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The United Nations International Narcotic Control Board (INCB) has attacked one of the few progressive drugs reforms introduced by any British government since the disastrous tide of prohibition began to roll across the world in the 1960s. The downgrading of cannabis – a drug which more than half of all British citizens under the age of 30 have tried – from Class B to Class C, earmarked for this Easter, was the barest minimum that could be done in a country where even The Daily Telegraph, Peter Lilley and The Economist support legalisation. Yet the INCB has condemned it as a move made by a government "intimidated by a vocal minority that wants to legalise illicit drug use". This "vocal minority" includes, according to a 2001 ICM poll, more than half of all British people when it comes to cannabis.

The INCB is among the world's most hardline exponents of drug prohibition. Whenever a country moves in the direction of greater tolerance and reducing harm, the INCB is there to beat it with a big stick. Despite its disingenuous attempt yesterday to claim to speak on behalf of African nations, it is effectively a puppet of the United States, a nation whose drugs record speaks for itself. The latest US Department of Health found last year that despite endless "crackdowns" over two decades, 87 million Americans have used illegal drugs, and nearly a million regularly use the most hardcore of all, crack cocaine.

The intellectual poverty of the prohibitionists is so obvious that it no longer merits serious discussion. They are not interested in evidence from the real world; they are simply blinkered ideologues. Yet the INCB still tries to enforce the catastrophic US model across the globe. Any nation that tries to liberalise its drugs policy finds itself, as Britain has, under intense US/UN pressure.

Through the INCB, they oppose even the most basic harm-reduction tactics, such as injecting rooms where heroin addicts can inject under supervision in case they overdose; needle exchanges (to avoid HIV infection); heroin prescription (proven to reduce property crimes, because addicts no longer need to steal to fund their habit); and ecstasy testing in clubs, combined with education about the drug (which could save the lives of the few people who do die using ecstasy).

As Danny Kushlick, director of the increasingly influential Transform Drugs Policy Institute, explains: "There is now a serious tension emerging between the US approach to drugs – which is being aggressively forced on the world – and the European harm-reduction philosophy which is gradually emerging. Portugal has effectively decriminalised personal possession of all drugs; and in Spain and Italy, personal possession is now only a civil offence."

At the moment, the European approach remains – just – within the boundaries of the international drug-control treaties, regulated by the UN, that were set up in successive waves in 1961, 1971 and 1988. Even these changes are achieved mostly by exploiting clauses about medical necessity. For example, needle exchanges, which test the ultra-prohibitionist spirit of the treaties, are justified by the Dutch with reference to the clauses about individual health. But no European country can move towards full legalisation of production and supply while remaining within the treaties' constraints. Sooner or later, there will be a blatant challenge to the treaties by a European country that wants to travel this path, although massive diplomatic pressure will be exerted to rein it back.

The US-imposed constraints on South America are even greater. In Colombia, 40 per cent of the national economy is based on the international trade in drugs. The distorting effect on the entire country is immeasurable, with billions sloshing around in illegal funds, corrupting both politics and the administration of law. This is exacerbated by a US policy of mass-spraying, with noxious herbicides, of fields suspected to be used for cocaine-related crops. Tens of thousands of acres of land belonging to poverty-stricken small farmers have been destroyed, the environmental damage is devastating, and yet the policy is so ineffective that since it began the cocaine yield from Colombia has trebled.

The idea that the drugs market can be stamped out is a fantasy. A kilo of cocaine is worth £1,000 in Colombia, but, because of the massive inflationary effects of prohibition, it is worth £30,000 by the time it reaches the streets of London. Wherever there is a 3,000 per cent profit margin, people will be prepared to take extraordinary risks. This market will not die.

Legalising the supply and distribution networks of drugs, however, would put the huge sums of money generated by this industry into the hands of legitimate businesses and – most importantly – through taxation into the hands of governments that urgently need more money for the provision of basic health and education.

The INCB approach, in contrast, is a guarantee of poverty in South America and mass property crime in Britain. The Government has unflinchingly taken the condemnation of this unaccountable body for even its very moderate change. This should embolden it to confront the prohibitionists again and move faster towards the European model that will – one day soon – replace the current

Cannabis law sends 'wrong signal'
The decision to relax UK laws on cannabis is sending out the "wrong signal" to the rest of the world, according to a UN panel responsible for drugs issues.
Home Secretary David Blunkett's decision to downgrade cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug may also damage British people's health. According to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), relaxing the rules on cannabis may prompt an increase in its use. The INCB's Nigerian president, Philip Emafo, said: "It is important that consensus prevails in international drug control.
"No government should take unilateral measures without considering the impact of its actions and ultimately the consequences for an entire system that took governments almost a century to establish." He added that young people were confused over "mixed messages" about drugs. "On one hand you are telling them not to go to clubs and use ecstasy because it is dangerous, but on the other hand you are not doing anything about cannabis," he argued. In a 90-page report published on Wednesday, the INCB also suggested that the policy on cannabis could lead to increased cultivation of the drug destined for the UK and "other European countries". Last September a conference in Nairobi heard the UK's decision would "undermine the efforts of governments of African countries to counter illicit cannabis cultivation, trafficking and abuse".
Cancer
Mr Blunkett's initiative had led to "worldwide repercussions ... including confusion and widespread misunderstanding." Critics of the government's stance say cannabis can cause cancers, heart disease and mental health problems. Professor Ghodse, a former INCB president and in charge of studies into addictive behaviour at the University of London's St George's Hospital, said: "It's quite worrying that we might end up in the next 10 or 20 years ... with our psychiatric hospitals filled with people who have problems with cannabis.
"Recreational use of cannabis is something that any government and any community should think very seriously about." A recent study by the British Lung Foundation suggested that smoking three joints had the same impact as 20 cigarettes.
But the chief executive of drugs charity DrugScope, Roger Howard, argued that control of cannabis caused "disproportionately more harm to society than the harm caused by the substance itself". He added: "The credibility of the INCB is thrown into doubt when its criticism of the UK Government's sensible proposal to re-classify cannabis is based on dubious science and misleading conclusions." Professor Ghodse refused to be drawn on the specific issue of cautioning people found to be in possession of cannabis.
Illegal
"The board does not dictate to the countries how to deal with penalties," he said. "Penalties are a national issue providing they are not in violation of the conventions." Although he welcomed Mr Blunkett's statement last July that all controlled drugs are to stay illegal. The government will make the final moves towards downgrading the classification of cannabis later this year. When that happens people found possessing small quantities of the drug will only be arrested in "exceptional" circumstances such as blowing smoke in a policeman's face or causing a disturbance.

Nurses on a government advisory body drafting minimum requirements for care homes have backed health secretary Alan Milburn’s decision to water down standards.

The nurses agreed with him that strict standards were partly to blame for the closure of thousands of beds at homes that could not afford renovations. They also said that ‘environmental’ standards, such as those demanding single rooms of a minimum size, often have only limited impact on care quality.

The advisory group had called for at least 80 per cent of rooms to be single occupancy and at least ten metres square in size by 2007. It also wanted a minimum of 4.1 square metres of communal space per resident and door widths of at least 80cm to aid wheelchair access.

But the government announced last week that existing care homes merely have to maintain the single room provision they had on March 31 last year. The room size and door width minimums now only apply to homes built from last April.

The chair of the advisory group, Kina Lady Avebury of the Centre for Policy on Ageing, called the government’s change of heart ‘disgraceful’. She said: ‘I wonder how Mr Milburn or any other government minister would feel if their parent was compelled to share a bedroom with a stranger.’

But nurses on the panel – RCN policy adviser for gerontological nursing Pauline Ford, former RCN elderly care adviser Hazel Heath, and Linda Nazarko, a nursing home manager at the time – disagreed.

Ms Heath said: ‘I have been in care homes where the environment was not ideal but the care was good and the residents were happy.’

Drafting standards to benefit elderly people while protecting the interests of care home owners had been ‘a very difficult balance to strike’, she said.

Ms Nazarko, now visiting senior lecturer at London’s South Bank University, said: ‘It was crazy asking care homes to spend a fortune getting a door an inch bigger. Sometimes people measure things because they are easy to measure.’

Ms Ford had wanted minimum nurse/patient ratios for care homes, but that demand was rejected by the government. She said that relaxing environmental standards would help smaller homes stay open.

National Care Homes Association chief executive Sheila Scott had been a member of the advisory group but walked out in protest before its recommendations were published. She welcomed the relaxation of standards and urged the government to increase funding to prevent further home closures.

This weekend some 71,000 people are behind bars, just 1,300 short of the maximum number possible - and yet crime rates have fallen. Why? Look to the increased use of heroin and crack cocaine and the 47,000 prisoners who need detox.

David Rose
Sunday February 9, 2003
The Observer

The reception block at Pentonville Prison late one afternoon last week, as the Group 4 security vans arrive from court. In the gloomy yellow corridors, the stench of old vomit, mixed with cigarettes, is overpowering. Thirty men, haggard and bewildered, are already penned in the plateglass-fronted holding pen, queueing to use the two telephones.
In one corner, a scabby-faced man of 28 - he looks much older - trembles uncontrollably: he's at an advanced stage of heroin withdrawal, he says, and deliberately smashed a car window in front of a policeman. He wanted to be sent to prison, because he knows that here he will get a methadone prescription.

'I can't get help outside. I've been trying to come off for two years. I'd rather be doing detox here than out on the streets, using drugs.'

The prisoners wait in the pen for a doctor's examination, for their paperwork to be processed and to exchange their own clothing for grey prison sweatsuits, socks and underwear. 'I know what you're thinking,' says my Prison Service guide. 'It is a bit Hieronymus Bosch.' On an average day, there will be 100 new arrivals. Pentonville - with 45,000 separate prisoner movements in and out of reception each year - is the busiest jail in Europe.

Last week, after a brief dip around Christmas, the result of the Government's extension of electronic tagging, the prison population of England and Wales stood at 71,149, almost back to the all-time high it reached last autumn. It is currently rising by 400 inmates a week. Just 1,300 prisoners below its maximum capacity, the Prison Service is close to breaking point. Its staff and managers are well aware of the consequences: overcrowded cells and worsening regimes; prisoners shipped far from their families; and a much greater risk of violence, riots and suicides.

By the end of March, the doors will open on three new prefabricated wings at existing jails, providing room for another 1,300 inmates. Shortly afterwards, two new prisons, with room for 1,300 more, will open at Ashford, Kent, and Heathrow. Few doubt the extra spaces will soon be filled. Since 1993, when it hit a low of 42,000, the prison population's rise has been relentless. Unlike any other public institution, the Prison Service appears to be an open-ended resource.

The paradox is that, throughout this era of rampant jail expansion, crime rates have fallen steadily: the Home Office British Crime Survey, widely considered the most reliable source, suggests an overall decrease since the mid-1990s of 22 per cent. The numbers of people convicted have also fallen, from 1.5 million in 1991 to 1.35 million 10 years later.

At the simplest level, the explanation for the prison population explosion is that there are more prisoners because magistrates and judges have got much tougher. Although the total remanded in custody has increased since 1993, from 10,000 to around 13,000, the number of convicted prisoners serving a sentence has soared from 31,000 to 58,000, of whom about 4,000 are women. (Contrary to popular belief, women are somewhat less likely to go to prison, and on average receive shorter sentences).

'The biggest thing is the public climate,' says Paul Cavadino, director of the offender rehabilitation group Nacro. 'Whether they're taking their lead from the media, politicians or conversations in their local pub, sentencers clearly believe they're supposed to pass heavier terms.'

Fewer than half those convicted at Crown courts were sentenced to immediate custody in 1993; by 2001 it was 63 per cent. Only 6 per cent convicted by magistrates went to prison in 1993, but 15 per cent in 2001. Average Crown court sentence lengths have also risen dramatically. The average burglar jailed in 1993 could expect to go away for 11 months; his counterpart in 2001 for 16.5 months. Similar increases apply to other crimes.

But why? Some argue that crimes are getting worse. 'I remember as a young barrister being involved in a GBH case,' says a senior northern judge. 'The judge was horrified, because the defendant put the boot in. These days there's a sense of relief if they've merely put the boot in. There's so much anger: road rage, neighbour rage. And people seem much more ready to use weapons.'

The 2001 Halliday report on sentencing, published by the Home Office, disagreed. Tougher sentences, it said, 'do not appear to reflect a more serious mix of offenders passing through the courts... the sentencing of similar offences and offenders has become much more severe'.

Yet, although the last Tory Home Secretary, Michael Howard, famously proclaimed that 'prison works', Labour Ministers have often urged the judiciary to use imprisonment sparingly. Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, has also warned repeatedly of the negative effects of prison overcrowding. Yet the judges aren't following their leader. Is this simply a matter of media, mood and public perception? Or are there deeper, more intractable forces at work?

The place to begin to look for answers is the nature of the prison population itself. Some penal reformers have argued that the main problem is the increase in people serving short sentences, 12 months or less, and that the jails are bursting mainly because of people whose offences are so trivial - TV licence fee evasion, for example - that they shouldn't be there at all. On closer inspection, however, this argument looks problematic.

On the one hand, it is true that a high proportion of short-sentence inmates probably wouldn't have been imprisoned 10 years ago. For example, 15 per cent of burglary convicts got a community sentence in 1993, but just 5 per cent in 2001. 'There has been a general movement downwards of the boundaries between different kinds of penalty,' says Cavadino. 'Fines are rather less common. A higher proportion go straight to probation-supervised community sentences, and a much higher proportion to prison.'

Reversing these trends, on the other hand, would not be easy, and even if it happened it would make only a marginal difference to the overall prison population. Last month Woolf was attacked by the right-wing press when he issued new sentence guidelines suggesting that burglars without previous convictions should not normally be jailed. Missing from the furore was the actual number of first-time burglars now serving sentences of fewer than four years. Unpublished Home Office research has the answer: 290 - fewer than 0.3 per cent of total jail inmates.

The research has discovered that 15 per cent of sentenced prisoners have no previous convictions - the same proportion as 10 years ago. However, if one factors out those convicted of violent assaults, sex offences, robbery and drug dealing, the proportion falls to less than 3 per cent, about 1,600 people. At the end of last year Martin Narey, the then Prisons Director-General, asked his staff to discover how many people there were in jail for not paying their TV licence. The answer on the day they looked was: one.

At Pentonville, I ask staff to show me the files of 20 prisoners pulled from their stacks of cabinets at random. They cover almost every type of crime and sentence: an armed robber serving 10 years; a serial rapist-kidnapper on nine; several burglars doing 18 months. All but one have been to prison before, most of them several times, and all had previous convictions - in some cases, 30 or more. 'It's the same people, again and again,' says Jaqueline De Allie, head of inmate administration.

In 2000, the last year for which figures are available, nationally 65 per cent of prisoners had at least five previous convictions. The biggest growth in the preceding decade was in the proportion of inmates with at least 11 previous convictions, which rose from 25 to 32 per cent of the rapidly expanding total. Proof, it could be argued, of prison's ineffectiveness at reducing re-offending. On the other hand, in a sentencing climate in which judges are likely to give higher sentences to people with bad criminal records, mounting recidivism looks very significant.

