Let's Lock Up Casual Drug Users

British study finds benefits in giving addicts their fix

(NEWSER) - Giving heroin to heroin addicts may not sound like a great idea, but it could soon become the preferred treatment for hardcore addicts. Switzerland and a handful of other countries already have clinics that administer small, supervised doses to addicts, and Britain could be next after completing a four-year trial on the practice. The results were encouraging: Street-drug use among participants fell 75% in six months. More»

(AP) - Mexico has enacted a controversial law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging free government treatment for drug dependency. The law sets out maximum "personal use" amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution when the law goes into effect Friday. More»

Traffickers thwarted at border sell crack, heroin, meth to locals

(NEWSER) - Drug addiction is skyrocketing in Mexico, which used to be simply a transit point for illegal drugs rather than a major consumer market, reports USA Today. As increased border security foils smugglers along the American border, the drugs end up being sold to Mexicans. Crack cocaine use has risen sharply, and heroin and crystal meth are becoming a problem for the first time. More»

Former addict, now a Times journalist, reports on his dark past

(NEWSER) - The junkie's tale of redemption is nearly a cliché by now, and David Carr acknowledges as much as he writes his own. But Carr, now a reporter for the New York Times, takes pains not to sugar-coat the years he spent as a "fat thug who beat up women and sold bad coke." His salvation turned out to be his coke-addicted girlfriend and the twin girls they had—the same twins he once left alone as infants in a frigid car as he visited a dope house. More»

Insider says Ledger was hooked on cocaine, heroin for past year

(NEWSER) - Heath Ledger's cocaine and heroin use became so bad over the past year that girlfriend Michelle Williams kicked him out of their Brooklyn home and threatened to take custody of daughter Matilda, the New York Post reports. A "drug pal" described partying bouts just as two TV shows decided not to air video of the late actor snorting cocaine two years ago. More»