YOUNG people are being treated in record numbers for mental health problems which have been caused by cannabis. Official figures show more than 5,000 under-25s were treated for addiction and psychiatric problems with the drug over the past year. Experts believe the rise has been caused by new strains of cannabis - known as skunk - which are more potent than those grown in the past. And they say the alarming figures might have been even worse were it not for the overall numbers of cannabis users falling. [continues 278 words]
BRITAIN is on the verge of a steep rise in young adults getting a severe form of lung disease due to regular cannabis and tobacco smoking, Welsh scientists have warned. Lung specialists have given the warning at the winter meeting of the British Thoracic Society. A study at Bangor analysed patients attending A&E with a severe and accelerated form of emphysema linked to their high use of cannabis and tobacco. Some patients were in their 30s and the whole sample had smoked five joints a day - or more for at least a decade. [continues 233 words]
When I stood as the Ukip Police and Crime Commissioner candidate in 2012 for Greater Manchester, I was a strong voice against the decriminalisation of drugs then and my view, driven by evidence, has not changed since. The reality is that decriminalising drugs would result in drug houses becoming a familiar sight in our towns, in which users would be able to indulge in poisoning there bodies LEGALLY. Drug addicts need deterrence, not encouragement from the state. The most effective deterrent must come from our judicial system. [continues 116 words]
Drug-use confessions by those in the public eye have a lot of power to shape perceptions, writes SHONA CRAVEN While most of us are well aware of how addictions shatter families and blight communities, the addict - particularly the heroin addict - remains an unfathomable "other". And while great efforts have been made in recent years to change public perceptions, that label retains an unmistakable moral, rather than medical, dimension. Any pity for a drug user with a wretched life is paired with a confidence that such a life is the product of choices we ourselves would never make. [continues 602 words]
"WE have hit their criminality hard by hitting them in their pockets as well." Those were the words of Detective Inspector Paul Fisher after a series of raids over the course of four hours on Saturday morning saw drug networks in Swindon lose out on around ?70,000 in cash and product, with eight suspects given a new bed behind bars and a number of weapons taken off the streets. Around 50 officers carried out eight warrants around the town from 9am as part of a countywide operation which saw similar raids executed in Melksham and Amesbury. [continues 904 words]
Sir Peter Fahy said he was in favour of a 'more medical approach' to dealing with drug offenders. The GMP chief constable added that 'everyone' involved in drugs policy had 'concerns' about the current approach. A Home Office report revealed there was 'no obvious' link between tough laws and drug use. It sparked a debate of decriminalisation of some or all drugs - with the report pointing to the example of Portugal, where there has been a 'considerable' improvement in the health of users since the country made possession a health issue rather than a criminal one in 2001. [continues 114 words]
Chief Constable Says Force Has Policy of Not Criminalising Children With Small Amounts of Illegal Substances ALMOST 100 pupils have been found with illegal drugs in Greater Manchester's schools over the last three years - but charges were only brought in six cases. Dozens of pupils have been caught with cannabis The vast majority of the pupils caught had cannabis, but some were discovered with class A drugs - including heroin and ecstasy. Most of the incidents related to secondary schools, although police were called to two primary schools after pupils inadvertenly brought suspicous or illegal substances in from home. Figures, obtained by the M.E.N. using Freedom of Information laws, show that Greater Manchester Police dealt with 99 drug crimes involving students at schools between January 2012 and September this year. [continues 318 words]
ILLEGAL drug use has become a social norm now. You can walk through Manchester city centre any day of the week and within minutes you will smell cannabis. And that's in the city centre, never mind the estates, where people are smoking it like they would drink a cup of tea. I see kids walking to school at 8am smoking spliffs. It's pretty clear that the war on drugs has been a failure. History teaches us that prohibition doesn't work. [continues 223 words]
SIR - The United States has almost twice the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where the drug has been legally available for decades. The criminalisation of people who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on cannabis is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public-health campaign. It is time to stop the pointless arrests and instead legalise cannabis and tax it. Robert Sharpe Policy analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC [end]
