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Drugs education 'works'

BBC 7.10.03
Teenagers who receive effective drugs education in schools are less likely to take illegal substances, research suggests. Pupils who could remember nothing about drug awareness lessons had a much higher rate of drug abuse than those who found the lessons useful.

Only 23% of pupils who rated their drug awareness lessons as "very useful" or "quite useful" had taken illegal substances. But 60% of teenagers who regarded their drugs education as "not at all useful" said they had taken drugs. The figures, analysed by the Schools Health Education Unit in Exeter, were taken from responses from 13,809 Year 10 pupils (14 and 15 year olds) in England in 2002.

Dr David Regis, who headed the research, said it was encouraging to see the positive impact of drugs awareness sessions in schools. But Dr Regis said teachers needed more time to devote to this area of their work. "Teachers always tell us the problem is time - they have so much else to do. "It's difficult to find time on the timetable and then the time to get the necessary resources together and get themselves up to speed on the latest issues. "And all this in a climate where the government wants everything else done right - it's like spinning plates. "But the consequences of getting this wrong are dreadful," he warned.

While the research suggests effective awareness programmes in schools works, the statistics also show that 32% of those questioned could not recollect any lessons about drug education. Dr Regis said this statistic was sobering. "That would disappoint me if I was a teacher and that was my school," he said. "It's quite sobering if pupils can't remember anything about drugs education. "But is that really true? Or are they just saying that to express their dissatisfaction with schooling and with personal and social education? "The question now is: How can we reach more youngsters with the lessons we're trying to get across?"

Arrest warning on cannabis confusion
BBC 3.10.03

Police have warned teenagers who mistakenly believe cannabis is now legal that they will still be arrested for using the drug. Several 16-17-year-olds have been detained recently by North Wales Police for smoking the drug in public.

Drugs workers say many people, particularly teenagers, are confused about new police guidelines on cannabis amid plans to downgrade it to a Class C drug next year. But as police emphasised that cannabis is still illegal, there were calls for more clarification.

One drug worker in Wrexham said: "There is a perception that the declassification of the drug makes it legal." Guidelines drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers say anyone under 17 found using cannabis will still be arrested.

But most people caught with the drug are unlikely to be detained. Instead, the police will give them an informal on-the-spot warning and confiscate the drug. "Many people, particularly the younger generation, seem to be under the false impression that cannabis is now legal and that they can't be arrested for possession," said Wrexham community beat manager Colin Hughes.

"This is incorrect and we have had to detain several teenagers who have been caught with the drug, some openly smoking it on the Llwyn Isaf Green during the last two or three weeks."

"I would like to put an end to any confusion or misunderstanding by making everyone aware that it is illegal to possess, use or offer to supply cannabis in any form whatsoever and it will not be tolerated," he added.

Those arrested recently in Wrexham have been given a formal police warning. Cannabis is still a Class B drug with a maximum five-year sentence for possession. But people helping addicts in the town said greater clarity was needed. Those who smoke the drug in "public view" or in front of children - near playgrounds, schools and youth clubs - are more likely to be arrested. Wrexham MP Ian Lucas said: "It's clearly still an illegal drug and I don't think it's appropriate to use an illegal drug in a public place."

It is not surprising that the Govrenments approach to reclassification has caused such confusion. Nor is it a surprise that North Wales' finest should continue to attack cannabis with such gusto. But it is a shock that a police officer would make an error such as the one above, No prizes for spotting it.

Bursting point: the drugs mules filling up UK prisons

Audrey Gillan
Tuesday September 30, 2003
The Guardian

The huge number of Jamaican women coming into Britain with their stomachs full of cocaine is pushing the already overcrowded female prison system to breaking point. More than 10% of the women currently in jail are Jamaican drug mules who swallowed rubber wraps of cocaine and boarded flights to this country.

A Guardian investigation has established that the long sentences being served by the 450 Jamaican couriers are stretching resources to the limit while failing to act as a deterrent to the desperate women prepared to smuggle drugs.
The crisis has deepened since July, when a glut of women prisoners were sentenced before the courts went into summer recess. Women are regularly being bused around as prisons try to find them cells and overcrowding is blamed for the unprecedented number of suicides within female jails: 17 women have taken their own lives since August last year.

Jamaican drug couriers have been identified as a key factor in the overcrowding problem. At a time when cells are in short supply, the prison service has been forced to dedicate four of the 17 women's jails to housing foreign women.
One, Morton Hall prison in Lincolnshire, is the first jail in the country to have more Jamaicans than any other nationals behind bars - a total of 155, compared with 115 women of all other nationalities.

The Guardian has obtained access to prisoners and prison governors, as well as speaking to lawyers, reform campaigners and the women's families in Britain and Jamaica, to produce the most detailed examination yet of a trade that has deluged this country's prisons while devastating families and communities in the Caribbean.

The pressure is now so great that British private companies have been invited to tender to build a jail in Jamaica so that the mules currently imprisoned in this country could be transferred back to the Caribbean. According to senior officials, the project is being pursued by the Jamaican authorities but there is speculation that the British government would consider underwriting it. Peter Mathers, British high commissioner in Jamaica, said: "A number of British companies are interested and there are companies that are bidding and we hope that it will happen soon."
Another option ministers are being urged to contemplate is to stop prosecuting the mules and to simply confiscate their drugs and deport them, or to develop community sentences in Jamaica. Others, including the new director of public prosecutions, believe their sentences should be shorter.

At Morton Hall, two to three Jamaicans a week are being transferred there from local prisons, even though customs and Foreign Office measures have managed to cut the overall number of mules making it to the UK. The official prison service line is that its duty is to accommodate whoever the courts decide to jail, regardless of population pressures. But Lynn Saunders, Morton Hall's governor, said the principal cause of the problem was the length of sentence being handed down to couriers who, customs officials admit, play a minuscule role in drug trafficking into this country.

She said: "There are issues about the sentencing these women get. They are very long and disproportionate to sentences for violence against the person. We have got people doing 10 years here.
"We haven't seen a drop in the number of Jamaican women being admitted but I am told there has been a leavening off. We haven't seen that."

Barbara Thompson, 39, a mother of six, is typical of the mules doing time in Morton Hall. She is serving three years and nine months for carrying 341g of cocaine in her stomach. Hers is a story of deprivation, desperation and, she now admits, naivety. A street seller in the Jamaican capital Kingston, she was approached by a young woman who told her she could make "much more money another way".

