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And much of it from one unruly region of Afghanistan

THE smell of the Afghan poppy season is unmistakable, even from the open door of a Black Hawk helicopter. NATO Soldiers in Helmand province see the expanse of purple and pink blossoms flashing by, but they do little to stop drug production; they worry instead about Taliban fighters mingling among the villagers, and are grateful to avoid being shot down.

Yet the opium economy and the insurgency are mutually reinforcing; drugs finance the Taliban, while their violence encourages poppy cultivation. Not surprisingly, perhaps, both problems have grown more severe in recent years, nowhere more so than in Helmand.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the province is set to harvest another record crop this year, producing more opium (and from it heroin and other illegal drugs) than the rest of Afghanistan put together. Indeed, this surge has overshadowed the past decade's striking decline in the “Golden Triangle”—the border region of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos—which UNODC says is “almost opium free”.

Afghanistan has put a blot on what UNODC says is a hopeful global picture. Its latest “World Drug Report”, published on June 26th, says that the market has largely stabilised for all classes of illicit drugs—including heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis. The global area under cultivation for both poppy and coca has declined over the past decade, although improving yields mean opium production has reached record levels while cocaine remains steady. Demand for opiates and cocaine is stable. Moreover, UNODC reckons that a startling 26% of global heroin production and 42% of cocaine output has been intercepted by government authorities. Meanwhile, cannabis cultivation in Morocco, the source of 70% of hashish in Europe, has dropped. World production of amphetamines and similar stimulants appears to be steady.

The drugs business is by far the most profitable illicit global trade, says UNODC, earning some $320 billion annually, compared with estimates of $32 billion for human trafficking and $1 billion for illegal firearms. The runaway Afghan opium trade—worth around $60 billion at street prices in consuming countries—is arguably the hardest problem. Heroin is finding new routes to the consumer, for instance through West Africa to America, and via Pakistan and Central Asia to China.

The opium market puzzles experts. They say there is now an over-supply of opiates, but the price for farmers or drug users has not changed much. UNODC suspects opium is being hoarded, and that traffickers are squeezing their vast profit margins and increasing the purity of heroin doses to maintain stability.

At the time of the 2001 war in Afghanistan, the Taliban were blamed for presiding over widespread poppy cultivation. Yet they did impose a successful but short-lived ban in 2000. Their Western-backed successors have been less able to stop the inexorable spread of poppy farming. These days, says NATO, Taliban commanders and drug smugglers are often one and the same.

Afghanistan last year produced the equivalent of 6,100 tonnes of opium, about 92% of the world total. There is an interesting divergence: in areas controlled by the government, production is either decreasing or stable (or even poppy-free); where the insurgency is strongest, it is for the most part increasing.

Nevertheless, the impact is felt throughout Afghanistan. The opium trade is worth about $3.1 billion (less than a quarter of this is earned by farmers), the equivalent about a third of Afghanistan's total economy. It has forced up the exchange rate, sucked in unproductive luxuries and stoked a boom in construction, particularly around Kabul. In a country as poor as Afghanistan, opium rots any institution it touches. Some of the biggest drug barons are reputedly members of the national and provincial governments, even figures close to President Hamid Karzai. The whole chain of government that is supposed to impose the rule of law, from the ministry of interior to ordinary policemen, has been subverted. Poorly paid policemen are bribed to facilitate the trade. Some pay their superiors to get particularly “lucrative” jobs like border control.

Despairing of the failure of the anti-narcotics effort, formally led by Britain, which has focused on seeking alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers, the United States has been pushing for a more aggressive eradication campaign with aerial spraying. Its experts say that incentives alone will never work when farmers can earn eight or nine times more from poppy than from wheat. “You need a stick as well as a carrot,” says one senior American official. To show that aerial spraying works, the Americans point to UNODC's estimated 52% reduction in coca cultivation (but not cocaine output) in Colombia since 2000. However, European governments and many military commanders strongly oppose such draconian measures, fearing they will drive even more Afghans into the arms of the Taliban.

American officials were outraged last April when British commanders used a local radio to tell Helmand villagers that foreign and Afghan troops “do not destroy poppy fields” and “do not want to stop people from earning their livelihoods”. At military checkpoints, British soldiers assure passing Afghans they are there for reconstruction, not eradication, and they often turn a blind eye when they find opium.

President Karzai has so far allowed only limited destruction by hand or with tractors. But this cautious approach has arguably made matters worse in places like Helmand. The discretion allowed to local government and police officials to choose which fields should be destroyed turned last February's eradication effort into a “harvest of money” as some Afghans called it. Wealthier or better connected farmers bribed police to spare their crops. Poorer farmers bore the brunt, while some of the nastiest warlords-cum-druglords were hardly touched.

Some 500 police officers, backed by American security men with helicopters, raked in about $3m, according to some officers. They were supposed to destroy 12,000 of the estimated 100,000 hectares of poppy in Helmand. They claimed 7,000 hectares had been ripped up, but the UN verified only half this amount. Ordinary policemen averaged $1,000 each in backhanders. “We do a dangerous job and we get $70 salary a month,” said one, “If we are killed there is no money for our families. We just have to make money while we can.” One police colonel is said to have treated himself to a new Lexus car.

Can Afghanistan learn from the successes of other countries? Thailand rid itself of poppy by an active policy of encouraging alternative economic development. But through the 1980s and 1990s it enjoyed strong economic growth driven by tourism and exports, and a fairly stable government. A lobbying group known as the Senlis Council says Afghanistan should copy Turkey and India in licensing legally poppy farming to make painkillers, such as morphine and codeine. This would draw farmers away from the drug barons and the Taliban, provide a source of income and improve skills by helping farmers to make painkiller tablets in their own villages.

The Senlis Council argues that a large unmet need for painkillers could be filled by Afghanistan, particularly if it undercuts other producers. UNODC disagrees. It says there is no shortage of such drugs; the problem is poor distribution and many countries' lack of medical experience in using opiates. In any case, says UNODC, the inability to punish those who break the rules means licensing could increase demand for illegal poppies.

Romesh Bhattacharji, India's narcotics commissioner until 2001, supports the Senlis Council. Pointing to the millions of new cancer cases every year, he argues that too many patients are dying in unnecessary agony. But he also enumerates the difficulties: in India, the government must survey 70,000 farms, suppress illicit cultivation, resolve countless disputes over allocations and prevent the theft or diversion of crops. This may be beyond the ability of a fragile state like Afghanistan.

