UK: Hi-tech toilet aids drugs fight – October 2002 Hi-tech toilet aids drugs fight
By BBC News - October 15th 2002
Copyright: BBC News
A state-of-the art toilet is the latest weapon for South Wales Police officers flushing out drug pushers.
The Drugs Retrieval Toilet has been installed in Pontypridd police station.
It is the first of its kind to be used in Wales.
The lavatory, has been plumbed in to help police recover drugs, which have been concealed internally by suspected pushers.
Many people involved in the supply of illegal drugs, will swallow or conceal small packages, as a way of conveying drugs while escaping detection.
But the design of the latrine means that police officers can retrieve the drugs - hidden inside the body of the pusher - in a safe, hygienic and highly effective way.
Chief Superintendent Peter Vaughan from the Rhondda Cynon Taff division of South Wales Police said the new device would help the drug problem in the Valleys.
"As well as being highly dangerous to the carrier this tactic has frustrated our ability to retrieve evidence.
"This is one more way that that we are seeking to tackle the drugs problem within the South Wales Valleys.
"The only way to deal effectively with the drugs menace in Rhondda Cynon Taff is by working with our communities and our partners, both locally and further field.
"In the long term, success can only be achieved through regenerating communities, education, diversion and enforcement.
"If this facility assists us with enforcement then it's a sound investment," he added.
Plumbed
The funding for the initiative has come from the Welsh Assembly's Communities Against Drugs.
The Rhondda Cynon Taff Substance Misuse Partnership have been heavily involved in the project.
Tony Key, community safety officer for Rhondda Cynon Taff council, said: "I believe that modern initiatives of this fashion are extremely important for detection of drug offences."
Even though the toilet has been plumbed in at Pontypridd, it is being made available to the police and other enforcement agencies in the area.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
UK: Debate over trawler drugs culture – September 2002 Debate over trawler drugs culture
By BBC News - Monday, 23 September, 2002
Copyright: BBC News
The deaths of two Devon fishermen from drugs overdoses have led to concerns in the industry about the use of illegal drugs on vessels.
The issue has been raised in the port of Brixham, where the deaths occured, but there is disagreement about the extent of the problem.
Kevin Fisher, 40, and 27-year-old David Crouch both died of heroin abuse within the past year.
The trawler agents who act for the port's boats said the use of illegal drugs is no worse than in any other industry.
A 2001 Coastguard-supported report looked at the health of those in the catching sector of the fishing industry.
It said drug taking was "recorded as no higher than other surveys of the mainland population".
However, many fishermen have privately told the BBC that drug abuse is a common occurrence on local boats, but that most people are afraid to speak about it.
One retired skipper in Brixham said: "There are more drugs exchanged in the town than at Boots the Chemists. I told the local police but they said they were after the big boys."
But Rick Smith from Brixham Trawler Agents does not believe drug abuse is prevalent among crews.
He said: "The concern was that the drugs were actually being taken to sea on the boats, and that the drugs were being taken on the boats.
Dangerous work
"But I can assure you as an ex-owner and ex-skipper with 30 years experience, I certainly have not found a drug culture on the boats at sea.
"Obviously, ashore is a different matter."
Fishermen and merchant seafarers have, by far, the most dangerous jobs in Britain, according to experts.
A study by researchers at Oxford University earlier this year found people working on the sea are up to 50 times more likely to die while working, compared with those in other jobs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
World: Dutch toughen up on drugs – September 2002 Dutch toughen up on drugs
By RNW.nl - Sept 18 2002
Copyright: RNW.nl
The Dutch Justice Minister is under fire from parliament over his perceived inaction in the face of an increase in drug smuggling from the Dutch Antilles to the Netherlands. A shortage of cells has prompted customs staff to release smugglers intercepted at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. This follows advice from the Public Prosecutor to detain only those smugglers who are carrying more than 1 kilo of cocaine. However, a women carrying 14 kilos was allowed to go free last week, causing a public outcry. Politicians are calling for urgent action, but legal experts say tougher punishment won't solve the problem.
Customs officials at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport have arrested an monthly average of 125 drugs smugglers in recent months. That's a 25 per cent more than last year's figure for the same period. Dutch Justice Minister, Benk Korthals, puts the increase down to tighter customs controls. But he admits that it's pointed up a major flaw in the Dutch legal system: there are simply not enough prison cells to detain all the drugs traffickers that are caught. The upshot of this is that smugglers caught with less than a kilo on them, or inside them, as the case may be, are allowed to go.
Focus on Drug Barons
Many drugs and legal experts in the Netherlands find this approach perfectly acceptable. Police should focus on drug lords rather than arrest the petty criminals who smuggle the drugs, says Prof Peter Cohen from the Centre for Drugs Research in Amsterdam.
"Most of these smugglers are poor people from Latin America, who are just trying to compensate for the economic problems they have. It's useless to arrest them: there's an endless reservoir of drugs smugglers as a result of the disastrous economic conditions in Latin America. They bring in a mere one to 20 kilos. Most cocaine comes into Europe through Hamburg, Rotterdam or other large container ports. Small-time smugglers only play a minor part in global drugs trade."
