Dec 8 Drug Headlines

GENERAL - ITALY
More Accurate Estimates Of Community-Wide Illicit Drug Use - Medical News
Scientists in Italy are reporting development of a method for more accurate estimates of the amount of illicit drug use in a community. Sara Castiglioni and colleagues note that current estimates of community-wide illicit drug use are based on indirect methods - such as population surveys, crime statistics and interviews - that tend to be unreliable.

HEROIN - UK
Young 'turning to cheaper heroin' - BBC
Teenagers in Swansea say they are smoking heroin because cannabis is almost impossible to buy.

METH - MEXICO
Mexico police seize 20 tons of meth ingredient - CNN
Mexican police seized a large shipment of a chemical used for making methamphetamine on Wednesday in a Pacific state at the center of a bloody war between traffickers producing the drug for U.S. markets.

PRESCRIPTION - UK
Geraldine Burns - Radio Interview With Dr Gloria Gilbere On Benzodiazepine Prescription Drug Addiction
Geraldine a former benzodiazepine iatrogenic addict appeared on one of the largest natural health orientated world wide internet radio shows with up to half million listeners in 41 countries on December the 8th 2006.

ALCOHOL - US
Going for STOP: Congress Passes First Major Underage-Drinking Law - Join Together
A bill that's being called an important first step towards addressing the national problem of underage drinking was approved by both the U.S. Senate and House this week, and heads to President Bush's desk for approval.

GENERAL - US
Florida Drug Tourism - Join Together
"Drug runs" to Florida from other states have become more popular as addicts and dealers take advantage of the state's weak prescription-drug monitoring program to illegally obtain potent pain pills.

HEROIN - THAI
Drug mule suspects found with heroin in stomachs
The Shanghai Anti-Drug Commission said recently that city police had solved 534 retail drug cases in the first 10 months this year, seizing 893 suspects and more than four kilograms of heroin.

HEROIN - US
Northeastern Pennsylvania ripe area for garnering heroin profits - Citizens Voice
Five or 10 years ago, it was addicts and small-time dealers trekking to New York City or Philadelphia for a fix. They would return and sell a few bags of heroin to support their habits, constituting hundreds of satellite, small-scale operations throughout the county.

HEROIN - US
Sheriff sees 'bad trend' in heroin overdoses - The Oakland Press
Reported overdoses and cases involving heroin abuse in Oakland County have reached epidemic proportions, Sheriff Michael Bouchard says. "We are seeing what I would call a very bad trend in the increase of activity and usage of heroin, specifi cally heroin laced with other components," Bouchard said.

COCAINE - CANADA
Cocaine ring smuggled drugs to Canada via 'torpedo' - CBC News
The RCMP drug squad in Montreal says a cocaine ring broken up Thursday was smuggling drugs from South America to Eastern Canada by attaching contraband below the waterline of ships.

OPIUM - AFGHAN & CANADA
Focus Afghanistan development on alternatives to illicit opium, says May - Newswire
Canada's role in Afghanistan must shift dramatically away from unbalanced military involvement and on to development and greater diplomatic efforts in order to achieve dialogue and lasting peace, said Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May.

OPIUM - AFGHAN & US
U.S. military to aid DEA's Afghan effort - Chicago Tribune
The Pentagon, which has resisted appeals from federal drug agents to play a bigger role in the campaign to curb Afghanistan's flourishing opium trade, has pledged more support for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's counternarcotics efforts.

ALCOHOL - FRANCE
Teenagers on binge should learn to drink wine, say MPs - UK Times
A trend towards binge-drinking among French teenagers could be curbed if schools taught children the health benefits of drinking French wine, according to a parliamentary report which has stirred the ire of the Government.