drug

Adolfo Macias, who was recaptured in June after escaping from a prison last year, will appear in a New York state court on Monday.

Ecuadorean gang leader Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as “Fito”, is set to appear in a federal court in the United States, where he will plead not guilty to international charges of drug and weapons trafficking, his lawyer says.

The Ecuadorean government on Sunday extradited the notorious drug trafficker, a month after he was recaptured following a 2024 escape from a maximum-security penitentiary, the country’s prison authority said.

Macias, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, was serving a 34-year sentence at a prison in Guayaquil for a slew of crimes, including drug trafficking, organised crime, and murder.

The flight transporting Macias landed in New York state on Sunday night, the report said. His lawyer told the Reuters news agency that Macias “will plead not guilty” before the Brooklyn federal court on Monday.

Details of the handover to the US government and the extradition were not specified. The US government has yet to issue an official statement following the extradition.

The US Attorney’s Office had filed charges in April against Macias on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms violations, including weapons smuggling.

The former taxi driver turned crime boss agreed in a Quito court last week to be extradited to the US to face the charges.

He is the first Ecuadorean extradited by his country since a new measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which President Daniel Noboa sought the approval of moves to boost his war on criminal gangs.

Ecuador, once a peaceful haven between the world’s two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru, has seen violence erupt in recent years as rival gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

Cult following

Soon after Macias escaped from prison in January 2024, Noboa declared Ecuador to be in a state of “internal armed conflict” and ordered the military and tanks into the streets to “neutralise” the gangs. The move has been criticised by human rights organisations.

As a drug lord, Macias cultivated a cult status among fellow gang members and the public.

While behind bars in 2023, he released a video addressed to “the Ecuadorian people” while flanked by armed men. He also threw parties in prison, where he had access to everything from liquor to roosters for cockfighting matches.

Macias’s Los Choneros has ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Gulf Clan, which is considered the world’s largest cocaine exporter, as well as Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorian Organised Crime Observatory.

His escape from prison prompted widespread violence and a massive military and police recapture operation, including government “wanted” posters offering $1m for information leading to his arrest.

On June 25, Macias was found hiding in a bunker concealed under floor tiles in a luxury home in the fishing port of Manta, the centre of operations for Los Choneros. Noboa declared he would be extradited, “the sooner the better”.

“We will gladly send him and let him answer to the North American law,” Noboa told CNN at the time.

More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador’s ports, according to government data. In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tonnes of drugs, mainly cocaine.

July 19 (UPI) — Five people in Baltimore were hospitalized for a reported mass overdose incident, one week after 27 were sickened in the same area of the city because of a “bad batch” of drugs, police said.

The victims Friday were in serious condition, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said at a news conference, including addition to two who refused treatment after first responders deployed Narcan.

The 911 calls started coming just before 9 a.m. Friday and not from a concentrated area as last week, police said. Both incidents are in the historic Penn North neighborhood of West Baltimore.

“People have already heard what is out here and yet they still gotta go get it because their body is calling for it,” one man who goes by the nickname ‘Slim Rob’ told WJZ-TV. “It’s heartbreaking, man. It’s heartbreaking. You got people’s mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles, grandparents out here — and the kids need them and yet they need that when you can be gone like this.”

On July 10, people were hospitalized in the incident in West Baltimore, which law enforcement officers and community advocates called a “bad batch of drugs.”

“We understand that the supply across the city is very volatile right now,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said. “If you see someone who may be overdosing, help them. If you have Narcan, administer it. Call 911. Don’t walk past anyone who may be experiencing an overdose.

“You can literally save their life by stepping in. That person is a human, that person is a Baltimorean.”

Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the incidents are being investigated separately.

“We also have numerous officers working the area having to locate who the buyers were, who the sellers were and mainly who is bringing the drugs into the area,” Worley said.

Five people were arrested three days later on July 13 in the area on a charge of drug possession with intent to distribute. It’s unclear if the arrested were linked to the mass overdose, according to Baltimore police.

“I understand the frustration,” Scott said about Penn North residents, who felt their concerns have been ignored. “We’re talking about a neighborhood … that has been so disinvested in for so long. We’re not going to change that overnight.”

Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology who examined substances from last week said they contained fentanyl, a powerful painkiller; methylclonazepam, which has sedative effects; Mannitol, a diuretic; quinine, an anti-malaria drug; and caffeine.

Narcan, which is the brand name of naloxone, and fentanyl strips were distributed to the affected neighborhood last week.

“Today’s incident is a painful reminder that our work is far from over,” Scott said.

In Baltimore, opioid overdose deaths reached a high of 1,006 in 2021 and dropped to 895 in 2022 before going back up to 952 in 2023. Last year, there were 698 opioid overdose-related deaths in the city, according to state data.

“People fade away — they’ve got agendas, other things to do,” Vincent Timmons, an outreach specialist at Tuerk House, told the Baltimore Banner. “People don’t remember that area. They’re used to that.”

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs” killed thousands of people.

For years, Catholic priest Flaviano Villanueva has gathered evidence of alleged extrajudicial killings.

He exhumed victims’ bodies for forensic examination and protected a key witness who claims he worked as a contract killer for Duterte.

In March 2025, the priest’s persistence paid off when Duterte was arrested and extradited to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.

101 East follows Father Villanueva’s fight for justice for the victims of Duterte’s brutal crackdown.

Notorious gang leader has agreed to be extradited to the United States to face cocaine and weapons smuggling charges.

Ecuador’s most infamous drug lord has agreed to be extradited to the United States to face cocaine and weapons smuggling charges, a court in the capital Quito has said.

The announcement on Friday is the latest chapter in the dramatic underworld tale of Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”, who was recaptured in June after escaping from a maximum security prison 18 months ago in a jailbreak that triggered a bloody wave of gang violence.

Macias, head of the “Los Choneros” gang, is wanted in the US on charges of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms-related crimes, including weapons smuggling.

