LONDON: (AFP) When Britain bans the herbal stimulant khat, Mohamod Ahmed Mohamed will lose his livelihood. But he fears most for his small Somali community without the leaf that fuels its social life. "I can switch to another business but what about the youth, where are they going to go-the street, the mosque, to hard drugs?" he says at his khat warehouse near London's Heathrow airport. "You are taking away their freedom. Why target us? You will never find somebody falling over on the street or fighting from khat like they do when they are drunk." [continues 625 words]
LONDON (AP) - Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug used worldwide, but addictions to popular painkillers like Vicodin, Oxycontin and codeine kill the most people, according to the first global survey of illicit drug abuse. In addition to cannabis and opioid painkillers, scientists analyzed abuse of cocaine and amphetamines in 2010, largely based on previous studies. The researchers found that for all the drugs studied, men in their 20s had the highest rates of abuse. The worst-hit countries were Australia, Britain, Russia and the U.S. [continues 134 words]
LONDON (AP) - Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug used worldwide, but addictions to popular painkillers like Vicodin, Oxycontin and codeine kill the most people, according to the first-ever global survey of illicit drug abuse. In addition to cannabis and opioid painkillers, scientists analyzed abuse of cocaine and amphetamines in 2010, largely based on previous studies. Ecstasy and hallucinogens weren't included, because there weren't enough data. The researchers found that for all the drugs studied, men in their 20s had the highest rates of abuse. The worst-hit countries were Australia, Britain, Russia and the U.S. The study was published online Thursday in the journal, Lancet. [continues 158 words]
For All the Policing and Prosecuting, There Is No Effect on Levels of Drug Use Evidence is mounting that our drug laws are not working. New analysis from Release and the London School of Economics shows beyond doubt that the way in which they are implemented is highly discriminatory, ineffective, and counterproductive. Hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money are spent every year on arresting and processing people for possessing drugs, with no discernible impact on drug markets or levels of use. Meanwhile, thousands of otherwise law-abiding people receive criminal records, and many poor and minority communities deal daily with the feeling that the police are unfairly targeting them. [continues 381 words]
But Global Survey Shows Prescription Painkillers Kill the Most LONDON - Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug used worldwide, but addictions to popular painkillers like Vicodin, Oxycontin and codeine kill the most people, according to the first global survey of illicit drug abuse. In addition to cannabis and opioid painkillers, scientists analyzed abuse of cocaine and amphetamines in 2010, largely based on previous studies. Ecstasy and hallucinogens weren't included because there wasn't enough data. The researchers found that for all the drugs studied, men in their 20s had the highest rates of abuse. The countries with the highest rates of abuse were Australia, Britain, Russia and the United States. The study was published online Thursday in the journal Lancet. [continues 232 words]
LONDON (AP) - Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug used worldwide, but addictions to popular painkillers like Vicodin, Oxycontin and codeine kill the most people, according to the first-ever global survey of illicit drug abuse. In addition to cannabis and opioid painkillers, scientists analyzed abuse of cocaine and amphetamines in 2010, largely based on previous studies. Ecstasy and hallucinogens weren't included, because there weren't enough data. The researchers found that for all the drugs studied, men in their 20s had the highest rates of abuse. The worst-hit countries were Australia, Britain, Russia and the U.S. The study was published online Thursday in the journal, Lancet. [end]
LONDON (AP) - Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug used worldwide, but addictions to popular painkillers like Vicodin, Oxycontin and codeine kill the most people, according to the first-ever global survey of illicit drug abuse. In addition to cannabis and opioid painkillers, scientists analyzed abuse of cocaine and amphetamines in 2010, largely based on previous studies. Ecstasy and hallucinogens weren't included, because there weren't enough data. The researchers found that for all the drugs studied, men in their 20s had the highest rates of abuse. The worst-hit countries were Australia, Britain, Russia and the U.S. The study was published online Thursday in the journal Lancet. [continues 233 words]
