DS Daily - 3rd December 2012

Harm reduction overviews

Harm reduction overviews now published for 30 countries — the 27 EU Member States, Norway as EMCDDA member, and Turkey and Croatia as Candidate Countries | EMCDDA, Portugal

Mephedrone: the rise of heroin's cheap rival

Heroin, speed and cocaine use is down but mephedrone is more popular than ever since it became illegal. There is now an epidemic of addicts injecting it as 'M-smack' | Guardian, UK

Warning over cocaine use condition after Glasgow cases

Public health experts in Glasgow and Lanarkshire have warned health professionals to be on the lookout for a rare, serious condition, usually associated with cocaine use | BBC, UK

Why the Work Programme is failing homeless people

Basic assessments are not being made, but there is hope yet for the government's employment scheme | Guardian, UK

The countess who would legalise drugs

One aristocrat’s 15-year campaign to decriminalise cannabis is gaining political support, finds Stefanie Marsh | Times, UK

Britain battles to keep cannabis ban

Britain will fight to keep the global sporting ban on social drugs, such as cannabis... | Sunday Times, UK

How parents’ drugs habits affect their children

Parents who take Class A drugs such as Ecstasy, cocaine and MDMA are not as rare as you think | Times, UK

Crystal Meth (video)

Why it is becoming the illegal drug of choice for many in Germany? | BBC, UK

Tobacco display ban starts in big stores in Wales

A ban on big shops and supermarkets in Wales displaying tobacco has begun | BBC, Wales

You lied and must admit it, judge tells tobacco giants

Tobacco companies have been ordered by a judge in the United States to admit that they lied to the public about the damage caused by cigarettes | Times, UK

Campaigners raise alarm over tobacco giants' lobbying against plain packaging

Tobacco industry hires two of the world's most powerful PR firms in attempt to stop other countries following Australia's lead | Observer, UK

Border official investigated over ‘illegal drugs brought to Britain'

An allegation of drug smuggling by a senior official inside Britain’s inspectorate of borders and immigration is being investigated by the Home Office | Times, UK

Mentor Welcomes 45p Minimum Unit Pricing

Ministers in England and Wales have unveiled plans that set a minimum price per unit of 45p on alcohol.Mentor supports this as part of the process to protect young people from alcohol harms | Mentor, UK

Gap-year takers 'more likely to have used cannabis by 16'

Gap-year students are more likely to have smoked cannabis by the age of 16 than those who go straight to college, government-funded research suggests | BBC, UK

Bryan Saunders: portrait of the artist on crystal meth

Bryan Saunders has created 50 self-portraits under the influence of everything from Valium to lighter fluid. Does that make him an outsider artist, or a troubled man in need of help? | Guardian, UK

Call for more Scots drink-drive powers ahead of festive crackdown

The Justice Secretary has called for police to have powers to breathalyse drivers at random ahead of the festive drink-driving crackdown | BBC, Scotland

Cocaine factory' dealers jailed after drugs worth millions seized

Five men who operated cocaine factories from their homes in the west of Scotland have been given jail terms totalling more than 24 years | BBC, Scotland

You be the Judge

People can now take on the role of a judge in a murder or a drug dealing case, on a Ministry of Justice website designed to make sense of sentencing | Justice.gov.uk, UK

Drug policy and women: Addressing the negative consequences of harmful drug control

Limited research currently exists on the particular impact of drug control on women. This briefing paper focuses on this gap | IDPC, UK

Girls Being Exchanged By Gang Members To Settle Drug Debts

Higher rate of victimisation among black and minority ethnic (BME) young people than previously identified, finds report into sexual exploitation | Voice, UK

Drug wars in Mexico - in pictures

Mexican president Felipe Calderon has stepped down, six years after launching a crackdown on his country's drug cartels in December 2006. Since then, more than 50,000 people have been killed | Guardian, UK

Mexican families carry out their own investigations to find the disappeared

Leaked document estimates 25,000 people have gone missing since Calderón launched his offensive on drug cartels | Guardian, UK

Mexico drug war continues to rage in region where president fired first salvo

Calderón's crackdown was supposed to wipe out the cartels, but six years on one gang pervades everyday life in Tierra Caliente | Guardian, UK

Will we ever… make a safe cigarette?

Are ... risks an inevitable part of smoking? Or is there a way of creating safe cigarettes without any of these hazards? | Discover Magazine, UK

‘Shisha smokers need educating over law’

The “shisha community” needs to be educated about smoking laws, a Bolton councillor says | Bolton News, UK

California Marijuana Decriminalization Drops Youth Crime Rate To Record Low: Study

Between 2010 and 2011, California experienced a drastic 20 percent decrease in juvenile crime--bringing the underage crime rate to the lowest level since the state started keeping records in 1954 | Huffington Post, USA

15% off-sales alcohol tax proposed

Publicans have urged the Government to introduce a 15 per cent tax on off-licence alcohol sales in the budget | Irish times, Ireland

Health officials tell Greece to act fast to control HIV

A spiralling outbreak of HIV in debt-stricken Greece could run out of control unless urgent action is taken, European health officials said on Friday | Ekathimerini News, Greece

Legal drugs, safer streets: James Varney

We are willing, even eager, to cut and run in Iraq and Afghanistan after far fewer deaths and less money than has been poured into the war on drugs | Nola.com, USA

DSM 5 Is Guide Not Bible—Ignore Its Ten Worst Changes

The new edition DSM's impact on mental health practice and research [inclusing addictions] | Psychology Today, USA