DS Daily - 11th December 2012

David Cameron rejects call for royal commission on drugs

Prime minister rules out home affairs committee's proposal, arguing that drugs policies are already working | Guardian, UK

Why we are calling for an end to the war on drugs

The home affairs select committee wants a focus on treatment and an end to the policy of putting politics above evidence | Guardian, UK

Leading drugs charity welcomes new Home Affairs Committee report on drugs

DrugScope, the leading independent centre of expertise on drugs and drugs policy, has today responded positively to publication of the report of the Home Affairs Select Committee, 'Drugs: Breaking the cycle' | DrugScope, UK

Drugs reform: no harm in taking a look at the evidence (again)

We have nothing to fear from examining the issue but the onus should be on those advocating reform to justify their case | Guardian, UK

Cameron rejects decriminalising drugs

The idea of a royal commission to consider decriminalising illegal drugs - as suggested by a group of MPs - has been ruled out by the prime minister | BBC, UK

Both morally and empirically, our drug laws are useless

My colleague and desk-mate Thomas Pascoe is a very likeable and intelligent young man. But he could not be more wrong on the issue of drug laws if he tried | Telegraph, UK

Drug users could escape ANY criminal penalties: MPs consider legalising heroin and crack as they plan Portugal visit to see soft-touch regime in action

Ministers are to examine Portugese laws to ‘depenalise’ drugs after a damning report said the government’s current strategy is not working | Mail Online, UK

Addaction responds to first Home Affairs Committee report on drugs in a decade

Addaction is one of the UK's leading drug and alcohol charities. It welcomes the report, in particular its recognition of the importance of treatment, and that 'cycles of addiction' must be broken if we are to really tackle the UK's problems | Addaction, UK

Turning Point responds to the Home Affairs Select Committee Drugs Policy report

Response to the Home Affairs Select Committee Drugs Policy report by Selina Douglas, Turning Point's Director of Substance Misuse Services | Turning Point, UK

Home Affairs Select Committee Report endorses call for better drug education

Mentor is delighted that today’s report Home Affairs Report on Drugs Policy references written and oral evidence submitted by the charity in support of better evidence based education in schools | Mentor, UK

Let us break the taboo on drugs: the time for reform is now

The evidence shows international prohibitionism isn't working. Our petition to the UN calls for a fresh approach on drugs | Guardian, UK

Portuguese drug policy shows that decriminalisation can work, but only with other policies

Since Portugal decriminalised the possession of all illicit drugs in 2001, it has become a battleground for competing ideas about the effects of drug policy | LSE, UK

Addict: Blind eye turned to drugs culture in jail

Over the last few years, several bodies have published reports suggesting that Britain has lost the so-called war on drugs | BBC, UK

Ex-addict says decriminalising drugs could stop abuse (video)

"When I was in the midst of my chaotic drug use I wasn't affected at all by the threat of criminal conviction," | BBC, UK

Lincoln prison 'unsafe and filthy'

Conditions at a grossly overcrowded Victorian city centre prison are so unsafe that prisoners are too frightened to leave their wings to go to work, the chief inspector of prisons has warned | Guardian, UK

HSBC 'to pay $1.9bn' in US money laundering settlement

The UK-based bank was alleged to have helped launder money belonging to drug cartels and states under US sanctions | BBC, UK

Feeling the Effects

Our latest report (PDF) finds that parents' drinking has a big influence on their child's drinking habits | Demos, UK

Parents 'need to drink less' in front of their kids

Behind the headlines: A study into the impact of parental drinking habits was in the papers today, with the Independent reporting that parents “should drink alcohol less in front of the children | NHS Choices, UK

Scotland exceeds national brief alcohol interventions target

In three years from 2008 Scottish national policy drove delivery of nearly 175,000 brief alcohol interventions, testament to what can be done when policy is backed by funding and infrastructure and incentive payments contingent on implementation | Drug & Alcohol Findings, UK