Burden on Legal System
Professor Cohen argues that trying to detain all drugs smugglers would place too great a burden on the Dutch penal system. Besides, he says, traffickers are hit hardest by taking away their contraband. Decriminalizing cocaine would ultimately be the best option, he explains. Analogous to Dutch cannabis policy, the use and sale of cocaine should first be tolerated and then legalized. Professor Cohen believes that if the Netherlands led the way, other European countries would eventually follow suit.
"We've seen that the British, the Germans and the French eventually arrived at the same policy conclusions as the Dutch. It only took them 20 years longer. So, I am not worried about criticism from Holland's partners within the European Union. We're kind of accustomed to that type of criticism. If you wait long enough, it'll just evaporate into thin air.'
No Legalization of Cocaine
However, when it comes to cocaine, it's doubtful whether Europe or even the Netherlands wishes to follow the path of legalization. A number of European countries may have adopted a more liberal approach on cannabis, but they're still cracking down on hard-drugs such as heroine and cocaine.
The Netherlands, too, is toughening up on its drugs policy. There's certainly no political consensus in favour of legalizing cocaine. "It's a serious problem of dramatic proportion, which cannot and should not be tolerated," Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok was quoted as saying this week. The majority of Dutch society, he added, will find it unacceptable to allow drugs smugglers to go scott-free.
Two Suspects in One Prison Cell
Justice Minister Benk Korthals has now suggested allowing two people to share a cell. Up to now, detainees in the Netherlands have had the right to their own private cells. Rejected as undesirable in the 1980s, this controversial move is now likely to make it through parliament. Prison staff, though, say they fear for their safety.
The Dutch government is also seeking closer cooperation with the Netherlands Antilles. Drugs traffickers from Latin America have been using the Caribbean island group as a transit point. Up to 25,000 drugs smugglers are thought to take this transatlantic route every year. The Dutch government has called on the authorities of its overseas territories to tighten controls at airports. The Hague has offered the Antilles money, manpower and technical assistance.
Two-Way Street
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles, Miguel Pourier, has welcomed the additional financial aid, but added that the drugs trade is a two-way street. He urged the Netherlands to act against the massive Dutch exports of XTC to the Antilles.
The Dutch government has enlisted the help of its EU partners to tackle the problem. This coming week, the Dutch Lower House of Parliament is to debate the Justice Minister's "plan of action", which is expected to contain additional harsh measures. Given the current political climate, legalising cocaine seems a long way off.
http://www.rnw.nl/
World: Europe supplies world’s ECSTASY – September 2002 Europe supplies world's ecstasy
By The Guardian - Sept 18 2002
Copyright: The Guardian
Europe has become one of the biggest drug-producing regions in the world, according to new ecstasy seizure statistics from the US.
The figures from the American Drugs Enforcement Administration reveal that more than 10 million ecstasy tablets were seized in the US last year, of which 80 per cent were manufactured in Europe. In 1999 the DEA seized three million tablets. In 1993 they seized 196.
The statistics reveal the boom in ecstasy production and export from Europe. In 2000, 27.5 million ecstasy tablets were among 10,000 kilos of drugs produced in Europe and seized overseas. In Europe 17m tablets were seized in 2000, 50 per cent more than in 1999.
The ecstasy smuggled from Europe to the US is worth more than £3 billion. Some comes from Britain or is trafficked by gangs with connections in the UK, according to European police sources.
The massive production of ecstasy in Europe, particularly in and around the Dutch city Maastricht, is causing tensions between transatlantic law enforcement officials and policymakers.
In recent months there have been seizures of European ecstasy in Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Mexico, Suriname and Brazil.
Earlier this year Europol, the European criminal intelligence service, launched a Europe-wide attempt to crack down on the export of ecstasy from Europe. Only 333,000 tablets were seized and 13 people arrested and American DEA agents told The Observer they would welcome further action. British police sources said that they were aware of American concerns.
Experts say they do not expect production to fall soon despite attempts by the Dutch government to find and destroy the labs. Ecstasy manufacturers are now moving into Eastern Europe where precursor chemicals are easily available. Labs have recently been found in Poland, Bulgaria and Russia. The profits can be huge. According to the DEA, the initial investment needed for an ecstasy production lab can be less than £30,000. Each tablet costs between 10 and 20p to produce and in America can be sold for £30, several times more than in the UK.
The trade is so lucrative that Colombian smuggling gangs have been asking for payment in ecstasy pills for cocaine delivered to European dealers. A kilo of cocaine is, according to DEA sources, exchanged for 13,000 ecstasy pills which are then taken to North and South America.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
UK: Smuggling case against drug mule, 13, dropped – September 2002 Smuggling case against drug mule, 13, dropped
By The Guardian - Sept 18 2002
Copyright: The Guardian
The case against a 13-year-old girl thought to be Britain's youngest drugs mule collapsed yesterday when a court heard that she was "more sinned against than sinning".
