Smokers could one day be immunised against nicotine so they gain no pleasure from the habit, according to researchers in the US.

They have devised a vaccine that floods the body with an antibody to assault nicotine entering the body.A study in mice, published in Science Translational Medicine, showed levels of the chemical in the brain were reduced by 85% after vaccination.Years of research are still needed before it could be tested on people.However, lead researcher Prof Ronald Crystal is convinced there will be benefits."As...

Coke and Pepsi contain tiny traces of alcohol, reveals French research

Coca-Cola and Pepsi contain minute traces of alcohol, scientific research published in France has revealed. The revelation will cause concern among those who chose the carbonated soft drink for religious, health or safety reasons. According to tests carried out by the Paris-based National Institute of Consumption (INC) more than half of leading colas contain the traces of alcohol. Can't beat the...

Heroin trade entrenched in Afghanistan

The war in Afghanistan has turned the country into a major supplier of the world's opium and heroin supplies. That is one of the facts offered by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in a report on how the drugs trade is fuelling insecurity and failed states, called 'Drugs, Insecurity and Failed States - the problems of prohibition'. One of the authors of the report Nigel Inkster, a...

ON CLOUD NINE: BATH SALTS BY ANOTHER NAME... WITH STRONG COMPULSIONS TO REDOSE

After the recent stream of disturbing news reports of people eating others' flesh, Hornaday Manufacturing has released bullets that promise to ‘make dead permanent.’The ammunition, branded as Zombie Max offers Proven Z-Max bullets, is live ammunition, but is actually only intended for use on targets...

A mind-altering drug banned in Britain two years ago is being blamed for the spate of cannibal attacks in America.

Narcotic Cloud Nine was blamed for the attack when Rudy Eugene ate 75% of homeless man Ronald Poppo’s face in Miami last month.Horrific images surfaced of the attack that only ended once police shot and killed 31-year-old Eugene.Mr Poppo is still recovering from his injuries in hospital.Police...

Jersey residents are shocked to discover that heroin is the fastest growing drug in the Garden state.

Steven Liga, the Executive Director of the Middlesex County Chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence says, “Heroin has been the drug of choice all over Jersey for several years now for – because we’ve got the purest heroin in the country – it’s shipped to Jersey from south and central America – and then distributed all over the east coast – so our heroin is purer and cheaper...

'Teen Mom' Amber Portwood's 5-Year Prison Term Reinstated

"Teen Mom" reality star Amber Portwood is heading to prison for up to five years, after giving up on a drug rehab program, gossip website TMZ reports. Portwood, 22, was sentenced in February to three years in an Indiana prison for possessing prescription drugs without a prescription, and another two years for a probation violation. A plea deal allowed her to avoid prison and instead pursue treatment...

Fresh alert over the dangers of caffeine

Coffee drinkers are woefully ignorant of the dangers lurking in their cup, a new report warns. Consumers should be provided with information about the caffeine content of their takeaway latte or espresso since most are unaware of how it varies in strength from shop to bar or from cup to mug. Pregnant women, as well as people with health problems, need to limit their caffeine intake. Evidence suggests...

Former bath-salts addict: ‘It felt so evil’

The man is strapped onto a gurney and restrained, yet he is singing, making faces and twitching. “You know where you’re at?” a paramedic asks him, but Freddy Sharp can’t answer. He was, he explained later, off in his own world after overdosing on synthetic drugs known as “bath salts.” “I’d never experienced anything like that,” Sharp told CNN’s Don Lemon. “It really actually scared me pretty bad.”...