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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles coroners will perform an autopsy on Monday on actress Brittany Murphy as speculation mounted that anorexia may have played a part in her sudden death one day earlier at age 32. Police and coroner's officials said no foul play is suspected in the actress's cardiac arrest Sunday morning in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home. Assistant Coroner Ed Winter said initial reports showed the "Clueless" actress's death may have resulted from heart-related causes but said the autopsy would include toxicology tests. Results will not be known for six to eight weeks. Celebrity website...

For the first time, three Al-Qaeda operatives have been arrested and charged with drug trafficking as a means of raising funds to support their terrorist activities. The international terror group has increasingly been turning to this form of activity, although its spread to Africa is a new twist in the pattern, according to evidence gathered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The agency has long been concerned about the group’s ties to the heroin trade in Afghanistan – but according to DEA director Michele Leonhart, the current case reveals a “direct link” between the terror group and drug traffickers...

LET me start by saying I’m a fan of generic drugs. They save Americans billions of dollars each year and give us access to wonderful drugs at affordable prices. I’ve recommended generics in this column many times and use them myself when possible. But there is a gnawing concern among some doctors and researchers that certain prescription generic drugs may not work as well as their brand-name counterparts. The problem is not pervasive, but it’s something consumers should be aware of — especially now that more insurers insist that patients take generic medications when they are available. Let me also......

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed narcotics and terrorism charges on Friday against three West Africans they identified as associates of Al Qaeda and a related terrorist group. While the United States Drug Enforcement Administration has long maintained that Al Qaeda has been involved in drug trafficking, officials at the agency said the case represented the first time such charges had been brought against people linked with the group. The three men — identified as Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman — were arrested on Wednesday in Ghana and flown to the United States on Thursday night, law enforcement officials...

[L]aw enforcement officials [are] worried that Mexican traffickers — facing beefed-up security on the border that now includes miles of new fencing, floodlights, drones, motion sensors and cameras — have stepped up their efforts to corrupt the border police. They research potential targets, anticorruption investigators said, exploiting the cross-border clans and relationships that define the region, offering money, sex, whatever it takes. But, with the border police in the midst of a hiring boom, law enforcement officers believe that traffickers are pulling out the stops, even soliciting some of their own operatives to apply for jobs. “In some ways,” said...

A medical marijuana dispensary at 3005 W. Gill Place was robbed at 10:06 a.m. today by two armed men - one of more than two dozen such robberies or burglaries in the past five months, according to Denver police.The suspects entered the dispensary and held the owner and an employee at gunpoint, said Officer Joe Ramirez, spokesman for the Denver Police Department. Subsequently, the suspects and the employees got into a fight and multiple shots were fired, said Ramirez. Denver police said that since July, there have been a total of 25 medical-marijuana related robberies or burglaries. Thirteen of those...

One more item added to what candidate Obama said on the campaign trail about prescription drugs (see bolded paragraph) and what President Obama who cut a deal with drug companies has to say. No wonder Obama's poll numbers are falling so rapidly as he continues to do a 180 from what he said on the campaign trail. When we first heard about Obama's ties to radicals like Communist Frank Davis who was his mentor, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Louis Farrakhan, and others we suspected he would lurch to the left if he was elected. That said, his lurch to the...

WASHINGTON -- A Canadian doctor who has treated golfer Tiger Woods and many other pro athletes is under a joint U.S.-Canadian investigation for possibly providing performance-enhancing drugs, according to a U.S. official familiar with the probe.

WASHINGTON – The Senate rejected a plan Tuesday to allow Americans to import low-cost prescriptions from abroad, handing drug makers a victory that may help secure passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

For days now, the health care legislation in the Senate has been stalled. Democrats are divided over a proposed amendment that would let consumers buy pharmaceuticals from abroad. During the presidential campaign, Obama promised to allow such purchases. But earlier this year he announced his opposition in return for pharmaceutical companies promising to spend at least $150 million, and possibly as much as $200 million, to push his health care legislation. President Obama obviously faces a dilemma: either he keeps the campaign promise he made to voters or he keep his later promise to drug companies. Passing the proposed drug...

The government announced that it will begin implementing a new series of social programs in Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua state) that will help the police and army battle narcotics cartels. If it sounds a bit like a classic Counter-insurgency (COIN) “political and social warfare” (where social and economic programs integrate with security operations), well, it is. One of the programs will be directed at impoverished Juarez teenagers. The narcotics gangs throw around money and have bought support in several neighborhoods. Some of the kids eventually “move up” and join the gang. The government intends to attack this “recruitment” process. There will...