Thompson was given an address in Spanish Town, outside Kingston, where she was shown piles of little parcels containing 100% pure cocaine. Made from the fingers of latex gloves and secured with tape, each was the size of the top of her thumb. She was supposed to swallow 100 and was given six bottles of juice to wash them down. She managed to swallow 52.

Thompson was paid £400 in Jamaican dollars in advance and told that she would get another £1,600 when she got to England.

Although she had been warned not to have any food or drink, she started eating as soon as she got on the plane in the hope that she would pass the drugs in the toilet and leave them there. While on the plane she was told of a woman who had died with drugs in her stomach because one of the packages she had swallowed had burst. It can cause a slow and painful death, with the victim fully aware that their respiratory system is going into overdrive.

But by the time she landed at Heathrow, the drugs were still in Thompson's body and when she was stopped by customs officers, she told them immediately what she had done. "I wanted to tell them that I had some drugs inside me and that I didn't know how to get them out but I was afraid they would take me in for a strip search. But then I told them I was loaded."

She was taken to a special, see-through toilet at the airport where customs officers watched and retrieved the drugs from a bowl as they passed through her system. An x-ray at a local hospital revealed that one wrap was still in her stomach so she was taken back to Heathrow to wait for it to pass through.

"I was so scared that that one would never come out and that I would die," she said.
After 12 weeks in Holloway prison, Thompson was taken to court. Her circumstances in Jamaica were not taken into consideration when she was sentenced. However, she said she was so relieved that she had not died on the plane that part of her was glad she had ended up in prison.

But she did not realise the high price she and her family would have to pay for her getting caught. Since she failed to meet the person she was supposed to deliver the drugs to in a cafe at Heathrow's terminal three, the gang who supplied them in Kingston assumed that she had stolen them. As punishment, they kidnapped her brother, stabbed him and then burnt him alive.

That has not satisfied their desire for revenge. "They have been making threats to my family and they don't believe that I am in prison. I don't want to go back on the streets in Kingston and sell because I am very scared that they will find me. I am going to have to go and live somewhere else."

She added: "I will never do the drugs thing again. I don't feel pleased with what I have done and I am not proud."
Earlier this month, a letter written by a group of Jamaican inmates was smuggled out of prison and sent to the home secretary, David Blunkett, on behalf of women like Barbara. The letter points out that each woman costs the taxpayer £24,000-£35,000 a year to keep locked up and pleads for remission and reform of the sentencing system.
Since 1997 when Labour came to power, the number of foreign women in British prisons has increased by 140%, to an average of 4,500, compared with 1,577 10 years ago.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "Foreign national women in British jails don't cause any trouble, but they do contribute to the in tolerable pressure on the system simply by being in prison so long."
Olga Heaven of Hibiscus, the British organisation that helps foreign women in prison here and attempts to ease their resettlement when they are released and deported home, says the number of Jamaican women imprisoned has increased exponentially and that the figure is more like 20% of the female population. When she set up a Jamaican arm of Hibiscus in 1995, there were only 27 women from the island in prison in the UK.

The official figures may also seriously underestimate the trafficking problem. Ms Heaven believes that the women are often used as decoys to allow more serious couriers to make it through.
She said: "I can't see what sense it makes to hold a woman in her mid to late 30s to a long prison sentence when she's just a courier who has never done anything like this in her life before."

Two weeks ago, an inquest pronounced an open verdict on a Jamaican prisoner, Beverley Fowler, 32, who was found hanging in her cell in Durham prison last October two days before she had been due to be deported. The inquest heard that little was done to help Fowler to prepare for her deportation to Jamaica where she had been gang raped and had faced threats and violence.

She had three children, aged 16, 14, and 12 and was a single mother after the children's father was shot dead in 1998; her mother, who had been looking after the children while she was in prison, died in April 2002. Fowler's request for compassionate release was turned down, in spite of having just six months to serve of her six year sentence.

The majority of the Jamaican women in prison here are over 30 and many are single mothers. Catherine Phillips, 49, is a grandmother who swallowed 601g of cocaine, with an estimated street value of £57,000. She is now serving a six-year sentence. "I was supposed to be here for nine days, I have been here now for three years," she said.
Like Thompson, Phillips washed the drugs down with juice, becoming what customs officers term a "stuffer and swallower". But unlike Thompson, Phillips came close to dying because the drug wraps would not leave her system. Three days after being caught she was taken to hospital, where an x-ray showed that the wrapping of the packages had melded together. Doctors told her that they would soon have to operate or the drugs would enter her system and she would die.
She said: "The customs officer explained that if I had not been caught and got through to the dealer I would have died because they would not have had an x-ray and would not have known they were melting."
Phillips, who pleaded guilty in court and wrote a letter to the judge apologising for her actions, believes that long sentences are not a deterrent because the women who become mules do not know about them until they are caught.

"It's not in any conversation that prison is a possibility. It's just going to England and getting this package delivered. Those drug dealers won't go to jail and they don't know anything about prison life or what's going on. They would just leave you to die. They will find somebody else to fill your space.

"I can't tell people don't do it when they are starving. But they should know it's six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years... you ain't coming back and you can't bargain with the judge."

(All the names of the women prisoners and their families have been changed)

Boys on overload

BY PETA BEE: September 29, 2003 : the times

As image-conscious adolescent boys try to improve their self-worth by building up their physiques, many are turning to body-building products and anabolic steroids

BODY IMAGE PROBLEMS have become endemic for a generation of teenagers whom statistics show are getting fatter, yet who are desperate to remain celebrity-thin. But it's not only anorexia or bulimia among girls that is causing concern. Boys are under a different pressure - to look bigger and more muscular - and some are going to extreme measures to achieve such physical ideals.

Products once confined to the world of body building are now seen by a growing number of teenage boys as an instant route to a designer body. Protein shakes, creatine powders and even drugs such as anabolic steroids are being used by these boys in their quest for a more macho image.

UK Sport, a government-funded agency that represents sports governing bodies, reports receiving enquiries from parents of children as young as 11 who have found muscle-boosting products, including steroids, in their children's possession. Pat Lenehan, director of the Drugs and Sport Information Service set up by the NHS in Merseyside, says that he has come across boys as young as 14 using steroids.