After Macias vanished from his prison cell in the southwestern port of Guayaquil in January 2024, authorities had been scouring the world for him, offering a $1m reward for information leading to his capture. But it emerged that the country’s most wanted man was hiding out at a family member’s mansion in his hometown.

Ecuadorian security forces recaptured the drug kingpin last month at an underground bunker beneath a marble-walled house in the port city of Manta, some 260km (160 miles) southwest of the capital, Quito.

The former taxi-driver-turned-crime-boss had been serving a 34-year sentence since 2011 for involvement in organised crime, drug trafficking and murder.

In a country plagued by drug-related crime, Los Choneros members responded with violence as the manhunt began after their leader’s escape – using car bombs, holding prison guards hostage and storming a television station during a live broadcast.

President Daniel Noboa’s right-wing government had recently declared, “We will gladly send him and let him answer to the North American law.”

Macias, dressed in an orange prison uniform, took part in a court hearing Friday via videolink from a high-security prison in Guayaquil.

In response to a judge’s question, he replied, “Yes, I accept (extradition).”

This would make Macias the first Ecuadorian extradited by his country since the measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which Noboa sought the approval of measures to boost his war on criminal gangs.

Ecuador, once a peaceful haven wedged between the world’s two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru, has seen violence erupt in recent years as rival gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

These gang wars have largely played out inside the country’s prisons, where Macias wielded immense control. He was the unofficial boss of his Guayaquil prison, where authorities found images glorifying him, weapons and US dollars.

Videos of parties he held in the prison captured fireworks and a mariachi band. In one sequence, he appeared waving, laughing and petting a fighting rooster.

Macias earned a law degree behind bars. By the time he escaped, he was considered a suspect in the assassination of presidential candidate and anticorruption crusader Fernando Villavicencio in 2023.

Soon after Macias’s prison break, Noboa declared Ecuador to be in a state of “internal armed conflict” and ordered the military and tanks into the streets to “neutralize” the gangs.

Los Choneros has ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Gulf Clan – the world’s largest cocaine exporter – and Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory.

More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador’s ports, according to government data. In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tonnes of drugs, mainly cocaine.

WASHINGTON  — Public health advocates won a big case in the Supreme Court on the last day of this year’s term, but the victory came with an asterisk.

The decision ended one threat to the no-cost preventive services — from cancer and diabetes screenings to statin drugs and vaccines — used by more than 150 million Americans who have health insurance.

But it did so by empowering the nation’s foremost vaccine skeptic: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Losing would have been “a terrible result,” said Washington attorney Andrew Pincus. Insurers would have been free to quit paying for the drugs, screenings and other services that were proven effective in saving lives and money.

But winning means that “the secretary has the power to set aside” the recommendations of medical experts and remove approved drugs, he said. “His actions will be subject to review in court,” he added.

The new legal fight has already begun.

Last month, Kennedy cited a “crisis of public trust” when he removed all 17 members of a separate vaccine advisory committee. His replacements included some vaccine skeptics.

The vaccines that are recommended by this committee are included as preventive services that insurers must provide.

On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups sued Kennedy for having removed the COVID-19 vaccine as a recommended immunization for pregnant women and healthy children. The suit called this an “arbitrary” and “baseless” decision that violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

“We’re taking legal action because we believe children deserve better,” said Dr. Susan J. Kressly, the academy’s president. “This wasn’t just sidelining science. It’s an attack on the very foundation of how we protect families and children’s health.”

On Wednesday, Kennedy postponed a scheduled meeting of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that was at the center of the court case.

“Obviously, many screenings that relate to chronic diseases could face changes,” said Richard Hughes IV, a Washington lawyer and law professor. “A major area of concern is coverage of PrEP for HIV,” a preventive drug that was challenged in the Texas lawsuit that came to the Supreme Court.

By one measure, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision was a rare win for liberals. The justices overturned a ruling by Texas judges that would have struck down the popular benefit that came with Obamacare. The 2012 law required insurers to provide at no cost the preventive services that were approved as highly effective.

But conservative critics had spotted what they saw was a flaw in the Affordable Care Act. They noted the task force of unpaid medical experts who recommend the best and most cost-effective preventive care was described in the law as “independent.”

That word was enough to drive the five-year legal battle.

Steven Hotze, a Texas employer, had sued in 2020 and said he objected on religious grounds to providing HIV prevention drugs, even if none of his employees were using those drugs.

The suit went before U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, who in 2018 had struck down Obamacare as unconstitutional. In 2022, he ruled for the Texas employer and struck down the required preventive services on the grounds that members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force made legally binding decisions even though they had not been appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

The 5th Circuit Court put his decision on hold but upheld his ruling that the work of the preventive services task force was unconstitutional because its members were “free from any supervision” by the president.

Last year, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to hear the case of Xavier Becerra vs. Braidwood Management. The appeal said the Texas ruling “jeopardizes health protections that have been in place for 14 years and millions of Americans currently enjoy.”

The court agreed to hear the case, and by the time of the oral argument in April, the Trump administration had a new secretary of HHS. The case was now Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vs. Braidwood Management.

The court’s six conservatives believe the Constitution gives the president full executive power to control the government and to put his officials in charge. But they split on what that meant in this case.

The Constitution says the president can appoint ambassadors, judges and “all other Officers of the United States” with Senate approval. In addition, “Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers” in the hands of the president or “the heads of departments.”

Option two made more sense, said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. He spoke for the court, including Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and the court’s three liberal justices.

“The Executive Branch under both President Trump and President Biden has argued that the Preventive Services Task Force members are inferior officers and therefore may be appointed by the Secretary of HHS. We agree,” he wrote.

This “preserves the chain of political accountability. … The Task Force members are removable at will by the Secretary of HHS, and their recommendations are reviewable by the Secretary before they take effect.”

The ruling was a clear win for Kennedy and the Trump administration. It made clear the medical experts are not “independent” and can be readily replaced by RFK Jr.