The teenager from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested at Manchester airport in April after stepping off a flight from Pakistan with 11kg of heroin - with an estimated street value of £900,000 -concealed in six cushions and a black leather jacket in her luggage.
She was due to be tried at Manchester crown court on a charge of drug smuggling, but the prosecution said it would be inappropriate to continue the proceedings against her and offered no evidence. A formal verdict of not guilty was recorded.
The prosecutor, James Rae, told the court: "There is no doubt that when this child was stopped by an officer of HM customs and excise at Manchester airport on April 8 2002 she appeared to be travelling alone on a flight from Pakistan.
"Her luggage was found to contain six cushions and a black leather jacket. On examination, each of the cushions and the leather jacket were found to have been adapted in such a way as to conceal a substantial quantity of brown powder in heat sealed plastic bags."
The total weight of the powder was 11.21kg, with an average purity of between 56% and 62%. Overall, it was equivalent to 6.66kg of 100% pure diamorphine.
Mr Rae said that customs and excise had been gravely concerned as to how these drugs came into her luggage and had never thought she was importing them on her own account.
The defence statement, issued last month, raised the defence of duress and it had been up to the crown to rebut this claim.
But Mr Rae said: "It has become quite apparent from those inquiries that this child is more sinned against than sinning.
"Allegations that she has made, point in the direction of someone with a parental role in her life - albeit most definitely not her natural father or any current associate of his."
He said the crown had been gravely concerned that any person with a parental role should be allowed to use their child in this way and that criminal responsibility should be evaded, but it would be wrong to penalise the child.
"In this case it has become patently clear that this child has been a victim to a significant degree, such that will have justified her to have had a genuine fear of some of those around her, who had - or should have had - a responsibility for her moral and physical care.
"The tragic reality of this case is that the more the crown have learned of this child's background and family circumstances, the more evident it has become that we would never begin to persuade a jury that she could not rely upon the defence of duress."
He said it was right that she should leave the court with no stigma attached to her character.
Peter Wright QC, defending, said the girl remained in the care of a local authority and in secure accommodation. Legal proceedings will determine her future.
After the hearing, a spokesman for customs and excise said that it abided by the principle outlined in the code for crown prosecutors in deciding whether or not to prosecute a case.
"Under the code a case must pass two tests; first we must consider whether there is sufficient evidence to give a realistic prospect of conviction. And, if there is, we must secondly consider whether it is in the public interest to prosecute.
"Having made a decision to prosecute, cases are kept under constant review as circumstances change. If at any point a case no longer satisfies the two tests then we will not proceed with the prosecution."
He added that, if further evidence came to light, the case could be reopened.
After the hearing, the girl's mother said: "Somebody has put her up to this. Somebody has used her."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
UK: ‘Three spliffs and you’re out’ proposal – September 2002 'Three spliffs and you're out' proposal
By The Guardian - Sept 18 2002
Copyright: The Guardian
Cannabis users caught by the police more than twice in a 12 month period will be arrested rather than cautioned under "three spliffs and you're out" guidelines being considered by chief officers, it emerged yesterday.
Instead of repeatedly issuing formal warnings to people caught with small amounts of the drug, officers may be given the discretion to arrest and charge them.
People caught once or twice with cannabis for personal use will be allowed to hand over the drug and go on their way after a formal warning. However, a third offence in the space of one year would mean arrest and more serious charges under the guidelines, which would be introduced by July next year.
Ignoring cautions would be regarded as an one of the "aggravating factors" that would give police the option of treating the offence more seriously.
The decision by the home secretary, David Blunkett, to reclassify cannabis from class B to class C next year will strip police of the automatic power of arrest for simple possession of the drug.
But Mr Blunkett has said he will introduce legislation that will allow police to continue to exercise the power in certain limited circumstances. Among such provisions are the cannabis user's being under the age of 17, or the drug being smoked near a school.
Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth is expected to reiterate many of these pledges and highlight the vital role of police at the Association of Chief Police Officers conference today.
Andy Hayman, a deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, chairman of Acpo's drugs committee, is currently drawing up guidelines for officers to explain when the "aggravating factors" apply.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
World: LSD: A dose of madness – September 2002 dose of madness - Forty years ago, two psychiatrists adminstered history's largest dose of LSD.
By The Guardian - Sept 18 2002
Copyright: The Guardian
Mystified by the new wonder drug LSD, the psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West and his colleague at the University of Oklahoma, Chester M Pierce, were looking for a new way to investigate the drug in 1962. They came up with an idea so outlandish it could only happen in the world of experimental psychology.
Male elephants are prone to bouts of madness; LSD seems to cause a temporary form of madness; perhaps if we combine the two, they reasoned, we could make an elephant go mad. Their research paper about this venture is a tragicomedy of high hopes and lessons not learnt. For only mindless optimism and blind faith can account for the events that unfolded on a hot summer day in Oklahoma City's Lincoln Park Zoo 40 years ago.
