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The Shanghai Daily News has an article about increased drug use among wealthy Singaporeans despite the mandatory death sentences imposed there:

“IT is Friday night. Ling, a bank analyst in Armani heels, pops a blue pill into her mouth and dances to the thumping beat. Later she heads to a house party with her friends where they snort cocaine off tabletops. Singapore’s party drug scene used to be the domain of high-flying foreign bankers and other expatriates who would take ecstasy and snort cocaine in defiance of the city state’s punitive drug laws. But these days the drug scene for foreigners is not as pronounced as among well-to-do locals in a country which has the world’s fastest-growing number of high net-worth individuals, totalling some 67,000 in 2006.”

…

“In Singapore, anyone caught carrying more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 500 grams of cannabis or 250 grams of methamphetamines faces a mandatory death sentence by hanging.”

[alternative link for this article]

The Bucks Free Press (in the UK) reports on police activities to determine if pub/club visitors have taken anything illegal before coming to the pub/club.

“A STATE-OF-THE-ART drug detection kit is to be used for random tests in pubs, bars and clubs across Wycombe in a partnership between police and landlords to improve people’s safety on nights out. The £30,000 machine tests for cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy. Called an Ion Track Itemiser, the portable testing kit analyses swabs that have been rubbed over a person’s palms. It was first tried out at Pure nightclub in High Wycombe recently, where 12 clubbers - out of 135 tested - proved positive for cocaine use and were refused entry to the club. Those who tested positive were also searched for drugs, but none were found.”

The comments at the end of the article do reporesent a range of feelings.

Apparently these machines are also installed in many airports to test for explosives.

The International Herald Tribune has an article on the fear of creating problems by using morphine where medically indicated: “Like millions of others in the world’s poorest countries, she is fated to die in pain. She cannot get the drug she needs, one that is cheap, effective, perfectly legal for medical uses under treaties signed by virtually every country, made in large quantities, and has been around since Hippocrates praised its source - the opium poppy. She cannot get morphine.”

The New York Times reports:

“Afghanistan produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 percent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province, according to a new United Nations survey to be released Monday. The report is likely to touch off renewed debate about the United States’ $600 million counternarcotics program in Afghanistan, which has been hampered by security challenges and endemic corruption within the Afghan government.”

The article does note that in non-Taliban controlled areas in the north, opium production did decrease.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the cultural distinction that is made in Bolivia between the Coca plant and its use in plant form (chewing it, etc.) and its use to produce cocaine. The farmers would like to grow more Coca, but apparently have little interest in cocaine.

“Bolivian President Evo Morales, who took office in January 2006, rose to prominence as a leader of the country’s coca producers. He has proclaimed a goal of “zero cocaine” while simultaneously exalting coca production as a linchpin of Bolivia’s social and economic identity. He favors the “industrialization” of coca for products as varied as tea, medicines and toothpaste, and is pushing to abolish international bans on export of coca products. From Morales’ viewpoint, coca is a resource to be exploited, like natural gas or minerals. He and his supporters draw a clear dividing line: The good guys are the poor cocaleros, or coca growers; the bad guys are those who use the substance to produce and transport cocaine.”

The Christian Science Monitor has an article on the new mexican President’s efforts to control drug cartels and public corruption in order to make Mexico a more appealing place to live.

“The Senate takes up “comprehensive” immigration reform again this week. But the meat’s still missing in this burrito. As Mexico’s ambassador to Washington warns, even the “rosiest, peachiest” reform in the US won’t end the flow of poor migrants. Reform must also take place in Mexico. ”

“And begun it has. ”

“For the past seven months, Mexico has been at war with itself, literally. A new president, Felipe Calderón, has dispatched 24,000 troops into battle with the most corrosive influence in Mexico’s economy: powerful drug cartels. ”

“These violent syndicates, which mainly transport drugs into the US, have exploded in the past decade. They’ve escalated crime and political corruption, hindering creation of well-paying jobs for would-be migrants. At election time, they provide cash for many campaigns.” . . .

According to the State of New Mexico, US Airways has failed to initiate a safe drinking program on its flights to New Mexico as required by state law. US Ariways has also been cited in two cases; in once of which a passenger had to much to drink on a US Airways flight last November, got in a car and killed himself and five other people. The article can be found in The Arizona Republic.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that “in 1999, Washington launched “Plan Colombia,” with the promise that the anti-drug program would halve Colombian cocaine production. ”

“The law of unintended consequences rules in this drug war. Plan Colombia has not delivered. ”

“U.S. crop dusters have sprayed an area the size of Delaware and Rhode Island. U.S. taxpayers have forked over some $4.7 billion. Yet cocaine is abundant and cheap on the streets of America. As Ken Dermota wrote in the July/August issue of the Atlantic, the price of a gram of cocaine in Los Angeles fell from $50 to $100 per gram in 1999 to $30-$50 in 2005. Prices are down in New York, Seattle and Atlanta. White House Drug Czar John Walters recently admitted that street cocaine prices fell by 11 percent from February 2005 to October 2006. ”

“Demand isn’t the issue. Demand remains steady. Supply is the issue: Growers produce far more cocaine than the world consumes.” . . .

The BBC reports that “residents of Hinton, New South Wales, were stranded following the severe storms that hit the region on Sunday. There was concern that their pub would run dry before a rugby league match which was due to be played between New South Wales and Queensland. But the State Emergency Services boated in a huge beer delivery just in time.” . . .

In an article entitled “Drugs, alcohol found in course of 7,741 autopsies” the Ocala Star-Banner reports on what people were using as they passed on. Heroin turns out to be declining in this “use survey”, but still has the highest cause of death percentage — 81 percent of people found to have heroin in their systems at death died as a result of that heroin use.