It did not win over the three justices on the right. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a 37-page dissent.

“Under our Constitution, appointment by the President with Senate confirmation is the rule. Appointment by a department head is an exception that Congress must consciously choose to adopt,” he said, joined by Justices Samuel A. Alito and Neil M. Gorsuch.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez plans to change his not guilty plea during a hearing after arrest in 2023.

A son of the infamous Mexican drug cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is expected to plead guilty in a wide-ranging United States drug trafficking case at a court hearing in Chicago.

Court records for Ovidio Guzman Lopez indicate he intends to change his not-guilty plea as part of a deal with federal prosecutors at the hearing on Friday.

If confirmed, it would be the first time one of El Chapo’s sons has struck such an agreement.

Federal prosecutors allege that Ovidio and his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who became known locally as Los Chapitos, led a powerful faction of the notorious Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

They are accused of masterminding a major fentanyl trafficking operation that funnelled what prosecutors described as a “staggering” amount of the synthetic opioid into the US. The US has suffered a major opioid crisis in the last few decades, which has resulted in large numbers of deaths, addiction, and lawsuits.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is currently serving a life sentence in a US federal prison following a 2019 conviction. After his capture, Ovidio Guzman Lopez and his siblings reportedly took on key leadership roles within the cartel.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested by Mexican authorities in early 2023 and extradited to the US months later. He originally pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges.

His brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, and longtime cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada were arrested in Texas in 2024 after arriving on a private plane. Both men have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges.

Their high-profile capture set off a wave of violence across Sinaloa as rival factions scrambled for control, vying for control of routes used to produce and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the US.

The groups are split between members loyal to the Sinaloa Cartel cofounders, “El Chapo” Guzman and Zambada.

Experts warn your medication could be confiscated and you could be held by the authorities

Travel and health experts have warned anyone taking weight-loss jabs to check before they go on holiday as they are banned or restricted in some countries. Mounjaro has been released for use as a weight-loss jab on the NHS in the UK and other jabs are available to buy privately.

But while weight-loss medication is legal in the UK, other countries have not approved it – meaning it could be confiscated or you could be held by the authorities if you try to import it.

Travel and health experts have explained what you need to do if you want to take your weight-loss jabs abroad this summer.

NHS GP Dr Asimah Hanif said: “There are countries where weight loss injections are restricted or banned – unlike the UK where they are more widely accepted. For example, if you were to go to the UAE, you would need pre-approval from the Ministry of Health. Or if you were to go to Japan, you would require an import certificate.

“In Singapore – you would need approval from the health services authority before travel. There are many ways you can prepare yourself according to the country you’re travelling to. This will ensure a smooth journey and also allow you to continue administering your weight loss injections.”

The jabs are often used for their original purpose – managing diabetes – as well as being taken for weight loss. This can mean there is an even more urgent need to keep talking them.

GP Dr Ola Otulana said: “At the moment weight loss injections such as semaglutide are widely prescribed in the UK for diabetes management and now more recently for weight management. However people may not realise that rules can differ significantly abroad as in some countries (in Asia and the Middle East), medications like semaglutide can be heavily regulated or banned entirely if they are not licensed for weight loss there.

“Even in places where they are legal, carrying injectable medications without a letter from a doctor and proof of prescription can raise issues at customs, which may lead to items being confiscated.

“If you are prescribed a weight loss injection in the UK and are planning to travel, the safest approach is to check the embassy website of your destination country in advance to confirm the rules on your medication. You should also carry your prescription, a formal letter from your GP explaining the indication and dosing, and also keep the medication in its original packaging. Some countries require you to declare any injectable or controlled medications when you arrive. Prepare and bring any necessary documentation to avoid stress while travelling / abroad and talk to your GP or pharmacist before travelling.”

Travellers say they have come across a number of countries where the jabs – and other medication – can land you in trouble.

Isheeta Borkarm co-owner of Travelicious Couple, said: “Weight-loss injections like Wegovy are legal and widely used in the UK, but they’re not allowed everywhere else. We’ve come across a few countries where bringing them in could actually get you into serious trouble.

“For example, Japan has extremely strict rules around medication import. Even certain asthma inhalers are banned, so bringing in injectable weight-loss medication, especially with a needle, without prior approval could lead to confiscation or worse.

Singapore requires prior authorisation for any injectable medication. We’ve heard in Thailand even prescription drugs can be flagged at customs if the paperwork isn’t clear.”

Five steps to take if travelling with weight loss jabs:

1. You should check embassy websites for the latest information 2. Carry your prescription and a letter from your doctor (ideally stating dosage and medical necessity). 3. Declare it at customs. 4. Avoid packing injectables in carry-ons. Use the original packaging and keep medication with their official labelling. 5. Some of these medications need refrigeration. Call hotels in advance to ensure they had a minibar fridge.

A FLASHY crime lord was snared for a murder plot and major cocaine smuggling racket by his clothes and tattoos featured in selfies he posted from Dubai.

Drug baron James Harding, 34, masterminded a drug empire which made £5 million in profits during a 10-week period.

9

9

9

But the vain villain took selfies of himself posing shirtless in front of the mirror flexing his muscles and sitting in supercars while living a life of luxury in the desert kingdom.

Harding sent the photos and messages about his opulent lifestyle to criminal cronies on the EncroChat encrypted mobile phone system believing it was totally secure.

But the swaggering poser’s boasts rebounded on him when the communication network was infiltrated by cyber cops in 2020.

Messages uncovered Harding’s cocaine empire – and his plan to rob and kill a rival drug courier.

Harding was yesterday convicted at the Old Bailey of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and of conspiracy to murder following a heavily-guarded eight-week trial.

His right hand man Jayes Kharouti, 39, earlier admitted the same drug offence and was also found guilty of the murder plot.

Jurors heard how Harding used the EncroChat handle ‘thetopsking,’ while Kharouti went under the tags ‘besttops’ and ‘topsybricks.’