For days now, the health care legislation in the Senate has been stalled. Democrats are divided over a proposed amendment that would let consumers buy pharmaceuticals from abroad. During the presidential campaign, Obama promised to allow such purchases. But earlier this year he announced his opposition in return for pharmaceutical companies promising to spend at least $150 million, and possibly as much as $200 million, to push his health care legislation. President Obama obviously faces a dilemma: either he keeps the campaign promise he made to voters or he keep his later promise to drug companies. Passing the proposed drug...

Not exactly sure what to make of this. The Guardian (via Yves Smith): Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result. This will raise questions about crime's influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as...

A deal between the White House and the pharmaceutical industry is holding up a bipartisan amendment to allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from abroad, according to a member of the Senate Democratic leadership. The Senate has been debating the amendment, sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), since Tuesday but has not held a vote, which is contributing to a stall in the floor action on healthcare reform. Dorgan’s measure, which would permit bulk exports of medicines from countries such as Canada, enjoys broad and bipartisan support and likely has the backing of more than 60 senators, which would...

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), and JOHN P. GILBRIDE, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Field Division ("DEA"), announced that YUSEF SHABAZZ, of Middletown, New York, was sentenced yesterday to 120 months in prison for his involvement in a years-long conspiracy to distribute OxyContin in the New York City area. SHABAZZ, 69, pleaded guilty to narcotics conspiracy, the first count of the Indictment against him, in February 2009. Judge LEWIS...

Shepard BarbashHelping Mexico Help Itself A more prosperous, democratic southern neighbor would reduce crime and illegal immigration. Autumn 2009 Two crises have deepened America’s anxieties over immigration since Congress tried to reform the law two years ago: the global recession and an outburst of murder and mayhem in northern Mexico. The recession has aroused antipathy for foreigners who compete for jobs. The violence along the border, which stems from a high-stakes campaign by Mexican president Felipe Calderón to bust apart several large drug cartels, has inflamed fears that our borders aren’t secure. Americans differ on what to do about...

A proposal to enable the importation of cheaper prescription drugs could endanger the U.S. medicine supply and would be difficult to implement, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday These criticisms from Margaret Hamburg, President Barack Obama’s FDA commissioner, could prove damaging to an effort by a broad coalition to enact the longstanding goal of easing consumers’ access to prescription drugs from countries such as Canada, where the prices are generally lower than in the United States. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) introduced his amendment to the healthcare bill on Tuesday with the support of 19 other senators, including four Republicans,...

STERLING, Va. - A close inspection by Customs and Border Protection officers at Dulles International Airport turned up something unexpected. Inside a fully-cooked chicken they found cocaine with an estimated street value of $4,300. The 60.4 grams (2.3 ounces) of coke was found inside two small, clear plastic bags inside the chicken's cavity. Officers discovered the white powdery substance during a secondary inspection after a flight from El Salvador arrived shortly after midnight Saturday. It tested positive for cocaine. "CBP officers have seen many unique narcotics concealment methods, and they all present the same challenges to discover them. Our officers'...

PALMVIEW, Texas (CBS/AP) President Barack Obama's approval rating may be hovering in the 50 percent range, but that doesn't mean America's Commander-in-Chief isn’t catching on with new constituents There is now a line of Ecstasy pills made in the image of the 44th president of the United States, according to Texas police who have snatched a batch off the streets. Ecstasy is known for a sense of elation, diminished feelings of fear and anxiety, and ability to induce a sense of intimacy with others. Perhaps a good Election Day strategy to get out the vote? A stash of the brightly...

What a difference a week can make. Last Friday reports were just starting to surface of Tiger Woods automobile accident. Since that time at least three women have come forward saying they were Woods' mistresses. Also rumors of domestic violence causing the car accident are running rampant. Tiger's life has definitely changed. Rachel Uchitel, the first woman who was romantically linked in the Tiger Woods affair scandal was reportedley paid off to keep quiet about the situation. Now RadarOnline is reporting that Uchitel told friends that she and Tiger would do drugs before having sex. Whether it is a coincidence...

