Police Find 20 Cannabis Farms Every Day

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Admin

A total of 7,865 farms were found across the UK in 2011/12 – up 15% from 6,866 in 2009/10 and more than a 150% increase on the figure four years ago.

In the two years since the last report by the association of chief police officers (Acpo), some 1.1 million plants with a street value of £207.4m have been discovered.

The number of offences related to cannabis production is also increasing, up from 14,982 in 2010/11 to 16,464 last year.

Police chiefs say the size and scale of cannabis-growing operations are reducing as criminals spread the risk and use so-called “gardeners” to manage small sites in residential areas.

Scotland Yard Commander Allan Gibson, the lead on cannabis cultivation for the police chiefs, said: “Commercial cannabis cultivation continues to pose a significant risk to the UK.

“Increasing numbers of organised crime groups are diverting into this area of criminality but we are determined to continue to disrupt such networks and reduce the harm caused by drugs.

“This profile provides a detailed analysis of the current threat from commercial cultivation of cannabis and the work undertaken by law enforcement agencies to combat the threat.”

The highest number of farms – 936 – were found in the West Yorkshire force area, with the equivalent of 42 factories per 100,000 people, according to the Acpo figures.

South Yorkshire had 851 farms but there were 64 per 100,000 people, giving it the highest ratio in the UK.

The West Midlands had 663 farms, the Metropolitan Police 608 farms and Avon and Somerset 653 farms.

Devon and Cornwall saw the highest rise since the last report, up a massive 1,664% from 11 in 2009/10 to 183 in 2011/12.

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Legal High Linked To Deaths To Be Banned

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Admin

The bodies of a 59-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man were found in Leicester and Melton Mowbray on February 11 and 12.

It is believed they may have taken some form of the drug after buying it over the internet.

Methoxetamine, or mexxy, which is used as an alternative to ketamine, will initially be made illegal for 12 months while Government advisers decide whether to ban it completely.

Crime prevention minister Lord Henley said: “Making this drug illegal sends a clear message to users and those making and supplying it that we are stepping up our fight against substances which are dangerous and ruin the lives of victims and their families.

“But making drugs illegal is only part of the solution.

“It is important for users of these harmful substances to understand that just because they are described as legal highs, it does not mean they are safe or should be seen as a ‘safer’ alternative to illegal substances.”

Anyone caught making, supplying or importing the drug faces up to 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine.

Under the change in law, police and border officials will also have new powers to search or detain anyone they suspect of having the drug and seize, keep or dispose of a substance they suspect is methoxetamine.

After its growing use as a party drug, the Home Office referred mexxy to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) for its views on controlling it earlier this month.

The drug, used as an alternative to ketamine, is widely available on the internet.

Its effects include a faster heart rate, hallucinations, hypertension, loss of balance, higher blood pressure, agitation and cardiovascular conditions.

Tests by the ACMD also found evidence that use of methoxetamine can lead to “significant additional toxicity”.

Professor Les Iversen, chairman of the ACMD, said: “The evidence shows that the use of methoxetamine can cause harm to users.”

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Sam Tantum, (EQHS Manager)

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Admin

As a Health & Safety Manager for a commercial cleaning and maintenance company, one of our largest contracts is for a large chain of pubs/restaurants across South Wales. The Drug and Alcohol Awareness Course provided me with valuable insight into not only the signs and symptoms of substance abuse, but also the necessary skills required to write and manage our company Drug and Alcohol policy. One of my area managers also attended the course and commented on how the course had really “opened her eyes” to substance abuse, the signs and from a managers point of view, how to address and deal with situations of drug and alcohol abuse in her staff.

Due to the nature of our work, our staff are in situations where alcohol (and by the nature of todays society) drugs are frequently in their workplace. I have no doubt that attendance on this course will allow us to recognise, address and deal with substance abuse within the workplace. I would thoroughly recommend this course to anyone in a position of authority within any industry, in particular, I would recommend that anyone who has had little or no dealing with drugs and drug culture attends to give them a valuable insight into the world we live and work in today. (There were certainly a few on our course who appeared to have their eyes opened during the day!!)

In summary, anyone who manages, supervises or employs others (or indeed are parent of teenage children!)cannot afford to miss this course and I would recommend the services of ScreenSafeUK to anyone wishing to expand their knowledge of substance abuse.

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Sun-dried tomatoes linked to hepatitis A outbreak

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Admin

Four of the seven infected people had consumed sun-dried tomatoes

UK health experts believe sun-dried tomatoes could be the cause of a recent outbreak of hepatitis A.

