A grey haired gran is facing jail after cooking up recipes laced with CANNABIS. Patricia Tabram, 66, began using the illicit drug in her country kitchen as a "natural remedy" to ease painful back injury after a car crash. Soon she was throwing dinner parties for elderly freinds who chipped in UKP 150 a time for the secret ingredient in her unique "hot pots". But local police were quickly on the scent of her mind blowing soups, curries and chocolate cakes. [continues 352 words]
How A Tough City Area Beat A Scourge Of Our Times A GRIM inner city area once plagued by drug use and vandalism has been given new hope by hitting dealers and criminals with anti-social behaviour orders. Little London, squeezed between Leeds University and a rich business district, was a hotbed of crime and disorder. Parish priest Father Douglas Emmott recalled: "Each day users would congregate outside the church and wait for dealers to arrive. It was a depressing sight." [continues 763 words]
TWO drug smugglers were beheaded in Saudi Arabia yesterday despite protests from Western governments and human rights groups. The New Year's Day executions were carried out in public by sword of the men, who had been found guilty of smuggling heroin and cannabis into the country. Pakistani Mohammed Amin Abdullah Jan was beheaded in Jeddah and Mattar bin Hussein bin Bakhit al-Khazaali, an Iraqi, in the northern town of Arar, close to the Iraqi border. Saudi Arabia, which follows strict Islamic law, put 35 people to death last year, and at least 52 the year before. [continues 84 words]
One Hit Of Killer Drug Drops To Less Than Price Of A Pint -Evil Pushers Offer Addicts 'Buy 3 Get 2 Free' Deals For Xmas BRITAIN'S evil crack dealers are offering supermarket-style discounts to lure in Christmas revellers. The price of the drug has been slashed to its lowest ever. One hit or pipeful costs around UKP 1.80 - cheaper than a pint of lager or glass of wine, a Sunday Mirror investigation can reveal. The festive sales blitz means the average price of crack cocaine has fallen by two-thirds in two years. [continues 709 words]
The Astonishing Facts That Show How This Costly 130-year War On Narcotics Has Achieved So Little BILLIONS have been spent by governments in Western Europe and North America fighting the drug dealers. But the war is being lost. Heroin, cocaine, metamphetamine and other illegal drugs are cheaper, purer and easier to get hold of than ever. And in the United States alone half a million people are behind bars on drug charges - more than the entire prison population of Western Europe. [continues 884 words]
A CONVICTED sex offender who admitted sleeping with a 14-year-old girl walked free because a judge said he was high on dope. Child abuse charities Kidscape and the NSPCC branded the decision "open season on young girls". William Turton, 31, was told by recorder Christopher Wilson-Smith: "I am sure if you had not had cannabis you would have pushed her away. "Because of the special circumstances I am not sending you to prison. You are a very lucky man." [continues 115 words]
And Wife Laura Liked Dope, Says Book GEORGE W Bush snorted cocaine at Camp David, a new book claims. His wife Laura also allegedly tried cannabis in her youth. Author Kitty Kelley says in her biography The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, that the US President first used coke at university in the mid-1960s. She quotes his former sister-in-law Sharon Bush who claims: "Bush did coke at Camp David when his father was President, and not just once either." [continues 206 words]
Scotland Yard said today it had made its largest ever seizure of cocaine. The haul - 180 packages weighing 168kg (370lb) - was found in a storage unit crate in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Detectives uncovered the drugs after seizing 500kg (1,102lb) of cannabis at Tilbury Docks, Essex. The drugs are believed to have a combined street value of about UKP 10m. Police believe both the cannabis and cocaine arrived in the UK by ship from South Africa. The drugs would have flooded onto the streets of London and the Home Counties and would have become part of the crack cocaine market, detectives said. Two people - a 33-year-old women from Islington, London, and a 41-year-old man from Stoke Newington, London - have been charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis. [end]
ARRESTS for cannabis possession have dropped by a third after the drug was reclassified from Class B to the less serious Class C last January, new figures will reveal this week. Home Office insiders said police can now spend 200,000 extra hours every year fighting hard drugs. A Whitehall source added: "Their time is much better spent tackling those peddling Class A drugs like heroin." The charity Drugscope welcomed the figures but a spokesman said: "People should not be misled into thinking that cannabis use has dropped by 33 per cent." A quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds use the drug - more than twice the world average. Reclassification means they are unlikely to be arrested if caught. [end]
