Nick Clegg blasts 'facile and totally misplaced' Tory drugs policy in heated new Coalition row

Deputy Prime Minister accuses Tories of being 'frightened' to rethink drugs laws and blocking a major review as controversial Home Office report triggers public spat 

 
The Deputy Prime Minister said the Tories had deliberately delayed the release of new report

Nick Clegg has attacked the Conservatives' "facile" and "frightened" approach to drugs as a heated new Coalition row dramatically emerged over the implications of a controversial Home Office report.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Tories had a "totally misplaced, outdated, backwards-looking view" on how to tackle Britain's drug problem after new analysis questioned the effectiveness of current laws.

Mr Clegg said his governing partners had blocked attempts to conduct a major review into drug laws while the party's Home Office minister Norman Baker claimed the Conservatives had "suppressed" the report.

Michael Ellis, a Tory MP, returned fire by saying the Lib Dems had "hijacked" the report for "naked political posturing" and accused the party of pursuing a "dangerous and irresponsible" agenda of decriminalisation.

The remarkable war of words came after Home Office analysis found there is a "lack of any clear correlation' between tough drugs laws and levels of abuse".

Continue reading: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/11197800/Nick-Clegg-blasts-facile-and-totally-misplaced-Tory-drugs-policy-in-heated-new-Coalition-row.html

 

No link between tough penalties and drug use in th UK - report

 

 Drug abuse should be treated as a health issue, says Norman Baker MP

There is "no obvious" link between tough laws and levels of illegal drug use, a government report has found.

Liberal Democrat Home Office minister Norman Baker said the report, comparing the UK with other countries, should end "mindless rhetoric" on drugs policy.

He accused the Conservatives of "suppressing" the findings for months.  Tory MP Michael Ellis said the Lib Dems had "hijacked" it for political gain. The government says it has "no intention" of decriminalising drugs.
"The prime minister thinks the current approach the government is taking is the right one and isn't going to change," said a Downing Street spokesman.

After examining a range of approaches, from zero-tolerance to decriminalisation, it concluded drug use was influenced by factors "more complex and nuanced than legislation and enforcement alone". 

But it found there had been a "considerable" improvement in the health of drug users in Portugal since the country made drug possession a health issue rather than a criminal one in 2001.

The Home Office said these outcomes could not be attributed to decriminalisation alone.

But Mr Baker believes treating drug use as a health matter would be more effective, "rather than presuming locking people up is the answer".

Contrasting approaches

The Home Office looked at methods used to control drug use in various countries

• 9 have sanctioned "drug consumption rooms", including Canada, Denmark and Switzerland
  
• 8 are trialling the treatment of addicts with pure heroin rather than methadone, including Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK
  
• 4 have special "drug courts", where people pleading guilty to drug offences can opt for treatment rather than prison, including the US
  
• 1 has set up "dissuasion commissions" - Portugal
  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29824764

MPs to debate drugs policy amid call for review of laws - Medical Cannabis must be allowed in the UK

MPs are to debate government policy on drugs in the House of Commons later.

A group of backbench MPs from all parties will call on the government to conduct a review of the "failing" 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act during the debate, brought by Green MP Caroline Lucas.

 

It comes as the Home Office publishes two separate reports into different approaches to drug misuse around the world and legal highs in the UK.

The Home Office has said it is not considering any shift in drugs policy.  But MPs want a review to be published within the next 12 months. The debate was agreed to by the Commons Backbench Business Committee - after an e-petition calling for an impact assessment of drugs laws was signed by 135,000 people - and its conclusions will not be binding on the government.

But the symbolically important session will focus attention on UK attitudes towards drugs and highlight coalition divisions between the Conservatives and their Lib Dem coalition partners.

Please continue reading: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29821698

West London drugs gang busted after police find cannabis selfies - take cannabis away from the criminals - legalise

A west London drugs gang has been busted after its idiotic members took photos of themselves posing with wads of money and bags of cannabis on their mobile phones.

The five-strong gang are all from north Kensington came to the police’s attention after seven violent assaults in the area – beginning on New Year’s Eve.

 

 Kensington CID realised the attacks were part of a drugs war over gang territory and launched an undercover operation codenamed Operation Capulet.

After months of covert surveillance, they busted down 18 doors in dawn raids on Tuesday May 13 and arrested the five men.

At their homes, they found large quantities of Class A and B drugs including cannabis, and thousands of pounds in cash.


They also seized mobile phones that had damning evidence in the form of trophy photos where two of the gang, Sophian Chhayra and Zakaria Chentouf, both 24, posed with drug money.

