Detroit -- Jeff Brink bitterly recalls taking massive amounts of painkillers for 10 years to deal with back pain stemming from a work injury. The 45-year-old St. Joseph resident said the morphine pump attached to his body and high doses of other painkillers three times daily left him feeling generally incoherent most of the time. Then, in March, he stopped taking the painkillers and started using marijuana. While still in pain, he is able to manage it without feeling as if he is not in control of his body, he said Saturday while attending the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association 2009 Expo in southwest Detroit. [continues 466 words]
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said his county will see a sharp decrease in the number of officers assigned to drug crime investigations because of cuts in federal money. "Virtually every sheriff's office in the country will feel the effect of these cuts starting in October of this year," Bouchard said in a press release. "In Oakland County, we will go from having seven people assigned to narcotic investigations to two. This is a major set-back for law enforcement and public safety as a whole." [continues 289 words]
Federal Officials Say 'Extreme Ecstasy' Is a Potent Drug Laced With Methamphetamines. Federal agents are targeting a turbo-charged form of Ecstasy that is gaining in popularity, fearing it will lead to fatal overdoses similar to ones experienced a few years ago caused by heroin mixed with fentanyl. Michigan and nine other states along Canada's border would see the first wave of any such overdoses, and officials are warning that the so-called "extreme Ecstasy," which is mixed with methamphetamines, is becoming a problem. [continues 371 words]
Wayne County officials today are bracing themselves for a weekend wave of fatal overdoses by people who unwittingly use heroin and cocaine laced with a potent prescription drug. At least 106 people died between September 2005 and March in Wayne County after using drugs laced with fentanyl, a synthetic pain killer often given to cancer patients. Officials suspect that eight overdoses Friday and four on Thursday were suffered by people who unwittingly used the deadly combination. Weekend drug use is higher than during the week, said Wayne County Medical Examiner Dr. Carl J. Schmidt. [continues 523 words]