Another option under discussion is to stimulate licit agriculture, perhaps by guaranteeing prices for non-poppy crops. Afghanistan is, after all, within striking distance of the lucrative markets in the Gulf. But such measures might encourage smuggling of produce from neighbouring countries. In any case, encouraging agricultural exports requires more than higher prices, not least refrigeration, reliable electricity, safe roads, finance, marketing skills and access to markets. Dry opium, by contrast, can be stored almost indefinitely and often acts as a family's store of wealth.

UNODC officials propose some partial steps, including targeting laboratories that convert opium to heroin, taking action against some of the best-known drug smugglers to signal the government's seriousness, and rotating police officers frequently, particularly those in bribery-prone positions such as border posts. Ultimately, though, halting Afghan opium production means reducing demand in Europe and other drug-consuming states. Progress in Afghanistan, if it comes, is likely to be incremental and will involve a mix of eradication, development, stimulating agriculture and licensing poppy. But all these measures require the same elusive ingredient: a stable government that controls its own territory and borders.

An "invisible epidemic" of pensioners who misuse drugs is being ignored by mental health services, despite the fact that treatments work just as well for the over sixties, as for younger people.

The older drug user is a far cry from the tabloid myth of the granny selling spare tranquillisers to young addicts to make a bit of extra cash. These are confused older people who mix up their drugs, forget when and how many to take and are often unaware of side-effects and interactions with other medicines and alcohol.

Professor Ilana Crome, professor of Addiction Psychiatry at Keele University Medical School, told delegates that at least one in ten older people - and sometimes as many as four out of 10 - took 'inappropriate' medication. This meant they had not been properly assessed and were taking the wrong drugs. At least a quarter of older people were taking psychoactive drugs, which work on the central nervous systems, such as antidepressants or sedatives. With the baby boomer generation ageing, these figures could triple by 2020, said Prof Crome.

She said there was increasing evidence that older people misused drugs that were bought, shared or hoarded for re-use. "It's not uncommon to see older people who are involved in drugs and alcohol," said Prof Crome. "They might be using old medication prescribed for a problem that no longer exists or a neighbour or friend has given them medication that worked for them. These drugs may interact with each other or with alcohol and they can become quite ill.

"Their doctor might, or might not have told them about interactions and side-effects, but if you're taking medication on a regular basis and your memory is poor, you haven't slept well, if you're in pain and you don't feel well, it's quite a demanding task to take medication correctly."

Prof Crome said older people who misused drugs and alcohol were a particularly vulnerable and neglected group. There have been only 14 randomised controlled trials on substance misuse in older people and none of the drugs used by doctors for addiction treatment were licensed for the over 65s. There was not one specialist centre in the UK for the treatment of pensioners who misused and abuse drugs and alcohol.

The symptoms of drug abuse and misuse - dementia, delirium and depression - could easily the attributed to other conditions of ageing. "Older people with drug problems are missed, overlooked, neglected and their symptoms misinterpreted," she said.

In addition, the National Service Framework for Mental Health in England makes no mention of the concept of addiction in older people and therefore ignored the potential for treatment, said Prof Crome. Benzodiazepines (tranquillisers) and painkillers were mentioned, but not alcohol or illicit drugs.

Prof Crome said she saw no reason why older people could not be targeted for treatment, as medication and cognitive behavioural therapy had proved to be effective. "Older people do as well as younger people, sometimes better. Older people are at such a disadvantage and they are subject to every kind of discrimination. Misuse of substances in older people is one of the biggest problems we've got and I don't think we can ignore it. For psychiatrists they are almost non-existent - we don't even think about them. There's a lot of discrimination."

Dutch cannabis buyers face biometric testing

Reuters: 21.6.07

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Buying cannabis in the Dutch city of Maastricht will soon mean having your fingerprints taken, your face scanned and your biometric data recorded.

All 15 coffee shops in the southern city are spending about 100,000 euros ($134,000) installing a security system that makes it harder for an under-age cannabis smoker to enter than a terrorist to set foot in Europe, according to Marc Josemans, head of the local coffee shop union.

"We are ashamed for this attack on your privacy", reads an explanatory leaflet about the system starting in September.

The coffee shops face a continual struggle to prove they are not selling to people under the age of 18 or more than 5 grams of cannabis a day to any one individual.

If they can't, they risk being shut down.

"If a 17-year-old comes here, shows the ID of his very similar-looking older brother and then gets caught by the police with cannabis bought in our shop, we have to prove that he broke the rules, not us," said Josemans.

Cannabis is theoretically illegal in the Netherlands but has been tolerated in small amounts since the 1970s.

Customers in Maastricht will have their fingers and face scanned. The scans will be compared with stored data and, if everything matches, they will be able to enter the coffee shop.

No names and addresses are stored and details on the amount of cannabis bought every day will be saved only until midnight.

The information is completely secure, coffee shop owners say. But Josemans concedes 90 percent of his clients don't like the system and he expects the new measures to hurt sales initially.

"I don't like them registering what you buy, it's too much Big Brother", says Barry, 34. "But a fingerprint is okay."

A radical review of Britain's anti-drugs policies has been pledged by Chancellor Gordon Brown - including a new emphasis on drug education in primary schools.

The prime minister-in-waiting also promised extra cash for the crisis-hit Prison Service.

He said there would be money for new jail places including fast-build units by the end of the year, but did not specify how much the Treasury would hand over for the construction programme.

In a speech in Manchester, Mr Brown - who takes over as prime minister from Tony Blair on June 27 - said he would look at giving judges the power to impose longer sentences on criminals who commit violent crimes on public transport.

Mr Brown told the annual conference of the Association of Chief Police Officers: "It is now time for a radical review of our anti-drugs strategy.

"Drug education needs to reach children at an earlier age, in primary schools as well as secondary schools.

"A new anti-drug strategy will need to include every section of society and role models from all walks of life - including sport, music and business - to persuade people that drugs are not the answer but the problem."

Police should also play a role inside more schools to help teachers keep pupils out of trouble, he told the audience of chief constables and other senior police officers.

"I want to look at bringing neighbourhood policing teams into our schools so we can tackle bullying and disorder, both inside and outside the school gates," Mr Brown said.

