LONDON, March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the UN's report this week on legal highs, the drugs charity, Angelus, has called for the Government to accept that the threat to public safety from legal highs is considerably greater than that of horsemeat. Both are being sold in the high street masquerading as other products, but the Government has only devoted resources to protecting the integrity of the food chain. Angelus has asserted that the country's children should be protected from the even greater threat resulting in loss of mental health, and even life, posed by easy access to legal highs. Several companies have been compelled to withdraw supermarket products, which contained traces of horsemeat. The Government has response with great urgency despite no obvious threat to human health. This response contrasts markedly with Government "inactivity" in tackling the sale of highly dangerous legal highs which can result in psychosis, depression, severe paranoia, anxiety, difficulty breathing, heavy nose bleeds, damaged eye sight and even the loss of the use of the bladder. The President of the International Narcotics Control Board, Raymond Yans said: "In recent years, there has been an unprecedented surge in the abuse of new psychoactive substances. Clear action … Continue reading →

Designer drugs are multiplying at a worrying rate and increasingly sending users to hospital, a UN-affiliated report said Tuesday, calling for international efforts to stem the spread of these substances. "In recent years, there has been an unprecedented surge in the abuse of new psychoactive substances," often called "legal highs" or "designer drugs," the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report. "In Europe alone almost one new substance is appearing every week. Previously, between 2000 and 2005 there were an average of five notifications of new substances per year," added INCB head Raymond Yans. Experts estimate thousands of such drugs currently exist on the market, the report said. "As abuse of these substances has increased, so too has the number of users who have experienced grave health consequences or even suffered death due to exposure to them," it went on, pointing to "marked increases in emergency room visits for adverse health reactions" and "significant increases in calls to poison treatment centres." Aggravating the problem further was the fact that these drugs were not subject to international control regimes and were readily available on the Internet, requiring states and international institutions to find new ways to identify … Continue reading →

In 2010 we wrote about Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron's stance that all drugs should be legalized because prohibition wastes money and doesn't work. In a recent in-depth interview with Der Spiegel, the economist provides more insight into why he thinks that all kinds of drugs should be sold in supermarkets. Miron asserts that the prohibition of drugs "is the worst solution for preventing abuse" because it costs a lot money, creates a corrupt and dangerous black market, and constrains the freedom of those who wouldn't abuse drugs. The director of undergrad studies in Harvard's Economics Department says if drugs were legal, the U.S. could save about $90 billion per year (by stopping drug war policies and implementing state taxes), the black market would be drained and violence reduced, and the American way would be respected. "If you believe in anything that the Americans claim to believe in freedom, individuality, personal responsibility you have to legalize drugs," Miron said. Miron's libertarian leaningsmakea ddiction a non-issue because "p eople are addicted to caffeine[, sports, beer or food] and nobody worries about that ... people who harm themselves with drugs will do it anyway, regardless of whether or not they're legal." He … Continue reading →

7 March 2013 Last updated at 10:35 ET Home Secretary Theresa May has rejected calls from MPs for a root-and-branch review of drugs strategy, insisting the government's approach is working. In a recent report, the Home Affairs Committee said a Royal Commission should examine policy and consult the public on alternative ideas. But she said there was "no case" for such a move and hailed "promising" progress in various areas since 2010. Early intervention and "recovery incentivisation" schemes were working. The government has faced calls for a change in approach from campaigners and some police officers amid warnings that existing policies are not working. Speaking last year, former Home Secretary Ken Clarke said the war on drugs was "plainly being lost". There is growing concern over the growth and prevalence of "legal highs", some of which are banned, amid a recorded rise in deaths linked to their use. In a recent report, the cross-party Commons committee urged ministers to develop a new series of measures to tackle the harm caused by drug misuse and suggested an independent Royal Commission should take a fresh look at policy and the changing international context by 2015. While stopping short of supporting a relaxation … Continue reading →

By Serena Gordon HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- The newest medications used to treat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis don't appear to raise the risk of developing shingles, new research indicates. There has been concern that these medications, called anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs, might increase the chances of a shingles infection (also known as herpes zoster) because they work by suppressing a part of the immune system that causes the autoimmune attack. "These are commonly used drugs for people with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, and the issue was whether or not they increased the risk of [shingles]. We found there is no increased risk when using these drugs, which was reassuring," said study author Dr. Kevin Winthrop, associate professor of infectious disease and public health and preventive medicine at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Results of the study are published in the March 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Shingles is a major concern for people with autoimmune conditions, particularly people who are older and more at risk for developing shingles in general. Shingles is caused when the same virus that causes chickenpox is reactivated. The symptoms … Continue reading →

8 March 2013 Last updated at 01:49 ET Police in India's Punjab state say they have seized 26kg (57lbs) of heroin and arrested two men, including a Canada-based Indian, media reports say. Police said the seized drugs had a street value of 1.3bn rupees ($24m; 16m) in the international market, reports said. The drugs were recovered from an apartment in Mohali town. Most of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan and its main route into India is through Punjab, via Pakistan. A Canada-based Indian man and his "accomplice" were held from the apartment in Mohali where the drugs were found during a raid on Friday morning, media reports quoting police said. Senior police official HS Mann told Indo-Asian News Service that the Canada-based man was "the main kingpin and they used to smuggle the drugs to the various countries of Europe and North America". Reports said the police also recovered weapons from their possession. There have been a number of major drug seizures in Punjab, which itself has had a drugs problem for many years. Two years ago a study by a university in Punjab suggested that as much as 70% of young Punjabi men were addicted to drugs or … Continue reading →

7 March 2013 Last updated at 07:11 ET The rise of new "legal high" drugs in south Wales has the potential to cause even more problems than those from the influx of mephedrone, a drugs charity is warning. Swansea-based Sands Cymru says local drug agencies and the police were "caught out" by the speed with which mephedrone, known as meow meow, spread. It will host a conference in Swansea on Thursday to address the problem. Last year the number of people taking the drug rose in south west Wales. Mephedrone is more than twice as prevalent in Wales as it was in 2011, a police report suggested in October last year. We must be more prepared for the emergence of any new drugs and the associated physical and psychological health Until April 2010 it was considered a "legal high", but given its potency and powerful side effects the drug was reclassified. Potential side effects can include fits, memory loss, potentially fatal heart problems and brain damage. Dr Adam Winstock, consultant psychiatrist and founder of Global Drugs Survey, is speaking at Thursday's conference. Read more: Warning over new 'legal high' drugs … Continue reading →