In one raid, an  officer hit a fast food restaurant and arrested a 22-year-old man with  2000 ecstasy pills - which have a street value of about $80,000.

“There is a link to the Mardi Gras,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Catherine Burn told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s a win for the NSW Police force just before a major event in Sydney.”

More than 10,000 gays and lesbians are expected to march in the Mardi Gras. The drugs are believed to have been destined for the parties, raves and concert events associated with the parade. 

“The disruption of this drug supply chain has put a dent into the market and it will reduce the amount of drugs available,” Burn said.

“It’s essential that people understand we are going to target drug crime up to and including the Mardi Gras parade.”

In addition to the illegality of the drugs, HIV/AIDS workers say ecstasy and other so-called “party drugs” lead to unsafe sex.

Dear Kellog’s:

You are fools and cowards. A 23-year-old wins 14 Olympic golds and you of course want to ride his fame. The kids use a different phrase for it but this is a family site. However, when Michael Phelps gets caught taking a hit from a bong (quick question: how much cocaine has been sniffed in the Kellogg’s board room?), you decide he must be dropped because Phelps’ behavior is “not consistent with the image of Kellogg.”

You must have giggled writing that hot mess because the guy who gave the company its name was as crazy as bat doo! I was sort of hoping mature heads would prevail at Battle Creek, and you would follow the lead put out by Omega, another Phelps sponsor. The watchmakers decided the whole story was a “non-issue.” Hey Omega: once I start making some cash I’m getting one of your products!

I know what the scolds will say: Phelps is a role model to millions of youngsters, blah, blah. Heck I heard that noise at work already. They will be joined by those who think hysteria is the best voice to use when talking about drug use. Both groups engage in crazy talk. We do children a disservice when we demand heroes with feet of marble as opposed to clay. As for the anti-drug talk camp, rational conversation about drugs would be nice and to equate a bong hit with the death of civilization is waaay from rational.

But you’ve made your decision, went the safe conservative route. Goody for you. Be proud in your cheap moral outrage. Let the mind numbing scolds know how shocked (shocked!) you are by Phelps. As a proud fatty, your products will no longer cross my doorstep. When you start losing cash you’ll know who to blame.

The Food and Drug Administration gave Intelence preliminary approval in January under its accelerated approval program, which allowed J&J to market the drug. In order to gain full approval, FDA required the company to submit follow-up data on the drug’s effectiveness.

Data submitted by J&J’s Tibotec unit showed that 60 percent of patients taking the drug for four months had undetectable levels of HIV in their blood compared with 39 percent of patients taking a placebo.

Intelence is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, or NNRTI, that blocks the enzyme HIV needs to multiply.

Tibotec Therapeutics is a division of Ortho Biotech Products, L.P., a Johnson & Johnson company based in Bridgewater, N.J.

The application was submitted in late December, Merck spokeswoman Amy Rose said this week.

It was long planned as part of Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck’s strategy to increase the market for Gardasil. It prevents infection with the sexually transmitted virus and thus cancers of the genital organs.

Gardasil, launched in 2006 for girls and young women, quickly became one of Merck’s top-selling vaccines, thanks to aggressive marketing and attempts to get states to require girls to get the vaccine as a requirement for school attendance.

However, it is one of the priciest vaccines on the market, typically costing $360 for a three-dose regimen.

Gardasil had 2007 sales of $1.5 billion, but sales began slowing in the second half of 2008, after a government-funded Harvard study concluded it was cost-effective for girls but not for women in their 20s.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has two months to decide whether the application for use in males meets its standards. Reviews can then take 10 months or more.

The application includes research data from a Merck study including about 4,000 males, ages 16 to 26; Gardasil prevented 90 percent of cases of penile cancer and genital warts caused by the four common virus strains targeted by the vaccine.

The agency approved use of Gardasil in females ages 9 to 26 years old in June 2006, but last June rejected expanding that to include women ages 27 to 45. The vaccine has since been approved for use by young women in dozens of foreign countries.

A rival vaccine called Cervarix, made by Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline, is approved in many foreign markets, but generally lags behind Gardasil in sales. It is still awaiting approval in this country.

Olsen’s lawyer has twice refused requests for her to speak with investigators, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The lawyer, Michael C. Miller, said the “Full House” actress has nothing to do with the drugs, and has already told the government everything she knows.

“We have provided the government with relevant information including facts in the chronology of events surrounding Mr. Ledger’s death,” Miller said in a statement Monday, “and the fact that Ms. Olsen does not know the source of the drugs Mr. Ledger consumed.”

The official confirmed a report that Olsen wants a promise of immunity from prosecution before speaking to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Olsen was a close friend of Ledger’s, and was the first person called by a masseuse who found the 28-year-old “Dark Knight” actor’s lifeless body in his Manhattan apartment.

Authorities have obtained a subpoena that could force Olsen to appear before a grand jury if negotiations with her lawyer fail, the official said. Other potential witnesses all have answered questions voluntarily, including doctors, Ledger’s ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams and anyone who was in his apartment around the time of his death, the official added.

DEA investigators suspect the painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone found in Ledger’s system were obtained with phony prescriptions or other illegal means, the official said. Oxycodone is sold as OxyContin; and hydrocodone as Vicodin.

The other drugs, including anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills, were prescribed legally by doctors in California and Texas, the official said.

The medical examiner’s office wouldn’t say what concentrations of each drug was found, but made clear he was killed by the combination – not an excess of any one drug in particular. It’s common for the DEA to investigate an overdose death with so many different drugs involved, spokesman Garrison Courtney said last month.

The DEA’s New York office declined comment on the stalemate with Olsen, which was first reported Monday by the New York Post. There was no immediate response to a message left with a spokeswoman for Olsen.

The masseuse discovered Ledger’s body on Jan. 22. Police say she spent nine minutes making three calls to Olsen before dialing 911 for help, then called the actress a fourth time after paramedics arrived. At some point during the flurry of frantic calls, Olsen, who was in California, summoned her personal security guards to the apartment to help, police said.

Shortly after the Australian-born actor’s death, Olsen issued a statement that read: “Heath was a friend. His death is a tragic loss.”

Police say the containers originated in Thailand, and were seized in five Australian states.

In all, 150 containers were seized when customs agents became suspicious. Tests on the contests showed the containers held performance- and image-enhancing steroids, including testosterone and deca durabolin.

Police said it was doubtful the drugs were destined for gay communities, but rather for athletes.

The drugs require a ministerial permit for their use. 

“These substances have the potential to cause serious health risks,” the government said in a statement.

Police said they have search warrants to hunt for additional containers throughout the country and are working with Thai authorities to track the original source.

A number of arrests already have been made and police said Wednesday that more are expected.  If convicted, the penalty for smuggling drugs into Australia is five years in prison and a fine of up to $110,000.