News From The World

NEWS FROM THE WORLD

4214 18/08/2005
NORTH AMERICA / USA
CONSUMPTION
EFE
The number of students in high schools in which drugs circulate freely has jumped by 41% cent since 2002, and those in lower schools by 47%. Source: The tenth annual study of drugs in schools published by the National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) of New York Cityâ??s Columbia University.
http://www.casacolumbia.org/Absolutenm/articlefiles/Teen_Survey_Report_2005.pdf

4215 18/08/2005
NORTH AMERICA / USA
CURIOSITY
ANSA
The wheel of fortune came to a shuddering halt for drug baron Jose' Betancourt. He has to refund 2.75 million dollars won in a Texas lottery to the state because his winning ticket was bought with money derived in part from the cocaine business.

4209 20/08/2005
SOUTH AMERICA / BRAZIL
JUSTICE
ANSA
The judge of a juvenile court has unsmilingly banned minors from seeing the DreamWorks animation Madagascar, a story of four animals escaping from a Manhattan zoo and intent on returning to their native jungles. It was deemed to encourage drug use, especially of ecstasy, in subliminal messages that are particularly perilous for children and young people. www.madagascar-themovie.com

4208 21/08/2005
NORTH AMERICA / USA
LEGALISATION
ANSA
On 20th August, seventy-five thousand people gathered in Seattleâ??s for the 14th Annual Hempfest. Aficionados of marijuana delighted in smoking in public and in demanding legalisation. The police didnâ??t interfere because â??â?? it was explained by agents on duty â??â?? this was a political meeting protected by the rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
http://www.hempfest.org/
4206 24/08/2005

NORTH AMERICA / USA â?? Denver, Colorado
LEGALISATION
HEALTH NEWS
Voters will decide in November on the legalisation of therapeutic marijuana. The Denver city council has put this issue on the ballot after confirming the required number of signatures on the petition.

4213 17/08/2005
EUROPE / BOSNIA
NARCOMAFIAS
EFE
Paddy Ashdown, High Commissioner of the World Community in Bosnia, blames the increase in drug production and drug traffic on the the control authoritiesâ?? lack of respect for international rules. The country has become a â??safe havenâ?? for big-time drug lords. Reasons: internal weakness of state institutions, lack of any unified and effective police power.

4207 23/08/2005
SOUTH AMERICA / BRAZIL
NARCOTRAFFIC
ANSA
President Lulaâ??s election campaign was financed by illicit funds derived in part from Mexican drug traffic and laundered through the accounts of Guaranhuns, an Uruguayan offshore trading firm â??â?? thus says the parliamentary enquiry commission headed by Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the Partido Liberal, allied with Lulaâ??s own Partido dos Trabalhadores.

4212 18/08/2005
EUROPE / GEORGIA
POLITICS
THE MESSENGER
After the seizure of four kilos of opium in the Tiblisi suburb of Ponichala, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili urged the population to be firm and cooperative in eliminating drug use. He introduced cash rewards for information given to the police about users and pushers.

4211 20/08/2005
ASIA / AFGHANISTAN
POLITICS
THE AUSTRALIAN
The reconstruction of Afghanistan risks to fail owing to terrorism and opium production â??â?? thus a British government study. Development objectives canâ??t be realised because â??heroin traffic canâ??t be eliminated here in less than twenty years.â?? Economic growth has slipped from 29% in 2002 to 16% in 2003 and to 8% in 2004.

4210 18/08/2005
NORTH AMERICA / USA â?? Hawaii (Honolulu)
PUBLIC HEALTH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The stateâ??s first clinic for the administration of therapeutic marijuana will open in Honolulu on 7th September under the aegis of the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation of Portland, Oregon. Choice of this venue was prompted by Hawaiiâ??s lax enforcement of the law that authorises such therapies, but it is difficult to find physicians willing to go along. To date there are 2,700 authorised candidate patients.

4216 18/08/2005
OCEANIA AUSTRALIA
PUBLIC HEALTH
HEALTH NEWS
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) announced that 38% of all those who sought help in federal disintoxication and rehabilitation centres in 2003-04 were alcoholics and 22% cannabis users; 18% were hooked on heroin and 11% on methamphetamines.

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