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.
"There are addicts who will spend the rest of their lives on the drug, and distributing it to them is a vital treatment," one specialist said. Tel Aviv has come up with a controversial new plan to give free heroin to addicts who have failed rehabilitation attempts, reports the Hebrew weekly Yediot Tel Aviv. City health and welfare officials are putting together the revolutionary plan, which is aimed at preventing the social damage caused by addicts trying to obtain money to buy the illicit drugs. According to the report, four out of every five heroin addicts who complete rehabilitation programs eventually end up back on the drug, and three out of every four property crimes are committed by drug addicts. The city's welfare service has decided to follow the example of some European countries and has come up with a plan to provide controlled quantities of heroin free to adult addicts who have failed several rehabilitation attempts. The distribution would be done at a specific medical clinic under the supervision of doctors. The plan will need to come before the Health Ministry for approval before it can go ahead.
The report said the city's welfare service is currently dealing with 1,707 households for drug-related problems, and workers in the field have long recognized that major problems arise from addicts' attempts to get money for drugs. Police statistics show that 75 percent of property crimes and many of the recent attacks on elderly people have been committed by addicts trying to get money. The figures also show that only 20% of addicts succeed in rehabilitation programs in the long term. The report said there are currently some 15,000 drug addicts in Israel, most of them addicted to heroin. No response was reported from the Health Ministry.
“I seriously thought, ‘Shall I end it now?’” Jordan revealed of her feelings. (ANI)Jordan denied that she took cocaine during a drug binge that left her feeling suicidal.Jordan, who is a 29-year-old mother of three, had taken the substance behind her husband Peter Andre’s back, but she has refused to reveal what it was she had used.On Feb 17 a spokeswoman for Jordan denied that it was cocaine that the model had used.“Katie did not take an illegal substance. It was a prescription drug,” the Sun quoted the spokeswoman as saying.“She did turn to drugs in the lowest ebb of her life. She knows it was a stupid thing to do,” the spokeswoman stated."Katie did not have to talk about this but has decided to do so as a warning. She wants to stop other people turning to drugs as a way of dealing with their problems,” the spokeswoman added.The model has confessed to the ordeal in her book ‘Jordan: Pushed To The Limit’, where she admitted that she had taken the drug in a bid to beat postnatal depression but feared she had overdosed.Jordan’s doctor had given her the all clear, but there was huge fight between her and 34-year-old Andre, making her run away from their home.
Stephen Crump, 41, who once earned £250,000 a year, was arrested by an undercover policewoman in a pub on the edge of the Square Mile. He was seized in a Met operation that uncovered a number of cocaine dealers selling drugs to City workers. Three dealers who sold between £20,000 and £30,000 worth of the drug a week to office workers in their lunch breaks have already been jailed.
Crump blamed the stress of his job after being caught plying the woman officer with cocaine on three separate occasions at the Mr Pickwicks bar. He was held in a 20-month investigation codenamed Operation Telon - the biggest of its kind ever carried out by Scotland Yard's Clubs and Vice Unit - which uncovered drug dealing at Mr Pickwicks and Bar Bed in Whitechapel. The former stockbroker was given a suspended sentence and ordered to do 250 hours of community service after his lawyer told the court he had turned to drugs to cope with his high-pressure career. Crump, who is now taking an IT course and trying to start up his own business, started work in the City at 17 and said he was offered cocaine almost immediately. At the peak of his addiction the father of two was spending £400 a day on cocaine and drinking two bottles of wine, 10 pints of lager and a bottle of vodka. He said: 'The pressures were immense and everyone was doing it. You would hear sniffing in the toilets. We would start work at 6.30am, take our first line at 11.30am, then be entertaining until 2am. I was very young and impressionable and suddenly I was earning all this money. 'I then became involved in a co-dependent relationship and would get home and carry on doing cocaine and drinking, then have a shower and go back to work. I was working in Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong, flying first class on holiday to Barbados and buying £2,000 Gucci suits. 