"We need to intervene earlier with children who are showing the first signs of problems."

The Guardian: 18.6.06

A legal dance drug known as legal XTC, Jax, Pep Twisted or Pep Love could be banned across Europe following a report from the EU's drugs monitor calling for tighter controls because of the substance's side-effects.
A joint report from Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) warns that the substance, benzylpiperazine, which is available from websites and "head candy" shops, can cause a series of negative side-effects. Its authors say: "Users have reported a range of adverse reactions such as vomiting, headache, palpitations, poor appetite, stomach pains/nausea, anxiety, insomnia, strange thoughts, mood swings, confusion, irritability and tremors. Some of these occurred in the 'comedown' period, and some persisted for 24 hours after use."

The report says that due to its "stimulant properties, risk to health and lack of medical benefits" benzylpiperazine, or BZP, should be a controlled substance.

At present, it is not illegal in Europe to take BZP, a drug sometimes marketed as a "safe" alternative to ecstasy. A loophole in the law also allows retailers to sell the drug as a soil fertiliser, marked "not for consumption". It can be bought from websites, many operating from New Zealand, where "herbal highs" are a multimillion-dollar industry and 20% of the population has taken the drug.

Roumen Sedefov, the report's project manager, said there had been concern that banning BZP could lead people to use more dangerous drugs. He said there was not much data available but that they had "worked on a precautionary principle".

The European commission has six weeks to decide whether to follow the EMCDDA's recommendation.

David MacKintosh, a policy adviser at the London Drugs Policy Forum, said the monitoring centre had made the right decision. "It's a substance that not much is known about but that is being sold in the thousands. It's not regulated at all."

According to John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's hospital in London, websites selling BZP could already be a step ahead of the regulators. Some sites have been advertising "BZP-free" stimulants as the next generation of legal alternatives. Tests on the pills, known as "London Underground", showed one tablet containing BZP, but another with a compound found previously only in a Bulgarian cough suppressant.

"It hardly inspires you with confidence," said Mr Ramsey. "The drugs are untested. I imagine they will sell anything they can make a buck out of."

Coca production on the rise in Peru, U.N says

14.6.07 Reuters

LIMA, June 13 (Reuters) - Despite increased drug-fighting efforts, production of the plant used to make cocaine has risen in Peru, the world's No. 2 cocaine producer, along with the amount of land used to cultivate coca, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The findings come as President Alan Garcia has called for an intensified anti-drug strategy amid signs cocaine production is flourishing in the South American country.

Peru has struggled to reduce cocaine production despite more than $300 million in U.S. aid since 2000.

The U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime said in its annual report the amount of coca leaf grown in Peru increased 8 percent in 2006 from 2005, while the area cultivated with coca grew 7 percent.

"In previous years, the increase in the cultivation of coca was focused in one or two regions of the country. Now we're seeing it rising in all coca-growing regions," said Alde Lale-Demoz, the U.N. agency's head in Lima.

Analysts say Peru's rising drug production is largely the result of a crackdown in Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, pushing more coca growers across the jungle border between the two countries.

The increasing drug trade is helping give Mexican cartels a greater presence in Peru, experts say.

Garcia, who took office last year, suggested recently that warplanes be used to bomb cocaine labs and airstrips tucked away in the country's jungle region.

He has since said that drug-fighting efforts should center on reducing the availability of chemicals and other materials mixed with coca leaves to make cocaine.

Romulo Pizarro, who heads Peru's anti-drug agency, said much of the cocaine produced in Peru ended up on European streets, principally in Madrid and Amsterdam, with a smaller percentage going to the United States.

Peru had 127,000 acres (51,400 hectares) cultivated with coca in 2006, up from 119,100 acres (48,200 hectares) in 2005, the U.N. report said. Coca leaf production reached 114,100 metric tons, up from 106,000 in 2005, it said.

Based on those figures, the United Nations said it calculated that cocaine production rose 8 percent to 280 metric tons last year. (Additional reporting by Teresa Cespedes)

School weapons searches in force

PA: 31.5.07

Teachers or security staff will be able to search pupils for knives and other offensive weapons without consent, under a new law which has come into force.

It follows powers allowing schools to use screening devices such as metal detecting arches and wands in a bid to protect students from knife crime.

Education Secretary Alan Johnson said: "Every child has the right to learn in a secure and safe environment. Fortunately knife incidents in schools are extremely rare and the majority of schools will not need to use these measures."

He continued: "The main way to keep knives out of our schools is to continue educating young people about the dangers associated with illegally carrying a knife. But one violent crime caused by a weapon is one too many."

Teachers' leaders have raised concerns about the England-wide reforms, saying the strategy could have "dangerous or fatal consequences".

Guidance says staff should call police if they are concerned about safety risks, and schools can use professionally trained security staff to conduct screening and searching as well as teachers.

The guidance says staff can only carry out searches with the authorisation of the headteacher. It includes advice on how to screen pupils and suggests that a randomly selected group of pupils, such as a class, could be screened in order to send out a strong deterrent message.

Two members of staff must be present at every search, and the guidance recommends that both should have received appropriate training. Searches must by conducted by a staff member who is the same sex as the pupil and, where possible, they should take place out of public view. Schools can refuse entry to pupils who refuse to be screened.

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said: "These new measures in the Violent Crime Reduction Act send out a clear message that violence and weapons will not be tolerated in our schools."

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said it was the job of police to search individuals for weapons. The NAHT said it would advise members to call for help from police, who were trained and had the appropriate body armour, if they suspected a pupil had a weapon.

Comment: Making schools safer is to be applauded; but these attention grabbing "new powers" are in reality dangerous, exposing both staff and pupils to risk. We discuss them in more detail in the BLOG here.

The move follows consultation with police, local authorities, housing trusts and community groups. The Home Office said it was aimed at tackling excessive noise, rowdy behaviour and frequent drunken parties. The new measures will be based on existing crack house closure procedures and similar powers in force in Scotland.

They would apply to homeowners as much as social tenants, the Home Office said. Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said responding to reports of anti-social behaviour costs about £3.4bn a year. Sanctions must go hand in hand with support designed to encourage individuals to tackle the root causes of their behaviour before it become anti-social
Councillor Hazel Harding, LGA

Announcing the new powers on a visit to a crack house in west London, Mr Coaker said anti-social behaviour also had social and emotional impacts. "I have heard from people living in areas affected by anti-social behaviour about the devastating impact just one property can have on a whole neighbourhood and I want to ensure that police and local authorities have the powers to deal with it," he said.

