UK

 

 

 

(Max Pemberton is a consultant psychiatrist and columnist for the Daily Mail)

Some days I wonder if I’m going mad – and you don’t need to be a psychiatrist to know that’s not a good sign. I work in a specialist NHS service for people experiencing first episode psychosis – young people at their most vulnerable, teetering on the edge of severe and enduring mental illness, some of them already sliding towards schizophrenia. Day in and day out, I watch how cannabis has destroyed people’s minds. It is, frankly, heart-breaking. So you can perhaps imagine how I feel when those same patients mention, almost in passing, that a private doctor has prescribed them cannabis. Not for cancer pain, not for the muscle spasms of multiple sclerosis, not for the intractable epilepsy of a child for whom nothing else has worked (the conditions where there is at least a credible clinical argument) but for their mental health. For depression. For anxiety.

I’m sorry, what? We are handing this stuff out on prescription for the very conditions it is known to cause and worsen. It is, and I do not use the phrase lightly, a prescription for disaster. Despite the protests of the powerful pro-cannabis lobby, it has now been proved beyond any reasonable doubt that cannabis use is directly associated with depression, anxiety, psychosis and avolition, a grinding loss of motivation that can hollow a person out completely.

Just recently I had a patient who had a history of psychosis. She’d been watching TikTok and become convinced that cannabis was the answer to her ADHD. A private clinic had given her a prescription without checking her notes, without calling me, and without calling her GP. It came out only by chance, in conversation. I sat there absorbing this information, thinking: a private doctor has prescribed her a powerful drug that is directly contraindicated for her condition, without contacting a single one of the clinicians actually responsible for her care. How is this right?

The latest figures, published in the Times, should alarm anyone who cares about how medicine in this country is practised. Since cannabis was legalised for medical use, just ten private doctors have signed off more than half of all cannabis-based prescriptions in the country. Ten doctors. One consultant alone accounted for one in every ten prescriptions nationwide, getting through nearly 46,000 in the first five months of last year. Do the arithmetic and that works out at roughly one every two working minutes. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions about how rigorous those consultations could possibly have been.

To understand how we’ve ended up here, it’s worth remembering that the story of medical cannabis in this country started in a genuinely sympathetic place. In 2018 the government legalised cannabis-based medicines following the case of Billy Caldwell, a severely epileptic child experiencing hundreds of seizures a day, for whom cannabis had worked when almost everything else had failed. The public outrage when his medication was confiscated at the border was entirely justified, and it was right to change the law. Cannabis does have legitimate medical uses for certain rare epilepsies, for chronic pain, and for patients who have exhausted every other option. Nobody sensible disputes this. What nobody could have anticipated was quite how rapidly and recklessly that door would be shoved open. Many doctors said so at the time, of course. When the law changed in 2018, there were plenty of voices in the medical profession warning that this was the thin end of the wedge; that however carefully the legislation was drafted, a private market would find ways to exploit it, that the definition of clinical need would be stretched until it was meaningless, and that the result would be cannabis available on medical prescription to more or less anyone who wanted it. Those concerns were dismissed as scaremongering. They were, it turns out, entirely justified. You can now claim some suitably vague condition, sit through a brief online consultation, and walk away with a prescription for cannabis at a potency you would struggle to obtain from the finest drug dealer in the country. The word ‘medical’ does a great deal of heavy lifting in all of this.

The prescription numbers tell the story. From a standing start in 2018, monthly figures climbed slowly at first, then accelerated sharply, reaching around 10,000 a month by mid-2022 and surging to nearly 100,000 a month by early 2025. Almost none of this growth has been driven by epilepsy or chronic pain. At Mamedica, one of the largest private cannabis clinics in the country, over half of its 12,000 patients are being prescribed cannabis for psychiatric conditions. (Mamedica says that cannabis treatment can be ‘game changing’ for these patients and has led to improvements in mood, hope and functioning. Its CEO says that ‘At Mamedica, every patient undergoes full clinical assessment, shared decision-making and ongoing monitoring under strict governance. This is structured, accountable medicine, not volume prescribing.’)

Professor Sir Robin Murray of King’s College London, who has spent his career studying the catastrophic relationship between cannabis and psychosis, has been watching all of this with undisguised alarm. He has warned bluntly that certain private clinics are ‘causing harm to the people they are claiming to help’. But it’s another observation of his that really cuts to the heart of the matter. ‘Usually,’ he has pointed out, ‘if a person has a medical condition, they see a doctor who specialises in a particular area of medicine, for example, respiratory or kidney disease. After diagnosis, the doctor prescribes from a range of treatments’. That, of course, is how medicine is supposed to work. A condition is identified, an appropriate specialist assesses it, and a treatment is chosen on the basis of evidence. What is happening in these clinics is the precise opposite: the treatment comes first, the condition barely matters, and the evidence is nowhere to be seen.

A quarter of psychosis cases in South London were associated with skunk, according to Murray’s research at the Institute of Psychiatry. Oxford University has shown it raises the risk of depression in teenagers by 40 per cent. None of this is seriously contested, it is settled science. Last month a major review in the Lancet Psychiatry screened nearly 6,000 studies and found that cannabinoids showed no significant benefit for anxiety, PTSD, psychotic disorders or OCD. For depression – the single most common reason cited for prescription across most legalised markets – there were no randomised controlled trials to look at. None at all. Not a thin evidence base. No evidence base whatsoever. And still these prescriptions keep on coming.

Then there is the question of what, exactly, is being prescribed, because it is emphatically not the careful, pharmaceutical-grade product the word ‘medical’ implies. Many of these prescriptions are for high-potency products with THC content exceeding 30 per cent. One strain, cheerfully named Space Cake, clocks in at 34 per cent THC. Street skunk – the very stuff Sir Robin Murray and colleagues have spent years linking to psychosis – typically contains between 14 and 16 per cent. So we are prescribing considerably stronger products to people who are already mentally unwell, with no credible evidence that it does them any good. If this were happening with any other substance, there would be a public inquiry.

Make no mistake, the human cost of all this is not abstract. Oliver Robinson was 34 years old, a former property developer from Bury in Greater Manchester. He had been struggling with depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety, and was already under the care of NHS and Priory psychiatrists, both of whom were strongly opposed to him using cannabis, when he turned to a private clinic. A video consultation with Curaleaf was all it took. The clinic based its decision on a GP summary that was nine months out of date. It never contacted his other treating psychiatrists. It prescribed him cannabis. What followed was 18 months of deterioration as his dependency took hold, eventually costing him a £1,000 a month, until he could bear it no longer and was found dead at his home in November 2023.

The inquest, concluded in January this year, made for grim reading. Coroner Catherine McKenna ruled that the prescription had ‘probably contributed to his death’ and had ‘acted as an obstacle’ to him receiving appropriate psychiatric care, giving the drug, in her words, a sense of legitimacy that made it harder for him to engage with the clinicians who were actually trying to help him. She issued a Regulation 28 Prevention of future deaths report to Curaleaf, finding that the prescribing doctor was a children’s and adolescent psychiatrist with no experience of treating adults with Oliver’s complex presentation. His brother Alexander said afterwards that he believed profit had been prioritised over his brother’s life. It is thought to be the first time a coroner has formally linked a private cannabis prescription to a patient’s death. It will not, I fear, be the last. Sir Robin Murray, responding to the verdict, was characteristically direct. These clinics, he said, are ‘nothing more than drug dealers for the middle classes’. Some clinics seem almost proud of how easy they make it to get a prescription. The industry, when challenged, responds with the usual blizzard of patient testimonials and wellness language, insisting people have every right to try whatever they believe is helping them. Let’s be honest about what this is: it’s retail with a prescription pad.

Of course, cannabis has over the past decade acquired a sort of halo. It became the anti-establishment option, the natural remedy, the thing your GP would never prescribe because of Big Pharma and vested interests and all the rest of it. It has latched onto the broader conversation about mental health in the same way recreational ketamine has managed to: cynically and with considerable commercial savvy. The moment it put on a white coat, a great deal of critical thinking went out of the window.

To its credit, the NHS has stayed sceptical. There are only around 5,000 NHS prescriptions for licensed cannabis medicines each year, limited to conditions with genuine evidence behind them, and Nice has declined to recommend it for the vast majority of conditions the private clinics are happily treating. So the private market has simply flourished in the gap, turning NHS caution into a marketing opportunity and positioning itself as the enlightened alternative to a stuffy, out-of-touch establishment. It’s a cynical trick and it has worked spectacularly.

I’ve sat with families trying to make sense of how their bright, funny, perfectly healthy child ended up psychotic. I’ve watched patients who started smoking skunk as teenagers and never quite came back. And now I find myself watching those same patients – or patients just like them – being sent home with a prescription for something considerably stronger than what broke them in the first place, signed off by a doctor churning out one every two working minutes. It’s utter madness. It really is.

SOURCE: https://spectator.com/article/the-madness-of-using-cannabis-to-treat-mental-health/

Filed under: Brain and Behaviour,Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Latest News,Marijuana and Medicine,Mental Health,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

(A position statement by NDPA, as at April 2026)

By Peter Stoker, C. Eng., M.I.C.E. (Retd) – Director – National Drug Prevention Alliance

At various times new suggestions are made for policy and practice in responding to drug misuse, addictions, treatment, education and prevention. Whilst these suggestions may derive from genuinely constructive attempts to improve the condition of drug misusers, and of society at large, they can sometimes be exploited by those who advocate liberalising policy and practice.

Two earlier such well-known examples where this kind of exploitation has been seen are known under the terms ‘human rights’ and ‘harm reduction’. Both these initiatives have a genuinely valid place in policy and practice, but both have also been called into quite different tactical ploys by liberalisation ‘influencers’. Another such example has been the attempts to replace the terms ‘misuse’ or ‘abuse’ by the more neutral term ‘use’ – this illustrates how the power of words as can be deployed to influence particular policy/practice attitudes and goals.

More recently, these same influencers have widened their approach to address the subject of ‘stigma’. Moves in this field have even developed so far as to include the establishment of an Anti-Stigma Institute, under the auspices of the Addiction Policy Forum, a Washington DC-based nonprofit organisation.

Drug addiction can be seen as the extremity of drug misuse, the possible end state of a progressive behaviour which started with curiosity, then experimentation, then occasional use, through regular use to what becomes, for some, a compulsion to use. This end state can be seen to affect literally millions of people worldwide. At some stage in this progression, a person may become victim to what has been defined as SUDs – Substance Use Disorders; these disorders may include not only health consequences but also eventual dissociation by the user’s friends, partners, relatives, employers, social service providers, child care agencies, housing agencies and more. Many people perceive SUDs as a moral failing, not just a bad decision, and their reaction may well be influenced by this judgement call.

In the context of perceived stigma, a harrowing account of how thing can go badly wrong for those experiencing SUDs was published in ‘Filtermag.org’ by Patricia A Roos, a sociologist whose son Alex died from a drug overdose in May 2015. Her article, dated September 2025, was entitled ‘Stigma from Medical Providers Contributed to My Son’s Overdose’. (Ref 1) Here are a few of the points made in her article, paraphrased for brevity:

Alex had many ‘protection privileges’ – white, middle-class, educated supportive parents and friendship circle, never abused, and yet he took a downward path of behaviour, firstly through anorexia, then in addiction … he resided in many ERs etc, sometimes encountering medical providers who helped him, but many times not – instead of empathic support he experienced chastisement for ‘bad choices’ and ‘lack of willpower ’… ‘drug-seeking behaviour’ … ‘lack of engagement’ and ‘denial’. Stigmatisation powered his downward spiral … he was labelled, blamed … in effect written off. Roos observes that while stigma is present in multiple institutions, it must be said that its presence in medical care is especially pronounced, insidious and devastating. Roos goes on to comment that it is ‘perhaps not surprising that medical providers stigmatise, making moral judgements when they should be making prognoses and decisions based on science, relying on culturally-induced assumptions of personal responsibility instead of their scientific knowledge’.

Roos applauds the work of Erving Goffman, a renowned sociologist, author of many publications which address, inter alia, the subject of stigmatisation. Perhaps most relevant here is his 1963 book ‘Stigma – Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity’. (Ref 2)

It should also be noted that towards the end of her article, Roos expresses support for ‘decriminalising  and regulating drugs’ and wider use of harm reduction initiatives. She also is scathing of the US Governments recent (2025) change of strategy and defunding, away from harm reduction, under the direction of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

                                                       *        *       *       *

National bodies may strive to introduce order into stigmas around substance use disorder; for example, America’s NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) have produced several papers around  this theme, one of which is entitled: ‘Addressing the Stigma that Surrounds Addiction’. (Ref 3)

On the other hand, critics of stigma can sometimes exhibit hastiness in dismissing all stigma as ‘bad’ – to go down this route would be to ignore that social stigma has always been a major factor in what controls and limits human behaviours, in the interest of society as a whole. As one observer put it “Stigmatisation is part of what makes humans social animals”.

In his 2025 book ‘What is it like to be an Addict?’ (Oxford University Press) (Ref 4), Owen Flanagan makes the key point that “… amongst the most important thing addicts say is that they are by no means blameless”.

As the review of Flanagan’s book concludes: “it is refreshing to read a book that refuses to dehumanise addicts by depriving them of responsibility or delegitimising the shame they feel for their actions”. In this context, it is worth reflecting on the fact that many drug misusers – including not a few addicts – achieve recovery and lasting sobriety without any help from anyone else – neither medical professionals nor AA groups play any part in the ability of these individuals to dig themselves out of the hole they were in.

In developing his thinking, Flanagan is sceptical of the tendency to medicalise all of life’s setbacks and sadnesses, and he goes on to make the constructive comment that dismissing the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ as a costly failure may be hasty – saying “… we can’t be sure that many addictions wouldn’t be worse in its absence”. Critics of prevention could do worse that contemplate on this observation.

And mention of prevention should remind us that addiction is only one part of the total experience of drug misuse – there are several phases of behaviour which come before addiction. It follows, therefore, that each of these phases may generate comments by those around the user – including what may seem to be just stigmatising comments – but are in fact a useful part of the self-recovering processes which enable individuals to recover.

Amongst those seeking to generate a more balanced view on stigma, an informal grouping of British specialists includes – amongst others – Professor Neil McKegany (Ref 5) – a prominent sociologist and leading researcher in the field of drug misuse, known for founding the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at the University of Glasgow in 1994; Deirdre Boyd, founder and head of DB Recovery Resources, which sustains ongoing working links with McLean Hospital, Massachusetts, and David Raynes, a Senior Adviser to the National Drug Prevention Alliance who was formerly a senior officer and drugs specialist with HM Customs and Excise (as it was known during his time).

Collating together some of the comments by these specialists on the subject of stigma …

McKeganey: “If one’s aim is to reduce prevalence of drug misuse, one needs to retain a view of drug use as a stigmatised activity” (by society as it stands) … “stigmatisation actually varies depending on the drug in question” – Cannabis, Cocaine, Heroin each attract different levels of stigma … “drug use can be stigmatised without the user being stigmatised i.e. moral judgement can stigmatise drug use but not the user”.

Boyd: “The greatest stigma is that which does not recognise addicts and their recovery … this takes recognition away from and is insulting to people who have altered their lives to stay that way and to give back to society.” … “Sadly, stigmatisation is often encountered with the medical profession itself”.(See later comments in this article, by Patricia S Roos) … “Stigma played a huge role in reducing tobacco use – adverts with children shaming parents who smoke, office workers expelled to smoke outdoors” … “stigma also pays a role in reducing alcohol use; images of drunken capering, of children abandoned, etc” (Recalling Hogarth’s 1751 image of ‘Beer Street’ and ‘Gin Lane’!)

Raynes: “Social stigma has for millennia been part of what controls and limits human behaviour.” … “This business of trying to remove social stigma from drug addiction and use, or from any antisocial behaviour, is in my view a trap, A very deliberate one … Don’t fall for it.”

                      *        *       *       *

In conclusion (for now) herein offered is an extended ‘quote’ from a paper written by an American doctor, Sally Satel. (Ref 6) This was published by John Hopkins University Press of Baltimore, as part of a larger paper entitled ‘Addiction Treatment Science and Policy for the Twenty First Century’ – and in it she nailed her colours firmly to the mast by entitling it ‘In Praise of Stigma’. Satel spoke on the value of constructive stigma as part of improving treatment effectiveness, but was roundly condemned for doing so. As she put it: “Clearly, I had committed heresy”.

Despite her much-voiced support for accessible, respectful and competent treatment, her support for stigma remained ‘a bridge too far’ for some. She resolutely commented “Why try to destigmatise irresponsibility that leads to ruptured families, ruined careers, and crime … we don’t have to neutralise the moral valence (valence meaning ‘capacity to classify’ e.g. ‘good-bad’) of addiction-fuelled behaviour to destigmatise the treatment process”.

She goes on to challenge some of the alleged benefits of eliminating stigma, as set forth by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Ref 7) – as shown here following, in italics –  “… it will get more addicts into treatment/it will improve the availability of treatment/it will speed the development of medications” and “it will help addicts self-esteem”. A charitable evaluation of these allegations is that they seem to speak more from hope than from proven conviction.

Satel calls up McLean Hospital, Massachusetts, and in particular psychologist Gene Heyman, (Ref 8), who makes the powerful point that voluntary behaviour is mediated by the brain … motivation and self-control are acts of the brain. Recovery itself depends on willpower, and people have the capacity to transform themselves.

In the end, observes Satel, the de-stigmatisation campaign could be said to have its heart in the right place, but in her opinion its marksmanship is too sweeping, too uncontrolled, and thus tends to make things worse in its search for what could be better. As she says in closing her statement:

“Finally, even if we could somehow ‘untaint’ addiction, what would be the price? Stigmatisation is a normal part of human interaction, has a civilising effect on social life, and is often the basis of the antidrug messages we give our children … There is nothing unethical – and everything naturally and socially adaptive – about condemning the reckless and harmful behaviours that addicts commit. This need not negate our sympathy for them or our duty to provide care.”

       *        *       *       *

CONCLUSIONS:

This is a subject which will run and run, so it may be considered premature to attempt sweeping conclusions at this time. However, this writer offers the following as indicators of what might prove to be ‘route markers’ …

  • Stigma, when encountered, can be and should be assessed as either ‘constructive’ or ‘obstructive’ to interventions with drug misuse.
  • Stigma directed at the user is often obstructive to and unhelpful for progress.
  • Stigma directed at drugs and their effects on individuals and on society at large can be constructive in the right context, if applied sensitively.
  • Attempts by some to remove stigma in its entirety can often be identified as a tactic for unmerited liberalisation of drug strategy, policy and practice.

                                       *        *       *       *

REFERENCES:

  1. Roos, PA. ‘Stigma from Medical Providers Contributed to My Son’s Overdose’. Filtermag.org, 2015
  2. Goffman, E. ‘Stigma- Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity’. Pelican, 1963
  3. NIDA – https://drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2020/04/addressing-stigma-surrounds-addiction)
  4. Flanagan, O. ‘What is it like to be an Addict?’. Oxford University Press, 2025
  5. McKeganey, N. ‘Controversies in Drugs Policy and Practice’. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
  6. Satel, S. ‘In Praise of Stigma’. John Hopkins University Press, 2007.
  7. https://sallysatelmd.com/html/PraiseStigma2007.pdf – The text in this reference sets out the full statement by NIDA as to the benefits they saw at that time in ‘eliminating stigma’ – but in searching for the actual NIDA paper – entitled  ‘www.drugabuse.gov/about/welcome/aboutdrugabuse/stigma/‘ it was not found possible to access it.
  8. Heyman, GM. ‘Consumption Dependent Changes in Reward Value, a Framework for Understanding Addiction’. Elsevier, 2003

(ENDS)

 

Filed under: Culture,Drug use-various effects,Education,Latest News,Mental Health,Peter's papers (i.e. as written by Peter Stoker),Prevention and Intervention,Social Media,Stigma,Strategy and Policy,UK :
Medscape Logo
Edited by Mamta Pawara – March 27, 2026

TOPLINE:

Cannabis use was associated with smaller volumes in the amygdala, and tobacco smoking was linked to smaller volumes in the amygdala, insula, and pallidum and reduced total grey matter volume (TGMV). A systematic review and meta-analysis of 103 studies found consistent evidence across cross-sectional, longitudinal, and Mendelian randomisation (MR) studies for tobacco-related TGMV loss.

METHODOLOGY:

  • Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 103 independent studies examining associations between cannabis use, tobacco use, co-use, and brain volume.
  • The meta-analysis included a total of 77 studies and 72,798 participants: 44 studies (18,247 participants) examined cannabis use cross-sectionally, 30 studies (51,194 participants) examined tobacco use cross-sectionally, and three studies (3357 participants) examined tobacco use longitudinally.
  • The analysis included cross-sectional, longitudinal, and MR study designs to triangulate evidence across different methodological approaches with varying sources of bias.
  • Outcome measures focused on the brain volume of global, cortical, and subcortical regions assessed using T1-weighted structural MRI, with 33 brain regions of interest analysed.
  • The researchers extracted both adjusted and unadjusted estimates and utilised random-effects meta-analyses stratified by exposure and study design.

TAKEAWAY:

  • The meta-analysis of adjusted cross-sectional estimates showed that people who used cannabis had smaller volumes in the amygdala than control individuals, with a small effect size (17 studies; P = .016).
  • People who smoked tobacco had smaller volumes in the amygdala (five studies; P = .025), insula (five studies; P = .011), and pallidum (five studies; P ≤ .0001) and smaller TGMV (seven studies; P = .020) than control individuals; however, there was weak evidence for smaller volumes in the hippocampus in this group (10 studies; P = .049).
  • Longitudinal analysis indicated a greater decrease in TGMV among people who smoked tobacco than among control individuals (five studies; P = .037).
  • MR studies provided weak evidence that smoking initiation might decrease amygdala volumes (P = .046) and TGMV (P = .122 after adjusting) while demonstrating strong evidence that smoking more cigarettes per day might significantly decrease hippocampal volumes (P = 1.8E-06).

IN PRACTICE:

“We found cross-sectional evidence that people who use cannabis had smaller volumes in the amygdala. There were smaller volumes in the amygdala, insula and pallidum associated with tobacco use. There was consistent evidence for reductions in TGMV associated with smoking across cross-sectional, longitudinal and MR studies,” the authors wrote.

“This review highlights significant gaps in the literature, including a lack of studies using longitudinal and causal inference designs, as well as a lack of research on cannabis and tobacco co-use,” they added.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Katherine Sawyer, University of Bath, Bath, England. It was published online on March 19, 2026, in Addiction.

LIMITATIONS:

Most included studies were cross-sectional, which prevented definitive causal inferences about effects of cannabis and tobacco use on brain structure. Adjusted estimates varied significantly between individual studies; some adjusted only for intracranial volume, which introduced heterogeneity into the analysis. Using cortical volume as the primary structural measure may have been less sensitive to differences driven by cortical thickness or surface area. Not all relevant regions could be assessed because there were insufficient independent studies for meta-analysis in some regions in which previous reviews had found reductions.

DISCLOSURES:

Several authors reported receiving funding, grants, investigator grants, senior research fellowships, PhD studentships, and postdoctoral fellowship awards from several organisations including but not limited to the Medical Research Council, UK Research and Innovation, the UK government’s Horizon Europe, Wellcome, the European Research Council, Cancer Research UK, and Pfizer. One author declared having previous employment at a consultancy that provided support for pharma companies.

Sources:
  • Summary:  https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/cannabis-and-tobacco-use-tied-reduced-brain-volumes-2026a100094a?ecd=a2a&form=fpf

 

  • Original Article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.70361
Filed under: Brain and Behaviour,Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Latest News,Tobacco, smoking,UK :
 
AUTHOR(S): Jake Shepherd, Jamie Gollings, Barney Dowling  – 25 March 2026

Scotland’s drug crisis carries a profound toll, with hundreds of lives lost each year. As well as these human impacts, the crisis imposes considerable financial costs that are likely to shape future decision-making. This report presents new economic analysis of those costs, examining their consequences across the public sector and the wider Scottish economy.

Drawing on qualitative insights from policy experts, service leaders, and clinicians, as well as people who use drugs, the research explores the measures the new Scottish Government can take to alleviate the crisis. It ultimately advocates for a full-spectrum approach, spanning harm reduction and recovery-focused interventions.

KEY FINDINGS

  • Scotland’s drug death rate is exceptionally high. The crisis is closely linked to deprivation and structural inequalities, with deindustrialisation, social displacement, and hardship shaping the conditions in which harmful drug environments can develop. It should not be treated as an individual failing.
  • In recent years, the crisis has taken on new dimensions, such as the rise of polydrug deaths and the emergence of powerful synthetic opioids.
  • People with lived and living experience of drug use in Glasgow and Edinburgh described what is in their view an increasingly pervasive drugs market, alongside concerns that support services are difficult to access.
  • New economic modelling estimates that drug harm has a direct cost to the state of up to £1 billion every year in Scotland, including £220 million in healthcare and drug services costs and £320 million on crime and justice.
  • Total social and economic costs are estimated to be as much as £5.7 billion annually. As well as public sector impacts, this includes £1.2 billion in lost output from employment and £3.5 billion in social costs from deaths, lost quality of life, and victim costs.
  • There is extensive evidence  that relatively low-cost interventions can reduce harm and prevent deaths. Needle and syringe programmes and naloxone – an opioid overdose antidote – are highly cost-effective and may even be cost-saving. Interventional evidence also supports drug checking services and safer drug consumption facilities.

RECOMMENDATIONS

  • Policymakers should take a primarily public health-led approach to drug harm, prioritising prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and support –  a more effective approach than one based on punishment and criminalisation.
  • The most immediate priority should be to prevent deaths, through sustaining naloxone and needle and syringe exchange programmes, expanding drug checking services, and rolling out safer drugs consumption facilities.
  • These approaches should also work alongside treatment and recovery services to provide a full spectrum of support, including widening Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)-style treatments, increasing detox capacity, and closing gaps in residential rehabilitation.
  • In terms of longer-term measures, action should include sustained investment from the Scottish Government to back up its new Alcohol and Drugs Plan, including expanding preventative support. The UK Government should carry out a comprehensive review of drugs policy, including the possibility of legislative reform.

Source: https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/scottish-drugs-crisis/

Filed under: Drug use-various effects,Economic,Latest News,UK :
Submitted by Maggie Petito on behalf of drug-watch-international – 3-3-26
​​
 Alexander Browder of the UK’s Henry Jackson Society shares a new fully researched report on crypto, “a powerful tool for criminals and hostile governments. They move illicit finances without being caught. This report looks at how these groups use digital currencies to hide their illegal activities, and what this means for global security and law enforcement…”       
Drug monies now rely on crypto which of course enlarges the criminal range and profiteering. The report notes that ‘stablecoins’ enjoy weaker compliance and oversight, to the criminal’s benefit.
HENRY JACKSON SOCIETY REPORT:
Cryptocurrency has become a powerful tool for criminals and hostile governments. They move illicit finances without being caught. This report looks at how these groups use digital currencies to hide their illegal activities, and what this means for global security and law enforcement. It draws on a database of 164 cases from the past 20 years, showing just how large and fast-growing this problem has become.
Across these known cases, around $350 billion in illegal funds has been laundered through cryptocurrency. However, the response from authorities has been weak. Only 21% of cases have led to convictions, a third have never faced any legal action, and only 27% of stolen or illegal assets have been recovered. The report shows that stablecoins now play a major role in these schemes, including new coins created specifically to dodge international sanctions.
The problem is heavily concentrated in certain countries. Half of the illicit crypto exchanges were run from Russia. Major ransomware groups are largely based in Russia and Iran, and North Korea earns about a third of its government revenue from illegal crypto operations. At the same time, U.S. law‑enforcement seizures of cryptocurrency have fallen sharply, down 95% since 2021.
To tackle this growing threat, the report calls for specialist enforcement teams, stronger asset‑recovery systems, public risk alerts for investors, rewards for whistleblowers, and better use of AI to help detect and prevent abuse.
Executive Summary:
This report is the first overview of cryptocurrency-enabled money laundering based on a newly created proprietary database spanning 164 cases across 20 years (2005 to 2025). ..The report is broken down into three different categories reflecting the three traditional stages of money laundering: on-ramps (placement), layering and off-ramps (integration).
The report examines the trends and legal actions for each stage. Within the on-ramps (identified as entry points into cryptocurrency), the report highlights six different mechanisms – Darknet Marketplaces, Hacks, Ransomware, Ponzi Schemes, ATMs and Criminal Enterprises – which in total amount to $127 billion at time of occurrence, or $307 billion in present value. $90.2 billion has been seized through successful legal actions by international law enforcement authorities, representing only 29% of the total illicit funds processed through on-ramp channels. Within the layering stage, the report has examined four categories: on-chain, cross-chain, decentralised finance (DeFi) and digital coins. Each involves a range of different techniques and services. This report has highlighted five high-level techniques for on-chain, two techniques for cross-chain and four for DeFi. The most significant use has been in on-chain – through mixers, with $9.2 billion of illicit funds being moved through 10 mixers. They act as a key instrument for launderers to reduce the trace of their funds. The choice of coin is an important mechanism for layering, and the report presents a detailed table summarizing the key characteristics of the coins most adopted for laundering.
The report discusses 15 highly used instruments, including cryptocurrencies, privacy coins and stablecoins, and identifies particular features that make them susceptible for use in money laundering. The report demonstrates that, historically, Bitcoin (BTC) was the primary currency used for illicit transactions, reflecting its early adoption and dominance in cryptocurrency markets. However, stablecoins are now increasingly preferred, largely due to their reduced price volatility and the availability of off-ramps that, in some cases, operate under weaker oversight and compliance regimes. Within the off-ramps, the Global Cryptocurrency Laundering Database features 14 Centralised Exchanges (CEXs) and over-the-counter (OTC) products, and five payment platforms with a total of $22 billion of illicit outflows. CEXs have become the prominent method for criminals to turn their cryptocurrency into cash, and even regulated exchanges have had serious incidents of large amounts of laundering. From legal actions targeting off-ramp services, authorities have seized less than $500 million…With the banking system becoming well regulated, criminals looked for additional ways to launder money. Following the emergence of cryptocurrency, new opportunities to launder funds developed.
As the volume of cryptocurrency transactions soared, so did their use as a money laundering tool, representing a new, less understood and less regulated channel to move money…First, money has to enter the virtual space through different channels known as on-ramps. Bad actors may also leverage existing cryptocurrency holdings that are already present in the ecosystem, rather than acquiring new funds through external on-ramps. Next, the funds are typically obfuscated to reduce traceability back to their source. This process takes place through a variety of distinct layering patterns. Once the funds have been ‘cleaned’, most bad actors attempt to move the funds off the chain into fiat (via off-ramps), in order to completely break the traceability of the source and the funds…In conclusion, illicit marketplaces represent a major entry point for funds into the crypto currency ecosystem, and some platforms further integrate laundering mechanisms as an additional service.
Source: www.drugwatch.org … drug-watch-international
Filed under: Crime/Violence/Prison,Economic,Latest News,UK,USA :

Forwarded by Maggie Petito   – From  UK Spectator – February 23, 2026 

The truth about Mexico’s cartel wars

Spectator  UK – February 23, 2026 by Joshua Treviño. (Treviño is the chief transformation officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a senior fellow of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute).

To understand the latest disturbing spasm of violence in Mexico, it helps to go back six years to an ultra-wealthy colonia called Lomas de Chapultepec, near the heart of Mexico City.

Lomas de Chapultepec is protected, partly by a large security apparatus net that has been thrown around it, and partly by the pacto de narco, which protects the high-income neighborhoods in which both cartel leadership and their political partners live, along with their families.

Not long ago, former Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was publicly threatening to use the Mexican armed forces to defend cartels

That was why it was surprising when, on June 26, 2020, Mexico City’s chief of police Omar Garcia Harfuch was attacked on the Paseo de la Reforma by a hit squad armed with heavy-caliber weaponry. Wounded, he escaped with his life, although two accompanying policemen did not.

This shocking eruption of military-grade violence inside Mexico City’s wealthiest colonia was swiftly attributed to the bloodthirsty and sociopathic leader of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes: the man known as El Mencho.

Yesterday, Omar Garcia Harfuch – who is now Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection – struck back. El Mencho failed to kill him, therefore he has killed El Mencho.

The Mexican state’s account of events holds that El Mencho and his men attacked the force sent to arrest him, and that the CJNG boss died of wounds en route to treatment. Mexico also said that the United States forces provided intelligence and unspecified support to the Mexican effort, without any presence on the scene. One may or may not believe this. Those in the know are not issuing the press statements.

What’s clear is that the targeting of El Mencho was meant to address and appease two mutually antagonistic parties. One is the Americans, who demand ever-greater deliverables from the Mexican state in the cartel wars. The other is the ideological core of Mexico’s ruling Morena party, which is fundamentally anti-American and would react to a US presence with something close to revolt. It was not so very long ago – the spring of 2023, in fact – that the creator and central figure of Morena, former Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was publicly threatening to use the Mexican armed forces to defend cartels against any American action against them.

If his successor, current Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, has allowed direct American action now, it is an epochal break with her own benefactor who bestowed the office upon her. As things stand, the effort to both claim and disclaim American involvement carries a sense of protesting too much.

Two consequences of the hit now present themselves. The first and most-dramatic is the spasm of violence across much of Mexico, including well-known tourist areas. CJNG personnel are swarming into areas previously considered off-limits to the cartel wars. The organization that violated the peace of Lomas de Chapultepec is now doing the same to international airports, to Puerta Vallarta, to Guadalajara and beyond.

The actions appear to be comparable to those one might expect of heavy infantry units, equipped with anti-armor and anti-aircraft weaponry. The Mexican armed forces, clearly caught off guard, are slowly responding. But the reaction ought not to have been a surprise: in the Culiacanazo of October 2019, Sinaloa-cartel militia conducted a similar operation after an arrest of one of El Chapo’s sons. This is a known organizational response by major cartels when challenged by the state, and the state’s unreadiness can be explained by plain incompetence – or by an inability to trust the broader security apparatus with news of the impending raid.

As the fighting progresses, watch the speed at which the Mexican armed forces reassert control, as they likely will. Well-armed as CJNG and the major cartels are, the strongest force in the country remains the formal state. If the matter becomes pressing, America could offer intelligence and targeting assistance – none of which will become public knowledge.

Watch also the extent to which CJNG chooses to exact vengeance upon any of the several million US citizens in Mexico, now that the Mexican state has given the Americans partial credit for El Mencho’s death. The targeting of American citizens as such would of necessity draw in the direct and public involvement of the United States.

Various members of the Mexican and American establishments are proclaiming that the death of El Mencho is proof that the Mexican regime is, at long last, serious in its fight against the cartels. This is slightly naive. The traditional cartel partner of the Morena regime is the Sinaloa cartel, which, although presently in violent flux, has a perennial and bloody rivalry with CJNG.

The Mexican state will continue to offer up big-name cartel figures ad infinitum, but their elimination alone changes little. What would be transformative is bringing to account the politicians who enable, protect and promote cartels. These men are at the very heart of Mexico’s Morena regime. That is what a true strategic win would look like, and it is what the United States must resolutely pursue.

 Source: www.drugwatch.org

Filed under: Crime/Violence/Prison,Culture,Drug use-various effects,Latest News,Others (International News),Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

Forwarded by Maggie Petito (Drug watch International)

Article by London Telegraph – Sarah Newey –  Global health security correspondent – 17 February 2026

“Chinese triads, Mexican cartels and Australian biker gangs are all operating, even collaborating, in a “thriving criminal ecosystem” that exploits the region’s porous coastlines, weak law enforcement and widespread corruption. Yachts, narco-subs and drones have all been used across the network of air and maritime routes.”

