Hyperactivity in young linked to smoking during pregnancy

Children whose mothers smoked during their pregnancy are up to nine times more likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, scientists say. US researchers found smoking acts as a trigger for the disorder when children are already genetically predisposed to ADHD.

The dangers of smoking during pregnancy are well documented. But the links between smoking and ADHD have not been proven until now. Symptoms of the disorder usually start early in a child's life. In the US the most recent study indicated that around 3.3% of children under 10 have ADHD and levels are believed to be similar here. The researchers found no relationships between alcohol during pregnancy and ADHD. The scientists contacted just over 5,000 families with twin children aged seven to 18 in Missouri. The parents were asked to complete questionnaires on their children's behaviour and their habits during pregnancy. More than 24% reported smoking during pregnancy, of whom more than 75% smoked during the entire pregnancy.
A significantly increased risk of ADHD was found in those who smoked. "The average number of ADHD symptoms was significantly higher in the offspring who were exposed to prenatal smoking," the study said. Rosalind Neuman, one of the authors, said: "When genetic factors are combined with prenatal cigarette smoke exposure, the ADHD risk rises very significantly."
John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry in which the research will be published in June, added: "These data highlight a new risk of maternal smoking, increasing the risk for ADHD in their children. ADHD, in turn, increases the risk for substance abuse. Thus, it appears in utero exposure to nicotine may help to perpetuate a cycle across generations that links addiction and behavioural problems."
A separate study, published last night, reveals that smoking cannabis while pregnant affects the brain development of unborn babies. Scientists believe taking the drug could restrict naturally occurring compounds in the embryonic brain which join up nerves and promote foetal growth.
The research centres on compounds in the body called endocannabinoids. These act in the same way as cannabis by attaching to receptors found on the surface of nerve cells in the brain. If cannabis is smoked at the same time as these molecules are released, there can be a battle for the receptors. This can disrupt the network of nerves and their formation.
Researchers in Scotland, the US and Hungary have been involved in the year-long study, led by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Anne Rajnicek, lecturer at Aberdeen University's institute of medical sciences, said: "Although we did not test marijuana-derived compounds directly, our data suggest marijuana use during pregnancy could affect development of the foetal brain."
Source: The Guardian Friday May 25, 2007

Raise age limit for buying alcohol to 21 and cut death toll

ALCOHOL sales should be restricted to over-21s, according to a new report that reveals that the drug is killing tens of thousands of teenagers and young adults in the developed world.
One in four deaths of people aged 15 to 29 in the developed world is down to drink - a total of 82,000 fatalities a year.
Males accounted for 70,000 of those deaths, meaning alcohol is responsible for a third of deaths among young men in the developing world, the Adolescent Health Study, published by the Lancet, revealed.
The figure is made up of mainly accidents when the victims are inebriated, such as swimmers drowning and drink-driving deaths.
At the launch of the study in London yesterday, doctors called for the legal age for buying alcohol to be raised to 21.
Dr Russell Viner, a paediatrician at University College London, said Britain had only just woken up to the alcohol problem, which was most prevalent in northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
He said: "We are recognising that binge drinking in young people is a serious problem. We thought it was a lot of fun, but we now realise that, particularly amongst young people, not drinking much all week and splurging at the weekend is harmful."
He said the solution was to raise the legal limit for buying alcohol to that in the United States, where the number of young people drinking has been falling for 20 years.
He went on: "I would like to see a European model where most young people drink with their family at a younger age, learning to drink in a social context. But it would be difficult to bolt this on to established Anglo-Saxon practice, so the best is probably what Americans do. We need a rethink of ages we license young people to buy various products."
The report, a collection of several studies from around the world, claims brain development continues through adolescence and can be placed at risk by the use of alcohol.
It claims that zero-tolerance approaches to alcohol are ineffective, and that harm-reduction strategies, such as random breath-testing and early intervention from GPs advising youngsters on the risks of alcohol consumption, can be more effective.
The study says that, partly as a result of alcohol misuse, there is a danger of a substantial drop in life expectancy, with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and early signs of cardiovascular disease, appearing in teenagers and young adults.
Professor Glenn Bowes, the head of the paediatric department at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said alcohol misuse was likely to cause further problems later in life.
Citing the statistic that 98 per cent of adult drinkers began drinking in their adolescence, he said: "Adults who have alcohol-related health issues often exhibit behaviour patterns that began in their teenage years.
"Preventive work needs to be done at the stage where the behaviour starts," he added.
"The education in school is important, but we really have to look at what the health system is doing. Doctors need to be shown how to talk to adolescents, so that when they come in to a GP's surgery with a cold, for example, the doctor can use it as an opportunity to ask them about their lifestyle and advise them on the health risks
Source Scotsman.com 27 March 2007

