Testing It Up

Michael Douglas’ son Cameron has pled guilty to a heroin possession charge and other charges related to selling the drugs cocaine and meth from his hotel room in a New York court room. Douglas was arrested at the Gansevoort Hotel in Manhattan and is looking at a sentence of at least 11 years and potential life in prison. Douglas shipped packages of the crystal meth through FedEx to New York between 2006 and 2009 working with accomplices to complete the transactions. While on pretrial release, Douglas’s heroin possession charge stems from an incident in which his girlfriend allegedly smuggling the narcotic to him in a toothbrush while he was under house arrest worsening the charges he’s facing.

“I began supplying on a regular basis,” Douglas said.

Douglas is an actor and deejay who has a history of drug abuse. He was arrested as part of a federal drug investigation in the summer of last year. His guilty plea is part of a pleas agreement related to that investigation. Sentencing on the case will come in April.

His father acknowledged his son’s situation in an AARP interview. “Cameron has a lot of his life ahead,” he said. “He now recognizes his own demons and struggles … He’s a tough kid. Still, he’s in a federal prison, and you’ve got some big, bad boys down there.” As well as noting his own past with substance abuse. “Alcohol was an issue in my life at one point,” he said. “A brother died from an overdose a few years ago. Just about any family has someone for whom substance abuse is an issue.”

New York Drug Screening

After a small amount of cocaine was found in a space shuttle hangar at NASA’s Florida Spaceport the organization began an investigation. The drug was found as residue in an abandoned plastic bag at the Orbiter Processing Facility a restricted zone for shuttle workers only at Discovery’s hangar at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A shuttle worker found it outside a bathroom and immediately reported the finding to security after which an on-site test found it to be cocaine. A follow-up test confirmed the finding.

“This is a rare and isolated incident, and I’m disappointed that it happened, but it should not detract from the outstanding work that is being done by a dedicated team on a daily basis,” Bob Cabana, a former astronaut and director of Kennedy Space Center, said in a statement. “We are conducting an investigation and working with center security and law enforcement officials to get to the bottom of it.”

The maintenance hangar is a restricted zone which requires special access badges for any workers to enter. Roughly 200 NASA employees and contractors have access to the area, and all have been asked to complete drug tests since Wednesday. Thus far there haven’t been any indications of workers being inebriated while at work. The consequences of such actions are severe, according to NASA officials.

“NASA, as well as all of our contractors, has a zero-tolerance policy for illegal drug use,” Beutel said. “This is being taken very seriously.”

The cocaine find is being investigated on two fronts. One is through the drug itself and the other is looking for clues as to how it ended up in the shuttle hangar. Security in these areas is taken very seriously because it raises issues of safety working on the spacecraft, as well as to ensure the safety and quality of work on the space vehicles. Officials said that extensive efforts are being made to ensure Discovery remains safe to fly its next spaceflight. Its slated to take off from the Kennedy Space Center in March when it will be doing a mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Endeavour is due to launch on Feb. 7. NASA plans to fly five final shuttle missions this year before retiring its three-orbiter fleet.

Florida Drug Screening

According to estimates made by Hawaii’s largest, locally owned drug testing company and drug prevention organizations the use of meth went up dramatically in 2009. Diagnostic Laboratory Services released its year-end numbers for 2009 and found that the use of crystal meth rose 33 % from where it stood in 2008. The laboratory (which conducts tests for companies and those seeking employment and conducts 7,000 to 10,000 drug tests each quarter) found that the highest numbers of increase came in the last quarter of the year. This meant that meth use was up 57 percent from the year’s average.

Hawaii Meth Project and other drug prevention groups say that such increases can be common when a bad economy is affecting so many. Between the higher stress of such a situation causing users to increase use and others selling or starting to use the drug these numbers are likely to increase.

The Hawaii Meth Project focuses on prevention with a target audience of 12-17 year olds. Such numbers are a big tell that prevention programs are needed now more than ever.

Diagnostic Laboratory Services also found that there was a 9 % increase in marijuana use from 2008 to 2009.Other forms of drug use went unchanged in the area.

At first look the sentence might seem odd perhaps even a little unbelievable but yes the pop star is reaching out and helping the troubled rapper as he faces the very serious issue of substance abuse. John, a friend to Eminem in more recent years has said that he’s been helping the singer get through his substance abuse in the last year and a half. The idea seems quite natural when you consider that once Elton John was facing his own substance abuse issues. According to the songwriter Eminem’s efforts are turning out for the better and his battle to overcome drug use looks as if it will be a successful one.

