Media

Regional News Stories:

Please click on a region of the map to view news stories for that area.

These stories have been collated from regional press sources and no responsibility is taken for the accuracy or content of these pieces.

National and International news

If there is one thing that prison officers and inmates agree on, it is that in prison drugs and violence are inseparable. And there are many people who believe the country's prisons are awash with drugs.

The situation in one prison was revealed on Tuesday, when Gordon Hacker, a former prison officer at HMP Rye Hill in Warwickshire, was sentenced to four years for conspiring with inmates to smuggle in drugs. He tipped off inmates about the best times for drugs to be thrown over the perimeter wall, and in doing so helped supply prisoners with heroin, ecstasy and cannabis.

It is not the first time problems have been exposed at Rye Hill. In April a separate Panorama investigation showed inmates attempting to groom an undercover reporter to become a smuggler, prison officers discussing being left in pairs to deal with about 80 inmates, and a female officer being openly threatened by an inmate. But it is the prisoners themselves who are most at risk.

Over one six-month period, a former female prison officer at Rye Hill, who wished to remain anonymous, saw the aftermath of a string of threats and brutal attacks, most of which she says were drug-related. She saw one man so terrified by a threat he would have his eyes stabbed out by a dealer, that he climbed onto the prison roof to retrieve drugs thrown over the prison wall. She said: "He knew the consequences of what he was going to do, and he was out in a month's time. He got put on segregation and he had time put on his sentence."

Another inmate was found lying on the floor of his unit with his lip hanging off, and one inmate was beaten by a sock filled with cans of tuna. "I didn't even recognise him," she said.

The list goes on. Last Christmas she said an inmate almost died after having his throat cut open, and in yet another incident, she walked into a cell to find a prisoner hiding under the bed, refusing to go back to his own cell for fear of being stabbed over a drug debt on the way there.

She said: "You are supposed to be looking after them. I personally would never want to be a prisoner in there because if something is going to happen to you, it's going to happen."

Rye Hill is not unique. A 2005 Home Office report into drugs in six local prisons estimated that between 30% and 60% of inmates were using heroin, and that "the majority of prisoner/ex-prisoner interviewees agreed with the statement that the trade in drugs is the major cause of violence between prisoners".

Earlier this month, the independent monitoring board for Wandsworth prison in London, the biggest in Britain, reported that "the continuing trafficking of drugs and mobile telephones in the prison exacerbates the problem of bullying, and threatens the safety and well being of prisoners".

The report lists numerous ways inmates manage to smuggle in drugs. They include those wrapped in condoms by new arrivals and hidden internally, those smuggled by visitors and prison officers, and consignments thrown over the perimeter wall by friends on the outside - sometimes in a hollowed-out tennis ball.

The prison population is now at record levels, and has risen over the past 10 years by about 30%. But during the same period, prisoner on prisoner assaults have rocketed from 2,441 in 1997, to 11,520 in 2007 - a rise of nearly 500%.

Tom Robson is an executive with the Prison Officers' Association representing the north west of England, and has been in the service for 31 years. Mr Robson believes drugs are easier to get into prison than ever before, and he says it is drugs that have had the biggest impact on prison violence. He said: "There are the vulnerable and there are those that rise to the top. At the moment we are so overcrowded and prison officers are so thin on the ground, that the policing of the situation becomes very difficult. "The consequences are dire, and that is why we have prison officers assaulted on a daily basis, and prisoner-on-prisoner assaults are going through the roof. "We simply have not got time to talk to prisoners...you see a prisoner sat in his cell in tears and all it takes is five or 10 minutes to sit with the prisoner and see what's wrong, and that five or 10 minutes has been taken away."

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman acknowledged the challenges faced by prison officers, but emphasised that the safety of both staff and inmates was taken very seriously. She said a raft of measures were used to control the supply of drugs in prisons, including searches, drug dogs, phone detectors and CCTV, and that since 1996, drug testing results "indicate that drug use in prisons has fallen by 64%".

But according to Iain Smith, 25, who has been in and out of prisons across the north of the country since he was 18, largely for stealing to fund a heroin addiction, on the inside drugs are never very far away. He said: "It is literally just like going next door to the next cell."Iain has not been in prison since February, and he now advises the crime reduction charity Nacro which helped him kick his habit, but he has vivid memories of what it was like as an addict in prison. He described the routine intimidation meted out to any new inmate thought to be carrying drugs. As the new arrivals come in, the other inmates size them up and pick out someone who looks vulnerable. Iain said: "The new prisoners, as they go to their cells to set up their bed, that's when you see eight or 10 guys go into their cell. "I feel for them. They are scared, and then the next thing you know you've got 10 guys coming into your cell." Then, he said, the other inmates force the new arrival to hand over any drugs they might be carrying.

In 2004 at HMP Nottingham, he said intimidation drove his cell mate to attempt suicide on his first night inside. Iain said the other inmates "were basically telling him that you've got to have drugs, and he got so down, and in the middle of the night he decided to hang himself. "I had to jump up and hold him up...and I grabbed his legs just to hold the weight off his shoelaces, and when they brought him down the shoelaces had cut an inch into his neck."

His cell mate spent the rest of his sentence on suicide watch.

The drug of choice in jail,

Channel 4: 10.12.07

Subutex a heroin substitute - why is the prison service so relaxed about claims that so many prisoners in Britain use it?

Anthony Pratt is 33. A former heroin addict, he's on a drugs treatment programme. He takes a heroin substitute called Subutex, an opiate which like methadone is only available legally under supervision.

He was in prison earlier this year for dealing heroin. Subutex wasn't legally available in his prison. But it was, he says, everywhere - used by at least two thirds of all inmates.

Inside prisons the black market in the Subutex pill or 'subby' as its known is thriving. A market far bigger, perhaps, than anyone has acknowledged publicly to date.

It's extremely difficult to assess the true extent of subutex misuse in prisons. The only official investigation into this was conducted earlier this year by the prison service. Over two months ago we applied for the findings of that study under the Freedom of Information Act.