"There is now a tendency for them to do anything that will bulk up their bodies, such as taking things that supposedly make them more muscular," he says. This may be because they are being picked on, says Michele Verroken, who is the head of UK Sport's anti-doping programme.

"Often children say that they take them because they are being bullied, but others take them to achieve a better body. It could also be that these boys are getting an image of strength and success, a positive body image that they want to copy from sports people or body builders."

Michelle Elliot, a spokesman for Kidscape, an anti-bullying charity, agrees. "It is a reaction to the growth spurts which can make boys look tall and skinny. They are looking at adult male celebrities and sports people and thinking 'I want to be like that', and they see these muscle products as a way to speed up the process."

Insecurities about appearance hit a peak during adolescence when, for both sexes, the changes brought on by physical development can be deeply unsettling. In girls, the hormonal adaptions of puberty that lead to weight gain and more curves are often the trigger for eating disorders in those who struggle to accept their new shape.

For boys, though, it is a different story. "Whereas puberty is perceived as a negative experience by girls, it is generally considered a more desirable time by boys as it means they are getting bigger and stronger," says Dr Peter Rowan, an eating disorders consultant at the Priory Hospital, Roehampton.

"However, there is now such a huge emphasis on appearance, and children are so indoctrinated by the idea that fitness, strength and health go to together, that teenage boys are getting extreme ideas of what they should look like and how they can achieve that look. It is unhealthy to assume that your life will improve if you look more muscular."

Two years ago a survey of 1,000 teenagers by Dr Robert Dawson, a GP in Chester-le-Street and director of the Drugs in Sport Clinic established by the County Durham and Darlington NHS trust, found steroids to be the third most common drug offered to 14 and 15-year-olds after cannabis and amphetamines.

More than 60 of the teenagers questioned said that they had been offered steroids and 26 admitted that they had taken them to increase their muscle size. Dawson expects those figures to rise. "Part of the problem is that you hear so much about steroids these days that young people assume they are OK," he says. "If a top sports person is using drugs then how can they be unhealthy, is what they might think. It all reinforces the reasons they need to take them."

It is a trend that is not unique to the UK. A flurry of studies in the US has revealed similarly disturbing statistics. "I would say that 500,000 to 600,000 kids in the US have used these drugs at some time," says Professor Charles Yesalis, of the exercise and sport science department at Penn State University. "Right now steroid use is at an all-time high. We have found use right down to 13-year-olds."

Dissatisfaction with their bodies means that even those who haven't tried steroids might be tempted to in the future. When presented with images of a range of male physiques, more than half of 1,000 teenagers questioned by Dr Katharine Phillips, a psychologist at Brown University, Rhode Island, wanted a body shape that could be achieved only by using steroids.

Getting hold of muscle-bulking agents is not as difficult as parents might think. Products such as creatine, which has been linked to kidney problems when taken in high doses, can be bought from most health food stores, as can protein shakes and amino acid powders designed for adult consumption (these products all work to help to supply the protein that muscles need to bulk up).

And while it is illegal to supply them, the Drugs and Sport Information Service says that steroid sales via internet sites and the black market have never been higher. Last year, a report by the British Medical Association suggested that steroid use was as high as 13 per cent in some mainstream gyms around the country. "If you want to take these drugs, you can buy them quite easily," Lenehan says. "We have heard about steroids being sold at school gates. Around half of GPs in some areas of the UK have seen steroid users in their surgeries. There's no pattern for steroid takers - 14 to 60-year-olds will take them. It is a huge problem."

There is little doubt that the drugs are a fast route to added bulk. Anabolic steroids are derived synthetically from the male sex hormone testosterone and are used medically to treat growth disorders and to repair body tissue. Most teenage users take oral steroids - although these can also be injected - and take them in cycles of 6 to 12 weeks. Body builders have been known to take up to 40 times the amount prescribed to patients for medical reasons.

The drugs work to increase muscle mass, reduce body fat and produce quicker recovery times from gym workouts and weight training. There is also a mental boost - as Yesalis explains: "They make a young person feel more popular, more sexually attractive." But there is a heavy price to pay for bulking up.

Among the lengthy list of serious side-effects, steroids can stunt growth permanently in young people. "Older high-school pupils who take them have, on average, grown to 95 per cent of their adult height," Yesalis says. "But in 13 to 14-year-olds, they could shut down their growth plates. permanently. So if God had intended them to be 6ft 2in, they could end up a muscular 4ft 4in." Ligaments and tendons are vulnerable to injury because of the stress placed on them by overdeveloped muscles. Steroids can also lead to feminisation, such as enlarged breasts. Male users of all ages are prone to acne, immune disorders and mental problems such as depression and aggression. Long-term steroid use is linked to heart and liver disease, infertility and prostate cancer.

For parents, unnatural muscle bulking can sometimes be mistaken as normal teenage development. But if you suspect otherwise, there are warning signs. Professor Nicholas DiNubile, an orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and an expert in teenage steroid use, advises checking for rapid physical changes in boys. "Look for improbable gains in lean body mass or muscle bulk, aggressiveness or emotional ups and downs and severe acne on the chest and back, and breast enlargement," he says. When young people come off steroids "there can be a sudden loss in weight that can cause depression when their body image is skewed. They think that they have shrunk like air let out of a balloon." He advises that parents need to try to remove the focus from diet, appearance and physique as much as they can. "It is impossible to protect kids completely; they are always going to be exposed to the body beautiful in this society. But try to limit that by encouraging them to believe that they are OK as they are."

Government agency accused of encouraging children to try drugs
By Julie Henry, Education Correspondent
(Filed: 28/09/2003)

A government agency has been accused of encouraging children to try cannabis after sending drugs advice to schools which is written on a replica of a giant Rizla packet.

The information, entitled drugs and alcohol education, was distributed to secondary schools by Connexions, a careers advice service set up by the Department for Education and Skills.

The first page of the leaflet on cannabis is green and designed like a packet of Rizlas, the cigarette papers which are often used by cannabis smokers to make their joints.

In the first paragraph, a step by step account of how to use the drug is given. It says: "The resin (sticky brown stuff) from the plant is usually heated, small bits broken off mixed with tobacco and rolled into a fag-sized or bigger 'joint'. It can also be smoked on its own in pipes or bongs or on heated knives. Some people put it in to food like hashcakes."
Three long-term effects of using cannabis are listed. Two of them refer to the harmful effects of the tobacco in the drug and the fact that hot smoke is "tough on your throat".

