Lawmakers Targeting the Ecstasy of Raves
"Look, I used to say, 'Yes, to be honest, there is drug use at raves just like there is at the bars on Bourbon Street and at rock concerts and sporting events.' And then [the prosecutors] pulled out the old interviews and said that showed I was aware of the drug dealers and was creating a place for them. It was crazy. So now? Well, now there are no drugs at raves." By GEOFF BOUCHER

Mexican drug trade changing
In contrast to the brutal and flamboyant kingpins of the past, the new bosses are said to be keen on building alliances among gangs, delegating some of their organizations' responsibilities to key underlings and staying out of the limelight. -AP

The Meth Makers
The intent of this report is to enlighten the public regarding the making of a dangerous drug, not to provide a step-by-step guide to manufacturing methamphetamine. That can be found readily enough on the Internet. Steps have been left out of the description that follows, and as mentioned, such activities are not only exceedingly illegal, they’re insanely dangerous. -R.V. Scheide, Sacramento News and Review

Ravers Against the Machine
The Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act of 2002 -- or the RAVE Act -- has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee and is on the consent calendar, meaning it could receive final approval without a roll call vote at any time. When he introduced the bill in June, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said "most raves are havens for illicit drugs," and congressional findings submitted with the bill label as drug paraphernalia such rave mainstays as bottled water, "chill rooms" and glow sticks. By David Montgomery
Lawmakers Addicted to the Quick Fix -Greg Harrison

Drug war raises hackles
SQUANDERED AUTHORITY: Critics charge that the government's most recent anti-drug campaign demonizes pubs and turns people off to its message: "Young people think government authorities treat them like idiots, so they won't listen to what the government has to say,"..."It's time for them to do some serious field research in an effort to understand how and why youngsters use drugs." By Chang Yu-jung

Japanese gets 8 years, 5 lashes for drug trafficking in Singapore
Hotta was charged for importing about 62 grams of the drug into Singapore. He was arrested about two months ago at the Woodlands immigration checkpoint in the northern part of Singapore as he was traveling into the country by bus from Malaysia. -Kyodo News
Drug news: Japan, Malaysia & Singapore

The Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc.
Colombian cartels have spent billions of dollars to build one of the world's most sophisticated IT infrastructures. It's helping them smuggle more dope than ever before. By Paul Kaihla

An Industry of Uppers Is Keeping the World Alert - and on Edge
Caffeine and nicotine are the most common. Cocaine and methamphetamines are the most illicit. And between the two extremes is a group of herbal stimulants - ephedra, khat, betel nuts - that are gaining in popularity around the world and raising debate about the tolls of their use. By Matt Donnelly

Nicotine Water Is Illegal
Haisha wondered why anti-smoking activists opposed a smokeless way of getting nicotine. "It's a way to keep Susie in the back seat from getting any secondhand smoke when mommy's driving her to school." -Lauran Neergaard

Re-engineering the Drug Business
Beneath its veneer of violence, narcotics trafficking is a surprisingly sophisticated industry, marketing-driven just like any consumer-products business. Only illegal drugs are a bigger business than most, generating global revenues in excess of $400 billion annually, according to a United Nations study. By MATTHEW BRZEZINSKI

A New Drug Demographic: Supermoms
Drug specialists are reporting an unsettling trend of late: the growing ranks of women who are selling and abusing methamphetamines. And they are not just any women. According to the people who counsel these abusers, a startling number of them are middle-class working moms who are trying to top off their energy so they can make it through a working mom's day. By LISA BELKIN

Harboring hashish
Most Moroccan hashish comes from the Rif Mountains, to the north and east of the country's major cities. It is an area of spectacular beauty but poor soil that is unfit for raising olives or other cash crops. By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN

Addicted to legal substances
"The thing that people become addicted to is the codeine in the drugs, but the problem with pain-killers is that they contain paracetamol as well. I’m treating someone at the minute who is on 32 pain-killers a day. He is addicted to opiates in the tablets but the paracetamol is severely damaging his liver in a way that purer opiates wouldn’t." -Orla Heron
The Best High is a Government High -Jessica Kinfinboogler
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Happy clubbers care little for MPs' call to downgrade ecstasy
"Reducing it to class B does nothing for either prevention or damage control. We would like to see it legalised and regulated. It should be sold in a pharmaceutically safe form at chemists – once users had to queue up for it with people waiting for their pile cream, it would soon look a lot less glamorous." By Steve Boggan
Ecstasy: Know Your Stuff

New Drug Treats Heroin Addiction
Heroin works by activating the brain's opiate receptors, and the result is a feeling of euphoria. Buprenorphine partly blocks the opiate receptors and provides a sufficient "high." by Jamie Talan
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