National Drug Prevention Alliance

Welcome

2010-12-31T21:10:00.000Z

Welcome to the NDPA blog, we hope you'll find it interesting and useful.

The NDPA is a network of concerned citizens and prevention professionals who believe that drug-free
healthy lifestyles will protect and enhance society and its stability for present and future generations.

NDPA promotes effective policies, using all means available to its members, including prevention, education, intervention, treatment and legal processes. Our aim is to help you become self-sufficient. If you need to know more, read on.

Official reports put cost of crime, drugs and alcohol in three regions at £1.5bn a year

2010-03-30T10:25:00.001+01:00

Crime, drugs and alcohol abuse cost taxpayers in just three regions £1.5billion a year, according to official reports.
Councils in Birmingham, Luton and Leicestershire have calculated the price of social breakdown in terms of police and court time, health services, welfare benefits and support for families. In one area, the cost of binge-drinking on hospitals and the criminal justice system was put at £713million a year, while addicts used up another £500m in public sector resources.
The figures have been uncovered by the Conservatives in pilot projects commissioned by the Government but not published centrally.
Caroline Spelman, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: “It is no surprise that Labour ministers have tried to bury this bad news. “Across the country, local taxpayers are footing the bill for Labour’s broken society. The costs of social breakdown, alcohol abuse, poor schooling and drug addiction are just not confined to deprived areas – we all pay for it in our council tax bills and pay packets.
“There is no excuse for the secrecy of Labour ministers – they must come clean and publish all these reports in full.”
The 13 pilot studies were commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government a year ago in a £5m project known as Total Place. The idea was that public sector organisations in any given area could save money and improve services by improving co-operation and reducing duplication.
Earlier this month Liam Byrne, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told MPs that it was up to local authorities whether they wanted to publish their reports or not, and he declined to put copies of each study in the Commons library. But the Tories have found the results of three Total Place studies, covering Birmingham; Luton and Central Bedfordshire; and Leicestershire.
The Birmingham report found that gang-related murders and attempted murders are costing the city’s taxpayers at least £1.5m a year in police, court and prison costs. It puts the cost of the activities of “10 major dynastic gang families” at £187.5m over the past 40 years. Birmingham’s two main gangs, the Johnson Crew and the Burger Bar Boys, are each said to include three generations of five families. Their rivalry led to the fatal shooting of two teenage girls, Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis, at a New Year party in 2003.
In Luton and Central Bedfordshire, a hard core of 250 criminals is blamed for a quarter of all offences, costing taxpayers up to £112m a year.
The Birmingham report puts the cost of alcohol misuse - including public disorder, workplace sickness and health services – at £713m a year. Drug misuse is said to cost £500m in terms of treatment, mental health care, benefits payments and police time.
Leicestershire estimated that drinking costs the NHS, police, workplaces and social services £120m a year.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk 24th March 2010

'K2' poses dangers and should be illegal

2010-03-30T10:23:00.001+01:00

Editor's note: Calvina Fay is the executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation and Save Our Society From Drugs. Drug Free America educates the public about the dangers of illicit drugs. SOS conducts political activities to combat drug legalization efforts. It is a nongovernmental organization that consults with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

(CNN) -- Smokable herbal blends marketed as "legal highs" have become increasingly popular and as easy to buy as cigarettes.
The blends of exotic herbs and other plants have been sprayed or coated with one or more chemicals that, when smoked, produce euphoria. They are commonly labeled as herbal incense to mask their intended purpose. These contain drugs that are dangerous and should be illegal.
"K2" is a brand name for a dried herbal blend that can be smoked. It produces a high similar to that of marijuana but doesn't contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. Instead, K2 contains synthetic chemicals, known as JWH-018 and JWH-073, that mimic THC by acting on the cannabinoid receptors in the brain.

JWH-018 and JWH-073 are produced in China and unregulated in the United States. Similar products have been produced and marketed under names such as Spice, Genie, Blaze, Red X Dawn and Zohai. Since 2009, the Drug Enforcement Administration has been receiving reports of the abuse of these herbal products.
K2's key ingredients were invented by Dr. John Huffman at Clemson University in 1995 during medical research on the effects of cannabinoids on the brain. He found no medical benefits -- only negative side effects. Unfortunately, marijuana users reproduced the recipe, creating a legal alternative to marijuana.
Although the company manufacturing K2 is unknown, it is legally available for purchase in the U.S. by anyone, including minors.
In late 2008, herbal incense-type products that were being shipped from Europe to the U.S. were found to contain traces of another potent psychoactive chemical known as HU-210. It is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance because it is a derivative of THC with a similar chemical structure and pharmacological activity. HU-210 was also developed for experimental purposes and can be from 100 to 800 times as potent as THC.
In 2009, Germany banned the sale of Spice because tests revealed that it contained JWH-018 and yet another potent chemical, CP-47 497, developed by a drug company in the 1980s for research purposes. It produces effects similar to THC and is three to 28 times more potent.
Spice is banned by some U.S. military commands, where the potential for its abuse has been recognized. Research has linked naturally produced marijuana to health issues, including schizophrenia. With synthetic marijuana being even more potent, it is frightening to consider its potential damage.
K2 can cause increased heart rate, loss of consciousness, paranoia, hallucinations and psychotic episodes. Users report that smoking small amounts results in intense highs comparable to smoking large amounts of marijuana.
Studies in 2008 revealed that users developed chemical dependencies, withdrawal and addictive behaviors. Increasing numbers of children are purchasing synthetic marijuana products because they are legal and easier to obtain than cigarettes.
Because of the various chemicals being used, these substances are difficult to regulate. But the DEA is determining whether some or all of these products need to be controlled. More research is definitely needed. With young people using K2 more, some states are not waiting for the DEA and are moving to ban it.
Let's face it: Anytime you consume an uncontrolled or unregulated drug or a drug with unknown effects, you are taking a risk. Products like K2 are not made in a controlled environment, and those who use it are playing Russian roulette.
Schedule I drugs are defined as substances that have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. At this time, the evidence suggests that these synthetic marijuana substances should be controlled and perhaps classified as Schedule I drugs.
Making these drugs illegal makes it more difficult for dealers to push them to our children. It limits availability and sends a message that the drug is dangerous -- an extremely important message since history has shown that when youngsters perceive drugs to be harmful, they are less likely to use them.
K2 serves no apparent useful purpose, and we do not need more addicted family members, drug-impaired drivers or drug-related deaths.
The sale of synthetic marijuana is banned in Britain, Germany, Poland, France, South Korea and Russia. The U.S. should move urgently to protect the public from yet another dangerous and potentially deadly class of drugs.

Drug-misusing offenders: results from the 2008 cohort for England and Wales

2010-03-30T10:20:00.001+01:00

At the national level, 20,934 Class A drug-misusing individuals in England and Wales were identified between 1 January 2008 and 31 March 2008 to form the national cohort.

?? During the 12 months following identification, individuals in the cohort were
convicted of a total of 54,462 proven offences. This equates to a baseline rate of
offending of 2.60 offences per individual.

?? Sixty-one per cent of the national cohort were convicted of at least one offence in the 12 months following identification. Twenty-five per cent were convicted of either one or two offences, while 16 per cent were convicted of more than five offences.

?? Comparing proven offending rates by different ways in which drug-misusing
offenders were initially identified reveals that those individuals identified as drug
misusers on release from prison and who also tested positive for Class A drugs on
arrest, had a rate of proven offending that was markedly higher than any other group of offenders in the cohort (5.59 proven offences per individual).

Source: Home Office ‘Drug Misusing Offenders Cohort 2008’ published March 2010

Recovering from Drug Abuse

2010-02-18T23:44:00.003Z

Community Blog

Surfing the recovery wave

What does it take to get a wave of energy to a point where it takes on its own momentum, swelling and ploughing across a rough ocean, gathering dynamism and visibility? I’m thinking the recovery movement here and I’m watching the wave as it grows. My surfboard is getting a dusting down.

‘Tipping points’ are, according to Malcolm Gladwell, ‘the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable’. It seems to me that we’re moving toward critical mass in the UK with regard to recovery. With Government supporting recovery and a late conversion to the cause by the NTA, it would look like the environment is favourable. That’s not where I see the head of steam though. The kettle is on the boil from the grassroots up.

What can Gladwell teach us about this from his book ‘The Tipping Point’?

Well, “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts”. I think we have these kinds of people. He also says that 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the people. Sound familiar?

That’s why I think we need to support all the initiatives that bring the emergent recovery movement together. I see a little cynicism around some of this and a suspicion about motives and who has the ‘right’ to represent who.

We need to resist cynicism and stay positive. Wise, and careful and observant of course, there will be teething problems, but where recovering people and their supporters come together to spread the message of recovery (“We do recover; here’s how we did it; we’ll support you to do it too!”) then exciting things will happen.

Gladwell also says: “Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur.” It’s my impression that the conditions, the circumstances and the times are perfect for the recovery epidemic to take hold in the UK. Of course the analogy to a pandemic has been made before. Take a look here. That recovery wave, fanned by the enthusiasm and energy of recovering people is gathering momentum. It’s time to go surfing.

Comments

Thanks for this Peapod. Massively timely and very, very important. If recovery is about getting there in a way that works for you, then surely we should be applying this to our own movement. Whether or not I agree with a,b and c, doing x, y and z is not relevant. Surely if they are pushing things along as best they can, we should – not only respect – but applaud! Not that I do this all the time – so note to self, must do better!

By Michaela on 31/01/2010 at 2:11 PM -

Pucker blog, I like your quotes. I just hope things will change for the better, I like the way you say 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. Sort of gave me a guilt trip as i know my limits and have to keep my life as simple as possible. Envy those who have the commitment and energy to do all this, like Michaela on this site, and Anne Marie up in Scotland. Pucker like I said.

By MartinBailey on 31/01/2010 at 5:32 PM

Bill White once told me that they were doing some very interesting research on the prevalence of recovery in Philadelphia, PA. They were doing a survey of the city and using postal codes to map neighborhoods by the prevalence of recovery and the prevalence of drug problems. He said that they planned to use this information to identify the areas richest in recovery support and target other areas for the cultivation of a recovering community.

By Jason Schwartz on 31/01/2010 at 6:38 PM -

lol riding the waves Peapod, love it. Martin thanks for your support and questions, and Jason we have the means to map this in the UK also….. and to watch it grow.

By Annemarie W on 31/01/2010 at 9:37 PM -

The tipping point is one of my favourite books, It’s inspirational in how it shows that small things really CAN make a big difference.
I think that we (the recovery advocates, if you will) are probably still the 20% at the moment. Indeed, sometimes it can feel like you are fighting a loosing battle. One thing I am growing to understand though, the minute you become despondent and ready to give up YOU BECOME ONE OF THEM. I have seen this in many walks of life, not just in this field. Note to self: Must remain positive For everyone else, a word or 3 from Martin Luther King: “Keep hope alive” Matt

Source: Community Blog Wired-In Feb 2 2010

Drug Use - Fall and Rise

2008-07-03T22:41:00.005+01:00

It was surely not a coincidence that drug abuse declined during the Reagan years.
Dr.Herbert Kleber, interviewed on PBS's Frontline* told the truth.
"To diminish drug use, you need to de-glamorize and de-normalise drug use" in the manner of the Just Say No campaign, which "had a good effect in terms of decreasing initiation and use".
From l980 to 1991, marijuana use among high school seniors decreased from 33% to
12%, "an enormous decrease" according to Dr. Kleber. 21985-1986 turned out to be the high point of the cocaine epidemic".

Tragically, marijuana use increased rapidly again between l992 and l997 he added.
*(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/kleber.html)

The reason for the increase was because funding for prevention was cut - the
Government believing that the drug problem had been solved. It is essential that prevention funding and prevention messages continue even when there is a downturn in drug use. It will take more tha one generation to revert to the very low rates of illegal drug use in the 1950's. It is also interesting to note that research has shown that regular use of marijuana leads to the use of cocaine - thus prevention of marijuana use will also have a prevention of cocaine effect.