They sent 9,136 messages to each other via EncroChat between March and June 2020, detailing their vast shipments of cocaine from the Netherlands into the UK, where it was distributed across the country.

The pair spelled out how they were laundering their money – as every message was read by Scotland Yard detectives following the penetration of the EncroChat platform by French law enforcement.

Harding, originally from Alton, Hampshire, and his lieutenant Kharouti were making £70,000 every day during the period their phones were being hacked by cops, jurors heard.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson, KC, said the pair were responsible for “approximately 50 importations of cocaine into the UK with a total weight of approximately 1,000 kilograms.”

He went on: “The messages also show that once the cocaine was in the UK, it was broken into smaller parcels, of between 5kg and 10kg, and distributed across the UK to wholesale purchasers, who would then sell to end users.

“An analysis of the messages that discuss money and financial gain suggests that the conspirators made £60-70,000 per importation, and about £5m in profit overall in just 10 weeks.”

The messages also revealed how Harding and Kharouti tried to hire a hitman for £100,000 to rob and kill a drug mule.

They arranged a gun and ammunition for a hitman to carry out the “full M” – murder, jurors heard.

Cops moved in and arrested the alleged hitman before the contract murder could be carried out.

Harding claimed in court he was not the EncroChat user known as ‘thetopsking’ – and claimed the handle belonged to a mystery gay lover he identified in court only as ‘TK.’

But cops were able to prove Harding was the ‘thetopsking’  because of his love for selfies and boasts about his luxury lifestyle.

A phone seized from an associate had a video showing Harding in the driver’s seat of a £2.5 million Bugatti Chiron car with a tattoo on his leg clearly visible.

There were pictures of him living it up in his lavish villa at The Nest development in Dubai, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a swimming pool and rooms for maids and drivers.

Harding lived there with Liverpudlian girlfriend Charli Wylde, 33, and her daughter Milly-Mai, 15, who he treated as his own.

9

9

9

The court heard that on May 6, 2020, EncroChat user ‘thetopsking’ boasted to pals how he was taking his “Mrs” out that evening to Zuma, an award-winning Japanese restaurant in Dubai.

Investigations found that two days earlier Harding made the booking from a personal email account.

And eight days later ‘thetopsking’  boasted in messages how he was staying at the five-star Waldorf hotel in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, and sent an image of the hotel pool area via EncroChat.

Mr Atkinson said: “Enquiries with the Hilton Hotel Group showed that Harding stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in the United Arab Emirates and gave (his) mobile telephone number and produced a UAE identification card.

“During the stay, thetopsking had sent an image of James Harding relaxing on a sun lounger at, of all places, the Waldorf.”

One March 26 2020, thetopsking also wrote a message about how he had got back a Lamborghini Urus and sent an image of the dashboard.

Mr Atkinson said: “The person who took the image caught their leg in the photograph, and on that leg is a tattoo which matches the tattoo on James Harding’s leg.”

Kharouti’s home in Epsom, Surrey, was searched in 2020 after he was linked to the messages.

Police found a handset with the same number he gave to Harding.

He fled the country before being found in Turkey and extradited back to the UK.

Harding was arrested on 27 December 2021 at Geneva Airport, Switzerland, and from there Switzerland to the UK the following May.

The pair will be sentenced on Thursday.

Met Detective Chief Inspector Jim Casey,  said: “This conviction sends a clear message – no matter how sophisticated the methods, criminals cannot hide behind encrypted software.

“This operation dismantled a major supply chain and is a testament to the relentless work of our officers.

“We monitored their drug-dealing activity but then we saw the group discussing the contract killing of a rival.

“We moved fast to protect those in danger.”

“Harding and Kharouti planned to kill, we stopped that and put them before the courts.”

Harding was previously jailed for nine years when he was aged 21 for running a drug racket.

Previously, Calvin Crump, 29, of Redhill, Surrey, was jailed for 13 years and six months while Khuram Ahmed, 38, of Slough, Berkshire, got 15-and-half-years after admitting conspiracy to smuggle cocaine.

Peter Thompson, 61, of South-West London, received 21 years after he  pleaded guilty to the  same drug charge and  possessing a pistol.

A man alleged to have been the gang’s proposed hitman was cleared.

9

9

9

June 24 (UPI) — Customs and Border Protection officers earlier this month seized 695 pounds of the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine that was bound for an address in Harford County, Md.

On June 11, CBP officers seized three shipments of DMT that were transported via air cargo from Chiapas, Mexico, between May 7 and May 27, the CBP announced on Tuesday.

“The global marketplace has allowed unscrupulous people in our communities to order dangerous drugs, such as DMT, from overseas manufacturers that could hurt and potentially kill abusers,” said Jason Kropiewnicki, CBP acting area port director in Baltimore.

“Inspecting imports remains a critical component of Customs and Border Protection’s border security mission,” Kropiewnicki said. “Seizures like this are one way in which CBP helps to protect our communities.”

Each shipment contained four boxes containing a total of 100 vacuum-sealed bags filled with a powdery and brown substance, which CBP scientists identified as DMT.

The 300 bags of DMT weighed a total of about 695 pounds and had a street value of $550,000.

Commonly called DMT, the drug is a Schedule 1 controlled substance that has no known medicinal use but has a high potential for abuse, according to the federal government.

DMT is a naturally occurring substance that is found in some plants and animals and can be used as a mind-altering drug.

Large doses can deliver a high while distorting users’ senses and causing hallucinations due to the active ingredients found in ayahuasca, which is a tea that is native to South America.

Synthetic varieties of DMT are made in labs, and organic and synthetic varieties often are used recreationally to cause a short and powerful “trip” that is akin to LSD.

DMT often is known by its street names of “Dimitri,” “elf spice,” “the spirit molecule” and “the businessman’s special.”

Various cultures have used the drug for centuries for religious and ritualistic purposes.