Fiji’s spiralling health crisis is linked to an explosion in methamphetamine that threatens to turn the Pacific into a ‘semi-narco region’

Ben took his drugs ‘on the rocks’. Instead of diluting the methamphetamine with water, he’d draw blood into a syringe, dissolve the crystals, and inject himself. Sometimes it was his blood, sometimes a friend’s, and the needle was rarely new. That hardly seemed to matter.

It was 2021 and Ben, whose name has been changed, was living on the streets in Suva – Fiji’s faded seaside capital. Then 20, he’d fled his home after his father and five brothers tried to beat away his bisexuality. Crystal meth’s numbing high became an all-consuming escape from the painful memories. “I just felt like the love I was looking for was in the streets, it was not at home,” Ben, now a tall, measured 24-year-old, told the Telegraph. “I didn’t consider [safety] at all… I just continued taking [meth]. For me, when I took drugs, it transformed my mind – I was in another world altogether.”

But that world of euphoric highs and shared syringes left its mark long after Ben abandoned Suva’s shabby streets.

By late 2023, he had developed a persistent cough, his hair was falling out, and he was losing weight rapidly – dropping from a waist size 42 to just 22. When he was hospitalised with severe pneumonia, doctors diagnosed Ben with late-stage HIV, then transferred him to a ward notorious in Fiji as the place men go to die. “That’s how ill I was,” he said, sipping Coca-Cola on the seafront earlier this month. “Lying in that bed with no hope, everything seemed lost and fading.”

As recently as 2020, stories like this were relatively rare in Fiji, a former British colony best known as a paradise archipelago with pristine beaches and a vibrant culture. But now, the small Pacific nation has a grim new accolade: it is struggling to stem the world’s fastest growing HIV outbreak. “This is the ugly side of Fiji,” said Paulo, another of the five people living with HIV who spoke to the Telegraph in Suva – where children as young as 10 have contracted the virus from injecting drugs, as HIV rips through a country caught off guard.

According to data shared by the Ministry of Health, 147 people were newly diagnosed with the disease in 2020. Just four years later, that number had jumped to 1,583 – and in the first six months of 2025 alone, 1,226 cases were reported. Overall, infections have risen by 3,000 per cent since 2010.

While still a relatively small total compared to Fiji’s population – roughly 930,000 people – patchy testing means diagnosed cases are only the tip of the iceberg. And the trajectory of the outbreak looks ominous: the health department estimates that, without urgent interventions, the country could see 25,000 cases a year by 2029.

“I never thought I’d see another epidemic like this in my lifetime,” said Prof Lisa Maher, an epidemiologist at the Kirby Institute in Sydney, who worked on the HIV response in New York in the 1980s and later in southeast Asia, and is now supporting Fiji. “It came out of nowhere, because there was no data and no surveillance in place.”

‘A thriving criminal ecosystem’

The escalating crisis is linked to a boom in drugs that threatens to turn the Pacific into a “semi-narco region”, according to Associate Professor Jose Sousa-Santos, director of the Pacific Regional Security Hub at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

The region has long been a strategic stop-off point on a ‘drugs superhighway’ from the Americas and southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand, where high demand and prices equate to lucrative profits. Yet the route’s popularity is increasing, with organised crime in the Pacific “evolving faster than any previous point in history”, according to a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Chinese triads, Mexican cartels and Australian biker gangs are all operating, even collaborating, in a “thriving criminal ecosystem” that exploits the region’s porous coastlines, weak law enforcement and widespread corruption. Yachts, narco-subs and drones have all been used across the network of air and maritime routes.

Alongside Tonga and Papua New Guinea, a key foothold is Fiji – the transport hub is dubbed the ‘gateway to the Pacific’, while four coups since 1987 have eroded democratic institutions and left them open to infiltration.

Recent seizures by the authorities, including 4.8 tonnes of crystal meth and 2.6 tonnes of cocaine, give a sense of the scale of drugs flowing through the archipelago. Police have also confirmed “wash-ups” of drug packages on outer islands – one story circulating suggests unaware locals in one remote village used the “white stuff” as washing powder after it swept ashore.

Yet the nation is no longer simply a stopover point for criminal syndicates: drugs, predominantly methamphetamines, are also spilling into a booming domestic market.

“A transit country doesn’t usually stay as a transit country,” said Megumi Hara, a regional advisor on transnational organised crime at UNODC, based in Suva. “Eventually, it also becomes a destination – and that’s what we’ve seen here.”

The Telegraph witnessed the thriving trade firsthand. As a deep orange sunset spread above Suva on a Sunday evening, two contacts (on the condition we didn’t name them or the places) took us on a “sightseeing tour” of the city’s many drug-dealer hang outs: behind a grey block of social housing, at a nondescript bus stop on a busy road, and a lush green village just outside town.

“This is one of the drug red zones in Fiji,” said one of our well-connected escorts, as the car spluttered up a steep hillside in the village, past a group of boys lurking under a palm tree. “Even the police are scared to come here… they can’t do anything because the drug lord is the landowner. His children, his brother, his brother’s son – they’re all selling drugs.”

When we paused outside a modest wooden house, a gaunt man in a hoodie immediately sauntered up to the car window – in one hand was a red burner phone, in the other six small sachets of crystal meth. The 28-year-old wasn’t there to talk – he scuttled away as soon as another car pulled up, hoping the driver of the white Toyota might make a better customer.

‘A runaway problem with meth’

The sheer volume now circulating on the archipelago is unprecedented. Although surveillance data on use remains limited, the number of cases involving meth reported by the Fiji Police Force jumped 36-fold between 2015 and 2024 – from just 10 arrests to 366.

“Fiji went from having a small number of users, to now having a runaway problem with methamphetamines,” said Prof Sousa-Santos, adding that the market was a deliberate construction.

When organised crime first operated in the Pacific, they developed a network of facilitators – usually people from commercial elites, or with links to law enforcement and government. These connections run deep – between January 2023 and October 2025, the Ministry of Policing said 27 police officers were charged with drug-related offences.

For a fee, corrupt facilitators would ensure the smooth passage of drug shipments through the country. But, as the quantity of drugs grew, criminal syndicates offered to pay in product instead of cash.

From there, local gangs emerged and became increasingly professionalised – by 2018 and 2019, the “white stuff” was not only on the streets but was starting to be sold on university campuses as “study aids”, and to elites as a sex drug. This trade only accelerated when the pandemic disrupted supply routes into and out of the country.

“If you get paid in the drugs, you have the opportunity to triple or quadruple your return,” said Prof Sousa-Santos. “But to do that, you need a local market. In Fiji, the first market that was targeted was sex workers. It grew and grew from there.”

Perched on the curbside of a dark road in east Suva as friends and customers come and go, a charismatic “drug lord” explains how this market operates on his turf.

Simon, whose name has been changed due to ongoing criminal cases, mainly sold and smoked marijuana but swapped the “green stuff” for the “white stuff” when meth started to hit the streets. The upbeat, 48-year-old reggae musician said he was dealing to “put food on the table” for his children, and make sure users had access to “high quality stuff”.

Now the market “has exploded”, Simon said, his eyes wide. Although he was vague about where he gets the meth he hawks from, there are two main distribution routes.

The first is to sell the substance to other “small-time pushers” at a wholesale price – $2,500 Fijian (£835) for seven grams. These dealers then split the meth into at least a dozen small sachets, generally containing 0.08g of crystals, which they peddle on the streets for $50 Fijian (£17) – effectively doubling their money.

Simon and his partners also employ people to work on their patch, running two four-hour shifts a night. Pushers are paid $50 per shift, during which they’d generally sell at least 14 bags of crystal meth – in Fiji, the national minimum wage is $5 per hour.

‘A bin fire became a bushfire’

But methamphetamines alone do not trigger an HIV crisis: the virus – which spreads through bodily fluids – has found fertile ground because of the way the drugs are being used. Widespread sharing of blood, needles and syringes has transformed a small, background epidemic spreading via unprotected sex into an explosive outbreak.

The shift emerged rapidly. In 2021, the country’s two main sexual health hubs in Suva and Lautoka did not report a single HIV case transmitted through drug use – by 2024, 48 per cent of new HIV infections nationally were among people injecting meth, according to UNAIDS.

“You had a lot of young people, very young people, initiating injecting with no context, no information, no awareness and no access to sterile equipment,” said the Kirby Institute’s Prof Maher, who led a Rapid Assessment on injecting drug use and HIV in Suva, commissioned by the UN and published last year. “A bin fire has become a bushfire.”

While sleeping rough on the seafront in 2021 and again in 2023, Ben engaged in many of the risky drug practices that fueled this “bushfire” – sometimes motivated by intrigue, sometimes culture, and sometimes necessity.

One trend at the time was “bluetoothing”, he said, where friends pooled money to buy a single bag of meth, before one person injected the drug. Once they were high, another person drew blood from the initial user and injected themselves, chasing a secondary rush from the traces of meth in the bloodstream. But while a cost-saving (and headline grabbing) concept, bluetoothing is now uncommon as users found it rarely worked.

Instead, some people have reported using blood, rather than water, as the solvent to dissolve methamphetamine. This involves inserting the needle into a vein and repeatedly “flushing” the plunger back and forth to draw enough blood into the syringe to dilute the crystals, before injecting the entire mixture.

“It gives a stronger high… it gives us a lot of energy,” said Ben, explaining the appeal. He still called this practice “bluetoothing”, but most drug users who spoke to the Telegraph and the Rapid Assessment team referred to the approach as “on the rocks”, “dry” or “koda” – a Fijian word which translates to “raw”, and a nod to a traditional raw fish dish called kokoda.

The rampant HIV transmission has also been driven by sharing of mixing paraphernalia – for instance, using the same bottle caps or mugs to dissolve the meth in water – as well as needles and syringes. In that instance, scarcity has partly been caused by a police crackdown based on a misinterpretation of the law.

“The police started coming down hard on pharmacies for selling needles and syringes to anyone wanting one,” said Renata Ram, the Pacific HIV adviser at UNAIDS in Fiji. “That’s when [the HIV] caseload started increasing as well, in late 2021 and 2022.

“If you really want a hit, you’ll find a way to get it – sharing needles was people’s only option,” she said, adding that selling sterile equipment was never actually illegal. “We’ve heard people saying they would share needles about 15 times, or use the same one 15 times.”

She added that stigma is high but knowledge around HIV is low, with a “whole generation” unaware of transmission risks. Some do not know that treatment exists, so see no reason to test, others diagnosed shun anti-retrovirals in favour of traditional Fijian medicines or prayer.

Meri – who, like Ben, asked for her name to be changed because of pervasive stigma in the conservative country – has seen the human cost of the syringe shortage more clearly than most. Within four months last year, she buried three of her closest friends; they were only 33, 42 and 44.

The group started buying methamphetamines just after the pandemic, when they were living on the streets in Lautoka – a city some 120 miles from the capital, on the western side of Fiji’s largest island.

Meri had long been a marijuana smoker, but had never tried the “white stuff” before. Soon the 55-year-old was hooked – she loved “the brightness” and besides, staying awake was useful for long shifts selling cigarettes (some nickname the meth here “mileage”, as it keeps you up for days). But the friends were rarely able to buy sterile equipment – while drugs were everywhere, clean needles and syringes were a luxury.

“They were hard to find, so nearly every time we just shared,” said Meri, sitting cross-legged on a woven mat in a small courtyard at the Survival Advocacy Network (SAN) in Suva. “We washed them, but sharing was kind of [a] necessity.”

Sesenieli Naitala, the founder of SAN, said sharing is also common as it’s hardwired into Fijian life through the custom of “kerekere”, which obliges people to share resources with close friends and relatives. People frequently pass a single cigarette or marijuana joint around a group, while kava – a traditional psychoactive drink – is shared in a single cup.

But in February 2024, Meri tested positive for HIV. She was scared and blamed herself, although she didn’t want to show it – Meri, who wears a cap over her bleach blond pixie cut, attempts an air of nonchalance. She immediately phoned her friends, who still lived on the streets – none of them had considered the risk of blood-borne infections until then.

By the time they were tested, the virus had progressed to Aids. They received treatment, but didn’t stop taking drugs or drinking alcohol and gradually their immune systems faltered. Meri said a final goodbye to two of them in July, and one in October.

“[When I buried them] I was thinking about myself, that I had to change and just leave it behind for good. Because I know if I [keep using] too… it’ll be the same as what my friends went through,” she said softly. “It’s a hard thing to stop [taking meth]… but I had to think of my life.”

‘The epidemic changed, the response did not’

It is now more than a year since the Ministry of Health declared a national HIV outbreak and set up a dedicated taskforce to respond, putting Dr Jason Mitchell, a Fijian doctor who’s worked on HIV across southeast Asia and the Pacific, at the helm.

“The way I describe what’s happened here in Fiji is that the epidemic changed, but programming in response to the epidemic did not,” he said. “So our responsibility here in this unit… is to set up an appropriate response for the new epidemic we’re facing.”

The government unlocked $10 million Fijian (£3m) to do so – up from a budget of $200,000 a year – while international support has ramped up, including £1.7m from New Zealand and £2.6m from Australia, who have also invested £25m in a broader Pacific-wide programme. These countries are also supporting law enforcement operations to counter the flow of drugs into Fiji.

But with key elements of the health response beset by delays, critics say the glacial pace is only giving the virus more time to spread, amplifying the “tsunami of infections” they fear is on the horizon. There are also concerns that punitive attitudes and moral framing of drug use is a continued barrier.

There is still no needle and syringe exchange programme, no pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) available, and no rehab centre. There are also major gaps in testing and treatment. UNAIDS estimates that just 36 per cent of people living with HIV in Fiji were aware of their status in 2024, and only 24 per cent were taking antiretrovirals (there have also been sporadic stockouts of the treatment).

Meanwhile the virus is seeping into new groups: in the first half of 2025, 33 babies were born with HIV, signalling broader weaknesses in the health system.

Dr Mitchell conceded that progress has been slower than hoped, and is clearly frustrated by elements of government bureaucracy.

“The outbreak is so large now that it has the potential to impact the country as a whole, the economy and all of the industries that we rely on – such as tourism, which [is where] 40 per cent of our GDP comes from,” the 47-year-old said animatedly, warning there are also signs HIV is starting to spread to other Pacific island nations.

“So it is an emergency. The most frustrating thing is [that] during Covid… things just happened overnight, approvals just happened, finances just flowed, all of that was fast tracked. That has not happened for the HIV response… Why? It’s a question I can’t actually answer.”

But despite red tape, Dr Mitchell stressed there has been major progress behind the scenes to re-build the capacity, expertise and systems needed to respond (while Fiji once had a robust programme to keep HIV at bay, it was gradually sidelined as cases remained low, new health threats emerged and donor funding for HIV was diverted elsewhere).

He is also optimistic that the much needed needle and syringe programme will launch in the second quarter of the year, once the supplies arrive in March, and hopes PrEP will become available for high risk groups within six months.

In the meantime, 11 new HIV care teams have been established at hospitals across the country, free condom pick-up points have been rolled out, and peer-to-peer education programmes are targeting those most at-risk – including the Angels Collective, a group of drug users who are hitting the streets to teach others about safe injecting practices and HIV.

‘We don’t know what Fiji’s future holds’

For Dr Kesaia Tuidraki, director of Medical Services Pacific, some of the most important programmes are those taking services directly to communities at risk – whether that’s in the Suva’s suburbs or a remote island three days away by boat, where cases are also emerging.

“If you want to reach people you have to go to where they are, because accessibility has always been an issue,” she said, in an office overlooking the capital’s busy port at the NGO’s modest hillside clinic. “Economical issues, unemployment, challenging backgrounds, geographic isolation, stigma – all these things are stopping people from coming forward.

“This means we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg, there are a lot more [cases] going unnoticed,” she said, adding that many people only test positive once their infection has deteriorated into Aids. According to government data, more than half of the people who died of HIV-related causes in 2024 found out their status the same year.

And so, as evening rush hour traffic eased, a bus kitted out as a mobile clinic set off to a housing project in the densely populated Suva-Nausori corridor. This is the Moonlight programme, which is trying to stem the glaring testing gap that’s hindering the response.

Within half an hour of arriving, a long queue has formed and HIV, hepatitis and syphilis screening gets underway. Outside the bus, health care workers under a bright hanging torch ask preliminary questions, then prick people’s index fingers and transfer the blood to a rapid test. Some 15 minutes later, results are delivered in private inside the compact mobile clinic.

“Well, we caught some tigers,” Vilisi Uluinaceva, the nurse practitioner, said at the end of a long night. Two of 50 tests came back positive – samples will now be sent to the hospital lab for confirmation, and the patients referred to the main clinic for treatment.

That number is lower than previous screenings – at one, mainly among sex workers, 19 of 25 tests came back positive. But the team is pleased so many young people turned up, as cases in this group are surging: in the first half of 2025 alone, 174 children and teenagers aged between five and 19 were diagnosed nationally. Mrs Uluinaceva has treated patients as young as 13.

“We just have to create more awareness on this issue, because if all these children are going to have HIV, there’ll be no future for Fiji,” she said, holding back tears. “Of course I worry and sometimes I’m really emotional – we just don’t know what the future holds.”

But for Ben, the future finally feels exciting again – he’s found a job and a flat share, and is considering re-enrolling at university. It’s a far cry from the weeks after his diagnosis, when the loneliness felt crushing and thoughts of suicide dominated his mind.

“I have come to understand that HIV is just a sickness like any other,” he said, adding that he has been taking antiretroviral treatment for more than 18 months. “We can all be diagnosed with different illnesses, but what matters is how we accept our condition and maintain a positive mindset.”

Walking through the shallow waters less than two miles from the seawall where he used to sleep rough, Ben also shared uplifting news: last week he found out that, for the first time, his HIV viral load is so low it’s undetectable, thanks to the anti-retrovirals. It doesn’t mean the virus has gone, but it means Ben’s condition is stable and he can no longer pass HIV onto someone else. “Here I am today, just living my life like any other normal person,” he said, beaming.

Source: Maggie Petito – Drug watch International

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Filed under: Addiction,Crime/Violence/Prison,Culture,Drug use-various effects,Latest News,Methamphetamine/GHB/Hallucinogens/Oxycodone,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

Submitted by Maggie Petito – drug-watch-international – 12 February 2026 

Opening remarks by Maggie Petito – DWI:

Subject: CuraLeaf

Here is more than a cautionary tale… Big Marijuana corporations and unproven medical treatments based on unproven claims?

“Ms McKenna said the psychiatrist who reviewed Mr Robinson’s case at Curaleaf and prescribed the medicinal cannabis was a children’s and adolescent psychiatrist and “had no consultant level experience in treating adult patients with Oliver’s complex presentation”. The coroner warned: “In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken.” After the inquest, Alice Wood, of Farleys Solicitors, said: “There are real concerns here about the role of medicinal cannabis prescribers and their ethical duties. ‘First do no harm’ is a fundamental principle of medical ethics.

“Here, cannabis was prescribed to a vulnerable individual with known addictive behaviours, and there was a lack of consideration as to the impact on his mental health, and whether he could afford the cost of the private prescriptions. “The expert psychiatrist gave clear evidence that there is a lack of evidence in relation to the efficacy of medicinal cannabis in treating depression, and on the contrary there is evidence to suggest it can cause depression, or make depression worse.” A spokesman for Curaleaf said: “This is a truly tragic situation, and our thoughts remain with Mr Robinson’s family and everyone affected by his death.”

How often is this repeated? – Maggie Petito

TELEGRAPH, LONDON –  ARTICLE 

by Samuel Montgomery News Reporter The London Telegraph – 12 February 2026

Oliver Robinson, 34, died in Nov 2023 Credit: UGC/FAMILY/FARLEYS

A man with a psychiatric disorder killed himself after being prescribed cannabis, his family has claimed. Oliver Robinson, 34, was prescribed the drug through the private company, Curaleaf.

Catherine McKenna, the coroner for Manchester North, said the prescription for medicinal cannabis “acted as an obstacle” to him receiving appropriate psychiatric care.

At an inquest held at Rochdale coroner’s court, she ruled his death was by misadventure and found his actions were “undertaken as a means of communicating distress rather than with an intention to end his life”.

His family’s legal team said the ruling is thought to be the first time a prescription for medical cannabis had been found to have contributed to a death. They said there were “real concerns” about the role of medical cannabis prescribers and the drug’s efficacy for treating depression.

Under guidance from the British National Formulary, medicinal cannabis should not be prescribed to patients with a history of severe psychiatric disorders.

Mr Robinson, from Bury in Greater Manchester, was first given medicinal cannabis from May 2022 after a consultation with a psychiatrist at Curaleaf, one of the largest private cannabis clinics in the country.

He enrolled in a research study run by the London-based clinic in April that year for the “treatment of treatment-resistant depression”, where a psychiatrist relied on an “out-of-date” GP summary to issue the prescription, according to the coroner.

She had been unaware that Mr Robinson was receiving psychiatric treatment from the Priory for mental health issues thought to arise from cannabis dependency. When the clinic became aware of his “addictive tendencies”, they did not review his treatment plan, a prevention of future deaths report found.

The coroner said Mr Robinson was diagnosed with “recurrent depressive disorder and mental and behavioural disorder due to cannabinoid dependency” following an assessment by an NHS psychiatrist in April 2023. However, he continued to receive medical cannabis prescriptions until Nov 17 2023. Mr Robinson was found hanged at his home on Nov 24 2023.

Farleys Solicitors, which represented his family at the inquest, said the clinic knew Mr Robinson was also buying illicit street cannabis when he could not afford his prescription.

The coroner reported that the continuing prescription for medical cannabis “acted as an obstacle” to Mr Robinson “receiving appropriate psychiatric and addictions care”.

Alexander Robinson, Oliver’s brother, said his family had been through years of torment.

In a statement, he said: “My brother’s last year of his life was torture for him too. It is our belief that if he had not been prescribed cannabis, not only would he still be with us today, but a lot of this pain and suffering could have been avoided.

“We’re pleased that the coroner has found that this prescription probably contributed to his death.”

Coroner warns of future risks

The coroner wrote that Mr Robinson had a “background history of addictive tendencies which included excessive cannabis use” and had been under the care of a consultant psychiatrist at the Priory between Sept 2019 and Sept 2022.

Ms McKenna said the psychiatrist who reviewed Mr Robinson’s case at Curaleaf and prescribed the medicinal cannabis was a children’s and adolescent psychiatrist and “had no consultant level experience in treating adult patients with Oliver’s complex presentation”.

The coroner warned: “In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken.”

After the inquest, Alice Wood, of Farleys Solicitors, said: “There are real concerns here about the role of medicinal cannabis prescribers and their ethical duties. ‘First do no harm’ is a fundamental principle of medical ethics.

“Here, cannabis was prescribed to a vulnerable individual with known addictive behaviours, and there was a lack of consideration as to the impact on his mental health, and whether he could afford the cost of the private prescriptions.

“The expert psychiatrist gave clear evidence that there is a lack of evidence in relation to the efficacy of medicinal cannabis in treating depression, and on the contrary there is evidence to suggest it can cause depression, or make depression worse.”

A spokesman for Curaleaf said: “This is a truly tragic situation, and our thoughts remain with Mr Robinson’s family and everyone affected by his death.

“We note the coroner’s conclusion of death by misadventure, and the recognition that this occurred in the context of multiple contributing factors. Cases involving mental health are complex and deeply distressing, and we respect the important role of the inquest in examining the circumstances surrounding Mr Robinson’s death.

“We will carefully consider any recommendations arising from the inquest and respond in line with the required process. Our priority remains providing responsible, clinically led care within established medical and regulatory frameworks.

“Out of respect for the family and patient confidentiality, it would not be right to comment further on the individual circumstances of this case. Our focus remains on supporting patients safely and responsibly.”

Source: www.drugwatch.org

—

Filed under: Marijuana and Medicine,Mental Health,Strategy and Policy,UK :

‘HIS LOSS IS MASSIVE’ … THE DEATH OF GUS

Alex Homer – BBC News Shared Data Unit – 12 February 2026

Additional reporting: Navtej Johal       Additional data journalism: Paul Bradshaw

Highly potent synthetic opioid drugs called nitazenes, which experts say can be many times more potent than heroin, have been linked to hundreds of deaths in the UK.

Records show some people are taking them by accident, as they are mixed in with other drugs as cheap substitutes.

So how are nitazenes making their way into the supply chain, and are the authorities doing enough to curb their spread?

Undecided about what he wanted to do after his A-levels, Gus tried a range of jobs and travelled overseas.

He filmed himself hiking up volcanoes in Mexico and captured the effects of climate change. It made up his mind to apply for a university’s journalism course.

A week after he returned home his mother Nicola found he had unintentionally overdosed and died at the age of 21.

“I loved him very much and his loss is massive,” she said. “The awful thing is, I think he was at one of the best places in his life.”

Gus had sat down to watch a film and eat a takeaway and taken what he believed was a tablet of oxycodone, a strong pain medication which he had bought illicitly.

Three months later, Nicola received a post-mortem report saying the tablet was actually a type of nitazene.

Despite a career spent in medicine as a consultant radiologist, she had never heard of these synthetic opioid drugs.

A coroner later concluded her son’s death was drug-related, caused by the “substitution” of a nitazene in place of what he had sought to buy.

Nicola said: “I can tell you that is the most awful thing to suddenly open an e-mail and read your child’s post-mortem.

“It said that there was nitazene in his bloodstream and this was thought to be the cause of death, and I thought ‘what the hell is that?'”

Gus is among hundreds of people whose deaths have been linked to nitazenes since they first made news in the UK in 2021.

Professor Michel Kazatchkine, a founding member of the Global Commission on Drugs Policy, said the numbers of deaths meant the UK was “by far outpacing all other countries [in Europe] and it’s even outpacing Canada”.

The BBC Shared Data Unit has analysed exclusive data from The National Programme on Substance Use Mortality (NPSUM). It is made up of voluntary reports of inquest records from coroners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The records are not exhaustive because not all coroners volunteer them and it takes seven months on average for drug-related deaths to be registered, so some appear in the following year’s figures.

The records analysed are for 286 inquests involving deaths linked forensically to nitazenes by the end of March 2025.

Dr Caroline Copeland, director of NPSUM and senior lecturer in pharmacology and toxicology at King’s College London, said the records showed some of those affected were among the “most marginalised”.

More than one in five people in the records had “a lack of stable housing, living in the most deprived parts of the country with incredibly high levels of unemployment and with a high burden of mental health disorders,” she said.

Our analysis also found:

  • Nine in 10 of the inquest records were for men

  • Ages ranged from 17 to 66, with many in their 40s

  • Most were known to use drugs

  • More than half the people died in their homes

  • Almost every inquest concluded the death was by accident

The amount of nitazene – ordered legitimately for research purposes – in this vial was enough for a potentially fatal dose for ten people, Copeland said

The opioid antidote naxolone is viewed as key to preventing deaths from substances like nitazenes, but was detected in just one in every seven inquest records.

In January 2025, the coroner reviewing the death of Joe Black raised concerns naloxone was only available to take home from some substance misuse services and many people who used drugs were also not engaging with them.

Joe, who had schizophrenia and substance misuse disorder, was found dead aged 39 from an overdose including heroin adulterated with nitazenes at a hostel in Camden, London.

Neither the hostel nor the mental health NHS Trust which were treating Joe were permitted to give naloxone kits to their residents or patients who were known to use drugs.

In December, the Department of Health and Social Care began a 10-week consultation on proposed legislative changes to expand naloxone access in the UK.

His mother Jude said: “Joe was a wonderful, sensitive, caring, intelligent, talented young man. And he, like everybody else, had a right to live.

“He also was carrying this terrible illness and coping as best he could, and was hugely vulnerable to exploitation and accidental overdose.”

She said it was “negligent” it had taken nearly a year since the inquest for the consultation to begin.

“I feel it diminishes the value of my son’s life and the tragedy of his death.

“People like Joe are still hugely at risk and I’m sure they’re still dying.”

In Sandwell, West Midlands, the charity Cranstoun is trialling a new type of outreach service.

Sue McCutcheon goes out proactively to find people on the street who have substance dependence issues and may not be willing or able to use traditional services for help.

She is a nurse with more than 30 years’ experience and can prescribe treatments and hand out naloxone, which she describes as “like a duty of care or a moral issue”.

She said: “If these people don’t come into our buildings to get naloxone, where are they going to get it from?”

The National Crime Agency (NCA) believes nitazenes are being smuggled into the UK through the post. Due to their strength, they can be secreted in small volumes in parcels.

The ban on harvesting opium poppies in Afghanistan has previously been suggested as the cause. Opium is the key ingredient for heroin.

Adam Thompson, the NCA’s head of drugs threat, said while heroin purity had dropped on the streets, there were still no signs of shortage in the UK.

“In most cases, organised criminals’ sole motivation for using nitazenes is greed. They buy potent nitazenes cheaply and mix them with other drugs… to strengthen the product being sold and make significant profits,” he said.

The government said it would keep enhancing its surveillance and early warning systems to alert people when new drugs emerged.

Analysis of the inquest records showed multiple drugs were being increasingly implicated in people’s deaths – called polydrug use.

Dr Alex Lawson is a consultant clinical scientist in toxicology for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

After a spike in nitazene-related deaths in the city in summer 2023, lessons have been shared by the city’s agencies to inform contingency plans elsewhere if there were a similar outbreak.

One in every seven of the NPSUM records we analysed were from the coroner’s area Lawson’s team covers.

They routinely tests blood, urine and other tissues for the presence of up to 2,500 different types of drugs – but that level of investigation is not uniform across all coroner areas.

“Things are improving but the nitazenes that people are testing for will vary from lab to lab, and not every laboratory will be able to keep up to date with the newest nitazenes that are on the market,” Lawson said.

Copeland has co-authored research published this week which says nitazenes-related deaths may have been under-estimated by up to a third.

The research found the drugs deteriorate in post-mortem blood samples more quickly than most forensic samples are handled in the real world, so they may not be detected.

Concerns over mis-selling

The most recent annual report from the UK’s only national drug-testing service, WEDINOS, found more than a third of the samples it tested did not contain what the purchaser had intended to buy, while some contained extra substances.

Copeland said at the start of 2023 nitazenes were mostly found contaminating heroin, but now they are being found as a complete substitute for other drugs.

“The complete mis-selling is something that is very concerning for nitazenes, because people don’t know what they’re taking, so they’re not going to be able to take the necessary precautions,” she said.

In October 2025, the government began a new campaign targeting 16 to 24-year-olds and social media users to raise awareness of harms from drugs, including nitazenes.

It said it had guaranteed funding for council public health schemes for the next three years, including £3.4bn protected for drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery.

The BBC’s request for an interview was declined, but a spokesperson said its strategy involved strengthening border security to block “these lethal substances from entering the country”.

Naloxone was also now being carried by officers in 32 police forces out of the 45 covering the UK, they said.

Nicola said: “You don’t want your child to be judged. There’s always a stigma with certain types of death and substances is one of them.

“And I didn’t want Gus to be tarred with any of that, so at first you don’t say anything and then I thought, I have to tell his friends and I have to tell people.

“He wasn’t a great sleeper. I think he just thought he would take something, it would relax him and he would just have a nice sleep that night, and it put him to sleep and he never woke up.”

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3enqnnpy8o

 

Filed under: Culture,Drug use-various effects,Nitazenes,UK :
by Chengzi Jiang , Pamela Saleme , Timo Dietrich , James Durl – 27 January 2026
Health Promotion International, Volume 41, Issue 1, February 2026, daag002.
Oxford University Press

Abstract

School-based health promotion is a key setting for fostering positive youth health behaviours. Digital and immersive technologies offer promising opportunities to engage young people. This study explores a virtual reality (VR) intervention designed to prevent alcohol, vaping, and cannabis use among secondary school students. The intervention allowed students to navigate realistic, branching scenarios simulating peer pressure and substance use, aiming to enhance refusal strategies, critical thinking, and decision-making skills. A mixed-methods evaluation involving 277 students and nine teachers across four Australian schools was conducted. Postintervention surveys assessed engagement, immersion, emotional responses, and skill development, while focus groups and interviews explored participant experiences. Results indicate that students found the VR experience immersive and valuable, particularly for rehearsing peer resistance and evaluating the consequences of risky behaviours. Teachers viewed the intervention as a powerful tool for prompting reflection and discussion and a strong complement to existing health education curricula. Thematic analysis highlighted the importance of realism and interactivity for student engagement. While some technical and content improvements were identified, both students and teachers considered the VR tool effective for enhancing health literacy and behavioural readiness. This study shows that immersive VR can be a scalable, engaging addition to school-based health promotion, improving prevention skills and confidence in managing substance-related situations. As adolescent health behaviours are increasingly shaped by digital environments, immersive interventions such as VR offer a promising avenue for skill building and reflection. Further research should assess long-term impacts, with greater attention to implementation and equity considerations.

Introduction

Alcohol, vaping, and other drug (AOD) prevention for youth remains a pivotal public health concern, particularly in countries with high rates of underage substance use. In Australia, underage alcohol consumption declined significantly from the early 2000s to the late 2010s, with a notable increase in the proportion of teenage abstainers. However, since 2019, this trend has plateaued, and rates of underage drinking have begun to rise again. Currently, approximately one-third of Australian adolescents aged 14–17 report consuming alcohol in the past year (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2024b). Parallel to this, the use of e-cigarettes among young Australians has increased substantially. In 2023, 9.3% of individuals aged 18–24 reported daily e-cigarette use, highlighting the growing prevalence of vaping among younger demographics (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2024a). Emerging nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches, are also gaining popularity among Australian youth, further complicating efforts to address substance use (Jongenelis et al. 2024, Watts et al. 2024). Compounding these challenges, recent research shows that young people are frequently exposed to online marketing of nicotine products, despite advertising restrictions in many Western countries. Misinformation about health and wellbeing is also increasingly circulated by social media influencers, whose content is often viewed as credible due to high engagement and parasocial relationships. Mulcahy et al. (2025) demonstrate that high-virality influencer posts can lower perceived deception and facilitate the spread of misinformation, especially when accompanied by supportive user comments. These dynamics create a digital environment in which adolescents are vulnerable to misleading substance-related content, highlighting the need for forward-looking, media-literate interventions that strengthen critical thinking and digital discernment. McGlinchy et al. (2025) similarly found that children as young as 11 frequently encounter vape and tobacco marketing online, where traditional advertising restrictions are often ineffective. Buchanan et al. (2018) further show that digital marketing negatively shapes young people’s attitudes and behaviours towards unhealthy products, with peer-endorsed content blurring boundaries between advertising and social interaction. In parallel, adolescents today are growing up in a digital-first environment that strongly influences their health behaviours and perceptions. As Raeside (2025) explains, adolescent health promotion must evolve alongside young people’s digital engagement habits by using community-based and digital-only platforms that reflect their lived experiences and expectations. This involves prioritizing youth voice, digital safety, and participatory design to avoid reinforcing inequities and to address emerging digital determinants of health. In a world-first effort to limit young people’s exposure to harmful online environments, Australia has restricted social media use to individuals aged 16 and over, highlighting growing concern about risks in unregulated digital spaces.

