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National and International news: The headlines below are for national and international news stories. They are collected from a variety of news sources, and most recent stories are posted at the top of this list. Archived news stories can be viewed by clicking the Archive buttons below.
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Regional News Stories: Please click on a region of the map to view news stories for that area. These stories have been collated from regional press sources and no responsibility is taken for the accuracy or content of these pieces.
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Those ongoing cannabis raids: KFx cannabis totaliser: 20000+ plants in 2007 so far we're bored of running every news story regarding cannabis raids so we thought it would be easier to keep a running total here..
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Prosecute
parents for letting under-15s have alcohol, says charity Parents should be prosecuted
if they give alcohol to children under 15, even if it is only with a meal
in their own home, a charity said yesterday. It made the recommendation among a number of proposals to cut child drinking which highlighted recent figures revealing that the amount of alcohol consumed by 11- to 13-year-olds has soared. But the government dismissed
the sanction on parents as difficult to enforce and not necessarily effective,
while drink producers and other campaigners said it would not stop binge
drinking and could create more problems. Alcohol Concern said its report, Glass Half Empty, showed not enough was being done to protect children from alcohol. Other measures it called for included a 16% increase in alcohol taxes and a ban on TV advertising of alcohol before the 9pm watershed. Raising the age to 15 would "send a message to parents that underage consumption is an important issue". Srabani Sen, its chief executive, said: "Binge drinking by children can have serious consequences for brain function, significantly raises risk of alcohol dependency in later life, and diminishes their life chances." The idea that giving youngsters even small amounts of drink with meals at home was acceptable was based on the mistaken belief that alcohol was safe for children. "The younger you are when you start drinking alcohol, the more likely you are to end up having problems with alcohol later on in life," Ms Sen told the BBC. David Poley, chief executive of the Portman Group, said continental Europe did not suffer from binge drinking problems despite the fact that many children there were allowed moderate amounts of alcohol in a controlled way. Alcohol Concern's proposal did not tackle unsupervised drinking by children in places such as parks. "It should be left to parents to decide when to allow their children to drink," he said. Caroline Flint, the public health minister, told the BBC: "I don't think passing a law to ban alcohol for those under 15 would be enforceable or necessarily effective." Figures published by the NHS in November showed that girls aged 11-13 who had drunk alcohol in the previous week consumed an average of eight units in 2006, compared with less than five in 2000, while for boys the figure increased from eight to 12 units.
Child
drink ban 'a step too far' But Alcohol Focus Scotland fears that putting alcohol completely out of bounds could make it more tempting. The charity favours the continental approach of educating children's palates responsibly. The voluntary organisation claims this could help change Scotland's drinking culture by encouraging respect for alcohol. Alcohol Concern expressed its views in a report on the UK Government's Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy. The English charity wants parents who give alcohol to children aged under 15 to be prosecuted, and wants the ban to include meal times at home. It has carried out a study which suggests there has been a steep rise in alcohol consumption among children, especially girls, over the past six years. But Alcohol Focus Scotland chief executive Jack Law said it did not have an issue with parents giving a child a "very, very" small amount of alcohol in the right context, such as a dinner party. "This is about responsible parenting," he said. "What is important is that adults understand the facts and the issues affecting alcohol. "People obviously enjoy drinking but they need to do it in a responsible fashion and show children how to drink responsibly." Mr Law also questioned how such a ban would be enforced. Meanwhile, a supermarket chain is to stop selling alcohol to people who look under 25 unless they can produce ID. Asda is introducing the trial scheme at a number of Scottish stores. Alcohol Concern Press Release at: http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/servlets/doc/1189 |
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| Warning
on legal dance drug that experts say can kill
· Health Loophole in
law allows BZP to be sold as 'fertiliser' Rupert Neate
It is not illegal to take BZP but sales to the public are banned because it is registered as a prescription medicine. However, a loophole in the law allows retailers to sell the drug marked "not for consumption" as a soil fertiliser. It can also be legally imported into Britain from foreign websites, mostly operating from New Zealand, where it is a multimillion-dollar industry and 20% of the population have taken the drug, which is sold under names such as Pep Twisted, Legal E, Nemesis and Euphoria. The Home Office is reviewing the safety of BZP after the joint Europol and European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) report called for an urgent risk assessment to be carried out. If the assessment, which will be released in June, finds the drug to be dangerous it could be banned throughout the European Union. If the drug is not banned by the EU, the Home Office could add BZP to the list of substances controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act. A report published in the Lancet today describes one weekend in May last year when seven BZP users were admitted to St Thomas' hospital in London suffering from seizures, abnormal heart rates and anxiety. It describes the case of an 18-year-old who bought tablets from a dealer in a nightclub thinking they were ecstasy or amphetamines. She collapsed after taking five of them and appeared to have a seizure lasting 10 minutes. When she arrived at hospital her pupils were dilated, her heart was racing and her body temperature and blood pressure had plummeted. She was treated in hospital with tranquillisers and within 12 hours had recovered and was discharged. The paper says that standard medical tests may not pick up BZP, and warns it is potentially life-threatening. One of the report's authors, John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's hospital in London, told the Guardian: "We have no real idea how widespread the use of this drug is, as it is rarely reported. But it is quite clear it should be a controlled drug." Originally designed as a cattle wormer, the drug is considered so dangerous by US authorities that it is classified as schedule one, the same category as heroin. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs discussed the legal status of BZP in November but no action was taken. Phil Willis, chairman of the Commons science and technology select committee, said: "BZP gives the government the perfect chance to play new drugs with a straight bat. They should look into the harm they cause and give drug users proper information about the drug. It is then up to the criminal justice system to decide how illegal the drug should be based on criminality." The European report lists a series of deaths and serious injuries linked to the drug, including a 23-year-old Swiss woman who took BZP together with ecstasy and drank more than 10 litres of water. She died of hyponatraemia, or water poisoning. The report also gives anecdotal evidence that BZP was used in an alleged drug-induced rape case in Britain. The authors of the report are concerned that many of the injuries caused by the stimulant may go unreported because it is not routinely tested for and clubbers are unlikely to tell doctors they have taken it. Last month the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency announced a crackdown on the sale of the drug, warning retailers that they could face up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine. But despite several raids by the agency and police, including the seizure of 64,900 tablets from a car in London, online shops are still selling thousands of pills a day. Lesley King, a former head of the drugs intelligence unit and a British adviser to the European report, said that whether BZP is controlled by the Medicines Act "is a legally interesting point. If people sell it as a medicine it is illegal, but if it is sold as something else, like a soil fertiliser, it is not necessarily illegal. The courts would have to decide on a case-by-case basis." 'Its legal status is a big reason for people taking it' "You feel very racy when you're high on it, your heart beats a lot. It gives you really loved-up feelings and mild euphoria. It also gives you an insane appreciation for music, though only music with a solid beat. "When I took it, I noticed I was talking at crazy speeds and probably annoying everyone else around me. I also felt very dreamy and trippy, and space and time seemed to distort, although I didn't get any actual hallucinations." Lewis and his friends, who have taken both BZP and ecstasy, say that the highs provided are somewhat similar, but Lewis is wary of taking ecstasy tablets. "If you get caught with lots of BZP on you, you'll get a slapped wrist, but if you get caught with loads of MDMA [ecstasy] you'll be charged with possession and intent to supply a class A substance, which could result in a life prison sentence and an unlimited fine. So from a legal standpoint it's still far preferable. "I didn't like the insane raciness and the dirty feel the BZP high provides, so I wouldn't choose it over other drugs. "But I would imagine the legal status and its availability is the main reason people take it."
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| Flu
remedies could be restricted amid crystal meth fears
Guardian Unlimited: 25.4.07 The sale of nearly 90 over-the-counter flu remedies could be restricted in an attempt to stop them from being used to produce the highly addictive drug crystal meth. The government's medicines watchdog is considering making medicines containing certain decongestants prescription only, because police warn they are being used to manufacture methylamphetamine, known as crystal meth or ice. If the move went ahead, millions of consumers would have to go to their GP to get the 88 popular brand-name cold and flu remedies, including 18 made by Boots, eight by Sudafed and three by Lemsip. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is also examining whether to reduce the pack size of flu and cold remedies containing the decongestants pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. More than 10 million packs of medicines containing pseudoephedrine are sold in the UK every year, with sales amounting to £40.1m last year, according to the Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB), which represents manufacturers of branded over-the-counter medicines. Police concerns about the use of these medicines to manufacture crystal meth were raised yesterday in parliament by the health minister, Caroline Flint. In a Commons written answer she said the Serious Organised Crime Agency had advised that the availability of crystal meth in the UK was "increasing", with rising numbers of illegal laboratories manufacturing the drug. "The police have identified, in specific cases, that multiple packs of particular pharmacy pseudoephedrine-containing products had been purchased and used in the illicit manufacture of methylamphetamine," she said. "They have also identified that, in part, these packs were obtained from numerous pharmacies to obtain adequate quantities for manufacturing. "If methylamphetamine did secure a hold in the UK, the consequences would undoubtedly be very serious." But the pharmaceutical industry opposes making these products prescription only, claiming it would be a disproportionate response given the limited problem of cystal meth use in the UK. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, which alerted pharmacists across Britain in January about the possible misuse of flu remedies containing pseudoephedrine, proposes that shoppers should only be allowed to buy one pack of 12 tablets at a time. The society's director of quality and practice improvement, David Pruce, said: "That actually makes it very difficult to build up a large enough stock to produce methylamphetamine on a commercial scale." Mr Pruce said unlike the USA, where such medicines could previously be bought in bulk from any store, medicines containing pseudoephedrine are only available for sale from registered pharmacies in the UK. He said: "Pharmacists are used to selling products that are abused. Coedine linctus - a cough medicine - is a weak narcotic that heroin addicts can try to consume in large quantities to get a buzz. Laxatives are abused by anorexics. There's not as much awareness that pseudoephedrine could be easily converted, but restricting the amount that can be sold will make pharmacists more alert." But the British Medical Association backed moves to make the 88 remedies prescription only, adding that there were other significant health risks associated with products containing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. A spokesman said: "Many GPs do not in general wish to support the use of pseudoephedrine and believe there are much safer alternatives which they would recommend. There is a risk of dangerous interactions with pseudoephedrine, particularly with drugs used to treat high blood pressure." A spokeswoman for Boots advised any concerned customers to speak to one of its pharmacists. The Home Office reclassified crystal meth as a Class A drug in January. A highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system, it can cause serious physical and psychological harm. When smoked in its crystalline form it produces effects similar to, but longer lasting than, those of crack cocaine. Evidence suggests chronic use can lead to psychosis, including paranoia and violent behaviour. |
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Is
meth abuse a UK problem? The use of methamphetamine
- commonly known as "crystal meth" or "ice" - could
