Subject: UK: Sacked government drug adviser says Gordon Brown is from anotheruniverse

The Daily Telegraph
30 November 2009

Sacked government drug adviser says Gordon Brown is from another universe

The scientist who was sacked as the government's chief adviser on drugs has mocked Gordon Brown as someone whose views come from another "universe".

By Andrew Pierce

An unrepentant Professor David Nutt reiterated his controversial position that horse riding was more lethal than Ecstasy and suggested that smoking cannabis during pregnancy was less dangerous than drinking alcohol.

At a conference of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, an organisation which calls for the legalisation of many drugs, Prof Nutt accused the Government of failing to protect people against the dangers of drugs.

"We have a Prime Minister whose view (on drugs) is formed in some other universe," he said.

He was sacked this month as head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary who accused him of "crossing a line into politics" after he criticised the decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug.

"When I was sacked Alan Johnson said he was 'big enough, bold enough, strong enough' to make the decision. I'd say he's not big enough, bold enough or strong enough to tell the truth about drugs," he said at the conference at Leeds University on Sunday.

He also attacked Mr Johnson's predecessor, Jacqui Smith or "Jackboot" as he called her, saying that she phoned him 30 minutes before she was due to answer questions about her expenses. He added: "When Charles Clarke was Home Secretary he didn't like my advice, but at least he had the courage to accept it."

During his 10 years on the advisory council he said he found talking with politicians very difficult and that fewer people were now voting in elections because the House of Commons is nothing more than a "pantomime". He said: "I never realised how unintellectual politicians are."

In answer to a woman's question about the harm of cannabis, after she admitted smoking it while she was pregnant, he suggested its use while pregnant was less harmful than drinking alcohol - because the cost to the public of dealing with alcohol abuse is far higher than any illegal drug.

He said: "Alcohol costs £1,000 pounds per year in excess health care costs and about three times that of other costs."

Since he was dismissed the professor said he said he had received hundreds of emails from people, of which 95 per cent have been supportive.

After his dismissal five members of the advisory board handed in their notice from the unpaid posts leaving the entire committee's place within Government in some doubt. Prof Nutt said: "The Government will find it very difficult to appoint a new chairman."

He said he will continue to offer advice to the Government and is planning on setting up a parallel committee to work side by side with the committee he was removed from.

He said: "Hopefully, this new independent board will be the first port of call on drugs policy in the UK." In the future he said he wants to look into the possibility of creating a new, legal drug which could be a safer alternative to alcohol.
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Councillor Ellen Woodsworth
604-873-7240

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

 

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From: Correspondence Group, City Clerk's Office
Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 5:03 PM
To: Anton, Suzanne; Cadman, David; Deal, Heather; Dobrinskaya, Maria; Mayor's Office (COV); Woodsworth, Ellen
Subject: FW: Stop tax breaks to business, restore funds to libraries and parks

 

---

From: Neil Monckton [mailto:hello@thinkcity.ca]
Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 4:19 PM
To: Correspondence Group, City Clerk's Office
Subject: Stop tax breaks to business, restore funds to libraries and parks

	Millions to be Cut from City Services While Businesses Get Tax Break Dear Friend, Earlier in November, we told you Mayor Robertson and city council may make deep cuts to public services as part of the 2010 City of Vancouver budget. Last night, the parks and library boards reluctantly adopted $4.4 million in cuts to meet the council's budget targets. Library hours will be cut, the Bloedel Conservatory shutdown, the Stanley Park farm shuttered, community centres will have fewer staff – it's very bad news for Vancouverites. But this decision by Mayor Robertson to bring in major service cuts is unnecessary. City hall has enough money to make sure no frontline service cuts are made in 2010. Council needs to defer a $22-million tax holiday for some businesses to bring city hall that much closer to a no-cuts budget. This multi-million dollar corporate tax break or tax shift was brought in two years ago by Mayor Sam Sullivan when the city's economy was roaring during the boom years. Now, things have changed. The world economy is in recession making it impossible for the city to afford this kind of corporate subsidy. In hard times, everyone needs to pay their fair share – residents, mom-and-pop stores, big businesses and industrial land owners. It's unbelievable that a city council elected to protect and enhance city services would act this way! That's why it is very important we let Mayor Robertson know what citizens' budget priorities are. Think City has already gathered nearly 1,400 surveys as part of our annual Citizen Budget initiative and we will present the results to council next week. (If you have not already taken the survey, please click here.) In addition to our survey, Think City wants to fight back in another way, and we urgently need your help to make it happen. We're placing ads before city council makes its final decision on the budget to advocate for no service cuts and an end to this out-dated business tax break. Will you help us? Simply click here to make a contribution to help pay for the placement of these ads. We know the city is facing hard times, but the cupboard is not bare at 12th and Cambie. No other major Lower Mainland municipality is cutting their operating budget the way City of Vancouver is. Our mayor and council have choices – they can protect public services by ending the needless business subsidy. If just 100 citizens donated $100 each, we can do it. With your support today, Think City will make sure Mayor Robertson hears the public's budget priorities before the final 2010 budget is passed on Dec. 18. Thank you, Neil Monckton, Think City Chair P.S. for more information about attending our Dec. 1 City Budget Debate, click here.
	This Think City Take Action message was brought to you by the Think City Society. If you would like to be removed from our distribution lists, just reply to this email with NO THANKS in the subject line. Most photos by Joshua Berson, www.bersonphoto.com and Think City.

