Drug gangs report blasting UK cities as dangerous

12:26 Drug gangs report blasting UK cities as dangerous 0 Comments

 Comment By Professor Alan Stevens Drug gangs report blasting UK cities as dangerous is too confusing The problems are nowhere near as deep in Manchester or Liverpool as they are in Rio de Janeiro – or even San Francisco A masked municipal policeman stands outside a shopping mall in MexicoAP On one hand it is right to state that there are communities in British cities suffering from social exclusion and marginalisation and that this contributes to their drug and crime problems. But on the other, these ­problems are nowhere near as deep in Manchester or Liverpool as they are in Rio de Janeiro or Ciudad Juarez – or even San Francisco or Los Angeles. The problem with the INCB report is that the wording is unclear. It gives the impression that its comments on no-go areas could apply equally to all of these cities. But it should have been more careful in specifying which ones it was referring to. The cities in Central and South America have more extreme ­problems which come from bigger social inequalities. They are dramatically more affected by crime and health problems. For example, in the past few years in Rio there have been repeated attempts to crack down on the areas controlled by violent drug markets. For a while these places were no-go zones. But authorities have acted in a militaristic fashion in the past year as they prepare for the World Cup.

British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control

12:19 British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control 0 Comments

British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control, a United Nations drugs chief said yesterday. Professor Hamid Ghodse, president of the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), said there was “a vicious cycle of social exclusion and drugs problems and fractured communities” in cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. The development of “no-go areas” was being fuelled by threats such as social inequality, migration and celebrities normalising drug abuse, he warned. Helping marginalised communities with drugs problems “must be a priority”, he said. “We are looking at social cohesion, the social disintegration and illegal drugs. “In many societies around the world, whether developed or developing, there are communities within the societies which develop which become no-go areas. “Drug traffickers, organised crime, drug users, they take over. They will get the sort of governance of those areas.” Prof Ghodse called for such communities to be offered drug abuse prevention programmes, treatment and rehabilitation services, and the same levels of educational, employment and recreational opportunities as in the wider society. The INCB’s annual report for 2011 found persistent social inequality, migration, emerging cultures of excess and a shift in traditional values were some of the key threats to social cohesion. As the gap between rich and poor widens, and “faced with a future with limited opportunities, individuals within these communities may increasingly become disengaged from the wider society and become involved in a range of personally and socially harmful behaviours, including drug abuse and drug dealing,” it said.

Blues legend Gary Moore died after drink binge

23:08 Blues legend Gary Moore died after drink binge 0 Comments

ROCK legend Gary Moore died after bingeing on enough alcohol to put him nearly eight times over the drink-drive limit, tests in Spain have revealed. The guitar ace (58) suffered a heart attack brought on by the massive amount of alcohol that he knocked back at the start of a sunshine holiday in Spain's Costa del Sol, the studies showed. No traces of any illegal drugs were found in his body. But he had 380mg of alcohol per decilitre of blood in his system, which is more than 30mg the amount associated with fatalities. And it was just short of the 416mg that Amy Winehouse had in her body when she died. Tests revealed that dad-of-three Mr Moore, found dead in bed at a luxury hotel on February 6 last year, had abused alcohol for years. Former Thin Lizzy guitarist Mr Moore died at the Kempinski Resort Hotel in Estepona hours after starting a six-day holiday with his new partner.

Britain’s biggest international criminals has walked free from court despite been accused of attempting to smuggle £80 million worth of cocaine into the U.K.

22:34 Britain’s biggest international criminals has walked free from court despite been accused of attempting to smuggle £80 million worth of cocaine into the U.K. 0 Comments

A man who was named one of the Britain’s biggest international criminals has walked free from court despite been accused of attempting to smuggle £80 million worth of cocaine into the U.K.

Jamie Dempsey, 33, was suspected of plotting to flood London and the south-east with 299kg (660lb) of high-purity cocaine in 2009.

He appeared on a ‘most wanted’ list of crooks hiding in the Costa Del Sol - nicknamed ‘Costa Del Crime’ - and even featured on BBC’s Crimewatch programme.

