Europe

DrugSense

The University Times, 11 Feb 2012 - On New Year's day, six bodies were found in different parts of Mexico, a relatively peaceful day, if Mexican newspaper La Reforma's usually more metronomic 'Ejecutometro' (execution meter) is considered. Revered Mexican author Carlos Fuentes, a man noted for coy narrative ('to be interpreted by the reader with no endorsement from the teller', according to the New York Times), recently addressed the issue of drugs. He was, for once, quite forward. 'Sometimes we win, sometimes they win', stated the former diplomat. While there have been slight improvements in infamous areas such as Ciudad Juarez, the corpses hanging from bridges, a cartel signature, are spreading into other areas. Areas near Mexico City, once thought to be an oasis for diplomats, corporations and the wealthy, such as Acapulco and Cuernavaca, have suffered recently. A burned out vehicle containing two decapitated bodies was discovered at the entrance to an expensive Mexico City shopping centre.

Western Mail, 25 Jan 2012 - Drugs rehabilitation experts in Wales yesterday backed a move which could see some drug dealers caught with heroin, cocaine or cannabis avoid jail. Under guidelines which come into force next month, offenders who only play a "subordinate" role in drug gangs receive a community order for supplying "small" quantities of drugs.

Independent, 24 Jan 2012 - Magic mushrooms could one day be prescribed for depression after Professor David Nutt, the controversial sacked government drugs advisor, claimed research on healthy volunteers proved what a mistake it was to abandon therapeutic psychedelic drugs more than 50 years ago. The first clinical trial into magic mushroom therapy could start by the end of the year after two small studies suggested the active chemical, psilocybin, had a profound affect on key regions of the brain.

The Times, 21 Jan 2012 - Malta is a signatory to the Schengen agreement, which it signed on joining the EU. For anyone who is not familiar with this agreement, it allows for the free movement of EU nationals. It also allows for EU nationals to transport their medicines across borders. Schengen allows medical users of either Sativex (which is cannabis oil in a spray bottle) or Bedrocan to travel to another country that signed the Schengen agreement for up to 90 days. Any person harassed or detained would be looking forward to hefty compensation from that country.

Hull Daily Mail, 17 Jan 2012 - MORE than 100 addicts have been weaned off heroin substitute methadone after a major review of Hull's drug treatment programme. Instead of being prescribed methadone, about 2,000 heroin users are now being encouraged to become drug-free with therapy and voluntary work.

The Lancet, 07 Jan 2012 - Summary The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961 aimed to eliminate the illicit production and non-medical use of cannabis, cocaine, and opioids, an aim later extended to many pharmaceutical drugs.

The Herald, 07 Jan 2012 - THERE can be few people in Plymouth who are unaware of the huge damage which the scourge of drugs does to our city. The human toll is bad enough. The futures of people, many of them young, are ruined forever by their addiction to substances which kill ambitions, hope and in some tragic cases, the users themselves.

The Irish Times, 07 Jan 2012 - [top sidebar] Recent labelling of cannabis as a major 'problem drug' may surprise those who have smoked the odd joint in the past. But a new, highly potent strain now being grown in Ireland is more harmful than the drug's benign image would suggest, writes CARL O'BRIEN

The Lancet, 07 Jan 2012 - The British Government's recent drug strategy, Reducing Demand, Restricting Supply, Building Recovery: Supporting People to Live a Drug-Free Life (2010), focuses on recovery from addiction. The strategy claims that it has recovery at its heart. Long-term extended treatment using methadone or other substitute prescribing, without a definite endpoint, is now out of favour. Many addicts say that they want to come off drugs and so the Government aims to facilitate that desire. This so-called new abstentionism has been a controversial change in the drug field. Some commentators have feared that the focus on abstinence will end the era of harm reduction in drug policy. One prominent debate in the UK last year, "The Future of Harm Reduction and Drug Prevention in the UK", pitched Neil McKeganey, a sociologist and prominent advocate of abstinence, against Stanton Peele, a psychologist and analyst of the "meaning of addiction", thus epitomising the divergent positions. Recovery is by no means a new idea in the treatment of addiction, although the language used to categorise it has varied much over the years. Why has recovery gained and lost support, and why has it been spoken about in different ways? The history of treatment for people who use illicit drugs, and the language that is used to describe them, tells us about a wider context, about the operation of interests within politics and within the discipline of addiction.

The Lancet, 07 Jan 2012 - Few diseases can compete with addiction in their capacity to generate misinformation, misjudgment, or misunderstanding. Illicit drug use has been around for as long as drugs themselves, but the acceptance of addiction to any substance as a disease rather than a choice is a far more modern concept. The first issue of The Lancet in 1996 introduced a six-part Series on addiction with the emphasis on relevant brain mechanisms, detoxification, treatment myths, and drug policy. Now, 16 years later in this week's issue, a three-part Series examines addiction from a global perspective. The first paper in the 2012 Lancet Series on addiction addresses the global burden of disease due to illicit drug use, and estimates that about 200 million people worldwide use illicit drugs each year. Louisa Degenhardt and Wayne Hall discuss the adverse health effects of dependence on different drugs, and compare them with those of tobacco and alcohol. Most of the disease burden attributable to illicit drugs is in problem or dependent drug users, especially those who inject drugs.

Evening Courier, 01 Jan 2012 - A MASSIVE crackdown on drug dealers and burglars in Calderdale has seen more than six decades' worth of prison sentences slapped on criminals. Operation Irondale led to dozens of home raids across the district and scores of arrests.