Amid these developments, schools continue to play a central role in universal AOD prevention by providing structured opportunities to shape young people’s attitudes and behaviours before risky substance use patterns emerge. Schools are uniquely positioned for this work because they reach most children and adolescents during key developmental years. The literature shows that social and emotional factors, including peer influence, social norms, and perceived acceptance within family and school environments, are important drivers of adolescent AOD behaviours (Biles et al. 2025). The school environment has long been central to public health and educational interventions. Traditional school-based AOD programmes, such as didactic seminars, health education units, and expert-led presentations, aim to delay initiation and reduce substance use by increasing knowledge, shifting attitudes and norms, and enhancing self-efficacy. Yet these approaches often suffer from low engagement, limited personalization, and poor translation of knowledge into practice (Liu et al. 2022, Gardner et al. 2024). In contrast, emerging approaches such as immersive virtual reality (VR) offer a new vehicle to engage young people through dynamic and experiential learning. VR allows students to actively participate in simulated environments that replicate real-life social scenarios, making abstract concepts more concrete and emotionally resonant (AlGerafi et al. 2023, Marougkas et al. 2024). By embedding decision-making moments within engaging narratives and real-world 360° footage, VR can support adolescents in critically reflecting on substance use, rehearsing resistance strategies, and building confidence in navigating risky situations. However, despite growing interest, few AOD programmes have integrated or rigorously evaluated VR interventions targeting adolescent substance use, largely due to technological barriers such as cost, equipment requirements, and setup complexity. While VR is known to be engaging (Jiang et al. 2026), its potential remains underexplored, as existing studies often rely on limited outcome measures, leaving a critical evidence gap. Building on this knowledge base, this paper examines the implementation of a VR intervention component of a larger AOD programme aimed at high school students. It builds and expands the existing evidence base and explores how VR can influence a range of psychological, emotional, experiential, and behavioural factors such as engagement, immersion, emotional responses, peer resistance, critical thinking, problem-solving, and overall satisfaction. By supporting harm minimization approaches and strengthening practical decision-making and refusal skills, VR offers a promising tool for prevention particularly in the face of growing digital influences on young people’s perceptions and behaviours.

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Source: https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/41/1/daag002/8441976

Filed under: Alcohol,Drug use-various effects,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK,Youth :

by Deborah Brauser, Medscape Medical News – January 16, 2026

Researchers have identified the specific number of weekly delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) units beyond which the risk for cannabis use disorder (CUD) increases.

Using standard THC units — defined as 5 mg of THC per unit — the investigators found that consuming more than 8.3 units per week among adults (about 41 mg of THC) and more than 6.0 units per week among adolescents (about 30 mg of THC) represented the optimal cutoffs for increased risk for any CUD.

Higher thresholds — 13.4 units per week for adults and 6.45 units per week for adolescents — were associated with the risk for moderate-to-severe CUD. The UK study, which included adults and teens, showed the accuracy of using weekly standard THC units to identify CUD was high across all models assessed.

Lead author Rachel Lees Thorne, MD, Addiction and Mental Health Group, Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, Bath, England, noted that 8 units per week equate to approximately 0.33 g of herbal cannabis on the UK market.

“This will likely be a lower amount than people who use cannabis regularly would typically consume and highlights that CUD can occur even with relatively lower levels of consumption,” Thorne told Medscape Medical News.

She added that although the findings may not be generalizable to other settings where cannabis products and use patterns differ, the investigators hope that framing use in THC units could help clinicians have more informed conversations with patients and better track cannabis-related behaviors.

The investigators also noted that theirs is the first study to estimate risk thresholds for CUD based on standard THC units mirroring the way alcohol units are used to calculate higher risk for drinking.

The findings were published online on January 12 in Addiction.

Risk Threshold

About 22% of individuals who use cannabis go on to develop CUD, a pattern of use that leads to clinically significant distress and/or impairment. The investigators noted that in the UK, cannabis use is cited as a problem drug by 87% of patients younger than 18 years who are in drug treatment programs.

A paper published in 2019 proposed that in the US, a “standard THC unit” should be set at 5 mg of THC across all cannabis products and methods of administration.

In 2021, NOT-DA-21-049: Notice of Information: Establishment of a Standard THC Unit to be used in Research     the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) agreed, defining a standard THC unit as “any formulation of cannabis plant material or extract that contains 5 mg of THC.” In its announcement, the NIH added that the definition would apply to any future applications proposing research on cannabis or THC.

In the current study, the investigators used data from the observational CannTeen study of 65 adults aged 26-29 years (54% men) and 85 teens aged 16-17 years (56% girls) from London who reported using cannabis at least once during the 1-year study period.

The Enhanced Cannabis Timeline Followback was used to estimate mean weekly THC units by assessing quantity, frequency, and potency of consumed cannabis. A diagnosis of CUD was assessed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, with “any CUD” describing a composite of mild, moderate, or severe versions of the condition.

Receiver operating characteristic curve models were used to determine how well weekly standard THC units could distinguish between no CUD and either any CUD or moderate/severe CUD.

Results showed an area under the curve (AUC) of < 0.7 for all models assessing discrimination accuracy of weekly standard THC units on CUD.

For determining no CUD from any CUD, the AUC was 0.79 in the adult-only model and an “outstanding” 0.94 for adolescents. The AUCs were 0.82 and 0.94, respectively, for determining no CUD from moderate/severe CUD.

The optimal risk cutoffs for any CUD were 8.3 units of THC per week for adults and 6.0 units per week for adolescents; for moderate/severe CUD, the optimal risk thresholds were 13.4 and 6.45 units per week, respectively.

Measuring cannabis use with standard THC units “appears to show good discrimination accuracy of [CUD] at different severities and in different age groups,” the investigators wrote.

“Safer levels of cannabis use, defined by low weekly standard THC unit consumption, could be recommended in lower risk cannabis use guidelines,” they added. 

‘A Much Needed Start’

In an expert roundup by the Science Media Centre, Marta Di Forti, MD, PhD , Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London in London, England, noted that using this type of standardized measurement could become an “important tool” in both research and clinical settings — in about the same way standardized alcohol units have become.

However, “it is important to remember that cannabis, unlike alcohol, does not contain only one active ingredient but over 144 cannabinoids,” said Di Forti, who was not involved in the current research.

Still, THC units are, “undoubtedly, a very important and much needed start,” she added.

David Nutt, DM, Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences – Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London in London, noted in the roundup that the analysis provided a “welcome update” on recreational THC risks that can lead to dependence.

“What needs to be done now is to facilitate recreational cannabis users in determining exactly how much they are using to help them control their risk,” Nutt said.

“The best way would be through a regulated cannabis market with clear product quality and identification of unit amounts…plus a credible and honest educational program,” he added.

Source: Medscape Medical News

Filed under: Addiction,Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Health,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) – 28 January 2026

The ACMD has advised the government ketamine should remain a class B controlled substance, but that police forces and health care professionals must receive greater support to better identify, prevent and respond to ketamine‑related harms.

In January 2025, the government asked the ACMD to review the prevalence and harms of the misuse of ketamine. After examining the latest evidence, engaging with people with lived or living experience with the substance, consulting stakeholders, and reviewing academic research, the ACMD concluded ketamine should not be reclassified and should remain in class B.

Findings and decisions

In reaching its decision, the ACMD noted that the acute harms of ketamine – such as toxicity and deaths – align with its current class B status.

The ACMD also expressed concern about the growing use of high‑dose ketamine – described in some cases as “chronic”- and the long‑term harms associated with it.

However, as these harms were established in the 2013 ketamine assessment, the group focused its discussions on identifying new and emerging risks.

The ACMD report highlighted that many acute harms experienced by ketamine users are likely to be significantly influenced by using other drugs at the same time, and that reclassifying ketamine in isolation would unlikely reduce prevalence or misuse.

Individuals with personal experience of ketamine use and harms who contributed to the review said they did not believe upgrading ketamine to class A would reduce its use. Health and social care professionals similarly, largely, voiced opposition to reclassification.

Ultimately, the ACMD concluded that a public health‑centred approach is essential for reducing ketamine-related harms. This approach requires co-ordinated action across public bodies, health services, and community organisations.

The ACMD Chair Professor David Wood said in relation to the report:

The ACMD report highlights the need for a ‘whole system approach’ through its recommendations to tackle issues related to ketamine use, as no single recommendation is sufficient to do this alone.

Recommendations  

The ACMD’s recommendations are outlined in full in their report. This includes recommendations on classification, improving treatment of ketamine-related harms, international control, intelligence gathering, education and training, harm reduction and research.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/acmd-announces-decision-on-the-classification-of-ketamine

Filed under: Addiction,Drug use-various effects,Ketamine,Latest News,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT BY NDPA:

This paper was originally published in 2007/2008 in the Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice, which was established by Drug Free America Foundation (based in St Petersburg, Florida). Late in 2025, OVOM Sweden expressed interest in re-publishing this paper in their own website, and this prompted several associates of NDPA in other countries to express interest in re-visiting the paper – almost 20 entities have applied so far, and been sent ‘merged’ copies. (NDPA pointed out that because of the size of the paper – approaching 25,000 words – the original paper, as published, had been split into three parts and published in three consecutive volumes of the Journal. To facilitate study of the paper, NDPA undertook to merge the three parts back into one paper, as now presented in this current, merged  re-publishing).

Some of the ‘encouragements’ while undertaking this sizeable task included the following:

  • ‘Peter, thank you very much, we will find a good place for it’. Renee Besseling – OVOM – (NDL)
  • ‘Peter, Excellent paper – I read it through and through’. John Coleman – President, DWI (USA)
  • ‘Thanks – appreciate your always-fine work’. Shane Varcoe – Director, Dalgarno Institute (Au)
  • ‘Great idea – Peter’s articles are a great contribution’. Gary Christian, tpg (Au)
  • ‘This sounds like a great and much-needed initiative, Peter’. Jo Baxter, Exec Director, DFA (Au)
  • ‘Wonderful. Thank you!’. Amy Ronshausen, Exec Director, DFAF, (USA)
  • ‘Thank you very much!’. Beatriz Velasco Munoz Ledo (Mexico)
  • ‘Thank you so much, Peter’. Stuart Reece (Au)

 

PREFACE

Introduction to this re-print – January 2026

This paper was written in the light of the author’s enormous respect for the many organisations he had collaborated with to that point in time – 2007 –  (and with many of whom he continues to collaborate, at this present time in 2026). It also tries to charitably respect those who advocate a Harm Reduction oriented approach to drug strategy and policy (whilst not conclusively respecting their standpoint!). Courtesies aside, a more important point is that this paper dates from 2007, and a lot of water has flowed under the Harm Reduction and the Drug Policy bridges since then!

Whilst it is informative to re-visit this literature, and understand the provenance and the politics of Harm Reduction, it could be very useful if someone were to develop and report on what has passed between 2007 and 2026. (“But don’t look at me!” says Mr Stoker).

 

FOREWORD

Mr. Stoker is Director of the National Drug Prevention Alliance (NDPA), which he helped form. He has completed more than 40 years in this field and has helped three other charities to form, all running well. His first 7 years in the field were as a drugs/alcohol counsellor in a London drug agency; he also created and delivered a wide range of trainings and was a Government ‘Drug Education Advisor’ to some 100 primary and secondary schools. In 1987 he completed a one month study tour throughout America, under the auspices of the US State Department. He has delivered workshops at more than 10 PRIDE conferences, and in 2004 he received the PRIDE Youth Programs International Award for services to prevention. He has completed technology transfer trainings in Poland, Germany, Portugal and Bulgaria. In 2001 he was awarded a First Prize in the Stockholm Challenge contest for websites with a health promotion value. Mr. Stoker is often to be seen or heard on TV, radio or in national/regional newspapers and has authored many articles and papers. For 30 years prior to this career he worked as a Professional (Chartered) Civil Engineer, running projects which would have totalled approaching £10 Billion at present day values.

 

Peter Stoker

 

ABSTRACT

The history of ‘so–called Harm Reduction’ — starting with its conception in and dissemination from the Liverpool area of Britain in the 1980s — is described in comparison with American liberalisers’, ‘Responsible Use’ stratagem in the 1970s and with subsequent so–called Harm Reduction initiatives in the USA, Canada, Australia, Britain and mainland Europe. As the scope of a historical review of Harm Reduction — over several decades and across several countries — is necessarily large, this paper is presented in 3 parts. Part 1 examines the developments in the USA; whilst Part 2 looks at Britain, Canada, and Australia. Part 3 considers mainland Europe, and then goes on to explore reasons why the package called ‘Harm Reduction’ has fared better than ‘Responsible Use’ as well as some possible reasons why the present, Harm–Reduction–biased situation has come about. The text takes extracts from or synopses of papers presented by various writers on both sides of the argument. Reasons as to why the packaging of ‘Harm Reduction’ has fared better than ‘Responsible Use’ are explored as are some possible reasons why the present, Harm–Reduction–biased situation has come about. The paper concludes by suggesting possible ways forward for those advocating a prevention–focused approach –– learning from history.

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Source: History of HR – P&P _ Peter Stoker

Filed under: Harm Reduction including HIV (Papers),Latest News,UK :
by The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly –

Police drugs dog Jasper with his handler PC John Warren and other officers including Police Inspector Peter Giesens, joined by Commissioner Alison Hernandez, in Paignton

Successful drugs in pubs police crackdown sends out clear message 

On a freezing cold January Friday night in Paignton, I joined police officers on an unannounced Pubs Against Drugs (PAD) operation to disrupt and deter drug use and make nights out safer in the town. 

These operations are carried out across Devon and Cornwall throughout the year. It is such a great way to show people that the police take tackling drugs seriously and sends out a clear message that drug use will not be tolerated in our pubs and clubs. 

In Paignton, incredibly well-trained police drug dog Jasper was joined by policing teams from South Devon, as well as Special Constables who give up their time for free to help keep our communities safe. 

During the evening, visits to eight pubs in the town were carried out. It was heartwarming to see people out enjoying themselves in the pubs, especially at a time when the industry is struggling to stay afloat. 

It was reassuring to see the efforts being made by licensees to keep their pubs safe and the positive way they interacted with police during the operation.  

At two of the pubs the police visited, managers went out of their way to tell me how much they welcomed the police action because of the message it sends to their customers about drug use not being acceptable.  

Although little drug use was found, inevitably some positive searches were conducted. Quantities of both Class A and Class B drugs were found. The presence of police in the pubs also resulted in the arrests of two wanted men. 

One was wanted on warrant and the other was being sought in relation to domestic violence offences which demonstrates how beneficial these operations are in tackling crime. 

Paignton Inspector Pete Giesens, who heads up the local Neighbourhood Police Team, organised the action in the town. He told me about the great relationship his officers have with licensees and bar staff, as well as door security officers, to ensure that unwanted behaviour is dealt with in the night time economy. 

Tackling drugs remains one of key priorities in my Police and Crime Plan because residents tell me they want it pushed out of their communities. Operations such as PAD show it will not be tolerated and action will be taken. 

My office remains committed to supporting education for both adults and children to help cut crime and save lives.  

A few days after my night out with the police in Paignton I visited Cornwall College in Camborne where many students completed my Young Voices in Policing online survey. Alarmingly, out of all the responses we have gathered so far, 40 per cent were either concerned or very concerned about drug use in their age group, and eight per cent said they have experienced or witnessed drug use in the past 18 months. 

There is no place for drugs in our region. Issues can only be tackled by disrupting organised criminal groups, reducing supply and demand, delivering effective treatment, and protecting young people from exploitation.  

A holistic and trauma responsive approach to tackle the root causes is required and that’s why I am such an advocate of specialist providers such as Harbour Housing in St Austell. I have personally seen how its incredible model and ethos has transformed the lives of its service uses by tackling homelessness, drugs, alcohol, mental health issues and unemployment.  

It also brings great benefits to the local community by reducing antisocial behaviour, and I would love to see this model replicated across Devon. 

There are also many other organisations and charities out there who are playing their part such as North-Devon based Addicts to Athletes. Last year, under my office’s Community Grant Scheme, they were awarded £5,000 – the biggest grant they have received – to continue delivering the benefits of free physical activity to help adults suffering with addiction, including drugs, alcohol and gambling. 

Source: https://devonandcornwall-pcc.gov.uk/successful-drugs-in-pubs-police-crackdown-sends-out-clear-message

Filed under: Crime/Violence/Prison,Drug use-various effects,Prevention and Intervention,UK :

<drug-watch-international@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Maggie Petito – mlp3@starpower.net – 09 January 2026 13:47

This reportage derives from a UK newspaper item – published in the The London Telegraph on 09 January 2026 – -by Charles Hymas Home Affairs Editor and Meike Eijsberg Data journalist      

Starmer accused of ignoring more significant safety issue while planning to cut drinking limit for motorists

Drugs are now a bigger factor in road deaths than alcohol, official figures show.

The number of deceased drivers who tested positive for drugs increased by 78 per cent, from 106 to 189, in the decade to 2023, according to the Department for Transport (DfT) and police data.

By contrast, the number of dead motorists with alcohol proved to be present in their system rose by 5 per cent in the same period, from 162 to 171.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, now stands accused of ignoring the bigger problem of drug-driving while planning to reduce the drink-driving limit, which critics fear will “strangle” struggling pubs.

The Government’s proposals have prompted a backlash from MPs and publicans, who say the move will put pubs under more pressure following an increase in business rates.

Britain lost an average of one pub each day in 2025, and industry bosses have warned that rising tax bills and wages, on top of higher energy costs, will drive hundreds more out of business.

The Telegraph has launched a campaign to save the nation’s pubs, calling on Labour to stop its assault on Britain’s locals, and to cut tax and red tape.

Ministers are now expected to announce a climbdown, saying they are working on relief measures to be announced in the coming days. But the about-turn relates to jumps in business rates for landlords, not the new drink-drive limit.

DfT figures show that the percentage of fatal collisions in which drink-driving was involved has been relatively stable over the past 10 years, at 13 per cent.

However, the proportion in which drug-driving played a role has doubled from 5 per cent in 2014 to 10 per cent in 2023.

While drug-driving convictions rose by 13.5 per cent in 2024 to 27,000, the number of drivers convicted of drink-driving offences fell by 6 per cent to 36,415.

Meanwhile, injuries from drink-driving incidents have significantly decreased since 1980, from around 20,000 annually to about 5,000 since 2020.

Despite this, the Government’s new road strategy proposes “taking tougher action on drink-driving” by reducing the legal limit of 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg, or around a pint.

It would be the most significant reform to road safety laws since 1967, when the blood alcohol limit was first introduced.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Labour are now proposing even more measures that will endanger country pubs.

“At the same time, the Government is completely failing to do more to address a more rapidly growing road safety issue – drug-driving. More drivers killed in a collision had drugs in their system than alcohol.

“The Government should prioritise toughening up on drug-drivers above measures which will strangle struggling country pubs.”

‘Further pressure’ on pubs

The British Beer and Pub Association warned that any toughening of measures on drink-driving would harm rural pubs in areas without public transport or reliable taxi services.

A spokesman said: “The pub sector continues to face huge challenges, so any additional policy measures that further impact trade will be of real concern to licensees, especially those in rural areas.”

Drug-drivers face similar penalties as those caught drinking, including a minimum 12-month driving ban and up to six months in prison for serious or repeat offences.

Limits for illegal drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, ketamine and heroin are set at extremely low levels, but not at zero, to account for accidental exposure.

However, Government-funded research has suggested that dangerous drug-drivers have been escaping prosecution – and putting lives at risk – because some police forces ration the number of testing kits issued to officers to just one a day.

The study, by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, found there was a “geographical lottery” where the best-performing forces were catching 10 times more drug-drivers per head of population than the worst.

Drivers can also escape justice because of delays of four to five months in processing blood tests. Officers have only six months to prosecute. Dangerous driving penalties to be reviewed

The Government’s new road safety strategy proposes that there should be a review of penalties and mandatory training for drink and drug-driving offences.

It has also pledged to explore alternative processing and evidence collection for drug-driving to “improve speed of results, supporting more robust enforcement outcomes.”

A DfT spokesman said the strategy would “save thousands of lives by targeting the root causes of deaths, including the impact of both alcohol and drugs”.

They added: “We’re determined to crack down on drug-driving, and the strategy includes new measures to modernise how we tackle it, including new testing methods, and powers to suspend driving licenses for those caught under the influence.

“We do not expect the new limit to harm pubs; experience in Scotland shows such changes have minimal impact on local businesses while making roads safer.”

Source: Maggie Petito – mlp3@starpower.net

Filed under: Alcohol,Brain and Behaviour,Culture,Drug Driving,Drug use-various effects,Drugs and Accidents,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

Opening Statement by NDPA:

This research provides useful information which is relevant to study of prevention of health-compromising behaviours, such as drug misuse.

 

Image source,Monty Rakusen/Getty

by James Gallagher  – BBC Health and science correspondent – 25 November 2025The brain goes through five distinct phases in life, with key turning points at ages nine, 32, 66 and 83, scientists have revealed.

Around 4,000 people up to the age of 90 had scans to reveal the connections between their brain cells.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge showed that the brain stays in the adolescent phase until our early thirties when we “peak”.

They say the results could help us understand why the risk of mental health disorders and dementia varies through life.

The brain is constantly changing in response to new knowledge and experience – but the research shows this is not one smooth pattern from birth to death.

Instead, these are the five brain phases:

  • Childhood – from birth to age nine
  • Adolescence – from nine to 32
  • Adulthood – from 32 to 66
  • Early ageing – from 66 to 83
  • Late ageing – from 83 onwards

“The brain rewires across the lifespan. It’s always strengthening and weakening connections and it’s not one steady pattern – there are fluctuations and phases of brain rewiring,” the lead author of the research, Dr Alexa Mousley, told the BBC.

Some people will reach these landmarks earlier or later than others – but the researchers said it was striking how clearly these ages stood out in the data.

These patterns have only now been revealed due to the quantity of brain scans available in the study, which was published in the journal Nature Communications.

The five brain phases

Childhood – The first period is when the brain is rapidly increasing in size but also thinning out the overabundance of connections between brain cells, called synapses, created at the start of life.

The brain gets less efficient during this stage. It works like a child meandering around a park, going wherever takes their fancy, rather than heading straight from A to B.

Adolescence – That changes abruptly from the age of nine when the connections in the brain go through a period of ruthless efficiency. “It’s a huge shift,” said Dr Mousley, describing the most profound change between brain phases.

This is also the time when there is the greatest risk of mental health disorders beginning.

Unsurprisingly adolescence starts around the onset of puberty, but this is the latest evidence suggesting it ends much later than we assumed. It was once thought to be confined to the teenage years, before neuroscience suggested it continued into your 20s and now early 30s.

This phase is the brain’s only period when its network of neurons gets more efficient. Dr Mousely said this backs up many measures of brain function suggesting it peaks in your early thirties, but added it was “very interesting” that the brain stays in the same phase between nine and 32.

Adulthood – Next comes a period of stability for the brain as it enters its longest era, lasting three decades.

Change is slower during this time compared with the fireworks before, but here we see the improvements in brain efficiency flip into reverse.

Dr Mousely said this “aligns with a plateau of intelligence and personality” that many of us will have witnessed or experienced.

Early ageing – This kicks in at 66, but it is not an abrupt and sudden decline. Instead there are shifts in the patterns of connections in the brain.

Instead of coordinating as one whole brain, the organ becomes increasingly separated into regions that work tightly together – like band members starting their own solo projects.

Although the study looked at healthy brains, this is also the age at which dementia and high blood pressure, which affects brain health, are starting to show.

Late ageing – Then, at the age of 83, we enter the final stage. There is less data than for the other groups as finding healthy brains to scan was more challenging. The brain changes are similar to early ageing, but even more pronounced.

Dr Mousely said what really surprised her was how well the different “ages align with a lot of important milestones” such as puberty, health concerns later in life and even the pretty big social shifts in your early 30s such as parenthood.

‘A very cool study’

The study did not look at men and women separately, but there will be questions such as the impact of menopause.

Duncan Astle, professor of neuroinformatics at the University of Cambridge and part of the team responsible for the research, said: “Many neurodevelopmental, mental health and neurological conditions are linked to the way the brain is wired. Indeed, differences in brain wiring predict difficulties with attention, language, memory, and a whole host of different behaviours.”

The director of the centre for discovery brain sciences at the University of Edinburgh, Prof Tara Spires-Jones, who did not work on the research paper, said: “This is a very cool study highlighting how much our brains change over our lifetimes.”

She said the results “fit well” with our understanding of brain ageing, but cautioned “not everyone will experience these network changes at exactly the same ages”.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgl6klez226o.amp

Filed under: Age-related,Brain and Behaviour,Environment,UK :
OPENING STATEMENT BY NDPA – 30th November 2025:
Whilst we would endorse much of the sentiments expressed by HRH, we suggest that she should be cautious in her dealings with Forward Trust (of which she is a patron). Forward Trust has as its CEO, Mike Trace – he lost his drugs job at the UN after being exposed in a British Newspaper as being a ” fifth columnist” (his words) for the George Soros financed, world wide, drug legalization movement (all drugs). Mike was specifically associated with, in leaked emails, the European legalisation movement. On the morning Mike Trace was exposed, he told an acquaintance “I am disgraced”.  Before Trace got the UN job (and lost it), he had been the UK Deputy Drug Czar.
 
Dalrymple, the author of this opinion piece, is a highly  experienced Prison Doctor of impeccable credentials
OPINION PIECE:
by Theodore Dalrymple, London Daily Telegraph – 24 November 2025 

HRH has good intentions, but her view is dehumanising and damaging

The Princess of Wales has called for an end to the ‘stigma’ of addiction 
Credit:Paul Grover/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire/PA Images

The Princess of Wales is patron of The Forward Trust, a charity devoted to assisting addicts to remain abstinent from their drug of addiction. She has just spoken out forcefully against the view that addiction is weakness of will or any kind of moral problem.

“Addiction is not a choice or a personal failing,” she said, implying thereby that it was a medical condition like any other, such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis. She said that “people’s experience of addiction in still shaped by fear, shame and judgment, and that this ought to change”.

I am sure that HRH meant well, and that she feels genuine sympathy for addicts; but unfortunately, her view is simple, unsophisticated, dehumanising and empirically false.

It is dehumanising because, by denying that addiction is a choice, it deprives addicts of their agency both in theory and to a certain extent in practice. If, after all, you persuade someone that he does not make a choice in doing something, you also persuade him that choice cannot prevent him from doing it. He is not a human being like you and me, but a helpless feather on the wind of circumstance.

This turns him into an object, not a subject, both to himself and others. Such a view is implicitly degrading, demeaning and far from compassionate. It implies the need for an apparatus of care to look after him, much as one would look after an animal in a menagerie, with kindness but not with much respect.

Take the case of the injecting heroin addict and think what he has to do and learn to become such an addict. He has to learn where to obtain heroin and how to prepare it. He has to learn to disregard its unpleasant side effects. He has to overcome a natural aversion to pushing a needle into himself. This is not something that just happens to him.

Moreover, not only do most addicts take the drug for some time before becoming physically addicted to it, but they are fully aware in advance of the consequences of taking the drug long-term. Addicts are not “hooked” by heroin, as they often put it; rather, they hook heroin.

It is untrue that addicts require a professional apparatus to overcome their addiction. Millions of people have given up smoking, though nicotine is addictive. During the Vietnam War, thousands of American soldiers addicted themselves to heroin and gave up, with almost no assistance, one they returned home.

In 1980, Porter and Jick pointed out that people treated with strong painkillers as in-patients in hospital did not go on to become addicts once they left hospital. This was unfortunately interpreted to mean that such drugs were not addictive; but, on the contrary, it shows that addiction, in the sense of continuing addictive behaviour, is not straightforwardly a physiological condition.

At the root of the Princess’s misapprehension is the post-religious or secular view that if a person is the author of his own downfall, he is due no sympathy or compassion. It is a highly puritanical view, and since we do not want to be puritans, we make the problem a medical one instead. But since we are all sinners and the authors of our own downfall, at least in some respect or other, this also has the corollary that sympathy or compassion is due to no one when he needs it.

The Princess appears to think that if you say to an addict that he has behaved, and continues to behave, foolishly and badly, you are necessarily saying to him, “Go away, darken my doors no more”. She seems to think that the truth, far from setting people free, will imprison them until someone comes along with a technical key to unlock them.

Of course, some addicts benefit from assistance, but not for the reasons the Princess supposes. Medication may reduce their physical sufferings, and if we take once more the example of injecting heroin addicts, we discover that they may well have so destroyed their relations with everyone – their families and friends – that there is no one to whom to turn if they desire to change their ways. They thus need a helping hand, but this is not the same as removing fear or stigma (a very necessary, though not sufficient, aid to civilised life). Though she did not mean them to be so, the Princess’s words were not so much demoralising, as amoralising.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/51db8fdbd5d80cb6

Filed under: Strategy and Policy,UK :

The number of people admitted to hospital in Scotland with alcohol-related brain damage has reached a 10-year high.

A total of 661 people required treatment for brain injury after alcohol misuse between 2016-17, the equivalent of nearly two people a day.

Alcohol-related brain damage can lead to problems with memory and learning.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had the most admissions at 230, followed by 99 in NHS Lothian.

The figures were released in response to a parliamentary question by the Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs.

He said it was worrying that the statistics were continuing to rise despite efforts to combat alcohol misuse.

He said: “Scotland already has one of the worst records in Europe for alcohol consumption and, despite increased awareness, the problem only seems to be getting worse.”

He added: “The decision by SNP ministers to cut funding for alcohol and drug partnerships was wrong, and has clearly impacted on the delivery of services to support people addicted to alcohol.”

Mr Briggs called for more emphasis on recovery programmes and pilot schemes for new treatments.

The Scottish government said it had invested £746m to tackle alcohol and drug abuse in the past 10 years and would be delivering an additional £20m a year to further improve services.

‘Alcohol services’

A spokesman added: “We’ve recently implemented Minimum Unit Pricing to tackle the cheap, high strength alcohol that causes so much damage to families and communities across the country.

“We also provide funding to NHS boards to treat local health needs, including people with alcohol-related brain injury.

“We expect alcohol services, mental health services and social services to work jointly in these cases to ensure those injured receive the help they need to recover and any underlying mental health issues are addressed.”

Filed under: Alcohol,Brain and Behaviour,Health,UK :
  • Shakira Pellow bought a batch of blue triangular tablets with the Duplo logo on
  • Took three deadly ecstasy tablets which cost £2 each and died within 12 hours
  • Comes as number of children dying after taking drugs has reaches record high

Rita Hole sits on a Newquay beach watching her 15-year-old daughter playing in the waves. She takes a photograph as Shakira laughs and dances on the sand — a little girl still in so many ways. It captures a perfect moment; one Rita will cherish, as it is her last image of her youngest daughter alive.

A few days later Shakira and a group of her friends buy a batch of blue triangular tablets. Chillingly, they bear a child-friendly Duplo logo — the Lego toddler’s building block — but they are deadly. According to her friends, Shakira took three of these ecstasy tablets which cost just £2 each. Twelve hours later she was dead; another teenage victim of a drug epidemic that has Britain’s schoolchildren in its grip.

The next photo Rita takes is heartbreaking. It shows Shakira unconscious in her hospital bed, surrounded by a mesh of tubes and wires, slowly dying as her body overheats and her internal organs collapse.

‘I watched the doctors fight to save her for 13 minutes,’ says Rita. ‘I could hear her bones breaking in her chest as they tried to revive her. But it didn’t work.

‘They turned off most of the machines as they could see it was too late. I cradled her head in my arms, telling her how much I loved her. I wanted her to know she wasn’t on her own, I was with her. I was willing her to live, pleading with everything I had.

The next photo Rita takes is heartbreaking. It shows Shakira unconscious in her hospital bed, surrounded by a mesh of tubes and wires, slowly dying as her body overheats and her internal organs collapse

‘It was 10.15am on Saturday when she died, drenched in my tears as I kissed her face.

‘No mother should have to lose her baby like this. It’s too much to bear.’

Shakira’s death is not an isolated case. She is just one tragic example of a growing trend. Drug deaths are rising, and the victims are getting younger. More schoolchildren than ever are gambling with their lives by taking illegal substances.

An NHS report published earlier this year into drug use among pupils reveals that more than one in ten 11-year-olds has taken recreational drugs, rising to more than a third of 15-year-olds.

Meanwhile, in 2016, almost a quarter of UK school pupils admitted to taking drugs — compared to 15 per cent in 2014. Almost half said they had bought them from a friend of the same age.

Last month, two drug dealers, Craig Banks, 40 and Dominic Evans, 21, were jailed by Liverpool Crown Court for selling ecstasy pills to schoolchildren through social media sites Facebook and Snapchat. Children then sold the drugs on to their classmates, seven of whom were hospitalised.

Just this week, video footage emerged online of pupils as young as 12 snorting white powder at a school in Sunderland, while in other schools in the New Forest, Hampshire and Taunton, Somerset, teachers have resorted to sending in sniffer dogs to search for drugs.

At the same time, the number of children dying after taking drugs — primarily ecstasy or MDMA to give it its chemical name — has reached a record high.

Shakira died a week ago today, a few days after Reece Murphy, 16, died from taking MDMA after finishing his GCSEs in Dorchester, Dorset. On June 23, showjumper Hannah Bragg, 15, from Tavistock, Devon, died after taking the Class A substance while also out celebrating the end of her exams.

In May, Joshua Connolly-Teale, 16, died after taking ecstasy on a camping trip with friends in Rochdale, Greater Manchester during a break from revising for his exams. Luke Pennington, 14, died after taking the synthetic drug Spice during a sleepover in March at a friend’s house in Stockport, Cheshire.

The tragic list goes on — a roll call of promising, and so very young, lives wasted.

It is now 23 years since the family of A-level student Leah Betts released the harrowing image of her on a life-support machine as she lay dying after taking a single ecstasy tablet on her 18th birthday.

But as Shakira’s death shows, the drug is still killing youngsters as indiscriminately as ever, and if anything, it is stronger and more deadly than two decades ago.

And Rita, 47, has released the photo of her dying daughter to warn other teenagers.

On the day she died, Shakira, the youngest of Rita’s three daughters — she is also mum to Nikita, 21, and Jessica, 26 — had been excited as three of her friends were coming for a sleepover after school.

Before leaving for her job as a community carer for the elderly, Rita prepared the spare room of their semi in Camborne, Cornwall, and stocked the kitchen with food for teens.

Her words to her daughter as she left for work were: ‘Be good’ and ‘look after each other.’ But soon after Rita returned from work at 10pm her world began to unravel.

‘Fifteen minutes later there was a knock at the door. It was one of Shakira’s friends.’

About 30 of them had been in the park where the tablets were taken. Whether it was planned, or they were approached by an opportunist dealer, police are yet to establish.

Shakira’s friend said she had fallen, complaining that she was in trouble — and was ‘going to die’.

Rita was horrified to learn her friends didn’t phone for help straight away. Unaware of the danger, and keen to capture the drama, they actually filmed her as she lay on the ground.

‘It was a woman who was walking past and saw what was going on who actually dialled 999.’

Rita and her partner Lee Butcher, 49, who works in a warehouse, ran to the park and found paramedics battling to save Shakira’s life after she suffered a cardiac arrest.

‘I was in a daze. I couldn’t process what was happening. But the police said I needed to go with them right away.

‘As we raced to the hospital in Truro with the blue flashing lights on, it started to sink in how serious things were.’

Soon after her arrival, Shakira suffered another cardiac arrest as her temperature soared way beyond normal body temperature of 37c.

‘The doctor said it was the highest temperature he’d ever seen. They put ice packs all over her. She seemed a bit more stable after this so we took the photo of her, to show her how lucky she’d been, how the next time she was thinking about going out and doing something daft like this, to remember.’