Freed: Jamie Dempsey, centre, leaves court with his friends and family after being acquitted of his involvement in an £80m euro cocaine empire

Speaking outside of court after being cleared of any wrongdoing, Dempsey said: 'I’m just relieved the nightmare is over.

'I couldn’t be further from being a criminal - I’m just a penniless plumber from Essex.

'I was in Marbella at my parent’s house when I was arrested - the police simply got the wrong man, it was a case of mistaken identity but I don’t want to say any more.

'My face has been all over the TV and the newspapers, my friends and family have been put through hell.h

'I just want to have a good meal and get on with my life.'

Hiding place: Dempsey was cuffed in Benhavis, a mountain village near Marbella in Spain in a police operation that cost £1m

A two-year investigation, costing over £1million pounds, was launched to track Dempsey who was believed to be evading capture in Spain.

Officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) finally arrested him with the help of the Spanish police in Benhavis, Marbella, last May following a tip-off from the public.

His capture was hailed as a 'great result' but on Monday he was dramatically cleared of conspiracy to supply cocaine after a four-week trial.

Last May police named Dempsey as a suspected drug lord living the high life in the Costa Del Sol.

But a jury of five men and four women took nine-and-a-half hours to find him not guilty.

Judge Michael Pert ordered the court to be cleared after Dempsey’s family erupted into cheers after the verdict was read out. 

Jailed: Fernando Hurtado, left, and John Esqulant, right, were both sentenced to 28 years behind bars

Speaking outside Leicester Crown Court his sister Natalie Dempsey, 24, said: 'We are just happy he’s coming home.

'Our family has been torn apart because of this. We’re going to give him a proper Essex home coming.

'The champagne will be flowing in Chigwell when he comes home. He doesn’t normally drink or smoke but he’ll want to party hard after all this.

'The police got the wrong man but they didn’t care. They just wanted to arrest someone in the Costa Del Sol and send them down.'

Last year three people arrested in the same police ‘sting’ operation as Dempsey were jailed for a total of 55 years.

Taxi driver John Esqulant and Colombian Fernando Hurtado were each jailed for 23 years at the same court after they were convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Part-time model and promising footballer Frank Stedman was jailed for nine years after admitting the same offence.

The sting operation began in March 2009 when officers posed as criminals who could arrange delivery of the drugs.

Three Soca agents met 41-year-old Hurtado, from Woking, Surrey, at a site in Waltham Abbey, Essex, to organise the delivery.

Two weeks later, Stedman, 26, of North Weald, Essex, paid the officers £320,800 in cash as part-payment for the drugs.

Shortly after the handover in April, armed officers stopped the van containing the Class A drug near an industrial estate in Markfield, Leics.

Esqulant, 52, of Theydon Bois, Essex, and Hurtado were arrested the same day while Stedman was brought in as he stepped off a flight at Heathrow airport in June 2010.

One in seven Cambridge students 'has sold drugs to help pay their way through university'

06:09 One in seven Cambridge students 'has sold drugs to help pay their way through university' 0 Comments

One in seven Cambridge students is  dealing drugs to help pay their way through university, according to a survey. It found many claim that they have been forced to sell illegal substances to friends to make ends meet as they study. And it revealed nearly two-thirds admitted taking drugs, with cannabis the most  popular substance.

Foreign and female inmates to be evacuated from Bali's Kerobokan prison

14:10 Foreign and female inmates to be evacuated from Bali's Kerobokan prison 0 Comments

