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Many baby boomers (Americans in the generation born between 1946 and 1964) are continuing to use illicit drugs as they grow older, causing the rate of illicit drug use to go up within the 50 to 59 year old age segment of the population. According to a new analytical publication produced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), those aged 50 to 59 reporting use of illicit drugs within the past year has nearly doubled from 5.1 percent in 2002 to 9.4 percent in 2007 while rates among all other age groups are statistically staying the same...

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - This is the new formula for methamphetamine: a two-liter soda bottle, a few handful of cold pills and some noxious chemicals. Shake the bottle and the volatile reaction produces one of the world's most addictive drugs. Only a few years ago, making meth required an elaborate lab—with filthy containers simmering over open flames, cans of flammable liquids and hundreds of pills. The process gave off foul odors, sometimes sparked explosions and was so hard to conceal that dealers often "cooked" their drugs in rural areas. But now drug users are making their own meth in small...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Baby boomers, now well into middle age, are still turning on to illegal drugs, doubling the rates of illicit drug use for the older generation, according to U.S. government statistics released on Wednesday. The rates of people aged 50 to 59 who admit to using illicit drugs in the past year nearly doubled from 5.1 percent in 2002 to 9.4 percent in 2007 while rates among all other age groups are the same or decreasing, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported. "These findings show that many in the Woodstock generation continue to use...

They met in a Miami restaurant — he a handsome tennis player, she a pretty waitress — and spent the evening smooching at a nightclub. Little did they know that the kisses they exchanged would spark a controversy that has gripped France all summer amid lawsuits and wrangles before international doping tribunals. Richard Gasquet, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, claimed that he tested positive for drugs a few hours after his encounter with the waitress because her kisses had contaminated him with cocaine. His story, greeted with derision in France at first, was given weight this week when the results of...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico enacted a controversial law on Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging government-financed treatment for drug dependency free of charge. The law sets out maximum "personal use" amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution; the law goes into effect on Friday.

Japanese Pop Idol Recast as Junkie Earthquakes, tsunami tidal waves, typhoons, floods and landslides kept Japanese news gatherers busy over the Obon week when Japanese traditionally return home to pay respects to departed relatives who return briefly from the spirit world. It wasn't, however, any act of God that shocked the nation but alleged drug use by singer Noriko Sakai. Manufactured pop idols cranked out by Japan's powerful production companies have dominated Japan's music charts for decades. Sakai, who debuted at 15 in 1987 with squeaky voice, clean-cut image and cute nickname, Nori-P, was one of the most successful winning...

WASHINGTON — Last week's brief "Three Amigos" summit in Guadalajara, Mexico, has been all but forgotten in the growing storm over "health care reform." That may be what the three North American heads of state, Presidents Felipe Calderon and Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, wanted. All three leaders did their best to ignore the skunk at their picnic — the serious threat posed to all of us by narco-terrorism. If comments after the confab reflect their thinking, thousands of dead and wounded at the hands of violent drug cartels warrant less attention than the "threat" of global...

Today's Nature has a fantastic article about how psychoactive drugs are being developed into a new generation of chemical weapons design to have specific psychological effects on the enemy. This has long been part of military research (see the famous and unintentionally hilarious footage of British troops being given LSD presumably from the 1950s) but the effects of the mind altering weapons have generally been thought to be too unpredictable and largely restricted to the lab. However, the Nature article argues that as our knowledge increases and specific biochemical pathways in the body are discovered, chemical and biological weapons are...

HOUSTON—A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment adding 35 more counts to the previously returned 29-count indictment against Dr. Arun Sharma and his wife, Dr. Kiran Sharma, M.D., United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Drs. Arun and Kiran Sharma, both 59, operated the Allergy, Asthma, Arthritis and Pain Centers located at on Cole Street in Webster, Texas, and another on Garth Road in Baytown, Texas. In the original 29-count indictment, the Sharmas were accused of conspiracy to defraud Medicare/Medicaid and private health care providers of more than $31 million by falsely claiming to have administered facet joint...

(IsraelNN.com) Leading United States Republican and former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee toured Jerusalem neighborhoods on Monday. In response to questions regarding the Obama administration's push to end Jewish construction in majority-Arab neighborhoods, Huckabee said forced segregation between Jews and Arabs would make peace impossible. "We tried that in the United States. We had neighborhoods that were all white, black people couldn't go there. It didn't work out real well for us,” he explained.

