LATER this month the body which advises the government on illegal drugs is likely to call for ecstasy to be downgraded from a Class A to a Class B drug. But what would reclassification mean? Ecstasy is the third most popular illegal drug in the UK and is used by eight million people world-wide. In Britain it is a Class A drug, along with LSD, heroin and cocaine. Those caught in possession could face up to seven years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. [continues 672 words]
Senior police officers are urging a government advisory group to leave Ecstasy as a class A drug. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is meeting today to discuss whether the amphetamine should be downgraded to class B. As part of discussions, panel members will consider a submission from the Association of Chief Police Officers, stating that transferring Ecstasy to a lower-classed drug would send out an 'unfortunate message'. Presentations will be made from experts on how the drug, also known as MDMA, affects users. [continues 307 words]
At last the incurably traumatised may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. And controversially, the key to taming their demons is the 'killer' drug Ecstasy An Ecstasy tablet. That's what it took to make Donna Kilgore feel alive again - that and the doctor who prescribed it. As the pill began to take effect, she giggled for the first time in ages. She felt warm and fuzzy, as if she was floating. The anxiety melted away. Gradually, it all became clear: the guilt, the anger, the shame. [continues 4086 words]
Brighton Kemptown MP Des Turner has called for hard drugs to be legalised. The Labour MP spoke out after an investigation by The Argus lifted the lid on street dealing in Brighton and Hove. Reporter Andy Whelan bought heroin from a man in one of Hove's main shopping streets. And it took him just 26 minutes to obtain the drug. Dr Turner's comments come after details of yet another young victim of the city's heroin trade were revealed. [continues 678 words]
CHILDREN as young as 10 are being busted for having cannabis stashes in North Wales, the Daily Post can reveal. Over the past two years police have hauled in youngsters aged under 14 for drug offences including dealing cannabis and possession of LSD and ecstasy. But drug and alcohol workers said the number of arrests logged were just the tip of the iceberg - and many more cases were going undetected. North Wales drug and alcohol help service Cais said it was important to hammer the message home that drugs are dangerous and can damage a child's life and society. [continues 315 words]
I WOULD never take ecstasy or aspirin unless prescribed. However, I'm fed up with ignoramuses like Peter Stoker who has made a career out of talking cp about drugs ('Cop or Clown?', WoS, Jan 6). Brunstrom's comments are slightly misleading, because it's not that simple. However, he is to be congratulated for stating the obvious: that current policies are entirely counter-productive. As long as lying hypocrites can get votes by talking tough on drugs, no progress can be made. CHRIS SMITH Via e-mail [end]
A coroner has rebutted claims that ecstasy is not dangerous at the inquest of a disqualified driver who was high on the drug when he killed himself and a friend in a road crash. Dean Chevalier, 20, was more than twice over the legal alcohol limit when he lost control of his friend's car, killing himself and 23-year-old Matthew Prothero. Both were high on ecstasy and had drunk tequila and lager before the accident on a minor road, near Grantham, Lincs, on May 20 last year. [continues 841 words]
HANDS up who can name the chief constables of South Wales, Gwent or Dyfed-Powys police forces? And it doesn't count if you work for them. Yet chances are - whether you live in Wrexham, Holyhead, Carmarthen, Newport or over the border in England - you will know the name of the chief constable of North Wales Police. Because no other police chief in Britain has ever so closely courted publicity as Mr Richard Brunstrom, who this month marks six years in charge of the force. [continues 1166 words]
NORTH Wales top cop Richard Brunstrom started the New Year in his usual controversial way by going on Radio 4 to say ecstasy was safer than aspirin, and that all drugs would be legal within a decade. What a plonker. His prohibition argument seems to make sense when he argues that legalising drugs would destroy a major source of organised crime, and that banning substances doesn't actually stop many people from using them. But we all know deep down that legalising drugs would eventually lead to a far greater problem and would be a terrible curse on society. [continues 688 words]
The next time you go into Boots, try this. Go up to the pharmacy counter and say, "I'd like a dozen Ecstasy tablets, please". When the assistant gives you a startled look, inform them, "It's safer than aspirin". If they still look unconvinced, tell them it's not you saying this, but the Chief Constable of North Wales. There, they'll be sure to hand them over, won't they? We employ police offers to perform a pretty precise role. They are paid to prevent crime through their presence on the streets. Should a crime occur, we task them with catching the culprit and assembling enough evidence to secure a conviction. [continues 490 words]
HOW DANGEROUS IS ECSTASY, AND IS THERE A CASE TO REVIEW ITS LEGAL STATUS? Why are we asking this now? Because the outspoken chief constable of North Wales, Richard Brunstrom, has reignited the debate over the legalisation of drugs by saying that Ecstasy, used mainly in clubs and at raves, is "far safer than aspirin". He also said that the legalisation of all drugs was inevitable and only a decade away. His comments drew criticism from MPs, anti-drugs pressure groups and relatives of people whose deaths have been related to the use of Ecstasy. Some have called on him to resign. [continues 1153 words]