Twice the ministry of justice has emailed us to say they need more time to work out if releasing such information is in the interests of maintaining security and good order in prisons.

The problem is worrying enough, however, Channel 4 News has learned, for the prison service to ask Lifeline to produce a subutex information leaflet for prisoners.

The charity however is about to publish another - un-sponsored 'cruder version' which likens drug taking to having sex with prostitutes - and which although not advocating smuggling, advises prisoners: 'To avoid injury use strong, smooth packaging and put plenty of lubricant (eg.Vaseline) on your bum and on the object before insertion. '

The prison service have not put their name to this version - but they're aware, say Lifeline, that it will be circulated.

Subutex on the street goes for about £5 a pill. Inside it can sell for £40. Part of its popularity is that it's rarely tested for. Channel 4 News has learned that - despite the prison service being warned about this drug two years ago - 98 out of 140 prisons in England and Wales still do not routinely test prisoners for subutex.

The ministry of justice told Channel 4 News it takes the issue very seriously and will soon be issuing a report on its `growing concern about the potential misuse of subutex in prisons along with any actions to be taken. But this is a prison service - whose best statistics - estimate that the proportion of prisoners misusing drugs is just: 8.9 per cent.

And it's a prison service which - when faced with the need for 'Prison Service Potential Efficiency Savings' - has hardly prioritised drug testing, it seems. An internal memo passed to Channel 4 News is addressed to the governor of a large English prison by a member of staff - dated August this year it recommends cuts in 'half the number of Mandatory Drug Tests' and a 'total removal of voluntary drug test hours'.

Thanks to successful treatment under a programme run by the charity Addaction, Anthony Pratt is aiming to go drug-free soon for the first time in nearly 20 years. A man about to surrender a Subutex habit - the question is how many more will develop one the moment they step inside a prison?

Prison drug barons thrive on illicit phones
Times: 3.12.07

Inmates in the biggest jail in Britain are ordering drugs, continuing to run criminal activities and plotting escapes using mobile phones that are smuggled into the building, according to a watchdog report.

The “apparently limitless” supply of mobile phones in Wandsworth prison is increasing the supply of drugs on the wings as well as “fuelling a whole group of new users”, the report said. Almost 250 mobile phones were found inside Wandsworth, in southwest London, in the first five months of this year, the report from the prison’s Independent Monitoring Board disclosed.

“We still have very serious concerns about the apparently limitless supply of mobile phones in the prison that drive the easy availability of drugs and that are also used in bullying and intimidation,” the report, which covers 2006-07, said. “Mobile phones are used to facilitate the delivery of drugs to prisoners, continue criminal activities from within, pressurise vulnerable prisoners, contact families of prisoners and staff, plan escapes, bullying, intimidation and a host of other unsavoury activities.”

The report said that it was only a matter of time before a “very serious incident” took place because of mobile phone use. It said that more officers should be on duty during religious services to prevent worship being used as a cover for illicit activities, particularly drug dealing. It added that for three years it had warned the Home Office, which until earlier this year had responsibility for prisons, about mobile phone use by prisoners, but no effective action had been taken.

The board called for a jamming system around the prison but it is understood that this cannot be done because it would affect the use of mobile phones on roads outside.

The report said that a schism among Muslim prisoners about the imam at the prison, which developed in 2005-06, remained an issue but was being handled sensitively. It said that there was evidence that some prisoners were forced to adopt “more militant lifestyles”. The imam has been replaced.

The board also criticised the delays in deporting foreign prisoners who have served their sentences but are kept in the jail awaiting deportation. Two immigration officers are dealing with outstanding cases.

“A number of nationalities give us major concerns,” it said. “Somalis, for example, have no active diplomatic representation in this country. We now have a number of Somali prisoners who have been incarcerated well past their release date who want to go home and there seems to be no prospect to facilitate this.”

The board said that conditions at the prison had improved in the past 12 months, with prisoners spending much more time out of their cells, a fall in the use of control and restraint and greater levels of satisfaction with the treatment of prisoners by staff.

Every prison in England and Wales must, by law, have an independent monitoring board made up of local people. The board must satisfy itself of the humane and just treatment of inmates, inform the Secretary of State for Justice of any concerns it has and publish an annual report.

Behind bars

1,485 prisoners are in Wandsworth jail

100 have life or indeterminate sentences

30% are foreign citizens

Source: Independent Monitoring Board

Home Office consultation is 'self-congratulatory and disappointing'

The Observer : 2.12.07

The government was at loggerheads with its own advisers last night over its new drugs policy.
An influential Home Office-backed committee raised serious doubts about the consultation process behind the 10-year strategy which will be unveiled in April. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) described the process as 'self-congratulatory and generally disappointing' and questioned the credibility of much of the evidence presented to government.

A spokesman for the Home Office said last month that the consultation process, which is being conducted by the polling agency Mori, had been 'open' and had included a wide range of views.

But the council said: 'We consider that an opportunity has been missed to address the public health problem relating to drug misuse and the balance with law enforcement and the Criminal Justice System...The consultation would benefit from extending further to the wider social harm of drug misuse.'
It also said: 'It is of concern that the evidence presented, and the interpretation given, are not based on rigorous scrutiny. It is not acknowledged that in many cases the information is uncertain and sometimes of poor quality.'

Last night politicians said the council's response raised questions about whether the government was more interested in spinning its record than tackling the war on drugs.

'The failures of the government's drugs policy are laid bare for all to see when their own advisory committee condemns the Home Office as being misleading and self-congratulatory,' said Liberal Democrat leadership contender Nick Clegg. 'When will the government wake up and acknowledge something many members of the public know: we are losing the war on drugs?' Clegg said

Steve Rolles of think tank Transform, which advises the UN on drugs policy, said: 'The consultation process behind the new strategy has been woeful.' Last month Transform branded the consultation process a 'sham', saying the government had already made up its mind to continue with its current strategy.