Sickeningly, an effluvium of nostalgia over the debacle concert near the town of Woodstock, New York in August of 1969 is everywhere. It's the big 4-0. We should take this anniversary to remember that the catch phrase of the Woodstock generation eventually became "don't trust anyone over 30." In the case of the white wash of what really happened with the concert in Max Yasgur's field, the warning is fitting because the truth seems to be forgotten for the fluffy propaganda of how wonderful the concert was. The concert is also emblematic of some of the vapid 60's generation --...

Drug Companies Resist White House Call to Reduce Rights to Exclusive Drug DataFOXNews.com Thursday, August 13, 2009 Drug companies that had agreed to support the Obama administration on health care reforms have found themselves once more at odds with the president, this time on exclusive rights to produce drugs that treat illnesses like arthritis, cancer and multiple sclerosis. **SNIP** The debate has rattled a deal that had been made between the White House and the drug companies to get the pharmaceutical industry on board with health care reform. In that deal, PhRMA agreed to cut its expected costs for drugs...

Leadership: Gen. Ulysses Grant won our Civil War by doggedly pursuing the enemy even after winning battles. That's occurring in Colombia, where President Uribe is stepping up an already impressive war effort.As we went to press, Colombia was set to sign a pact over the weekend with the U.S. for access to seven military bases on its territory. It's an unprecedented vote of confidence in U.S. troops and will substantially expand both countries' capacity to fight drugs and terror. But more than that, it's a strong sign President Alvaro Uribe intends to crush FARC's Marxist narcoterrorists, the group that's been...

Admitting for the first time what critics have claimed for years, state child-welfare authorities say caregivers for children in state custody frequently use powerful mind-altering drugs to manage unruly kids, rather than treat their anger and sadness. A panel of child-welfare experts, including two top administrators from the state Department of Children & Families, examined the death of a 7-year-old Broward foster child who was on psychotropic medications — without the required consent — when he hanged himself in a Margate home. The panel's report, expected to be released publicly later this month, says child welfare authorities too often rely...

I did everything I could—including risking life in prison. Back in the 1980s-1990s, the Life Extension Foundation® crusaded to enlighten Americans about the economic ruination that would occur if this country’s corrupt drug regulatory structure was not abolished. At the behest of pharmaceutical interests, the FDA brutally retaliated against us. What I am about to divulge is a shocking revelation about why prescription drugs cost so much. I want to remind readers what happens when an apathetic public allows archaic government regulations to rule the marketplace. In the 1940s, Argentina was the ninth wealthiest country in the world. At one...

Libya’s sudden decision to end its years in the international wilderness and embrace the West has abruptly transformed one of the world’s most isolated countries. Iason Athanasiadis reports from a nation in flux There is something of the pasha in Khalifa Mahdaoui, a descendant of one of Libya’s most influential tribes. It is not just the red fez perched on his head as he ambles in his suit and tie from his ground-floor office to the trellised porch outside, lights a menthol cigarette and takes a sip from the dainty cup of Turkish coffee delivered by an aide.The impression is...

Teachable Moments by: Malcolm A. Kline, August 12, 2009 What do they expect?The Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education found that “during the fall semester of 2008, first-year college students who used alcohol drank an estimated 10.2 hours per week, compared to studying only 8.4 hours per week.” One wonders if they were registered to vote. Hoping for spare changeIt’s really tempting to compare the youth vote to statistics on economic literacy among the young. The Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy (CEEL) found that among college students that the CEEL surveyed: • “54% reported having overdrawn their bank account”;...

The girlfriend of actor Cameron Douglas was arrested Monday for allegedly trying to smuggle heroin to him in an electric toothbrush, court papers show. Kelly Sott was busted after passing the toothbrush to Douglas while he was under home detention following a court hearing on his drug charges. She was arrested at the Hotel Gansevoort in Manhattan where she was staying. Douglas, 30, the son of actor Michael Douglas, was arrested at the same hotel last week and faces a methamphetamine-dealing charge. Douglas had been on house arrest at the New York home of his stepmother, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and went...

An alleged drugs dealer appeared in court on Friday after "holding out" for more than two weeks before finally going to the toilet. Damien Ankrah, aged 27, was arrested on July 13 on suspicion of transporting heroin by placing the drugs in a condom and swallowing them. But it was almost August before he went to the toilet and police had to use new legislation to get the evidence. The exceptional effort led Dyfed-Powys Police to warn drugs dealers not to try the same thing. Ankrah was arrested in Haverfordwest and detained at Pembroke Dock police station, where officers told...

