Charlie Cooper Takes a Trip to Meet Professor David Nutt - and Finds Out Why the Former Government Czar Believes That Mind-Altering Drugs Have a Place on the Prescription Pad Professor David Nutt has been no stranger to controversy over the years. So the psychiatrist and former Government drugs tsar, will not have been fazed when he raised eyebrows recently by drawing a parallel between the repression of research into the effects of psychedelic drugs like LSD with the censorship of Galileo and the banning of the telescope. [continues 1114 words]
A FORMER Government drugs tsar says cannabis and ecstasy should be used to treat patients battling cancer and depression. Professor David Nutt claimed that banning certain drugs is depriving patients and doctors of "extremely useful" therapies for chronic pain and illnesses. Nutt, who was fired by the Government in 2009 for claiming horse-riding is more dangerous than ecstasy, also said there may be therapeutic benefits in legal highs. The psychiatrist added: "Let the doctors decide which drugs are harmful, not the politician." [continues 67 words]
Top Crime Writer Calls for Supervised Zones to Cut Heroin and Crack Deaths Brighton is set to be the first British city to offer official "drug consumption rooms" where addicts can use heroin, crack and cocaine under supervision without fear of prosecution. The city's public health leaders will meet this summer to "give serious consideration" to the plan in order to save lives. Brighton has one of the UK's highest drug-related death rates, with 104 fatalities between 2009 and 2011. An estimated 2,000 people in the city have a serious abuse problem. A report published this week from an independent drugs commission led by the crime author Peter James and Mike Trace, a former UK deputy drugs tsar, is expected to say that drug consumption rooms "significantly reduce overdose death rates" and do not encourage further use. [continues 415 words]
Obama and Cameron Are Wrong. the Momentum Is Building for a More Rational Way of Dealing With This Problem When Barack Obama and David Cameron wrote a joint opinion piece for The Times last week, their first sentence was: "Both of us came of age during the 1980s." Those of us of a similar age know what that meant: an adolescence spent in a haze of post-punk, reggae, acid house and dope. Obama has admitted smoking cannabis and taking cocaine; Cameron refuses to confirm or deny that he inhaled anything, but the nod and the wink are hard to miss. [continues 1176 words]
The Government's new drugs tsar is listed as an adviser to a shadowy foundation run by an aristocrat lobbying to liberalise laws on mind-altering drugs. Professor Les Iversen is head of the official Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which is currently at the centre of the debate over regulating mephedrone -- known as M-Cat or Meow Meow. But the Beckley Foundation, a controversial charity campaigning against anti-drug regulations, claims he is one of its key advisers. [continues 1398 words]
The Government's chief drug adviser has been sacked after claiming cannabis, ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes, sources said. Professor David Nutt, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, sparked outrage earlier this week after he criticised the decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug. It is understood Home Secretary Alan Johnson asked him to consider his position in the wake of the comments, saying he had "no confidence" in him. [continues 287 words]
At Least 19 Police Officers And Soldiers Died Last Week As A Narco Gang Called La Familia Launched A Counterattack Against A Government Crackdown On Cartels. But As Well As Hitmen, The Group Uses Social Handouts And TV Propaganda, Report Jo Tuckman In Mexico City And Ed Vulliamy The male voice on the line was not a typical contributor to the Voice and Solution TV programme where residents of the Mexican state of Michoacan air their everyday grievances. "We want President Felipe Calderon to know that we are not his enemies," the caller said, after introducing himself last Wednesday as Servando Gomez Martinez, nicknamed La Tuta, one of the leaders of La Familia drug cartel. "We are open to dialogue." [continues 2538 words]
The UN strategy on drugs over the past decade has been a failure, a European commission report claimed yesterday on the eve of the international conference in Vienna that will set future policy for the next 10 years. The report came amid growing dissent among delegates arriving at the meeting to finalise a UN declaration of intent. Referring to the UN's existing strategy, the authors declared that they had found "no evidence that the global drug problem was reduced". They wrote: "Broadly speaking, the situation has improved a little in some of the richer countries while for others it worsened, and for some it worsened sharply and substantially, among them a few large developing or transitional countries." [continues 588 words]
The harm caused by prohibition is staggering, yet still politicians cling to the blinkered ambition of a global 'war on drugs' This year marks the 100th anniversary of global drug prohibition, and what an inglorious centenary it is when we consider the millions of lives that have been blighted as a consequence of the war on drugs. And yet the majority of governments have supported a worldwide ban on the cultivation, distribution and use of psychoactive substances ever since the signing of the Shanghai convention, which aimed to target opium use, in 1909. [continues 838 words]
MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR? : At issue is whether a pledge on 'harm reduction' should be included in the next UN declaration of intent, or if a 'drug-free' line will be kept. A rift between the EU and US over how to deal with global trafficking in illicit drugs is undermining international efforts to agree a new UN strategy. The confrontation has been heightened because of suggestions that the US negotiating team is pushing a hard-line, Bush administration "war on drugs," in contrast to the EU position, which supports "harm reduction" measures such as needle exchanges. [continues 397 words]
A rift between the EU and US over how to deal with global trafficking in illicit drugs is undermining international efforts to agree a new UN strategy. The confrontation has been heightened because of suggestions that the US negotiating team is pushing a hardline, Bush administration "war on drugs", in contrast to the EU position which supports "harm reduction" measures such as needle exchanges. Talks are said to be at breaking point in Vienna where representatives have gathered to hammer out a new UN declaration in time for a signing ceremony at a drugs summit in mid-March. Negotiations, which have been going on for three months, are due to resume tomorrow with no indication of a breakthrough. [continues 350 words]
