Is it already to late to save your intelligence? Cannabis smokers beware...

Is it already to late to save your intelligence?  Cannabis smokers beware... a new report out today based on a study of 1000 young people born in 1972 says that people who smoke cannabis prior to the age of 18 face a  loss in IQ.  Apparently if you start after this age there is no effect on the IQ.   The reports and evidence against dope smoking seem to be building up.  Is this political bias or will it turn out to be true. Time will tell.
Read more about Cannabis:  http://www.fantazia.org.uk/drugs/cannabis.htm
Read the full BBC story:

Young people who smoke cannabis run the risk of a significant and irreversible reduction in their IQ, research suggests.

The findings come from a study of around 1,000 people in New Zealand.

An international team found those who started using cannabis below the age of 18 - while their brains were still developing - suffered a drop in IQ.

A UK expert said the research might explain why people who use the drug often seem to under-achieve.

For more than 20 years researchers have followed the lives of a group of people from Dunedin in New Zealand.

They assessed them as children - before any of them had started using cannabis - and then re-interviewed them repeatedly, up to the age of 38.

Having taken into account other factors such as alcohol or tobacco dependency or other drug use, as well the number of years spent in education, they found that those who persistently used cannabis suffered a decline in their IQ.

The more that people smoked, the greater the loss in IQ.

The effect was most marked in those who started smoking cannabis as adolescents.

For example, researchers found that individuals who started using cannabis in adolescence and then carried on using it for years showed an average eight-point IQ decline.

Stopping or reducing cannabis use failed to fully restore the lost IQ.

The researchers, writing in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that: "Persistent cannabis use over 20 years was associated with neuropsychological decline, and greater decline was evident for more persistent users."

"Collectively, these findings are consistent with speculation that cannabis use in adolescence, when the brain is undergoing critical development, may have neurotoxic effects."

One member of the team, Prof Terrie Moffitt of King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, said this study could have a significant impact on our understanding of the dangers posed by cannabis use.

"This work took an amazing scientific effort. We followed almost 1,000 participants, we tested their mental abilities as kids before they ever tried cannabis, and we tested them again 25 years later after some participants became chronic users.

"Participants were frank about their substance abuse habits because they trust our confidentiality guarantee, and 96% of the original participants stuck with the study from 1972 to today.

"It is such a special study that I'm fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains, but risky for under-18 brains."

Robin Murray, professor of psychiatric research, also at the King's College London Institute of Psychiatry but not involved in the study, said this was an impressive piece of research.

"The Dunedin sample is probably the most intensively studied cohort in the world and therefore the data are very good.

"Although one should never be convinced by a single study, I take the findings very seriously.

"There are a lot of clinical and educational anecdotal reports that cannabis users tend to be less successful in their educational achievement, marriages and occupations.

"It is of course part of folk-lore among young people that some heavy users of cannabis - my daughter callers them stoners - seem to gradually lose their abilities and end up achieving much less than one would have anticipated. This study provides one explanation as to why this might be the case.

"I suspect that the findings are true. If and when they are replicated then it will be very important and public education campaigns should be initiated to let people know the risks."

Psychedelic drugs can unlock mysteries of brain – former government adviser

David Nutt says research into mental illness is hampered by the prohibition of drugs such as psilocybin and LSD (Reported in the Guardian)

Scientists should have access to illegal psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin to aid them in brain research, according to the government's former drug adviser Professor David Nutt. He said that research into the deepest mysteries of the brain, including consciousness and mental illness, had been curtailed by the prohibition of the drugs.

Prof Nutt said that scientists might find treatments for conditions such as schizophrenia by using modern techniques to study the effects of psychedelic drugs on the brain.

"Neuroscience should be trying to understand how the brain works," said Nutt, who is professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London. "Psychedelics change the brain in, perhaps, the most profound way of any drug, at least in terms of understanding consciousness and connectivity. Therefore we should be doing a lot more of this research.

