0 Comments

Federal prosecutors say Lambda Iota became a drug house during the 2006 - 2007 school year. Twenty-five-year-old Bent Cardan of California supplied the fraternity president with the cocaine. He'll also be on four years supervised release and pay a $4,000 fine. Cardan's Connecticut supplier is serving a 70-month sentence for drug trafficking. The former fraternity president, 25-year-old Christopher Duncan, is serving two years probation. The Justice Department has moved to seize the frat house.former University of Vermont student will spend six months in jail for supplying drugs to his fraternity's cocaine ring.

Alcohol and cigarettes are more dangerous than illegal drugs

01:05 taking ecstasy was no more dangerous than horseriding 0 Comments

Alcohol and cigarettes are more dangerous than illegal drugs such as cannabis, LSD and ecstasy, the government's top drugs advisor said Thursday.Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London called for a new system of classifying drugs to enable the public to better understand the relative harm of legal and illegal substances.
Alcohol would rank as the fifth most harmful drug after heroin, cocaine, barbiturates and methadone, he said in a briefing paper for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London.Tobacco would come ninth on the list and cannabis, LSD and ecstasy "while harmful, are ranked lower at 11, 14 and 18 respectively". The ranking is based on physical harm, dependence and social harm.
"No one is suggesting that drugs are not harmful. The critical question is one of scale and degree," said Nutt, the chairman of the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.He added: "We have to accept young people like to experiment -- with drugs and other potentially harmful activities -- and what we should be doing in all of this is to protect them from harm at this stage of their lives.
"We therefore have to provide more accurate and credible information. If you think that scaring kids will stop them using, you are probably wrong."Nutt criticised ministers for their decision to upgrade the classification of cannabis in January from class C -- which includes tranquillisers and some painkillers -- to the higher class B alongside amphetamines.The decision, which increases the penalties to a maximum 14 years in jail for dealing and five years for possession, was against scientific advice and came just five years after cannabis had been downgraded from class B to C.Nutt said such policies "distort" and "devalue" research evidence and lead to mixed messages to the public.While he acknowledged that cannabis was "harmful", he said its use does not lead to major health problems. Users faced a "relatively small risk" of psychotic illness compared to the risks of smokers contracting lung cancer.Nutt caused controversy earlier this year by saying that taking ecstasy was no more dangerous than horseriding, a claim he repeated in his paper.