The Health Protection Agency and the Food Standards Agency fear contaminated samples were to blame for the infection that hospitalised four people and caused illness in another three people in late 2011.

Hepatitis A virus is carried by human faeces and can be passed on through contact with food or water.

Severe cases can lead to liver failure.

All of the seven people infected have since made a recovery.

One of the strains of hepatitis A identified in two of the patients was identical to a strain that caused a similar outbreak linked with sun-dried tomatoes in the Netherlands in 2010, says a report.

Four of the patients in this latest outbreak in England said they had consumed sun-dried tomatoes.

Hepatitis

  • Hepatitis A – the most common type and is usually caught via contaminated food or water. Usually short-lived. Vaccine is available
  • Hepatitis B – passed from person to person through unprotected sex or by sharing needles to inject drugs. Vaccine is available
  • Hepatitis C – usually transmitted through blood-to-blood contact. No vaccine
  • Hepatitis D – only possible to have hepatitis D if you have hepatitis B. Affects about 5% of those with hep B
  • Hepatitis E – rare in the UK and usually caught via contaminated food or water

Officials are on the alert for further cases. But they say they do not know which brands of sun-dried tomatoes might be involved. This is because there is no reliable test to find the virus in food.

A spokeswoman for the Food Standards Agency said: “Sun-dried tomatoes are being investigated as one possible source of the hepatitis A cases reported last year.

“However, no food source has been conclusively identified so far and no other relevant cases have been reported in the UK since November 2011. The investigation by FSA and HPA is ongoing.”

Hepatitis A is a notifiable condition. This means that when the condition is diagnosed, the doctor making the diagnosis must inform the local authority.

In most cases the infection is relatively short-lived and people recover within a couple of months.

reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17257225

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Drug Abuse Highest in Scotland: UN Survey

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Admin

A survey of 200 countries was conducted by the UN, which revealed that Scotland has the worst drug abuse rates in the world. The country is getting awful in per-head use of heroin, ecstasy and cocaine, which is the highest there than in any other country across the world.

Also, it was recorded that 4% of Scotland’s population is consuming the class A drug cocaine regularly, which is the highest found anywhere around the globe. These are some really shocking figures for the country.

Scotland is high by three times above the world’s average, with 1.5% Scot adults injecting or smoking opiates. This fatal and serious issue has been now thrown over the heads of Government who have been blamed by the narcotics experts for not administrating lucid policies over this grave issue.

Also, it has been said that the Scottish Government has failed constantly over handling the misuse of these drugs. This situation is further deteriorating a prosperous business in the country. Professor Graeme Pearson, former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said that it will affect the country’s ability to draw the entrepreneurs.

He added, “If you have millions of pounds to invest do you choose an area with a drug problem and take a risk in terms of whether the workforce is going to deliver, or do you set up somewhere where drug abuse is falling? The answer is obvious”.

Reference: http://topnews.co.uk/210357-drug-abuse-highest-scotland-un-survey

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The new drugs replacing cocaine among London’s drug-abusing professionals

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Admin

Once upon a time cocaine laced every other cubicle in London. Is that still the case?

Lara* had been at the fundraiser for almost three quarters of an hour when she got the text. On either side of her sat the A-listers she’d somehow managed to shoehorn into supporting her event. A real coup for both her and the company she worked for.

She hesitated only a moment before making her excuses and slipping out to meet a client on a back street around the corner from the venue. She was in the City – luckily there were plenty of back streets. She met her client for about four minutes, apologising profusely for being in such a rush. She would repeat the exercise about five times that evening.

Alongside her day job as an events manager, for which she earns a £30,000 salary, Lara is a ketamine dealer. The clients she was popping out to meet that night were ketamine users.  

Lara went to a red brick university. She loves asparagus. She wouldn’t do ketamine in the workplace, though, choosing instead a stimulant like mephedrone, otherwise known as MCAT or, if you’re a Daily Mail reader, miaow miaow.

Lara isn’t an exception. Be it cocaine or mephedrone, the London workplace is awash with drugs. The government is losing the war.

Ten years ago, research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) put the cost of problems caused by drugs and alcohol misuse in the workplace at £800m. It is thought that since 2002, drug taking in Britain has increased. Indeed, the CMI hinted at a rise even then, with 16 per cent of managers saying that drugs misuse had increased.

Drugs in the workplace: the rise of ketamine

In November last year, LondonlovesBusiness.com and ComRes conducted its own survey of 500 London mid-managers. The poll revealed one in 10 London managers actively take drugs in the workplace.

