Tag: drugs

Honduran president’s brother accused of drug trafficking

Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Juan Antonio Hernández is accused of offering security for drug shipments to the united states

A US courtroom has charged the brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández with drug smuggling and weapons offences, which he denies.

Prosecutors accuse Juan Antonio Hernández of conspiring with others to smuggle massive quantities of cocaine to the us over a 12-12 months period.

He is suspected of providing closely-armed safety for the drug shipments.

The network is claimed to have operated in Colombia, Honduras and Mexico the use of planes, speedboats and a submarine.

Mr Hernández, who is a 40-12 months-antique former congressman, used to be arrested on 23 November in Miami, Florida. He faces four separate charges and up to lifestyles in prison on 3 of the fees.

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US Legal Professional Geoffrey S Berman mentioned “Mr Hernández allegedly arranged machine gun-toting safety for cocaine shipments, bribed law enforcement officials for delicate knowledge to offer protection to drug shipments, and solicited huge bribes from major drug traffickers”.

Speaking after his brother’s arrest on Friday, President Juan Orlando Hernández said that whilst his detention was once “a heavy blow for the circle of relatives” he stressed that “nobody is above the legislation, that is been my stance and also you realize it, my stance as president and as a relative”.

“I AM HOPING that the justice system will give him the risk to protect himself. As a family, we will be there to strengthen him in the correct way. I’M HOPING the justice system will probably be capable of shed light on whether those allegations are actual or no longer,” the president said.

President Hernández, 50, first took workplace in January 2014 and used to be narrowly re-elected a year in the past in a disputed election through which his rival, Salvador Nasralla, accused him of vote rigging.

The president said that he had recommended his brother to give himself to the authorities in the u.s. as early as 2016, while the previous chief of Honduran drug gang Los Cachiros accused Juan Antonio Hernández of soliciting bribes.

He additionally mentioned that his government remained committed to the struggle in opposition to drug trafficking and corruption.

Honduras is a tremendous transit course for cocaine smuggled from Colombia and other South American international locations to the us.

November 27, 2018
Football ‘worth £1.25bn’ to Scottish society

Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Symbol caption The observe shows football participation has a measurable have an effect on at the nation’s health

Enjoying soccer prevents over 8,000 cases of heart problems a yr, in keeping with a Uefa-commissioned look at.

The file for Eu football’s governing frame also calculated that the game offers a go back of more than £1.25bn to Scottish society.

The research is the primary of its sort taking a look at the social and economic affect of soccer.

It indicates our national recreation contributes more than £200m in an instant into the Scottish economic system.

The Scottish FA stated it proved the sport’s price to society and said it additionally hoped it could result in greater executive and private investment.

Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Symbol caption The Scottish FA believes the record justifies investing in the nationwide stadium at Hampden

Approximately 780,000 people in Scotland play football and round 89% of those participants are male.

The have a look at suggests that one in all the best impacts of the sport will also be seen in the area of psychological well being.

A figure of £40m a yr is usually recommended for the monetary affect – with the report suggesting FIVE,000 instances of mental well being issues are averted each and every yr.

Community projects

Andrew Watson, from Aberdeen, is involved within the Grampian Strikers mission, a bunch set up throughout the Aberdeen FC group agree with to assemble people who have struggled with their mental health.

He was sectioned two times and suffered from paranoid emotions however he believes football has been a key side of his restoration.

“For so much of us, it’s the spotlight of our week,” he mentioned.

“You cross there figuring out so much of the other gamers have had similar issues to your self so they can probably relate on a deeper level.”

The Scottish FA hopes the findings will result in more investment, not just for grass roots football and well being tasks, however for other areas similar to the proposed upgrade of the national stadium.

“i think it is just phase if the wider good thing about soccer,” Mr Maxwell mentioned.

“That May take a number of forms – obviously we are going to own the stadium soon and clearly there will be possibilities to see how we will absolute best use that and the way that can also be tied in to a few of the issues in this report. we hope that can also be the case.”

November 23, 2018
Drones hunt cocaine farms in Colombia

Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Coca cultivation in Colombia has surged in recent years, and the u.s. government has instructed the country to get rid of production of the plant.

The Colombian govt has began to use drones to damage the crops that produce cocaine.

Small airplane loaded with herbicide are being despatched to look for unlawful fields of coca.

President Iván Duque has favoured the use of the unmanned airplane to verify that damage to neighbouring crops is stored to a minimum.

