GLASGOW - Every Friday for the past two months, Peter Krykant has parked his white van on Parnie Street in central Glasgow, around the corner from a games shop and several art galleries, and waited for people to come by and inject illegal drugs. Inside the van are two seats and two tables, each with a stainless steel tray and hypodermic needles, as well as several biohazard trash cans. The van is also equipped with naloxone, the medication used to reverse an opioid overdose, and a defibrillator. (There are Covid-19 safety precautions, too: hand sanitizer and a box of masks.) [continues 1349 words]
Dopey cops warning shopkeepers about the law on cannabis pipes are directing them to a website which campaigns to legalise the drug. The gaffe by Strathclyde Police comes after a Glasgow trader had UKP 3000-worth of stock seized. The haul included pipes, water pipes known as bongs, and magazines outlining cultivation of the controlled substance. A trader asked Strathclyde police for advice on selling his products - and was referred to a website which sets out the Misuse of Drugs Act. [continues 192 words]
Former Bay City Rollers boss Tam Paton's record fine for drug offences has started a legal row. Prosecutors say the pop promoter turned property tycoon should not have been ordered to pay a UKP 200,000 penalty before they had been given time to go through his books in search of possible profits from drug-dealing. Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC, Scotland's top law officer, is appealing against the way the fine was imposed by judge Roderick Macdonald QC. [continues 479 words]
Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum Councillor Says Residents of Kirkcudbright have been told to wake up to the escalating drugs problem facing them. A stark picture of a growing drugs culture affecting all walks of life has been painted by a community councillor and backed up by her fellow members. Councillors were also told by community police officer Terry Butcher that it was time for the public to start sticking their heads above the parapet and support the police to rid the town of the growing menace. [continues 711 words]
The massive heroin haul was made on the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road at the Airport roundabout just outside Bucksburn. The success came just three weeks after 1 million UKP of drugs were recovered at the Bridge of Dee. A 35-year-old North-east man was due to appear in private at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today in connection with yesterday's haul. Drug squad and traffic police made the find when they swooped on a car shortly before midday yesterday. [continues 197 words]
POLICE have launched a website to warn parents and children of the dangers of crack cocaine following a dramatic rise in its use. The taking of crack and cocaine powder has increased by more than 200 per cent in Scotland in the past five years. Police claim some clubbers in Edinburgh are now using the drugs instead of Ecstasy. Officers and drug agencies are becoming increasingly alarmed at the number of young people taking crack, the more addictive, smokeable form of cocaine. [continues 475 words]
THE Scottish Executive launched its latest drugs initiative yesterday, targeting the families of abusers. A two-day conference in Glasgow played host to more than 100 people in a move which aims to focus on the problems experienced by those living with an abuser. The national event, hosted by Argyll and Clyde Alcohol and Drug Action Team, is the first to take into account the experiences of family members rather than professionals. Recent statistics revealed there were an estimated 55,800 problematic drug users in Scotland. The research also indicated that drug misuse affected communities throughout Scotland as a whole and not simply in urban areas. [continues 225 words]
PRESCRIBING heroin on the NHS may be a "necessary evil" to tackle Scotland's worsening drug addiction problem, campaigners said yesterday. Alastair Ramsay, the director of Scotland Against Drugs, said giving GPs the authority to prescribe heroin would help drug users to access medical services for treatment and help reduce the damaging effects of drug-related crime. His comments came as it emerged that the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee is set to recommend a network of "safe injecting areas", where addicts can use diamorphine, or medical heroin, prescribed by doctors. [continues 441 words]
Scheme Seems To Be Producing Welcome Results We would expect the Scottish Executive to be upbeat about the early results of a novel initiative it is supporting with public funds to reduce drug abuse and drug-related crime. There is a lot more than political credibility riding on the drug-court regime being tested in Glasgow. Drug-related crime costs Scotland many millions of pounds a year and wrecks countless lives, afflicting the victims as well as the perpetrators who rob and mug to fuel habits that can eventually kill. The executive has embarked on a bold scheme to stop the revolving door that leads from addiction to criminality to court to prison to release and back again to crime and another custodial sentence. In the process, the convicted addict learns nothing but more bad habits in prison. The cycle is as wasteful as it is depressingly predictable. It closes out the notion of rehabilitation. Yet no criminal justice system can be effective without rehabilitation. The drug courts, being piloted in the city with the biggest drug problem in Scotland, offer rehabilitation and, in the process, hope for the person who comes under their jurisdiction, as well as society generally. [continues 296 words]