Is Addiction a Brain Disease?

2008-04-19T16:26:00.001+01:00

A bill introduced by Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) that would define addiction as a brain disease is moving in the Senate. Treatment professionals, mainstream scientists, and recovery advocates see it as a good thing. There are some skeptics, though.
The bill, the Recognizing Addiction as a Disease Act of 2007 (S. 1011), would also change the name of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to the National Institute on Diseases of Addiction, and change the name of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the National Institute on Alcohol Disorders and Health.
"Addiction is a neurobiological disease -- not a lifestyle choice -- and it's about time we start treating it as such," said Sen. Biden in a statement when he introduced this bill this spring. "We must lead by example and change the names of our federal research institutes to accurately reflect this reality. By changing the way we talk about addiction, we change the way people think about addiction, both of which are critical steps in getting past the social stigma too often associated with the disease. This bill is a small but important step towards stripping away the social stigma surrounding the treatment of diseases of addiction," said Sen. Biden.
The measure is garnering bipartisan support. It passed out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee in June with the backing of Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), the ranking minority committee member. "Science shows us the addiction to alcohol or any other drug is a disease," Enzi said in a statement marking the vote. "While the initial decision to use drugs is a choice, there comes a time when continued use turns on the addiction switch in the brain. That time can vary depending on factors ranging from genetics to environment to type of drug and frequency of use. Because of that and the continued stereotypes and challenges that are often barriers to people with addiction issues seeking treatment I am proud to support this legislation. Although the names of the Institutes will change, their mission -- preventing and treating drug and alcohol addiction -- will remain the same."
The politicians are taking their cue from neurological researchers led by NIDA scientists who have been working for years to find the magic link between the brain and compulsive drug use. Dr. Nora Volkow, current head of NIDA, has been leading the charge, and Biden and Enzi could have been reading from her briefing book.
"Drug addiction is a brain disease," said Volkow in a typical NIDA news release. "Although initial drug use might be voluntary, once addiction develops this control is markedly disrupted. Imaging studies have shown specific abnormalities in the brains of some, but not all, addicted individuals. While scientific advancements in the understanding of addiction have occurred at unprecedented speed in recent years, unanswered questions remain that highlight the need for further research to better define the neurobiological processes involved in addiction."
Not surprisingly, the treatment and recovery communities, anxious to see the social climate shift to one of more support and less punishment for the addicted, support the legislation. "Recognizing addiction is the next step forward," said Daniel Guarnera, government relations liaison for the NAADAC -- The Association for Addiction Professionals. "NIDA and its scientists have demonstrated overwhelmingly that addiction is not a behavioral trait, but rather is caused by physiological changes to the body that make people want to use addictive substances. This bill allows the terminology to catch up with the science."
Although the bill does little more than make a congressional pronouncement and rename a couple of institutes, it is still an important step, said Guarnera. "Yes, it's symbolic, but that symbolism is hugely important, because language should reflect medical knowledge, and medical knowledge has demonstrated that drug abuse is a physical phenomenon."
"We utterly endorse this bill," said Pat Taylor, executive director of Faces and Voices of Recovery, a treatment and recovery advocacy umbrella organization. "I think it's a great idea to rename the agencies. People with drug and alcohol problems can and do recover from addiction. Calling them 'abusers' just stigmatizes them."
Taylor and her organization are actively supporting the bill, she said. "We've sent letters of endorsement for the bill," she said. "People blame people for their drug and alcohol problems, so this is an important issue for the recovery community. We need to rethink how we talk about this."
Is addiction in fact a brain disease? Some researchers think that's too simple. Scott Lilienfeld, a professor of psychology at Emory University told ABC News last week: "What I find troubling with the brain disease rhetoric is that it's grossly oversimplified, it boils down an incredibly complex problem to not necessarily the most important explanation. You can view a psychological problem on many levels. Low level explanation refers to molecules in the brain. There are other levels including people's personality traits and moods, people's parents, environment. Higher level than this is community."
"Every level tells you something useful," Lilienfeld continued. "Brain disease is only one level among many and not even the most helpful. Implying it's the only level of explanation, that's counterproductive."
Some mavericks go even further. "No, addiction is not a brain disease," said Dr. Jeffrey Schaler, a psychologist and professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Society at American University in Washington, DC, and author of "The Myth of Addiction." "Diseases are physical wounds, cellular abnormalities. Addiction is a behavior, something that a person does. Diseases are things a person has," he argued.
"You can't will away a real disease," Schaler continued. "But people will away behaviors they don't like all the time."
Others feel that the concept of addiction itself is too imprecise. "There is no clear conception of what people mean by the word 'addiction,' and there are numerous papers on this unsatisfactory concept," said Professor John Davies, head of the Center for Applied Social Psychology at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, another prominent critic of the "addiction is a brain disease" model. Using drugs and 'addiction' are not synonymous," Davies continued, noting that many "fun drug users" become "addicts" as soon as they end up in court.
"Of course, people can and do get into an awful mess when they fail to manage their habit effectively," Davies concedes. "But look at the data. Harmful damaging drug use is heavily social-class related whereas drug use per se is less so. People give up the so-called 'disease' when their lives change, they get a new partner, a new job, a move of house."
Vietnam war veterans picked up opiate habits, but for the most part rapidly shed them upon returning home.These vets used chronically and were said to be addicted. What happened to their addictions?" "The feared epidemic did not materialize because the social factors that sustained heroin use in Vietnam had all but disappeared upon returning."
Davies sees the addiction label as having pernicious consequences for problem users as well. "It makes things far worse," he said. It makes people believe that the roots of their behavior are beyond their capacity to control, which is the last thing you need when you're trying to get someone to change their behavior."
"Those are political concerns, however, If 'disease' is a scientifically imprecise term for describing the set of conditions that are commonly known as 'addiction' -- and it seems to me that it probably is -- then Congress and NIDA probably shouldn't be using the term for that purpose. I'd be more comfortable with the bill if it used slightly different language." Still, he thinks it's probably a net positive. "I think the obvious message of the terminology shift would be to say that people with drug problems are not really criminals, and that's a good thing."
"Plus if addiction isn't a disease, there's still obviously some condition that some people have, physical for at least some of them, that makes it harder for them to make favorable choices," Borden added. "Otherwise I don't think there would be thousands of people risking arrest or overdose to inject themselves daily with heroin, or millions knowingly doing what they're doing to themselves with cigarette smoking. So I'm not sure that the imprecision in the term chosen for the discussion is such a big problem."
In principle, neither Congressional fiat, nor therapists' concerns over what the right message is to send to patients, nor advocates' concerns over what will ultimately lead to better policies, should take a second seat in this debate -- the question is fundamentally a scientific one, and a philosophical one. With Congress holding the purse strings for the bulk of addictions research in this country, however, Congress' choices now may indeed affect the language being used in the future for some time to come. And language can indeed have an impact in ways going beyond its initial purposes.
Source: Daily Dose 11th August 2007

Federal anti-drug campaign will educate youth on 'harms of illicit drug use'

2008-04-13T23:02:00.000+01:00

OTTAWA -- A new national program designed to prevent youth from using drugs received $10 million from the federal government Wednesday.

The money is slated to go toward the Drug Prevention Strategy for Youth, a new five-year plan led by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, the government-supported national agency for substance abuse. The strategy will target youth between the ages of 10 and 24 and will have several goals: to reduce the number of youth using illegal drugs, to delay and deter the onset of drug use, to reduce the frequency of drug use, and to reduce multiple drug use among those young people who do use.

The funding comes out of the government's $64-million National Anti-Drug Strategy, launched last fall. Part of that plan includes a two-year mass media campaign by Health Canada aimed specifically at youth. Health Minister Tony Clement, speaking at the Ottawa-based CCSA, said there hasn't been a "serious or significant" anti-drug campaign in almost 20 years, and one is long overdue. He said the CCSA's national prevention strategy is key to the government's plan.

"This project will reach out to young people and will provide them and their parents the plain truth on the harms of illicit drug use," said Clement. "We will discourage young people from thinking there are 'safe' amounts, or 'safe' drugs. And we will highlight the fact that, for young people, having clear and unimpaired judgment is a safety issue," the health minister said.

The CCSA's strategy will complement Health Canada's media blitz with a new consortium media corporations, marketing and advertising agencies, youth agencies and parent groups. It will reinforce many of Health Canada's messages, but on a wider platform, and with high-risk populations targeted.

According to the CCSA, the average age a Canadian tries an illegal drug for the first time is around 14 or 15, so prevention messages need to start as early as 10 years of age. Sixty per cent of illegal drug users in Canada are 15 to 24 years old, according to the national substance abuse agency, and young people are the most likely to use and abuse substances, and to experience harm as a result.

Source: Canwest News Service January 31, 2008

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a9d26354-09a5-4fc0-a6aa-89d120ed22b1

Call to halt trade in cocaine 'cutting' agent

2008-04-13T22:57:00.000+01:00

THE spiralling use of a dental anaesthetic by criminals to bulk-out cocaine deals has prompted talks between police and the government over a clampdown on its trade, The Scotsman has learned.
Several meetings have taken place between senior officers and civil servants on the supply of lidocaine, which generates tens of millions of pounds for crime gangs.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is understood to have lobbied the Westminster government to introduce legislation restricting the ability of drug dealers and middlemen to buy large amounts of Lidocaine from overseas.
Senior detectives from Scotland have also held talks with counterparts south of the Border and government officials over similar moves. Sources have told The Scotsman they are pushing ministers to introduce a licensing scheme that would force individuals importing large quantities of potential cutting agents to prove they are for legitimate use.
Also known as Lignocaine, the anaesthetic is used in liquid form by dentists and other medical practitioners. Government restrictions ensure that most lidocaine supplied within the UK ends up in legitimate hands. But it can also be freely purchased in powder form from dealers overseas, leading to the emergence of a black market.
Lidocaine - along with other commonly-used cocaine cutting agents such as benzocaine and phenacetin - are a huge money-spinner for the dealers.
Cocaine is between 80 and 90 per cent pure when it arrives in the UK, where a kilo will cost around £35,000. Sold on the street, a kilo is nominally worth about £50,000. Diluting it twice over with a cutting agent turns a £15,000 profit into a £100,000-plus reward for dealers.
A spokeswoman for SOCA said: "The use of cutting agents is at high, if not record, levels. They are often carcinogenic and, clearly, people are not getting what they've paid for. "You can import Lidocaine but it is illegal to import large quantities with the purpose of mixing it with cocaine."
A senior Scottish police source added: "The availability of these agents is a major concern. Although some are harmless in themselves they are generating massive amounts of money for organised drug-dealers."
Steven Ward, crime co-ordinator at the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said police were "taking all steps possible to disrupt the ability of organised-crime groups to traffic cocaine". As The Scotsman revealed yesterday, police are urging so-called recreational users to consider the social and human cost of producing and supplying cocaine - a change in tactics that reflects the growth in demand for the drug in recent years.
Tom Wood, chairman of the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams, gave cautious support to the proposed restrictions. "This makes a lot of sense. But it has to be thought through - if you reduce the availability of benign substances, dealers may move to less inert cutting agents."
How added chemicals boost dealers' profits
LIDOCAINE, benzocaine, phenacetin and manitol have been identified as commonly used agents for cutting cocaine in the UK.
Phenacetin is principally used as an analgesic. Lidocaine and benzocaine are used as local anaesthetics. Manitol is used in the food industry as a sweetener. Phenacetin is believed to be carcinogenic and toxic to the kidneys, while the other three are harmless.
The cutting agents can be obtained easily and cheaply from overseas. Licences are only required if the chemicals are to be altered or re-packaged before selling on. Personal imports and use of these agents have been rising in the last 18-24 months.
Phenacetin is one of the most desired cutting agents because of its similarity in appearance to cocaine. Cocaine cut with phenacetin can thus be sold to buyers further down the supply chain as being of high purity.
Cocaine sold at street level has decreased in purity from 30-40 per cent to 20-30 per cent in the last two years, indicating a growth in the use of cutting agents after import into the UK.
Source: The Scotsman 15th May 2007

Abuse of cannabis puts 500 a week in hospital

2008-04-13T22:53:00.001+01:00

The public health impact of the Government's decision to downgrade cannabis is disclosed today in official figures showing a 50 per cent rise in the number of people requiring medical treatment after using the drug.

