All posts tagged: Meth

A call about illegal dumping in Palmdale leads to 800-pound meth bust

A call about illegal dumping in Palmdale leads to 800-pound meth bust

Published by Sam Flores

Code enforcement officers in the city of Palmdale made an extraordinary discovery this week while responding to an illegal dumping complaint at a vacant lot — a narcotics lab and more than 800 pounds of methamphetamine inside a cargo container. The drug bust prompted multiple law enforcement agencies to descend on the vacant lot near the corner of 110th Street East and Ave M-8 in the unincorporated area of Lake Los Angeles, about 36 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. There, authorities uncovered what appeared to be a drug lab nestled in the cargo container. Alejandro Hernandez Gutierrez, 22, was arrested on suspicion of manufacturing a controlled substance, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department news release. Palmdale officials said the discovery was one of the most significant drug busts in recent years. “This case is a powerful example of the important work our code enforcement team does every day to protect Palmdale neighborhoods,” said Mayor Eric Ohlsen in a statement. “What started as an illegal dumping investigation led to the removal of a …

EastEnders actor charged with importing £157m worth of meth into Australia

EastEnders actor charged with importing £157m worth of meth into Australia

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter EastEnders spin-off star Emaa Hussen has been charged with allegedly attempting to import £157m worth of methamphetamine into Australia. The British actor, 34, appeared in a Sydney Court on Thursday (18 June), with police alleging that Hussen, along with a couple from South Australia, tried to import 320kg of meth hidden in bags of charcoal. The drugs, which were transported in shipping containers from Ghana, are worth A$296m (£157m). Hussen was best known for playing Naz Mehmet in EastEnders spin-off E20. She starred in the series from 2010 until 2011 alongside Emer Kenny, Ricky Norwood and Tosin Cole. She went on to land a small role in Steven Knight’s 2013 film Hummingbird, which starred Jason Statham as a former special forces soldier who gets pulled into London’s criminal underworld. However, she has not worked as an actor since. Hussen was refused …

Actress arrested after ‘trying to smuggle meth’ into Australia

Actress arrested after ‘trying to smuggle meth’ into Australia

Published by Sam Flores

Emaa Hussen appeared in EastEnders: E20, a spin-off from the BBC soap opera – BBC A British actress who appeared in an EastEnders spin-off has been accused of trying to smuggle £150m-worth of methamphetamine into Australia. Emaa Hussen has been charged along with a couple from Adelaide with trying to import 320kg of the drug from West Africa, hidden in bags of charcoal. The actress is best known as Naz in the EastEnders spin-off E20, made a decade ago. The drugs had an estimated street value of 296 million Australian dollars (£157m). Ms Hussen, who appeared in Hummingbird, a Hollywood movie starring British action hero Jason Statham, could face life imprisonment. Australian police broke up the alleged smuggling plot when they discovered the drugs in shipping containers in Port Botany in New South Wales.  The amphetamine was allegedly shipped from Ghana, according to The Sun. Ms Hussen is reportedly accused of unpacking the drugs alongside other suspects before driving to a location in the Sydney suburb of Blacktown, where police then arrested her. The 320kg …

Spencer Pratt Is Creating Panic Over ‘Super Meth.’ It’s Not Even Real

Spencer Pratt Is Creating Panic Over ‘Super Meth.’ It’s Not Even Real

Published by skeptic

Zagorski says this is likely contributing to an uptick in meth use, but that it’s a “relatively minor” factor overall, with economic precarity and housing instability doing far more to drive the crisis. Nicky Mehtani, an assistant professor in the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital who specializes in addiction medicine and does clinical work with homeless people, tells WIRED that P2P meth is nothing new. “It’s been the dominant form in the US supply for the better part of a decade,” she says. “I’ve never heard it called ‘super meth’ in any clinical or scientific context, probably because it’s just the meth we’ve all been seeing for years now. There’s nothing novel or uniquely ‘super’ about it at this point.” Mehtani notes that meth use disorder is notoriously difficult to treat, in part due to the lack of any FDA-approved pharmacotherapies, and that “recovery is genuinely difficult.” But she says that Pratt’s narrative misses the root causes of meth use among people experiencing homelessness. “The most common reason I …

Beijing Bad: Chinese Nationals Charged Building Meth Super Factory

Beijing Bad: Chinese Nationals Charged Building Meth Super Factory

Published by Jenni Sidey

Two Chinese citizens were indicted on by the DOJ on charges of conspiring to flood the United States with methamphetamine through a sophisticated, factory-style production operation, federal prosecutors announced this week. Wenfeng Cui, 41, also known as “Vincen,” (no “t’) and Fan Pang, 26, also known as “Jerry,” both nationals of the People’s Republic of China, were arrested in New York City on February 2, 2026, after allegedly meeting with undercover sources and providing detailed instructions on the chemical synthesis of methamphetamine and the operation of custom-built industrial machinery designed to mass-produce the drug. The unsealed indictment, announced by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton and DEA Special Agent in Charge Cindy Marx of the Special Operations Division, charges the pair with one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine (maximum penalty: life in prison), one count of conspiracy to import methamphetamine precursor chemicals with intent to manufacture narcotics (maximum 20 years), and one count of importation of methamphetamine precursor chemicals (maximum 20 years). “Terrifying in its ambition” According to the indictment and related court filings, over roughly …

Los Angeles became my path from meth addiction to lasting love

Los Angeles became my path from meth addiction to lasting love

Published by Sam Flores

On Christmas morning, the man I thought I needed left me in another man’s cabin. Hours earlier, Thom and I had been sprawled on the floor of a Santa Rosa utility closet where we’d been living, passing a meth pipe between us. I was 34 at the time. The mattress barely fit and it folded like a taco beside lube and dead torch lighters. Thom, in his 50s, had become my partner in chaos. “Christmas. Anything you wanna do?” he asked with a tenderness I didn’t trust. I scrolled Grindr. I’d traded seeing my family for crystal meth and the relief of nobody expecting anything of me. After crashing my mom’s car and a stint in jail, I couldn’t face her disappointment. A decade in New York had promised stardom; by Christmas 2016, the promise had curdled. All I had left were men who only wanted my body. That was all I had left to give. I showed Thom a torso-only photo on Grindr. “This guy’s having people over.” He squinted. “That’s Ed.” Thom’s Prius …

Immune signal in the brain may offer new target for treating meth addiction

Immune signal in the brain may offer new target for treating meth addiction

Published by Jenni Sidey

Methamphetamine addiction has a way of looping back on itself. A rush of pleasure pulls you in, cravings follow, and the brain learns that the drug is the fastest route to reward. Yet scientists still lack an approved medication that directly treats methamphetamine addiction. That gap has left clinicians relying on counseling and support, while researchers hunt for new biological targets. Now, University of Florida neuroscientists say they have identified a key chain reaction in the brain that could open a new path: testing immune-modulating medicines as a way to interrupt meth’s grip. In a preclinical study, a team at the McKnight Brain Institute led by Habibeh Khoshbouei, Ph.D., Pharm.D., traced how meth triggers both dopamine surges and an inflammatory signal that, surprisingly, can feed those dopamine effects. “Unlike alcohol or opioids, there currently is no medicinal therapeutic approach for methamphetamine addiction,” said Khoshbouei, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry. “So this is an important societal issue.” Identification of dopamine neurons in the VTA. (CREDIT: Science Signaling) Meth is a highly addictive stimulant. It is …