Councillor Hazel Harding, of the Local Government Association's Safer Communities board, said it was important to strike a balance.

"Sanctions must go hand in hand with support designed to encourage individuals to tackle the root causes of their behaviour before it become anti-social," she said.

Alan Gordon, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "We welcome any powers to enable police to act positively against any form of anti-social behaviour to improve the lives of residents."

Police may get power to evict bad neighbours

· Campaigners criticise Reid move on 'yob behaviour'
· More officers to be armed with Taser stun guns

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Thursday May 17, 2007
The Guardian

Civil liberties and homelessness campaigners last night sharply criticised plans to give the police powers to "shut and seal" all premises, including flats, pubs and clubs, generating yobbish behaviour.
The home secretary, John Reid, announced at the Police Federation conference in Blackpool yesterday that the powers would form part of a criminal justice bill to be introduced in the next few weeks, before Tony Blair leaves Downing Street.

Mr Reid said the criminal justice legislation - the 54th such bill since Mr Blair came to power - would also include violent offender orders restricting those released from jail. The curbs would affect where such people could live and with whom they could associate.

Mr Reid also announced that more police officers would be issued with 50,000-volt Taser stun guns as part of a limited 12-month trial involving specially trained police not already working as authorised firearm officers. He said the trial would involve officers dealing with severe or threatened violence.
Mr Reid was booed twice by delegates frustrated at their treatment over pay talks. Jan Berry, Police Federation chairman, warned that feelings were so strong the police might demand the right to take industrial action, and even strike for the first time in nearly 90 years. "Home secretary, the prospect of police picket lines is something I never thought was imaginable, let alone possible," she warned.

Mr Reid had apologised for the way pay talks were conducted last year but said he now wanted to see negotiations which ensured police pay scales supported the changing nature of the job and the workforce. "There are no plans to cut pay in real terms," Mr Reid told 1,000 delegates, prompting some booing and a heckle.

He said he wanted to extend police powers - rules allowing the temporary closure of crack houses, which have been used more than 500 times since their introduction in 2004 - to "all premises generating yobbish behaviour".

An official regulatory impact assessment said these "last resort" powers would be used no more than 50 times a year.

But Adam Sampson, of the charity Shelter, said evicting "nuisance neighbours" would simply pass the problem on to another neighbourhood; it would be better to tackle the root causes.

Shami Chakrabarti, of Liberty, said: "Making kids homeless because their parents are noisy, and extending punishment for criminals indefinitely, will not only be a future home secretary's headache but yet another shadow on the rule of law.

Comment: well the proposals have been in the pipeline for a long time, and the Government has been trailing these proposals for almost a year. So they should come as no suprise. We need to wait for the legislation to come out, but it will look similar, we suspect, to Crack House powers under Section 1 of the Antisocial Behaviour Act. But, as this is directed to a wider range of people and properties, it is likely to be more controversial. WE discuss it in more detail on the Blog. In the meantime, the Number 10 press release is here:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page8885.asp

· Women underestimate dangers, ministers believe
· Evidence in support of ban may be uncertain

Polly Curtis, health correspondent
Friday May 25, 2007
The Guardian

Women should abstain from alcohol altogether when pregnant or trying to conceive, according to the government's latest advice.
The guidance, published today, replaces previous advice that pregnant women should drink no more than two units a day once or twice a week. It comes as research in the US has found a link between smoking during pregnancy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.

Ministers believe the change in guidance on alcohol is needed because too many women underestimate the risks to their baby, although it is not based on new scientific evidence. The Department of Health's research found that 9% of pregnant women are drinking above recommended levels. Fiona Adshead, the deputy chief medical officer, said the new guidance was stronger and clearer. "Our advice is simple: avoid alcohol if pregnant or trying to conceive," she said.

Sheila Shribman, the national clinical director for children, young people and maternity services, said: "It is vital that we alert pregnant women and women hoping to conceive about the potential dangers of excessive alcohol consumption during pregnancy ... This revised advice has been agreed by the four chief medical officers across the UK."
But the National Childbirth Trust said there was not enough scientific evidence to back the move. Mary Newburn, head of policy, said: "It's easy to say don't drink to be on the safe side. But to be on the safe side of not crashing you shouldn't get in a car." She added: "The question is, is the evidence strong enough to say don't drink at all? At the moment I haven't seen that evidence. Pregnant women need more evidence and less advice."

The National Organisation on Foetal Alcohol Syndrome estimates that more than 1% of children born in the UK each year have foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which includes physical, behavioural and learning problems.

Jane Brewin, chief executive of the baby charity Tommy's, said alcohol caused more damage to the developing foetus than any other substance, including marijuana, heroin and cocaine. "So although one or two units once or twice a week is thought to be safe, Tommy's believes that no alcohol equals no risk," she said.

Many other countries, including France, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand also recommend abstinence during pregnancy. France adopted the advice last year, saying research linked moderate levels of drinking with permanent brain damage.

The dangers of smoking during pregnancy are also well documented, but a recent study is the first to prove a link between tobacco and ADHD.

Scientists say that children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are up to nine times more likely to develop the disorder. US researchers found smoking acted as a trigger when children were already genetically predisposed to ADHD.

Symptoms usually start early in a child's life. "The average number of ADHD symptoms was significantly higher in the offspring who were exposed to prenatal smoking," the study found. Rosalind Neuman, one of the authors, said: "When genetic factors are combined with prenatal cigarette smoke exposure, the ADHD risk rises very significantly."

John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry in which the research will be published in June, added: "These data highlight a new risk of maternal smoking, increasing the risk for ADHD in their children. ADHD, in turn, increases the risk for substance abuse."

A separate study, published last night, revealed that smoking cannabis while pregnant affected the brain development of unborn babies. The year-long study, led by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden showed that taking the drug could restrict naturally occurring compounds in the embryonic brain which join up nerves and promote foetal growth.

They've long been used by fanatical body-builders, but today thousands of ordinary teenage boys are abusing steroids - risking brain damage, heart disease and infertility. So how do you spot the danger signs?

When James returned home after his first term at Manchester University, his mother commented proudly on how much more muscular he'd become.