SIR - Like others you write about the legalisation of the growing cannabis "industry" ("Marijuana milestone", November 8th). But the last thing this industry needs is to become like Big Tobacco. Cannabis is not an easy plant to cultivate. It requires a lot of attention and this is reflected in the price. Because sales and investment between states in America is banned it remains a local industry that maintains a high quality. There are dozens of examples of mass-produced cannabis products that are bland, tasteless reflections of what was once crafted or cultivated with care. Ewing, New Jersey [end]
CANNABIS gran Pat Tabram, who used to cook drug-laced casseroles for her neighbours, was ahead of her times, a friend has said after her death. Ms Tabram hit the headlines when her house was repeatedly raided by police after they were tipped off about the savoury smells and activities coming from her bungalow near Hexham, Northumberland. In her kitchen she would cook up home-made herbal cookies, casseroles and soups, all with the special ingredient for her friends, who she said she was medicating. [continues 320 words]
SIR The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, claims that our "tough" drugs control policy is failing and advocates a "smarter" approach, abolishing prison sentences for drug addicts and concentrating on treatment. These and other policies dealing with offenders are not working as well as they should because of the dithering of our political leaders with regards to punishment, treatment and rehabilitation. Drug addicts and abusers should not be left out in society to fend for themselves. Some kind of custodial remedy must apply, whether it be in prison or a secure hospital. If they go back to drugs when they are released, they should be returned to custody. [continues 56 words]
Almost Half of American States Have Taken Steps to Legalise Cannabis. the Federal Government Should Follow BESIDES choosing lawmakers, on November 4th voters in three American states and the District of Columbia considered measures to liberalise the cannabis trade. Alaska and Oregon, where it is legal to provide "medical marijuana" to registered patients, voted to go further and let the drug be sold and taken for recreational purposes, as Colorado and Washington state already allow. In DC, a measure to legalise the possession of small amounts for personal use was passed. [continues 555 words]
The Legal Cannabis Industry Is Run by Minnows. As Liberalisation Spreads, That May Not Last "FRESH and fruity, right?" says a bright-eyed young man behind the counter, wafting an open jar of something called "AK-47" under Schumpeter's nose. "Whereas with this one",-unscrewing another jar, fanning the scent up to his nostrils and closing his eyes in concentration-"I'm getting notes of dill." Drug dealers aren't what they used to be. In Colorado, which in January became the first place in the world fully to legalise cannabis, buying a joint feels more like visiting a trendy craft-brewery than a drug den. Dispensaries along Denver's "green mile" are packed with young, bearded men earnestly discussing the merits of strains with names like "Bio-Jesus" and "Death Star". Some varieties claim to be inspirational, while others say they promote relaxation, or "couch-lock", as the tokers call it. [continues 896 words]
As the Decriminalisation of Drugs Comes Back on the Political Agenda, We Polled Courier Readers on Their Views. Gayle Ritchie Explores the Results VISIT MOST Sheriff Courts in Scotland on any day of the week and the chances are they will be inundated with people charged with drug offences. Many, but not all, of these people are repeat offenders, flouting the law time and time again, and wasting taxpayers' money in the process. Some might argue the laws prohibiting drug use are largely disregarded; the vast majority of drug users shrug their shoulders at the law. [continues 857 words]
A Failure to Act on the Evidence of a Drug Policy Report Spurred Baker's Decision to Resign, He Tells Nigel Morris When Norman Baker closed a landmark Commons debate on drugs last week his final remark - "the genie is out of the bottle and it is not going back in" - had a secret personal significance. They were to be his final words from the Commons dispatch box. He had privately told Nick Clegg two months earlier that he wanted to step down from the Government after more than four years, including 12 months trying to get the Liberal Democrat voice heard in the Home Office. [continues 757 words]
Following the long-expected outcome of the Home Office report into drugs and punishment, can Professor David Nutt expect apologies from then Home Secretary Alan Johnson for sacking him? Simon Allen London N2 [end]
OK, Clegg, posturing over now get practical. Decriminalise cannabis. Sell licences for every postal address which wants one to grow up to six plants. Then get together with the cigarette manufacturers to produce a decent packeted joint say UKP8 per 20 and sell that as a state monopoly. Play your cards right and you'll double the annual UKP11bn tax yield already contributed by tobacco smokers, put street dealers progressively out of business and reduce a lot of petty crime. And on the health and safety pitch, cannabis users will at last know what they're buying. (Not one myself - doesn't do a damn thing for me.) Richard Humble Exeter [end]