“I’ve been helping Eminem over the last 18 months and he’s doing brilliantly.” John is also quite clear that he’s always been there for those suffering from such problems. “I’m there if people want my help. If people ask for help you tell them where to go but there’s no point advising people if they don’t want to do it.”

John has always been clear about his own troubles with substance abuse and likely makes for a good source in battling them Eminem had previously admitted his use had gotten so bad that he’d been abusing prescription drugs like Ambien, Vicodin and Valium. Eminem had made a previous bid in 2005 to stop using and made a major comeback this year working with other rapers like Kanye West and Drake.

China has been facing a critical eye from Western society after the execution of a British citizen just before the holidays and with the most recent information about its compulsory drug rehabilitation programs the critical eye is unlikely to shift. In China convicted drug users are required to complete at least 2 years in their drug rehab program, a span of time that is filled with forced labor, physical abuse and no drug treatment according to many who’ve completed the program many of whom say they are haunted by the experience.

As many as a half million Chinese citizens are held at these centers at any given time according to the United Nations. Trials, judges and appeals are extravagances that play no part in the way these police planned detention centers are run. Such centers are the country’s answer for serious drug issues that arose in the country in recent years are said to be little more than penal colonies where inmates are sent to factories and farms, denied basic medical care and fed substandard food . None of this suits the ideal situation for people trying to recover from addiction and can only cause further harm where substance abuse and other problems already have a foothold.

The information on these programs only becomes worse for those with existing medical conditions like AIDS and TB who are openly denied medical care. Reports of beatings and the use of cattle prods are also common. Drug users also deal with the stigma of their addiction in their daily lives as their national identification cards state this addiction, which makes applying for jobs and welfare benefits acts of futility. traveling often involves impromptu urine drug tests and the possibility of humiliation in front of colleagues as local police are made aware when such a user has checked into an area hotel.

Some officials in the country claim that this is what a transitional program looks like, citing the many needle exchanges and methadone clinics that have also come with the new program. Only time will tell if these programs will make changes that are targeted toward recovery over punishment.

Users on Facebook have been using the popular social networking site to reach out to Mexico’s so-called patron saint of drug trafficking, Jesus Malverde. They ask him to protect them from arrest and safeguard their drugs, thank him for riches and for keeping them alive. The twist? Jesus Malverde, the Robin Hood-like criminal who’s captured the attention of so many Facebook patrons was hanged a century ago but still has a fan page with hundreds of registered visitors. Posts like the one below are hardly uncommon for the page.

“Thanks to you for how things turned out,” one reads “and how nobody was grabbed.”

“Oh powerful Malverde, protect us from (the feds) and don’t let the cops grab us with more than 5 grams of pot.” Says another.

Obvious gawkers and the curious outnumber true disciples, but traffickers generally have a long history of occult mysticism and a strong belief in darker powers that guide their movements.

“These people are highly superstitious. They use patron saints, religion, in a very convoluted way for any edge to continue their criminal enterprises unscathed,” said Mike Vigil, who retired from the DEA.”

According to legend Malverde was a thief who stole from the rich and gave to the poor a la the legend of Robin Hood. The Facebook page acts as an online extension of the popular shrine dedicated to him in the state of Sinaloa, which is home to many top drug traffickers, including Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was killed last week in a gunbattle with Mexican marines.

“Malverde is revered just as are other rebel bad-boy types such as James Dean, Brando and the Rolling Stones,” Vigil said. “They feel they are invincible and many times they will shoot it out with law enforcement thinking the bullets will not hurt them.”

Ecstasy is even more likely to result in accidental death than even speed or crystal meth in young healthy adolescents who try the drug for the first time according to a study on stimulant-deaths in Britain between 1997 and 2007. During that study it was found that the majority of those who died after using ecstasy were younger and healthier than those who died as a result of taking amphetamines. The finding id unsettling as the majority of those who use the drug are the ones who are most likely to die from its use.

The data used for the study came from the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths database and the British Crime Survey. According to the data 832 people died from taking speed and crystal meth over the course of the 11 year study period, while 605 deaths were related to ecstasy. While the study did establish that adolescents between the ages of 16 and 24 seemed to suffer most from excessive intake of ecstasy the exact cause wasn’t clear though the developing state of the brain at this age could be the cause.

