Monthly Archives: February 2012

A drugs gang "Mr Big" who smuggled £25 million of cannabis into the UK from Holland in lorry loads of flowers has been ordered to pay £2.6 million. David Barnes, 42, who is serving a 12-year jail term for plotting to supply cannabis, has six months to pay up or face an extra eight years' imprisonment. The smuggler, who led a lavish lifestyle funded by importing thousands of kilos of cannabis from Europe, had claimed that he had made just £50,000 net profit from the operation he headed. Bristol Crown Court heard that between January and April 2009, Barnes and his gang imported 9,647kg (21,268lb) of cannabis with a wholesale value of £26.5 million - and a street value of £100 million. The prosecution maintained that Barnes had made a minimum net personal profit of £275 per kilo - a total of £2.6 million - which was salted away overseas to Pakistan, Quebec and Dubai. However, Barnes claimed during the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing that his cut from the operation was just £10 per kilo. Barnes, from Hungerford, Berkshire, said that he received £90,000 but about half went in expenses and he was left with just £50,000. Rejecting Barnes's … Continue reading →

Enlarge M. Spencer Green/AP The FDA hasn't approved a new weight-loss drug since 1999. In the meantime, Americans' waistlines have continued to grow. M. Spencer Green/AP The FDA hasn't approved a new weight-loss drug since 1999. In the meantime, Americans' waistlines have continued to grow. Tammy Wade knew she had to try something else to lose weight when she stepped on the scale and saw the number: 203 pounds. Wade, 50, of McCalla, Ala., is only 5 feet 3 inches tall. She had tried everything. Nothing worked. "I had problems with my feet and ankles, and they were saying I was borderline diabetic," Wade says. "I'm like, well, I gotta do something, you know. So, I needed, really did need to lose the weight." So Wade volunteered to help test Qnexa, an experimental drug pending before the Food and Drug Administration. She quickly noticed a big difference. "I didn't feel ravenous, and I didn't want to snack all day long," she says.   Over the next year, Qnexa helped Wade slowly drop about 40 pounds, and keep it off for another year. "It makes you feel so much better," Wade says. "Your back don't hurt, your feet don't hurt." But … Continue reading →

It has been an interesting week to contemplate drugs, music and the interaction between the two. I was reading Mike Doughty’s new autobiography of art and self-abuse, “The Book of Drugs” (Da Capo), when news of Whitney Houston’s death broke. The next evening, while watching the Grammys, I wondered just how many of the folks offering remembrances of Houston on the stage, via tweet, text or Facebook post, were battling demons, dabbling with them or actively courting them. Could the pop stars protesting to be shocked and dismayed by Houston’s death, be wasted out of their gourds themselves? The odds are better than 50-50. Inevitably, this confluence of events — digesting Doughty’s harrowing and hilarious memoir (which he’ll read from at 5 p.m. next Friday in Talking Leaves Books, 3158 Main St.); hearing of Houston’s death; watching the Grammys and tributes — got me thinking. I wondered why so many artists have drug and alcohol problems — and whether drugs had initially helped them get closer to their art, before turning on them. The list of musicians who died before their time due to pills, pints, powders and potions is incredibly depressing to contemplate. Begin, though you don’t have to … Continue reading →