FOREIGN inmates including the 12 Australians held at Bali's notorious Kerobokan jail are set to be moved later today amid fears they could be targeted in ongoing unrest at the prison. Prison guards and police have again been forced to retreat to the streets outside the jail following a second night of unrest in the wake of a rampage by inmates on Tuesday night during which sections of the jail were destroyed by fire. About 400 armed police and soldiers remain stationed outside the jail amid a tense stand-off with prisoners. Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin has also been dispatched from Jakarta and is expected to visit the jail later today. The ongoing tension has prompted authorities to prepare for a mass evacuation of the jail, which has been without electricity since the riot broke out at about 11pm local time (2am AEDT) on Tuesday.  Riots continue in Kerobokan prison Buses have been moved to Kerobokan to prepare for the evacuation, which could take place at about 1pm. It's understood that the 60 foreign prisoners will be taken to a detention facility at Klungkung, a drive of about two hours from Kerobokan. Kerobokan governor Bowo Nariwono has confirmed the plan but said details were still being worked out. ''There's a plan to make them safe,'' Mr Nariwono said. The overcrowded jail houses more than 1000 male and female inmates, including the Gold Coast's Schapelle Corby and members of the so-called Bali Nine drug trafficking group. One of the Australian prisoners, Graeme Michael Pollock, was due to be sentenced today in relation to drugs charges. His hearing has now been postponed. The evacuation plan emerged as authorities voiced concerns for the safety of the foreigners inside the jail after a second night of unrest. Provincial military command spokesman Wing Handoko told AFP that authorities were still working out the details of the evacuation. ''We don't want to take chances, just in case the foreigners become a target of the prisoners' anger,'' he said. Authorities were forced out of the prison again last night after having initially wrested control of the jail back from prisoners earlier in the day. ''The prisoners took over the prison again, which forced security personnel to fire warning shots into the air,'' Mr Handoko said. Prisoners responded to the warning shots by throwing flaming missiles onto the street outside the jail. It is understood that they have demanded that the three prisoners shot in the leg with rubber bullets and removed from the jail yesterday be returned. The prison has been sealed off with about 400 armed police and soldiers, equipped with water cannons, stationed outside. Prisoners began rioting on Tuesday night after days of simmering tensions following the stabbing on Sunday of one prisoner by three inmates from a rival drug gang. Police were called in at about 4pm on Sunday to quell a mob of prisoners that had attacked those believed to be responsible for the stabbing.

Confusion surrounds Australian prisoners held in Bali riot jail

14:05 Confusion surrounds Australian prisoners held in Bali riot jail 0 Comments

Confusion surrounds Australian prisoners held in Bali riot jail Scott Rush, is escorted by two policemen after being moved out from Kerobokan prison in Denpasar.  BALI nine drug mule Scott Rush was evacuated from the fire-damaged Kerobokan prison late yesterday after a day of confusion and posturing. Prison authorities in Bali backed down from a threat to forcibly move 1015 prisoners from the jail in urban Denpasar, and by late last night had moved a small fraction of that. The fate of the other 11 Australians housed in the prison is unknown, as police were gearing up to move more people out. Last night, drug smugglers Schapelle Corby and the rest of the Bali nine were still inside.

Boozy films 'turn children into drinkers'

08:52 Boozy films 'turn children into drinkers' 0 Comments

Experts say that teenagers who have seen the most films featuring alcohol are twice as likely to start consuming alcohol as those who watched the least. Parents should closely monitor the films their children watch, advise the researchers, while Hollywood should look at phasing out drinking scenes, just as it has for smoking. The team, from a number of US universities, aliken American films to the flu virus, quickly spreading risky drinking behaviour around the globe. For two years they conducted regular phone interviews with 6,500 children, aged 10 to 14 at the start of the study. They asked them about the films they watched, whether they consumed alcohol, whether they drank without their parents knowing, and whether they took part in 'binge' drinking.  They found watching lots of films with drinking scenes was one of the most powerful factors, when it came to predicting both whether a child would start drinking, and progress to binge drinking. Only being an older child at the start of the study, and having lots of friends who drank, were more important when it came to predicting who took up drinking. Writing in the British Medical Journal Open, they suggested that Hollywood should place "similar emphasis" on vetting films for drinking scenes, as they already did for smoking scenes.

