February 07, 2008
Briton arrested with drugs in underwear
FREETOWN (Reuters) - Police in Sierra Leone have arrested a Briton who tried to board a flight to Europe with 2.2 lb of cocaine hidden down his trousers, a senior officer said on Tuesday.
The man was searched at Lungi international airport near the capital Freetown as he tried to leave the West African country, Chief Superintendent Carow Kamara told Reuters.
"Seven packets of cocaine were found wrapped in a sock which he had placed before his private area," Kamara, head of airport police, said.
"The sock was opened and the packets totaling one kilogram were discovered," he said.
West Africa has become an important staging post for Colombian cocaine on its way to lucrative European markets.
Posted by ronnie at 07:47 AM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2008
Official says no drugs for off-duty police
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch interior minister wants police officials to stop using soft drugs when they are off-duty as it tarnishes the image of the force.
The use of some soft drugs is tolerated in the Netherlands and the sale of cannabis in small quantities for recreational use is permitted in government-regulated coffee shops.
"The minister does not want police officials to use soft drugs, such as cannabis, not even during their spare time. It does not fit with the presentation of the police to the public," a spokesman said Thursday.
There are 25 regional police forces in the Netherlands, some of which have implemented a no-drugs policy for off-duty officers while others have not, he said. "We should have one rule for the whole force," he said.
Posted by ronnie at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2008
'Priest' with 7.7 lbs of coke arrested
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A man claiming to be a Catholic priest was arrested Friday at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after he was caught carrying 7.7 pounds of cocaine under his robes, a spokesman for Dutch border police said.
The suspect, whose identity was being traced, initially refused to undergo a routine body check "for religious reasons," spokesman Robert van Kapel said.
He said the man was then spotted lining up at a different entrance gate. He was searched and the drugs were found in packages taped to his body.
"We've seen a lot of things, baseballs filled with cocaine, wine bottles, plaster casts, but this is a first," Van Kapel said.
He said the man, who was traveling from Bolivia, continued to insist he is a priest and did not confess any wrongdoing, arguing his rights had been violated by the search.
Van Kapel said that was bunk.
"If you want to enter (Europe) you have to pass a security check, you have to cooperate and you can't refuse a body search," he said. "He'll be brought before a judge today."
Posted by ronnie at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2007
Yemen president to stop chewing narcotic qat leaves: reports
SANAA, Yemen (AFP) - Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has decided to gradually reduce his consumption of the narcotic qat leaf after having medical tests in Germany, according to local press reports on Friday.
The Al-Thawra and Al-Motamar dailies said Saleh would also stop attending the maqil, or circle of friends devoted to chewing qat, in favour of "meeting the people and personalities from the political and cultural worlds to hear their opinions on questions of national interest."
Saleh returned to Yemen on December 15 from Germany where he underwent medical tests.
In 1999 he launched a campaign to stop civil servants, military and police from chewing the evergreen leaf, that goes by the Latin name of "catha edulis," while on duty.
But that scheme, and another one during Yemen's Marxist rule which attempted to curtail chewing to the weekend, have been largely unsuccessful.
Qat contains cathin and cathinone, two chemical substances similar in effect to amphetamines, raising blood pressure and body temperature, as well as releasing adrenalin.
In Yemen, considered one of the world's poorest countries with an average monthly salary of 120 dollars, both men and women chew the narcotic leaves.
Posted by ronnie at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2007
Day-release convicts caught with drug crop
BERLIN (Reuters) - Two convicts on day-release from a German prison were caught tending their illegal cannabis crop in an empty warehouse nearby, German authorities said on Monday.
German customs agents discovered the 1,200 cannabis plants in the warehouse in the western town of Moers and detained the two convicts, immediately ending the furlough and sending them back to jail.
The customs agents said the men, who were on day-release to find jobs, were planning to export their harvest to the Netherlands.
Posted by ronnie at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2007
Cops: More smoke toad venom to get high
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Law enforcement authorities have discovered that people are willing to go to great lengths to get high, including a troubling new method that features a frightened toad.
"Toad smoking," which is a substitute for "toad licking," is done by extracting venom from the Sonoran Desert toad of the Colorado River. The toad's venom — which is secreted when the toad gets angry or scared — contains a hallucinogen called bufotenine that can be dried and smoked to produce a buzz.
In October, a Kansas City man was charged with possessing a controlled substance after Clay County authorities determined he possessed a toad with the intent to use its venom to get high.
