Police found such a small amount of crack cocaine in James V. Taylor’s car that investigators described it as unweighable. It was enough for a 15-year prison sentence in Missouri, where the courts make an enormous distinction between crack and powder cocaine. Missouri and several other states followed the federal government’s lead in creating such disparities decades ago, but now federal law has changed and prisoner advocates say it& ... Jump to full article >>

Robert Downey Jr. is an “Iron Man” indeed: The bad boy actor admits he felt the safest he’s ever been when behind bars. “When the door clicks shut, then you are safe,” says the veteran actor, who spent a good amount of time between 1996 and 2001 in prison for drug use and possession. “There is nothing aside from a rogue correctional officer that can do you harm if you have the right cellie. You are actually in ... Jump to full article >>

Teachers are powerless to stop the spread of ‘legal high’ drugs in schools – and even have to hand back confiscated stashes to children at the end of the day, it emerged last night. The astonishing revelation came as teachers, police and parents called for an immediate ban on mephedrone, the latest feel-good drug sold legally over the internet and taken by children as young as nine. But the substance, nicknamed meow meow or M ... Jump to full article >>

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Hooked on cocaine or cigarettes? The U.S. government wants drug companies to make a vaccine for that. Convinced of the need for new and better treatments for addiction, the government is focusing its efforts on vaccine development as a new way to treat and possibly prevent addiction to a range of addictive substances. “It’s a perspective that is very different from what we’ve operated on in the past,& ... Jump to full article >>

Ever wonder what movie actors are really smoking and snorting when they do a line of coke or lift a joint to their lips? Turns out that many cocaine look-alikes are ingredients you might use in a cake, like powdered sugar, powdered milk and baking soda, while herbal tobacco fills in for genuine cannabis. Though the fakes are legal and don’t provide a high, sometimes they can make the actors feel a little buzzed. On Showtime’s “Wee ... Jump to full article >>

aDrexel University College of Medicine, United States bTemple University School of Medicine, United States cRobert Wood Johnson Medical School, United States Received 16 November 2006; revised 20 January 2009; accepted 30 March 2009. Available online 5 April 2009. Abstract Children prenatally exposed to tobacco have been found to exhibit increased rates of behavior problems related to response inhibition deficits. The present study comp ... Jump to full article >>