Critics have warned that the approach is also a technological fix to an issue that wishes a political answer.

The Wall Street Magazine stated that Colombian government had partnered with drone corporate Fumi Drones SAS to provide unmanned aircraft to boot as to train police.

German Huertas, the drone company’s director of operations, stated the drones had eliminated approximately NINETY% of the coca on each and every acre (0.4 hectare) centered all through checks in the country’s Narino province.

The trial has involved the deployment of 10 drones, each and every weighing 23kg (51lb) and carrying the plant-killing chemical glyphosate.

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The measures shape part of President Duque’s push to eliminate cocaine production in Colombia.

In June, the us Place Of Business of National Drug Control Coverage (ONDCP) released figures indicating coca growth in the rustic had reached an all-time prime, with an 11% increase from 465,000 acres in 2016, to 516,000 acres in 2017.

At the time, ONDCP deputy director Jim Carroll stated: “President Trump’s message to Colombia is apparent: the file enlargement in cocaine manufacturing have to be reversed.”

Mr Duque’s predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos, suspended aerial fumigation the usage of glyphosate in 2015, following warnings via the world Well Being Group (WHO) that the chemical may well be associated with cancer.

A file from the United International Locations (UN) and the WHO in 2016 went against this discovering, concluding that glyphosate was once “not likely to pose a carcinogenic possibility to people from exposure in the course of the diet”.

Following the ONDCP’s report, the outgoing Mr Santos licensed the use of drones to find and wreck coca vegetation. He said that as a result of the height of the operations the unmanned airplane could “simulate ground, no longer aerial, fumigation”.

“Political ramifications”

The unmanned nature of the drones means confrontations with farmers are not likely to pose a threat to operating crews, at the same time as their measurement means they are able to manoeuvre just about the ground to spot unlawful plants.

Experts have urged warning, then again, about relying on generation to mend an issue with deep social roots. Writing for the Brookings Establishment think tank, foreign coverage skilled Vanda Felbab-Brown says concentrated on with drones “doesn’t steer clear of the vast political ramifications of compelled eradication”.

She calls on the Colombian government to speculate in alternative livelihoods for the ones enthusiastic about coca cultivation.

“it is a short-term solution,” says Richard Lapper, associate fellow in the u.s. and Americas programme on the Chatham Area assume tank. “In The Long Run, there’s a lot of world call for for cocaine.”

In up to date years there has been a surge in initiatives to use drones to combat criminal activity. Unmanned aircraft have up to now been used to track flora and fauna and establish poachers across reserves in South Africa, at the same time as a Moroccan get started-up is currently trialling the use of self sustaining drones to test for illegal fishing in the Seychelles.

Drones have also been used at the different side of the drug industry. Unmanned plane were filmed delivering illicit components to prisoners in UK jails, and in 2017 US border patrol retailers intercepted a methamphetamine shipment that were dropped the use of a drone.

August 21, 2018
Demi Lovato: Suspected overdose follows lengthy struggle to stay sober

Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption Demi Lovato cancelled two presentations in her UNITED KINGDOM excursion in June

“The last time I did an interview this long, i used to be on cocaine.”

It Is clear from the primary minute of Demi Lovato’s respectable documentary, launched closing October, that the singer has no problem being open about her addictions.

The previous interview she refers to was once for another documentary – 2012’s Stay Strong – wherein she talked about her “day-to-day combat” with eating problems, self-harm and mental health issues, as well as addiction.

Lovato had “Stay” tattooed on one wrist and “Sturdy” on the different. She perceived to be holding the demons at bay.

Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Image caption Lovato (proper) together with her former Disney co-celebrity Selena Gomez in 2008

She first attempted cocaine on the age of 17 whilst she was once running on the Disney Channel. “I felt out of keep an eye on with the coke the primary time,” she mentioned.

“My dad was once an addict and an alcoholic and that i wager I all the time searched for what he found in medication and alcohol as it fulfilled him and he selected that over a circle of relatives.”

the first public admission that the rest used to be wrong got here in 2010 while she dropped out of the Camp Rock 2 tour with the Jonas Brothers and went into rehab for what have been defined on the time as “emotional and physical problems she has dealt with for some time”.

The verge of collapse had come while she and her backing dancers trashed their resort one night time after ingesting and smoking weed.

Lovato was once also taking Adderall, an addictive prescription stimulant – and he or she punched a backing dancer who told her folks and supervisor she used to be the use of the drug.