It tells children who feel that their cannabis use has got out of control to limit the amount that they smoke.
The material, which has been sent to all secondary schools, has been condemned by parents, teachers and medical experts for trivialising cannabis and "positively encouraging children to smoke the drug". They claim that the language used in the file is symptomatic of the current push to downgrade cannabis.

Mary Brett, a biology teacher and the head of health education at Dr Challoner's Grammar School, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, said that she was appalled by the leaflets.

"Nowadays, adults seem scared to tell children not to do things. We need to give young people honest scientific information about the effects of drugs. No young person likes to be patronised by people trying to be trendy and 'talking in their language'.

"The idea of reducing the risk of drugs is typical of the 'harm reduction' proponents of drug education. It may have its place when dealing with known users and addicts, but it has no place in the classroom where the vast majority of children have no intention of embarking on a drug career. The view that kids will use drugs anyway so we need to tell them how to do it safely is indefensible."

Heather Ashton, a professor of clinical psychopharmacology at Newcastle University, described the leaflet as "absolutely crazy". "Cannabis smoke contains all the harmful constituents that tobacco does, bar nicotine," she said.
"The net results of smoking cannabis is bronchitis, emphysema and all the things that you get with tobacco, including lung cancer. One joint is equal to five cigarettes. These health risks are not pointed out."

Margaret Morrissey, the spokesman for the National Confederation for Parent Teachers' Associations, said: "This leaflet is staggering. If a child didn't know how to use cannabis before they saw it, they certainly do after they've read it. We support sensible drugs education but it should be based on prevention. Information should be about why you should not use cannabis, not about how you can use it, written on a big Rizla packet.

"I think Connexions is working outside its remit here. I don't see why an organisation which is primarily concerned with career advice is sending out drug advice."

Connexions, which was established in 2001, employs 6,600 advisers to give guidance to England's 4 million teenagers. Its annual budget is more than £450 million.

The Government tried to distance itself from Connexions yesterday and said the document was not official guidance. A spokeswoman from the Department for Education and Skills said: "This is not Government guidance. It is inappropriate and sends the wrong message.

"Schools are well aware of our tough stance on drugs. All guidance issued from the Department makes clear that any form of drugs education must not glamorise or underestimate the dangers of drugs. The leaflet should be withdrawn."

If connexions -or any other services, would like help designing appropriate literature, please get in touch.

Tony Thompson and Jamie Doward
Sunday September 28, 2003
The Observer

The following apology was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday October 5 2003

While ecstasy use has risen alarmingly in the UK in recent years it has not risen to the extent that 120 million tonnes of the drug are produced every year, as we said in the report below. We misquoted a report by the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, which actually showed that 120 to 125 tonnes are now produced annually. Apologies.

Ecstasy use in the UK has exploded dramatically over the past five years, with double the number of people taking the drug. Ecstasy users are poised to overtake the combined number of heroin and cocaine users.

A United Nations report reveals that in Britain 2.2 per cent of the population aged 16 to 59 - 730,000 people - now take ecstasy, compared with 1.2 per cent five years ago. More people take ecstasy as a proportion of the population than in any other country, except Australia and Ireland.

The report, by the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, shows that more than 120 million tonnes of ecstasy are now produced annually. The mass production has led to a plunge in prices: an ecstasy tablet can be bought for £3.

The number of Britons taking heroin has remained rela tively static at around 300,000. Just under 500,000 use cocaine. Soon, figures suggest, ecstasy will be more popular in the UK than cocaine and heroin combined.

The report shows seizure rates for synthetic drugs such as ecstasy and amphetamine (speed) are rising by 28 per cent a year. Heroin is up by only 8 per cent and cocaine by 1.5 per cent. Globally, the number of people who consume ecstasy has soared to eight million - an increase of 70 per cent over five years. If the trend continues, global consumption of ecstasy will exceed that of heroin, now used by nine million people, within the next 12 months.

The number of people in the UK taking amphetamines has dropped from 2.6 per cent of the population five years ago to 1.6 per cent. Many of the users are believed to have switched to ecstasy.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service estimates 500,000 to two million ecstasy tablets are consumed each week in Britain. Last week, figures published in the journal Human Psychopharmacology showed there had been 72 ecstasy-related deaths in the UK in 2002, compared with 12 in 1996. Experts partly blamed the deaths on the falling costs of the drug which is often taken alongside other drugs. The report shows 40 million people worldwide take synthetic drugs such as ecstasy and amphetamine - almost twice the number who use heroin and cocaine.

'Synthetic drugs abuse begins with experimental use among mostly young people. Gradually, it may lead to dangerous polydrug use and addiction, with severe health consequences,' said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime.

The UN report shows that between 1999 and 2001 75 per cent of ecstasy laboratories seizures were in the Netherlands, 14 per cent in Belgium and 6 per cent in the UK.

Each year around 60 ecstasy factories are seized by law enforcement agencies in Europe. As they prioritise combating ecstasy production, the factories move to eastern Europe where they are less closely monitored.

Professor John Henry of Imperial College London, a leading narcotics expert, said: 'Though the use of ecstasy may continue to rise along with concerns about the drug's effect on the memory, heroin and cocaine will also be a greater concern because they have a far greater impact on society and cost the medical profession far more. What is worrying is the growth in dependence on amphetamine. We have a huge number of regular users and and a significant number of deaths, yet we rarely see them presented in medical centres.'

Offenders drop out of drug course

bbc 25.9.03

Over two-thirds of convicted drug users who took part in the government's flagship treatment programme dropped out, a Home Office study has shown.

And a majority of all of those who took part in the scheme went on to commit further crimes, the research found.
The government is spending £53 million this year on the projects.
They were introduced so that some drug users who commit crimes to pay for their habit are sent for treatment as an alternative to custody.


Only 30% of offenders on the Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) finished them, while 67% had their orders revoked.
Among those who completed the order, just over half were reconvicted within two years, while 91% of those who failed to complete were reconvicted.

The order includes a requirement to attend the course, mandatory drug testing and court progress reviews.
The report says if drug treatment and testing order teams struggle to establish their programmes, and lack resources to deliver rapid and appropriate responses, they could become "expensive precursors to imprisonment".

