Prescribe heroin on the NHS, says nurse leader
Injection rooms 'would cut crime and infection rates' but opponents warn of slippery slope
By Randeep Ramesh
Guardian (UK)
April 26, 2010

Study tests magic mushroom drug on cancer anxiety
CTV News
April 26, 2010

http://www.democracyinstitute.org/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=44154

 

Begin forwarded message:

Conservatives should get weak on drugs

Evan Wood,  National Post, April 26, 2010

Alejandro Bringas, Reuters

Citizens from across the political spectrum have largely considered illicit drugs such as cocaine and marijuana a grave threat to Canadian society. Accordingly, promises to get tough on drugs are proven vote-spinners for politicians coast-to-coast.

Not surprisingly, the mandatory minimum sentences for drug law violations proposed by the Harper government prior to prorogation received unconditional support from the federal Liberals. However, in more than four decades since former U.S. president Richard Nixon first declared America's "War on Drugs," researchers from across scientific disciplines have been closely examining the impacts of law enforcement strategies aimed at controlling illicit drug use. The findings clearly demonstrate that politically popular "get tough" approaches actually make the drug problem worse, fuel crime and violence, add to government deficits, rob the public purse of potential revenue, help spread disease and divide families.

In fact, the tough on crime approach takes its biggest toll on the traditional conservative wish list of fiscal discipline, low crime rates and strong families.

At a 1991 lecture called The Drug War as a Socialist Enterprise, conservative economist and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman noted: "There are some general features of a socialist enterprise, whether it's the Post Office, schools or the war on drugs. The enterprise is inefficient, expensive, very advantageous to a small group of people and harmful to a lot of people."

Friedman's views about the certain failure of the war on drugs are shared by most economists who stress that costly efforts to remove drug supply by building prisons and locking up drug dealers have the perverse effect of making it that much more profitable for new drug dealers to get into the market. This simple fact explains why -- despite $2.5-trillion spent in America's war on drugs -- drugs are more freely and easily available today than at any time in North American history.

Professor Friedman was vocal about the unintended consequences of the war on drugs, including the enrichment of organized crime and drug market violence. As he wrote in The New York Times: "Compared with the returns from a traditional career of study and hard work, returns from dealing drugs are tempting to young and old alike. And many, especially the young, are not dissuaded by the bullets that fly so freely in disputes between competing drug dealers -- bullets that fly only because dealing drugs is illegal. Al Capone epitomizes our earlier attempt at Prohibition; the Crips and Bloods epitomize this one."

Recently, the University of British Columbia's Urban Health Research Initiative, of which I am director, released a review of every English-language study to examine the link between drug law enforcement and violence. The review clearly demonstrates that the astronomical profits created by drug prohibition drive organized crime and

related violence. This report was externally reviewed and endorsed by Harvard Economics Professor Jeffrey Miron and Professor Stephen Easton, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning Fraser Institute.

Health researchers have also noted the consistent link between excessive reliance on drug law enforcement and increased health-related harms. Chief among the public health concerns is the transmission of HIV among injection drug users. According to the UN Reference Group on HIV and Injection Drug Use, the largest numbers of drug injectors live in China, the U.S. and Russia. These three nations also have among the world's most punitive drug laws and lead the world in the number of incarcerated individuals. Considering that HIV is an infectious disease that is known to spread among drug addicted-prisoners and that each case of HIV is estimated to cost the Canadian health system an average of $250,000, the taxpayer is again the loser.

The war on drugs has also had a devastating impact on families. Primarily as a result of drug law enforcement, one in eight African-American males in the age group 25 to 29 is incarcerated on any given day in the U.S., despite the fact that ethnic minorities consume illicit drugs at comparable rates to other subpopulations in the U.S. In addition to the budgetary implications of this experiment, sociologists and criminologists are now describing the intergenerational effects of these policies on low-income families, as children left behind by incarcerated parents turn to gangs and the cycle continues.