!DSPAM:1262,4b1440b525621179546462!

Please forward this survey. There is a question on it about the importance of the Four Pillars Drug Strategy so it would be great if we were to signal through this survey that it shouldn't be abandoned. Forward to other lists if you can. Donald

Begin forwarded message:

From: ewoods@vcn.bc.ca

Date: November 30, 2009 2:47:17 PM PST

To: ewoods-announce@vancouvercommunity.net

Subject: [ewoods-announce] Stop tax breaks to business, restore funds to libraries and parks

Millions to be Cut from City Services While Businesses Get Tax Break

The public will have only two more chances to voice their concerns about
$28.1 million in proposed cuts to libraries, community centres, parks
and other city services.

First, complete Think City's 2010 Citizen Budget survey by Dec. 1.

Second, speak at city council's special pubic hearing on the budget on
Dec. 3 where Think City will also present the results of the Citizen
Budget survey. – to forward this survey to a friend, please send them to
http://www.thinkcity.ca/citizen_budget_2010_survey.

To speak to Council you must register by emailing
mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca or calling 604.873.7276.

Fewer then 350 citizens took part in the city's own budget survey. Make
sure city council knows what your priorities are for the 2010 budget.

P.S. To learn more about why the mayor is proposing tax cuts for
businesses and service cuts for citizen, please attend Think City's City
Budget Debate on Tuesday,
Dec. 1. Details are here http://www.thinkcity.ca/citizen_budget_debate.

The parks and library boards reluctantly adopted $4.4
million in cuts to meet the council's budget targets. Library hours will
be cut, the Bloedel Conservatory shutdown, the Stanley Park farm
shuttered, community centres will have fewer staff - it's very bad news
for Vancouverites.

But this decision to bring in major service cuts is
unnecessary. City hall has enough money to make sure no frontline
service cuts are made in 2010. Council needs to defer a $22-million tax
holiday for some businesses to bring city hall that much closer to a
no-cuts budget.

This multi-million dollar corporate tax break or tax shift was brought
in two years ago by Mayor Sam Sullivan when the city's economy was
roaring during the boom years. Now, things have changed. The world
economy is in recession making it impossible for the city to afford this
kind of corporate subsidy. In hard times, everyone needs to pay their
fair share - residents, mom-and-pop stores, big businesses and
industrial land owners.
Think City has already gathered nearly 1,400 surveys as part of our annual
Citizen Budget initiative and we will present the results to council this
week.

We know the city is facing hard times, but the cupboard is not bare at
12th and Cambie. No other major Lower Mainland municipality is cutting
their operating budget the way City of Vancouver is. Our mayor and
council have choices - they can protect public services by ending the
needless business subsidy.

With your support today, Think City will make sure Mayor Robertson hears
the public's budget priorities before the final 2010 budget is passed on
Dec. 18.


P.S. for more information about attending the Think City Dec. 1 City
Budget Debate,
click here
<http://publicsolutions.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=243&e=Mjg3Mzcz&l=-http
--thinkcity.ca/budget_debate_register> .

 

The fine line between coca and cocaine
A decision by the country's first indigenous president to rehabilitate coca and distinguish it from its chemical derivative, cocaine, was hugely popular – but it has also resulted in cocaine laboratories springing up across the country, writes Rory Carroll
Guardian Weekly (UK)
November 25, 2009


Editorials / Éditoriaux

The art and science of evidence about drugs
It is very difficult to study the relative harms of individual drugs – and there are lots of vested interests
By Jonathan Wolff
The Guardian (UK)
December 1, 2009

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/dont-endanger-yourself-with-dope-cannabis/story-e6frg8y6-1225804379265

OPINION: Alex Wodak

From: The Australian

November 28, 2009

 

LIKE it or not, more than two million Australians will smoke cannabis in the next 12 months.

