http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...562-662,00.html
'ONE of Australia's most wanted fugitives has been arrested during a police swoop that smashed a worldwide cocaine smuggling syndicate.
The high-profile convicted drug dealer nabbed in the Netherlands is the former Melbourne-based supergrass who secretly taped crime boss Tony Mokbel for police.
He once dated former TV host Naomi Robson. Robson said last year that she was involved in a relationship with the supergrass without knowing he was a conman and drug dealer.
He bragged to police about his celebrity cocaine clients. Those he dobbed in as his drug customers included top models, entertainers and other members of Melbourne's A list.
Australian Federal Police agents tipped off Dutch police he was in the Netherlands and will seek to extradite him to Victoria to face serious drug charges.
He was captured at Amsterdam airport on Wednesday as he was trying to leave the country. '
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnough...oddlyEnoughNews
'Two convicts on day-release from a German prison were caught tending their illegal cannabis crop in an empty warehouse nearby, German authorities said on Monday.
German customs agents discovered the 1,200 cannabis plants in the warehouse in the western town of Moers and detained the two convicts, immediately ending the furlough and sending them back to jail.
The customs agents said the men, who were on day-release to find jobs, were planning to export their harvest to the Netherlands.'
I took some pictures a few days ago of the first of the Lophos to germinate. I Also planted about 25 Astrophytum asterias "nudum" they are in the blue container in the pictures none have germinated as it was only like 3 days ago. I had a look in the grow room just now and there are heaps more lophos up and a few Astros too. Its looking good.
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnough...oddlyEnoughNews
'Twenty heavily armed drug hitmen snatched the body of a fellow trafficker from a morgue in northern Mexico after he died in a dramatic helicopter crash, police said Thursday.
The gunmen killed two policemen as they took the corpse from the morgue in the town of Ensenada, about 65 miles (110 km) south of the U.S. border near San Diego, Calif.
"This is unprecedented ... and shows us how far these (drug) organizations can go," said a police spokesman in the border city of Tijuana.
The dead man was thought by police to be a member of the Arellano Felix drug cartel. His fellow traffickers were believed to have wanted his body to take it away for burial without having to identify themselves when claiming the corpse.'
I think I will use this function if only for my personal record. If anyone can take something from it thats a bonus.
My last entry was in feb where I grafted come T.peru "Icaro" seedlings on to peres. 3 of the grafts took and have grown quite rapidly. They were grown outdoors even over winter and have done quite well. I will post a pic of them in a few weeks.
About a week ago I put 25 mixed Lophs and 50 L.Willi's down. About 20 have germinated so far and it looks good as far as germination goes. I am going to graft about 15 to 20 and do a little expriement. Half will be grown under compact fluros and half will be grown outside, under good old aussie sun and shade cloth.
I will post pics of the seedlings soon.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/...71107160233.htm
'New measurements of brain activity in individuals addicted to cocaine confirm that addicted individuals have compromised sensitivity to monetary rewards.
"This altered sensitivity to reward may help explain why some drug-addicted individuals are unable to modify their drug-taking behavior, even in the face of well-understood negative consequences and/or positive incentives for behavioral change," said Rita Goldstein, who runs the neuropsychoimaging lab at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory where the work was done. Muhammad A. Parvaz, a Stony Brook University graduate student working with Goldstein, presented the findings at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego on November 7, 2007.
The researchers studied 18 current cocaine users and 18 age-matched control subjects. They outfitted each subject with a cap of electrodes to measure brain activity after instructing the subjects to press or not press a button in response to certain visual prompts. During the task, subjects were told they could earn various amounts of money for fast and accurate performance.'
http://uk.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUKN0756745220071107
‘Got some leftover drugs — the kind that someone else might want to use, such as painkillers or stimulants? Wrap them up in used kitty litter or other pet droppings, the government advises.
A pilot program at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is looking at ways people can safely dispose of unused prescription drugs that are liable to be abused. [..]
Of course some people do not drink coffee. But maybe they have a pet ferret.
“Ferret waste, like nearly any other form of pet waste, can be effectively used to help prevent the abuse of unused prescription drugs,” SAMHSA spokesman Mark Weber said.
This news delighted the American Ferret Association.’
http://www.9news.com/news/watercooler/arti...x?storyid=80467
‘A man is facing drug charges after he allegedly walked into the Danbury police station puffing on a marijuana-filled cigar.
Capt. Robert Myles says Scott Snow walked into the station early Saturday and blew smoke from his cigar into a small opening in the bullet-resistant glass separating desk officers from the public.
Myles says the 24-year-old man was told there’s no smoking inside the building and he allegedly stubbed out the cigar on the counter.
Officers came out and smelled the distinctive odor of marijuana and arrested Snow.’
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/06/2083502.htm
'A Queensland toddler is being treated in hospital for suspected poisoning from a toy which contains a chemical that turns into a substance similar to the illegal drug GHB when swallowed.
Most states have banned the craft toy Bindeez, which won the Australian Toy of the Year award earlier this year.
Authorities in New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, the ACT and Queensland banned the toy today after two children in NSW became gravely ill after swallowing a large number of the product's plastic beads.'
...Smells like pre-teen 1,4 butanediol
http://www.moonbuggy.org/archive/2007/11/0...-pot-at-wendys/
‘<third_planet> The other night my friend had some pot and wanted me to smoke it with him, but we had nowhere to smoke it because both our parents were home.
