DS Daily - 23rd December 2009

Banned - GBL and other 'legal highs'

A range of former so called ‘legal highs’ including GBL, BZP and man-made chemicals sprayed on herbal smoking products such as ‘Spice’ are now illegal [Home Office, UK]

China: British man facing imminent execution

Please ask Gordon Brown to make immediate representations to China's President Hu Jintao on Akmal Shaikh's behalf [Amnesty International]

Family plead for life of mentally ill Briton facing execution in China

Brother says Akmal Shaikh was duped into smugging heroin by gang who exploited his pop star delusion [Guardian, UK]

Gordon Brown pleads for 'disturbed' Briton on death row in China

Gordon Brown has written to the Chinese government to plead for clemency for a mentally disturbed British citizen due to be executed next Tuesday for drug smuggling [Daily Mail, UK]

Product placement plans will increase children’s exposure to junk food and alcohol brands

Government proposals to allow product placement in UK-made commercial television programmes will expose children to marketing messages from junk food and alcohol companies, according to North West wellbeing and health campaigners [Our Life,UK]

Christmas Special, addiction support, relapse prevention

Ed Mitchell and George Williams introduce the Inexcess offering for the festive season [Inexcess TV, UK]

Tackling Drugs Changing Lives – Award Winning Workers

Both George Williams and Ed Mitchell attended the Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Awards ceremony in Westminster [Inexcess TV, UK]

Police seize £400m of cocaine bound for Britain

A huge criminal drugs network that stretched from London to the Caribbean and Colombia via Spain has been smashed by police who have seized £400 million of cocaine bound for Britain [Times, UK]

Cabbies help police to catch drink-drivers

The drivers from Glasgow Taxis will report anyone they see behind the wheel and suspect of being under the influence [The Herald, Scotland, UK]

Proposals to ban display of codeine

Pharmacists will not be able to display codeine-containing products such as Solpadeine and Nurofen Plus in their stores under new guidelines due to come into effect next year [Irish Times]

Polish Prisons: Improving Access to Substitution Treatment

Recommendations for improving access to substitution treatment in Polish prisons have been signed. This step forward was made in early December at a conference co-hosted by the Penitentiary Service, the Social AIDS Committee and Open Society Institute’s Global Drug Policy program [IDPC]