Fresh hope in pancreatic cancer war

08:49 Fresh hope in pancreatic cancer war 0 Comments

Pancreatic cancer cells can be destroyed by combining two drugs, researchers have found - giving hope that more effective treatments can be developed to combat the disease. The research by Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute showed in mice that combining a chemotherapy drug called gemcitabine with an experimental drug called MRK003 sets off a chain of events that ultimately kills cancer cells - multiplying the effect of each drug on its own. MRK003 blocks an important cell signalling pathway called Notch in both pancreatic cancer cells and the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels supplying tumours with essential nutrients. Experts found the addition of MRK003 to gemcitabine - a drug used commonly in patients with pancreatic cancer - increased the ability of gemcitabine to destroy tumours. The research was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicin, and study author Professor David Tuveson said: "We've discovered why these two drugs together set off a domino effect of molecular activity to switch off cell survival processes and destroy pancreatic cancer cells." Around 8,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year and the disease is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in the UK. Survival rates are very low in relation to other cancers and the length of time between diagnosis and death is typically short, usually less than six months. The most recent data for England show that around 16% of patients survive their disease beyond 12 months after diagnosis - prompting the need for new treatments. The discovery is now a clinical trial being led by Duncan Jodrell, professor of cancer therapeutics at the University of Cambridge. He said: "We're delighted that the results of this important research are now being evaluated in a clinical trial, to test whether this might be a new treatment approach for patients with pancreatic cancer, although it will be some time before we're able to say how successful this will be in patients."

Hospitalised, robbed, arrested – new TV series follows consular staff as they help Brits in distress

15:18 arrested – new TV series follows consular staff as they help Brits in distress , Hospitalised , robbed 0 Comments

How the staff of British Consulates in Spain help citizens in distress is to be highlighted in a new TV documentary series to be broadcast next month on the UK’s Channel 4.UK in Spain The new TV series, filmed last summer, reveals how consular staff come to the rescue of Britons who find themselves in trouble. From helping victims of crime to advising Brits arrested by the police, the series also follows consular staff as they visit holidaymakers who end up in hospital and meet expat residents to hear their property concerns. In a three part series, ‘Our Man In…’, provides unprecedented access to the work of British consular staff. It will be shown on the UK’s Channel 4 on Thursdays 1st, 8th and 15th March at 22.00 GMT (23.00 CET). The first programme features Mallorca and Ibiza, the second follows the team in Alicante and the third covers Tenerife and Barcelona. “The series shows the hard work and professionalism of our staff in helping British expats and holidaymakers as well as highlighting the serious issues that Brits can face abroad”, says Paul Rodwell, British Consul in Alicante. “Some of the less serious cases can be avoided and I would encourage people to read our travel advice and have a look at the information we have on our ukinspain website.” The series reveals the consequences of failing to prepare properly for a holiday. Even if you’re staying with friends and family, travelling without insurance could cost you many thousands of pounds if you’re injured abroad. “Losing your passport will cost you time and money”, says Paul Rodwell. “And without an EHIC health card, you’ll find it harder to get medical care. By taking a few simple precautions, you can avoid a dream holiday turning into a nightmare.” The programme in Alicante, about life on the costas, shows the pro-active face of the consulate, with staff seeking out Brits caught up in a forest fire, organising outreach events to hear residents’ property concerns, and working with local police to manage an invasion of Scottish football fans for a big game against Spain. On the party island of Ibiza, consular staff tackle the fall-out from a new drug on club scene - the so-called 'pink pill'. A young tourist is found lost, nearly naked, and unable to recall anything but his name. Then the Brit dealers who supply the pills also need help after they're arrested. In Mallorca, staff deal with a young Brit who's been tasered by overzealous police. A holidaymaker from Essex has been run over by a drunk driver, and lies seriously injured in hospital. And a Lancashire couple's holiday is transformed by the arrival, nine weeks early, of their tiny baby son. In Barcelona and Tenerife, crime has its effects on visitors and on the workload of the Consulates. Street robberies and stolen passports lead to inconvenience, distress and unexpected costs for holidaymakers. Meanwhile consular staff are also busy helping some of the people who need it most – expat prisoners & homeless Brits who simply want to go home. ‘Our Man In…’ was filmed mainly in August and September last year and is produced by Screenchannel Television, a London-based independent production company. The executive producers are Emma Barker, a former commissioning editor and controller at ITV, and Peter Lowe, a former executive producer and programme editor at BBC Television and controller at Carlton Television.