"It's extraordinary that 40 years of advances in brain imaging technology and there's never been a study about this before. I think it's a scandal, I think it's outrageous the fact these studies have not been done. And they've not been done simply because the drugs were illegal."

Speaking to the Guardian ahead of a lecture he will give at a University College London neuroscience symposium on Friday, Nutt said that a volunteer for a recent experiment pulled out of the study because he was worried that "being in a study with a so-called illegal drug could mean he couldn't travel to some countries, such as America. To inhibit research to that extent is an outrage."

Nutt's views will challenge governments around the world which, largely, classify psychedelic drugs as harmful and illegal. The professor is used to being a thorn in the side of the authorities. In 2009, the UK's then health secretary, Alan Johnson, sacked him from his post as chair of the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for publicly stating that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.

Hundreds of clinical trials of psychedelic drugs such as LSD were carried out in the 1950s and 1960s, and successful treatments, including one for alcohol addiction, came out of the work. Since LSD was banned around the world, however, the number of scientific studies has dropped to virtually zero, and there have been no studies using modern imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at what parts of the brain are affected by it.

Nutt recently published research, with colleagues at Cardiff University, on the effects of psilocybin – the active ingredient in magic mushrooms – on the brain. His team had assumed the drug might increase activity in certain parts of the brain, to explain the experience that users get when they eat magic mushrooms. Instead, MRI scans of 30 healthy volunteers showed that psilocybin seemed to decrease activity in the regions of the brain which link up different areas. The study was published in January in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This is a hugely important way of perturbing the brain to understand the nature of consciousness," said Nutt. At his lecture on Friday, he will examine whether psilocybin's effects on the brain can be used as a model for psychosis. Some of the brain alterations seen as a result of taking psilocybin, he said, are similar to those seen in the brains of people with prodromal schizophrenia.

Psilocybin seems to suppress the actions of a brain system called the "default mode network" which is active whenever a person is, for example, reflecting about the world rather than engaged in a specific activity. The "task-positive network" is engaged when a person focuses on a specific job and it operates out of phase with the default mode network. But in schizophrenia, the networks are much more in phase and, under psilocybin, they are completely in phase.

"So, we're thinking [psilocybin] might be an interesting model for early stages for schizophrenia, it might allow us to test new drugs," said Nutt. "When people start to become psychotic, their ego boundaries break down, the relationship between them and the world gets disrupted and the relationship between their different inner experiences gets mixed up. Eventually they start hearing their own thoughts as someone else's voice.

"That breakdown of connectivity in the brain is very classic in schizophrenia. If we can produce this in a laboratory in a normal volunteer, we can then look for new treatments and it is much more efficient to do that in normal volunteers than try to find young people who are starting to develop their illness and it's ethically more acceptable too."

Nutt and his colleagues are also studying potential uses for ecstasy, also known as MDMA. "The therapeutic value of MDMA for psychotherapy has been widely known until it was banned and has hardly been studied since. There have only been a couple of MDMA imaging studies, but none of them using cutting-edge technologies, so we're doing that at present."

In collaboration with Robin Carhart-Harris at Imperial College London, Nutt also wants to further his research into more psychedelic drugs such as LSD and ibogaine, a derivative of African root bark, which is used to treat addiction in Thailand and Cambodia.

Carrying out such work is usually difficult for researchers, however, because they have to make such lengthy applications for licences to use illegal drugs. And even if the research went ahead and showed benefits from the drugs, it is unlikely doctors would be allowed to prescribe them. Nutt recently called for the UK's classification system of drugs to be rewritten to reflect more accurately their relative harms, and called for a regulated approach to making drugs such as MDMA and cannabis available for medical and research purposes.

"Regulations, which are arbitrary, actually make it virtually impossible to research these drugs," said Nutt last month. "The effect these laws have had on research is greater than the effects that [George] Bush stopping stem cell research has had, because it's been going on since the 1960s."

Police Chiefs says its a waste of time banning new legal highs

Police Chiefs in the UK have warned the government that banning new legal highs through legislation is a waste of time as the chemist overseas are producing different ones faster than legislation can react meaning the police are wasting lots of time arresting people who's drugs turn out not to be on the banned list.