Clay County Prosecutor Daniel White said possessing the toad is not illegal, but using it to get high off its venom is.
"It is easier to get it, and law enforcement might not immediately know you use it to get high," White said. "It's sort of a New Age way to get high. You convince yourself it is OK because it is something you get naturally from our environment.
"There are a lot of things that are created naturally but they are still not legal," he said.
White said that for years people experimented with "toad licking," and now toad smoking is considered a substitute. To do so, a person heats up the frog's venom to break down its toxins and preserve the hallucinogen, which is dried.
He said some Internet sites feature an instructional video on how to extract the toad's venom.
Police found the toad when they went to a northern Kansas City home to investigate a suspected meth lab. They later arrested David S. Theiss, 21, and charged him with three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia — the toad.
Theiss also is accused of possessing mescaline, a controlled substance extracted from a cactus.
While smoking toad venom might sound extreme, an even more disturbing method to get high possibly includes sniffing fermented human waste. Vicky Ward, manager of prevention services at Tri-County Mental Health Services in Kansas City, said she has read e-mail warnings about a drug called jenkem.
The drug is made from fermented feces and urine.
"We work with a lot of youths and we ask them whether anyone has tried it and they said no," Ward said. "They (the youths) have heard about it because of the Internet."
But whether people actually use of jenkem has not been determined, Ward said, noting that a Web site that investigates urban legends isn't clear on the matter.
"Kids get ideas that later turn out to be unfounded, but you will get some idiots who will try anything," she said.
Posted by ronnie at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2007
Protesters make bid to save "magic mushrooms"
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Protesters turned out on Amsterdam's central Dam Square on Saturday, hoping to stop the government from banning magic mushrooms and asking to "save the 'shrooms".
Carrying banners reading "When will they ban bread?" and "Boss of your own brain", more than 100 people, some wearing hats resembling the bright red cap of the popular fly agaric variety, protested to keep hallucinogenic mushrooms legal.
After several incidents involving tourists -- in March, a French teenager jumped to her death from a bridge after taking mushrooms -- the Dutch government plans to ban them.
Arno Adelaars, author of a book on magic mushrooms, said this would only drive users underground and what was needed instead was better information how to use mushrooms right.
"It's only foreigners who have this problem, the Dutch don't because they have good information," he said.
"Amsterdam is like a pilgrimage for youngsters in Europe, they come here to get high in all kinds of ways.
"The typical young tourist that comes here drinks an awful lot of beer, smokes an awful lot of grass, and then takes mushrooms. That's the recipe for disaster."
Posted by ronnie at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2007
Dutch hashish "spacecakes" become chicken-friendly
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Amsterdam's famed coffee shops are turning to free-range eggs for their hashish "spacecakes" to reduce the suffering of chickens.
"Coffee shop owners were completely unaware and shocked that their spacecakes are not animal friendly," said a spokeswoman for Dutch animal rights group Wakker Dier, campaigning against the use of eggs from chickens kept caged on battery farms.
Four large shops have switched to free-range eggs and 20 more plan to follow, she said. The shops get through hundreds of eggs a week for their spacecakes, which are baked with marijuana or hashish and can give an intense high.
The coffee shops, where marijuana can be smoked openly in a relaxed atmosphere, are one of Amsterdam's big tourist draws.
Soft drugs are officially banned in the Netherlands but under a policy of tolerance, buyers are allowed to have less than 5 grams of cannabis in their possession.
Posted by ronnie at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2007
Errant text message leads to drug bust
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A man who thought he was asking a friend about a drug deal instead sent a text message to the state police and was arrested, authorities said.
Joshua Wayne Cadle, 19, allegedly sent the message Wednesday to a phone number that used to belong to an unidentified friend. The number is now held by the State Police, Trooper B.H. Moore said Thursday.
"He text messaged that and asked his friend if he wanted to buy some reefer," Moore said.
Another trooper who received the message responded and set up a meeting. Moore arrested Cadle on Wednesday night in the parking lot of a shopping center in South Charleston.
Cadle, of Cross Lanes, was charged with delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver. He was being held Thursday in the South Central Regional Jail.
A person who answered the phone at the jail did not know whether Cadle had hired an attorney.
