“PHOENIX — Drug smugglers are now using horses to carry loads of marijuana across the border, authorities said.” http://www.kpho.com/news/21298556/detail.html

By Frank Jack Daniel “TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – The number of airplanes smuggling cocaine through Honduras has surged since the United States suspended drug cooperation in the wake of an army coup, the Central American country’s drugs chief said on Tuesday.” http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE59C69T20091013?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11604&sp=true

By Cecelia Mason “After targeting primarily cocaine and prescription drug abuse for years, law enforcement officials are reporting an increase in heroin use across West Virginia, especially in the Eastern Panhandle.” http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=11643

By Cecelia Mason “Law enforcement officials across West Virginia see an increase in heroin use and in the number of deaths associated with the drug.However heroin is just one of many narcotics people are addicted to and treatment is not easy to come by. “ http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=11656

By TONY HOLT Hernando Today “BROOKSVILLE – Marijuana was found on the driver of a car that crashed into a school bus Tuesday afternoon, deputies said.” http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2009/oct/14/141634/driver-arrested-marijuana-possession-after-crash/news/

By Karl Penhaul, CNN “Story Highlights:* Colombian hitmen talk about their careers to CNN* One says a kill costs between $2,000 and $10,000* Second hitman: After the first kill you panic, the second is a medicine* They live in Medellin, the Colombian city in the middle of a drug war” http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/14/colombia.hitmen/index.html

By Karl Penhaul, CNN “Medellin is once again in the grip of a vicious drug war. In January to September this year, city authorities say the murder rate has more than doubled with almost 2,000 killings. Officials at the Medellin public prosecutor’s offices say the vast majority of victims were shot, likely victims of rival…

By DUDLEY ALTHAUSHOUSTON CHRONICLE “CIUDAD NEZAHUALCOYOTL, Mexico — Tangled in the front line trenches of Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s anti-narcotics campaign are the country’s growing legions of addicts, who find themselves sought by gangsters as both customers and sometime targets of their violence.” http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6652182.html