Since cannabis was downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug, the number of adults being treated in hospitals and clinics in England for its effects has risen to more than 16,500 a year. In addition, the number of children needing medical attention after smoking the drug has risen to more than 9,200.Doctors say cannabis abuse can contribute to a series of mental health problems

Almost 500 adults and children are treated in hospitals and clinics
every week for the effects of cannabis.Its health toll is revealed in official data compiled by health authorities and obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

Drug campaigners last night said the figures proved Labour's decision to reclassify cannabis in January 2004, which made the penalties for its possession less severe, was badly mistaken and had sent out the wrong signals about it being a "soft" drug.

Doctors say cannabis abuse can contribute to mental health problems
including forms of psychosis, paranoia and schizophrenia. There can be
harmful physical side-effects, disrupting blood pressure and
exacerbating heart and circulation disorders. The data will add to the pressure on Gordon Brown to reverse its reclassification when a review of the decision by Home Office scientific advisers concludes in the Spring.

Elizabeth Burton-Phillips, a leading campaigner on drug issues since her son, Nick Mills, killed himself in despair at his addiction four years ago, said: "These results are shocking and dreadful. What more evidence do you need? You cannot sweep this under the carpet any longer. Children have to be told of the dangers of this what is wrongly called a young minds."

James Clappison, a Conservative member of the Commons home affairs
committee, said: "The reclassification of cannabis sent the wrong
message and was clearly the wrong decision. These figures show the
evident dangers of cannabis abuse and support the case for the drug
being restored to Category B."

The health authority figures show that 16,685 adults were treated by
English hospital trusts after abusing cannabis in 2006-07. The previous
year, it was 14,828 - up from 11,057 in 2004-05.

The data also shows that the number of children treated for using
cannabis has risen from 8,014 in 2005-06 to 9,259 last year. In total,
25,944 people were treated for cannabis use last year - around 498 a
week. In addition, around 70,000 people are treated for mental disorder
as outpatients each year.

The figures suggest health authorities are treating more people for
cannabis abuse than there are patients who have heart bypass operations
or treatment for colon cancer. Some 21,000 people a year have a bypass
operation and colon cancer is contracted by some 22,000 people a year.

Downgrading cannabis to a Class C drug placed it alongside steroids and
some prescription anti-depressants. Possession of them can lead to a
two-year prison sentence, but charges are rarely brought against people
found with small quantities of such drugs. Class B drugs however, include more dangerous substances such as amphetamines. People found in possession of Class B drugs can face a five-year jail term and an unlimited fine.

There is no "substitute medication" available to treat cannabis
problems, so the majority of National Health Service treatment is
carried out by psychiatrists, therapists and counsellors.

The independent review into its reclassification, by the Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs, was prompted by growing concern about
the increasing prevalence of new high-strength forms of cannabis.
So-called "super-skunk" leaves can be twice as potent as more
traditional cannabis resin. Advocates of downgrading or legalising cannabis say the risks are low compared to those of alcohol and tobacco. Some sufferers of chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis say the drug provides vital pain relief.

Many doctors say the risks outweigh the benefits, and the British
Medical Association yesterday said the latest treatment figures
strengthened its opposition to the decision to downgrade the drug.
A BMA spokesman said: "This is drug that is mostly smoked, so that can
cause lung damage and cancer. There are also concerns about the
potential negative effect cannabis has on users' psychiatric state."

Addaction, a charity that treats people with drug problems, warned that
children suffered particularly from cannabis abuse. "Young people often
use cannabis at crucial development stages in their lives, and it does
have serious impacts on mental health and physical development," a
spokesman said.

Last night, the Department of Health insisted that the rising numbers of treatments reflect improvements in drug treatment and not rising
cannabis use.

However, the department also announced yesterday that the budget for the National Treatment Agency, which co-ordinates drug treatment, will be frozen at 2007 levels for the next three years. The agency will also be expected to find "efficiency savings" of £50 million a year from its
£398 million annual budget. Despite the freeze in his budget, Paul Hayes, the head of the agency, insisted that the number of drug treatments it can fund will rise.

"By becoming more efficient at delivering the best outcomes for
individuals we will be able to continue to increase the number of people into treatment, while increasing treatment effectiveness," he said.

Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, said Labour was
wasting vast amounts of money. "The Government is ignoring the fact that its drug treatment policy is fundamentally misguided. Conservatives have promised to introduce abstinence-based treatment for drug addicts to help them get off drugs for good," he said.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/11/ncnbis111.

Cannabis link to 80 per cent of new mental cases

2008-02-13T10:55:00.000Z

By MATTHEW HICKLEY

Eighty per cent of patients newly-diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses are heavy users of cannabis, scientists have warned ministers.

The shocking figure emerged in a dossier submitted to Whitehall drug advisers as Gordon Brown weighs up whether or not to reverse Labour's "softly-softly" policy of downgrading cannabis. Campaigners have pointed to a flood of scientific evidence on the devastating damage the drug can do to mental and physical health.

Much of it has come in the four years since David Blunkett decided to reclassify cannabis from Class B to Class C, so that most users caught by police no longer face arrest or a criminal record. The Prime Minister ordered a review of that policy last summer following years of warnings that stronger "skunk" varieties of cannabis are wreaking havoc on users' mental health.

The Government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs will take evidence from leading academics next week before sending its latest official advice to ministers. Psychiatrist Professor Peter Jones, of Cambridge University, says in the dossier that eight out of ten newly-diagnosed psychiatric disorders affect heavy or dependent cannabis users.

He warns that children who are starting to smoke cannabis as young as ten or 11 could be trebling their risk of schizophrenia. Other new evidence of harm to mental health includes a UK study suggesting that by 2010 as many as 25 per cent of all cases of schizophrenia would be actually triggered by cannabis use. In a letter published in the Times yesterday, leading researchers and policy experts urged ministers to read the evidence and to toughen the law again.

A U.S. study found that smoking just half a cannabis joint could trigger schizophrenia-related symptoms.

Biologist Mary Brett of the Europe Against Drugs campaign, a signatory to the letter, said: "Every single piece of research around the world now emerging is bad news." A Home Office spokesman said: "We have always said that cannabis is an illegal and harmful drug. But to tackle drugs in the most effective way we need to monitor and review the ways in which we reduce the harm caused by illegal substances. That is why we are reviewing cannabis classification."

Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health Jan 2008

'ENDING BINGE DRINKING HOLDS KEY TO SOLVING DRUG PROBLEM'

2008-02-13T10:52:00.000Z

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."

Source: The Herald, Pubdate: Wed, 28 Feb 2007

Beyond 2008

2008-02-13T10:40:00.002Z

On January 24th and 25th, Drug Free America Foundation and Project: SUNDIAL hosted "Beyond 2008: Non-Governmental Organizations and United Nations Collaboration on Global Drug Policy," one of nine regional gatherings held around the world. More than 60 representatives from key stakeholders in the drug policy, prevention and treatment fields from the US and Canada gathered in St. Petersburg, Florida, to contribute their expertise to help shape international drug policy and develop partnerships between the UN and NGOs around the world. The findings of this and the remaining consultations will be presented to the UN at the General Assembly Special Session in 2009.
Source: DFAF Press Release Jan. 2008

Cirrhosis in young people doubles over last decade

2008-02-13T10:33:00.002Z

The number of cases of alcohol related cirrhosis of the liver has more than doubled amongst young people aged 25-34 over the last decade, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats. The new figures from parliamentary answers provide a breakdown by age group of the total number of cases of alcohol related cirrhosis of the liver, which has also soared nearly threefold.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Sandra Gidley MP said: “The UK has one of the worst binge drinking problems in Europe. Ministers should have woken up to this issue and taken action years ago. It is especially worrying to think how early these young people must have started drinking to get so ill. These tragic cases are symptomatic of the serious and growing problem of underage drinking. Health professionals have repeatedly warned ministers about the increasing danger of binge drinking amongst our young people, but too little has been done.
"The Government’s obsession with hospital waiting times means it has ignored prevention. The root causes of ill-health must be understood and the balance shifted towards prevention rather than cure.” 24dash.com
The Parliamentary question from Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many diagnoses of alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver there were in each of the last10 years, broken down by age.
The figures are available on Hansard here.

Source: Alcohol Policy UK March 21, 2007 Permalink

Heroin's Child: A shocking image of a lost innocence

2007-12-30T11:54:00.000Z

A COMATOSE heroin addict sprawls in a school doorway with a needle by his side - as his toddler daughter cuddles him in a pitiful bid to stay warm. Just 10ft away, the man's six month-old baby daughter cries hysterically with no cover on her pram. The shocking pictures illustrate the grim reality behind damning statistics that show 120,000 children are living with addict parents.
Children's charities last night described the images as "appalling and frightening" And Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill said: "This shows the extent of the problem that drugs cause in our communities. When a wee toddler is discovered in circumstances like that, it is just so shocking.
"It really does highlight the tragedy and misery that drugs like heroin can bring." The father was found by a businessman alerted by the baby's crying. He said the toddler - dressed in pink tracksuit bottoms, pink and white trainers and a white T-shirt - was sound asleep but the baby looked distressed. The father's shirt sleeves were rolled up to reveal heavilytattooed arms. Around him lay the paraphernalia of drugs - discarded needles and a soup spoon for cooking heroin.
On the left of the picture, on the school step, a syringe and empty wrapper are clearly visible.
We are not naming the man because to do so would identify the vulnerable toddler and baby girl still in his care. But he remains the girls' legal guardian and lives with them and his wife in a house in Clackmannanshire. He is on a fast-track rehabilitation programme for heroin abusers and receives prescription methadone. The 39-year-old has a long history of drug abuse and was jailed for five years in 1994 for a serious sex assault. He claims the "drug works" were not his but admitted he had been drinking heavily with friends who were injecting heroin. On the day, he had appeared in court on another matter. He said: "I was told my dad was going to hospital and I wanted to take the children because my father loves them.
"I went to the Spar and got a half bottle and I also had a half bottle of vodka in the house which I had had a few out of. Me and the older child sat on the grass then I think I crashed out. I'm sorry for what has happened."
The businessman who took the photos on his mobile phone said: "He was gone. He had been that way so long that the girl was also asleep cuddled into him and the baby in the pram was crying her lungs out. He was dead to the world in broad daylight with two vulnerable children in his care. There is a busy road just a few steps away. It beggars belief that this idiot could still be responsible for these girls. The school where he was found is a notorious shooting-up location for addicts. There are new needles appearing there all the time."
Children's charity leaders described the case as "extreme" but said similar scenes were frequent behind closed doors across Scotland. Tom Roberts, head of public affairs at Children 1st, said: "It does paint a graphic picture of Scotland in 2007. "It is an appalling and frightening image. Services for addicts need to identify where children may live with someone misusing substances and ensure plans are put in place to protect them. We know with the right support, parents can overcome their addiction and maintain relationships with their children. However, we also know that support services are over-stretched and not always available when needed."
Last week chief medical officer Harry Burns revealed at least 120,000 children in Scotland live in homes blighted by drug and alcohol abuse. He warned: "Services are unable to prevent severe harm to many children. The Aberlour charity believes the real number of exposed children could be as high as 160,000. That is more than one in 10 children in Scotland, or three pupils in every class of 30. Aberlour said: "Parental substance use can affect children in many ways. The stigma can lead to isolation and susceptibility to bullying. Children may fear the family being split up by social services and may try to protect it by becoming withdrawn socially and conceal the harm they are experiencing."
Roberts said: "Many children in these situations assume a role as carer to their parents and siblings. Of the 2288 children on the child protection register in Scotland in March 2006, 45 per cent of these were categorised as having been neglected. We remain concerned that alcohol or drug misuse has pervaded Scottish culture and that this acts as a barrier to real change. Helping parents to stop misusing drugs or alcohol is the best solution for children, the best solution for communities and the best solution for individuals themselves."
It is not only the children left in the street as their parents lie comatose who are at risk. Children left in bedrooms as their parents lie unconscious through drink downstairs are in as much danger. But sometimes it can be hard to find help. A report by Children 1st stated: "People often have to wait weeks or even months to get the help that they need. This is especially regrettable given that pregnancy or parenthood can often be the trigger to encourage someone to end their drug or alcohol misuse." In the Central Scotland case, both girls are still at home with their father. This may appear to be a mistake by social services but they could also be at risk if put into public care. The report states: "The reality of our public care system is that it fails many of our young people, with outcomes such as low educational attainment, increased risk of drug use, mental illness, homelessness and offending, and a lack of identity and self-esteem. Before we can be confident of giving Scotland's most vulnerable children a safer, happier and more secure childhood, much more needs to be done to address the failings of our public care system."
Shown the pictures, Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: "What an indictment of the society in which we live. These photographs are truly heart-rending." Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: "Sadly, there are cases like this and it will be shocking for people to read. We need more childcentred policies in government, we cannot tolerate this type of behaviour."
Clackmannanshire Council, who deal with the family, said: "Emergency duty social workers were involved in this case as soon as it came to light Social workers from Clackmannanshire Council's Child Care Service continue to be involved to ensure the future safety of the children."
This highlights the misery that heroin can bring It paints a graphic picture..an appalling and frightening image'
Source: Sunday Mail Nov. 25 2007