Posted by ronnie at 05:52 AM | Comments (0)
September 03, 2007
Cheesy attack leads to assault charges
DES MOINES, Iowa - A man has been charged with a cheesy snack attack on his dad, police said. The weapon? A bag of Cheetos. Patrick Hamman, 22, of Des Moines, was arrested on a charge of domestic assault after he threw a bag of Cheetos at his father, Michael Hamman, hitting him in the face Sunday night.
The bag hit his father's glasses, causing a cut to the bridge of his nose, police said.
The police report said "Michael's T-shirt was also covered in Cheeto dust."
Police said Patrick, who lives with his father, admitted that he was on methamphetamine at the time of the argument.
Posted by ronnie at 06:03 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2007
Woman calls police about 'fake' cocaine
ROCHELLE, Ga. - A woman was arrested after she called police to help "get her money back" after she was unhappy with the crack cocaine she purchased.
Juanita Marie Jones, 53, called Rochelle Police late Thursday night after she purchased what she thought was a $20 piece of crack cocaine, according to police reports.
She told officers she broke the rock into three pieces and smoked one, only to discover the drugs were "fake."
She took Officer Joel Quinn and Deputy John Shedd of the Wilcox County Sheriff's Office into her kitchen and showed them the drugs, police said.
She was promptly arrested on charges of possession of cocaine.
Posted by ronnie at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)
May 31, 2007
There's something in the air in Rome: cocaine
ROME (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered particles of cocaine and marijuana, as well as caffeine and tobacco, in the air of Italy's capital, they said on Thursday.
The concentration of drugs was heaviest in the air around Rome's Sapienza university, though the National Research Council's Dr. Angelo Cecinato warned against drawing conclusions about students' recreational habits.
Calling their study "the first in the world to show the presence of particles of cocaine suspended in the atmosphere of the city", the researchers said they took samples in Rome, the southern city of Taranto and in Algiers in North Africa.
Nicotine and caffeine were detected in all three, "showing how widespread consumption of these substances is and how they remain in the atmosphere", state-funded CNR said in a statement.
The concentration of cocaine in Rome's atmosphere was only 0.1 nanograms (1 nanogram is one billionth of a gram) per cubic metre at its height during winter months, the researchers said. But the conclusions were worrying for public health.
"It is well documented that even small concentrations in the air of these pollutants can seriously damage health," said Dr. Ivo Allegrini of the CNR's Institute for Atmospheric Pollution.
Posted by ronnie at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2007
'Cocaine' drink is pulled from shelves
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - An energy drink called Cocaine has been pulled from stores nationwide amid concerns about its name, the company that produces it said Monday.
Clegg Ivey, a partner in Redux Beverages LLC of Las Vegas, said the company plans to sell the drink under a new name for now.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter last month that said Redux was illegally marketing the drink as a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement. May 4 was the deadline for the company to respond.
The FDA cited as evidence the drink's labeling and Web site, which included the statements "Speed in a Can," "Liquid Cocaine" and "Cocaine — Instant Rush." The company says Cocaine contains no drugs and is marketed as an energy drink. It has been sold since last August in at least a dozen states.
"Of course, we intended for Cocaine energy drink to be a legal alternative the same way that celibacy is an alternative to premarital sex," Ivey said. "It's not the same thing and no one thinks it is. Our product doesn't have any cocaine in it. No one thinks that it does. We think it is most likely legal in the United States to ship our product."
Ivey said the FDA did not order the company to stop marketing the drink, but officials were concerned about possible legal action. They will announce a new name within a week and hope to have the product back on store shelves within a few weeks.
"What we would like to do is continue to fight to keep the name because it's clearly the name that's the problem," Ivey said. "What we can't do is distribute our product when regulators in the states and the FDA are saying that if you do this, you could go to jail."
Attorneys general in Connecticut and Illinois recently announced that Redux had agreed to stop marketing Cocaine in those states, while a judge in Texas has halted distribution there.
"Our goal is to literally flush Cocaine down the drain across the nation," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who announced the company's agreement with his state Monday. "Our main complaint about Cocaine is its name and marketing strategy seeking to glorify illegal drug use and exploit the allure of marketing 'Speed in a Can,' as it called the product."
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection pulled 300 cases of Cocaine from state stores on April 23, saying Redux Beverages did not license the product as required by law.
As part of the agreement, Connecticut distributors and retailers can return unused product to Redux for a full refund.
An FDA spokeswoman said she could not comment because the matter is still pending.
Fans responded to the announcement that Redux would stop marketing Cocaine by leaving dozens of messages, many of them profanity-laced, on a page created for the product on the social networking site MySpace.com.
