The provision of methadone, if some politicians and newspapers are to be believed, is no better than handing out illegal drugs. Paul Hayes, Chief Executive of the National Treatment Agency, clarifies the changes afoot for the substitute drug Fluid policy (PDF)
Tag Archive for heroin
Druglink article 2010 – High tide by Andy McNicoll
Shetland’s remote but affluent island communities are facing up to the reality that, unlike the rest of Britain, rising numbers of young people are taking up heroin. Three years ago, the 22,000 members of Shetland’s close-knit community – who inhabit a string of 15…
Druglink article 2010 – Sink or swim by Susanne MacGregor
Britain now has arguably one of the best drug treatment systems in the world. But there are choppy waters ahead, says Susanne MacGregor. The government’s 2008 drugs strategy aimed to “deliver new approaches to drug treatment and social reintegration”. It gave long overdue attention to…
Druglink article 2010 – Plant kingdom by Vanda Felbab-Brown
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 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 – Citizen medics by Rosie Mundt-Leach, Siobhan Jackson, Francis Keaney and Alun Morinan
More than one in 20 heroin overdose emergency kits handed out to drug users has been used to counteract an overdose, a study has found. Rosie Mundt-Leach, Siobhan Jackson, Francis Keaney and Alun Morinan report on a unique naloxone kit experiment in south London. Citizen medics…
Druglink article 2011 – The opium cables by Adrian Gatton
How Druglink used Wikileaks to reveal the secret story of heroin’s journey from Afghanistan to the UK. Dispatch 09DUSHANBE569: Dushanbe, a pleasant enough neo-classical city in Tajikistan, bordering Afghanistan. A mobile phone number belonging to a man known as ‘The Doctor’. Further research reveals his real…
Druglink article 2011 – Politics of the poppy by Harry Shapiro and David Guttenfelder
As the Western powers prepare to leave Afghanistan, informed opinion concludes that the ten year war against opium growing has been an expensive failure. Politics of the poppy (PDF)
Druglink article 2011 – The Ketamine zone by Max Daly and Peter Simonson
Ketamine is on the up again, tranquillisers are replacing low grade heroin, potent ecstasy pills are back and the artificial division between legal and illegal drugs is crumbling. Max Daly and Peter Simonson take a look at the results of this year’s UK-wide street drug trends…
Druglink news item – Prison’s opiate reduction regime ‘endangered lives’ by Max Daly
A prison’s attempt to reduce high levels of opiate prescribing resulted in an “unsafe” drug treatment regime which led to inmates being put on suicide watch and others at risk of overdose, a report by the prisons watchdog has revealed. The findings by HM Inspectorate of Prisons…