'Now everything is gone. But I've been clean for 18 months and am pressing on, turning my life around and fighting to see my kids. I'm also engaged to a wonderful woman who has had a big part to play in my recovery.' In court his lawyer, John King, described how his client had only offered the cocaine to the officer in an attempt to woo her. This was about impressing a woman rather than commercial dealing,' he said. 'This sort of thing is rife in City traders and people working in the City as he was.' Venue: Bar Bed in WhitechapelHe added: '(Crump) had essentially been living in a dream world for 15 years, living with cocaine and therefore not taking care of his life or his family. Now he is, and he has changed dramatically.' Crump, of Basildon, Essex, admitted three counts of supplying a class-A drug and one of facilitating the supply of a class-A drug and was sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for two years. In November, Phillip James, 38, who lived in a Docklands apartment off The Highway, and Lee Ingram, 40, of Harwood Hall Lane, who had a £1.5m Upminster home, were each jailed for 10 years by Southwark crown court.They ran a highly lucrative cocaine and Viagra racket based at the Bar Bed in Leman Street. They spent their profits on holidays in Dubai and southern Spain and expensive jewellery. Anthony Best, 37, of Firbank Road, Romford, a crack addict who worked for the pair, was jailed for seven years. A spokesman for charity DrugScope said that many City workers turned to drugs. 'The problem is so bad that many City employers now have drug and alcohol policies and run random drug tests,' he said. 'Cocaine makes people more energetic and confident, which they might see as a benefit. When taken with alcohol it can also mean people are able to drink more.'
Mel Gibson was today given the thumbs up by a judge to finally put his DUI shame behind him. was praised for meeting all the demands of his probation and told he will not have to come back to court.Judge Lawrence J. Mira saluted Gibson for sticking to the rules of his rehabilitation at the half-way stage and wished him good luck for the future. But the judge warned: “Now you’re on you’re your own.“This will be the most difficult time for you.”Gibson, smartly dressed in a suit, only spoke when the judge told him: “I believe you are committed to this rehabilitation.”
He replied: “Yes.”The actor, who infamously made ant-Semitic comments when he was arrested, stood alongside his attorney with his hands behind his back throughout the probation progress hearing in Malibu. He looked visibly relieved as he realised his DUI nightmare in the courts was finally over.Judge Mira, who had insisted Gibson appear in person, told him: “I am pleased with the efforts you have put in on this round of probation.
“This hasn’t been easy for you.”But the judge stressed Gibson is still only half-way through his probation. He said: “This probation has to run 36 months. There is no early termination.”The court heard how Gibson has attended Alcoholics Anonymous and court-ordered DUI meetings. Judge Mira said: “I don’t see in this particular case any need for future progress reports.”
He told Gibson he can continue to count on the support of the court and added: “Good luck to you.”The judge refused to let the hearing be recorded by reporters as he agreed it could encourage crazed fans who Gibson has been forced to take out a restraining order against.Oscar-winner Gibson pleaded no contest to the DUI charge in August 2006 and was given three years’ probation. He was also ordered to pay $1,400 in fines and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which he now does voluntarily.Gibson was driving his Lexus in Malibu when he was arrested in the early hours of the morning in July 2006. He issued a statement a day later apologizing for his “belligerent behaviour” when he was arrested. And he admtitted he had “battled the disease of alcoholism for all my adult life”.
new figures show the number of alcohol related deaths in Suffolk has soared by nearly 50 per cent in the space of just four years.The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, show that in 2002 there were 48 alcohol related deaths in Suffolk - but this increased by 45.8pc to 70 in 2006.The increase is more than twice the regional average.Deaths across the East of England increased by 21.9pc in the same period from 456 alcohol related deaths in 2002 to 556 in 2006.The statistics came to light following a parliamentary question from Richard Spring MP.Mr Spring, Conservative MP for West Suffolk, has called on government to take action to stem the problem.He said: “The tragic cost of excessive drinking is putting a huge burden on our NHS.“It is causing massive additional pressure on our local hospitals and emergency services.“The government needs to stop thinking in the short term, make public health a priority and produce some serious solutions to tackle this growing problem.”The new data coincides with figures published last month showing 157 people were admitted to Ipswich Hospital for alcoholic liver disease in 2005/06 compared with 102 in 2001/02 - a rise of 53.9pc.