The energy drink is the first product marketed by Redux, which wants to keep the name Cocaine because it fits with the company's tongue-in-cheek approach, Ivey said.
"We like to think we have a great sense of humor," he said. "And our market, primarily folks from ages 20 to 30, they love the ideas, they love the name, they love the whole campaign. These are not drug users."
Posted by ronnie at 08:23 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2007
Ex-employee at Vatican convicted of cocaine possession
VATICAN CITY (AFP) - A former employee of the Vatican was given a suspended four-month prison sentence for possessing cocaine, in a first for the Holy See's justice system, his lawyer said Monday.
The employee was fired around six months ago after an Italian court convicted him of drug dealing, the lawyer, Gianluigi Mattioli, told AFP.
Following the conviction, police searched the employee's office at the Vatican and found a stash of cocaine in a desk drawer.
The Vatican tribunal on Saturday found him guilty of possessing 87 grammes (three ounces) of cocaine, Mattioli said.
The unprecedented verdict was reached after three hours of deliberation.
It was a tricky case because the Vatican justice system still relies on the Italian penal code of 1865, which has no provisions for drug possession, Mattioli told AFP.
A law dating from 1929 allowed the judges to punish a crime that is not on the books, he added.
Mattioli's client does not plan to appeal the conviction.
Vatican City is an independent state within Rome covering an area of 0.44 square kilometres (0.17 square miles), with about 900 inhabitants and a crime rate that is much lower than Italy's.
Posted by ronnie at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2007
Jail guard held for cannoli-stashed drug
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - Leave the cannoli, take the marijuana. A Nassau County correction officer was arrested and due in court Thursday on charges he tried to smuggle marijuana into the jail — stashed inside a box of the Italian pastries.
Rocco Bove, 24, of Westbury, was arrested Wednesday following an investigation into the discovery of pot inside the box. Police say Bove dropped off the box for an unidentified inmate on Christmas Eve, and when officers checked it, they found the marijuana, along with rolling papers, matches and a flint pad.
The drugs were actually inside the cannoli, Nassau County Police spokesman Kevin Smith said.
It was "enough so someone could have a little personal consumption around Christmastime," Smith said. He said police believe Bove removed the cream filling in the tube-shaped shells of fried pasta, stashed the pot inside in plastic bags, and then refilled the shells.
Bove was suspended without pay and scheduled to be arraigned on charges of promoting prison contraband and unlawful possession of marijuana.
His attorney did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Lt. Michael Golio of the Correction Department's legal affairs office said Bove was hired in April 2005 and was assigned to a security platoon. He said the department would not comment on the arrest but noted it was cooperating with ongoing investigations.
A statement from the correction officers' union said it is conducting its own investigation. "The Sheriff Officers Association takes all incidents of improper conduct very seriously," the statement said. Approximately 1,100 officers oversee about 1,800 inmates at the facility in East Meadow.
Posted by ronnie at 05:02 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2006
Cocaine on 94 percent of Spanish banknotes
MADRID (Reuters) - Traces of cocaine can be found on 94 percent of banknotes in Spain, a country that has one of the world's highest rates of users, according to a study published on Sunday.
The 100 notes tested were collected in gyms, supermarkets and pharmacies across Spain, where increased affluence and falling street prices have made the drug more and more accessible.
Cocaine now sells for as little as 60 euros (40 pounds) a gram, or 5 euros ($7) a line, and it is regularly used by 1.6 percent of Spaniards, up from 0.9 percent in 1999, a government report said this month.
Law enforcement agencies say cocaine is getting cheaper and more popular in Europe because of efforts to boost production by Colombian paramilitaries and rebels who need money for weapons. Spain is a major entry point to Europe for the smugglers.
It was not clear how many of the notes had been used to snort cocaine and how many had picked up traces from other bills, according to the study by the Sailab laboratory, published in the daily El Mundo.
Posted by ronnie at 06:37 PM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2006
Police bust pair for growing pot in Palermo park
ROME (Reuters) - Two brothers have been arrested on charges of growing a marijuana plantation in one of the biggest public parks in Palermo, Sicily, Ansa news agency reported on Wednesday.
Police say the men, aged 25 and 30, had grown about 20 marijuana plants each at least two meters (six and a half feet) high in the Italian city's Parco della Favorita, Ansa reported.