LONDON - Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug used worldwide, but addictions to popular painkillers like Vicodin, Oxycontin and codeine kill the most people, according to the first-ever global survey of illicit drug abuse. In addition to cannabis and opioid painkillers, scientists analyzed abuse of cocaine and amphetamines in 2010, largely based on previous studies. Ecstasy and hallucinogens weren't included, because there weren't enough data. The researchers found that for all the drugs studied, men in their 20s had the highest rates of abuse. The worst hit countries were Australia, Britain, Russia and the U. S. The study was published online Thursday in the journal Lancet. [continues 216 words]
Shock Admission From UK's Top Doctor ENGLAND'S most senior doctor yesterday admitted she had taken cannabis. Professor Sally Davies also appeared to question the policy of treating drug abuse as a criminal offence. Dame Sally, the chief medical officer, said she had experimented with cannabis three or four times at university but stopped after suffering hallucinations. She has previously claimed that criminalising drugs deterred addicts from seeking medical help. Dame Sally has also said she would be 'ready with quite a lot of advice' if ministers decided to decriminalise some drugs. [continues 668 words]
Dame Sally Davies' important contribution to the discussion about the UK'S drugs laws has been lost in a tabloid frenzy. Charlie Cooper reports It all stemmed from such a civilised conversation. Sunday lunchtime, and Dame Sally Davies, England's highly-respected chief medical officer, was the guest of Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3's Private Passions programme. As Dame Sally explained her admiration for Vaughan Williams' viola pieces, no one could have predicted that the discussion would soon take a turn that would lead to screaming tabloid headlines. But then she started talking about drugs. [continues 1304 words]
Sir, An online image with your article "GPs to be allowed prescribe medicinal cannabis" (August 15th), shows the cannabis available on prescription in the Netherlands, known as Bedrocan. This is cannabis grown in the Netherlands by a pharmaceutical company, standardised and available in ground form in the containers that you show, through doctor's prescription and pharmacies. However, the article itself refers to the whole cannabis extract, Sativex, as created by the UK pharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals, supplied in spray form in alcohol, and in the UK often denied patients due to the high cost which is many times more than that of the raw materials. [continues 75 words]
Over the past five years, the Bay Area has seen a 75 per cent drop in drug arrests. This is partly because of California's evolving drug laws but, according to a recent report in the San Francisco Examiner, it has more to with a "philosophical shift" in local law enforcement. It seems appropriate, then, that the US Attorney General this week chose San Francisco as the venue to signal the Obama administration's own philosophical shift on drug enforcement. Addressing the American Bar Association's conference in the city on Monday, Eric Holder said he would instruct prosecutors to cease listing drug quantities in minor indictments. The law obliges judges to mete out mandatory minimum sentences to offenders, depending on the volume of drugs involved. But if that volume goes unmentioned, judges will be free to order lesser sentences. A modest proposal, but one that could herald a momentous trend: the winding down of America's 40-year war on drugs. [continues 487 words]
NEXT year the stupidest policy in human history will celebrate its centenary in pretty good shape. You can make a convincing case that the absurdly named War on Drugs was born in 1914, with the passing of the Harrison Narcotics Act in America. Restricting the sale and manufacture of substances such as cocaine, heroin and cannabis, this was the United States' first federal drug policy. Of course, 1914 was also the year another Great War broke out. It's a grim business comparing wars but needs must. The First World War, as it is also known, lasted four years and led to perhaps 37 million deaths. The War on Drugs has lasted a century but its casualties cannot be calculated. [continues 433 words]
Uruguay is brave and right to legalise cannabis. And so at last we have a country that is bowing to the demands of logic, common sense and sound policy by becoming the first in the world to regulate the production, distribution and sale of cannabis. Uruguay's House of Representatives has passed the necessary bill, which now only needs the approval of the Senate. This is a hugely significant moment in the long march from hysteria to sanity that is the so-called war on drugs. The case for ending prohibition is a combination of principle and practicality. In principle, this newspaper believes that the state has no business stopping people from doing something that might harm themselves, so long as it doesn't harm others. A century of evidence shows that criminalising drugs increases rather than decreases the harm to others. [continues 167 words]