Concerns about the direction of the government's next drugs strategy come as senior police officers warn that cannabis now presents a greater 'long-term' threat to Britain than cocaine. The increasing strength of high-grade 'skunk' combined with growing evidence of major criminal involvement in its production was fast becoming an issue of mounting concern. Hospitals recently revealed that the number of mental health admissions as a result of cannabis use had risen by 73 per cent.

Read the ACMD response HERE

Ministers have been accused of "turning a blind eye" to drug smuggling in prisons. The claim came from the Tories as new figures showed a collapse in the arrests of so-called drugs "mules". The number of prison visitors arrested for smuggling narcotics into jail has fallen by 50 per cent over the past seven years.

In 1999-2000, there were 735 arrests for smuggling substances into prison. In the 12 months to April this year, there were only 383.

However, the Prison Service believes the problem is getting worse. There has been a 10 per cent rise in the number of visitors suspected of acting as drug "mules". Last year, governors suspected 3,900 visitors and have imposed bans on 2,700.David Ruffley, the Conservative police reform spokesman, said: "Ministers are turning a blind eye to the criminality that is under their noses."

The government's expert advisers on illicit drugs yesterday warned of the growing use of anabolic steroids by boys as young as 12 as they confirmed they are reviewing the legal status of ecstasy as well as cannabis.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is to write to the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, voicing grave concerns about the growing abuse of anabolic steroids which are now being used by "tens of thousands" of bodybuilders and teenagers.

It had been estimated that there were tens of thousands of people using steroids to improve the results of training regimes to make themselves look more muscular, said Professor David Nutt, chairman of the council's technical committee. Steroid users, rather than heroin injectors, were now the main clients of needle exchanges, the committee heard.

Those who used anabolic steroids were often oblivious of the risks, which included acne, breast enlargement, sterility, liver tumours and hepatitis, the council chairman, Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, said. He added: "It can also make the testicles wither - which is probably not what the users want."

The latest figures show that 200,000 people in Britain have tried anabolic steroids, with 42,000 saying they have used them in the last year and 20,000 in the previous month. Home Office controls on anabolic steroids are aimed at suppliers and traffickers and it is not an offence to possess them to enhance performance.

Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive of the drugs charity Turning Point, said elite athletes knew what they were doing using steroids, but their increasing use by boys as young as 12 and 13 was extremely worrying. "They do it because they want to be in boy bands and get girls," he said.

The advisory council, which was meeting in public for the first time in its 36-year history, is also to press the government to ban 26 anabolic steroids currently proscribed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which controls the use of illicit substances in sport. Council members said action was needed in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

Some members claimed the council would be better off looking at the anabolic steroid problem than spending two days in February debating whether cannabis should be regraded from class C to class B.

But Rawlins said while some had argued they should refuse the home secretary's request to look at the legal status of cannabis for the third time, he did not think that was right. The first day of the two-day meeting will take evidence in public on whether possession of cannabis should again be dealt with by arrest.

Challenged by Steve Rolles, of the drugs legalisation campaign Transform, to look at the whole system of drug classification, Rawlins remarked that the notes detailing the basis for each classification from A to D dating back to 1973 had been lost. But he confirmed the council is reviewing the legal status of ecstasy as part of a systematic look at the classification of each illicit drug in turn. The ecstasy review began in September and involves the Health Technology Association in Plymouth appraising 750 scientific papers on the harmful effects of the drug in relation to similar illicit substances.

Ecstasy is currently a class A drug, bracketed with heroin, crack cocaine and cocaine. Nutt described the class A status of ecstasy as an anomaly.

Sucked in ...
Guardian: 27.11.07

A new study reveals that teenagers start smoking out of curiosity rather than because they think it's cool. And they are more likely to pick up the habit from their parents than their peers.

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Saturday December 1 2007

In the article below we quoted figures which we said came from "a 2007 survey by the Information Centre (formerly the Office of National Statistics)". The survey was done in 2006 on behalf of the Information Centre for health and social care. The Information Centre was not formerly the Office for National Statistics, although the ONS did carry out earlier surveys on smoking among young people. This has been corrected.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was his parents' disappointment that made Ross, 14, stop smoking. That and being grounded four times. He had started to smoke to stop himself from getting into fights. "Smoking was the only way I could stop for a minute and read the situation. It would stop the arguments and I could cool down," he says.

According to a new study by the Roy Castle Foundation, seen exclusively by the Guardian, 82% of smokers start before the age of 18. The Liverpool Longitudinal Smoking Study, due to be published next year, reveals that while some teenagers take up the habit to send a nicotine-stained two-fingered salute to adult authority or in the belief that it will win them friends, others start through boredom or stress.

Dr Susan Woods, one of the report's authors, says that although teenagers tend to think people smoke because it's cool or makes them look tough and mature, teen smokers themselves claim to be influenced by curiosity rather than other people. Primary school children, however, are influenced by parental smoking, which is also the biggest predictor of teen smoking.

"Some of the young people we've spoken to said they started because they were having problems at home; they smoke to relieve stress or they have anger management problems. Primary-school children associate parental smoking as a need to cope with everyday life," she says.

Until now, government resources have focused primarily on prevention, but results have not met expectations. The majority of children are aware of the harmful health effects of smoking, but are still taking it up in large numbers. A 2006 survey done on behalf of the Information Centre for health and social care shows that 9% of 11-15 year olds in England are regular smokers, a figure that has remained stable since 1999, along with 25% of 15-year-old girls smoking regularly, compared to 16% of boys.

Most of the health effects are well documented. Teen smokers are more likely to suffer from coughs and colds in the short term and in the long term, the younger the age someone takes up the habit the greater the risk of cancer and heart disease. There is also mounting evidence to suggest that teenage smokers are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression later in life.

"By the end of primary school, children are fantastically aware of the risks of smoking and what it does to their health. They talk about cancer and heart disease quite confidently. It doesn't stop them starting it, though. So it's possible they see it as classic risk-taking behaviour," says Woods.