POLITICIANS are to press for a review of controversial changes to customs and excise services in Scotland - as senior officials claimed its coastline had become a "soft touch" for smugglers. The Scotsman understands that a report by a Westminster select committee this week will voice serious concerns over surveillance and security along beaches and remote harbours, particularly in the north-east and west. Members of the Scottish affairs committee may also call for a further investigation to assess whether the number of officers at key points along the coastline should to be increased. [continues 569 words]
SCOTLAND'S first cannabis cafe could be open for business next month, one of the owners of the controversial enterprise told The Herald last night. Kevin Williamson, founder of the Rebel Inc publishing firm, posted details of the new Rebel Inc Coffeeshop planned for "the heart of Edinburgh" on his website yesterday afternoon. On it, he describes how the members-only establishment will eventually sell cannabis direct to customers as a means of cutting out the adulterated supplies in the city's deprived areas. [continues 293 words]
A MAJOR operation to cut off criminals' outlets for stolen goods is being launched by Grampian Police to try to break the "steal, sell, buy drugs" culture in Aberdeen. Police say within hours of housebreakings, car thefts or muggings many offenders have sold the spoils of their crime at a knockdown price to pay for their next fix. Officers' aim is to identify places where stolen goods are "fenced" and to disrupt the chain of events to such an extent that it will not be easy to quickly sell goods to feed a drug habit. [continues 277 words]
THE possession of small amounts of cannabis should be legalised and being caught with cocaine or heroin should not automatically mean jail, according to a former head of Lothian's drugs squad. Superintendent Jinty Kerr - the first woman to run a drugs squad in Scotland - said allowing people to have cannabis for personal use would allow the police to target drug dealers. And simply throwing people into prison because they are using class A drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, is not the way to solve the country's drugs problems, she said. [continues 698 words]
DOCTORS in the Highlands are calling for local drug support services to be established as a matter of urgency after police confirmed there had been a significant rise in the availability of heroin in the area. The Herald reported last month GPs had written to the health minister requesting a share of funding to help them deal with a growing problem. Now, figures from police confirm a significant rise in heroin seizures. Northern Constabulary netted more of the class A drug in the first three months of this year than in the whole of 2001. Last year, they seized three times as much heroin as the year 2000. But the police were unable to give precise figures of how much heroin was involved. The number of drug offences has also increased from 1188 in 2000 to 1701 last year, the police said. [continues 456 words]
ONE of Scotland's most prominent business leaders has called for all drugs to be legalised. Ivor Tiefenbrun, founder and managing director of hi-fi firm Linn Products, said he has held the view since watching close friends die from heroin overdoses or battle their addictions. The millionaire entrepreneur revealed that as a youngster in Govanhill, on the south side of Glasgow, three of his neighbours died from fatal doses of the drug. Tiefenbrun added that he was "deeply unimpressed" by the Scottish Executive's stance on drugs and accused them of lacking vision. [continues 182 words]
The Scottish Prison Service is offering a radical new drugs programme to prevent the deaths of offenders when they leave prison. Under the Retox Programme, prisoners who warn they intend to use heroin on release, will be offered methadone. The SPS said the move marked a radical and realistic approach to drug abuse among inmates. A spokesman said as many as three out of four prisoners are drug abusers. Some are victims of overdose when they are released because their bodies cannot cope with the drugs. [continues 97 words]
PRISONERS in Scotland's jails are being offered a heroin substitute to wean themselves back on to drugs shortly before they are released into the community, The Scotsman can reveal. Inmates with a history of drug addiction prior to their sentences are being offered methadone in jail if they tell prison doctors they are likely to return to heroin use as soon as they are released. The Scottish Prison Service has introduced the controversial pilot scheme, called the Retox Programme, to help to prevent the growing number of released prisoners overdosing on heroin while on parole. [continues 693 words]