The Police think a better policy will be to make the sellers of legal highs legally responsible for any harm that comes to the users of the products.  However as they are often marketed as planet food, its seems a difficult proposition. Could a garden center or supermarket be responsible if a customer miss uses a product?  Further hows is harm going to be proven?    The National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths logged 127 suspected deaths in Britain with links to "legal high" drug, mephedrone, over the past two years.  However as none of the logs gave the drug as the cause of death I can see how the seller could be held accountable. It all show the stupidity of the current drug laws.  Why hold sellers responsible.  Treat people as responsible for their own actions and if consequence happen then they only have themselves to blame.....

Read about legal highs...
Original story...

LSD could be good treatment for alcoholism

Scientist believe LSD could be an effective one use treatment for alcoholism.  You can read the full story from the Daily Mail below.  This is one of a number of stories recently that say that illegal recreational drugs could and can have positive medical benefits for some people. Sadly for many years recreational drugs were banned with only the harm they could possibly do being taken into account, this banning has meant that researchers have found the substances very hard to legally use in tests on patients stifling  possible cures and debate.  With the war on drugs failing its time to look at all the substances again and not just blanket banning them all because people enjoy them.
Read full story...
Find out more about LSD...

Paris Hilton prosecutor arrested for crack

Oh dear, one time  Vegas Deputy District Attorney David Schubert   who made his name pursing celebrities on drugs charges to increase his own fame and has fallen victim of his vanity its is reported in the Daily Mail as he is busted on Crack cocaine charges.   Now he faces a criminal investigation  after police allegedly caught him buying crack cocaine through a street dealer - who claimed Schubert buys $40 of cocaine  three or four times a week.

A patrol officer stopped the deputy district attorney's BMW in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon when he spotted what he thought was a drugs transaction.

According to an arrest report seen by TMZ, the officer watched Schubert pick up a black man from an apartment block, then drive to another address where he dropped him off.  Schubert drove round for several minutes and then picked up the man again, police claim. The officer pulled the car over, but the suspected dealer jumped out and fled. Police gave chase and took him into custody. According to the arrest report, the man, named as Raymond Streeter, told officers he knew Schubert as 'Joe'. In 2011 he prosecuted  Paris Hilton, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanour charges after police found 0.8grams of cocaine in her handbag.

Drug temptation is everywhere... his career is now over, whilst its probable that its justified in this case, treatment is a better answer...

Witney Houston dead. Sad end for a talented performer blighted by self abuse

Sadly the troubled, undoubtedly talented, singer and some time actor Witney Houston has died in the US aged 48.  The cause of her death is not yet known but her troubles with drink and drug abuse are widely known and it is a sadly premature end to a glittering career.   Illegal drugs like alcohol and prescription drugs in the hands of an unhappy person can be  unfortunately used to blot out life's troubles. Witney is reported to have in the past used Crack cocaine and this can have a devastating impact on health and functionality far greater than club drugs like Ecstasy generally do and there is no doubt in my mind they should not be both classed criminally Cat A.  A sad loss. The world will mourn a little today.  Bye Witney
Crack information...
Drugs information...

Scientist announce Ketamine could be good for some people...

Scientist are now claiming that the horse tranquilliser Ketamine (a favourite with clubbers) could actually be good for some people.  Used on people suffering depression it could provide almost an instant cure.  More testing has to be undertaken but it does show that just blanket banning drugs because people taken recreationally means we could be missing some real benefits.  Science needs to be the decider not conservative politics telling people not to do things.

Read more on Ketamine: http://www.fantazia.org.uk/drugs/ketamine.htm
Read the original article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2094250/Ketamine-Club-drug-offer-instant-remedy-severe-depression.html

Famous people quotes about drugs: Mayor Boris Johnston

We hope to bring you quote from famous people about their drug taking pasts. Here's a topical person to start us off. Old Etonian millionaire and one time member of notorious high society hooligan society Billington Club Mayor Boris Johnston's said about his drink and drug taking past whilst appearing on British comedy show "Have I Got News For You" he joked about using class A drugs, bizarrely quipping ‘I think I was once given cocaine, but I sneezed and so it did not go up my nose’.