Dr Lisa McNally, a health psychologist specialising in teen smoking, says that adults need to face up to the fact that focusing on prevention alone isn't enough. "Kids get addicted to nicotine very quickly. We need to address the addictiveness of cigarettes. As a society we are quite uncomfortable with the idea of children being addicts."

What sparse research there is into the role of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products, such as patches and inhalers, in helping young people to quit is inconclusive - although some experts argue that they may help tackle the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. However, when Iain Miller, former head of tobacco control in Durham, introduced a stop-smoking scheme in schools that provided NRT along with support from school nurses, the success rate was very poor. "Only 24% of young people were successful in stopping smoking four weeks after joining the scheme, compared to the general population rate, which is 50-55%," he says.

Long-term success rates were even poorer, with only 8% managing to give up completely. "NRT can help, but only if someone is determined to give up," says Miller, who believes that children face different pressure to adults, making it difficult to stop smoking. Apart from addiction, peer pressure to continue smoking, stress from education, exams, and relationships, bullying and fear of weight gain all take their toll. But, as with adults, it is alcohol that poses the biggest challenge to staying off cigarettes. "During the week young people might be able to avoid smoking and then on Friday night they hang out with a group of friends and drink. They're then more likely to smoke," Miller says.

Two pieces of smoking legislation came into effect this year - the smoking ban was extended throughout the UK and last month the legal age for buying tobacco products rose to 18. But while adults drink in pubs and bars, young people find other places to drink and smoke. And while a ban may signal that smoking is becoming socially unacceptable, young people still see groups of adults smoking and socialising on the street.

There are also ways round the higher age limit on buying cigarettes. Early consultations by the Roy Castle Foundation suggests that under-16s are still able to buy them - they will ask adults to get cigarettes for them or take them from family members and older friends. Cost is not necessarily prohibitive either: they may buy single cigarettes from friends or buy contraband from street sellers.

Finding one solution to stop all young people smoking seems unlikely. "It's a case of finding the right hooks for the person," says Miller. "If they don't want to stop, they won't."

For image-conscious teens, early development of wrinkles and yellowing teeth could be a deterrent. A game launched in October by the Roy Castle Foundation (tinyurl.com/2kk9b7) enables people to upload a photograph of themselves on to a website and view the ageing effects of smoking on their skin, teeth and eyes.

For others, reduced fitness levels affecting their performance in sport might turn them off the habit. Even the corporate nature of the tobacco industry and knowledge about the redeployment of fertile soil for tobacco production rather than food has made some young people think twice about lighting up.

Another technique is counter-marketing - turning the idea that a smoker is someone who is independent and rebellious into one who is in reality a puppet of big business and the government.

"Smoking for young lads is often a symbol of masculinity and toughness," says McNally, "but you just need to show them the robust evidence linking smoking to impotence. You can literally see their image of smoking change before your very eyes."

Teenage tips: how to help your child give up

· If you find out your child smokes don't shout, nag or be too critical. Ross, 14, a former smoker from Liverpool who has been recruited to help his peers give up says: "If you shout at the kids, they're more likely to rebel. Try to give them a chance - help them give up."

· "Sit down with your child to find out why they are smoking," says Dr Lisa McNally.

"Ask what they are getting out of smoking; why they started and why they like it. If you can find out why they started you're in much more of a position to help them get off it. You don't have to condone smoking, but you should explore it with an open mind."

· If they're reluctant to give up, seek to identify what's important to them. Is it their fitness, their looks, finance or the corporate nature of tobacco companies? McNally says: "One of the worst ways to encourage children to stop smoking is to show them pictures of diseased lungs and hearts. Young people often have a sense of being immortal and not vulnerable to such things. Cancer and heart disease are for old people."

· Help your child to address their smoking behaviour. "Try to help him or her identify when they smoke, the times and the situations. This also helps to pin down why they smoke - what pressures they're under and how they can best avoid them," says tobacco control expert, Iain Miller.

· If you smoke, give up. "If your child is trying to stop smoking and they're coming home to a household full of smoke, it's going to make it really difficult," says Miller. Giving up will also help you to understand how hard it is to quit. "If parents were smokers," he says, "They need to remember how difficult it was for them to kick the habit."

· Contact your local NHS Stop Smoking services for help. These offer non-judgmental support and can offer nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches or inhalers.

Though it may be classed among the most dangerous drugs, cocaine is nonetheless becoming increasingly popular. Everybody knows the scare stories, but perhaps people no longer believe those dire warnings. Paternalistically exaggerating the already dangerous truth for the public good has become an unhelpful lie.

Not only are we warned against cocaine, but also every other drug. One shouldn't smoke tobacco, or drink alcohol excessively (although in reality the average drinker in Europe drinks more than "safe" limits). This morally commendable temperance leaves a credibility gap in policy. If people want to get intoxicated and have a good time, what should they take? Whether or not politicians and healthcare professionals get their kicks entirely from exercise, cold baths and prayer, by disapproving of or criminalising everything, they wash their hands of any responsibility over the forms, patterns and contexts of substance use that we know matter in determining how often people have problems with drugs.

People take cocaine because it is cheaper and more widely available than it used to be, and because it is convenient and rewarding to do so. Users know that, taken not-too often, in not-too large quantities, it is fairly harmless - whatever doctors and governments say. Just as with booze, users fancy that they will not become one of the casualties with heart problems, a criminal record, or a repossessed home as a result of snorting the drug.

Cocaine is convenient because it is easy to hide and quick to take, goes well with heavy drinking, sex and partying, and generally cannot be traced in drug tests for more than a few days. It is rewarding because users feel more confident, up, happy, witty, creative and charming. Sometimes they may be right. At other times they are actually boring the noses off friends and colleagues with their coked-up drivel. There are also the widely desired rewards of easy glamour, risk-taking and simple naughtiness.