As always, what is missing from the current debate about drugs is any discussion about why we take them in the first place. We are rightly concerned that everyone, especially our children, should be educated about the potential ill-effects of drugs and the possible health dangers. But unless we acknowledge that there are legitimate and positive reasons why a person might seek to get high, the "war against drugs" will not make much progress. Humans have been using "recreational" drugs for millennia, and for most people it is generally a positive experience. There are dangers of course - but these are mainly associated with excess use and poor quality. [continues 116 words]
IT is time Britain started to treat drug addiction as an illness rather than a criminal offence ("Cameron slaps down Clegg over calls to relax the drug laws", October 31). Putting people in jail for an illness instead of giving them the proper medical treatment they need isn't just counterproductive, it is also many times more expensive. Not only that, custodial sentences do nothing to help the addict's problems and only make matters worse. You wouldn't put an alcoholic in prison so why jail a drug addict? Jennifer May, Sunderland [end]
THE war on drugs hasn't succeeded and we need fresh ideas on how to tackle the problem. But that's not to say we should legalise drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and heroin. That would be foolish and dangerous. David Cameron is right to say that decriminalising recreational drugs would send out the wrong message to our children. Drugs leave a trail of misery wherever they are found. If anything, there should be stiffer penalties for convicted drug dealers and users. Nick Clegg is naive to call for laws to be relaxed. James Clark, Bristol [end]
Brian Dalton (letter, 30 October) is right to believe that we are sleepwalking into Ukip having a say in the next government. We are likely to get to this position on a very low turnout because, as Conservatives and Labour have identical policies, and we don't want to vote for minor party, there is nothing we can vote for. The first question on last night's Question Time demonstrated the dilemma we face. The Home Office has produced a report suggesting the hard line on drugs is ineffective. Many believe (myself included) that while drug dealers should get stiff prison sentences those merely possessing and taking drugs should be treated as victims rather than criminals, in the same way that the police should treat abused 13-year-old girls as victims and not prostitutes. [continues 139 words]
My blood boils when I hear loony liberal politicians (I'm thinking Nick Clegg) and middle class do-gooders telling us that ALL drugs should be legalised. That heroin, crack cocaine and LSD should all be freely available - even to teenagers. Their argument is that if the State was in charge of the drugs industry instead of criminal gangs then the drugs wouldn't be toxic and fewer people would die. And there'll be more of that silly talk in the coming weeks thanks to a Home Office report trumpeted by Clegg - which claims punitive laws have no effect on curbing drug use. [continues 604 words]
A Psychology of Macho Law-Making Steers Policy - in Defiance of Public Opinion and Common Sense The government should ban all reports on drug legalisation. They get you hooked on rage. Evidence-based reform is a gateway substance to common sense. Just send a message: no thought means no. Parliament's response to this week's report on the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act shows that psychoactive substances are the last taboo to afflict Britain's elite. It has got over past obsessions with whipping, hanging, sodomy and abortion, but it is still stuck on drugs. There is no point in reading the latest research on drugs policy worldwide. It is spitting in the wind. The only research worth doing is on why drugs policy reduces politicians to gibbering wrecks. [continues 961 words]
Prime Minister Rejects New Call for Decriminalisation Lib Dems Condemn Tories' 'Backward-Looking View' David Cameron yesterday set his face against a change in UK drugs policy after the Liberal Democrat crime-prevention minister Norman Baker hailed a Home Office-commissioned report finding "no obvious" link between tough laws and levels of illegal drug use. Baker, minister responsible for drugs, said the report meant the genie was out of the bottle and was not going back in. He said: "I think the days of robotic, mindless rhetoric are over, because the facts and the evidence will no longer allow that." [continues 630 words]
DAVID Cameron ruled out relaxing Britain's drug laws yesterday, despite Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and Tory MPs calling for a review. The Prime Minister said the current approach was working and decriminalising "recreational" drugs use would send out the wrong message to the nation's children. Mr Clegg blasted the current policy as "totally misplaced, outdated and backward" and called on the Prime Minister to "have some courage" and accept that the war on drugs is failing. Punishments The Deputy Prime Minister spoke after a Home Office report published yesterday found no evidence that strict punishments for drug takers led to a reduction in the number taking illegal narcotics. [continues 257 words]
