By Shari Roan and Karen Kaplan “A cocaine vaccine reduced use in 38% of addicts, according to a new study. Nicotine, heroin and methamphetamine vaccines are in the works. But legal and financial hurdles may slow production.” http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-addiction6-2009oct06,0,3400048.story

Hetty Chang reporting “The suicide rate is the lowest it’s been in three years. Last year, there were four suicides compared to twelve the previous year. However, the number of deaths caused by overdose is the highest it’s been since the study began. Homicide among teens is also on the rise.” http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=11262858

Oct 7 2009 By Magnus Gardham “SCOTLAND’S drug users are spending an astonishing £1.4BILLION a year to feed their habits. And the drugs scourge leaves the nation with a £3.5billion annual bill. The harrowing scale of the illegal drugs industry was revealed yesterday in a new Government report.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/10/07/revealed-drug-users-in-scotland-spend-1-4bn-every-year-to-feed-thir-habits-86908-21729100/

By Joe Ruble “A New Smyrna Beach man is charged with filing a false report after claiming he was robbed of his bottle of oxycodone, a narcotic pain killer.Volusia County deputies later learned that Timothy Maas had just lost his bottle and was hoping that by filing a police report, he could get a free…

By SCOTT WYLAND – LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL “Drug overdoses last year killed three times more children in Clark County than in 2007, with prescription drugs causing half of the fatalities, according to a report released Monday. “ http://www.lvrj.com/news/report-drug-overdoses-kill-more-children-in-08-63585177.html

“NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Older folks looking to find relief from painful arthritis should steer clear of codeine, OxyContin and other powerful prescription “opioid” painkillers, even if their pain is severe, doctors advise in a report published this week. That’s because the risks of these drugs far outweigh the benefits, they say.” http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=8773908

“A former Chicago water department engineer who admitted masterminding a large-scale heroin ring has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison. “ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-cityworker-heroin,0,2405557.story

Washington Post: American Mom-and-Pop Marijuana Growers Are Cutting Into Profits of Foreign Traffickers(Washingtonpost.com) This story was written by Steve Fainaru and William Booth. Stiff competition from thousands of mom-and-pop marijuana farmers in the United States threatens the bottom line for powerful Mexican drug organizations in a way that decades of arrests and seizures have not,…

By Claire Truscott “GOLESTAN, Afghanistan — Lack of training, equipment and mentors are hampering efforts to transfer responsibility for Afghanistan’s domestic security to local forces, US military officials say. Widespread drug use, tribal divisions, corruption and a high drop-out rate are also slowing attempts to create a credible force able to protect the public from…

By Jean Marbella “It shouldn’t be surprising that white-coated professionals are no less immune to the lure of drugs or the disease of addiction than the rest of us – and, in fact, TV has made this quite the staple character, from Percocet-snorting Nurse Jackie to Vicodin-hallucinating Dr. House. And yet it’s hard to imagine…