Swedish Hells Angels feeling 'depressed': "The Stockholm chapter of the biker gang Hell's Angels is being investigated for fraud after police found 70 per cent of members were certified as depressed by the same doctor and were getting state sickness benefits. "It seems to be depressing being a member of this club," Christer Nilsson, deputy head of Stockholm police's criminal investigation department, told newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Biker gangs like the Hell's Angels and their deadly rivals the Bandidos have a history of violent crime in Scandinavia including shootouts and bomb attacks, but have also branched out into benefit and tax frauds in recent years, police say. Sweden has estimated that as much as a fifth of the workforce is on long-term sick leave or early retirement due to sickness, often put down to "burn-out""


The druggies will love this! "The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that the US Government cannot stop a small religious sect using hallucinogenic tea from Brazil that devotees says brings them closer to God. The court decided that US freedom of religion legislation trumped US government claims that hoasca was a dangerous, mind altering substance, which could be diverted to recreational users. The Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, decided the Government failed to show a compelling interest in barring the "sacramental use of hoasca" by the church, O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal (UDV). The ruling was delivered by an 8-0 ruling.... UDV rituals involve sipping hoasca tea, made from the roots of two indigenous Amazonian plants, in communion. The case arose in 1999 when US customs officers intercepted a shipment of brewed hoasca liquid from Brazil. Hoasca contains dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, which is a banned substance in the US."