DAVID CAMERON is refusing Liberal Democrat calls to review the Government's drugs policy, warning that as a parent he does not want to send out the message that taking illegal substances is "OK or safe". The Prime Minister insisted that the current approach to drugs was having an impact as abuse was falling, following a major Coalition row sparked by a Home Office report backed by the Lib Dems that suggested easing laws on hard drugs would not increase the number of users. Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday attacked the Tory party's "facile" and "frightened" approach to drugs after Downing Street distanced itself from the report. Mr Cameron said yesterday that changing Britain's drugs policy would be "dangerous". [continues 180 words]
You'd Expect Drug Use to Go Up - But, Surprisingly, a Major Report Has Found That Sometimes It Actually Drops. A man lies on the floor in a squalid bedsit, a rubber rope tied around one arm, a needle in his hand. The door bursts open and two armed police officers run in. They take in the scene and swiftly find a bag of powder. What should they do next? The answer depends on the country they're in. The Home Office has published a major report into drug use across various countries, apparently surprising even itself with the findings. "We did not in our fact-finding observe any obvious relationship between the toughness of a country's enforcement against drug possession, and levels of drug use in that country," the report said. [continues 1182 words]
DAVID Cameron clashed with Nick Clegg today in a furious Coalition bustup over drugs policy. In a surprisingly hard-hitting attack on the Liberal Democrats, Downing Street bluntly ruled out a "reckless" move towards decriminalisation. "The Lib-Dem policy would see drug dealers getting off scot-free and send an incredibly dangerous message to young people about the risks of taking drugs," a No 10 source said. But Deputy Prime Minister Mr Clegg tore into his Coalition partners over a report on international drugs policy which the Lib-Dems claim the Conservatives have sought to suppress. [continues 330 words]
Home Office Fact-Finders Reveal Long-Delayed Report Legalisation Policies Do Not Result in Wider Use The Home Office comparison of international drug laws, published today, represents the first official recognition since the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act that there is no direct link between being "tough on drugs" and tackling the problem. The report, which has been signed off by both the Conservative home secretary, Theresa May, and the Liberal Democrat crime prevention minister, Norman Baker, is based on an in-depth study of drug laws in 11 countries ranging from the zero-tolerance of Japan to the legalisation of Uruguay. [continues 716 words]
No party ever won or lost an election because of its drug policy. Yet it is a subject that strikes fear in the hearts of most politicians and leaves them deaf to demands for a review or reform. They are locked in the old wisdom that if drug use is harmful the best way of tackling it is punishment, too timid to examine the facts or challenge conventional thinking - even though a significant number of ministers in both past and present cabinets, including the prime minister, admit that they have experimented with drugs themselves. Only the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has consistently argued that policy should be based on an examination of what works. [continues 645 words]
Home Office Study Finds No Evidence That Harsh Sentencing Curbs Illegal Use There is no evidence that tough enforcement of the drug laws on personal possession leads to lower levels of drug use, according to the government's first evidence-based study. Examining international drug laws, the groundbreaking Home Office document published today brings to an end 40 years of almost unbroken official political rhetoric that only harsher penalties can tackle the problem caused by the likes of heroin, cocaine or cannabis. [continues 852 words]
First Commons Debate for a Generation Offers Rare Chance for Honest Discussion Suppressed Home Office Report Casts Doubt on Current Punitive Approach A punitive approach to drug abuse including locking up addicts fails to curb levels of addiction, a Home Office study warns today, as MPs stage the first Commons debate on drugs legislation in a generation. The report suggests treating possession of drugs as a health rather than criminal matter reduces drug deaths and HIV infection rates without increasing addiction levels. [continues 1081 words]
The long-delayed report released by the Home Office highlights how its own approach to drugs is not based on evidence. In particular, the report which looks at the effectiveness of other countries' drug policies concludes that harsh penalties for drug users have no effect on levels of drug use. That punitive drug laws have a deterrent effect is a key assumption underpinning both the UK's approach and prohibitionist drug policy more broadly. The report says: "We did not in our fact-finding observe any obvious relationship between the toughness of a country's enforcement against drug possession, and levels of drug use in that country." [continues 382 words]
