By William BoothWashington Post Foreign ServiceThursday, April 23, 2009 “Last week at a news conference, Héctor González Martínez, the Roman Catholic archbishop in the state of Durango, announced what many Mexicans suspect: that “everyone knows” where the country’s most wanted drug lord lives, “except the authorities.” Events then took a deadly and macabre turn, as…

“Cheap Pakistani heroin is the curse of Rubina Naz’s life. Her marriage to a violent and abusive addict, during which she had to work to feed their four children, ended when he died of AIDS — but not before he infected her with the HIV virus.” To view full article visit: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iCpKBDgB1SE5Dx9DT5My2Y3jBcww

Stole blank Rx forms to get Oxy, PercocetsBy MICHAEL HINKELMAN Philadelphia Daily News “A Drexel Hill man yesterday admitted in federal district court that he was part of a conspiracy that illegally distributed 245,620 Percocet and Oxycontin pills between January 2007 and December 2008.Authorities said that Elam, 28, of Darby, who was employed at a…

By Ed LavanderaCNN Correspondent “Santos says he became one of the thousands of American and Mexican teenagers recruited into the dangerous world of drug smuggling. They’re often called mules. These teenagers are usually hired only to smuggle drug loads across the border. It’s a short drive or walk that offers quick cash but can carry…

By Harold ReutterPublished: Saturday, April 18, 2009 9:56 PM CDT “Law enforcement officials in Hastings have issued a press release saying they believe that a substance containing a toxic poison is being masqueraded as methamphetamine. “This substance is very dangerous,” the press release states. “Its use can cause death.” To view full article visit: http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2009/04/19/news/local/doc49e944fa70521820532984.txt

April 17, 2009, 12:29 pmBy Marc Lacey “To show that President Felipe Calderon of Mexico is making inroads in his battle against drug traffickers, the United States government points to the rising price of cocaine. The average price per gram of cocaine in the United States increased 21 percent, to $117.72 from $97.01, from the…

By PAULINE ARRILLAGA – 2 days ago “COLUMBIANA, Ala. (AP) — Five men dead in an apartment. In a county that might see five homicides in an entire year, the call over the sheriff’s radio revealed little about what awaited law enforcement at a sprawling apartment complex.Some of the men showed signs of torture: Burns…

Bay County Sheriff’s Office sets sights on surge in prescription drug abuseApril 19, 2009 06:01:00 AMBy S. BRADY CALHOUN / News Herald Writer “About twice a month, sometimes more often, Bay County Sheriff’s officials respond to a home where someone has overdosed on Oxycontin, Oxycodone, Dilaudid or some combination of pain pills and alcohol, investigators…

Updated: 1:08 pm EDT April 17, 2009 “A drug arrest in Weirton landed a West Virginia state government employee in jail after police said she was transporting heroin in a state car.” To view the full article visit: http://www.wtov9.com/news/19204192/detail.html

BY SCOTT HIAASEN AND BREANNE GILPATRICK “A key Senate committee approved a bill creating a statewide monitoring program that would allow doctors and, in some cases, police to track the prescription history of people receiving narcotics.Thirty-eight other states have a prescription-drug tracking system, but efforts to create such a program in Florida have repeatedly failed…