Meanwhile 98 people were admitted for cirrhosis of the liver in 2005/06 compared with 63 in 2001/02 - a rise of 55.6pc.
Are our youngsters really spending their pocket money on super-strength cider and hard spirits? The government certainly thinks so.Home Secretary Jacqui Smith plans to crack down on the nation's underage drinkers. Police will get the power to seize alcohol from under-18s, and Smith is also considering bringing in fines and parental contracts.But is this an over-reaction? Are things really that bad? To find out, Mirror investigators talked to youngsters in nine typical towns across the UK at 9pm on Friday night.We met them on the streets, in parks, playgrounds and even outside an under-18s alcohol-free disco - and quizzed them about their drinking habits.Horrified, we found kids as young as 14 who were knocking back adult-sized quantities of booze - and boasting of doing it every week.Many admitted to us that they'd ended up brawling and having under-age sex after getting tanked up on cheap supermarket booze.Frank Soodeen of the charity Alcohol Concern says: "Your investigation shows that more children than ever are getting access to alcohol and many of them are turning into hardened drinkers at a very young age."There's a clear link between early alcohol use and hard drug use, crime, poor performance in school and unwanted teen pregnancies... It's a bit much for adults to say how terrible underage drinking is when we haven't
Binge-drinking and alcohol-related violence will affect Britain's streets for years to come, an internal Government review warns.The Cabinet Office strategy document paints a depressing picture of a nation which will face "persisting" problems with yob crime - as well as huge pressures caused by immigration.It will be seized on by critics as proof that, despite ten years of initiatives, the Government has failed to get a grip on anti-social behaviour or migration.The 180-page study - entitled Realising Britain's Potential: Future Strategic Challenges for Britain - says: "Drugs and alcohol remain key drivers of crime and are of significant public concern."Social trends mean the challenges of drugs and alcohol are likely to remain, with the consumption of Class A drugs and binge-drinking persisting.""Particular future challenges surround high-visibility offending (such as underage binge-drinking in public and anti-social behaviour) and high harm/profile offending (such as gang-related violence)."The review, slipped out on Friday after MPs left for the half-term recess, also warns that gun crime has yet to be brought under control.The strategy document - which has a foreword by Gordon Brown - says: "Particular attention needs to be paid to certain offences such as some forms of violent crime (e.g. gun and knife crime) that have remained persistent. There are particular challenges in relation to gun crime."It also warns that only one in five people believe Government claims that crime is falling. Fewer than half - 43 per cent - believe police numbers have been increased.Confidence in the criminal justice system is also falling, the document says, as well as faith in the prison service and the police.Cabinet Office officials, who have prepared the strategy for use across Whitehall, concede the huge influx of migrants to Britain will continue.It follows predictions by the Office of National Statistics that migration will increase the population by up to 190,000 a year.The paper says: "Net migration to the UK is projected to continue. High levels of immigration may increase demand on some public services."For example, in some areas migration has added to school rolls and required schools to make extra provision for English as a second language."It warns of migrants settling in "clusters", which could lead to a negative reaction from locals.The quiet release of the document was spotted by Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, who published his own alarming study on Britain's teenage binge- drinking culture.Last week, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith threatened once again to come down hard on under-18s caught drinking alcohol.But the Tories said that, based on past enforcement action, youngsters had less than a one in 250,000 chance of being punished.According to a survey conducted by members of the British Beer and Pub Association, more than a million people a month are being turned away from pubs for being under-age or not having the right proof of age.The figures for shops and supermarkets, based on returns from one national offlicence chain, suggest a further million attempts a month to buy alcohol, the Tories say.But in 2006 only ten people between ten and 17 were taken to magistrates' courts for buying alcohol illegally.A further 13 were cautioned, and 62 received on-the-spot fines. The Tories said this means the chance of receiving any form of sanction for trying to buy alcohol under-age is just one in 282,000.Mr Davis said: "Under-age drinking damages young people and fuels youth crime. Ministers talk endlessly about cracking down on alcohol-related violence, but these figures show the Government's staggering complacency when it comes to taking the action required.
