Drug

North County High School freshman Jack Andraka stood on the auditorium stage, speaking about the invention that earned him the $75,000 grand prize at the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Behind him stood Dr. Anirban Maitra, a professor in the Johns Hopkins University's department of pathology who gave Jack use of his lab to craft his invention, a cheap and effective "dipstick-sensor" method of testing blood or urine to identify early-stage pancreatic cancer and other diseases.

A Columbia-based biotechnology company said this week it received the world's first government approval to market a stem cell drug , in Canada. Osiris Therapeutics, founded in 1992, spent 17 years developing a stem cell therapy that offers anti-inflammatory and tissue-regeneration properties. The first treatment it has received approval for this week will help treat children who've received bone marrow transplants that their bodies have rejected. The condition, known as acute graft-versus-host disease, or GvHD,  is fatal to 80 percent of the children who contract it, the company said.  C. Randal Mills, president and CEO of Osiris, said in a conference call Friday morning that the company has spent the past eight years navigating clinical trials and regulatory paperwork in a mission to be the first approved stem cell treatment in the world.  “During the past eight years, we have not wavered from that mission,” Mills said.

I hope everyone has taken a few moments to collect themselves after that spectacular finale. Midway through, I was a bit worried as the episode was beginning to seem more like a series finale than a season finale. However, the last 15 minutes provided everything a good finale should: suspense, murder, a love triangle (quadrangle!), a drug overdose, break-ups (bonus points for calling off an engagement), a conniving friend, heart break, a parent finding their child unconscious, unplanned pregnancy, a declaration of “never speak to me again” followed by a quick hang up, an engagement, a serious accident (plane instead of car, way to go big!

Two 44-year-old city men were sentenced to federal prison Friday for taking part in a heroin conspiracy that spread into Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office announced. William Larry Diggs Jr. was sentenced 14 years, and his co-defendant Darrin William Scott, received a five-year term. The men were part of a vast drug ring run by Christian Gettis, who previously described himself in court as a family man living a double life: secretly dealing drugs while holding down a job in retail.

"In Cipro we trust" -- NBC anchor Tom Brokaw WASHINGTON -- As thousands of congressional aides and visitors were given nasal swab tests for anthrax last week after an envelope containing anthrax was opened in a Senate office, the attending Capitol physician announced, "If we screen you, we treat you." This means a course of the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, commonly called, sought and today hoarded under the brand name Cipro. But thousands of doses of Cipro will lead to hundreds of serious and unnecessary harmful side effects.

When a Food and Drug Administration panel took steps last month to reduce consumption of the popular painkiller acetaminophen, warning that too many people are inadvertently taking more than is safe and suffering liver damage and even death, Dr. David Maine's phones started ringing. And ringing. Patients wanted to know if taking Tylenol once a day is too much (it is not). They wanted to know if their prescriptions contain the drug (some do). "We've gotten a ton of calls," said Maine, a pain management specialist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

Harford County sheriff's deputies and Maryland State Police report: Aberdeen Latoya Sharie Epps, 26, who has addresses in the 500 block of Plaza Court and the 300 block of Mayberry Drive, was arrested on a bench warrant Tuesday in a case in which she was charged with possession of a drug other than marijuana. There was a possible break-in Tuesday in the 400 block of Aldino Stepney Road. A drug deal occurred in front of a house Wednesday in the 1500 block of Maple Avenue.

Steven "J.R. " Blackwell, the leader of an East Baltimore drug conspiracy linked to a yearlong street warwith rivals, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Friday as part of a guilty plea he struck with prosecutors last fall. Though he was not charged with any acts of violence, authorities believe Blackwell's organization is tied to a wave of shootings touched off by the abduction in April 2008 of his then-teenage brothers. But Blackwell, 27, still faced up to life in prison after being charged with overseeing a multimillion-dollar heroin conspiracy and laundering the proceeds through gambling winnings in Las Vegas and state lottery tickets.

When Antonio Malone needed $15,000 to pay off the assailants who stormed his West Baltimore rowhouse and demanded money and heroin, a gang leader told him exactly where to go. Police say he was sent to a 12 t h floor apartment at The Redwood, the home of Felicia "Snoop" Pearson. The building on South Eutaw Street, within walking distance of the Inner Harbor and featuring a large ninth-floor deck and a 'round-the-clock fitness center, seems appropriate for an actress on the much-acclaimed HBO series "The Wire.

The odyssey of Billy Rowell took another strange turn Monday when Major League Baseball announced that the Orioles' first-round pick in 2006 has been suspended for 50 games for his second violation of the minor league's drug testing and prevention program. Rowell, 23, tested positive for a “drug of abuse,” MLB stated in a news release Monday. The specific drug is not revealed. He had been in Sarasota attempting to become a pitcher after six seasons as an infielder/outfielder in which he batted a collective .261 and never played above Double-A Bowie.