The pair were arrested as they carried watering cans to the site, which was hidden by vegetation. Police who raided their home found 3,000 seeds, more marijuana and cash thought to be from sales of the drug.
The men's parents also have been charged in the case.
Posted by ronnie at 07:15 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2006
3 arrested for pot cookie giveaway
BERKELEY, Calif. - Three people were arrested by campus police after about 15 students at the University of California, Berkeley got sick from eating what apparently were marijuana-laced cookies.
The three, two of whom are Berkeley students, allegedly helped make and distribute the cookies, university officials said in a statement released Thursday.
UC police learned about the problem when they got a call Wednesday evening from a student who said she was feeling ill and anxious after eating the cookies, served at an independent student-run housing co-op near campus.
Police responded and found that about 15 others were experiencing similar symptoms including shortness of breath and minor hallucinations. Twelve students were briefly hospitalized.
Police planned to test the cookies to determine the ingredients. The cookies were eaten during a welcome dinner at the house, police said.
"What happened tonight was an isolated incident where adults didn't know their limits," said Nathan Danielsen, a house manager. "We do not officially condone any of their actions."
UC police later arrested Michael Tobias, 24, Carmen Anderson, 21, both UC Berkeley students, and 23-year-old Christopher Portka.
Campus officials said Tobias was arrested on suspicion of furnishing marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale; Anderson was arrested for possession of more than an ounce of marijuana and possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, and Portka was arrested for possession of more than an ounce of marijuana and possession of mushrooms. The three were taken to the Berkeley city jail where they were in custody Thursday afternoon.
Posted by ronnie at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2006
Iced marijuana tea to debut in British health food shops
LONDON (AFP) - British health food shops will soon be offering customers iced cannabis tea, its Swiss distributor said.
Sold under the label "C-Ice Swiss Cannabis Ice Tea", the beverage contains five percent of hemp flower syrup and a tiny (0.0015 percent) quantity of THC, the active ingredient of marijuana.
Any ingredient that could put it in the drugs category has been removed and the tea will not lead to dependency.
But British anti-drug campaigners say that selling the tea is dangerous because it will give young people the impression that cannabis is commonplace.
The product was launched in Switzerland in 2003 and is already available in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
Posted by ronnie at 07:48 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2006
Wild weed on courthouse lawn eliminated
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - After reporters pointed out that wild marijuana, commonly called ditch weed, was growing on the lawn at the federal courthouse in Sioux Falls, the greenery was eliminated.
City officials and a developer said seeds in dirt brought in for construction must have sprouted.
KSFY-TV in Sioux Falls had it tested to be sure it was ditch weed and brought it to the attention of federal officials last week. None wanted to comment.
Low-grade, wild marijuana was initially grown as hemp to make rope in World War II. But it contains a small amount of the ingredient that makes marijuana smokers high.
Congress made it illegal in 1970 to grow any form of the marijuana plant.
Posted by ronnie at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2006
Police: Inmates Smuggled Drugs in Undies
ANGOLA, Ind. - Drugs stashed in underwear lining were smuggled into the Steuben County Jail, police said. Four people including two inmates were charged Thursday with sneaking marijuana into the northeastern Indiana jail, which allows people to bring clean underwear to detainees.
Marijuana in the underwear made its way into a cell block sometime in February, court documents said. Later, the four suspects allegedly arranged for more items to be smuggled in that way, the documents said.
Nathan Ryan Loving, 18, and Daniel Javier Vela, 20, were inmates when a jailer found a marijuana joint, a cigarette, four prescription pills, four matches and a striking strip to light the matches in underwear.
Erica A. Shultz, 19, allegedly dropped off the underwear on Feb. 28, court documents said. Justin Lee Piersimoni also was charged.
Initially, police thought the marijuana was pushed to Loving through a communication device in visiting booths, said Sheriff Rick Lewis.
The four suspects were arraigned Thursday in Steuben Superior Court. Each faces a felony trafficking charge, which carries a sentence of 2 1/2 to eight years in prison.
Loving, Vela and Piersimoni were being held Friday in the jail.
Shultz was released Thursday after posting bond, but no phone listing was available for her in Angola to obtain comment.
The exchange policy for underwear delivered to the jail will be reviewed, Lewis said.
Posted by ronnie at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2006
Court upholds "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" student banner
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Alaska high school violated a student's free speech rights by suspending him after he unfurled a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" across the street from the school, a federal court ruled on Friday.
