Here's a front page, above-the-fold story from USA Today which covers reductions in teen drug use. The data comes from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health:

"Fewer teens using drugs
Study: Biggest drops in Midwest, South

By Donna Leinwand
USA TODAY

Drug use has edged downward among teens nationwide, with the biggest decreases driven by teens in the Midwest and South,

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according to a national survey on drug and alcohol use.

Children 12 to 17 years old who reported using any illicit drug in the past month declined from 11.4% to 10.9% between 2002 and 2004. States that saw the biggest declines in teen drug use were Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Carolina, Virginia and Vermont."

Read the full story here.

Today the Government of Canada announced its plans with regard to marijuana legislation proposed by the previous government:

"OTTAWA—Canada's new Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday that Ottawa does not intend to reintroduce legislation to legalize small amounts of marijuana.

Speaking to the Canadian Professional Police Association, Harper received applause when he reiterated that the legislation drawn up by the previous Liberal Party government would not be reintroduced when the new Parliament sits Monday.

The bill, which had alarmed law enforcement officials in Canada and the United States, died on the floor of the House of Commons after the Liberal Party lost elections in January."

Read the whole story here.

From the UK's Guardian:

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"Doctors from London University have revealed details of what they believe is the largest amount of ecstasy ever consumed by a single person. Consultants from the addiction centre at St George's Medical School, London, have published a case report of a British man estimated to have taken around 40,000 pills of MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, over nine years. The heaviest previous lifetime intake on record is 2,000 pills.

Though the man, who is now 37, stopped taking the drug seven years ago, he still suffers from severe physical and mental health side-effects, including extreme memory problems, paranoia, hallucinations and depression. He also suffers from painful muscle rigidity around his neck and jaw which often prevents him from opening his mouth. The doctors believe many of these symptoms may be permanent..."

The story continues with his use of marijuana:

"Mr A was also a heavy cannabis user, and when he was encouraged to decrease his use, his paranoia and hallucinations disappeared and his anxiety abated. But his memory and concentration problems remained, leading the doctors to suspect that these may be permanent disabilities.

When he was admitted to a specialist brain injury unit and put on anti-psychotic medication, he did start to show some improvement."

Read the whole story here.

Thanks to increased security, foreign investment confidence and strong leadership by President Uribe, Colombia's economy grew at its fastest pace in a decade:

"March 31 (Bloomberg)—Colombia's economy expanded last year at its fastest pace in a decade as a strengthening peso and falling interest rates spurred consumer demand.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of a country's output of goods and services, expanded 5.1 percent in 2005, following growth of 4.8 percent in 2004, the government said. The economy grew 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter, less than the 5.2 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 15 economists, after growing 6.4 percent in the third quarter....

...Total investment in Colombia last year rose to 22 percent of GDP, the highest since 1994, from 15 percent in 2002, the year President Alvaro Uribe took office, according to the National Planning Department. Retail sales rose 9.3 percent in the year through December compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the statistics agency."

Read the whole story here.

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