A routine traffic stop in Annapolis on Monday led to the discovery of a large stash of heroin and three arrests, police said in a Friday news release. The 80.3 grams of heroin seized, which would have been worth $16,000 on the street, were not found in the vehicle stopped but in a rental vehicle parked nearby, police said. The woman and two men arrested were all from Annapolis. According to police, officers first stopped a bright green Lincoln in the 1100 block of Medgar Evers Street for undisclosed traffic violations at about 4:40 p.m., and discovered the driver, Deon Matthews, 20, had a suspended license.

A grand jury indicted two operators of a prescription drug clinic in Timonium arrested in a Tuesday raid on charges of conspiracy to distribute Schedule II narcotics. A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge set a $50,000 cash-only bail Thursday for Gerald Wiseberg of Boca Raton, Fla., and Michael Jacob Reznikov of Brooklyn, N.Y., operators at the Healthy Life Medical Group in the 1100 block of York Road. At a preliminary hearing, Wiseberg, 78, and Reznikov, 51, were prohibited from leaving the country and were ordered to give up their passports.

Two unidentified operators of a prescription drug clinic in Lutherville that was raided by Baltimore County narcotics officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents Tuesday have been arrested, according to county police. One was arrested at the Healthy Life Medical Group clinic in the 1100 block of York Road, the other at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, police said. Both have been charged with conspiracy to distribute Schedule II narcotics, which include amphetamines, methamphetamines and other drugs that can be used in a medical setting but have "a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence," according to the DEA website.

A prescription drug clinic in Timonium was raided Tuesday afternoon by Baltimore County police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents, according to law enforcement officials. The raid followed a long-term investigation of the distribution and sale of oxycodone and other prescription drugs at the Healthy Life Medical Group in the 1100 block of York Road, according to Special Agent Edward Marcinko, of the DEA. About 25 police narcotics officers and DEA agents served a federal search warrant at the location shortly after 5 p.m., said Marcinko and Det. Cathy Batton, a county police spokeswoman.

The odyssey of Billy Rowell took another strange turn Monday when Major League Baseball announced that the Orioles' first-round pick in 2006 has been suspended for 50 games for his second violation of the minor league's drug testing and prevention program. Rowell, 23, tested positive for a “drug of abuse,” MLB stated in a news release Monday. The specific drug is not revealed. He had been in Sarasota attempting to become a pitcher after six seasons as an infielder/outfielder in which he batted a collective .261 and never played above Double-A Bowie.

Isn't it a bit disingenuous for the University of Maryland School of Medicine to use its own research to justify locating a methadone treatment center in the 1100 block of West Pratt Street ("Study: Methadone clinics don't draw crime," May 1)? It's interesting that the school found that convenience stores bring crime to a neighborhood because of the foot traffic they generate. How else would the university describe bringing 600 or so drug addicts a day to a methadone treatment center except as generating foot traffic through the neighborhood?

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson , 31. Grew up dealing drugs in East Baltimore and at age 14 killed a youth in a fight. On HBO series "The Wire," played an enforcer for drug organization. Arrested last year as part of a drug sweep and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell heroin. Put on probation with a suspended sentence. Shawn Johnson. New York drug supplier described by Pearson as an old friend. Pleaded guilty to being the drug network's main supplier, trafficking in 10-kilogram heroin shipments.

A 54-year-old man gunned down last week in East Baltimore had been employed for the past decade as a city public works employee, and his past ties to one of the city's biggest drug dealers have authorities braced for retaliation after his killing.  Gregory Parker was fatally shot Friday afternoon in the 2300 block of E. Chase St. Records show Parker was employed by the city's Department of Public Works since 2001 and worked as a solid waste driver,...

Harford County sheriff's deputies and Maryland State Police report: Aberdeen Eric Clifford Ashwood-Cramer, 32, of the 1100 block of Philadelphia Boulevard, was arrested on a bench warrant Monday in a case in which he was charged with driving without the required license and authorization. Darryl RyShawn Brown, 19, of the 200 block of Mayberry Drive, was arrested on a bench warrant Wednesday in a case in which he was charged with theft less than $100. Kerry Dwayne Winfield, 24, who has addresses in the 100 block of Paradise Road and the 6200 block of McClean Boulevard in Baltimore, was arrested on a bench warrant Wednesday in a case in which he was charged with marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession.

A cocaine trafficking ring that for years distributed "vast amounts" of Honduran cocaine throughout the mid-Atlantic region has been busted, and three Maryland residents and 25 Virginia residents involved have been arrested, according to federal prosecutors. The drug ring, based in Northern Virginia, routinely paid couriers to fly into the United States from Honduras with cocaine stashed in shoes, decorative wooden frames and other "innocuous items" that would blend in with their luggage, according to a statement on the bust released Thursday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.