DRUGS - THE SCOURGE OF OUR SOCIETY

COUNT 6

Young professionals who use cocaine as a recreational drug are developing holes in their brains, a leading expert has found. Three-dimensional scans by neurosurgeon Dr Peter Harvey have revealed the appalling damage done by the drug to blood vessels. Tests have shown that the users’ ability to think clearly has been impaired by cocaine and the worst cases could result in a fatal brain seizure caused by restricted blood flow. The findings are alarming because cocaine is the weekend drug of choice for high-flyers in
their 20’s and 30’s. They do not consider themselves addicts, and see it as a relatively safe recreational drug. Studies have already revealed that cocaine causes damage to the heart, increasing the risk of heart attacks.

The latest evidence is the first to show definitively that cocaine also harms blood vessels in the brain. Dr Harvey, previously Consultant Neurologist at the Royal Free Hospital
in NW London, and now in private practice in Harley Street, recently treated three cocaine users with affected brains. Two of the patients were City businessmen in their 40’s, who had used the drug weekly or fortnightly for about ten years. The third was a professional woman in her thirties who used it occasionally at weekends. Dr Harvey said: “The brain scans I have carried out show holes in the brain which have been caused by cocaine use. In an acute case this could cause a possible brain seizure which could result in death. In the first case he dealt with, an MRI scan showed the patient’s
brain to be normal, but a Spec scan, which uses radiography to monitor
blood flow around the brain, revealed an abnormality. The scan is threedimensional
and you could clearly see holes in the brain from the arterial damage caused by the cocaine use. These holes are not present in a brain with no history of substance abuse.” Dr Harvey sent the patient to see a neurological psychologist, who found his thinking capacity was considerably impaired. The doctor added, “This came as a shock to the
patient, as he did not feel as though the drugs had affected his work or memory.” He believes many more people may be suffering from the condition and have not sought medical help. Further recent research shows one in ten people being treated for chest pains at a leading heart hospital, have used cocaine. Doctors are seeing many 30-year-olds whose hearts resemble those of someone twice their age. Hospital staff are being forced to delay looking after other sick patients in order to deal with suspected heart
attacks caused by drug abuse. According to the independent Drug Monitoring Unit, cocaine use has more than doubled in Britain over the past seven years – 1997-2004, as its price dropped to about £40 a gram from £100 in the early 1990s.

THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL

THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT IS NAMED AFTER THE LONDON STREET IN WHICH IT IS SITUATED

A company behind a revolutionary instant drugs test is to float on the stock market. A device made by Cozart can detect heroin and cocaine use in just three minutes by testing saliva. Cannabis takes a little longer with the machine, shaped like a mobile phone, and ecstasy needs up to 12 minutes.

Five different drugs can be identified at a time from one saliva sample. The RapiScan is being tested by the Home Office at 130 police stations in England and Wales. It would save police time and money in two ways, said Dr Chris Hand, managing director of Cozart, which has 58 staff at Abingdon, Oxon. He told the City pages of The Sun newspaper: “With the current tests, a police officer has to watch a suspect provide a urine sample, as drug users tend to adulterate their sample or switch it. With our equipment there is no need to observe the suspect in this way, which saves time. Secondly, the test is done on the spot and the results are there very quickly.” Cozart will be valued at around £27million in the shares flotation, in which it is raising £6.75million from outside investors. This would help finance international expansion. The drug buster is already being used by police in Italy, Australia and Germany. Dr Hand, who founded Cozart with his accountant brother Philip, 11 years ago, said: “Our product will hopefully break the cycle, as the Government puts it, between drug use and crime.” The brothers will get £1.5million cash after the share issue and their joint holding will be valued at £8.18million. The way the hand-held RapiScan works is that a sample is collected from an absorbent pad in the suspect’s mouth. This pad is put into a disposable cartridge, where chemical tests detect precisely which drugs have been taken. The cartridge is placed into the RapiScan, which translates the test results and prints them out on paper.
New research has confirmed that smoking cannabis can trigger mental
illness. Six months after the Government downgraded it to a Class C drug,
researchers at one of America’s most respected institutions, the Yale
University School of Medicine, have established a link between its use and
schizophrenia. In a series of tests, 22 people who were not cannabis users,
and who were in good physical and mental health, received intravenous
injections of Delta-9-THC, the main active chemical ingredient in cannabis,
and were tested for any ill-effects over a three-day period. They reported schizophrenia-like symptoms, including altered perception, anxiety,
euphoria, impaired verbal fluency, lack of concentration and memory loss.
Some participants had difficulty in carrying out simple intelligence tests,
such as finding words with the same letter in under 60 seconds. They also
complained of hallucinations and obsessive suspicion of people around
them. The findings, reported in the American Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology,
come only six months after Britain liberalised the law on cannabis. There are fears the change has led more young people to try the drug, because they believe it is harmless and that they are unlikely to be prosecuted.