be spreading in the UK. In an attempt to limit the potential for harm, the government recently reclassified methamphetamine as a class A drug - which means it is easier for experts to monitor its use. And pharmacies may be banned from selling some cold common medicines which contain ingredients that can be used to "cook up" methamphetamine in kitchen laboratories, the government has said. So is the UK on the brink of
a new drug abuse epidemic? As part of their online Methamphetamine Watch, Coca received 56 reports from drug clinicians - or users - from England, Wales and Scotland. What was once a drug limited to London nightclubs has now been reported in many towns including Torquay, Luton, Sunderland and Huddersfield. Most respondents to the survey said most people were smoking crystal meth - the most dangerous and addictive form of the drug. As well as being available in bars and clubs, it is also reportedly available through crack and amphetamine markets for £35-£75 a gram. Worryingly, the survey, which began in 2005, indicated users were suffering a wide range of mental health problems as well as heart problems and weight loss. Tony D'Agostino, from Coca, said: "We are seeing increased rates and more geographical locations - cities and rural areas. "It's definitely there and it's backed up by what the police are finding." He also warned problems may not yet be fully apparent, as it took several years for crack cocaine users to access treatment services - by which time the drug had become established. Simon Bray, methamphetamine lead for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said they were determined to stop the drug getting a "firm foothold in the UK". "Meth does not yet appear to be an established problem in the UK but, having examined the experience of other countries, there is every possibility that use of the drug could increase," he added. In the US, methamphetamine abuse is a huge problem, most notably in rural areas, with an estimated 12 million Americans having tried the drug at some point. New Zealand and Australia have also suffered steep rises in use. A 2004 report from the New Zealand Police Force reported the drug was easily available, was linked to domestic violence and crime, and was being used by a greater cross-section of society than previously thought. Users were also starting to inject methamphetamine. In 2005, the US Government introduced legislation to restrict pharmacy sales of cold medicines after methamphetamine laboratories were found in homes, cars, hotel rooms, and storage facilities. Risky sex Dr John Ramsey, toxicologist at St Georges Hospital in London, said he did not think methamphetamine would take off in the UK as it had in other countries because of widespread use of cocaine and amphetamine or 'speed'. Dr Ramsey runs a drug identification database and analyses the contents of drug amnesty boxes in nightclubs around the country. "In the course of doing that we have been looking for the occurrence of methamphetamine, but we don't see it. "There have maybe been two samples in 5,000." Professor David Nutt, professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Bristol and chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said there was the beginning of a problem in the UK and they wanted to "nip it in the bud". "We're trying to monitor what people think they are taking, and we hope we can get some more forensic intelligence." He added that countries in South East Asia had seen an increase in amphetamine related psychoses and in the US, as well as widespread problems of violence, use of the drug also lead to increasing problems with risky sexual behaviour. Dr Linda Harris works at a drug treatment centre in Wakefield and is director of the Royal College of GPs Substance Misuse unit. She said methamphetamine had not "come under her radar" yet but the government were right to take preventive action. "With the heroin and cocaine explosion we didn't really win those races. I would like to think we could avoid that happening again." |
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Between the lines New drug strategies must reflect
changing consumption patterns : Howard
Parker Today's report from the newly
launched independent UK Drugs Policy Commission will be yet another opportunity
missed to address the growing incoherence in England's drugs strategy.
It is hardly news that drugs prevention does not work and that UK youth
top the European drug use league table. The highlighting in the independent
report of widespread cannabis and cocaine use among young adults was helpful,
but if only it had made the consumption patterns of younger citizens its
centrepiece we could have had a more timely debate. Everything about English drugs policy is framed around coercing problem heroin-crack users into treatment in order to reduce volume crime. There is no doubt that we should focus on heroin users and their offending, but this politicised priority has drowned out other realities in terms of delivering treatment. Few young people now take up heroin and today's problem users are getting older. Even very damaged young people, who a decade ago would have turned to heroin, are now more likely to use alcohol and skunk (a strong type of cannabis), with cocaine use following. Under 18s substance misuse services are now dominated by ACCErs in most of the country. Until age 18, services can treat people with alcohol and/or drug issues. Outcomes are far better than in adult services where only about 10% of heroin-crack users leave treatment drug-free. However, once you're a young adult with a drinking and cocaine use problem, say, your chances of an accessible, competent service fall drastically. Most adult alcohol services cannot and will not deal with your drug problem. Most adult drug services will not and cannot deal with your drinking issues. Moreover, alcohol services are full of middle-aged drinkers and most drug services full of heroin-crack users on substitute methadone prescription. Young ACCErs do not see these services as appropriate. There has been no recognition of this changing alcohol-drugs profile by central government or its agencies. The most recent initiative has been compulsory drug testing for heroin and cocaine upon arrest in high-crime areas. The cocaine test was expected to identify crack users but is netting large numbers of young males who are cocaine powder users with no heroin use and little offending history. Here again we see the unintended consequences of the politicisation of drugs policy. I reviewed Northern Ireland's alcohol and drug strategies in 2005. The executive accepted the recommendation that the two strategies be merged. The ACCE profile dominates consumption patterns in Northern Ireland and a coherent strategic approach is now in place to respond to poly-substance use and create accessible generic substance services. This is what should happen in England. There is meant to be a new drugs strategy in 2008, but it is an integrated alcohol and drugs strategy that is required. While the management of the ageing heroin-crack users should be maintained, a new substance policy should drive the development of a second platform of provision competent to help and challenge the ACCE casualties. · Howard Parker is emeritus
professor in the School of Law, Manchester University |
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| Britain's
fight against drugs 'a total failure' Devastating report reveals soaring use among the young The Observer: 15.4.07