AT THE very height of Beatlemania, the Fab Four played to an astonishing 500,000 people during a 1964 whirlwind tour of the US. Today, 40 years on, Sir Paul McCartney will be seen by more than 700,000 fans in a 13-date European tour. Not bad for a man who turns 62 this month. But even though he is in numerical terms a bigger draw than the Beatles ever were, he is not about to play down the debt he owes to his years in the biggest pop group of all time. [continues 1801 words]
One in three pupils 'will fail drug tests'... Fears that truancy will rocket -Teachers 'at risk of legal action'... ONE-in-three children will be busted if Tony Blair introduces random drug tests into schools, experts warned last night. Truancy will soar as drug-using pupils try to avoid compulsory urine tests, said pressure groups and unions. And teachers will face increased risks of being sued if they force children into taking police-style dope tests. Mr Blair unveiled plans for random drug tests in schools in a Sunday newspaper interview. He said: "If heads believe they have a problem in their school, then they should be able to do random drug testing. [continues 449 words]
At one time, cannabis was thought to be a harmless recreational drug but increasingly evidence shows this isn't so, if it's used habitually. However, the medical usefulness of cannabis is now well recognised and doctors are using it to treat pain and relieve muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis. Miriam looks at latest findings in the big debate. There is a downside to excessive use of cannabis. It stays in the body far longer than alcohol - around two months. You may feel "sober" long before the effects have worn off but you shouldn't operate machinery or drive for four or five days after using it, as you're likely to have an accident in this state. [continues 859 words]
SMOKING cannabis will no longer be against the law under new Government plans. From January, recreational users of the drug will be free from prosecution, unless they are pushers, it emerged yesterday. Cannabis will be downgraded to a Class C drug - although people smoking near schools and playgrounds will face arrest and have the cannabis confiscated. No further action will be taken unless there are complaints from locals, evidence of repeated possession or the smoking is in public. But anti-drugs campaigners fear Britain's softly-softly approach will encourage youngsters to try the drug. [continues 59 words]
LONDON (Reuters) - The seizure of suspected U.S. bonds worth $6 billion (3.8 billion pounds) from an international drug-trafficking gang suggests how extensive and sophisticated the global money laundering business has become, experts say. It hardly matters whether the bonds are genuine or fake, they added. Either way, their discovery shows that organised criminals wield the kind of financial power that many legitimate companies can only dream of. "If these bonds are real, it means that otherwise legitimate brokers, accountants, lawyers and businessman have helped this gang turn their drug money from cash into bonds, either knowingly or unknowingly," said Jeffrey Robinson, author of several books on financial crime, on Friday. [continues 441 words]
We Promised To Wipe Out The Afghan Poppy Fields. Instead More Heroin Than Ever Is About To Hit Britain BRITAIN has abandoned plans to wipe out Afghanistan's poppy fields despite fears this year's opium harvest will be the biggest ever. Now customs and police are bracing themselves for the arrival in the next few months of a glut of cheap heroin from the war-ravaged country, source of 90 per cent of the Class A drug on our streets. [continues 588 words]
LONDON (Reuters) - The Green Party's drugs spokesman has been jailed for growing cannabis at home, the group says. Police charged Shane Collins with possession and cultivation of the drug after finding 19 cannabis plants in the basement of his south London home. Collins, who stood unsuccessfully for the Greens in the 2001 general election, began a six-week jail term on Monday. "Putting someone in jail for doing something that has manifestly caused no one any harm is ridiculous," Darren Johnson, Green Party leader in the London Assembly, said in a statement. "This just reinforces our view that the law is in urgent need of reform." The Green Party advocates the legalisation of cannabis to follow the Dutch system of regulation and decriminalisation of recreational drugs such as amphetamines and ecstasy. [end]
Drugs Minister New Fight BRITAIN'S worst areas for crack cocaine are to be targeted in a multi-million pound anti-drug offensive. Home Office Minister Bob Ainsworth yesterday warned that more youngsters will be drawn to the highly addictive Class A drug unless urgent action is taken. He unveiled the Government's National Action Plan and named the 37 cities and communities that have the worst crack problems. The areas - including Liverpool, London, Bristol and Birmingham - were chosen based on the number arrested who test positive for crack and the amount seized. [continues 580 words]
Blunkett Hits Back As UN Blasts His Move To Downgrade Cannabis David Blunkett hit back at critics last night after they accused him of misleading youngsters with his new measures on cannabis. A UN report claims the Home Secretary's decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class C drug could lead to it becoming as widely used as tobacco. Hamid Ghodse, of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), said: "Youngsters are confused. On one hand, you tell them not to use ecstasy because it is dangerous. On the other, you're not doing anything about cannabis." [continues 246 words]
