Category Archives: Drugs

British teenager Bella Culley to be held in Georgia until September drugs trial

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Tbilisi judge rejects lawyer’s offer of plea agreement for release of pregnant Teesside teenager, now 19, at hearing

The British teenager Bella Culley is to be held in a Georgian prison for at least five more weeks as she awaits trial on drug-smuggling charges, a court in Tbilisi has ordered.

Culley, the great-granddaughter of a former Labour MP, was arrested on arrival at the city’s airport in May. Georgian prosecutors said she was carrying a large amount of illegal drugs in luggage she brought with her from Thailand.

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Boxer Julio César Chávez Jr was a cartel henchman, Mexican prosecutors claim

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Prosecutors say Chávez treated gang rivals ‘like a punchbag’ after Ice arrested the former world champion in California

The Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr was a henchman for the Sinaloa drugs cartel and used his skills to pummel rival gang members “like a punchbag” before his recent arrest in the US, prosecutors in Mexico have alleged.

Chávez, 39, son of legendary world boxing champion Julio César Chávez Sr and himself a former middleweight titleholder, was arrested in California on Tuesday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents, who cited cartel affiliations, multiple criminal convictions and an active arrest warrant in Mexico for weapons trafficking and organized crime.

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Ibiza’s ambulance service risks collapse due to callouts to clubs, says union

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A third of emergency responses are to clubs, largely to attend to people having bad experiences with drugs

The ambulance service on the Spanish island of Ibiza says it is at risk of collapse because of frequent callouts to attend to clubbers having bad experiences with recreational drugs.

The local ambulance union says up to a third of emergency calls are to clubs, the largest of which has a capacity of as many as 10,000 partygoers, and are largely drug-related. It is calling on club owners to contract private ambulance services.

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Former Venezuelan intelligence chief pleads guilty to US drug charges

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Hugo Carvajal faces narco-terrorism and weapon charges amid accusations he helped lead a drug-trafficking group

A former top Venezuelan military intelligence chief has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to narco-terrorism conspiracy, drug-trafficking and weapons charges, piling further US pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro.

Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, AKA “El Pollo” or “The Chicken”, was the director of Venezuela’s military intelligence under presidents Hugo Chávez and Maduro. On Wednesday, days before his trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty to four federal counts, related to accusations that he helped lead a drug-trafficking group within the Venezuelan government.

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Superdrug to add 25 stores as demand for weight loss drugs soars

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Demand for beauty products by gen Alpha customer base also behind retailer’s expansion after tough times

An increase in demand for weight loss drugs, including Mounjaro and Wegovy, as well as demand among its generation Alpha customer base for beauty products is driving expansion at Superdrug.

The retailer plans to add 25 more stores to its 800-plus strong chain this year as well as extending existing outlets, despite troubles across the high street that have led to the closure of hundreds of stores at its rival Boots and downsizing at chains from Poundland to River Island.

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Doctor charged with supplying Matthew Perry ketamine agrees to plead guilty

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Salvador Plasencia, who gave Friends star the drug in month leading to overdose, to plead guilty to four counts

A doctor charged with giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the Friends star’s overdose death has agreed to plead guilty, authorities said Monday.

Dr Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, federal prosecutors said in a statement. They said the plea carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and Plasencia is expected to enter the plea in the coming weeks.

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Oregon zoo owner arrested after raid finds drugs, guns and $1.6m

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Police also find widespread animal mistreatment, relocating 310 of the 450 animals and euthanizing three

Oregon police have arrested a zoo owner on drug charges following a police raid at the facility earlier this month that found drugs and widespread animal mistreatment.

The Coos county sheriff’s office said that Brian Tenney, the owner of West Coast Game Park Safari, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of methamphetamine possession, manufacturing and attempted distribution. He was later released as the district attorney’s office awaited more information, a staff member at the Coos county jail said when reached by the Associated Press.

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FBI to reinvestigate 2023 White House cocaine find and leak of supreme court Dobbs draft

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Agency also announced new inquiry into pipe bombs found outside Democratic and Republican offices in 2021

The FBI will launch new investigations into the 2023 discovery of a bag of cocaine at the White House during Joe Biden’s term, as well as into pipe bombs discovered at Democratic and Republican party headquarters before the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot by supporters of Donald Trump, and the leak of the supreme court’s draft opinion before the historic overturning of national abortion rights with the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v Wade in 2022.

Dan Bongino, a rightwing podcaster turned deputy director of the FBI, made the announcement on X, where he said he had requested weekly briefings on any progress in looking into the old cases. The incidents have been popular talking points on America’s political right wing and among conspiracy theorists.

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Australian accused of smuggling cocaine into Bali faces ‘death penalty or life in jail’

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The 43-year-old from Sydney appears in prison jumpsuit after allegedly being in possession of 1.7kg of drugs

Authorities are providing consular assistance in Bali to an Australian man accused of trying to smuggle drugs into the Indonesian tourist island.

The 43-year-old from Sydney was arrested on Thursday after police raided his rented house near Kuta Beach.

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UK ‘the sick person of the wealthy world’ amid increase in deaths from drugs and violence

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While mortality from cancer has decreased, deaths from accidents and poisonings have risen, research finds

The UK is becoming “the sick person of the wealthy world” because of the growing number of people dying from drugs, suicide and violence, research has found.