Research from Australia and across the world shows no clear relationship between the number of people using cannabis and the severity of penalties for cannabis offenders. So, what practical steps can be taken to try to reduce harm from cannabis?

In June the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre released first-aid guidelines for problem cannabis use. These were designed to help the community identify and assist users who are developing a problem with their cannabis use or are in a cannabis-related crisis.

The guidelines provide tips for effective communication with people experiencing problems. Some sensible advice is also offered about what to do if the cannabis user with problems does not want any help.

Most people prefer to manage their own drug use and, should they develop problems, manage these themselves.

Why not try to help people using cannabis try to avoid problems in the first place?

For many years Australia has had National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines to help drinkers reduce the harm from alcohol. But we have never had any official guidelines for people using cannabis that could help them do so more safely.

As Australia has one of the world's highest rates of cannabis use, it seems sensible to offer realistic guidelines to help users reduce potential harm.

A group of us recently gathered in the northern NSW town of Nimbin to develop guidelines for people using cannabis.

The group included Ann Symonds, a former member of the NSW Legislative Council as well as a grandmother, along with many local residents who have used cannabis heavily for many years but were keen to reduce their risks. We decided to call these the Nimbin Health and Medical Research Committee cannabis guidelines.

Our Nimbin guidelines make it clear that the form of cannabis use with the lowest health, social, legal and economic risk is abstinence. But, recognising that people will choose to use the drug regardless, we outlined ways to minimise harm.

Social cannabis users are recommended to consume cannabis only moderately, that is for five days a week or less, trying to keep at least two days each week cannabis-free. Cannabis smokers are advised to not exceed four joints a day. This advice resembles some of the NHMRC guidelines for alcohol.

As cannabis is illegal and possession or use can lead to severe legal and social consequences, cannabis users are advised to be discreet and never carry more than the caution amount, which varies from one state or territory to another.

Those concerned that cannabis may be seriously affecting their life in important areas such as relationships, child-rearing, job or finances are advised to consider reducing or stopping consumption of the drug. Young people considering experimenting with cannabis are advised to delay this until their body and mind have matured, and to be moderate and responsible.

Cannabis smokers should avoid smoking in the presence of children and in confined areas with non-smokers present. Adults should never forget that they serve as role models for the young.

As the potency and contaminants of different strains may vary widely, cannabis users consuming a new batch are advised to try a small quantity first.

Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or likely to become pregnant soon are advised to refrain from using cannabis. Those who nevertheless choose use cannabis are advised to minimise usage in terms of quantity as well as frequency.

It is recommended that cannabis consumers allow at least a few hours between their last use of cannabis and driving a car or operating heavy machinery. Those consuming alcohol and cannabis should allow twice as long.

People who have had a serious mental illness or have a family history of serious mental illness are advised to avoid cannabis and other powerful mood altering drugs. Those still keen to use cannabis are advised to minimise their use and avoid smoking cannabis on their own.

Mixing tobacco and cannabis increases risks and should be avoided. As smoke harms lungs, inhaling the vapour from a vaporiser or eating foods made with cannabis is less damaging than inhaling cannabis smoke. Eating cannabis has less predictable effects than inhaling.

Plastic bottles, rubber hoses, PVC, aluminium or foil, when used to smoke cannabis, may give off toxic fumes while hot. Health risks are lower with a pipe made from glass, steel or brass.

Our Nimbin guidelines note that sharing smoking equipment such as joints, pipes or bongs can spread infections. It is safer if smoking equipment is not shared and is cleaned after every use.

To protect the environment and minimise the risk of starting a fire, all smoking implements, waste or roaches should be carefully and responsibly discarded.

As with the NHMRC guidelines for alcohol, our cannabis guidelines will be revised as additional information becomes available.

Isn't it time we all got real about cannabis?

Alex Wodak is a physician, director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation.

www.hempembassy.net/safercannabisuseguidelines.html

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Hear the CBC interview with dr evan wood on the drug situation in Vancouver - attached.