"Mum joked that maybe I should have stayed at home rather than spending so much money going to university if all I was going to do was work out at the gym all the time," says James. "She told me I was wasting brain cells."

The tragedy is that his mother, without realising it, was probably right.

For the past three years, James has been using anabolic steroids to 'bulk up' - to build his muscles so that he looks bigger. While taking steroids appears to have improved his shape, they have also put him at greater risk of heart attack, liver damage and even possibly destroyed his brain cells.

What makes his story particularly horrifying is that it is one being repeated across the country. According to official figures, there are more than 42,000 steroid users in the UK, but some experts suggest the real figure is probably double that.

Earlier this week, Martin Barnes, chief executive of the charity DrugScope, told Radio Five Live that up to 100,000 people were using anabolic steroids.

"We are looking at numbers being on a par with heroin users," says Jim McVeigh, a reader in substance use epidemiology at the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University.

And the type of user has changed. Research by DrugScope has revealed that steroids - once the preserve of bodybuilding pros and nightclub bouncers - are now being used increasingly by young professionals, students and other 16 to 25-year-olds.

Just as anorexia among girls seems to be driven by the size zero celebrity culture, so young men's obsession with body image is being fuelled by images of the 'perfect' male form. The DrugScope study found that young men were using steroids as a shortcut to the muscled physiques of sporting heroes such as David Beckham.

But it's not just athletes who are being held up as physical role models - movie stars, even underwear models, help to undermine young men's vulnerable sense of self-worth.

A recent survey found that 50 per cent of men felt "very intimidated" by the physiques of male underwear models in Calvin Klein and Emporio Armani ads.

Young men have always had their heroes, explains Mr McVeigh. "But if you look at the physique of, say, film stars now compared with those in the 1950s and 1960s, they are much more muscular and well- defined. Fifty years ago, Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan was regarded as the epitome of a good body, but he wouldn't stand a chance in an amateur body-building competition today."

Mr McVeigh says that today's steroidabuser is trying to conform to a "stylised body image".

The pressure of men to look good, to get a six-pack, is "enormous", says psychologist Deanne Jade, from the National Centre For Eating Disorders. "Meanwhile, women are perceived to be beating men at their own game, and men's masculinity is being eroded. By making themselves bigger with steroids they are reaffirming their masculinity - they are now the kings of the six-pack."

Anabolic steroids are basically synthetic versions of the male hormone testosterone, and work by increasing muscle tissue. They are not the same as the steroids prescribed for asthma and skin disorders or as anti-inflammatories (corticosteroids).

It was the promise of a 'quick fix' that persuaded James to try steroids. He first started feeling unhappy about his physique at school.

"I was called skinny bones and was picked on quite a bit," he says. "I was an easy target and I hated it. I lacked confidence physically. I didn't feel happy about my body, especially in front of girls. I wanted to be attractive to girls and a big enough threat to blokes that they'd keep their distance."

He saw his chance to reinvent himself at university. "I was surrounded by lots of new and attractive people so I wanted to feel good phsically. I just couldn't think about anything else."

James joined a local gym. But when he found he wasn't getting the results he wanted he started taking steroids.

"My muscle development was slow, even though I was working out five times a week. I put on some weight naturally at first but when I complained that I wasn't getting any bigger some weightlifters in the gym suggested steroids."

James started on tables but quickly moved to injections.

"Some told me that the tablets were really hard on the liver, so I started injecting steroids instead," he explains.

It was frighteningly easy for James to obtain the drugs: he bought the injectable steroids on the internet. And and at between £40 and £50 for ten injections, they are accessible even to those on a student budget.

But at what cost to their health? A recent study by researchers from Yale School Of Medicine suggested that body-building steroids cause a "catastrophic loss of brain cells".

Not only is the death of brain cells implicated in neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease, suggesting that steroid users put themselves at greater risk of such conditions, but this could also account for some of the other effects of steroid use such as heightened aggression (or 'roid rage').

Another American study found that normally placid adolescent hamsters given anabolic steroids become extremely aggressive, attacking, biting and chasing other hamsters.

The researchers found that the outward aggressiveness correlated with inner changes in the brain: the area that regulates aggression and social behaviour was found to be pumping out more of a neurotransmitter that heightens aggressive feelings.

As Dr Richard Melloni, the lead researcher, explained: "Steroids step on the gas for aggression."

Dr Rob Dawson, a GP who runs a Drugs In Sport clinic for local steroid users in Durham and is one of the UK's leading experts on the problem, treats many men for the symptoms of steroid abuse.

Most of the short-term side-effects are cosmetic. "Men on steroids will get oily skin and severe acne on their back which is very difficult to treat," he says.

They can also lose their hair - an oversensitivity to testosterone can switch on the gene that causes hair loss.

Steroids can also cause a chemical change so that they actually feminise the man's body, making him grow breast tissue and even causing his testicles to shrink.

The long-term effects, however, are potentially life-threatening.

"Steroids act to increase blood pressure, which can lead to strokes," says Dr Dawson. "They also reduce the production of good cholesterol, leading to the furring up of the blood vessels and coronary heart disease, and make you more susceptible to heart attacks. These effects can occur within just a few weeks of taking steroids."

Male infertility is also linked to steroids. Indeed, the World Health Organisation has recently been testing them as a male contraceptive.

But it's the liver which is particularly vulnerable, says Mr McVeigh of Liverpool John Moores University.The tablet form of steroids contains an ingredient called C17 Alpha, which prevents the liver from dealing with it easily.

"If it was broken down the first time it went through the liver, it wouldn't have any effect," says Mr McVeigh. "But the liver has to work extra hard to process these tablets, which results in elevated liver function, causing inflammation of the liver and, in some cases, hepatitis."

He says that one steroid user's liver function test was 50 times above normal. There is also the risk of liver cysts.

It was the state of his liver that helped Jeff, 28, a lawyer in the City, to finally see how reckless he was being with his health.

He understands the lure of steroids to men who don't want to wait for a transformation: "Imagine going from being skinny and puny one month to seeing the first sign of real muscle the next.

"When I started taking steroids I put in a lot of work at the gym, and was able to eat healthily and get lots of sleep, but then work took over. There were a number of long cases and I wasn't able to go the gym as much. I was snacking and not getting that much sleep.

"I started noticing that I was beginning to lose all the muscle I'd spent so long building up, so instead of stopping a course of steroids after six weeks, I continued taking them. It helped, but I was compensating for not doing any real work in the gym."