We need to look again at the nature of the prison population. Much more important than the growing numbers of short-sentence inmates are the lengthening terms for people convicted of relatively serious crimes who would almost certainly have gone to prison anyway. In 1990 there were 16,154 inmates serving sentences of more than three years. By 2000 this had risen to 28,090, and it has continued to increase since. Less than a fifth, 17 per cent, of sentenced prisoners in the system are serving terms of a year or less - and with the spread of electronic tagging, most will be home within three months in any case.

Is this rise in recidivism and longer sentences just a matter of public mood? Or is it possible something real, something long-term and very serious, is happening in the nature of offending, and that the judiciary is partly reflecting it?

The anecdotal evidence is there in Pentonville, where I sit with six inmates approaching the end of their sentences. All but one have used heroin and crack cocaine; of whom all attribute their criminal acts to their habits. 'I was using £900 a day, man!' says Brian. 'If I hadn't been caught and come inside, I would have killed someone. I was smoking crack even when I was taking my kids to school.' He is doing 15 months for wounding: 'I stabbed someone. It was drug-related. I was high when I done it. He was a dealer.'

At 34, Robbie from Liverpool has been to prison 'about 10 times' before. 'I've taken heroin since I was 15. Every single crime I've done in my life has been to support my habit.' This time, he's been jailed for just eight months for shop theft, but his previous convictions include armed robbery and aggravated burglary.

Beneath the surface of official statistics, the increase in class A drug use starts to emerge as a principal cause of the increase in inmates. Last year a staggering 79.8 per cent of prisoners entering Pentonville reception had taken cocaine or heroin within the previous 48 hours.

Dr Ashvin Balabhadra runs the drug detox programme on B wing. 'When I started here in 1999, about 125 a month were coming through reception with immediate, serious substance misuse problems. Now that's up to 275 or 300. We're using the same methods to identify them: urine tests, pupil tests, information from outside and the history taken by our own staff. The local NHS sees fewer patients needing detox in a year than we deal with every month.'

The Observer has obtained national figures for new prisoners requiring immediate detox treatment. They show that they have risen steadily from about 16,000 in 1996 to 47,000 in 2002.

The official statistics for convictions for hard drug dealing and importation confirm this emerging story. Unlike every other major group of offences, where convictions have fallen or remained steady, these totals have vastly increased. In 1993, 1,852 people were convicted for trafficking in class A drugs. The figure for 2001 was 6,551.

Of course, these statistics explain some of the prison population rise on their own: most hard drug traffickers get long sentences - some of them, such as the hun dreds of desperate Third World female 'drug mules', very long indeed. But the knock-on effects will be considerable. Class A drug addicts - like those I meet in Pentonville - are often determined to kick their habit, but enormously prone to relapse, and once addicted again overwhelmingly likely to re-offend. And the biggest growth in the prison population is among the serial recidivists.

So what to do? Drugs aren't the only reason why sentences have got longer and the prison population soared. The legal 'tariffs' for some crimes, such as rape and mobile phone street robbery, are longer. 'If Ministers want to cut inmate numbers, they need to mount a sustained campaign to persuade sentencers to do just that,' says Cavadino. 'Roy Jenkins and William Whitelaw did this, and it worked.'

But this is also a challenge to so-called joined-up government. The fact that a heroin user will try to get into Pentonville in order to get the methadone that will stop his withdrawal symptoms does not betray a logical approach to this large and expensive social problem.

Here and there are glimmers of hope. One success story of the Government's penal policies are drug treatment and testing orders, which give drug-using offenders the chance to avoid prison if they undergo drug rehab and undergo weekly urine tests to prove they are drug-free. Yet in many areas the courts ran out of the budgets within a few months of the current financial year. It gave them no choice but to send eligible candidates to prison instead.

In the Pentonville gym, officer Paul Sandford gestures to his orderlies, trusted inmates rippling with muscle. I ask him the question that has stumped Home Secretary David Blunkett: why has the prison population risen?

'One word: drugs,' he says. 'These guys look pretty well, don't they? They come in here like skeletons - the crack diet, we call it. Here we give them exercise and decent food. It's like a health farm. The problem starts again at the prison gate. I hate to say it, but most of them will be back a few months later, looking like skeletons again.'

Guardian
Monday February 3, 2003

Schools' zero tolerance policies towards drugs may be counter-productive because they encourage children to conceal drug problems, according to Home Office research. Experts who studied the drug habits of 300 hardcore young offenders concluded that low or zero tolerance policies "may not be helpful".

The research was published as the drugs minister, Bob Ainsworth, unveiled a new £40m programme of drug treatment services for young offenders. Mr Ainsworth also announced £30m for drug work in young offenders institutes' secure units, £22m for councils to provide specialist youth workers, and £15m for schemes that use sport to steer young people away from drugs.

He said: "Vulnerable young people need prevention and treatment before the problems escalate."The Home Office report said that zero tolerance policies encouraged "children to conceal rather than deal with their drug use".It warned that those pupils excluded from school as a result of using drugs were not necessarily the only or the worst offenders.

The study's conclusions contrast sharply with guidance from the Department for Education and Skills, which has increased headteachers' powers to expel drug dealing pupils. The charity DrugScope said the research showed that zero tolerance drug policies led to drug problems being ignored rather than dealt with effectively.

Helen Wilkinson, director of information and policy at the charity, said: "Research shows drug use among excluded children is much higher than for those in school. "A range of disciplinary and supportive measures is necessary. We should be helping children with problems. Throwing them out simply exacerbates the problem."

But general secretary of the Secondary Heads' Association, Dr John Dunford, said: "We would reject any notion that drug people should not be excluded from school. "I think schools can safely ignore the views of this Home Office research. "Selling drugs is a crime outside school and it has to be dealt with severely inside school as well."

Last May the DfES said children caught dealing drugs at schools should be expelled with no chance of a reprieve, even for a first-time offence.

A fifth of the group studied for the Home Office report had dealt drugs, shoplifted, sold stolen goods or gone joyriding at least 20 times in the previous year. More than 85% had used cannabis, alcohol and tobacco but heroin and crack cocaine use were still comparatively low. "There was no evidence of a progression towards heroin or crack cocaine use or dependence despite the diverse drug use amongst the group," said the report.

The 293 young people surveyed by researchers from Essex University were all being supervised by youth offending teams - 52% were 15 or 16 years old while a handful were under 14. The Home Office today also published reports showing 42% of young homeless people had taken heroin and 38% crack cocaine - about 20 times the average. Young people who had been in care also reported higher than average drug use, with 10% using crack or heroin.

Comment: This issue is highlighting the lack of coordination at a senior level on drugs strategy. Given that action was to be evidence based, the Government would appear to be adopting a policy of either ignoring the evidence or pursuing policy exactly opposite to the evidence. So rather than waiting for the reports on vulnerable people to be produced, the DFES and the Home Office pursue policies contraindicated by both reports. And in the meantime schools are sending in the sniffer dogs. See the Drug News section for a longer commentary on this.

Random drug tests plan for police officers

Feb 2 2003 IC wales

By Hugo Duncandaily Post Staff


POLICE officers could face drug-testing under radical plans being considered in North Wales. At present only one police force in Britain tests its officers regu-larly and that is in Scotland. North Wales chief constable Richard Brunstrom told the Daily Post: "We are considering it here at the moment."

Mr Brunstrom said he did not think there was a problem with drug or alcohol abuse within the force and discus-sions were at a very early stage. "Most people believe we have a very low level problem but we haven't done a great deal yet to try to get it out," he said. "We do tests for a number of our specialist officers, firearms officers in particular, because you can't have a police officer with a gun who is drunk. "But we have a very low level problem."

Police Federation secretary PC Richard Eccles said he would not support random drug-testing. "I would be concerned it would alienate the genuine hard working officer," he said. "Officers are not allowed to go out and breathalyse someone or take a drugs-test unless we have reasonable grounds for doing so, and I do not think police officers should be treated any differently." He said any drug-testing should come under strict legislation from the government which affected every police force in the UK. He said legislation should ensure any testing was targeted and intelligence led.

Mr Brunstrom, 48, said police officers had not always had a good record with regards drinking. "When I joined the police, officers were still drinking and driving - the CID used to do it 25 or 30 years ago," he said. "But they don't now because the culture has changed. "I have always regarded drinking and driving as a particularly serious offence. "The consequences of drinking and driving are that people die." He said the same was true of people of who took drugs and drove. "I have no sympathy for anyone that does and I take a very hard line on that," he said. "Abusing your own body and putting the lives of others at risk are two very separate things."

Mr Brunstrom said there was no way officers would be lenient on each other. "Twenty years ago if you worked for us and you got stopped drinking and driving the likelihood is you could talk your way out of it but you have no chance now. "If I was drinking and driving and one of my officers stopped me I would be arrested just like anyone else because the organisation has no toler-ance for this. "The public can have a great deal of confidence our integrity is intact," he said.

The other emergency services in North Wales have no plans to carry out drug-testing. Fire Service spokesperson Bethan Davies said: "We do not do random testing here and drug and alcohol abuse is not a problem. If someone is not fit for work through drugs or alcohol it may lead to disciplinary action, but that has never happened here." The Wales Ambulance Trust has a similar policy and spokesperson Alison Watkins said no-one had been referred to occupational health since the policy started in December 2000. "There is no problem in the ambu-lance service," she said.

Commnent: Given the extension of drug testing in the workplace, schools, and even in pubs detailed elsewhere on the site, the Police Federation's comments stink of rank hypocrisy. So it's acceptable for the police to enter pubs and schools and randomly screen for substances without warnings. But as soon as it's their membership it's unacceptable. As the public are repeatedy told whenever civil liberties are undermined, "only those with something to hide would object to these measures." Well?

Alcoholics will be forced into detox in bid to tackle crime

Gaby Hinsliff, chief political correspondent
Sunday February 2, 2003
The Observer

Heavy drinkers would be forced into 'detox' treatment or alcohol education courses under Government plans to tackle Britain's alcohol-fuelled yob culture. Draconian powers in the planned Mental Health Bill, which defines addiction as a psychiatric illness, will allow hardened alcoholics to be locked up and compulsorily treated.

But Ministers are also seeking new ways of making excessive social drinkers - who are not addicted to the bottle, but drink too much and then break the law by drink-driving or brawling in pubs - confront their behaviour.

Such so-called 'hazardous drinkers' are typically outwardly respectable people who hold down jobs and families and would never regard themselves as having a drink problem, despite sinking between 30 and 50 units of alcohol a week. Yet they, rather than alcoholics, are responsible for most social problems caused by alcohol.

The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit - which is drawing up a national policy on alcohol - is studying plans to offer medical intervention or classes explaining how to cut down to people whose offending is triggered by drinking. The treatment would not be compulsory, but those who refused help would be likely to face stiffer court penalties under the proposals, forcing them towards treatment.

'I think we will be going further down the road to some kind of compulsory treatment and I don't think the objections to it are strong enough to stop it happening,' said Richard Phillips, director of policy and services at Alcohol Concern, which has submitted recommendations to the strategy unit.

'For drink-drivers, reconviction rates are far lower for people who have done these courses and so you could imagine similar things for people who are violent offenders who consistently are drunk when they get picked up.'

Up to 40 per cent of crime is committed by someone under the influence, while alcohol-related illness costs NHS hospitals £3 billion a year. Alcohol Concern's submission, now being considered by the strategy unit, calls for 'criminal justice interventions providing referral routes into treatment for many of the most problematic of drinkers', adding that alcohol-related offenders 'should be encouraged through formal mechanisms such as appropriate arrest referral schemes and enhanced cautioning provisions to undertake alcohol education courses or alcohol treatment'.

Courts can already send drink-drivers on re-education courses, and Ministers are understood to be looking at extending the principle to other offences.

The Home Office is monitoring two pilot projects in north London under which people arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour are referred to alcohol counsellors instead of being locked up overnight in police cells.

Ross Cranston, the former solicitor general now heading the all-party alcohol group, said it was time to reconsider links between alcohol and crime. 'There is an association, and maybe we need to think about this sort of referral mechanism being extended to alcohol,' he said. Ministers are, however, nervous of a heavy-handed approach since alcohol is legal and enjoyed by millions. The Department of Health has repeatedly insisted it had no plans for compulsory treatment.

But Health Minister Jacqui Smith admitted last week that the planned Mental Health Bill will define alcohol dependency as a mental illness - allowing the severest cases to be forcibly detained and treated. The Bill would provide 'a legal framework for compulsory treatment' compatible with policies including 'the Government's commitment to implementing the national alcohol harm reduction strategy', she said. However, alcohol experts say up to one in 13 men are dependent on alcohol. 'We simply do not want legislation that allows that many people to be compulsorily detained,' said Phillips.

He said experts were also divided over pushing more moderate drinkers into treatment to tackle offending, which could be 'counter-productive'. The strategy unit is also understood to be considering more so-called 'brief interven tns' for hazardous drinkers in GPs' surgeries, where practice nurses explain the consequences of drinking and suggest ways of cutting down. 'People see two brackets - alcoholic or normal, and that is quite dangerous because the people in the middle are the most at risk and get into a whole range of other harms,' said Phillips.

The alcohol strategy will be published later this summer.

Comment: So by defining alcoholism within the Mental Health Bill, this will give the state power to enforce treatment. So from there it would be easy to define the habitual use of cannabis, or even cigarettes, in the same light. So the enforced treatment providers should be rubbing their hands with glee over this, as it will create even more business as people are rounded up for treatment under duress.

To remind people how this works for you:

when they came for the heroin addicts, I did not speak out for I was not a heroin addict
when they came for the borderline personality disorders, I did not speak out as I did not have a disorder,
when they came for the alcoholics I did not speak out because I was not an alcoholic,
when they came for me, there was noone to speak out for me.

HOW PRISON WORKS
Private Eye: 24.1.03

LEANNE GIDNEY, an 18-year-old single mother, was found hanging in her prison cell last week after being jailed for stealing £1.
As a heroin addict with previous convictions, she was jailed for such a petty offence not because of the government's "prison works, zero tolerance" drive but because the criminal justice system couldn't do anything else with her.
UK jails, now housing a record 72,500 inmates, are full to exploding. But probation staff, who run the community and treatment-orientated penalties that are supposed to offer an alternative to prison, are about to go on a one-day strike and work-to-rule because they are so overwhelmed by caseloads that have doubled in the past 10 years.
Drug treatment programmes are hugely oversubscribed with offenders waiting anything from six weeks to six months to join one. And there is little point in fining persistent offenders who might be tempted to steal to pay the fine or simply ignore them.
Hence Leanne Gidney ended up where she did for steal ing £1.

Comment: Just to keep all the news about "persistent offenders" and DTTOs in perspective, and to make sure that before we start haring off towards drug courts...