MAIN ENTRANCE - CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT - OLD BAILEY

Official figures claim more than three million people in the UK use
cannabis regularly and a third of 15-year-olds have tried it. Consultant
Psychiatrist Professor Robin Murray said earlier this year that up to 80 per
cent of new psychiatric patients had a history of smoking the drug. The
latest US research was welcomed by British scientists. Dr Alan Young of
Newcastle University, said: “It is not only bad for your physical health, like
smoking an unfiltered cigarette, but also for your mental well-being. It is
not true, as some claim, that it is a benign substance.” The number of
young people and adults injecting illegal drugs in major cities is as high as
1-in-50, experts have learned. A study focusing on London, Liverpool and
Brighton, estimated that between 1-in-50 and 1-in-80 people aged between
15 and 44 injected drugs regularly. The researchers said this made the
problem as common as diabetes and more common than chronic diseases
such as epilepsy.

According to the study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community
Health, injecting drug-users were more likely to die from their habit in
Brighton. Overall, around one per cent of injecting drug users die from an
overdose each year. But in Brighton, not only were there higher rates of
drug users, but two per cent died from an overdose. The researchers, from
Imperial College and Liverpool John Moores University, gathered their
information from drug treatment centres, referrals after police arrest, and
syringe exchange schemes. In London, the team concentrated on 12
boroughs. They estimated that rates of injecting drug use among 15 to 44-
year olds were two per cent in Brighton, 1.5 per cent in Liverpool and 1.2
per cent in London. Routine statistics on problem drug use did not
accurately reflect the actual prevalence in the population, they warned.
The drug epidemic in Britain’s jails has forced prisoners to put signs on cell
doors saying ‘No Salesmen’ in a desperate bid to deter dealers, it has been
revealed. A report by the Prison Reform Trust said smuggling drugs inside
prison had become an organised racket. Dealers were using cleaners and
auxiliary staff to sneak hard drugs inside to tap into the captive market of inmates. Other tricks include throwing tennis balls stuffed full of heroin or
crack cocaine over prison walls.

The report’s author, Enver Solomon said that at Wealstun Prison in
Yorkshire, some dormitory doors had notices saying ‘No Salesmen’. The
Trust reveals that, at the worst prisons, one in every three inmates is now
testing positive for drugs. The jail with the highest recorded drug use was
Kirkham in Lancashire, which had a rate of 34 per cent. This was followed
by Armley, Leeds, (30.5), Winchester (28.5), Liverpool (28.3) and Risley,
Cheshire (26). Nationwide, the percentage of positive tests was 12.3 per
cent, missing the Government’s target of ten per cent. In a speech to the
Prison Service annual conference, Director-General Phil Wheatley admitted
facing ‘significant operational challenges’. He added: “These centre
particularly around drug dealing in prisons, which appears to be coming
much more organised and we will have to find ways of responding to this
increased determination and sophistication on the part of drug dealers.”
The Reform Trust blamed prison overcrowding for many of these problems.
On 1st August 2004 the prison population in England and Wales stood at
75,146, an increase of 1,235 in the past year. At the end of July 2004, 83 of
the 138 prisons in England and Wales were overcrowded. The number of
serious assaults was higher than targeted and there were 92 suicides,
including five at Nottingham and four each at Preston, Durham and
Blakenhurst in Worcestershire. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said:
“Not only is crime increasing on our streets under Labour, it is also rising
in our prisons. The Home Secretary has failed to ensure the capacity of the
Prison Service properly reflects the level of prison population. It’s simple
maths, and his do not add up.” A Prison Service spokesman said: “I don’t
think the Prison Reform Trust has recognised the improvements we have
made in the past year. In the light of the fact that the prison population has
been quite high, we believe progress has been good.”
Arrests for cannabis possession have dropped by a third, after the drug was
reclassified from Class B to the less serious Class C in January 2004, new
figures have revealed. Home Office insiders said police can now spend
200,000 extra hours every year fighting hard drugs. A Whitehall source
added: “Their time is much better spent tackling those peddling Class A
drugs like heroin.” The charity Drugscope welcomed the figures but a
spokesman said: “People should not be misled into thinking that cannabis
use has dropped by 33 per cent.” A quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds use the
drug, more than twice the world average.
Reclassification means they are unlikely to be arrested if caught.

(Author’s note: I was greatly heartened to hear that police officers have an extra 200,000 hours per year to continue the uphill struggle against hard-drugs dealers. However, I am worldy-wise enough to realise that, even as I type, some obscure civil servant in the Importance Of Filling In Forms Department of the Home Office, is gleefully working on the design and creation of some additional, fresh statistical police forms, so that the spare 200,000 hours per year of police time, can be put to, as he sees it, better use.)