Having established that "one of the strangest things about elephants is the phenomenon of going 'on musth'," a form of madness that sees the animal "run berserk for a period of about two weeks, during which time he may attack or attempt to attack anything in his path," West and Pierce enrolled the assistance of Warren D Thomas of the local zoo.
Thomas volunteered the services of Tusko, a 3,200kg, 14-year-old male elephant. They were all set to establish what an elephant on acid would get up to. One crucial point had to be decided - how much LSD would it take to make him run amok? Research had established that lower animals are less susceptible to the mind-altering effects of LSD than humans. It would be a waste to have an elephant ready to go and then miss out on the unique opportunity by giving it an insufficient dose.
West and Pierce decided to go for it. While 297mg might not sound a lot, it is enough LSD to make nearly 3,000 people experience hours of "marked mental disturbance," to use the researchers' phrase. This was the record-breaking quantity of the most potent psychoactive substance in existence fired into one of Tusko's rumps with a rifle-powered dart at 8am on August 3. What happened next is captured with an oddly moving economy of expression in the clinical voice of the research paper:
"His mate (Judy, a 15-year-old female) approached him and appeared to attempt to support him. He began to sway, his hindquarters buckled, and it became increasingly difficult for him to maintain himself upright. Five minutes after the injection he trumpeted, collapsed, fell heavily on to his right side, defecated, and went into status epilepticus." An hour and 40 minutes later, Tusko was declared dead. Surely a more anticlimactic moment or a greater tragedy was never recorded by scientists.
The animal they had hoped would stomp around its pen in mad fury had fallen to the ground and slowly expired in the dust. But they drew something positive out of what in anyone else's view would be considered an abject failure. West and Pierce's conclusion, a staggering feat of positive thought, sums up an era's belief in the infallibility of science: "It appears that the elephant is highly sensitive to the effects of LSD - a finding which may prove to be valuable in elephant-control work in Africa."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
UK: Row erupts over ECSTASY dangers – September 2002 Row erupts over ecstasy dangers
By BBC News - Sept 18 2002
Copyright: BBC News
Two British psychologists are at the centre of a row over the safety of ecstasy, claiming the drug may not be dangerous in the long-term. University of Liverpool scientists Dr John Cole and Harry Sumnall, working with an American psychologist, have criticised animal and human studies which say the drug causes long-term brain damage and mental problems.
But their comments have provoked outrage from anti-drugs charities groups and parents of children who have died from taking ecstasy.
Other scientists have insisted the harmful effects of the drug are undeniable.
Writing in the magazine The Psychologist, published by the British Psychological Society, the pair said reported adverse effects of ecstasy could even be imaginary - due to the widespread belief that the drug causes long-term harm.
They believe much of the existing research into ecstasy damage is flawed and that some experts are guilty of bias.
Ecstasy is said to affect cells in the brain which produce the nerve message transmitter serotonin, known to influence mood.
But the changes observed involved the degeneration of nerve fibres, which can be regrown, and not the cell bodies themselves, say Dr Cole and his colleagues - including Professor Charles Grob, Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in California.
'10% have tried drug'
Dr Cole and his team were highly critical of studies of the effects of ecstasy on young people, claiming many psychological problems begin in adolescence and could not be exclusively blamed on effects of the drug.
Other studies failed to find a definitive cause-and-effect relationship between ecstasy use and associated problems.
They even suggest the damaging effects of ecstasy may be all in the mind because "researchers and the media are discussing a hypothesised cause-and-effect relationship as if it were fact".
Paul Betts, whose 18-year-old daughter Leah died after taking the drug in 1995, described the article as "despicable" and said there was a hidden motive behind the article.
"Whenever someone tries to say a drug is not as bad as people think it is there's an ulterior motive, and, mark my words, the same is true even in this case.
"It has been proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that every single ecstasy tabled destroys parts of the brain. The main thing it destroys is serotonin, and depression follows on from serotonin depletion."
Surveys indicate that about 10% of young UK adults aged 15 to 29 have tried ecstasy.
That figure jumps to about 90% for young people regularly attending outdoor raves or nightclubs.
Between 1993 and 1997 there were 72 deaths in the UK attributed to ecstasy.
Dangers 'very real'
During the same period there were 158 deaths caused by amphetamine or "speed", another popular dance drug.
Roger Howard, chief executive of DrugScope said: "This underlines previous studies that have said much of the evidence around Ecstasy is not as reliable as it could be.
"This reinforces the need for the Home Secretary David Blunkett to refer the classification of Ecstasy to the experts on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, so that we can have an evidence based drugs policy that we can all trust."
But Dr Michael Morgan, senior lecturer in experimental psychology at the University of Sussex, said he had found "overwhelming evidence" that regular ecstasy use caused impulsive behaviour and impaired verbal memory.
Professor Andy Parrot, an addiction expert from the University of East London who has also studied the effects of ecstasy, said: "The deficits are very real and cannot be explained away as artefacts."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
US: GHB targeted in 84-city Internet sweep – September 2002 'Date rape' drug targeted in 84-city Internet sweep
By Associated Press - Sep 9 2002
Copyright: Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Authorities broke up four Internet drug-trafficking rings operating in the United States and Canada, making more than 100 arrests and seizing enough chemicals for 25 million doses of the "date rape" drug GHB and similar substances.