Joseph Frederick, a student at Juneau-Douglas High School in Alaska, displayed the banner -- which refers to smoking marijuana -- in January 2002 to try to get on television as the Olympic torch relay was passing the school.
Principal Deborah Morse seized the banner and suspended the 18-year-old for 10 days, saying he had undermined the school's educational mission and anti-drug stance.
Friday's ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a decision by a federal court in Alaska that backed Frederick's suspension and said his rights were not violated.
The appeals court said the banner was protected speech because it did not disrupt school activity and was displayed off school grounds during a non-curricular activity.
"Public schools are instrumentalities of government, and government is not entitled to suppress speech that undermines whatever missions it defines for itself," Judge Andrew Kleinfeld wrote in the court's opinion.
The court also cleared the way for Frederick to seek damages, saying Morse was aware of relevant case law and should have known her actions violated his rights.
Posted by ronnie at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2006
Unsatisfied hashish buyer seeks German police help
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 52-year-old man from the German town of Darmstadt tried in vain to get a refund for 400 euros ($475) worth of what he said was "bad marijuana" from his dealer before turning to the police for help, according to authorities.
The police then charged the man with violating drugs possession laws and confiscated the 200 grams of marijuana he brought with him to the police station, according to a report in Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.
"It is un-usable," the man told police in the hope they would help him get his money back. Amounts of up to 30 grams of marijuana are allowed in most German states for private consumption.
Posted by ronnie at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2006
Police seize magic mushroom chocolates in Kiev nightclub
KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine police have stumbled upon a delectable type of drug during a nightclub raid -- chocolates laced with a hefty dose of hallucinogenic mushrooms, an official said.
Officers made the discovery overnight when they detained several drug dealers at a Kiev nightclub, Vitaly Yarema, a top official with the Kiev police was quoted as saying Friday by the Interfax news agency.
During the arrests, police seized several kilograms of chocolates that turned out to be 25 percent hallucinogenic mushrooms, he said.
Police think the chocolates were manufactured in Switzerland and transported to Ukraine through Poland.
Posted by ronnie at 07:15 AM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2006
Dentist, 77, Accused in Pills for Sex Case
QUINCY, Mass. - An elderly dentist pleaded not guilty Friday to charges he wrote fraudulent prescriptions that police claim were in exchange for sex from drug addicts.
Police alleged Dr. Joseph T. Matarazzo, 77, wrote more than 100 fraudulent prescriptions over two years in exchange for oral sex, The Patriot Ledger of Quincy reported.
Matarazzo allegedly told an undercover police officer that he wrote fraudulent Oxycodone prescriptions for the same person three times and suggested "maybe she had a drug problem." Oxycodone is the main chemical in painkillers Percoset and OxyContin.
Police obtained Matarazzo's records showing a list of prescriptions he wrote, and said it includes several people known to police to be drug addicts, the Ledger reported. Police say their probe is ongoing.
Matarazzo was released on his own recognizance after his arraignment in Quincy District Court. He's due back in court March 15.
The charges include distribution of a class B substance, drug violations near a school, conspiracy to violate drug laws, and uttering a false prescription.
Matarazzo declined to comment Friday. His lawyer, Frederick G. Barry Jr., said the charges against Matarazzo are related to a single allegation.
"He's been a dentist for 52 years and he has no prior criminal record whatsoever," Barry said. "He's a good man."
Matarazzo has surrendered his dentist's license, which he obtained in 1953, according to the state Division of Professional Licensure.
Posted by ronnie at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2006
Going easy on pot smokers draws Iowa lawmaker's ire
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - An Iowa sheriff's decision to hand out tickets instead of arrests for small amounts of marijuana invited a lawmaker's slap that it would be simpler to ban rock concerts and football games.
Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, who oversees the University of Iowa in Iowa City, told a legislative committee he would treat possession of small amounts of marijuana like a traffic violation, allowing hundreds of students arrested each year to graduate without a criminal record.
"The guy that's carrying 50 bales of marijuana ... that's a different animal," Pulkrabek said, adding he favoured rounding up intoxicated people in a locked "detox centre" in lieu of the crowded jail.
But Republican legislator Clel Baudler, a former state trooper, shot down the notion as sending the wrong message to drug users and abusers.
"We could simplify law enforcement's job if we didn't have rock concerts. We could simplify their job a lot quicker if we just didn't have football games there where we arrest hundreds of drunks over the weekend." Baudler said.
Posted by ronnie at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)