THE number of drug addicts using methadone in Grampian has almost quadrupled in the past four years, prompting an MSP to question the success of its use. The number of dispensed items of methadone rose from about 70,000 in 1996-97 to more than 270,000 in 2000-01 - twice the national increase. The figure emerged following a parliamentary question by Richard Lochhead, North-East SNP MSP, to Malcolm Chisholm, the health minister. One leading drugs worker said the increase was "absolutely no surprise at all" and reinforced the view of her agency that the methadone programme was not working. However, Grampian Health Board strenuously denied that claim. [continues 349 words]
THE Scottish executive is being urged to help tackle a growing heroin problem in Lochaber after GPs highlighted a series of drugs-related suicides. Senior partners in the three doctors' surgeries in Fort William have written to Malcolm Chisholm, the health minister, calling for improved facilities for drug users. Dr Michael Foxley, Dr Chris Robinson and Dr Jim Douglas say there is a "serious and significant" heroin problem in Lochaber, bringing with it related problems such as hepatitis C. "Sadly we have had several drug-related suicides of young people within the last couple of years. There is widespread use of other illegal drugs throughout Lochaber." [continues 157 words]
A FLOOD of cheap heroin is heading for the streets of Scotland because of a massive increase in opium production in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted. United Nations experts have put European cities on full-scale alert after they discovered that farmers in the country are threatening to reclaim their position as the world's biggest producers of illicit heroin. Farmers are preparing to reap up to 2,700 tonnes of opium, producing some 250 tonnes of pure heroin, in the next few months. The bumper harvest is 14 times bigger than the amount grown in the country last year, when production was outlawed as 'un-Islamic' by the fundamentalist Taliban regime. [continues 1288 words]
Resources Plea To Protect Children THE head of the Glasgow children's panel called last night for more resources to protect children from the threat of abuse by parents who are drug addicts. The call by Marian Pagani follows the case of Mark Connelly, a drug addict who starved and beat his lover's 33-month-old son before leaving him to die in a freezing room. The High Court in Glasgow heard that Scott Saunders was a beautiful, well-nourished child who was turned into a living skeleton in just five weeks by his mother, Cheryl Hanson, 24, and Connelly, 29. The child died at his home at Galloway Drive, Rutherglen in March 2000. [continues 503 words]
MINISTERS announced a major U-turn on drugs policy yesterday, rejecting the traditional Just Say No approach in favour of an information campaign explaining what drugs are and what they do. Jim Wallace, the justice minister, conceded that telling young people not to take drugs had not worked. Indeed, Mr Wallace claimed the inflexible approach might even have had the effect of persuading some young people to take drugs as a form of rebellion . The new policy, Know the Score, is designed to tell parents and young people exactly what drugs do and what dangers they pose. [continues 637 words]
THE Scottish Executive yesterday drew on a major research programme to justify a new anti-drugs strategy putting the emphasis on positive advice and support rather than simple condemnation. While the hard-line "just say no" message began to be diluted some time ago, the launch yesterday of the UKP6.3m, three-year "Know the Score" campaign marked a move into much more pragmatic territory. Jim Wallace, the justice minister, said it would be the biggest-ever drugs communication drive, using advertising, a website and telephone help line. [continues 402 words]
REGULAR updates on illegal drugs circulating in communities will be part of a new UKP6 million anti-drugs strategy unveiled today. The Know The Score campaign, launched by the Scottish Executive, marks the end of the Just Say No message on drugs - with ministers admitting that a "finger-wagging" approach does not deter young people from trying drugs. Instead, education and community information will form the core of the new strategy. The largest anti-drugs advertising campaign in Scottish history, aimed at telling young people the risks involved with taking drugs, will form another key part of the campaign. [continues 528 words]
A new anti-drugs strategy has been launched in Scotland which is being seen as acceptance that the "just say no" tactic has failed. The government now plans to produce high-quality information themed "Know the Score" about the effect of drugs so that people can make informed choices. Despite the policy shift, the Scottish Executive insisted it was not going soft on drugs and that there was no intention of decriminalising cannabis. Ministers admit that the "paternalistic" messages about the danger of drugs are not getting through. [continues 341 words]
A SCOTTISH drug baron rubbed shoulders with senior politicians at a Labour Party-backed fundraising function, days before he was gunned down in a gangland-style execution. Convicted drug dealer, Justin McAlroy, sat just feet away from Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid, as Special Branch officers looked on. Jack McConnell, the First Minister, and a Lanarkshire MP, Frank Roy, also attended the Red Rose Dinner in Motherwell on 1 March. Six days later, unemployed McAlroy was shot five times outside his home in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire. He was the victim of what is believed to be an ongoing drugs feud in the area that has seen four other men fatally shot in recent months. [continues 590 words]
