The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has published its World Drug Report for 2009. The report shows that global markets for cocaine, opiates and cannabis are steady or in decline, while the production and use of synthetic drugs is feared to be increasing in the developing world.

Source article on United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, has said drug use should be treated more as an illness than a crime, as its annual report, which was published yesterday, announced a worldwide decline in the production of cocaine and heroin.

Source article on The Guardian

The results of the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) National Report 2008, undertaken by Ipsos MORI, and commissioned by ISD Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government have now been published.

Source article on The Scottish Government, Press and Journal, The Scotsman

How people become addicted to drugs and why they may find it difficult to stop are issues explored by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in new material released ahead of International day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking.

Source article on EMCDDA

A new study to be published later this month, has claimed that police are seizing just 1 per cent of the heroin consumed in Scotland every year and risk losing the war on drugs unless they radically change their tactics.

Source article on Times Online

A Chinese man has been jailed for two years and eight months for his part in helping to turn a Perthshire flat into a massive cannabis factory, consisting of around 600 plants which had the potential to produce £180,000 of the drug.

Source article on BBC News

A new study published by researchers funded by the Medical Research Council has found "convincing evidence" that cannabis smoke damages DNA in ways that may increase the risk of cancer in humans.

Source article on Medical Research Council

A BBC programme has revealed that a number of drug users are turning to crime in order to get themselves onto a drug treatment programme. Week In Week Out, screened on 16 June on BBC One (Wales) and presented by the Velvet Underground's John Cale, also shows how children as young as 12 are using heroin.

Source article on BBC News

The UK's only remaining residential detox and rehabilitation unit for young people, based in Lincolnshire, is facing closure this week amid concerns that local councils are withholding referrals because of cost.

Source article on The Guardian

Researchers at the University of Zurich have discovered that combining methadone with cocaine or heroin makes the placenta, in expectant mothers, much more permeable.

Source article on BBC News, Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

A UK government advisor, who is leading a major study into steroid use, has warned that the number of young people taking such drugs may have doubled in the last five years.

Source article on BBC News

MPs have been told that younger drug users are damaging their health and facing potential heart and liver problems by mixing cocaine with other substances.

Source article on The Guardian

Northern constabulary police have seized £200,000 worth of drugs after intercepting a car believed to be heading for the RockNess Festival.

Source article on BBC News

Health charities are warning that people who are users of the drug cocaine, are putting themselves at risk of contracting Hepatitis C.

Source article on BBC News

A number of 'legal highs' may be banned in the coming months under a fast-track scheme to cut their availability for sale in the UK.

Source article on BBC News

A survey commissioned by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Glasgow City Council has revealed that one in five Glasgow schoolchildren admitted to taking drugs and 15 per cent said they got drunk once a week. A total of 9246 pupils from 28 secondary schools across the city were polled in 2007 for the study.

Source article on The Herald, Evening Times

Figures published yesterday from the National Treatment Agency for BBC Radio have shown a rise in the numbers of young people under 30 in seeking help for a drug problem.

Source article on NTA, BBC News

People attending RockNess 2009 Festival in Loch Ness have been warned not to take risks with drugs and will be provided with 'drug amnesty' bins to encourage anyone not to bring drugs onto the site.

Source article on BBC News

A report produced by the Comptroller Auditor General in Ireland assessing drug treatment services and spending has found that only a small proportion of heroin users on methadone maintenance ever get off the drug.

Source article on Irish Times

The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse has announced that drug treatment services across England will benefit from £11.8m of extra investment from the Department of Health for service improvements this year.

Source article on NTA, Drugscope

The first ever NHS performance (HEAT) target for drug treatment will be confirmed in November and brought into force from next April - requiring Board chief executives to set out how they intend to achieve it and be accountable for doing so.

Source article on The Scottish Government

More than 300 residents in the community of Calton in the east end of Glasgow have signed a petition to stop a drug rehabilitation unit opening in their neighbourhood.

Source article on Evening Times