illegal drugs – News Stories About illegal drugs - Page 2

Teen's Lesions Linked to Cheap Heroine Substitute

Teen's Lesions Linked to Cheap Heroin Substitute

Jan 3, 2014 5:13 PM CST

Teen's Lesions Linked to Cheap Heroin Substitute

Clinic says Houston girl injected Krokodil

(Newser) - Another medical case linked to the nasty heroin knockoff Krokodil has surfaced in the US, reports the AP . This time, a 17-year-old girl in Houston ended up in the hospital with the telltale skin lesions after injecting the drug for two months, reports the Independent . The unidentified girl actually went...

Across the Globe, We're Losing the War on Drugs

Planet Losing
the War on Drugs

REPORT SAYS

Oct 1, 2013 6:00 AM CDT

Planet Losing the War on Drugs

Substances getting purer as prices drop: report

(Newser) - In countries around the world, law enforcement is losing the war on drugs, researchers say. Their evidence: Across two decades of data, purity of illegal substances is up and cost is down, the BBC reports. "These findings suggest that expanding efforts at controlling the global illegal drug market through...

World's Most
Popular Drug: Pot

study says

Aug 29, 2013 12:03 AM CDT

World's Most Popular Drug: Pot

But painkillers behind most deaths

(Newser) - Researchers have, for the first time, conducted a worldwide survey on illegal drug use, and they learned that the most popular one on the planet is marijuana. But the drugs that are killing the most people are strong painkillers, Vicodin, OxyContin, and codeine among them, the AP reports, as per...

N. Korea's Latest
Demon: Crystal Meth

N. Korea's Latest Demon: Crystal Meth

Country is in throes of 'drug epidemic,' says journal

(Newser) - Illegal drugs are a growing problem in North Korea—and some users are turning to the substances to cure common illnesses, the BBC reports. "The whole of North Korean society is being affected by illegal drugs," a defector tells South Korea's Chosun Ilbo . "Some wealthy people...

86% of Teens Say Peers Smoke, Do Drugs ... at School

survey says

Aug 22, 2012 11:51 AM CDT

86% of Teens Say Peers Smoke, Do Drugs ... at School

New survey finds drugs are widely available at schools

(Newser) - Not only are teens drinking and doing drugs, they're drinking and doing drugs at school. Some 86% of US high-schoolers say their peers use alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs "during the school day on or near school grounds," according to the head of a group that ran...

Poorer Nations Seeing
a Rise in Drug Use

Jun 27, 2012 4:35 PM CDT

Poorer Nations Seeing a Rise in Drug Use

Globalization erases a historic trend: UN report

(Newser) - It used to be that poor nations in South America and elsewhere shipped drugs to richer nations while their own residents largely avoided using them. That has changed in the last decade as the economies of developing nations have improved, according to a new UN report. Now these rising nations...

Drug Prohibition
Not Working,
Brand Testifies

Apr 25, 2012 2:22 AM CDT

Drug Prohibition Not Working, Brand Testifies

He speaks to British lawmakers about addiction

(Newser) - Drug addiction should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal one, Russell Brand told lawmakers in Britain yesterday. The flamboyant actor, wearing a torn vest top, testified before a parliamentary committee, saying he had beaten his own addiction to heroin but had been arrested around a dozen times...

68K Pot Plants Found
in California Mountains

Jul 18, 2011 2:49 PM CDT

68K Pot Plants Found in California Mountains

Authorities call it a record seizure

(Newser) - Call it a pot bust with a capital "B." Authorities in California discovered the largest outdoor grow operation in Ventura County history last week: some 68,500 plants worth an estimated $205 million growing in the mountains of the Los Padres National Forest. That's not all investigators...

‘California Grannies’ Busted for Growing Weed

May 4, 2011 7:26 PM CDT

‘California Grannies’ Busted for Growing Weed

Two women, ages 65 and 72, arrested with 800 pot plants

(Newser) - Authorities have dubbed them the "marijuana grannies." Police in San Bruno, California, arrested Aleen Lam, 72, and Virginia Chan Pon, 65, after officers found 800 pot plants and a bypass to steal electricity from PG&E in the women's house, reports AP . The senior duo faces a...

Not Just Drugs Anymore:
DEA Now a Vast, Global Spy

WIKILEAKS CABLES

Dec 26, 2010 9:55 AM CST

Not Just Drugs Anymore: DEA Now a Vast, Global Spy

WikiLeaks cables reveal the growing reach of the DEA

(Newser) - It's not your daddy's Drug Enforcement Agency: The DEA reach is now so vast and global that it extends far beyond illegal drugs into global intelligence gathering, reports the New York Times . The DEA, with 87 offices in 63 countries, has developed strong ties with foreign governments, including those that...

