The web's two largest drug markets go down, panicking dealers and buyers "I JUST can't bear this any longer," writes "Megan" in an anonymous internet forum. Waiting for online shopping to be delivered is frustrating. But for drug users it can be agony. Megan's vice is OxyContin, an addictive prescription painkiller. Like many users, she buys her illicit supply on the "dark web", a hidden corner of the internet accessed with anonymous browsing software. In the past month the online market for drugs has been rattled, after the two main drug-dealing sites suddenly locked buyers and sellers out. "If you know anyone...who would sort something out for me tonight or tomorrow I'll drop dead of gratitude," pleads Megan. [continues 416 words]
Fury as drugs activists get free airtime for election PRO-DRUGS campaigners in Scotland are to be given a prime-time slot on television to call for the legalisation of cannabis. A radical new political party has been set up with the sole purpose of making drugs laws more lenient. Funded by an internet millionaire, CISTA - short for Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol - is fielding candidates across the country in the General Election. It will be able to exploit electoral rules to air its controversial ideas, which include giving cannabis to sick children. [continues 591 words]
YVONNE MacLean left the SNP to stand for CISTA in Rutherglen and Hamilton West. The 41-year-old single mother admits being a 'criminal' for 'self-medicating' to alleviate depression with cannabis she buys from a drug dealer. Miss MacLean, of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, believes legalising the Class B drug would be 'good for the environment, the economy and the community'. She said: 'I don't think people should be criminalised for their choices. They should be trusted to use drugs sensibly and addicts should be helped. People can get addicted to coffee, cigarettes and alcohol if they have that type of personality. [continues 125 words]
Almost One in Ten Adults Admits to Using the Drug Scientists Warn of Deadly Potential Side-Effects Cocaine use, once the preserve of celebrities and the wealthy, has spread throughout British society, drug advisers say. A report by the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) found that although consumption of the drug had fallen slightly from a peak in 2008-09, its use has permeated a wide social demographic that includes the middle classes and those on lower incomes. This has been driven by the emergence of a "two-tier" market; one selling very low purity, cheaper cocaine alongside a smaller trade in a more expensive, purer version. [continues 729 words]
Further to Janet Street-Porter's column on pain-killer abuse (7 March), new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that US states with open medical marijuana access have a 25 per cent lower opioid overdose death rate than cannabis prohibition states. The protective effect grows stronger with time. States with established cannabis access showed a 33 per cent reduction in deaths. This finding has huge implications. The substitution effect was documented by California physicians long before the JAMA research. Legal cannabis access is correlated with a reduction in opioid and alcohol abuse. The cannabis plant is incapable of causing an overdose death. Not even aspirin can make the same claim, much less alcohol or painkillers. The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner of drug war abuses. Legal cannabis has the potential to save thousands of lives. Robert Sharpe Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC [end]
FACING a wipeout at the General Election, Nick Clegg is busy finding ever more desperate ways of appealing to the young voters who have abandoned his party in droves. Having betrayed them over his manifesto pledge to abolish tuition fees, his latest wheeze is to target the druggie vote by reaching out to students who smoke cannabis. The Lib Dems have pledged that personal possession and the use of drugs - not just marijuana, but even heroin - would no longer be a criminal offence. Even by Clegg's standards, this is a proposal of such reckless imbecility that it makes you wonder what he's been smoking. [continues 323 words]
Isn't it about time we acknowledged that 99 per cent of us take drugs? It's just that some are legal and therefore "acceptable". But if all drugs were defined by the harm they can cause, then the current rankings and legal penalties would be pointless. Dealing with the long-term effects of alcohol and tobacco costs the NHS far more than dealing with those addicted to class-A drugs. Apart from liver disease and heart failure, alcohol abuse causes death on the road, domestic violence, murders and absenteeism from work. Not to mention the damage to family life and relationships. Can we put on a price on all of this and be sure it's less than the cost of illegal drug use? [continues 1180 words]
Charlie Cooper Takes a Trip to Meet Professor David Nutt - and Finds Out Why the Former Government Czar Believes That Mind-Altering Drugs Have a Place on the Prescription Pad Professor David Nutt has been no stranger to controversy over the years. So the psychiatrist and former Government drugs tsar, will not have been fazed when he raised eyebrows recently by drawing a parallel between the repression of research into the effects of psychedelic drugs like LSD with the censorship of Galileo and the banning of the telescope. [continues 1114 words]
Sir Richard Branson and Nick Clegg are urging the UK to begin decriminalising the use and possession of almost all drugs, following the example of Portugal. The Virgin founder and deputy prime minister are to address a conference on fighting drug addiction today, and in an article on the Guardian website they write: "As an investment, the war on drugs has failed to deliver any returns. If it were a business, it would have been shut down a long time ago. This is not what success looks like. [continues 402 words]
A FORMER UK Government adviser has said Scots should go Dutch and open cannabis cafes. Professor David Nutt, who has advised the Department of Health, said it could be "very good" for the economy. Prof Nutt sacked by the UK Government in 2009 for saying horse riding was more dangerous than ecstasy also blasted plans to ban legal highs. Speaking ahead of a talk in Edinburgh, Prof Nutt said: "If Scotland had a sensible medical cannabis policy you'd get a lot of health tourists and that would be very good for your economy. People could have a cuppa in cafes in Edinburgh and Glasgow and have a spliff as they do in Amsterdam." [end]