The Cato Institute, a respected U.S. think tank, recently released a report on alternative drug policies. It specifically focused on Portugal, which several years ago parted ways with the U.S. and decriminalized all drugs so that resources could focus on prevention and treatment of drug use. The Cato report demonstrates clearly how Portugal's policies have dramatically reduced HIV rates as drug addiction has been viewed as a health rather than criminal justice problem. In addition, Portugal now has the lowest rates of marijuana use in the European Union, with experts suggesting that the health focus has taken some of the glamour out of illegal drugs.

As Professor Friedman said, "If you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel." Regardless of when the federal government re-tables plans to enact mandatory minimum sentences for drug law violations, Canadians should contact their MPs -- Conservative, Liberal or otherwise -- and let them know that they don't want tax dollars to be flushed into politically popular but ineffective drug-war schemes.

Excessive drug law enforcement and mandatory minimum sentences for drug law violations channel tax dollars from health and education, increase drug violence in the short term and will create negative impacts in the long-term by turning petty drug offenders into hard-core criminals. Conservatives should look at this ongoing legacy in light of their traditional commitment to stronger families, economies and societies, and act accordingly.

-Dr. Evan Wood is director of the Urban Health Research Initiative, research scientist at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and associate professor at the Department of Medicine of the University of British Columbia.

 

 

 

see attached

 

---

Don’t Call It ‘Pot’ in This Circle; It’s a Profession
By Jesse McKinley
New York Times
April 23, 2010

 

The Chinese laboratories where scientists are already at work on the new 'meow meow'
Daily Mail (UK)
April 24, 2010

 

"Harm reduction" needed to cut drug-user AIDS risk
Barely a twentieth of the estimated $3.2 billion needed is put into preventing drug users spreading the AIDS virus, experts said on Monday, and the shortfall is fuelling HIV epidemics in parts of Europe and Asia.
Reuters
April 26, 2010

FREE PUBLIC LECTURE

Hosted by the Centre for Addictions Research of BC

 

“Rethinking Drug Education”

 

When: Friday, May 14, 2010 from 3:30 to 4:30 PM

Where: University of Victoria, Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (Bob Wright Centre), Room A104

 

http://www.uvic.ca/buildings/sci.html

 

About the Lecture

Acknowledging the ineffectiveness of most drug education, this session explores issues about the goal, the methods, and the content of drug education. It is argued that an approach grounded in the social ecological model of public health and health promotion that acknowledges and attempts to address a broad array of macro, meso and micro factors influencing individual health decisions and behaviours may provide a more useful foundation for health literacy programs than traditional models. Applied to education about alcohol and other drugs, this would mean the goal is not about convincing young people “drugs are bad” but rather it is to help them understand the role drugs play in their society and how the social ecological environment influences their health decisions and behaviours. Effective education would thus involve providing young people with opportunities to develop the skills to function in their communities where drugs are a reality. This must be more than teaching them to “just say, no.” A new resource, called iMinds, being developed by the Centre for Addictions Research of BC, will be introduced to illustrate the proposed alternative approach.

About the Speaker

Dan is the Assistant Director (Knowledge Exchange) at the Centre for Addictions Research of BC, University of Victoria. His work focuses on communicating current evidence in a way that supports the evolution of effective policy and practice. This involves developing evidence-informed policy advice for government departments and regional authorities, as well as creating materials based on empirical evidence and responsive to real-world contexts. Dan's current work involves supporting schools and communities to access and use the best available evidence to implement comprehensive approaches to health and wellness related to psychoactive substance use. This work involves developing classroom materials and other educational resources as well as resources to support effective policy. Dan is a member of a consortium currently reviewing school-based mental health and substance use issues for the Mental Health Commission of Canada and earlier led a team that developed a series of knowledge kits for the Joint Consortium for School Health.

