The latest military offensive in Helmand is being accompanied by a new strategy in the battle to win the hearts and minds of Afghans: a step away from wholesale poppy eradication. Vanda Felbab-Brown reports on why this controversial experiment is the most likely route…
Druglink
Druglink article 2010 – My drug hell by Diane Taylor
So-called ‘misery memoirs’ have become a popular genre with the British book-buying public. And tales of drug torment make up a significant slice of this market. But what purpose do they serve? My drug hell (PDF)
Druglink article 2010 – Coming of age by Chris Drouet
Chris Drouet, writer and co-founder of drug user magazine Black Poppy, died of a drug overdose at his London flat in December. His death, aged 60, was a surprise to those who knew him – he had built up a tolerance to opiates after decades of…
Druglink article 2010 – Feline frenzy by Andrew McNicoll
The intensity of the media storm over the now banned cocaine-ecstasy substitute mephedrone was a phenomenon to behold.Andrew McNicoll examines the part played by the press in one of the most short-lived, yet explosive, drug scares for decades ‘KILLER drug meow meow…
Druglink article 2010 – Derry’s drug vigilantes by Max Daly
Ray Coyle was gunned down as he chatted to customers at his city centre shop in Derry. His crime? Selling legal highs. Max Daly reports on how dissident Republican groups are using the region’s historical distrust of drug dealers to drum up support in Northern Ireland’s…
Druglink article 2010 – Birth control by Diane Taylor
Branded by critics as eugenics by the back door, a US-based project will soon be paying British drug users to stop having babies. Harris, based in North Carolina, is the founder of Project Prevention, a controversial US programme which pays predominantly female drug addicts £200 to…
Druglink factsheet 2010 – The Independent Safeguarding Authority
The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) was set up in 2008 to continue the work of the Department of Children Schools and Families in relation to the management of safeguarding lists of those ‘barred’ from working with vulnerable people. In 2009 the ISA was given powers to commence…
Druglink article 2010 – An arc of triumph? by Harry Shapiro
Drugs is an issue the government generally likes to side-step at election time. It’s a complex subject mired in pitfalls and booby traps. There are easier ways to score political points. But how is drug policy regarded at the highest political levels? Looking at what goes on…
Druglink interview 2010 – David and Goliath by Jeremy Sare
Professor David Nutt, Head of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College, London was famously sacked as chairman of the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) last October. He now heads up the newly established Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD), which is being…
Druglink article 2010 – Room to live by Esther Sample
It has given Steven a vital breathing space in his bid to shake off his homeless and drug-using past. He calls it home. Esther Sample reports on an innovative new housing scheme in Nottinghamshire that offers an alternative to people looking for a…