There Are As Many Opinions And Solutions To The Drugs Problem As There Are Drugs. But Which Is The Real Answer? DEPUTY justice minister Dr Richard Simpson's emphasis on rehabilitation and harm reduction will no doubt facilitate cost-effective drug treatment. The zero tolerance approach compels problem drug users to suffer in silence. Would alcoholics seek help for their illness if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? While Scotland adopts a sensible public health approach, the culture wars are heating up in America. President Bush is now pushing "compassionate coercion" for users of non-traditional drugs, with America's millions of cannabis smokers the likely target of Bush's "compassion." Coerced treatment does not distinguish between occasional use and chronic abuse. [continues 1076 words]
I WAS glad to see that your drugs report was not distorted by the blinkered views of the usual drugs experts who are now so desperately trying to encourage more GPs to get involved in methadone treatments. These services remain in short supply despite inducements of more education, more staff and even the extra payments that each consultation now generates under localised methadone payment schemes. In a recent UK survey the majority of General Practitioners stated that they did not feel that the treatment of such addiction should be part of a GP's responsibility. Ian McCartney is right when he states that addicts are chaotic and always looking to steal for their next fix. Unfortunately, the vast majority of treated methadone addicts continue to behave in exactly the same way. When a practice shows an interest in trying to provide addiction services then they are beseiged by desperate and chaotic sufferers. If that practice is vulnerable by virtue of its staffing levels or by its design, then anarchy soon takes over with thievery and violence. [continues 157 words]
INTERNATIONAL drug smugglers will soon find their movements being more closely monitored by police thanks to a pioneering process being developed at Edinburgh University. The work of the scientists, which is being supported by the United Nations and Lothian and Borders Police, will allow authorities to discover where drugs are coming from and whether anti-drugs measures are working. The process involves using cannabis as a "tracker" drug under the assumption that heroin and cocaine traffickers peddle the category C drug as well. [continues 518 words]
ONE of Holland's top drug squad officers today told Scottish police they should back plans to open Dutch-style cannabis cafes in Edinburgh. Ton Snip, a Politie officer with more than ten years' experience of the problem, claimed the cafes had resulted in a massive reduction in hard-drug use and drug-related crime in Holland. Edinburgh-based publisher Kevin Williamson has said he will open a cannabis cafe at an undisclosed location in the city after Home Secretary David Blunkett's plans to reclassify the drug as class C come into effect later this year. [continues 447 words]
SCOTTISH drug barons are now dealing directly in Europe and South America to get heroin and cocaine, the head of the National Criminal Intelligence Service in Scotland said yesterday. Detective Superintendent Andy Archibald said improved intelligence in the last two years showed the usual supply routes to Glasgow from London and Liverpool were being bypassed. "We should be in no doubt that we have the criminals in Scotland who have the credibility, the networks, and the ability to go to Europe and South America to source class A drugs in other countries. [continues 574 words]
The Scottish executive admitted yesterday that the high-profile war on drugs is over. Instead of advocating the "just say no" message, resources will be pumped into a new front providing information on the risks involved in drug-taking and introducing measures to combat their harmful consequences. The zero-tolerance strategy in Scotland is estimated to have cost around UKP5 million. Dr Richard Simpson, the deputy justice minister, revealed the step-change in drug policy, conceding that the "just say no" campaign and shock tactics had failed to have an impact. [continues 358 words]
"Just say no" style anti-drug campaigns are to become a thing of the past in Scotland, following a change of heart by the Scottish Executive. More resources will instead be devoted to telling people about the risks of drug taking and the help available for addicts and their families. The move follows research which suggests the just say no strategy, which has been used for many years, has failed. Full details of the new strategy are still to be revealed, but an executive spokesman said it should not be seen as a sign that the authorities are "going soft on drugs". [continues 299 words]
No More 'Just Say No' Campaigns ... Instead, Harm Reduction, Rehabilitation And Information Will Be The Policy THIS weekend Scotland's drugs minister has officially declared that the 30-year war on drugs is over. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald, Dr Richard Simpson, also the deputy justice minister, said: 'The only time you will hear me use terms such as 'War On Drugs' and 'Just Say No' is to denigrate them.' Instead Simpson has pledged to ensure that Scotland's harm-reduction, methadone, and rehabilitation services are fixed. [continues 729 words]
