By Tamsyn Burgmann “VANCOUVER, B.C. — Small communities in British Columbia largely untouched by the scourge of hard drugs are discovering a similar danger that some consider even tougher to tackle because it’s handed out with a doctor’s blessing. So-called “hillbilly heroin” is a prescription pain killer that’s been badly abused in parts of Atlantic…

By JULIE WATSON “Two raids by security forces netted the largest seizures of methamphetamine precursor chemicals in Mexico’s history, federal officials announced Friday.” http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gMi5B2USfJStXxfqgWWr2xjRYpOgD9B3CEL80

By Joe Sullivan “Organisers of a new campaign against drug driving say one in five drivers killed on South Australian roads test positive to recreational drugs.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/02/2703459.htm

By JD Malone “Two men have been tearing copper downspouts and gutters from homes in northeast Bethlehem for the past month, police said, to feed their heroin habits.” http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2009/10/bethlehem_men_accused_of_steal.html

By Sontaya Rose “Clovis Police have made two big marijuana busts at a park that’s popular with both families and teenage skaters. One bust happened Tuesday and investigators say two parents even got their fifteen-year-old son involved in their illegal activity. Investigators say Carter Compolongo and his wife Audra employed their 15 year old to…

By HOWARD FINE and DAVID HALDANELos Angeles Business Journal Staff “Critics said medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles now outnumber Starbucks coffee stores or Subway sandwich shops. And city officials and representatives from neighborhood councils claim many of the newer dispensaries are little more than storefronts that sell street marijuana to healthy-looking young people.” http://www.labusinessjournal.com/article.asp?aID=82238464.811352.1822418.97606902.4692586.214&page=1

By MARCUS WOHLSEN (AP) “SAN FRANCISCO — Socked in by coastal fog, gardeners in the city’s Sunset District struggle to coax vegetables from plots rarely touched by sunlight. But recently, a certain crop has flourished behind closed doors. Marijuana farms have become so widespread in this middle class neighborhood that the city’s new police chief…

 

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY “Addiction to prescription painkillers — which kill thousands of Americans a year — has become a largely unrecognized epidemic, experts say. In fact, prescription drugs cause most of the more than 26,000 fatal overdoses each year, says Leonard Paulozzi of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “ http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-09-30-drug-overdose_N.htm

By MIKE STOBBE (AP) “In 16 states and counting, drugs now kill more people than auto accidents do, the government said Wednesday. Experts said the startling shift reflects two opposite trends: Driving is becoming safer, and the legal and illegal use of powerful prescription painkillers is on the rise.” http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdz4JUVbE5HtzJ5ceT6ERTpfI_6gD9B1TECG3