DS Daily - 22nd March 2010 |
Media muddle over mephedrone
It is perhaps not surprising that having discovered the latest ‘new drug scare’, the media should have got many aspects of the story wrong either because it didn’t fit what they wanted to write or because one piece of misinformation is picked up and repeated time and again until is becomes enshrined in ‘the facts’ [Druglink, UK]
'Category X' mooted for mephedrone
Scientists need a “category X” classification as a holding measure while they investigate the dangers of new drugs to the public, an independent advisory body (UK Drug Policy Commission) has said [Channel 4, UK]
Ministers were told of explosion in 'legal highs'
Some 415 newly identified drugs, untested by medical science, are being sold to young people [Independent, UK]
Mephedrone: lethal scourge of teenagers or just a 'legal high'?
Opinions from: the user, the mother, the dealer, the doctor [Observer, UK]
Legal and lethal
During three days spent in Ayr, everybody the Sunday Herald spoke to has either tried the drug [mephedrone] or knows someone who has [Sunday Herald, UK]
Meow meow sank its claws into my mind
Our correspondent describes its effect on him [Times, UK]
I took mephedrone and I liked it
What's 'meow meow' actually like? Dr Max Pemberton found out for himself [Telegraph, UK]
Like all drugs, miaow-miaow should be legal
Attempting to scare teenagers about the dangers of drugs is pointless: their brains are wired up to take risks [Times, UK]
Killer meow meow drugs to be banned by end of this year
The personal use of the drug mephedrone - known as meow meow - is likely to be banned by the Government before the end of the year, a senior Home Office source revealed [Daily Mail, UK]
Vernon Coaker: Teachers do have the legal right to confiscate mephedrone
Writing to all schools in England, Mr Coaker underlined that the law gives schools the power to confiscate all inappropriate items, including any substance they believe to be mephedrone or any other drug – whatever their legal status [Department for Children, Schools and Families, UK]
Daily Dose to close
After nine years continuous service, our beloved Daily Dose will be closing at the end of this week. Sadly, we have been unable to attract sufficient sponsorship to continue running the service [David Clark, Wired In]
Cocaine dossier
Over fifteen years reporting on cocaine. Druglink virtual magazine [DrugScope, UK]
DrugScope letter to The Times regarding piece on methadone treatment in prisons
DrugScope's letter to the editor outlining some of our concerns about the way the issue was covered [DrugScope, UK]
The truth about drugs in prisons
Mandatory drug testing in jails is producing figures that hide the scale of the problem – and actually encourage harder drug use [Guardian, UK]
Beyond the law
I was always breaking terrible news: he’s been arrested; he’s in prison; he’s dead.” ... Katrina and her cousin, Jolene Crawford, didn’t respond by calling for crackdowns on the social menace of drugs ... Instead, they launched Transform Drug Policy Foundation Scotland [The Herald, Scotland, UK]
Building ‘recovery capital’
This seminar examined how new recovery-based models of drug and alcohol treatment could give greater power and resources to individuals with more involvement of family and community [IPPR, UK]
Revealed: the Scottish legal high factory at the centre of a global trade
Legal party drugs, similar to the ones blamed for a spate of deaths across the UK, are being churned out in a Scottish factory in Ayrshire [Sunday Herald, UK]
Dozens of footballers are missing out-of-competition drug tests
The Sunday Times has seen figures that suggest players and clubs are failing in their responsibilities under the regulations at an alarming rate as the national game struggles to come to terms with requirements that are commonplace in other Olympic sports [Times, UK]
The most dangerous drug isn't meow meow. It isn't even alcohol . . .
I smoked dope throughout my early 20s. It prevented me from getting bored, but also prevented me from achieving much [Guardian, UK]
Assisted injection in outdoor venues
An observational study of risks and implications for service delivery and harm reduction programming [Harm Reduction Journal]
Alcohol questions in A&E could cut £2.7bn NHS bill, say doctors
Leading doctors want patients arriving at hospital accident and emergency units to be questioned about their drinking habits in an attempt to cut the NHS's huge bill for treating people with alcohol problems [Guardian, UK]
Call for EU-wide warnings on alcohol
A Scottish MEP is launching a bid to see pregnant women warned of the dangers to their unborn child of drinking alcohol [Scotland on Sunday, UK]
Drugs panic shock horror again…
Rather less publicity was given to the government’s refusal – and the reasons for that refusal – to limit alcohol promotion which would have gone a long way to reducing the huge harm that drug causes [UKCIA]
Effect of body mass index and alcohol consumption on liver disease
Analysis of data from two prospective cohort studies [BMJ, UK]
Call for state to regulate head shops
A range of Government agencies should be able to use their powers to regulate head shops, it has been claimed [Irish Examiner]
Statistics from the Northern Ireland Drug Addicts Index
This statistical bulletin summarises information on all those persons registered on the Northern Ireland Drug Addicts Index at 31 December 2009 [Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Ireland]
Drug Use in Ireland and Northern Ireland :2006/2007 Drug Prevalence Survey
Polydrug Use Results [Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Ireland]
Deaths related to methadone rise
Methadone related deaths have jumped substantially in the past years [NewsOK, USA]
Mexico's drug war takes growing toll on Americans
More Americans in Mexico are falling victim to a wave of drug violence sweeping the country, a change driven home by the recent killing of a U.S. Consulate employee and her husband who were gunned down after leaving a children's birthday party [Washington Post, USA]
The War on Drugs Is Doomed
Strong demand and the high profits that are the result of prohibition make illegal trafficking unstoppable [Wall Street Journal, USA]
Australian crime: facts and figures 2009
A a quick reference guide summarising trends in crime and criminal justice in AustraliaPDF 4.8MB [Australian Institute of Criminology]