He was equally ambivalent about binge drinking, in a newspaper column he wrote for the Daily Telegraph in 2005 in with he admitted finding it ‘rather admirable to get bladdered, leathered, rat-arsed and otherwise hogwhimpering drunk.”

"‘We drink the Russians off the balcony; we drink the Ukrainians under the table. Of our teenagers, 40 per cent have been dead drunk more than 10 times in the past 12 months, compared with a piffling 7% of French teenagers,” he chortled.

“It was as I was skimming through these statistics that I suddenly had an insight. I realised to my horror that I was reading the figures with pride," he said.

Richard Branson says don't lock up drug takers

Richard Branson, the millionaire Virgin group owner told MP's today to change the law and stop locking up drug takers. He said the policy had failed the country and the people and not stopped drug taking (which includes many harmless clubbers). The businessman said Britain was spending more money than any other country in Europe on fighting drug taking but still had the highest use. Previously Richard Branson had admitted to taking cannabis himself and he certainly has his finger more on the pulse than the average politician. Good on you Richard for standing up for something you believe in. Maybe parliament will listen to you, as they certainly don't listen to otherwise law abiding ravers.

In other news today Professional Nut the ex head of the drug advisory council said that rules on the use of magic mushrooms and ecstasy should be relaxed so it was not a criminal offence to take as both drugs had many possible beneficial properties and could be used successfully to treat people with depression.

Ecstasy is back as MDMA content rise and clubbers learn to love it again

The ravers favourite drug ecstasy is back. After years of declining use brought about by the drugs dropping level of the active ingredient MDMA that made it so good to use and relatively safe compared to the alternatives its use as a club drug is growing once again. As MDMA concentration has grown the price has for the purer pill is increasing to. Gone are the £1 pill that did little...in are MDMA power/crystals and a new experience apparently where groups share their powder making it a more social experience like cocaine use.

If its the start of the fading of the legal highs and other replacements I think its a good thing. They have always been more dangerous than the real thing and less people will die. We say make Ecstasy legal and tax it to pay of the national debt. Whats your experience and thoughts?

You can read the full story by clicking the heading.

Play Virtual Drug Dealer and beat my score of $1.7 billion

We have added to the Fantazia website today the Virtual Drug Dealer script. While a way a few minutes and see if you can beat our first game high score of $1,7 billion. Not bad months worth of goes if I do say so my self. Not sure if the real world is so easy....!

Play Virtual Drug Dealer Game

This game is a cut down script of the original game call Drug Wars - A version of which we have also made available to download for people using Windows. Post below your high scores...happy dealing

Ecstasy, the banned drug, to be trialed to treat trauma

Once vilified in the press the rave recreational drug of choice Ecstasy is increasingly being examined as the benefits of taking it are recognised. Though I don't need to tell ravers how good it is. The wider perception of it being a dangerous drug is gradually being eroded. A USA trial claims that Ecstasy is the perfect treatment for PTSD suffers. That Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to you and me.

Doctors are planning the first clinical trial of ecstasy in the UK, to see whether the drug can be beneficial to the traumatised survivors of child abuse, rape and war.

Ecstasy and other illegal drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms are potentially useful in treating people with serious psychological disturbance who cannot begin to face up to their distress, some psychiatrists and therapists believe. But because of public fear and tabloid anger about illegal drugs, scientists say they find it almost impossible to explore their potential.

Professor David Nutt, the psychopharmacologist who used to head the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs until he fell out with the Labour home secretary and was sacked, said: "I feel quite strongly that many drugs with therapeutic potential have been denied to patients and researchers because of the drugs regulation. The drugs have been made illegal in a vain attempt to stop kids using them, but people haven't thought about the negative consequences."