Letter from GP to an MP in Australia

Mr. Alan Cadman,
Federal Member for Mitchell,
Your Ref.: 4th October 2007

Dear Mr. Cadman,
re: NDARC Output

Thank you for your considered and thought provoking letter of 4/10/07 which arrived today. In the middle of what is obviously a frantically busy time for you, I very much appreciate your taking the time and trouble to reply in person and in detail. Thank you so much.

The output from NDARC @ UNSW can be easily measured and quantified. They are an academic research institute of PSYCHOLOGISTS whose business is simply publication. Their output may thus be easily determined by going to the NDARC home page and clicking on the link to publications. On the left are the are the various headings of the categories of papers they produce, namely reports (N=287), monographs (N=61), articles (877), books (355), resources (27), the centreline magazine (17), theses (21) and annual reports (6), a total of 1651 pieces (tabulated below).

However of far more importance is to ask “What do they all mean?” Remember that these are psychologists. They are not basic scientists or biologists, so they cannot explore much at all, will never discover a new cell pathway, or a new molecule which we can treat with a drug to make addiction better in some way. Not only will they never achieve this, as their qualifications are not in the basic sciences they do not even understand the journals which are working in these areas. And in the areas where they should have alerted the nation to the link say between cannabis and mental ill health they have deliberately misled the country since their inception. This is explained by the fact that the institute is the brain child of Dr. Alex Wodak, who as we know only too well has left nobody in any doubt as to where his sympathies lie in the drug debate.

Two recent case studies from NDARC are worth noting. The foundation director is Prof. Wayne Hall. When he realized that the epidemiological and basic neurosciences studies were strongly implicating cannabis in mental health – he had to leave not only his position at NDARC and UNSW, but even left the state, and has come to Queensland! Having been the front man for the legalization push for “weed” in NSW he has now published several papers in reputable journals on its dangers! To me this shouts as loudly as possible that the truth on addiction will not be tolerated in Sydney. As our nation’s leading city this is a clarion trumpet wake up call to all parents concerned about the obvious unravelling of youth culture. The second classic example is A/Prof Louise Degenhardt who I am now advised is a principal researcher on three NHMRC grants, and whose PhD thesis is listed near the top of the NDARC Theses page as being on cannabis and mental health. She has authored a number of papers on this subject. She has steadfastly covered up the true associations throughout her career – but has been honoured by at least three grants!

Mr Cadman, may I reiterate my urgent plea, in as strong terms as I may, that this nation can no longer afford to continue without basic sciences research in the addictions field. As I have mentioned to the FHS committee chaired so enviably by Mrs. Bishop, the dishevelled appearance of most addicts is legendary, and bespeaks an acceleration of the ageing process from which we might learn a great deal, which is directly applicable not only to other mental illnesses but also to the host of degenerative disorders to which an ageing society will increasingly become subject.

I should therefore be ever so grateful if you might please organize an URGENT appointment with the Honourable the Prime Minister so I can put my research proposal for a suite of studies along these lines to him, as per the document supplied to your committee and attested with distinction by several world leaders in these fields internationally.
Yours sincerely

Dr. A. Stuart Reece,
Visiting Scientist,
Senior Lecturer, Medical School, University of Queensland
Queensland Institute of Medical Research,
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

NDARC @ UNSW Academic Output as per publications website[1][1].

