Lawyers for Michael Douglas' son Cameron urged a judge to hand their client bail on Thursday by insisting he was pushed into a life of drugs

Lawyers for Michael Douglas' son Cameron urged a judge to hand their client bail on Thursday by insisting he was pushed into a life of drugs because of his father's fame.Cameron Douglas was arrested August 2009 following a drugs raid on his room at the Hotel Gansevoort in New York City.He was initially put under house arrest at his mother's Manhattan address after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and one count of possession of heroin.
However, the 31 year old was thrown back behind bars after he allegedly asked girlfriend Kelly Sott to smuggle heroin to him in an electric toothbrush.And during a request for bail on Thursday, the 31 year old's defense lawyers claimed Douglas' troubles stemmed from his "difficult upbringing" with his Oscar-winning father.Defense attorney Dan Gitner said, "(Douglas') serious heroin addiction (stems from) notoriety that is not due to any acts of his own but by dint of birth and a difficult upbringing."While fellow defense lawyer Nicholas DeFeis added, "He didn't benefit from his celebrity. He was hurt by it in a variety of ways, including ways in this case."At an earlier hearing on February 11, the star's psychiatrist Dr. Robert Millman made similar claims, describing how Douglas' privileged background made him "reckless."
He told the court, "He has been sort of a reckless person since he was really young, endangering himself constantly.
"Not violent, just screwing up in every way - car accidents, motorcycle accidents, tattoos. I think a lot of it had to do with who his parents are."
The judge refused to grant bail over fears Douglas would relapse while awaiting his trial in April.

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Police have arrested Tarkan, Turkey’s most famous pop music star

Police have arrested Tarkan, Turkey’s most famous pop music star, in a narcotics raid, Turkey’s semi-official Anatolian Agency reported Friday.
According to Anatolian, Tarkan was detained along with several other individuals who are "important figures from the art and magazine world."
CNN reports that Tarkan rose to international prominence in the late 1990s for singing playful hit songs like "Simarik" (Spoiled). The heartthrob has been described by some as a Turkish Ricky Martin, referring to the Latin pop singer from Puerto Rico who achieved popularity worldwide.
German-born Tarkan, who uses only one name, has also made pop charts around the world. In recent years, it was reported, he has been living in New York City. The arrest was carried out in Istanbul.
Turkey is a key stop on a drug smuggling transit route between Asia and Europe. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, it is a major hub for the trafficking of illegal heroin and opium from Afghanistan en route to European markets.
Drug operations involving Turkish celebrities, including artists and models, are often carried out in Istanbul.

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Michael Douglas' son Cameron will be stuck behind bars until he's sentenced for drug charges

Michael Douglas' son Cameron will be stuck behind bars until he's sentenced for drug charges, after a judge shot down his bid for momentary freedom today in court.
Cameron has been locked up since last year, when his girlfriend smuggled him heroin while he was under house arrest awaiting trial. Douglas has since pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and one count of possession of heroin.Today in Federal Court in Manhattan, Cameron asked the judge to let him bail out so he could be transferred to a rehabilitation center.
The judge ruled Cameron was more likely to relapse if he was let out, and denied his bail.Cameron is due back in court on April 14.

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CHARLIE Sheen is in rehab over his alleged problems with cocaine and alcohol.

The Two and a Half Men actor - who entered an undisclosed treatment centre yesterday - was reportedly admitted for professional help after his drink and Class A drug use escalated.Gossip website Radar Online reported: “Charlie has relapsed into using both booze and cocaine and simply couldn’t put off entering rehab any longer.”The 44-year-old actor - who is currently facing charges following allegations he attacked his spouse Brooke Mueller on Christmas Day - was urged to make the move by friends and family for the sake of their 11-month-old twin sons Bob and Max.
A source told the website: “He loves his children and ultimately that’s what convinced him to get help.”Real estate investor Mueller is also in a rehabilitation centre over substance abuse problems.It has been claimed the couple have had marital problems for months, but remained together because of their mutual love of partying.
A source added: “The one thing they share is that they both love to party.”
When Sheen was first admitted to rehab, it was claimed his stay was purely a “preventative measure”.His spokesperson said: “As a preventative measure, Charlie Sheen has entered a rehabilitation facility.“He will take some time off his series Two and a Half Men. He has asked that his privacy be honoured. No further statements are planned.”
Filming of his show Two and a Half Men will be “temporarily suspended” and CBS - the network who produce the comedy - wish Sheen “nothing but the best as he deals with this personal matter”.This news comes days after it was revealed Sheen had been visited by child protection services last week.The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) dropped by the family home he shares with Mueller to check up on the twins following his December arrest.The actor was arrested over domestic violence allegations, and was charged with a felony and two misdemeanours. He is expected to plead not guilty when he returns to a Colorado court next month.

