UK drug users 'damaging Colombia'
Drug users in the UK are causing an environmental catastrophe in Colombia, the country's vice-president has told a meeting of police chiefs. Speaking in Belfast, Francisco Santos Calderon said that 200,000 hectares of forest were being destroyed each year to produce the cocaine crop, coca. > Read more.

2008-11-20T11:21:44.080Z

Women and drug addiction
The most shocking thing about the modern drug user? That she could be someone like you. Anna Moore talks to three 'ordinary' women about their struggles with addiction. > Read more.

2008-11-05T09:53:37.151Z

Annual report 2008 from the EU drugs agency
The latest facts, figures and trends on drugs in Europe will be addressed in the upcoming Annual report 2008: the state of the drugs problem in Europe,from the Lisbon-based EU drugs agency, the EMCDDA. The report offers an overview of the drug situation across the 27EU Member States, Croatia, Turkey and Norway, and details the current legal, political, social and health responses. > Read more.

2008-10-23T13:56:55.042+01:00

Drug Free Work Week
Drug-Free Work Week is a dedicated time each year to highlight the benefits that drug-free workplace programs bring to employers, workers and communities. And, it’s a time to work toward making every week a drug-free work week!

It spreads the word that working drug free works to…

* Prevent accidents and make workplaces safer
* Improve productivity and reduce costs
* Encourage people with alcohol and drug problems to seek help

According to recent research, it’s a message that many workers need to hear.

* 75 percent of the nation’s current illegal drug users are employed—and 3.1 percent say they have actually used illegal drugs before or during work hours.
* 79 percent of the nation’s heavy alcohol users are employed—and 7.1 percent say they have actually consumed alcohol during the workday. > Read more.

2008-10-23T13:52:27.880+01:00

Study finds one in 20 has taken cocaine
ONE IN 20 Irish people and almost one in 10 young people have taken cocaine, a major all-Ireland study of the drug has found.
Men are twice as likely to use cocaine as women - 7 per cent prevalence as against 3 per cent. Regular and even daily use of the drug is increasing, according to the drug prevalence study carried out for the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD).
More than 150,000 people have used cocaine, including 111,000 young people and 21,500 regular users, the figures show. > Read more.

2008-10-23T13:49:14.514+01:00

Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland - Latest report
The National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) was established in response to the drug problem to assist in our continued need to improve our knowledge and understanding of problem drug use. The goal of the NACD is to advise the Government on problem drug use in Ireland in relation to prevalence, prevention consequences and treatment based on our analysis and interpretation of research findings. > Read more.

2008-10-23T13:42:25.264+01:00

2008-10-23T13:36:01.682+01:00

Cocaine traffickers switch from boats to submarines as they swamp US with drugs
Colombia's drug barons used to favour high-speed powerboats to export their deadly cargos, leading law enforcers on high-speed chases as they swamped America with narcotics.
Now, in an attempt to evade American surveillance, they are diverting their smuggling trade beneath the waves. Coast Guard and military patrols have reported a dramatic increase in do-it-yourself "semi-submersible" vessels that evade radar and sonar, barely breaking the ocean surface as they creep through the Pacific or the Caribbean. > Read more.

2008-10-19T11:49:45.610+01:00

Cannabis nets Dutch growers 2bln euros a year
Clandestine cannabis growers in the Netherlands net two billion euros (2.7 billion US dollars) a year -- worth almost half the country's horticultural sector -- a Dutch newspaper reported on Saturday.
By comparison, according to NRC Handelsblad, country's horticultural sector generates about 5.5 billion euros in annual income.
"There is major demand from England, Belgium, Germany, France, the Scandinavian countries and at the moment the Baltic countries," Max Daniel, the senior police officer who heads the Dutch agency charged with combatting cannabis-growing, told the newspaper. > Read more.

2008-10-19T11:46:48.840+01:00

Drivers to be given random breath tests
Drivers face random breath testing regardless of how they are driving, under government plans to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by drink driving.
Any motorist could be stopped by police under the proposals, which ministers believed would provide a more powerful deterrent.
Research has shown that many drivers exceed the alcohol limit because they believe they can still drive safely and that there is little chance of being caught. > Read more.

2008-10-19T11:43:29.837+01:00

Drugs crackdown sees 61 arrests
A crackdown on drugs offences in Brighton has seen 61 people arrested and 42 people charged.
Sussex Police said a further six people were arrested for related matters in the crackdown across the city. Det Ch Insp Ian Pollard said the action made "a real difference" by targeting both dealers and users. > Read more.