Under fire from the law and politicians, drugs charity Lifeline maintains it must be forthright if it is to help those most in need of its services. Sunil Nair reports

Wednesday January 29, 2003
The Guardian

Ian Wardle insists he is not on the defensive. But the chief executive of Manchester-based drugs charity Lifeline could be forgiven for keeping his head down. In the past 12 months, his team has been "exposed" by the press, condemned by politicians and warned by the police.

A plan to supply a kit of drug apparatus to homeless heroin addicts had to be deferred for fear of prosecution and a code has been drafted for Lifeline's publications to deflect criticism of, among other things, use of explicit sexual imagery and swearing.

And the pressure is mounting. In a climate increasingly hostile to drugs charities, Lifeline seems to be drawing most fire. In the coming months, the charity may be forced to move its needle exchange service from its upmarket Manchester address to a location away from the city centre. A powerful combination of business interests and neighbourhood sentiment may force the city council, which funds much of the charity's work, to arrange an alternative site.

Wardle, however, is relaxed: "We may have to move because of the commercial reasons. This is an area where construction activity is taking place. People coming to live and work here are not particularly keen for a service like this in their vicinity."

His unfazed response may stem from the fact that Lifeline is expanding fast. With an annual turnover exceeding £4m, the organisation is projected to grow 25% in the year to March - much less than the 40% it grew in 2001-02, but substantial all the same. And its activities continue to be at the cutting edge of drug- related care services.

As a port of call for homeless or unemployed drug users, whose only contact outside street culture may be the advisers and nursing staff linked to its needle exchange, Lifeline is able to watch for opportunities when an individual may be ready to break away from the cycle of addiction.

"I have rationalised the problem to myself, but I am able to discuss it with them," says Jim, a 37-year-old who has battled against drug addiction for almost a decade. Having been in and out of "rehab" a couple of times, he is desperately trying again to kick the habit, find a steady job and achieve a reconciliation with the mother of his son. Lifeline's needle exchange service helps him by providing the clean equipment he needs to inject heroin twice a week.

If that seems somewhat contradictory, that is precisely the slippery line the charity walks. Most of the 1,200 people it services from its main unit in Manchester - it has other offices in Lancashire and Yorkshire - have serious problems linked to their drug use, which call for intervention, healthcare and counselling on medical, social and economic issues.

Some of Lifeline's clients are one small mistake away from death. And that, for the charity, is the defining point. Providing assistance and information in a transparent and interactive manner, it ventures into frontier territory very far removed from that of "just say no" drugs leaflets.

Michael Linnell, Lifeline's director of communications, is the creative force behind its ground-breaking and challenging publications. "There are kids out there who use heroin to kill emotional and physical pain," he says. "They are selling their arse for their next fix. You can't preach to them that what they are doing is wrong. Of course, they know it's wrong, but how are you going to help them?"

Linnell takes no prisoners. He believes in telling the truth about drugs, even if it means admitting that "there can be pleasure" using them. With a mixture of humour, counsel and practical tips, publications such as Better Injecting and McDermott's Guide to Cocaine provide easy-to-read material on issues ranging from adjusting to prison life to how cocaine is less damaging than crack.

It was the unsparing nature of this material that was seized on by sections of the media after Lifeline - which also receives Home Office funding - accrued national lottery grants totalling more than £700,000. Politicians weighed in with criticism of leaflets such as Getting Caught With Drugs, aimed at under-17s who are warned to "remember that parents search bedrooms and pockets", and of descriptions in McDermott's Guide that cocaine is "exciting, sexy, enjoyable and slightly dangerous".

The trigger for this press interest was a £450,000 lottery grant toward a Lifeline scheme to tackle drug misuse among south Asians in east Lancashire. The project is very much in keeping with the charity's commitment to work with marginalised groups. "Up north, there is widespread poverty in south Asian communities," says Linnell. "They are easily among the most alienated groups."

The South Asian Community and Drugs - A Guide for Parents has been produced by Lifeline in English and Urdu. It aims to help parents recognise early signs of drug use and shows how to seek help. "You might not be able to stop your children using drugs," it says. "You can, however, make sure they know about drugs and have thought carefully about them."

The booklet reflects the forthright approach of all Lifeline's work. The idea of the safe injection kit for heroin users, for instance, emerged from interviews with addicts and research into their lifestyles. The findings exposed a lot of ignorance about injecting methods and high levels of overdosing. "It's common among those who have been released from prison," says Wardle. "Their tolerance level tends to drop when they stay away from it. But when they use the same amount of heroin they did before going to jail, it causes an overdose."

The charity came up with the idea of a guide to such emergencies, along with paraphernalia such as sterile swabs, cookers and tourniquets to prevent the spread of infection and disease. But the plan ran foul of the law. Greater Manchester police warned it would prosecute Lifeline for intent to supply under the Misuse of Drugs Act, forcing the charity to postpone the initiative until a review of the legislation is completed by the Home Office later this year.

Lifeline has also bowed to what Wardle calls "constructive criticism" of its publications by drawing up a code of practice intended to make clear the aim of each publication, define the audience for whom it is intended, identify the age range for which it is suitable, and provide warning against explicit material.

Kate Griffiths, the charity's senior manager, who drafted the code, says: "The catalogues sent out to schools, drug counselling centres or youth clubs will categorise material on these parameters to ensure the publication reaches only the targeted audience."

The publications, presented in comic-book style with graphic illustrations of drug-taking and its effects, sell more than 1m copies a year across Britain. Linnell says: "We make it clear that we are not taking a moral stance against drug use. That would only alienate the audience. What we do is present the information in a lively style - with street humour."

Don't punish addicts for having a baby. Mums need special care and support

Evening Times, Scotland. 28.1.03

ON THE face of it, it's just another maternity ward. New mums with shining faces and tiny babies who should have everything to look forward to. But behind the smiles, these women are well aware there are people out there beyond this cosy ward who wouldn't hesitate to say they don't have the right to bring a child into the world. For some of the women who are treated at the special reproductive health unit at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital have enormous health and social problems. Some are addicted to heroin, some are HIV positive, some suffer from Hepatitis B or C. If their babies suffer withdrawal or other difficulties, these women know the blame will be placed firmly at their door. And they are their own harshest critics, says consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist Dr Mary Hepburn . She adds: "They feel very, very badly about what they are doing and the notion that drug using women are more inadequate parents is just a load of rubbish. Some are fantastic mothers."

Dr Hepburn, whose unit treats between 150 to 200 drug-using women a year, is completely non-judgmental and fierce in her defence of the rights of such women to have a family. She moves happily from one patient in the ward to another, radiating warmth and concern. It is obvious she really cares about her patients. She can see these women have a fight ahead of them and is so committed to them that she has set up a fund which takes donations to buy toiletries and extras for them.

"You shouldn't look at people who are disadvantaged and say they shouldn't be allowed the rewards of life that we have," she says, back in her office overlooking the Necropolis cemetery dominated by the disapproving statue of John Knox. She explains: "I think to punish people for their misfortune is completely illogical and it's completely inhumane. Of course, these women should have children. To say to them they shouldn't is to punish them for being disadvantaged. Society ought to provide them with support and compassion. They would like all the nice things that other people want. They have the same aspirations. One of the few things they manage to achieve is to have children and they desperately want to have children."

Dr Hepburn points out that the biggest threat to the future of some of these children comes from their parents' social circumstances and the deprivation they experience. It was back in 1986 that Dr Hepburn set up a pilot clinic in Possilpark where there had been a huge increase in drug use in the preceding years. Four years later, she got funding for a city-wide, community-based, multi-disciplinary service to provide reproductive health care for women with social problems. The unit will be expanding shortly to cater for all Glasgow women and will also be opening more clinics around the city. Most of the women she saw in the 1980s were young. She says: "Now we are seeing a lot more older women, so a lot have been using drugs for a number of years." Sadly, she is also seeing the daughters of some of her original patients.

Dr Hepburn prescribes methadone for pregnant women who are trying to come off heroin. It is the lesser evil. "With heroin, there is a risk of pre-term delivery; with methadone, there isn't," explains Dr Hepburn."While a lot of people condemn the women for taking methadone because it gives the baby withdrawal symptoms, in fact it is protecting the baby from an effect which is much more likely to affect its long-term health." Wine, she adds, is much more damaging in pregnancy. She says: "Alcohol causes low birth weight and can cause withdrawal although the babies don't need treatment. It can also affect brain development.

"Smoking has a bigger effect on birth weight than heroin does. Cigarettes probably cause more direct harm to the baby than heroin does but the difference is that no woman will have her baby taken into custody because she smokes."

Extremely rarely, babies may suffer convulsions, she admits. But she reveals: "Although they are extremely distressing for the mum, there is no evidence they harm the baby in the long term whereas low birth rate and certainly pre-term delivery do."

Mothers are encouraged to breastfeed because that will reduce the severity of withdrawal and protect the babies. Dr Hepburn trained in Edinburgh and is the daughter of a Shetland GP. She seems a happy woman, confident that the work of her team really is making a difference to the lives of families. She says: "You have to be realistic. It can be very sad and stressful because you are permanently having to hunt for resources."

She finds it takes a long time to build up confidence in drug-using women. "They do feel apprehensive about going to services and if there is a gap before funding is carried on, that can disrupt all your good work.

"American literature suggests drug-using women don't go to ante-natal care, or come in to labour late, but here we find on average they attend as regularly as other mothers." She will not hide the fact some cases do turn out badly. "Some mothers die. Some are damaged for life, some end up not being able to care for their babies and give them up for adoption. With women with such major social problems, we can always improve things a bit. But you have to be realistic in your expectations," she says.

For Dr Hepburn, success is a woman who has a good experience in her pregnancy, who is treated as a normal mother with respect, and who has a baby who is fit and well even if it does have problems at first.

"Certainly, we don't condone their problems because they are very harmful, but we wouldn't condemn them," she says.

Sniffer dogs are a class act
19.1.02 TES

Pupils who bring drugs into school are being flushed out as heads invite police in to give drug abuse talks.
GROWING numbers of schools are inviting police to hold drug searches using sniffer dogs in assemblies and classrooms.

Officers in at least four police forces have been piloting the voluntary visits. Officers involved say they have been surprised at the level of interest from headteachers and colleagues in other forces. In Kent, officers visited 10 secondaries and caught 11 teenagers with cannabis, who were then placed on drug-treatment programmes.

[No suggestion that they had a drug "problem" - but straight onto a "treatment programme! Now there's effective use of police and treatment resources...]

Officers start a typical visit with an educational talk to pupils about drug searches. They demonstrate the skills of one of their sniffer dogs on a row of teachers, one of whom has been planted with heroin and cannabis. Other drug-detection dogs are then taken into classrooms and corridors to see if pupils have any illegal substances in their bags or lockers.

At the end of the talk, pupils are asked to file past a sniffer dog, who sits down in front of a suspect if it thinks it can smell drugs. More than 3,000 pupils in west Kent have been checked using the scheme. Police say they have received only three complaints from pupils' families.

Sergeant Howard Chandler, head of West Kent drugs liaison unit, said private schools had also expressed interest in the scheme. A similar scheme operates in Devon and Cornwall after a widely-publicised incident in January in which one pupil was charged and three reprimanded when a sniffer dog found cannabis at Ilfracombe community college in north Devon.

Thameside Valley and Bedfordshire police have also been offering sniffer dog visits this year. They stress that the talks are educational, although they will punish those caught with drugs. The Association of Chief Police Officers said it was keen to back projects to improve drug education and enforcement, but wanted proper evaluation of the school visits before promoting them nationally.

Linda Wybar, head of Tunbridge Wells girls grammar, received a visit last term. She said: "With the changes from the Government on cannabis, it's still crucial that pupils understand what can happen if they are in possession of drugs."

PC Alan Hibbins, youth crime education officer for West Kent police, said it was just as important to educate the teachers as the pupils on the drug visits. To prove his point he brings with him an elaborately-constructed perspex "bong". The apparatus, used for smoking cannabis, was created earlier this year by a 15-year-old at a Kent school - with the unwitting help of his design and technology teacher.

Drugs sniffer dogs to search school's pupils

Ananova: 27.1.08

A school has announced plans to use sniffer dogs to randomly search pupils as part of a drugs education programme.

[This is not Drugs Education; this is schools adopting a role in drugs enforcement. This is schools as police first, educators second, rather than the other way round.]

Teachers at the Heart of England School in Balsall Common, near Solihull, say the scheme sends out the message that drugs will not be tolerated in schools.

Throughout the year the school, which is working in partnership with Grosvenor International Services, will have several random unannounced visits by the firm's dog handlers.

[Grosvenor International run an appallingly bad wesbite, and present themselves as being the "counter drugs strategists." While they undertake an amount of commercial detection and prevention work they are not know for their drug education work.]

Head teacher Annette Croft says using the sniffer dogs is one way of responding to the Home Office's wish to improve drug education programmes in schools.

[It should be stressed that at no point has the Home Office drugs education strategy advocated the use of Sniffer Dogs in schools; the aim is to improve the quality of drug education, something that this approach will not achieve.]

"This is not in response to any particular incident," she said. "But we intend to send a clear message that drugs will not be tolerated at our school and this is part of our commitment to ensure we maintain a safe environment for our young people."

She added: "Searches of the buildings and screening of people will assist in maintaining a high-profile level of awareness with the purpose of ensuring a 'clean bill of health."

John Franklin-Webb, principal director of GIS, said: "This new initiative is a prime example of supporting the Government's commitment in taking a pro-active stance on an issue that is clearly not going to go away."

GIS works with 14 UK police forces supporting anti-drugs operations and also works with the licensed trade in tackling drug abuse.

Sniffer dogs find cannabis in school

Thursday, 17 January, 2002: BBC
Drugs have become a growing problem for schools

A police sniffer dog has caught four pupils red-handed after it was taken to a Devon school as part of a talk about drugs. As pupils were filing out of the talk at Ilfracombe Community College, the two-year-old dog called Bonnie became excited.

Lockers were searched, an amount of cannabis was found and four boys were arrested. Three were reprimanded but another was charged and is due to appear in court in connection with the discovery.

David Humphries, headteacher of the north Devon school, denied it had a major drug problem. "The college does not have a major drugs problem, but neither as we so naive as to think the college is immune from the drugs culture present in British society," he said. "One student has returned to college and we expect the others to return shortly when they have completed their exclusion."

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said the arrests were totally unexpected.

Boy on cannabis charge after police search school

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with possession of cannabis after police searched a school at the request of the headteacher. The teenager will appear before a youth court in Bodmin, Cornwall, on Monday, said a Devon and Cornwall force spokesman.

A 15-year-old boy was reprimanded following the operation on Tuesday at Poltair community school, St Austell, police said. The boys were taken into custody after a small amount of cannabis was found during the operation in which three sniffer dogs were used. Twenty-nine other children were searched.

School sniffs out scent of trouble
TES 17.12.1999

Wilnecote high in Staffordshire went to the dogs in a controversial attempt to stop drugs being brought into school. Clare Dean reports.
AFTER rumours that drugs were circulating in his school, headteacher Phil Prettyman took the controversial decision to call in police sniffer dogs - now he recommends other schools follow his lead. Lockers, toilet blocks and classrooms were searched during a joint investigation, code-named Operation Tandem, between county police and Wilnecote high in Tamworth, Staffordshire.