Anybody interested in cutting crime by eighty or ninety per cent? In making urban streets instantly safe? In utterly destroying in one masterstroke the livelihood of every gangster, mugger and ne'er do well in this country? In reclaiming childhood as a time of safety and innocence? In emptying our prisons? In cutting by a vast factor the impossible pressure on our police and social services? And at the same time, in giving an incalculably better life overnight to millions of people living in desperate conditions? [continues 952 words]
ANYBODY Interested in cutting crime by eighty or ninety percent? In making urban streets instantly safe? In utterly destroying in one masterstroke the livelihood of every gangster, mugger and ne'er do well in this country? In reclaiming childhood as a time of safety and innocence? In emptying our prisons? In cutting by a vast factor the impossible pressure on our police and social services? And at the same time, in giving an incalculably better life overnight to millions of people living in desperate conditions? Wouldn't make a bad social programme for the average political manifesto, would it? But until this week, I doubted if any of our parties would dare to even think about the ballsy, radical move needed to make it possible. Now, at last, a glimmer of sense has entered the drugs cataclysm that is quite literally ruining much of life in this country. [continues 889 words]
ONE vital fact leaps from the Sunday Mirror survey. The vast majority of young people may try cannabis, but never progress onto the more serious drugs like crack cocaine and heroin. In fact, young people know the risks of the individual drugs better than older people. That's why they know that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco - - which is in line with what the government's own advisers are now saying. They know that cannabis isn't as risky as drugs like heroin and crack. And they make their choices on the evidence they have. [continues 111 words]
THE one thing everyone can agree on about drugs is that the current laws are not working. More people are taking drugs. Drugs are responsible for more crime. Dealing with drugs offences absorbs more police time. In other words, everything is getting worse. Drugs are a part of life for millions of young people - and a lot who are not so young. So easing the law on cannabis is not so much an earth-shattering breakthrough as a small step towards a more sensible policy. [continues 142 words]
'Random Testing Is An Invasion Of Our Bodies' Self-Confessed drug-taker Jennifer Capriati last night slammed plans to randomly dope-test female players. Capriati is the one tennis player known to have taken drugs after being arrested in possession of marijuana in 1995. Yet she hit out at the Women's Tour officials last night, insisting they have no right to turn up unannounced at the homes of players to ask for samples. Reigning Wimbledon queen Venus Williams backed the scheme just hours earlier, maintaining she had nothing to hide. [continues 733 words]
A POT-smoking teacher nicknamed Mr Spliffy has been suspended for allegedly encouraging children to use the drug. Private school biology tutor Trevor Andrews, 46, was also arrested and cautioned for growing cannabis at his home. Three weeks ago four pupils were expelled and 18 suspended from his school after a dope probe. Yesterday, roll-up puffing Mr Andrews said: "I'm not promoting pot, but nor am I discouraging it. The school message is that cannabis is bad. That's wrong. Children need both sides of the argument." [continues 124 words]
ONE in five 11 to 15-year-olds has used drugs in the past year - a rise of six per cent. And a third of 15-year-olds said they had smoked cannabis in the past 12 months, a survey yesterday revealed. Nearly half of those questioned said they had also been offered cocaine, crack or poppers. Roger Howard, of the charity Drugscope, said: "The threat of criminal sanctions and jail are not stopping large numbers of young people experimenting with drugs. [continues 249 words]
GW Pharma, the only group in Britain with a licence to grow cannabis, yesterday saw its shares jump to as high as UKP117. The biotech firm aims to test its new cannabis-based drug for pain relief on patients with terminal cancer. It's also launching trials for multiple sclerosis sufferers and spinal cord injury patients. The shares, up from UKP103 four weeks ago, closed at UKP114. [end]
IT IS hardly surprising that Prince Harry has been experimenting with drugs, considering the vast quantity available on the streets and the constant temptation faced by our children. My son followed the same path when he was younger. He was offered "free samples" from dealers which were snapped up. That's how easy it is for kids to get hooked. Thankfully, Harry messed only with cannabis but he could so easily have moved on to something stronger. I was so worried about my son that I got a policeman to talk to him and he's now distanced himself from his drug-taking friends. I hope Harry can put it down to a "learning experience" and move on as my son did. M Thomas, Gloucester [end]
