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 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.
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.
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.
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.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.
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.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, 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.
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.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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
.png)