Some studies indicate DMT might provide physical and mental health benefits, but its side effects generally negate them.

Recent research suggests DMT might increase the production of proteins that could enhance learning, memory, and synaptic formation and maintenance within the brain.

DMT also lessened the production of proteins that could cause inflammation, brain lesions and degeneration.

The soaps are lining up big scenes this coming week, with Emmerdale danger for Robert Sugden, a devastating Coronation Street drug plot and an EastEnders exit teased

There’s some really big moments coming up this week ahead on Emmerdale, EastEnders and Coronation Street.

One soap is about to air a massive week of episodes as they tackle an LSD storyline, and the serious consequences of drug use. We’ll see characters in danger, mystery scenes yet to be revealed and trouble for one character.

Over on Emmerdale, we might see someone become killer John Sugden’s next victim. Robert Sugden is left facing danger at the hands of his brother according to the soap, who has released cryptic spoilers that hint at deadly scenes.

EastEnders could be hinting at an exit too following the news Bernadette Taylor would be leaving the BBC soap. New spoilers hint at trouble involving the character, so it’s perhaps a hint of how she will exit the show.

READ MORE: EastEnders Shane Richie addresses Alfie ‘exit’ and teases huge Zoe Slater twist

Emmerdale’s Robert Sugden in danger

Robert Sugden seemingly facing a life-or-death situation next week., the soap has hinted to viewers. Ryan Hawley’s character faces danger as teased in images and spoiler lines.

While it’s being kept a mystery on what actually happens, what we do know is that John wants to get rid of his brother after seeing him as a threat. Spoilers revealed that after Robert is drugged by his date, John drives off with Robert in the back of his van.

It’s not been made clear if John has orchestrated the drugging or not, but he’s soon very much involved. Robert soon finds himself at the mercy of killer John it would seem, or at least that’s what the soap has teased, as he’s left “lifeless”.

Images see John looming with a syringe in his hand with Robert laying down in the van. But will John really go as far as to kill his own sibling? While spoilers have hinted Robert wakes up, it’s yet to be revealed if there’s more scenes with John or if he remains in danger.

EastEnders exit ‘sealed’

Bernadette Taylor’s exit storyline may have been teased, as she’s asked by cousin Felix Baker for her seal of approval over his new romance with Johnny Carter. But with her reluctant to after him covering up the murder of her brother Keanu, something Felix knows nothing about, will it come back to haunt all those involved?

Theres a strange discovery though when some weird invoices are spotted linked to the Panesar account, which Bernie has access to. She dismissed the concerns, but soon she’s questioned once more. As Ravi and Suki go to confront Bernie about the irregularities, will they make a discovery and is this linked to Bernie’s looming exit?

Coronation Street LSD horror

There’s dramatic scenes starting next week with the soap set to tackle an LSD storyline. The repercussions could be massive as multiple characters are caught up in the drama.

There’s potentially devastating scenes ahead as disaster hits the street after a house party. Aadi Alahan decides to throw a gathering, only for troublemaker Brody Michaelis to bring a bottle of LSD.

Aadi spots the drugs and kicks Brody out of the party, leading to chaos as he refuses to go before finally fleeing. But Aadi makes a decision he could live to regret when he, Nina and Summer decide to drink the LSD.

Aadi leaves his unattended only for someone else to accidentally drink it. What follows is a dramatic turn of events with Nina and Summer high only to be left terrified when they hear sirens, with it hinted something bad has happened.

As for another resident, the person who took the third cup of LSD is left in a bad way and their condition deteriorates.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

WASHINGTON — A close ally of fugitive Jalisco New Generation boss known as “El Mencho” for years orchestrated a prolific drug trafficking operation, using a semi-submersible and other methods to avoid detection, and provided weapons to one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, prosecutors say.

On Friday, José González Valencia was sentenced in Washington’s federal court to 30 years in a U.S. prison following his 2017 arrest at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under a fake name.

González Valencia, 49, known as “Chepa,” along with his two brothers, led a group called “Los Cuinis” that financed the drug trafficking operations of Jalisco New Generation, or CJNG — the violent cartel recently designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration. His brother-in-law is CJNG leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, whom for years has been sought by the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, El Mencho’s son-in-law, Cristian Fernando Gutiérrez Ochoa, appeared in the same courtroom earlier Friday to plead guilty in a separate case to a money laundering conspiracy charge. Gutiérrez Ochoa was arrested toward the end of the Biden administration last year in California, where authorities have said he was living under a bogus name after faking his own death and fleeing Mexico.

Together, the prosecutions reflect the U.S. government’s efforts to weaken the brutal CJNG cartel that’s responsible for importing staggering amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the U.S. — and track down its elusive leader. The Trump administration has sought to turn up the pressure on CJNG and other cartels with the foreign terrorist organization designation, which gives authorities new tools to prosecute those associated with cartels.

“You can’t totally prosecute your way out of the cartel problem, but you can make an actual impact by letting people know that we’re going to be enforcing this and showing that Mexico is being cooperative with us and then ultimately trying to get high-level targets to sort of set the organization back,” Matthew Galeotti, who lead the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Trump’s Justice Department has declared dismantling CJNG and other cartels a top priority, and Galetotti said the U.S. in recent months has seen increased cooperation from Mexican officials. In February, Mexico sent 29 cartel figures — including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985 — to the U.S. for prosecution.

The Trump administration has already charged a handful of defendants with terrorism offenses since designating CJNG and seven other Latin American crime organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in February. Galeotti said several additional indictments related to CJNG and other cartels remain under seal.

“We are taking a division-wide approach to this,” Galeotti said. “We’ve got money laundering prosecutors who are not just focused on the cartels themselves … but also on financial facilitators. So when we’re taking this broad approach … that’s why I think we’ve had some of the really significant cases that we’ve had, and we’ve seen a very significant pipeline.”