Teens Picking Pot
Over Cigarettes

for first time since 1981

Dec 15, 2010 10:32 AM CST

Teens Picking Pot Over Cigarettes

Drug czar blames Prop 19, medical marijuana for rise

(Newser) - Marijuana use is up again among teens, rising for the first time in nearly a decade—and President Obama’s drug czar blames California’s legalization measure Proposition 19 , among other things. A new government survey found that 21.4% of high school seniors said they smoked pot in the...

DEA Banning Legal Highs

Nov 25, 2010 6:00 AM CST

DEA Banning Legal Highs

'Fake pot' to be outlawed nationwide

(Newser) - "Legal highs" with marijuana-like effects aren't going to be legal for much longer. The Drug Enforcement Agency has launched an emergency action to outlaw chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana, which is sold online and in head shops, WebMD reports. The "fake pot" is sold under brand names...

DARE Convinces Kid
to Turn in His Parents' Pot

Oct 18, 2010 8:43 AM CDT

DARE Convinces Kid to Turn in His Parents' Pot

Parents arrested, charged after very effective anti-drugs demonstration

(Newser) - Well, chalk this one up as a victory for the DARE program. A recent anti-drugs demonstration at a North Carolina elementary school was quite effective at convincing one 11-year-old boy that marijuana is dangerous—so effective, in fact, that the boy went home, grabbed his parents’ marijuana cigarettes, brought them...

Drug Use Hits 8-Year High

Sep 16, 2010 1:19 AM CDT

Drug Use Hits 8-Year High

Marijuana, meth, ecstasy use up, cocaine down

(Newser) - Illegal drug abuse in America has soared to its highest rate in almost a decade, according to a government report which finds marijuana, methamphetamine, and ecstasy use surging, but cocaine declining. Some 21.8 million Americans used illegal drugs last year, a 9% increase from the year before and the...

Whoops! Teen Accidentally Texts Sheriff to Buy Marijuana

Sep 3, 2010 1:15 PM CDT

Whoops! Teen Accidentally Texts Sheriff to Buy Marijuana

Phone number mix-up lands kid in hot water

(Newser) - A teenager in Montana learned the hard way that he should have saved his drug dealer's number in his cell phone. Instead, he hit a wrong number when sending a text message, and it went to the county sheriff instead. When the sheriff read, "Hey Dawg, do you have...

Lady Gaga: Drugs Inspired Me

Aug 27, 2010 11:26 AM CDT

Lady Gaga: Drugs Inspired Me

But she doesn't need them, okay?

(Newser) - Lady Gaga: not a huge fan of sex, but apparently she is (or at least was) a big fan of drugs. The singer, who recently admitted she still does cocaine occasionally, tells Q magazine that while using drugs in 2005, “I really figured out the art I wanted to...

Mexico Ex Prez:
Legalize Drugs

Aug 10, 2010 5:08 AM CDT

Mexico Ex Prez: Legalize Drugs

Legalization will reduce cartels' power: Fox

(Newser) - Mexico's war on drugs has been a failure and the country should consider legalizing them, according to former President Vicente Fox. Fox—in a blog post sharply critical of his successor Felipe Calderon's hardline policies—stresses that he doesn't believe drugs are good, but that he believes legalizing them will...

He Wants to Be the
'Two Buck Chuck' of Pot

Jul 24, 2010 3:30 PM CDT

He Wants to Be the 'Two Buck Chuck' of Pot

Entrepreneur wants to transform marijuana growing

(Newser) - Jeff Wilcox is set to become pot's first great entrepreneur. The California businessman has convinced the Oakland city council to allow the construction of factory-style marijuana farms, aimed at producing decent-quality bud at below-average prices. For now, Wilcox is filling a niche in the local medical marijuana market. But he...

Jeremy London
Kidnapped,
Forced to
Smoke
Dope

Jun 17, 2010 10:58 AM CDT

Jeremy London Kidnapped, Forced to Smoke Dope

Sounds like something out of a really strange movie...

(Newser) - In today’s Bizarre Crimes Department: Actor Jeremy London was reportedly kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to do drugs. The Party of Five star—and former prescription drug addict—was changing a flat tire in Palm Springs last week when two men stopped to help, then abducted him in his...

Chocolate-Lover Busted
for Cocaine-Filled Truffles

May 21, 2010 5:35 AM CDT

Chocolate-Lover Busted for Cocaine-Filled Truffles

Turns out the guy had more than a sweet tooth

(Newser) - Guess it looked like a sweet deal to Robert Lopera. That is, before customs officials stopped the American at JFK Airport and took a close look at the heavy bags of chocolate truffles and pistachios he was toting on his return from Colombia. Turns out the truffles were cocaine balls...