PALMVIEW, Texas - President Barack Obama's approval rating may be hovering in the 50 percent range, but that doesn't mean America's Commander-in-Chief isn't catching on with new constituents. There is now a line of Ecstasy pills made in the image of the 44th president of the United States, according to Texas police who have snatched a batch off the streets Ecstasy is known for a sense of elation, diminished feelings of fear and anxiety, and ability to induce a sense of intimacy with others. Perhaps a good Election Day strategy to get out the vote? A stash of the brightly...

A Kingsport man was arrested Tuesday on felony drug charges after police discovered 3.66 ounces of marijuana in his box of Lucky Charms cereal. According to an incident report from Kingsport police, officers were dispatched to Kings View Apartments, 901 Larry Neil Way, at about 10:40 Tuesday morning. The police report says officers were called due to a "possible disturbance" in apartment no. 8. Officers report hearing "some noises" from the apartment when they arrived, and knocked on the door. It was answered by the resident, Mitchell Cody Johnson, 22. Police explained why they were there, and Johnson allegedly appeared...

Bob Mazur won't be showing up at bookstores to sign copies of his new book. * * * Twenty-one years ago, after learning that the notorious Medellin drug cartel had sent a hit squad to kill him, Mazur had to assume a new identity and move his family from their Tampa home. * * * Mazur's book about the investigation code-named "Operation C-Chase" is a white-knuckle tale of how he gained the trust of crooked bankers and Colombian drug traffickers who would have killed him without a second thought if they knew he was one of "los feos." * *...

Here is how CBS News reported, in September, on the death of a census worker in Kentucky. “Terror in Kentucky: Census Worker's Murder. Body Found Naked, Hanging From Tree in Cemetery; Had Been Gagged, Duct Taped, 'Fed' Scrawled on Chest.. "'He was murdered,’ Weaver said. ‘There's no doubt.’ ... I said, 'Bill you be careful when you go over to eastern Kentucky to do your census work. Some of the people over there may not understand that you're just collecting statistics,' friend Gilbert Acciardo told CBS News.. “Although anti-government sentiment was one possibility in the death, some in law enforcement...

Sherry Johnston was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for dealing the prescription painkiller OxyContin. [...] Johnston made a deal with prosecutors to plead to a single felony count in exchange for dropping five other felony drug dealing charges against her. The deal called for the 42-year-old Wasilla woman to be sentenced to three years of prison time plus three years of probation, which is what the judge gave her. Johnston received less time than the normal five to eight years for a second-degree felony drug charge because the amount she was dealing was so small. Johnston is slated...

Democrats in Congress asked for two separate investigations of drug industry pricing Wednesday as they continue working on legislation to overhaul the nation’s health care system. Responding to news reports of unusually high wholesale price increases in brand-name prescription drugs, four House leaders and one senator asked for government reviews of the pricing practices. Although drug makers challenge the theory, some experts say the run-up in wholesale prices may be partly related to the industry’s concerns about future cost containment under any health care legislation. “Recent studies have indicated that the industry may be artificially raising prices for certain pharmaceutical...

The sea lanes of the South Atlantic have become a favored route for drug traffickers carrying narcotics from Latin America to West and North Africa, where al Qaeda-related groups are increasingly involved in transporting the drugs to Europe, intelligence officials and counternarcotics specialists say. A Middle Eastern intelligence official said his agency has picked up "very worrisome reports" of rapidly growing cooperation between Islamic militants operating in North and West Africa and drug lords in Latin America. With U.S. attention focused on the Caribbean and Africans lacking the means to police their shores, the vast sea lanes of the South...

The Texas Department of Public Safety is warning parents across the state that violent Mexican cartels and transnational gangs are actively recruiting Texas youngsters in schools and communities. These criminal organizations are luring teens with the prospect of cars, money and notoriety, and promise them that if they are arrested, they will receive light sentences. The gangs are responsible for massive drug deals and related slayings, and authorities say that they will often use youths in their crimes because juveniles are typically treated with more leniency by the criminal justice system.

DALLAS—Standric Choice, 36, a former Dallas Sheriff’s Deputy, was sentenced today to 180 months (15 years) in federal prison, to be followed by eight years of supervised release, for his role in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. In March 2009, Choice pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and possessing with the intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine while...

Um, you've got the wrong state, Boss. Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen made an onstage geography goof Friday when he bellowed "Hello, Ohio!" to adoring fans at the Auburn Hills Palace -- in Michigan. The "Born in the USA" crooner referred to the neighboring state several times before trusty E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt whispered their actual location into his ear.