Three bags were identified by dogs and searched. Exciting the dog's interest was one containing a mouldy cheese sandwich, another, a spam sandwich and the other, a pipe. A boy was detained and later released after no drugs were found. Both the police and the school hailed the investigation a success.

But Mr Prettyman said: "It was a risky business as it could have turned up anything. However, I did have confidence in the overwhelming majority of pupils."

Inspector Carl Humphries said he would now consider requests from other schools in Tamworth for help from the police.

"This was not about securing successful prosecutions but more about how the school could take long-term preventative action. It was very positive."

Just one parent complained to the 11-18 mixed comprehensive and around 20 have applauded Mr Prettyman's efforts.

He said: "We have a small number of kids with a drug problem but I don't think we are alone in that. You would be hard pushed to find a secondary school anywhere that doesn't have a problem with a very small minority of pupils."

The police investigation took place during a special assembly for Year 11 pupils and only a handful of the school's senior managers knew about it. It was initiated by Wilnecote after rumours about drugs in the school. Names circulating around the school coincided with those known to police.

"By the very nature of the problem, drugs don't take place when teachers are around, it's taking place in those private corners of the school, if it's happening at all," Mr Prettyman said. "Using dogs takes away any chance of false accusations about individuals. A dog does not have bias."

Mr Prettyman is considering a follow-up operation and said: "It is worth any amount of drugs lessons. I think it is appropriate for schools not to be frightened to do whatever they think right to meet their professional responsibility for the protection of the children in their care."

Comment: In light of this and other stories relating to school searching, KFx will be producing guidance for pupils and parents about their rights wen confronted by such school based drug searches. In the meantime, we will be very vigilant as to the operations of GIS, and their sensitive approach to drugs work.

Drug addicts who steal to feed their habit are increasingly being offered an alternative to prison. Sensible justice - or a licence to offend? Jon Silverman reports

Tuesday January 28, 2003
The Guardian

'Thousands of drug-addicted burglars were handed a get-out-of-jail-free card by David Blunkett yesterday." So wrote the Daily Mail last week after the home secretary announced plans for a 50% increase in the number of offenders to be offered treatment for substance misuse rather than immediate custody. The criminal justice process may deliver no more fairness or certainty than a game of Monopoly. But can sentences which, according to the lord chief justice's controversial guidelines to judges, "will tackle the offender's underlying problems, such as drug addiction," be dismissed so readily?
Lord Woolf might have been thinking of someone like Andrew, a 20-year-old living in Staffordshire, who was convicted at the crown court last autumn of using stolen credit cards to feed a £600-a-day crack and heroin habit. He was no stranger to the law and had briefly served time in a young offender institution for grievous bodily harm. So he could have been looking at a jail sentence. Instead, he was given a two-year drug treatment and testing order (DTTO), the government's newest legislative tool designed to break the link between drugs and crime. Twice a week he is tested for drugs and once a month he returns to court for a review of his progress.

"When I started on the order," he says, "I was drugs-free but I admit I've had a couple of relapses since then, over Christmas, when I met up with old associates and the temptation got too heavy. When I went back to court for my review, the judge set me new targets but, thankfully, there was no warning about going to jail if I didn't meet them."

If you were the owner of a credit card which Andrew had plundered, you might well think that a pretty soft option compared to the rigours of prison. But Andrew pleads for realism. "I never committed any crime before I got on to drugs and this is a really tough life-change for me. I've got to pick up some thinking skills which will help kick the addiction and I need training which will get me a job. Yes, jail would be punishment but it would be no help for someone like me in the long term. "

Among the enthusiastic supporters of the orders is Judge Barrington Black, an experienced circuit judge who sits at Harrow crown court in Middlesex. Those who see the present sentencing regime as a cosy conspiracy between career criminals and an out-of-touch judiciary will only have their prejudices confirmed by his comments. Since the DTTO was launched nationwide in October 2000, 38 have been made by the Harrow bench and, according to Judge Black, only six people have re-offended while on the order, most of whom were sent to prison.

Last week, the judge paid his first visit to see a DTTO session in action and was highly impressed. "I was already an enthusiast about DTTOs because at the regular court reviews I have seen people almost completely transformed from the state they were in when arrested and convicted. That view was underlined when I met the offenders and workers. They are extremely positive and committed about the programme."

Offenders on DTTOs spend at least 20 hours a week at structured sessions which aim to impose discipline on lives that have been in thrall to drugs like crack and heroin, perhaps for many years. The crime reduction charity Nacro is currently evaluating the programme for the Home Office and Dr Marcus Roberts, author of a forthcoming Nacro report on drugs and crime, says there is a conflict between the aims of the order - total abstinence - and the ability of persistent drug-taking offenders to turn their lives around within the time-frame. "Breaching the order often means an automatic custodial sentence and, given the people we're talking about, more flexibility needs to be built in so that whatever good work is done is not lost behind bars," he says.

[Comment: this is an interesting point; as many people who work on DTTOs would confirm, total abstinence is not the aim - and rightly so. Many people will reduce or cease the use of drugs that are most related to their offending behaviour, but many will continue to use cannabis. So the need for flexibility is even greater than is being suggested here.]

The home secretary's announcement last week that the number of drug-addicted offenders offered a DTTO would rise from 6,000 a year to 9,000 was made at a conference organised by Turning Point, the country's largest provider of services for substance abusers. There are 513 people on DTTO programmes run by Turning Point and its chief executive, Lord Adebowale, is surprisingly sceptical about the effectiveness of the orders.

"They are not as successful as we would like them to be," he says. "Inevitably, there is a sizeable dropout rate because by the time people get put on a DTTO, they are fairly intractable drug addicts and difficult to work with. On the other hand, prison is a much worse alternative. I know heroin addicts who have walked straight out of jail into the arms of the nearest dealer and died because they couldn't handle the stuff after being off it. That's a scandalous waste of human life - and of public money."

With the hot breath of the Treasury on his neck, Blunkett can't afford to ignore the financial argument. At £6,000 per offender, the DTTO is the most expensive of any community-based punishment but less than a third of the cost of sending someone to prison for a year. Does the DTTO provide value for money? The Home Office has yet to publish an analysis of reconviction rates of around 200 offenders given a DTTO in three pilot programmes between 1998-2000. Its author, Professor Mike Hough of South Bank University, reckons that "if you can get a third of offenders through a DTTO order without them relapsing into drug-taking or crime, that's good going. But if you have high reconviction rates and a large number of orders are revoked, I can imagine what the tabloids are likely to say about it."

[Comment: so this whole expansion is being put through before the evaluation of the origianl pilot. Is this an example of evidence based policy or a quick reaction to the spate of shootings that have started a new law-and order backlash.]

There is a "third way" alongside the DTTO and prison: the drugs court which has been a staple of the US justice system for a number of years and has been adopted by Scotland and the Irish Republic. It is also favoured by Keith Hellawell, the former drugs tsar who clashed so spectacularly with the home secretary last year, which perhaps explains why the court is not at the forefront of Whitehall thinking.

But that is a shame, according to Professor Philip Bean, director of the Midlands Centre for Criminology and an authority on the link between drugs and crime. "The DTTO is little more than a probation order with bells and whistles attached. It will continue to be a costly failure because the level of supervision is inadequate and the drug testing procedures sloppy. Whereas the drugs court offers something more flexible and pro-active, with a greater range of sanctions and much more status."

In Hellawell's West Yorkshire backyard of Wakefield, there is a drugs court operating, run by specially-trained magistrates. They appear enthusiastic about a project which has been described as "tough love " and so does Lord Adebowale, whose Turning Point provides the treatment service for the court.

"The people we see have a lower level of offending than those on a DTTO which means you can treat them earlier in the drugs cycle," he says. "And this means better outcomes, lower recidivism rates. "

However, Lord Justice Auld, in his review of the criminal justice process, concluded: "There is no compelling case at present for the creation of any specialist courts, in particular drugs or domestic violence. "

The figure of the drug-addicted offender has become one of the most familiar media cliches but although many, like Andrew, steal to feed a habit, the relationship between treatment and staying away from crime is complicated.

Sometimes, even geography can be crucial. Sarah, a 19-year-old addict from Walsall, is on a 12-month community rehabilitation order. Within 50 yards of her probation office is a crack house. Staying away from that is the hardest thing in her life right now.

Comment: Reading between the lines, some of Mr. Adebowale's comments give cause more some concern. He criticises DTTOs because he suggest that at the point where they are issued to people they are "intractable drug addicts and difficult to work with." SO the option that he appears to advocate is drug courts - where there are lower levels of offending, less entrenched problems and allegedly better outcomes. Although as this drug court has not yet been formerly evaluated to demonsrate its "better outcomes" such claims are unsubstantiated.

An alternative interpretation is that by widening the implementation of drug courts, many people with low level offending will be put before the courts, pushed into treatment, and this will create a massive number of new contracts for Turning Point. Well you have to have something else up your sleeve once the system has dealt with the "hard core repeat offenders."

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, wants drug users to have compulsory treatment in an effort to cut crime, he said yesterday. The proposal would cost hundreds of millions of pounds and place immense strain on Britain's overburdened network of rehabilitation clinics. Mr Blunkett said he was considering compulsory treatment after speaking in London at the annual conference of the drugs charity Turning Point.

The Home Secretary spoke of the "crime wave" linked to drugs and said there was a need to get more offenders into treatment. He said: "We need to build on those [programmes] and are looking at whether they need to be compulsory."

The Home Office said Mr Blunkett was taking a futuristic look at drug policy and had no immediate intention of introducing compulsory testing. But critics said such plans would lead to thousands of drug users facing jail for failing to attend treatment courses.

The Home Office revealed last June that 78 per cent of drug-addicted criminals never turned up for treatment after referral by the police. Addicts are only referred for voluntary treatment in a few cities and they are not penalised for failing to attend.

Mark Littlewood, a spokesman for the civil liberties group Liberty, said: "Rehabilitation of drug users requires their active commitment. There is precious little evidence that forcing people into compulsory treatment will do anything other than further alienate them from the authorities and make the drug situation in Britain worse." Pilot schemes have shown that one-third of those arrested for acquisitive crimes and drugs offences give positive results for so-called hard drugs. The National Treatment Agency said 120,000 people a year had drug rehabilitation at a cost of about £2,500 each for a basic programme. Central government spent a total of £236m on drug treatment in England in the past year.

Harry Fletcher, spokesman for the probation union, Napo, said it was not realistic to think that funding could be found to put hundreds of thousands more drug users into treatment. The system would "go into overload", he said.

Mr Blunkett identified 30 areas in England that were worst affected by drug-related crime yesterday and said they would receive a share of a £46m fund for local initiatives. The areas included relatively affluent places such as Ealing, west London, and Reading, Berkshire, as well as inner cities.

By Nicola Carslaw

It is designed to stop them being sold products such as cigarettes, alcohol and lottery tickets when they are underage. The new Proof of Age Standards Scheme - or PASS - is being launched by retailers and licensees with the full support of government ministers.

Age restricted products
Videos, cinema and computer games 12, 15 and 18 years

Liqueur chocolates 16

Cigarettes and tobacco 16

Petrol 16

Lottery tickets, scratch cards 16

Party poppers and caps 16

Knives 16

Air guns and pellets 17

Alcohol, solvents 18

Tattooing 18

Butane gas cigarette lighter refills, fireworks 18

(source: British Retail Consortium)

It means that storeowners and shop workers will know that an ID card presented to them bearing the PASS logo has been validated by trading standards officers and contains reliable, accurate information to base a decision on whether to allow a purchase.

For shopkeepers who can be prosecuted for selling goods such as alcohol and cigarettes to underage customers, it can be a nightmare working out which ID cards are authentic and which are fakes.

Alkesh Gadher, a Spar Shopkeeper, welcoming the PASS scheme, told BBC News: "There are so many proof-of-age cards around that a logo that brings them all together is going to be really helpful.

"It will be really good if it helps change the culture so that young people will expect to show proof of age when buying alcohol, glue, cigarettes and things. "It's embarrassing, often, having to ask people's age - and some retailers get verbal abuse or worse when they ask for proof."

Many shopkeepers take the problem of underage sales seriously. But, many do not, as Bedfordshire Trading Standards officers, together with the local police, have been finding out. They have been sending in 16 year olds undercover to buy alcohol.

Since May, youngsters have been illegally sold 250 different types of alcoholic drinks by shopkeepers across the county. Children were never asked to prove if they were aged 18 or over. Staff who sold the drinks have been given formal cautions. But shopkeepers complain that recent legislation puts them in the unenviable position of being unofficial policemen. It places the onus on the company and the individual shop assistant to ensure that products are legally sold. And yet, it can be hard to tell the age of many teenagers. Apart from anything, there are all sorts of age restricted products on sale.

Retailers say they now want the government to issue a clear No Proof-No Sale message to help change the culture and ensure underage sales are stamped out.

Early marijuana use 'leads to problems'

Wednesday, 22 January, 2003, BBC

People who first use marijuana at an early age are much more likely to develop drug and alcohol problems in later life, research suggests. In a large study of Australian twins, researchers found that those who used marijuana before age 17 were two to five times more likely to use other drugs or to develop alcohol or drug abuse or dependence.

It is thought that many factors influence the likelihood that somebody will develop a drink or drugs problem. But factors such as genetics and family circumstance are likely to be similar for twins.

So researchers are more able to draw meaningful conclusions when they examine other factors such as early use of soft drugs in the development of later problems with substance abuse.

The researchers focused on 311 sets of same-sex twins. In every case one twin began using marijuana before the age of 17, and the other did not. By the time these twins were interviewed in their late 20s and early 30s, the early marijuana users had developed higher rates of problems with alcohol and other drugs.

Some 46% reported that they later abused or became dependent upon marijuana, and 43% had become alcohol dependent.

The early marijuana users also used other drugs at higher rates, including cocaine and other stimulants (48%) heroin and other opioids (14%) and hallucinogens (35%).

The rates were between 1.8 and 5.2 times higher than the rates observed in the twins who did not use marijuana before the age of 17.

Researcher Dr Michael Lynskey, of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, said: "We actually were expecting that by using twins and controlling for genetic and familial effects, we'd find the association between early use and later abuse would disappear. "But this study demonstrates that there is more to the relationship than we previously thought."

Professor Andrew Heath, of the Missouri Alcoholism Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine, led the study.

He said: "One important thing to say to the parents of a 16-year-old using marijuana is that the majority of kids who use cannabis do not go on to experience problems with drugs or alcohol, but it's important that we, as parents and as a society, recognise that there is an increased risk."

Professor Heath said marijuana use by children and their parents was how so common that society may downplay the risks involved. The researchers said the reason why early use of marijuana was linked to later problems was not clear. Professor Lynskey said: "It often is implicitly assumed that the association between cannabis and other drugs is somehow pharmacological, that using cannabis changes your brain or makes you crave other drugs.

"But there are a number of other potential mechanisms, including access to drugs, willingness to break the law and likelihood of engaging in risk-taking behaviours."