The report will be launched on Wednesday by the new UK Drugs Policy Commission, whose members include distinguished figures from the worlds of health, policing, drugs research and academia. They include David Blakey, a former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Annette Dale-Perera of the NHS-funded National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse and Professor Colin Blakemore, who leads the Medical Research Council. The study, 'An Analysis of UK Drugs Policy', has been written by two internationally respected experts, Professor Peter Reuter of Maryland University in the US and Alex Stevens, senior researcher at the European Institute of Social Services at Kent University. Their findings are a scathing indictment of decades of education, prevention and awareness-raising campaigns intended to warn youngsters about the perils of narcotics. The three main strategies into which successive governments have ploughed tens of millions of pounds - mass media campaigns such as 'heroin screws you up' in the 1980s, initiatives in schools aimed at pupils as young as seven and targeting of vulnerable groups - have made little or no difference, it says. 'Prevention is cited as the main policy area aiming to reduce drug initiation and continued use. The policy is predicated on the assumption that prevention efforts reduce drug use, but there is as yet no clear evidence showing that prevention has had this effect in the UK,' the authors conclude. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence recently drew similar conclusions about the usefulness of drugs prevention campaigns. 'It now seems that what might be termed "recreational" drug use has become firmly established as an experience that many young people will go through' because consumption of illicit substances is now so common in their age group, the document says. The failure to deter growing levels of drug use has contributed to Britain developing the most chronic drug problem in Western Europe, according to the report. The report cites an array of official statistics charting the steady growth in Britain's drugs culture. For example, according to the 2005 British Crime Survey, 40.4 per cent of 16 to 19-year-olds have used drugs at some point in their lifetime, as have 49 per cent of 20 to 24-year-olds, 51.6 per cent of 25 to 29-year-olds and 45.8 per cent of 30 to 34-year-olds. While cannabis use by young people has fallen recently, it remains around 50 per cent and consumption of cocaine has increased. The Home Office last night rejected the new body's findings. A spokesman said research showed that giving young people information about drugs, rather than adopting a 'just say no' approach, was a more effective way of warning them about the dangers. 'The British Crime Survey shows that drug use has fallen by 16 per cent since 1998 and drug use among adults has fallen by 21 per cent. We are determined to build on this progress by continuing to take more drugs off our streets, put more dealers behind bars and make sure young people are informed about the harms drugs cause', he said. But Peter Walker, a former secondary school head teacher who pioneered random drug testing at his school and is now a Whitehall adviser on drugs, last night agreed that government policy on drugs had not had enough of an impact. 'What has been done has not been as effective as the public or the government would like it to be,' he said. But while he accepted that 'methods of prevention are not good enough,' he dismissed the notion that prevention could not work. Danny Kushlick, director of the pro-legalisation Transform Drugs Policy Foundation, said the new study backed his view that attempts to discourage drug use were pointless. 'We know from evidence that misuse of drugs is related significantly to social ill-being and social deprivation. You cannot deal with that stuff with education and prevention or through teaching younger and younger children. You deal with it by redistributing wealth and improving wellbeing.' The full report or summary can be downloaded here: http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/reports.shtml |
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New evidence on date rape prompts call for drugs ban Government experts warn that drug-assisted assaults are now a significant problem The Guardian: 3.4.07 Ministers are to consider banning
two new "date rape" drugs, amid warnings from experts that the
true scale of sexual assaults assisted by drugs may be greater than official
figures suggest. The Home Office's advisory council on the misuse of drugs calls for the restriction of two substances which it says are being imported into Britain in increasing amounts from America, where they are illegal. Known as GBL and 1,4-B, they are sold legally in this country as industrial solvents and cleaners, but when ingested have a similar effect to the known date rape drug GHB, banned here in 2003. The advisory council says low doses are associated with increased libido, euphoria, suggestibility, passivity, and amnesia - rendering victims vulnerable to non-consensual sexual activity. Sir Michael Rawlins, its chairman, said drug-facilitated sexual assault was a particularly severe offence which wrecked people's lives: "It is a significant but under-reported problem. Most drugs used in drug-facilitated sexual assault are already controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, but we are concerned that two drugs are not currently controlled and will consider whether they should be classified. We will advise the Home Office by the end of the year." It is believed that Home Office ministers will act on any recommendation to impose a ban. Professor Rawlins said the problem had become so severe that young people should now be officially advised to avoid going alone to clubs, pubs or parties. The experts also want clubbers to be warned not to leave their drinks unattended, even to the point of keeping hold of them when they go to the toilet, to avoid the drink being "spiked". The council also urges ministers to re-examine at the law on drug-facilitated sexual assaults to take in "opportunistic" attacks as well as those pre-planned. The belief that reporting rates for such attacks are lower than the already poor reporting rates by victims of serious sexual assault generally undermines studies last year which concluded the media had overblown "date rape drugs". The Forensic Science Service found that 46% of 1,014 alleged drug-facilitated sexual assaults between 2000 and 2002 were actually down to alcohol. Illicit drugs were detected in 34% of cases, mostly cannabis or cocaine. GHB, banned in 2003, was used in only two cases in the sample. A Home Office police study found similar results. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, even if victims do report the attack, they may leave it longer than the 12 hours during which drugs such as GHB can reliably be detected in urine or blood. The warning comes as it is revealed that government funding for the £62m-a-year young people's drug and alcohol prevention and treatment programme is being cut by 10%. Martin Barnes, chief executive of the charity DrugScope, said the impact would be disastrous. Date