But a few hours later, Shakira suffered her third and final cardiac arrest and quickly deteriorated. The next morning she was dead. It was not the first time Shakira, a Year 10 pupil at Camborne Academy, had taken ecstasy.

She had admitted to her mother having tried it once before, but promised she never would again.

Tragically she broke her promise. Using money given to her by her father, Sean Pellow, 47, from whom Rita is separated, for a shopping trip, she and her friends bought the pills from a man at the park.

After her death, doctors found one of these tablets in her pocket.

Police have since arrested and bailed two 17-year-olds for possession with intent to supply. There are no official figures for the exact number of children who have died after taking drugs, but according to the Office of National Statistics, eight people under 20 died after taking MDMA in 2000, compared with 18 in 2016.

Similarly, deaths involving cannabis over the same period have risen from nine to 27.

So what are the reasons for the rise? And what can be done to stop children, as Rita says, from playing Russian roulette with their lives?

Andrew Halls, 59, headteacher of King’s College School in Wimbledon, South-West London, is so concerned about the availability of drugs to children, he has sent a letter to parents warning them of their availability online.

Even a cursory internet search brings up pages of websites offering everything from MDMA to crack cocaine, and promising doorstep deliveries.

‘Drugs are now more available to young people than ever before and they can get them anonymously, says Mr Halls. ‘They can buy them online or through a mobile phone number. They’ll be around on a moped quicker than Amazon.

‘If you’ve just finished your GCSEs and go to a festival you might be given ecstasy by a dealer who will say, “You can have this for free, but you have to give me your mobile number”.

‘They will get a call the following week offering more. That’s a great concern for me.’

After sending his letter, Mr Halls was contacted by other concerned headteachers who also recognise the problem. ‘There’s a great deal of moral relativism about it,’ says Mr Halls. ‘The sheer availability now creates an environment of acceptance.’

He adds: ‘Twenty years ago, when I became a headmaster, drug dealers were demonised. Now the dealer is probably your mate who ordered it over the internet and who’s going to give it to eight other people. The “real” supplier could be someone in a Shanghai lab.’

Fiona Spargo-Mabbs’s 16-year-old son Daniel died in January 2014 after taking MDMA at an illegal rave in South London. She now runs a foundation to help educate children about the dan-gers of drugs. She is concerned about the decline in drug awareness education in schools.

‘Teenagers think they’re invulnerable and we have to educate them about the dangers of these drugs. MDMA in particular has got stronger.

‘The time spent by schools teaching personal, social, health and economic education — which covers drug awareness — has dropped by at least a third in recent years and at the same time, there’s more accessibility, normalisation and glamorisation of drugs.’

Mark Byrne, of drugs charity Addaction, agrees: ‘The drug landscape has definitely changed: 17-year-olds used to buy them when they went clubbing and in social settings. Now 15-year-olds would find it hard to get into a club but it’s still easy for them to get hold of drugs.’

Many recent drugs deaths have been caused by MDMA, which was developed in Germany in 1912. It works as a releasing agent for serotonin, the chemical in the brain associated with feelings of happiness.

After peaking in popularity the Nineties, it fell out of favour, partly due to the Leah Betts campaign, and as ‘rave’ parties waned in popularity.

Sales were also affected by the rise of legal highs — psychoactive substances that mimic ‘traditional’ illegal drugs.

Then there was a dwindling supply of the oil-rich chemical safrole, an integral part of ecstasy manufacturing, but synthetic replacements have now been found and most disturbingly of all, the drug is being discovered by a new generation naive to its risks.

And the product is stronger than ever. In the Nineties, the average MDMA content was between 50 and 80mg. Now it’s closer to 125mg, while some ‘super pills’ are as a high as 340mg.

Not only is it stronger, it is cheaper, at £2 to £3 a pill compared to £20 in the Nineties.

And, cynically, manufacturers make them appealing to teenagers — and seemingly innocuous — by stamping them with familiar logos such as ‘Purple Ninja Turtles’ or Coca-Cola bottles. Sarah Lush, the mother of Reece Murphy, the teenager who died earlier this month after taking ecstasy in Dorchester, also released a powerful photograph of her son on a life support machine.

Single mother Sarah, 38, who works in a restaurant, says: ‘He was my only child and he had so many memories to make, that’s what breaks my heart.

‘Now I’m planning his funeral. Before this, drugs weren’t on my radar. I guess he took it because his friends were, because he was young and curious.

‘It’s just not sunk in yet, my body isn’t letting me accept it. I can’t believe he’s not here any more.’

For Sarah and Rita, only memories remain. Rita shows me her youngest daughter’s violin and guitar. She wanted to be a musician, she says.

A teddy bear sits on her bed. Her walls are covered with pictures of New York. She had dreamed of visiting the city.

‘I always told her she was amazing,’ Rita says. ‘That she could do anything she put her mind to. She wanted to travel, she could speak Dutch, French and Turkish. We were due to go on holiday together to Turkey soon. She was going to turn 16 in four months time and we were planning a big party.’

Her final warning is heartbreaking. ‘To any child thinking about taking ecstasy, please, please do not do it. You think you are going to have fun, but these drugs are so strong, they could kill you.

‘Just look at what happened to my Shakira. Her dreams are now never going to come true.’ 

Filed under: Ecstasy,UK,Youth :
By Kathy Gyngell – Editor of The Conservative Woman – October 2, 2025
A STUDY published in June that I have just come across provides unsurprising but nonetheless devastating and irrefutable evidence linking increased cannabis use with rising rates of breast and testicular cancers in young Americans.

The study covers the period between 2000 and 2019. The aim was clear: to test the hypothesis that the increasing incidence of testis and breast cancer in adolescent and young adult (AYA) Americans correlates with their increasing cannabis use. Its conclusions are stark: that North America has evidence which implicates cannabis as a potential etiologic factor contributing to the increasing incidence of breast carcinoma in young females and testis cancer in older adolescent and young adult males, and in most races and ethnicities. Temporal correlations suggest that a carcinogenic effect of cannabis is rapid, leading to cancer within a few years after cannabis exposure. You can read this extremely detailed and careful study here. 

Its overall study design involved comparing breast and testis cancer incidence trends in jurisdictions that had and had not legalised cannabis use. In the US, both breast carcinoma in 20- to 34-year-old females and testis cancer in 15- to 39-year-old males had annual incidence rate increases that were highly correlated (Pearson’s r = 0.95) with the increase in the number of cannabis-legalising jurisdictions during the period 2000–2019. Both were significantly greater during the period 2000–2019 in the cannabis-legalising than non-legalising states. (My italics)

During the period 2000–2019, registries in cannabis-legalising versus non-legalising states documented a 26 per cent versus 17 per cent increase in breast carcinoma and 24 per cent versus 14 per cent increase in testis cancer.

In the same age groups, the study (predictably) found Canada had an even greater increase in both breast and testis cancer incidence than the US. A UNICEF study on the well-being of children had already confirmed that Canadian adolescents (aged 11 to 15) have the highest rate of cannabis use among the 29 advanced economies of the world. Of particular concern that legalising advocates would do well to note is the considerable percentage of the Canadian youth who are daily or weekly users – approximately 22 per cent of boys and 10 per cent of girls. And that amongst the older 16-19s the upward trend in use which increased to 43 per cent in 2023 compared with 36 per cent in 2018 follows the country’s nationwide legalisation of cannabis for over-18s in 2018.

This link between cannabis and these forms of cancer should come as no surprise.  A report from the American Cancer Society (ACS) in February this year identified non-seminoma testis cancer as the cancer type most closely linked to cannabis use. 

More shocking is that this relationship has been known about for years. In 2009, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle investigated the possibility of a link ‘after learning that the testes were one of the few organs in the body to contain receptors for the main psychoactive substance in the drug, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)‘.   The same scientists noted that there had also been a rise in testicular cancer cases that had ‘mirrored the rise in marijuana use since the 1950s’. 

The 2025 study is of course of a different type and order of magnitude. It was certainly needed. Its findings warrant the utmost attention of our national and local public health authorities which were so zealous to promote child covid vaccination but have remained over the years so strangely silent about cannabis.

This valuable study should also serve as a warning to cannabis legalisers including Sir Sadiq Khan that their endorsement of the drug and indifference to the impact of legalisation on teen health is not just irresponsible but near-criminal.  

Postscript: There are other disturbing elements regarding the underlying mechanisms noted in the study’s findings. These, its authors state, ‘may involve genotoxic effects, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction caused by cannabis, leading to genomic instability’. For further elucidation of this a 2024 study published in Addiction Biology provides some key insights into cannabis-cancer pathobiology and genotoxicity. You can read this report here. 

Source:  https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-irrefutable-link-between-cannabis-and-cancer-in-young-americans/

Filed under: Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Health,Marijuana and Medicine,Mental Health,UK,Youth :

LONDON DAILY MAIL

by Sam Lawley, News Reporter –  5 October 2025 | 

Laying bare the extent of Glasgow‘s substance crisis, a disturbing video showed the drug-taking hotspot in grim detail with needles, spoons and other drug paraphernalia strewn over the ground – and all just round the corner from a popular student accommodation.

Glasgow is home to the UK’s first and only drug consumption facility, The Thistle, less than half a mile from the location of the clip, posted to X on Saturday by Reform councillor Thomas Kerr.

The centre is already open 365 days a year from 9am to 9pm but its operators told MSPs this week that they may have to extend hours as so many addicts are bingeing on cocaine later in the day and evening.

Run jointly by Glasgow City Council and the NHS, The Thistle allows users to inject hard drugs under medical supervision without fear of prosecution.

More than 400 addicts have so far had 5,000 ‘injecting episodes’, with cocaine taken three times as much as heroin. There have also been 60 ‘medical emergencies’ on site.

But it seems drug use is still spilling onto the streets and parks of Scotland’s largest city.

A squalid drug den featuring a tree covered in dirty heroin syringes has been discovered just yards from Scotland’s only ‘safe’ consumption room in Glasgow

‘But as you can see this is student accommodation and look at this,’ he says.

The camera pans from a block of student flats towards a tree loaded with syringes like darts lodged on a board.

Speaking with hundreds of pieces of rubbish scattered across the ground, Ms Dempsey adds: ‘To think this is what we are driving people to is just outrageous. It’s worse than outrageous.’

Seemingly criticising The Thistle consumption room, she sayd: ‘This is where the road to recovery comes right in. The right to enable should not count, it should not be a factor in it.

‘And that’s what we’re doing because all this equipment here, the packaging, the boxes, the syringes, the spoons for burning and the naloxone packages. These are all stuff that is given out freely in the safe consumption room.’

Mr Kerr adds: ‘Scotland’s drug crisis is here for everybody to witness. We need to start focussing on recovery as Audrey said, and not driving into despair where they’re sitting taking needles apparently safely down in the Calton, where you can see the state that people have been driven into.

‘This is absolutely scandalous and this is what’s going on in the streets of Glasgow, just around the corner from a so-called safe consumption facility.’

Ms Dempsey says: ‘This is outrageous. This makes you physically sick to think this is what we are pushing people into, and it tells you all the more that the Right to Recovery Bill should stand because people have a right to recover from this. They shouldn’t be driven to this, it’s just awful.’ 

The Right to Recovery Bill, if passed, would ‘establish a right in law to treatment for addiction for anyone in who is addicted to either alcohol, or drugs or both’. It is currently at stage one, the committee stage, of the process.

The Daily Mail has approached Cllr Casey for comment. 

The Thistle, which opened in January, also stepped up demands for an ‘inhalation space’ for people to smoke crack. 

Responding to calls for longer opening hours, Glasgow Tory MSP Annie Wells said: ‘Local residents will be terrified at the prospect of a 24/7 drug room on their doorsteps. 

‘The Thistle is making lives a misery for those living near it, with dirty needles and anti-social behaviour plaguing the community.

‘Expanding state-sponsored drug taking is not the answer – that’s why it’s crucial that MSPs back our Right to Recovery Bill which would enshrine in law a right to life-saving rehab.’

SNP drugs policy minister Maree Todd later MSPs she was confident the Thistle had already saved lives.

She said: ‘We’re seeing more smoking than we have before, more inhalation routes, so we just need to remain agile. Things are not static.

‘It’s a challenging situation to stay ahead of, quite a dynamic situation that’s out there.’

Tricia Fort, chair of Calton Community Council, said the Thistle was ‘doing good’, but there were concerns about it drawing drug dealers to the area.

Morrisons security boss Steve Baxter said the chain’s nearby supermarket had seen a 94 per cent drop in dirty needles in its car park since the Thistle opened.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15163757/drug-den-tree-heroin-syringes-Scotland-glasgow-consumption-room.html

Filed under: Addiction,Culture,Needle Exchange,UK :
Press Office, Media Relations – press-office@brunel.ac.uk

The UK’s science minister, Sir Patrick Vallance, has sounded the alarm over the country’s declining investment in medicines. He warned that the NHS risks losing out on important treatments and the country could lose its place at the cutting edge of medical research if spending does not recover. It comes at a sensitive time – this year drug-makers including Merck and AstraZeneca have backtracked on plans to invest in the UK.

Vallance is correct that there is a need to encourage pharmaceutical firms to keep investing and launching new medicines in the UK. On the other side, there is a need to protect public funds from being wasted on treatments that do not offer enough benefit for their cost.

At the moment, just 9% of NHS healthcare spending goes on medicines. This is less than Spain (18%), Germany (17%) and France (15%). At a time when some experts believe the UK is getting sicker, this might come as a surprise.

But the UK is unusual among major health systems in how carefully it regulates drug spending. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has, since its creation, judged new treatments not only on clinical evidence but on cost-effectiveness.

That means asking whether a drug’s health benefits – measured in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) – justify its price compared with existing care. For most treatments the threshold is about £20,000 to £30,000 per QALY. This is not a perfect measure, but it gives the NHS a consistent way of deciding whether the health gained is worth the money spent.

The value of this approach is clear. Nice’s record shows that medicines that pass its tests have added millions of QALYs to patients in England, while also preventing waste on drugs that bring only marginal improvements at high cost.

A study published earlier this year in medical journal The Lancet found that many of the new medicines recommended by Nice between 2000-2020 brought substantial benefit to patients. But it also noted that some high-cost drugs deliver much less health gain than investments in prevention or early diagnosis could.

The study emphasises that maintaining rigorous thresholds around cost-effectiveness ensures that public funds go to treatments that really improve lives. In other words, the discipline of cost-effectiveness has protected the public purse while ensuring access to genuine innovations.

This regulatory strength is reinforced by national pricing schemes for branded medicines. These cap overall growth in the NHS drugs bill and require companies to pay rebates if spending rises too fast. In practice, this means that if total spending on branded medicines exceeds an agreed annual limit, pharmaceutical companies must pay back a percentage of their sales revenue to the Department of Health.

In recent years that rebate rate has been as high as 20–26% of sales, effectively lowering the price the NHS pays. This is made possible by the buying power of the health service.

Together with Nice’s appraisals, these measures have helped the NHS maintain relatively low medicines spending compared with many countries. At the same time, it still secures access to major advances in cancer therapy, immunology and rare disease treatment.

For a publicly funded service under constant financial strain, these protections are vital. Despite the pressure on its budget, the NHS has secured meaningful access to new therapies. For example, by March 2024, nearly 100,000 patients in England – many of whom would otherwise face long delays or rejection – had benefited from early access via the Cancer Drugs Fund to more than 100 drugs across 250 conditions.

The balance with Big Pharma

However, strict controls on price and access can have unintended consequences. If companies see the UK as a low-return market, they may choose to launch new drugs elsewhere first, or to limit investment in research and early trials here.

There is a danger that patients could face delays in receiving new treatments. Or the scientific ecosystem, which relies on steady collaboration with industry, could weaken.

Still, the answer is not to abandon cost-effectiveness. Without it, the NHS would risk paying high prices for small gains. This would divert money from staff, diagnostics or prevention – areas that often bring more health benefit per pound spent.

In such cases, raising thresholds or relaxing scrutiny would do more harm than good. Cost-effectiveness is not just about saving money. It is about fairness, ensuring that treatments funded genuinely improve lives relative to their cost.

The challenge, then, is balance. The UK should continue to hold firm on value for money, while finding ways to encourage investment. That might mean improving the speed and clarity of Nice processes, so that companies know where they stand earlier and patients can access good drugs more quickly.

It could involve reviewing thresholds periodically to account for inflation and medical progress, without undermining the principle that treatments must show sufficient benefit. And it certainly means supporting research and development through stable partnerships with universities, tax incentives and grants.

What should not be underestimated is the UK’s scientific strength. The country remains home to world-class universities, skilled researchers and an innovative biotech sector. The rapid development of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID vaccine showed what UK science can deliver at scale and speed.

Pharmaceutical companies know this, and many – including AstraZeneca, GSK, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and most recently Moderna – continue to invest in British labs and trials because of the talent and infrastructure. Danish firm Novo Nordisk has strengthened its ties with the University of Oxford, committing £18.5 million to fund 20 postdoctoral fellowships as part of its flagship research partnership.

The UK’s approach to assessing value has won respect internationally. That discipline must be preserved. Reversing the decline in investment means creating a predictable, transparent environment for industry while maintaining the protections that safeguard patients and taxpayers alike. If done well, the UK can continue to be both a responsible buyer of medicines and a world leader in science.

Source: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/The-UK-must-invest-in-medicines

Filed under: Drug use-various effects,Medicines,Strategy and Policy,UK :

 

The UK government has launched a new campaign to alert young people to the dangers of ketamine, counterfeit medicines and adulterated THC vapes.
by Department of Health and Social Care and Ashley Dalton MP – Published 16 October 2025
  • New campaign to alert young people to the dangers of ketamine, counterfeit medicines and adulterated THC vapes
  • Ketamine use and drug poisonings highest on record with 8 times more people seeking treatment since 2015
  • Government investing £310 million into drug treatment services alongside awareness campaign

Young people are being warned that they risk irreparable bladder damage, poisoning and even death if they take ketamine, synthetic opioids or deliberately contaminated THC vapes, as part of a new anti-drugs campaign.

Launching today (16 October 2025), the campaign, which includes online films, will target 16 to 24 years olds and social media users, following a worrying rise in the number of young people being harmed by drugs. There has been an eight-fold increase in the number of people requiring treatment for ketamine since 2015.

Supported by £310 million investment in drug treatment services, this initiative directly supports the government’s Plan for Change mission to create safer streets by reducing serious harm and protecting communities from emerging drug threats.

Health Minister Ashley Dalton said:

Young people don’t always realise the decision to take drugs such as ketamine can have profound effects. It can destroy your bladder and even end your life.

We’ve seen a worrying rise in people coming to harm from ketamine as well as deliberately contaminated THC vapes and synthetic opioids hidden in fake medicines bought online.

Prevention is at the heart of this government’s approach to tackling drugs and this campaign will ensure young people have the facts they need to make informed decisions about their health and safety, so they think twice about putting themselves in danger.

As part of the campaign, experts will highlight particular risks, including the:

  • potentially irreparable damage ketamine can cause to your bladder
  • dangers of counterfeit medicines containing deadly synthetic opioids purchased online
  • risks from so-called ‘THC vapes’ that often contain dangerous synthetic cannabinoids like spice rather than THC

Resources will be available for schools, universities and local public health teams with content available on FRANK, the drug information website.

There are growing concerns about novel synthetic opioids, particularly nitazenes, which are increasingly appearing in counterfeit medicines sold through illegitimate online sources. Users purchasing these products are typically younger and more drug-naïve.

Reports of harms from THC vapes have also increased, with many products containing synthetic cannabinoids (commonly known as ‘spice’) that have higher potency and unpredictable effects.

Katy Porter, CEO, The Loop, said:

The Loop welcomes the further investment in evidence-based approaches and support to reduce drug-related harm.

Providing accurate, non-judgemental information equips and empowers people to make safer choices and can help reduce preventable harms.

Drug poisoning deaths reached 5,448 in England and Wales in 2023, the highest number since records began in 1993. The campaign emphasises that while complete safety requires avoiding drug use altogether, those who may still use substances should be aware of the risks and know how to access help and support.

The campaign underlines that ketamine’s medical applications do not make illicit use safe, with urologists increasingly concerned about young people presenting with severe bladder problems from recreational ketamine use.

Resources will be distributed to local public health teams, drug and alcohol treatment services, youth services, schools and universities. The campaign provides clear information on accessing help and support for those experiencing drug-related problems or mental health issues.

This year the Department of Health and Social Care is also providing £310 million in additional targeted grants to improve drug and alcohol treatment services and recovery support in England, including specialist services for children and young people.

For information and support on drug-related issues, visit www.talktofrank.com or call the FRANK helpline on 0300 123 6600.

Background information

How to watch this YouTube videoThere’s a YouTube video on this page. You can’t access it because of your cookie settings.You can change your cookie settings or watch the video on YouTube instead:Ket: while each high lasts minutes, for some the damage to their bladder could last forever

How to watch this YouTube videoThere’s a YouTube video on this page. You can’t access it because of your cookie settings.You can change your cookie settings or watch the video on YouTube instead:Synthetic opioids: what are they and why are they so dangerous?

Additional resources for professionals and educators will be available through local public health networks.

The £310 million additional funding for drug treatment services is separate from the public health grant.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/young-people-given-stark-warning-on-deadly-risks-of-taking-drugs

 

Filed under: Brain and Behaviour,Cannabis/Marijuana,Culture,Drug use-various effects,Drug use-various effects on foetus, babies, children and youth,Ketamine,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK,Vaping,Youth :

by Gabrielle Humphreys &  Natalie Finch – BMC (BioMedCentral) –

Abstract

Background

Lived experience recovery organisations (LEROs) are social support services facilitated by those who have shared lived experience. Typically, they aim to build shared identity and reducing stigma in this area, although there is limited knowledge on the experiences of those using LEROs, with research rarely permitted into these groups. The current study aims to provide insight into these groups, examining the experiences of service users in a UK-based LERO focussed on substance use disorder recovery.

Methods

Fifteen service users were interviewed about their experiences attending this LERO. Transcripts from these semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed by authors, with an inductive approach adopted.

Results

Eight themes and 10 sub-themes were identified. Themes were; Feeling supported in recovery, Experiencing life outside of substance use disorder, Fun, Skills acquisition, Preventing relapse by filling time, Gaining a sense of community, Psychological impact, and Changes in public perception. Participants reported having a positive experience within this LERO, particularly in comparison to traditional treatment pathways. Specifically, participants highlighted feelings of self-worth, belongingness, and enjoyment from this LERO – experiences they felt made this treatment pathway unique.

Conclusion

This paper highlighted the importance of peer support in substance use disorder recovery. Embedding those with lived experience into services was highly valued by participants and generated a unique culture of comfort, hope and opportunity. Although the scope of this study was limited to participants only currently attending this organisation, those interviewed significantly valued this LERO, highlighting their future potential to alleviate the lack of satisfaction reported by some around traditional treatment methods.

 

To access the full article, please click on the ‘Source’ link below:

Source: https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13011-025-00671-9

Filed under: Addiction,Drug use-various effects,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

 

Authors: Cyntia Duval, Brandon A. Wyse, Noga Fuchs Weizman, Iryna Kuznyetsova, Svetlana Madjunkova & Clifford L. Librach

Published by: Nature Communications

Published: 09 September 2025

 

Abstract

Cannabis consumption and legalization is increasing globally, raising concerns about its impact on fertility. In humans, we previously demonstrated that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its metabolites reach the ovarian follicle. An extensive body of literature describes THC’s impact on sperm, however no such studies have determined its effects on the oocyte. Herein, we investigate the impact of THC on human female fertility through both a clinical and in vitro analysis. In a case-control study, we show that follicular fluid THC concentration is positively correlated with oocyte maturation and THC-positive patients exhibit significantly lower embryo euploid rates than their matched controls. In vitro, we observe a similar, but non-significant, increased oocyte maturation rate following THC exposure and altered expression of key genes implicated in extracellular matrix remodeling, inflammation, and chromosome segregation. Furthermore, THC induces oocyte chromosome segregation errors and increases abnormal spindle morphology. Finally, this study highlights potential risks associated with cannabis use for female fertility.

Introduction

Cannabis consumption for both medicinal and recreational use and legalization have been rising globally1. Cannabis contains several classes of chemicals with cannabinoids being the most prominent; among these, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary psychoactive compound and the most studied2. Notably, the concentration of THC in cannabis products has increased significantly, from an average of 3% (by weight) in the 1980s to around 15% in 2020, with some strains reaching 30% of THC2. The increase in frequency, ease of availability, and escalation in potency raises concerns about broader impacts on global human health, including reproductive health. Indeed, the main apprehension regarding THC and reproductive health stems from the importance of the endocannabinoid system in human reproduction3. Endocannabinoids, including N-arachidonoylethanolamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, are endogenous cannabinoids that play a central role in both male and female reproduction3, whereas THC is an exogenous cannabinoid. Extensive research has documented the effects of THC on male reproduction, highlighting an impact on sperm deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation  4,5,6,7 and sperm parameters8 including sperm concentration  9,10,11, morphology  12,13,14 and motility14. As for female health, literature reports the impact of cannabis use during pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes  15,16,17,18, placental development  18,19,20 and offspring health  18,20,21,22. However, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the impact of cannabis on the human female gamete, the oocyte, a gap partly due to the challenge associated with obtaining these samples.

During in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, exogenous gonadotropins are administered in a process called “controlled ovarian hyperstimulation” which recruits multiple follicles and induces follicle growth. These recruited follicles, each containing an oocyte, are then collected by a physician in a procedure called oocyte retrieval. Oocytes are collected along with their surrounding microenvironment, including follicular fluid (FF) and supportive somatic cells (granulosa cells). The oocytes are isolated, and mature oocytes are used for subsequent in vitro fertilization. Using FF, our group has previously quantified Δ9-THC and its metabolites, 11-OH-THC and 11-COOH-THC  23,24, demonstrating that these compounds could reach the follicular niche. This is significant as it suggests that THC may directly alter the microenvironment where the oocyte matures. Furthermore, our group has shown that THC exposure altered human granulosa cell methylation in a concentration dependent manner23, and in vitro exposure modulated cannabinoid receptor dynamics in granulosa cells24. However, no human studies and only a few animal model studies have investigated the impact of cannabis directly on oocyte development with conflicting results  25,26,27,28,29.

Maturation of the oocyte is a unique and highly specialized process beginning in utero during fetal development. It is widely accepted that female neonates are born with a finite number of oocytes, which, following menarche, are recruited to mature in cohorts with each menstrual cycle30. Although oocytes are protected in the ovary by the blood-follicle-barrier, they remain highly sensitive to environmental factors31. Given their essential role in reproduction, any perturbations in their development and maturation could have profound effects on fertility and on future generations. Thus, understanding the impact of THC on oocyte health is critical for providing informed guidance and counseling to patients of the potential risks to their fertility and future offspring.

In this study, we determine the impact of physiologically relevant concentrations of THC on oocyte maturation, elucidate the transcriptomic changes induced by THC exposure and its effect on chromosome segregation, and compare our findings with a retrospective cohort study. Our investigation will aid in bridging the knowledge gap in our understanding of the sex-specific reproductive consequences of cannabis use and contribute to more effective and evidence-based patient counseling.

 

To read the full article, please click on the source link below

Source:  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63011-2

 

Filed under: Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Drug use-various effects on foetus, babies, children and youth,Europe,Marijuana and Medicine,Others (International News),Prevention and Intervention,Sexual Behaviour,Treatment and Addiction,UK,USA :

by Jack Fenwick – BBC Political correspondent – 16 September 2025

Hilary’s son Ben died from a heroin overdose in 2018, but his death was never included on official opioid death statistics

More than 13,000 heroin and opioid deaths have been missed off official statistics in England and Wales, raising concerns about the impact on the government’s approach to tackling addiction.

Research from King’s College London, shared exclusively with BBC News, found that there were 39,232 opioid-related deaths between 2011 and 2022, more than 50% higher than previously known.

The error has been blamed on the government’s official statistics body not having access to correct data and it is understood ministers are now working with coroners to improve the reporting of deaths.

A former senior civil servant said fewer people might have died if drug policies had been based on accurate statistics.

The number of opioid deaths per million people in England and Wales has almost doubled since 2012, but this new study means the scale of the problem is likely to be even greater.

Researchers from the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality at King’s used data from coroners’ reports to calculate a more accurate estimate of opioid-related deaths.

Opioids include drugs such as heroin that come from the opium poppy plant, as well as synthetically-made substances like fentanyl.

The Liberal Democrats have said the government needs to “urgently investigate” how the error was made.

The reliability of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data relies on coroners naming specific substances on death certificates, something which often does not happen.

Specific substances such as heroin are instead sometimes only included on more detailed post-mortem reports or toxicology results, which the ONS does not have access to.

Government data on overall drug deaths, which does not name specific substances, is not affected by the error, but ministers’ decision-making is generally influenced by the more granular statistics.

The body that oversees police commissioners says correct data on opioid deaths could have led to more funding and better treatment for front-line services such as police forces and public health.

Sir Philip Rutnam, who was the most senior civil servant at the Home Office between 2017 and 2020, told the BBC it was “quite possible” that fewer people would have died, if the government’s drug policies had been based on accurate statistics.

He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “It really does matter, first of all the level of attention given to these issues, but then specifically it will affect decisions on how much funding to put into health-related programmes, treatment programmes, or into different bits of the criminal justice system.”

“My son’s death is one of thousands missed from official stats”

Ben was 27 when he died from a heroin overdose in 2018, but his death was ruled as “misadventure” and was never included on the official opioid death statistics.

His addiction began with cannabis when he was a teenager and progressed to using aerosols and eventually heroin.

“Ben was just a very kind person. We miss him, we all miss him every day,” said his mother Hilary.

At one point, she said Ben appeared to “turn a corner”.

He was awarded a place in a rehab facility, but shortly before he was set to move in, Hilary got the phone call she had always dreaded.

“I think what happened is, he wasn’t using,” she said. “They think probably about three months and his tolerance had gone down.”

Ben’s family believe that different treatment and support for drug addicts could have helped him.

Dr Caroline Copeland, who led the new research, said drug policies “will not have the desired impact unless the true scale of the problem is known”.

She added: “We need to alert coroners to the impact that not naming specific drugs as the cause of death has on the planning and funding of public health policies.”

The research, which has been peer-reviewed and published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, focused specifically on opioid deaths, but similar undercounts are thought to exist in data about deaths from other drugs too.

Further work by King’s College London has found that 2,482 cocaine-related deaths have also been missed off ONS statistics over the last 10 years.

David Sidwick, the drugs lead for the National Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, told the BBC the organisation would “be pushing hard” for more treatment funding, in light of the faulty statistics.

Mr Sidwick, who is also a Conservative police and crime commissioner, said more accurate data would lead to “better decisions about the amount of funding required for treatment” and suggested “new treatment methods” such as buprenorphine, a monthly injection that can help heroin users overcome addiction.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said: “I dread to think of the lives that may have been lost due to damaging policies based on faulty stats.”

She added: “The government now needs to step up, launch an investigation and ensure that the ONS is given access to the data it needs so that it can never make this error again.”

The ONS, which helped with the research, said it had warned that “the information provided by coroners on death registrations can lack detail” on the specific drugs involved.

A spokesperson added: “The more detail coroners can provide about specific drugs relevant to a death will help further improve these statistics to inform the UK government’s drug strategy.”

The flaw in the ONS system is not present in Scotland, where there are no coroners and where National Records Scotland (NRS) is responsible for collating official statistics.

Unlike the ONS, the NRS does receive more detailed pathology reports, but differences in how deaths are reported across the UK make it difficult to compare.

The opioid undercounting raises further questions about the under-fire ONS, which has been accused of failing on several statistical fronts recently.

Data sets on job markets and immigration have been criticised and earlier this year a government review said the ONS had “deep-seated” issues which needed tackling.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We continue to work with partners across health, policing and wider public services to drive down drug use, ensure more people receive timely treatment and support, and make our streets and communities safer.”

 

Source:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg7dzmyjrjzo

 

Filed under: Addiction,Drug use-various effects,Heroin/Methadone,Opioids,Prevalence,Strategy and Policy,UK :
Daniel Hall   – -BBN Times – 24/08/2025

Outdated views of addiction hurt patients. Dr. Roger Starner Jones, Jr. and others are working to change that.

Despite decades of medical research, public awareness campaigns, and growing national concern, many people still see addiction through a distorted lens. “Addict” remains a pejorative label. Misconceptions persist that addiction is a choice, a character flaw, or the result of bad parenting. These outdated ideas don’t just misinform—they actively harm. They delay care, deepen stigma, and make recovery even more complicated to reach.

But addiction is not a moral failing. It is a complex brain disease, and understanding it as such is crucial to saving lives.

A Medical Diagnosis, Not a Personal Weakness

Addiction, clinically known as substance use disorder (SUD), alters brain chemistry in ways that impact decision-making, impulse control, and the experience of pleasure and reward. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), addiction is a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking, continued use despite harmful consequences, and long-lasting changes in the brain.

Yet societal attitudes lag behind the science. More than three-quarters of Americans surveyed believe that substance use disorder (SUD) is not a chronic medical illness, and more than half said they believe SUD is caused by bad character or lack of moral strength, according to findings from the 2024 Shatterproof Addiction Stigma Index Report. This belief system creates barriers to treatment by fueling shame, encouraging secrecy, and often leading families and employers to distance themselves rather than lean in with support.

The Real Risks of Misunderstanding

Misconceptions don’t just alienate people—they endanger them. Fear of judgment keeps many individuals from seeking help until their condition worsens. Delayed treatment can lead to job loss, relationship breakdowns, homelessness, overdose, and even death.

“Shame is one of the biggest enemies of recovery,” says Dr. Roger Starner Jones, Jr., a board-certified emergency and addiction medicine physician based in Nashville. “When patients think they’ll be judged instead of treated, they wait too long. They spiral. By the time they reach us, their situation is often much more severe than it needed to be.”

Dr. Jones has seen this pattern play out thousands of times. After a decade in emergency medicine, he pursued a fellowship in addiction medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, driven by both clinical experience and personal history. Starner Jones’ father, who once faced 11 DUIs in seven years, found lasting sobriety after being committed to a state hospital and undergoing physician-led detox. That experience changed the course of both their lives—and led Dr. Jones to dedicate his career to compassionate, customized addiction care.

Rewriting the Narrative: Care That Meets Patients Where They Are

Through his practices—Nashville Addiction Recovery and Belle Meade AMP—Starner Jones delivers concierge-level, judgment-free care. His model includes in-home detox, private hotel suite treatment, and office-based services designed to remove as many barriers as possible between a patient and their recovery. His focus is on meeting patients where they are, not where the system dictates they should be.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all in addiction treatment,” Dr. Jones says. “Some people need a quiet, safe space to detox privately. Others need a highly structured plan for relapse prevention. What they don’t need is bureaucracy or blame.”

Starner Jones’s approach is part of a broader shift happening in the addiction medicine field. More physicians are advocating for low-threshold treatment models—services that reduce wait times, eliminate unnecessary paperwork, and avoid rigid abstinence requirements. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), these models have been shown to increase engagement and retention in care, particularly among people with co-occurring mental health conditions.

While not a clinician in the traditional sense today, Dr. Gabor Maté is one of the most influential voices advocating for a trauma-informed approach to addiction. His book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, explores how early childhood trauma, not moral weakness, underpins most substance use. He argues that addiction is not the problem itself, but rather a misguided attempt to solve internal pain. His philosophy underpins many treatment programs worldwide.

