As Mark Twain’s mate and fellow writer Charles Warner observed, ‘politics makes for strange bedfellows’ – and none stranger than in the world of drug law reform. As Peter Hitchens and Kathy Gyngell lined up to give evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee…
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Druglink article 2012 – Stop and search by Caroline Oubridge
Ineffective, unfair and racist are just three of the criticisms levelled at police stop and search powers. Thirteen years after the spotlight of the Macpherson report, Caroline Oubridge reports on the status of this controversial tactic. Stop and search (PDF)
Druglink article 2012 – Weeding out the dope by Harry Shapiro
It’s five years since Druglink last covered the phenomenon of cannabis farms, during which time the national picture has changed considerably and in the process put police resources under considerable strain. Weeding out the dope (PDF)
Druglink interview 2012 – Noreen Oliver
Regarded as a standard bearer for residential rehab and seen as an unapologetic advocate of abstinence based treatment, nevertheless Noreen Oliver has been making a significant contribution to building bridges across the ever-fractious drug treatment sector. Interview – Noreen Oliver (PDF)
Druglink article 2012 – Never the bride by Trevor McCarthy
Trevor McCarthy argues that the Government’s new alcohol strategy still leaves alcohol treatment as drug’s poor cousin, but suggests Public Health England could be the driver to reprioritise substance misuse treatment. Never the bride (PDF)
Druglink news analysis 2012 – Alcohol strategy: fizzy or flat? by David Ader
Governments often use Friday afternoons to push through initiatives when fewer MPs are in the House. Presumably, the alcohol strategy qualified because of the controversial decision to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol. What isn’t debatable however, is that the UK has an unhealthy…
Druglink news item 2012 – New drugs strain old law by Jeremy Sare
It isn’t just drug reform organisations that question whether the Misuse of Drug Act can cope with the flood of legal highs New drugs strain old law (PDF)
Druglink article 2012 – Time to end the ‘war on drugs’? by Marcus Roberts
The blanket use of ‘war on drugs’ does more to conceal than expose the worst abuses that are committed in its name internationally. Time to end the ‘war on drugs’? (PDF)
Druglink/DrugWatch factsheet 2012 – Methoxetamine
Methoxetamine is chemically similar to ketamine. Some sources suggest it was initially synthesised by an underground chemist for treatment of chronic pain, but it has been present on the designer drug market since 2010 and use has increased in 2011. Factsheet – Methoxetamine (PDF)…
Druglink article 2012 – The acid king by Andy Roberts
Without the little-known éminence grise of LSD, Owsley Stanley III, ‘the sixties’ might never have happened. The acid king (PDF)