rape drugs 'under-reported' Last year separate research by police chiefs found evidence of date-rape drugs was over-stated. But in its report into drug-assisted sexual assault, the council said it had concerns over two types of drugs thought to be used in date-rape attacks. The first kind were sedatives which altered behaviour or caused memory loss. The second was a group of chemicals liable to lower inhibitions and increase libido. The council said there was emerging evidence of the second group of drugs being used in sexual assaults, including gamma-buterolactone and 1,4-butanediol. These are both used in legal cleaning fluids - but once ingested they have the same effect as a known date-rape drug, Gamma-hydroxy butyrate (GHB). GHB and Rohypnol, also suspected of use in date-rapes, are both Class C drugs. The council said it would re-examine the legal status of the two drugs named in its report. In its recommendations, the council said it recognised the "very significant role" played by alcohol in sexual assaults - but added that specific action was needed to deal with attackers who also relied on chemicals. Date-rape style offences should also be recorded separately by the police and appear in the British Crime Survey, said the council. It also called on police and hospitals to speed up the detection of the drugs because the chemicals can disappear from the body quickly enough to leave no trace of a crime. In a separate study published in 2006, senior police officers found that date-rape drugs may not be as prevalent as first thought. It found that many victims of sexual assault may have just been very drunk. Of 120 cases from November 2004 to October 2005, it said 12 were suspected drug-assisted assaults - but none was linked to the date-rape drug Rohypnol. The council analysed this research in its own report and found that in some cases there were clear delays between an incident and attempts to detect samples. And in 41 of the 62 instances where alcohol was detected, one or more controlled drugs were also present. Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, chair of the advisory council, said: "Drug facilitated sexual assault is a particularly disgusting offence that wrecks people's lives. It is a significant but under-reported problem. "Most drugs used in drug facilitated sexual assault are already controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, but we are concerned that two drugs are not currently controlled and will further consider whether they should be classified." A Home Office spokesman said it welcomed the report - but rejected the call to separately record drug-facilitated sexual assault in crime figures. "To flag those offences
thought to be 'drug facilitated' would be incredibly complex due to the
difficulty ascertaining those factors that caused a jury to find the defendant
guilty," said a spokesman. |
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| Opium
for the people: Extraordinary move to legalise poppy crops The 'IoS' can reveal Tony Blair is considering calls to legalise poppy production in the Taliban's backyard. The plan could cut medical shortages of opiates worldwide, curb smuggling - and hit the insurgents IOS: 1.4.07 The buds of millions of poppy flowers are swelling across Afghanistan. In the far southern provinces bordering Iran, the harvest will start later this month. By mid- May the fields around British military camps in Helmand will be ringing to the sound of scythes, rather than gunfire. And this year's opium harvest will almost certainly be the largest ever. In the five years since the overthrow of the Taliban regime, land under cultivation for poppy has grown from 8,000 to 165,000 hectares. The US wants to step up eradication programmes, crop-spraying from the air. But, desperate to win "hearts and minds" in Afghanistan and protect British troops, Tony Blair is on the brink of a U-turn that will set him on a collision course with President George Bush. The Prime Minister has ordered a review of his counter-narcotics strategy - including the possibility of legalising some poppy production - after an extraordinary meeting with a Tory MP on Wednesday, The Independent on Sunday has learnt. Tobias Ellwood, a backbencher elected less than two years ago, has apparently succeeded where ministers and officials have failed in leading Mr Blair to consider a hugely significant switch in policy. Supporters of the measure say it would not only curb an illegal drugs trade which supplies 80 per cent of the heroin on Britain's streets, but would hit the Taliban insurgency and help save the lives of British troops. Much of the legally produced drug could be used to alleviate a shortage of opiates for medicinal use in Britain and beyond, they say. A Downing Street spokesman confirmed last night that Mr Blair is now considering whether to back a pilot project that would allow some farmers to produce and sell their crops legally to drugs companies. His change of heart has surprised the Foreign Office, which recently denied that licit poppy production was being considered. A freedom of information request has revealed that the Government looked carefully at proposals to buy up Afghanistan's poppy crop as early as 2000, under the Taliban. The removal of that regime - justified to both US and British voters partly in terms of a victory in the "war on drugs" - has made it politically difficult to financially reward poppy farmers. But the links between drug warlords, terrorism and the Taliban are clear. Traffickers hold poor farmers in a form of bondage through the supply of credit, paid back in opium. Many of those fighting British troops during the winter months will return to their villages to harvest poppy crops in the spring and summer. The traffickers' huge profits help to fund the fight against Nato troops. The White House has consistently rejected the idea that opium could help to solve Afghanistan's chronic poverty. But there are clear signs of a shift in international opinion towards allowing a legal trade. Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, has said that "buying the crop is an idea we could explore". He added: "We would need money from the US or the UN. But we could buy the whole crop and destroy it. In that way the poor growers would not suffer." The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, who has opposed the idea in the past, is said privately to have changed his mind - as long as the international community takes on any licensing scheme. Campaigners who have been agitating for the change in policy point out that the opium, rather than being destroyed, could alleviate a worldwide shortage of medicinal opiates. Ministers recently admitted that the NHS is running short of diamorphine and codeine. Many developing countries, particularly in Africa, do not have adequate stocks of basic pain relief; campaigners refer to a "global pain crisis". Britain leads the £1bn-a-year international operation to wipe out poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. This country alone has spent almost £200m over the past four years on efforts to eradicate poppy fields and persuade farmers to grow other crops. Meanwhile, in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold, poppy production rose 169 per cent last year alone, according to official UN figures. Some 400,000 Afghans are thought to be engaged in the trade, which dwarfs the country's official GDP. Last year Afghanistan produced 92 per cent of the world's opium, worth almost $3bn. Counter-narcotic operations by the Afghan government are considered at best ineffective and at worst corrupt, as local politicians order the destruction of rival crops and the protection of their own. Only 43,000 acres of poppy were destroyed