It said the results of the study into three pilot schemes in Croydon, Gloucestershire and Liverpool were "less encouraging" than expected.

While saying that the treatment order was an "effective sentence", minister for the correctional services, Paul Goggins, did admit it was not as successful as anticipated.

"The figures for reoffending published today are higher than we would like, and too many offenders in the pilot areas failed to complete the programmes.

"They are returned to court, but given the nature of the target group, who were serious drug-misusing offenders, we should not be surprised by some of the difficulties they present."

Typical DTTO offenders may have committed four offences a day, averaged 42 previous convictions and spent about £400 a week feeding their drug habit, Mr Goggins said.

He added: "The impact on those who complete the order is quite marked."
About 6,140 treatment orders were made in 2002/03, the Home Office said.

Steven Morris
Thursday September 25, 2003
The Guardian

This week one of the UK's leading drugs experts, John Henry, said cocaine use was reaching epidemic proportions in the UK. He said there were believed to be around 358,000 occasional users and around 100,000 regular users of powdered cocaine. There are also thought to be some 178,000 crack cocaine users
· Between 35 and 45 tonnes of cocaine is estimated to reach the UK annually. Most cocaine destined for the European market comes from Colombia in large shipments. Ships carrying the drug are met by smaller boats, and the cargo is landed in smaller quantities on the Iberian peninsula, from where it is taken overland by lorry, often via Holland
· In London, the Metropolitan police recorded a rise of 27% in drug trafficking and possession offences in 2002-3
· London is seen as the hub for distribution of powdered cocaine in the UK, but Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol are also important
· In the UK, 1kg of cocaine has a street value of up to £100,000. The UK market is estimated to be worth between £2bn and £3bn a year
· Crack cocaine has traditionally been produced in small quantities and sold on to street-level dealers and users. More recently, gangs have begun to produce crack in larger quantities
· Earlier this month, police investigating a suspected drugs gang found bonds apparently worth £4bn in a house in Surrey. Information was passed to the Colombian authorities who said it had helped them break a big drugs ring. The find was notlinked to yesterday's operation

Cocaine cartel smashed, say police

Scotland Yard claims raids in London and Colombia have 'ripped out the heart' of Britain's most powerful smuggling gang

Steven Morris
Thursday September 25, 2003
The Guardian

Scotland Yard claimed yesterday to have "ripped out the heart" of Britain's most powerful drugs network after a series of raids in London and Colombia.

Detectives said the leading players in a gang which had made more than £100m in the past 18 months by smuggling cocaine into the UK had been the targets.

In London more than 100 officers raided 17 homes of suspects and businesses allegedly involved in the laundering of drugs money. Ten men and two women, most of them from South America, were arrested.
Meanwhile the Colombian authorities raided 20 addresses and made at least 14 arrests. It is believed that the network may have links to Colombia's Cali cartel.

Two arrests were also made in Spain.

The raids, the culmination of two years' work on Operation Anuric by the Met's secretive special projects unit, began at 6am when five unmarked police cars pulled up in front of a house in Holloway, north London.
A national news agency and a satellite broadcaster had been invited by the Met to witness the raids.

Two plain-clothes officers stationed themselves at the back of the house and four officers knocked at the front door. It was answered by the suspect's Colombian wife. Her husband seemed calm as he was arrested.
Bags of documents and a computer were taken away, along with a filing cabinet and several thousand pounds in cash.

The arrested man, a 49-year-old Spaniard, was brought out in handcuffs. Wearing tinted glasses, he smiled at reporters and said: "Hello, how are you? I'm fine, thank you."

In Beckton, east London, search teams had been combing the home of a 38-year-old Colombian man.
When officers called at 6am, there had been no answer. After trying unsuccessfully to get in using a battering ram, the police were let in by through the garage by the suspect.

Another team had been sent to La Gran Colombia cafe in Holloway, which is used as a money exchange and transfer point. The 49-year-old suspect is believed to be the manager of the cafe, and the 38-year-old its owner.
In Colombia, raids took place in the western cities of Cali and Pereira. Police seized cash, vehicles, bullets and communications equipment.

Officers also found documents showing that millions of pounds had been transferred from Europe to Colombia.
By mid-morning Scotland Yard was giving details of its operation. Officers described how the special projects unit, made up of 30 officers, had been monitoring the gang's activities for two years.

They revealed that before yesterday, 20 alleged "minor players" in the organisation had been charged with drugs and money-laundering offences and £20m worth of cocaine had been seized.

One courier allegedly linked to the gang was found to be carrying £250,000 in cash.
The police said the arrests were part of the move against the alleged "big players": those responsible for importing drugs and getting the profits back to Colombia.

One of those arrested was allegedly the head of the UK side of the gang's operation, and made frequent visits to South America.

The operation was praised by Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan police commissioner, who said: "We will continue to work closely with our international counterparts to rid London's streets of this evil trade."
David Blunkett, the home secretary, said: "Foiling a major international drug and money-laundering operation like this is a key step in preventing Class A drugs from reaching our communities."
Detective Chief Superintendent Sharon Kerr, the head of the Flying Squad, said the raids were "the final stage of an operation against a sophis ticated and hard-to-penetrate criminal network".
"It's an example of how we can take out an entire criminal network from the top-tier organisers right down to those who peddle drugs on the streets."
She added: "Often we have been nibbling around the edges, taking out the patsies." But yesterday's operation was "about ripping out the heart of the network".

Det Supt Kerr said the gang had made more than £100m in the past 18 months. The entire cocaine market in the UK is thought to be worth between £2bn and £3bn annually.

Detective Chief Inspector Martin Molloy, the head of the special projects unit, said two members of the gang had allegedly laundered £17m through one business in 12 months.

The Met said those arrested had been living deliberately "low-key" lifestyles.

Robert Goss, 21, who lived next to the house in Holloway, said: "The family was very quiet and I didn't think anything was particularly strange about them. I even sometimes took packages for them from couriers."

Neighbours of the family who lived in Beckton said they had "seemed very nice and friendly, but seemed rather well off without doing much".

In Colombia, Teodoro Campo, the commander of the country's police force, said his officers had been working with Scotland Yard on the case for eight months.

Press Association: Guardian
Friday September 19, 2003

Alcohol abuse costs Britain at least £20bn a year, according to a government report out today.