“Ecstasy and amphetamines are very similar — they are part of the same pharmacological group,” Schifano the head of the study said. “But ecstasy does seem to show an intrinsic toxicity that is higher than that of amphetamines.”

Meth has long posed a problem in limited income areas and that threat has only grown worse in the last few years as the recession raised stress levels. According to a recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University substance abuse and addiction costs federal, state and local governments at least $467 billion every year. Almost 96 % of that is spent on drug-related crime, incarceration, health care, and foster care. Only 1.9 % of those funds goes to prevention and treatment.

The recession has increased the problems of state and local budgets and as a result law enforcement, court, and prison systems in most states are broke and struggling. Drug prevention and treatment programs, which were already facing major funding problems, are crippled by a lack of funding. Sadly the working class citizens that make up the majority of the US’ population and who suffer difficult financial troubles are most heavily affected by the use and addiction to methamphetamines.

These areas often fall prey to the drug gangs who find their placement between major cities in the west coast and the east appealing for establishing a base of operations. Because meth, a cocktail of chemicals, is so easily produced it’s also one of the most commonly chosen small businesses for financially strapped working class people and often as not there are so many small math labs that they’re too hard to track verses the Mexican drug cartels.

A high from one dose of the drug can last between 4 and 8 hours and users who take it regularly back to back can keep going for days and even weeks without any sleep. For this reason the drug is also popular among factory workers who rely on its energy level and speed to work long hours and produce larger bonuses through piece-rate pay. Unfortunately any positive results are quickly outpaced by the fast and terribly destructive nature of the drug.

Users stay up for long periods ignoring their body’s needs for rest and food and are more and more likely to do things that most would consider crazy or thoughtless such as stealing and becoming involved with violent crime. Paranoid delusions and a higher and higher amount of the drug will be needed to reach the high desired over time.

Cleaning up these labs requires special hazmat teams and often results in a terrible aftermath. Children found at these locations are taken away by men in hazmat suits and need immediate medical attention for exposure to dangerous chemicals and then find themselves in foster care. These homes are also marked by the presence of meth and are usually contaminated with toxic chemicals that permeate walls, carpets, furniture and heating systems. The costs of meth use and production are staggering.

After taking a lethal drug cocktail a member of the Western Australian Youth Orchestra was found dead in a Hong Kong hotel room. Daniel Hall who was 21 is said to have gotten the mix from a doorman at a nearby nightclub. Hall and another member Evan Williams, snorted a mixture of cocaine, ketamine and opiates in their room early on December 19 under the impression that it was cocaine.

“Evan went into Dan’s room and we believe at some stage earlier the men bought some white powder that they snorted in the room,” Ben Burgess, the orchestra’s chief executive, told the newspaper. “Toxicology (tests) revealed it was a bad batch that contained a number of illicit drugs that were considered quite pure… a mix of cocaine, horse tranquillizer — ketamine. They did a drug test for opiates, there’s obviously heroin or morphine in some form within it as well.”

The ingestion of these drugs led to the death of Hall and the life and death struggle of his companion Williams who later recovered.

“Preliminary findings of our post-mortem examination show there is no injury on the body of the deceased. We need to await the results of our further investigation to determine the cause of his death,” a spokesman said.

Hall was an oboe player for the musical group and Williams was a trombonist, the pair had been on tour with the orchestra for a series of concerts in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. After the incident the remainder of the tour has been cancelled and the group returned to Perth, Australia.

Charlie Sheen has a very checkered past when it comes to substance abuse and now it might be coming back to bite him again. Over the Christmas holiday he was arrested on charges of domestic violence in Aspen, Colorado. Apparently Sheen and his wife Brooke Mueller had started arguing at a friend’s gathering while both were inebriated. For Sheen this was a move that took him out of step with the sobriety he’d practiced since completing two rehab stints for alcohol and drug addiction. The star had been vocal about his efforts in overcoming drug and alcohol addiction after a very serious overdose linked to alcohol and cocaine consumption put his life on the line.

So now that the question of his continued sobriety has been raised many wonder when the relapse might have begun and how it led to the fight on Christmas that threw it into the stars addiction back into the spotlight. Mueller called 911 that morning when the star threatened her and became violent. The state of the pair’s relationship now lies in question after the incident. Having beaten his substance addiction in the late 90s to reestablish his tarnished career the star is standing on somewhat unstable ground as the final year of his contract for Two and Half Men comes up and a media whirlwind has crept up over the holiday brawl with his wife.