last year. Britain has resisted US pressure to spray poppies from the air, fearing a widespread destruction of poor farmers' livelihoods would simply drive more of them into the hands of the Taliban. Last year, troops stationed in Helmand were plunged into some of the fiercest fighting experienced by British soldiers since the Korean War, despite carefully avoiding destroying local poppy crops. Opponents of the proposal to buy up crops or license growers claim that it could simply drive up the price of opium, making it yet more attractive to farmers. The US State Department doubts that the Afghan government can be trusted to keep legally produced narcotics separate from the illegal product. While Turkey diverted production successfully from the black market to legitimate medicinal supplies, Afghanistan, it says, has neither the infrastructure nor the security to make legal poppy production economically viable or safe. Efforts to foster alternative crops could also be at risk. Britain, with others, has ploughed tens of millions of pounds into persuading farmers to grow pomegranates, potatoes and mint. But Mr Ellwood, a former officer in the Royal Green Jackets and now MP for Bournemouth East, became convinced of the need for a pilot project to test the idea of licit production on one of his frequent trips to Afghanistan. He believes it would be possible to use the profits from the trade to build up the infrastructure and, once controlled by the government rather than the drug barons, farmers could gradually be weaned off poppies and on to alternative cash crops. He delivered a presentation to the Prime Minister and Foreign Office officials on Wednesday, suggesting an intermediaryco-ordinate the efforts of government agencies and NGOs . He proposed that Britain oversee a pilot project in Helmand. A spokesman for No 10 said that Mr Blair agreed to consider the idea, and would reply before Easter, adding: "The Prime Minister did note there were doubts about the capacity of the Afghan government in this regard." Mr Ellwood said: "It is ironic that the world, including Britain, experiences a shortage of diamorphine and codeine, but we choose to prevent the fourth poorest country in the world from producing it. Instead we are destroying the crops, alienating communities who then seek support from the Taliban. Five years since the invasion, peace remains a distant hope. Until the issue of poppy crops is solved, the fragile umbrella of security will never be strong enough for long-term reconstruction and development initiatives to take root." The precious harvest that can kill or cure Every year tens of thousands more hectares of Afghanistan are given over to illegal poppy production. President Hamid Karzai has called the opium trade his country's 'cancer'. This year's harvest starts within weeks. Tony Blair has become the latest figure to consider whether it is possible to divert the raw product grown in fields throughout Afghanistan to legal outlets. The legal route Village elders are given responsibility for ensuring that licensed farmers grow only enough poppies to fulfil their yearly quotas and also grow other, edible crops. Farmers are allowed only to supply poppy straw, the basic ingredient of opium, which is then taken to local, regulated plants to make the narcotic. Legitimate drugs firms buy the licensed opium from Afghanistan and make medical opiates to alleviate the pain of patients in hospitals all over the world. The illegal route Opium traders hold farmers in virtual bondage through the supply of huge loans that enable families to survive through the winter, but in summer they are paid in opium. Farmers make their own opium, which is handed to traders. They pass it up the chain of command to drugs warlords who process it into heroin. After being trafficked through Iran and the Balkans, the Afghan heroin hits the streets - and the veins of Britain's addicts - for about £50 a gram. |
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| A
year on, Britain's FBI has little to celebrate
· Dissatisfaction rife
within serious crime agency The Guardian: 31.3.07
The Guardian has learned, however, that there is severe disenchantment among staff. Hundreds of officers are said to want to be transferred back to their former organisations. An unpublished internal Mori survey shows that less than 5% are satisfied with the way that Soca is being run. There is also mounting political
pressure, with MPs demanding to know why it has achieved so little, particularly
in combating drugs. "There are some things we did not get right organisationally at the start. We might have had a slightly difficult transfer of people. It was initially bumpy back in 2005...Soca has a very clear vision - it's just that it isn't shared by absolutely everyone outside the agency. "If you start with four different agencies and 360 different IT systems and 37 pay ranges and 60 buildings, many in the wrong place, you have some housekeeping to sort out." Many former police officers are reported to have asked to "return to force", and 144 former Customs officers have shown interest in going back to their old department, according to law enforcement sources. Senior Soca staff have been sent round regional offices on "morale boosting" tours. An eyewitness at one meeting in the West Midlands said a respected former police officer described Soca as "shit", with no quality work or leadership. Soca has taken over key roles from intelligence agencies, immigration, customs, and police. It has also succeeded in absorbing the Assets Recovery Agency and is alleged to have cast eyes over the Serious Fraud Office. But bureaucracy appears to be lowering morale. In November, 147 officers who signed Soca contracts were told salaries had been miscalculated. Some moved homes and took out mortgages only to be told to pay back money. Since Soca was launched by Tony Blair to "make life hell" for organised crime, published figures show UK drug seizures have fallen rather than risen. Despite having more than 4,000 officers and an annual budget of £400m, the would-be premier crime agency has prosecuted an average of just 30 people a month in its first year. Critics say drugs are cheaper to buy than ever. David Burrowes, the Conservative MP for Enfield Southgate, who is a member of parliament's addiction working group, said: "There is a tide of drugs on the streets. We need to know whether Soca have taken their eye off the ball." As drug investigators transferred across to join Soca, total seizures fell in 2005-06. Between 2003-04 and 2005-06, cocaine seizures dropped from 20,727kg to 5,798kg and cannabis from 57,617kg to 41,611kg. The parallel fall in heroin seizures, from 1,626kg to 1,057kg, went against a wider trend, because Afghanistan raised opium production and seizures rose elsewhere in Europe. Mr Burrowes called the figures "shocking, especially when you compare the current ease of availability of drugs". Soca needed time, but he was concerned about evidence of breakdowns in communication with other agencies. Soca says that 40% of its resources are aimed at drugs - about 1,600 officers - and Sir Stephen predicts that Soca will soon reveal record cocaine hauls. David Raynes, a member of the international taskforce on strategic drug policy, said: "The UK is awash with heroin, mainly from Turkish traffickers, yet there has been a drop in effectiveness from when Customs were the lead agency." All intelligence