Journal Articles 877, Books 355, Reports 287, Monographs 61, Resource Sheets 27,
Theses 21, 'Centrelines' Magazine Issues l7. Total 1645

Scandal of Scots dope factories

DETECTIVES are shutting down at least one cannabis factory a week in their battle to contain an illegal industry created by reclassification of the drug, one of Scotland's leading police officers revealed last night.
Graeme Pearson, director general of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA), said cannabis factory raids north of the Border had gone from none to 66 in the space of 12 months.
In comments that will be seen as critical of senior politicians who allowed cannabis to be "downgraded" from Class B to Class C, Pearson says organised crime saw a business opportunity and quickly moved in.
Pearson said Scotland's new generation of "industrial-sized" cannabis producers could be worth more than £7m - equivalent to eight million "spliffs".
The SDEA chief spoke out after the government announced cannabis could be returned to Class B. That prompted numerous admissions north and south of the Border from politicians who admitted smoking the drug as students.
But Pearson warned that society faced much more severe problems as a result of cannabis use, including the increased strength of the drug. He also revealed that many people were working in the factories in conditions similar to "slavery".
The move to reclassify cannabis was made in 2004 by the-then Home Secretary David Blunkett. It came despite fierce opposition from many experts who claimed it gave out the wrong message.
Pearson said: "It is not surprising that the public misunderstood the reclassification message. They began to think cannabis was OK and young people took that message to mean that it cannot be too bad to use and was no big deal.
"As a result, we have gone from zero cultivation of industrial-sized cannabis factories in Scotland a year ago, to 66 today."
It is estimated that around 60% of cannabis smoked in Britain these days is home-produced, compared with just 11% a decade ago. The UK trade is run by the 'Viet-Ching', an amalgamation of Vietnamese gangsters working alongside Chinese counterparts, the Triads.
Pearson said: "I am obviously concerned about cannabis and its links to organised crime."
He added: "Each factory can house up to 1,000 plants, each capable of producing £100,000-worth of cannabis, making production in Scotland alone worth at least £7m a year."
Across the country, factories have been built in houses, flats, industrial units and farms. And just as worrying as the soaring production rates is the fact that the cannabis is today around seven times stronger than the era when many top politicians were smoking it.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said his party had long called for the reclassification of the drug, adding that the evidence "shows all too clearly the real damage this drug can do to people, especially young people".
Margaret Smith, the Scottish Lib Dem justice spokeswoman, said the drug's classification needs to be kept under review. She said: "I find these facts and figures very worrying and cannabis is a drug we need to take seriously. We should not underestimate its potential for harm."
The anti-drugs campaigner Maxie Richards said it was a mistake to have reclassified cannabis. She said: "The government never listened to us when we warned about the damage the reclassification would do. I see beautiful young people whose lives have been destroyed by cannabis. David Blunkett should be called to account for what he did."
A Scottish Executive spokesman said they remained vigilant about the drug's dangers.
Source: www.Scotsman.com Sunday 22nd July 2007

More help asked for cannabis addiction

UTRECHT –The use of cannabis remained stable between 2001 and 2005, but the number of requests for help with addiction to the substance rose 12 percent in 2005 alone. This has emerged from the annual report 2006 published by the National Drug Monitor on Tuesday.
The percentage of cocaine users also remained stable, while the number of users that reported to addiction treatment centres for help fell for the first time in years, by 2 percent. Cocaine use is significantly more prevalent among young people who frequent nightlife spots than in other segments of the population, the Monitor reported.
The number of ecstasy users also remained stable.
The number of consumers who used alcohol remained stable as well, though there are significant differences between age groups when it comes to heavy drinking. Men aged 18 to 24 drink the heaviest and are more likely to engage in binge drinking. The percentage of school students that start using alcohol at a young age increased between 1999 and 2003. Many of these children start drinking between the ages of 11 and
The number of 12-year-old who use alcohol decreased between 2003 and 2005 however. More and more young drinkers are drinking at home before going out (to save money). And binge drinking seems to be the rule rather than the exception in this group. Despite a legal ban on sales to under-16s young people have little trouble getting alcohol.
Of the 1.2 million problem drinkers only a small percentage turns to the addiction treatment services for help. In 2005 31 thousand people were treated for a drinking problem, up 5 percent from 2004.
Source: Expatica News. August 2007