Nutt and the Taunton-based psychiatrist Dr Ben Sessa are two of the British scientists who hope to repeat an experiment on patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) undertaken in the US which, although small, was successful and has caused some in the scientific community to think what was until recently unthinkable. It involved 20 people who had been in therapy and on pills for an average of 19 years. Twelve were given MDMA – or 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, the chemical compound found, often adulterated, in ecstasy tablets. The rest had placebo pills but were later also given the chance to take MDMA. Each one had a therapy session, lying back in a reclining chair in a pleasant flower-decorated room in South Carolina, wearing an eyemask.

Sometimes they listened to music on headphones and sometimes they talked to the therapist, all the while thinking about the events that had caused such profound distress that they had been unable to revisit it in past psychotherapy sessions.

The response rate was a remarkable 83% – 10 out of the 12 showed significant improvement two months after the second of two MDMA therapy sessions. That compared with 25% of those on the placebo. There were no serious side-effects and no long-term problems.

"I expected it was going to be effective," said Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist who ran the US study and carried out the psychotherapy with his wife, Ann. "I suppose we wouldn't have done it otherwise. But I didn't necessarily expect we'd find such statistical significance in that number [of people]. That was the icing on the cake."

The high number of troops returning with PTSD from Afghanistan and Iraq is attracting special attention to the study in the US. Only one of the 20 was a veteran, while the rest had suffered childhood sexual abuse, rape or other kinds of assault. Mithoefer's next study will be on veterans alone.

Nutt said PTSD is "an extraordinarily disabling condition and we don't have any really effective treatments. In order to deal with trauma, you have to be able to re-engage with the memory and then deal with it. For many people, as soon as the memory comes into consciousness, so does the fear and disgust".

Mithoefer said the participants did not appear to have joined the trial in hopes of some sort of high. "I don't think that was much of a factor at all. Some people were referred by their therapist and had never taken any drugs and were quite anxious about the whole thing and for them it was a last resort.

" Interestingly, several people said after their session: 'I don't know why they call this ecstasy' – because it was not an ecstatic experience. They were revisiting the trauma. It was very difficult and painful work, but the ecstasy gave them the feeling they could do it."

People spoke of getting past a barrier. One said: "I feel like I'm walking in a place I've needed to go for so long and just didn't know how to get there.

"I feel like I know myself better than I ever have before. Now I know I'm a normal person. I've been through some bad stuff, but … those are things have happened to me, not who I am … This is me. The medicine helps, but this is in me."

Another said: "I have respect for my emotions now (rather than fear of them). What's most comforting is knowing now I can handle difficult feelings without being overwhelmed. I realise feeling the fear and anger is not nearly as big a deal as I thought it would be."

Ben Sessa said he hoped to recreate the study in the UK but "with an added twist – lots of neuroimaging". The only brain scans that have been done are of recreational ecstasy users, whose drugs may be contaminated and who have probably taken other substances, too.The death in 1995 of Leah Betts after taking ecstasy, from drinking too much water in response to a campaign warning ravers of the danger of dehydration, had prevented rational debate or scientific advance.

MDMA, he said, "is not about dancing around nightclubs – it's a really useful psychiatric drug".

Nutt said it made him angry that MDMA and LSD had been banned before any doctor could establish their potential benefit. LSD was being tried among terminal cancer patients.

"When I started in medicine in 1969 they were starting to see some interesting data in the use of LSD to help people make sense of dying. I don't think it is fair that because a drug is misused it should be banned from use in medicine," he said Heroin has been around for a hundred years so although it is illegal for street use, at least we have got that..

Leading the movement to get MDMA licensed for medical use is Rick Doblin, the founder in 1986 in the US of Maps, the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which backed Mithoefer's trial. "I think the chances of getting a licence are excellent. We have demonstrated an excellent level of safety. It's worked. It's necessary," he said. "It is probably going to take 10 years and $10m to do it."

