tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47494124287346075712024-02-08T13:39:45.609+00:00National Drug Prevention AllianceBest solution to "The Drug Problem"? Stop it before it starts, that's what we're about.
Check out this internationally - accredited site for solid ideas and sound facts.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-48757376405947166082010-12-31T21:10:00.000+00:002007-07-31T19:19:39.876+01:00Welcome<div class="widget-content"><p><blockquote style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><img style="WIDTH: 48px; HEIGHT: 67px" alt="" src="http://www.drugprevent.demon.co.uk/New%20look%20of%20Website/images/Home%20page/logospl.JPG" /><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Welcome to the NDPA blog, we hope you'll find it interesting and useful.</span></span></blockquote><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The NDPA is a network of concerned citizens and prevention professionals who believe that drug-free<br />healthy lifestyles will protect and enhance society and its stability for present and future generations.</span></span> <p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-15524014448102002122010-03-30T10:25:00.001+01:002010-03-30T10:27:52.817+01:00Official reports put cost of crime, drugs and alcohol in three regions at £1.5bn a yearCrime, drugs and alcohol abuse cost taxpayers in just three regions £1.5billion a year, according to official reports. <br />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. <br /> The figures have been uncovered by the Conservatives in pilot projects commissioned by the Government but not published centrally. <br />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. <br />“There is no excuse for the secrecy of Labour ministers – they must come clean and publish all these reports in full.” <br />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. <br />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. <br />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. <br />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. <br />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. <br />Leicestershire estimated that drinking costs the NHS, police, workplaces and social services £120m a year.<br /> <br />Source: Telegraph.co.uk 24th March 2010Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-57764197155340403142010-03-30T10:23:00.001+01:002010-03-30T10:25:36.515+01:00'K2' poses dangers and should be illegalEditor'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. <br /><br />(CNN) -- Smokable herbal blends marketed as "legal highs" have become increasingly popular and as easy to buy as cigarettes.<br />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.<br />"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.<br /><br />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.<br />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.<br />Although the company manufacturing K2 is unknown, it is legally available for purchase in the U.S. by anyone, including minors.<br />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.<br />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. <br />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. <br />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. <br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />K2 serves no apparent useful purpose, and we do not need more addicted family members, drug-impaired drivers or drug-related deaths.<br />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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-59337452351960994302010-03-30T10:20:00.001+01:002010-03-30T10:22:52.035+01:00Drug-misusing offenders: results from the 2008 cohort for England and WalesAt 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.<br /><br />?? During the 12 months following identification, individuals in the cohort were<br />convicted of a total of 54,462 proven offences. This equates to a baseline rate of<br />offending of 2.60 offences per individual.<br /><br />?? 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.<br /><br />?? Comparing proven offending rates by different ways in which drug-misusing<br />offenders were initially identified reveals that those individuals identified as drug<br />misusers on release from prison and who also tested positive for Class A drugs on<br />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).<br /><br />Source: Home Office ‘Drug Misusing Offenders Cohort 2008’ published March 2010Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-71328687951753404312010-02-18T23:44:00.003+00:002010-02-18T23:50:18.492+00:00Recovering from Drug Abuse<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="Edit-Time-Data" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_editdata.mso"><!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; 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font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <h1><span style="" lang="EN">Community Blog<o:p></o:p></span></h1> <h2><span style="" lang="EN">Surfing the recovery wave<o:p></o:p></span></h2> <p><span style="" lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">‘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 <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> with regard to recovery. With Government supporting recovery and a late conversion to the cause by the <span class="caps">NTA</span>, it would look like the environment is favourable.<span style=""> </span>That’s not where I see the head of steam though. The kettle is on the boil from the grassroots up.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">What can Gladwell teach us about this from his book ‘The Tipping Point’?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">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?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">Gladwell also says: “Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur.”<span style=""> </span>It’s my impression that the conditions, the circumstances and the times are perfect for the recovery epidemic to take hold in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Of course the analogy to a pandemic has been made before. Take a look <a href="http://wiredin.org.uk/member/blog/728/entry/4925/recovery-pandemic/">here</a>.