'Health disaster' fear as pupils turn to cocaine

2007-12-30T11:43:00.000Z

Drug dealers are targeting schools and a "worrying number" of youngsters are trying cocaine, an expert warned yesterday. As a result, the country is heading for a health care disaster, Prof John Henry, the UK's leading expert on illicit drug use, told The Daily Telegraph. He predicted a dramatic rise in heart attacks, strokes and neurological problems among young people. He spoke as a new report said that almost one in five secondary school pupils in England, some as young as 11, took illegal drugs last year.
The number of children aged 11-15 dabbling in drugs was contributing to an increase in the number of adults addicted to Class A drugs such as cocaine, with massive knock-on costs for the NHS. Hospital admissions linked to illegal drugs have tripled in five years.
The report was published by The Information Centre for Health and Social Care, a Government-funded body. The number of pupils who told researchers that they had used drugs in the previous month had fallen slightly over a five-year period. But the report said that the numbers who took cocaine or ecstasy in the past year have not dropped and represent four per cent -- or around 140,000 children.
Around 17 per cent of pupils took some kind of illegal drug, rising to 29 per cent among 15-year-olds. Nearly one in five at secondary school were offered Class A drugs such as ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms, and amphetamines.
The report, which also looked at adult drug-taking in England and Wales, found that the number of cannabis users was down, from 10 per cent to eight per cent, but cocaine was the second most common drug.
Those taking Class A drugs rose in the past eight years from 2.7 per cent to 3.4 per cent, about 1.4 million adults, mainly due to an increase in cocaine use. Prof Susan Paterson, a toxicologist at Imperial College, London, who works with coroners on heroin deaths in the capital, said: "Ten years ago we hardly saw cocaine. Now it is commonplace."
Prof Henry said: "If dealers can find a new audience they will go for it. It is very brutal, very aggressive. "If you have a large number of people trying cocaine, you will have more people addicted." Cocaine usage had peaked in the US but was still on the rise here "which means the worst is yet to come, we're going to see more severe addiction, more strokes and heart attacks in young people, and more of the other complications linked to its usage".
There were 171 deaths from cocaine in 2005, up from 19 in 1996, but the professor said the figure was a gross underestimate because many cocaine users died of heart attacks and strokes. Prof Henry said: "We did research into people with chest pain and we found that about 30 per cent of people coming into hospital under 40 had taken cocaine." Cocaine use has been boosted because it has become more socially acceptable and the supply is more plentiful. A gram wrap costs as little as £45 and experts fear its use will soar until it reaches a peak, as it did in the 1990s in the US, where there are now 25 million users and two million addicts. According to the report, three per cent of pupils who said they had taken drugs in the past month were just 11 or 12 years old.
In 2006, 17 per cent of boys had taken drugs in the past year and 10 per cent in the past month. The figures for girls were 16 per cent and eight per cent respectively. Meanwhile, the numbers of adults in hospital where drug use is a factor has risen nearly threefold in 10 years to 38,364, while drug treatment centres are overwhelmed, with 181,390 drug users visiting them last year - up 13 per cent in 12 months. Some 8,200 pupils in 290 schools completed questionnaires last autumn for the survey.
Source: Daily Telegraph April 2007

Youngsters having treatment for drug abuse up by a fifth

2007-12-30T11:38:00.000Z

The number of children between nine and 15 sent for drug treatment shot up by a fifth last year, according to official figures
The number of children between nine and 15 sent for drug treatment shot up by a fifth last year, according to official figures. More than 9,000 were sent on courses to try to curb the drug abuse that led them into crime and anti-social behaviour.
Most were ordered to take drug treatment by the courts after convictions for crimes seen as linked to their drug habit. The majority sent for treatment were found to be using cannabis. But an increasing proportion are taking other drugs, notably cocaine.
The figures, released by the Department of Health to MPs, show a 20 per cent rise in the number of children entering treatment for drug problems, up from 7,500 in 2005-2006 to 9,031 in 2006-2007.
The number who were said to have their main problem with cannabis was 5,037, 56 per cent of the total. The previous year there were 4,567 who gave cannabis as their predominant drug, 61 per cent of the total.
Campaigners against drugs warned that the assumption among many adults that taking drugs is harmless has contributed to their growing use by children.
Mary Brett, of Europe Against Drugs, said: "This is what happens when the common attitude to drugs is that taking them is normal. "We are finding children acting as runners for dealers and committing crime themselves to pay for drugs. Children are also unlikely to take notice of all the information about cannabis as a cause of psychosis that older teenagers are aware of.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: "These figures reflect the massive improvements that have been made over the past few years in engaging more people in effective drug treatment. "We have seen a reduction in cannabis use across all age groups.
But the MagistrateAssociation reported recently that the Government’s decision to downgrade the criminal status of cannabis in 2004 has produced a boom in youth crime, notably among 12 and 13-year-olds.

Hyperactivity in young linked to smoking during pregnancy

2007-10-11T18:32:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-11T18:29:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-11T18:21:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-11T18:19:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-11T18:16:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-11T18:11:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-11T18:03:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-11T17:59:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-11T17:50:00.000+01:00

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'

2007-10-11T17:45:00.000+01:00

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'

2007-10-11T17:40:00.000+01:00

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."
__________________________________________________________________________

Drug switch linked to meth trade

2007-07-31T19:50:00.000+01:00

The Health Secretariat, along with the Federal Commission for the Prevention of Health Risks, is promoting the idea that manufacturers of anti-flu drugs should substitute phenylephrine for pseudoephedrine
The Health Secretariat, along with the Federal Commission for the Prevention of Health Risks, is promoting the idea that manufacturers of anti-flu drugs should substitute phenylephrine for pseudoephedrine .
The government is recommending that phenylephrine - which has similar characteristics to pesuedoephedrine, but of shorter duration - should be utilized in over-the-counter anti-flu medication.
The Health Secretariat (SSA) signaled it is toughening the rules regulating the importation of the chemical pseudoephedrine, used as a precursor ingredient to make the illegal narcotic methamphetamine.
The government has restricted the importation of pseudoephedrine to just four ports of entry: Manzanillo, Ciudad Juárez, Veracruz and the Mexico City airport.
Vehicles transporting loads of pseudoephedrine from customs to medical laboratories should be tracked with special security measures, the government says. It also said facilities receiving shipments of the chemical should also upgrade their security.

AIM-listed Cozart to help Scottish police with drug tests

2007-07-31T19:28:00.000+01:00

Scotland’s drug users are facing a new threat to their freedom.
The Scottish Executive has awarded a contract to Cozart, an Oxfordshire-based forensic testing group, to supply portable drug-testing services for those arrested in Scotland.
Under a new policy approved last year by the Executive, all Scots arrested for so-called “trigger offences”, such as robbery and burglary, could be subject to saliva-based tests to determine whether their crime is linked to drug abuse.
Initially, the pilot project will cover three police stations in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, but the scheme could be rolled out more widely if deemed a success by the police, who are trying to destroy the link between drugs and acquisitive crime. Suspects who test positive for heroin or cocaine will be channeled into drug treatment programmes.
Cozart, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market, already supplies its RapiScan testing equipment to 173 police stations in England and Wales under a similar scheme introduced last year.
RapiScan is a portable device that can be used by police to check for the presence of a number of substances in bodily fluids. It tests almost 20,000 people arrested in England and Wales each month.
The two-year contract in Scotland will come into effect in June, with options to extend it for a further two years. Financial details of the contract are not known.
After the launch of the pilot project last year, Hugh Henry, the Scottish Deputy Justice Minister, said: “Around a third of all recorded crime in Scotland is related to drugs and more than three quarters of those sentenced by the courts to a custodial sentence show signs of drug misuse and drug-related offending.
“We need effective interventions that nip drug-related offending in the bud and channel offenders into the treatments we are supporting. These pilots will give adults with drug problems in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen an incentive to engage with services and get the help they need.”
Cozart develops and manufactures drug-testing equipment, including kits for on-site testing of saliva and crime scene laboratory testing.
The company, which also has subsidiaries in Italy, Spain and Sweden, sells kits to police and law enforcement agencies, as well as to employers who operate drug-testing policies.

Up to 80% of new Scottish prisoners who test positive for drug abuse
£66.7m Amount Scotland invested in drug treatment in 2005-06
Source: http://www.timesonline.april/ 2007

School gives out nicotine patches

2007-03-14T18:34:00.000Z

The Metro reports that children as young as 13 are being given nicotine patches at a school in an
attempt to help them smoking.

In a project, pupils take breath tests before morning lessons to check the levels of nicotine in their bodies.

If they have smoked before they get to school they are given a nicotine replacement patch by a school nurse.

The controversial idea was brought in at Greencroft High School, before the summer break.
Seven girls, aged 13 and 14 sought help because they smoked between ten and 20 cigarettes a day.

The breakthrough came when they took part in the dangers of addiction course and were asked
about their smoking habits. In addition to patches they were given a hotline number to call if
they felt unable to resist the urge to light up.

Four girls managed to stick to the regime and remained tobacco free for two months.

Now 30 of their school mates want to join the programme when they return for the autumn term
in September.

The Department of Health said it welcomed any effort to discourage under 16s from smoking.

According to most recent figures, six percent of British 13 year olds smoke regularly and 22 percent
of 15 year olds. However, ASH believes many children start as young as nine.

Spokeswoman Amanda Sandford said: "If they start as young as nine or ten, then by thirteen they could
be showing all the signs of addiction an adult smoker would. For those children, it is quite reasonable
to be given help with nicotine patches. As long as it is done in a controlled way with a teacher or
a nurse keeping an eye on them, I don't see any problem."

