The report also noted that Wenjun was partying with friends and wife, for her birthday, all of whom were also arrested on similar drug charges.  Additionally, it was noted that apparently Man Wenjun was given a drug test, which produced a positive result for drugs in his system.

Man Wenjun, now 40, is considered by many to have a distinct style within China’s often lavish pop scene.  He broke out in 1996 with his big hit “I Understand You All the Time.”  Just last year he was awarded China’s esteemed “environmental ambassadorship” award for producing environmentally conscious songs.

The study, which will be published in the journal “Analytical Chemistry,” made use of micro-fiber filters that retain air particles for later analysis. Because the filters are located in high drug-use areas of Madrid and Barcelona, the scientists involved stated that the results found in their sample should be generalized to all of the air in these Spanish cities.

The findings of the study are not a cause of alarm, as they do not represent any danger to human health. It was said that the amount of cocaine found in Spanish air is so small it would take over a thousand years of living to breathe a single dose of cocaine.

The overwhelming majority of Swiss citizens have voted to make their comprehensive heroin program permanent. The program, which began in 1994, is composed of 23 centers to which heroin addicts may attend and get two daily doses of heroin. The doses are carefully administered with clean needles under the supervision of a nurse and the heroin used is produced in government laboratories.

Even though the addicts selected to receive these services have been previously unresponsive to therapy, the heroin program also provides psychiatric and counseling services.

The program has been praised for its reduction of “out in the open” heroin users in Switzerland, as well as reducing crime and improving the health and lives of addicts.

Trial programs modeled after the Swiss one are being put into effect or being considered on countries all over the world, including Spain, Australia, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Canada. Still, some United Nation countries have criticized the program saying it may encourage drug use.

Not surprisingly, Gasquet quickly pulled out of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fl, after have taken the tests.  Gasquet claims that his withdrawal was due to a right shoulder injury.  The governing bodies of world-wide tennis, the WTA and the ITF, along with the World Anti-Doping Agency are still reviewing Richard Gasquet’s case.  The French Tennis player faces up to a two-year ban from international play as a result of testing positive for cocaine.

Despite the current controversy that surrounds 22-years-old, Richard Gasquet, he has definitely proven his skills in the past when he made it as a semi-finalist in the Wimbledon by beating Andy Roddick; also, he had a former world ranking of #7 and currently hold the ranking of 23rd in the world.

The annual violence study conducted by Cardiff University (UK) found that the frequency of hospital visits for violence-related attacks in Wales and England has risen by nearly 7% since last year. This marks the first overall rise of incidents in the data since 2001.

According to Professor Jonathan Shepherd, who is Cardiff University’s research director of Violence Research and Society Group, the 7% increase was the result of alcohol abuse, citing: “The big problem is alcohol-related violence in towns and city centers,” adding, “It’s not so much that you drink and become violent but that you become vulnerable. For both women and men, the best way to reduce the risk of being injured is monitoring how much you drink.”

Experts like Wynford Ellis Owen of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs agree with Shepard in that alcohol has a major part to play in the equation. However, Owen believes that the violence is a direct result of alcohol abuse that has been worsened by the recent economic downturn. In an interview, Owen said, “I think it’s inevitable that in order to ease the pain of what they are suffering now, people will turn to alcohol and drugs.” Owens added about the uprising trend in violence, “It’s a consequence of abusive drinking and it’s a reality that society has to come to terms with.”

Nonetheless, Shepard added, “We saw an encouraging and sharp fall in violence-related serious injuries in 2007, suggesting…that initiatives such as Crime Reduction Partnerships were delivering results. What the 2008 results show, however, is that crime prevention policies and delivery agencies still have a way to go before violence in the UK gets properly under control.”

From a column in UK’s Dailymail.com, former Marie Claire fashion editor, Liz Jones, described her experiences being a Shopaholic, and for anyone who knows about addiction recovery and the 12 step programs, economic failure goes hand in hand with any addiction.  Jones opens the article by saying that the “excess” started with a $140.00 sweater, when she was making $30.00 a week and ballooned to purchases that would eventually reach $4000.00 for a single dress.

In the article, Liz Jones outlines some her futile purchases over the years, noting: “I often do that terrible thing of buying something – a pair of Prada platforms, a pair of Seven For All Mankind jeans – and then later finding I already have the exact same thing at home.”  Still, Jones bravely shares the story of someone who suffers from a severe case compulsiveness, which also usually goes hand in hand with any addiction.

Amongst other stories, Jones mentions how she went to the Oscars and had decided to wear one of her many expensive dresses, rather than buying a new one, but upon arriving to LA, she was so “unhappy” with what she had brought that she went out to buy a new wardrobe.  While at Barneys she saw a pair of shoes that she thought were just OK, but because the clerk informed her there were none in her size, she felt “so thwarted” that she “couldn’t live without them” and had the store fly a pair to her hotel room from their New York branch for the following day.

Although most of the anecdotes in the article are quite comical, there is no laughing matter about Liz Jones’ addiction.  Jones sums it up like this: “Shopping for me is like a drug: I get a high from making the sales assistant smile…”  Nonetheless, Jones goes on to speak of her regrets for wasteful spending and notes that it was the recent downturn in the economy that finally brought her to her senses after she faced the serious credit crunch.

An article recently published in the journal, “Scientific America,” cited statistical information from the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. that validated the success Portugal has had in lowering crime, and reducing HIV cases and drug addiction, since it decriminalized drugs in 2001. However, the data cannot conclude that the cause of such reductions where the direct result decriminalizing drugs.

In fact, some would argue that the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal created an environment where drug use was promoted because possession and use of hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, and marijuana were not illegal. Either way, the fact remains that Portugal found a drug policy that is effective and beneficial to society. It is no wonder that Portugal has done so, because the direct result of the decriminalization policy was progressive government action that funded and backed recovery programs fully.

Thus, it stands that the decriminalization of drugs is not required to create a national drug policy that is effective and beneficial to society, but rather, any country in the world could yield the same results as Portugal, if they were willing to spend the funds to implicate the same kind of proactive government policies that are committed to placing drug abusers into proper treatment centers.