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· Owners protest innocence and seek compensation
· Tourists cancel trips to party island

Guardian: 10.7.07

Police have accused a number of high-profile clubs of openly tolerating drug-dealing and consumption. Photograph: Andrew Carruth/Alamy

A crackdown on Ibiza's drug-fuelled night-life has seen closure notices served on some of the world's most famous dance clubs and brought a disastrous start to the holiday island's summer season.
The Amnesia, Bora Bora and DC-10 clubs were all given orders to close for a month or more after police accused them of tolerating drug-dealing and consumption among clubbers.

The closures, which were accompanied by fines, have reportedly led to clubbers from Britain and elsewhere cancelling trips to the island.

Between them the three clubs attract upwards of 7,000 people every night as the island off Spain's east coast becomes the global capital of clubbing during the summer months.
Amnesia, one of the biggest and best-known venues on the island, is now open for business again after being banned from opening for the first month of its summer season. Bora Bora is due to reopen this week while DC-10 is reportedly fighting closure through the courts.

All the clubs have protested their innocence and are demanding compensation from the authorities for loss of earnings.

Amnesia said its programme for preventing drug trafficking and consumption on the premises had been chosen as a model for discotheques and clubs across Spain. "This is a huge blow to our prestige, and that of the islands, gained over three decades of hard-work," it said.

The controversial closures came as local authorities attempted to crack down on a holiday drug culture that has shown signs of spiralling out of control following shootouts between British trafficking gangs last summer.

Two innocent British bystanders were injured when shooting broke out between the gangs in the resort town of Sant Antoni de Portmany. In previous summers Ibiza has also suffered bad publicity after the deaths of foreign clubbers were linked to the liquid ecstasy drug.

Some half a million British people visit Ibiza every year, many attracted by the all-night partying offered by the island's world-famous clubs.

The recent closures followed two years of police investigations. The local Diario de Ibiza newspaper reported that, in an investigation of numerous clubs, undercover officers found one unnamed club even had what they termed "snorting cabins" where clubbers could consume their drugs.

The cabins reportedly came complete with a ledge and a lock and were found to be full of traces of cocaine, hashish and blood-stained handkerchiefs.

The government delegate in the Balearic islands, Ramón Socías said the measures came after club owners failed to react to a series of meetings with officials.

Clubs should crack down on dealers and users by policing the inside of their premises themselves, he suggested.

"It is obvious that, after such meetings, some sort of measures needed to be taken," he said.

"We are acting with great energy against the entry of these substances into the islands but we cannot get everything. The proof of that is in the way that there continues to be consumption in public places."

Club owners have complained that the closure orders, which a local court later said should not have been enforced immediately, were a threat to the local economy. British clubs have leapt to the defence of their counterparts in Ibiza.

"Ibiza makes the vast majority of its money during the summer season, and closing three of its biggest tourist attractions will have a terrible impact both on the seasonal workers, who travel from around the world, and the locals who rely on the industry," the Ministry of Sound club said on its website.

"The harsh decision also fails to reflect the reality that, while there are always some drugs in clubs, the experience of Ibiza for a vast majority of visitors is a safe and positive one. Even in the midst of crowds of thousands at, say, Amnesia, it is rare to see any serious trouble."

The Diario de Ibiza reported over the weekend that security guards at one club on the island had handed a British drug dealer over to police in recent days.

The Guardian: 10.7.07

Crystal meth, predicted by some to become Britain's deadliest drug, has so far failed to take off in the UK because cocaine remains so cheap and popular, according to senior police officers. The latest official assessment of the impact of the powerful stimulant in Britain says that it is a "slowly fermenting problem" and that there are no signs of the crystal meth epidemic predicted by some newspapers.

An official intelligence assessment for the Association of Chief Police Officers says virtually every force around the country has reported instances of crystal methamphetamine use. According to the report it is making inroads into the gay clubbing scene, among a small number of women who are using it as an appetite suppressant, and within some east European communities. But so far crystal-meth related arrests, seizures and requests for treatment have remained minimal.

Detective Sergeant Andy Waite, who co-ordinates national intelligence on the drug, has told Druglink, the Drugscope charity magazine, that it has yet to take off in Britain: "We are not seeing a great deal in terms of manufacture. There are certainly no signs of an epidemic. It is a slowly fermenting problem."

