Home Office research published today revealed that the overall reconviction rate was 80 per cent, the study of offenders in the three pilot areas found that only 53 per cent of those who completed their order were convicted of a crime within two years of the start of their sentence, compared with 91 per cent of those whose orders were revoked.

Read this press release on drugs.gov.uk [Link broken 23/9/04 ]

See also: details of the research published by The Home Office

Workers from Argyll and Clyde Alcohol and Drug Action Team have briefed MSPs on local issues and their work.

Read this article on icScotland.co.uk

A United Nations report reveals that in Britain 2.2 per cent of the population aged 16 to 59 - 730,000 people - now take ecstasy, compared with 1.2 per cent five years ago. More people take ecstasy as a proportion of the population than in any other country, except Australia and Ireland.

Read this article on The Observer
See also special report on ecstasy on The Observer

Drug users have forced wildlife bosses into closing a Edinburgh city centre nature reserve because of the health risks posed to the public from dozens of discarded needles.

Read this article on Edinburgh News

The ISD Scotland (ISD Scotland), today published the above statistics.

Read this press release on Drug Misuse Information Scotland (DMIS)

See also Statistics from the Scottish Drug Misuse Database, 2002/03 publication

Deputy Minister for Justice Hugh Henry said today that real progress had been made in tackling the problem of drugs in communities across Scotland, but warned that much more work was required.

Read this press release on the Scottish Executive

New technology could see workers across the country tested at work for drink and drug abuse. A portable eye scanner has been developed and can be used to tell if employees have taken anything from alcohol and cannabis to hard drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy or heroin.

Read this article on Metro

One of the UK's leading drugs experts, John Henry, said cocaine use was reaching epidemic proportions in the UK. He said there were believed to be around 358,000 occasional users and around 100,000 regular users of powdered cocaine. There are also thought to be some 178,000 crack cocaine users.

Read this article on Guardian

A new law to extend existing schemes to allow some health professionals to prescribe and administer controlled drugs was announced today by the Home Office.

See this press release on drugs.gov.uk [Link broken 23/9/04]

Scotland Yard claims raids in London and Colombia have 'ripped out the heart' of Britain's most powerful smuggling gang.

See articles from various Source articles:
Cocaine cartel smashed, say police on Guardian
Raids 'smash drugs cartel' on BBC News
Stewart Tendler, Crime Correspondent examines today's raids on The Times
Police bust UK's biggest ever cocaine ring on Guardian

Scottish Drugs Forum will hold joint briefings/consultations with members in Aberdeen (3 November), Glasgow (4 November) and Edinburgh (6 November) to discuss key areas of - and shape SDF's response to - the Scottish Executive's review of drug treatment and rehabilitation services, announced at the end of August.

For further details are available from the SDF website

See also Review Of Drug Treatment And Rehabilitation Services correspondane to services on the Scottish Executive website

Researchers from St George's Hospital Medical School in Tooting, south London, who analysed the figures, said that the fall in the price of the drug was an important factor behind the rising death rate. The price of the drug has halved since 1994, when pills cost about £16.50.

Read this article on independent.co.uk [Link broken 10/12/03]
Read this article [link broken 10/08/07] on DrugScope

The results of the fourth annual survey on drug education in schools are published today.

Read this press release on Scottish Executive

See also media comment on BBC News

Experts from New York University found the drug, vigabatrin, works by eliminating the craving for cocaine.

Read this article on BBC News

Services to help drug addicts and alcoholics in East Lothian are set to benefit from a £120,000 boost.

Read this article on Edinburgh News[link broken 18/4/07]

Comment on drug problems in rural Britain with a focus on the Highland region.

Read this article on The Observer

The Medical Research Council, which reports its findings in The Lancet, said the figures were partly explained by the likelihood that the over-34s had longer drug-taking careers.

Read this article on BBC News

The report is available on the Lancet website in pdf format (registration is required)

Scotland will not follow England by adopting a more lenient approach to people possessing cannabis for personal use First Minister Jack McConnell has stated.

Read this article on The Courier

At a time when countries throughout Europe are beginning to relax their legislation on soft drugs, France is planning to introduce tougher penalties for cannabis users.

Read this article on Guardian Unlimited

The so-called "street value" attached to some seizures of drugs are often several times the real price at which they are being traded a legal Source article has claimed.

Read this article on The Herald [link broken 18/4/07]

Professor Avril Taylor, the University of Paisley's Chair in Public Health, is presenting a lecture entitled "Is Drug Misuse Necessarily a Public Health issue?" at the campus today.

Read this article on Evening Times [link broken 18/4/07]

GPs do not back plans to expand the prescription of heroin to addicts, a report concludes. Researchers from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said more UK research was needed to evaluate how beneficial it would be.

Read this article on BBC News or see research on Joseph Rowntree Foundation

The problem of women being used as drug couriers between the Caribbean and Britain has become so serious that more than half of all foreign women in UK prisons are Jamaican drug mules.

Read this article on BBC News

The RoSPA conference, “Strengthening the Team Approach”, is being held in association with ScottishPower at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow. John Griffiths, a consultant on promoting health in the workplace, will inform delegates of the impact of drink and drugs on business.

Read the RoSPA press release [PDF 16KB]

Addicts might find it easier to cope with withdrawal if they find that drug no longer delivered a rush of euphoria, immunologist Campbell Bunce commented. He and colleagues have produced a "fairly strong antibody response to both nicotine and cocaine".

Read this article on Guardian Unlimited
Read this article on The Herald
[Link broken 6/10/03]

Drugs with a street value of £200,000 have been put on display and then destroyed to relaunch a campaign targeting dealers in South Wales.

Read this article on BBC News

Police are believed to have seized $7billion of bonds along with several million dollars in cash and drugs during an operation against Colombian drug traffickers.

Read this article on BBC News
Read this article on The Independent

A new study conducted by Glasgow University Centre for Drug Misuse Research has found that more than 30 percent of preteen children surveyed have been exposed to illegal drugs.

Read this article on BBC News
Read this article on The Guardian
Read this article on The Herald
[Link broken 6/10/03]

New research suggests that the use of ecstasy in the early stages of pregnancy could lead to behavioural problems or brain damage in unborn children.
Read this article on BBC News