<third-planet> So we drove around looking for a place to park so we could smoke in the car.
<third-planet> We eventually settled on a Wendys parking lot..'
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Uni...3618921729.html
'he Victorian government has paved the way for the state's police to be routinely tested for alcohol and illicit drugs.
Police Minister Bob Cameron announced he would introduce legislation into parliament for a drug and alcohol testing regime for police.
The Police Regulation Amendment Bill 2007 provides legislative power for Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon to direct officers to undergo drug and alcohol testing, Mr Cameron said.
"It is vital that police members and the community have faith in the highest ethical and professional standards of Victoria Police," Mr Cameron said.
"The legislation gives the chief commissioner the powers to introduce a welfare based testing and treatment regime and will also give broader powers for critical incident and targeted testing," he said.
Under the legislation, testing may be carried out in situations where an officer reports for duty and the chief commissioner believes they are affected by drugs or alcohol, Mr Cameron said.'
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=...line-news_rss20
'Rats addicted to amphetamines temporarily 'forget' their drug cravings after receiving targeted brain injections of lidocaine, a medication commonly used by dentists to numb patients' gums.
Researchers say that the medication worked by inactivating an area of the brain known as the insular cortex or insula, which has previously been implicated in controlling drug addiction. They hope that altering activity in the insula might one day work to treat drug addiction in people. Other experts, however, note that addiction is a complex problem that seems to involve multiple brain regions.
Previous research has shown that brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens drive drug cravings by responding to reward signals from the chemical dopamine in the brain.
But Fernando Torrealba at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago believed that the insula, a brain region located behind the ears, might somehow exert a large influence on addiction. The insula appears to monitor the body's heart rate, blood sugar, and other functions, and prompt conscious feelings of hunger and cravings in response. Recent work has shown that damage to this area can cause smokers to give up cigarettes overnight.'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/...71023183937.htm
'A new neurobiological study has found that a synthetic form of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, is an effective anti-depressant at low doses. However, at higher doses, the effect reverses itself and can actually worsen depression and other psychiatric conditions like psychosis.
It has been known for many years that depletion of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain leads to depression, so SSRI-class anti-depressants like Prozac and Celexa work by enhancing the available concentration of serotonin in the brain. However, this study offers the first evidence that cannabis can also increase serotonin, at least at lower doses.
Laboratory animals were injected with the synthetic cannabinoid WIN55,212-2 and then tested with the Forced Swim test -- a test to measure "depression" in animals; the researchers observed an antidepressant effect of cannabinoids paralleled by an increased activity in the neurons that produce serotonin. However, increasing the cannabinoid dose beyond a set point completely undid the benefits, said Dr. Gabriella Gobbi of McGill University.'
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnough...oddlyEnoughNews
'Smokers are like animals that do not think rationally, a Malaysian hardline Islamist cleric said at the weekend.
Islam discourages the faithful from smoking, just as it bars them from alcohol, said Nik Aziz Nik Mat, spiritual leader of the Parti Islam se-Malaysia, which seeks to turn the country into an Islamic state that punishes thieves by lopping off their hands.
Smokers did not use their brains because they continued to let themselves be addicted to the habit, despite knowing it was bad for their health, the Star newspaper quoted Nik Aziz as saying.'
It just has to be said, here in SE QLD we are having the best weather for us plant lovers. A little water at night (if it doesn't rain) and sunshine all day. Got rid of my "scale" infestation (thanks guys!!! ) and things are booming. *Happy Gardening*
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnough...oddlyEnoughNews
'Transportation investigators warned on Wednesday that marijuana use by ferry crews on Canada's West Coast was a clear risk to public safety, but the head of BC Ferries Corp said the government should require mandatory drug testing.
The Transportation Safety Board issued a warning note to BC Ferries saying it had learned that several crew members on the ferry Queen of the North, which sank last year after running into an island, "regularly smoked cannabis between shifts, both on board and off the vessel".
The federal agency said that while it heard about drug use during its investigation, there was no evidence the Queen of the North's bridge crew was under the influence of cannabis at the time of the sinking on March 22, 2006, which killed two passengers.'
http://www.druglib.com/
‘DrugLib.com is a comprehensive drug database organized by relevance to specific drugs. It provides a convenient, one-stop access to a wide range of information related to your drug of interest, including drug label & prescribing information (description, clinical pharmacology, side-effects, indications, warnings, etc.), published studies, current clinical trials, alerts and news.’
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=896
'The nobleman awoke on a sunny spring morning. Feeling uncomfortable, he shifted himself, only to notice an extra weight on his pillow. Groggily, he opened his eyes. The glint of a blade stared back at him, its handle leaving an indentation in the pillow’s surface. Horrified, he rushed to his guards to question them about the previous night. Confused, they assured him that nothing of note had happened. Further investigation found that the windows were securely fastened, and there were no signs of forced entry. Just as he was ready to tear the room apart, the nobleman noticed something. Tucked under his pillow was a note that simply stated, “You have been warned.”'
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnough...oddlyEnoughNews
'Dutch customs officers found 100 dead beetles stuffed with cocaine while examining a parcel from Peru, Dutch authorities said Thursday.
The little drug couriers' bodies had been slit open and filled with a total of 300 grams of cocaine, with an estimated street-value of 8,000 euros ($11,270).
"This is a very striking method of smuggling. We have never seen anything like this before," said government spokesman Kees Nanninga.
Officers decided to open the parcel after scanning it and seeing what appeared to be insects inside.'