With the holiday season in full swing, the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Council for the Homeless have come together to issue harm reduction advice for drug users. Brendan Bonner, Acting Assistant Director, Health Improvement, PHA said; "The summer has always been a time when we are more likely to see an increase in binge drinking. In the past the PHA has issued warnings about managing your alcohol consumption, particularly during summer festivals and sporting events, as alcohol consumption in the warm weather increases the risk of dehydration and overheating. [continues 422 words]
MP Wants Law Change to Stop Over-The-Counter Sale of Seeds MP Sir Roger Gale is demanding a change in the law so shops like Canterbury's UK Skunkworks are banned from selling cannabis seeds. The Tory member for Thanet North, which includes Herne Bay, tabled a parliamentary question calling for the trade in seeds to be strictly licensed. At the moment, anyone can go into a shop such as Skunkworks in Northgate to buy the seeds and then grow the class B drug even though it is illegal to buy it in its adult form. [continues 236 words]
Roadside Tests to Tackle 'Menace That Ruins Lives' MOTORISTS who get behind the wheel after smoking cannabis face losing their licence for at least a year under a "one spliff and you're over the limit" crackdown. Ministers today proposed a "zero tolerance" policy on people who drive after using illegal drugs. Nearly 9,000 drivers are expected to face prosecution a year. Motorists found guilty will face an automatic driving ban as well as possibly jail of up to six months and a fine of up to UKP5,000. [continues 464 words]
THERESA May overruled her own drug advisers yesterday to ban a herbal stimulant linked with Islamist extremism. The Home Secretary said that if she failed to act Britain could become a transit route for illegally shipping khat to mainland Europe. The amphetamine-like substance is already banned in most European countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Ireland. Security experts have warned that proceeds from selling the drug could be funding Islamist extremist groups such as al-Shabab. Mrs May said that khat, which is popular among Somalis in the UK, would become a Class C drug like anabolic steroids. [continues 128 words]
It is possible to buy nearly anything online, so it should not be a shock that drug dealers ply their evil trade over the internet. Yet there is something chilling about our report today which reveals that potentially lethal narcotics, including the ecstasy-type drug linked to the deaths of eight young people in the province, are readily available at the click of a mouse. In most people's imagination drug deals are done in back alleys or in crowded nightclubs, but obviously new technology has been harnessed to streamline the operation. [continues 277 words]
Drug taking comes second only to the spectre of paedophilia in its ability to get the public in a panic. Both evoke a murky, squalid underworld populated by depraved ghouls intent on getting their kicks. And when illicit drugs cause a spate of sudden deaths - eight people have lost their lives over recent weeks in Northern Ireland, in apparently drug-related circumstances - the fear and loathing is cranked up still higher. Who to blame? Who to punish? Which shadowy figures can be dragged forth into the daylight and held to account? [continues 678 words]
A sense of panic and fear has gripped loyalist areas after official warnings of a possible link between the "sudden and unexplained" deaths of eight young people and dangerous designer drug PMA. Families and friends of Belfast men Gareth 'Big Henry' Morrison, Andy McCann and Alan 'Alio' McKenzie are mourning the loss of their loved ones. Sunday Life was told yesterday that the family of 26-year-old Sandy Row man Gareth Morrison, who died last Sunday, were still too upset to talk about their loss. [continues 1145 words]
A drugs panel -- including Sussex's police commissioner -- has slammed suggestions Brighton and Hove should introduce shooting galleries for addicts. The comments come just weeks after Brighton and Hove City Council launched a feasibility study into the proposal. Andy Winter, chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust, said the independent report, which championed the scheme among a host of other options, had done a "huge disservice" to the debate surrounding addiction in the city. Speaking at the Drugs and Alcohol Today conference, the veteran social worker said the report had put the debate back "five or ten years" adding "the sooner we forget about it the better". [continues 277 words]