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is one of the most established names in addiction treatment and has evolved to embrace an integrated model that combines medical detox, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), therapy, and mental health services. They openly reject the idea of addiction as a character flaw and emphasize long-term support and relapse prevention, rooted in compassion, not control.

Dispelling Common Myths

Several deeply ingrained myths continue to distort how addiction is viewed and treated. Let’s set the record straight:

  • Myth: Addiction is a choice.
    Reality: While the initial decision to use a substance may be voluntary, the progression to addiction is driven by changes in brain circuitry, not moral weakness.

  • Myth: You have to hit “rock bottom” to recover.
    Reality: Early intervention improves outcomes. Waiting for someone to “bottom out” can be fatal, especially in the era of fentanyl-laced street drugs.

  • Myth: Medication-assisted treatment is trading one addiction for another.
    Reality: FDA-approved medications like buprenorphine and methadone reduce cravings and withdrawal, allowing patients to stabilize their lives. They’re widely considered best practice in treating opioid use disorder.

  • Myth: Recovery is rare.
    Reality: Millions of Americans are living in recovery today. In the United States, 9.1%, or 22.35 million adults have reported resolving a substance use problem.

Compassion Is Evidence-Based

What ultimately works in addiction care isn’t punishment or shame—it’s connection. “When you treat addiction like the disease it is, you empower people to get better,” Dr. Starner Jones says. “You stop asking ‘What’s wrong with you?’ and start asking ‘What happened to you?’”

At Nashville Addiction Recovery, the ethos of compassion is baked into every interaction. From discreet intake to 24/7 physician supervision, the patient experience is defined by dignity and respect. Many of the patients Dr. Jones sees are high-profile professionals—athletes, musicians, executives—whose careers demand confidentiality. But the underlying need is universal: to be seen, respected, and supported through one of the most complex challenges a person can face.

A Call for Better Understanding

Changing how society views addiction won’t happen overnight, but it starts with how we talk about it. Swapping judgment for empathy, punishment for treatment, and generalizations for science can change not just conversations—but lives.

Source: https://www.bbntimes.com/science/what-most-people-get-wrong-about-addiction

Filed under: Addiction,Brain and Behaviour,Culture,UK :
by Jac Charlier, Executive Director, Center for Health and Justice, TASC, and Jason Kew, Centre for Justice Innovation, UK

July 23, 2025.

Lessons from a Decade of Police, Drug Treatment, and Community Partnerships

Ten years ago, an article appeared in the September 2015 issue of IACP’s Police Chief magazine that would introduce a new word into the U.S.  police and justice lexicon: deflection. Eventually, the word also would make its way into the public health world of drug treatment and recovery, as well as move into global usage. In the article, “Want to Reduce Drugs in Your Community? You Might Want to Deflect Instead of Arrest,” author Jac Charlier described a model of crime reduction and crime prevention in which police would “deflect” people who use drugs to substance use treatment rather than arresting and charging them, thereby addressing the root of the problem—that person’s drug use—and, in turn, reducing drug-related offenses in the community. Further, in the case of opioids, police also were seeking to prevent overdoses.

“This scenario is ripe for innovation,” wrote Charlier, adding that deflection lays the groundwork for “comprehensive solutions that work in a variety of jurisdictions.”1

A decade later, the benefits suggested in the 2015 article have borne out, and the practice of deflection indeed has exploded into the emergence of a global field and movement. Reflecting on the impact of deflection over the past decade, many additional lessons and benefits have become evident as well.

What’s In a Name?

At first appearance, the need for a word to describe what was a small and disparate set of police departments working with local drug treatment agencies to address overdoses might have seemed unnecessary. With only a handful of departments across the United States known to be doing what would become called deflection, and with departments each developing their own processes ad hoc, the need for a new word was anything but obvious. Now, 10 years on, the word itself, while still new to some, has stuck. That is in part because of the simplicity and logic of the term: while diversion moves people away from the justice system after they have already entered it, deflection happens earlier, before they even enter it, moving them into community-based services instead. In other words, diversion is post-filing, and deflection is always pre-filing, whether or not an arrest occurs.

At the time the deflection term was coined, it was becoming clear that (1) something new and different was happening between police and drug treatment that had not been seen formally before; (2) when looked at closely, even in those early days, it appeared that what other parts of the justice system (prosecutors, jails, courts, prisons, probation, and parole) had been doing for many years (working closely with drug treatment) had now arrived for police; and (3) this was more than a move upstream to the police now doing diversion; rather, this was something very different because it relied not on the justice system solving the problem, but first and foremost on community, treatment, and recovery as co-problem-solving partners with the police.

“When one thinks about when and where they can have the greatest impact with the fewest resources, including costs, it is always best and better to act first at prevention and then early intervention”

Another aspect of deflection that easily could be overlooked yet deserves to be acknowledged for the tremendous innovation that it represents is this: deflection emerged not from the treatment or recovery movement, but from—almost exclusively at first—police, sheriffs, and other law enforcement agencies. The birth of deflection was in large part, but not exclusively, a response to the overdose crisis, and the maxim that “we can’t arrest our way out of this” is due to the courage, willingness, and creativity of police, sheriffs, law enforcement, and prosecutors to seek alternative solutions.

 While one-off versions of deflection have existed here and there since the 1990s, deflection now is practiced across departments, in multicounty approaches, and even at the level of state police. Deflection exists in training, practice, policy, legislation, research, and funding and continues to expand into new areas. It is here to stay and (together with its older sibling diversion, which also works at the intersection of public safety and public health) forms an entirely new way of understanding a practice-based, community-first-approach to reducing drug use and drug use–related crime, while promoting recovery and well-being.

Another way to think about the emergence of deflection is that whereas before, prevention and diversion of drug-related offenses happened through models such as treatment courts, there now exist new opportunities to reduce drug use and drug-related behaviors earlier than previously practicable by thinking of prevention–deflection–diversion, each offering opportunities to act.

Today, 9 U.S. federal agencies; 41 states; and innumerable counties, cities, foundations, researchers, universities, police training units, and—most importantly—police practitioners, recognize deflection. From those original few sites (and with federal, state, and local funding streams for deflection) it is now estimated that more than1,600 deflection initiatives exist, not including any of the  sites outside the United States.

Deflection on an International Scale

Deflection has evolved in concert with parallel international advances in related drug- and crime-reduction policies grounded in public safety and public health working together. For instance, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in the past several years, has hosted Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) side events focused specifically on deflection. Outside of the United States, deflection initiatives have emerged in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, Italy, Tanzania, and other countries as communities seek efficient and cost-effective means to reduce substance use and its consequences.2 Just as has occurred in the United States, these initiatives are growing organically and according to local needs and resources. As one example, deflection practice in the UK incorporates a vast menu of options, from children’s referrals from schools, to veterans, mental health co-response, and women-only pathways. Each program is coordinated through the local authority’s community safety partnership, and each local authority is very different from another.

10 Lessons Learned from 10 Years of Deflection

With these roots, 10 major lessons have emerged as deflection has become formalized and has grown across the United States and globally:

  1. Police–treatment partnerships are effective. The first and most important lesson is that police and drug treatment can work together, side by side, with a shared mission and vision, to make a positive difference for the community. This idea, prior to deflection, was not routinely seen nor practiced. Policing and drug treatment historically have had misgivings about working together, starting with not considering how it might benefit them both to work together. Thanks to deflection, this has now changed. Through locally driven efforts unique to each community, where police departments have flexibility and control over processes, along with treatment partners who offer clinical and outreach expertise, deflection offers mutually rewarding solutions whereby both the justice system and public health system benefit from shared goals through a collaborative working relationship. In practical terms, police officers on the street now have a new “partner” working alongside them to figure out how to handle situations for which police were neither trained nor equipped, and the treatment and recovery communities now have earlier-than-before access to people with problem drug use who were not yet, in all but overdose cases, at the point of crisis. Of course, for the deflection participant, they benefit from a supportive “warm handoff” to treatment and services as a way to stop continued drug use.
  2. Police–recovery partnerships are growing. The second lesson, which stems from the first, is that police and people in recovery from addiction could work well together. If the first lesson was a hill to overcome, then this lesson was the mountain. Indeed, the credit of deflection actually working on the ground, day in and day out, goes to the line officers and people in recovery who have learned to work together by understanding and respecting why the other does what they do. Deflection creates a situation where they need each other. This is because while the police previously may have had the contact with the person using drugs, deflection offered a way to build trust that mattered. Through what is known in the field as “relentless engagement,” the partnerships seek to ensure the person knows that both the officer and treatment/services/recovery supports are there to assist them.
  3. The community is on board. The third lesson is that communities can accept deflection, especially and importantly when key community partners are consulted and included from the outset. Binary notions such as “tough on drugs” versus “let people use drugs” are politicized statements that do not reflect the reality on the ground of what the public wants—a response that leads to a solution that actually works for their family members, neighbors, businesses, and the community alike, and then allows their local police to focus more on serious and violent crimes, including, not coincidently, drug trafficking. Limited resources require efficient use of those resources.
  4. Deflection is effective. The fourth lesson underscores all the others: deflection works. From early evaluations to research to now second and even third site evaluations, it is clear that this entirely new field and movement, which sits between drug prevention and justice diversion (post-filing and entry into the justice system), was indeed called for and needed. As anticipated when it came into being a decade ago, deflection evaluations have shown it can reduce drug use and reduce drug use–related behaviors and crime, while also promoting recovery, well-being, and community safety.3
  5. Deflection’s community focus is rooted in the history of policing. Deflection fits naturally within the history and role of policing. Sir Robert Peel, who established the first organized police force in London, England, in 1829, and August Vollmer, who became known as the “father of modern policing” in the United States a century later, each contended that a foundational principle of policing is to prevent crime before it occurs and that this happens in partnership with the community. They both proposed that, by addressing underlying reasons for criminal behavior, policing practices can mitigate the harm caused by crime and reduce its occurrence. Indeed, Vollmer practically described deflection exactly when he suggested at a 1919 IACP meeting that police collaborate with social service agencies as a crime prevention strategy.4
  6. Police want to help people recover from drug use. The sixth lesson is that the police want to learn more about drug use, misuse, and addiction; about drug treatment and how it works; and most importantly, how they can be part of helping people to recover from addiction. Every day, police see people who use drugs. They see them getting worse, not better, and they see the harmful impact of drug use on families and the community at large. Through deflection, police get to see people reduce and then stop and recover from drug use. This is critical to a profession that otherwise often sees only bad and negative things. Police can see in deflection the role they play in reducing the scourge of addiction and how helpful they and their profession can be. They are not asked to provide treatment nor do the case management, but they kick off the entire process. It is said within the field that while police may be only the first step of many to recovery from drugs, without law enforcement, deflection would never get started. (Deflection is now practiced by EMS and fire departments, as well as by others, including second responders, but police deflection still makes up the majority of sites.)
  7. Local, community-based designs, decisions, and control are vital. Deflection is a framework, not a program. This is often heard in the field with the idea being that while some critical elements that make deflection work, and work better, are known, it is and always will exist only within the context of the local community in which it operates. Deflection is a multisystems approach to addressing a complex, often chronic problem: addiction. That means the local community has a say in how it is designed and looks; police have a say in how it operates; and treatment and recovery providers have a say into how it will focus their limited resources. The complexity of deflection, understood within the design of a specific community, is what gives meaning to the statement, “If you’ve seen one deflection initiative, you’ve truly seen only one deflection initiative.”
  8. Deflection is good public policy. The combined voice of police, drug treatment, and community together makes for good, community-grounded public policy, and as a result, is much more powerful when speaking to drug policy, funding, and practice than any of them would be alone. This lesson comes from the work of each of the deflection sites themselves, which figures out how to make it work on the ground and from that, find their shared voice to do more and do better to share deflection insights with neighboring communities.
  9. Barriers to treatment persist. The ninth lesson is that deflection has required greater adjustments for treatment than it has for the police. For police, any initial hesitancy about deflection usually relates to the practical side of how this will work. For treatment, recovery, and health partners, working alongside the police is often a new endeavor altogether. Interestingly, treatment partners will state they know this can be done but do not know how. Deflection creates a bridge between public safety and public health and the resulting connection provides guidance; instruction; training; and most important, one-on-one relationships between officers, people who treat those who use drugs, and people in recovery.
  10. The efficiency of deflection: Why wait for an arrest? The tenth lesson comes directly from the motto of the deflection field: “Why wait for an arrest?” Deflection offers an opportunity to get people to treatment before they reach the point of entering the justice system, and often before addiction has set in at full force. Deflection creates pathways, six to be exact, to connect people to treatment, housing, recovery, and services.5)

This matters because when one thinks about when and where they can have the greatest impact with the fewest resources, including costs, it is always best and better to act first at prevention and then early intervention. This is, of course, where deflection operates. In cases of overdose, its focus is preventing the next potential overdose. Deflection is an early, upstream strategy. This means that deflection is efficient in addressing issues before they become crises or happen again.

First national deflection and pre-arrest diversion summit, held at IACP in Alexandria, VA, 2017.
Photo courtesy TASC’s Center for Health and Justice.

As the decade since the introduction of the term deflection closes out and stakeholders reflect on these 10 lessons learned, the future of this field and movement is nothing but positive. It is growing nationally and globally; it is now common; it has funding and legislative support; researchers and policymakers are doing more of it; the demands to show more and better outcomes by the public are underway; and there is much more to come. Most important, the idea attached to the word deflection—this foundational change in how police and drug treatment work together, in and with the community—is no longer unusual, something not understood. Rather, the communities  practicing it show that deflection can be done, and the field indeed is doing it!

Finally, as deflection celebrates its 10th anniversary with a celebration at the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC) 2025 International Deflection and Pre-Arrest Diversion Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana, from December 2–4, deflection sites will share their own lessons learned. Police professionals are invited to join PTACC in New Orleans. After that, it’s time to get ready for the next 10 years. Many possibilities exist of where this work will go, but this field and movement, once unheard of, will be more, do more, and achieve more. Indeed, police, treatment, and communities alike are counting on deflection to do just that! d

 

 

Source: https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/deflection-turns-10/

Filed under: Crime/Violence/Prison,Drug use-various effects,Prevention and Intervention,UK,USA :

OPENING STATEMENT BY NDPA

We repeat this 2004 article by Stanton Peele as a useful position statement for us all.  Peele’s classic 1975  text ‘Addiction and Love’ (Peele and Brosky – Published: Taplinger, New York) is also well worth reading in this context.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

By Stanton Peele Ph.D. published May 1, 2004

More people quit addictions than maintain them, and they do so on their own. People succeed when they recognize that the addiction interferes with something they value—and when they develop the confidence that they can change.

Change is natural. You no doubt act very differently in many areas of your life now compared with how you did when you were a teenager. Likewise, over time you will probably overcome or ameliorate certain behaviors: a short temper, crippling insecurity.

For some reason, we exempt addiction from our beliefs about change. In both popular and scientific models, addiction is seen as locking you into an inescapable pattern of behavior. Both folk wisdom, as represented by Alcoholics Anonymous, and modern neuroscience regard addiction as a virtually permanent brain disease. No matter how many years ago your uncle Joe had his last drink, he is still considered an alcoholic. The very word addict confers an identity that admits no other possibilities. It incorporates the assumption that you can’t, or won’t, change.

But this fatalistic thinking about addiction doesn’t jibe with the facts. More people overcome addictions than do not. And the vast majority do so without therapy. Quitting may take several tries, and people may not stop smoking, drinking or using drugs altogether. But eventually they succeed in shaking dependence.

Kicking these habits constitutes a dramatic change, but the change need not occur in a dramatic way. So when it comes to addiction treatment, the most effective approaches rely on the counterintuitive principle that less is often more. Successful treatment places the responsibility for change squarely on the individual and acknowledges that positive events in other realms may jump-start change.

Consider the experience of American soldiers returning from the war in Vietnam, where heroin use and addiction was widespread. In 90 percent of cases, when GIs left the pressure cooker of the battle zone, they also shed their addictions—in vivo proof that drug addiction can be just a matter of where in life you are.

Of course, it took more than a plane trip back from Asia for these men to overcome drug addiction. Most soldiers experienced dramatically altered lives when they returned. They left the anxiety, fear and boredom of the war arena and settled back into their home environments. They returned to their families, formed new relationships, developed work skills.

Smoking is at the top of the charts in terms of difficulty of quitting. But the majority of ex-smokers quit without any aid––neither nicotine patches nor gum, Smokenders groups nor hypnotism. (Don’t take my word for it; at your next social gathering, ask how many people have quit smoking on their own.) In fact, as many cigarette smokers quit on their own, an even higher percentage of heroin and cocaine addicts and alcoholics quit without treatment. It is simply more difficult to keep these habits going through adulthood. It’s hard to go to Disney World with your family while you are shooting heroin. Addicts who quit on their own typically report that they did so in order to achieve normalcy.

Every year, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health interviews Americans about their drug and alcohol habits. Ages 18 to 25 constitute the peak period of drug and alcohol use. In 2002, the latest year for which data are available, 22 percent of Americans between ages 18 and 25 were abusing or were dependent on a substance, versus only 3 percent of those aged 55 to 59. These data show that most people overcome their substance abuse, even though most of them do not enter treatment.

How do we know that the majority aren’t seeking treatment? In 1992, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism conducted one of the largest surveys of substance use ever, sending Census Bureau workers to interview more than 42,000 Americans about their lifetime drug and alcohol use. Of the 4,500-plus respondents who had ever been dependent on alcohol, only 27 percent had gone to treatment of any kind, including Alcoholics Anonymous. In this group, one-third were still abusing alcohol.

Of those who never had any treatment, only about one-quarter were currently diagnosable as alcohol abusers. This study, known as the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey, indicates first that treatment is not a cure-all, and second that it is not necessary. The vast majority of Americans who were alcohol dependent, about three-quarters, never underwent treatment. And fewer of them were abusing alcohol than were those who were treated.

This is not to say that treatment can’t be useful. But the most successful treatments are nonconfrontational approaches that allow self-propelled change. Psychologists at the University of New Mexico led by William Miller tabulated every controlled study of alcoholism treatment they could find. They concluded that the leading therapy was barely a therapy at all but a quick encounter between patient and health-care worker in an ordinary medical setting. The intervention is sometimes as brief as a doctor looking at the results of liver-function tests and telling a patient to cut down on his drinking. Many patients then decide to cut back—and do!

As brief interventions have evolved, they have become more structured. A physician may simply review the amount the patient drinks, or use a checklist to evaluate the extent of a drinking problem. The doctor then typically recommends and seeks agreement from the patient on a goal (usually reduced drinking rather than complete abstinence). More severe alcoholics would typically be referred out for specialized treatment. A range of options is discussed (such as attending AA, engaging in activities incompatible with drinking or using a self-help manual). A spouse or family member might be involved in the planning. The patient is then scheduled for a future visit, where progress can be checked. A case monitor might call every few weeks to see whether the person has any questions or problems.

The second most effective approach is motivational enhancement, also called motivational interviewing. This technique throws the decision to quit or reduce drinking—and to find the best methods for doing so—back on the individual. In this case, the therapist asks targeted questions that prompt the individual to reflect on his drinking in terms of his own values and goals. When patients resist, the therapist does not argue with the individual but explores the person’s ambivalence about change so as to allow him or her to draw his own conclusions: “You say that you like to be in control of your behavior, yet you feel when you drink you are often not in charge. Could you just clarify that for me?”

Miller’s team found that the list of most effective treatments for alcoholism included a few more surprises. Self-help manuals were highly successful. So was the community-reinforcement approach, which addresses the person’s capacity to deal with life, notably marital relationships, work issues (such as simply getting a job), leisure planning and social-group formation (a buddy might be provided, as in AA, as a resource to encourage sobriety). The focus is on developing life skills, such as resisting pressures to drink, coping with stress (at work and in relationships) and building communication skills.

These findings square with what we know about change in other areas of life: People change when they want it badly enough and when they feel strong enough to face the challenge, not when they’re humiliated or coerced. An approach that empowers and offers positive reinforcement is preferable to one that strips the individual of agency. These techniques are most likely to elicit real changes, however short of perfect and hard-won they may be.

Source:  https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/articles/200405/the-surprising-truth-about-addiction

Filed under: Addiction,Brain and Behaviour,Culture,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

by The Daily Telegraph, London, UK –

Sadiq Khan wants to decrim­in­al­ise the Class-B drug, but fam­il­ies and doc­tors warn that smoking it is ‘play­ing Rus­sian roul­ette with your brain’. By Gwyneth Rees

For retired char­ity dir­ector Terry Ham­mond, 78, the issue of can­nabis-induced psy­chosis has come to dom­in­ate his life. About 25 years ago, his teen­age son Steven, now 42, began smoking skunk – a highly potent strain of the drug – at friends’ houses, without his par­ents know­ing.

For retired char­ity dir­ector Terry Ham­mond, 78, the issue of can­nabis-induced psy­chosis has come to dom­in­ate his life. About 25 years ago, his teen­age son Steven, now 42, began smoking skunk – a highly potent strain of the drug – at friends’ houses, without his par­ents know­ing.

“He was like so many young boys,” recalls Ham­mond from his home in Leicester­shire. “He was binge­ing on it in secret and thought it would be fine.” But around six months later, in the autumn of 1999, Steven sud­denly became para­noid. “We were watch­ing the BBC news, and he turned to me and accused me of ringing them. He was con­vinced the presenters were talk­ing about him.”

The psy­chosis didn’t stop there. “He began to think ali­ens had taken over every­body,” adds Ham­mond. “Then he began mum­bling in an incom­pre­hens­ible lan­guage, shout­ing at the walls and lock­ing him­self in his room. He was a boy gripped by abso­lute fear and ter­ror, and his beau­ti­ful mind had just been des­troyed.”

The psy­chosis didn’t stop there. “He began to think ali­ens had taken over every­body,” adds Ham­mond. “Then he began mum­bling in an incom­pre­hens­ible lan­guage, shout­ing at the walls and lock­ing him­self in his room. He was a boy gripped by abso­lute fear and ter­ror, and his beau­ti­ful mind had just been des­troyed.”

At 21, and with no fam­ily his­tory of men­tal health prob­lems, Steven was dia­gnosed with para­noid schizo­phrenia – psy­chosis that con­tin­ues indef­in­itely. He spent three months in the depart­ment of psy­chi­atry at the Royal South Hants Hos­pital in Southamp­ton, where he was put on the anti­psychotic drug Olan­za­pine and given talk­ing ther­apy. But even now – two dec­ades on – Steven, who lives in a stu­dio flat in his par­ents’ garden, is still affected by his early drug use.

At 21, and with no fam­ily his­tory of men­tal health prob­lems, Steven was dia­gnosed with para­noid schizo­phrenia – psy­chosis that con­tin­ues indef­in­itely. He spent three months in the depart­ment of psy­chi­atry at the Royal South Hants Hos­pital in Southamp­ton, where he was put on the anti­psychotic drug Olan­za­pine and given talk­ing ther­apy. But even now – two dec­ades on – Steven, who lives in a stu­dio flat in his par­ents’ garden, is still affected by his early drug use.

At 21, and with no fam­ily his­tory of men­tal health prob­lems, Steven was dia­gnosed with para­noid schizo­phrenia – psy­chosis that con­tin­ues indef­in­itely. He spent three months in the depart­ment of psy­chi­atry at the Royal South Hants Hos­pital in Southamp­ton, where he was put on the anti­psychotic drug Olan­za­pine and given talk­ing ther­apy. But even now – two dec­ades on – Steven, who lives in a stu­dio flat in his par­ents’ garden, is still affected by his early drug use.

“He can­not work and struggles socially,” says Ham­mond, who has Steven’s per­mis­sion to share his story and has also writ­ten a book, Gone to Pot, to help oth­ers in sim­ilar cir­cum­stances. “He is still on anti­psychotic drugs but con­tin­ues to hear voices, although he now has the skills to ration­al­ise them.

“He can­not work and struggles socially,” says Ham­mond, who has Steven’s per­mis­sion to share his story and has also writ­ten a book, Gone to Pot, to help oth­ers in sim­ilar cir­cum­stances. “He is still on anti­psychotic drugs but con­tin­ues to hear voices, although he now has the skills to ration­al­ise them.

“It has com­pletely ruined his life, and as par­ents we have had to suf­fer the bereave­ment of los­ing our son. Fun­da­ment­ally, it has dam­aged his brain for good. Young people need to know smoking can­nabis is play­ing Rus­sian roul­ette with brain dam­age.”

It is a har­row­ing story. But the issue of how to tackle the grow­ing prob­lem of ever-more potent can­nabis on our streets divides those in power. Sir Sadiq Khan, Lon­don’s mayor, has backed a report by the Lon­don Drugs Com­mis­sion stat­ing that pos­ses­sion of small amounts of can­nabis should be decrim­in­al­ised. He said there was a “com­pel­ling, evid­ence­based case” for decrim­in­al­isa­tion.

It is a har­row­ing story. But the issue of how to tackle the grow­ing prob­lem of ever-more potent can­nabis on our streets divides those in power. Sir Sadiq Khan, Lon­don’s mayor, has backed a report by the Lon­don Drugs Com­mis­sion stat­ing that pos­ses­sion of small amounts of can­nabis should be decrim­in­al­ised. He said there was a “com­pel­ling, evid­ence­based case” for decrim­in­al­isa­tion.

But on July 7, Bri­tain’s lead­ing police chiefs rejec­ted this and urged their officers to crack down on the drug. Last month, David Sid­wick, the Con­ser­vat­ive police and crime com­mis­sioner for Dor­set, wrote a let­ter to the police min­is­ter Diana John­son – signed by 13 other police and crime com­mis­sion­ers – call­ing can­nabis a “chron­ic­ally dan­ger­ous drug” that is as harm­ful as cocaine and crack.

Evid­ence shows that can­nabisin­duced psy­chosis has sub­stan­tially increased in recent years. A 2019 study pub­lished in The Lan­cet by Prof Marta Di Forti shows that can­nabis is respons­ible for 30 per cent of first-time psy­chosis cases in south Lon­don (it is 50 per cent in Ams­ter­dam).

Evid­ence shows that can­nabisin­duced psy­chosis has sub­stan­tially increased in recent years. A 2019 study pub­lished in The Lan­cet by Prof Marta Di Forti shows that can­nabis is respons­ible for 30 per cent of first-time psy­chosis cases in south Lon­don (it is 50 per cent in Ams­ter­dam).

Fur­ther research, not yet pub­lished, by Dr Diego Quat­trone and Dr Robin Mur­ray, pro­fess­ors of psy­chi­at­ric research at King’s Col­lege Lon­don, reveals that can­nabis-induced psy­chosis in the

‘In Amer­ica, the THC con­tent is so strong, you can go psychotic in one night’

UK is three times more com­mon than in the 1960s. Their research sug­gests that 75 per cent of this increase is down to the use of skunk, which accounts for 94 per cent of can­nabis on the UK mar­ket.

“Viol­ence is also asso­ci­ated with psy­chosis, and of the psychotic people who go on to kill, 90 per cent are using either alco­hol or can­nabis,” says Mur­ray.

More experts are now link­ing can­nabis use to viol­ence, which they attrib­ute to a chem­ical com­pon­ent in the plant – tet­rahy­drocan­nabinol (THC) – which can trig­ger hal­lu­cin­a­tions and para­noid ideas in vul­ner­able indi­vidu­als. Wor­ry­ingly, THC levels in can­nabis have been rising sharply. In the 1960s, THC levels in “weed” were around 3 per cent. Today, most UK can­nabis has THC levels of 16 to 20 per cent. In Hol­land, the fig­ure is between 30 and 40 per cent, and in Cali­for­nia, where can­nabis is legal, levels can reach 80 per cent.

“It is not easy to get psy­chosis,” says Mur­ray. “Typ­ic­ally, someone may smoke skunk for five years before it kicks in. But in Amer­ica, the THC is so strong, you can go psychotic in one night. It will hit those who already have a his­tory of men­tal health prob­lems the worst. We are braced for an epi­demic of psy­chosis.”

Dr Niall Camp­bell, a con­sult­ant psy­chi­at­rist at the Roe­hamp­ton Pri­ory Clinic, believes looser can­nabis reg­u­la­tion com­bined with increased potency have led to more patients suf­fer­ing psy­chosis. “I don’t think this rise is that sur­pris­ing given how easy skunk is to buy online, and how ubi­quit­ous it has become,” he says.

“Psy­chosis often begins with young people smoking a few joints and feel­ing a bit para­noid. But if they don’t stop, over time they can reach a psychotic state which won’t go away, even if they stop smoking. Sadly, this psy­chosis may last a life­time and once people are told that they can get very depressed or sui­cidal.”

“Psy­chosis often begins with young people smoking a few joints and feel­ing a bit para­noid. But if they don’t stop, over time they can reach a psychotic state which won’t go away, even if they stop smoking. Sadly, this psy­chosis may last a life­time and once people are told that they can get very depressed or sui­cidal.”

Lin­sey Raf­ferty, 42, from Pais­ley near Glas­gow, is one of those to have exper­i­enced dam­age firsthand. She had three short psychotic epis­odes over the dec­ades she smoked, but in 2020, dur­ing the Covid lock­down, she suffered an extreme epis­ode. “I was hear­ing things and writ­ing all over the walls of my home,” she says. “I threw my phone away because I thought it had been tapped and was eat­ing out of bins. It all made total sense to me at the time, and I can under­stand why people go viol­ent.”

Lin­sey Raf­ferty, 42, from Pais­ley near Glas­gow, is one of those to have exper­i­enced dam­age firsthand. She had three short psychotic epis­odes over the dec­ades she smoked, but in 2020, dur­ing the Covid lock­down, she suffered an extreme epis­ode. “I was hear­ing things and writ­ing all over the walls of my home,” she says. “I threw my phone away because I thought it had been tapped and was eat­ing out of bins. It all made total sense to me at the time, and I can under­stand why people go viol­ent.”

Raf­ferty was sec­tioned and put on anti­psychot­ics. Five years on, she has stopped smoking.

“When I stopped smoking, the psy­chosis went away,” she says. “But still, the epis­ode was deep and long-last­ing, and the scars haven’t gone. I never real­ised it could make me so vul­ner­able. I used to think drugs should be leg­al­ised, but not any­more.”

Source: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/features/20250716/281548001918086?
Filed under: Brain and Behaviour,Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Mental Health,UK,Youth :

by  James White – Jul 7, 2025

Transporting (widening) the effect of the ASSIST school-based smoking prevention intervention to the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England Survey (2004-2021): A secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Aims: To conduct exploratory analyses into the transported effect of the ASSIST (A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial) school-based smoking prevention intervention on weekly smoking in young people between 2004 and 2021.

Design: Secondary analysis of a cluster randomized control trial (cRCT).

Setting: England and Wales.

Participants: ASSIST trial participants comprised 8756 students aged 12-13 years in 59 schools assigned using stratified block randomization to the control (29 schools, 4193 students) or intervention (30 schools, 4563 students) condition. The target population was represented by 12-13-year-old participants in the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England Survey (SDDU) in 2004 (n = 3958), 2006 (n = 3377), 2014 (n = 3145), 2016 (n = 4874) and 2021 (n = 3587), which are randomly sampled school-based surveys with student response rates varying between 85% and 93%.

Intervention and comparator: The ASSIST intervention involved 2 days of off-site training of influential students to encourage their peers not to smoke over a 10-week period. The control group continued with their usual education.

Measurements: The outcome was the proportion of students who self-reported weekly smoking 2 years post-intervention.

Findings: The prevalence of weekly smoking at the 2-year follow-up in the ASSIST trial in 2004 was 4.1%, 49.5% of students were girls, and 7.8% ethnic minorities. In the SDDU in 2004, the prevalence of weekly smoking was 3.6%, 47.6% students were girls and 14.4% ethnic minorities and in 2021 0.2% were weekly smokers, 48.6% girls and 27.8% ethnic minorities. The odds ratio of weekly smoking in the ASSIST trial in 2004 was 0.85 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.71-1.02]. The estimated odds ratio in the SDDU target population in 2004 was 0.90 (95% CI = 0.72-1.13), in 2014 was 0.89 (95% CI = 0.70-1.14), and by 2021 was 0.88 (95% CI = 0.60-1.28). The confidence interval ratio was used to estimate precision in the transported estimates in the target population and was 1.57 in 2004, 1.63 in 2014 and 2.13 in 2021, reflecting increasing uncertainty in the effect of ASSIST over time. Subgroup analyses showed effects were comparable when restricted to only English schools in the ASSIST trial.

Conclusions: These exploratory analyses indicate the effect of the ASSIST school-based smoking prevention intervention reported in the original trial may not have been replicated in the target population over the 17-year period of its licensing and roll out.

Keywords: generalizability; prevention; randomized controlled trial; real world evidence; smoking; transportability.

Filed under: Addiction,Alcohol,Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Mental Health,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK,Youth :

By Joe Rossiter – The Mail on Sunday-  29 June 2025 

More than a quarter of police and crime commissioners have written to the policing minister calling for cannabis to be upgraded to a class A substance, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

In the stark letter to Dame Diana Johnson MP, seen exclusively by this newspaper, 14 police chiefs claim the effect of the drug in society ‘may be far worse’ than heroin.

They warn that ‘we cannot allow this to become the Britain of the future’. And they also hit out at the recent report by the London Commission – backed by Labour London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan – which suggested decriminalising small amounts of cannabis, which is currently a class B drug.

‘Heroin can kill quickly but the cumulative effect of cannabis in our society may be far worse,’ the letter states. 

It adds that class A status – which comes with potential life sentences for suppliers – was the way forward ‘rather than effective decriminalising’.

And renowned psychiatrist Professor Sir Robin Murray, of King’s College London, told The Mail on Sunday that the UK may now be ‘at the beginnings of an epidemic of cannabis-induced psychosis’ which could overwhelm NHS mental health services.

The commissioners also pointed to other countries where laws are laxer, warning that the US has seen ‘unofficial pharmacies’ selling cannabis and the powerful opiate fentanyl alongside one another, while Portugal has been forced to consider reversing drug decriminalisation after a 30-fold increase in psychosis.

They said cannabis’s effects were so devastating it had ‘more birth defects associated with it than thalidomide’ – the notorious morning sickness drug which caused deformities among thousands of babies in the 1950s and 1960s.

More than a quarter of police and crime commissioners have written to the policing minister calling for cannabis to be upgraded to a class A substance (file pic)

Marcus Monzo, 37, was last week found guilty of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin’s murder while in a state of cannabis-induced psychosis Monzo attacked the teenager with a samurai sword in Hainault, east London, last May

Their warnings came after Marcus Monzo, 37, was last week found guilty of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin’s murder after he attacked him with a samurai sword in Hainault, east London, while in a state of cannabis-induced psychosis.

David Sidwick, Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, said cannabis legislation was ‘clearly not fit for purpose’ and likened it to ‘using a machete for brain surgery’. 

He added the public wanted to see ‘tougher measures’ for cannabis possession because it was a gateway to harder drugs.

His Devon and Cornwall counterpart Alison Hernandez said: ‘The fact that we’ve been so blase about cannabis in society means that people think it’s legal and normal, and it’s not. 

‘We’ve got to show them that it’s not, and the way you do that is to be quite fierce in your enforcement arrangements.’

Latest figures show three in four people caught with cannabis avoid appearing in court, while 87 per cent of children and young people in alcohol and drug treatment cited cannabis dependency, compared to 39 per cent for alcohol.

In the stark letter to Dame Diana Johnson MP, 14 police chiefs claim the effect of the drug in society ‘may be far worse’ than heroin

David Sidwick, Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, said he wanted to see ‘tougher measures’ for cannabis possession because it was a gateway to harder drugs (file pic)

Stuart Reece, an Australian clinician and cannabis researcher quoted in the letter said more than 90 per cent of hard drug addicts he encountered had started with cannabis.