George Square Event Criticised by Politicians DRUG users are planning to stage a "cannabis celebration" in Glasgow's George Square. The annual '420 event' sees campaigners gather in a public place on April 20 to call for the legalisation of the Class B drug. Last year Glasgow Cannabis Social Club held a gathering of 150 people at Glasgow Green and five were reported to the procurator fiscal for flouting the law by lighting up in full view of police. The maximum penalty for possession of cannabis is five years in prison. [continues 448 words]
CAN you put two and two together? Have a try. The authorities, and most of the media, cannot. Did you know that the Copenhagen killer, Omar El-Hussein, had twice been arrested (and twice let off) for cannabis possession? Probably not. It was reported in Denmark but not prominently mentioned amid the usual swirling speculation about 'links' between El-Hussein and 'Islamic State', for which there is no evidence at all. El-Hussein, a promising school student, mysteriously became so violent and ill-tempered that his own gang of petty criminals, The Brothers, actually expelled him. [continues 571 words]
BRITAIN'S brightest teenagers are among those most at risk of mental illness caused by smoking a potent form of cannabis, a leading expert has warned. Professor Sir Robin Murray said it tended to be 'clever and sociable' youngsters who were damaged by using the super-strong strain of the drug, known as skunk. Sir Robin, the foremost authority in Britain on the effects of smoking cannabis, led a landmark study with colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry which found that regularly smoking skunk triples the risk of psychosis, as revealed last week by The Mail on Sunday. [continues 627 words]
Frequent use of high-potency weed might be linked to an increased risk of having a psychotic episode. But milder strains of marijuana, even when used heavily, don't appear to carry an increased risk of psychosis. Researchers got data from 410 London patients sent to the hospital for a first-episode psychotic incident and compared those numbers with data from370 control individuals living in the same area. Compared with someone who had never smoked, a weekly user of high- potency weed, defined as having greater than 15 percent THC content, was three times as likely to be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. The researchers found no link between frequent use of low-potency weed and psychotic disorder. The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Lancet Psychiatry. [end]
As far as futile activities go, the fight against legal highs is a textbook example. According to figures released last week, police incidents involving legal highs substances sold in high street shops and on the internet, including products for the home such as "plant food", but which contain psychoactive elements that mimic the effects of cannabis, amphetamine and heroin have more than doubled in a year, The web enables ever quicker and easier access to these substances. Their cheapness and the veneer of respectability because they are nominally "legal" means that more people are eschewing illicit drugs in favour of taking the alternative. [continues 625 words]
Study Finds 60,000 Britons Are Living With Mental Illness Because of Super-Strong Drug ONE in four new cases of psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia could be the direct result of smoking extra-strong varieties of cannabis, a major new study concludes. The finding suggests that about 60,000 people in Britain are currently living with conditions involving hallucinations and paranoid episodes brought on by abuse of high-potency cannabis, known as skunk, and more than 300,000 people who have smoked skunk will experience such problems in their lifetime. [continues 802 words]
A FORMER Government drugs tsar says cannabis and ecstasy should be used to treat patients battling cancer and depression. Professor David Nutt claimed that banning certain drugs is depriving patients and doctors of "extremely useful" therapies for chronic pain and illnesses. Nutt, who was fired by the Government in 2009 for claiming horse-riding is more dangerous than ecstasy, also said there may be therapeutic benefits in legal highs. The psychiatrist added: "Let the doctors decide which drugs are harmful, not the politician." [continues 67 words]
Nearly a quarter of new cases of psychosis are linked to highpotency "skunk like" cannabis, new research shows. People who smoke superstrength cannabis are three times more likely to develop psychosis than people who have never tried the drug and five times more likely if they smoke it every day. The study, by researchers at King's College London, will fuel calls for politicians and public health officials to take a stronger stance against high potency cannabis, at a time when many campaigners are arguing for marijuana to be legalised. The researchers say there is an "urgent need" to inform young people about the risks of strong cannabis. [continues 149 words]
Nearly a quarter of new cases of psychosis are linked to high-potency "skunk like" cannabis, new British research shows. People who smoke super-strength cannabis are three times more likely to develop psychosis than people who have never tried the drug - and five times more likely if they smoke it every day. The study, by researchers at King's College London, will fuel calls for politicians and public health officials to take a stronger stance against high potency cannabis, at a time when many campaigners are arguing for marijuana to be legalised. [continues 67 words]
Smoking powerful "skunk" cannabis triples the risk of suffering a serious psychotic episode, scientists have found. The drug is linked to one quarter of all new cases of psychosis, the study revealed. The findings add to a compelling body of evidence that smoking strong cannabis "tilts the odds" towards a person developing psychosis, which leads to schizophrenia in about half of cases. The study found that people who smoked skunk every day had five times the normal risk of experiencing extended episodes in which they heard voices, suffered delusions or demonstrated erratic behaviour. [continues 171 words]
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