Studies repeatedly find that the majority of cocaine users use intermittently and without problems that they cannot handle themselves, just like any other drug, or alcohol. This includes a WHO study in the 1990s that was suppressed by the US government because its findings were unwelcome. Which would seem to indicate that if the evidence contradicts the vote-winning idea that cocaine is overwhelmingly dangerous; then ignore the evidence. So much for "evidence-based practice". Simply banning things that people want to consume doesn't work, however dangerous they are.

There is a need for harm minimisation advice for cocaine, which many users already follow: don't binge for days on end; don't take it every day; get some food and sleep; as Richard Prior said, "cocaine is God's way of telling you that you have too much money", so budget sensibly and don't buy coke on credit; if cocaine starts feeling like a problem, then stop; if your family, friends or servants (well, users do include some of the extremely rich) are concerned, then perhaps you should listen to what they have to say; if your dealer is concerned, then that is a really bad sign. Sadly, harm minimisation also needs to extend further: don't get caught, and if you do, claim it is the first time you have tried it, or it is a mere relapse; and if you can help it don't admit to use in surveys or to concerned professionals. We know a great deal about the possible harm caused by cocaine, and not enough detail about how it is used dangerously, or safely. Increased use needs to be managed, not repressed, and this should include recognising the true nature of the problem.

Tuesday November 27, 2007 6:46 PM

By RAHIM FAIEZ

Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The fields of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan were free of opium poppies this year, a success touted often by Afghan and international officials. But one look at Mohammad Alam's fields uncovers an emerging drug problem. Ten-foot-tall cannabis plants flourish in Alam's fields. The crop - the source of both marijuana and hashish - can be just as profitable as opium but draws none of the scrutiny from Afghan officials bent on eradicating poppies.

Cannabis cultivation rose 40 percent in Afghanistan this year, to 173,000 acres from 123,550 in 2006, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimated in its 2007 opium survey. The crop is being grown in at least 18 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, according to the survey released last month. The U.N. report singles out Balkh as a ``leading example'' of an opium-free province, saying other areas should follow ``the model of this northern region where leadership, incentives and security have led farmers to turn their backs on opium.' However, a section of the report says the increase in marijuana cultivation ``gives cause for concern.''

``Cannabis has also spread to the north of Afghanistan and is observed to have increased particularly in Balkh province,'' the survey said.

One of those farmers, Alam, said he knows it's illegal to grow cannabis but he must do so to feed his children. He said the government cannot provide jobs or find markets for legal crops. ``The government cannot provide a good market for other crops like cotton, watermelon and vegetables, so I have to grow marijuana instead of poppy,'' he said. Drug dealers from the southern poppy-growing provinces of Kandahar and Helmand travel north to buy marijuana and take it to Pakistan, Alam said.

Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's acting counter-narcotics minister, said the government doesn't yet have a good handle on marijuana.

``This is also a big problem for Afghanistan,'' said Khodaidad, who like many Afghans uses one name. ``It is very cheap. Hashish is more harmful (than poppies) to the people of Afghanistan.''

The U.N. said cannabis yields around twice the quantity of drug per acre as opium poppies and requires less investment. The U.N. drug report estimated farmers growing cannabis could earn the same amount per acre as opium farmers. ``As a consequence, farmers who do not cultivate opium poppy may turn to cannabis cultivation,'' the report said.

Afghanistan already grows some 93 percent of the world's opium.

Akbar Khan, a 35-year-old farmer from Balkh province, said that if legal crops could command higher prices, farmers would grow those.

``We know marijuana is an illegal crop, but we are very poor and we have to grow it to help our families survive,'' he said. ``I don't like growing poppy or marijuana. I don't want people to become addicted to these things, but I have to feed my children and I have no other way.''

Published: 25 November 2007
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) was a good concept but implementation has been deeply flawed. This is mainly because the Home Office accepted undemanding performance targets. The agency is riven by personnel, pay and budget issues and obsessed with a few, well-known, mainly UK-based, key criminals – regardless of whether they are currently supplying the UK market.

It is also obsessed with "up-stream disruption". That's good, but it has a marginal effect on the UK market. It frequently refuses follow-up operations to catch the organisers behind Customs "cold find" frontier seizures. These often represent the very best current intelligence and offer an opportunity to disrupt the market, make arrests and lead on to targeted operations against organisers.

Customs has consequently struggled to cobble together investigation effort from local police forces – inadequately resourced, inexperienced, unprepared and ill-equipped – to deal with major traffickers.

Customs border staff are frustrated and demoralised by the lack of useful service from Soca. Good agency intelligence for the fleet of purpose-built vessels (the Cutters) is missing. Customs acquired these at a cost of £5m each to meet the challenge from large-scale drugs smuggling by yachts and other vessels. Smuggling drugs into Britain in 2007 is easier than at any time in 30 years. The relevant Home Office junior minister is allegedly asking tricky questions and right to be "concerned".

The whole drugs strategy has been dysfunctional. There's been a failure to appreciate that the most important thing is culture and the way that the view of drugs has changed in recent years. People have been sent mixed messages. The Blunkett downgrading of cannabis had an extraordinary effect and led to even greater confusion.

We have a situation where legal drugs, particularly alcohol, are causing us problems and we also have a problem with illegal drugs that's worse than most countries in Europe. Many illegal drugs, particularly cocaine, have become ubiquitous.

The head of Britain's biggest supermarket chain has called for a change in the law to stop children turning into binge drinkers. Sir Terry Leahy, the chief executive of Tesco, effectively called on Gordon Brown to consider raising the legal age at which children can drink at home.

Speaking at a Downing Street seminar convened by the Prime Minister to discuss combating Britain's drink problems, Sir Terry quoted evidence that "most of the alcohol consumed by young people is in their own home".

At present, children can drink in the home from the age of five. But outside, the threshold rises to 18 for people consuming alcohol in licensed premises. However, teenagers having dinner with an adult can drink beer, wine or cider from the age of 16.