He said pro-cannabis campaigners had the view it was ‘my right to use drugs and destroy my body and you will pay for it through the NHS’.

Dr Karen Randall, a physician in the US state of Colorado where recreational cannabis was legalised in 2012, said healthcare costs linked to the drug are ‘exorbitant’.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We work with partners across health, policing and wider public services to drive down drug use, ensure more people receive timely treatment and support, and make our streets and communities safer.’

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14857305/Cannabis-worse-society-heroin-police-tsars-upgrade-class.html

Filed under: Cannabis/Marijuana,Crime/Violence/Prison,Culture,Drug use-various effects,Opioids,Prevention and Intervention,Strategy and Policy,UK,Youth :

by Sarjna Rai – New Delhi –  Jun 26 2025 

Observed on June 26, the day raises global awareness about drug abuse and illicit trafficking. The 2025 theme, “Break the Cycle. #StopOrganisedCrime,” calls for long-term action and reform

World Drug Day 2025 theme, “Break the Cycle. #StopOrganizedCrime,” urges global action against drug abuse and illicit trafficking.(Photo: Adobestock)
Every year on 26 June, the world observes the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking—also known as “World Drug Day”—to raise awareness of the global drug crisis and promote multilateral action toward prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.

History & Theme

On December 7, 1987, the General Assembly of the United Nations set aside the 26th day of June of each year as International Day Against Illicit Trafficking of Drugs and other Substances of Abuse to be observed worldwide. 
The theme for 2025, Break the Cycle. #StopOrganisedCrime, emphasises the significance of focused long-term action to disrupt the link between drug trafficking and organised crime, both of which fuel violence, corruption, and instability across regions. 

Source:  https://www.business-standard.com/health/international-day-against-drug-abuse-2025-theme-history-significance-125062600553_1.html

Filed under: Australia,Canada,Europe,New Zealand,Others (International News),Strategy and Policy,UK,USA :

by Ingrid Fadelli, Phys.org – edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Robert Egan – The GIST – June 26, 2025

Omicron Limited’ 36 Hope Street, Douglas, IM1 1AR, Isle of Man

Cannabis, also known as marijuana or weed, is widely consumed worldwide, whether for recreational or medicinal purposes. Over the past decades, the use of cannabis has been fully legalized or decriminalized in various countries worldwide, including Canada, many U.S. states, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

While some studies have found that cannabis and especially cannabidiol (i.e., the non-intoxicating compound contained in it) can have medicinal effects, others have linked the abuse of its psychoactive variations (i.e., containing tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) with a greater risk of being diagnosed with psychiatric disorders.

As many individuals worldwide use cannabis on a regular basis, understanding the mechanisms that could link its consumption with psychiatric disorders could be highly valuable, as it might help to identify factors that increase the risk of developing specific disorders.

In a paper published in Nature Mental Health, researchers at Yale University School of Medicine, the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System and Washington University School of Medicine shed new light on the genetic associations between cannabis use, cannabis use disorder (CanUD) and various psychiatric disorders.

CanUD is a mental health disorder characterized by a continued use of cannabis, difficulties experienced when trying to cut down its consumption or cease using it altogether, and an interference of the substance with daily activities, relationships or responsibilities.

“Increasing prevalence of cannabis use and CanUD may increase risk for psychiatric disorders,” wrote Marco Galimberti, Cassie Overstreet and their colleagues in their paper. “We evaluated the relationships between these cannabis traits and a range of psychiatric traits, running global and local genetic correlations, genomic structural equation modeling, colocalization analyses and Mendelian randomization analyses for causality.”

Genomic-SEM. Genomic-SEM analyses of cannabis traits (CanUD and cannabis use) and
psychiatric disorders for a three-factor model. Credit: Galimberti et al.
(Nature Mental Health, 2025).

The researchers analyzed genetic, psychiatric and psychological data collected as part of earlier studies, using various statistical techniques. First, they tried to detect genetic patterns that linked cannabis use with specific psychiatric and personality traits, using a technique known as genomic structural equation modeling.

Subsequently, they ran colocalization analyses, a statistical analysis that allowed them to uncover instances where two traits shared the same underlying genetic variant. Finally, they used a technique called Mendelian randomization to uncover causal relationships between traits, or in other words, if a sporadic or problematic use of cannabis caused specific disorders via genetic factors and vice versa.

“Global genetic analyses identified significantly different correlations between CanUD and cannabis use,” wrote Galimberti, Overstreet and their colleagues. “A variant in strong linkage disequilibrium to one regulating CHRNA2 was significantly shared by CanUD and schizophrenia in colocalization analysis and included in a significant region in local genetic correlations between these traits. A three-factor model from genomic structural equation modeling showed that CanUD and cannabis use partially map together onto a factor with major depressive disorder and ADHD.”

Interestingly, the researchers found that although cannabis use and CanUD are in some ways related, they had different genetic relationships with psychiatric disorders. In fact, they found that variations in the regulation of the gene CHRNA2, which has also been linked to nicotine consumption and dopamine signaling, were common to both schizophrenia and CanUD, but not to casual or general cannabis use.

“In terms of causality, CanUD showed bidirectional causal relationships with most tested psychiatric disorders, differently from cannabis use,” wrote Galimberti, Overstreet and their colleagues. “Increasing use of cannabis can increase rates of psychiatric disorders over time, especially in individuals who progress from cannabis use to CanUD.”

Overall, the findings of this recent study suggest that there is a bi-directional genetic relationship between the abuse of cannabis, specifically CanUD, and various psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, ADHD, depression, and bipolar disorder. In other words, it appears that CanUD could increase the risk of developing mental health disorders, and being diagnosed with some psychiatric disorders could also prompt abuse of cannabis.

This recent work could potentially inform the development of public health interventions aimed at monitoring or limiting people’s consumption of cannabis early, to reduce the risk that they will later develop psychiatric disorders. In addition, the analyses could inspire other research groups to delve deeper into the genetic associations they uncovered, potentially by analyzing a wider pool of genetic, psychological and medical data.

Written for you by our author Ingrid Fadelli, edited by Gaby Clark , and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan —this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You’ll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.

More information: Marco Galimberti et al, The genetic relationship between cannabis use disorder, cannabis use and psychiatric disorders, Nature Mental Health (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s44220-025-00440-4.

Journal information: Nature Mental Health

Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-explores-genetic-link-cannabis-psychiatric.html

Filed under: Brain and Behaviour,Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Health,Marijuana and Medicine,Mental Health,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK,Uncategorized :

Opening Remark by NDPA:

“Although Harm Reduction is too often abused as a vehicle for liberalising or legalising drugs( tactically ignoring the fact that the strongest form of harm reduction is to stop using) Peter Kykant’s selfless and commendable work was an example of the positive side of harm reduction – which could work alongside prevention rather than at odds with it”

NDPA – 22 – 06 – 2025

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by Libby Brooks The Guardian – Fri 20 Jun 2025

Peter Krykant by the River Carron near Falkirk in March 2020.

His decision to set up a mobile drug consumption facility in Glasgow propelled Scotland’s drug deaths crisis up the political agenda. 

Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Drugs policy campaigner whose commitment to harm reduction led him to set up an overdose prevention service

The drugs policy campaigner Peter Krykant, who has died suddenly aged 48, advanced the cause of the harm reduction movement through a transformative act of civil disobedience.

Fitting out a van as a mobile safer drug consumption space and making it available to Glasgow’s most vulnerable homeless addicts broke the law. And it also – eventually – broke the stalemate around UK drugs policy, propelled Scotland’s drug deaths crisis further up the political agenda and, most importantly, saved lives.

Krykant’s law-breaking plan coalesced in February 2020 after he attended what he saw as another talking shop – a Scottish government conference focused on drug deaths, which took place 24 hours before a UK government summit on the same subject, at the same Glasgow venue. It seemed to him a ludicrous show of escalating tensions between the two administrations.

“The conferences were the final straw, and the fact that [a drug consumption room pilot] is being used as a political football,” he told the Guardian a week later. “As a person who went through my own trauma – drug use and street homelessness issues many years ago – I cannot stand back.”

Within days of announcing his plan to purchase a vehicle and customise it as a mobile safer-injecting suite, Krykant had raised more than £2,000. He was immediately sacked from his job as an HIV outreach worker at the charity Waverley Care.

Undeterred by the looming global Covid pandemic, Krykant recognised that, as services contracted, the homeless drug users who congregated around Trongate in Glasgow were even more in need. So he struck out in the midst of lockdown, first in a minibus nicknamed “the Tank” and later in a converted ambulance, providing clean water, needles and swabs, as well as supplies of naloxone, the potentially life-saving drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdose. Rules included using your own drugs, and agreeing to an overdose intervention if needed.

Writing in the Guardian, Krykant later explained: “Overdose prevention services are an internationally recognised way of reducing drug-related harms. It benefits everyone by supporting the most vulnerable and saving taxpayers’ money on ambulance callouts, hospital admissions and council clean-up teams.”

The local police largely tolerated his activity, although he was charged in October 2020 for obstructing officers attempting to search his van – the charges were later dropped. He continued operating until May 2021. More than 1,000 injections were supervised, and nine overdoses reversed.

“It was the trust people had in Peter, the cup of tea and the Mars bar, that really helped them and is hard to quantify,” said the MSP Paul Sweeney, who became a close friend when the pair volunteered together at the van. “He proved all the naysayers and the procrastinators wrong. He never said it was a silver bullet but Peter knew firsthand the particular risks for people who inject on the street and saw that this intervention could directly save lives.”

Krykant was always insistent that addiction should be understood in the wider context of poverty and inequality, a message he took around the doorsteps of his local Holyrood constituency of Falkirk East when he stood for the Scottish parliament elections in May 2021.

A Guardian film, which followed his campaign, captures his younger son, aglow with pride, explaining to the producers: “I’ve got three reasons you should vote for my dad: because he’s honest, reliable and he listens to people’s suggestions.”

But the responsibility he evidently carried for every individual he helped, the memories they stirred of his own trauma as well as escalating public scrutiny, took their toll and Krykant relapsed.

He had talked openly about darker currents in his childhood in the village of Maddiston, near Falkirk; trauma and sexual abuse that would lead him to start taking drugs when he was 11. He left school with no formal qualifications, and by his late teens he was sleeping rough and injecting heroin.

But eventually he found support to live drug-free, and worked successfully in sales for over a decade, first in Brighton, and later returning north of the border, where he subsequently trained as an addiction support worker. During this time he married and started a family, taking market research work to fit around caring for his two young sons.

Krykant had continued his advocacy work in recent years, passing the van on to the Transform Drug Policy Foundation and embarking on a tour across the UK. Lately he worked at the harm reduction charity Cranstoun, where he developed an overdose response app called BuddyUp and represented the organisation at events around the world.

When the UK’s first legal drug consumption room, the Thistle, opened its doors in Glasgow this January, there were many who drew a direct line from his minibus to its airy vestibule. Others felt his contribution had been sidelined to make way for more mainstream voices, or that his vulnerabilities had been exploited by those who desired the frisson of his lived experience for their campaigns.

This winter, say friends, Krykant found himself at his lowest ebb. His marriage had collapsed, he had lost his job and he was struggling to support himself, worrying about the impact this had on his sons.

Martin Powell, who drove the van on its UK tour, said: “He was the catalyst and without him we might still be waiting. Without question there are people alive today who would not be without Peter Krykant. It’s an absolute tragedy that he isn’t one of them.”

Krykant is survived by his sons.

 Peter Krykant, campaigner, born 13 November 1976; died 9 June 2025

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/20/peter-krykant-obituary

Filed under: Addiction,Drug use-various effects,Prevalence,Prevention and Intervention,UK :

by Albert Tait – Telegraph of London – 04 June 2025

Marcus Arduini Monzo is also charged with assaulting four others in Hainault attack in April last year

A man accused of murdering a 14-year-old schoolboy with a Japanese sword experienced psychotic episodes after taking cannabis, a court has heard.

Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, believed “he was in a battle against evil forces” when he allegedly stabbed Daniel Anjorin as he walked to school in Hainault, north-east London, on April 30 last year.

He is said to have “moved quickly like a predator” behind Daniel before inflicting a “devastating and unsurvivable chopping injury” to his face and neck.

The Spanish-Brazilian national, from Newham, east London, is also accused of attacking four others, including two police officers, during a 20-minute rampage.

He has denied eight of the 10 charges against him, including murder.

A trial at the Old Bailey heard on Wednesday that Mr Monzo’s mental state had been “materially altered” by cannabis use and, at the time of the alleged attack, he had “developed a cannabis-induced fully fledged psychotic episode characterised by reality distortion symptoms”.

Tom Little KC, prosecuting, said Mr Monzo was “informed by his delusional beliefs that he and his family were in mortal danger, and that he was engaged in a battle against evil forces at a time of revelation or Armageddon”.

He said cannabis was identified in Mr Monzo’s urine and blood samples after the incident and a “large amount” of cannabis was also found in a search of his house, along with a “skinned and deboned cat”.

Mr Little, quoting forensic psychiatrist Prof Nigel Blackwood, who will later be called by the prosecution, said: “In Prof Blackwood’s opinion, cannabis misuse appears to have been the principal driver of his mental state deterioration at this time.

“The violence would not, in Prof Blackwood’s opinion, have happened in the absence of such voluntary substance misuse.”

Mr Monzo appeared in the dock wearing a bright green jumper with short, cropped hair and stubble. He looked furtively around the court at times and spoke often to security guards sitting on either side of him. Daniel’s family was also in the court.

Mr Little said Mr Monzo had left his home just before 6.30am in his van, wearing a yellow Quiksilver hoodie, black trousers, and black shoes.

He said the attack started at about 6.51am when he drove his van into Donato Iwule, a pedestrian in Laing Close, causing him to be “catapulted some distance into a garden”.

Video footage of the incident was played to the jury, in which Mr Iwule, who had been walking to a Co-op store where he worked, can be heard screaming in pain.

Mr Monzo allegedly then left the vehicle and approached Mr Iwule with a samurai sword.

Mr Little said: “Donato Iwule shouted at him ‘I don’t know you’ and the defendant said ‘I don’t care, I will kill you’.

“That comment from the defendant tells you, you may think, everything you need to know about his intention that morning.”

Mr Monzo is alleged to have swung his sword at Mr Iwule’s neck and torso, but he was able to roll away and escape over a fence.

“If he had not managed to escape, it seems inevitable that he too would have been killed,” said Mr Little.

Mr Monzo is then said to have driven further down Laing Close before exiting the vehicle.

At this time, the court heard that Daniel had left his home and was walking to school wearing sports clothes, his backpack, and headphones.

Mr Little said: “The defendant had obviously seen him and the defendant then moved quickly like a predator behind Daniel Anjorin.

“He lifted the sword above his head and then swung it downwards towards Daniel’s head and neck area.

“Daniel instantly fell to the ground. The defendant then leant over him and used the sword again to injure Daniel.”

He added: “The force used was extreme. It involved a devastating and unsurvivable chopping injury to the left-hand side of Daniel’s face and neck”.

Mr Monzo is then said to have taken off Daniel’s backpack, dragging the schoolboy’s body along the road in the process.

The court heard that emergency services had been called to the scene at this time.

Mr Monzo is said to have then attacked Pc Yasmin Margaret Mechem-Whitfield, who pursued him down a series of alleyways behind residential properties while he was still armed.

He is then alleged to have entered a nearby house where he attacked a couple in their bedroom.

Mr Little said the couple’s lives had been spared only because “their four-year-old child woke up and started crying”.

He said there were many police officers in the area at that time, and that Mr Monzo then became “surrounded in a garage area nearby to the other attacks”, where he attacked another police officer.

Mr Monzo was finally disarmed and detained after he climbed onto the roof of the garage, Mr Little said.

Asked about the attack in a police interview, Mr Monzo said his personality switched and that “something happened, like a game happening”, and it was like “the movie Hunger Games”.

Mr Little said: “He said that one of his personalities is a professional assassin.”

In court last month, Mr Monzo denied eight of the 10 charges against him but admitted two counts of having an offensive weapon – a katana sword and a tanto katana sword.

He also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murders of Mr Iwule, Sindy Arias, Henry De Los Rios Polania and Pc Mechem-Whitfield as well as wounding Insp Moloy Campbell with intent.

Mr Monzo denied aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article relating to a kitchen knife.

The trial continues.

 

Source:  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/c13e61a0c544cb64

Filed under: Addiction,Cannabis/Marijuana,Crime/Violence/Prison,Drug use-various effects,Marijuana and Medicine,UK,Youth :

by Charles Hymas Home Affairs Editor. Ollie Corfe. Ben Butcher Data Editor – The Telegraph of London – 29 May 2025

Possession of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin treated as a health issue rather than a criminal matter by UK forces

It represents a six-fold increase in drug users escaping prosecution since 2016, when the proportion was only 7.5 per cent.

In some forces, more than 80 per cent caught with cocaine, heroin or other class A drugs escaped any criminal punishment.

They were instead handed community resolutions, which do not result in a criminal record and only require an offender to accept “responsibility” for their crime, or were let off “in the public interest”.

Only a third of class A drug possession offences resulted in a charge.

The data reflects a shift by police to treat drug possession of any type as a health issue rather than criminal one and comes days after Sir Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, called for possession of small amounts of natural cannabis to be decriminalised.

But critics have warned police against “decriminalising drugs via the back door by ignoring tens of thousands of offences”.

At least a quarter of the 43 police forces in England and Wales have adopted “diversion” schemes where users caught with small amounts of drugs like cannabis are “diverted” to treatment or education programmes rather than prosecuted, particularly for first-time offences.

Nearly three-quarters (72.1 per cent) of those caught in possession of cannabis were let off without any criminal sanctions.

Thames Valley, West Midlands and Durham are among the dozen forces to have adopted diversion schemes, which could be rolled out nationally if successful.

The Treasury and Cabinet Office have put £1.9 million into evaluating the approach in partnership with five universities, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing, the standards body for forces in England and Wales.

The College said the aim of the diversion scheme was to “reduce re-offending and wider harms by approaching substance use as a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue”.

The research will compare re-offending rates, hospital and treatment admissions with the aim of establishing “whether and how drug diversion works, for whom, when and why”.

‘Devastated by soft policy’

But Chris Philp, the Tory shadow home secretary, warned the move amounted to decriminalisation by stealth.

“Parliament has rightly legislated that certain drugs are illegal because they cause serious harm to health, lead to antisocial behaviour and fuel acquisitive crime like theft, burglary and shoplifting as addicts steal to fund buying drugs,” he said.

“Police should not be decriminalising drugs via the back door by ignoring tens of thousands of offences. People who break the law should be prosecuted, and a magistrate or judge can decide what to do.

“Options a magistrate has available include fines, community service and addiction treatment requirements as well as prison.

“We have seen many US and Canadian cities devastated by soft drugs policies. These have allowed ghettos to develop where zombified addicts loiter unpunished and law abiding members of the public fear to go. We can’t allow the UK to go the same way through weak policing.

“We need a zero tolerance approach to crime, including a zero tolerance approach to drug taking.”

But the College of Policing defended its approach and pointed to research, based on 16 different studies, that showed drug diversion had resulted in a “small but significant” reduction in drug use, particularly among young people.

The Telegraph analysis showed that Warwickshire had the lowest proportion of offenders caught with class A drugs who were let off, at just 9.2 per cent, while Dyfed Powys had the highest at 88.6 per cent.

Nerys Thomas, Director of Research at the College of Policing, said:“We are focussed on cutting crime and keeping the public safe. Class A drugs are the most harmful category and being found in possession of them is a criminal offence.

“The government has provided funding to understand what initiatives could be used to reduce offending and protect the public. This includes a piece of work between the College,  the University of Sheffield and 11 other agencies across the criminal justice system to interview hundreds of officers and drug offenders and analyse police data to understand if diversion schemes can reduce crime.

“The results of this study will be made publicly available next year.”

Source:  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/6e423b9614e616f8

 

Filed under: Crime/Violence/Prison,Drug use-various effects,Legal Sector,Prevention and Intervention,UK :

by Charles Hymas – Home Affairs Editor – The Telegraph of London – 28 May 2025

Police Commissioner says drug should be Class A over long-term health impacts

Cannabis should be upgraded to a class A drug because of the harm it can cause, a policing chief has said.

As Sir Sadiq Khan calls for possession of the drug to be decriminalised, David Sidwick, Dorset’s police and crime commissioner, has urged that cannabis, currently a Class B drug, should be put on a par with crack cocaine and heroin.

Such a move would see the maximum penalties for possession increase from five to seven years in jail, while the maximum penalty for supplying cannabis would rise from 14 years in prison to life.

Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, also opposed Sir Sadiq’s call for cannabis to be decriminalised. He pointed out that drugs were “at the centre of a lot of crime” and said drug use was one of the main drivers of antisocial behaviour.

Sir Sadiq, the Mayor of London, has proposed that the possession of small amounts of natural cannabis should no longer be a criminal offence. Dealing in or producing the drug would remain illegal.

Mr Sidwick sets out his demand in a foreword to a new book by Albert Reece and Gary Hulse, two Australian professors of medicine and psychiatry, who have linked cannabis to mental ill-health, autism and cancer.

He said there was growing evidence linking psychosis, cancer and birth defects to cannabis use, particularly with the development of more potent strains.

Mr Sidwick warned it was also a “gateway” drug used by crime gangs to lure in users. They then entice them on to addictive class A drugs such as crack that not only provide more profit per unit but also give the gangs greater power to leverage them into criminal activity.

“Cannabis needs to be taken seriously on a national scale because of the danger it presents, and there needs to be money put into prevention and education to ensure people are aware of these dangers,” he said.

“Currently, Class A drugs take precedence when it comes to enforcement and treatment, but it is my view that there is no point focusing on the destination of addiction if we don’t stop people getting on the first two or three carriages of the train in the first place.

“Only through reclassifying cannabis will it be treated with the severity it deserves.”

The London Drugs Commission, set up by Sir Sadiq, ruled out full legalisation of cannabis in its report because it said any benefits from tax revenues and reduced police workload were outweighed by the potential longer-term health impacts on users.

Instead, it proposed that natural cannabis would be removed from the Misuse of Drugs Act and brought under the Psychoactive Substances Act.

This would mean possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use would no longer be a criminal offence, but importing, manufacturing and distributing the drug would remain a criminal act.

The Home Office has ruled out any reclassification of cannabis.

Mr Sidwick’s proposals have been backed by Janie Hamilton, a Dorset mother who has campaigned for upgrading cannabis to class A.

Her son James died when he was 36 after refusing treatment for testicular cancer. It followed years of battling mental illness, which his family believes was triggered by his addiction to cannabis, which he started using at 14.

Ms Hamilton said: “My beloved son James was a fun-loving, mischievous, clever, tender-hearted boy who wanted to fit in with his peers and be part of the ‘in’ crowd. This was to be his undoing.

“At the age of 14, unbeknown to us, living at a boarding school where his father taught, he started smoking cannabis. He became arrogant, rude, secretive, rebellious and unpredictable. I remember thinking how I loved him, but that I didn’t like him.

“He dropped out of university after one term and took job after job, worrying us with his bizarre behaviour. He shaved his hair, his eyebrows, cut his eyelashes and became aggressive. He would stay in his room all day and come out at midnight to shower and cook.

“One day, he came home from his job on a building site, turning in circles in the garden and all that night. He told me he had spent all his wages on cannabis. I called the doctor the next day and James was sectioned within an hour, diagnosed with schizophrenia.”

She said there had been a 16-year cycle of medical treatment, relapses and trouble with the police before her son died.

“Cannabis is everyone’s problem. It destroys lives and families. Let no one say that cannabis is harmless – cracking down on this destructive drug is one of the greatest and most urgent needs facing us all,” she said.

Source:  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/32da88934bd58598

Filed under: Cannabis/Marijuana,Culture,Drug use-various effects,Political Sector,Prevention and Intervention,UK :

by Michael Deacon       Columnist & Assistant Editor  – The Telegraph of London (UK)        28 May 2025

The Mayor of London has called for law reform because he believes that stop-and-search powers disproportionately affect black communities

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan walking through cannabis plants at a licensed factory in Los Angeles Credit: PA

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, says he believes the police should stop arresting people for possessing cannabis. Frankly, I’m shocked.

Mainly because I didn’t know the police were arresting people for it in the first place.

It certainly doesn’t smell like it. These days, practically all our towns and cities – including the one run by Mr Khan – stink of weed. Which suggests that a very large number of people now feel able to smoke it with absolutely no fear of getting arrested. Whether this is because the police can no longer be bothered to enforce the law, or they’re too busy carrying out dawn raids on the bookshelves of Spectator readers, I don’t know. But either way, it hardly seems worth clamouring for decriminalisation, when in effect we’ve already got it.

Even so, Mr Khan has backed calls to change the law. And these calls seem to have something to do with race.

According to an independent commission, set up by the Mayor, the policing of cannabis use is shamefully unjust to people who aren’t white. In a new report, the commission says: “The law with respect to cannabis possession is experienced disproportionately by those from ethnic minority (excluding white minority) groups, particularly London’s black communities. While more likely to be stopped and searched by police on suspicion of cannabis possession than white people, black Londoners are no more likely to be found carrying the drug.”

If so, that plainly is unfair. But it’s not an argument for decriminalisation. It’s an argument for stopping and searching greater numbers of white people. Which, of course, would be completely fine. Go right ahead. Even if today’s over-anxious police chiefs would probably misunderstand such an edict, and tell their officers: “When investigating crime, we must never treat any community with more suspicion than any other. Which is why, this afternoon, I’m sending you all to a WI jumble sale, to search little old ladies for machetes.”

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None the less, the report maintains that the way forward is to decriminalise possession. At the same time, though, it says producing and dealing should remain illegal. Which is odd, because it implies that the blame for the trade lies solely with the people doing the latter. But if it weren’t for all the people wishing to possess the drug, no one would produce or deal it. Ultimately, therefore, it’s their fault.

Anyway, if possession does get decriminalised, you can bet there’ll soon be calls to loosen the law further. Which would be even more unwise. Just look at what’s happened to New York, which in 2021 decided not only that people should be allowed to smoke cannabis, but that shops should be granted licences to sell it. Has this put criminals out of business, while raising lots of lovely extra cash through tax?

Funnily enough, no. Illegal vendors simply undercut the legal ones. Kathy Hochul, who is New York’s governor (and a Democrat, rather than some stereotypically stuffy Republican), has called it “a disaster”. Even The New Yorker, proud tribune of liberal America, ran a dismayed article asking: “What happened?”

All the same, the Mayor of London insists that his commission’s report makes a “compelling” case. I don’t think it does. And I especially think we could have done without the irrelevant wittering about ethnicity. We’ve got quite enough “community tensions” in this country as it is. So we certainly don’t want people thinking: “What? They want to allow possession of a dangerous drug, just because they think it will improve ‘police relations’ with ‘black communities’? That sounds awfully like special treatment. Mind you, I suppose they need to free up the cells, to make more space for middle-aged women who post problematic opinions on the internet.”

This, in short, is why Mr Khan’s plan for cannabis isn’t just naive. It’s dangerously divisive.

I note, incidentally, that the Mayor has just proposed a 20 per cent rise in London’s congestion charge. But don’t worry. I’ve prepared a report arguing that the charge is unjust, because it’s experienced disproportionately by the motoring community, while the cycling and walking communities get off scot-free. So the whole thing should be scrapped.

 

Source: (Via Drugwatch International): www.telegraph.co.uk

Filed under: Cannabis/Marijuana,Culture,Drug use-various effects,Health,Marijuana and Medicine,UK :

by Dr Max Pemberton (The Mind Doctor) in the Daily Mail on 17 March 2025

Source: Daily Mail – 17 March 2025

Filed under: Addiction,Brain and Behaviour,Cocaine,Culture,Drug use-various effects,Drugs and Accidents,Parents,Prevention and Intervention,UK,Youth :

The ex-England football manager reflects on his personal journey, belief and resilience …

During Sir Gareth’s football career as a defender and midfielder, he played for Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough and was in the England squad between 1995 and 2004. He took over as manager in 2016 and led the team to the 2018 World Cup semi-final, 2022 World Cup quarter-final and Euro finals in 2020 and 2024.

He stepped down as Manager in July 2024,  two days after England lost to Spain in the Euros.

Sir Gareth has been credited with revitalising the England team and was knighted in the King’s New Year Honours in December.

He is the latest in a line of academics, business leaders and other notable figures to deliver the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, which has been held most years since 1972 in memory of the broadcaster.

Previous speakers have included King Charles III, when he was the Prince of Wales, tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates, and Christine Lagarde, then the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

‘Too many young men are isolated’

Sir Gareth’s talk focused on the importance of belief and resilience for young men, and he cited three things needed to build these: identity, connection and culture.

He referred to a report, released earlier this month by the Centre for Social Justice, which said boys and young men were “in crisis”, with a “staggering” increase in those not in education, employment or training.

“Too many young men are isolated,” Sir Gareth said in his talk. “Too many feel uncomfortable opening up to friends or family. Many don’t have mentors – teachers, coaches, bosses – who understand how best to push them to grow. And so, when they struggle, young men inevitably try to handle whatever situation they find themselves in, alone.”

“Young men end up withdrawing, reluctant to talk or express their emotions,” he added. “They spend more time online searching for direction and are falling into unhealthy alternatives like gaming, gambling and pornography.”

Referencing his own experiences, he said the UK needed to do more to encourage young people – especially young men – to make the right choices in life and to not fear failure.

Rather than turning to teachers, sports coaches or youth group leaders, Sir Gareth said he feared many young men were searching for direction online. There, he said they were finding a new kind of role model, one that too often did not have their best interests at heart.

“These are callous, manipulative and toxic influencers, whose sole drive is for their own gain,” he said.

“They willingly trick young men into believing that success is measured by money or dominance, that strength means never showing emotion, and that the world, including women, is against them.”

He also said young men don’t get enough opportunities to fail and learn from their mistakes.

“In my opinion, if we make life too easy for young boys now, we will inevitably make life harder when they grow up to be young men,” he said. “Too many young men are at risk of fearing failure, precisely because they’ve had so few opportunities to experience and overcome it. They fail to try, rather than try and fail.”

The ex-footballer also reflected on what his career has taught him about belief and resilience.

“If I’ve learned anything from my life in football, it’s that success is much more than the final score,” he said. “True success is how you respond in the hardest moments.”

 

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqjpzg0qwno

 

Filed under: Gambling,Prevention and Intervention,UK,Youth :
by Dr Max Pemberton (The Mind Doctor) in the Daily Mail on 17 March 2025.
Source: Dr Max Pemberton (The Mind Doctor) in the Daily Mail on 17 March 2025.  
Filed under: Drug use-various effects,Prevalence,Prevention and Intervention,UK :

This article, reporting on research by Profs Stuart Reece and Gary Hulse, is seen as seminal contribution to the current concerns about the effects of cannabis use on autism. Accordingly, NDPA has written to JF Kennedy Jnr as below:

Date: 20th April 2025

Importance: High

To Robert F. Kennedy Jnr, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Government of the United States

Sir,

I understand that you and President Trump are becoming extremely concerned about the US autism epidemic.

Please see the attached paper above suggesting that Maternal Cannabis use and CUD may be a factor.

This paper attached is independently supportive of the other Australian work by Professors Reese and Hulse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8bDLzEInWA&t=935s

The Reese/Hulse work indicates strong concordance between Cannabis legalization States and an those same States having an increase in ASD.

Yours sincerely,

David Raynes, Senior Advisor, NDPA (UK)

UK NATIONAL DRUG PREVENTION ALLIANCE

+44 7967708568

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<NDPA>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Psychiatry Research

Volume 337, July 2024, 115971
Exposure to maternal cannabis use disorder and risk of autism spectrum disorder in offspring: A data linkage cohort study.

by Abay Woday Tadesse et al.    School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia

Highlights

  • •     This study involved over 222,000 mother-offspring pairs.
  • •     Maternal prenatal CUD is linked to higher ASD risk, with a stronger risk in male offspring.
  • •     More research is needed to understand these gender-specific effects.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the association between pre-pregnancy, prenatal and perinatal exposures to cannabis use disorder (CUD) and the risk of autism spectrum disoder (ASD) in offspring. Data were drawn from the New South Wales (NSW) Perinatal Data Collection (PDC), population-based, linked administrative health data encompassing all-live birth cohort from January 2003 to December 2005. This study involved 222 534 mother-offspring pairs. . The exposure variable (CUD) and the outcome of interest (ASD) were identified using the 10th international disease classification criteria, Australian Modified (ICD-10-AM). We found a three-fold increased risk of ASD in the offspring of mothers with maternal CUD compared to non-exposed offspring. In our sensitivity analyses, male offspring have a higher risk of ASD associated with maternal CUD than their female counterparts. In conclusion, exposure to maternal CUD is linked to a higher risk of ASD in offspring, with a stronger risk in male offspring. Further research is needed to understand these gender-specific effects and the relationship between maternal CUD and ASD risk in children.

To access the full document:

Click on the ‘Source’ link below.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178124002567

Filed under: Australia,Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Drug use-various effects on foetus, babies, children and youth,Health,Marijuana and Medicine,Psychiatric drugs,UK :

As reports show highest rates of deaths after drug misuse among older people, experts take a look at the health risks

by Damon Syson – Daily Telegraph,  London – 12 April 2025

A recent report from the Office for National Statistics revealed that older people continue to register the highest rates of drug misuse mortality. According to the ONS, there were 1,118 deaths involving cocaine registered in 2023, which was 30.5 per cent higher than the previous year and nearly 10 times higher than in 2011.

“I actually think those figures are an underestimate,” says Dr Niall Campbell, a Priory consultant psychiatrist specialising in addictions. “When people die from drug-related causes, it’s often not recorded.”

Campbell is quick to point out that far from being the preserve of urban professionals, this phenomenon occurs throughout the UK: “A significant number of people will be partying on coke, whether it’s in central London or at a middle-class dinner party in the Cotswolds.

It’s a national problem. I have a patient in his sixties who was taking a lot of cocaine and ended up experiencing chest pains. He stopped, sought help, and he’s now much, much better. He lives in a small provincial town; he set up a Cocaine Anonymous support group there.”

The dangers of common drugs

Cocaine is by far the most serious source of concern when it comes to accidental death, but the other drugs that are commonly misused in the UK (according to the most recent ONS statistics) can also damage your health.

Used chronically, ecstasy (MDMA) depletes your serotonin levels, which can lead to depression, anxiety and lethargy.

Despite the growing numbers of people microdosing psilocybin as a treatment for depression, so-called “magic” mushrooms have been known to bring on panic attacks and can also exacerbate existing mental health problems.

Regular use of cannabis, especially when smoked together with tobacco, has been linked to chronic respiratory conditions, depression, impaired memory, motor skills and cardiovascular function – and its negative effects increase as the user gets older.

The dangers of excessive ketamine use, meanwhile, are well-documented, with chronic users risking bladder damage, cognitive impairment and personality change. But the over-50s have not embraced it as a drug of choice.

Aside from its toxicity, there are two other factors that make cocaine more of an immediate cause for concern than any of these drugs. Firstly, accessibility: it is the second-most used drug in the UK after cannabis; it’s easily available, and its relative cost has gone down over the past decade.

