DS Daily - 17th October 2011 |
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UK GPs to be given go-ahead on prescribing Scottish Take Home Naloxone kits
Scottish Drugs Forum has learned that the UK Medicines and Health Care Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has agreed to licence the programme’s customised naloxone emergency injecting kits – a move essential for GPs to be able to prescribe them | Scottish Drugs Forum, UK
Proposed consolidation of the misuse of drugs regulations 2001
Consultation closes 28 Oct 2011 | Home Office, UK
Drug suspects: treat not prosecute say advisers
Illegal drug possession should lead to education and treatment programmes. not prosecution, say government advisers | BBC, UK
Home Office rejects decriminalising possession of drugs for personal use
Official advisory body says better to educate and apply civil sanctions rather than fine or imprison users | Guardian, UK
Drug advisers told no chance of decriminalising possession laws
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, issued a humiliating rebuke to her drug advisers after they called for the possession of drugs to be decriminalised | Telegraph, UK
'No liberalisation' of drugs laws
The Government has been forced to insist that it has no intention of liberalising drugs laws after its official advisers said possession should be decriminalised | Press Association, Google
NHS must do more for ‘invisible’ older addicts
An increasing number of them are misusing prescription drugs and alcohol but lack designated treatment, according to the British Geriatrics Society’s journal Age & Ageing | Daily Express, UK
Cannabis smugglers get 33 years
A gang caught trying to smuggle in four tonnes of cannabis on a luxury yacht have been jailed for a total of 33 years | Home Office, UK
A new binge-drink limit
MPs consider guidance of eight units in a day | Daily Mail, UK
Poots says Executive plan to raise minimum price of alcohol
The Health Minister Edwin Poots has said the Executive is determined to introduce new legislation to raise the minimum price per unit of alcohol | BBC, UK
Court rules to allow discriminatory impacts of Housing Benefit cuts
The High Court of Justice has today passed down judgment in favour of the Government in a Judicial Review brought by Child Poverty Action Group. The review concerned two specific cuts to housing benefit that came into force this April | Child Poverty Action Group, UK
Legal challenge to benefit changes 'a stunt' - minister
A Cabinet minister has accused a leading charity [Child Poverty Action Group] of an "ill-judged PR stunt" after it failed in a legal challenge to proposed welfare cuts | BBC, UK
Why can't we win the heroin war like the British?
The battle for addicts could be helped if we had more treatment centres, says John Meagher | Independent, Ireland
Comparison between Italian and Portuguese legislation
The main purpose of the Italian drug law aims at penalising, punishing and deterring young consumers of drugs, without giving the right importance to rehabilitation. A comparison between Italian and Portoguese legislation clearly shows that drug prohibition only is not a solution. PDF | IDPC
A little legalizing, a big peace dividend
Canada can’t do this alone, alas, without making the country a sanctuary for drug tourists. (See The Netherlands.) It would be best done with a number of countries acting more or less simultaneously – the reverse process of prohibition | Globe and Mail, Canada
Campaign for Youth Justice Youth Justice System Survey
By a margin of 78 – 15 percent, the public overwhelming wants the focus of the juvenile justice system to be on prevention and rehabilitation, rather than incarceration and punishment | GBA Strategies, USA
California Medical Assn. calls for legalization of marijuana
The doctor group questions the medical value of pot and acknowledges some health risk from its use but urges it be regulated like alcohol. A law enforcement official harshly criticizes the new stance | LA Times, USA
Largest industry group for doctors in California changes stance, backs legalizing marijuana
California’s largest industry group for doctors is calling for the legalization of marijuana even as it maintains that the drug has few proven health benefits | Washington Post, USA
Guatemala: Drug trafficking and violence
International Crisis Group, Latin America Report N°39, 11 October 2011. PDF | IDPC
Mexico’s President Works to Lock In Drug War Tactics
As the twilight of his presidency sets in, President Felipe Calderón of Mexico is striving to lock in the militarized approach to drug cartels that has defined his tenure, pushing aside public doubts and pressing lawmakers to adopt strategies he hopes will outlast him | New York Times, USA
Calderon comments spark Mexico drugs war row with PRI
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sparked a political row by suggesting the main opposition party, the PRI, might consider deals with drugs gangs if it wins the presidency in 2012 | BBC, UK
Surge in crystal meth use prompts concern at mental health effects
Almost half of injecting drug users and a quarter of regular ecstasy users this year reported using ice in the previous six months, a study on drug trends by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW found | SMH, Australia
More Australians put ecstasy on ice
Australians who regularly use drugs are turning to crystal methamphetamine, otherwise known as 'ice', in record numbers, new figures show | ABC News, Australia
Growing calls for prison needle exchange
The ACT Government is expected to make a decision about the trial, by the end of the year | ABC News, Australia
Drug tests get go-ahead
Employers will be able to force Victorian building workers to undergo compulsory drug and alcohol testing after a ''landmark'' ruling by Fair Work Australia - a decision that could have implications for workers in other industries | The Age, Australia
Drug trade rife in detention centres
Prescription drugs are being traded among asylum seekers who are becoming addicted to sedatives, sleeping pills and powerful painkillers inside Australia's immigration detention centres, the ABC has been told | ABC News, Australia