Source: Metro, Daily Mail, Daily Express, 13 August 2004

High Times

2007-03-14T18:31:00.000Z

This month's 30th Anniversary edition of High Times Magazine has some interesting information that you may or may not already know. In articles by Richard Stratton, Rex Weiner and Ed Dwyer, there is reporting of marijuana use by Norman Mailer and Hugh Downs--something I've always suspected, but never have seen in print.

In his editorial in the same edition, Richard Stratton presents an interesting history of High Times if you are interested.

In the September issue, an article called "NORML 2004: A Conference of Heroes" states many of the goals of the pro-drug movement. Steve Bloom, as he accepted an award, said, "It's my great pleasure to know and work with all of you as we move closer to our ultimate goal, marijuana legalization."

The movement's agenda is laid out in an article "Ten suggestions for the Pot Movement." They include: support for medical marijuana, buy hemp products, resist drug testing, support pot smokers and reach out to the mainstream, among others. These articles help connect all the "dots" together.

Source : email from prevention worker in the USA to NDPA Nov. 2004

REAL COST OF CANNABIS

2007-03-14T18:26:00.000Z

The following letter was printed in the Worthing Herald(UK) news paper on 10 sept 2003,and is very relevent to the item in The Times Jan'04

Regarding cannabis cafes, I work as a charge nurse at a local psychiatric hospital and and my colleagues have noticed a considerable increase in the number of people presenting with conditions caused by, or aggravated by cannabis use.This increase coincides with the time that Worthing has been home to cannabis cafes. I would be interested to see what the figures would be from an official audit of admissions to Meadowfield during the rest 12 months compared to a previous period. I feel that this cost to society in terms of expensive acute in-patient resources, and personal cost to peoples lives, is largely un-remarked upon by pro cannabis campaigners.Personally, I notice that many supporters present at court cases related to the cafes are not Worthing residents but are people with a vested interest. My impression is that there are not many local residents keen to see cannabis cafes thriving in Worthing. For these and many other reasons I fully support police efforts to close the cafes and thank police for the work done so far.

Forget your studies, now universities offer a ‘life experience’ shortcut

2007-03-14T18:23:00.000Z

Forget your studies, now universities offer a ‘life experience’ shortcut
How being a drug addict can help win you a degree
‘Encouraging Drug Use’

By Laura Clark
Daily mail August 2003

FORMER drug addicts are being offered a shortcut to a university degree on the basis of the ‘valuable life experience’ they have gained. They will be allowed to skip extensive periods of formal study if they can prove their ordeal and recovery was relevant to their course.
The astonishing deal is being offered as part of a new higher education scheme titled the Accreditiation of Prior Experiential Learning, which allows universities to waive up to two thirds of courses if students can show their previous experience overlaps with material covered in lessons.
This has been interpreted by Glasgow Caledonian University to offer recovering drug addicts the chance to offset formal study in the preliminary stages of a social science degree.

Another university advises students they may be able to count holiday work as a lifeguard towards a degree In sports science.
Critics lambasted the scheme yesterday as further evidence of dumbing down in higher education.
Shadow education minister Graham Brady said: Life experiences are important for everyone. But however significant those experiences, they can be no substitute for serious academic study.

‘It is particularly worrying if drug addicts are being given an advantage over those who have studied and worked bard.’
Other examples also raised eye-brows. Angila Polytechnic University advises students on its website: The experience of being a holiday life guard has no relevance to a degree In electronics, but would probably have some relevance to a degree in sports science.’
The Quality Assurance Agency, the higher education watchdog, has become so concerned It plans to launch new guidelines to stop dubious uses of the APEL scheme. Wide variations in how universities apply the rules emerged at a recent meeting hosted by the QAA. It revealed that in a few cases, up to two thirds of an award is eligible for APEL’. This means that some students would be able to complete a three-year degree course in a year. Students must pay a charge If they wish their pre-university experiences to be assessed under APEL. This can be anything from a few pounds to £100. But in some cases the assessment involves little more than an informal meeting with an academic.

Explaining the plans at Glasgow Caledonian, Paula Cleary a research fellow at the university. said: The kind of experiences they (the addicts) had had were relevant — they had had to gather information to learn about how to cope and they had to undergo the process of counselling, for example.

Mary Brett, a grammar school teacher in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, said she was thunderstruck’ by the idea and warned it could encourage children to experiment with drugs. ‘It certainly isn’t a deterrent if they know the experience can help their future.’

Gone to pot

2007-03-14T18:21:00.000Z

By Den Taylor
Daily Mail, 13 January 2004

So this is what happens when the police take the law on cannabis less seriously. In the London borough of Lambeth the experiment of a softly-softly approach to the drug led to an explosion In its use. From the end of this month the Lambeth approach will be effectively introduced across the country as cannabis is downgraded to a ‘Class C’ substance. There is a real danger that cannabis use across the country will soar as teenagers assume they are safe from arrest and that it is acceptable to use the drug From whatever angle this is looked at, It Is a totally wrongheaded reform.

Cannabis Explosion

FEARS over the legal downgrading or cannabis increased last night as figures showed an
explosion in its use. Police in the London borough which pioneered a softly-softly approach to the drug have reported a three fold increase In the number of those caught with It. Anti-drug campaigners said last night that the trend suggested demand for cannabis will rocket when it is formally reclassified as a Class C substance later this month. The statistics are taken from crime figures Lambeth widely seen as a template for the government’s drug law reform. In July 2001, Commander Brian Paddick ordered his officers not to arrest and charge those caught with a small amount of cannabis, Instead they were let off with confiscation and a warning. Critics said the year long experiment made Lambeth, and the Britain area in particular, a magnet For so-called drug tourists and increased consumption among children. Supporters claimed that it freed officers to
concentrate on tackling harder substances such as heroin and crack cocaine. Figures show that in the year leading up to the experiment there were 805 incidents involving cannabis in Lambeth. By 2001/2002 they bad risen to 1,127. Last year, despite the decision to scrap the experiment, the figure had risen to 2,330. From January 29, the Brixton approach. will effectively become a nationwide policy and officers
will be able to arrest users only in aggravating circumstances’ – if they are under 18 or smoking persistently in a public place or near a school’
The official downgrading means the drug will be considered no more dangerous than prescription painkillers, steroids or tranquillisers. Doctors fear the change will lead young people to believe the drug is harmless.

Last night, senior police sources said that even though a more aggressive approach to drug use in Lambeth has been employed over the past l8 months, demand for cannabis has continued to rise. Lambeth has also continued to attract drug users from outside the borough. That factor may end when the law is changed. Those opposed to liberalisation believe that what has happened in Brixton is likely to be repeated in many parts or the country. The fear is that demand will go through the roof. Anti-drugs campaigner Mary Brett, a grammar school teacher, said: These figures prove that since the Home Secretary David Blunkett mode his announcement that the law was going to be changed, usage of the drug and demand has gone tip, In some ways it was inevitable. People. particularly children, pick up messages and the message is that it’s OK to take cannabis.’ Alter January 20, those caught in possession for personal use can expect the police to confiscate the drug and issue a routine warning. The maximum sentence for possession will fall from five years to two, although punishments for dealers will increase. However, last night there were Fears that the changes will lead to more confusion.

John DunFord, of the Secondary Heads Association, said: There is considerable confusion on the pert o as to the effect that tills will have, particularly on school discipline. Our advice is to continue to treat cannabis as before. The penalties we advise are a suspension possession Or exclusion for anyone who is supplying it. About 2 million Britons use cannabis regularly and a third of all l5-year olds have tried the drug according to official figures. Figures yesterday showed that the price of the drug has dropped by 20 per cent t £66 for an ounce of resin and there is increasing evidence that road accidents re being caused by drivers high on the drug. Last night Chief Superintvn’ dent Richard Quinn, Lambeth’s current commander admitted there had been a perception that users would not be prosecuted for carrying drug and that it had been ‘legalised’. The bottom line is that the dealers are more overt he said. Mr Quinn, said that as tile new law was rolled out across the country flourishing new markets for the drug would develop unless local officers took a firm decision to keep a lid on it.

‘Epidemic’ of mental illness warning

SINCE the decision to downgrade cannabis revealed there have been persistent claims that it is linked to serious mental illness. Last November, a court heard how Christopher Francis, a paranoid schizophrenic with a history of smoking the drug, killed his grandmother and aunt with a house brick and kitchen knife. The Judge, Mrs. Justice Heather Hallet, said: “It would not be the first time, that the use of apparently harmless drugs such as cannabis has led to a tearful explosion of violence.”

Earlier this month a leading expert warned that cannabis is the biggest single cause of mental illness in the UK. Consultant psychiatrist Professor Robin Murray said that up to 80 per cent of new patients at many units hey, a history of smoking the drug. He added that the vast majority of psychotic patients those who lose contact with reality have used cannabis. He has also led a study which showed that cannabis users are seven times more at risk of developing mental illness than the population in general. One of the main problems, he believes, is that the cannabis is now far stronger than what was available in the 1960s and 1970s. It contains up to ten times as mush of the ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol which includes the ‘high’. The fear is that its wide spread use among youngsters could result in an epidemic of schizophrenia. he warned: the more cannabis that is consumed the more psychiatrists we need. the drug has also been linked to cancer and lung disease.

PREVENTION WORKS

2007-03-14T18:19:00.000Z

PREVENTION WORKS !!!!

A positive experience from Florida, USA. The following article shows how a proactive prevention approach can make a significant difference in a community.

From drug capital to good example
BY ROBERT McCABE

In the past eight years, Miami-Dade youth have reduced drug use by 50 percent. But there is more to the story. The Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey found Miami-Dade to have the lowest rate of youth marijuana use of any Florida county, and the Federal Risk Behaviour Survey reported that Miami youth had the lowest rate of marijuana use of 14 large metropolitan areas.
In addition, the Miami Coalition School Survey showed that alcohol and cocaine use were down by a third, and the use of cigarettes, marijuana, LSD, rohhypnol, heroin, MDMA and amphetamines fell by more than half. Although drug use remains a major problem, our youth and the community have reason to be proud of this significant achievement.

We are a better place to live, work and raise families. What caused this amazing change?

In the 1980s, Miami was seen as the drug capital of the world. Cocaine cowboys roamed our streets as crime, corruption and addiction caused by cocaine and inflamed by crack put us at risk. Drug-related deaths, medical emergencies and demand for drug treatment rose dramatically. We had become the drug badlands. Our community rose up in response to this dire circumstance, and in 1988, with the leadership of Alvah Chapman and Tad Foote, the business community organized and funded the Miami Coalition for a Safe and Drug Free Community, which helped unleash a blitzkrieg of anti-drug activity. Miami’s was the nation’s first broadly based community anti-drug coalition and has become the model for more than 900 that exist today. Key to success has been the breadth of involvement New organizations and new methods of prevention sprang up and others intensified their anti-drug efforts. These include Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) Switchboard of Miami, Informed Families, D-FY-IT, Catholic Charities, Agape, Camillus House, Betterway, Miami-Dade County Programs, Community Crusade Against Drugs, Here’s Help, Spectrum Programs, The Village and Concept House. Thousands of people continue to participate in these efforts that have been sustained and grown. Under coalition leadership, the courts, corrections and all the law-enforcement groups came together for the first time to coordinate activities. One result was federal designation as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area bringing additional resources that reduced drug trafficking through Miami. The county increased crack-house demolition from 54 in 1988 to 376 in 1989. It also passed a law that created “safe no-drug zones” 1,000 feet around schools, and a parent-led effort ensured that the law was enforced. Another first was the creation of a very successful drug court. its success spawned over 100 drug courts in other American communities.