Ottawa Citizen
24 November 2009

OPED:
We Need 21st-Century Law

James Morton, Citizen Special*

Canada's Approach To Fighting Crime Was Developed In A Rural, Ethnically Uniform Society That No Longer Exists

In the early 1890s, Canada was a nation of fewer than five million people. Over 70 per cent of Canadians lived in Quebec or Ontario. The church played a significant and direct role in civic life, and virtually the entire population was Christian. Ethnic populations were, apart from First Nations, effectively non-existent. Urban areas were small:
Toronto in 1890 had a population about the same size as Sherbrooke, Que., in 2009. More than nine in 10 Canadians lived in rural areas.

The Criminal Code was enacted in 1892. It was a careful attempt by leading criminal specialists to codify British law as applied in Canada in 1890. Despite amendments following a Royal Commission in 1947 ( passed in 1953 ), the Criminal Code was never fundamentally revised. A modern Canadian lawyer would immediately recognize the 1892 Criminal Code as being, in the main, the same Criminal Code as applies in Canada today.

This history is relevant largely because the Criminal Code was written in the 19th century by leading criminal lawyers considering the best law for a rural, ethnically uniform and fundamentally Christian nation. The Criminal Code is very much a piece of the 19th century, assuming that potential offenders are rational actors who would weigh their present actions against the likelihood of future punishment and social disgrace.
Deterrence was assumed to work. Prisons were assumed to reform criminals.

Of course, the Canada of 1892 no longer exists. Fewer than one in 20 Canadians live in rural areas. In many urban centres, the concept of a visible minority has lost relevance; there is no group that obviously qualifies as the majority. The power of the church in civic life is long gone and many Canadians fail to see a criminal record as amounting to a significant social stigma.

The concept of the criminal as rational actor has been found to be in error ( except perhaps for white collar criminals ). Mental illness is widespread through the criminal system. Drug abuse and psychiatric disorders are such common precursors of crime as to make the concept of the typical criminal as rational actor deterred by punishment absurd.

Prisons do not reform; at best they separate dangerous people from society. In 1999, researchers at the University of New Brunswick examined 50 studies on recidivism that covered more than 300,000 offenders. Considering other factors -- such as an inmate's criminal background and age -- they found that the longer people spent in jail, the more likely they were to commit another crime when they got out.
Indeed, one conclusion of the study was that prisons serve as schools for crime.

Our Criminal Code is based on a society that no longer exists and assumptions that, if ever true, are clearly false today. Now that does not mean we have to abandon trying to control crime, but it does mean that it is time to look again at how we deter crime.

Is crime really best dealt with by prisons? In some cases -- white collar crime -- probably yes, but in other cases, as with most drug related crime, probably not. Should we use mental health treatment as a basis for dealing with crime? Perhaps, but there are some criminals who cannot be rehabilitated and who must be separated from society; those criminals need to be in prisons or in functional equivalents. Should we assimilate quasi criminal/administrative law into true criminal law?
Certainly society's revulsion at crimes of personal violence is greater than, say, environmental offences, but those environmental offences may injure far more people than a simple assault. Should we replace the entire system of adversarial court battle with something closer to a prosecuting magistrate? Perhaps; there are issues of fairness and the appearance of justice. But is, say, the law of France grossly unfair?

All these issues should be open to consideration under an evidence-based approach.

We are at a unique junction politically in Canada. All major parties support criminal justice reform. The goal of a just and safer Canada is shared by all public figures and there is the political will to make change.

The Conservative party's crime legislation has been supported by the Liberal party. Criminal justice is a major part of the Conservative party's platform. The Liberal party is holding a major "thinkers'
conference" in January to consider policy approaches for the future; such a conference in the early 1960s led to the modern Divorce Act and could lead to similar radical readjustments in the criminal law.
Changes to the criminal law that were politically unthinkable just a few years ago are being debated in the House and Senate.

The goal of the criminal justice system is to prevent crime and to justify society where crime has occurred. Now is the right time to revisit the Criminal Code in light of those goals.

* James Morton is the deputy chair of the Council of Presidents of the Liberal Party of Canada and a past president of the Ontario Bar Association. He is adjunct faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School and practises with Steinberg Morton Hope & Israel LLP. The views expressed are solely his own.

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Drugs & Democracy Info <drugs@tni.org>
Transnational Institute (TNI)
De Wittenstraat 25 | 1052 AK Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Tel +31-20-6626608 | Fax +31-20-6757176
http://www.tni.org/drugs
http://www.ungassondrugs.org/
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Vision hesitates on backing crack smoking room
By Mike Howell
Canada.com
November 25, 2009

Most addicts can buy crack or crystal meth within minutes: study; Active injection-drug users in Vancouver who report injecting in public, 2003-2007
Kelowna.com
November 25, 2009

Drug users know their stuff
E! Science News
November 24, 2009

 

The URHI report is attached....

