In adopting a report on the Green Paper on the role of civil society in drugs policy in the European Union, the European Parliament indicates that civil society has an essential role to play in promoting the emergence, definition, implementation, assessment and monitoring of drug policies.

Source article on the European Parliament

A final report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was delivered to the Home Office yesterday, but the UK Government's response will not be announced until next week at the earliest.

Source articles on The Scotsman, The Herald, The Guardian, BBC News, The Telegraph

Eight people have been arrested after cocaine with an estimated street value of £50,000 - and money totalling about the same value - was seized by police in the Inverness area at the weekend.

Source article on BBC News

Police in Fife have said they have exceeded their targets for the number of people caught supplying illegal drugs.

Source article on BBC News

The debate on reclassification of cannabis from class C to class B continues as a formal decision on the status of the drug is expected from the House of Commons over the coming weeks.

Source articles on The Independent, The Observer, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime , The Times, Daily Mail

Five people have been arrested in the Rosemount area of Aberdeen following a seizure of crack cocaine with a street value of several thousand pounds.

Source article on BBC News

Police in England and Wales recorded a 20 per cent increase in drug offences due to greater use of cannabis warnings, and a 4 per cent overall rise in gun crime from 9,594 incidents to 9,967. Recorded crime fell by 12 per cent in the last three months of 2007 - the largest fall in at least five years - according to Home Office figures published today.

Source article on The Guardian

In a survey carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation members of the public in the UK were asked to consider what social evils face the UK today.

Source article on Joseph Rowntree Foundation

The scale of heroin misuse in Scotland's remote islands has been revealed after a court case which ended with a man being jailed for supplying drugs to a teenage friend who died after she suffered an overdose.

Source article on The Guardian

Heroin use is rapidly becoming the drug of choice for young people in Wales drug workers have reported. Since 2005 453 young people under 18 have been referred for treatment for heroin misuse across Wales and of those, 163 came from the Swansea area.

Source article on BBC News

A specialist Prison and Addiction Unit has been set up by centre-right think tank the Centre for Policy Studies, with the remit of challenging what it sees as the UK government's 'fundamentally flawed' drug policy.

Source article on Drink and Drug News

Background briefing from Professor David Clark on understanding the nature of addiction and recovery and the processes needed to help those requiring treatment on the road to recovery.

Source article on Drink and Drugs Net [PDF 65KB]

New figures have shown a rise in the number of drug-addicted infants born in the Grampian region. Over the past three years respectively, 75, 78 and 70 babies were born with drug addictions in Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, whereas in 1998 the total was just 22.

Source article on The Press and Journal

Thousands more Scottish youngsters are to benefit from improved sports facilities and new opportunities to get involved in the arts under the latest initiatives from the Scottish Government's Cashback for Communities programme.

Source article on Scottish Government

A groundbreaking study supported by the World Health Organisation has reported one in 10 Scottish 15-year-olds regularly uses cannabis. The Scottish study which is part of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children programme involved more than 6000 pupils and examined the lifestyle of young people aged 11, 13 and 15 in March 2006. It was also revealed by the survey that 840f youngsters were "highly satisfied" with their life and 49% were "very happy".

Source articles on The Herald, The Scotsman, BBC News

Plans to extend the Structured Deferred Sentence(SDS) pilot scheme to cover courts across two Community Justice Authorities areas - Glasgow and Tayside were announced yesterday by the Scottish Government. The scheme is aimed at offenders with underlying problems such as drug or alcohol dependency, mental health or learning difficulties or unemployment, providing structured social work intervention for offenders post-conviction, but prior to final sentencing.

Source article on Scottish Government

Police have recovered crack cocaine with a street value of about £30,000 after an intelligence-led operation at Promenade Court in the Seaton area of Aberdeen.

Source article on BBC News

Police have revealed that a significant quantity of drugs have been found in Elgin on Sunday afternoon, including heroin, amphetamine and cannabis.

Source article on BBC News

Police forces throughout Scotland are to introduce mandatory drugs tests in an attempt to stamp out substance abuse.

Source article on The Herald

An annual survey by Crew 2000, an Edinburgh-based drugs advice centre, which looked at 18 drugs, found two-thirds of girls had accessed more drugs than males. According to the survey, girls and young women are more likely than boys to have taken almost every recreational drug, including Ecstasy, cocaine, LSD and amphetamines.

Source article on The Scotsman

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has updated its Substance of Misuse list, which was last reviewed in 2004.

Source article on The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain [PDF 58KB]

Former National Offender Management Service drug treatment head Huseyin Djemil has estimated that £100m worth of drugs are being traded in prisons each year.

Source article on BBC News

New statistics show a rise in the number of children in Edinburgh placed on the child protection register last year because of emotional abuse , compared with the previous year. Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, Edinburgh city's children and families leader, said: "The reason for the increase is partly due to the rising number of parents who have problems linked to drug and alcohol abuse, which sadly too often leads to neglect".

Source article on Evening News

Two people share their success stories on their fight to overcome their drug misuse problem and how the Lothians and Edinburgh Abstinence Programme(LEAP) helped them on the road to recovery.

Source article on Evening News

A man has been arrested in Aberdeen over the cultivation of cannabis said to be worth £680,000.

Source article on BBC News

Heavy cannabis users may be at greater risk of chronic lung disease - including cancer - compared to tobacco smokers, two studies have suggested.

Source article on BBC News

The debate on whether cannabis should be reclassified continues.

Source articles on BBC News, BBC News, Evening Times