Sir Terry said: "It might even help families - because young teenagers can be quite difficult to control - if they [the parents] are backed by a clear message from the law which says this is the age at which you can consume alcohol."A spokesman for Tesco said later that Sir Terry was in effect suggesting a single legal age for drinking which would involve raising the current limit for children to consume alcohol at home. But he insisted that the supermarket boss was not suggesting what that new limit should be.

The Tesco spokesman admitted that some of the lager sold in the company's stores could be cheaper than some mineral water. However, he stressed that Sir Terry was not trying to shift the blame on to parents, saying: "We realise we have got a big part to play." But he pointed out that if cheap alcohol was the issue, drink problems would be worse on the Continent where alcohol could be "far cheaper".

At yesterday's seminar, attended by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, and James Purnell, the Culture Secretary, the Prime Minister called for a "cultural shift" to combat under-age drinking and binge-drinking. He also hinted at tougher enforcement of drink laws.

But two years on from Labour's introduction of 24-hour licensing laws, the Tories claimed that Mr Brown was effectively admitting the reforms had failed.

The Prime Minister has already ordered a Home Office review of the new regime, which is due to report in the New Year. John Wright, of the Federation of Small Businesses, gave warning of the dangers faced by small shopkeepers threatened by young people seeking alcohol.

Jeremy Beadles, the chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said that there was "no magic bullet" to deal with problem drinking.

The comments coincided with the launch of a new Home Office crackdown on retailers selling alcohol to under-age customers and people who were already drunk. The campaign will focus on pubs, clubs and off-licences in areas where there were already high levels of alcohol-related crime and disorder.

The Guardian
23.11.07

Evidence of a growing pre-teen drug problem in Britain emerged yesterday with research showing that one in seven children have tried cannabis before the age of 13.

The study, reported by the EU's drug agency, says there has been an explosion in the number of children under 15 going into drug treatment across Europe.

The annual report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction shows that the UK's drug problem among young teenagers is far worse than in any other EU country. The research shows that 13% of British schoolchildren say they first tried cannabis before they were 13. This is much higher than any other European country - it compares with 8% in the Netherlands and Ireland - and is more than three times the EU average.

Britain also accounts for most of the children under 15 who go into drug treatment each year, with 2,251 out of the 3,237 new patients in Europe, the latest figures show. The number of young British children in treatment, mainly for using cannabis or sniffing inhalants, has grown threefold from 797 in 2000.

The European report says a main factor in the crisis is children growing up in the families of Britain's 330,000 problem drug users: "Research found that at the age of 15, young people whose parents had used drugs during the previous year were more than twice as likely to have used drugs than those whose parents had not used drugs," it reported, adding that drug use by elder brothers and sisters can also be a factor.

The report says that targeting such families, as well as developing treatment programmes for the very young, now needs to be a priority.

The EU drugs agency also said that the growth of cocaine use in Britain and Spain had proved to be a precursor of a new boom in cocaine use across Europe. The market has grown by a million new users in the past year alone, making it the second most popular illegal drug after cannabis.

In Britain, the typical cocaine customer is a weekend user who is socially integrated, in work, and has probably switched from using amphetamines.

The EU agency reports that the European cocaine market grew by 1 million users in the last year, from 3.5 million regular cocaine users to 4.5 million. Spain has the highest level of cocaine abuse out of 29 countries across Europe, with consumption levels similar to the US. In Spain, 5.2% of young adults aged 15-34 say they have used cocaine in the last 12 months, compared with 4.7% in the UK.

The EU drug experts also said that the booming Afghan opium crop had yet to have much impact on the heroin situation in Europe. Drug-related deaths, however, remain at a historic high of between 7,000 and 8,000 each year across Europe.

The report expressed "cautious optimism" about the use of cannabis, saying the European market had stabilised in the past year, with about 3 million using it on a daily basis and signs that its popularity among the young is waning.

The agency reported that in Britain, cannabis use in the past 12 months among 16- to 24-year-olds has fallen sharply from 28.2% in 1998 to 21.4% in 2006.

Britain is no longer at the top of the European cannabis league among people aged 15-34, with 16.3% using it in the last year compared with 20% for Spain, 19% for the Czech Republic and 16.5% for Italy.

BBC 20.11.07

Senior police officers are calling for cannabis to be reclassified from a class C to a class B drug.
Three years ago the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) supported the drug's downgrading, but now wants a return to the previous position.

Tim Hollis, chairman of Acpo's drugs committee, said downgrading cannabis had sent out the wrong signals.Acpo is also concerned about the number of cannabis "factories" that have sprung up across the country.

Mr Hollis said organised criminals now viewed the UK as a potential place to produce cannabis. He said: "Some people are targeting the UK because they see it's financially worthwhile. "We've got to increase the risk of being raided by the police and send a clear message out that cannabis is a drug, we do take it seriously, and we will tackle those people who try to trade in drugs."

Police say any reclassification would not necessarily change the way that they currently police possession of cannabis, although that may be reviewed in the light of any reclassification.

Mr Hollis said the emphasis should be on targeting dealers, rather than criminalising people who use cannabis recreationally.

Acpo will give its evidence relating to its new position to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which is due to report to the Home Office next Spring.

A Home Office spokesperson said the government would decide, probably next summer, whether or not to reclassify cannabis following consultations with both the advisory council and the public.

But the Home Office is stressing that since cannabis was downgraded in 2004, there has been a "steady fall" in the use of the drug. It quotes research from the government-funded Information Centre that says cannabis use among children aged between 11 and 15 has fallen since 2004.

The drugs charity Release criticised Acpo's new stance, saying reclassification "would make no difference" to people's decision whether they smoked cannabis or not. Niamh Eastwood, Release's head of legal services, said: "The latest figures show that young people are smoking less cannabis. On the other hand, the consumption of alcohol and cocaine is rising."

One factor which is thought to have influenced Acpo's new stance is new supposed evidence of a link between heavy cannabis use and mental illness.

On Tuesday police chiefs at an Acpo drugs conference heard that "super-strength" cannabis helps cause memory deficits and psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia.

Younger people, whose brains are still developing, are thought to be especially vulnerable to the drug's effects.