It is not every day that a recovering heroin addict shares a stage with the Mayor of London to discuss drugs on BBC's Question Time. But during last broadcast, Russell Brand sat beside Boris Johnson and spoke openly about his former addiction and his ideas for solving Britain's addiction problems. The comedian, who called David Dimbleby "mate" and Boris Johnson "man" throughout the programme, showed his serious side when asked whether drug laws were working in the UK. He said: "I don't think drug laws are working because people take drugs all the time. People will take drugs because of social, psychological and emotional reasons. [continues 391 words]
SIR Paul McCartney's son has opened his heart about the death of his mother Linda and how his subsequent descent into drink and drugs caused a massive rift with his father. James McCartney, 35, says he still idolises Kurt Cobain, the rock star who shot himself James McCartney, 35, turned to drugs to help with the grief of losing his mother from cancer when he was 20. Modelling himself on Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain - a heroin addict who killed himself with a shotgun - James went off the rails for years. [continues 317 words]
"Laws have not been updated despite scientific advances" Professor David Nutt INTERNATIONAL drug laws have set back key areas of scientific research including potential medical treatments, a controversial former government drugs adviser has warned. Professor David Nutt, of Imperial College London, said United Nations conventions on drugs have led to some of the most scandalous examples of scientific censorship in modern times. Along with another former government adviser, Leslie King, and Professor David Nichols of the University of North Carolina, Prof Nutt argues that psychoactive drugs used in research should be exempted from severe restrictions. [continues 363 words]
The outlawing of drugs such as cannabis, MDMA and LSD amounts to "the worst case of scientific censorship since the Catholic Church banned the works of Copernicus and Galileo", the former Government drugs advisor Professor David Nutt claimed. Prof Nutt, who was dismissed from the Home Office's advisory council on drugs in 2009 after clashing with ministers, said that UN conventions on drugs in the 1960s and 1970s had delayed the development of "innovative treatments" for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression by 30 years. [continues 171 words]
MORE and more cannabis users are needing hospital treatment for mental disorders after smoking super-strength skunk, drug campaigners warned last night. The numbers admitted for treatment have increased by 50 per cent in three years and the campaigners blame permissive policing, including the use of cautions and spot fines. Mary Brett of Cannabis Skunk Sense said: 'We need an end to the authorities turning a blind eye to cannabis as if it is a harmless substance.' Department of Health figures show that in 2008-9 some 651 admissions were recorded in England relating to a diagnosis of 'mental or behavioural disorder due to use of cannabinoids'. For 2011-12, the figure had risen to more than 1,000. Skunk is five times as potent as traditional cannabis. [end]
THE NUMBER of Scots admitted to hospital because of cannabis use rocketed by 50% in just five years, new figures have revealed. The figures, from NHS Scotland's Information Services Division, show there were 609 people taken into hospital because of their cannabis use in 2011-12, up from 406 just five years before. Now experts are calling on the Scottish Government to do more to warn people about the dangers of cannabis. They claim cannabis can have a detrimental effect on mental health, particularly for a small number of vulnerable users who have an inherited predisposition to schizophrenia. [continues 452 words]
European governments and the Obama administration are this weekend studying a "gamechanging" report on global drugs policy that is being seen in some quarters as the beginning of the end for blanket prohibition. Publication of the Organisation of American States (OAS) review, commissioned at last year's Cartagena Summit of the Americas attended by Barack Obama, reflects growing dissatisfaction among Latin American countries with the current global policy on illicit drugs. It spells out the effects of the policy on many countries and examines what the global drugs trade will look like if the status quo continues. It notes how rapidly countries' unilateral drugs policies are evolving, while at the same time there is a growing consensus over the human costs of the trade. "Growing media attention in many countries, including on social media, reflects a world in which there is far greater awareness of the violence and suffering associated with the drug problem," Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the OAS, says in a foreword to the review. [continues 500 words]