For 21 per cent of those users, the reason they do so is because their boss does.

While cannabis and cocaine were the most popular choices of drugs used at work or at a work social event (40 per cent of users admitted to using cocaine), ketamine came sixth place, closely behind MDMA; 10 per cent of users admitted to taking ketamine.

In London today, ketamine is in short supply. My source, let’s call him Joel, is a charming 29-year-old with great abs. He’s just come from the gym. Tonight he’s off to see the new West End play that everyone’s raving about.

There’s been a crackdown on production in India, which is a major source for the drug, he explains. A class C substance, ketamine is used in both humans and animals as an anaesthetic and indices a state known as dissociative aesthesia. The translates to a sedative, downer type high which if taken in high-enough quantities can make users trip, sometimes to the extent they enter what is known as a K-hole. Not very conducive to work – unless, that is, if you work in the creative industries perhaps. 

About four or five years ago a gang of well-educated graduates lounged on a beach in Goa. They were there for the culture, the sun, the food and the ketamine. Since that time members of said gang have gone on to run major public events, curating weird and wonderful themes, and have written hit TV sitcoms – one of the biggest in the last 10 years in fact, which you definitely would have heard of. Some still partake in ketamine, if to a lesser degree. It helps them unwind.

Beyond ketamine: the new designer drugs sweeping London’s workforce

So with London in the throes of a ketamine drought, what is the answer? Joel explains that there’s a new kid on the block now. Nobody’s really sure what it’s called, but they think it could be methoxetamine, a slight variant on the chemical structure of ketamine. It still has the dissociative side effects but without the same intensity, he says. It also hoped, although is as yet unconfimed, that methoxetamine won’t cause the same bladder malfunctions that ketamine can cause.

This remaking of drugs is of course what drives the drug squads so crazy. No sooner is a drug made illegal when chemists find a new way or producing the drug with a substitute component.

This onslaught of readily available drugs had become a major worry to employers. In 2007, the City of London Corporation published a report titled Tackling alcohol and drugs in the workplace. Its research found that 22 per cent of London businesses reported absenteeism as a direct result of drug abuse.

Only a few months ago LondonlovesBusiness.com published The City’s toxic new drug trends, an expose of drug abuse in the City. The feature highlights the prevalent use of drugs such as GHB among City boys.

Interestingly, the 2007 City of London report cites ecstasy, cannabis, alcohol, cocaine and heroin as substances to watch out for, but neglects new kids on the block such as GHB.

There’s a whole host of other substances not listed in fact. These include 2CI, 2CB, 2CE, GBL, GBH, mephedrone, ketamine, methamphetamine, speed, crack and opium – all of which are increasingly commonplace in London. With these designer drugs creating hybrid-like mix and match highs (2CI, 2CB and 2CE replicate acid type trips but without the same intensity, or for the same period of time), those with demanding jobs can achieve shorter highs with shorter comedowns.

It is easier than ever to be a drug user, says Joel. Traditionally “white” industries like advertising may no longer be awash with cocaine, but their workers are still at it – it’s just not called cocaine.

* All names were changed for this article

 reference: http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/commentanalysis/the-new-drugs-replacing-cocaine-among-londons-drug-abusing-professionals/1754.article

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Hepatitis C Now Killing More Americans Than HIV

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Admin

The number of people who die from HIV-related causes each year in the U.S. is now down to about 12,700—from a peak of more than 50,000 in the mid-1990s—thanks to condom education and distribution campaigns, increased testing and improved treatments. But now a different infectious disease is quietly killing even more people than HIV is: Hepatitis C.

The majority of the 3.2 million people who are estimated to have chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the U.S. are baby boomer adults.

And most of those infected with the virus do not know that they have it, which means they could easily be spreading it to others via exposure to blood—or, occasionally, sexual contact.

Although long-term intravenous drug users are at particular risk, so are “those who experimented with  [such] drugs for a limited time in their youth,” Harvey Alter and T. Jake Liang, both of the National Institutes of Health, wrote in an essay published online Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine. “These bygone experiences do not often connote risk to the affected persons nor serve as a reason to seek testing,” they noted, making this slow-developing disease difficult to catch before it develops into cirrhosis or liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). Their essay was part of a four-paper special series on hepatitis C.

More than 15,000 people died from hepatitis C-related issues in the U.S. in 2007—about three quarters of whom were people aged 45 to 64, according to Alter and Liang. And that number is expected to double as the bulk of the population with the disease get older. The cost of treating all of these people is likely to top $6.7 billion in the decade of 2010 to 2019.