Addicts are to be consulted as part of a drugs information initiative commissioned by the Scottish Executive. The new strategy represents a significant shift from the 'just say no' approach to drug abuse. Edinburgh-based Barkers Advertising has spoken to thousands of people living in estates that are known to have serious drug problems. The results of their survey will be announced by Deputy Justice Minister Richard Simpson at the end of the month. Details are being kept under wraps, but it is anticipated that a television, newspaper and billboard campaign will be launched. Drugs campaigners say the initiative will provide life-saving information for drug-users. [continues 136 words]
Inmates at an open prison should be subjected to tougher drug tests, according to Scotland's chief inspector of prisons. Clive Fairweather said the use of illegal substances had reached "unacceptable levels" at Castle Huntly in Perthshire. He believes prisoners should sign a contract promising not to take drugs at the prison - and should then be subject to regular tests. And Mr Fairweather told BBC Scotland that those caught breaking their contract should be sent back to a closed jail. He was publishing a report on Wednesday following an inspection at the prison, which holds 151 category D offenders who are not considered to be a danger to the public. [continues 340 words]
DRUG abuse among inmates at one of Scotland's open prisons is running at "unacceptable" levels, according to a government report published today. Random tests on prisoners at Castle Huntly in Perthshire are positive in 17 per cent of cases, with heroin the most commonly abused substance. The results are regarded as particularly disturbing because the relaxed regime at the prison allows inmates to leave their cells and work in the local community. A report published today by Clive Fairweather, HM Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, will call on prison staff at Castle Huntly to re-examine their drugs strategy "as a matter of urgency". [continues 417 words]
POLICE have threatened to raid the homes of parents whose privately educated children are caught with drugs at school. Officers issued the stark warning to parents and children as young as 12 during meetings at Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville College in Edinburgh. Lothian and Borders police told them they would make full use of their powers to search the homes of pupils found with drugs or suspected of drug dealing. Other Scottish forces and anti-drugs campaigners yesterday distanced themselves from the threats, saying there were more important messages to get across to young people. [continues 448 words]
A SUSPECTED drug dealer drove his camper-van into the front entrance of the Lothian and Borders Police headquarters after discovering a police bugging device in his vehicle. The man was believed to have been under surveillance by a team of detectives when he discovered the electronic tracker hidden in his van. The 35-year-old then drove his Volkswagen Caravelle to the police headquarters at Fettes where he rammed it through the main entrance. The incident, which happened around 10pm on Thursday night, caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and destroyed the glass doors at the headquarters. [continues 291 words]
A PUPIL at the Prime Minister's former school has been expelled after talking to the press about drug-taking among fellow students. The 17-year-old girl was asked to leave Fettes College yesterday after she had spoken out about drug use in dormitories and outside the grounds. The expulsion came in the same week a 17-year-old boy was expelled for taking cannabis and two other boys, aged 18 and 17 were thrown out after being caught with the drug. Michael Spens, the headmaster, said the girl had been asked to leave for breaching rules of confidentiality. [continues 366 words]
Parents of pupils at a Scottish private school are being asked to pay UKP 50 for drug tests for their children as part of a crackdown on cannabis use. Following an investigation at the Edinburgh Academy that discovered some fourth-form students had used the drug, the headmaster, John Light, has introduced a programme of random tests. Any student who fails to comply or tests positive will be immediately expelled. Mr Light has suggested that parents recoup the fee, which is to cover the cost of bringing in a nurse to administer the tests, from their child's allowances or pocket money. [continues 137 words]
To the editors: OH my, what a refreshing attitude expressed by your MSP Margo MacDonald ("It's time for plain dealing on drugs", News, January 16). As the UK and other countries in Europe continue a demonstrative move to change their drug policies to a more health-based approach over a criminal-based policy, we in the USA can't help but be a little envious. European "harm reduction" approaches actually produce far lower rates of use for illicit substances than here in America, and you also enjoy far lower rates of property crime and violence associated with criminal drug dealing. [continues 103 words]