Other accomplishments include the establishment of a countywide Juvenile Assessment Centre to coordinate services. The Miami-Dade School Board placed drug counsellors in the schools and retained them through budget-cutting years. The Faith Committee promoted anti- drug messages. The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and the coalition organized a drug-free workplace programme, which now includes 60 percent of the workplace. The media stepped to the plate and in the critical early years, The Miami Herald and community newspapers contributed a full page a week to the coalitions efforts. In the 11 years that data have been kept, the Miami electronic media led the nation nine times in providing public service time for anti-drug messages. More than half of the surveyed youth indicate that they see these messages every month.

Today the coalition has been transformed from a reactive to a proactive organization. Driven by multiple data sources, strategies are developed to address identified needs. The strategies involve many groups that draw on the communities’ drug-related resources. With the broad-based participation and these strategies in place, Miami is well positioned to continue the fight against drug use. We are proud of our community’s accomplishments. The transformation of our city from a dangerous drug-infested area to a model of national leadership in drug prevention is a stunning achievement and testimony to what can be done when we all work together.

Source: Author Robert McCabe Chair the Miami Coalition for a Safe and Drug Free Community.
Posted on website of Miami Herald FEB 2004.

Taxpayers In Australia Fund Drug-taking tips

2007-03-14T18:17:00.000Z

By Nick Papps,Herald Sun
December 15. 2003

A TAXPAYER-funded magazine is telling people how to inject drugs, use rock heroin and how to beat a drug test. The magazine, Whack, is produced by drug user group VIVAIDS and even includes a section on finding the best location to inject and tips on how to inject pills.

The organisation. which receives up to $580,000 a year from government, also has a website telling users how to avoid police questions. with links to pro-drug organisations. sex sites and pornographic video outlets. The revelations coincide with the release of statistics showing that Victorian health officials gave away 5.58 million needles in the past 12 months - up 827.000 on the previous year.

Critics claim the needles are being used for heroin start-up kits and health officials have admitted that they are concerned about the rise in needle numbers.

A Herald Sun investigation has also revealed:

INDIVIDUAL drug users are taking up to 400 needles each at needle exchanges.
SOCIAL workers say drug dealers are waiting outside prisons for former users.
THE Department of Human Services says increased heroin supplies and injection of prescription drugs are fuelling the rise in needle use.

Yesterday opposition leader Robert Doyle slammed VIVAAIDS and said its funding should be halted over the magazine.

“The articles in the magazine encourage efficient drug use." Mr Doyle said.

“The message should be about the dangers of drugs.

“The Government has taken its eyes off the drug issue. This is also shown through the huge numbers of needles being handed out - it’s open slather needle distribution.”

The Department of Human Services figures show that VIVAIDS received $193,000 from the State Government and almost $390,000 in funding from the Federal Government last year.

The magazine includes:

A CHART on how long it takes to get a clean urine test after using drugs.
TIPS on how to inject pills and break up rock heroin fix injecting.
ADVICE on finding a good vein for injection.
A YOUNG drug user describing chroming.

The contents page begins with the quote: “I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity, but they’ve always worked for me”.

The VIVAIDS website has extensive advice on using drugs and guides to each drug, including advice on “how to have a good time” on some drugs. A section on the law includes advice on avoiding police questions. The magazine is distributed in needle exchanges and is written for drug users.

Yesterday Health Minister Tony Abbott said the Federal Government would not knowingly support any organisation that promoted drug use.
“There’s no such thing as a safe way to use illegal drugs,’ Mr Abbott said.

A State Government spokeswoman said that although it funded VIVAIDS. none of the money went towards the magazine. VIVAIDS could not be contacted yesterday for comment. Health workers said that up to 400 needles were being given to drug users a day.

A nurse at a regional hospital said one user demanded he be given 400 needles - “and we must give it to him."Another man takes 100 needles at a time”. “The person that collects them takes them to a dealer and they’re used as heroin start-up kits.”

But the Department of Human Services’ director of drug policy and services. Paul McDonald said health officials should hand out as many needles as they could. Mr McDonald said there was no requirement For users to hand in needles despite the drug programs being called needle exchanges.
“You can never hand out too many, from a public health perspective,” he said. “The more you are able to make clean syringes available, the more you are going to prevent HIV and Hep C.” Mr McDonald said it was the department’s policy to supply users with the number of needles they requested.

Youth worker Les Twentyman said rising supplies of heroin in Victoria had led dealers to entice former drug users back. “They hang around the jails when they get released. They visit the user at home, Mr Twentyman said.

Condoms to waterproof a roof? It's a stretch

2007-03-14T18:10:00.000Z

NEW DELHI -- Millions of the condoms distributed free in India to combat AIDS and a soaring population are used for other purposes, such as waterproofing roofs, reinforcing roads and even polishing saris, say health workers. In fact, only a quarter of the 1.5 billion condoms manufactured annually in India were being "properly utilized," said a report by doctors at King George's Medical University in Lucknow. Health workers said millions of condoms were also melted down and made into toys or sold as balloons to children after being dyed.

According to two university reports, villagers have used them as disposable water containers to wash, after relieving themselves in the fields. India's military has covered gun and tank barrels with condoms as protection against dust. Of the 891 million condoms meant to be handed out free, a considerable proportion were acquired by contractors through unscrupulous non-governmental agencies and government departments and mixed with concrete and tar to construct roads. This blend reportedly renders road surfaces smooth and resistant to cracks.

A large number of condoms were also used as waterproofing for roofs. Builders spread a bed of condoms beneath the roof's cement plastering, ingeniously preventing water seepage during the monsoon rains. Weavers in Varanasi, 170 miles from Lucknow, also daily used around 200,000 condoms to lubricate their looms and to polish the gold and silver thread used to embroider the saris they produced.

Source: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-india13.html

August 13, 2004
BY RAHUL BEDI

Opiates for the Masses

2007-02-10T22:19:00.000Z

One hundred years ago, German chemists introduced heroin to the world. On Saturday the New York Academy of Medicine held a conference celebrating the drug's latest use, "heroin maintenance": medically supervised distribution of pure heroin to addicts. The academy's First International Conference on Heroin Maintenance introduces to our shores the latest example of the pernicious drug-treatment philosophy known as "harm reduction."

Harm reduction holds that drug abuse is inevitable, so society should try to minimize the damage done to addicts by drugs (disease, overdose) and to society by addicts (crime, health care costs). According to the Oakland, Calif.-based Harm Reduction Coalition, harm reduction "meets users where they are at . . . accepting for better or worse, that drug use is part of our world."

Its advocates present harm reduction as a rational compromise between the alleged futility of the drug war and the extremism of outright legalization. But since harm reduction makes no demands on addicts, it consigns them to their addiction, aiming only to allow them to destroy themselves in relative "safety" -- and at taxpayer expense.

The recent debate over needle exchange illuminates the political strategy of harm reductionists. First, present the public with a specious choice: Should a drug addict shoot up with a clean needle or a dirty one? (Unquestioned is the assumption that he should shoot up at all.) Then misrepresent the science as Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala did when she pronounced "airtight" the evidence that needle exchange reduces the rate of HIV transmission. In fact, most needle exchange studies have been full of design errors; the more rigorous ones have actually shown an increase in HIV infection.

And so it is with heroin maintenance. First, the false dichotomies: pure vs. contaminated heroin; addicts who commit crime to support their habit vs. addicts who don't. Then the distortion of evidence. The Lindesmith Center, one of the conference sponsors, claims that "a landmark Swiss study has successfully maintained heroin addicts on injectable heroin for almost two years, with dramatic reductions in illicit drug use and criminal activity as well as greatly improved health and social adjustment."

In fact, the Swiss "experiment," conducted by the Federal Office of Public Health from 1994 to 1996, was not very scientific. Addicts in the 18-month study were expected to inject themselves with heroin under sterile conditions at the clinic three times a day. They also received extensive counseling, psychiatric services and social assistance (welfare, subsidized jobs, public housing and medical care). Results: The proportion of individuals claiming they supported themselves with illegal income dropped to 10% from 70%; homelessness fell to 1% from 12%. Permanent employment rose to 32% from 14%, but welfare dependency also rose to 27% from 18%. The rate of reported cocaine use among the heroin addicts dropped to 52% from 82%.

These numbers may look promising, but it's hard to know what they mean. Verification of self-reported improvement was spotty at best. And addicts received so many social services -- five times more money was spent on them than is the norm in standard treatment -- that heroin maintenance itself may have played no role in any overall improvement.

Definitions of success were loose as well. Anyone who kept attending the program, even intermittently, was considered "retained." By this standard, more than two-thirds made it through -- a much higher retention rate than in conventional treatment. But considering that the program gave addicts pharmaceutical-grade heroin at little or no cost, it's astonishing that the numbers weren't higher. It turned out that the patients who dropped out were those with the most serious addiction-related problems -- those who had been addicted the longest, were the heaviest cocaine users, or had HIV -- the very groups that are of the greatest public-health concern.

What's more, the researchers did not compare heroin maintenance with conventional treatments such as methadone or residential, abstinence-oriented care. They abandoned their original plan to assign patients randomly to heroin maintenance or conventional methadone -- because, among other reasons, the subjects, not surprisingly, strongly preferred heroin.

"The risk of heroin maintenance is the incentive it provides to `fail' in other forms of treatment in order to become a publicly supported addict," says Mark Kleiman of UCLA School of Public Policy. And in fact, once the heroin maintenance project started, conventional treatment facilities reported a sharp decline in applications, even though the rate of drug use remained steady.

The Swiss heroin experiment was born out of desperation. In the mid-1980s, the Swiss government became disenchanted with drug treatment and turned to a policy of sanctioned drug use in designated open areas. But this was unsuccessful; the most visible failures being the squalid deterioration of Zurich's Platzspitz Park (the notorious "Needle Park") and the syringe-littered Letten railway station.

It is telling that harm reduction efforts have evolved in countries that provide addicts with a wide array of government benefits. Rather than throw up their hands at the poor record of drug rehabilitation, the Swiss and others should acknowledge the extent to which welfare services enable addiction by shielding addicts from the consequences of their actions, financing their drug purchases and encouraging dependency on public largesse.

Nonetheless, Switzerland has ardently embraced heroin maintenance. The Federal Office of Public Health plans to triple enrollment next year to about 3,000; and in 2004 the Swiss Parliament plans to decriminalize consumption, possession and sale of narcotics for personal use.

Not everyone shares Bern's enthusiasm. Wayne Hall of Australia's University of New South Wales was an independent evaluator for the World Health Organization who assessed the experimental plan of the Swiss project. "The unique political context . . . of the trials . . . meant that opportunities were lost for a more rigorous evaluation," he wrote. In February, the International Narcotics Control Board of the United Nations -- a quasijudicial body that monitors international drug treaties -- expressed concern that "before {completion of} the evaluation by the World Health Organization of the Swiss heroin experiment, pressure groups and some politicians are already promoting the expansion of such programmes in Switzerland and their proliferation in other countries."

And indeed, the trials' principal investigator and project directors have traveled to Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere promoting heroin maintenance. They won a sympathetic hearing in the Netherlands, which plans to begin a heroin experiment next month. This isn't surprising; after all, this is a country that has a union for addicts, the Federation of Dutch Junkie Leagues, which lobbies the government for services. In Rotterdam last month, I visited a Dutch Reformed church where the pastor had invited two dealers in to sell discounted heroin and cocaine. He also provided basement rooms where users could inject or smoke heroin.

Even if heroin maintenance "worked" -- if it could be proved that heroin giveaways enhanced the addicts' health and productivity -- we would still have to confront the raw truth about harm reduction. It is the public-policy manifestation of the addict's dearest wish: to use free drugs without consequence. Imagine extending this model -- the use of state-subsidized drugs, the offer of endless social services and the expectation of nothing in return -- to America's hard-core addicts.