Doblin, whose organisation relies on philanthropic donors, has no idea where that money will come from. Nutt and Sessa, whose proposed trial in the UK would boost the chances of MDMA entering the (locked) psychiatric drug cabinet are waiting for a response to their modest grant application from one of the UK's leading medical research funders. Sessa is optimistic; battle-scarred Nutt less so. Ecstasy will for ever be controversial. "If we get the study funded and into the public domain," said Nutt, "the Daily Mail will try to have it banned."

Can a single dose of magic mushrooms change your personality for ever?

A report out today says that a single does of magic mushrooms can change your personality not for 1 night but for over a year. But is not the bad news that the headlines might make you think. The change makes you more open and are in our opinion likely to make you more receptive to the world, more creative and generally more happy. Now just need to find someone who knows which mushrooms are the right ones in my local wood then as knowing my fungi identification skills, I am likely to poison myself with the wrong type, be careful kids!

Perhaps a new academic study might help explain some of the weirder outfits worn at raves and rock festivals. A single (high) dose of so-called 'magic' mushrooms was found to change people's personalities, not for a few hours, but for at least a year - making people more 'open', said researchers. The personality disruptions were so intense they were equivalent to the slow changes that occur in people over entire decades - and the researchers found that even after terrifying drug trips, the changes were the same.

Researchers in the field say that after the age of 30, personality doesn't usually change significantly. 'Normally, if anything, openness tends to decrease as people get older,' says study leader Roland R. Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The research, approved by Johns Hopkins' Institutional Review Board, was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Griffiths says he believes the personality changes found in this study are likely permanent since they were sustained for over a year by many - and speculated that controlled use of the substance could lead to treatments for the depression suffered by cancer patients. He also speculated that the drug could help people give up smoking.

Nearly all of the participants in the new study considered themselves spiritually active (participating regularly in religious services, prayer or meditation). More than half had postgraduate degrees. Volunteers were considered to be psychologically healthy.
'We don't know whether the findings can be generalized to the larger population,' Griffiths says. Griffiths also notes that some of the study participants reported strong fear or anxiety. He cautions, however, that if hallucinogens are used in less well supervised settings, the possible fear or anxiety responses could lead to harmful behaviors.

NHS opens specialist clubbing drugs clinic in treatment

To help baffled GP's who lack the knowledge to help their patients the NHS in London has opened a new clinic specialising in the treatment of the former legal high clubbing drugs like mephedrone, GHB and Ketamine which are believed to become ever more popular at the expensive of traditional recreational drugs like Cocaine and Heroin which traditional centres have been used to treating.

"Bowden-Jones said those who take club drugs tend to be younger, employed and sometimes affluent. They are often in relationships and don't necessarily identify themselves as addicts.".

Apparently there have been over 70 referrals to the new "Legal Highs" Centre before it had even opened its doors.

In our opinion spending money on treatment certainly makes much more sense than spending vast amounts catching people and locking them up. A good progress move.

Global "experts" disagree on whether recreational drugs use is up or down

It seems the UN and the Global Commission on Drug policy disagree on whether drug use is up or down and therefore whether the global war on drugs should end. Perhaps they could save all the money being spent on useless reports and do something more useful instead with the cash? Drug addiction help for the minority of drug users who need it perhaps... the story is below

Celebrity campaign backing drug legalisation was based on 'flawed' figures, says UN

It won the support of celebrities and dignitaries with its call for drugs to be decriminalised.
But a highly influential report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy used incorrect figures, it was revealed yesterday. The group, headed by major names including former UN chief Kofi Annan and Sir Richard Branson, published a study claiming that drug use around the world has soared over the past decade.

Its call for an end to the war on drugs was taken up by celebrities including Dame Judi Dench, Julie Christie and Sting. Last weekend, Liberal Democrat leaders also cited it as their conference demanded measures to make drug possession legal in Britain.

However, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said yesterday that the claims were based on ‘flawed methodology’ and were ‘not correct’. Far from increasing at a rapid rate, worldwide use of heroin and cocaine has remained stable and cannabis use is likely to have dropped, it argued.