HUNDREDS of drug addicts are facing potentially fatal delays in treatment because of Scotland's waiting list crisis. The Community Drug Problem Service in Edinburgh, the main drugs referral centre for Lothian, is increasing its average waiting time for treatment from four weeks to 12 weeks, Lothian Primary Care Trust, which runs the Spittal Street service, confirmed last night. The move is being blamed on insufficient funding to meet an increasing patient caseload. The service receives around 50 referrals a week and treats about 1,700 patients at any one time. It gets =A31 million a year from Lothian NHS but last year recorded a =A3214,000 budget deficit, which was absorbed by the trust. [continues 444 words]
SCOTTISH judges are to be forced to consider stripping drug barons of their assets. The move - part of a government bill to tackle organised crime - is aimed at bringing Scotland in line with the rest of the UK. Judges in Scotland are presently free to ignore prosecution requests to confiscate the proceeds of crime, unlike England and Wales. Scottish Justice Minister Jim Wallace has warned that having softer rules in different parts of the country risked creating "safe havens" for criminals. [continues 328 words]
I WAS interested to read Jeff Wood's letter (August 23) suggesting a return to the controlled prescribing of heroin in a bid to curb the supply of adulterated drugs and drug-related crime. This is just one option I have been thinking about in recent months and which requires serious thought. I am undecided but the situation throughout Scotland is so serious that every avenue must now be explored. From Grampian's perspective, it is certainly the case that new measures must be introduced. Drug use in the region appears to be forever spiralling upwards and drug-related crime has gone through the roof. At least four out of every five prisoners randomly tested on reception at Craiginches Prison test positive for drugs. We are experiencing a spate of robberies of elderly residents in Aberdeen as some addicts show a willingness to stoop to any level to ensure they can feed their habits. [continues 145 words]
Police have effectively abandoned the targeting of cannabis dealers to concentrate on heroin and cocaine, the Scottish Executive confirmed last night. Official figures obtained by Scotland on Sunday reveal that while police forces are confiscating ever-increasing amounts of `Class A' drugs, including heroin, seizures of "soft" drugs have fallen by up to 90%. Although ministers have refused to tone down their official line on cannabis, behind the scenes they have encouraged chief constables to throw their full resources into the battle against hard drugs. [continues 588 words]
A MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferer who makes cannabis-laced chocolates for others with the condition has had her Orkney home raided by police. Yesterday, Biz Ivol, 53, vowed to carry on her fight for the legalisation of the drug. Mrs Ivol said: "I've had so many phone calls from people who support me and I now feel I've got my fighting spirit back. I'm determined to fight to the bitter end for what I believe in." She said officers took away a small amount of cannabis, several joints, a cannabis plant, her computer, address book and campaign literature after searching her home at Herston, South Ronaldsay. [continues 382 words]
LONDON (AP) - Scotland Yard plans to ease its enforcement of laws against possessing marijuana so officers can focus on arresting crack cocaine dealers and violent criminals, police said Friday. As part of a pilot program in one high-crime district, London police will release people found with a small amount of marijuana with just a warning instead of bringing them to a police station for formal arrest, Scotland Yard said. "We are not turning a blind eye to crime, but we have to prioritize," said Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens. "Possession and use of cannabis is not a priority." [continues 122 words]
Leslie Von Goetz - Thinks Cannabis Is 'Just Fantastic' A 75-year-old grandmother is to stand as a prospective candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance Party, campaigning to make marijuana and other drugs legal. Speaking yesterday from her home in Fife, Leslie Von Goetz, a retired teacher, said the drug should be made available, and treated in the same way as alcohol, so that people with medical conditions could treat themselves. Scotland's unlikeliest pro-drugs campaigner, who lives in her family's Chesterhill estate outside Newport, said cannabis had been widely used for its medicinal qualities for more than 5000 years. Next month's general election will be her first political candidature but the reformed smoker, who is now bed-ridden because of a back injury, feels strongly that "cannabis is a bloody good thing - it's just fantastic." [continues 255 words]
THOUSANDS of Scots are expected to join an anti-drugs march today which is being staged by our sister paper the Daily Record. Celebrities, politicians and families of drug victims will unite for the procession through the streets of Glasgow. The long-running Record campaign is aimed at exposing evil drug dealers and remembering the victims of drugs. Today's mass gathering embraces readers who have lost loved ones to drugs such as heroin or cocaine as well as ordinary people determined to ensure a safer Scotland for future generations. [continues 417 words]
Inside Scotland