"The Government's basic failure to enforce the law sends totally the wrong message about under-age drinking and puts the public at risk from the spiralling violence it generates."
A police chief is urging the Government to ban cheap alcohol to help curb binge-drinking.Northumbria Chief Constable Mike Craik wants to see an end to special promotions by pubs, such as two or three shots of spirits for the price of one.Mr Craik also called for alcopops to be taken off the shelves and tougher controls imposed on alcohol advertising.He says legislation is needed - "the Government should take the bull by the horns on this issue".
Actor Brad Renfro,died January 15 from an accidental overdose of heroin, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said today.
The actor had been found dead at his home with injection marks on his hands, and the cause of death was "acute heroin/morphine intoxication" via injected drugs.
Renfro was on probation at the time, dating to a December 22, 2005 arrest during a police sting (during which 14 people bought fake balloons of heroin from undercover officers) in the city's skid row.
At an August court hearing he told a judge he was trying to stay clean; Coroner's office spokesman Craig Harvey told the Los Angles Times
Harvey said Renfro's friends told coroner's officials that the 25-year old actor had been clean in the weeks leading up to his fatal overdose. If true, Harvey said it was possible that Renfro had injected a dose of heroin typical for his days of heavier drug use
Drug dealers are preying on patients in mental health units by pretending that they are friends and selling them cannabis, a government health chief revealed last night.
Louis Appleby, national director for mental health at the Department of Health, told The Times it was “well known” that dealers found their way into mental health units and exploited patients who were seriously ill. Some hospitals have brought in sniffer dog patrols to scare dealers off but staff say that they have no rights to stop patients and friends coming in or out, or to search anyone who may be carrying drugs.
Professor Appleby’s comments came as it was revealed that the potent “skunk” form of the drug now accounts for up to 80 per cent of cannabis sold on the street — up from 15 per cent six years ago. The latest figures were revealed yesterday at a meeting of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, a government body that is considering whether cannabis should be returned to Class B status with tougher penalties for those caught in possession.
The Government has indicated its support for reclassification, as revealed by The Times last month, amid growing concerns about the health effects of cannabis. It has been linked to an increased risk of psychotic illness and other associated mental health problems.
The clover leaf is more than a good luck symbol for some these days.
That image, along with others like kittens and the Adidas logo, have been misappropriated by illicit drug manufacturers in Canada. The colored branding images are used to popularize a new drug being exported into the United States: Ecstasy mixed with methamphetamine.
The powders of the two drugs are pressed into pill form and smuggled across the U.S. border, according to law enforcement officials. Approximately 2 million tablets a week are manufactured in Canada, federal authorities say.
Vermont State Police say they are seeing the drug crop up in pockets around the state.
"It's started now, so it doesn't look like it's leaving," said Vermont State Police Lieutenant Leo Bachand, the commander of the Northern Drug Task Force.
Bachand said his team has made two controlled "hand-to-hand" buys of the drug from a man in St. Johnsbury. The orange pills, about the size of aspirin, came from Massachusetts, but Bachand said his team has arrested several people at the Canadian border attempting to cross with quantities of the drug that were manufactured in Canada.
According to Ted Woo, chief public affairs officer for the New England area for U.S. Customs and Border protection, there have been no major seizures of the drug in New England border states.
But local officials said they are starting to see it arrive in Vermont.
"We've made other arrests of small amounts that (were) manufactured up there in Canada," Bachand said. "Those pill presses put out in huge amounts."
Investigators said they purchased 10 pills one time and four pills another time from 27-year-old Christopher Laberge, of St. Johnsbury, who reportedly obtained the drugs from Massachusetts. Investigators paid $20 a pill for the Ecstasy mixed with methamphetamine.
Laberge will face charges of possession and sale of a controlled substance and aiding in the commission of a felony in Vermont District Court in St. Johnsbury on March 24.
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