POLICE raided a cannabis-smoker's flat after he confessed to growing the plant on BBC Radio Scotland. Joe McLoughlin, 33, of Perth, called the Beechgrove Potting Shed for advice on Northern Lights - very strong marijuana. However, the presenters thought he was referring to a variety of cabbage. It led to Mr McLoughlin, an unemployed website designer, being "busted" for a "few mouldy cuttings", he revealed yesterday on his own website. He said: "The police had heard the transcript of the radio show. They knew they were coming to bust Mr Small for a few mouldy cuttings. " [continues 81 words]
A leading Scottish drugs expert has voiced grave concerns about the reclassification of cannabis as the government launches a UKP1m advertising campaign to remind the public it is being downgraded from class B to class C next week. Professor Neil McKeganey's concerns were shared by Michael Howard, the Tory leader, who denounced the decision yesterday as "absurd". Writing exclusively in The Herald today, Professor McKeganey, of Drug Misuse Research at Glasgow University, said the move represented the biggest change in our drugs laws in the past 20 years. [continues 469 words]
Drink And Drugs Problem Revealed Among Primary Pupils NEARLY one third of pre-teen children surveyed in one Scottish city have been exposed to illegal drugs, new research revealed yesterday. It said cannabis was the illegal drug most widely used but estimates that 60 primary schoolchildren in Glasgow will have taken heroin. The report, by Glasgow University's Centre for Drug Misuse Research, found 5.1% of 10 to 12-year-olds in the city had used drugs. It was commissioned after the death of a 13-year-old from a heroin overdose in Glasgow in 1998. [continues 495 words]
Resources Plea To Protect Children THE head of the Glasgow children's panel called last night for more resources to protect children from the threat of abuse by parents who are drug addicts. The call by Marian Pagani follows the case of Mark Connelly, a drug addict who starved and beat his lover's 33-month-old son before leaving him to die in a freezing room. The High Court in Glasgow heard that Scott Saunders was a beautiful, well-nourished child who was turned into a living skeleton in just five weeks by his mother, Cheryl Hanson, 24, and Connelly, 29. The child died at his home at Galloway Drive, Rutherglen in March 2000. [continues 503 words]
