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OPIUM CULTIVATION UP
OPIUM POPPY CULTIVATION
in Myanmar and
Laos has increased for the eighth consecutive
year, with harvest levels three times greater
than a decade ago, according to UNODC.
Myanmar is the world’s second largest opium
producer after Afghanistan, with the trade
threatening stability and regional
integration, according to
Southeast Asia
opium survey 2014 – Lao PDR, Myanmar
.
Cultivation in Afghanistan also rose by 7 per
cent last year meaning lower prices were
now likely (
DDN
, December 2014, page 4).
Report at www.unodc.org
YOUNG SERVICE USERS
– NUMBERS FALL AGAIN
THE NUMBER
of young people being treated
in specialist substance misuse services fell
for the fourth year running, according to
figures from Public Health England (PHE).
Just over 19,000 young people were treated
in 2012-13, down from more than 24,000 in
2008-09. In more than 70 per cent of cases
cannabis was the primary substance, and in
20 per cent of cases alcohol. The number
presenting with heroin as their primary
substance was the lowest ever, at 160
people. ‘With the right support from local
authorities, the NHS and other partners,
specialist substance misuse services can
continue to focus on what they do best:
ensuring that young people who need
help get it quickly and that they receive
appropriate, personalised support,’
said PHE.
News
CQC CONSULTATION
THE CARE QUALITY COMMISSION
is consulting
on its proposed changes to the way substance
misuse services are regulated. The proposals
aim to make sure that services are ‘safe,
effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs
and well-led’ (
DDN
, October 2014, page 4). The
consultation is open until 19 March, with the
new regime due to start from April.
Consultation link at www.cqc.org.uk
MOBILE DRUG TESTS
THE FIRST MOBILE DRUG-TESTING
device has
been granted type approval and is available
for purchase by UK police forces. The
Securetec DrugWipe 3S – known as
‘Drugwipe’ – can detect the presence of
cocaine or cannabis within eight minutes by
analysing saliva, after which those testing
positive can be taken to the police station for
a blood test. ‘Drug drivers are a deadly
menace and must be stopped,’ said policing
minister Mike Penning. ‘Those who get
behind the wheel while under the influence
of drugs not only put their own lives at risk,
but also those of innocent pedestrians,
motorists and their passengers.’
PLAIN TOBACCO
PACKAGING
THE GOVERNMENT
has announced that it
backs the case for standardised packaging for
tobacco products, with MPs set to vote on the
issue before the election. If passed, the
regulations could be in place by May next year,
bringing the ‘prospect of our first smoke-free
generation one step closer’ according to public
health minister Jane Ellison.
DRINKS INDUSTRY
UNTRUSTWORTHY
THE DRINKS INDUSTRY
‘can’t be trusted’ to
promote safer drinking and is ‘undermining its
own pledges’ to encourage it, according to
Alcohol Concern’s
Creating customers
report.
The charity wants to see sensible drinking
messages drawn up by a body independent of
the industry.
Read the full stories, and more, online
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
GRAYLING ANNOUNCES TOUGH
NPS PENALTIES FOR PRISONERS
PEOPLE FOUND SMUGGLING
or using new psychoactive substances (NPS) in prison
will face a new range of punitive measures, the government has announced. The
Ministry of Justice has written to prison governors setting out the available
punishments in a move designed to ‘reinforce the prison estate’s zero tolerance
approach to contraband’.
The measures facing prisoners suspected of smuggling or using NPS include
having an extra 42 days added to their sentence, removal of privileges such as TV
and additional visits, forfeit of earnings, being confined to their cell for up to 21
days and ‘closed visits’ that allow no contact with partners or children. Inmates
could also be placed in a higher security prison or – if the NPS is a controlled drug –
face prosecution and a further sentence.
Concern has been growing among prison authorities for some time over the use
of NPS – in particular synthetic cannabinoids like ‘Black Mamba’ – as they are more
difficult to detect and their effects harder to predict than traditional drugs (see
news focus, page 6). The substances have also been blamed for increasing rates of
drug-related violence and ill health, with prison seizures of the cannabinoid ‘Spice’
rising from a total of 15 in 2010 to 430 in the first seven months of last year.
The ministry has also announced that it intends to expand its prison drug
testing to include a wider range of controlled substances as well as synthetic and
prescription drugs when the technology becomes available. It will also train more
specialist dog teams to detect NPS in the prison estate.
While Transform said the crackdowns ‘completely missed the point’, justice
secretary Chris Grayling stated that the government was ‘determined to make sure
governors have every power at their disposal to detect supply, punish those found
using or dealing, and enforce a zero tolerance approach’ towards NPS.
‘Go onto any prison wing and staff will tell you that whilst we’ve made good
headway on drug misuse in prisons, there’s a new phenomenon they are increasingly
seeing in the form of so-called “legal highs”,’ he said. ‘What we’re also hearing is that
these substances seem to be part of the problem around increasing violence in our
prison estate. Prisoners should be very clear – if they think they can get away with using these substances, they need to
think again. And the same applies to those who are the suppliers, whether they’re inside or outside the prison gates.’
Chris Grayling:
‘Determined to
make sure
governors...
enforce a zero
tolerance
approach...’
STRONG MEASURES
FOR STRONG BEERS
THE PORTMAN GROUP
is instructing off-
licences, supermarkets, convenience
stores and other retailers not to place
orders for 500ml cans of 9 per cent
Carlsberg Special Brew, Skol Super and
Kestrel Super after its Independent
Complaints Panel (ICP) found that the
packaging encouraged ‘immoderate
consumption’. Each 500ml can
contains 4.5 units of alcohol, more
than the recommended daily
guidelines for both women and men.
‘It is important that a can’s
packaging does not encourage
immoderate consumption and we
advise producers to seek advice
from the Portman Group if they are
in any doubt,’ said ICP secretary
Henry Ashworth. The rulings follow
a complaint by homelessness
charity Thames Reach.
Packaging
should not
‘encourage
immoderate
consumption’.
4 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| February 2015
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
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