DS Daily - 17th May 2013 |
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Drugs tsar warns of 'immense risks' as legal highs flood the market
'The European Monitoring Centre logged in 60 new compounds last year and there's been a similar rate this year' | Independent, UK
Drugs adviser issues tough warning on 'legal highs'
The Government’s senior drugs adviser has issued a stark warning about the dangers of “legal highs” and admitted there are now 200 potentially dangerous synthetic drugs which have yet to be banned | Telegraph, UK
Police launch mephedrone raids across Great Manchester
Police have raided a suspected crime gang in the biggest operation to date to tackle dealing of party drug mephedrone | Independent, UK
Thousands of 'dangerous' cigarettes on sale in UK
A former shop owner has admitted selling "dangerous" cigarettes, in a landmark case brought by Lincolnshire Trading Standards | BBC, UK
Meet the 'vapers': E-cigarette craze inspires bizarre new sub-culture
A radical new group of smokers have no intention of quitting. Instead, they believe their their addiction can save the lives of millions who puff away at cigarettes every day | Mail Online, UK
Parliament too alcohol fuelled, say MPs
Alcohol Concern survey of 150 MPs from all parties finds one in four believes parliament has an unhealthy drinking culture | Guardian, UK
Sarah Wollaston: Cameron has caved in to lobbyists on minimum alcohol pricing
The Conservative MP criticises the PM's U-turn and says "we should all be aware" of Lynton Crosby's links to the alcohol and tobacco industries | New Statesman, UK
The public’s support for public health interventions: plain packs & MUP
YouGov have asked the public what they think about the two big public health interventions that didn’t make the Queen’s speech this year – plain packs for cigarettes and minimum unit pricing for alcohol | Mentor Thinks, UK
Youngsters use dementia drugs to boost brain power, survey finds
Medicines used for Alzheimer's disease and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder taken by 1% of 14 to 18-year-olds | Guardian, UK
The pain of growing up with an alcoholic mother
2.5 million children in Britain are living with a ‘hazardous drinker’. Here, five women talk to Julia Llewellyn Smith about their childhood’s spent with an alcoholic mother | Telegraph, UK
'Recessions can hurt, but austerity kills'
In the US, more than five million people have lost access to health care. In Greece, there's a 200% increase in HIV cases. And in some of the worst-hit countries, suicide rates are up. David Stuckler, author of an explosive new book, says the facts speak for themselves | Guardian, UK
Home Secretary speech to Police Federation Annual Conference 2013
Speech given by Home Secretary Theresa May to the Police Federation on 15 May 2013 This is a transcript of the speech. This is a transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered | Gov.uk, UK
Offender Rehabilitation Bill Impact Assessment (PDF)
Summary: Intervention and Options | MoJ, UK
Liverpool branded as Britain's 'heroin hub'
Liverpool was today branded the region’s “heroin hub” – as the ECHO reveals how Merseyside mobs forged lucrative supply lines the length and breadth of Britain | Liverpool Echo, UK
Liverpool cocaine and heroin couriers jailed
Members of a Liverpool-based gang that supplied cocaine and heroin worth tens of millions of pounds to Glasgow have been jailed | BBC, UK
Woman boss is held over meow meow drug deaths
A high-flying businesswoman was last night questioned by police probing the drug deaths of two club-goers after smashing Britain’s biggest “meow meow” pills racket | Express, UK
Professor Nutt is still fighting against the UK's 'moronic' drug laws
Nothing illuminates the gaping chasm between political and public opinion quite like the war on drugs | Vice, UK
Blog del Narco: author who chronicled Mexico's drugs war forced to flee
'He said 'run', then hung up' – woman behind must-read blog tells how colleague's disappearance meant she had to escape | Guardian, UK
Greek addicts turn to deadly sisha drug as economic crisis deepens
Growing popularity of 'cocaine of the poor' in Athens has overwhelmed public health authorities already under strain | Guardian, UK
Sisa: cocaine of the poor - part 1
Standing in the Athens police headquarters, interviewing the director of the drug unit, I realised I had a bag of chemically enhanced crystal meth in my pocket. I’d bought it the night before from a Greek homeless man and had forgotten to throw it away | Vice, UK
Predicting smoking risk from your genes
Your genes can increase your risk of developing a smoking habit. In a new study, Avshalom Caspi and his colleagues show that you can use individual genomic information to predict (to some degree) who will or will not smoke | Inequalities blog, UK
Designer of Ministry of Sound logo puts £175,000 worth of ecstasy on display in London gallery
The mysterious artist, who designed the iconic Ministry of Sound logo over 20 years ago, will exhibit two pieces of artwork — made up of over 12,000 multi-coloured ecstasy tablets — at the Art Republic Gallery in London | Factmag, UK
Washington state to release draft rules for legal marijuana
They’ve spent nearly eight months visiting marijuana grow houses, studying the science of getting high and earning nicknames such as “the queen of weed.” Now, officials in Washington state are taking their first stab at setting rules for the state’s new legal weed industry | Washington Times, USA
Lawmakers Unveil Drug War "Exit Strategy"
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) released a federal legislative guide today, titled An Exit Strategy for the Failed War on Drugs, calling for drastic reform. It was released at a forum on Capitol Hill | Fix, USA
Mexican General Sent to Quell Drug Violence in New Strategy
A Mexican general took over all police and military operations in a chaotic western state on Thursday in a test run of President Enrique Pena Nieto's new security strategy to tame raging drug violence | NY Times, USA
Spike in party drug use forces AFL's hand
The AFL Players' Association has made concessions in its voluntary illicit-drug test agreement with the AFL as a result of the proportion of failed tests more than tripling last year | Age, Australia
NZ tops pregnancy smoking list
New Zealand women were the most likely to smoke while pregnant, a large study of births has found. The University of Western Sydney study compared the outcomes of pregnancy and birth for women from eight different nationalities and found that 22.6 per cent of New Zealand mothers smoked while pregnant | Age, Australia
Manufacturer of K2 to end supply until law change
The manufacturer of the controversial synthetic cannabis product K2 has decided to stop supplying the drug in New Zealand until new regulations are imposed, an industry spokesman says | NZ Herald, New Zealand