You wouldn't know it from listening to UK officials but a game-changing debate is taking place in the Americas about the war on drugs. There is a growing belief that the current punitive-based approach has failed. It has visited a savage level of violence on Latin America as narco cartels, moving cocaine and cannabis into the US, have butchered and bribed their way through the continent. The killing and corrupting of public officials judges, police, politicians threatened, and still threatens, to demolish the institutions of those states. [continues 232 words]
Regular Users of the Drug Found to Have Lower Levels of Insulin After Fasting, Research Shows Smoking cannabis may prevent the development of diabetes, one of the most rapidly rising chronic disorders in the world. If the link is proved, it could lead to the development of treatments based on the active ingredient of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), without its intoxicating effects. Researchers have found that regular users of the drug had lower levels of the hormone insulin after fasting - a signal that they are protected against diabetes. They also had reduced insulin resistance. Cannabis is widely smoked in the United States with over 17 million current users of whom more than four million smoke it on a daily basis. In the UK latest figures show 2.3 million people used cannabis in the last year, but the numbers have declined in the last decade. [continues 378 words]
Lady Neidpath, Who Once Drilled a Hole in Her Own Head, Is Dead Serious About Drugs. Nick Curtis Hears Why Our Fear of Illegal Highs Means We Could Be Missing Out on Cures for Depression I DO NOT doubt for one moment the absolute sincerity of the drugs campaigner Amanda Feilding, aka Lady Neidpath, Countess of Wemyss and March. Nor the good sense in her argument that narcotics should be scientifically studied, decriminalised, and licensed and regulated by the state for medical or recreational use as appropriate - a "sensible" alternative to the vast waste of lives and money in the unwinnable War on Drugs. But I can see how easy it is for her opponents to demonise the 70-year-old as a batty aristo. [continues 1565 words]
Top Crime Writer Calls for Supervised Zones to Cut Heroin and Crack Deaths Brighton is set to be the first British city to offer official "drug consumption rooms" where addicts can use heroin, crack and cocaine under supervision without fear of prosecution. The city's public health leaders will meet this summer to "give serious consideration" to the plan in order to save lives. Brighton has one of the UK's highest drug-related death rates, with 104 fatalities between 2009 and 2011. An estimated 2,000 people in the city have a serious abuse problem. A report published this week from an independent drugs commission led by the crime author Peter James and Mike Trace, a former UK deputy drugs tsar, is expected to say that drug consumption rooms "significantly reduce overdose death rates" and do not encourage further use. [continues 415 words]
The global war on drugs should be abandoned and they could be legalised, an establishment think tank has declared. A study by the International Institute of Strategic Studies found that the global war on narcotics had failed to contain the scourge of illegal stimulants. The drugs trade has spread to Africa and Eastern Europe in recent decades and entrenched its standing in its traditional strongholds of Asia and the Americas. Nigel Inkster, the former assistant chief of MI6 and author of the study, said there was a growing revolt against the cost of the fight in developing countries. [continues 247 words]
Raids Target Rising Domestic Cultivation of Drug, Fuelled by Debt and Criminality If making big money from cannabis cultivation was the aim, there is no evidence of success in this small, rented, two-storey terrace home, raided by Manchester police. Downstairs, the middle-aged male tenant had just sat down in a bare sitting room, in front of afternoon television, to enjoy a piece of buttered white toast and a porn magazine when the police arrived. Of the three rooms upstairs, only the bedroom is furnished, but sparsely a bed, a dirty duvet, no sheets on the mattress, and a ratty pair of slippers half-tucked under the bed. "He's not living in affluence," a police officer remarks, glancing in. [continues 1436 words]
A JOURNALIST whose house was raided by police because it had a "hot roof " has lodged a formal complaint after being wrongly targeted. Kris Sangani's Leytonstone home was searched by officers acting on information that the roof was emitting unusually high levels of heat - - a sign of a cannabis farm. Officers, who carried out the raid as part of a Met crackdown on drug dealers, found nothing and told him they would not be making any further enquiries, but did not apologise. [continues 270 words]