The Atlantic Foreign Affairs December 2009 In the almost three years since President Felipe Calderón launched a war on drug cartels, border towns in Mexico have turned into halls of mirrors where no one knows who is on which side or what chance remark could get you murdered. Some 14,000 people have been killed in that time, the worst carnage since the Mexican Revolution, and part of the country is effectively under martial law. Is this evidence of a creeping coup by the military? A war between drug cartels? Between the president and his opposition? Or just collateral damage from...

This presentation presents information obtained from a National Park Study and a Department of Interior Threat Assessment report about the devastating impacts of designated federal Wilderness on our country's southern border: http://www.peopleforwesternheritage.com/PFPOWH_WildernessOnTheBorder/Presentation_Files/index.html According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, "Law enforcement work in the National Park Service is the most dangerous in federal service. National Park Service officers are 12 times more likely to be killed or injured as a result of an assault than FBI agents. Overall, NPS law enforcement has a morbidity rate triple that of the next worst federal agency."

Singer Joss Stone recently sat for an interview with Britain’s Star magazine and it has anti-drug campaigners freaking out. You may have guessed it…the 22-year-old admitted to smoking weed on a regular basis, calling it “fun”. How often does Stone do drugs? Well she said it depends on the day and if the studio allows smoking or not and what song she is working on. Joss said, “I smoke weed, but I don’t think it’s really a drug. It’s more an herb. I don’t regret saying that at all. I think everyone smokes weed and people who say they don’t...

In the story making the rounds here in Mexico's drug capital, the setting is a beauty parlor. A woman with wealth obtained legally openly criticizes a younger patron who is married to a trafficker. The "narco-wife" orders the hairdresser to shave the first woman's head. Terrified, the hairdresser complies. Urban legend or real? It almost doesn't matter; it's the sort of widely repeated account that both intimidates and titillates. And it highlights a disturbing trend: As drug violence seeps deeper into Mexican society, women are taking a more hands-on role. In growing numbers, they are being recruited into the ranks...

A Boston TV station discovered that Barney Frank was present in 2007 when police raided his boyfriend's home in Maine and confiscated marijuana, bongs and marijuana plants. Somehow this didn't come out until now. In the TV interview below, Frank professes ignorance of the contents of his boyfriend's house--he was on the porch when the police arrived!--and says he wouldn't recognize a marijuana plant if he saw one. It's a wonderful image, really: the boyfriend has these weird, spiky house plants scattered around the premises and Barney thinks they're ferns or something. And he didn't recognize the bags of marijuana,...

This is the seventh installment of a nine-part series excerpting the chapter on medical care from the new edition of economist Thomas Sowell's "Applied Economics." All parts of the series can be seen at IBDeditorials.com.It is illegal for a pharmaceutical company to begin selling a drug without prior approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The drug-approval process tries to reduce the risks of new and untried medicines before they are made available to the general public. In addition to being reasonably safe for most people, pharmaceutical drugs must also be shown to be effective for whatever medical conditions they...

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Former Cabell County Magistrate Candidate Amy Walker Irwin, formerly known as Amy Daugherty, was arrested Sunday night and charged with possession of a controlled substance. According to the criminal complaint, Irwin was in her car outside a "known crack house" on 17th Street and Dalton Avenue in Huntington when officers approached the car and saw a small piece of apparent crack in plastic next to the gear shifter. The complaint goes on to say Lt. J.T. Combs conducted a field test on the substance and it tested positive for the presence of cocaine. Magistrate Dan Goheen...

The Middlesex County Democratic Organization has fired a paid canvasser who falsely claimed to be the assistant deputy director of Governor Corzine’s re-election campaign when arrested by East Rutherford police Friday night. < snip > Silverstein also confirmed that the vehicle that Shih was driving when he was pulled over Friday night in East Rutherford was rented by the organization. He said he did not know whether Shih was in Bergen County on official MCDO business or on a personal errand.

The US is to open seven military bases in Colombia. The deal was sealed in Bogota today, a relatively swift passage to signature after the idea was only suggested at the end of August.

Heightened efforts by the Drug Enforcement Administration to crack down on narcotics abuse are producing a troubling side effect by denying some hospice and elderly patients needed pain medication, according to two Senate Democrats and a coalition of pharmacists and geriatric experts.

WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration has allowed drugs for cancer and other diseases to stay on the market even when follow-up studies showed they didn't extend patients' lives, say congressional investigators. A report due out Monday from the Government Accountability Office also shows that the FDA has never pulled a drug off the market due to a lack of required follow-up about its actual benefits — even when such information is more than a decade overdue. (excerpted)

MATAMOROS, Mexico — This border city near the mouth of the Rio Grande is eerily quiet on most days — eerie because its streets are largely the lair of the Zetas gunmen, the most feared and savage gangsters in Mexico. On other days, gunbattles ensue in broad daylight between heavily armed Zeta enforcers and those who get in their way — as happened last month when soldiers stopped a suspicious carload of men on a street that runs along the Rio Grande levee through a wealthy Matamoros neighborhood. The gunmen opened fire, tossed grenades. Bullets tore into houses and businesses...

A trio of illegal male immigrants from Mexico were found to have arrest records in California when they were processed by Border Patrol agents from the Douglas Station. Tucson Sector spokeswoman Colleen Agle said the three were found to have significant criminal arrests when their fingerprints were checked against records Thursday. One individual had been accused of intercourse with a minor and rape by force/fear, another of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and the third of threatening crime with intent to terrorize, child cruelty, and possible injury/death and battery of a spouse,...

U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered a smuggling tunnel under the border in Nogales, Ariz., on Wednesday. It was the first passageway agents have found in the Tucson Sector in nearly four months. The 30-foot tunnel, 150 yards east of the DeConcini Port of Entry, was fortified on the Mexican side with shoring, but on the American side it appeared unfinished, U.S. Border Patrol spokes-man Mario Escalante said. The tunnel was not connected to the drainage system. Escalante said there was no evidence as to who was using the tunnel. "They already had an opening on the north side at the...

Northwestern research finds drugs aim at wrong target CHICAGO --- More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief. Why? Because the cause of depression has been oversimplified and drugs designed to treat it aim at the wrong target, according to new research from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The medications are like arrows shot at the outer rings of a bull's eye instead of the center. A study from the laboratory of long-time depression researcher Eva Redei, presented at the Neuroscience 2009 conference in Chicago this week, appears to topple two strongly held...

They decapitate, torture, and extort. Then they pray, and donate to charity.The "Familia" cartel is perhaps the most extreme example of the paradoxical enemy which Mexico faces as it tries to defeat organised crime. It is a fight which would be much easier if the cartels were simply maverick gangs on the fringe of society. But they are, in many areas, part of society. "La Familia was originally a social structure. And in many ways it still is," says a former Mexico deputy attorney general and organised crime expert, Prof Samuel Gonzalez Ruiz.

Comedian David Cross brought his stand-up routine to Washington's Warner Theatre Wednesday night and made a shocking confession (assuming he wasn't joking...) at the end of his routine: That he snorted cocaine while seated just yards away from President Barack Obama at this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. "So I got to go because my girlfriend is a fancy Hollywood actress and she got an invitation to go this last time, so we went," the "Arrested Development" star told the crowd. He went on to say that he has an ongoing competition with a friend in which the two...

A 1-year-old boy whose mom noticed he was lethargic and unresponsive on his birthday earlier this month was high on marijuana, doctors determined. Now the man who was taking care of him at the time is behind bars. Vacaville police arrested Jonathan Velasquez Sr., 29, on Tuesday on suspicion of child endangerment for the Oct. 11 incident. The Police Department's Family Investigative Response Services Team and Solano Child Welfare Services investigated and discovered the infant either inhaled or ingested enough marijuana to require immediate medical attention, Sgt. Charlie Spruill said. Velasquez is the baby's father, Sacramento-area TV station Fox 40...

Buckley on marijuana National Review ^ | William F. Buckley Conservatives pride themselves on resisting change, which is as it should be. But intelligent deference to tradition and stability can evolve into intellectual sloth and moral fanaticism, as when conservatives simply decline to look up from dogma because the effort to raise their heads and reconsider is too great. The laws aren't exactly indefensible, because practically nothing is, and the thunderers who tell us to stay the course can always find one man or woman who, having taken marijuana, moved on to severe mental disorder. But that argument, to quote...

WASHINGTON -- Federal drug agents won't pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration. Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law. The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under...