“I lived speedy and i was going to die young,” she mentioned in 2016. “i did not assume i might make it to 21.”

Image caption on the BBC Radio 1 Teenager Awards in 2015

After checking into treatment, she used to be recognized with bipolar dysfunction.

Whilst she got here out, she persisted the usage of medicine like cocaine and Xanax. “I wasn’t running my application,” she mentioned. “I wasn’t able to get sober.

“i was sneaking it on planes, sneaking it in bogs, sneaking it throughout the evening – no person knew… i was both yearning drugs or on medication… i was difficult to work with.”

in the documentary, she discovered she might even fake drug exams by means of handing over different people’s urine, and on one instance was once taken to health center after a suicide attempt.

It was once only when she hit such lows that she made a concerted effort to get blank.

Image copyright Fox/Getty Photographs Symbol caption She was once an X Factor pass judgement on along LOS ANGELES Reid, Britney Spears and Simon Cowell

While she was a judge on the US X THINK ABOUT 2012 and ’13, audience had no concept she used to be dwelling in a “sober rental” – a spot to reside and get help with recovery. She had room-mates, no phone and needed to do chores.

That sobriety lasted for six years, she mentioned. In her documentary, she revealed that despite the fact that she stayed off drugs and alcohol, she hasn’t ever managed to “fully overcome” her bulimia.

She said: “Meals continues to be the biggest challenge in my life and it controls… i do not wish to give it the power to say it controls my each and every thought, however it is one thing that i am repeatedly serious about.

“Body image, what i am going to devour subsequent, what I want i may be consuming, what I desire i did not eat. It’s simply consistent. i am getting envious in opposition to people that don’t battle with an consuming dysfunction just because i feel like my existence can be such a lot more uncomplicated.”

Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption She carried out with Christina Aguilera (left) at the Billboard Tune Awards in Would Possibly

Lovers believed her existence was stepping into the suitable path – till June 2018, when she posted the tune Sober.

She sang: “Momma, I’m so sorry, i am not sober any further/And daddy, please forgive me for the beverages spilled at the flooring/To the ones who never left me/Now We Have been down this road before/I Am so sorry, i am not sober any longer.”

weeks in advance, she had cancelled two presentations of her UK excursion.

The 2017 documentary had ended on a predictably upbeat observe, with her transformation at that point defined as “a miracle”.

The documentary used to be titled Merely Difficult, and fans who’ve stuck through her understand through now her story is rarely simple.

But they’re going to wish she will come back to some degree where she will be able to are living with her demons, even if taming them has proved a painful combat.

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July 25, 2018
Tens of hundreds of thousands of pharmaceuticals on the black marketplace

Prison gangs have smuggled tens of hundreds of thousands of prescription-simplest medicine out of the UK’s protected supply chain, a BBC Document on FOUR programme has discovered.

They tricked or bribed pharmacists and drug wholesalers to get admission to virtually A HUNDRED AND SIXTY million drugs with a boulevard value of up to £200m over a three-12 months period.

Misuse of these anxiousness and insomnia medication is a serious public health concern, the medicines regulator says.

The Home Place Of Work says it is running with partners to help the ones addicted.

“Tricky enforcement is a basic part of the strategy and we are taking coordinated action to tackle unlawful drug use alongside different illegal activity,” an legit introduced.

Diazepam, Nitrazepam, Temazepam, Zolpidem and Zoplicone:

These medication have to be bought best by way of the ones authorized and controlled to achieve this, inside the official supply chain they may be able to be addictive if taken for a few weeks Withdrawal symptoms, together with anxiety, panic attacks, nausea and palpitations, frequently remaining as much as six weeks and often longer Other imaginable hostile effects from extended use are reminiscence loss and confusion, low temper and insomnia A Few patients really feel drowsy throughout the daylight hours and, particularly for older people, this may occasionally put them at greater risk of having a fall and injury

In some instances, the criminals used faux documents to pose as authentic sellers. But in others pharmacists had been approached instantly and presented fee to order and supply the drugs.

Prescription drug pregabalin linked to dying upward thrust NHS pharmaceuticals being bought illegally by means of sufferers

An investigation by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) led to 41 arrests together with 5 pharmacists, who’ve been suspended from practice

Twelve wholesale broker licences have additionally been handed in or terminated.

An intelligence record observed by means of the BBC describes an illicit distribution community focused in the north west of britain, operating throughout the Potteries, to the Midlands and directly to London.

It says there are additional investigations linked to organised crime teams in Scotland, Northern Eire and the Republic of Ireland.