Dope Law Shake-Up Mean Users Can Smoke In Peace A MASSIVE change in the cannabis laws was unveiled by the Government last night. Dope is to be reclassified as a Class C drug - the lowest category of illegal substances. It will mean people caught in possession of small amounts cannot be arrested. The change was being seen as the most significant relaxation of drug laws in 30 years. Ministers are also to recommend cannabis products are licensed as medicines. And doctors will get new guidance to allow heroin to be given out on prescription to undermine the illegal market in hard drugs. [continues 256 words]
No drugs are good for you, but some are an awful lot worse than others. Cannabis is at the lowest end of the scale, arguably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Yet the police have been wasting far too much time prosecuting people for smoking dope. In 1999, 68 per cent of the yearly total of 120,000 drugs offences were cannabis related, each taking officers up to three hours to process. This is clearly a ludicrous situation and Home Secretary David Blunkett is right to propose reclassifying cannabis. [end]
I AM as surprised as I am pleased that hard-line Home Secretary David Blunkett believes possession of cannabis should no longer be an arrestable offence. This is a step in the right direction and long overdue. People who smoke cannabis are not criminals. They choose a recreational drug that very rarely kills and whose social ill-effects are tiny compared to alcohol and tobacco. In my time reporting from magistrates' courts I never heard a defendant accused of violence plead he was under the influence of ganja. [continues 182 words]
Prescribe Heroin Plea CRIMINAL drug addicts steal or fence pounds 3,000 worth of goods a week to feed their habit, it was revealed yesterday. The users spend an average of pounds 300 a week on drugs, a Home Office survey has revealed. The study of 9,000 arrested addicts showed 84 per cent had previous convictions and 56 per cent had used heroin in the last 30 days. A fifth had taken crack. Labour MP Paul Flynn attacked the present drug laws, blaming them for the high level of drug related crime. [continues 295 words]
An elderly British drug mule has died after a heroin packet burst open inside his stomach. The 70-year-old man was found wandering and confused at an airport. In hospital doctors discovered he had swallowed 12 packages of heroin and could not save him. He had just arrived at Toronto on an Air Canada flight from London. Canadian drugs officers believe he was a war veteran from Middlesex who said he was on holiday. Police in London were last night sent his photo to try to identify him. A Toronto officer said: "He's the oldest drug courier we've seen." [end]
Blunkett Lets Cannabis Users Off With Warning People caught taking cannabis will be let off with just a police warning in a softer approach to Britain's drugs problem. But David Blunkett wants a ruthless crackdown on heroin and cocaine dealers. The Home Secretary gave the clearest signal yet that he wants police chiefs to tailor their tactics to problem in their own areas. The move came as the Lambeth experiment, which will caution cannabis users, began today in Brixton, South London. [continues 103 words]
RIVAL drug gang shootings have helped triple London's gun murder rate, police said yesterday. There were 13 fatal shootings in the capital in April and May compared to just four in the same period in 2000, Scotland Yard figures show. Five of those were probed by Operation Trident, a police task force which targets Yardie crimes, while two were linked to Turkish cocaine gangs. Overall, there were 42 murders in London in April and May, compared to 33 last year. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The number of Operation Trident shootings is one reason why gun murders seem to be up this year." [end]
Officers 'Too Busy' Seizing Cocaine TWO drug smugglers walked free after being caught with a pounds 100,000 haul of cannabis in Britain's busiest airport. Customs officers released the pair without charge because they were "swamped" with so many passengers attempting to smuggle cocaine on the same flight from Jamaica. A man of 23 and a 16-year-old girl had tried to smuggle the cannabis in two suitcases through Heathrow Airport on a Sunday afternoon Air Jamaica flight. Customs officers confiscated the drug. [continues 162 words]
How Drugs Put An End To Downey's Movie Career He was one of the most talented actors of his generation - a brilliant young man feted by Hollywood's elite and tipped for greatness by all. Robert Downey Jnr's remarkable professional skills were complemented by intelligence, charm and wit. On or off the screen, he could always make the crowd laugh. When Lord Attenborough cast the handsome American as Charlie Chaplin in his tour-de-force 1992 film about the life of Britain's best-known comic, his performance won him an Oscar nomination and work offers galore. [continues 1268 words]