Martin Barnes, chief executive of Drugscope, said: "The good news about crystal meth use is that it is still relatively rare in the UK. The bad news is that one reason is because we have a significant and profitable market for cocaine and crack cocaine. It is right that the police are vigilant so that hopefully any tipping point where crystal meth use takes off can be avoided."

Crystal meth, or ice, gives users a huge rush followed by feelings of euphoria, but regular use causes sleeplessness, paranoia, and mental health problems such as psychosis. The spectacular highs eventually hamper the brain's production of dopamine - the feel good chemical - so users become increasingly dependent on the drug to feel normal. It is now a big problem in the US, parts of Europe, Australia and east Asia.

DS Waite said the cheapness and popularity of cocaine was a key reason why it had not taken off. If the price of cocaine went up it would make it easier to grab some of the recreational drug market.

Comment: Ironically, the tone of this article is almost one of dissappointment that, despite the media, the police and drugs agencies hyping meth like mad, it's failed to catch on. Roll on the next scare, eh?

The Observer: 8.7.06

The health risks of cannabis are so great that it should now be reclassified as a class B drug, carrying much greater penalties for possession and trafficking, says David Cameron's new blueprint for dealing with Britain's growing addiction problems.

The Tory leader has been convinced by emerging evidence that a strong form of the drug, skunk, is causing an epidemic of mental health disorders. A report being published this week by a Conservative policy commission will confront the issue, recommending an upgrading of the drug to class B, as well as arguing the case for a complete transformation of addiction treatment in Britain.

This comes as Labour and the Tories go head to head on the issue of social breakdown, with both parties competing to show they have solutions that would strengthen families and prevent antisocial behaviour.

Ed Balls, the new Secretary of State for Schools, Children and the Family, is this week expected to announce new measures on parenting amid concern that too many children are being left to grow up in rootless and unstable environments.

The former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who heads the commission, will produce his report, entitled Breakthrough Britain, on Tuesday. He has looked at the costs of social breakdown and will propose a series of measures to tackle issues such as addiction, and also to strengthen the family and protect children.

One of the key measures will be a new 'treatment tax' on drink which would be used to provide an increase of £400m on the amount spent on treatment and recovery programmes for both alcoholics and addicts. The tax - which could see an increase of around three per cent on alcohol, adding 25p to the cost of a bottle of whisky - would not go straight into the Treasury as VAT and excise duty does, but would instead be set aside for medical treatment.

Speaking to The Observer yesterday, Duncan Smith said: 'We know now that cannabis is incredibly dangerous as a drug. For years people have been allowed to get away with this rather loose and wishy-washy idea that in the Sixties we took it and it didn't matter. But in the Sixties it was a much less potent drug, and now they have this stuff that is home-grown, which is at least 12 times more powerful.'

He added: 'The real effect is on young kids who take it. We regularly have kids who take it at the age of 11 or 12. If your brain is growing, you can kiss goodbye to that - by the time you are 16 or 17 you will be in a psychotic state. It is an enormously dangerous drug, but a lot of middle-class families don't see that.'

The government downgraded the drug to a class C in 2004 after concern that police were spending too much time arresting people for cannabis possession rather than focusing on tackling harder drugs. Although possession is still a criminal offence, in practice, this means that most adults found with the drug are let off with a warning,

A Home Office review in 2006 decided there was no need to change the classification, despite the changing medical advice. The Home Office has pointed to a decline in the number of people using cannabis which they believe is linked to the fact that they downgraded the drug.

However, it is undeniable that the health effects are worsening. In 2005, 10,000 11 to 17-year-olds were treated for cannabis use - 10 times the number a decade ago. Plants are increasingly cultivated to include high levels of the active ingredient of cannabis, THC, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which encourages addiction and which causes a range of symptoms, from short-term memory loss, anxiety and panic attacks to triggering schizophrenia.

Duncan Smith said the slogan 'war on drugs... should be binned because that sends the wrong signals. It is not a war on drugs. It is about getting kids off drugs.'

Reclassification had to be linked to a proper treatment programme which offered people the chance of complete abstinence, rather than focusing on harm reduction.

The report suggests that too many people are now 'parked on substitute drugs' such as methadone, rather than being given the chance of complete rehabilitation.