<span style=""> </span>That recovery wave, fanned by the enthusiasm and energy of recovering people is gathering momentum. It’s time to go surfing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <h3><span style="" lang="EN">Comments<o:p></o:p></span></h3> <p><span style="" lang="EN">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.<span style=""> </span>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!<span style=""> </span>Not that I do this all the time – so note to self, must do better!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="comment-meta"><span style="" lang="EN">By <a href="http://wiredin.org.uk/member/profile/836" title="View Profile">Michaela</a> on 31/01/2010 at 2:11 PM - <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">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.<span style=""> </span>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 <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<span style=""> </span>Pucker like I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="comment-meta"><span style="" lang="EN">By <a href="http://wiredin.org.uk/member/profile/1231" title="View Profile">MartinBailey</a> on 31/01/2010 at 5:32 PM <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">Bill White once told me that they were doing some very interesting research on the prevalence of recovery in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Philadelphia</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">PA.</st1:state></st1:place> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="comment-meta"><span style="" lang="EN">By <a href="http://wiredin.org.uk/member/profile/126" title="View Profile">Jason Schwartz</a> on 31/01/2010 at 6:38 PM - <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">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 <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> also….. and to watch it grow.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="comment-meta"><span style="" lang="EN">By <a href="http://wiredin.org.uk/member/profile/20" title="View Profile">Annemarie W</a> on 31/01/2010 at 9:37 PM - <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="" lang="EN">The tipping point is one of my favourite books,<span style=""> </span>It’s inspirational in how it shows that small things really <span class="caps">CAN</span> make a big difference.
<br />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 <span class="caps">YOU</span> <span class="caps">BECOME</span> <span class="caps">ONE</span> OF <span class="caps">THEM</span>. I have seen this in many walks of life, not just in this field.<span style=""> </span>Note to self: Must remain positive<span style=""> </span>For everyone else, a word or 3 from Martin Luther King:<span style=""> </span>“Keep hope alive”<span style=""> </span>Matt<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Source:<span style=""> </span>Community Blog<span style=""> </span>Wired-In<span style=""> </span>Feb 2 2010</p> <b><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/ADMINI%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image001.jpg" shapes="_x0000_i1025" width="504" height="426" /><!--[endif]--></span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-56646766746211671852008-07-03T22:41:00.005+01:002008-07-03T23:02:19.410+01:00Drug Use - Fall and RiseIt was surely not a coincidence that drug abuse declined during the Reagan years. <br />Dr.Herbert Kleber, interviewed on PBS's Frontline* told the truth.<br />"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".<br />From l980 to 1991, marijuana use among high school seniors decreased from 33% to <br />12%, "an enormous decrease" according to Dr. Kleber. 21985-1986 turned out to be the high point of the cocaine epidemic".<br /><br />Tragically, marijuana use increased rapidly again between l992 and l997 he added.<br /> *(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/kleber.html)<br /><br /><em></em>The reason for the increase was because funding for prevention was cut - the<br />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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-41046756240483247822008-04-19T16:26:00.001+01:002008-04-19T16:29:47.077+01:00Is Addiction a Brain Disease?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.<br />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. <br />"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.<br />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."<br />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.<br />"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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />"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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />"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."<br />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.<br />"You can't will away a real disease," Schaler continued. "But people will away behaviors they don't like all the time."<br />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.<br />"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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />"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."<br />"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."<br />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.<br />Source: Daily Dose 11th August 2007Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-60446630145254146962008-04-13T23:02:00.000+01:002008-04-13T23:05:55.171+01:00Federal anti-drug campaign will educate youth on 'harms of illicit drug use'OTTAWA -- A new national program designed to prevent youth from using drugs received $10 million from the federal government Wednesday.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Source: Canwest News Service January 31, 2008<br /><br />http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a9d26354-09a5-4fc0-a6aa-89d120ed22b1Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-78955577534307015702008-04-13T22:57:00.000+01:002008-04-13T23:01:56.707+01:00Call to halt trade in cocaine 'cutting' agentTHE 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. <br />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. <br />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. <br />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. <br />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. <br />Lidocaine - along with other commonly-used cocaine cutting agents such as benzocaine and phenacetin - are a huge money-spinner for the dealers. <br />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. <br />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." <br />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." <br />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. <br />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."