The study found that 17m working days are lost to hangovers and drink related illness each year - costing employers £6.4bn. One in 26 NHS "bed days" is taken up by alcohol related illness, the report adds, with an annual cost to the taxpayer of £1.7bn. The cost of clearing up alcohol related crime is a further £7.3bn a year. Drink leads to a further £6bn in "social costs", the study found.

Authors of the long awaited report - which will form the basis of ministerial attempts to tackle drink related problems - believe even these figures to be conservative.

Home Office minister Hazel Blears said: "The large majority of people who drink do so without causing themselves or others harm and it is an integral part of their social life. In fact, for some there are even health benefits from moderate drinking.

"But this study shows that increasing numbers of people - especially the young - are drinking well above the safe limits. For example, under-16s who drink now drink twice as much as they did 10 years ago.

"This is bringing with it health risks and a range of other social problems. Not least of these problems is the nuisance and disorder that are all too often a feature of our town and city centres."

The study found that a third of men and a fifth of women fail to drink sensibly. Four out of 10 men and 22% of women "binge drink" and youngsters are starting to binge drink at an earlier age. The binge drinking period that was once confined to the late teens now often runs from 16 to 24, the report says.

The report also says there are 1.2m incidents of alcohol related violence a year. Four out of 10 visits to hospital casualty wards are drink related, rising to seven out of 10 at weekends between midnight and 5am. Between 800,000 and 1.3 million school children are affected by parents with drink problems, it added.

The study said conditions in clubs or bars were crucial to how much customers drank - such as the amount of seating, crowd levels, ambience and noise levels. Ministers hope to draw up a strategy to combat the problem and begin implementing it next year.

Charity Alcohol Concern said the government would have to vastly increase spending. "The recently announced £250m Smirnoff vodka revamp represents more than double the amount spent on alcohol treatment and counselling services across the country," said chief executive Eric Appleby.

"What we now need to see, and quickly, is some serious action - and money. We recently spearheaded a year-long commission into help-giving alcohol services - which revealed that they required a three-fold increase in resources from £100m to £300m.

"Until we get this proactive action, we will simply be sweeping up the mess created by alcohol problems - dealing with its symptoms rather than the illness itself."

Alcohol: the facts

As the government releases a report into the economic costs of alcohol abuse, here are some facts about drinking in Britain

Friday September 19, 2003

· The average Briton drank 151% more, in terms of alcoholic content, in 2001 than in 1951 - the equivalent of 8.6 litres of pure alcohol.

· For men, the report defined binge drinking as consuming more than four pints of beer or eight measures of spirits in a short time.

· For women, it is consuming more than three pints or six measures of spirits in a short time.

· Some people drink three or four times the recommended amount of alcohol during a typical Saturday night out, according to the report.

· The study did not identify a "typical heavy drinker" but it said that young, white, unemployed men were more likely to abuse drink.

· Women in skilled jobs drink more heavily than other women and unskilled men are the heaviest drinkers in their gender.

· About 150,000 people are admitted to hospital a year due to alcohol-related accidents and illnesses.

· Alcohol is associated with up to 22,000 deaths a year.

· Deaths from liver cirrhosis have nearly doubled in the last 10 years.

· Alcohol taxes raise £7bn a year and the drinks market is worth an estimated £30bn annually to the economy.

Neeta Dutta and agencies
Guardian: Thursday September 18, 2003

A celebrity-fronted campaign to raise awareness of addiction in Britain has been launched by a research charity. Models Jemma Kidd and Laura Bailey are to head the Angels Against Addiction campaign by the charity, Action on Addiction - which aims to encourage people to act as a "guardian angel" for friends and relations. The charity said yesterday that a third of Britons are dependent on tobacco, alcohol or drugs - which together kill 150,000 people a year.

"By being aware of the dangers of addiction, people can begin to protect themselves, their friends and their families," said Lesley King-Lewis, the charity's chief executive. "We hope the images of Jemma and Laura giving their support to the campaign will grab everyone's interest in a positive way."

Jemma Kidd is viewed as a positive role model, sporty and healthy due to her horse riding and polo background and successful in her career as a model and makeup artist. Other high profile supporters include celebrities Caprice, Sian Lloyd, Emilia Fox and Tania Bryer. The charity hopes that the celebrities' support will also give the campaign credibility with young people, and help avoid it being perceived as preachy.

More young people are taking up drinking, smoking and drug use than ever before, Ms King-Lewis added."Our research shows that young people are generally unaware of the dangers and effects of drugs when they start using them, and most do not believe that their substance use could become a problem," she added.

The charity, founded in 1989, raises funds for research into the deep rooted causes of substance abuse. It established the National Addiction Centre (NAC), an organisation that brings together experts from all strands of addiction research - from alcohol abuse to dependence on heroin.

Advertising sites for the campaign have been provided free by billboard company Van Wagner UK. There is also a clothes collection that features Angels Against Addiction T-shirts, at £25 each, from which all proceeds go directly to the charity.

Well that's OK then!

New guidelines allow exceptions to 'no arrest' rule

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Friday September 12, 2003
The Guardian

Wider than expected discretion is revealed in guidelines for police on how to enforce revised cannabis laws.
The guidelines, to be published today and to take effect in January, are likely to lead to variations around Britain, according to how forces interpret them. They include giving police power to arrest anyone smoking cannabis in public.

But senior officers insist the official guidance means most of the 80,000 adults a year arrested and fined for simple possession will in future face only a warning and confiscation.

Drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers, the guidelines give each force much wider than expected discretion over how rigorously they enforce the laws. Small rural forces are likely to be much tougher than big city forces; the latter will concentrate time and resources on more dangerous class A drugs.

The home secretary, David Blunkett, announced 18 months ago his intention to reclassify cannabis from class B to class C, saying police would lose the power of arrest for simple possession except where there were aggravating factors. He asked them to instead concentrate on heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine.

The discretion also applies to repeat offenders. An earlier Acpo "three joints and you're out" rule - under which users caught more than twice in a year would be arrested not cautioned - has been dropped. Instead, an officer may make an arrest "where locally the person is known to be repeatedly dealt with for possession of cannabis".

Andy Hayman, chief constable of Norfolk, chairs the Acpo drugs committee and drew up the guidelines. He said that officers would retain a power of arrest for simple possession.