Sophian Chhayra has been found guilty of conspiracy to supply controlled drugs alongside Fouad Sossi, 20, and Ahmed Mahomud, 20.

Ahmed’s 19-year-old brother, Yousif Mahomud,has been found guilty of being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs.

Zakaria Chentouf, seen holding a stack of money, is guilty of conspiracy to supply controlled drugs, possession of Class A drugs, and possessing proceeds of crime in the form of cash.

http://www.london24....lfies_1_3818940

Cannabis oil "miracle in a bottle" cure could land mom in jail - This is such a moving story

In March, one mother traveled to Colorado to get a bottle of cannabis oil in hopes of easing the agonizing pain her 15-year-old son has lived with for the past three years.

What she calls a mother's instinct may land her in jail, reports CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz.
"I broke the law, but I did it to save my son," Angela Brown said.

Please watch the news item - very moving
 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/medical-marijuana-laws-in-minnesota-could-land-mom-in-jail-for-2-years/

For years, the Minnesota mom searched for a way to end her son's chronic pain.
Trey appeared healthy, but a baseball accident in 2011 led to a build-up of pressure inside his head.
A line drive to Trey's head caused bleeding in an area of his brain the size of a golf ball. Doctors feared he wouldn't survive.

But when he finally woke from a medically induced coma, his mother said the old Trey was gone.
"He's the shell of himself," Angela said. "He's in so much pain, and that causes depression."
With depression came daily migraines, muscle spasms and uncontrollable outbursts.
"I cry like every day before I go to bed," Trey said.
And the pain is intense.  "Like my brain is about to blow up, cause there is so much pressure," he said.

To try to ease his pain, Trey's parents tried 18 different medications, but little helped. Angela believes some of the drugs' side effects even made her son suicidal.

Continue reading:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/medical-marijuana-laws-in-minnesota-could-land-mom-in-jail-for-2-years/

The politics of medical cannabis may be complicated. But for some people it makes a world of difference in relieving pain, nausea, seizures, and other symptoms.

With the recent political debate around medical cannabis trials, you could be forgiven for thinking that the notion was something altogether new.

In fact, cannabis has been used medicinally for thousands of years in India and Asia. It was introduced to western medicine in the mid-nineteenth century by an Irish doctor William O'Shaughnessy, upon his return from service in India, and become a popular therapy around the world.

Even former US president Richard Nixon's 1972 National Commission on 'marihuana' supported studies of its use in the treatment of conditions such as glaucoma, migraine and cancer (although Nixon subsequently ignored his own Commission's findings and instead declared a 'war on drugs').

The criminalisation of marijuana saw it swiftly fall from medical favour. However, it seems that medical cannabis's star is once again rising, with some evidence suggesting it may offer considerable relief in conditions where few other treatments are able to help.

Making people more comfortable

Cannabis's therapeutic benefits stem from the way it stimulates with the body's own method of making us feel good, known as the endocannabinoid system, explains Emeritus Professor of Anaesthesia Laurence Mather, from the Northern Clinical School at the University of Sydney.

"The endocannabinoid system in the body is not a pain relieving system like the endorphin system, like for morphine-type things, it's more a general wellbeing system, and it works by making people feel more comfortable with themselves," Mather says.

 

"It doesn't ablate pain, it makes the body more accepting."

Cannabis helps with a very specific type of pain that does not appear to respond well to pain relieving treatments, such as opioids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS).

"It does not work, for example, in post-operative pain … and in acute pain such as from a surgical incision," Mather says.

Please continue reading: http://www.abc.net.a.../27/4115279.htm

Farmers look to cash in on Italy’s 2015 medical cannabis law as state tries to keep control of market

Starting in 2015 Italy will allow cannabis to be used for medical purposes, and testing is underway in a top secret lab not far from Venice in conditions of high security.

 

Italy says it has no intention of going down the same route as the USA, where medical use has led to cannabis’s decriminalisation in several states, and that is will remain legal only in medical applications.
“Medical use presents notable advantages because with the consumption of just a few milligrams of the material, which can de dissolved in a drink or baked into a pastry, one can ingest a dose that is sufficiently high to produce a positive effect,” said researcher Gianpaolo Grassi.

The army has been given responsibility for growing the stuff, but many poor farmers struggling to make a living are jumping the gun and getting into the cannabis business in anticipation of a slackening of the laws.

http://www.euronews.com/2014/10/13/farmers-look-to-cash-in-on-italy-s-2015-medical-marijuana-law-as-state-tries-to/