Authorities in Southern California have arrested 15 people who are accused of being part of a large-scale smuggling ring that operated with a twist – they sent narcotic prescription drugs across the border from California to Mexico.  The drugs were then sold over the counter in Mexican pharmacies to American drug abusers who crossed the border in search of illegal prescription painkillers.  The smuggling ring, which operated for several years, is reported to have netted at least $400,000 in the past six months.

In an effort to eradicate marijuana farms in the forests of Northern California, state and federal drug agents recently conducted a series of raids that led to the arrest of 101 people.  Officials report that more than 460,000 marijuana plants were uprooted and destroyed in raids that took place in and around Mendocino National Forest over a period of 2 weeks.  An additional 1500 pounds of processed marijuana was also seized along with 27 guns.  Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman reported that none of the marijuana farms that were raided appeared to be used to grow legal medical marijuana.

In an story that seems too tragic  to be true, a famous rock star (Mike Todd of Coheed and Cambria) has robbed a Walgreens for OxyContin before going on stage in a stadium in Mass.

On July 10, Mike succumbed to opiate withdrawals to the point of lunacy.

During the Independence Day weekend, El Monte police department had good reason to celebrate. A burglar call lead police to the biggest drug bust the city has ever seen.

Police were called to the 2500 block of Continental Ave. to investigate a burglary that was in progress. When police arrived at the scene they found a U-Haul truck with four men and one teenage boy. They were wearing gardening gloves, masks and had weed clippers. In front of what looked like an abandoned warehouse.

On Friday Judge Frank Fasel doubled Allan James Waters' prison sentence from 16 months to 32 months. Waters, aged 33,  is a former Orange County California sheriff deputy. The judge’s decision to give Waters a longer sentence was influenced after Waters showed up drunk in court to face his DUI charge last month.

The former Laguna Niguel resident pleaded guilty on April 7, 2011 to multiple accounts. Waters is being charged for:

A new national report released this week shows that rehab admissions for opiates, alcohol and marijuana increased significantly in the decade from 1999 to 2009.

The most alarming statistics were for opiate addiction treatment, which include the painkillers oxycodone (OxyContin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin).

In England  it is estimated that over a million people take ecstasy every weekend. Imagine that. Pounds of the stuff on that tiny, little island nation.

Under supervised tests done on ecstasy and its effects on the brain, doctors noticed that taking more than two tablets in a limited window of time, say 6 to 10 hours, caused detectable changes in the brain similar to those seen with people who go on to develop Parkinson's disease.

Legislative Action Comes in Memory of Ryan Creedon

Ryan Creedon overdosed on OxyContin on September 4, 2009, he was only 21. Creedon fell into the alarming national trend of abusing prescription pills.

Michael Baze, 24, was found dead in his car on May 10 near the Churchill Downs stables in Louisville Kentucky. The toxicology report given by Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Jim Wesley on Friday, said that Baze died from multiple substance intoxication.

In Arizona, meth claims the lives of people in the inner city as well as those farm far away on the reservation. David Dudley was beaten to death at a party where the meth and alcohol were consumed. Court records reported that his body had been punched, kicked and beaten with a bottle at the party before he was dragged into a nearby wash, beaten some more and left naked to die.