DRUG king John Gilligan was yesterday cleared of ordering the murder of a reporter who was about to expose his life of crime. But the 48-year-old was jailed for 28 years yesterday for drug offences - a record narcotics sentence in Ireland, where he plied his evil trade. Judge Diarmuid O'Donovan said he had "grave suspicions" that Gilligan had been involved in the cold-blooded murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996, but that his guilt had not been proved beyond doubt. [continues 130 words]
GORDON Brown yesterday promised an extra pounds 200million to go directly to police and drug advice and counselling groups. He said: "For too long, too many communities have fought a war against drugs which drugs have won. "This war can't be won by Government, so further resources will be announced to support a new anti-drugs campaign involving prominent figures from the world of business and sport." A Home Office source said: "The Prime Minister wants wants people like David and Victoria Beckham, and other British sports internationals and TV and pop stars to get involved and take the lead. [continues 87 words]
EXCLUSIVE: Special team training to hound drug barons across the world BRITISH police are training an army of sniffer dogs to take the war on international drug barons into their back yard. The canine avengers are being sent worldwide to the secret routes drug traffickers use to sneak heroin and cocaine into the UK. A new unit has been opened to train sniffer dogs for customs work at home and abroad. Among the puppies who have been bred for international duty are some who will become "currency sniffers", able to alert their handlers if passengers are carrying large sums of money. [continues 599 words]
Warring crack kids on prowl as Dami walked to his doom AN explosive mixture of drugs and violence hung in the air as Damilola Taylor walked home. And police believe the murdered schoolboy strayed into a deadly feud between the crack-cocaine gangs known as "posses". An hour before the 10-year-old was stabbed, officers had answered a'999 call reporting youths fighting with bottles and knives. By the time the police got there the thugs had dispersed. But some were still on the prowl looking for trouble. [continues 748 words]
ANOTHER 32 Customs officers are being taken on at Heathrow Airport in the war against the crack-cocaine trade. Drug investigators have been overwhelmed by a huge rise in "stuffers" and "swallowers" - drug couriers who either swallow the cocaine or hide it inside their bodies. They caught 64 mules last year - that has shot up to 162 arrests this year. Some stuffers had tried to smuggle in a kilo, pounds 100,000 worth, of cocaine. Officers say all the couriers were working for Yardie or posse drug barons who control the growing crack market in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. [continues 119 words]
Surgeon's Ban After She Fails Drug Test The plastic surgeon who refused to operate on Danniella Westbrook's cocaine-ravaged nose said last night: "The damage is the worst I've seen." Professor John Celin was speaking after telling the former EastEnders star she was no longer welcome at his private clinic in London's Knightsbridge. He insisted she was lying over her claims to have finally beaten her 13-year addiction. Prof Celin was due to operate on Danniella on Friday, but cancelled when a blood test revealed she had recently used cocaine. [continues 460 words]
More youngsters are taking illegal drugs than ever before, a shocking new survey has revealed. One in eight pupils aged between 11 and 15 admitted they had used drugs in the last year. And by the age of sixteen 39 per cent will have tried some kind of drugs, 55 per cent will have smoked and 73 per cent drunk alcohol. Cannabis was by far the most likely one to have been used, with 11 per cent of the 9,000 pupils quizzed saying they had smoked the substance in the last year. One in a 100 had used crack or cocaine and one in 200 had used heroin or methadone, according to the Office of National Statistics. The Government's drugs czar Keith Hellawell said: "Children must understand the dangers." [end]
Navy team flies out to probe dope deal outside dock gates NAVY investigators are probing an alleged drugs ring among Royal Marine commandos. The inquiry - possibly the biggest scandal to hit the elite corps - was launched after claims that men from the troopship Sir Galahad bought cannabis while on shore leave at Malaga in southern Spain. A team from the Royal Navy's special investigations branch flew from London to join the ship which was carrying 200 Marines home from peace-keeping duties in Kosovo. [continues 791 words]
THE cabinet is split over whether cannabis should be legalised, it was revealed today. Pressure piled on Tony Blair to ease his tough stance after a poll showed that nearly 60 per cent of people think the personal use of pot should no longer be a criminal offence. Labour peer and barrister Helena Kennedy backed changing the law and said: "There are a lot of people in the Cabinet who take the same view as myself." Lady Kennedy, 50, was asked whether Home secretary Jack Straw and Education Secretary David Blunkett were the "barriers" to relaxing the laws against smoking pot. She said: "Oh yes, I'm sure. Jack has for a number of years now been rather firm on this. He should review his position." The Prime Minister said at the weekend he was against softening laws on drugs. [end]