The research is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Asian gangs infiltrate heroin trade

21 January, 2003, 10:22 GMT

BBC

Drug squad officers say Asian drug gangs are making inroads on the heroin trade in Derby.
Steve Holmes from the Derbyshire Police's drug trade market project says Asian dealers make up about one-third of the 200 heroin dealers in Derby.

"Younger Asian lads seemed to have got involved in it now... and are competing in the open market," he said.

Police intelligence says Asian criminals are expanding their operations within the city and competing with street dealers from Albania, Turkey and Jamaica.

"There are a lot of cocaine dealers from Columbia because that is where the coca is grown, and it is the same for Afghanistan and Pakistan," Mr Holmes said. We are not on a witch hunt, but we are targeting the drug dealers and watching where the drug comes from. That is where a lot of opium poppies grow - so it makes sense that a lot of heroin dealers are from Asia."

He said: "So far we have been able to avoid a lot of violence that goes with the drug trade in other towns, but that doesn't mean there isn't violence in the drug trade as it doesn't always get reported. If we target one group, then we have to target the ones who are going to take over the patch."

BBC's social affairs correspondent Barnie Choudhury said police information indicates that 30 tonnes of heroin enter Britain every year, but only two tonnes are seized before being sold to drug addicts.

"Asian communities are becoming more violent and more organised... we have talked to an Asian drug dealer who said: 'We see the flashy cars and we want a part of it'," he said. "Drugs are a problem for every community going. Race doesn't come into it, as it is about taking over patches and cornering a market."

Blunkett gives 30 areas cash to tackle drug crime

Ananova 21.1.03

Home Secretary David Blunkett has named the 30 areas of England most affected by drug crime, which will get extra cash to tackle the problem.

More than £46 million will be spent on drug testing programmes, a new aftercare system for offenders leaving prison and the expansion of Drug Testing and Treatment Orders (DTTOs).

Mr Blunkett also announced a special £50 million fund for local police commanders and revealed which local groups are to get a share of £94 million to tackle drugs and crime.

"These substantial extra funds will enable local agencies on the front line to boost the work they do to tackle crime and drug misuse," said Mr Blunkett.

"Drugs can tear communities apart and make thieves and villains out of those who would, under normal circumstances, be law-abiding citizens."

The 30 areas are North Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Bradford South, Bradford North, Central Bristol, North Bristol, South Bristol, Millgarth - Leeds, Calderdale, Killingbeck - Leeds, Nottingham, North Manchester, South Manchester, Kingston upon Hull, Salford, Bolton, Rochdale, Reading, Waltham Forest, Lambeth, Camden, Southwark, Haringey, Newham, Hackney, Ealing, City of Westminster, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Wandsworth.

The Home Office says the areas were chosen on the basis they had the highest acquisitive crime levels such as burglary, theft and shoplifting - crimes closely linked with drug abuse.

Initiatives will include "pre-arrest" programmes to target persistent drug users before they commit crime, drug testing facilities in police custody suites and a 50% increase in the availability of DTTOs.

Story filed: 10:34 Tuesday 21st January 2003

Nightclubs warn police of drugs dilemma

The Herald - 15.1.03

POLICE were accused yesterday of creating a climate of uncertainty for nightclubs that report criminal incidents on their premises.

The British Entertainment and Discotheque Association, which represents the late night entertainment industry, warned that nightclub operators might have a "reluctance" to report drug abuse and other crimes if they knew they would then be used as a basis to object to the venue's licence.

The warning came after the former Bonkers venue in Hope Street, Glasgow, was refused an extension of its licence after an objection by Strathclyde Police.

An objection was also raised against granting a licence extension to Destiny nightclub, but was turned down by the licensing board. Both clubs were refused a late night licence in October, when police described Bonkers as the "epicentre of late-night violence in Glasgow city centre".

Eddie Tobin, chief executive of Beda in Scotland, said door stewards in Glasgow followed the "best practice" of reporting incidents of drug abuse and violence, even if these occurred outwith the premises.

However, he said the decision of Strathclyde Police to use these reports as the basis of a licensing objection "may create a reluctance . . . to report these incidents and it would be dreadful if that happened".

Inspector William Caie said there was a legal obligation for venues to inform police of incidents on their premises.

Carnegie Leisure, which owns Bonkers, has launched an appeal against the earlier licence refusal which is due to be heard at the Court of Session in April.

First Leisure, which runs Destiny, in Cambridge Street, declined to comment.

Ivor Gaber

Wednesday January 15, 2003
The Guardian

Later this year, cannabis will move from being a class B drug to class C. Those who opposed, and still oppose, this move claim that while cannabis in itself may be relatively harmless, it acts as a vital link in the progression from soft to hard drugs - the so-called "gateway hypothesis". It is also argued that there is a close link between drug use and other criminal behaviour. But are these suppositions true?
As with almost all research into human behaviour, we can never know for sure. We cannot stick human beings in a laboratory, isolate them from all other experiences and observe the effects. The next best thing is to look at reliable statistical evidence that uses big numbers and produces robust data - and that is what economist Steven Pudney, of the University of Leicester, has done on behalf of the Home Office.

Pudney looked at results from a sample of almost 4,000 young people - aged 12-30 - who, as part of the government's youth lifestyles survey, recounted confidentially their experiences of drug use and offending. This data showed that the age when most young people started taking soft drugs was lower than the age of onset for most hard drugs; for example, the average ages of first use of glue/solvents and cannabis were 14.1 and 16.6 years respectively, compared with 17.5 and 20.2 for heroin and cocaine. This appeared to support the gateway hypothesis.

There was less apparent evidence of a gateway effect from drug use into crime. The average ages of onset for truancy and crime were 13.8 and 14.5 respectively, compared with 16.2 for drugs generally and 19.9 for hard drugs. Thus, criminal behaviour tended to precede drug use, rather than vice versa.

However, Pudney challenges both these conclusions. Soft drugs and minor crime offer the easiest avenues for the very young to offend, he argues, but opportunity widens with age. Early soft drug use and later hard drug use may be joint expressions of the same underlying personal problem: apparent progression from one to the other may simply be a consequence of the fact that soft drugs are easier to get and more affordable for younger teenagers than hard drugs.

Pudney goes on to use statistical techniques to attempt to isolate the role of unobservable factors, such as a social or psychological predisposition towards anti-social behaviour, thus solving this problem of "spurious association". Having done so, he reports very little remaining evidence of any causal gateway effect. While it might be that most hard drug addicts do start off as soft drug users, he says it cannot be concluded from this that hard drug use is caused by previous soft drugs experience.

Pudney's conclusions are that there is no significant impact of soft drug use on the risk of later involvement with crack cocaine or heroin, and that there is very little impact of soft drug use on the risk of later involvement in crime. He says there is a small, but possibly significant, link between soft drug use and use of ecstasy and cocaine. However, even a theoretical complete absence of soft drugs would result only in a one-third cut in the prevalence of ecstasy and cocaine.

"By linking soft and hard drugs under the same banner of illegality," Pudney warns, "a strict policy stance may have the perverse effect of amplifying the gateway effect and increasing the prevalence of hard drugs in the long run."

The Committee on Safety of Medicines is reviewing the safety of SSRIs.

January 10, 2003 1:36 PM GMT (Datamonitor) - Following claims that SSRIs can induce suicidal feelings, the Committee on Safety of Medicines has assembled an expert panel to review the safety of this drug class, which is used in the treatment of depression. The results of the study could mean new labeling rules and tighter controls on new products for the SSRI market.

The UK's Department of Health has issued a statement to indicate that the independent advisory committee, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) has assembled an expert working group to review the safety of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This follows increasing pressure from patient advocacy groups who believe the 'soaring' number of serious side effects should be investigated.

The SSRIs include drugs such as Cipramil (citalopram), Prozac (fluoxetine), Faverin (fluvoxamine), Seroxat (paroxetine) and Lustral (sertraline), each with annual sales worth hundreds of millions of dollars. For a number of years the issue of withdrawal symptoms and possible dependence and suicidality associated with SSRIs has been the subject of much media attention.

In recent times, GlaxoSmithKline's top-selling product, Seroxat (Paxil in US) has been at the center of this attention and faces several lawsuits alleging it can cause severe withdrawal reactions. Despite these allegations, GSK has maintained that the medicine is safe, effective and non-addictive.

Around 20% of patients with depression attempt suicide. However, the link between SSRIs and suicidal tendencies has not been fully established and the decision made by the panel could finally end this debate.

According to Department of Health, the working group was set up without publicity a couple of months ago. It has already met a couple of times and has considered issues such as agitation with SSRIs in healthy volunteers. The CSM is expected to report results of the study later this month.

The outcome could have a major impact on the UK SSRI market, which is worth around $400 million, particularly as the CSM provides advice to the Licensing Authority on whether new active substances submitted to the UK Medicines Control Agency should be granted marketing authorization.

Nick Hopkins, crime correspondent
Monday January 6, 2003
The Guardian

Drugs investigators have told Tony Blair they fear a big increase in heroin smuggling into the UK this year because of intelligence suggesting that stockpiles of opium in Afghanistan and Pakistan are much greater than anyone realised.
Members of the inter-agency drugs action group, made up of the security services, the national crime squad, customs and excise and the police, have told ministers that unless the Afghan production of heroin is curbed, "traditional law enforcement cannot hope to win" the war against the traffickers.

They fear that the post-conflict opportunity to drastically restrict poppy growing in Afghanistan, the source of 75% of the world's heroin and more than 90% of Britain's supply, may have been lost. Good ideas, they say, have not been translated into "real work" on the ground, so the country's farmers have had little incentive to stop cultivating the poppy plants.

Customs and the police had high hopes that the ban on poppy growing in Afghanistan which began in July 2000, and the military action to find Osama bin Laden, would have significantly cut the supply of the drug to Europe.

But ministers are now being told that there does not appear to have been any impact.

While customs officers seized record amounts of heroin in the last three months of 2002, they say the size of the shipments and the methods used show that the smugglers are not short of stock.

In one operation last October, officers at Dover found 300kg of heroin in hessian sacks in a Turkish-registered lorry. No special attempt had been made to hide the drugs.

Investigators believe that any group willing to attempt "a kamikaze run like that" is not overly worried about where the next shipment is coming from.

The fear is that stockpiles of heroin from Afghanistan's bumper crops of 1998 and 1999 have not been exhausted, meaning the UN and other agencies substantially underestimated the size of the yields.

These stores will soon be replenished by a 2002 poppy harvest that is expected to produce 270 tonnes of refined heroin, enough to supply the world market for a year.

"If we still have not seen the back end of the stockpiling, it makes you wonder what is going to happen when the new crop enters the supply line," a Whitehall source said.

The agencies have been working with police in Iran - including training frontline officers - to try to stop heroin crossing the Afghan border into the country, one of the traffickers' favoured supply routes to Europe.

Terry Byrne, director general of the law enforcement division of customs, confirmed yesterday that the signs were "ominous".

"It is troubling that at the end of 2002, when heroin detection rates are at record levels, prices seem relatively stable," he said. "We had hoped that the stockpiling from the bumper harvest before the Taliban ban would by now have shown signs of being exhausted. They do not seem to have been.

"If current cultivations in Afghanistan produce bumper stockpiles, that could have a very damaging impact for more than just the next year. The international community has got to support the Afghanistan administration in doing something about this."

There are signs, however, that drug investigators are having more success against cocaine traffickers, probably because a series of joint operations launched up to three years ago against gangs in the Caribbean and South America has been coming to fruition.

The wholesale price of a kilo of cocaine in the UK soared from£20,000 last April to £29,000 by December. In one area last November, traffickers were seeking £32,000 per kilo, a sure sign that they are having difficulties.

Cooperation between British and Jamaican investigators has had a big impact on the amount of cocaine brought into the UK by drug "mules".

Drug workers cleared to give free needles to kids

Scotland on Sunday: 9/2/03

MURDO MACLEOD POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

CHILDREN under 16 are to be given free needles by drugs workers under new guidelines issued by the government, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. Until now only trained medical staff such as doctors have been able to hand out needles to children suffering from drug addiction. But under the new guidelines, which have been issued to all of Scotland’s health boards, drug workers will be able to hand out free needles to allow children to inject heroin.

The move is designed to help children avoid sharing or reusing needles - which can lead to the spread of fatal diseases such as Aids. But the controversial policy has prompted outrage among opposition politicians and some drug workers, who have accused the Executive of "fuelling" the drug culture. The guidelines for working with under-16 drug users have been published by the Scottish Executive in the latest letter from its health department to front-line drugs action teams. Until now, drugs workers have avoided giving needles to under-16s, because of worries that they might be liable to prosecution.

The new guidance from the Executive allows drug users to be given four times as many injecting kits as previously. New users will receive 20 kits instead of five, and regular attenders at clinics will receive 60 kits instead of the previous 15. Explaining the new policy, a spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "The Lord Advocate has made clear in guidance that it is acceptable for drugs workers under the strict supervision of health professionals to engage in this work."

The Executive spokesman said that the authorities were anxious not be seen as pressing for needles to be given to children. He added: "The Executive is not promoting the issue of needles and syringes to under-16s. However, the reality is that a small number of young people are exposing themselves to very serious risks from injecting illegal drugs."

The spokesman said that healthcare professionals, such as doctors, have already been permitted to issue needles to under-16s. However, senior drugs care experts have told Scotland on Sunday that up to now there has been a lack of clear guidelines on the issue, meaning that drug workers did not issue needles to anyone under 16.

Last night Maxine Richards, who set up her own foundation in 1994 to help recovering drug addicts and their families, condemned the new policy. Richards said: " Instead of tackling the problem and getting to grips with the dealers all they are going to do is allowing them to carry on and aiding the infrastructure. Where will it all end?"

Lena Stillie, a former heroin addict, who was helped by Richards’ foundation was also highly critical: "Needle schemes do nothing, in my view. They do not a thing to cure your addiction. If anything, they just help you carry on feeding it." And Bill Aitken, the Scottish Tory justice spokesman claimed the move showed that Labour had failed to stop the menace of hard drugs. He said: "If this scheme saves lives and prevents the transmission of blood-borne diseases such as HIV, then we shall have to live with it. But what a condemnation of the Executive’s drug policies this is."

Nevertheless, other drug care experts welcomed the move and said they expected needles only to be issued to a small number of children. Jim Shanley, a team leader at the Lothian NHS harm reduction team, said: "Young people would only be given needles after a long and painstaking process to assess whether it appropriate."

George Hunter of the Glasgow Drugs Crisis Centre said: "Supplying needles to under-16s would be not something that anyone would take lightly, and there would have to be a number of safeguards involved." He added: "This is an issue of harm reduction."

According to the latest figures from the Scottish Executive at least 100 young people each year begin injecting drugs before they are 15-years of age. A small number of intravenous drug users begin their tragic habit as young as ten years old. The number of young people injecting heroin is continuing to rise. Last year, health services registered 1,487 new addicts who had begun injecting drugs before they were 19, a 5% increase on the same figure in 1999.