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Lindsay Lohan laid bare the extent of her drug addiction Monday

Lindsay Lohan laid bare the extent of her drug addiction Monday, confessing that she came close to killing herself through a heady mix of alcohol and cocaine.
The bisexual actress, 23, who visited rehab three times and was jailed after being caught with cocaine, revealed she hit rock bottom and risked blowing her entire career via drug abuse.She said her problems got worse when her father Michael, a former drug addict who beat up her mother Dina, started talking about his daughter to the press in 2007."When my father was going public, that's when I hit rock bottom," Lohan told The Sun."I tried to mask my problems with alcohol, cocaine and mind-altering substances. I ran myself down and lost track of who I was."Referring to her May 2007 arrest for DUI (driving under the influence) and possession of cocaine, Lohan said: "I just thank God everyone was okay. But it was scary. I had three drinks, at most. I've been stupid and childish and I wasn't thinking."The former child actress, who starred in The Parent Trap and Mean Girls, was ordered to attend alcohol education classes and insists she is now clean of her addictions."I've made some dreadful mistakes but learned from them - that has probably saved my life," she said."Mind-altering drugs are so dangerous. I'm allowed to drink now but I know my limits. Partying so hard isn't worth it."

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Students at one of the world's most prestigious educational institutions, Oxford University in England, have been warned against dealing in heroin.

Students at one of the world's most prestigious educational institutions, Oxford University in England, have been warned against dealing in heroin.
It was Oxford University's independent student newspaper Cherwell which first reported that an anonymous letter had been sent to authorities at one of Oxford's largest colleges, Christ Church.
The letter had warned the authorities at what is one of 38 colleges and six Permanent Private Halls at Oxford that a "considerable drugs culture" can be found among the students at Christ Church.
According to the Telegraph those students number 426.
And as a consequence of the anonymous letter, junior Censor Ian Watson, described by the Daily Mail as the person "in charge of discipline" at Christ Church, has sent an email to his college's students with the subject line "Urgent warning concerning drugs".
Explaining to the students that "The law applies just as rigorously within college as elsewhere" and that he and his colleagues cannot and will not protect anyone who breaks the law Mr Watson said:
Last week the censors received an anonymous letter alleging the existence in Christ Church of a considerable drugs culture, including the supplying of class A drugs such as heroin. The letter named one individual.
The police, whom the censors consulted in the person of the community liaison officer who deals with the university, have advised that this letter does not in itself constitute usable evidence with which to start an investigation.
All junior members should, however, recall that the use, and especially the supplying, of prohibited drugs constitutes a serious criminal offence
While students interviewed by Cherwell acknowledged that drugs could be found at Christ Church, and one student is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying "On the surface Christ Church appears to be full of hardworking, bookish students. In reality, drug use and supply is widespread", the consensus seems to be that heroin is not being widely used by those attending the college.
With Ian Watson dubbed by one female student "an over-enthusiastic Censor being over-dramatic", another unnamed student opined:
It looks like some nutter coming in, seeing a few people looking rough, and saying they're all smack-heads. It's palpably false - there is no Heroin in Christ Church
However Christ Church has been at the center of a controversy involving the use of heroin on a previous occasion.
In 1986 Olivia Channon, the 22-year-old daughter of the late Paul Channon, Conservative Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry during the 1980s, died at a party on campus from the effects of the alcohol she had consumed and the heroin she had taken.
The party attended by Ms Channon had taken place in the room of Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was to eventually die in 2007 at the age of 44 after what the Daily Mail said at the time and the Telegraph said this weekend was "a two-day binge on cocaine and heroin".

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Black-tar heroin, a potent, inexpensive, semi-processed form of the drug that has spread across the United States,

Black-tar heroin, a potent, inexpensive, semi-processed form of the drug that has spread across the United States, driven by the entrepreneurial energy and marketing savvy of immigrants from a tiny farming county in Mexico.Immigrants from Xalisco, in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, Mexico, have brought the heroin north over the last decade, and with it a highly effective business model featuring deep discounts and convenient delivery by car. Their success is a major reason why Mexican black tar has seized a growing share of the U.S. heroin market, according to government estimates.
Xalisco networks are decentralized, with no all-powerful boss, and they largely avoid guns and violence. Staying clear of the nation's largest cities, where established organizations control the heroin trade, Xalisco dealers have cultivated markets in the mountain states and parts of the Midwest and Appalachia, often creating demand for heroin in cities and towns where there had been little or none. In many of those places, authorities report a sharp rise in heroin overdoses and deaths.Before the string of fatal overdoses in 2007, "we didn't even consider heroin an issue," said Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook.
Xalisco dealers have been particularly successful in areas where addiction to prescription painkillers like OxyContin was widespread. Many of those addicts, mainly young middle- and working-class whites, switched to black tar, which is cheaper and more powerful.In York County, S.C., pain-pill addicts became hooked on black tar purchased in Charlotte, N.C., half an hour away. "We used to get maybe one overdose death a year" caused by opiates, said Marvin Brown, commander of the county's drug unit. "We had six in the first six months" of 2009.In the suburbs south of Salt Lake City, heroin was unheard of until dealers from Xalisco arrived, said Lt. Phil Murphy of the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force. Now, he said, young people looking for an alternative to pain pills drive to Salt Lake to score black-tar heroin.
University towns have been especially fertile markets for Xalisco heroin. Authorities in Boulder and Fort Collins, Colo. -- home to the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, respectively -- report increased overdoses caused by black-tar heroin purchased from dealers in Denver.Ohio has also become a center of Xalisco networks, and it was through a junkie in Columbus that black tar made its way to Huntington.