Today the U.N. General Assembly opens a special session on global drug-control policy. Harm reduction advocates will tell the world body that drug abuse is a human right and that the only compassionate response is to make it safer to be an addict. The Swiss and the Dutch seem to view addicts as irascible children who should be indulged, or as terminally ill patients to be palliated, hidden away and written off. But heroin maintenance is wrong. As an experiment, thus far it is scientifically groundless. As public-health policy it will always be a posture of surrender.
By Sally Satel M.D.
Source: www.sallysatelmd.com

Trial for drug overdose treatment

2007-02-10T21:55:00.000Z

Overdoses have claimed more than 30 lives in Glasgow this year

Councillors and drug groups in Glasgow and Lanarkshire are to pilot use of the anti-opiate revival drug Naloxone.

They believe heroin overdose deaths could be halved if addicts' families are issued with the treatment to inject into overdose victims.

The Conservatives have criticised the £20,000 project as sending out a message that drug misuse is acceptable.

It is estimated that most drug overdoses are witnessed by members of family or friends of addicts.

Police have warned that purer heroin on the streets is contributing to a rise in overdose deaths.

Chaotic lives

In Glasgow alone there were 35 fatalities in the first four months of this year.

Glasgow City Council and the Lanarkshire Drug Action Team have now agreed on pilot projects to provide addicts' families with Naloxone, which reverses opiate harm.

Neil Hunter, general manager of Glasgow Addiction Services, said: "We have to accept that there are some individuals in the city who are unable, at the moment, to benefit from rehabilitation or treatment.

"They are still leading fairly chaotic and high-risk lives and we have to do something to intervene to try to avoid any harmful consequences."

However, Scottish Conservative health spokesman David Davidson said: "It's as if the agencies have given up all hope of getting people away from drugs and getting people back into society."

Source: BBC News 11th June 2006

NDPA History

2007-02-04T18:00:00.000Z

Born 1993, NDPA has developed into one of the most authoritative voices in the field of drug prevention. Membership embraces all disciplines in the field, and is widely based in society at large, imparting balance and strength to NDPA’s work. There is a clear understanding of why drug misuse happens and - more importantly - why it need not happen.

In 1996 the value of NDPA was recognised by a three-year grant from National Lottery Charities Board, allowing operations to be consolidated. At national level NDPA has contributed to significant effect in both the current strategy (Build a Better Britain) and its predecessor (Tackling Drugs Together), also the BMA (medical uses of cannabis), the Lords (cannabis for medical or social use) and the Police Foundation (review of Misuse of Drugs Act 1971). NDPA members present papers at regional, national and international conferences, the latter as part of an enviable international network. Meanwhile input to Drug Advisory Teams (DAT) and Drug Reference Groups (DRG) is soundly based in NDPA’s grass roots project work - home, school, community, sports centre, workplace, church/mosque/temple - anywhere that help is needed.

Accredited research is collected and disseminated by NDPA through its bulletin ‘The Prevention Works’. Out of this and other services NDPA has become a ‘must call’ agency for the media, politicians, drug professionals, police forces, community services and - not least - members of the public looking for straight answers.

The way forward is seen as involving the whole of the community, each in their appropriate way. The varied impact of drug misuse on each element of the community - not just on the user - needs better definition. But more so does the potential for every element to contribute fruitfully to Prevention.

The need for NDPA has never been greater. Far from being pushed into retreat by Government’s greater focus on drugs, the libertarian tendency has stepped up its efforts, in effect encouraging the drug suppliers. Youth and parents alike face a sustained barrage of (mostly) pro-drug material on screen and page. The impression is given that ‘everyone’ is into drugs - as if drugs were today’s Style Accessory. Parents become fatalistic, youth become intrigued, and both become deeply confused. The excitement, positivity and richness of a drug-free lifestyle hardly gets a mention.The road to clarity and healthy living is set to be long and hard, it seems. But if there is one guide you can rely on it is the NDPA.

Drugs schemes 'have empty beds'

2006-10-14T07:01:00.000+01:00

Drug action teams in England are not referring enough addicts to residential treatment schemes, it has been claimed.

Drugs schemes 'have empty beds' Drug action teams in England are not referring enough addicts to residential treatment schemes, it has been claimed. The Association of Directors of Social Services is warning of an impending crisis, and says some providers could close down altogether.

It is thought addicts are instead being referred to cheaper community-based schemes, leaving some centres half empty and others having to close beds.

However, the National Treatment Agency said there was no crisis.

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said live-in centres with detoxification facilities and counselling are widely thought to be the most effective way of dealing with the most hardened addicts.

Community-based programmes, while up to 20 times cheaper, are considered less effective than residential treatments.

It is thought drug action teams are sending more addicts to community-based schemes in an effort to save money and meet government targets.

At least half of the main providers of residential drug treatment services in England are reporting severe financial problems because not enough addicts are being referred to them.

But National Treatment Agency chief executive Paul Hayes disputed the claims.

He said occupancy figures provided by rehab and detox centres showed bed occupancy, monitored weekly, was at 80% this year compared with 85% last year.

'Investment increase'

"We would expect to run at 85% or thereabouts. You would expect some empty beds because people drop out, or there are delays in admissions."

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there was a "real problem", but the agency did not think it was as widespread or significant as implied.

"We particularly don't see it as being caused by spending decisions being taken locally in order to spend money on treatments that are less effective but cheaper," he said.

"The spending plans that local drug action teams put in place for this year actually showed a 50% increase in the amount they were planning to spend on residential treatments."

Spending is set to increase from £48m to £72m, bringing residential treatment to 12% from 9% of the treatment spend, he said.

Last month a watchdog said drug users seeking help to quit their habit faced a "postcode lottery" of care.

The Healthcare Commission and the National Treatment Agency for substance misuse reviewed the services provided across England.

Source: BBC Website 13th Oct. 2006

The current situation is a farce - the NTA and the government claim there are more drug users in treatment - but this includes all those on methadone maintenance and anyone who visits a local drug agency for counselling over a few weeks.Meanwhile if you have a problem with cannabis, amphetamines or alcohol you will have an almighty battle to get into residential treatment - which has always had a better long term outcome for dependent users than any other form of treatment is an absolute disgrace.

Children as young as 10 caught drug dealing on the streets

2006-09-15T19:25:00.000+01:00

Children as young as ten are being caught selling drugs, with nine-year-olds found in possession, shocking new police figures reveal.

The number of under-16s caught supplying illegal drugs has soared by almost 40% in just two years, with more than 6,000 arrested across Britain last year, while 53,000 were caught in possession.

The youngest dealers included four 10-year-olds caught in Lancashire, Worcestershire, Kent and Strathclyde, while three nine-year-olds were caught by police in Worcestershire in possession of cannabis.

The startling figures come amid growing concerns over drug use among young people in the wake of the Government's highly controversial decision to downgrade the law on cannabis three years ago.

Ministers have been blamed for sending confusing and mixed messages to young people on drug abuse by opting to reclassify cannabis from class B to class C.

This means that most cases of personal possession are now dealt with through an informal warning, with the person involved receiving no police record.

The move has led many youngsters to believe, wrongly, that the drug is no longer illegal.

Earlier this week a scathing report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs warned that youngsters found 'little difficulty' in obtaining illegal drugs.

Harry Shapiro, of the charity Drugscope, said: "Many dealers have found themselves a willing and able young workforce.

"To a large extent these kids will be gophers and runners and it's difficult for the police to be able to do anything about it."

Source:Daily Mail 15th Sept. 2006

CANNABIS DOWNGRADE COINCIDES WITH DRUG DEATHS RISE

2006-08-31T19:18:00.000+01:00

Drug deaths spiralled after Labour downgraded cannabis, it has been revealed.

The number of people killed by overdoses surged by almost 15 % in the next year. .

Critics had warned that the decision to reclassify cannabis from Class B to C in January 2004, meaning simple possession was unlikely to lead to arrest, would lead to a surge in the use of all illegal drugs. .

An internal Downing Street report later admitted that people trying cannabis had been lured on to deadly harder drugs. As a result, deaths from heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy all rocketed figures from the Office of National Statistics showed yesterday. The increase meant the Government failed to meet its target of reducing drug deaths by a fifth between 1999 and 2004. Before the reclassification of cannabis, it was on course to do so easily. .

Tory spokesman Edward Garnier said: 'Labour continues to fail to deal with the scourge of drugs. 'Drugs take lives and tear apart communities. They also undermine all our efforts to combat crime. The Government needs to get an urgent grip on this problem but so far all we have had is a chaotic and confused approach that gives the impression it is OK to take drugs.'.

Mary Brett, of the Europe Against Drugs campaign, said it appeared much more than simple coincidence that the alarming rise in deaths had followed the downgrading of cannabis. .

She said: 'Cannabis is a gateway drug, most people agree that now. A person smokes it and they are then far more likely to go on to take a harder drug. The Government will no doubt come up with excuses as to why the number of deaths has increased, saying the drugs were stronger. .

But that cannot be the whole explanation.
'It is a significant increase and how many of those who died were, for example, first-time users?' In 1999, the Government promised to reduce drug deaths by 20 % over the next five years. Following the pledge, the numbers fell each year, from 1,571 in 1999, to 1,255 in 2003. At this point, the target was hit a year early. But in 2004 the death toll suddenly shot up by 14 %, to 1,427. .

The number of heroin deaths was up from 591 in 2003 to 744, cocaine from 113 to 147 and Ecstasy from 33 to 48. The Health Department said last night that, despite the rise in deaths last year, there had been a 9 % reduction overall since 1999. .

Within the total, however, there was a 67 % increase in cocaine deaths, from 88 in 1999 to 147, and Ecstasy fatalities were up 85 %, from 26 to 48. Both figures reflect wider use. .

The department has now reconvened its Drug Related Deaths Steering Group, a panel of experts which will produce a plan of action later this year on how to reduce the toll.

Source: Motgift International. 31st August 2006

Government doing 'nothing' on cannabis education claims professor

2006-07-17T19:41:00.000+01:00

Robin Murray, professor of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, has accused the Government of doing 'nothing' to educate young people as to the potential dangers of cannabis.

The Government had pledged to 'launch a major campaign' this spring targeted at young people. The move came after the divisive reclassification of cannabis two years ago from a class 'b' to a class 'c' drug.

But Professor Murray told BBC Radio 4's 'You and Yours' that the Home Office was dragging its feet on the issue.

'It has been absolutely useless', he said. 'In January Charles Clarke announced that they accepted cannabis could cause schizophrenia and that they would initiate a major education campaign.

'Since that time Charles Clarke has gone and absolutely nothing has happened.'

Professor Murray attributed the inaction largely to Mr Clarke's unceremonious departure from the Home Office earlier this year and a subsequent change of policy emphasis.

He relayed: 'Charles Clarke was interested in it and he took a particular interest and, indeed, I think if he had stayed we perhaps would have seen some action but clearly John Reid has other interests and other pressing problems.'

And Professor Murray, who has long been a proponent of rolling out a health education campaign, said the Government paled in comparison to the actions taken in other countries on the issue.

'Well we know that in the continent and, particularly in the United States, there is a very active campaign whereas the Government here has being doing nothing', he remarked.

'One evening I got a phone call from the White House to say they initiating their programme to counter the problems associated with cannabis and they wanted me to go over to the launch of this campaign.

'They have launched this campaign. All of the newspapers, cinema have videos all about the dangers that you can go psychotic if you smoke a lot of cannabis.'

But again he expressed regret over how 'nothing' had happened in the UK, accusing the Home Office of putting its proposed education campaign 'in a drawer and forgetting about it'.

Asked what then needs to be done, Professor Murray advised: 'We have to provoke them into actually delivering on their promise, that we know there are increasing numbers of young people developing psychosis becoming dependent on cannabis.'

'This is costing the Government a lot', he observed. 'It is one of the reasons why our mental health services are in such a mess because there are so many people whose illness does not recover and they are at this point doing nothing about it.'