The Global Commission said that between 1998 and 2008, worldwide use of heroin and other opiates went up by a third, cocaine use by more than a quarter, and cannabis use by 8.5 per cent.
The Commission is a self-appointed body whose members include Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, former presidents of Colombia and Mexico, and several once highly-placed U.S. politicians such as former Secretary of State George Shultz.
Its report, published in June, said the war on drugs should be abandoned and illegal drugs should be decriminalised and regulated.

But errors behind it were exposed by researcher Kathy Gyngell of the centre-right Centre for Policy Studies think-tank. Mrs Gyngell asked UNODC to analyse the figures the Commission provided.

It found that the Commission’s figures – unsourced in its report – had been based on a misreading of statistics published by the UN agency.
Mrs Gyngell said: ‘Our worst fears as to the provenance and reliability of the Global Commission’s figures have been confirmed. The Commission’s figures are not just overblown, they are contrived and misleading.’

Banned drugs deaths fall in the last years according to government figures.

The number of drug-related deaths in England and Wales has fallen slightly, according to the latest government figures. Those who had died specifically from the misuse of banned drugs, with 1,876 in 2009 compared with 1,784 in 2010.

The statistics show opiates were the substances most commonly associated with drug deaths last year with 791 people dying from heroin or morphine poisoning.

Although men made up 70% of drug-related deaths, the 2010 figures show a 10% decrease in male fatalities and a corresponding rise of 10% in female deaths.

Deadly batch of Ecstasy warning

It seems there is another batch of potential deadly ecstasy around. Following a batch last month that caused harm by being far stronger than is now normal for MDMA based drugs causing people to overdose when combining taking large numbers of ecstasy and other drugs and alcohol. This month Police have warned of a potentially fatal batch of MDMA in circulation in the UK after two clubbers in London were taken ill.

The problem with these warnings is that act as an attempt to blanket say, don't take drugs. They don't really help people who do want to use them and will use them. They do not protect you unless you abstain completely which is unlikely in many cases. If authorities really did care about peoples safety then legalisation and government prescribed sale and taxation is the way to go.

But here is the story.....

According to police in Islington, London, two clubbers were taken ill this weekend after taking the drug and are currently in a critical condition in hospital.

Detective Superintendent Adrian Usher from Islington Borough said, “All drug taking involves an element of risk. Users need to be aware that a potentially fatal batch of ecstasy is out there and understand the devastating effect it can have on their health.”

The batch is expected to have spread throughout London and police are warning clubbers to take extra care. Call Islington CID on 020 7421 0196 if you have any useful information

Off topic but we love D/R/U/G/S and I think you may to?

No not the illegal substance but a fresh and up and coming live dance music performer D/R/U/G/S is from Manchester and fuses performance, punk and rave and a lot of playing with buttons on stage.

We think you will like him, we do...

Drug treatment policy doomed to failure in the UK

Its reported on the BBC today that the way we treat drug addicts is doomed to failure. We apparently spend an amazing £3.6 billion on handing out methadone and giving benefits to drug users instead of spending the money on rehabilitation. Its clear as drug use and imprisonment of drug users continues the policy is not working.

"The state is subsidising people to be any number of years on methadone, which has turned out not to be a cheap option and will only subsidise the tiniest proportion - 2% - to go into a rehabilitation unit that would actually free them from dependency and allow them to live their life."

Apparently there is a new policy coming that will give bribes to organisation who get people back to work but I don't see how this will work. Will these people be fit to work? Its clear focusing effort away from all drugs including recreational use of say ecstacy and onto rehabiliation of people using heroin would massively benefit the country. Let alone free up huge amount of Police time and resources.

The War on Drugs, Is it as Pointless as The majority think?

The War on drugs is No nearer sorting out the issues that Politicians contiune to tell us exists in our country, yet it is still argued that this pointless, money wasting, battle against the consumption of recreational drugs is the only way to control their use.

This article seems to disagree with this view, and its not just the hippies that are arguing for the legalization of drugs any more.

What do we think guys? is this a pointless war or the right way our country should be heading in the future? i know what i think :)