<br />How added chemicals boost dealers' profits<br />LIDOCAINE, benzocaine, phenacetin and manitol have been identified as commonly used agents for cutting cocaine in the UK. <br />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. <br />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. <br />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. <br />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.<br />Source: The Scotsman 15th May 2007Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-34456473355414408212008-04-13T22:53:00.001+01:002008-04-13T22:57:39.935+01:00Abuse of cannabis puts 500 a week in hospitalThe 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.<br /><br />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<br /><br /> <br />Almost 500 adults and children are treated in hospitals and clinics <br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Doctors say cannabis abuse can contribute to mental health problems <br />including forms of psychosis, paranoia and schizophrenia. There can be <br />harmful physical side-effects, disrupting blood pressure and <br />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.<br /><br />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."<br /><br />James Clappison, a Conservative member of the Commons home affairs <br />committee, said: "The reclassification of cannabis sent the wrong <br />message and was clearly the wrong decision. These figures show the <br />evident dangers of cannabis abuse and support the case for the drug <br />being restored to Category B."<br /><br />The health authority figures show that 16,685 adults were treated by <br />English hospital trusts after abusing cannabis in 2006-07. The previous <br />year, it was 14,828 - up from 11,057 in 2004-05.<br /><br />The data also shows that the number of children treated for using <br />cannabis has risen from 8,014 in 2005-06 to 9,259 last year. In total, <br />25,944 people were treated for cannabis use last year - around 498 a <br />week. In addition, around 70,000 people are treated for mental disorder <br />as outpatients each year.<br /><br />The figures suggest health authorities are treating more people for <br />cannabis abuse than there are patients who have heart bypass operations <br />or treatment for colon cancer. Some 21,000 people a year have a bypass <br />operation and colon cancer is contracted by some 22,000 people a year.<br /><br />Downgrading cannabis to a Class C drug placed it alongside steroids and <br />some prescription anti-depressants. Possession of them can lead to a <br />two-year prison sentence, but charges are rarely brought against people <br />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.<br /><br />There is no "substitute medication" available to treat cannabis <br />problems, so the majority of National Health Service treatment is <br />carried out by psychiatrists, therapists and counsellors.<br /><br />The independent review into its reclassification, by the Advisory <br />Council on the Misuse of Drugs, was prompted by growing concern about <br />the increasing prevalence of new high-strength forms of cannabis. <br />So-called "super-skunk" leaves can be twice as potent as more <br />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.<br /><br />Many doctors say the risks outweigh the benefits, and the British <br />Medical Association yesterday said the latest treatment figures <br />strengthened its opposition to the decision to downgrade the drug.<br />A BMA spokesman said: "This is drug that is mostly smoked, so that can <br />cause lung damage and cancer. There are also concerns about the <br />potential negative effect cannabis has on users' psychiatric state."<br /><br />Addaction, a charity that treats people with drug problems, warned that <br />children suffered particularly from cannabis abuse. "Young people often <br />use cannabis at crucial development stages in their lives, and it does <br />have serious impacts on mental health and physical development," a <br />spokesman said.<br /><br />Last night, the Department of Health insisted that the rising numbers of treatments reflect improvements in drug treatment and not rising <br />cannabis use.<br /><br />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 <br />£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.<br /><br />"By becoming more efficient at delivering the best outcomes for <br />individuals we will be able to continue to increase the number of people into treatment, while increasing treatment effectiveness," he said.<br /><br />Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, said Labour was <br />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.<br /><br />Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/11/ncnbis111.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-20611481365489800932008-02-13T10:55:00.000+00:002008-02-13T10:59:34.314+00:00Cannabis link to 80 per cent of new mental cases<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br />By MATTHEW HICKLEY<br /><br /><br />Eighty per cent of patients newly-diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses are heavy users of cannabis, scientists have warned ministers.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />A U.S. study found that smoking just half a cannabis joint could trigger schizophrenia-related symptoms.<br /><br />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."<br /><br />Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health Jan 2008Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-77806917403726222002008-02-13T10:52:00.000+00:002008-02-13T10:54:38.484+00:00'ENDING BINGE DRINKING HOLDS KEY TO SOLVING DRUG PROBLEM'Delegates at the Acpos annual drugs conference this week will be shown a DVD of boys in Polmont young offenders institute, describing the natural transition for them from binge drinking to taking cannabis and other drugs, including heroin and cocaine. For many of them, this was the reason they ended up behind bars.