MORE than 10 years after she tried without success to have a baby, Marcy Campbell Krinsk is still receiving painful reminders in her mail. The ads and promotions started after she bought fertility drugs at a pharmacy in San Diego. Marketers got hold of her name, and she found coupons and samples in her mail that shadowed the growth of an imaginary child — at first, for Pampers and baby formula, then for discounts on family photos, and all the way through the years to gifts suitable for an elementary school graduate. “I had three different in vitro procedures,” said...

BALTIMORE, MD—U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Darron Goods, a/k/a “Moo-man,” age 25, of Baltimore, today to three consecutive mandatory life sentences for the murder of federal witness John Dowery, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. On June 11, 2009, a federal jury convicted Goods and Melvin Gilbert, age 34 of the murder of Dowery and convicted Gilbert and James Dinkins, a/k/a “Miami,” age 36, of Baltimore, of the murder of Shannon Jemmison. The jury also convicted James Dinkins of the murder of Michael Bryant and a non-fatal shooting of John Dowery on...

Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CHARLES LAMONT JACKSON, also known as “Doo Doo,” 40, of East Hartford, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Mark R. Kravitz in New Haven to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiring to distribute 100 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing phencyclidine, also known as “PCP.” JACKSON pleaded guilty to the charge on November 6, 2007. According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in Court, on April 12, April 28, and May 10,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2009 – U.S. forces are going after terrorists who feed off the drug trade in Afghanistan, a senior Defense Department spokesman said today. “There is a well-established connection between the drug trade and financing terrorism in Afghanistan,” Bryan Whitman said. Whitman emphasized that U.S. forces target terrorists linked to the drug trade, not drug traffickers linked to terrorists. The difference, he said, is that counternarcotics is a law enforcement mission, and the Afghan government is in charge of that. The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency support Afghan authorities seeking to clamp down on...

The LATimes is once again trying to sell another Obama healthcare fairy tale to an unsuspecting public. This time, ABC is reporting that Obama has “given a seat at the table” of the healthcare debate to former Louisiana congressman Billy Tauzin who now represents some powerful drug companies. The Times is reporting this as if it is meaningful news. Unfortunately for all concerned it is not. For the Times, Tom Hamburger starts off mentioning how Obama lambasted Tauzin and his lobbying interests during the recent presidential campaign but that he’s done an about face by inviting Tauzin to the White...

Cocaine was a contributing factor to the death by heart disease of TV pitchman Billy Mays, according to a toxicology report released today by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's office. For More Coverage, Visit ABC News Affiliate WFTS in Tampa, Fla. The report concluded that the 50-year-old had used cocaine a few days before his death. Test results also discovered traces of the narcotic painkillers Oxycodone, hydrocodone and tramadol in his bloodstream.

MEXICO CITY – President Barack Obama meets this weekend with leaders of Mexico and Canada at a time when drug-related violence, swine flu and the economic crisis are slipping across North America's borders like never before. Obama, along with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are expected to work on trade and immigration, drug trafficking and security, and clean energy .. ... The summit — a part of the three nations' Security and Prosperity Partnership — was established five years ago by leaders who are no longer in office, .. The agenda is largely set by...

A Kurt Cobain quote on a memorial for the deceased rock star at an Aberdeen, Wash., park is drawing criticism for its inclusion of the notorious F-word. Aberdeen City Councilman Jerry Mills said the Nirvana singer's quote -- which informs readers that drugs "are bad for you" and "will (expletive) you up," with the expletive in question a four-letter euphemism for copulation -- should be removed from the KC Riverfront Park memorial, the Aberdeen Daily World reported Tuesday. "That is a word that should be done away with," Mills said. "We paint over it every time it's on graffiti. It's...

LONDON, Aug 2 — They were the murders that ended the 1960s, the decade of love, in a bloodbath that shocked the world. Now, on the 40th anniversary of the killing of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and her friends by Charles Manson's "Family", the gang member whose testimony convicted the killers has revealed for the first time her full involvement in the crimes. On the night of Aug 9, 1969, Linda Kasabian was sent by Manson with three other members of his Family — Tex Watson, Susan Atkins and Patricia "Katie" Krenwinkel — to break into Tate's home. There they...

Drug policy still makes enemies of the common folk Imagine a foreign army occupies the state of Indiana. Its commanders are concerned that local Hoosiers don't like the foreigners in their midst, displaying that dislike practically every night by setting off murderous roadside bombs every time a patrol goes by. And because the local people are at odds with the occupation forces, they offer those troops precious little help or intelligence as they pursue their military mission. The commander brings in some experts to find out why his troops are so unpopular. They interview the local farmers. And the answer...