González Valencia pleaded guilty to international cocaine trafficking in 2022. Authorities say he went into hiding in Bolivia in 2015 after leading Los Cuinis alongside his brothers for more than a decade. He was arrested in 2017 under the first Trump administration after traveling to Brazil, and was later extradited to the U.S.

Los Cuinis used “air, land, sea, and under-the-sea methods” to smuggle drugs bound for the U.S., prosecutors say. In one instance, authorities say González Valencia invested in a shipment of 4,000 kilograms of cocaine that was packed in a semi-submersible vessel to travel from Colombia to Guatemala. Other methods employed by Los Cuinis include hiding drugs in frozen shark carcasses, prosecutors say. He’s also accused of directing the killing of a rival.

He appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit and listened to the hearing through an interpreter over headphones. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sealed part of the hearing, keeping the press and public out of the courtroom while lawyers argued over the sentence. It was not clear why the judge determined it had to be sealed. González Valencia’s lawyer declined to comment after the hearing.

In the other case, Gutiérrez Ochoa was wanted in Mexico on allegations that he kidnapped two Mexican Navy members in 2021 in the hopes of securing the release of El Mencho’s wife after she had been arrested by Mexican authorities, prosecutors have said. Authorities have said he faked his own death and fled to the U.S. to avoid Mexican authorities, and El Mencho told associates that he killed Gutiérrez Ochoa for lying.

El Mencho’s son, Rubén Oseguera — known as “El Menchito” — was sentenced in March to life in prison after his conviction in Washington’s federal court of conspiring to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for U.S. importation and using a firearm in a drug conspiracy.

Richer writes for the Associated Press.

June 18 (UPI) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug that could prevent HIV infections with just two shots every year and possibly eradicate the disease.

The drug’s scientific name is lenacapavir and it will be marketed as Yeztugo, which requires one injection every six months to maintain its effectiveness in preventing HIV infections.

Other drugs exist that also prevent HIV, but they require daily dosages in pill form and have not significantly affected the disease on a global level.

“We’re on the precipice of now being able to deliver the greatest prevention option we’ve had in 44 years of this epidemic,” AVAC executive director Mitchell Warren told the New York Times. AVAC is an anti-HIV organization.

He said recent funding cuts by the Trump administration will make it hard to distribute the drug globally.

“It’s as if that opportunity is being snatched from out of our hands by the policies of the last five months,” Warren said.

Gilead Sciences is producing the drug, which is the second long-lasting HIV prevention drug available.

The other option is cabotegravir, which is sold under the brand name Apretude and requires an injection every two months.

About 21,000 Americans use Apretude, while about 500,000 use daily oral medications to prevent HIV.

Clinical trials showed most participants who received two shots of lenacapavir every year had nearly full protection against HIV.

More than 39,000 people in the United States contracted HIV in 2023, which carries an estimated lifetime treatment cost of $1.1 million per patient, Gilead Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day told the New York Times.

Lenacapavir already is being prescribed to treat people with HIV infections that resist other medications and at an annual cost of $42,000 per patient, but most patients don’t pay the full cost.

Health insurance coverage and patient-assistance programs would cover the cost for most people using lenacapavir, according to Gilead.

The cost for oral pills taken daily is just $1 per pill, while Apretude carries an annual cost of about $24,000.

Proposed funding reductions for Medicaid and the President’s Emergency Program for AIDs Relief, commonly called PEPFAR, might greatly reduce access to the drug, according to advocacy groups.

The PrEP oral treatment still would be available, but it does not work for many people, Health Gap Executive Director Asia Russell told the New York Times.

Elijah Allman, son of pop icon Cher and songwriter Gregg Allman, landed in the hospital this weekend after law enforcement responded to a report of a man “acting erratically” in a home in the Mojave Desert.

Deputies with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on Saturday responded to the residence in the unincorporated community of Landers where Allman, 48, “was being evaluated by emergency medical personnel,” officials said in a statement shared with People. Deputies also “located drugs inside the home” and the musicians’ son was transported to a hospital.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which did not immediately respond on Monday to The Times’ request for comment and additional information, said it is investigating the incident. The statement did not reveal whether drug use led to Allman’s hospitalization but TMZ, which broke the news, reported he overdosed earlier Saturday morning. A source told the outlet Allman is “receiving the best care possible” and “lucky to have survived.”

A representative for Cher did not comment to The Times on Monday.

Marieangela King, Allman’s estranged wife, expressed support for her husband and spoke about his “unwavering commitment to sobriety and his loyalty to those he loves” in a statement to People. She acknowledged that her spouse has “faced personal challenges in the past.”

“Like many, he continues to confront his inner struggles — but it is important to recognize that he does so from a place of strength, not defeat,” she added. “Despite the assumptions that often color how his journey is portrayed, the reality is that Elijah remains grounded, focused and deeply committed to living with integrity and purpose.”

Allman has been open about his struggles with sobriety in the past, telling Entertainment Tonight in a 2014 interview that his drug addiction began before he was even a teenager. “I mean it’s just what you did, it’s just what everyone did,” he told Rob Marciano at the time.

“I [was] just looking to escape all the things in my past and that’s when you turn to those kind of drugs, you know heroin and opiates,” he said in 2014. He also recalled “some close calls and some moments of really feeling at the edge of mortality.”

Details of his alleged drug use also surfaced in December 2023 when his mother filed her bid for conservatorship to take over his finances. The Grammy-winning “Believe” singer alleged at the time that her son was “substantially unable to manage his own financial resources due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues.” Cher ended her conservatorship bid less than a year later, dismissing her petition in September 2024.

King filed a petition to divorce Allman in Los Angeles in April, citing “irreconcilable differences.” The couple, who married in December 2013, was previously headed for divorce when Allman filed a petition in 2021. In January 2024, he filed to dismiss that case without prejudice. Amid their ongoing relationship tensions, King underscored in her weekend statement, “I will always root for him.