The two-day sweep in 84 cities is "a dose of harsh reality for drug traffickers who seek to exploit the vast markets and anonymity of cyberspace," Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday.
Federal, state and local police began the investigation, called Operation Webslinger, two years ago. It ranged from Internet drug rings in St. Louis; Detroit and San Diego; Mobile, Ala., and Sparta, Tenn.; and Buffalo, N.Y., and Quebec City.
Relying on Web sites and personal e-mail accounts to reach out to their customers, the dealers disguised what they were selling by naming their products "Blue Raine" ink jet printing supplies and "TonerCleen cleaning solution," investigators told a news conference at Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Arlington, Va.
Word of the Web sites has spread quickly in the past few years, particularly among teenagers and young adults frequenting the club scene. The site locations could even be found scrawled on bathroom walls, investigators said.
Education efforts by law enforcement agencies and the government have been aimed at warning women about sexual predators who could spike their drinks with the colorless, odorless drugs, which cause drowsiness, dizziness and loss of inhibition.
GHB and its derivatives, GBL and 1,4 Butanediol or BD, are industrial solvents that have killed 72 drug users, said DEA Director Asa Hutchinson.
Marketing dangerous drugs on the Web "should not, and will not, be as simple as point-and-click," said Hutchinson, who noted the components of GHB are used in floor stripping fluid.
Investigators seized over $1 million in cash and property from the four drug rings, and 3,000 gallons of GHB and the other two substances.
Daniel Pelchat of St. Etienne, Quebec, described by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kennedy in Buffalo as one of the biggest providers of GHB in the world, was indicted for unlawful use of the Internet and importation of GBL and BD after 1,452 gallons of the chemicals were seized Wednesday from his business and residence.
The ring operating in Detroit and San Diego relied on personal e-mail accounts and word of mouth to market its products. The alleged San Diego connection to the ring, Larry Waychoff, is a fugitive.
The Missouri network, an Internet company called Miracle Cleaning Products, sold to customers in 41 states and was allegedly run by a mother-and-son team, Cassandra Harvey, 53, of Festus, Mo., and Joshua Harvey. The Harveys were being held Thursday and awaited a detention hearing Monday in St. Louis.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Customs Service and the FBI were the other federal agencies participating in the investigation.
World: New rave drug dangerous – September 2002 New rave drug dangerous: RCMP
By CBC News - Sep 9 2002
Copyright: CBC News
RCMP in Vancouver are warning people about a dangerous chemical cocktail that's being used at nightclubs and raves.
Police say it's a blend of ingredients including methamphetamine, ecstasy, Ketamine and Viagra.
Party-goers have dubbed the concoction "trail mix" which gives people a sense of euphoria, energy and sexual stimulation. The mix is sold as a tablet for anywhere between $20 to $70.
RCMP Cpl. Scott Rintoul says people don't realize they're taking "trail mix" which can cause cardiovascular or kidney failure.
Methamphetamine is also known as speed and can cause respiratory illness and death.
Rintoul says the RCMP have tested 300 samples of the drugs seized at nightclubs, raves and on the street. Many contained diluted versions of ecstasy and some batches of heroin.
Police say heroin is added to the mix to increase addiction to it. "You don't know what product you are consuming by taking trail mix."
Ecstasy is usually the drug of choice for ravers. It is a "designer" drug that produces an increased sense of sociability and euphoria lasting from four to six hours.
The drug has also been linked to increased blood pressure, nausea and chronic problems including confusion, insomnia and convulsions.
http://cbc.ca/index.html
UK: ECSTASY not dangerous, say scientists – September 2002 Ecstasy not dangerous, say scientists
By The Guardian - Thursday September 5 2002
Copyright: The Guardian
The drug has been blamed for causing deaths and permanent brain damage, but the psychologists are strongly critical of animal and human studies into its effects, claiming that they are misleading and overestimate the harm ecstasy - scientifically known as MDMA - can cause.
Other scientists insisted that those who took ecstasy were undoubtedly risking their health and their life.
Two of the scientists challenging the established view are British and the third is American. Dr Jon Cole is a reader in addictive behaviour and Harry Sumnall is a postdoctoral researcher, both at Liverpool University. Professor Charles Grob is director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre in California.
Writing in the magazine the Psychologist, published by the British Psychological Society, they claim that many of the studies since 1995 have been flawed. They also accuse researchers of bias.
Ecstasy is said to affect cells in the brain which produce serotonin, the chemical known to influence mood. But the changes observed involved the degeneration of nerve fibres, which can be regrown, and not the cell bodies themselves, the psychologists say.
They accuse other scientists of minimising the impact of data suggesting that ecstasy exposure had no long-term effects. Although numerous tests were run on volunteers, only positive results were reported in detail, they say. "This suggests that hypotheses concerning the long-term effects of ecstasy are not being uniformly substantiated and lends support to the idea that ecstasy is not causing long-term effects associated with the loss of serotonin," write the authors.