Boston's erstwhile slugging duo reportedly on list of 104 According to lawyers who spoke to the The New York Times, and whose names were not revealed, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are on the list of 104 players who tested positive in Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing for performance-enhancing drugs, testing that was agreed to and conducted only on the condition that the results would remain anonymous. Ortiz and Ramirez were members of the Boston Red Sox at the time and helped the club end an 86-year streak in which they hadn't won a World Series. Results from the...

U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske is in the middle of a four-day visit this week to Mexico...Absent from his remarks was any mention of the U.S. position on the role of the Mexican military in the country’s battle against the drug cartels. Kerlikowske’s visit comes amid a growing debate in Mexico over the role that the country’s armed forces should play in the cartel war. The debate has intensified in recent weeks, as human rights organizations in Mexico and the United States have expressed concern over civil rights abuses by Mexican troops assigned to counternarcotics missions in various parts of...

Recently, I was watching a TV commercial for a self-proclaimed breakthrough drug I was encouraged to “ask my doctor about.” As I was watching the ad all I could think about was how difficult it must be to produce an appealing promotion for a product that has so many devastating side effects. You’d have to be a marketing genius to peddle some of these drugs. One “pharmaceutical therapy” that aims to help people with insomnia sleep better at night, for example, comes with a laundry list of possible side effects, including but not limited to hives, difficulty breathing, swelling of...

KANSAS CITY, KS—Boytina Locke, 33, Kansas City, Kan., has been sentenced to 360 months in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said today. In February 2009, Locke pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine. Locke was one of more than 40 defendants named in three indictments filed as a result of Operation Stonewalled, a drug trafficking investigation that began in 2006 when the Kansas City, Kan. Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration identified a gang called the "Kickboyz" that was selling cocaine and crack cocaine in the Kansas...

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the violence that continues to plague our southern border region by Mexico’s well armed, well financed, and very determined drug cartels. Despite the increased efforts of President Calderon to stamp out these blood-thirsty and vicious drug cartels, violence has increased dramatically, claiming over 6,000 lives in Mexico last year alone. The murderers carrying out these crimes are as violent and dangerous as any in the world. Many have extensive military training and carry out their illegal activities with sophisticated tactical weapons and no regard for human life. Last week,...

Hemisphere: A congressional report released last week left little doubt that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is turning his country into a narcotraffickers' paradise. So why isn't Venezuela an international pariah?A new report released last Monday, "U.S. Counternarcotics Cooperation With Venezuela Has Declined," by the Government Accountability Office, offers the harshest assessment yet about Venezuela's rising role in Latin America's drug trade. The GAO said that state corruption, Chavez's aid to Colombia's FARC guerrillas, and Venezuela's refusal to cooperate with U.S. law enforcement agencies add up to trouble — an outlaw narcostate in the making and trouble for the U.S. on the...

Talker-in-Chief Barack Obama restored diplomatic ties with the his buddy Hugo Chavez on July 1, just in time to learn that Venezuela's top three government officials have officially been designated 'drug kingpins.'

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that defendant Jorge Delgado pled guilty today to aiding and abetting an attempt to possess ecstasy with the intent to distribute. During the time at issue, Delgado was a Miami-Dade Police Officer assigned to uniformed road patrol. Sentencing is scheduled for September 30, 2009, before U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck, in Miami, Florida. Delgado faces a possible maximum sentence of twenty (20) years in prison. This charge arose from an undercover investigation jointly...

Drug Control: U.S. Counternarcotics Cooperation with Venezuela Has Declined GAO-09-806 July 20, 2009 Highlights Page (PDF) http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09806high.pdf Full Report (PDF, 39 pages) http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09806.pdf Summary In Process Every year since 1996, the President has determined that Venezuela was one of the major drug transit countries in the Western Hemisphere. Venezuela's extensive border with Colombia, covering large swaths of jungle and mountainous terrain, enables the flow of cocaine from Colombia over land and river routes and by air. After entering Venezuela, the cocaine usually leaves aboard maritime vessels that depart from Venezuela's long coastline or aboard suspicious aircraft that take off and...