"Then I got a shock. I went for a liver function test and it was way off the scale. I was warned that steroids could cause hepatitis and worse.

"I want to be fit, healthy and strong, but I don't want to end up six feet under. It was easy to stop taking them after that shock."

Dr Dawson warns that those taking steroids are "playing Russian roulette with their health. They can't control the dosage of the steroid they are taking because many are fake, having not been produced in proper laboratories, and many often have the wrong ingredients on the box compared to what is inside."

The irony of all this is that steroids are being overrated in terms of their ability to build muscles. "Steroids have mythical proportions, a bit like Popeye's spinach," says Dr Dawson. "But you have to have a disciplined exercise regime, eat well and get lots of sleep to really bulk up."

James has now been abusing steroids for nearly three years and his body is starting to pay the price.

"I have acne on my back and I have mood swings: when I get angry or irritated, it seems to come on faster."

But he says he's not worried about long-term health risks such as brain cell damage or hair loss, claiming: "I've read that you have to be genetically predisposed, and I don't think I am. My granddads have got full heads of hair.

"I can see that it's ironic that I'm taking steroids to look good and yet they make me look disfigured on my back. But the acne goes when I stop taking them. It's the one incentive not to keep taking them all the time."

His only real worry is his mother. "Mum has commented on my moods, but she hasn't guessed," says James. "She would go spare if she found out I was giving myself injections. I feel guilty about it and I know she would get really upset, and that is why I just can't tell her.

"But I need steroids to help me to look good. I know there are side-effects, and that is a concern, but I can't stop taking them."

PA: 23.5.07

Compost, lights and fans worth more than £200,000 are being donated to a charity helping communities in Central Africa.

The equipment was seized by Strathclyde Police as part of Operation League, a crackdown on cannabis growers that began in February.

Officers have decided to hand it over to Glasgow the Caring City who will distribute it to farmers for use in growing vegetables and crops.

Lights and fans will also go to hospitals caring for Aids patients.

It is the first time that the proceeds of crime have been used in such a way.

Chief executive of the charity, Rev Neil Galbraith, said: "Having researched fully how best we can use this donation from Strathclyde Police, not one item will go to waste.

"Many developing communities will benefit from this long term donation and the charity's insight and knowledge of development and partnership. This is not recycling, this is regeneration and resurrection, from bad to good. I can think of no better use for the items being passed on."

Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Whitelock, director of intelligence at Strathclyde Police said: "This is a new direction for the force and the first time that the proceeds of crime have been used in such a beneficial way.

"It is heartening that the items seized from Operation League will be used for such a good cause."

]The Guardian: 22.5.07

A woman with multiple sclerosis who was arrested after her private "dispensary" of cannabis plants was targeted by drug thieves was given a conditional discharge by magistrates yesterday.
Karin Grevis, a grandmother and professional translator who smoked cannabis for pain relief, called for an official amnesty for other medical users after the hearing in Cambridge.

The court heard that her stock of more than 100 conservatory plants was entirely for personal use and would never have become an issue but for rumours in criminal circles. Word that the illegal class C drug was being cultivated at the 43-year-old Swiss national's cottage in Longstanton, nine miles from Cambridge, apparently spread and the plants were targeted by burglars while she was away.

Police discovered the remains of the hydroponic system and several banks of plants when a neighbour reported a broken window and suspected break-in in February.

The magistrates' chairman, Stephen Papworth, told Grevis: "We don't consider there was any intention to make financial profit. We clearly understand the issues relating to your medical condition but we have to put that to one side in coming to our decision about the proper sentence."

Monica Lentin, defending, said that smoking her home-grown cannabis once an hour every day had provided the only relief the translator could find. She had consulted doctors, tried other pain relievers and searched textbooks in vain. Since her arrest, she had given up growing the drug and was facing constant pain.

Grevis, who limped into court with the help of a stick, said that cannabis gave her "100% relief" and she had always preferred to grow her own, rather than risk involvement with dealers. She said: "What can I do now? The government should either make cannabis available on the National Health Service or give people like me some sort of amnesty."

Rodents given a compound derived from a plant in the buttercup family lose their hankering for a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the active compound in marijuana. The treatment also blocked a reward response in the animals' brains when they did receive synthetic THC.

In the first part of the experiment, Steven Goldberg at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Maryland, US, and his colleagues placed rats in a cage with a lever the animals could push. Each time the rats leaned on the lever, they received a dose of the synthetic THC through a small tube running into their body.

Over a period of three weeks the rats learned to enjoy the effects of synthetic THC and frequently self-administered the drug. By comparison, rats that received saline solution did not press the lever often.

Goldberg's team then injected the rats with a compound derived from the seeds of the Delphinium brownii plant, which is in the buttercup family. The compound, known as methyllycaconitine (MLA), had a dramatic effect on the animals' behaviour.

Blocking dopamine
On the day that they received MLA they pushed the lever for synthetic THC 70% less than before. The drug did not seem to otherwise change the rats' movement and coordination, and had no other apparent side effects.

The scientists also took a close look at the effects of MLA on the rats' brains. They used a technique called microdialysis to take tiny fluid samples from a reward-signalling area of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens, which sits near the base of the head.

When rats receive synthetic THC, levels of the reward chemical dopamine normally shoot up in the nucleus accumbens - but MLA blocked the release of dopamine in this brain region.

"The increases in dopamine are virtually non-existent because of MLA," says Goldberg. He adds that MLA did not lower dopamine levels below normal amounts. This is important, says Goldberg, because it suggests that a similar therapy for humans would not interfere with normal reward signalling in the brain.

He notes that the drug Rimonobant, which makes monkeys less likely to self-administer THC, has been linked to depression in humans.

The exact mechanism by which MLA works remains a mystery. Scientists know that MLA binds to specific cell receptors in the brain called alpha-7 nicotinic receptors. They speculate that cannabis indirectly triggers these receptors, but cannot do so when the receptors are blocked by MLA.

Human potential
There is a genuine need for medications to help cannabis addicts overcome their drug problem, according to Goldberg: "About 10% of the people who experiment with it go on to heavy use and have trouble voluntarily giving it up. I think there is a proportion of the population who need ways to make them stop."