Marijuana-scented cards are being distributed across the UK in the hope they will help people to sniff out crime, literally. The scratch- and-sniff cards are intended to help people identify illegal cannabis farms. Over the last two years, police have seized more than 1m marijuana plants, with an estimated value of more than UKP 200m, and there was a 15% increase in cannabis farms in 2011-12. With the help of the police, Crimestoppers will be distributing the cards, which replicate the smell of the drug in its growing state. Anyone hoping for a cheap high will be disappointed, however: the charity points out that the cards do not contain marijuana's active ingredient, THC. [continues 163 words]
THE Home Office is to undertake a detailed study of how other countries deal with illegal drugs including forms of decriminalisation. Crime Prevention Minister Jeremy Browne is being despatched to countries such as Portugal, which has "depenalised" small-scale possession, to gather evidence on what works. But MPs' calls for a wide-ranging Royal Commission, backed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, have been rejected by the Government. The fact-finding mission was unveiled in response to the Commons Home Affairs Committee which concluded last year that British policy was not working. After a year-long study, it said Ministers could learn from Portugal, where possession of small amounts of illegal drugs is not subject to criminal penalties. [continues 142 words]
SUICIDE is a deep well of grief, reproach and guilt. But it is not an argument. When someone kills himself, we offer our deepest sympathy to those left behind, as I do to the family of Edward Thornber, the Manchester schoolboy who ended his own life after being caught with cannabis. But we must not blame ourselves. In the end, those who take this sad step are the only ones responsible for it. I know that some will accuse me of harshness and cruelty, even for discussing this. Please believe me when I say that this accusation is mistaken. [continues 442 words]
A detective stole massive amounts of seized drugs and conspired to sell them with his brother in a plot that generated at least UKP600,000 for the pair, a court was told yesterday. West Yorkshire police detective constable Nicholas McFadden, 38, helped himself to heroin, cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis worth tens of thousands of pounds by exploiting "slack" procedures at secret evidence stores, Leeds crown court was told. McFadden, who was in charge of looking after evidence when he worked for a special organised crime group, and his brother Simon, 41, a debt collector, conspired to sell the illegal drugs, making at least UKP600,000 from the venture, it is alleged. The brothers "spent heavily but made so much money they didn't know what to do with it", jurors heard. They splashed out on exotic holidays, designer clothing, expensive jewellery and home improvements. [continues 346 words]
It Would Save Money, Be Tough on Crime and Aid Global Security. What Could Be More Conservative? Two European countries have decriminalised all drugs and disproved the argument that usage rises when prohibition is lifted Afew weeks ago I had a coffee with one of the most admired Tory thinkers. A radical libertarian, he spent his time railing against the interventions of Europe and inadequacies of government, arguing how they combined to infringe basic freedoms. Given the stridency of his views and hostility to the state, I asked if he supported the legalisation of drugs. "Oh no," he said. "That's totally different. It's just wrong." [continues 916 words]
CANNABIS is still being removed and six people questioned after a raid on one of the biggest drugs factories ever discovered in Worcestershire. Six people were still being questioned today in connection with the discovery of a huge cannabis factory on the outskirts of Stourport. A total of 14 arrests were made after approximately 2,000 cannabis plants in various stages of development were found early yesterday in an industrial unit off Barracks Road on the Sandy Lane industrial estate. Officers also seized a large amount of growing equipment including heaters and lighting. [continues 219 words]
STAFF at the Grimsby Institute taught students they were serious about a zero tolerance drugs policy with a random police dog inspection of the Nun's Corner campus, yesterday . Officers from Humberside Police, South Yorkshire Police dog handler Paul Brackpool and passive indication drugs dog Duke began their inspection at 9am yesterday, visiting every classroom on the campus, having been invited in by Institute bosses. The 2,000 students at Nun's Corner received no prior warning, but Duke found just one student holding a small amount of cannabis - although dozens more were searched after he picked up a scent. [continues 322 words]