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Mohammed Umar, 36, was arrested for smuggling the white crystal powder, usually used as an anesthetic, inside a water heater he brought from India.

Mohammed Umar, 36, was arrested for smuggling the white crystal powder, usually used as an anesthetic, inside a water heater he brought from India. His attempt was foiled by the customs officers when he underwent a luggage check after disembarking from a Thai Airways flight at 3 p.m. local time from New Delhi.Customs service and monitoring head Bambang Wahyudi said Saturday that the suspect wrapped the drugs in plastic and hid it inside the water heater.
The water heater was packed in a large cardboard box that the suspect brought through a scanner. 
“Why would he bring a used water heater to Bali? That’s what raised our officers’ suspicions. He also seemed very nervous,” Bambang said.The suspect said the water heater was to be donated to an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia. He even showed officers an invoice for the water heater priced at 6,000 rupees. “The suspect was confused when officers asked him which school he wanted to donate to,” Bambang said.As the officers examined the water heater using an ion scan and opened the machine, they found the drugs. The suspect admitted he was under orders by someone identified as Jakfar, who resided in India. He said he was paid 5,000 rupees for transporting the drugs. He said Jakfar told him to find accomodation close to Ngurah Rai Airport while awaiting instructions.      “We tried since Thursday night to locate the recipients of the drug, but couldn’t find them. They may be aware of the arrest,” Bambang said.
Ketamine, which has similar effects to crystal methamphetamine, is usually sold for Rp 1.5 million per gram.
Bambang said that the suspect would be charged with violating the Health Law and could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and fines of Rp 1 billion. “We can’t charge the suspect with violating the Narcotics Law, because ketamine is not classified as a narcotic,” he said. In several countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Canada, ketamine is a class 1 narcotic, while in the US it is classified as a category 3 prescribed drug.

Bali is a magnet for foreign drug traffickers as the island has seen many cases of drug smuggling in the last couple of months.  

Among the foreigners arrested in drugs cases were seven Iranians who attempted to smuggle 5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine by swallowing the drugs.

Another Iranian, Shahbazi Saeid, was arrested for bringing in 200 grams of crystal methamphetamine in a similar way.

Also in December, 48-year-old Australian Robert Paul McJannett was detained for attempting to smuggle 2 grams of marijuana.

In January, the customs office arrested Malaysian woman Hoon Yue Chin for bringing in 0.62 grams of crystal meth. Several days later, French national Francois Virgile Arthur Sidoine was caught with 0.78 grams of heroine in his underwear. In the same month, two Malaysians, Chang Cheng Weng and Boo Guan Teik, were arrested for smuggling in 2 kilograms of crystal meth.

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Lady Gaga about her cocaine addiction saying she “believed it would have killed her”.

“I thought I was gonna die,” she said in her explosive new biography written by Helia Phoenix.

outrageous dresser Lady Gaga has come out in her biography LADY GAGA: Just Dance about her cocaine addiction saying she “believed it would have killed her”.The outrageous pop diva – who stole the show at last week’s Grammys performing with Sir Elton John- told how she would lock herself in her room snorting “bags and bags” of the drug to get inspiration for her music. And now the 23-year-old whose real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta – claims she was eventually saved… “by a dead auntie whose ghost lives inside her.”“I wanted to be the artists I loved, like Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol – and I thought the only way to do it was to live the lifestyle. But then I realised my father’s sister Joanne, who’d died at 19, had instilled her spirit in me. She was a painter and a poet – and I had a spiritual vision I had to finish her business,” she said.In the book that will only be in stores from February 18, Gaga reveals how she stripped on stage during a song as an unknown to get a bored audience to notice her. And served meatballs to a lover in only Knickers and Stilettos to turn him on.
Costing about R164 per copy, the singer revealed in the book how she dropped out of her New York performing arts school at 20 and descended into a nightmare world.“My cocaine soundtrack was always the Cure. I would lock myself in my room and listen to Never Enough on repeat while I did bags and bags of cocaine. It was about being an artist. I wasn’t a lazy addict. I would make demo tapes and send them around. At the time I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me, until my friends said, ‘Are you doing this alone?’ Um, yes. Me and my mirror.”

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