In a study recently published in the Journal Addiction, researchers in the United States from Bowling Green State University, have reported an association between paternal incarceration and "substantially elevated risks for illegal drug use in adolescence and early adulthood".

Source article on Addiction

Research published last week comparing more than 200 drug and alcohol users in Glasgow has identified some of the predictors of success involved in their recovery. The study was led by Dr. David Best, a reader in Criminal Justice from the Unversity of the West of Scotland.

Source articles on BBC News, STV News

A quick and simple drugs test has been developed by British scientists which will detect any traces of cocaine or heroin in a small sample of saliva.

Source article on the Telegraph

A report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons in Scotland, Brigadier Hugh Munro, has said the smuggling of drugs and weapons into Scottish prisons is "unacceptably high".

Source article on HeraldScotland, Scottish Government

A series of four more “tip-sheet” information guides to help local drug and alcohol services with service user involvement have been added to those already published by the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Service User Involvement Partnership.

Source article on Scottish Drugs Forum

The Minister for Community Safety, Fergus Ewing, discusses the progress of Scotland's drug strategy and its future impact.

Source article on Scottish Parliament

The head of the UK Government's drug advisory panel, Professor Les Iverson, has warned of the increasing diffculty of controlling the availability of legal highs due to the use of the internet.

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A leading academic has recommended that former drug users should be brought together in special recovery communities to aid their recovery. Dr. David Best, lecturer in addictions at the University of the West of Scotland, is author of "Research for Recovery", a report commissioned by the Scottish Government, with the aim of assessing the evidence of Scotland's drug strategy.

Source article on HeraldScotland

Drugscope is inviting people to express their views on the UK Government's 2010 Drug Strategy Consultation Paper to help inform their response to the consultation.

Source article on Drugscope

The Scottish Drugs Forum is holding a free briefing and consultation on the following subject areas: "Briefing on Benefit Changes and Welfare Reform", with Paul Spicker, Professor of Public Policy, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and ‘Support recovery to break the cycle of drug addiction’ covering a section of the 2010 Drugs Strategy Consultation Paper, published by the Home Office.

Source article on Scottish Drugs Forum

One of the UK's leading researchers on cannabis has said that policymakers should consider allowing the licensed sale of the drug for recreational use. Professor Roger Pertwee, a researcher based at the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, believes that licensing the drug would minimise the harm caused by its use.

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A researcher from the Centre of Public Health in Liverpool John Moore's University, Dr Carol Beynon, has studied a small group of people aged 49-61 receiving treatment for their drug misuse problems, and has warned older drug users may need specific services because "they have completely different issues" from younger drug users.

Source article on BBC News

A report has now been submitted to the European Commission and Council of the EU as part of the final stage of the formal risk assessment on the synthetic drug mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone). On the basis of the report, the Council, upon an initiative of the Commission, may decide to subject mephedrone to control measures throughout the EU.

Source article on EMCDDA

The Dundee Alcohol and Drugs Partnership team are looking to evaluate three programmes of parenting and family support interventions offered to vulnerable families, and are inviting expressions of interest from groups or individuals with suitable experience.

Source article on Scottish Drugs Forum

The Dundee maritime charity Taymara, is using a luxury yacht known as 'Lady Lex', to help those in the area recovering from drug misuse by proving training and activities.

Source article on STV News

A conference being held by the Scottish Drugs Forum which will look at issues around the drugs termed 'legal highs', will take place at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Perth, on the 30th September, 2010.

Source article on Scottish Drugs Forum

Scottish efforts to tackle Hepatitis C has been singled out for recognition in a newly-published European report, "Hepatitis C - transmission and injecting drug use: harm reduction responses" , published by the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network Correlation Project, and calls for improved harm reduction responses to the international Hepatitis C epidemic.

Source article on Scottish Drugs Forum, International Drugs Policy Consortium

Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing today welcomed the publication of new research into how people recover from drug misuse.

Source article on the Scottish Government

The UK Recovery Walk 2010, which aims to help those recovering from drug misuse, will take place at Glasgow Green on 25th September 2010, and is backed by the Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium.

Source article on HeraldScotland, Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium

The UK Anti-doping authority (UKAD) is to join up with law enforcement agencies to crack down on the trafficking and supply of performance-enhancing drugs in sport.

Source article on the Telegraph

Strathclyde police have arrested three men in West Dunbartonshire over the seizure of amphetamines, with an estimated street value of around £250,000.

Source article on BBC News

The Health Protection Agency have announced the death of a 51 year-old man in the Leicestershire area, and have confirmed that test samples of the patient, who was an injecting heroin drug user, contain anthrax.

Source article on Health Protection Agency, STV News

Dumfries and Galloway police forces have seized £140,000 worth of road drug seizures within the last three months, mainly on the A74 motorway.

Source article on BBC News