Comment: Well this should be interesting. Policy originally endorsed by Cameron now being overturned by IDS. All very strange. This report comes at an interesting time. By the looks of it, the Tories will advocate reclassification of cannabis and increased abstinence-based policies, and more robust anti-drugs education in school. And by getting this report out now they'll bounce any announcements on drug strategy that may come out from the Labour party in the next few weeks. But either Labour gets bounced in to opposing the Tory proposals, or they echo them. The former will polarise the drugs debate, the latter, would be damaging for drugs practice as we take a politically driven lurch to the right.

Martin Barnes of Drugscope must be feeling very disappointed - he put a lot of faith and hope that the Conservatives under Cameron would provide some new, evidence based drugs policy. But as ever, political expediency will lead the way. The Tory drug policy is about to take three steps back. Labour will take at least two. So the drug strategy, despite the hopes of Transform and others, will jump to the right. The war on drugs is not over. It's gaining new weapons and powers and will be rebranded. Watch this space.

Gran wins cannabis home use row

6.6.07: bbc

A grandmother convicted of growing cannabis at her Northumberland cottage, can continue using the drug at home.
Patricia Tabram, 68, from Humshaugh, was found guilty in March of possessing and cultivating cannabis, which she says is used for pain relief. Her landlord, Milecastle Housing, said she was in breach of her tenancy agreement and threatened to evict her. But after a court hearing in Newcastle, Mrs Tabram was told she could continue to use cannabis treatments in her home.

However, Milecastle Housing warned that if Mrs Tabram was convicted for either cultivating or supplying the drug in the next two years, she would be evicted. Mrs Tabram claimed the decision was a victory for her way of life.

She said she would continue to take cannabis medicinally - but would no longer attempt to cultivate the drug at home. Mrs Tabram appeared at Newcastle County Court, after the housing association sought permission to evict her for breaching her tenancy agreement. Bill Tebay, chief executive of Milecastle Housing, said after the hearing: "If she is convicted of supply or cultivation, we will take action. "The judgement as it stands means that we will not be taking action if she uses cannabis in her premises. But it is important to note that this judgement is specific to her and that Milecastle Housing have got a very specific policy about illegal use of drugs in its premises."

Mrs Tabram said: "I will be taking my medicine five times a day to be pain free 24 hours a day. That means I don't have to go down the route of using two walking sticks, having a neck brace or having to be looked after by home helps."

Mrs Tabram was arrested in 2005 when police raided her bungalow.

She was in breach of a six-month suspended jail sentence when officers, acting on a tip-off, found cannabis plants and growing equipment in a walk-in wardrobe.

She was subsequently convicted at Carlisle Crown Court.

Comment: The coverage here is a bit skewed - I'm guessing that the court did not grant possession, even though there was a clear breach of tenancy. I'm assuming that the court suggested that production or supply would warrant granting possession but straight consumption wouldn't. This is useful as it suggests that where use is taking place, a court will hesitate to grant possession where the tenant is vulnerable.

From the landlords point of view it is useful too - the Landlord is probably safe for prosecution under S8 as they can argue that they were willing to use all measures available to them. So all very useful from a S8(d) point of view.

Movie wildgirl Lindsay Lohan, 20, is just one of the stars hooked on hillbilly heroin - the painkiller oxycodone which has caused the deaths of hundreds of US abusers. The drug we bought is the virtually identical spasmo proxyvon - also known as "blues" - which contains an opium-style chemical.

It is unlicensed in Britain but in less than an hour we visited three shops and bought enough to get high for a week - spending less than £10.

The drug is brought in from India - where it is sold under prescription to treat colic pain. But addicts break open the capsules to dissolve the contents in water and inject it into their veins heroin-style to give them a high lasting up to eight hours.

We were tipped off by a father furious that the drugs are on sale near his home. He said: "What's the difference between selling these things from a shop and being a street drug dealer?" At STORE No 1, the Sira Cash & Carry in Southall, west London, our investigator asked the Asian shopkeeper for "neela" - the Punjabi term for spasmo.

The man said: "Yes, we have it" and handed over a blister pack of eight capsules for £2.50. A mum and her child queued to pay for milk and sweets as the deal was done.

At STORE No 2, the nearby Western Cash & Carry, the investigator was charged £2. When our man asked: "How come you sell cheaper?" the shop worker replied from behind a counter stacked with sweets: "That's just the price we sell at."