Drug-makers have recently made medications such as Chantix available to help people quit tobacco smoking. But researchers say that these drugs affect different nicotinic receptors than those triggered by THC.

And while some people have pushed Rimonobant as a possible remedy for addiction, Goldberg says that more options - such as one based on MLA - must be explored: "Each patient is different and what works in one might not work in another."

Journal reference: Journal of Neuroscience (DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0027-07.2007)

Independent: 23.5.07

Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines of Afghanistan.

Rice farmers along the Euphrates, to the west of the city of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, have stopped cultivating rice, for which the area is famous, and are instead planting poppies, Iraqi sources familiar with the area have told The Independent.

The shift to opium cultivation is still in its early stages but there is little the Iraqi government can do about it because rival Shia militias and their surrogates in the security forces control Diwaniya and its neighbourhood. There have been bloody clashes between militiamen, police, Iraqi army and US forces in the city over the past two months.

The shift to opium production is taking place in the well-irrigated land west and south of Diwaniya around the towns of Ash Shamiyah, al Ghammas and Ash Shinafiyah. The farmers are said to be having problems in growing the poppies because of the intense heat and high humidity. It is too dangerous for foreign journalists to visit Diwaniya but the start of opium poppy cultivation is attested by two students from there and a source in Basra familiar with the Iraqi drugs trade.

Drug smugglers have for long used Iraq as a transit point for heroin, produced from opium in laboratories in Afghanistan, being sent through Iran to rich markets in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Saddam Hussein's security apparatus in Basra was reportedly heavily involved in the illicit trade. Opium poppies have hitherto not been grown in Iraq and the fact that they are being planted is a measure of the violence in southern Iraq. It is unlikely that the farmers' decision was spontaneous and the gangs financing them are said to be "well-equipped with good vehicles and weapons and are well-organised".

There is no inherent reason why the opium poppy should not be grown in the hot and well-watered land in southern Iraq. It was cultivated in the area as early as 3,400BC and was known to the ancient Sumerians as Hul Gil, the "joy plant". Some of the earliest written references to the opium poppy come from clay tablets found in the ruins of the city of Nippur, just to the east of Diwaniya.

There has been an upsurge in violence not only in Diwaniya but in Basra, Nassariyah, Kut and other Shia cities of southern Iraq over the past 10 days. It receives limited attention outside Iraq because it has nothing to do with the fighting between the Sunni insurgents and US forces further north or the civil war between Shia and Sunni in Baghdad and central Iraq. The violence is also taking place in provinces that are too dangerous for journalists to visit. Aside from Basra, few foreign soldiers are killed.

The fighting is between rival Shia parties and militias, notably the Mehdi Army, who support the anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and the Badr Organisation - the military wing of the recently renamed Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC). In many, though not all, areas of southern Iraq, the latter group controls the police.

The intra-militia violence in southern Iraq is essentially over control of profitable resources and the establishment of power bases. According to one report the violence in Diwaniya has been escalating for two months and was initially motivated by rivalry over control of opium production but soon widened into a general turf war.

The immediate cause of the fighting in Diwaniya that began on 16 May was the arrest of several members of the Mehdi Army. Other militiamen tried to rescue them and attacked the police (whom the Sadrists say are controlled by the SIIC). Troops from the Iraqi army and the US army were drawn into the fighting. The Sadrists sent 200 men as reinforcements into the city. Some 11 people, eight of them civilians, were killed on a single day. An American soldier was killed and two wounded in a Mehdi Army attack on Saturday. Diwaniya's Governor, Khaleel Jaleel Hamza, who has moved his family to Iran for safety, announced "a pact of honour" to end the fighting on Monday. The agreement provides for foreign forces to be kept out of the city.

As in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, these conditions of primal anarchy are ideal for criminal gangs and drug smugglers and producers. The difference is that Afghanistan had long been a major producer of opium and possessed numerous laboratories experienced in turning opium into heroin. The Taliban, on the orders of its leader, Mullah Omar, had stopped its cultivation by farmers in the parts of Afghanistan it controlled. Farmers near the southern city of Kandahar grubbed up cauliflowers and planted poppies instead as soon as the US started bombing.

The grip of the British Army around Basra and other southern provinces was always tenuous and is now coming to an end. Although the government in Baghdad speaks of gradually taking control of security in the provinces from US and Britain, the winners in the new Iraq are the militia, often criminalised, that have colonised the Iraqi security forces. Diwaniya is in Qaddasiyah province, which was never under British control but the pattern in all parts of Shia Iraq is very similar.

The one factor currently militating against criminal gangs organising poppy cultivation in Iraq on a wide scale is that they are already making large profits from smuggling drugs from Iran. This is easy to do because of Iraq's enormous and largely unguarded land borders with neighbouring states. Iraqis themselves are not significant consumers of heroin or other drugs.

But it is evident from the start of opium production around Diwaniya that some gangs think there is money to be made by following the example of Afghanistan. Given that they can guarantee much higher profits from growing opium poppies than can be made from rice, many impoverished Iraqi farmers are likely to cultivate the new crop.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Young Iranians queue for methadone to help end years of drug addiction. Elsewhere in the building, a pale, bearded man lies motionless on a bed, his eyes closed, after starting detoxification.

In the yellow brick building in downtown Tehran, an Iranian non-governmental organisation is helping people kick the habit and fighting narcotics abuse that blights hundreds of thousands of Iranians' lives, and wrecks families.

The scale of drug abuse in Iran, which straddles a major smuggling route, is a problem the conservative Islamic state shares with the United States and its other Western foes -- and one that seems to be growing.

"We are very busy here," said nurse Mariam Zahab, preparing small packets of white methadone powder for those waiting for their weekly dose of heroin or opium substitute in the clinic run by the Aftab (sunshine) Society.

"It is a big problem and it is growing, we see it, we experience it," said the middle-aged woman dressed in a loose-fitting hijab, sitting behind a wooden desk in Aftab's spartan premises.

Iran shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Afghanistan, the world's number one producer of the opium poppy which is the key ingredient for heroin. Opium production there rose by as much as 50 percent last year to supply more than 90 percent of global heroin, according to a United Nations estimate.

One of Aftab's patients said it was now easier to find narcotics in Tehran than alcohol -- also banned in Iran.

"I've used drugs for 18 years -- cannabis, opium and heroin," said Vahid, 35, like others here wary of giving his full name. "It is very cheap."

