Drugs cheat Nadzeya Ostapchuk has taken a swipe at Valerie Adams as she continues to deny she took steroids at the Olympics. The Belarusian, who failed two separate tests at the London games, was stripped of her shotput gold medal earlier this week. That gave defending champion Adams her second consecutive Olympic gold and secured her place as a legend of New Zealand sport. But Ostapchuk has gone on the attack and has amazingly stated that Adams was left off the start list in London due to a failed drugs test and not because of an administrative error. "She was not even in starting line-up before the games, because she had a positive drug test in 2005," Ostapchuk told Belarusian media. Nick Cowan, Adams' manager, strongly denied the accusations on TV3 tonight. "She is obviously angry. She obviously has her own issues that she needs to deal with. She has been caught. "She has a right to go through the process that she wants to go through, but she doesn't have a right to make slanderous comments," he said. The latest claims come just hours after Ostapchuk said she was framed by a former coach. NZ Newswire earlier reported that: … Continue reading →

Interview by Chris Smith, words by Amy Gladwell Newsbeat reporters Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Russell Brand: ''I took drugs every single day'' Russell Brand says he thinks drug laws should be changed and that illegal drugs should be made "freely available" through chemists. The comedian, presenter and actor says he thinks it would work better than the current system as it would be "controlled" and drug addicts could be registered. The 37-year-old claims drug-related theft would fall and it would keep more people out of prison and get them into recovery. The star has been speaking to Newsbeat ahead of a BBC television documentary airing later this week in which he shares his own battle to stay clean. He says he wants to challenge how our society deals with addiction. "I think it's an issue like no other that's being treated in a weird way," he said. "The people controlling it don't understand it at all." Read the original: Brand wants drugs to be legalised … Continue reading →

With two new prescription weight-loss drugs approved for the U.S. market and a third under consideration, an industry-sponsored panel of experts has adopted a welter of recommendations on how the new crop of medications should be used, how their risks and benefits should be assessed by physicians and regulators, and what patients should expect of them. On the last of those questions--what patients should expect of the new drugs--the expert panel urged the Food and Drug Administration to "help patients manage their expectations regarding obesity drug use." The panel noted that for those taking any of the drugs newly approved or still under consideration, weight reduction would likely plateau at 5% to 10% of body weight loss. Patients should understand that "such weight loss is not likely to produce dramatic results in physical appearance" but could result in"significant improvements in health," the panel declared. The report released Tuesday, titled "Obesity Drug Outcome Measures," reflects the consensus of a "dialogue group" convened by public health experts at George Washington University in Washington. The group and its consensus report were funded with grants from five pharmaceutical companies (among them the makers of the newly approved Qsymia and Belviq and the candidate drug … Continue reading →

Drugs cheat Nadzeya Ostapchuk has taken a swipe at Valerie Adams as she continues to deny she took steroids at the Olympics. The Belarusian, who failed two separate tests at the London games, was stripped of her shotput gold medal earlier this week. That gave defending champion Adams her second consecutive Olympic gold and secured her place as a legend of New Zealand sport. But Ostapchuk has gone on the attack and has amazingly stated that Adams was left off the start list in London due to a failed drugs test and not because of an administrative error. "She was not even in starting line-up before the games, because she had a positive drug test in 2005," Ostapchuk told Belarusian media. "When there are rumours then most likely it means Valerie had some problems. Therefore what Adams says now about me is a joke. We will see how all of this will end, including for her." Nick Cowan, Adams' manager, strongly denied the accusations on TV3 tonight. "She is obviously angry. She obviously has her own issues that she needs to deal with. She has been caught. "She has a right to go through the process that she wants to … Continue reading →