Comment: There is precious little to do here apart from commend the Scottish Executive and to condemn the irresponsible and inflamatory journalism identified here. And there is something especially distasteful about former users condemning provision of needle exchange.

DAN MCDOUGALL - The Scotsman 1.2.03

THE number of registered drug users in their early to mid-thirties is increasing.

A report released last night revealed that Scotland is making only limited headway in the war against drugs, as it emerged that the number of deaths from class A drugs in 2001 had soared 14 per cent from the previous year to 332.

The biannual report on tackling drug misuse in Scotland, claims heroin addiction among over-thirties also has continued to rise steadily as police seizures of the class A substance reached record levels. Although there has been a gradual decline in drug misuse among the under-20s, the Scottish Executive has noted a steady rise in drug use, particularly heroin, among men and women in their early to mid-thirties.

Seizures of hard drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, also increased by 173 per cent in 2001-2 compared with the previous year, with police recording 477 arrests for alleged drug trafficking.

Alistair Ramsay, a spokesman for Scotland Against Drugs, said the perceived increase in heroin use among adults in their thirties was the fallout from the dramatic increase in heroin abuse in the late 1980s. He said: "What we are seeing in Scotland at the moment is the bottoming-out of the heroin problem, a trend that reflects the current drug crisis in America. The explosion of heroin use in the late 1980s and early 90s was such that many of these users are now finally coming to terms with their problem and presenting themselves to ... drug councillors or hospitals. Before, many of these people have been off the radar. We are seeing a lot of people who started taking heroin in their teens coming forward to try and face their problems as they enter their thirties."

He added: "Heroin continues to be one of the biggest drugs issues for the authorities, and the true scale of the problem was perhaps best reflected in a recent Glasgow University study that predicted that Scotland had at least 58,000 regular heroin users."

Hugh Henry, the deputy justice minister, claimed that trends highlighted in the Executive’s second report showed "solid progress" in delivering the drugs strategy. He said: "Drugs are a global issue and the many problems drugs bring are an enormous burden on governments, on communities, families and individuals across the world. It is evident that there is no single, simple or rapid solution, and Scotland is no different in these respects." He said the Executive was spending record sums in fighting the problem.

However, he added: "Balanced against these positive trends, the number of people who lose their lives due to drug misuse remains tragically high, and I am concerned that waiting times for drug treatment in several areas of Scotland are unacceptably long." Michael Matheson, the SNP justice spokesman, expressed concern at the increase. He said: " These figures indicate a very disturbing trend among drug users in Scotland. The Executive must act to ensure the main pushers are put behind bars."

Meanwhile, an Ayrshire woman convicted of dealing in £110,000 worth of heroin and cocaine walked free from court after a judge put her on probation for three years. Margaret McDonald, 42, a former nurse, was released after being found guilty at the High Court in Kilmarnock of dealing drugs from her home in Bourtreehill, Irvine, between May 2000 and February 2002. The judge, Lord McFadyen, said he accepted she made no profit in allowing her home to be used as a "safe house" for drug dealers and that her mental health problems would be made worse if she was jailed.

Police hope for drugs tip-offs

BBC Monday, 13 January,

People are being urged to "shop" suspected drug dealers to the police under a new scheme.
The initiative, which is being run in Renfrewshire, will see people asked to give details of their concerns by filling out a special leaflet which will guarantee their anonymity.

The project is a response to a growing problem in the area with nine drug-related deaths last year and a 25% rise in the number of people caught in possession of drugs. Up to 100,000 households will receive the leaflets, which explain the scheme and which they can use to pass information to the police. Strathclyde Police said similar initiatives in Glasgow and Argyll have been extremely positive, with information gleaned on hiding places for drugs, busy dealing times and the makes and registrations of dealers' cars.

Chief Superintendent Kenny Murray, the divisional commander for the Renfrewshire area, said: "Many people are concerned about the menace of drugs in their area, but are reluctant to come forward. "These new leaflets will give people the opportunity to highlight any crimes or drug-related issues to the police without coming into direct contact with officers. "I would urge anyone who has information regarding drug dealing or drug-related crime to fill in a leaflet immediately."

He stressed that people did not need to fill out any personal details on the leaflets which can be sent through the post free-of-charge. Chief Supt Murray added: "The information provided by local people will be crucial in bringing these evil peddlers of drugs to justice."

A similar initiative is already operating on a much smaller scale in Glasgow - last year 15,000 Drug Stop leaflets were distributed around the east end of the city. Superintendent Gordon Meldrum, who is leading the initiative in Renfrewshire, said: "The results from the Drug Stop leaflet in the east end of Glasgow have been extremely positive."

The leaflets will be distributed to homes later this month with a second delivery in March. They will be supported by a high profile advertising campaign including adverts on buses, bus shelters, bill boards and posters in public buildings.

Cannabis producer walks free

Feb 15 2003 The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales

A MAN who set up an illegal underground cannabis-making factory on an industrial estate escaped a prison term and walked free from court yesterday.The Crown Prosecution Service accepted that all the cannabis that was being produced was either for his own use - because he suffered headaches - or was to give to his terminally-ill wife for pain relief.

Jason David Lee, 33, of Rhyl, whose wife has since died of cancer leaving him as the sole carer of four children, admitted cultivating cannabis and supplying cannabis to his wife. He was ordered to do 40 hours unpaid work under a community punishment order and serve a 12-month community rehabilitation order.

Judge Nicholas Woodward was told that the basis of his guilty plea, that the factory-style operation was not for commercial purposes but purely for the personal use of the defendant and his wife, had been accepted by the prosecution at an earlier magistrates' court hearing.

The judge said people normally went straight to prison for such offences, but he described it as a wholly exceptional case. He added, "Normally, these offences are very grave indeed. However, I am satisfied that the circumstances of this case are wholly exceptional. "First, the Crown have acknowledged and agreed that all the cannabis that was being produced was intended for personal consumption of yourself and your wife. None of that material would have travelled to any other persons.

"Secondly, I recognise that at the time your wife was terminally ill with a very painful condition and that the motivation for supplying her was to do entirely with her medical situation at the time. Sadly, not long after this, she died." Judge Woodward said that while the defendant had previous convictions, there was nothing for drugs and he had pleaded guilty and was therefore entitled to full credit.

"The most significant aspect of your personal circumstances is that you and your wife had four children aged between 18 months and 13. They have had the burden of losing their mother and the responsibility of looking after them rests entirely with you."

The judge said he had seen from a report that he had taken to caring for his children in a responsible way and was doing his best for them. "Absolutely no purpose would be served to the community as a whole to take you away from the children at this stage. It would be extremely damaging to them," the judge said. The community rehabilitation and punishment order was to echo the fact that the court could not in any way condone what he had done and it was right that he should be punished for what he had done.

Prosecutor John Oates told the court that police armed with a search warrant went to an industrial unit on the Nant Hall Road at Prestatyn, which was leased to the defendant, and found a fairly large-scale cannabis factory. It was not until the second day of the search that the underground factory was found because the entrance, down a ladder, was concealed by boxes. Police there found a sophisticated hydroponic growing system which had 89 plants ready for harvesting with a potential yield of 908 grammes.

Another 80 smaller plants were found and in a lorry container a further quantity of smaller plants again was discovered.

Jenny Rees, The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales


SPEED drinking - just another gimmick to get the punters in, or a trigger for alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour? The idea behind the night is to get customers to pay up front for their drinks - a tenner on the door and all your drinks are free - which also breeds loyalty for the night, as drinkers are likely to want to get their money's worth.

But that's just the problem. Critics say the scheme promotes alcohol abuse, and an intoxicated customer is more likely to become entangled in anti-social behaviour or make a visit to the local accident and emergency department.

Dr Rupert Evans, consultant at the University of Wales Hospital's emergency unit, said, "Any ploy by the licensee to encourage people to drink excessively has to be frowned upon because of the potential abuse. Drinking should be a social event where excess or being drunk isn't encouraged.There is a dichotomy in the industry. They are trying to make profits - that's what punters are for - and they may not always have a responsible attitude to withholding drinks from someone who is over the limit. When you drink to excess you are more likely to be involved in an assault and less likely to avoid physical contact and will suffer more severe injuries."

However, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) would oppose any attempts to restrict such promotions, or place a blanket ban on them. Karen Kelshaw, communications manager for the BBPA, said, "We issue guidance to licensees across the UK outlining best practice on promotions and we give tips and advice, but it's up to them to apply it to their premises. We recommend that they look at the drinks on offer and make sure that they include soft drinks. Or if there is a happy hour, perhaps extend the hours so that `drinking against the clock' is removed, and include bar snacks so that people can line their stomachs. These are all suggestions, and that's the way we think it should be run."

One pub has found the scheme so successful - and claims no violent incidents - that it is now considering extending the promotion to a second night in the week. Yates on Westgate Street, in Cardiff, needed a promotion to attract customers away from the busy High Street area, which is lined with clubs, pubs and bars. For £12 you can drink all you like on a Friday night - with conditions. Manager Tony Jenkinson said only one drink per person per bar visit is allowed, as they are keen to encourage sensible drinking - so only single measures are given.

"A lot of places were doing this and had a reputation for alcohol abuse and violence," he said. "Some even had their licences revoked within two months, but we've been doing this for five months and haven't had a problem. So before we chose to do this we got in touch with the local police and told them we were planning to do it. They've been around several times. It's not just something we do to get customers in the building. We advertise the promotion to a lot of local businesses, so that we appeal to office staff."

Indeed, Mr Jenkinson claims a group of licensing officers held their Christmas party at the bar.

He added, "We don't sell drinks like Aftershock (shots with high alcohol content) on those nights because that's enticing people to go and get legless, which is something we don't want."

The bar also serves food every half hour, with plenty of burgers, hot dogs and a vegetarian option to counter the effects of the alcohol.

And to make sure that customers aren't block buying by returning to different bar staff within minutes to stack up their supply of drinks, customers must also return their empty glasses if they want another.

Woman jailed for giving fatal injection

Jan 15 2003

The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales


A SINGLE mother emerged as a black widow of the drugs world yesterday, when it was revealed two of her boyfriends had died from drugs overdoses. Janette Morgan, 36, of Melin, Neath, was not involved in the first death some years ago, but she injected heroin into the foot of her second partner, Stephen Clyant, also 36 and from Neath. Yesterday, Morgan was jailed for three years for the manslaughter of Mr Clyant.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Morgan spent £25 on buying heroin as a "treat" for herself and Mr Clyant.The court was told that because Mr Clyant had a fear of needles Morgan injected him. But soon after the drug entered Mr Clyant's system at a friend's flat in Briton Ferry Road, Neath, last March, Morgan realised something was wrong. Mr Clyant collapsed and Morgan tried to revive him, but then she fell asleep because of the effects of the heroin. Mr Clyant, who was not used to such a strong drug, died from morphine toxicity. Morgan was later revived.

She admitted what happened to police who arrived at the scene but later gave "no comment" inter-views and had planned to plead not guilty to manslaughter. But after being told her initial admissions could be used against her, she changed her plea. The court heard yesterday that Morgan had previous convictions for possessing LSD with intent to supply and actual supply. The Judge, Mr Justice Roderick Evans, was told that some years before the death of Mr Clyant, a previous boyfriend of Morgan's had died from an overdose of the heroin substitute methodone.

The judge told Morgan, "Use of drugs today has penetrated every aspect of our society. "The use of class A drugs is without doubt the most serious part of it and the use of these drugs can all too often result in death, as you well know. "This is the second partner of yours to die from an overdose of drugs, although it was never alleged in the case of the first partner that you were in any way involved in the administration of the drug. "Your life has been bedevilled by drugs."

The judge said although Morgan was the mother of a teenage girl and had originally co-operated with police, there could be no alternative to a custodial sentence.

£53m spent on heroin in year

Jan 15 2003

The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales

* Launched in April 2002, Operation Tarian involves the South Wales, Gwent and Dyfed-Powys police forces.

* According to figures unveiled by the Chief Constable of South Wales Police, Sir Anthony Burden, in November, there had been a 14% increase in the number of hard drug users in the previous 12 months, with £53m spent on heroin in Wales in that period.

* Since April 2002, there had been 216 successful drug-related arrests.

* There were an estimated 8,750 drug addicts within the three police areas and 32,000 "recreational" drug users.

Welsh police chiefs' dire warning

Jan 7 2003

The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales


JAMAICAN crime gangs are operating as far west as Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion and not just in industrial South Wales, say Welsh police chiefs.

In their first summit conference with Peter Hain since he became Welsh Secretary, Wales's four chief constables said yesterday that there was increasing evidence of infiltration by armed criminal gangs intent on establishing control of the lucrative illegal drugs market.

The conference, attended by Sir Anthony Burden (South Wales), Richard Brunstrom (North Wales), Terry Grange (Dyfed-Powys) and Keith Turner (Gwent), came on the same day that Home Secretary David Blunkett announced plans to introduce minimum five-year jail sentences for people convicted of illegal possession or use of firearms.

Mr Hain said, "We are determined that the levels of criminal armed gang activity seen in some parts of England do not come to Wales. Today we have been discussing these problems, which are often drug-related.

"We are all agreed that tougher sentencing is needed and we welcome the announcement made by David Blunkett. In Wales we have a particular problem with replica guns and airguns and it is essential that we tackle this."

Mr Grange, who is the spokesman for the Association of Chief Constables on the matter of armed gangs, said, "There can be no fudging of this issue. We must combine the will of the Government with strong legislation, the will of the judiciary over sentencing and the will of everyone in society to root out this problem.

"These gangs are not just operating in industrial South Wales. In the past six months we have arrested foreign nationals in Fish-guard and Cardigan for selling crack cocaine."

Asked to identify the criminals' country or countries of origin, Mr Grange said, "Jamaica."

Sir Anthony said, "So far as we are concerned this is a top priority and we want everyone to be aware of that. There is evidence of further encroachment into Wales of these gangs. There have been arrests, which for obvious reasons of sub judice we cannot go into."

Meanwhile, the National Criminal Intelligence Service said yesterday that there was evidence of Albanian gangs gaining a foothold in Cardiff as well as in Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.

Early last year Sir Anthony expressed his serious concern about Jamaican gangs crossing into Wales from the Bristol area, where they have operated for some years.

Two months ago Assembly Finance Minister Edwina Hart pledged £2.5m to help police target heroin and crack cocaine dealers, over and above the funding they received from the Home Office.

Between April and July last year hard drugs with a street value of £600,000 were seized in 166 operations targeting dealers in the South Wales, Gwent and Dyfed Powys police areas as part of Operation Tarian.

Across the UK yesterday Mr Blunkett received a mixed response to his plan for tougher sentencing.

His move follows the New Year killings of Latisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis in Birmingham but the Government insists that it has been planned for some time.

The teenage cousins were killed when they were caught up in cross-fire, possibly between rival drug gangs.

Mr Blunkett received some praise for his move but critics called it a knee-jerk response.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens welcomed the move and a senior figure in the Metropolitan Police Federation said five years must mean five years.

