The Morningwood News

The Houston Chronicle
By Sarah Viren

Internet videos document parties; researchers seek medical uses

A drug discovered by Mexican shamans has hooked both scientists and the YouTube set.

These groups, among others, are cautiously tracking moves to ban Salvia divinorum, an herb-based hallucinogen used spiritually by Mazatec Indians from the Oaxaca area, and increasingly popular among teens and college-age students, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Scientists hope the drug, sometimes referred to as “diviners sage” and “magic mint,” might lead to new treatments for some of the world’s worst diseases.

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Wired Magazine

It’s like sports gel for alcoholics: a generous pour of gin, rum, vodka, whiskey, or tequila in a rip-top, palm-sized plastic pouch that’s simple to tote and conceal.

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The Enquirer (Cincinnati)

WALNUT HILLS - A Walnut Hills man was charged with child endangering after a witness noticed him giving beer to a baby, Cincinnati police reported.

Anthony Chambers, 43, of Walnut Hills, was arrested Friday after a woman told police she saw him give beer.

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The Indianapolis Star
By Amy Bartner

An Indianapolis woman was arrested twice in as many days on drunken driving charges this week — the second time with her 6-year-old daughter in the car, police said.

Barbara A. Dimond, 42, was arrested the second time by a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy after failing a preliminary drunken-driving field test just after 8 p.m. Thursday, according to a police report. She had a 0.18 blood-alcohol level, the report said.

A 0.08 or higher is considered intoxicated in Indiana.

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The LA Daily News
BY LARRY ALTMAN

The supervisor of the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement’s gang enforcement team in Los Angeles was charged Tuesday with selling 50 erectile dysfunction pills to undercover police officers in Long Beach.

Special Agent Henry Kim, who works in the agency’s Commerce office, was placed on paid administrative leave while he faces criminal charges that could send him to jail, and an internal investigation that could put an end to his 18-year law enforcement career.

Until his arrest Saturday, Kim - a former Los Angeles police officer - was held in high regard in his department, and had received two awards from the state attorney general for his investigations.

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Rocky Mountain News
By Bill Scanlon

BOULDER - A Boulder County judge set bail at $25,000 Wednesday for a woman charged with running a sophisticated Ecstasy lab out of her south Boulder home, after the woman’s lawyer argued that the scientific glassware seized could have been from her catering business.

The Boulder County Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday entered the home of Debra Cerio and seized enough materials and ingredients to make 50,000 to 80,000 doses of the “club drug” popular with college students.

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NPR
By Joe Palca

In 2003, France got a glimpse of what the future may hold. A summer heat wave broke all temperature records, straining the country’s medical and energy resources. But a future of warmer summers could bring unexpected pleasures — including wine.

The town of St. Emilion lies in heart of a France’s famous Bordeaux wine region. Beside just about every road there are row upon row of exquisitely manicured grapevines. Francois Despagne, the winemaker at Chateau Grand Corbin Despagne, explains that it is impossible to produce good wine without good grapes. And he should know. Despagne’s family has been living in this part of the Bordeaux wine region since the 16th century. Today, he has 200,000 plants on 53 different plots.

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Kval.com
By Andy Peterson

MOUNT ANGEL — Gayle Goschie’s family has been growing hops here in the Willamette Valley for more than a century.

In fact, if you’ve had a beer recently, there’s a pretty good chance you owe Gayle a “thank you.”

“The great part about growing hops is that you’ve have a much closer connection to the end user,” Goschie explains. “You don’t always have that if you’re growing grass seed, which we also grow, or green beans. You don’t know where those green beans end up.”

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By Bruce Cadwallader
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

AWAITING SECOND TRIAL IN FATAL CRASH

A woman accused of causing a fatal crash while drunk pleaded guilty two months ago to drunken driving in a different case and is joking about her drinking habits on MySpace.com, prosecutors told a judge yesterday.

Erin Macklin, 26, might be a threat to public safety and her bond should be revoked, Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Keith McGrath said during a hearing in Common Pleas Court.

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International Herald Tribune
Associated Press

WASHINGTON: Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the near-sole global supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials said.

As President George W. Bush prepared for weekend talks with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, divisions within the U.S. administration and among NATO allies delayed the release of a $475 million counternarcotics program for Afghanistan, where intelligence officials see growing links between drugs and the Taliban, the officials said.

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East Vally Tribune
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

One in six Arizonans age 18 to 24 has tried methamphetamine according to a new statewide survey. But it might have more to do with curiosity than lifestyle or habit: The telephone poll found that only 4 percent in that age group admitted to using meth in the last year.

Attorney General Terry Goddard said that’s still twice the national average. He said that’s why he and officials from several counties have banded together to run commercials and buy billboard space to try to scare Arizona teens from trying meth even once.

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The Boston Globe
AP

LONDONDERRY, N.H. –An underage drinking party turned into a rescue early Wednesday, as some teens who scattered got lost in a swamp.

Londonderry Police Lt. Mark Cagnetta says police investigating a noise complaint found about a dozen people partying at the town recreation field. He said the group scattered when the police showed up, and many ran into the woods. He said about five ended up lost in a swamp and called for help on a cell phone.

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Orlando Sentinel
By Robyn Shelton

NASA allowed astronauts who had been drinking to fly on two occasions, despite warnings from flight surgeons that they presented a safety risk, according to a published report Thursday.

Aviation Week & Space Technology described the allegations on its Web site after obtaining a copy of a report NASA plans to release today. The findings are contained in a review of astronaut health-care issues undertaken after former astronaut Lisa Nowak was charged with at