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />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.<br /><br /> 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />Source: The Herald, Pubdate: Wed, 28 Feb 2007Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-69192354101342321092008-02-13T10:40:00.002+00:002008-02-13T10:45:32.321+00:00Beyond 2008On 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.<br />Source: DFAF Press Release Jan. 2008Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-76641973521183711402008-02-13T10:33:00.002+00:002008-02-13T10:35:48.162+00:00Cirrhosis in young people doubles over last decadeThe 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. <br />Commenting, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, <a href="http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/sandra_gidley/romsey">Sandra Gidley MP</a> 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. <br />"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.” <a href="http://www.24dash.com/health/18115.htm">24dash.com</a> <br />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.<br />The figures are available on Hansard <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semsimple&STEMMER=en&WORDS=cirrhosi&ALL=&ANY=&PHRASE=&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=cirrhosis&SPEAKER=&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=70313w0032.htm_wqn0&URL=/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070313/text/70313w0032.htm#70313w0032.htm_wqn0">here</a>.<br /><br />Source: Alcohol Policy UK March 21, 2007 <a class="permalink" href="http://www.alcoholpolicy.net/2007/03/cirrhosis_in_yo.html">Permalink</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-75877830421379206582007-12-30T11:54:00.000+00:002007-12-30T11:57:31.802+00:00Heroin's Child: A shocking image of a lost innocence<span style="font-size:85%;"><br />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.<br />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.<br />"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.<br />On the left of the picture, on the school step, a syringe and empty wrapper are clearly visible.<br />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.<br />"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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />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."<br />This highlights the misery that heroin can bring It paints a graphic picture..an appalling and frightening image'<br />Source: Sunday Mail Nov. 25 2007<br /> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-13813462567706869462007-12-30T11:43:00.000+00:002007-12-30T11:49:31.781+00:00'Health disaster' fear as pupils turn to cocaine<span style="font-size:85%;">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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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."<br />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".<br />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.<br />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.<br />Source: Daily Telegraph April 2007</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-81052742902543954302007-12-30T11:38:00.000+00:002007-12-30T11:43:30.029+00:00Youngsters having treatment for drug abuse up by a fifth<span style="font-size:85%;">The number of children between nine and 15 sent for drug treatment shot up by a fifth last year, according to official figures<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />Campaigners against drugs warned that the assumption among many adults that taking drugs is harmless has contributed to their growing use by children.<br />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.”<br />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.<br />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.<br /> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-87162822862860874692007-10-11T18:32:00.000+01:002007-10-11T18:40:21.553+01:00Hyperactivity in young linked to smoking during pregnancy<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /></span><a name="article_continue"></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">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."<br />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."<br />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.<br />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.<br />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."<br />Source: </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">The Guardian</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> Friday May 25, 2007<br /> </span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-88370100394084385332007-10-11T18:29:00.000+01:002007-10-11T18:32:32.102+01:00Raise age limit for buying alcohol to 21 and cut death toll<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />The figure is made up of mainly accidents when the victims are inebriated, such as swimmers drowning and drink-driving deaths.<br />At the launch of the study in London yesterday, doctors called for the legal age for buying alcohol to be raised to 21.<br />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.<br />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."<br />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.<br />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."<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />"Preventive work needs to be done at the stage where the behaviour starts," he added.<br />"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<br />Source Scotsman.com 27 March 2007</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-68900873389748411032007-10-11T18:21:00.000+01:002007-10-11T18:29:55.553+01:00Letter from GP to an MP in Australia<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Mr. Alan Cadman,<br />Federal Member for Mitchell,<br /> Your Ref.: 4th October 2007 <br /><br />Dear Mr. Cadman,<br />re: NDARC Output<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br />Yours sincerely<br /><br />Dr. A. Stuart Reece,</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Visiting Scientist,<br />Senior Lecturer, Medical School, University of Queensland<br />Queensland Institute of Medical Research,<br />Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">NDARC @ UNSW Academic Output as per publications website</span><a title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4749412428734607571#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">[1]</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">[1].