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, said: "Any decision regarding the drug's classification needs to take account of the potential damage to the estimated 800 people each year who, without cannabis, would not have developed psychotic illness."

But Ms Eastwood from Release said the links between cannabis and mental illness were not proven.

"There has been no dramatic increase in the incidence of schizophrenia over the past 40 years, despite the fact that cannabis use has risen," she said.

The Guardian
21.11.07
The number of "problem drug users" - those using opiates and/or crack cocaine - remains stable at around 332,000, according to the latest official estimate published yesterday.

But there is some evidence among a series of eight Home Office research studies published yesterday that treatment programmes and law enforcement measures are having some impact in reducing drug-related crime in England and Wales. The government's annual "drug harm index", which was developed to measure the overall impact of its drugs strategy, showed a continuing fall from 89.1 to 83.8 from 2004 to 2005.

This decline was largely due to falls in drug use and further reductions in drug-related crime, particularly burglaries and shoplifting, although this fall was overshadowed by a rise in drug-related robbery. Similarly a decline in drug-related hepatitis C cases was more than offset by a rise in drug-related deaths from 1,495 in 2004 to 1,608 in 2005.

The official estimate of 332,000 problem drug users in England for 2005/06 compares with 327,000 for the previous year. The Home Office said the increase was not statistically significant, leading it to describe the figures as stable. The estimate includes 286,000 opiate users, 197,000 using crack and 129,000 injecting class A drugs.

A separate study based on drug testing of those arrested by the police between 2003 and 2006 shows a consistent fall in the use of crack cocaine and heroin and a fall in those injecting drugs.

More positive results also came from the study of the effectiveness of the drugs intervention programme launched in 2003, which refers drug-using offenders into treatment. Overall offending rates fell by 26% among a group of 7,727 offenders in the programme. Half the sample showed a 79% decline in their criminal behaviour after the programme. About 3,500 offenders enter treatment as a result of the scheme every month.

Martin Barnes, the chief executive of DrugScope, the drugs information charity, said that the reports overall did suggest welcome progress but noted that the picture was not universally positive.

"The clear message from these reports is that there can be no complacency. For many drug users their problems are compounded by unemployment, poor housing and lack of access to many key services."

The Guardian
21.11.07

The true scale of Britain's illicit drug economy was revealed yesterday with the disclosure of an internal Home Office estimate that there are 300 major importers, 3,000 wholesalers and 70,000 street dealers involved in a trade with a turnover of between £7bn and £8bn a year.

The Home Office research says the average dealer has an annual turnover of £100,000 a year, many drug operations employ salaried staff as "runners and storers" and raise their heroin prices by as much as £1,000 a kilo as demand peaks at Christmas.

The research, based on prison interviews with 222 convicted drug dealers, also shows that a prison sentence is not seen as a significant deterrent, with their drug businesses handed over to employees or colleagues while they were inside. Most saw prison as an occupational hazard or "unlikely risk" and it is rare for operations to totally cease following an arrest.

Instead, asset recovery operations including confiscation orders were seen as a much bigger threat, with some dealers complaining to researchers that those arrested were "losing everything that they have - even the things they acquired through honest means".

The study, the Illicit Drug Trade in the United Kingdom, undertaken by the Matrix Knowledge Group and London School of Economics, is the first large-scale interview programme with drug traffickers and dealers inside prison.

The estimate that 70,000 street dealers are active in the British drug economy is based on previously unpublished Home Office calculations. The report says the £7bn-£8bn estimate of annual turnover implies that the average street dealer does £100,000 worth of business each year.

Earlier Home Office estimates of the scale of the drug trade, between £4bn and £6.6bn in 2003-04, suggested the amount spent on drugs each year was equal to 33% of the tobacco market and 41% of that for alcohol.

The study published yesterday says demand for illegal drugs remains high and stable, with a tendency for dealers of heroin and cocaine to specialise.

It finds there are very high mark-ups along the supply chain from production to street level, about 15,800% in the case of cocaine and 16,800% for heroin. Even with those profit margins, dealers said their main challenge was cash flow.

The study says more than three-quarters of dealers began their activities through contact with friends and family, the only special skill needed being a "willingness to break the law".

Trust is of crucial importance in dealers' choice of who to work with. They often choose only those they have grown up with or spent time in prison with.

The researchers found that only a fifth of dealers could be described as sole traders, with most operating in small- or medium-size enterprises and the overwhelming majority trying to "grow their operations".

There is some use of salaried staff, typically in unskilled roles as runners and storers who are paid very small proportions of the cost of the transaction or the profit involved.

Only a small number of dealers suggested that the risk of arrest was increasing, with one cocaine dealer reporting that 20 of his original 50 contacts in the trade in 2003 are still operating.

One dealer believed he had married a woman who was a police informant: she had him arrested with 100,000 ecstasy tablets and several hundred kilograms of cannabis.

He said he had found out that his wife had previously been married to two other drug dealers who were also caught.

The researchers also report the case of a cannabis and cocaine importer who gave his driver £300,000 on a Friday night to take abroad: "But the divvy decides it would be nice to lay the money on his bed, make mad passionate love to his 17-year-old girlfriend and photograph it."

When the driver took his wife out on the Saturday night, his "girlfriend turned up pissed and showed the photos to his wife". She in turn told Customs who arrested the driver at Dover, curtailing his business trip.

While most of those interviewed saw prison as an "occupational hazard", only a third correctly estimated what sentence they would get.

Of confiscation orders, one national level heroin distributor said: "If you buy a home or a car or any possessions you will lose it when you get caught - and nearly everyone gets caught."

