The Archives

Asia, People, Smuggling
Trinh Nguyen Thuy Faces Death
05.30.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Vietnamese police are officially launching legal action against Trinh Nguyen Thuy and 32 of his associates on charges of trafficking and producing heroin, according to papers there.

According to the police investigation, the gang was responsible for bringing in about 200kg of heroin and almost 700 kg of opium from Laos to Vietnam between 2001 and 2003.

Thuy has also admitted to bribing officials so that he could be allowed to grow opium poppies on farms close to Hanoi city.
North America, Studies
Opioid and alcohol dependence drug could treat Crohn’s disease
05.29.06 | Permalink | Comment?

A low dosage of Naltrexone, the FDA-approved opioid receptor antagonist that has been having success managing opioid and alcohol dependence, may be able to bring relief to those suffering from Crohn’s disease, the inflammatory bowel disease with no known medical cure. This was the finding of a report - “Low-Dose Naltrexone as a Treatment For Active Crohn’s Disease” - into pilot research undertaken by Professor Jill Smith of the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine.
Europe, War on Drugs
Scanner used to test hands for drugs
05.29.06 | Permalink | Comment?

The Iron Track Scanner, used to test people’s hands for the presence of drugs, has been brought out by Police in the English town of Telford, Shropshire and tested on punters standing in line outside two nightclubs. The results? 74 people tested had traces of drugs, including cocaine, on their hands. What does it all mean? Apparently little according to police. The positive tests could have come from contact with beer glasses. (Or perhaps even money?) So as a tool to bust people for drug use it seems a waste of time and an unnecessary intrusion. However, as a tool to put a little scare into people, it may be more efficacious. Makes a not bad dishwasher tester as well.
North America, People, Treatment
The transitions of Sybil Clarkson
05.29.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Sybil Clarkson, a former crack addict for 18 years, and Transitions, the program which helped her become clean and who she now works for as a Child Care Coordinator/Case Manager, have been profiled in The Journal Gazette of Fort Worth, Indiana.

Clarkson had previously tried to give up drugs with AWAC, another program run by the non-profit Women’s Bureau (part of the United Way Movement), but lapsed after she left the 90-day program.
People
“Come and take a trip with me…!”
05.28.06 | Permalink | 3 Comments

These were the first few lines of the happy hardcore song from the mid 90’s my mates and I would be beaming on as we flew down the freeway, in a done up Honda Civic, subwoofer in the back, sucking on nitrous oxide to amplify the already scattered state of mind! With pupils dialated(bloody huge, like saucers!), and limbs jittering “acid trips” or “tickets” were by far some of the most fun yet disturbing times I’ve ever experienced.

I just remember feeling so evil as we cruised the streets at 3 in the morning and to be game enough to close your eyes and retire the next day, one would need to be prepared to see some pretty freaky sh!* and hear voices of someone or something that just wasn’t there.
North America, People
NFL’s Ricky Williams Gets 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Chance
05.28.06 | Permalink | Comment?

The Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts have announced a one year deal with running back, Ricky Williams who is currently serving a drug suspension.

The deal has been in the pipelines for the last few weeks, but was only announced on Sunday.

The former Miami Dolphins running back was suspended from the NFL for his fourth violation of the league’s anti-drugs policy. After testing positive for marijuana on three occasions, the sportsman then tested positive to another banned substance that has not been publicly identified by the league.
Europe, War on Drugs
Drugs Can Be Fun
05.28.06 | Permalink | Comment?

At least that is the catch line of an opinion piece in the Times by Rachel Campbell-Johnston this morning.

Of course, there is a more serious side to the piece than that ‘hook’ too.

Campbell-Johnston has weighed into the debate concerning the recent recommendation for the UK to trial ’shooting galleries’.

Despite the trite opening line for her opinion piece, it is obvious she is neither a fan of the current efforts against drugs, nor necessarily the drugs themselves.
Oceania
Home Drug Testing Kits Available for Australia
05.28.06 | Permalink | Comment?

From next month, Australia will join the growing list of nations in which it is possible to purchase home drug testing kits from the local chemist.

The Oraline saliva test kit will retail for around US$20 and is capable of testing for marijuana, heroin, amphetamines and cocaine through a basic saliva test. The kit will also be able to provide results within 7 minutes as opposed to other kits which can take up to 48 hours to return a result.

According to the manufacturers, the kit tests the saliva and can detect drug use within the last 24 to 48 hours.
Caribbean, The Media, War on Drugs
“The case for legalising drugs”
05.28.06 | Permalink | Comment?

In an opinion column published Sunday in the Trinidad & Tobago Express, Emile Elias puts forward a case for the legalisation of drugs. First he notes that while the Ministry of Health has run advertisements in the press quoting World Health Organisation figures that tobacco use is bad for your health, tobacco is still legal:

WITCO [The West Indian Tobacco Company] in Trinidad, seemingly “smelling the coffee” some years ago, decided to diversify out of tobacco and invested some of their significant profits in a massive orchid farm. At the time I thought this was taking the concept of vertical integration a bit too far - first you kill them with cigarettes and then you sell them the flowers for the funeral!

In spite of its awful ill-effects, tobacco is still legal, but the fight against tobacco is gaining ground. You cannot smoke on a BWIA [West Indies Airways] plane, or in most restaurants. However, possession and use of other drugs such as marijuana and cocaine are illegal.
Studies
Addiction Causes Criminality or Criminality Causes Addiction?
05.28.06 | Permalink | Comment?

A recent libertarian paper on the issue of heroin addiction proposes that criminality is more likely to cause heroin addiction than heroin addiction is to cause criminal behaviour.

This flies in the face of the commonly held notion that addicts turn to crime to finance their habits.

Theodore Dalrymple, the author of the article, “Poppycock,” maintains that most heroin addicts, in his experience, were in fact criminals before coming to heroin addiction.

While I am not sure that I agree with Dalrymple, I must admit there there is some method to the logic.

To become addicted to heroin does take time. In many cases it would taked sustained use over months before one could claim addiction. The fact that the effects of heroin would more or less rule out holding down a normal 9 - 5 job due to the heavy side effects would tend to place potential “addicts” outside the realms of a “normal” lifestyle - at least in the traditional sense. Taking those two facts into consideration, there remain relatively few people who would enjoy the required lifestyle to be able to become a heroin addict in the first place, though existing criminals would be one of them.

Perhaps that logic is a little strained.

Nevertheless, the article is worth checking out.

Technorati Tags: addict, heroin, crime