from "cold detections" that Customs picked up at ports was intended to be passed to Soca. But it has taken up only a "handful" of 350 such referrals, according to sources. Many referrals now end up with regional police forces and their "middle market" drugs teams but they do not have the necessary budgets or staff. Sir Stephen rejected the criticism. "I don't recognise the idea that we have taken up our ball and run away. We are spending more than the former national police agencies were in some of these areas in supporting law enforcement colleagues. I can understand why people might be saying it, because we are not part of the police service." One senior law enforcement source told the Guardian that heads may soon roll. "Stories of profligacy abound. There has been overgrading for many and consequent salaries overspend, and little money for investment in IT." Mr Raynes, a former senior customs officer, says: "The way Soca is organising itself, particularly in the way it gathers and uses intelligence, is adversely affecting performance." Critics claim money is wasted on surveillance of domestic criminals - the old National Crime Squad "core nominal" system. Drug traffickers are now frequently based outside the UK, and thus unaffected. "Soca doesn't really know whether it is a sort of MI7 or a super-police force," according to one source. "There are some good, highly motivated officers, but a feeling the organisation is poorly managed." As another source put it: "Soca is an agency in search of a role." |
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|
Disability Now: March 2007 Following the conviction of three medicinal cannabis campaigners, hundreds of disabled people have found their supplies have dried up. Since the guilty verdict dished out earlier this year to Lezley and Mark Gibson and an associate, Marcus Davies, for conspiring to supply cannabis, hundreds of people with multiple sclerosis (ms) have also become victims of the criminal justice system. Since their trial at Carlisle Crown Court, the three have vowed not to resume production of the chocolate bars containing cannabis, which people with ms say eased their pain and made their lives easier. The trio had sent out more than 20,000 of the bars. But since they stopped producing the chocolate, the Gibsons have been inundated with letters, emails and phone calls from people with ms whose symptoms have subsequently “returned with a vengeance”. Lezley Gibson, who revealed in DN last month that she was driven to the brink of suicide by the trial, says: “If I [didn’t] take cannabis I would be in a wheelchair and I would be incontinent.” So how are their former customers coping without the chocolate? And what are their other options? Wayne Miller is experiencing difficulties with bladder control and muscle spasms since his chocolate supply dried up. He is a biker, but his symptoms now prevent him from riding. He consumed the Gibsons’ chocolate over an 18-month period, but has not had any cannabis since before Christmas. He says he is “really struggling without it”. He began eating the chocolate
because he can’t stand smoking and didn’t Miller’s discomfort is having a knock-on effect on his family, too. He is often “moody” and “short-tempered”, which can be hard for his 13-year-old daughter, and he is unable to help his wife with day-to-day chores such as shopping. He has approached his doctor for a prescription for the cannabis-based drug, Sativex, but he will not know for several months whether or not he will be able to get it. In the meantime, Miller is reluctant to walk the streets in search of a dealer, but concedes that, as a last resort, he would. “The only thing I could try and do is try and get hold of cannabis, but it’s just knowing where to get it and whether it’s going to be a decent quality.” Niamh Eastwood, legal adviser at the drugs charity Release, says such stories show that campaigners need to lobby the government to change the law. She says the Gibson case “highlights how necessary [a change in the law] is for people who are in pain and who find that cannabis is the best form of pain relief for them, but they shouldn’t have to go through this”. Helen Wallage began eating the chocolate in the hope that it would “help me get around better”. She says she is “really missing my chocolate”, because it eased her muscle spasms and cramps. She is now “back at square one” and has not managed to find an alternative. But she is adamant that she will not be venturing onto the streets to find one. “You don’t want to go onto the streets and buy the stuff because you don’t know what you are getting,” she says. Since her supply of the chocolate dried up, Wallage has been unable to walk far and is in constant pain. She says the return of the symptoms is “frustrating” and “infuriating”. “I hate being like this,” she says. She has tried to obtain Sativex but has failed. She has also been prescribed other pain relievers but they cause side-effects she didn’t have with the chocolate. Wallage says that, when the weather improves, she may have a stab at growing her own cannabis and making her own chocolate. Helen Yates, managing executive of the MS Resource Centre, says her staff have heard from “a number of people” who have been using the chocolate and are now having to cope with a return of all kinds of symptoms that they were previously managing. Now, she says, they have nowhere else to go. “The problem now for these people is what they do about it because their only alternative is an illegal street supply, and most of them would not have the first idea about how to go about doing that. “The biggest area of concern is that people will be buying street cannabis that may well be cut and mixed with all manner of other substances that will do them harm.” One person facing these issues is Helen Elliott. Although the Gibsons’ chocolate was not a “cure”, it did make life “more livable”. Not having the chocolate has drastically affected her quality of life. “My balance is all over the place, I haven’t any stamina, I’m not sleeping and the incontinence is worse,” she says. “The neuropathy in my hands and feet is constant. The cannabis chocolate certainly reduced this discomfort, which is so utterly wearing.” She struggles to do the shopping and is “exhausted” after walking around the supermarket for an hour. Her doctor has told her there is no medication that will modify the symptoms of her ms. ‘If I [didn’t] take cannabis I would be in a wheelchair and I would be incontinent.’ Elliott “does not have a clue” where to start looking for cannabis, and is not prepared to put herself “into the hands of the dealers”. Besides, in her area, “trying to get hold of herbal cannabis is like looking for a needle in a haystack”. Stuart Wyatt (main picture and far right) does not have ms and did not use the Gibsons’ chocolate. But he has been using cannabis for a number of years to alleviate his “crippling” pain, stop him shaking and maintain his balance. He faces a “constant battle” to find uncontaminated cannabis. After loan payments, he has to survive on £72 a week income support, of which he spends £30-£40 on cannabis. “The necessity of food is always secondary to medication,” he says. Wyatt is concerned that many other disabled people could be endangering themselves to get hold of cannabis. “There have been times where I have given money to a stranger in a pub, only for him to say, ‘I have to go and see a friend to get it for you.’ Needless to say, the person does not return with said medication. Other times, I have been given far less than the 3.5g that I paid for. When you are sick and unable to defend yourself, how can you confront a lowlife in a pub to ask for your money back?” Wyatt says the “injustice” of the Gibsons’ case has inspired him to set up his own free network to distribute cannabis to medicinal users. But even if operations such as Wyatt’s eliminate the need to look for cannabis on the streets, any users still face being prosecuted if caught breaking the law. Eastwood says: “Until the law changes, these people are going to be treated like criminals – which is completely unacceptable. “What we would like to see is that they can do it either free in the knowledge that they can do this without being prosecuted, or that they are actually doing it legally.” A Home Office spokesman confirmed the government’s current position. “Cannabis is a Class C drug and is harmful,” he says. “Its cultivation, supply and possession are illegal and will remain illegal. “We have sympathy for those with severe pain and serious illnesses such as multiple sclerosis. Any cannabis-based medicine would have to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). If that body approved any products we would then have to consider seeking Parliament’s agreement to make necessary changes in the law.” There are also issues, of course, around the availability of the cannabis-based drug Sativex, which is still awaiting licensing, although some disabled people have been able to obtain the spray individually. ‘The necessity of food is always secondary to medication’ Yates says disabled people
should be pressurizing MPs and the MHRA to ensure Sativex is licensed
and widely available at the earliest opportunity. But because of the potential cost of prescribing Sativex, she says the “cheaper and better option” is to make it legal for disabled people to grow their own cannabis for their own use. “As long as you are not
in any way in a position of supplying, I think that most people would
find that morally acceptable.” But Stuart Wyatt says he is undeterred by the threat of arrest or prison. “Medicinal users have
been pushed into a corner,” he says. “It is now time to fight
that corner!” |
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| Drug-taking
troops provoke army crisis
Zero tolerance leads to 800 expulsions a year and worsens troop shortage The Observer: 25.3.07 Fifteen British soldiers a
week are being thrown out of the army for taking drugs, including heroin,
ecstasy, cannabis and cocaine, figures obtained by The Observer reveal. Professor David Nutt, a psychopharmacologist at Bristol University and a member of the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, told The Observer he thought the policy was illogical and misguided. Much of the drug use within the armed forces was 'situational' and recreational, and reflected a trend in society at large. 'The whole issue of drug testing is a very complex one,' Nutt said. 'The army has to ask itself the very serious question of what they're trying to do here. Are they saying drugs are illegal, so if you take them you're not fit to be a soldier? Or are they saying using cocaine or cannabis is interfering with your ability to do your job? If it's the latter, then we need to see the evidence for that.' He also raised concerns that random drug testing had the perverse effect of making people use more dangerous drugs. 'One of the really big problems is that cannabis lasts in the body for much longer, so people using a class C drug are much more likely to be caught than people using more dangerous drugs like crack or heroin. If someone is intoxicated on cannabis going into battle, then there probably isn't any doubt that it would impair their ability to function. But after combat it's very unclear whether it will do any harm at all. The current approach isn't necessarily the most logical way of dealing with the issue.' He said alcohol was, in some cases, much more dangerous than some illegal drugs. The use of drugs in the military was complex: 'It's well known that heroin was used widely by troops in the Vietnam war to deal with the craziness. Soldiers used drugs while there, but stopped using when they came home. Similarly in Afghanistan, I think many troops will see cannabis as a locally sanctioned form of relaxation.' Figures show that 769 soldiers failed random drug tests in 2006. The latest statistics were released after it emerged that 20 soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland were facing compulsory discharge after testing positive for a range of drugs. Another 26 squaddies were sacked earlier this year. There had been speculation that soldiers were deliberately trying to fail the strict tests to avoid tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the army has strongly rebuffed such allegations, saying soldiers do not know whether they are going to be tested next week, next year or in five years. Major Phillip Curtis, an army spokesman, said the policy was crystal clear: 'Drugs are incompatible with military service and won't be tolerated. Whether it's class A or class C, there is no distinction. Some soldiers may see taking drugs as a quick way out, but that would be a tiny minority.' Most of those who'd taken drugs had probably succumbed to peer pressure. 'The army reflects society. When soldiers go away for the weekend, their drug of choice still tends to be alcohol. But some end up taking drugs instead, or as well. However, the prevalence of drug taking in the armed forces is still significantly less than an equivalent sample in civilian society,' Curtis said. The renewed evidence of high rates of drug-taking in the forces comes amid long-running concerns that the stresses of warfare are turning many young recruits towards illegal substances. American defence chiefs have reported historically high rates of suicide among personnel who have fought in Iraq and studies have suggested that many returning troops have severe problems with stress and substance abuse. Clive Fairweather, a former SAS colonel who works for the Combat Stress charity, which treats ex-service personnel for psychological and addiction problems, said there had been a marked change in the culture both within the army and in society as a whole over the past 10 years. 'Most of the problems a decade ago were related to the army's hard-drinking culture. But that has changed dramatically. Drugs are rife in society, particularly in a certain male age group. Many of these soldiers are from inner-city areas. They go home at the weekends and they not only have lots to drink, but they are also exposed to drugs.' He said there was a question for the public at large: 'They are paying for soldiers to handle a weapon that can kill. Are they prepared to tolerate soldiers who smoke cannabis but don't take heroin? I think the question has to be asked because the army can't keep haemorrhaging troops at the current rate.' |
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| Scientists
want new drug rankings BBC: 23.3.07 The drug classification system in the UK is not "fit for purpose" and should be scrapped, scientists have said. They have drawn up an alternative system which they argue more accurately reflects the harm that drugs do. The new ranking system places | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