<br /> <br />Journal Articles 877, Books 355, Reports 287, Monographs 61, Resource Sheets 27,<br />Theses 21, 'Centrelines' Magazine Issues l7. Total 1645<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span><a title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4749412428734607571#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1"></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span><a title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4749412428734607571#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2"></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-76823271100842917072007-10-11T18:19:00.000+01:002007-10-11T18:20:59.659+01:00Scandal of Scots dope factories<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /><br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />Pearson said Scotland's new generation of "industrial-sized" cannabis producers could be worth more than £7m - equivalent to eight million "spliffs".<br />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.<br />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".<br />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.<br />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.<br />"As a result, we have gone from zero cultivation of industrial-sized cannabis factories in Scotland a year ago, to 66 today."<br />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.<br />Pearson said: "I am obviously concerned about cannabis and its links to organised crime."<br />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."<br />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.<br />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".<br />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."<br />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."<br />A Scottish Executive spokesman said they remained vigilant about the drug's dangers.<br />Source: </span><a href="http://www.scotsman.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">www.Scotsman.com</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> Sunday 22nd July 2007</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-62802095414539206612007-10-11T18:16:00.000+01:002007-10-11T18:18:02.550+01:00More help asked for cannabis addiction<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br />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.<br />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.<br />The number of ecstasy users also remained stable.<br />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<br />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.<br />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.<br />Source: Expatica News. August 2007<br /> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-44638229623554530822007-10-11T18:11:00.000+01:002007-10-11T18:13:37.337+01:00Medicines watchdog cracks down on 'legal high' pills<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /><br />Pills offering "legal highs" were today declared illegal by the UK medicines regulator because they contain a dangerous anti-worming agent.<br />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.<br />Many are easily available in "headshops" and over the internet, despite being banned in the US and many other countries.<br />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.<br />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.<br />The MHRA said the active ingredient in BZP is piperazine, which is used as an anti-worming agent to tackle parasites in cattle.<br />"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.<br />"People should not take these pills, as there are considerable health risks."<br />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.<br />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".<br />Source:Tuesday March 20, 2007 </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Guardian Unlimited</span></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-8066158701075193982007-10-11T18:03:00.000+01:002007-10-11T18:07:02.681+01:00Six-year surge in drug possession cases as figure tops 34,400<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">The number of people caught with drugs has soared over the past six years.<br />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.<br />The Strathclyde region accounted for more than half of the total, while Dumfries and Galloway only recorded 663 incidents last year.<br />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.<br />"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.<br />"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."<br />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.<br />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."<br />A Scottish Executive spokesman said that the rise in recorded crimes reflected work by police forces and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA).<br />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.<br />"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.<br />"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."<br />Source: The Herald Tuesday 27th March 2007<br /><br /> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749412428734607571.post-3983762661743983862007-10-11T17:59:00.000+01:002007-10-11T18:02:41.932+01:00Gordon Brown cuts £50m from drugs work in funding<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/29/nbrown129.xml"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Sunday Telegraph</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> suggests that the Pooled Treatment Budget will be cut over coming years:<br />The flagship government scheme for treating drug addicts faces swingeing budget cuts of £50 million, it can be revealed today.<br />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.<br />We of course know that the Young People’s Substance Misuse Grant suffered a 10% cut this year, the effects of which are now </span><a href="http://www.drugscope.org.uk/ourwork/pressoffice/pressreleases/Young-people-servce-cuts.htm"><span style="font-size:85%;">becoming apparent</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">:<br />Source: Sunday Telegraph July 2007</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com