A ban on a number of drugs known as "legal highs" has come into force, including the substances GBL and BZP which become Class C drugs with a possible two-year jail sentence for possession.

Source articles on BBC News, The Scotsman

An opinion poll for the Conservative party carried out by YouGov has found 91 per cent of people questioned agreed inmates should undergo mandatory testing.

Source article on The Scotsman

Health officials have said that no new cases of anthrax have emerged 48 hours after two heroin users in Glasgow tested positive for the infection.

Source articles on BBC News , see also The Courier ,The Herald ,Press and Journal ,The Scotsman ,NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Glasgow's newest hepatitis clinic will offer the latest technology and a team of dedicated specialists for Hepatitis C patients.

Source article on The Scottish Government

Media comment following the release of National statistics from ISD Scotland on Drug Treatment Waiting Times.

Source article on Press and Journal

A new campaign against drugs by the Metropolitan police is being linked with environmental concerns and the organisation Greenpeace, with plans to promote the message that for every gram of cocaine made, four square metres of rainforest are destroyed.

Source article on TimesOnline

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC) in its latest survey, Opium Poppy Cultivation in South-east Asia, highlights an increase in opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar, for the third year in a row.

Source article on UNODC

A research study carried out at Edinburgh University has revealed that cancer patients who use a cannabis mouthspray had their level of pain reduced by 30 per cent.

Source article on BBC News

The Office on Drugs and Crime have said that the Sahara desert has become a new centre for trading cocaine from west Africa and for heroin from east Africa.

Source article on The Guardian

Figures from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) have shown that more people who inject illegal drugs are being offered and are accepting confidential tests for Hepatitis C through contact with drug treatment services in England.

Source article on National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse

A campaign by Dumfries and Galloway police forces has started in south-west Scotland to highlight the dangers of taking drugs during the festive period.

Source article on BBC News

Dr. John Dillon, a liver specialist at Ninewell's Dundee Hospital has warned that people who snort cocaine are at risk of picking up hepatitis C infection.

Source article on The Courier

Medics have warned that mixing agents used to cut cocaine in Ireland appear to be more lethal than those used in other countries, as they have recorded a marked increase in the numbers of cocaine-related overdoses in recent years.

Source article on TimesOnline

A panel of experts and people with personal experience of recovery are among members of the new Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission which held its first meeting last week, chaired by Dr Brian Kidd, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Addiction Psychiatry at Dundee University, and includes representatives from the medical profession, prisons, families, voluntary sector, law enforcement and local government.

Source article on The Scottish Government, see also comment on The Scotsman

Law enforcement agencies across Scotland are to get tougher with drink and drug drivers this festive season and offenders face losing their cars as well as losing their licences.

Source article on The Scottish Government

A new awareness initiative aimed at pubs and clubs in Aberdeen aims to warn of the dangers of taking cocaine, highlighting the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Source article on BBC News

A record of £28.6 million funding for drug treatment services was announced today by Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing.

Source article on The Scottish Government, see also articles on HeraldScotland, HeraldScotland

Research studies published in the Journal, Neurology, has linked use of the drug ecstasy with a raised risk of developing a potentially fatal sleep disorder, sleep apnoea.

Source article on The Scotsman

It has been reported that cocaine is the fasted growing treatment need amongst women drug users of child-bearing age in England.

Source article on National Treament Agency for Substance Misuse

The Scottish Drug Forum's innovative National Quality Development Programme, supported by the Big Lottery Fund, has been launched. This new initiative has the aim of providing help and assistance to drug treatment and rehabilitation agencies across Scotland, to enable them to assist the recovery of people with drug problems.

Source article on Scottish Drugs Forum

BBC Newsbeat article which focuses on the growing problem of prescription drugs misuse by teenagers in the United States.

Source article on BBC News

There has been a decline in the number of drug finds in Perth prison, according to Scottish Government figures released in a parliamentary question posed by MSP, John Lamont.

Source article on The Courier, Scottish Parliament

Councillors in Aberdeen have asked for more information before they put their support behind a plan to supply heroin on the NHS to drug users in the city.

Source article on Press and Journal

A new study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry has suggested that heavy users of high-potency cannabis are at higher risk of experiencing psychotic illness than those who use other types of cannabis.

Source article on BBC News, The Scotsman, British Journal of Psychiatry

A survey last week revealed that 18 per cent of drivers aged 17-25 admitted taking to the wheel after drinking and 7 percent in a similar age group admitted to driving on illegal drugs.

Source articles on Press and Journal, The Scotsman