(Reuters) – Police in an Arizona border city are on heightened alert after receiving a warning from a Mexican drug cartel that officers may be targeted if they carry out off-duty drug busts, authorities said on Tuesday. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65M0IF20100623?type=domesticNews

Kingston, Jamaica (CNN) — Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the alleged Jamaican drug kingpin, will be extradited to the United States, a quiet formality that followed a dramatic eruption of street violence in the capital of Kingston. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/24/jamaica.coke.extradition/?hpt=T2&fbid=895jIfooHiv

Methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin may be America’s most addictive and destructive drugs, but marijuana is the most dangerous illegal drug in our nation. The reasons for this conclusion are many. First is that marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in America. Almost 2 million persons began using marijuana last year in the United…

Law Enforcement officials claim by the time a child reaches the 5th grade, there is a significantly high chance they have either seen, been pressured or heard about drugs. The Auburn Police Department and officials with Drug Abuse Resistance Education or DARE say education about drugs in this time of life is crucial. http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=12692917

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) — Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is proposing that recipients of government assistance like welfare and unemployment be required to pass a drug test before getting the money. http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=102814&catid=158

The empty glassine packets can be found in Manhattan, Brooklyn and beyond, scattered on streets and sidewalks with only obscure slogans or graphic images to suggest their former use. At one time they contained heroin and the markings stamped on the packets were meant to differentiate strains of varying purity or provenance. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/arts/design/23heroin.html

Abuse of prescription pain relievers is soaring in the United States, according to what health officials call “alarming findings” in a new report. Visits to hospital emergency departments involving nonmedical use of prescription narcotic pain relievers more than doubled between 2004 and 2008, according to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services…

Mexican drug cartels have set up shop on American soil, maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona from which their scouts can monitor every move made by law enforcement officials, federal agents tell Fox News. “To say that this area is out of control is an understatement,” said an agent…

State leaders will launch a campaign that could include TV and radio spots to warn about the dangers of a legal yet potent drug that has been linked to the recent death of an Indianola teen. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100622/NEWS/6220352/-1/CLIVE/State-officials-set-their-sights-on-banning-K2

Police arrested a man at Dulles Airport on Thursday for trying to smuggle cocaine past security in powdered soup packets. According to the LaCrosse Tribune, customs dogs identified the man, who was traveling to El Salvador, as a suspect. This attempt, although creative, is far from the first imaginative drug-smuggling attempt. Check out a few…