News articles and comment relating to the release of ISD Scotland's publication Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland 2009.

Source articles on HeraldScotland, Press and Journal, The Scotsman, Daily Record, Evening News, The Scotsman

News articles relating to the release of ISD Scotland's publication National Drug Treatment Waiting Times Information Framework Report Oct-Dec 2009.

Source article on The Scotsman

News articles on the announcement by the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, that the drug mephedrone will be banned, 'within weeks'.

Source article on HeraldScotland, BBC News, Telegraph, The Scotsman, The Independent

Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing today welcomed the decision by the UK Government to ban Mephedrone on the recommendation of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).

Source article on The Scottish Government

Monitoring new substances entering Europe's illicit drug market was the focus of talks last week between the directors of the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) and Europol(European Law Enforcement Agency).

Source article on European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

The drugs agency, Crew 2000, based in Edinburgh, has reported a rise in the use of mephedrone users in the city.

Source article on Evening News

Researchers at the University of California, in San Diego, have revealed in a study that lack of sleep was linked with increased drug use in teenagers.

Source article on New Scientist

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is due to report to UK government ministers on Monday over recommendations concerning the status of the 'legal high' drug, mephedrone.

Source articles on HeraldScotland, The Scotsman, Press and Journal

Health Protection Scotland has reported an increase in drug-related anthrax cases in Dumfries and Galloway.

Source articles on Health Protection Scotland(HPS); (Press Release, HPS), BBC News

Toxicology tests are being carried out on a 24-year old woman who has died in North Yorkshire after recently taking the legal drug mephedrone.

Source article on BBC News

An investigation by police is taking place into the death of a Scottish teenager who collapsed and died last Sunday after taking a number of substances.

Source article on Press and Journal, HeraldScotland see also related articles on BBC News , The Scotsman, TimesOnline, News Scientist

The SundayHerald has revealed that legal party drugs, which have been linked to a number of drug deaths recently in the UK, are being manufactured at a location in Ayrshire.

Source article on HeraldScotland

The Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) invites members of the public to its open meeting on Monday 29th March 2010 at 10 a.m.

Source article on the Home Office

The National Association of Head Teachers in England has called for urgent action over the legal drug mephedrone following the deaths of two teenagers.

Source article on BBC News

Grampian police force has become the first in the UK to use a test for mephadrone, cocaine and MDMA, known as M-CAT - at source. 17 people were tested positive for drugs using the new technology, during a drugs crackdown in Aberdeen city centre at the weekend.

Source article on STV News

People at risk of having the Hepatitis C virus are being encouraged to come forward for testing as part of a new Scottish Government campaign.

Source article on The Scottish Government

In a study published this week in the Journal Addiction, researchers in the United States have discovered that accidental overdose deaths involving cocaine rise when the average weekly ambient temperature passes 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit).

Source article on Addiction

A second drug-related anthrax case has been confirmed in Dumfries and Galloway, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Scotland to 25. The number of deaths in Scotland remain at 10.

Source article on Scottish Drugs Forum, Health Protection Scotland

A report produced by the Home Affairs Select Committee has said that efforts by law enforcement agencies to block the trafficking of cocaine is 'woefully inadequate'.

Source article on The Scotsman

Contributions from William L White M.A, who has worked in the addictions field since 1969 and is currently Senior Research Consultant at Chestnut Health Systems / Lighthouse Institute in the U.S.

Source article on Film Exchange on Alcohol and Drugs

Synthetic cathinones are increasingly being reported to the EMCDDA and Europol via the EU early-warning system (EWS). These ‘designer’ compounds, structurally related to amphetamine, are derivatives of the parent compound cathinone, one of the psychoactive ingredients found in khat (Catha edulis). Among these compounds being monitored is the 'legal high', mephedrone.

Source article on European Monitoring Council for Drugs and Drug Addiction

The UK Government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) are to review the effects of the cocaine following recently published data which reveals that its use is on the rise in England amongst teenagers and also amid concerns that young people are taking it in the mistaken belief it is "relatively safe".

Source article on BBC News

Babies born to mothers who are prescribed methadone during their pregnancy developed a range of visual problems, according to a report produced by medical experts in Glasgow.

Source article on Scotland on Sunday

According to a new report released by the National Treatment Agency (NTA) for Substance Misuse in England, Powder cocaine: how the treatment system is responding to a growing treatment problem [PDF 670 KB], people aged 18 to 24 now account for a third of all those in England seeking treatment for cocaine misuse.

Source article on BBC News, NTA

A 43-year-old man has been arrested after police seized more than £300,000 worth of drugs, including cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis, in a raid on a house in South Lanarkshire.

Source article on BBC News

The International Narcotics Control Board, the United Nation's drug control agency, has warned that so-called date-rape drugs are on the increase in its annual report, published last week.

Source article on BBC News, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, International Narcotics Control Board