NUMBERS UP, AGES DOWN

The United Nations' top anti-drugs official in Tehran said an estimated 1.2 to 2 million people from a total population of 70 million in Iran take drugs.

"Iran is experiencing increased pressure from traffickers," said Roberto Arbitrio, representative in Iran of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Thousands of Iranian police have been killed in clashes with heavily armed smugglers since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, but heroin and opium keep flowing across the eastern border.

Experts say availability and affordability -- coupled with a lack of jobs and poor economic prospects for many among Iran's growing young population -- are factors fuelling consumption.

"This is very dangerous; the statistics go up, and the ages go down," said Aftab head Parviz Maleki.

The authorities are signalling determination to crack down, fortifying the remote frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan by building long embankments of rock and earth and digging deep ditches in an attempt to stop the criminal gangs.

"For years ... we have witnessed an increase in drug smuggling," a senior official at the Iranian prosecutor's office, Nasser Seraj, told the Mehr news agency.

As part of another campaign, addicts who do not turn themselves in for voluntary treatment will be rounded up and taken to camps in Tehran and elsewhere, Iranian media reported.

Arbitrio said Iran was stepping up its anti-drugs efforts and had developed relatively advanced strategies for prevention and treatment, a system supported by a network of non-governmental organisations like Aftab.

"POCKET-MONEY TO BUY OPIUM"

Established in 1998, Aftab says it was the first Iranian NGO set up against narcotics use after the revolution 28 years ago. It has several branches in Iran, with volunteers including doctors and psychologists.

It receives funding from Iranian government-run charities and also charges patients what it describes as a small fee which, it says, deters them from relapsing.

Still, the number of people it treats -- over 900 last year -- represents only a fraction of Iranian addicts.

"We've had many successes but, sure, it is not enough," Maleki said.

Hamid, Vahid's younger brother, said a friend of his father gave him drugs for the first time in the early 1990s. "I was 14. I was curious," he said.

"I used pocket-money to buy opium, spending 70,000 rials (about $8) a week," said the fit-looking 29-year-old, his fresh face showing little sign of the abuse.

That amount quickly adds up in a country where a school teacher may earn just $300 a month.

Fear of the future, parental pressure and lack of money led the brothers to quit a few months ago after several failed attempts.

But still they prefer to spend time at Aftab to stay away from temptation on the streets of the Iranian capital. "It was very hard to stop and every day is a struggle," said Vahid.

Doctor Mohammad Ali Shahraki said most of his patients at Aftab were between 15 and 25 years old, many of them using relatively new drugs in Iran such as crack and ecstasy.

"Stigma and guilt make addiction complicated and difficult to fight," he said. "We cannot overcome this problem. Our goal is to reduce the harm and prevent dangerous side effects such as HIV."

Martin Barnes, the chief executive of DrugScope, which compiles an annual survey of drug usage in Britain, said that the problem had become more marked in the past few years.

He said that up to 100,000 people were using anabolic steroids. Many were young people who might be reacting to the increase in daily life in images of muscled male bodies.

“Women have had this pressure for decades,” he said. “It’s certainly the case that idealised body images for young men are reflected much more in the media now and some people have expressed concern that this increase \ is reflecting that trend.”

As with eating disorders linked to the effect that images of thin models and celebrities have on young women, the risks of steroid abuse are both physical and psychological.

“People can become pyschologically dependent on using steroids. Self-esteem can be a factor,” Mr Barnes said.

The physical dangers include liver and kidney damage, high cholesterol and strokes as well as acne, mood swings and a reduced sperm count.

Jim McVeigh of Liverpool John Moores University told the BBC yesterday that the real number of users was double the official estimate of 42,000 regular users logged in the British Crime Survey.

“Basically we are looking at numbers being on a par with heroin users,” he said. “At any one time in Liverpool there are approximately 1,000 anabolic steroid users — nationally we’re looking at over 100,000.”

Mr Barnes said that this figure was “about the best evidence we have right now”.

He added: “We need to try to get a much better idea [of the number of users] and more evidence of the potential harm. The [current scientific] evidence is based on people using them for medical purposes, but many of the young people using them are taking much larger amounts. We could be underestimating the impact.”

Anabolic steroids are defined as prescription-only drugs under the Medicines Act. Possession for personal use is not illegal but supplying steroids can lead to up to 14 years in jail and a fine.

In 2006 the DrugScope survey suggested that the drugs had now become “mainstream”. Campaigners have called for gyms and health clubs to take greater responsibility for the problem and provide information about the risks of steroid misuse.

Times 13.5.07

BODYBUILDERS seeking more impressive physiques are turning themselves into living versions of the cartoon character Popeye by injecting a form of synthetic oil into their muscles, writes Daniel Foggo.

The substance, produced by various companies but known colloquially as synthol, binds with the muscle fibres creating a freakish, bloated appearance. Without any weight training, recipients of the injections can end up with arms larger than their legs.

Synthol is said to be attracting the interest of British gym-goers looking for instant “bulk” and unconcerned about any associated health risks.

Jim McVeigh, of the Centre for Public Health in Liverpool, said: “In the last year I have heard of a few cases of people using synthol here. There is a lot of chatter on the internet throwing out questions saying, ‘Have you heard about this drug?’ so there seems to be a lot of interest.”

Synthol, which is a mixture of triglyceride oils and benzyl alcohol, was originally intended as a form of “posing oil” for bodybuilders. When injected into a muscle, however, the body is slow to break it down, so giving an inflated appearance.

McVeigh, who called its use “daft”, said: “It doesn’t actually develop the muscles as such; it just sort of sits in the tissues and makes them larger.

“One of the main problems people have with this is deformity as gravity plays its part, giving you droops within your muscles. There are some terrible cases of inflamed tissue from it.

“Also, because it gives a fast swelling, you will get cramp from a squashing of the nerve. Then you can get crushing of the actual blood vessels and blood flow cut-off.” Some authorities in the US have said bodybuilders also risk giving themselves a pulmonary embolism, which can be fatal, by injecting synthol directly into a major blood vessel.

The use and purchase of synthol and similar derivatives is not illegal. They can be bought off British internet sites for £125 for 100 millilitres. The Centre for Public Health said such sites were exploiting a legal loophole: “It was never developed for this purpose so it isn’t really covered by any legislation.”

Comment: And in what way is this a "new" story????