Vast quantities

Just three of the internet sites the gangs set as much as promote the medicine had sales of £55m over a 12-15-month period.

And, the MHRA document says: “one in all the internet operations bought 15,000 packs of Zopiclone a day, indicating an everyday web benefit of £505,950.”

The MHRA says it recovered greater than two million tablets in one raid alone.

And Police Scotland found 750,000 drugs within the back of a van.

Legal profit

MHRA enforcement head Alastair Jeffrey said: “A Normal instance could be a wholesaler broker or a pharmacist ordering huge amounts of these certain types of medications on behalf of the felony who may then sell them normally on the internet.

“they have a gross sales staff, a distribution crew – that is an enormous industry and there is an important amount of legal profit to be made.

“we have responsibility for regulating the availability chain, and it’s our absolute priority to be certain that provide chain is protected.”

Mr Jeffrey said some of the folk who had bought drugs from the websites “are just common participants of the public, keeping down excellent jobs, getting on with their lives who’ve unfortunately fallen into this kind of drug use”.

“We’re speaking approximately heaps and hundreds of individuals probably that want a few assistance,” he introduced.

Last week, it used to be introduced Public Health England might adopt an independent inquiry into the dimensions and harms because of addiction to prescription medicines.

Document on FOUR – A Deadly Prescription is on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 23 January at 20:00 GMT. IN CASE YOU neglected it, you’ll be able to seize up on BBC iPlayer.

Have you got something you wish to have investigating? we want to hear from you. E Mail us.

June 14, 2018
Billy Caldwell cannabis oil plea rejected by Home Place Of Work

Symbol caption Billy Caldwell, 12, has critical epilepsy

The House Place Of Job has rejected a County Tyrone mother’s plea to legalise hashish oil for her epileptic son.

Charlotte Caldwell accused House Office minister Nick Hurd of having “likely signed my son’s loss of life warrant”.

Ms Caldwell brought cannabis oil from Canada for her son Billy, but it surely was confiscated at Heathrow on Monday.

In 2017, the 12-year-vintage become the first particular person within the UK to be prescribed hashish oil, however final month his GP was once instructed he may not do so.

‘Honest conversation’

Ms Caldwell, from Castlederg, said she was once “completely devastated” to have the availability confiscated after she declared it to frame officers.

Image copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Cannabis oil has not but been authorized in the UK as a medication

“We had a decent and genuine dialog. i have requested him to give Billy back his medicines, but he stated no.”

She additionally warned of the risks of Billy missing his first dose of cannabis oil in 19 months.

“the explanation they do not do it is that it will possibly result in actually dangerous aspect-effects – they wean them down slowly,” she stated.

“So what Nick Hurd has simply performed is most likely signed my son’s death warrant.”

‘Back to Canada’

A House Workplace spokeswoman mentioned it used to be “sympathetic to the uncommon situation that Billy and his circle of relatives are faced with”.

“The policing minister met Ms Caldwell and instructed her that regardless of these extraordinarily tricky instances, it’s unlawful to own Schedule 1 medicine such as the ones seized at the border this morning and not using a licence,” she added.

“The minister instructed the family to explore licensing choices with the dept of Health Northern Ireland.”

The technology

CBD and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are sorts of cannabinoids found evidently in the resin of the marijuana plant.

Unlike THC, natural CBD oil isn’t a psycho-lively element related to the “high” in marijuana.

However, the Drugs and Healthcare merchandise Regulatory Company (MHRA) is of the opinion that CBD products, used for a scientific function, are medicines.

CBD oil has no longer but been approved in the UK as a drugs however may also be prescribed by means of medical doctors in special instances.

The oil containing the THC chemical is illegal below the misuse of drugs legislation.

Read extra: The technology of top-efficiency cannabis

Ms Caldwell says Billy’s seizures have dramatically reduced at the same time as taking the cannabis oil, and she has vowed to keep combating.

“I take the view that I Might reasonably have my son illegally alive than legally dead,” she said.

“i will simply return to Canada and get extra and i can bring it again once more as a result of my son has a proper to have his anti-epileptic medicine in his us of a, in his own home.”

Billy used to be first given the remedy in the Usa, where clinical marijuana is legal.

He became the first person in the UK to obtain a prescription after his local GP, Brendan O’Hare, started writing them.

The physician was once summoned to a meeting with House Place Of Job officers just lately and advised to forestall.

June 14, 2018