No date set for Málaga's second prison to come into service

14:19 No date set for Málaga's second prison to come into service 0 Comments

Construction appears to be funded, but the problem is how to find the money for the staffThe entrance to the Alhaurin prison  There is concern over when a new prison being built in Archidona, Málaga will be able to accept inmates. 70% of the construction, which is budgeted at 117 million, has been done, and there is a date of the end of this year or the start of next for completion. However to start accepting inmates the prison has to employ some 600 people, and there has been no advertising of any jobs as yet. Union CCOO think the new Director of Prisons, Ángel Yuste, wants to delay the reception of the installations as long as possible as there is no money, and noting that the maintenance of the facility could be more than five million a year. The new prison will have 1,008 cells. We will probably better know if there is funding to open the prison after we have seen the State Budget for 2012 which the PP is to reveal next month. Thankfully the prison population has fallen slightly, falling by 1.6% in Andalucia in 2010. The latest figures show 17,215 inmates in 9,445 cells. At Málaga’s prison in Alhaurín de la Torre which was designed for some 1,000 prisoners, it is now holding 1,400, and has held as many as 1,900 inmates at times in the past.

Alastair Campbell on drink: 'I paid a heavy price'

06:24 Alastair Campbell on drink: 'I paid a heavy price' 0 Comments

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former spokesman, examines the British middle class's troubled relationship with alcohol and his own long and complicated history with drink. To read the headlines about Britain's drink problem, you might think it is largely an issue of teenage binge-drinking in town centres up and down the country. You would be very wrong. Young people drinking too much is a problem. But it is not the biggest drink problem Britain faces. The real problem comes in the form of our hidden alcoholics. Back in my hard-drinking days I was one of them - professional, successful on the surface, with a good job, a steady relationship, a mortgage, nice holidays, lots of friends. But I was heading for a very big fall. The Office for National Statistics tells us that the professional classes are now the most frequent drinkers in the country and that 41% of professional men drink more than the recommended daily limit of three to four units at least once a week. Women are also drinking much more than they used to, with alcoholic liver disease now split evenly between the sexes. My own drinking reached its peak while I worked in Fleet Street in the 1980s - a time when the pub was an extension of the office. Anne Robinson, one of my colleagues on the Daily Mirror back then, was one of the many casualties of the hard-drinking culture. Reflecting back on the days before she too gave it up, Anne said: "It was just a sea of alcohol. If you were editing the paper, people just came in to your office to empty your drinks cabinet." Annie has been dry for years. I paid a heavy price for the same sort of lifestyle when my drinking, coupled with depression, triggered a mental breakdown that landed me in hospital. It forced me to confront my drinking, and by 1986 I'd stopped and started a slow road to recovery. Since then, even in newspapers, Britain's boozy workplace culture has largely disappeared. 24-hour mistake? Yet, paradoxically, more people are being treated for alcohol problems. Recent figures show that nearly 9,000 people die each year in the UK from alcohol-related diseases. Perhaps more alarmingly, liver disease in general is the only major cause of death in Britain that is on the rise, year after year - claiming 100 lives every week - whereas mortality for all the smoking diseases is falling dramatically. Find out more Panorama: Britain's Hidden Alcoholics BBC One, Monday 20 February at 20:30 GMT Then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer That Britain has a problem with drink is highlighted not just by the figures, but by the fact that the government is busy devising a new strategy to address alcohol-related ill-health. David Cameron has signalled his appetite for reform, including the possibility of minimum pricing as already being taken forward in Scotland, and tougher rules on promotion and marketing. So how did we get here? Well, as with