A new centre in Glasgow is set to offer an alternative to prison sentences for female offenders. It is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK to tackle the drug and alcohol problems which lead to crime.

Read this press release on Scottish Executive Site
Read this article on BBC News

The DMIS web team have collated policy and media comment on the forthcoming reclassification of cannabis which will take effect on 29 January 2004 across the United Kingdom.

MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at Glasgow University scientists have revealed in the latest edition of the Journal of Youth Studies that what today’s teenagers do in their spare time may partly explain why there is a greater increase in smoking, drinking and drug taking amongst girls than among boys.

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Possession of cannabis will remain a criminal offence in spite of reclassification next week to Class C, Deputy Justice Minister Hugh Henry has commented.

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Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which recommended the cannabis changes in the 1980s, said yesterday that it was time to consider whether to go further. They plan to review the harmful effects of all the substances governed by the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, which seems sure to revive the debate about whether ecstasy should continue to rank with cocaine, crack, heroin, LSD and magic mushrooms.

Read this article on Guardian Unlimited

Drug testing for Scottish nurses is being considered by the country's largest nursing union amid fears that staff may be under the influence of illegal substances on hospital wards. Screening of nurses for drugs or alcohol at work is being put to the vote by the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, and a pilot project to gauge the scale of substance abuse may follow.

Read this article on The Herald [Link broken 8/11/04]

The British Medical Association has launched a last minute attack on the plan to reclassify cannabis fearing the reclassification will lead the public to believe the drug is safe.
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Government information campaign to educate the public about the change in law after cannabis reclassification will begin this week. The latest FRANK campaign will promote one simple message – cannabis will be reclassified on 29 January, but it is a harmful and will remain illegal.

Read this press release on drugs.gov.uk

Short article showing facts and figures on common drugs of misuse.

Read this article on The Herald [Link broken 8/11/04]

Psychiatrist Robin Murray had never really planned on studying the effects of cannabis on mental health. Rather, he found himself falling into it after noticing that some of his patients, who had been gradually climbing out of the well of schizophrenia, were having relapses after smoking the occasional spliff.

Read this article on Guardian Unlimited

New guides to help parents discuss the dangers of both drug and alcohol misuse with their children are launched today by the Executive. The publications, Drugs: what Every Parent Should Know and Alcohol: What Every Parent Should Know, are available from the Know The Score and Drinkline advice lines.

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During the 1990s, Afghanistan was the main Source article of the world's illicit heroin supply, but a UK study carried out by Loughborough University has found a Taleban crackdown on drugs led to global heroin production falling by two-thirds in 2001.

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Regular users of the illegal drug ecstasy are risking damage to their long-term memory, according to research by a team drawn from five British universities.

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Two health experts writing in the British Medical Journal have called for the introduction of centres where drug addicts can inject themselves under medical supervision.

Read this article on the Guardian
Read this article on the British Medical Journal

An investigation has been launched into the transfer of a violent drug dealer between two prisons. Roddy Mclean, 59, walked out from Leyhill Open Prison in South Gloucestershire two months ago, and is still at large.

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Four British men are under arrest in Ghana after officials seized £80m worth of cocaine destined for UK streets. A UK-led international law operation resulted in the seizure of a tonne of the drug in a raid on a villa in Accra.

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A 15-year-old Hertfordshire schoolboy died of an ecstasy overdose a week after his film about the dangers of drug abuse was shown on cinema screens, an inquest has heard.

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Weeks before the drug is downgraded from Class B to Class C this article in the The Times presents evidence that cannabis-induced psychosis is the biggest problem facing inner city mental health services.

Read this article on Times Online and Guardian Unlimited

A confidential report by the Prime Minister's strategy unit says the Government should shift its energy to combating "high harm-causing users" who are responsible for thousands of crimes.

Read this article on independent.co.uk

A Civil court action has been used in Scotland to seize suspected profits of drug trafficking for the first time in the UK. "This is a first for the Civil Recovery Unit who have other targets under investigation, so we can expect more proceeds of crime to be recovered in the future."

Read this News Release on Scottish Executive
See also media comment on The Herald [Link broken 8/11/04] and BBC News