Drug News

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

Warner M, Chen LH, Makuc DM. Increase in fatal poisonings involving opioid analgesics in the United States, 1999-2006. NCHS data brief, no 22. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2009. “From 1999 through 2006, the number of fatal poisonings involving opioid analgesics more than tripled from 4,000 to 13,800 deaths.Opioid analgesics were involved in…

Reported by: Mike McClanahan “Heroin killed seven people in Jefferson County in 2007, but the drug is being blamed for sixteen deaths so far in 2009.The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office made a huge heroin bust earlier this year. Lt. Randy Christian says dealers are trafficking more heroin because of a nationwide clamp down on ephedrine,…

By CARA BUCKLEY “New Jersey has the ignominious distinction of having street heroin that is among the purest in the nation, with purity levels reaching as high as 72 percent. This is largely because the state is home to large ports and a major airport, making it a direct entry point for drugs smuggled from…

“The toxicology report released Tuesday shows the 36-year-old had cocaine, OxyContin, Benadryl and another drug used to cut cocaine in his system.” http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h8FHlg5tiliZMQj9R3ayBI_CaNSwD9B120V81

New Technique of Storing Bomb Materials Inside Body Cavity Nearly Kills a Saudi PrinceBy Sheila MacVicar “Al Qaeda has developed a new tactic that allows suicide bombers to breach even the tightest security. Taking a trick from the narcotics trade – which has long smuggled drugs in body cavities – Asieri had a pound of…

By EILEEN SULLIVAN (AP) “U.S. and Colombian authorities seized $41 million in suspected drug money over the past two weeks — one of the largest seizures in the history of the countries’ joint efforts, law enforcement officials said Monday.” http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFZuaDk1kg-Mlh8trM02f9M9RhsgD9B0F5D00