The price down the road at STORE No 3, JK Cash & Carry, was £2.50. A woman served us in a shop crammed with fruit, vegetables, frozen food, wines and spirits.

It is believed spasmo is mailed from India by contacts or brought in by visiting relatives and friends.

Hillbilly heroin got its name from the remote towns in America's Appalachian Mountains where addicts die of overdoses or by mixing the drug - legal in the US - with booze.

Lindsay Lohan went into rehab to conquer her habit. Other stars said to have been in the drug's grip include Winona Ryder and Courtney Love.

Dr Nicholas Padfield, consultant in pain medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, London, said: "I am horrified it should be available so easily. If people are stupid enough to put something as deadly in their body, then God help them."

Government watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency promised to investigate when told of The People's findings.

See Archive for earlier stories

Leap in crack deaths in north-east of Scotland

Paul Kelbie
Sunday July 1, 2007
The Observer

In an area where drugs are a fact of life, the discovery of two bodies in a squalid harbourside flat would probably have been regarded as little more than yet another tragic sign of the times.
However, one of the victims was a former beauty queen from a respectable family, and the reality of a growing problem permeating all levels of society was brought home with a vengeance.

In less than two years Saranna Buchan turned from a popular, vivacious young woman into a down-trodden crack addict controlled by a violent drug-dealing boyfriend 20 years her senior. When police found her battered body and that of her lover, 41-year-old James Logan, two weeks ago shockwaves swept through the 18,000-strong coastal community of Peterhead. A good family and loving home had been no protection against this modern plague.

First Minister Alex Salmond, whose constituency covers Peterhead, last week called for a cross-party approach to end the 'scourge of drugs', which he said was sadly indicative of a problem facing the whole of Scotland.
As police continue their investigations into the apparent murder of Buchan and the suicide of Logan, who had a criminal record for violence, Graeme Pearson, the director-general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), admitted crack cocaine was a serious problem in the north east.

'Crack cocaine is a particular problem for the north-east of Scotland. Around Aberdeen there's been regular difficulty with the drug for a couple of years now,' Pearson said.

In Aberdeen the number of cocaine users is estimated to have soared by more than 600 per cent in the last few years as dealers have targeted the oil-rich city and neighbouring communities. Organised gangs from as far as London have been working hard over the last few years to carve out a new niche market.

'These people are making vast profits dealing in misery,' said a police source. 'They can sell their drugs in the Aberdeen area for up to five times the prices they are getting in London.'

Health officials in Grampian have been fighting to stem the tide by offering crack users a range of alternative remedies, such as acupuncture, reflexology and aromatherapy, along with advice and medical treatment to help them beat the drug.

It is estimated that of the 4,000 heroin addicts registered in Aberdeen, about 95 per cent of them now also use crack.

Once their customers are hooked, the dealers are able to sit back and watch profits soar in an area where it has been calculated that the trade is worth more than £10m a week.

Outside the city the drugs plague has spread along the coast to fishing towns and villages such as Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

In Fraserburgh Dr Sandy Wisley, who has described the problem as 'the slow strangulation of a community and way of life', claims there has been a dramatic rise in patients with heroin and cocaine problems. Doctors such as Wisley are treating people whose heart rates are up at 190 beats per minute after crack binges.

'Crack cocaine is becoming a big problem,' he said. 'If people think heroin is a problem, just wait till crack really gets a hold. It is one of the worst drugs known to man.'

Despite Grampian police recording a 700 per cent increase in seizures of crack cocaine, with a street value of nearly £900,000, last year drug deaths in the region more than doubled to 48.

'It is a tragedy that 48 people died of overdoses from illegal drugs in 2006 and this figure must be one of the highest on record,' said Brian Adam, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen North.

'I am particularly concerned about the increase of crack cocaine dealing in the area and even though the police have made recent large seizures of drugs, this does not seem to have hampered this disgusting trade.'

However, according to the SCDEA, which has had a number of major successes in recent months, not least the seizure of 150kg of heroin valued at £12.5m in a raid in Glasgow on Thursday, there are signs things may be getting better across the country.

'We are involved in a war for life, not a war against drugs,' said Pearson.

'There are signs of changing behaviour. The health service reported four years ago that the number of problematic drug abusers in Scotland was 55,000. Currently it's just over 50,000. So something is happening. Whether it's a blip or a trend, we'll need to wait and see.