However, he said: "In the spirit of the home secretary's decision to reclassify cannabis, the new guidance recommends that there should be a presumption against arrest. In practice, this means, in the majority of cases, officers will issue a warning and confiscate the drug. Officers will be expected to use their discretion and take the circumstances of each case into account."

The guidelines do not specify the "small amount" that would limit the offence to simple possession, saying that weighing quantities in the street is impracticable and would only encourage dealers to avoid exceeding the limit.

Some feared that the guidelines might be used by more conservative chief constables to claw back their discretion on when to arrest. Mr Hayman said he believed they allowed police to focus on class A drugs - nevertheless, it remained illegal to possess cannabis. "It is an illegal drug but not a policing priority," said an Acpo spokesman.

The guidelines do spell out "aggravating factors":

· Smoking cannabis in public: Originally, arrest was reserved for "flagrantly" flouting the law by blowing smoke into an officer's face. Now it is stated smoking in public is not in the spirit of reclassification and could undermine the drug's illegal status.

· Repeat offenders: Where an officer is aware of a person repeatedly dealt with for possession of cannabis, he or she may arrest him or her.

· Local policing problem: Where a fear of public disorder is associated with cannabis use, the police may arrest rather than warn.

· Young people: Those aged 17 and under will be dealt with under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and not the guidelines - they will be arrested and given a formal warning. Adults with cannabis inside or near schools or premises used by young people will face arrest. Children under 10 with cannabis will be referred to welfare agencies.

According to the guidelines, when somebody is searched in the street and cannabis found, all the officer need do is ask "what is this?" and "whose is it?", record the replies, and in the presence of the offender put the drug in a tamper proof bag, seal and sign it, and confiscate it.

MPs have yet to vote on changing the penalties for cannabis possession, but it is assumed the guidance will take effect on January 29.

For review and analysis of this development please see Drug News Section

Thousands of drug-addicted criminals are released from prison without having been treated for their habit, according to Government figures.Ministers have also admitted that the Prison Service can afford to rehabilitate fewer than one third of all inmates who are problem drug users despite the apparent links between drug-taking and crime.Each year, 18,000 offenders with a serious drug habit are jailed, but the service plans to have only about 6,000 rehabilitation or therapeutic programmes operating by March of next year.

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, who compiled the figures from parliamentary answers, said it was clear that despite Government promises to tackle the problem, most prisoner addicts do not get any treatment while in jail.

"The prison system is flooded with problem drug users," Mr Hughes said. "Despite a reduction in the flow of drugs into prison in recent years, most addicts come out of prison with their behaviour unchallenged and in most cases unchanged. Tough action against people who bring drugs into prisons is not a substitute for proper treatment."

He added: "Addicts serving less than two years are not eligible for treatment. But three quarters of those who are sent to prison are sentenced to less than two years. It is painfully clear that the majority of drug dependent prisoners are excluded from treatment. Access to a drug rehabilitation programme is not a luxury. It is a necessary step to prevent further offending and more victims."

According to the Prison Service's annual report, 4,386 addicts entered treatment in the last year against a Government target of 5,000. The service will have to create another 1,300 places to meet its target of 5,700 places by March 2004. This means there are at least 14,000 untreated addicts in jail at any one time.

Mr Hughes said that if the 13,600 prisoners who do not currently receive proper treatment for their drug habit were adequately catered for, there would be a fall of about 3,000 in the number of offenders, many of whom commit a disproportionate number of crimes.

Experts who gave a dramatic warning that ecstasy led to brain damage based their study on a huge blunder, reports health editor Jo Revill

Sunday September 7, 2003
The Observer

It was billed as the one of the most dramatic warnings the world has ever received over the dangers of ecstasy. A study from one of America's leading universities concluded that taking the drug for just one evening could leave clubbers with irreversible brain damage, and trigger the onset of Parkinson's disease.
The study, published in the eminent journal Science last September, had an immediate impact. Doctors and anti-drug crusaders spoke of a 'neurological time bomb' facing the young. Others suggested that taking one of the tablets was the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with the brain, and demanded tighter 'anti-rave' laws to deal with it.

But today, scientists are facing up to the humiliation of admitting that the stark results they reported in the study were not a breakthrough but a terrible, humiliating blunder.

The study was based on the fact that laboratory monkeys and baboons had a severe reaction to the drug when it was injected in small doses. But it emerged this weekend that the vials of liquid did not contain ecstasy. Instead, the animals received a dose of methamphetamine, or speed - a drug widely known to affect the body's dopamine system. The tubes had somehow been mislabelled by the supplier.

In this week's Science, the scientists will publish a retraction of their original study, reigniting the row over the role of those who investigate ecstasy, as well as the real risks or benefits of the drug. In academic circles, the mistake is a severe embarrassment to Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, which attracts millions of dollars of research funding from both government and companies. Questions are already being asked about whether the lead researcher, George Ricaurte, was inherently biased against the drug.

The mistake only came to light when follow-up tests gave conflicting results. The original study reported how two out of 10 animals died quickly after their second or third dose. Six weeks later, the dopamine levels in the surviving animals were down by 65 per cent, leading Ricaurte and his colleagues to conclude that it could provoke the onset of Parkinson's, which is linked to a loss of dopamine-producing cells.

He said at the time: 'It is possible that some of the more recent cases of suspected young-onset Parkinson's disease might be related, but that this link has not been recognised.' When the study was published last September, a chorus of experts saw it as evidence of drug damage. Professor Colin Blakemore of Oxford University, soon to be the new head of the Medical Research Council, said it provided further evidence that 'ecstasy can be toxic to nerve cells'.

Dr Alan Leshner, chief executive of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, which publishes the journal, went as far as to describe taking ecstasy as playing 'Russian roulette' with brain function. He added: 'This study showed that even very occasional use can have long-lasting effects on many different brain systems. It sends an important message to young people - don't experiment with your brain.'

Yesterday, Ricaurte was attempting to put a brave face on the calamity. He is under attack from all sides, and has already been accused of rushing his study into print because Congress was looking at a bill known as the Anti-Rave Act, which would punish club owners who knew that drugs such as ecstasy were being used on their premises.

Ricaurte has denied political bias. He said yesterday that his laboratory made 'a simple human error', adding: 'We're scientists, not chemists.' Asked why the vials of liquid were not checked before being used on the animals, he replied: 'We're not chemists. We get hundreds of chemicals here - it's not customary to check them.'