Let Common Sense Prevail When at Last the Commons Opens Itself Up to a Debate on Drugs Few areas of public policy are as badly served by our political classes as that governing drug use. There is very little incentive for any politician even to suggest a rational approach to the problem. If the press doesn't finish off your career, then your political opponents, usually hypocritically, will use the supposedly maverick suggestion as a golden opportunity to smear and discredit you. If you happen to be a progressive sort, you will be dubbed "high on tax and soft on drugs" or the like, quite often by people who are even on the left themselves people who should know better and who, in reality, but very privately, most likely share the same outlook. [continues 511 words]
CANNABIS is seen as a harmful and dangerous drug but many believe it should be declassified. This year Brighton became home to a new campaign group which openly uses the drug in public and is fighting to make it legal. FLORA THOMPSON reports... WALK through The Lanes on a Saturday afternoon and you may see someone casually lighting up a cannabis 'joint'. Members of the Brighton Cannabis Club flout the law in public as part of their bid to make the drug legal. [continues 773 words]
FURTHER to the new cannabis study by Professor Wayne hall of King's College London (Mail), none of us calling for an end to the so-called War On Drugs is suggesting that cannabis (or any other drug) should be made available to adolescents. I'm equally concerned about the potential harm caused by drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. But the appropriate responses are evidence-based public health interventions and sensible regulation. Drug policies have neither curbed demand for illicit drugs nor reduced supply. They certainly haven't done anything to eliminate the risks Prof hall has identified. There are no greater obstacles to reducing harm than prohibition and the continued criminalisation of drug users. [continues 116 words]
THE day after a Lib Dem vote to soften the law on cannabis comes a devastating analysis of 20 years' research into the drug's dangers, especially to the young. Collated by Professor Wayne Hall, senior adviser to the World Health Organisation, the study finds that smoking cannabis is highly addictive, while doubling the risk of psychotic disorders, impairing brain function and affecting exam results. The Lib Dems claimed their relaxed approach to the drug was based on the 'latest evidence'. But that was Sunday. In the light of the most comprehensive research ever, will they now change their minds? Or are they so wedded to the notion that cannabis is oh-so-liberal and trendy that they don't care a damn what damage it does to the young? [end]
A drug derived from cannabis, which many with multiple sclerosis say helps ease their symptoms, has been ruled too expensive to be used by the NHS in England even though it is approved for Wales. In new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of people with the disabling disease, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says the price set by the manufacturer of Sativex (nabiximols) is too high for the benefit it gives patients. But the decision opens up the sort of "postcode lottery" that Nice was set up to end, with MS patients in Wales able to use the drug on the NHS while those in England either have to buy it themselves or go without. Some will use the illegal drug instead. [continues 380 words]
A definitive 20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe. Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found. The paper by Professor Wayne Hall, a drugs advisor to the World Health Organisation, builds a compelling case against those who deny the devastation cannabis wreaks on the brain. Professor Hall found: One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it, [continues 1173 words]
THE WAR on drugs internationally cannot be won, crime prevention minister Norman Baker warned yesterday as he called for a "more logical and compassionate" approach to tackling the domestic problem. Instead, he said he was interested in minimising the harm from drugs rather than continuing with a policy based on the "prejudices of yesterday". The Liberal Democrat told delegates at the party's conference in Glasgow: "Medicinal cannabis is a very sensible objective to take forward. "Why should people who are ill not have access to medicine which helps them when other medicine doesn't? And more to the point, they are made criminals when they access the cannabis themselves. [continues 183 words]
THE WAR on drugs is based on "the prejudices of yesterday" and cannot be won, Crime Prevention Minister Norman Baker warned. The Lib Dem said he was interested in minimising the harm from drugs rather than continuing to prosecute addicts. The MP told delegates at the party's conference in Glasgow: "Medicinal cannabis is a very sensible objective to take forward. "Why should people who are ill not have access to medicine which helps them when other medicine doesn't? And more to the point they are made criminals when they access the cannabis themselves. [continues 93 words]
Those who used marijuana daily before age 17 were less likely to finish school and more likely to abuse other drugs. LONDON - Teenagers who use marijuana daily run a higher risk of becoming drug-dependent, committing suicide or trying other drugs, and they are less likely to succeed at their studies than those who avoid it, researchers said yesterday. The scientists analyzed studies on marijuana to determine its long-term health and life effects. "Our findings are particularly timely, given that several U.S. states and countries in Latin America have made moves to decriminalize or legalize cannabis, raising the possibility the drug might become more accessible to young people," said Richard Mattick, a professor at Australia's National Drug and Alcohol Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who co-led the study. [continues 205 words]