HOUSTON—Dr. Arun Sharma and his wife, Dr. Kiran Sharma, M.D., both 54, have been charged in a 29-count indictment alleging conspiracy to unlawfully dispense and distribute controlled substances outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose, United States Attorney Tim Johnson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Zoran B. Yankovich and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today. The indictment alleges the two doctors illegally distributed 1.3 million tablets of hydrocodone and further charges the two doctors with conspiracy to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and several private health insurance companies of $31 million by...

Acting United States Attorney Michelle L. Jacobs announced that today, an indictment was unsealed in federal court charging 17 defendants with conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and other controlled substances, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846 and 841. One of the defendants, Michael Davis, is also charged with interstate prostitution, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422. The defendants are identified as Davis, 35, Corey Wilkins, 35, both of Brown Deer, Timothy Shorter, 37, of Arlington, Texas, Robert Gregory, 33, Targon Tracy Carrington, 37, Dameon Highshaw, 33, Byron Brumfield,...

MCALLEN, TX—A United States Probation Officer has been arrested and charged with drug trafficking and bribery, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Armando Mora, 36, of Edinburg, Texas, assigned to the Rio Grande City office of the United States Probation Office, was arrested and charged on Wednesday, July 15, 2009. He is expected to make an initial appearance before United States Peter Ormsby on Thursday, July 16, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. Mora is accused of of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and bribery. According to allegations in the criminal complaint, Mora received bribe payments...

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LONDON (AP)—Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban Wednesday when the International Tennis Federation’s tribunal panel ruled that he inadvertently took cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub. The 23-year-old Frenchman, who was cleared to resume playing after completing a 2 1/2 -month ban on Wednesday, convinced the independent anti-doping tribunal that he ingested cocaine with the kiss with the woman he had just met. The tribunal panel of three lawyers said Gasquet consumed no more than “a grain of salt” of the drug, and a long ban would be an injustice in a case which was “unusual to...

July 11, 2009 Jackson death may have been 'homicide', says police chief (Rusty Kennedy/AP) MIchael Jackson is reported to have been taking a cocktail of drugs James Bone in New York The Los Angeles police chief has raised the prospect of a homicide charge over the death of Michael Jackson. Homicide does not necessarily mean murder — it could mean a manslaughter charge against a doctor. Jackson, 50, died last month in mysterious circumstances but is reported to have been taking a cocktail of drugs including the potent anaesthetic Diprivan, also known as propofol. Los Angeles police are investigating Jackson’s...

NDIANAPOLIS, IN—James Davis, 34, Indianapolis, Indiana was sentenced to 120 months in prison today by U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney following his guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 kilograms of marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced Timothy M. Morrison, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Indiana State Police and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD). Robert B. Long, Jason P. Edwards, and James Davis were all members of...

Michael Jackson's brain will be returned to his family for burial after tests to ascertain the cause of death have been completed, US officials in Los Angeles said.

Three striking sisters, women in their 20s from the Mexican metropolis of Monterrey, were riding in the back of a late-model minivan with friends toward the shopping malls of Houston, when a Laredo customs agent noticed something out of place. The driver of the white 2005 Chrysler Voyager with Nuevo Leon plates, a 42-year-old hairdresser, seemed a bit too nervous for a northbound shopper at the No. 2 International bridge. And inspectors noticed that the women appeared overly voluptuous, particularly in the bust, thighs and bottom. All five were ordered out and patted down, where — under layers of fashionable...

SAN JUAN, PR—Yesterday, a grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an eight-count indictment charging 12 individuals with conspiracy to commit a carjacking that resulted in death and conspiracy to violate civil rights. The events, which occurred from about April 2008 until May 2008, resulted in the death of Elis Manuel Andrades-Telleria, announced U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Vélez. The defendants were arrested today by FBI agents with the collaboration of the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD). Defendants Noel Rosario-Colón, aka “Nuni,” a former Sergeant with the Puerto Rico Police Department; Daniel Cruz-Andino,...

ATLANTA, GA—VICTOR ABILES GOMEZ, 20, OMAR MENDOZA-VILLEGAS, 19, and GERARDO SOLORIO REYES, a/k/a “Gera,” 23, all illegal immigrants from Mexico, have been sentenced to federal prison on hostage-taking and related charges, arising from the week-long kidnapping and abuse of a drug dealer. United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of the case, “This case demonstrates the danger inherent in the illegal business of drug-dealing. All of these drug dealers—captors and victim—have now been sentenced to federal prison. Fortunately this violent episode did not spill over to innocent members of our community.” DEA Atlanta Field Division Special Agent in Charge Rodney...