Mr Blunkett said, "While we already have some of the toughest gun laws in the world, there has been an unacceptable increase in the flagrant use of guns in crime across the country."

Recent evidence showed that the problem lay predominantly with young people who carried weapons for self-protection or as a means of gaining respect or revenge, often related to dealing in or the use of drugs, he said.

It is understood the new minimum sentence will cover those guns most heavily used in crime, such as handguns and automatic weapons.

In 2001 the average custodial sentence for people convicted of possession or distribution of prohibited weapons was about 18 months.

Senior officers have been calling for the minimum sentence for some time amid fears of a descent into US-style violence.

Conservative home affairs spokesman James Paice said the problem had been rising since the Government had come to office and little had been done.

"This announcement seems to be more of a knee-jerk reaction than a considered response to a terrible problem," he said.

"It is time for a properlythought-out strategy which addresses the whole issue, not just those who carry guns but those who supply them, as well as the drugs that lie behind so many of these incidents."

Norman Brennan, of Protect the Protectors, which campaigns for front-line police officers, said hardened gunmen would laugh at the five-year minimum.

"Five years sounds a lot but in reality it means no more than two years and eight months," he said.

Michael Yardley, spokesman for the Shooting Sports Trust, the legitimate shooting industry in the UK, said, "I think there is a danger of knee-jerk responses in the face of tragedy. I don't think a sophisticated modern society should impose this kind of measure, particularly when there are stiff penalties already in place. There are several million legitimate firearms users in the UK and there is the danger that innocent people could get caught up in this.

"Judges should always be allowed discretion."

John Wadham, director of Liberty, said, "Mr Blunkett seems unable to resist meddling with criminal trials. Only judges have the full facts in front of them; sentences have to reflect the severity of the crime, not simply fit a politician's knee-jerk reactions."

'Treatment' to tackle Wear drugs problem

Friday, 14 February, 2003, 18:23 GMT BBC

A Sunderland drug strategy expert has urged residents and businesses to think before objecting to plans for drug treatment centres. Mandy Taylor is the co-ordinator of the Sunderland Drug Action Team which is about to open its fourth unit in the city after a search for premises.

She said the centres are vital in the fight against drug abuse but they are often hard to set up because of local objections. She said: "The only solution to the drug problem is to get people treated.

"We have to get people who have a drug problem off of drugs, and break the cycle and get them clear of drug use, otherwise the problem will grow and grow. "The benefit to the people of Sunderland is that for every £1 spent on treatment we save £3 on criminal justice costs, insurance, and crime. "Getting people into treatment reduces crime, but unfortunately it is not the most popular thing to have on your doorstep. "We do have problems trying to get planning permission to open our centres." She said treatment was of major importance because it reduces demand, and therefore cuts supply into major city centres.

Alert after bad batch of heroin hits street

Lancashire evening post - 15.1.03

The streets of Preston are being flooded with a "bad" batch of heroin that looks set to kill.

The drug has been mixed into a lethal cocktail which is three times stronger than normal.
Even hardened addicts have fallen seriously ill after taking the adulterated substance.
A police spokesman said today: "People who use this dangerous heroin experience a really bad cough and we have had reports of people turning blue.
"The problem is that most of the drug addicts are aware that if there is a suspected overdose, either on themselves or on their friends – an ambulance is called and the police are automatically called as well. So they are not calling an ambulance and they are taking the chance that either themselves or their mate will be all right, which obviously could have dire consequences.
"The intelligence we have got is that it is possible the heroin has been mixed with diamorphine tablets that have been crushed up and that is what is causing the problem.
"What people are finding when they are trying to use this is they cannot break down the heroin the way they would normally do.
"It is just rubbish that is being sold and if somebody does use a little bit too much, there is a likelihood it is going to kill them.
"There is also an added danger that they do not want to call an ambulance.
"There is a chance that they are prepared to let their mates die because the police will attend."
The concoction cannot be easily broken down with citric acid which is the normal way of turning heroin into a liquid before injecting it.
It means lumps of the substance are getting blocked in people's arteries, with serious consequences.
Det Insp Martin Kay said: "We have got some information there is bad heroin going around that is three times more powerful than the ordinary stuff because it has been mixed with adulterants.
"People are taking it who are used to normal heroin and even they are finding it strong. We are aware that there have been some incidences where people have been really poorly off it.
"We are just trying to get a warning out there to people who are heroin dependent that there is some awful stuff out there that could potentially kill them."
Preston Police revealed that since April last year 164 people have been arrested for possessing class A drugs.
In that time, 71 people were charged with supplying Class A drugs, and drugs with a street value of £65,000 were also recovered.
Preston's coroners officer, PC Adrian Royles, revealed there were eight drugs-related deaths in the city during 2002.
However, he added that there have already been two suspected drugs-related deaths in Preston so far this year.

Dog sniffs out drugs at station
BBC News
24.2.03

A special police operation at Leeds station over the weekend resulted in 40 people being stopped and searched for drugs.
Twelve of them have been either cautioned or charged. British Transport Police say drugs worth tens of thousands of pounds pass through the station every year. Officers use a special sniffer dog called Charlie.
Supplying drugs
Charlie is trained to circle anyone carrying drugs while officers move in to detain the suspect. In the past year, Charlie has made 70 visits to Leeds station and sniffed out 350 people carrying drugs. This has resulted in 67 people being charged with supplying drugs.
PC John Mann of the British Transport Police said: "We get a lot of people carrying drugs for personal use. "But we have had major drug dealers stopped by the dog."

Addicts 'need place to inject'

20.1.03 BBC

A councillor in a South Yorkshire town has called for drug addicts to be provided with so-called "shooting galleries" where they can inject themselves.
Ian Guest said the streets in Barnsley town centre had been littered with over 2,500 used needles in the past 18 months.The problem is particularly bad in the Sheffield Road area.

The councillor wants special areas introduced where addicts can receive clean needles which have to be returned after they have been used.

He told BBC Radio Sheffield: "We need to get these people to inject in a safe space where the needles are given and perhaps even the drugs are given. We can then talk to them and encourage them to come off drugs. If you want to work with these people and their chaotic lifestyle, you have to have services that match their needs."

Comment: Of course we fully endorse the comments made by Councillor Guest. We only hope that in turn he will be lobbying his MP to highlight that the proposed amendment to Section 8 would make any such provision illegal.

Sorry - No current news; see archives for older news

By Steve Swingler, Evening mail

Heroin addicts in parts of Birmingham are still having to wait up to 12 months to get rehabilitation treatment, drug chiefs admitted today. Waits of 52 weeks or more remain commonplace for addicts desperate to kick their habits in south Birmingham even though the Evening Mail highlighted their appalling plight more than six months ago. Now the city’s drug rehabilitation schemes are to finally get a major cash boost from the Government to tackle the crisis.

The move comes after the Evening Mail revealed the agony of desperate Solihull mum Paulette Stemp who called for her heroin addict son Daniel and others like him to be jailed to stop them from committing crime to feed their habits.

Ministers are anxious to improve drug treat-ment after their own statistics showed more than half of all crime suspects arrested for theft and robbery test positive for heroin or cocaine. The extra funding will now see the Birmingham Drug Action Team annual budget rise in April from £5 million to £6.9 million. It will hit £10 million by 2005.

Officials have spent the last six months giving the city’s drug treatment services a radical overhaul. They reckon the extra cash will enable them to slash waiting times for the city’s estimated 8,000 addicts by around 50 per cent over the next six months.

Helen Cochrane, the lead commissioner for drug treatment services for the Birmingham DAT, said: “In the last 12 months, we’ve started to create a drug treatment system, rather than individual agencies working in isolation to provide treatment. “The waiting times are still far too long but the signs are promising now and we’re starting to move in the right direction.”

She said that in east Birmingham the wait for treatment had been recently slashed from 52 weeks to 30 following a big review of services. But she added: “Ideally no addicts should have to wait more than four weeks, that is the target.”

Meanwhile more than 75 city GPs have signed up to a £1 million scheme aimed at getting more doctors to prescribe methadone. It is hoped to have 150 doctors by next year.

Police in Birmingham are taking hand swabs from people queuing outside nightclubs as part of a campaign against drugs. The Vapour Tracer swab is being used by officers from Digbeth police station to find out if clubbers have been handling drugs. Sniffer dogs are also being used to detect drugs.

A police spokesman said using the equipment had proved successful. "A recent operation using the equipment resulted in three significant arrests at one Birmingham club."

He said the equipment was on loan from Ion Track, an American company, and had been used by customs and other police forces across the globe. "The Digbeth crime fighting team has now secured £19,000 funding from the Communities Against Drugs initiative to buy its own permanent Vapour Tracer for use in Birmingham city centre," he said. "The equipment is already regularly used extensively in the United States by police and customs officers and can be used to detect minute particles of explosives, as well as drugs."

Comment: Remember, you can only be swabbed with your consent. Refusal to give consent should not, in itself, be considered grounds for a search. A positive swab is not enough to prove possession. See the longer briefing in the drug news section (Staffs Police) on this subject.

Addict treatment numbers soar

Jan 15 2003

Birmingham Post

The number of addicts receiving treatment for crack cocaine has gone up tenfold in Birmingham.

The drug has become the "lifestyle of urban gangs" and its soaring use, and the violence associated with it, is one of the biggest problems the city is facing, according to the chairman of the city's Drug Action Team (DAT).

The concerns were voiced at a conference yesterday hosted by DAT.

The event, at the Warwickshire County Cricket Club ground in Edgbaston, was attended by police officers, drug treatment workers, education workers and Baroness Massey, chair of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse.

Baroness Massey said: "The NTA recognises the problems faced at a local level and looks forward to working with Birmingham and other cities to doubling the number of people treated each year by 2008, compared to ten years ago, and increasing the number of people who complete treatment."

Birmingham DAT revealed that just nine people were seeking treatment for crack addiction in 2001 but last year the number seeking help had soared to 96.

The number of people treated for addiction to various drugs jumped from 829 to 1,715 in the year ending last April. But the increase was proportionately much higher for crack addicts.

DAT chairman Jamie Morris said the greater prevalence of crack on Birmingham's streets corresponded with the rise in violence seen most recently in Aston.

"Nationally the users aged under 24 of Class A drugs has remained relatively stable, but in many cases there has been an increase in crack cocaine," he said. "The methods used in the past to treat for opiates, such as heroin, don't necessarily work.

"We need to look at new methods of dealing with it.

"It is associated with violence and gangs. We have seen the terrible consequences of that in Birchfield Road in the new year. Crack is part of the lifestyle of urban gangs."

Government funding allocated to Birmingham to combat drug abuse will total £6,035,000 in 2003/4 almost double the previous year's figure and the largest increase nationally.

And over the next two months DAT will work on forming a city-wide response to Home Secretary David Blunkett's National Crack Action Plan.

West Midlands Police Superintendent Gordon Fraser, operations manager at Kings Heath police station and chairman of the city's Community Against Drugs - a partnership of voluntary and statutory bodies whose aim is to reduce the availability of Class A drugs - said it was difficult to establish whether inroads had been made into the supply of crack cocaine.

"Our target for April 2002/03 for the number of arrests for dealing in Class A drugs is 273 and we already have 230 people charged, among them crack dealers, thanks to innovative initiatives," he said.

"But it is almost impossible to judge the size of the market. If the cost goes up it could just be that the drugs are being deliberately withheld by dealers to increase the value, rather than the results of some arrests.

"It's so addictive that once a few people start taking it, it is in amounts that affect the usage for the whole city." Supt Fraser said there was no particular group of people associated with crack addiction. "Once people are involved in it, their lifestyle becomes chaotic. It is generally recognised that it is associated with violent criminality and a lot of that is gunrelated," he said.

"That's what is forcing institutions to concentrate their efforts on crack.

"Its effect on the nervous system as a stimulant can make people very volatile. Its addictiveness also forces people into acquisitive crime to buy more."

Scheme tackles drug driven crime

BBC Sunday, 12 January, 2003,

Persistent drug offenders will be targeted in a new scheme which could save the area millions of pounds.
Walsall's Crime Reduction Partnership will contact 150 drug addicts who are responsible for the majority of drug related theft, robberies and burglaries in the borough.

Users will be asked to sign a contract committing them to keep appointments with the police and a drug treatment centre. It is estimated the area will save up to £250,000 for each offender turned away from drugs and crime.

Offenders will be given help to find employment and a place to live. Workers from the scheme will manage groups of 20 offenders for six months at a time. Other groups involved in the scheme include the police, council and drugs agencies.

The noose is closing around Bristol's notorious haunt for dealers, the Black and White Cafe

Tony Thompson, crime correspondent
Sunday February 9, 2003
The Observer

Hidden behind deeply tinted windows, the Black and White Cafe in the St Paul's district of Bristol has a tiny formica counter where you can buy traditional Caribbean fare such as ackee, saltfish, curried goat and jerk chicken. But no one comes here for the food.
In a society where open dealing is no longer out of the ordinary, the Black and White Cafe stands out from the crowd as the biggest and most blatant hard drug den in Britain.

The Observer can reveal that the run-down building in the middle of a row of derelict houses has been raided more times than any other premises in the country, according to Avon and Somerset police. Last weekend alone saw three separate raids which resulted in 17 arrests and the recovery of thousands of pounds worth of crack cocaine. The scene of countless shootings, stabbings and armed robberies - many of which have never been reported - the cafe is also at the epicentre of increasingly violent gang activity.

Closed down and boarded up by the city council last year, the cafe re-opened two weeks ago and ever since has been at the heart of a battle between Bristol's indigenous drug gangs and an influx of Jamaican dealers who are attempting to take over the trade. Bristol is the latest in a long line of cities to be hit by an explosion of Yardie activity as drug gangs move their activities outside London in search of new markets.

A report presented to Cleveland police last month noted that in 2001, just one Jamaican dealer was arrested in Middlesborough for selling Class A drugs. Last year the figure was 32. Jamaican dealers have also been arrested in North and South Wales, Hull and Aberdeen but nowhere have the problems been more apparent than in Bristol. Last month officers attached to Operation Atrium, a major initiative against the city's crack trade, arrested 56 people, 36 of whom were Jamaican nationals. Last year the same team uncovered a bogus college in the St Paul's area - scene in the 1980s of race riots sparked by drugs raids - which had provided long-term visas to more than 300 Jamaicans. Of those 'students', 45 have since been charged with drug offences, 11 with weapons charges, one with rape and another with attempted murder. A further 121 are being detained on immigration offences while 148 remain on the run.

In many cities the arrival of large numbers of Jamaicans has resulted in violent confrontations and many detectives believe it is only a matter of time before one area erupts into all out warfare. Police in Cleveland are bracing themselves for a rise in gun crime as a result of the Yardie invasion and similar fears have been expressed in Scotland and Wales. These same clashes are at the heart of the problem in Bristol and at the centre of it all is the Black and White Cafe.