The Chief Constable Who Last Week Said Ecstasy Is Safer Than Aspirin Peddles His Drug Theory to Our Correspondent Few senior cops can boast such an electrifying record as Richard Brunstrom. He recently stunned himself with a Taser gun to prove the police device was not dangerous. Then he broke into his own headquarters at night to highlight a lack of security. And last week Brunstrom's sanity was questioned after he proclaimed that the illegal drug ecstasy was "a remarkably safe substance" – safer than aspirin. [continues 759 words]
We Should Stop Agonising Over Ecstasy. Richard Brunstrom Is Right - It Is Remarkably Safe This is the story of Mr A, a patient formerly under the addiction centre at St George's Medical School in London. His name was kept private either for professional reasons or because he cannot remember it. Between the ages of 21 and 30, Mr A is believed to have taken 40,000 Ecstasy pills. This figure is so insane it is actually comical. His intake rose from five pills over each weekend, to a little over 100 each month and, finally, 25 every day, a habit he maintained for four years, no doubt to the awe of his social circle. [continues 987 words]
CHIEF Constable Richard Brunstrom got the full backing of a member of the North Wales Police Authority yesterday as a fresh row broke out over his highly controversial views on drugs. In a radio interview, Mr Brunstrom claimed Ecstasy was safer than aspirin, and predicted that all drugs would be legalised within 10 years. He added: "If you look at the Government's own research into deaths, you'll find that Ecstasy, by comparison to many other substances - legal and illegal - is a comparatively safe substance." [continues 374 words]
FORMER Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Tom Lloyd has backed top police officer Richard Brunstrom after calls for his resignation, which resulted from him saying aspirin is more dangerous than Ecstasy. The North Wales Chief Constable is an ally of Mr Lloyd in the campaign to legalise Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine. They want drugs "taken out of the hands of criminals" in a bid to reduce crime and save lives. But maverick Mr Brunstrom, known for targeting speeding drivers, sparked huge controversy when he called Ecstasy a "remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin". [continues 377 words]
KILLER drug ecstasy is safer than ASPIRIN, top cop Richard Brunstrom claimed yesterday. He also repeated his call for Class A substances like heroin and cocaine to be LEGALISED. The North Wales chief const-able claimed such a move was "inevitable" - - and could happen in 10 years. About 400 people in the UK have died from ecstasy since 1994. But Mr Brunstrom, known for targeting speeding drivers, called it a "remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin". The maverick cop told the BBC: "There is a lot of scaremongering, rumourmongering around ecstasy. [continues 150 words]
2007 saw almost fifteen thousand new news clippings added to the drugnews.org archives. Over a half million different readers from about 125 countries accessed the clippings during the year. Based on a formula which recognizes that older clippings may have been accessed more than the more recent ones, selections of the 600 most read clippings by areas of the world are provided at the following link: http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0357.html By Radley Balko at Reason Hit & Run [continues 573 words]
(1) GERALD LE DAIN, 83: JURIST Pubdate: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2008 The Globe and Mail Company Author: Noreen Shanahan, Special to The Globe and Mail His Landmark Commission on Drugs Urged Legalizing Marijuana in 1973 Already a Respected Legal Scholar, He Became an Improbable Counterculture Icon at the Height of the Hippy Era by Recommending Leniency and the Decriminalization of Recreational Drugs TORONTO -- Gerald Le Dain's respect for civil liberties went so far as to rouse John Lennon and Yoko Ono from their bed. It was 1969, the year of the couple's "bed-in for peace" at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, and the year Judge Le Dain began chairing the much- referenced but largely ignored Commission of Inquiry into the Non- Medical Use of Drugs. [continues 7084 words]
IT IS "inevitable" that all drugs will be legalised, a Welsh police chief claimed yesterday. North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom said a move towards drugs being decriminalised is "10 years away" and claimed doing so would destroy a major source of organised crime. Mr Brunstrom has sparked controversy in the past for his views on drugs, drawing criticism from anti-drug groups when he stated his belief that heroin should be made legal. He made his latest comments on a special edition of the Today programme on Radio 4, edited by officers from Dyfed-Powys Police. Inspector Richard Lewis, Samantha Gainard and Chief Superintendent Paul Amphlett were among a series of guest editors invited to take the helm of the flagship programme. [continues 536 words]
Notorious chief constable Richard Brunstrom is facing demands to resign after publicly claiming that the illegal rave drug ecstasy is safer than aspirin. In his latest bizarre proclamation, he insisted that the drug - which claims almost 50 lives a year - was a "remarkably safe substance". And he went on to dismiss what he called "scaremongering" over the dangers, while predicting that all drugs would be legalised within ten years. The comments from the gaffe-prone head of the North Wales force infuriated the families of youngsters who died after taking ecstasy. [continues 551 words]