so much of our recent history, the answer lies in Europe. With closer ties came cheaper travel and a newly developed taste for all things European, wine included. Then came the booze cruises to France and the birth of a seemingly unquenchable British thirst. Since 1970, our consumption of wine has gone up five-fold, according to the Beer and Pub Association. We now consume 1.6 billion bottles a year (not counting the ones we drink when we go abroad). It has gone from a middle-class luxury to an everyday part of middle-class life. Anne Robinson remembers a "sea of alcohol" in the newsroom Though ultimately individuals have to take responsibility for their own relationships with alcohol, governments have to set the framework, which is why the planned new strategy is so important. I defend virtually everything done by the government I worked for under Tony Blair. I confess however, as he and Tessa Jowell will confirm, that I was never a big fan of the laws to introduce 24-hour licensing, surely one of the factors in the troubled relationship between Brits and booze. I had left Downing Street by the time the law came in, but it had been mooted for some time before and I never really bought the argument that Britain would suddenly become a continental-style drinking nation. Cheap booze I think we have always had this tendency, where there is drink, to drink it to excess. Did it make things worse? Was it a mistake? On the one hand it is quite nice to have a sense of London and other cities being more European in their approach to drink. But I think it is entirely possible to see a link between increased availability of alcohol and our increased consumption. Britain is, after all, the nation of the gin epidemic - back in the 18th Century. While in 1914, the government had to bring in the Defence of the Realm Act because our own drinking was deemed a threat to our ability to defend ourselves in war. Health campaigners cite those as the first major British drinking crises. They believe we are now facing the third. The big shift in recent times has been the rise of drinking at home, which is why the binge-drinking stereotype is neither accurate nor helpful. The issue is largely about price. Pubs charge a lot for a pint. Supermarkets don't. It is a sad paradox that the decline in pubs has come alongside what seems to be a rise in drinking and alcohol-related problems. In 1970, 90% of all pints were poured in a pub. Today, it is only 50% - the other half are bought much more cheaply in supermarkets and off-licences. The government has to do its bit. But in making a film about Britain's relationship with drink, and in meeting some of the hidden alcoholics, I met people who had each come to their own arrangement with alcohol. For most, the answer is complete abstinence, or complete loss of control. I too said no for 13 years, but then I started having the odd drink again. This time, I feel as though I am more in control. To be frank, it would be hard not to be. Alcohol facts 10m people in England drink more than recommended Daily units men: 3-4 Daily units women: 2-3 New advice is to abstain from alcohol for two days a week Source: Drinkaware But, having met others as they underwent rehabilitation treatment, I do wonder if I am doing the right thing. Partly I am testing myself, having one or two so I can then enjoy the satisfaction of being able to say "No". I also like being able to be "normal" like other social drinkers, just have the odd one and then call it a night. I cannot say I have not drunk since first falling gently off the wagon in 1999. But I can say I have never been drunk, never had a hangover, never touched spirits and never felt the loss of control that had me hospitalised prior to my 13-year unbroken dry spell. The psychiatrist who I see for my depression thinks that even occasional drinking on my part is a bad idea, and interestingly, in making a documentary on the subject, I did once again stop drinking altogether, not least perhaps as a result of the tour of Queen Mary's Hospital anatomy department, where I was shown a few damaged livers. I do feel that my own relationship with alcohol is more secure. And while government has a role to play in setting rules and regulations on responsible drinking, on a certain level I think that our connection to alcohol is a deal that each of us has to make with ourselves. I hope this film helps some of Britain's drinkers to do that.