Medicines watchdog cracks down on 'legal high' pills

Pills offering "legal highs" were today declared illegal by the UK medicines regulator because they contain a dangerous anti-worming agent.
Until now, drugs containing Benzylpiperazine (BZP) have been marketed in Britain as legal alternatives to ecstasy, with products including Pep Twisted, Pep Stoned, Legal E, Nemesis, The Good Stuff and Euphoria.
Many are easily available in "headshops" and over the internet, despite being banned in the US and many other countries.
However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said vendors of the drugs could face prosecution and ruled that their promotion must be stopped immediately.
MHRA research found BZP can came cause the same high as amphetamines, but also induce side-effects including vomiting, abdominal pain, seizures and abnormal heart rhythms. In extreme cases, it can cause death.
The MHRA said the active ingredient in BZP is piperazine, which is used as an anti-worming agent to tackle parasites in cattle.
"Producers and sellers must now stop marketing all products containing benzylpiperazine and piperazine blend in the UK with immediate effect, and must cancel all advertising and promotion including internet promotion and sales," Danny Lee-Frost, an MHRA spokesman, said.
"People should not take these pills, as there are considerable health risks."
He said piperazine-based products were classified as medicinal and must only be sold under licence in a pharmacy. However, BZP pills are unlicensed and there is there no safeguard over the quality or safety of the drug.
The widespread sale of piperzines in the UK was exposed by the Guardian in 2005. One pill, Twisted, was marketed as offering a "loved-up feeling with a trippy edge", while another, Stoned, was described as "mild, mellow and giggly".
Source:Tuesday March 20, 2007 Guardian Unlimited

Six-year surge in drug possession cases as figure tops 34,400

The number of people caught with drugs has soared over the past six years.
Crimes of possession have increased by 58% since 1999-2000, and in 2005-06 a total of 34,440 such crimes were recorded in Scotland, according to figures released yesterday by the Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson.
The Strathclyde region accounted for more than half of the total, while Dumfries and Galloway only recorded 663 incidents last year.
The figures came in an answer to a parliamentary question by SNP MSP Maureen Watt. She said they reflected a "serious and escalating" problem. "Such a rise has grave implications for the safety of our communities and the health and wellbeing of our nation," she said.
"These figures reflect a severe lack of positive action and policy initiatives on the part of the executive. In each year it has been in power it has allowed the situation to deteriorate and spiral out of control. The executive is fire-fighting all the time.
"What the SNP are saying is that we have got to address the root causes of drug misuse. By targeting deprivation with policies for economic growth, we will hopefully get people out of the cycle of deprivation."
The figures are not broken down by drug type, but they include heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis. They show that the number of crimes of possession with intent to supply has risen by 15.7% in six years - from 8032 in 1999-2000 to 9293 in 2005-06.
Ms Watt added: "It is good that drug dealers are being caught but for every drug dealer that is caught, at least another one will take over that patch. It isn't dealing with the problem."
A Scottish Executive spokesman said that the rise in recorded crimes reflected work by police forces and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA).
He said: "This reflects the efforts by police forces and the SDEA, which was established in June 2000 and been strengthened since then, to target those involved in peddling this evil trade.
"Their enforcement efforts have led to increases in the number of these crimes recorded, the number of people being charged and the numbers being brought to justice.
"It also reflects the success of initiatives such as the Drug Dealer's Don't Care campaign to support local communities in the fight against drugs and encourage them to provide anonymous information about dealers operating in their area to get them off our streets."
Source: The Herald Tuesday 27th March 2007

Gordon Brown cuts £50m from drugs work in funding

The Sunday Telegraph suggests that the Pooled Treatment Budget will be cut over coming years:
The flagship government scheme for treating drug addicts faces swingeing budget cuts of £50 million, it can be revealed today.
Plans to slash total funding by more than 12 per cent, outlined in an email leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, come less than a fortnight after Gordon Brown tried to show off his anti-drug credentials by signalling his desire to reclassify cannabis from Class C to the more serious Class B.
We of course know that the Young People’s Substance Misuse Grant suffered a 10% cut this year, the effects of which are now becoming apparent:
Source: Sunday Telegraph July 2007