2008-10-19T11:39:54.980+01:00

Drug abuse a 'cause not effect' of social problems
Drug or alcohol abuse among children under the age of 15 is a cause and not an effect of a host of health and social problems, research has suggested.
Early drinking and drug-taking raise the future risk of addiction, teenage pregnancy, failure at school, sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) and crime, independently of other factors that might predispose to these outcomes, scientists have determined. > Read more

2008-10-17T09:59:48.379+01:00

Drunken admissions to hospitals triple
Alcohol-related admissions to two inner London hospitals have tripled in four years.
Psychiatrists say the number of patients treated at University College Hospital and the Whittington hospital rose from 998 in 2004-05 to 2,690 in 2007-08. There was also a 34 per cent increase in A&E attendances for excessive drinking. > Read more

2008-10-17T09:55:41.179+01:00

Going soft on cannabis is the worst thing I've seen in 28 years' policing, says stab horror officer
A senior police officer delivered a fierce attack on the reclassification of cannabis yesterday after a long-term user who ignored medical pleas to kick the habit was jailed for murdering his girlfriend.
Detective Superintendent Andy West said the decision to downgrade the drug from Class B to C was the 'worst thing' he had seen in 28 years of policing.
He spoke out after a judge jailed Marc Middlebrook for the murder of Stephanie Barton, a 32-year-old trainee accountant. > Read more.

2008-10-17T09:48:44.487+01:00

The Big Question: Why is opium production rising in Afghanistan, and can it be stopped?
Why are we asking this now?
Nato and the US are ramping up the war on drugs in Afghanistan. American ground forces are set to help guard poppy eradication teams for the first time later this year, while Nato's defence ministers agreed to let their 50,000-strong force target heroin laboratories and smuggling networks. > Read more

2008-10-16T18:54:31.675+01:00

Next steps for tougher action on cannabis
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith today confirmed that repeat cannabis offenders will face tougher penalties. People caught carrying cannabis for a second time could now face an on-the-spot fine of £80 instead of a warning. This was announced alongside a Parliamentary Order laid to reclassify the drug to Class B from 26 January 2009. > Read more

2008-10-16T18:51:04.022+01:00

Teenage timebomb: The devastating legacy of modern youngsters' addiction to alcohol
Dressed in a shimmering top, tiny denim hot-pants and a pair of towering red high heels, the teenage girl had clearly been planning a big night out. So much so that she had even secreted a fake ID in her handbag, transcribing the fictitious date of birth in ballpoint pen on the inside of her wrist as an aide memoire. > Read more

2008-10-16T18:46:15.993+01:00

Were we wrong to go continental on booze?
Britain's attempt to embrace a European-style approach to drinking may have brought it new dangers. In recent years, Britain has sought to shed its image as the home of the lager lout by adopting a more relaxed, European approach to alcohol, but could it be that our continental cousins have led us astray? > Read more.

2008-09-29T09:59:19.688+01:00

Cannabis co-ordinator spearheads the drive to cut cannabis cultivation.
Detecting and disrupting organised criminals who supply cannabis are the aims of the new Cannabis Co-ordinator, former Chief Superintendent Mark Matthews, the Home Office and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) announced today. > Read more.

2008-09-29T09:54:07.576+01:00

Drugs misuse is on the increase.
ALCOHOL and drug abuse is destroying more and more lives in Swansea, a leading expert has warned. An increasing number of families were being caught up, said Swansea Drugs Project director Ifor Glyn, and the threat was greater than ever. Mr Glyn said efforts to tackle the problem must be stepped up. He was speaking at the project's annual general meeting on Thursday. > Read more.

2008-09-21T22:21:02.646+01:00

Addiction to opiate-based painkillers: the facts.
White-collar employees working long hours and prone to tension headaches are those most likely to become addicted to painkillers.
Medicines containing opiates can include cough/cold treatments, painkillers, analgesic tablets and capsules, and some diarrhoea medication, according to the Over-Count Drugs Information and Advice Agency. > Read more

2008-09-17T20:47:38.456+01:00

Confessions of an opiate-eater.
Step into any chemist and you'll find a huge array of powerful painkillers – all available without a prescription. Legal they may be, but they're far from harmless. This is the story of one man's battle with a crippling secret addiction to over-the-counter drugs that nearly cost him his health – and his medical career. > Read more

2008-09-17T20:43:01.186+01:00

Revealed: the nine types of heavy drinker.
The Department of Health will today identify the nine personality types of heavy drinkers at risk of liver damage and other alcohol-related illnesses that are costing the NHS in England about £2.7bn a year. > Read more.

2008-09-17T17:48:16.875+01:00

2008-09-13T17:58:07.639+01:00

2008-09-13T17:52:37.237+01:00