“My support is steadfast and comes from a place of deep respect for the person he is and the resilience he continues to show,” King said.

Coronation Street bosses have revealed that they will be tackling the difficult topic of drugs by showing how they can affect the lives of young people who indulge

Coronation Street is set to air a shocking new drug storyline next week, and the consequences for the youth of Weatherfield will leave viewers stunned.

In dramatic scenes set to air on Monday June 23, Aadi Alahan throws a wild party at number 7. What begins as a harmless midsummer bash quickly spirals into chaos with “disturbing” consequences.

When Bernie Winter calls the teens out for being boring, Aadi decided to get rid of his sensible image by inviting his friends over for a night to remember. However, this party takes a dark turn when troublemaker Brody Michaelis brings a bottle of LSD to the party in the hopes of making a quick profit.

When Aadi catches him selling the drugs, he is furious and kicks Brody out. But the situation only escalates when Summer Spellman convinces Aadi and Nina Lucas to try it, claiming she took LSD while in America.

After this dangerous brush with peer pressure, Aadi divides the LSD into three drinks. Summer and Nina take theirs, but before Aadi can drink his, he’s distracted. When he returns, the drink has disappeared — and there’s a big possibility someone else gulped it down without knowing what was in it.

Meanwhile, Lauren Bolton flees the party after starting to feel unwell and soon finds herself in a terrifying situation. The exact details of her ordeal are being kept tightly under wraps, but a teaser from ITV describes it as a “nightmare” scenario.

The official promo trailer for the episode shows Summer and Nina breaking into Roy’s darkened café while high. When the sound of sirens fills the air, they huddle together in panic.

It’s clear something has gone horribly wrong, and the entire Weatherfield community will soon be facing the consequences of the teens’ actions.

This is not the first time Summer has found herself in a dangerous situation because of drugs. In 2017 she was dared to smoke Spice by Simon Barlow, and collapsed after going through with it.

That incident nearly cost the girl her life, and led to serious legal trouble for her the Barlow family and her legal guardians. Now it seems the teen has decided to risk it all for another hit, and this time is bringing Nina down with her.

Elsewhere on Coronation Street, DS Lisa Swain is set to become more protective of Kit Green after several clashes with him in the workplace. Actress Vicky Myers told The Mirror: “I think after what has happened with Tinker, Lisa really feels like she is this protector.

“She sees something in Kit that reminds her of herself but equally, she frustrates him and he does her. She knows not everything he does is above board and it doesn’t sit well with her.”

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITV X.

* Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

DONALD Trump called Elon Musk a “big-time drug addict” as his spat with the world’s richest man intensified.

The US President is said to have blasted his billionaire ex-backer as reliant on ketamine in phone calls.

2

It came after the Tesla billionaire linked Mr Trump to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Their feud went public on Thursday night as both men used their own social media platforms — X and Truth Social — to insult each other.

Mr Musk, 53, turned on the US leader, calling his Congressional spending bill a “disgusting abomination” on Wednesday.

The President, 78, has called it his “big, beautiful bill”, but Mr Musk believes it will increase national debt by an unsustainable amount.

It triggered the ugly public bust-up, with Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and accusing him of being a close associate of Epstein.

Yesterday, Mr Musk deleted the post, which was seen hundreds of millions of times.

The Washington Post reported Mr Trump used private calls to urge his allies not to pour fuel on the fire and told Vice President JD Vance to be cautious.

But the President, whose campaign took £250million from Mr Musk, is also said to have become weary with the tycoon’s alleged drug use.

He called Mr Musk an “addict” in the calls and claimed he “lost his mind” after leaving the administration.

The businessman previously admitted using ketamine, but it is alleged he became so hooked last year it affected his kidneys.

Mr Musk officially left the government last week but said he would remain as a “friend and adviser” to Mr Trump.

The President last night said he had “no intention” of speaking to Mr Musk, adding: “I think it’s a very bad thing because he’s very disrespectful”.

2

California and three other states petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Thursday to ease its new restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone, citing the drug’s proven safety record and arguing the new limits are unnecessary.

“The medication is a lifeline for millions of women who need access to time-sensitive, critical healthcare — especially low-income women and those who live in rural and underserved areas,” said California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who filed the petition alongside the attorneys general of Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.

The petition cites Senate testimony by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month, in which Kennedy said he had ordered FDA administrator Martin Makary to conduct a “complete review” of mifepristone and its labeling requirements.

The drug, which can be received by mail, has been on the U.S. market for 25 years and taken safely by millions of Americans, according to experts. It is the most common method of terminating a pregnancy in the U.S., with its use surging after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022.

The Supreme Court upheld access to the drug for early pregnancies under previous FDA regulations last year, but it has remained a target of anti-abortion conservatives. The Trump administration has given Kennedy broad rein to shake up American medicine under his “Make America Healthy Again” banner, and Kennedy has swiftly rankled medical experts by using dubious science — and even fake citations — to question vaccine regimens and research and other longstanding public health measures.

At the Senate hearing, Kennedy cited “new data” from a flawed report pushed by anti-abortion groups — and not published in any peer-reviewed journal — to question the safety of mifepristone, calling the report “alarming.”

“Clearly, it indicates that, at very least, the label should be changed,” Kennedy said.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Monday posted a letter from Makary to X, in which Makary wrote that he was “committed to conducting a review of mifepristone” alongside “the professional career scientists” at the FDA.

Makary said he could not provide additional information given ongoing litigation around the drug.

The states, in their 54-page petition, wrote that “no new scientific data has emerged since the FDA’s last regulatory actions that would alter the conclusion that mifepristone remains exceptionally safe and effective,” and that studies “that have frequently been cited to undermine mifepristone’s extensive safety record have been widely criticized, retracted, or both.”

Democrats have derided Kennedy’s efforts to reclassify mifepristone as politically motivated and baseless.