Drug legalisation is playing Russian roulette

Willem Buiter's proposal on these pages last week for the European Union (and the world) to legalise all drugs, including heroin and cocaine, is a one-way ticket to destroying millions of children, increasing violent crime and pushing up healthcare costs.
Like most legalisation buffs, Professor Buiter suggests a regulated system where access to drugs would be prohibited for minors. Our experience with laws restricting access by children and adolescents to tobacco and alcohol makes it clear that keeping legal drugs away from minors would be an impossible dream. Teen smoking and drinking are at epidemic levels in the US and across much of the European continent. In Great Britain, keeping bars open has led to an explosion of drunkenness among teens so widespread that the government is likely to return to limited hours for pubs.
Today, the US has some 60m regular smokers, up to 20m alcoholics and alcohol abusers and about 6m illegal drug addicts. Experts such as Columbia University's Herbert Kleber believe that, with legalisation, the number of cocaine addicts alone could leapfrog beyond the number of alcoholics. The experience of European nations that have tried various shades of legalisation bears him out.
Switzerland's "Needle Park", touted as a way to restrict a few hundred heroin users to a small area, turned into a grotesque tourist attraction of 20,000 heroin addicts and junkies. It had to be closed before it infected the entire city of Zurich.
In the Netherlands, anyone over the age of 17 can drop into a marijuana "coffee shop" and pick types of marijuana just as they might choose flavours of ice-cream. As crime and the availability of drugs rose, and complaints from angry residents about the decline in their quality of life multiplied, the Dutch parliament trimmed back the number of marijuana shops in Amsterdam and the amount that can be sold to an individual.
Under decriminalisation in Italy, possession of a few doses of drugs such as heroin has generally been exempt from criminal sanction. Today, Italy has about 200,000 addicts, the highest rate of heroin addiction in Europe. Most Aids cases in Italy are attributable to drug use. England's foray into allowing any doctor to prescribe heroin was curbed as heroin use increased. Professor Buiter would have legalisation occur across all of Europe so there are no countries that are enclaves of drug use. In other words, if you like what's happened in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy, you'll love legalisation across the European Union.
Easy availability of drugs will increase criminal activity. Most violent crimes, such as murders, assaults and rapes, occur when the perpetrator is high or drunk, and much of property crime involves people seeking money to buy drugs. In the US, half the beds in most hospitals are filled with people sick or injured as a result of drug use, drinking and smoking.
Professor Buiter promotes "our cigarette manufacturers, [as] well-positioned to enter this trade" of selling heroin, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and designer drugs such as ecstasy. Talk about letting the fox loose in the chicken coop! For decades the nicotine pushers like RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, and Philip Morris have been hawking their wares to kids. Twenty years ago the cigarette company Reynolds Tobacco (RJR) created a cartoon character called Joe Camel and so heavily promoted him that more children recognised him than Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse.
Only after years of complaints from public health advocates and parents, and the threat of legal action by the Federal Trade Commission, did RJR shut down its Joe Camel campaign. RJR tried to push candy-flavoured cigarettes that mask the harshness of natural tobacco for young first-time users.
Does the world want to create a Philip Morris for weed? An RJR for cocaine? Do we want cigarette companies that by their own admission seek "replacement smokers" for those who die or quit smoking, seeking "replacement drug addicts" for those who shake their habit?
There is no basis to assume that cigarette companies will take a different approach when selling drugs. After all, these are the guys who continue to promote a product that, when used as intended, kills and maims millions of people across the world.
Professor Buiter touts taxes on the sale of illegal drugs as a great source of revenue for public purposes. This blithely ignores the history of tenacious opposition to tax increases that has marked the tobacco and alcohol companies. As a result, taxes collected on the sale of these products cover only a small fraction of the costs in healthcare and criminal justice attributable to smoking and drinking.
Legalisation assures greater availability, and availability is the mother of use. That poses a clear and present danger to our children. Research at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has found that an individual who gets to the age of 21 without smoking, using drugs or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so. Every drug-dealer, cigarette manufacturer and spirits company knows this - and acts on it. Viewed from this perspective, substance abuse and addiction are diseases typically acquired during childhood and adolescence.
Today most kids do not use illicit drugs, but all of them, particularly the poorest, are vulnerable to abuse and addiction. Russian roulette is not a game anyone should play. Legalising drugs is not only playing Russian roulette with children, it is slipping a couple of extra bullets into the chamber.
Joseph Califano
Source: www.FT.com Aug.16th 2007

Cannabis joint 'as harmful as smoking five cigarettes'

A single cannabis joint damages the lungs as much as smoking up to five cigarettes at once, researchers say. The drug forces the lungs to work harder by obstructing the air flow and causes chest tightness and wheezing, a study found.