In a statement, the Government insists it is 'committed to educating young people on the harms of drugs'.

Source: Mon, 17 Jul 06 |DeHavilland Report - Broadcast

SAMHSA Alerts Field To Dangerous Drug Combo

2006-06-09T19:32:00.000+01:00

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has issued an action alert to substance abuse treatment and prevention professionals about a new combination of street drugs with a potentially lethal effect. The addition of fentanyl, a powerful narcotic analgesic, to heroin or cocaine being sold on the streets is believed to be the cause of clusters of drug-related deaths and even greater numbers of overdoses in east coast and Midwest cities in the past few months.

In just one week in May, an estimated 33 individuals in the Detroit are reported to have died after using this fatal drug mix. The same drug combination may have been responsible for over 100 deaths in Philadelphia/Camden, Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit since last September.

The alert was issued by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Director H. Westley Clark, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., to substance abuse professional organizations, treatment providers, state substance abuse authorities, and recovery community-related organizations and individuals. It highlights the growing concern about the potentially fatal effects of this street-drug combination and encloses a brief fact sheet about preventing as well as detecting and treating overdoses.

"Individuals involved in the public health need to be aware of this new dangerous drug combination," Dr. Clark said. "They need to be prepared to alert patients, clients and others to help save lives. After all, fentanyl is 50-100 times more powerful than morphine. When mixed with cocaine or heroin, the results can be lethal."

The alert encourages recipients not only to advise their networks of patients and colleagues, but also to join local health authorities to bring information about the drugs to first responders, emergency room personnel, street substance abuse workers, drug treatment facilities, local health care providers, the recovery community, and the public at large.

When used illegally, particularly in combination with a drug such as heroin or cocaine, or when used in excessive amounts, fentanyl can result in irregular heart beat, the inability to breathe, and death. In some cases, heroin or cocaine users are aware they are purchasing this dangerous combination of drugs; in other cases, the buyer is not aware that he or she is purchasing this potentially lethal drug combination. The alert advises local vigilance for the possible introduction of this potent drug mixture into circulation on the street and emphasizes the importance of education, particularly on the street.

SAMHSA, is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions, treatment, and mental health services delivery system.

Source: www.samhsa.gov/news/ June 9, 2006

Give them all the crack they want

2006-05-29T20:08:00.000+01:00

The following article from The Times Arts Section makes pathetic reading. It is this attitude – “we cannot win, therefore give the addicts what they want” that has led the UK into the dreadful situation we are now in. When will the liberal elite, the journalists sympathetic to the drug users, the politicians (badly advised by those who are bent on changing the drug laws to enable even more drug use) realise that we can turn the situation round ? Look at Sweden – their restrictive drug policies are supported by the vast majority of the population – their culture is ‘illegal drugs are unacceptable and only for losers’ - - - result ? Sweden has the lowest drug use in Europe.

The Times May 29 2006

Give them all the crack they want
RACHEL CAMPBELL-JOHNSTON
Drug laws are failing both society and the addicts. It's time for a radical solution

DRUGS CAN BE FUN. There are only two problems. They ruin your life. And they ruin the life of everyone around you. And I don’t just mean that coke-head who assaults you with his monologue. I mean homes smashed apart by robberies and broken promises. I mean entire worlds demolished by violence and distrust.

Drugs may have been part of our culture since prehistoric man first experimented with psycho-active plants, but they present an intractable problem to modern society. And government policy clearly can’t cope.

Millions of pounds may be spent on policing the drugs industry from the poppy fields of Pashtun farmers to Old Compton Street, but I could still wander out of my front door right now and score within minutes. All right, it would probably turn out to be talcum powder. I could probably sue under the Trade Descriptions Act, but still, right here in Soho, in the heart of London, where the electronic surveillance systems are among the most sophisticated in Britain, an illegal trade thrives — and with it, crime.

The light of morning bears testimony: the stolen purses discarded in gutters, the last gangs of stragglers squaring-up in the streets, the pools of blood clotting in alleyways, the fluttering cordons of police crime-scene tape. And this is not just Soho. The same scenes are witnessed in town centres throughout the country. According to a recent BBC survey, almost three quarters of Britons consider drugs to be a problem in their area. Something has to give.

A report has just been published by the Independent Working Group, an advisory panel of experts from the police and the legal and health sectors. It suggests that Britain should consider a proposal already in action in eight other countries. This involves the creation of drug consumption rooms — “shooting galleries”, as they are nicknamed — to which addicts can come for free needles, for medical support and even for companionship. There is no evidence that it decreases crime, the chairman, Dame Ruth Runciman, says, but it might at least help to prevent the spread of hepatitis and Aids. And it brings one of the most marginalised groups into touch with social services, often for the first time.

The idea has the support of senior police officers, including Andy Hayman, the chair of the Association of Chief Police Officers Drugs Committee. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has declared that his party would not rule it out. The present system of directing drug users into treatment was not working as well as it could, he said. “We should look at it as part of our policy review.”

Of course, many are outraged. “An obnoxious proposal by a committee of do-gooders” was the opinion from Civitas, the institute for the study of civil society. Many join them in deploring an encouragement to further drug use. Yet the real problem with the proposal is that it does not go far enough. These “shooting galleries” should offer not just free needles but free drugs.

Would that increase abuse? Not necessarily. Alcohol is freely available and heavily advertised and we are not all alcoholics. Legalisation might even have a beneficial effect. Would those first snorts of cocaine seem so temptingly salacious if they were not forbidden? Would Pete Doherty have been voted a “rock hero” by NME readers if he was stripped of his rebelliousness and revealed as the wilful loser he really is? Scampi would probably taste better if it were a banned substance.

Drug addiction has a natural life cycle. You start taking drugs because they make you feel better. But the heartbreaking pleasure is soon replaced by a washed-up desperation. The heroin that wrapped a dark stole round your skull becomes a marauding compulsion that ravages your nerves. The crack cocaine that led you soaring through the sky-lights leaves you empty and fragile.

You are trapped in a cycle of fast diminishing returns. You chase that first feeling like you chase the first sweet memories of love. But you can never recapture it. You can go only onwards and downwards into sad isolation. Soon you need your first shot just to make you brush your teeth in the morning. The embrace of the angels has turned into the sneer of a devil. Drugs promise freedom, but they imprison you in compulsion. You set out open-armed to experience. You end with your whole life narrowed down to one repetitive experience. The entire world is focused on to a needle point. You feed like a vampire on your own veins. But every time you shoot up, as a friend of mine put it, you are shooting up your own tears. You crave for release.

No one can give up until they reach this point. It is no use clapping some offender into prison at vast state expense. But to supply the addict with drugs is to force the endgame. You can’t maunder on for decades with heroin or crack cocaine. You go down fast. You either die of an overdose. or you are brought to your knees. And it is only from your knees that you can beg for help.

This is when the State should step in, offering withdrawal programmes and counselling, paid for with the money that it has saved from policing the drugs industry. And there is also Narcotics Anonymous, a true model of democracy, with a network extending throughout Britain. It asks for no fees, no leadership, no dues. No one forces you to join. You can walk out if you like. But people go because they want to go. They go for support.

That is why, if you have compassion for the drug addict, you should give him more crack.

Comment by NDPA:

Do we give unlimited, State supplied alcohol to alcoholics ? Do we give unlimited and
State supplied cigarettes to Nicotine addicts?

NO Rachel – if you have compassion for the drug addict you get him treatment to enable him to return to a life free of the tyranny of drugs. You change the culture of this country by all giving the same message – drugs are unhealthy, unlawful and unnecessary. You teach children – not about drugs – as is the current scene – but against drugs. You give more attention and ‘rewards’ to the 80% of young people who do not do drugs instead of concentrating on the 20% who do use. They should be helped with treatment to give up long before they become dependent users. The NDPA has examples of young people with an alcohol and/or cannabis habit who cannot get residential rehabilitation because they are ‘not using Class A drugs and therefore not needing help’…….. let’s wait until these people are several more years into addiction and then try to help them …hardly logical but this is reality in the UK today. Millions of pounds spent on ‘treatment’ - 50% of which is to purchase and provide methadone to users. Prevention ? Research, worldwide, shows that for every £1 spent on treatment you can save £4 - it also shows that for every £1 spent on prevention you can save £7 . 10 years ago The Big Issue did a survey in the North of England and asked drug users what they wanted – the answer was ‘to get clean’. Giving users as much crack as they want in the hope that they will not suffer health repercussions and not behave irresponsibly whilst using their ‘prescription drug’ is to subject them and their families to more years of despair. Look at Sweden – that is where the answer lies.

Universal prevention initiatives

2005-10-24T20:35:00.000+01:00

"Universal prevention initiatives are important elements of a comprehensive prevention strategy that should include selective and indicated prevention initiatives as well. In order to prevent the development of dependence you need all three - and you cannot do without universal prevention. Norms, attitudes, availability are important risk factors for developing drug use problems as well as neighbourhood disorganization and weak family bonds."

Christina Gynna, Deputy National Drugs Policy Co-ordinator, Sweden,
at the ICAA conference in Budapest, 24 october 2005

United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

2005-06-26T19:56:00.000+01:00

Statement by National Drug Prevention Alliance (UK): 26th June 2006

We in the NDPA congratulate and support the commendable work of the United Nations on the serious situation with drug abuse and trafficking, in their movement towards the goal of a healthy society. This brief statement is appended by an extract from our statement on this day last year.
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2006 Statement

IT IS TIME TO THINK AGAIN. In many countries over many years we have seen Harm Reduction promoted as a primary policy, with scant evidence or support. It is now time to ask for that evidence – and to ask whether harm reduction is a real policy, or just a cover for fatalism. The speculative promotion of liberalist drug policies in Europe as well as Britain is now well past its sell-by date. The true goal should be to improve and disseminate effective prevention, across the community.

Recent surveys (McKeganey, Glasgow) show that most drug users do not want harm reduction, they want help to give up. If this is what really users want, why are we listening to those who advocate otherwise?

As the UNODC says, ‘Drugs are not Child’s Play’ – and yet we do little to really educate our children to stay away from them. The so-called ‘War on Drugs’ has not so much been ‘lost’ as never fought. Britain’s Prime Minister bemoans the existence of feral children in crime, but does not even mention the linking function that comes from drug abuse. At the same time his opponent says we must have Responsibility as well as Liberty – true indeed, but the same person also suggests ‘Shooting Galleries’, and downgrading of drug classification. The easing of cannabis law has done nothing but facilitate worse conditions, especially amongst the young.

SOME OF OUR 2005 STATEMENTS:

It remains the case that Prevention is not only "better than cure" - it is also cheaper. Effective prevention must engage the whole of society.
Prevention must get better at selling its story !
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Intervention and treatment will always be needed; one goal of prevention should be to minimise the load upon these response services.
Enforcement remains an essential part of drug policy, with a dual purpose – not just policing society's actions but contributing to prevention by providing a moral compass.
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There is a place for intervening to reduce harm; that place is when harm has started. Those who suggest that it should be preached to non-users are libertarian political activists seeking to destabilise, and should be seen as such.
Harm to the user is only a part of the story - harm is to others around the user, up to and including society as a whole, and it should be acknowledged that harm starts from the first day of use, much of it caused by users who are a long way short of addiction.
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Apologists for drug abuse suggest that using is a matter of 'human rights'. Prevention workers should recognise that human rights are a factor, but not just for the user - for the non-users too. A health-oriented strategy will seek to reconcile the rights of the individual against the rights of society. In this context we should not be afraid of saying 'no' when that is the right answer to a proposed action. It should be incontestable that with every 'right' there comes a 'responsibility'.

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With good wishes to the United Nations and to everyone else engaged in this vital work. From the National Drug Prevention Alliance. 26th June 2005.
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