BARONESS Meacher has been lambasted for suggesting that youngsters switch from alcohol to "safer" drugs but the statistics suggest she makes a good point. Official estimates show there have been 200 deaths linked to Ecstasy here since 1996. That is about 12 deaths a year, or one a month. Between 2009 and 2010 there were 8,790 alcohol-related deaths. That is 732 a month. Meanwhile, on average, smoking kills 80,000 every year. Just because it is more socially acceptable, drinking is by no means a safer pastime for teenagers than taking drugs. In an ideal world, it would be better if they did neither but, as the saying goes, "kids will be kids". (Both are illegal to under 18s but that does not stop them). [continues 537 words]
National policies need to be about reducing the impact of illegal drugs on Scotland, not initiatives that could result in their wider use, writes Neil McKeganey IN MONDAY'S report from the Westminster's all-parliamentary group on drug policy reform, we have what has become the latest in a long line of calls for the legalisation of illegal drugs. For the advocates of drugs legalisation, the arguments seem disarmingly familiar and persuasive: our drug laws have failed to stem the flow of illegal drug use; many of those substances that are currently illegal are less harmful than tobacco or alcohol and, therefore, we should pursue an approach that legalises these and other forms of drug use. [continues 1119 words]
THE possession and use of all illegal drugs should be decriminalised, and the least harmful substances should be regulated and sold in licensed shops, an inquiry by a group of cross-party peers has found. A system for testing the safety of new drugs should be introduced with low-risk substances sold with labels detailing their risks, like cigarette packaging, members of the all-party parliamentary group for drug policy reform said today. While the supply of the most dangerous substances should remain banned, users caught with a small quantity of any drug should not be penalised, the inquiry found. [continues 538 words]
The least harmful new "legal highs" should be made readily available for sale under strictly regulated conditions rather than being immediately banned as happens now, according to a cross-party group of peers. Senior police officers told the inquiry into the new psychoactive synthetic drugs, which are appearing in Britain at the rate of more than one a week, that the existing criminal sanctions for drug users are doing nothing to reduce their use. Tim Hollis, the chief constable who chairs the Association of Chief Police Officers drugs committee, said the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act was not well positioned to deal with the more complex drugs scene which now exists in Britain. [continues 338 words]
Millions of pounds seized from drug dealers should be funnelled into a new independent research body in a bid to tackle the country's drug problems, claim campaigners. In a highly critical report, the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC) warns that a lack of leadership and high turnover of ministers and civil servants is hindering progress. A new body funded by up to UKP10 million a year in cash raised through the confiscated assets of drug-related crime is required to improve drug policy, the UKDPC says, while politicians should establish a cross-party forum to decide where progress could be made. [continues 333 words]
WEST Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner fears services to help criminals with drug problems will be seriously undermined by a new wave of spending cuts. Mark Burns-Williamson, left, voiced concerns after the announcement that the Government was reducing community safety funding grants by 25 per cent nationally, from UKP120m to UKP90m. The equivalent cut would see West Yorkshire's allocation slashed from UKP5.3m to UKP3.975m, Cash is currently provided to the police and partner organisations to promote community safety initiatives, including drug treatment and testing services. [continues 170 words]
Deputy Prime Minister Says Politicians Know 'War On Drugs' Is Failing And Prime Minister Must Show Courage Over Issue Divisions between David Cameron and Nick Clegg over Britain's "war on drugs" emerged on Friday after the Liberal Democrat leader said that current policy was not working and accused politicians of "a conspiracy of silence". Committing his party to pledging a major review of how to tackle the drug problem in its 2015 election manifesto, Clegg claimed Britain was losing the war "on an industrial scale". He said Cameron should have the courage to look at issues such as decriminalisation or legalisation of drugs. [continues 724 words]
Inside United Kingdom
