The EMCDDA has recently launched a new multicity wastewater analysis demonstration project which will aim to examine the potential of wastewater analysis as an indicator for estimating community drug use levels.

Source article on EMCDDA

Media comment on the publication of the 2010/11 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey: Drug Use, published yesterday by the Scottish Government.

Source articles on Scotsman, HeraldScotland

The Scottish Government today welcomed new statistics that show illicit drug use in Scotland is continuing to decrease. Figures published today, 2010/11 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey: Drug Use, show that the number of adults who reported that they had used any illicit drug in the last year in 2010/11 is 6.6 per cent – a fall compared to 7.2 per cent in 2009/10 and 7.6 per cent in 2008/09.

Source article on The Scottish Government

A group of leading doctors have told MPs that successful methods in treating heroin use should be transferred to the treatment of designer drugs and alcohol misuse.

Source article on the National Treament Agency for Substance Misuse

A free one day recovery event will take place in Angus on 30 March which will be hosted by the Angus Drug and Alcohol Partnership and the Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium.

Source article on the Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium

Spending on drugs education by the Department of Health in the UK Government has been cut by 80 per cent since the coalition came to power and has been criticised by health campaigners.

Source article on the Guardian

IWC Media would like to interview people over the age of 50 about their recreational drug use as part of a documentary they are making on drug use in older users.

Source article on Crew 2000

A study led by researchers at Lancaster University, and Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, has revealed that the former 'legal high' mephedrone, is more popular now than it was before it was made illegal by the UK Government and classified as a class B drug.

Source article on Lancaster University, Guardian

Three men were arrested at the weekend by police in Glasgow, following seizure of drugs with a street value estimated at approximately £1.8m.

Source article on BBC News

The RedNet-EMCDDA Conference, 'The ever-changing world of psychoactive drugs' will take place in Budapest from 12-13 March, and will offer attendees the opportunity to share scientific knowledge on the nature of new compounds and examine the challenges, both legal and clinical, faced by professionals.

Source article on EMCDDA

The drug methoxetamine, a legal high known as 'mexxy', has been referred to drug experts on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in a move which may lead to a temporary ban.

Source article on Home Office

Police have reported a cannabis factory seizure after a drugs raid on a house in Thornton, near Dunfermline, Fife. The drugs recovered were estimated to have a street value of approximately £75,000.

Source article on HeraldScotland

Parents who have lost children to substance misuse are campaigning for compulsory alcohol and drug education, after plans were shelved to include them as part of the national curriculum.

Source article on BBC News

Research carried out by a team of researchers from Ottowa University in Canada and published in the journal Cell, has taken a step closer to understanding how the cannabis drug disrupts short-term memory. The study may reveal how one of the most well-known cannabinoids, THC, acts on the brain.

Source article on BBC News, Cell

A 48-year old man has been jailed for 30 years for smuggling millions of pounds worth of drugs into the UK, following an investigation by the UK Border Agency.

Source article on the Home Office

Police authorities across north-west England have launched a crackdown on cannabis cultivation in the area.

Source article on BBC News

Naloxone kits have been issued to heroin users in the Borders as part of an initiative to prevent drug-related deaths. The kits have been made available in drop-in clinics run by NHS Borders and the Big River Project.

Source article on BBC News

Britain's 900 olympic and paralympic athletes will be tested for banned drugs at least once before London 2012, the UK Anti-doping has announced.

Source article on Guardian

New research published in the journal Addiction, has revealed that patients with substance misuse disorders may be as much as ten times more likely to stay free from drug use when they have access to recovery housing and day-treatment programmes following a detox programme.

Source article on Addiction