Death rates among under-50s in the UK have got worse in recent years compared with many other rich countries, an international study shows.

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Mexican woman charged in US with supplying arms to ‘terrorist’ drug cartel

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María Del Rosario Navarro, 39, accused of conspiring to provide material support to Jalisco New Generation cartel

A 39-year-old woman has become the first Mexican national to be indicted in the United States on charges of providing material support to a cartel designated as a foreign terrorist organization, according to the US Department of Justice.

María Del Rosario Navarro is accused of conspiring with others to provide grenades to the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), a powerful Mexican crime faction that the US in February designated as a terrorist organization alongside other criminal groups across Latin America.

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Weight-loss jabs may be good for mental health, research shows

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Swiss study finds wellbeing and life quality can be improved more than with insulin and other antidiabetic drugs

Weight loss jabs may be good for people’s mental health as well as helping curb their appetite, according to research.

A study by scientists from the University of Bern in Switzerland has found that appetite-suppressing injections also improve mood, wellbeing and quality of life more than insulin and other antidiabetic drugs.

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New bill aims to allow research to catch up with US’s increasing cannabis consumption

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Legislation would radically ease research restrictions on cannabis and other schedule I substances

A recently introduced bill, if it passes, would allow research on cannabis despite its schedule I status, which some experts say could help policymakers “craft effective” legislation in the future and potentially allow more clinical research on medical cannabis.

Representatives Dina Titus and Ilhan Omar introduced the Evidence-Based Drug Policy Act of 2025 (EBDPA) last week, which would radically ease research restrictions on cannabis and other schedule I substances.

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Synthetic opioids linked to spate of overdose deaths found in wastewater across Australia

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Detection of powerful nitazenes in samples from 60 sites a ‘red flag’ amid surging use to lace street drugs

Synthetic opioids a thousand times stronger than morphine and an animal sedative used to lace street drugs have been detected in Australia’s wastewater.

The discovery has been described as a “red flag” and comes as the deadly class of synthetic opioids – nitazines – claims dozens of lives in Australia.

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Nasal spray similar to ketamine to be added to PBS for treatment-resistant depression

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Spravato, derived from a popular club drug and also known as esketamine, offers hope to tens of thousands of Australians living with chronic mental illness

A medication chemically similar to ketamine will be made cheaper to improve the lives of Australians suffering from treatment-resistant depression.

The drug, which comes in the form of a nasal spray, is a chemical cousin of ketamine, used for decades as a powerful anaesthetic before it was adopted as a party drug in underground rave culture.

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Top cancer experts ‘being put off UK by politicians’ messaging on immigration’

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Exclusive: Leaked report says high visa costs also derailing clinical trials and research, denying NHS life-saving drugs

The world’s best cancer doctors, scientists and researchers are being put off moving to or staying in the UK by politicians’ rhetoric on immigration, a leaked report reveals.

Recruiting and retaining “global talent” to treat NHS patients and find new ways to cure cancer is vital, amid an acute British workforce crisis and rising numbers being diagnosed with the disease.

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NHS cancer patients denied life-saving drugs due to Brexit costs, report finds

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Exclusive: Britons found to have ‘lost out’ while rest of Europe benefits from golden age of research and treatments

British cancer patients are being denied life-saving drugs and trials of revolutionary treatments are being derailed by the red tape and extra costs brought on by Brexit, a damning report warns.

Soaring numbers are being diagnosed with the disease amid a growing and ageing population, improved diagnosis initiatives and wider public awareness – making global collaborations to find new medicines essential.

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New daily weight-loss pill shows success at clinical trial

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Orforglipron also reduced blood sugar levels in participants with type 2 diabetes

A significant trial of a daily weight-loss pill has found that it helped people to shed the pounds and reduce their blood sugar levels, making it a contender to join the new wave of drugs that combat obesity and diabetes.

People who took a 36mg pill of orforglipron lost an average of 7.3kg (16lbs) over nine months, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial reported by the drug’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, on Thursday.

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Revealed: drug tests in California prisons yielded false positives, affecting thousands of people

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Records suggest Quest Diagnostics erroneously detected opiates. Lawyers say parole requests were jeopardized in the process

Thousands of drug tests used by a major US diagnostic company in California prisons last year are suspected to have generated false positive results, an enormous error that has jeopardized the parole requests of some incarcerated people, according to civil rights lawyers and prison medical records.

California prison officials have known about the issue for months, but have failed to clear people’s records or reverse the consequences people have faced from the tests.

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California university to expand student minds with new psychedelic studies course

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California Institute of Integral Studies, located in San Francisco, will welcome its first undergrad class this August

The home of the Summer of Love will soon house the first undergraduate program in psychedelic studies.

The California Institute of Integral Studies – a non-profit university founded in 1968 and located in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood – will welcome its first class of undergrads to its Bachelor of Science in Psychedelic Studies program this August. The program’s launch symbolizes the renewed attention hallucinogens like MDMA and psilocybin have received in recent years as a growing body of evidence suggests they may be powerful treatments for psychiatric conditions, like PTSD and treatment-resistant depression.

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