210,000 people face alcohol death risk, warn doctors

06:20 000 people face alcohol death risk , 210 , warn doctors 0 Comments

Failure to reform alcohol laws could lead to 210,000 preventable deaths in England and Wales in the next 20 years, doctors have warned. They are putting pressure on the government ahead of its "alcohol strategy" for both countries, expected in the coming months. Writing in The Lancet, doctors said the UK was at a "potential tipping point". Prime Minister David Cameron has already vowed to tackle the "scandal" of drunkenness and alcohol abuse. The projected mortality figures comes from Prof Ian Gilmore, a former President of the Royal College of Physicians, Dr Nick Sheron, from the National Institute for Health Research and members of the British Society of Gastroenterology. Their figure of 210,000 is a slight reduction from their previous estimate of 250,000 and represents their "worst-case scenario" of no change to alcohol policy. "It remains entirely within the power of the UK government to prevent the worst-case scenario of preventable deaths," they wrote. The figures for England and Wales suggest 70,000 of the deaths could be from liver disease and the rest from accidents, violence and chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, breast cancer and cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. 'Tipping point' They were critical of the "responsibility deal" in England, which are voluntary agreements with the drinks industry on issues such as promotions and labelling. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote What we have to accept is that doing nothing is no longer a responsible option” Eric Appleby Alcohol Concern This was compared to the Scottish government's approach such as a minimum price per unit of alcohol. The group said: "We are at a potential tipping point in the UK in taking on the shameful, preventable loss of life caused by alcohol. "The potential prize of reversing this tragic toll of alcohol-related deaths is there for the taking." The Department of Health will publish its alcohol strategy for England later this year. Selling alcohol below cost price is to be banned in England and Wales from 6 April. However, ministers are expected to go further in the forthcoming strategy, recommending a higher minimum price for drink. The chief executive of Alcohol Concern, Eric Appleby, said: "What we have to accept is that doing nothing is no longer a responsible option for alcohol policy, and that trying to 'nudge' drinking culture through information and persuasion has proved to be little better than doing nothing. "We can see from the example of other countries that drinking patterns really can change, the challenge is there for the government to start the process now through the Alcohol Strategy." Henry Ashworth, chief executive of the Portman Group, which also represents UK drinks producers, said: "It is really important that we put this report in context. "The vast majority of people drink responsibly. Painting doomsday scenarios won't help reduce alcohol misuse and calling for Soviet Union style population controls cannot do anything but alienate the vast majority of people who already drink within Government guidelines. "We agree with the Prime Minister that strong partnerships are essential to tackle the minority who use alcohol recklessly and drinks producers are committed to supporting this approach." The public health minister, Anne Milton, said: "As the Prime Minister said earlier this week, we are determined to tackle the scandal of alcohol abuse. People that misuse alcohol endanger their own lives and those of others. "It costs the NHS £2.7 billion per year and in our forthcoming alcohol strategy we will set out our plans on how to deal with the wide range of problems and harms it causes."

Hepatitis C no longer a ‘death sentence’

00:52 Hepatitis C no longer a ‘death sentence’ 0 Comments

Because Hepatitis C symptoms often do not manifest themselves until the later stages of the illness, afflicted individuals are not likely to know that they have one, much more see a doctor to check for its presence. However, by the time these symptoms have manifested, the disease is usually hard to cure if not irreversible. Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus, mainly transmitted by sharing drug-injecting equipment, using a razor previously used by an infected person, through blood transfusions, or having sex with an infected individual. Transmission can also occur via nonsterile tattooing and body piercing, unsterile medical or dental procedures, from mother to infant during delivery or exposure to blood or blood product. Because hepatitis C virus slowly damages the liver—often over the course of several decades—the result may eventually cause permanent scarring of the liver (cirrhosis). People with cirrhosis can go on to develop liver failure or liver cancer. In fact, hepatitis C is four times more common than the human immunodeficiency virus in the United States and accounts for more than half of all patients with cirrhosis. It is also the most common indication currently for liver transplants, and it is the cause of about a third of primary cancers that arise within the liver in that country. Only treatment The only treatment for people with end-stage liver disease is a liver transplant. “Which is why by the time the person notices that he or she is always fatigued, has recurring fever, feeling nauseated, has yellowing of the skin, whites of the eyes, and body fluids, has poor appetite, suffers from muscle and joint pains, has tenderness in the area of the liver, his or her hepatitis C case might already be too tough to cure if not too late for any cure,” explained Ming-Lung Yu, professor at the Kaohsiung Medical University and deputy secretary general of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver. This is why Yu has advocated for early screening, the best way to fight hepatitis C considering that no vaccine exists to prevent its infection, unlike those for hepatitis A and B. Education “Until 1989, the medical profession didn’t have a name for what we now call hepatitis C. But now that the disease is recognized as a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer, we also find that education and awareness are most essential to its effective treatment,” he said. According to professor Seng Gee Lim of the Singapore National University Hospital, aside from advising the patient not to take any form of alcoholic drink or use illicit drug, reduce weight if he or she is obese, strict control of diabetes and compliance with any other therapies his or her doctor puts in place, there is now the availability of treatment option for those suffering from chronic hepatitis C. Last year, Merck Sharp & Dohme introduced to the market boceprevir (Victrelis), the first new drug for hepatitis C in 20 years. New class “Boceprevir is a new class of hepatitis drug belonging to protease inhibitors, which block a key enzyme required by the hepatitis virus to replicate. With this new drug, we could now regard hepatitis C from a debilitating disease into a manageable condition for the majority of people infected with the virus,” said Dr. Lisa Pedicone, MSD global director of scientific affairs. The drug, which is approved only for use in conjunction with the current hepatitis C drugs, peginterferon-alpha and ribavirin, was found to nearly double the number of patients who achieved what is known as a sustained virologic response—otherwise known as cure—in patients with new hepatitis C infections. It tripled the response rate in those for whom prior therapy had failed. In two clinical trials reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, the combination of boceprevir, peginterferon-alpha and ribavirin produced a sustained virologic suppression in as many as 66 percent of patients, compared with a response of only 38 percent in patients who received only peginterferon-alpha and ribavirin. Among patients in which previous therapies had failed, the combination produced a 59-percent response in one group and a 66-percent response in a second group, compared with a 21-percent response rate in those who received the current therapy.