The article is critical of the way studies involving young users have been conducted. They point out that many psychological problems start in adolescence anyway, ecstasy users invariably took other drugs as well, and some of the symptoms reported mirrored those caused by simply staying awake all night and dancing.
Most of the young people in the studies were volunteers from universities which raised questions about how representative they were of the population, the article says.
Most studies have failed to pinpoint ecstasy as the cause of problems, they say, and the animal studies were flawed and inconclusive.
They suggested that the long-term effects of the drug might be "iatrogenic", which is defined by the New Webster's dictionary as "caused by the mannerisms or treatment of a physician, an imaginary illness of the patient brought about by the physician".
Paul Betts, whose daughter, Leah, died after taking the drug in 1995, called the article "despicable".
Three other ecstasy experts writing in the Psychologist dismissed the notion that symptoms of long-term ecstasy use were all in the mind.
Dr Rodney Croft, a research fellow at the Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Australia, said: "There is strong evidence that ecstasy does cause impairment... although conclusions drawn from such evidence cannot be infallible, I believe the strength of this evidence makes 'danger' the most reasonable message for the researchers to be broadcasting."
About two million ecstasy tablets are believed to be taken by clubbers in the UK every weekend. Deaths linked to the drug have risen in the past decade. Between 1993 and 1997, there were 72. In 2000, there were 27, although 19 had other drugs in their system.
The exact cause of death cannot always be established, but where it has been, it was often dehydration.
http://www.theguardian.co.uk/
World: Melbourne police break drug ring – September 2002 Melbourne police break drug ring
By news.com.au - Thursday September 5 2002
Copyright: news.com.au
CELEBRITIES on Melbourne's A-list are likely to be quizzed about a record $10.6 million ecstasy seizure.
A man arrested over Victoria's biggest haul of the party drug considers himself a mover and shaker around town.
His luxury black Saab is regularly parked outside gala events and he has rubbed shoulders with socialites and celebrities at a number of opening nights in recent weeks.
Australian Federal Police agents are expected to question people who attended the red carpet functions to try to establish any associations with the suspect.
They are keen to establish who was going to buy the 216,000 tablets seized this week.
The 54kg ecstasy haul was hidden in a consignment of pool filters shipped to Melbourne from the Netherlands.
Customs and AFP agents watched the container 24 hours a day for almost a month before the boxes were picked up and driven to a city apartment on Monday night.
Two men were arrested while unloading three boxes of ecstasy from a black 1997 Saab. One was later released.
AFP general manager (southern region) Graham Ashton said evidence pointed to an international organised crime gang.
He said the seized ecstasy tablets were stamped with the PlayStation logo in a deliberate attempt to make them more appealing to the youth market.
"The majority of ecstasy is generally consumed in the nightclub scenes and rave party scenes," Mr Ashton said. "The application of logos to ecstasy, which has a youthful feel to it and has a bit of marketing hype to it, increases its appeal to that group."
Mr Ashton said AFP agents would be conducting a full inquiry into the arrested man's activities and with whom he had associated in Melbourne.
"The other people involved with this syndicate would be pretty worried," he said.
"We are making some serious inroads into this particular group. We are satisfied that the arrest we have made is a significant arrest in terms of disruption of this group."
Mr Ashton said the AFP office in The Hague was working closely with Netherlands police in a bid to identify the syndicate's suppliers.
He said the container arrived at Melbourne's docks by ship from Rotterdam on July 21.
Most of the ecstasy was removed and substituted and the container watched to see who came to pick it up.
It was moved to a warehouse in Campbellfield where it sat for almost a month before the drugs were picked up by two men who loaded it into a black Saab.
AFP agents followed the Saab to Mill Place, just off Flinders Lane, before arresting two men about 8.30pm on Monday.
Mr Ashton said one was later freed after AFP agents established he knew nothing of the drugs.
"It appears he was just there to help lift the boxes," he said.
A man, 36, was charged with possession of a trafficable quantity of ecstasy and with attempting to possess and aiding and abetting the importation of a commercial quantity of ecstasy.
Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison said the seizure was the largest made in Victoria. "Although the exact value of the drugs is difficult to determine, based on street level prices . . . it could have an estimated potential street value of up to $10.8 million."
http://www.news.com.au/
World: Escape from Loneliness May Drive ECSTASY Use – September 2002 Escape from Loneliness May Drive Ecstasy Use
By Yahoo News - Thursday September 5 2002
Copyright: Yahoo News
CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - Many young people drawn to the "party drug" Ecstasy may use it as a way to banish feelings of loneliness, according to new research.
"Given the subjective effects of Ecstasy in promoting 'togetherness,' it is likely taken by people who feel socially isolated and perhaps unable to feel a sense of belonging in other ways," said researcher Dr. Ami Rokach, of York University in Toronto, Ontario.
She presented the findings here Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
Use of Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, has surged in recent years among youth, who often consume it at dance clubs and "rave" parties. Numerous reports of serious adverse reactions and even deaths linked to the drug have heightened public concern.