 

To reserve a seat and for more information, please contact: carbc@uvic.ca 250-472-5445

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: IDHDP [mailto:membership@idhdp.com]
Sent: 23 April, 2010 9:35 AM
Subject: Invitation to join Harm Reduction Network

Dear Sir/Madam

The International Doctors for Healthy Drug Policies (IDHDP) network allows medical doctors from around the world to share expertise and good practice to reduce the social, health and economic harms of people who use drugs and create a bridge between practice and drug policy. The network has only recently been established and we are looking for medical doctors who work in the field of harm reduction, drug policy and other issues such as HIV and hepatitis C, which are related to drug use to join. We believe that a sensible dialogue about drug use is a crucial step in creating more effective policies and making such issues more mainstream.

To join this group an applicant must be a medical doctor who is engaged professionally in working in the field of drug use or associated fields.

If you think you qualify to join IDHDP please fill in the attached membership form and send it back to membership@idhdp.com or post it to the address on the membership form.

We will contact you after receiving your completed membership form to let you know if you have qualified to join. Please can you also forward this email on to any colleagues or friends who you think will be interested in joining.

If you work for an organisation that works with these issues please could this email be forwarded to any relevant doctors who are affiliated with this organisation who would be interested in joining the IDHDP network.
We would also be grateful if you could support this network by advertising this opportunity by any possible means.

Dearest regards

Jack Grundy

For further information about the network please see the attached documents

Press release
EMCDDA
April 23, 2010

Record number of new drugs reported in 2009, says report

(23.4.2010, LISBON) A record number of new drugs was officially reported in 2009 to the EMCDDA and Europol via the EU early-warning system (EWS) on new psychoactive substances. This is according to the EMCDDA-Europol
2009 annual report on the implementation of the three-step legal instrument through which Europe monitors and acts on new substances (1).
According to the report, released today, 24 new psychoactive substances were officially notified for the first time to the two agencies in 2009.
This represents the largest number of substances ever reported in a single year and almost double the number notified in 2008 (13). All of the new compounds were synthetic, including two substances with medicinal properties. A full list of the substances notified is annexed to the report.

Highlighted as significant new developments in 2009 were the emergence of new, smokable herbal products laced with synthetic cannabinoids (the so-called 'Spice' phenomenon) and the growing popularity of synthetic cathinones. A total of nine synthetic cannabinoids, from four distinct chemical groups, were reported via the EWS in 2009, as well as four synthetic cathinones. The latter are derivatives of the parent compound cathinone, which is structurally related to amphetamine.
Towards the end of 2009, increased evidence of the use and availability of one synthetic cathinone, mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone), prompted the EMCDDA and Europol to embark on a formal data-collection exercise on the substance (Step I of the legal process). This led to a joint report on mephedrone, submitted to the EU institutions and the European Medicines Agency in March, paving the way for a possible risk assessment on the drug (Step II) (2).

The appearance of a large number of new unregulated synthetic compounds, marketed on the Internet as 'legal highs' or 'not for human consumption', states the report, presents a growing challenge for monitoring, responding to, and controlling the use of new psychoactive substances.

The piperazine mCPP, extensively covered in previous years, is also given attention in this year's report. Data from various sources highlight a marked increase of the percentage of 'ecstasy' tablets containing this substance, while the availability of MDMA on the market appears to be decreasing. It is noteworthy that no new piperazines or psychoactive plants were reported in 2009.
The report concludes that the EWS has high reporting capabilities and the capacity to triangulate information from different sources. Over 110 substances have been reported by Member States to the EMCDDA and Europol since the EWS was created in 1997.
Notes:

(1) 'EMCDDA-Europol 2009 annual report on the implementation of Council Decision 2005/387/JHA. In accordance with Article 10 of Council Decision 2005/387/JHA on the information exchange, risk-assessment and control of new psychoactive substances'. The report is available at www.emcdda.europa.eu/html.cfm/index33227EN.html. For more on the Council Decision, see www.emcdda.europa.eu/drug-situation/new-drugs and www.emcdda.europa.eu/html.cfm/index40105EN.html
(2) On the basis of this report a decision may be taken on whether or not to launch a formal risk assessment on the drug. Article 6, Council Decision http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32005D0387:EN:HTML

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