Dealers' tales

Two kilos of cocaine from the West Indies

In these circumstances, a husband and wife falling behind with their mortgage would be used. The dealer said that "they would always be British to have a higher chance of getting through. They would bodypack two kilos and would be given £5,000-£10,000 between them, plus the cost of a holiday. The chance of getting caught in this scenario is higher. You need to know somebody in the West Indies but this is not difficult to do. London is multicultural, you can meet a contact"

Cocaine importer from Spain, 2000-01

The key person in this deal was described as "the guy with the transport, be it a car, van, boat or large lorry. He charged £1,500 to £2,000 per kilo. Sometimes an agreement has been made prior that he will sell to you and you deliver the money. Depending on the supply in Spain you would pay £20,000 a kg but it could be £15,000." The dealer reported that he had tried to sell he cocaine for £22,000 a kg to make his cheaper than his competitors, but there were times he sold it for £26,000-£29,000

Lone trader in ecstasy and heroin

Sol was on a fishing holiday in the Netherlands and met a man there who was involved in drugs and gave him his first ecstasy tablet. He liked it and they offered him 2,000 pills so he took them back to England in his fishing bag on the ferry. When he got back he found someone to buy them, through a friend of a friend who was a dealer. He started doing the trip like this every two to three months. Eighteen months later he started buying cocaine in the Netherlands too. He would bring the cocaine back on the ferry in the same way as he dealt with ecstasy

A trial scheme which set up "shooting galleries" in three cities, enabling heroin users to obtain drugs and inject them under supervision, has dramatically cut crime rates and stopped addicts buying their supplies on the streets.

Yesterday's preliminary results from the £2.5m pilot project sent a ripple of excitement through the treatment community, because long-term heroin users are among the hardest addicts to treat. They lead chaotic lives, often robbing and stealing to fund their habits. According to official figures, 10 per cent of drug addicts commit 75 per cent of the acquisitive crimes in the Britain. But the number of offences committed by the heroin addicts taking part in the shooting gallery scheme fell from an average of 40 each per month before they were admitted to "about half a dozen a month" after six months of intensive therapy, according to Professor John Strang, the head of the National Addiction Centre at the Maudsley Hospital, who is leading the study.

Instead of buying street heroin every day, the 150 volunteers are now buying it only four or five times a month on average – while a third of them have completely stopped "scoring" the drug on the streets.

Professor Strang said: "This is genuinely exciting news. These are people with a juggernaut-sized heroin problem and I really didn't know whether we could turn it around. We have succeeded with people who looked as if their problem was unturnable, and we have done it in six months."

The scheme is modelled on one in Switzerland, where the introduction of injecting clinics "medicalised" heroin use and transformed it from an act of rebellion to a treatable illness. Similar clinics operate in France, Germany and Canada.

The first British injecting clinic opened in south London two years ago, funded by the Home Office and the Department of Health. Two more were opened, in Darlington last year and in Brighton two months ago. During the trial, a third of the volunteer addicts take the heroin substitute methadone orally, while a third inject it under supervision. The remaining third, observed by nurses, attend twice a day to inject themselves with diamorphine – or pure heroin – which is imported from Switzerland and provided by the clinic. Professor Strang said: "The rules are incredibly strict. There is no 'take-away' at all [to avoid the users selling their drugs on the streets]. All injections are witnessed at the clinic.

"The approach introduces routine and drudgery by forcing the users to attend for their fix twice a day. The nurses have become quite involved, telling users off about their bad practice or lack of hygiene. I was quite surprised how, after decades of injecting, some users were still so bad at it."

There are an estimated 280,000 users of hard drugs in Britain, most taking heroin and crack cocaine, and about 2,500 deaths a year. The shooting gallery scheme, targeted at long-term heroin users, operates seven days a week, 365 days a year and costs £15,000 per year for each addict – three times the cost of providing oral methadone treatment.

Jamie, 39, heroin addict: 'I have got no warrants hanging over my head'

Since the age of 16, Jamie has been to jail 28 times. She has lost her children, her possessions and very nearly her life when she was hospitalised for six weeks in 2004. All because of heroin.

"It started when I was 14. I kept running away from home and got involved with some older kids who were using 'skag'. I wanted to know what it was like. By 16 I was addicted."

Much of her life since then has been spent on the run from police and in treatment programmes, none of which succeeded in weaning her off the drugs.

In 2005 she was one of the first addicts to be taken on by the injecting clinic in south London. It has transformed her life. "I am no longer out shoplifting. I have got no fines or arrest warrants hanging over my head and I am not in prison. I have a better relationship with my family and I feel great."

Now 39, she injects diamorphine every morning and afternoon and wants to start reducing her dose soon. "My plan is to go to college and get a job. Heroin addiction is an illness – it has been my illness since I was a teenager."

Heroin clinic 'reduces drug use'
BBC 19.11.07

Initial results from a London pilot scheme where addicts inject themselves with heroin in a clinic suggest it has reduced drug use and crime. Clinics in Brighton and Darlington also form part of the trial.

The injecting clinics, intended for hardened heroin addicts for whom conventional treatment has failed, have operated for about two years. The scheme, which has so far cost £2.5m, is funded by both the Home Office and the Department of Health.

During the trial, a third of addicts are using heroin substitute methadone orally and a third will inject methadone under supervision.

The remaining third, observed by nurses, are injecting themselves with diamorphine - unadulterated heroin - imported from Switzerland and provided by the clinic.

Some 150 users will take part in the trial overall. Final results will not be known for another year but, in London, doctors and nursing staff say drug use has fallen significantly.

They also say the lives of those on the scheme have stabilised because they are not buying from street dealers and getting involved in crime.

Trial leader Professor John Strang, of the National Addiction Centre, based at London's Institute of Psychiatry, told BBC News that about 40% of users had "quit their involvement with the street scene completely". "Of those who have continued, which obviously is a disappointment, it goes down from every day to about four days per month," he added. "Their crimes, for example, have gone from 40 a month to perhaps four crimes per month. "The reduction in crime is not perfect but is a great deal better for them and crucially a great deal better for society."

People on the trial also attend regular counselling sessions and regular appointments with their GP.

BBC correspondent Danny Shaw said initial results suggested the experiment was having a profound effect on hardened heroin addicts.

Many were leading much more stable lives and were enjoying better family relationships because they were