Secondly, cocaine is frequently – and incorrectly – perceived to be less harmful than it is. “Today, what we tend to see is a lot of intermittent cocaine users,” says Campbell, who is based at Priory Hospital Roehampton. “Often they’ve stopped regular use. But for whatever reason, it has caught up with them.”

Why are so many over-50s dying from cocaine poisoning?

The ONS reported in 2019 that the reason Generation X cohort are dying in greater numbers by suicide or drug poisoning is partly because “during the 1980s and ’90s more people started using hard drugs habitually”.

“These people still feel young at heart,” says Campbell. “They think they can still do what they used to do in the old days. Unfortunately, they can’t. Even if they’re aware of the health risk – say for example another person in their group has previously had an episode – they choose to ignore it.”

In essence, a certain group, now in their fifties, have either continued to take drugs since their twenties or now occasionally dabble “for old time’s sake”.

But the body of a 55-year-old is very different to that of a 25-year-old. The stakes become much higher because of the increased vulnerability of ageing bodies to the physiological and cognitive effects of cocaine.

“The typical scenario is a group of men in their fifties who say, ‘Come on, lads, let’s go to Ibiza and party like we did in 1999,’” says Campbell. “The trouble is, their bodies can’t take it, and they end up facing severe cardiac problems, or even death. As you get older, every time you take cocaine you’re playing Russian Roulette.”

The critical factor, he adds, is the cardiac toxicity of cocaine: “Cocaine gives you a massive release of dopamine from your limbic system into your brain, and it also speeds up your heart rate. That may be survivable if you’re 20 or 30, but as you get older, your heart isn’t as robust as it was. For them, doing a line of cocaine is like putting a supercharger onto a Ford Anglia.”

How does taking cocaine affect your brain and body – and how does this change as you get older?

Older adults are more susceptible to the effects of drugs and alcohol, because as the body ages, it cannot metabolise these substances as easily as it once did.

The short-term physical effects of using cocaine include constricted blood vessels, increased heart rate and high blood pressure. These factors can dramatically increase the risk of having a heart attack.

“What we commonly see when we’re called to A&E is arrhythmias, which are irregularities of heart rhythm,” says Dr Farhan Shahid, a consultant interventional cardiologist at The Harborne Hospital, part of HCA Healthcare UK.

“What happens when you take cocaine is that you’re stimulating the body’s flight and fight response, and the heart responds appropriately by speeding up. In the older population you’re often dealing with a patient who has other underlying medical problems – which makes treating them a lot less straightforward. They may be on blood pressure tablets, for example, or they might have had a stroke in the past.”

Long-term cocaine use brings with it a whole suite of potential health problems. It can increase an individual’s chances of suffering an aneurysm, because constricting the blood vessels over a long period may reduce the amount of oxygen the brain receives. It can raise the risk of strokes and lead to impaired cognitive function. And it can also cause damage to kidneys and liver, especially when used – as it almost invariably is – in tandem with excessive amounts of alcohol.

Shahid confirms that he frequently treats patients who display the chronic effects of taking cocaine: “It might, for example, be a 56-year-old who has high blood pressure as a background, regardless of the misuse. Taking cocaine on top of that will send their blood pressure off the chart, so to speak.

Over time, they become resistant to medication, and they may require admission into hospital and intravenous medication to bring their blood pressure down.

Cocaine causes a compromise in the demand and supply of the heart muscle: it causes a constriction of the arteries and a state where the blood is thicker and has a greater predisposition to clot.

It’s also worth noting that chronic cocaine use is linked with mental health issues like anxiety, panic attacks and psychosis. Even a one-off line at a party can cause an individual to behave erratically and recklessly, leading to accident and injury.

“Cocaine-induced paranoid states get worse as you get older,” says Campbell. “I had a patient who got together with friends to relive old times. They went away for the weekend, took cocaine, and as a result, he had a huge depressive crisis. He went back to the hotel and attempted suicide. Fortunately, he didn’t succeed.”

How to counteract the damage of cocaine

“The simple answer is – stop,” says Campbell. “If you’ve taken cocaine and you’ve experienced palpitations, for example, that’s a serious red flag. A user needs to get themselves checked out. If you’re worried, talk to your doctor and be honest about it. Your GP can perform an ECG and arrange a full cardio workup.”

Anyone concerned should also take encouragement from the fact that it’s never too late to take a positive step. “With the right treatment and the cessation of the misuse, you can reverse the effects of cocaine misuse,” says Shahid. “Cocaine drives up blood pressure, so if you stop the cocaine use, you can reduce that blood pressure change, and – with the correct medications in the background – bring it down to safe levels.”

Of course, not everyone can afford to seek treatment at Priory, but as a first port of call, Campbell advises contacting Cocaine Anonymous, which he says is “free and widespread, and staffed by people who really know what they’re talking about”.

“This phenomenon is certainly a matter for concern,” he says on a final note, “and it’s on the increase, as the generation comes through that were partying in 1999. Could it get worse? I think it will, because people are reluctant to seek help. Unfortunately, they have no idea how much of a risk they’re taking.”

 

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/conditions/ageing/the-devastating-effects-of-drug-misuse-in-the-middle-aged/

Filed under: Addiction,Drug use-various effects,Health,Mental Health,UK :

 

Kara Alexander is jailed for life after drowning her sons, aged two and five, in a bath after smoking the drug

Kara Alexander has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering her children

Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA

 

A judge has warned against the dangers of drugs after a skunk-smoking mother drowned her young sons in the bath.

Kara Alexander, 47, of Dagenham, east London, murdered Elijah Thomas, two, and Marley Thomas, five, in the bath at their home in Cornwallis Road, on December 15 2022.

At Kingston Crown Court on Friday she was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years and 252 days.

The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, referred to the children’s father finding his deceased sons next to one another as “the stuff of nightmares”.

He noted that Alexander had been smoking skunk – a stronger type of cannabis – on the night she killed her children and had been “doing so every night for weeks, probably much longer”.

In his sentencing remarks, he said: “The heavy use of skunk or other hyper-strong strains of cannabis can plunge people into a mental health crisis in which they may harm themselves or others.

“If any drug user does not know that, it’s about time they did.

“At your trial, Kara Alexander, the three psychiatrists who gave evidence disagreed about a number of things, but on that they were unanimous.

“It will comfort nobody connected to this case, but if these events bring home that message to even a few people, some slight good may come from what is otherwise an unmitigated tragedy.”

The bodies of Elijah, left, and Marley, were found by their father

 Credit: Central News/Facebook

 

He said he could not reach any conclusion but, in her state at that time, she intended to kill the boys, pointing out that she had “unspeakably” held the boys under water for “up to a minute or two”.

“The bath was probably still run from their normal evening routine and I do not think for a moment that your dreadful acts were pre-meditated,” he said.

The judge said Alexander dried the boys, put them in clean pyjamas and laid them together, tucked in under duvets, on the same bunk bed.

“The next morning, their father, worried by your unusual silence, came and found them. The stuff of nightmares,” he said.

The judge said there was every sign Alexander was a “caring and affectionate” mother to both children before the events of Dec 15.

He pointed out that their father said Alexander “never shouted or raised her voice at the boys” and “never showed violence to the boys”.

Psychotic state caused by cannabis 

Mr Justice Bennathan said Alexander was in a psychotic state when she killed her sons and that it was cannabis induced.

He said she had a previous psychotic episode in 2016 in which cannabis also probably played a part, but said he cannot be sure that she was aware that cannabis could trigger another psychotic state.

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The judge said he noted that in Dec 2022, Alexander spoke regularly with two members of her social circle about her heavy cannabis use, both of them knowing that she was looking after two small children.

“And at least one of them knew of your previous psychotic episode in 2016, yet neither of them warned you of any risk or sounded any note of caution at all,” he said.

The judge said Alexander will mourn her sons for the rest of her life.

“From all that I have read and seen of you, I have no doubt that every day when you awake you will remember and grieve for the little boys whose lives you snatched away,” he said.

 

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/11/cannabis-killer-mother-psychotic-state/

Filed under: Addiction,Cannabis/Marijuana,Crime/Violence/Prison,Drug use-various effects,Mental Health,UK :

National Crime Agency exposes increasing ketamine use in England amid surge in ‘drug cocktails’

by Tony Diver, Associate Political Editor, The Telegraph (London) 21 February 2025

 

Drug use in England

Ketamine

2023: 10,600 kilograms consumed

2024: 24,800 kilograms consumed

Hotspots: Norwich, Liverpool and Wakefield

Street value: Unknown

 

Cocaine

2023: 87,600 kilograms consumed

2024: 96,000 kilograms consumed

Hotspots: Liverpool and Newcastle

Street value: £7.7 billion

 

Heroin

2023: 25,300 kilograms consumed

2024: 22,400 kilograms consumed

Hotspots: Liverpool and Birmingham

Street value: £1.1 billion

 

Ketamine usage more than doubled in England last year amid the rising popularity of designer “drug cocktails”, The Telegraph can reveal.

The largest and most accurate study of its kind, conducted on behalf of the National Crime Agency (NCA), has exposed a dramatic rise in the popularity of the drug.

Almost 25 tonnes of ketamine were consumed in England last year, up from 10.6 tonnes in 2023.

The drug is now more popular than heroin, with the worst hotspots in Norwich, Liverpool, and Wakefield.

The findings are revealed in Home Office data, seen by The Telegraph, which will form part of the NCA’s annual threat assessment next week.

The agency, dubbed Britain’s FBI, will warn of a rise in the use of several recreational drugs in Britain, including a 10 per cent increase in cocaine.

The sharp increase in the prevalence of ketamine on Britain’s streets is thought to be driven by drug cocktails, including “pink cocaine” – a combination of ketamine and other substances taken by Liam Payne, the One Direction star, before his death last year.

Payne, who fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina in October last year, had taken a mixture of methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA along with crack cocaine and benzodiazepine before he died, a toxicology report found.

Liam Payne reportedly had ‘pink cocaine’ along with other drugs in his system when he fell to his death in Buenos Aires Credit: Marc Piasecki/GC Images

Mixing ketamine and other drugs can produce hallucinogenic effects, but presents a greater risk to partygoers because the substances can be laced with even stronger narcotics including fentanyl.

The Home Office sampled wastewater from 18 treatment plants across England and Scotland over three years to build the most accurate picture of drug consumption in Britain ever compiled.

The samples, which covered wastewater from more than a quarter of the population, were analysed and scaled up by scientists from Imperial College London.

Previous estimates were based on the quantity of drugs seized by police and self-reported drug surveys, which are less accurate.

The final report found that almost 100 tonnes of cocaine were consumed in England alone last year, up from 88 tonnes in 2023.

Liverpool and Newcastle were the heaviest consumers of cocaine. Usage peaked in London during Christmas, the Euro 2024 football tournament and the Eurovision song contest.

Adjusted for purity, quantities of cocaine consumed in England last year had an estimated street value of £7.7 billion.

That figure is almost double the NCA’s previous estimate and the equivalent of £100 spent on cocaine each year by every person in the country.

Over the same period, heroin consumption is estimated to have decreased by 11 per cent, from 25,300 kilograms in 2023 to 22,400 kilograms in 2024. The highest rates were measured in wastewater from Liverpool and Birmingham.

Experts have previously warned of the dangers of trendy designer drug cocktails, including pink cocaine and “Calvin Klein” or “CK”, which refers to a mixture of cocaine and ketamine.

The combination of drugs can make it more difficult for users to know what substances they have taken.

CK, which is growing in popularity in the UK, has been blamed for overdoses among young people in nightclubs.

It comes as in this week’s Crime and Policing Bill, the Government will propose banning “cuckooing” – when criminals seize a vulnerable person’s home and use it as a drug den or for other illegal activity.

The Home Secretary will also propose new measures to jail those convicted of using children for crime Credit: Jacob King

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, will also propose a new offence of child criminal exploitation, which is thought to affect around 14,500 children each year.

Under the new measures, people convicted of using children for crime, including county lines drug dealing, will face ten years in prison.

Ms Cooper said: “The exploitation of children and vulnerable people for criminal gain is sickening and it is vital we do everything in our power to eradicate it from our streets.

“As part of our Plan for Change, we are introducing these two offences to properly punish those who prey on them, ensure victims are properly protected and prevent these often-hidden crimes from occurring in the first place.

“These steps are vital in our efforts to stop the grooming and exploitation of children into criminal gangs, deliver on our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade and work towards our overall mission to make our streets safer.”

Ministers and the NCA are also concerned about the rise of drug importers, who bring classified substances into the UK through weaker entry points and sell them to distributors around the country.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/21/true-scale-uk-illegal-drug-use/

Filed under: Cocaine,Drug use-various effects,Ketamine,Opioids,Prevention and Intervention,Treatment and Addiction,UK :
by Ioulia Kondratovitch – UNODC

Globally, the number of people who used drugs rose to 292 million in 2022 – a 20 per cent increase over 10 years.  The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) 2024 World Drug Report shows that the emergence of new synthetic opioids and a record supply and demand of other drugs have compounded the impacts of the world drug problem, including overdoses, violence, instability, environmental harms and more.

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the United Nations’ central drug policy-making body, is meeting this week to take stock of progress made in the implementation of international drug policy commitments.

Below, learn more about the CND and why it matters.

The basics

The CND is where UN member states set policy on all issues related to drugs. 53 Member States from all regions of the world are elected to serve four-year terms.

UNODC acts as Secretariat to the CND.

Why does the CND matter?

Drug production, trafficking and consumption can cause violence, instability and even death.

UNODC’s 2024 World Drug Report found that 64 million people worldwide suffered from drug use disorders in 2022, with only one in 11 in treatment.

Drug trafficking is empowering organized crime groups, who are also engaged in other crimes including human trafficking, online scams, fraud and illegal resource extraction.

A new record high of cocaine production has coincided with a rise in violence in states along the supply chain, as well as an increase in health harms in countries of destination. Meanwhile, nitazenes – a group of synthetic opioids which can be even more potent than fentanyl – have recently emerged in several high-income countries, resulting in an increase in overdose deaths.

How does it work?

CND reviews and analyses the global drug situation and takes action through resolutions and decisions. At this year’s CND, Member States will be discussing resolutions on preventing drug use among children; research on evidence-based interventions for the treatment and care of stimulant use disorders; alternative development; safety of officers in dismantling synthetic opioid laboratories; the impact of drugs on the environment; and strengthening the global drug control framework.

The CND also decides, based on recommendations by the World Health Organization and the International Narcotics Control Board, on which substances will be placed under international control – or “scheduled” – under the three international drug control treaties.

These conventions help prevent the abuse of psychoactive substances, protecting individuals, communities and entire countries from drug use epidemics while reducing crime and violence. They also ensure that these substances are available for necessary medical and scientific purposes.

International scheduling of substances, including precursor chemicals, helps law enforcement efforts to curb production and trafficking of dangerous drugs.

Why are we talking about it now?

In recognition of these new and persistent challenges, the CND adopted the 2019 Ministerial Declaration to accelerate the implementation of the international drug policy commitments made since 2009.

At last year’s CND, Member States made new commitments under the “Pledge4Action” on how they could expedite actions to tackle the world drug problem. This year, Member States will report on efforts to fulfill these pledges, as well as have an opportunity to make new ones.

What else is the UN doing to address the world drug problem?

UNODC collects, analyses and reports data on drug trends and developments. Find more in our 2024 World Drug Report, Afghanistan Drug Insights Series, Colombia and Bolivia coca surveys, and Myanmar opium survey.

Additionally, by strengthening the ability of Member States to detect and intercept illicit drug flows at borders and equipping front-line officers with testing equipment, UNODC bolsters countries’ national security by disrupting the operations and profits of organized drug trafficking groups. Making borders and key shipping routes less vulnerable to exploitation also fosters a safer environment for legitimate business and trade, contributing to a more stable and resilient global economy.

UNODC also works with Member States to support the prevention of drug use; treatment and rehabilitation for people who use drugs; and access to controlled drugs for medical purposes.

Source: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/news/2025/March/explainer_-what-is-the-commission-on-narcotic-drugs.html

Filed under: Australia,Canada,Europe,New Zealand,Others (International News),UK,USA :
Home
United Nations
The United Nations Office at Geneva

 

Synthetic drugs are rapidly transforming the global drug trade, fuelling an escalating public health crisis, according to the UN administered International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

In its 2024 Annual Report, released on Tuesday, the INCB explains that unlike plant-based drugs, these substances can be made anywhere, without the need for large-scale cultivation, making them easier and cheaper for traffickers to produce and distribute.

The rise of powerful opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes – potent enough to cause overdoses in tiny doses – has worsened the crisis, driving record-high deaths.

“We need to work together to take stronger action against this deadly problem which is causing hundreds of deaths and untold harm to communities,” he continued.

Traffickers stay ahead of regulations

Criminal groups are constantly adapting to evade law enforcement.

By exploiting legal loopholes, they develop new synthetic compounds and use artificial intelligence to find alternative chemicals for drug production.

New smuggling methods – including drones and postal deliveries – make these drugs harder to detect.

As a result, seizures of synthetic substances are now outpacing those of traditional plant-based drugs like heroin and cocaine.

Patchwork response

Despite efforts to curb synthetic drugs, responses remain fragmented, allowing traffickers to stay ahead.

The INCB is calling for stronger global cooperation, including partnerships between governments, private companies and international organizations, to disrupt supply chains and prevent harm.

Medication out of reach

While synthetic drugs flood illegal markets, millions of people in low- and middle-income countries still lack access to essential pain relief medication.

The report highlights that opioid painkillers such as morphine, remain unavailable in regions like Africa, South Asia and Central America – not due to supply shortages, but because of barriers in distribution and regulation.

The INCB is urging opioid-producing nations to increase production and affordability to improve palliative care and pain management.

Regional hotspots concerns

The report identifies several regions where synthetic drug trafficking is expanding.

In Europe, the looming heroin deficit following Afghanistan’s 2022 opium ban could push more users toward synthetic alternatives while in North America, despite efforts to curb the crisis, synthetic opioid-related deaths remain at record highs.

The manufacture, trafficking and use of amphetamine-type stimulants are increasing across the Middle East and Africa, where treatment and rehabilitation services are often inadequate.

Meanwhile, in the Asia-Pacific region, methamphetamine and ketamine trafficking continues to grow, particularly in the Golden Triangle.

Call for urgent action

The INCB is urging governments to strengthen international collaboration, improve data-sharing and expand drug prevention and treatment services.

Without decisive action, the synthetic drug trade will continue to evolve, putting more lives at risk.

 

Source: ‘Rapid expansion’ of synthetic drugs reshaping illicit markets, UN anti-narcotics body warns
Filed under: Australia,Canada,Europe,Fentanyl,New Zealand,Others (International News),Prevalence,Prevention and Intervention,Synthetics,UK,USA :

National Crime Agency exposes increasing ketamine use in England amid surge in ‘drug cocktails’

Ketamine usage more than doubled in England last year amid the rising popularity of designer “drug cocktails”, The Telegraph can reveal.

The largest and most accurate study of its kind, conducted on behalf of the National Crime Agency (NCA), has exposed a dramatic rise in the popularity of the drug.

Almost 25 tonnes of ketamine were consumed in England last year, up from 10.6 tonnes in 2023.

The drug is now more popular than heroin, with the worst hotspots in Norwich, Liverpool, and Wakefield.

The findings are revealed in Home Office data, seen by The Telegraph, which will form part of the NCA’s annual threat assessment next week.

The agency, dubbed Britain’s FBI, will warn of a rise in the use of several recreational drugs in Britain, including a 10 per cent increase in cocaine.

The sharp increase in the prevalence of ketamine on Britain’s streets is thought to be driven by drug cocktails, including “pink cocaine” – a combination of ketamine and other substances taken by Liam Payne, the One Direction star, before his death last year.

Payne, who fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina in October last year, had taken a mixture of methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA along with crack cocaine and benzodiazepine before he died, a toxicology report found.

Liam Payne reportedly had 'pink cocaine' along with other drugs inside his system when he fell to his death in Buenos Aires
Liam Payne reportedly had ‘pink cocaine’ along with other drugs in his system when he fell to his death in Buenos Aires Credit: Marc Piasecki/GC Images

Mixing ketamine and other drugs can produce hallucinogenic effects, but presents a greater risk to partygoers because the substances can be laced with even stronger narcotics including fentanyl.

The Home Office sampled wastewater from 18 treatment plants across England and Scotland over three years to build the most accurate picture of drug consumption in Britain ever compiled.

The samples, which covered wastewater from more than a quarter of the population, were analysed and scaled up by scientists from Imperial College London.

Previous estimates were based on the quantity of drugs seized by police and self-reported drug surveys, which are less accurate.

The final report found that almost 100 tonnes of cocaine were consumed in England alone last year, up from 88 tonnes in 2023.

Liverpool and Newcastle were the heaviest consumers of cocaine. Usage peaked in London during Christmas, the Euro 2024 football tournament and the Eurovision song contest.

Adjusted for purity, quantities of cocaine consumed in England last year had an estimated street value of £7.7 billion.

That figure is almost double the NCA’s previous estimate and the equivalent of £100 spent on cocaine each year by every person in the country.

Over the same period, heroin consumption is estimated to have decreased by 11 per cent, from 25,300 kilograms in 2023 to 22,400 kilograms in 2024. The highest rates were measured in wastewater from Liverpool and Birmingham.

Experts have previously warned of the dangers of trendy designer drug cocktails, including pink cocaine and “Calvin Klein” or “CK”, which refers to a mixture of cocaine and ketamine.

The combination of drugs can make it more difficult for users to know what substances they have taken.

CK, which is growing in popularity in the UK, has been blamed for overdoses among young people in nightclubs.

It comes as in this week’s Crime and Policing Bill, the Government will propose banning “cuckooing” – when criminals seize a vulnerable person’s home and use it as a drug den or for other illegal activity.

The Home Secretary will also propose new measures to jail those convicted of using children for crime
The Home Secretary will also propose new measures to jail those convicted of using children for crime Credit: Jacob King

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, will also propose a new offence of child criminal exploitation, which is thought to affect around 14,500 children each year.

Under the new measures, people convicted of using children for crime, including county lines drug dealing, will face ten years in prison.

Ms Cooper said: “The exploitation of children and vulnerable people for criminal gain is sickening and it is vital we do everything in our power to eradicate it from our streets.

“As part of our Plan for Change, we are introducing these two offences to properly punish those who prey on them, ensure victims are properly protected and prevent these often-hidden crimes from occurring in the first place.

“These steps are vital in our efforts to stop the grooming and exploitation of children into criminal gangs, deliver on our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade and work towards our overall mission to make our streets safer.”

Ministers and the NCA are also concerned about the rise of drug importers, who bring classified substances into the UK through weaker entry points and sell them to distributors around the country.

 

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/21/true-scale-uk-illegal-drug-use/

Filed under: Heroin/Methadone,Ketamine,Marijuana and Medicine,Methamphetamine/GHB/Hallucinogens/Oxycodone,Prevalence,UK :
by James Cook, BBC Scotland editor and Anton Ferrie, BBC News contributor                                                               

James McMillan and Lisa McCuish grew up next to each other and now they lie side by side in Pennyfuir Cemetery

James McMillan grew up next door to Lisa McCuish in a neat cul-de-sac on a hillside above Oban Bay. Now they lie side by side in Pennyfuir Cemetery.

The newest headstones on the freshly-dug fringes of the graveyard tell an alarming story of a lost generation in this pretty tourist town on Scotland’s west coast.

Oban is home to just 8,000 people and at least eight recent confirmed or suspected victims of drug misuse were buried here. The youngest was 26, the oldest was 48.

The population of the town is about the same as the total number of overdose deaths recorded in Scotland in the past seven years – by far the worst rate in Europe.

The deaths have led to calls for urgent action to tackle addiction in rural Scotland with relatives citing problems accessing vital services.

Scotland’s Health Secretary Neil Gray has told BBC News that he accepts more needs to be done to tackle drug misuse in rural areas.

For James’ mother, Jayne Donn, the nightmare began before dawn on a freezing night in December 2022 when she was woken by the doorbell.

“At 10 to five in the morning, when it was snowing and my Christmas tree was up, the police came to my door,” she says.

The officers had come, as Jayne had long dreaded they would, to tell her that her 29-year-old son was dead of an overdose.

James was another victim of a crisis that has been raging across Scotland for almost a decade, claiming 1,172 lives in 2023.

“As a little boy he was blonde-haired, blue-eyed, full of mischief,” Jayne tells me in the living room of the family home.

The young James loved “fishing, music and his skateboard,” she says.

“As a man, there’s not so many good memories,” says Jayne.

“He was very mixed up. He was very angry. He was very lost.”

James McMillan, who died in December 2022, with his mother Jayne Donn
Jayne Donn

James’ father left the family home when he was seven.

He struggled at school with dyslexia and mental health challenges and later began to dabble with cannabis.

He started to get into trouble, first with teachers, then with the police.

As he grew into adulthood, James drifted away from Oban and from his family, losing a job as an apprentice bricklayer because of poor attendance and concentration, and disappearing to England.

Jayne says she knew little about what was happening there. In truth, her son’s life was unravelling.

He had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder and drug-induced psychosis.

He was struggling with suicidal tendencies, taking more and harder drugs and increasingly turning to crime.

As a result he was in and out of custody for drug offences, breach of the peace, break-ins and theft, at one point serving a two-year prison sentence.

James died in Glasgow on 16 December 2022 – less than two days after he was released from custody following eight months on remand in Barlinnie prison.

James’ mother says she doesn’t know the details of the last charges he had faced or why he was released – but she believes more could have been done to support her son, as he had overdosed on release from custody on three previous occasions.

A Scottish Prison Service source pointed out that decisions taken at the end of a period of remand are a matter for the courts not the prison.

Jayne describes a web of organisations which dealt with her son: charities, local authorities, the NHS, addiction services, housing providers and more.

But she says: “He was released into a city he didn’t know with no jacket, no money and nobody aware.

“He lasted less than 36 hours.”

Lisa McCuish grew up in Oban.                                                                                                         MKC Photocreations 

Lisa McCuish grew up next to James in a street looking down on Oban Bay, where red and black Caledonian MacBrayne ferries bustle to and from the islands of the Hebrides.

Oban was recently named Scotland’s town of the year by an organisation which promotes smaller communities.

Today, Lisa’s sister Tanya is sitting in Jayne’s living room, tears in her eyes, recalling her sibling as “a larger than life character” with “a heart of gold”.

“Lisa was never into drugs, you know, that wasn’t her,” says Tanya.

Things began to go wrong only after Lisa was prescribed diazepam, which is typically used to treat anxiety, seizures or muscle spasms.

“She ended up buying it off the streets because she felt she needed more,” Tanya remembers.

“She kept on saying that she needed more help, more support.”

Then, she says, her sister started taking heroin.

Lisa had a cardiac arrest on 13 September 2022 and died four days later in hospital in Paisley. She was 42 years old.

She had prescription drugs in her system and also Etizolam, a benzodiazepine-type substance commonly known as street Valium because it is often sold illicitly.

Tanya and Jayne take us to the spot where they both mourn, pointing out other nearby graves where recent drug death victims are buried.

They include James’s best friend, who lies alongside him and Lisa. He was 30 when he died of a drug overdose.

“It’s just awful to think there’s at least 10 around here that we can think of,” says Jayne.

There is no official breakdown of how many lives have been claimed by drugs in small communities such as Oban.

We have been able to confirm that at least eight of the deaths occurred within just a year-and-a-half and were related to drugs, or are still under investigation.

This is the reality of Scotland’s drug deaths crisis in just one small community and both Tanya and Jayne say the Scottish government must do more to save lives.

“I personally believe that a lot of addiction is to do with mental health first,” says Tanya.

“There’s no continuity in support from addiction services or mental health services. There’s no link up.”

Jayne, who is a drugs support worker herself, says she spent years trying to bring James home to Oban where she felt he would have a better chance of recovery and survival.

A particular challenge, she says, was that Argyll and Bute Council offered James housing places in Dunoon and Helensburgh – both about two hours away – making it very difficult for his family to support him.

The local authority said it had offered “appropriate” services to James.

The council added that it had housing services throughout the area, but could not always satisfy “individual and sometimes changing criteria”.

Scotland’s Health Secretary Neil Gray says that both families have his deepest sympathies and he accepts that rural drug services could be improved.

“I think that the two cases that you’ve highlighted tell me that there’s more that can be done,” he said.

“I recognise that not everything is available in all parts of Scotland.”

Mr Gray added: “We support alcohol and drug partnerships across Scotland, whether they’re in rural areas or urban areas.

“I would obviously want us to be continuing to do more to make sure that there is access to facilities and services in rural and island areas.”

 

For Justina Murray, chief executive of the charity Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, the problems do not lie with strategy or funding but with culture and delivery, especially in NHS addiction services.

“People want services that are in their own community, they can access when they need them, they’re going to be met at the door by a friendly face,” she says.

“They’re going to be treated with dignity and respect.

“That’s not necessarily the experience you’re going to have engaging with an NHS or a statutory treatment service.”

According to the latest available figures, released in September 2024, there is capacity for 513 residential rehabilitation beds in Scotland, across 25 facilities.

Only 11 of those beds are available in what are considered by the Scottish government to be very remote rural areas, although the majority of facilities do accept referrals from any part of Scotland.

I ask Jayne and Tanya about the argument that individuals and their families, rather than the state, should take more responsibility for their own choices.

“Nobody sets out in life to be a drug addict,” replies Jayne.

“Nobody chooses it. The mental health issue was what led James to try and escape reality.

“He then no longer had capacity to make his choices. He wasn’t James any more.

“These are vulnerable adults who are unable to protect themselves from danger or harm,” adds Tanya.

“Why is more not being done?”

“Something’s got to change,” agrees Jayne.

“We’re losing far too many young people.”

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20pwd04zy4o

Filed under: Addiction,Culture,Environment,UK,Youth :

 

Copied from DRB bulletin 03.02.2025:

Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/679a44136907bee181d31480/240125+Annex+A+-+Response+to+the+ACMD+Fifth+addendum+to+Advisory+Council+on+the+Misuse+of+Drugs+_ACMD_+report+on+the+use+and+harms+of+2-benzyl+benzimidazole+_nit.pdf

 

Filed under: Opioids,Political Sector,Prevention and Intervention,Synthetics,UK :

Note by NDPA: This article describes harm Reduction  as ” as an alternative to traditional abstinence-based education”. which is seen by NDPA as an unhelpful definition. The valid contribution of Harm Reduction can better be recognised as a strategy working in cooperation with Prevention i.e. it is case of applying ‘both’ rather than ‘either/or’.

  Head Office in London, UK
Substance abuse among adolescents is a significant public health concern, as it can lead to various negative health outcomes and hinder academic performance. School-based substance abuse prevention programs have emerged as a critical strategy to address this issue, leveraging the unique environment of schools to reach young people during a pivotal time in their development. Recent research has explored various approaches to these programs, focusing on their effectiveness, implementation, and the integration of innovative methods to enhance engagement and outcomes.

Recent Research

One of the key findings from recent studies is the effectiveness of different types of interventions in educational settings. A scoping review identified various approaches, including cognitive-behavioral skill enhancement, peer interventions, and family-school cooperation, all of which have shown varying degrees of success in reducing substance use among adolescents[2]. Notably, while electronic interventions yielded mixed results, traditional methods like curriculum-based programs and peer support have been beneficial in addressing substance use issues[2].

Another significant study examined the long-term effects of a selective personality-targeted alcohol prevention program called PreVenture. This program was designed for adolescents exhibiting high-risk personality traits and demonstrated sustained positive outcomes in reducing alcohol-related harms over a seven-year follow-up period[3]. The findings suggest that targeted interventions can effectively delay the onset of alcohol use and mitigate its associated risks, highlighting the importance of tailoring programs to the specific needs of students.

Additionally, innovative approaches such as hybrid digital programs that combine e-learning with in-person sessions have shown promise. A study evaluating this method found significant reductions in substance use and increases in health knowledge among middle school students[5]. This approach addresses common barriers to implementation, such as limited class time and inconsistent delivery, making it a viable option for schools looking to enhance their substance abuse prevention efforts.

Furthermore, harm reduction strategies have gained attention as an alternative to traditional abstinence-based education. A pilot study on a harm reduction curriculum revealed significant improvements in students’ knowledge and behaviors related to substance use, suggesting that engaging students with relevant and relatable content can lead to better outcomes[4]. This approach challenges the conventional views on substance education and emphasizes the need for programs that resonate with adolescents’ real-life experiences.

Technical Terms

Substance Abuse: The harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs, leading to significant adverse consequences.

Cognitive-Behavioral Skills: Techniques that help individuals recognize and change negative thought patterns and behaviors associated with substance use.

Harm Reduction: A set of practical strategies aimed at reducing the negative consequences associated with substance use, rather than focusing solely on abstinence.

Source: https://www.nature.com/research-intelligence/school-based-substance-abuse-prevention-programs
Filed under: Education,Prevention and Intervention,UK,Youth :

by  Charles Hymas         Home Affairs Editor                  14 January 2025           Telegraph, London

Watchdog warns weapons and phones are being delivered to inmates with the devices, posing a threat to national security

HMP Manchester is among the prisons that have allowed basic security to fall into disrepair making it easier for gangs to access the grounds.

Drone-flying drug gangs have seized control of prison airspace in a move that threatens national security, a watchdog has warned.

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, said the service had “in effect ceded the airspace” to two high-security category A jails, allowing organised crime gangs to deliver drugs, phones and weapons to inmates who included organised crime bosses and terrorists.

He said HMP Long Lartin, in Worcestershire, and HMP Manchester had thriving illicit economies of drugs, mobile phones and weapons because basic security measures such as protective netting and CCTV had been allowed to fall into disrepair.

At Manchester, almost four in 10 (39 per cent) of prisoners had tested positive in mandatory drug tests. Half of inmates at Long Lartin, one of Britain’s top security jails, told inspectors it was easy to get drugs and alcohol. Some 27.2 per cent had tested positive for drugs.

Long Lartin has housed some of Britain’s most notorious prisoners, including hate preachers Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza. Among those currently being there are Jordan McSweeney, the murderer of law graduate Zara Aleena, and serial killer Steve Wright, jailed for life for the murder of five women in Ipswich in 2016. Mr Taylor said violence and self-harm at both jails had increased, in part driven by drugs and the accompanying debt prisoners found themselves in.

There had been six self-inflicted deaths at Manchester since 2021, with a seventh taking place a few weeks after the inspectors’ visit.

At Long Lartin, violence had increased by about 50 per cent since the last inspection in 2022. It was higher than at other category A jails, with more than 200 assaults on staff or prisoners in the last year. Forty per cent of prisoners said they felt unsafe.

“It is highly alarming that the police and prison service have, in effect, ceded the airspace above two high-security prisons to organised crime gangs which are able to deliver contraband to jails holding extremely dangerous prisoners including some who have been designated as high-risk category A,” he said. “The safety of staff, prisoners and ultimately that of the public, is seriously compromised by the failure to tackle what has become a threat to national security.

“The prison service, the police and other security services must urgently confront organised gang activity and reduce the supply of drugs and other illicit items which so clearly undermine every aspect of prison life.”

Charlie Taylor said violence and self harm had increased inside the prisons in part due to the rise of drug use and associated debt.

The scale of the problem at HMP Manchester, previously known as Strangeways, included inmates burning holes in windows to receive drone deliveries which prompted Mr Taylor to last year tell the Justice Secretary to put the prison into emergency measures.

The latest warning comes after Mr Taylor likened high-security jail HMP Garth in Lancashire to an “airport” because there were so many drones flying in drugs.