Much of that growth is anticipated because those infected with hepatitis C often don’t seek treatment until the disease has caused serious damage, according to another paper published Monday in the same issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. “Hepatitis C virus infection is often asymptomatic or causes nonspecific symptoms (depression, arthralgia and fatigue) for decades,” Kathleen Ly, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and her colleagues wrote in their paper.

The good news for those who do get diagnosed is that new hepatitis C drugs are coming onto the market. But they are not cheap. One new promising one, a protease inhibitor called boceprevir, runs about $1,100 per week, which when added to the double-drug cocktail of interfearon and the antiviral ribavirin, makes for especially expensive treatment. Some researchers have proposed that testing patients for a genotype that has a cure rate of less than 40 percent with previous treatment might help make treatment the more cost effective.

A new analysis in the same issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, led by Shan Liu of the Center for Health Policy at Stanford University, found that giving HCV patients of all genotypes a triple-drug cocktail is, indeed, cost-effective for allowing patients to live longer, healthier lives. And as Alter and Liang pointed out, as opposed to HIV or even hepatitis B, HCV can often be effectively cured after six months to a year of antiviral treatment. “Every effectively treated high-risk individual diminishes the infectious pool and the likelihood of secondary transmission.”

With treatment options expanding, many researchers are turning their attention back to the question of locating patients. “As innovative treatments for hepatitis C follow their now-destined progression, the most burning question will not be whether to treat, but rather how to identify the many chronic HCV carriers who are unaware of their infection and are at risk for cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, or hepatocellular carcinoma,” Alter and Liang wrote.

Knowing that those born between 1945 and 1964 are at the highest risk for HCV infection could help guide screening, according to another study published in the same issue of the journal, led by David Rein, of the CDC. “Because HCV progresses slowly, the risk for serious complications is increasing among infected Americans as time passes,” he and his colleagues wrote. “Without changes in current case identification and treatment, deaths from HCV are forecasted to increase to 35,000 annually by 2030.”

 

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Driver’s under the influence of cannabis are twice as likely to crash

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Admin

People who use marijuana before driving are nearly twice as likely to cause a car crash as those not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a Canadian analysis of previous studies.

Experts at Dalhousie University in Canada reviewed nine studies of more than 49,000 people involved in accidents on public roads involving one or more motor vehicles, including cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles. Marijuana use was confirmed by blood tests or self-reporting.

Researchers found drivers who had used marijuana within three hours of beginning to drive had nearly double the risk of causing a collision, especially those that were fatal.

Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug worldwide and rates of its use in drivers are increasing. A 2007 study in Scotland found 15 percent of 537 drivers aged 17 to 39 had used marijuana within 12 hours.

Some experts said education campaigns about the dangers of doing drugs before driving wouldn’t work.

People “will also need to be persuaded that they are at risk of their cannabis use being detected,” wrote Wayne Hall of the University of Queensland in an accompanying editorial.

Hall said more research was needed to prove whether roadside drug testing, as introduced in parts of Australia and the U.S., actually prevents more drug-related car accidents.

The study was published Friday in the journal, BMJ.

Reference: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46343686/

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Jobs/Career’s

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Admin

To apply for upcoming vacancies please send your cv to enquiries@screensafeuk.co.uk

 

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New Instant Test for Synthetic Cannabis (K2/Spice)

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Admin

ScreenSafe UK are pleased to announce the arrival of new urine dip tests for “Synthetic Cannabis”.  Undetectable by traditional Cannabis drug tests, some of these illegal substances can now be detected using a simple single dip test.

Known commonly as “K2” or “Spice” these were originally legally sold as “herbal highs” and claimed to be made from a combination of herbs which, when smoked, mimicked the effects of smoking Cannabis.

Laboratory research into the contents of the products identified several chemical additives and found that some of the claimed herbal content was absent. The chemicals were attributed to the Cannabinoid-like effect of smoking the material, rather than the “herbs” themselves.

Further studies found that the identified chemical additives could be a more potent mixture than Cannabis alone, with some reporting side effects such as paranoia and psychosis. The UK Government made several of the chemicals Class B controlled drugs in 2009, meaning it is illegal to possess or supply them, or substances containing them.

Our K2/Spice urine dips come in hygienic plastic cartridge form, with a replaceable cap, and are flat to enable scanning or photocopying of the result if required. Contact enquiries@screensafeuk.co.uk or call 08450 505 590 for more details.   

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