“This is yet another attack on women’s reproductive freedom and scientifically-reviewed health care,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said the day after Kennedy’s Senate testimony. “California will continue to protect every person’s right to make their own medical decisions and help ensure that Mifepristone is available to those who need it.”

Bonta said Thursday that mifepristone’s placement under the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy program for drugs with known, serious side effects — or REMS — was “medically unjustified,” unduly burdened patient access and placed “undue strain on the nation’s entire health system.”

He said mifepristone “allows people to get reproductive care as early as possible when it is safest, least expensive, and least invasive,” is “so safe that it presents lower risks of serious complications than taking Tylenol,” and that its long safety record “is backed by science and cannot be erased at the whim of the Trump Administration.”

The FDA has previously said that fewer than 0.5% of women who take the drug experience “serious adverse reactions,” and deaths are exceedingly rare.

The REMS program requires prescribers to add their names to national and local abortion provider lists, which can be a deterrent for doctors given safety threats, and pharmacies to comply with complex tracking, shipping and reporting requirements, which can be a deterrent to carrying the drug, Bonta said.

It also requires patients to sign forms in which they attest to wanting to “end [their] pregnancy,” which Bonta said can be a deterrent for women using the drug after a miscarriage — one of its common uses — or for those in states pursuing criminal penalties for women seeking certain abortion care.

Under federal law, REMS requirements must address a specific risk posed by a drug and cannot be “unduly burdensome” on patients, and the new application to mifepristone “fails to meet that standard,” Bonta said.

The states’ petition is not a lawsuit, but a regulatory request for the FDA to reverse course, the states said.

If the FDA will not do so nationwide, the four petitioning states asked that it “exercise its discretion to not enforce the requirements” in their states, which Bonta’s office said already have “robust state laws that ensure safe prescribing, rigorous informed consent, and professional accountability.”

June 4 (UPI) — Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary said he plans to review the safety of abortion drug mifepristone after a recent study raised concerns about medical side effects.

In a letter to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Makary revealed the FDA’s plan on Monday to review the abortion pill after Hawley alerted the commissioner to the study.

“As the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, I am committed to conducting a review of mifepristone and working with the professional career scientists at the agency who review this data,” Makary wrote.

“As with all drugs, FDA continues to closely monitor the postmarketing safety data on mifepristone for the medical termination of early pregnancy,” Makary added.

Hawley referred the FDA commissioner to the recent study, from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which found 11% of women experienced sepsis, infection or hemorrhaging within 45 days of taking the pill.

While Hawley said that information is listed as a side effect for mifepristone, the numbers are 22 times greater than the label warns. The study was based on insurance claims for 865,727 mifepristone abortions between 2017 and 2023.

“I’m calling on the FDA to reinstate safety regulations on the chemical abortion drug immediately. New data out today show a massive number of severe medical side effects,” Hawley said in April. “The time to act is now.”

Makary told senators during his confirmation hearing in March that he would oversee a review of mifepristone, but did not order it until Hawley alerted him to the EPPC study. The FDA commissioner did express concerns earlier this year about the Biden administration’s policy, which allowed women to access abortion drugs without making in-person appointments.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, saying the pro-life doctors who brought the case lacked standing. The court said the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine failed to prove they suffered any harm from the FDA’s policies.

President Donald Trump, who supported the Supreme Court’s decision, was also urged by Hawley to order a mifepristone review over the EPPC’s findings.

AN immune boosting drug can stave off throat cancer for years longer than current treatments, a trial found.

Recovering head and neck cancer patients treated with pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda, remained cancer-free for an average of five years.

2

That was twice as long as the 2.5 years for patients given regular chemotherapy.

The risk of tumour cells spreading elsewhere in the body was also 10 per cent lower, the Institute for Cancer Research in London found.

Pembrolizumab is an immunotherapy that is given before and after surgery.

It works by boosting the body’s own ability to seek and destroy cancer cells.

Professor Kevin Harrington, trial leader author from the ICR and consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said: “For patients with newly-diagnosed, locally-advanced head and neck cancer, treatments haven’t changed in over two decades.

“Immunotherapy has been amazingly beneficial for patients with cancer that has come back or spread around the body but, until now, it hasn’t been as successful for those presenting for the first time with disease which has spread to nearby areas.

“This research shows that immunotherapy could change the world for these patients.

“It significantly decreases the chance of cancer spreading around the body, at which point it’s incredibly difficult to treat.

“The results of this trial show that pembrolizumab dramatically increases the duration of disease remission – for years longer than the current standard treatments.”

Head and neck cancer refers to a group of cancers that can develop anywhere in the head or neck, including the mouth, the oesophagus, the space behind the nose, the salivary gland, and the voice box.

Standard care, which includes surgery to remove tumours followed by radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy, has not changed for these patients in more than 20 years, according to researchers.

The global Keynote-689 trial was carried out at 192 sites in 24 countries, and involved 714 patients.

Some 363 people received pembrolizumab followed by standard care, with the remainder receiving standard care only.

Pembrolizumab works by targeting a protein known as PD-L1, which is found on T cells and helps the immune system recognise and fight cancer.

By blocking this protein, the treatment helps the immune system fight cancer more effectively.

The treatment is already approved for use on its own or in combination with chemotherapy for patients with a certain type of head and neck cancer that has come back or spread around the body.

The trial, which is being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting, found cancer returned in half the patients given pembrolizumab after five years, compared with two-and-a-half years in those receiving standard care.

After three years, the risk of cancer returning somewhere else in the body was also 10 per cent lower among those on pembrolizumab.

‘It could change the world’

“It works particularly well for those with high levels of immune markers,” Prof Harrington said

“But it’s really exciting to see that the treatment improves outcomes for all head and neck cancer patients, regardless of these levels.”

Around 13,000 Brits develop head and neck cancers each year and 4,200 die from them.

Many tumours are linked to smoking.

Symptoms vary depending on the type of cancer but include: persistent ulcers, white or red patches, lumps, sores and pain.

2