It is unusual for Science to have to publish a retraction, but that is exactly the right thing to do, according to Joe Collier, professor of medicines policy at St George's Hospital Medical School. 'People must realise that mistakes are made, even by scientists,' said Collier. 'It is embarrassing - a lot of self-questioning will be going on over there - but it's important we learn from this.'

Over the past five years, controversy has raged about the real dangers of ecstasy, a drug which is taken by around a million clubbers in Britain every weekend. Some studies have suggested that ecstasy has no long-term impact on the levels of the hormone serotonin in the brain, while others have suggested that it leaves clubbers feeling depressed and unable to concentrate. The controversy is not likely to go away quickly while the scientists themselves are caught up in such a political and academic minefield.

The carelessness here is breathtaking; yet so many commentators are prepared to take as gospel all the so-called "scientific" research, and maintain laws based on this evidence. Further down, unabashed scientists claim that ecstasy damages foetuses. We will have to wait and see how long it is before this report is also buried under a snivelling apology.

Police may face drug tests

BBC 5.9.03

Random drug testing for police officers in England and Wales may be introduced by the government.
Ministers rejected the idea last year but Home Office minister Hazel Blears has told the BBC the Police Advisory Board will look at it again next month. The move follows calls for random testing by the Superintendents Association. At its annual conference next week, the president of the association, Chief Superintendent Kevin Morris, will renew its demand for all officers in England and Wales to be subject to the tests.

The superintendents say it is an ethical issue and those who have to enforce the law on drugs should be seen to be rooting out misuse within their own ranks. The Police Federation, representing the rank and file, was less keen when the subject first came up and the government chose not to act. But vice-chairman Rod Dalley said this time around the Federation was not "dead set against" the proposals. However, he said the current occupational health structure in the police force was not good enough to cope with the introduction of drug testing. We need properly resourced, properly staffed occupational health units to offer support throughout this process - before, during and after," he told BBC News Online. "This is not just a discipline matter. We must have the help and support people need if they are found to have a problem." He said although he couldn't say there was no drug problems in the force, a testing programme at West Midlands Police only returned 44 positive tests out of 2000, over the last two years - 34 of which were medication related. A Home Office-led working party, which includes the Federation, is already examining standards in occupational health. Chief Superintendent Morris, who will call for testing at a conference next week, told BBC News 24 that it was not known whether there was a problem with drugs in the force, but with 130,000 officers in the UK it would be "naive to assume all of them are absolutely perfect".

Checks and balances
"But it's more than that. We have to look at looking after our staff." He said people would lose confidence in the police force if stories about officers taking drugs hit the press. "If the public, quite rightly, expect more from us than they do everybody else, then we've got to show that we are actually doing things correctly," he added. The association points out that compulsory testing has been successful in other organisations - particularly the Army. Mr Dalley added: "I think the majority of police officers will recognise the danger of working alongside colleagues who abuse drugs. But the programme has to have the proper support, checks and balances." One academic, a criminologist who has been researching a book about drug-taking in the police, has asserted a number of the officers he has interviewed routinely flout the law. Professor David Wilson went as far as to say some rogue officers would advise dealers what to do in the event of being caught.

Government moves to forcibly stop begging have created an outcry but many charities support such action, says Jeremy Swain

Guardian: Wednesday September 3, 2003

Many news organisations assume that, on begging, battle lines have been drawn between government and homelessness charities. The reality is far more complicated. Many charities, including Thames Reach Bondway, have reached the same conclusion as the government - that public giving to those who beg is destructive. However, these charities are generally less interested in the issue of people who beg creating a "nuisance" and more with the link between begging and the misuse of hard drugs purchased with the proceeds.

Thames Reach Bondway's begging campaign - urging people not to give to beggars - has received much attention. But, in many towns and cities, campaigns that highlight alternative ways to give financial help have been running for some time and illustrate how misleading it is to suggest that agencies are always "head to head" with the government on this issue.

A range of alternative giving campaigns in Cheltenham, Nottingham, Manchester, Bath, Bristol, Exeter and south London are either supported by homelessness charities or have been set up by them, sometimes in cooperation with local authorities. In many towns and cities there appears to be a consensus amongst charities that begging can neither be supported nor ignored.

I am not aware of a single town or city where there can be said to be consensus.

Many journalists also fail to recognise the significant impact that some homelessness charities have had in shaping the government's approach. The 1999 Rough Sleepers Unit's strategy contained so many ideas first mooted by homelessness agencies that it could have been written by the voluntary sector.

Many homelessness agencies work closely with central and local government to determine their polices towards rough sleepers, those who beg, substance misuse and antisocial behaviour. It is misleading to suggest that charities are either victims of government policy, fulminating angrily but helplessly against the latest raft of draconian proposals or in the pocket of government, being directed and manipulated by shadowy forces that have "bought their souls".

Of course not! And there's never been a suggestion that those who were critical of the RSU strategy were slowly frozen out and those who tacitly collaborated with the dodgy street counts, the shuttling people in to hostels on the nights of counts, and those who helped the Government "achieve" its rough sleeping targets were rewarded with further contracts. Yup, some charities sold their souls indeed, and have done hugely well out of the process.

Recognising that there is some consensus that begging is unacceptable and dangerous, is different, of course, from saying that homelessness agencies are in support of the general thrust of the government's antisocial behaviour approach of which most homelessness agencies remain sceptical and distrustful.

One of our concerns, for example, is the blanket statement that comes from government, and finds its way into the antisocial behaviour white paper, that there are bed spaces available for rough sleepers. Over a year, our street outreach workers in London do not have enough bed spaces, particularly for men over 25, and often go out onto the streets with only a handful of vacancies at their disposal.

A second common supposition is that you can't stop people giving to beggars, a "fact" that informs much of the media debate. This is particularly interesting for me as I was an outreach worker in the mid-eighties in London when begging was much less common that it is today in the capital, but rough sleeping at three times the level it is in 2003. Was this a sign that people were less willing to give to people begging or that people on the street had less need to beg. Or that as a younger worker in the mid-eighties you were less aggrieved by people begging and so didn't register it.

Previous surveys show that members of the public, when confronted by someone begging, have a very ambivalent attitude and will often give money even when they suspect it may be spent on drugs or alcohol. Howe