During the Nineties, the city's drug trade was in the hands of a local gang known as the Aggi crew, an acronym formed from the surnames of the founding members, but in 1998 six of the Aggi crew were jailed after being caught dealing drugs worth more than £1 million. They had been arrested in raids involving more than 300 police officers who uncovered an arsenal of firearms including shotguns, handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Last month several key members of the Aggi crew were released on probation and emerged from prison to discover that in their absence the city's drug trade had been taken over by a Jamaican gang known as the Hype crew. Arming themselves, the Aggi crew stormed into the Black and White Cafe and demanded the Jamaicans pay 'tax' to them if they wanted to continue dealing in the city. Then, as a final mark of disrespect, they robbed every person in the cafe at gun point. As they handed over their money and possessions, the Jamaicans told the Aggi crew that they would not be paying them a single penny and that the only way to resolve the argument would be with guns.

It didn't take long for Avon and Somerset police to learn about the potential bloodbath. They responded by taking the unprecedented step of placing armed officers on 24-hour foot patrol in the most volatile areas - the streets around the Black and White Cafe and Stapleton Road in the neighbouring district of Easton. They also launched a series of raids on the homes of the Aggi crew who, as a result, have now been returned to prison.

The move has significantly reduced the threat of gang warfare but has left the drug trade solely in the hands of the Jamaicans. Often dismissed as 'disorganised' rather than organised crime, Jamaican dealers in Bristol have actually brought a new level of cunning to the drug business. Instead of holding wraps of crack in their mouths, the dealers on Stapleton Road placed the drugs in old Coke cans which would then be left in the gutter. After handing over their money, customers would then be directed to the nearest can. The scam made it almost impossible for police to link batches of drugs to specific dealers and gave some degree of protection from prosecution.

To prevent their merchandise being swept away, the dealers also launched a massive campaign of intimidation against the council's utility workers. Refuse collections halted altogether in many areas as did road and pavement repairs (dealers were also hiding drugs in the cracks in the pavement). The dealers then turned their attention to the workers attempting to install CCTV systems. Within weeks Stapleton Road had become known as the 'street of fear' with dealers, prostitutes and muggers operating with virtual impunity. In a seven-month period, 915 crimes were recorded along a 150-metre stretch.

Although Avon and Somerset police have poured massive resources into dealing with the problem and made great progress, they admit that they are far from finding a solution. 'We have made more than 800 arrests in the past 18 months but on the streets the problem remains as bad as ever,' Detective Chief Inspector Neil Smart, head of Operation Atrium, told The Observer. 'There is a lot of gun crime that we do not get to hear about and we suspect there have been drive-by shootings at the Black and White Cafe that have never been reported. The place is known around the world. Two of my officers were on assignment in Jamaica and they overheard two locals talking about the Black and White being the place to go to get drugs in Bristol.'

When The Observer visited the cafe last week it was business as usual. The air was thick with the cloying smell of cannabis and the sounds of hard reggae. A dozen people were milling about close to the pinball machine while the main room was dominated by two snooker tables, both of which were in constant use. According to local detectives the players are often the main dealers. Drugs are taped to the base of the snooker tables allowing easy access but again frustrating police efforts to link drugs to particular dealers.

An attempt to prosecute the cafe's owner, Stephen Wilks, for allowing drugs to be sold on the premises ended in failure. Last week the city council pushed through a compulsory purchase order on the cafe which will now be demolished, though it will be at least a year before the bulldozers move in. Wilks was not available for comment.

DCI Smart believes the way forward is to introduce what he describes as 'joined-up thinking', ensuring his officers work alongside the probation service, Customs and the Immigration department to find ways of dealing with each new threat.

While the demise of the Black and White Cafe is unlikely to produce tears among the police force, locals are less sure. Christine Boulton, 50, works with the homeless in Bristol and has lived close to the cafe for 31 years. 'The cafe does have a negative effect on the community but then again, if you are looking for the local bad lads, sooner or later they will always end up there. If you shut it down, all you are going to do is move the problem. If it's not the Black and White, it will just become somewhere else.'

Friday, 31 January, 2003, BBC

Drugs "amnesty boxes" could be installed in all Plymouth nightclubs. The boxes, in which people can deposit illicit substances before being searched - were part of new anti-drug measures considered by city licensing chiefs on Friday. In a new set of Home Office guidelines last year, the government called for the introduction of such measures.

The contents will be collected and examined by police, who have funding for 20 of the boxes. Their use in London has helped to recover £18,000-worth of drugs in the past six months. They have also revealed that clubbers have recently been sold two highly toxic compounds marketed as ecstasy.

Plymouth licensing committee chair Anna Angel, said: "It enables them to get rid of the drugs they have bought, and it also gives us an idea of the sort of drugs that are being sold. "I think it is quite urgent and I shall be pushing for it."

Other moves include encouraging a strong anti-drugs policy in all clubs, displaying posters with anti-drugs messages, as well as providing free drinking water to clubbers. The Harbour drugs and alcohol counselling centre in Plymouth already goes into clubs with advice and information.

Tony Pattinson, the centre's outreach manager, said: "It is highly unlikely that young people will put drugs into honesty boxes without getting something in return. "But if the police were to analyse and test drugs, they could give us feedback about quality and people would know if a certain batch of drugs was contaminated."

Public meeting over drugs turf war
23.1.03
BBC

Police are to meet concerned members of the public to discuss the growing threat of gang violence in inner city Bristol. Last week Avon and Somerset Police announced that armed officers were mounting nightly patrols in St Paul's, after convicted drug dealers returned to the area following their release from prison. Police say the meeting is part of their effort to keep local people informed of what they are doing and why.

The problems in the area began when members of the Aggi crew arrived back in the city to discover a rival yardie gang had taken over the area. Both groups are said to be armed and willing to use violence against each other. Officers arrested 18 men and seized £2,000 of drugs after a series of raids on the Black and White cafe in the area last weekend.

One resident who declined to give her name said: "I felt physically sick when I saw what was going on here. My daughter burst into tears when we were about to leave the house because she thought the police were going to shoot her on the way to school. I felt very upset about that. I think it's dreadful that the police have come in so mob-handed though and who's to say someone won't get caught in the crossfire."

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: "We want to keep the people in St Paul's updated about what we are trying to achieve in the area. What we don't want is for them to think armed officers is how we are going to police the area in the future. Armed officers are a visual deterrent to say we are not allowing these people to shoot each other."

Sorry - No current news; see archives for older news

Angelique Chrisafis
Tuesday February 18, 2003
The Guardian

Members of London's exclusive celebrity haunt, Soho House, are to have their handbags searched and trips to the toilet monitored under new rules to stop recreational drug binges.
Westminster council has enforced new licence regulations after the two-year-old daughter of actors Sadie Frost and Jude Law ate an ecstasy pill from the carpet at a children's party in October.

Iris Law recovered in hospital after taking a charcoal drink to neutralise the drug's effects.

Frost and Law decided not to sue the club's owner, Nick Jones, the millionaire husband of Channel Five newsreader, Kirsty Young. But the room where the party took place had been open as a bar the night before.

Westminster council and police have spent months investigating how to eliminate all drug use at the venue.

The council's new one-year licence for the club requires the renovation of all toilets so flat surfaces are eradicated. No more than one person at a time will be allowed into cubicles, and toilets will be monitored by a dedicated "zero tolerance" valet every 15 minutes.

One lavatory will be reserved exclusively for children. All children's parties must take place in a special room, with adults' behaviour supervised by trained staff. Notices in reception areas and toilets will warn members they will be reported to police if they take drugs.

A Westminster council spokeswoman said: "The measures are designed to address any possibility of drug use or supply at the premises. The club has accepted the conditions and it will continue to be closely monitored by the police, the licence inspectorate and the environmental health service."

She said all staff at the private members' club, including bouncers, would be trained in drug misuse issues. Posters identifying a range of illegal substances would be displayed in staff areas and all members will be sent annual warning letters.

Soho House clientele include Madonna, Prince Edward, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and a monied media crowd. It was once described as the "chapel of the lost souls" by the novelist James Hawes, whose book White Powder, Green Light tracks the rampant drug-taking culture in central London clubs.

A club spokesman said: "Soho House has always maintained a strict policy on the use of drugs.

"We are happy to comply with the new regulations and are pleased to be able to put the matter behind us."

Britain's biggest heroin gang was targeted yesterday in a series of armed raids involving more than 500 police officers wearing body armour.

The operation was aimed at associates and members of a north London Turkish family who have imported and distributed million of pounds worth of heroin from Afghanistan.

Twenty-three people, including at least two suspected members of the family, which cannot be named for legal reasons, were arrested, a cache of five million cigarettes was found, and firearms, drugs and cash were seized.

The family has been involved in a escalating turf war with other Turkish and Kurdish groups in north London, which has seen 10 gang murders in the past three years.

The violence reached new levels last November when one man was killed and four were critically injured during a gun battle involving 40 people in Green Lanes, Haringey.

The Turkish family group has about 50 core members, police sources say, and is considered one of the most powerful organised crime gangs in the country. A further 150 followers are involved in distributing heroin, importing firearms and running protection rackets, sources said.

Yesterday's operation, code-named Narita, was aimed at arresting key family members and people wanted for murder, as well as disrupting the gangster network. It follows pressure from residents in Haringey and the local police, who have become increasingly concerned about the power of the Turkish heroin traffickers.

In one of the London's biggest series of raids about 550 Scotland Yard officers, including members of the Metropolitan Police's firearms unit and Turkish speaking detectives, targeted 15 properties in the boroughs of Haringey, Harrow and Hackney, throughout the night.

In one raid armed police from Scotland Yard's SO19 firearms squad helped arrest two Kurdish men suspected of being part of the crime family.

The target for the raid was a £750,000 detached house in Edgware, north-west London. Dozens of police leapt from their vans and stormed the front door using a battering ram. The two men were brought shuffling outside in jeans and T-shirts.

At a café in Wood Green, north London, officers burst into an illegal gambling den where nine people were in the middle of a game of cards. One man attacked police with a two-foot metal kebab skewer but he was overpowered.

At the café officers found a stun gun, a substance believed to be cocaine and £13,000 in cash, £3,000 of which was stashed inside a pool table.

In all the police recovered two firearms, two offensive weapons, ammunition, a quantity of drugs and more than £20,000. During one of the last searches officers found about five million cigarettes, which had been smuggled into the country.

Commander John Yates, the officer in charge of territorial policing, said: "We have made significant finds in terms of guns and money.

"All our intelligence suggests that these are very big players in terms of criminality in London and internationally. Our intelligence suggests they are involved in major international heroin trafficking."

Several members of the Turkish crime family have already been jailed, but the network continues to use its links with Afghanistan, Turkey, and the Netherlands to smuggle in heroin. Turkish criminals are thought to be responsible for up to 90 per cent of the heroin brought into the UK.

Much of the violence in the turf wars is blamed on young second-generation Turks who carry out extortion and intimidation. They are known as bombacilars, which means "bomb makers".

Superintendent Mark Ricketts said that since the Gulf War, Kurdish and Turkish immigration and movement of business interests into the same area had "created tension between the two groups".

In July last year two gangs of gunmen fought outside Wood Green police station, firing 20 shots in a busy thoroughfare at 2pm on a Friday afternoon. Chief Superintendent Stephen James, the borough commander, said: "We found bullets in briefcases and firearms left smoking on the ground, that's the calibre of these people."

In November last year Alisan Dogan, 43, a security guard, was stabbed to death when he was unwittingly caught in the middle of a gang fight. Police investigating his murder arrested a man aged 38 in Preston, Lancashire, on Tuesday.

Chief Supt James said there had been 300 separate arrests in the Green Lanes area for carrying guns, theft and other offences since the death of Mr Dogan. Military assault weapons including AK47s have been seized.

Date rape drug campaign launched

East Anglia Daily News

February 27, 2003 05:32

A CAMPAIGN designed to stamp out the dangers of date rape druggings in nightspots has been launched in Essex.

Members of Essex's Pub and Club Watch gathered at Route nightclub in Colchester to launch the venture which hopes to raises awareness of the risk of leaving drinks unattended in bars and clubs.

Two Essex schoolboys have designed "Spike", a green hedgehog figure, which is distributed to all the clubs and bars within the group and staff then attach it to the rim of customers' glasses.

The 'Spikes' remind drinkers "Don't give Spike the chance! Look after your drink".

Route club owner Edward Bar, said: "There have been allegations of drink spiking at Route, which is partly the reason why we are going as far as this.

"It's difficult with a young and trendy bar to keep bad elements out. It is important that we keep doing things to contribute to trying to get rid of it. I think 'Spike' is a very good idea. I've spoken to various customers about the launch of the campaign and it has been warmly welcomed, particularly by females, who are the main target of these attacks."

In particular, the campaign wants to raise awareness of the drugs Rohypnol and GHB, a form of liquid ecstasy. Both drugs are colourless and tasteless when dissolved, which makes it very difficult to detect if a drink has been spiked.

Rapists favour them because the side effects of both include short-term memory loss, which makes it very difficult for victims to press charges. Victims are often left with only hazy memories of the assault.

Michael Aitchison , chief licensing officer for Essex, said: "This is primarily a public demonstration to promote drink spiking awareness, which has been organised by Essex Pub and Club Watch."

Stuart Attenborrow, owner of Henley's Nightclub in the town, added: "I think 'Spike' is a great idea and we will be implementing it at the club. I previously advised staff at Henley's to keep a watchful eye out for such things."

If you wanted an example of irresponsible reporting on date-rape this would be it. Especially the inaccurate description of GHB as "liquid ecstasy."

Pub customers face random drug testing
By Lorna McVicars
A Borehamwood bar took action against cocaine use on its premises last week, with the help of Hertfordshire police's new drug-testing machine.

At Woods bar, in Shenley Road, last Wednesday evening, 14 police officers tested 148 people and searched the 27 who gave positive readings for recent contact with drugs. One person was arrested and cautioned for possessing cocaine.

Hertfordshire Constabulary set up the portable Itemiser machine inside the entrance to Woods, and customers had to be tested to enter. The £35,000 machine, one of two in the county, was set to test for cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamine and ecstasy, although it can identify 200 different drugs and explosives.

A cloth was wiped across the palm of each customer and put into the Itemiser to measure, within 10 seconds, any contact with drugs. A positive reading is used to indicate someone may have drugs on them.

Woods' manager Hayley Withers said drug-taking was not welcome at the bar, and added: "There has been evidence of people taking drugs here I think it is cocaine. At the end of the day, people have to realise it is not good for them, especially when they are drinking."

Woods agreed, at a recent Pubwatch meeting between licensees and police, to become the first premises in Borehamwood to use the machine, and police plan to use it at other venues in the town.

Sgt Nat Landau, of Hertsmere's community police team, said: "The mixture of alchohol and drugs makes people unpredictable."

Insp Dave Rankin said: "Hertfordshire is not soft on drugs."

He added: "We have now got a machine which we can use in the pubs and is fully portable. We can use it randomly and when we get information that drugs are being dealt or used in any premises we will go down there.

"It is a deterrent. If people are going to pubs, and they are not going to know when or where we are going to be using the machine, they will think twice before going out and having drugs with them or using drugs."