The news comes after research published last week showed that cannabis could more than double the risk of developing psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. Experts found that any use of cannabis - even taking the drug just once - was associated with a 41 per cent greater risk.
People who smoke the most cannabis were found to be the most likely to suffer a psychotic breakdown marked by delusions, hallucinations or disordered thoughts.

Campaigners renewed their calls for the Government to reverse its decision to downgrade cannabis to a class C drug.

The experts, including Professor Richard Beasley from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, published their research today. It will be carried later in the journal Thorax.

A total of 339 volunteers underwent high definition X-rays of their lungs and took part in breathing tests to assess their lung function.
They were also asked about their smoking habits. The results showed that cannabis smokers experienced wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and phlegm.

The experts noted that the drug diminished the numbers of small airways that transported oxygen and waste products to and from blood vessels.

The extent of this damage was directly related to the number of joints smoked, with higher consumption linked to greater incapacity, the researchers said.

The effect on the lungs of each joint was equivalent to smoking between two-and-a-half and five cigarettes in one go, they added.

Source: http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2819584.ece July 31st 2007

'ENDING BINGE DRINKING HOLDS KEY TO SOLVING DRUG PROBLEM'

Delegates at the Acpos annual drugs conference this week will be shown a DVD of boys in Polmont young offenders institute, describing the natural transition for them from binge drinking to taking cannabis and other drugs, including heroin and cocaine.

For many of them, this was the reason they ended up behind bars.

The progression of young people trying cannabis and then moving on to harder drugs is a well-known argument against legalising cannabis but Graeme Pearson, the head of the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), says it is time to tackle the problem much earlier, from before the stage of underage binge drinking.

"Reducing binge drinking among 11 to 15-year-olds will decrease the numbers who go on to be involved in drugs," he says, after speaking to scores of offenders about their experiences.

To the people, including the advocate Donald Findlay, who have recently called for cannabis to be decriminalised and regulated in the same way as alcohol, he suggests looking at Scotland's worsening public health record on drinking.

National statistics revealed last week that, despite having only 8.5% of the UK population, Scotland has three-quarters of the worst 20 areas for drink-related fatalities.

Between 2004 and 2005, there were 3500 psychiatric discharges where the main diagnosis was linked to alcohol. In the same period there were 931 drug-related discharges.

"Why would we want drugs to be managed or licensed in the same way as drink and see the problems more than triple?" he asks.

"I see the Scottish habit of abusing alcohol as being inextricably tied into our experience of drug abuse at the user level. Evidence from prisoners reinforces this view. The link to an alcohol strategy will be critical. One without the other will not work."

There is growing concern not only about the increas-ing use and cultivation of cannabis since it was reclassified, but about its strength.

According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction THC, the active ingredient in herbal cannabis, has doubled in strength between 1995 and 2002.

Mr Pearson says educating young people about the dangers of substances such as cannabis and using treatment to help people come off drugs, is vital.

Sweden takes a hard line on alcohol and drugs misuse. It also has one of the lowest prevalence of cannabis use in Europe.

Its policy of a "drug-free society" has brought the introduction of new laws since the 1980s, calling for the prosecution of all drugs cases, even the very minor. Those caught for possession can be imprisoned for up to six months.

Mr Pearson said: "Sweden has taken a very hard line on drugs. But it is still about a package of education, protection and enforcement.

"Scotland surprisingly accepted the challenge of public smoking and proved it could accept the impossible. If we can change behaviour in respect of smoking after 200 years of a love affair, we should surely be capable of facing the challenge of alcohol and drugs."
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