In their study, Rokach and co-author Tricia Orzeck sought to determine which types of personalities might be at especially high risk for frequent Ecstasy use. Ecstasy users often report a heightened sense of "belonging" while on the drug, so the Toronto team focused on loneliness.
They had 106 regular Ecstasy users, 88 users of other drugs (such as pot, alcohol or cocaine) and 624 people who didn't use drugs complete detailed psychological questionnaires. The questionnaires asked study participants to report on the means they used to cope with feelings of loneliness.
The result? "Drug users, in particular those who consume Ecstasy, do indeed cope with the distressing effects of loneliness differently" than non-drug-users, the researchers report. Ecstasy users were much more prone to relying on networks of friends to help them feel less alone, and were also more likely to deny or distance themselves from their feelings of loneliness by using drugs or alcohol, compared with non-users.
"The locations in which the drug is most popularly consumed, namely at Raves and parties, are also conducive to a feeling of oneness," the researchers point out. "A lonely individual who attends a Rave and takes MDMA may find himself suddenly surrounded by hundreds of 'friends,' most of whom are also taking the same drug, wearing similarly styled clothing, and seeking connection with others."
The findings could have implications for the treatment of those with serious Ecstasy abuse problems. According to Rokach and Ozeck, counselors may need to address core feelings of loneliness, "especially when counseling Ecstasy abusers in their teens or young adulthood years."
http://www.yahoo.com/
US: METH takes root in surprising places – September 2002 Meth takes root in surprising places
By MSNBC - Thursday September 5 2002
Copyright: MSNBC
METH IS too big a problem for Monaghan’s office to ignore. With 80 percent of his drug cases involving meth, its impact has been significant enough to make him rethink conventional tactics. He freely admits that major advances in fighting the drug can only be accomplished with a balance between fighting supply and reducing demand. Those views pit him against many of his fellow federal officials, most notably former U.S. drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey.
“The general doesn’t think that money needs to be spent on demand reduction,” Monaghan says. “He’s just absolutely wrong.”
The federal government — including McCaffrey and his Office of National Drug Control Policy — haven’t quite ignored the demand side of the drug equation. In recent years, the general has done an about-face on strategy, acknowledging the need for reducing demand. But most federal drug policies are still rooted in the crack wars of the 1980s and ’90s — which led to jammed prisons and six of every 10 federal inmates doing time for drug crimes. Supply, as far as Washington is concerned, is still king.
Monaghan’s conversion, as it were, began in 1996 during a “road show” around the state. Officials in Nebraska — and in neighboring states — told him of meth’s skyrocketing appeal and expressed frustration that few local authorities were aware of the crisis in their midst.
“This is really the first rural explosion of a hard drug,” Monaghan says. “We spent a lot of time going around and saying, ‘Excuse me, we’ve got a meth problem here. Do you even know what meth is?’”
As Monaghan strategized, Congress passed the Methamphetamine Control Act of 1996, which toughened drug sentences and targeted drug supplies by attempting to stem the availability of ingredients such as ephedrine. The gap between Washington and the front line kept growing.
A NEW APPROACH
Mindful of that, Monaghan and other officials in Nebraska retooled the way they handled drug offenses. Nebraska meth users and small-time dealers get different treatment from major dealers and traffickers. Violent offenders are targeted for harsh prosecution, but other offenders may be sentenced to treatment. Special courts set up to deal only with drugs seek the best solution for each case.
Monaghan’s office helps coordinate the efforts of a dozen or so local and state agencies. Those efforts allow his attorneys to target big fish — moving higher and higher up the meth supply chain while drug courts try to pry small-time offenders out of the system.
“It’s really therapeutic jurisprudence,” says Judy Barnes, who coordinates Omaha’s drug courts. “It’s a deal for them … but it’s also a deal for society.”
Another crucial component of the drug war has been education. Because the ingredients to make meth are readily available, officials put together a campaign to warn retailers about the potentially illicit uses of products. Posters remind store employees to watch for large purchases of everything from cold pills to drain cleaner.
Drug education messages left over from the crack era were retooled with less preachy messages and a tone more forthright than alarmist. One memorable spot features a teen-age boy who appears to be dancing at a rave but is actually twitching on a bathroom floor in an apparent overdose. Broad themes that treated all drugs as equally harmful were rejected.
“Kids know that that’s not true,” says Nancy Martinez, who coordinates Monaghan’s local anti-drug efforts.
THE IDEA SPREADS
Other Midwestern officials — including some very hard-nosed law enforcement officicers — are coming to share Monaghan’s views as they witness their communities in the midst of a quiet epidemic. Meth is growing exponentially more popular in the countryside, labs can be easily hidden in rural locations, ingredients are easy to get and, as Jerry Wells, executive director of the Koch Crime Institute in Topeka, Kan., points out: “We are in the middle of the country, so you can distribute to all four corners of the nation.”
