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Posts Tagged ‘drugs’

Supreme Court allows warrantless drug search in Kentucky case

May 18, 2011 1 comment

 Examiner

The United States Supreme Court handed down a decision today that will profoundly affect the way police search for drugs.  In reviewing a case out of Lexington, Kentucky, the Court—in an eight to one decision—ruled that “exigent circumstances” are created when police reasonably believe a suspect is in the process of destroying evidence, and therefore a search warrant is not constitutionally required.

In the case of Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Hollis DeShaun King, the Lexington police conducted a “buy bust” raid on October 13, 2005, at an apartment on Center Parkway.  Officers followed a suspected drug dealer to the apartment complex, and testified that they smelled marijuana outside an apartment door, knocked loudly, and announced their presence. As soon as the officers began knocking, they heard noises coming from Read more…

Categories: GOVERNMENT, United States Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Manipulating morals: scientists target drugs that improve behaviour

April 6, 2011 2 comments

guardian

Prozac 

Existing drugs such as Prozac are already known to affect moral behaviour, but scientists predict that advances may allow more sophisticated manipulations. Photograph: Scott Camazine/Alamy

A pill to enhance moral behavior, a treatment for racist thoughts, a therapy to increase your empathy for people in other countries – these may sound like the stuff of science fiction but with medicine getting closer to altering our moral state, society should be preparing for the consequences, according to a book that reviews scientific developments in the field.

Drugs such as Prozac that alter a patient’s mental state already have an impact on moral behaviour, but scientists predict that future medical advances may allow much more sophisticated manipulations.

The field is in its infancy, but “it’s very far from being science fiction”, said Dr Guy Kahane, deputy director of the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics and a Wellcome Trust biomedical ethics award winner.

“Science has ignored the question of moral improvement so far, but it is now becoming a big debate,” he said. “There is already a Read more…

Categories: Drugs Tags: , , ,

Argentina accuses US of trying to smuggle weapons into country

February 17, 2011 Comments off

Diplomatic row over cargo US claims was intended for training program further sours already poor relationship

Relations between the US and Argentina have deteriorated after Buenos Aires lodged a formal complaint over a US military plane that landed late last week carrying guns, drugs and satellite phones.

The Argentinian government claimed the US was trying to sneak the weapons into the country, though it didn’t offer an explanation of why Washington might want to do this.

The US state department said the consignment was intended for a police training program in Argentina.

Officials from Argentina and the state department have been in talks aimed at resolving the row.

The relationship between the two countries has been poor since Barack Obama released details of a Latin American tour next month that includes Brazil, Chile and El Salvador but not Argentina.

The Argentinian foreign ministry, in a statement on Sunday night, said “sensitive material” had been seized that had not been declared on the inventory submitted by the US embassy, including weapons, GPS equipment and drugs such as morphine. Read more…

Categories: Argentina, United States Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,