A report from Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) – made up of volunteers tasked by ministers with scrutinising conditions in custody – into “crumbling” jails in England and Wales said delays in fixing broken prison windows were making it easier for drones to be used to deliver drugs and weapons. In December, MPs heard contraband was being taken into HMP Parc in South Wales in “children’s nappies”, while there were “industrial specification drone drops being organised by organised crime gangs”.

Source:  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/14/drone-flying-drug-gangs-seize-control-of-prison-airspace/

Filed under: Crime/Violence/Prison,UK :
Maia Davies, BBC News, Published 7 January 2025

Ketamine could be upgraded to a Class A drug as the government seeks expert advice on its classification, the Home Office has said.

Illegal use of the drug has reached record levels in recent years, with an estimated 269,000 people aged 16-59 reporting ketamine use in the year ending March 2024.

Increasing ketamine’s classification would bring it in line with drugs including cocaine, heroin and ecstasy (MDMA) and mean up to life in prison for supply and production.

The policing minister will ask the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs whether its classification should be changed and “carefully consider” its findings.

Ketamine can cause serious health problems including irreversible damage to the bladder and kidneys.

It is also one of the most detected drugs in incidents of spiking.

While commonly used on animals and in healthcare settings, ketamine is also thought of as a party drug due to its hallucinogenic effects.

An estimated 299,000 people aged 16-59 reported ketamine use in the year ending March 2023 – the highest on record.

Ketamine was upgraded from a Class C substance in 2014 due to mounting evidence over its physical and psychological dangers.

Currently, the maximum penalty for producing and supplying ketamine is up to 14 years in prison. Possession can carry up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

Should it be upgraded to a Class A drug, supply and production of it could carry up to life in prison, while possession could carry up to seven years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

A coroner’s prevention of future deaths report called for action over the drug’s classification, after a man died from sepsis caused by a kidney infection that was “a complication of long-term use of ketamine”.

Greater Manchester South senior coroner Alison Mutch noted that James Boland, 38, started taking the drug as he believed it to be “less harmful” than Class A drugs.

She wrote in November: “Maintaining its classification as a Class B drug was likely to encourage others to start to use it or continue to use it under the false impression it is “safer”.”

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson has pledged to “work across health, policing and wider public services to drive down drug use and stop those who profit from its supply.

“It is vital we are responding to all the latest evidence and advice to ensure people’s safety and we will carefully consider the ACMD’s recommendations before making any decision.”

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8306prgy6o

Filed under: Ketamine,Legal Sector,UK :
Lydia Wilson – BBC News – Published 14 December 2024

Khat falls into the class C drug category but it isn’t recorded as a specific drug in seizure data

A decade ago, a stimulative drug that sold for just a few pounds, was banned in the UK. Known as khat, it’s a plant that’s chewed, giving similar effects to amphetamine.

Ten years on from the drugs reclassification, experts say it is still being sold in the UK, in places for ten times more than it cost in 2014.

But there is little data to help understand the true impact of the ban.

Dr Neil Carrier, who carried out postdoctoral research on the drug at the University of Oxford, said it has largely been “forgotten” by authorities and “in terms of understanding drug policy, the bans’ impact should really be researched”.

Mohammed, not his real name, 25, told the BBC that he tried khat in 2018, four years after the ban.

He said: “The thing is, there’s actually quite a lot of it readily available in the UK.

“You can get it in little silver sachet bags that are air-sealed and marketed as herbal facial products, but it’s literally just khat.”

He chewed the drug in a dried form, which has become more common during the past 10 years.

Dr Carrier, who currently works as a social anthropology professor at the University of Bristol, said fresh khat leaves were sold for “around £3 a bundle (250g)” during the 2000s and 2010s.

It was often chewed by Somali, Yemeni and Ethiopian men in group sessions at designated khat cafes, called mafrishes.

He helped produce a government-published literature review around khat’s social harms and legislation in 2011: “Very often as anthropologists, when we think about drugs, we don’t just focus on the drug itself but also how it gets caught up in the wider cultural meanings, wider relationships and power.

“We look at how it becomes a commodity and how the substance fits into society.”

He felt that the ban was a “missed opportunity” to investigate alternative methods of regulating recreational drugs.

“We could see how khat was associated with various issues that were very challenging with communities using khat in the UK.

“But at the time I felt the drug was blamed for these wider issues,” he said.

In the early 2000s Dr Carrier said he often heard people attribute khat to family and social integration problems.

“I would hear things like ’men are not being good fathers as they chewed khat’.

“And ‘people who are chewing khat might, as a consequence, not be looking for work’.

“But in reality, this is only half the picture.

“We often in society give drugs so much power and label them as the cause of problems when really the picture tends to be more blurred and complicated.”

Last year Border Force seized 2,760 hauls of class C drugs.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Border Force and police work relentlessly to stop illegal drugs from coming into the country and keep them off our streets.

“We have seen a record level of seizures as we continue to use advanced technology, data and greater intelligence to ensure these drugs do not enter the country.”

The UK was one of the last EU countries to reclassify the khat in June 2014.

Prior to this date, more than 2,500 tonnes was annually imported, according to the Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).

That is the equivalent weight of around 208 double-decker buses worth of the stimulative drug.

Most of the shipments are thought to have been distributed and sold amongst east-African diaspora communities in Britain, such as Somalis and Ethiopians.

Dr Carrier said khat and cannabis, both plant-based drugs, have a similar policing system which could have contributed to a lack of data on how prevalent less drugs like khat may be.

“A lot of the drugs data gets conflated with data around cannabis and they tend to get pooled together.

“As far as I understand anyways,” he said.

UK Border Force tend to place khat into an “other class ” category, when reporting the drug.

Dr Carrier added: “What people suspected would happen at the time of the ban has happened.

“Khat is now being smuggled in, especially a dried khat, mostly coming in from Ethiopia, and it seems to have become quite popular.

“The people that do still want to consume, even though it’s been banned, can still consume it in a different form.”

Dried khat is less potent than the fresh plant and is said to provide a “less pleasant user experience” in terms of taste and texture.

Dr Carrier said that meant there is still a market for the drug: “Some people, if they can afford it, will still chew the fresh stuff.

“The fresh stuff is £30 to £40 a bundle.

“But there are people still willing to spend that kind of money on it.

“People are still accessing khat.”

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpl62dn26o?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-gb

Filed under: Khat,UK :

People smoke the stuff perfectly openly, without fear, with the threatened £90 fine seemingly a remote possibility.                                                                                                                           

by Zoe Strimpel – The Telegraph London author – 14 December 2024 4:09pm GMT

Sir Elton John Credit: Ben Gibson

Zoe Strimpel writes: I was about 23 and was still finding my feet socially in London. I’d always really been a champagne girl at heart but cannabis smoking was common in some of the circles I spent time in. It seemed so tacky and boring, the province of the sorts of bores one met while “travelling”, so I usually said no.

But one night in a run-down flat somewhere in north London, I went along with everyone else. Not long afterwards my heart began to pound like never before and a wave of horrible panic crashed over me, like I was trapped in a physiological nightmare and might die.

This was combined with a much more familiar sense of self-recrimination: why had I got myself into this? It wasn’t tempting in the first place and it could never have been worth it. And now I was paying the price – and so was the friend, now more like a sister to me, who had to tend to me in my tearful panic.

Since then, the pressure to imbibe cannabis has only grown and spread, from tatty student settings to (upper)-middle class and middle-aged environs.

Those who prefer to avoid the smoke element can still mainline the active ingredient – THC – by choosing from a wide range of edibles, which are generally like jelly babies. These make you (me) feel just as dreadful as the smoke sort, though mercifully without the stink.

All of which is why I am in full agreement with Elton John who, as Time magazine’s “icon of the year”, has lambasted the legalisation of pot in North America as “one of the greatest mistakes of all time”.

Sir Elton, himself an addict until he got sober 34 years ago, pointed out that: “It leads to other drugs. And when you’re stoned – and I’ve been stoned – you don’t think normally.”

This is a statement of blinding obviousness, and yet in our strange society it sounds reactionary, refreshing, courageous. How is it that a drug known – outside of carefully managed medical settings where it can help with pain and sleep – to trigger psychosis and turn people into paranoiacs and dullards, and, when smoked, to cause damage to the lungs and body, came to be considered safe by North American lawmakers?

To be seen as so perfectly respectable, fine and dandy that states explicitly give their blessing to recreational use of it? And this in an America that doesn’t let people drink until they are 21 or even touch containers of alcohol till that age, or in public.

In the UK, it is not legal and classed as a class B drug. But that does not mean that ‘it is not ubiquitous’.

This is depressing. I’m all for the exploration and titration of psychoactive drugs to help people in desperate need of pain relief. I am interested in, though not yet convinced by, use of mushrooms (psilocybin) and ecstasy (MDMA) in treating depression.

But the general prevalence of cannabis is a much drearier, bigger, more worrying issue, connected to a general sense of inconsistency and disconnected logic among law-makers and enforcers on one hand, and a sense that all we want to do is bury ourselves in escapist hedonism that alters our minds and our worlds so as to reduce the stress associated with, for instance, responsibility, reality and work.

Labour has indicated that it does not wish to legalise cannabis. But it seems happy, as do the police, with the fact that nobody cares about its technical illegality. People smoke the stuff perfectly openly, without fear, with the threatened £90 fine seemingly a remote possibility. Children therefore have to inhale it in parks. It is a gateway drug for hard drugs and criminality, and forms a familiar backdrop for the insouciant menace of gangs.

But according 2023 figures from the ONS, cannabis was by far the most-commonly used recreational drug in the UK, with 7.4 per cent of adults aged 16 to 59 saying they had consumed it in the last year.

The counter-currents in state attitudes to recreational drugs are just weird. Why does the state look benignly on the smoking of this illegal substance, and fail to promote information about the dangers of inhaling it via smoke (and edibles), but noisily pursue the outlawing of cigarette smoking for those born after a certain date?

Fags are toxic and cancer-causing, and nobody should have to regularly breathe second-hand smoke. But so long as the harm of smoking (the tar in tobacco) is limited to the smoker, and those who voluntarily inhale their smoke, the wider mental effects are not disturbing.

Nicotine alone doesn’t tend to ‘alter personality beyond recognition’ or induce fits of paranoia, depression, criminality or addiction to other substances.

And let’s face it: a waft of cigarette smoke is quite pleasant. Cigarettes retain a kind of aesthetic glamour; their use is not at odds with beauty, comfort, decadence and good conversation. Pot-smokers, instead, give off a polluting stink that lowers the tone of whatever environment one is in, makes conversation a thousand times more inane, and seems to celebrate the urge to do less, or nothing, smugly. Cannabis is deadening, however it is consumed.

Even among those who work hard and have children, cannabis rules, becoming a fixation without which no relaxation is possible, whipped out as soon as the working day ends or the children are asleep. Perhaps what we need is to find other ways to relax, like reading a good book. Or, of course, to stop chasing relaxation and indolence at all costs, full stop.

SOURCE: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/14/elton-john-is-right-cannabis-deadening-to-soul/

Filed under: Cannabis/Marijuana,Drug use-various effects,Health,Marijuana and Medicine,Mental Health,Prevention and Intervention,UK :

October 31, 2024

 

Scotland’s drug and alcohol deaths remain among Europe’s highest – despite an increase in spending and better national leadership.

The Scottish Government has made progress in increasing residential rehabilitation capacity and implementing treatment standards. However, it has been slow to progress key national strategies, such as a workforce plan and alcohol marketing reform. People in need still face many barriers to getting support. The workforce is under immense strain. And the increased focus on drug harm is shifting attention from tackling alcohol issues.

In 2023, there were 1,277 alcohol-specific deaths – the highest since 2008. And there were 1,172 drug misuse deaths, the second lowest number in the last six years. Scotland’s figures remain high compared to the rest of Europe despite alcohol and drug funding rising from £70.5 million in 2014/15 to £161.6 million in 2023/24.

Alcohol and drug services are co-ordinated by Alcohol and Drug Partnerships at a local level. But they have limited powers to influence change and direct funding, and their funding is falling in real terms due to inflation. Most alcohol and drug funding goes to NHS specialist services to treat people at crisis point. This means there is limited money to put into preventing people getting so ill in the first place.

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said:

The Scottish Government needs to develop more preventative approaches to tackling Scotland’s harmful relationship with alcohol and drugs. That means helping people before they get to a crisis point.

Ministers also need to understand which alcohol and drug services are most cost-effective, and plan how they will be funded when the National Mission ends in 2026. That’s especially important at a time of increasing strain on the public finances.

With many alcohol and drug workers reporting feeling under-valued and at risk of burn-out, there is also an urgent need to put a timeline against plans to address the sector’s staffing challenges.

Christine Lester, a member of the Accounts Commission, said:

Alcohol and drug services are complex and delivered by a wide range of partners. But there needs to be more collective accountability across the system for how each body is helping people whose lives have been blighted by alcohol and drugs.

Better information is needed to inform service planning and where funding should be prioritised. There is also more to do to tailor services to individual needs, using the experience of service users. Right now, not everyone can access the services they need, and that experience is worse for people facing disadvantage.

Source: https://audit.scot/news/prevention-focus-needed-to-tackle-alcohol-and-drug-harm

Filed under: Alcohol,Drug use-various effects,Prevention and Intervention,UK :

The drug and alcohol awareness event was held at Faizen-E-Madina Mosque on Gladstone Street

Shariqua Ahmed – BBC News, Peterborough

A drug and alcohol awareness event has taken place at a mosque to encourage Muslims and families struggling with addiction to seek help.

Dozens of people, including children, attended the workshop organised by Dr Azhar Chaudhry at Peterborough’s biggest Mosque, Faizan-E-Madina.

Dr Chaudhry said the issue of drug and alcohol dependency within the city’s Muslim community was “a huge problem”, but engaging with them had been a challenge due to cultural stigma.

Raja Alyas from Peterborough-based Aspire charity, which works with harder-to-reach communities, called it “a step in the right direction”.

Dr Azhar Chaudhry has been organising awareness workshops for the community as a volunteer over the years

‘Still work to be done’

Dr Chaudhry, who works at Thistlemoor Medical Centre, said the involvement of the mosque committee, who attended and helped organise it, was “encouraging”.

He said there was still work to be done on engaging with Mosques who can support initiatives like Aspire, but appreciated their efforts to work together.

He moved to the UK in 2001 from Pakistan and is part of the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA).

He runs other workshops on CPR, diabetes and cancer screening to raise awareness within the community as a volunteer.

“I love what I do. I am passionate about saving lives”, he said.

“You will be shocked to see how prevalent the drug and alcohol issues are in the Muslim community. I see it as a GP who works in a diverse part of the city.

“But it is difficult to engage with them, they don’t want to seek help.

“It is a sensitive issue for the community. There is a lot of stigma, so it needs to be addressed cautiously but attitudes are improving, hopefully.”

Aspire said the mosque committee has offered to help organise more regular drug and alcohol awareness events

Aspire works with Peterborough City Council, GPs and the Probation Service.

It also operates a clinic regularly at Thistlemoor Medical Centre to give people facing stigma a “discreet option” to seek help.

Mr Alyas said: “The workshop was well attended and was very interactive and great to see young people asking questions about how they can safeguard themselves.

“The young generation is being empowered with knowledge on making their decisions,” he said.

“It was good to see the attendees acknowledging that there is an issue. Previously, when we tired to set up a workshop like this it was not as well received.

“But the mosque saying they look forward to more events including for women is a step in the right direction.”

The event was organised by Dr Azhar Chaudhry and the Aspire charity and was supported by Faizan-E-Madina Mosque

Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crr92nyl7k4o

Filed under: Addiction,Alcohol,Drug use-various effects,UK :

Our research on the adverse effects of cannabis contributed to a major public debate and Government campaign to inform teenagers about the potential risks of cannabis.

Research led by Professors Terrie Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi, Philip McGuire, Sir Robin Murray, Louise Arseneault & Drs Paul Morrison & Marta Di Forti

Our research on the adverse effects of cannabis contributed to a major public debate and Government campaign to inform teenagers about the potential risks of cannabis.

Cannabis is the most widely used drug in the world, but its effect on mental health has only recently been uncovered.

Research led by Professors Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi demonstrated that the earlier people start using cannabis, the more likely they are to have symptoms of psychosis as a young adult. A study of 1,000 men and women in New Zealand showed that people who had been regular cannabis users at 15 were about four times more likely to have psychotic symptoms by the time they were 26 than their abstaining peers. The research also identified genetic variations that made people more vulnerable to the harmful effects of cannabis.

Further work led by Dr Marta Di Forti showed that people who smoke a potent form of cannabis (skunk) regularly are much more likely to develop psychosis than those who use traditional cannabis resin (hash) or old-fashioned grass.

Research led by Dr Paul Morrison helped explain why, by investigating the effects of the two main constituents of cannabis: THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive ingredient that produces the ‘high’, and CBD (cannabidiol), which seems to moderate the effect of THC. Skunk contains much more THC than hash or old-fashioned grass and virtually no CBD. Our research illustrated that an injection of pure synthetic THC can induce transient symptoms of psychosis in people who have no experience of mental health problems.

‘Overall, our research in this area had a major impact on the perception of the risks of cannabis use on mental health,’ says Philip McGuire, Professor of Psychiatry and Cognitive Neuroscience.

In the wake of these studies and other evidence from around the world linking cannabis use with psychosis, the Home Secretary asked the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to review the legal classification of cannabis in 2007. Professor Murray submitted written evidence to this review and Dr Morrison, spoke at a review meeting about the effects of THC and CBD.

In 2008, the ACMD reported that the majority of its members thought cannabis should remain as a class C drug, but confirmed that the drug, particularly skunk, can damage people’s mental health, especially if young people start to use it an early age.

Despite the recommendation, the Government decided to tighten the law and in 2009 the Misuse of Drugs Act cannabis was amended and cannabis was re-classified from class C (considered the least harmful), to class B, making it illegal to possess cannabis, give to friends or sell it.

Following reclassification, the Department of Health launched a major TV, radio and online campaign to demonstrate the role cannabis can play in the development of mental health problems. The ‘Talk to Frank’ television adverts, aimed at young people, illustrated how cannabis can contribute to paranoia and damage mental health.

Although cannabis is still the most widely used illicit drug in Britain, its use has been steadily declining. The 2011/12 Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that 15.7 per cent of young people said they had used cannabis in the previous year, the lowest level since measurement began in 1996, when 26 per cent of young people said they had taken cannabis.

Additionally, our research into the effects of CBD and THC has also led to a partnership with the pharmaceutical industry to develop a new antipsychotic medication based on CBD.

Source: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/spotlight/uncovering-the-link-between-cannabis-and-psychosis

Filed under: Brain and Behaviour,Cannabis/Marijuana,Mental Health,New Zealand,UK :

Cryptocurrency Tether enables a parallel economy that operates beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement

Wall Street Journal     Angus Berwick  and Ben Foldy       Sept. 10, 2024

A giant unregulated currency is undermining America’s fight against arms dealers, sanctions busters and scammers. Almost as much money flowed through its network last year as through Visa cards. And it has recently minted more profit than BlackRock, with a tiny fraction of the workforce. Its name: tether. The cryptocurrency has grown into an important cog in the global financial system, with as much as $190 billion changing hands daily.

In essence, tether is a digital U.S. dollar—though one privately controlled in the British Virgin Islands by a secretive crew of owners, with its activities largely hidden from governments.

Known as a stablecoin for its 1:1 peg to the dollar, tether gained early use among crypto aficionados. But it has spread deep into the financial underworld, enabling a parallel economy that operates beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement.

Wherever the U.S. government has restricted access to the dollar financial system—Iran, Venezuela, Russia—tether thrives as a sort of incognito dollar used to move money across borders.

Russian oligarchs and weapons dealers shuttle tether abroad to buy property and pay suppliers for sanctioned goods. Venezuela’s sanctioned state oil firm takes payment in tether for cargoes. Drug cartels, fraud rings and terrorist groups such as Hamas use it to launder income.

Yet in dysfunctional economies such as Argentina and Turkey, beset by hyperinflation and a shortage of hard currency, tether is also a lifeline for people who use it for quotidian payments and as a way to protect their savings.

Tether is arguably the first successful real-world product to emerge from the cryptocurrency revolution that began over a decade ago. It has made its owners immensely rich. Tether has $120 billion in assets, mostly risk-free U.S. Treasury bills, along with positions in bitcoin and gold. Last year it generated $6.2 billion in profit, outearning BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, by $700 million.

Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, boasted earlier this year that, with under 100 employees, it earned more profit per person than any company ever.

Tether wants “to build a fairer, more connected, and accessible global financial system,” Ardoino said in a May press release. He claims over 300 million people are using the currency.

With sanctions, Washington can cut adversaries off from the dollar and thus much of the global trading system, since all dollar transactions involve U.S. regulated banks. Tether’s popularity subverts those powers.

“We need a regulatory framework that doesn’t allow offshore dollar-backed stablecoin providers to play by a different set of rules,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told The Wall Street Journal. Adeyemo singled out tether in April testimony before Congress.

For this article, the Journal spoke with tether users, researchers and officials, and reviewed messages exchanged between intermediaries, court and corporate records, and blockchain data.

Tether didn’t respond to requests for comment. The company said in May it collaborates with law enforcement and was upgrading its capacity to monitor transactions for sanctions evasion. Tether voluntarily freezes digital wallets used to transfer its tokens that were connected with sanctioned entities, it says. Ardoino said Tether has a “proactive approach to safeguarding our ecosystem against illicit activities.”

How Tether works: The company behind tether, Tether Holdings, issues the virtual coins to a select group of direct customers, mostly trading firms, who wire real-world dollars in exchange. Tether uses those dollars to purchase assets, mostly U.S. Treasurys, that back the coin’s value.

Once in the wider market, tether can be traded for other tokens or traditional currencies through exchanges and local brokerages. In Iran, for example, a crypto exchange called TetherLand allows Iranians to swap rials into tether.

Tether vets the identities of its direct customers, but much of its vast secondary market goes unpoliced. The tokens can be pinged near-instantaneously along chains of digital wallets to obfuscate the source. A United Nations report this January said tether was “a preferred choice” for Southeast Asian money launderers.  The company says it can track every transaction on public blockchain ledgers and can seize and destroy tether held in any wallet.

But freezing wallets is a game of Whac-A-Mole. Between 2018 and this June, Tether blacklisted 2,713 wallets on its two most popular blockchains that had received a total of about $153 billion, according to crypto data provider ChainArgos. Of that massive sum, Tether could only freeze $1.4 billion because the rest of the funds had already been sent on.

Tether’s founders—a group that included a former plastic surgeon called Giancarlo Devasini—created the currency back in 2014. Uptake for a stable token was initially slim. The prospect of profiting from billions of accumulated dollars was a “fantasy,” said William Quigley, an investor who was part of the founding team.

He and other co-founders sold their stakes soon after to Devasini, who has run Tether ever since, according to people familiar with the company. The reclusive billionaire lives at a modernist villa in the French Riviera enclave of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, corporate records show. Ardoino, a fellow Italian, has become Tether’s public face.

Tether’s entry into the crypto mainstream came during the market’s 2020-2021 bull run, as traders used tether to buy and sell out of risky bets. Its market capitalization exploded from $4 billion to almost $80 billion.

The dollar for all: In Venezuela, financially isolated by sanctions and economic mismanagement, Tether found a ready user base.

President Nicolás Maduro’s government was under siege in 2020 from U.S. measures that targeted state oil firm Petróleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA. That October, Maduro’s parliament passed an “Anti-Blockade Law” that authorized the government to use crypto to protect its transactions.

PdVSA began demanding payment for oil shipments in tether, according to people familiar with its activities and transaction records. Purchase orders authorized by PdVSA often instructed buyers to transfer tether to a certain wallet address. Another method was for intermediaries to swap deliveries of cash for tether and load the tokens onto prepaid travel cards, which enabled holders to use crypto for purchases. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s parliament passed a law allowing the government to use crypto to protect its transactions. The company’s adoption of tether was so pervasive it had another effect: instead of sending oil revenues back to the government, the middlemen that PdVSA used for the sales diverted funds for themselves, leading to a scandal that toppled the oil minister.

“This cryptocurrency’s use only has served to perpetuate gigantic levels of corruption,” Rafael Ramírez, a former oil minister under Maduro, said in an interview.

Venezuela’s government didn’t respond to requests for comment. The country’s attorney general said in April that middlemen’s use of crypto made the stolen funds “undetectable” for authorities.

For regular Venezuelans, tether became a lifeline, too. Inflation that reached 2 million percent wiped out savings held in bolivars. Currency controls made bank transfers abroad impractical.

Guillermo Goncalvez, a 30-year-old Caracas graduate, runs a platform called El Dorado that offers Venezuelans peer-to-peer tether trading, which links buyers and sellers directly.  El Dorado has over 150,000 users, who pay fees that are a fraction of what traditional money remitters charge: local stores converting daily revenues into tether, Venezuelan migrants sending money back to families, and freelancers receiving salaries in USDT, as tether is also known. “USDT is the digital dollar for all Venezuelans,” Goncalvez said.

Enough money to fill a plane: In Russia, tether is a vital payment channel, the Journal has previously reported.

A confidential report drawn up this year by a government-backed Russian research center identified tether as one of the most popular ways for importers to convert rubles into foreign currencies. Major institutions are involved, too: Rosbank, a Russian lender, arranges tether transfers for clients to pay suppliers abroad, according to a company presentation circulated in June. Rosbank spokespeople didn’t respond to requests for comment.

It is also the go-to currency for Russia’s elite.

A glamorous fixer called Ekaterina Zhdanova told associates in Telegram messages in 2022 and 2023 that she was arranging huge ruble-for-tether deals for clients. Digital wallets she shared had transferred over $350 million in tether, according to blockchain data.

Born in a Siberian village, Zhdanova, 38 years old, ran a concierge service to help wealthy Russians get foreign visas, and a travel agency that organized luxury cruises. Her ex-husband was a top lieutenant for a billionaire Russian real-estate developer.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions amplified demand for her services.

Two months into the war, Zhdanova relayed a request from a client to a group of large Russian crypto traders, according to chats on Telegram. The client, who she said had their own bank, wanted to buy about $10 million of tether each month, needing $300 million’s worth in total, in exchange for cash that would be handed over in the United Arab Emirates or Turkey.

After finding a trader willing to accept the deal, Zhdanova told the group she could coordinate the cash’s collection. “They will use planes to pick up the cash,” she said.

Treasury sanctioned Zhdanova late last year, accusing her of transferring crypto on behalf of unnamed oligarchs. Police in France detained her around that time at an airport there as part of a separate French money laundering investigation, people familiar with her arrest said. She remains in custody. A lawyer for Zhdanova declined to comment.

‘Everything. Everywhere.’: Tether is now investing in startups that use tether for everyday payments. The more Tether can encourage its usage, the more tokens it needs to issue, and so the more dollars it will have to put to work.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, a popular landing spot for Russian émigrés, the token’s symbol—an encircled green “T”—glimmers outside money-change shops with blacked-out windows. Cash machines advertise that users can deposit bills for the stablecoin.

Ardoino, the Tether CEO, visited Georgia last year and approached government officials with an offer to help expand the local crypto economy. They signed a cooperation deal that Ardoino said would make the former Soviet republic a flourishing payments hub. Tether invested $25 million in local startups, according to Georgia’s innovation agency.

The main recipient of Tether’s financing, CityPay.io, has rolled out tether-payment systems for thousands of Georgian businesses. Hotels including Tbilisi’s downtown Radisson Blu Iveria have CityPay point-of-sale terminals, and it has joined with a property venture there to sell premium apartments in tether.

CityPay also facilitates international payments in tether for companies, totaling as much as $50 million a month, according to Eralp Hatipoglu, its Turkish CEO. He said the pressure the U.S. applied on the global banking system created these opportunities. Companies exporting from Turkey to Georgia get hammered with questions from correspondent banks, he said, and wire transfers take days. CityPay’s website advertises “100% anonymous transactions,” though Hatipoglu said they check clients’ identities against sanctions lists and don’t accept Russian businesses.

Tether has said it aims for CityPay to expand into other emerging markets. At a crypto conference in a Tbilisi skyscraper this June, sponsored by Tether and attended by its head of expansion, banners promoted the currency’s use for daily payments on CityPay. Guests queued to buy coffee in tether. “Pay with USDT,” read one sign. “Everything. Everywhere.”

 

Source: Tether: The Cryptocurrency Fueling the Financial Underworld – WSJ

Filed under: Australia,Canada,Crime/Violence/Prison,Drug Specifics,Economic,Europe,New Zealand,Others (International News),Prevalence,UK,USA :

Overview

In recent years, police forces in England and Wales have worked more closely with health, education and other local partners to address social issues, such as drug use, youth violence and people in mental health crisis.[1] This aims to ensure that vulnerable people are supported by the most appropriate professional, and that certain complex social issues are not automatically met with a criminal justice response.

These initiatives are sometimes referred to as public health approaches to policing.[2] They can include interventions aimed at preventing offending altogether (for example, early years school-based programmes), as well as ones covering offenders or people coming into contact with the police.[3]

In 2018, organisations representing public health bodies, health services, voluntary organisations and police forces signed an agreement to work more closely together to prevent crime and protect the most vulnerable people in England.[4] Public Health Scotland and Police Scotland announced a formal collaboration in 2021.[5] In 2019, Public Health England and the College of Policing published a discussion paper on public health approaches to policing,[6] and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners issued guidance in 2023 to support implementation of such approaches.3

Research has found that cooperation between police and health services can help to improve social outcomes. For example:

  • a 2017 study in the USA suggested that health services and police forces have worked effectively together to improve police responses to mental health-related encounters[7]
  • research in 2017 highlighted international examples of how formal collaboration between criminal justice and public health agencies helped to reduce youth violence[8]
  • a 2022 study found that nurses and police officers could develop collaborative teamwork practices in police custody suites in England[9] [10]

There are examples of police forces working with health partners and other agencies to improve responses to vulnerable people in England and Wales:

  • Under drug diversion schemes, police refer people caught in possession of small quantities to voluntary sector treatment services, rather than prosecute for a possession offence. As of 2024, diversion schemes were operating in Thames Valley,[11] West Midlands,[12] and Durham police force areas.[13] The College of Policing and the University of Kent have received funding to evaluate these schemes, which is expected to be completed in 2025.[14]
  • The Right Care, Right Person model aims to reduce the deployment of police to incidents related to mental health and concern for welfare, and instead ensure that people receive support from the most appropriate health or social care professional. Humberside Police developed the model, which includes training for police staff and partnership agreements between police, health and social services.[15] From 2023, police forces nationally were beginning to adopt it, with support from the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing.[16]
  • Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) bring together police, local government, health and education professionals, community groups and other stakeholders to provide a joint response to serious violence, including knife crime. The London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime established the first VRU in England and Wales in 2019. It states that it takes a public health approach to violence prevention,[17] including deploying youth workers in hospitals and police custody suites.[18] Between 2019 and 2022, the government funded 20 VRUs across England and Wales.[19] In 2019, the government provided funding for the Youth Endowment Fund, which funds and evaluates programmes in England and Wales that aim to prevent children and young people from becoming involved in violence.[20]

Since 2020, Scotland has seen increasing use of diversion from prosecution schemes.[21] In October 2024, the UK’s first official consumption facility for illegal drugs, including heroin and cocaine, was opened in Glasgow.[22]

Challenges and opportunities

In 2023, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services noted how police forces were often the “service of last resort” doing the work of other public services, especially with regards to mental ill health.[23] For some vulnerable people, police custody may provide their only space for healthcare interventions.10 Both police forces and voluntary organisations suggest that, at a time when police capacity is under pressure, public health approaches can reduce the amount of time police officers spend dealing with people with complex health needs, who may be referred to other health, care or support services.[24],[25] However, this can also lead to demand and capacity pressures being displaced onto these services.

For example, drug diversion schemes may increase the demand on local drug treatment services, which themselves are facing significant pressures. In her independent review of drugs for the government in 2021, Dame Carol Black raised significant concerns about the capacity and resourcing of drug treatment services in England, and the impact of funding reductions.[26] The Criminal Justice Alliance has called for increased funding for local drug services, to accommodate people being diverted away from the criminal justice system.[27]

The government’s 10-year drug strategy (2021) committed to invest £533 million into local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England from 2022/23 to 2024/25, as part of its aim to “rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England”.[28] In 2023, the Home Affairs Committee called for all police forces in England and Wales to adopt drug diversion schemes.[29] It also expressed concern about the long-term sustainability and security of funding for the drug treatment and recovery sector.26

Similar pressures in mental health services have led to concerns about the safety of the national rollout of Right Care, Right Person. In November 2023, the Health and Social Care Committee identified urgent questions around the available funding for health services, and the lack of evaluation, in the rollout of the scheme[30] The Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Nurses agreed that people with mental illness should be seen as quickly as possible by a mental health professional.[31],[32] However, they and other health, local government, and mental health charities, have expressed several concerns about the programme. These include: the speed and consistency of implementation, lack of funding, the potential for gaps in provision, and increased welfare risks.[33],[34],[35],[36]

Key uncertainties/unknowns

Outside the UK, some public health approaches have involved a significant shift away from enforcing drug possession for personal use through the criminal justice system.[37] For example:

  • Portugal decriminalised possession of drugs for personal use in 2001 and instead refers drug users to support and treatment.[38] Analysis of these measures from researchers and policy experts suggests decriminalisation led to reductions in problematic use, drug-related harms and criminal justice overcrowding.38,[39]
  • In the USA, Oregon trialled a policy in 2020 making drug possession a fineable offence.[40]
  • In Canada, British Columbia trialled an approach in 2023 that decriminalised possession of small amounts of certain drugs for personal use in specific non-public locations.[41]

Citing international examples, some drug policy experts have called on the government to go further in its adoption of a public health approach to drug use.37 The Home Affairs Committee stated in 2023 that the government’s drug strategy should have adopted a broader public health approach, and called for responsibility for misuse of drugs to be jointly owned by the Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care.26 In 2019, the Health and Social Care Committee recommended the government shift responsibility for drugs policy from the Home Office to the Department of Health and Social Care, and for the government to “look closely” at the Portugal model for decriminalisation of drug possession for personal use.[42]

However, Portugal’s approach has also faced criticism. For example, a research review in 2021 highlighted continued social and political resistance to some of the measures 20 years after being introduced.[43] A 2023 editorial in the Lancet highlighted how a recent rise in the use of illicit drugs in Portugal had led to renewed criticism of the policy.[44] More recently, some states in North America have reversed decriminalisation policies, reportedly due to adverse consequences of drug decriminalisation.33,[45], [46]

This points to a mixed evidence base internationally for a fully public health approach to drug use. However, it may be difficult to compare international examples, given the different models of decriminalisation that have been adopted, and in a variety of social, economic, political and legal systems.[47]

Key questions for Parliament

  • Should the government do more to support the implementation of public health approaches to policing across England and Wales, considering both the police, and health, care and other local services?
  • Should the police continue to implement the Right Care, Right Person model? Do mental health services have sufficient resource and capacity to bridge the gap?
  • Should drug diversion schemes be rolled out across England and Wales? Do drug treatment services have sufficient capacity and resource to respond to increased demand on services?
  • Should the government go further in taking a public health approach to drugs by decriminalising drug possession for personal use?
  • How effective have government measures to reduce youth violence been?
  • What international comparisons are useful for implementation of public health approaches to policing?

 

Source: DOI: https://doi.org/10.58248/HS62

Filed under: Crime/Violence/Prison,Health,Mental Health,Prevention and Intervention,Social Affairs,Treatment and Addiction,UK :

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