 

 

 

 war against drugs has failed to prevent a steep increase in the use of crack cocaine and crystal methamphetamine in Vancouver in the last 10 years, according to a study released Tuesday.

Researchers also found continued easy access to the highly addictive drugs and a high mortality rate among needle users because of HIV infection.

The study was done by the Urban Health Research Initiative at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

Drug-user HIV rate still high

The authors told a Vancouver news conference there has been a dramatic reduction in the sharing of syringes and in drug-injection rates, but a high mortality rate remained because of long-term HIV infection.

One expert involved in the research said harm-reduction programs work but they need to be expanded.

"Namely, the supervised injection facility," Dr. Evan Wood said. "But also … we need a greater dialogue about inhalation facilities."

Advocates of supervised drug-taking centres such as the InSite injection facility on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside have argued for a similar site for the safe use of cocaine.

Call for return of four-pillar policy

The high mortality rate for HIV-infected people, Wood said, is the price paid for past inaction.

Ottawa should never have abandoned the four-pillars approach, a policy adopted by the City of Vancouver in 2001. The policy named prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction as the keys to successfully dealing with the use of street drugs.

"That massive undertaking was thrown out the window," Wood said. "From a scientific perspective, that is a massive flushing of taxpayers' dollars down the toilet."

Wood said police must exercise their enforcement role but criminalizing users and arresting traffickers — who are simply replaced by others — has not proved to be the answer.

•  

News on the Vancouver MDMA (ecstasy) study

"It should be pursued, we've got to try everything, and Rick Doblin's a very convincing guy," Owen said.

http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?id=9476d708-dc00-4c7d-a26d-5f1377c52d85

Therapists tout ecstasy as treatment for stress disorder Cheryl Rossi, Vancouver Courier
Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The use of LSD and mind-altering states has convinced two local therapists that MDMA-also known was the street drug ecstasy-could help people suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatrist Ingrid Pacey and psychologist Andrew Feldmar aim to study whether MDMA-assisted therapy could benefit people who've tried traditional counselling and drug treatment with little relief.

The U.S.-based non-profit sponsoring the study, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic studies, or MAPS, and the Metro Vancouver therapists have received two of four approvals they need to proceed.
Health Canada and an independent review board have given approvals, but eight months on, Pacey's waiting for an exemption under Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to distribute the drug. The pharmacist involved with the study needs to be granted a licence to import the drug from a Swiss university.

Twelve participants, including people who've suffered childhood sexual or physical abuse or a traumatizing incident as an adult, will take part in the double-blind study that will include three two-day sessions with MDMA and regular psychotherapy for up to five months. At least 20 individuals have volunteered, and the research team hopes to recruit police officers, firefighters and military personnel to participate.

"We even had a phone call from a flight attendant," Pacey said.
Participants' symptoms will be measured with standard psychological testing. The MDMA will be administered at the start of a two-day session with participants staying overnight in Pacey's West Side office. Their vital signs will be monitored. Eight people will be given a full dose of MDMA and four will receive a small dose. After the sessions are complete their symptoms will be reassessed and those who were given the small dose of the drug will have the option of trying therapy with the full dose.

Researchers interested in the use of MDMA believe the drug could help quiet a patient's nervous system and allow them to look at the big picture of what happened to them with more compassion and empathy for themselves and others. Pacey said a similar American study has reported encouraging results but the findings have not been published.

MAPS is sponsoring similar studies in Switzerland, Israel and Jordan. It previously sponsored a study to evaluate whether the grade of MDMA to be used would hurt participants psychologically or physically in controlled situations and found no damage. Pacey says widely reported studies on the damaging effects of ecstasy involved giving massive doses of the drugs to rats. She said some reported results were later retracted.
Pacey noted that healing through altered mental states is common to many cultures with the use of drumming, chanting, staying up all night and fasting.

The researchers expect they'll need $330,000 to complete the study. They raised $10,000 at an Oct. 24 benefit attended by medical professionals and advocates for drug policy reform, including former NPA mayor Philip Owen. Owen attended because he met MAPS's founder Rick Doblin earlier this month at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in New Mexico. He leant his support to the MDMA study with a donation.

"It should be pursued, we've got to try everything, and Rick Doblin's a very convincing guy," Owen said.

Vancouver hard-drug use up: study
CBC News
November 24, 2009