Daily Smokers Found to Be Less Likely to Finish High School Teenagers who smoke marijuana daily are more than 60 percent less likely to complete high school than those who never use. They're also 60 percent less likely to graduate from college and seven times as likely to attempt suicide, says a new study of adolescent cannabis use Tuesday in the Lancet Psychiatry, a British journal of health research. Researchers gathered data on the frequency of cannabis use among 3,725 students from Australia and New Zealand and looked at the students' developmental outcomes up to the age of 30. They found "clear and consistent associations between frequency of cannabis use during adolescence and most young adult outcomes investigated, even after controlling for 53 potential confounding factors including age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, use of other drugs, and mental illness." [continues 497 words]
ANTI-DRUGS campaigners last night condemned an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew where speakers will discuss the uses of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms. The Intoxication Season is open to visitors of any age and displays plants including cannabis, the hallucinogen peyote, and poppies, which are used to make opium. Professor David Nutt, who was sacked as a Government adviser for his views downplaying the dangers of drugs, will give a keynote speech on the 'chemical underworld of mind-altering plants'. [continues 492 words]
Our Inflexible Laws Are Denying MS Patients Access to a Drug That Could Change Their Lives The letters columns of The Daily Telegraph do not immediately spring to mind as a rallying point for the liberalisation of this country's drugs laws. But two correspondents yesterday drew attention to what must be the most irrational and unjust restriction of all: the ban on the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Just as there is plenty of evidence that cannabis is harmful (as, indeed, are tobacco and alcohol) it also has palliative qualities. People suffering from multiple sclerosis, for instance, find that cannabis, or substances based on the drug, help relieve symptoms. Jacquie Langham, an MS sufferer from Holt in Norfolk, wrote about how she had been forced to buy Sativex, a legal cannabinoid that is administered in spray form, from the internet because two GPs would not prescribe it for her. [continues 798 words]
It's Confusing and Unfair to Deny Sativex Spray to Those Plagued by Muscle Spasms I've read with utter frustration news reports over the past week about plans to make Sativex - an oral cannabis-based spray - available on the NHS in Wales but not in other parts of Britain. Cannabis grown for medical use on a farm at a secret location south east of London Sativex is licensed for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) to alleviate muscle spasms and stiffness, and I'm one of a few thousand people in England who could significantly benefit from taking it; I have secondary progressive MS, experience excruciating muscle spasms and cannot tolerate any other muscle relaxant treatments. [continues 818 words]
Deaths linked to legal highs could surpass those related to heroin use within just two years, a new report by a think-tank will say. A think-tank says there could soon be more deaths from legal highs than from heroin use The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is to release a report this week calling for more to be done to combat the drugs, known as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), while also calling for a "treatment tax" on alcohol. Legal highs w ere linked to 97 deaths in 2012 and h ospital admissions rose by 56% between 2009-12, according to new CSJ data. The think-tank estimates that on current trends deaths related to legal highs could be higher than heroin by 2016 - at around 400 deaths a year. [continues 375 words]
THE grieving mum of a Wearside man who died of a drug overdose today called for more help to stop young people following the same tragic path. Cath Wareing's son David Pace, 26, died in April this year following a heroin overdose. He had intermittently took Valium, cocaine and crack cocaine. Although his family insist David, who was dad to Josie, three, wasn't an addict, they believe he and many other people in the situation he found himself in need support quicker to stop their lives being wasted. [continues 480 words]
Police netted six suspected drug dealers - including a 13-year-old boy - - in a series of early morning raids. A seventh person, a 31-year-old woman, was also arrested for possession of heroin as teams of officers forced their way into homes around Preston in a co-ordinated swoop codenamed Operation Arrow. The raids were carried out in St Paul's Road in Deepdale, Villers Street in Plungington, and Fishwick Parade as part of a major attempt to smash organised gangs which are blighting neighbourhoods. [continues 467 words]
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