A former senior civil servant who was responsible for coordinating the government's anti-drugs policy now believes that legalisation would be less harmful than the current strategy. Julian Critchley, the former director of the Cabinet Office's anti-drugs unit, also said that his views were shared by the "overwhelming majority" of professionals in the field, including police officers, health workers and members of the government. He also claimed that New Labour's policy on drugs was based on what was thought would play well with the Daily Mail readership, regardless of evidence of what worked. Downing Street policy advisers were said to have suggested stunts such as sending boats down the Thames to catch smugglers to coincide with policy announcements. [continues 470 words]
An overdue reform of drugs policy or another draconian attack on our civil liberties? Hugh Barnes reflects on the Tory proposal Never mind about salmon fishing in the Yemen. Reverse the process of cultural transplantation and you get khat-chewing in the UK, which may sound like an equally harmless minority pastime, but not if you're a Tory drugs tsar (or tsarina). The shadow communities minister Sayeeda Warsi announced last week that a future government led by David Cameron would outlaw chewing of the psychotropic shrub Catha edulis on the grounds that its juices addle the brains of Yemenis, Somalis and Ethiopians who are living in this country. [continues 501 words]
For the UN drugs tsar Antonio Maria Costa ('Every line of cocaine means a little part of Africa dies', Comment, last week) to blame Amy Winehouse and the press for the tragedy that has befallen the poor people of Africa is gravely misguided. It is hard to see it as anything but one more in a long line of attempts to create a smokescreen around the catastrophic failure of our prohibitionist drugs laws. Drug-taking and its collateral damage have increased remorselessly, but few politicians seem willing to entertain the idea that the legal framework is failing or that it may just be a major contributor to the problems. The only people actually benefiting from drugs prohibition are the major drug barons. [continues 58 words]
The average cocaine user in Britain probably does not spend too much time thinking about where their drug of choice comes from. If they did, they might reflect on how it travels from South America to the bars, clubs and kitchen tables of the UK. Though manufactured in Latin America, the demand for the drug is driven almost entirely by Western countries. It is no wonder that politicians in producer countries have felt unjustly criticised for not being able to curtail a drug trade that has grown exponentially in answer to the voracious appetites of Londoners, New Yorkers and others in the West. [continues 359 words]
The UN's Drugs Tsar Denounces Celebrities Such As Amy Winehouse for Adding to the Misery of Already Vulnerable Countries We like to think that the modern world is more compassionate and humane than in the past. The values of our age mean that moral abominations such as slave trading, mass racial prejudice or cruelty to animals are no longer tolerated. In this progressive climate, there is mounting opposition to the absolute poverty and exploitation of child labour that, tragically, still prevail in large parts of Africa. Within Europe in recent years, a few influential pop stars and other fashion-conscious celebrities have been at the forefront of efforts to improve living standards in Africa. Bob Geldof's Live Aid concerts and Bono's Drop the Debt campaign have been vital in raising political awareness and money to tackle the continent's economic crisis. Stopping the trade in blood diamonds and promoting fair trade with Africa have been two other favoured causes of the celebrity elite. [continues 1035 words]
POLICE should concentrate on catching drug dealers and leave support for addicts to health workers better suited to dealing with substance misuse, says one of Yorkshire's top policemen. Tim Hollis, Chief Constable of Humberside Police, believes officers should stick to law enforcement while other agencies deal with the impact of addiction. Writing in today's Yorkshire Post, he also renews his support for cannabis to be reclassified from a Class C to a Class B drug. "Not because it will solve the problems, it is more complex than that," he says, "but because such a move would send out a clear message to young people that cannabis is harmful and to criminals that the UK do (sic) regard it as a serious problem." [continues 384 words]
Call to Modernise Approach to Heroin Use THE UK'S former deputy drugs tsar Mike Trace has said Scotland needs to be more "brave and creative" and introduce controversial drug consumption rooms (DCRs) as part of its drug strategy. Trace, now chief executive of the International Drug Policy Consortium, a non-governmental organisation, spoke to the Sunday Herald ahead of his first visit to Scotland. He will speak at the Scottish Drugs Forum's Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh on Tuesday about the implications of global drug policy on Scotland. [continues 667 words]
A STORM again erupted around controversial police chief Richard Brunstrom yesterday when he advocated the legalising of drugs. The Chief Constable of North Wales, who has suggested a needle-vending machine outside a police station, wants to see heroin made available on the NHS. Ex-drugs tsar Keith Hellawell compared his arguments with those of an "ill-informed sixth-former." And the Association of Chief Police Officers has described his report as "a counsel of despair." But Mr Brunstrom, won backing from his police authority to send his ideas to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. [continues 125 words]
Duncan Smith Believes That Spliff-Smoking Is Such a Catastrophe That Cannabis Needs Reclassifying The Quiet Man is turning up the volume once more - and this time, he wants to drown out the demon dealers of the demon weed. Iain Duncan Smith (remember him?) is back with a fat report into how to end poverty in Britain. The sections demanding the financial punishment of single mothers have already been pored over and torn up for their sociological illiteracy. But there is a yet-to-be-noticed section of the new Tory plans that would have an even more bracingly reactionary effect - and send your own odds of being a victim of crime sky-rocketing. [continues 1037 words]