This fact hasn’t gone unnoticed by the federal government, which designated Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota as its High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA, for the Midwest. Those states, and surrounding ones like Oklahoma, are veined with major transportation routes for traffickers coming east from California and north from Mexico. The impact is clear in cities such as Des Moines, where 14 percent of the people arrested for any crime in 1999 tested positive for meth.
The Midwest’s meth problem has hit cities and small towns alike, from the streets of Kansas City to the meat-packing plants of rural Iowa — and regular use is increasing.
Yet each community’s problem is different. Missouri, Kansas and central Iowa primarily face problems with meth labs; Nebraska, South Dakota and western Iowa battle trafficking by Mexican drug gangs. Rural Missouri counties report a high incidence of intravenous meth use.
SIOUX CITY TAKES A STAND
Officials throughout the region have struggled to find a strategy that works. Sioux City, Iowa, about 100 miles north of Omaha straight up Interstate 29, is the hub of a regional economy driven by agriculture and meat packing. During the second half of the 1990s, the city of 84,000 also had become a nexus for meth trafficking, not only because the city had such a large target population but also because it sat at the intersection of three states — Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. It was a convenient layout for traffickers; crossing state lines to evade capture was simply a matter of crossing town.
In 1995, police Chief Joe Frisbie and other local officials set up their Tri-State Drug Task Force, which coordinates drug work between at least nine agencies from the local police to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Task force members are federally deputized, which allows them to pursue drug crimes across state borders.
Though Mexican drug rings traffic much of the meth, other parts of Iowa struggle with small-time meth cooks. Most small cooks produce less than an ounce at a time, but the problem has grown exponentially. Iowa authorities uncovered two meth labs in 1994; by 1999, they found 803.
“For every one that learns to cook, they teach 10,” says Marti Reilly, one of the drug task force’s commanders. “It’s kind of the Amway pyramid thing.”
HELP ON THE LOCAL LEVEL
Since the meth war is especially difficult for small-town authorities, Sioux City decided to share its expertise. In a set of squat, undistinguished buildings on a dirt road behind the local airport, Frisbie’s department set up the Regional Training Center, one of a handful of training centers in the United States that teaches local law enforcement to deal with meth.
“If you look at San Diego, San Francisco or Portland, Ore., and they’re overwhelmed by what’s going on, what do you think is going on in Hinton, Iowa?” asks Lt. Mel Williams, who runs the center. “We need to provide them with those same safety and security training issues.”
A recent course list included “Identifying and Dealing with the Drug Impaired,” “Survival Spanish for Law Enforcement Officers” and “Examining Methamphetamine.” More than 5,000 officers in the region have trained in Sioux City already, and if they manage the funding, cops from around the country will have the opportunity.
“The biggest problem we’d had with this thing is no one’s ever done it before,” Frisbie says. “You have a lot of officers who don’t understand a lot of things about drugs.”
Frisbie is a cop’s cop; he’s tall and imposing, with broad features and well-trimmed gray hair. He leaves an unmistakable impression that he’s committed to a law-and-order approach. But like Monaghan, Frisbie and his deputies take a practical view on the fight against meth.
“The only true solution to a problem like this is demand reduction,” Frisbie argues. “I don’t know if putting people in jail does a lot for demand reduction.”
http://www.msnbc.com/
US: New Drug Being Imported To Sacramento Area – September 2002 New Drug Being Imported To Sacramento Area
By Yahoo News - Thursday September 5 2002
Copyright: Yahoo News
A recent drug bust is showing that a more potent form of methamphetamine is being imported almost exclusively into the Sacramento area.
More than a dozen people have been arrested as part of an international operation to import a new drug known as Ya-Ba.
Thirteen Loatian men and women were paraded into a federal courtroom Monday. What makes their appearance so concerning is that they were among the first allegedly caught importing a new, rising drug aimed at children, according to authorities.
Ya-Ba is a potent and flavorful smelling form of methamphetamine. According to authorities, the chewable tablet is exploding in popularity in Southeast Asia. Drug enforcers in Thailand estimate that the tablets are being produced in the hundreds of millions each year.
Federal officials are concerned that nearly 90 percent of all Ya-Ba imports are targeted for Sacramento. It is sometimes smuggled in the insides of dead bugs.
"For some reason, it's primarily the Sacramento area as opposed to other parts of the country," said U.S. attorney Anne Pings.
The 13 Sacramento and Lodi residents were charged with conspiring to import the new, often grape-flavored drug to Sacramento.
Cheng Saechau said that his father, Laung Saechau, is innocent. But he admitted to KCRA-TV that the people his father hung out with might be guilty.
"The people he hangs out with get him in trouble. They show up, say they need his help. He had no idea until his house was raided," Saechau said.
Local drug agents said that the drug has not yet hit the mainstream drug scene in Sacramento, but that it has been seen at some rave parties. They said that it is becoming popular within the Loatian community, especially at suspected illegal gambling houses.
In the last two years, customs officials say that they've seized between $300,000 and $900,000 worth of the drug.
If convicted, all but three of the defendants could face from 10 years to life in prison.
http://www.yahoo.com/
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
You can revoke your consent any time using the Revoke consent button.