'I think there's been a change in young people, who are now more concerned about their well-being and health, so I'd like to think that we can work on that by giving them the information and the necessary knowledge to make their own decisions and begin to squeeze the demand end of it.

'Enforcement on its own isn't going to work. Education and prevention on their own aren't going to work. But if we combine all three as part of a full strategy I think we can get a grip on the problem.'

See Archive for earlier stories

See Archive for earlier stories

Evening Courier: 2.7.07

A WOMAN who allowed cannabis to be smoked at home has been fined.
Pauline Wilkinson, 41, of Furness Drive, Mixenden, Halifax, admitted allowing the smoking of cannabis to take place on May 8.

Andy Wills, prosecuting, told Calderdale magistrates cannabis resin and bush, plus scales and cash, were found at her home.

"She admitted she allowed other members of her family to smoke cannabis," Mr Wills said. Maggie Wood, for Wilkinson, also said Wilkinson used the class C drug to help ease back pain. "She says she would prefer them to be in the house smoking rather than out on the streets. "It's nothing more sinister than that."

Magistrates ordered her to pay a £100 fine plus costs.

See Archive for earlier stories

Five other videos which got their stars into trouble
A group of boys have been excluded from the prestigious school which Tony Blair’s children attended after a film of them apparently taking drugs was posted on the internet.

The teenage pupils of the London Oratory school are said to have put a clip on the popular video-sharing website YouTube in which they appear to be smoking cannabis.

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It was reportedly watched by other pupils over the internet and after staff found out about it, several boys believed to be involved in the video were immediately excluded by the school’s headmaster, David McFadden.

He confirmed on Tuesday: “Several pupils were excluded as a result of drug allegations. The cases are still being considered under due process so it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

Seven 15-year-old boys are said to have been permanently excluded over the YouTube video. Some have appealed against the decision and will discover the outcome next week.

The Oratory, a Catholic school in Fulham, south-west London, is renowned as one of the capital’s best state schools. It has almost 1,400 pupils, most of whom are boys although girls are admitted to the sixth form.

Former Prime Minister Mr Blair sent his sons Euan and Nicky there, while his daughter Kathryn recently completed her A-levels at the school.

The school’s rules state: “The possession of cigarettes and the possession or consumption of alcohol by pupils while they are under the jurisdiction of or representing the school, will be regarded as serious misdemeanours for which a pupil might expect to be excluded from school.

“The possession of drugs (other than those prescribed by a medical practitioner or non-prescription drugs being used for proper medical purposes) or other illegal substances will be regarded as very serious offences, for which a pupil might expect to be excluded permanently.”

In 2000, Euan Blair was reprimanded by police for being “drunk and incapable” after celebrating the end of his GCSEs in Leicester Square. But he was made deputy head boy at the school less than a year later.

Comment: Hard to see which is more stupid here, the young people posting on You Tube or the school's response. It's a close run thing!

Thames Valley Police wanted the home of Tina Lee, of Hamlet Street, to be closed as they believed it was being used by drug dealers. However,District Judge Andrew Vickers rejected the order, saying there was not enough evidence to support a closure.

Defending solicitor Sukhy Sanghera told Maidenhead Magistrates Court on Tuesday that most of the evidence given by investigating officer PC Robert Crawford was only third party information and could not be substantiated. Details in PC Crawford's evidence included reports that drug dealers were seen going into the property, black and silver wraps were found outside the house,and people could smell cannabis near the home.

However PC Crawford admitted the information was gathered from intelligence police had received from third parties and some reports had not been investigated further.

Ms Sanghera said: "The witnesses that have given the evidence cannot be present and the information that they have provided cannot be corroborated."

Thames Valley Police officer PC Gary Campion told the court that during a drugs raid on the house on April 18 this year no illegal substances were found.

When asked by Ms Sanghera why drugs needles found at the home were not taken by the police as evidence,PC Campion said they could not remove them due to health and safety risks. He said: "We did not have a sharps box with us at the time so we could not take them away."

Delivering his verdict, District Judge Vickers said he could only grant a closure if there was evidence that the premises was being used for unlawful use of drugs and if there was a serious nuisance to the public.

Outside court Inspector Charlie Winter, who covers the northern half of Bracknell Forest, said: "We will continue with our efforts to bring stability to the neighbour-hood in which this has taken place."