Whitney Houston: Why addicts can’t just stop using cocaine

09:48 Whitney Houston: Why addicts can’t just stop using cocaine 0 Comments

Whitney Houston, one of the most powerful and talented entertainers of her generation, is being mourned today as people across the world try to cope with this tragic loss. While no one knows for certain whether drugs -- particularly cocaine -- were linked to her death, many fans have followed her publicly acknowledged cocaine addiction. We watched Whitney become a brilliant superstar, and then a struggling addict, and then a new woman with full hopes for recovery. Today, many are asking “Why?”  It’s a common question when addiction is involved: Why can’t you just stop? Why do you keep using? For me, that question evokes a particularly painful response, especially when the drug in question is cocaine. As a person in long-term recovery from cocaine addiction, I don’t have to ask why. I know. As an addiction specialist and the Chief Clinical Officer of Phoenix House, the nation's largest non-profit substance abuse treatment organization, I understand why when people with everything to lose continue to use cocaine. A powerful stimulant Cocaine is a powerful, addictive stimulant.  It can be inhaled, dissolved in water and injected, or smoked.  How quickly the high arrives and how long it lasts both depend on the route of administration and the purity of the drug. The faster cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the brain, the more intense the high. Smoking cocaine produces a faster, stronger high than snorting it -- some even think it’s faster than injecting it. I started using cocaine in 1980. Cocaine did for me something I felt I could not do for myself in my teens and early 20’s -- it made me feel stronger, more competent and confident. Actually, it made me feel a little like a superstar.

Whitney Houston 1963-2012: the relationship between the music scene and drugs

13:40 Whitney Houston 1963-2012: the relationship between the music scene and drugs 0 Comments

For the second time in as many months the world has lost another entertainer to drug and alcohol abuse. Whitney Houston's death today will come as something of a shock to her millions of fans. I'm not one of them at all but following the death of Amy Winehouse from drug and alcohol related complications last year, it highlights yet again the association between drug abuse and celebrity. The music world, in particular, is known for its fast-paced, hedonistic lifestyle. Hundreds of entertainers down the years have confessed to being alcoholics or drug addicts. Elvis Presley, the Beatles,Ozzie Osbourne (along with his children), Mel Gibson, Russell Brand, Paris Hilton, Martin Sheen - the list goes on. There seems to be a strong co-relationship between drug and alcohol abuse and celebrity. It almost comes with the territory. TMZ and other entertainment news shows and websites practically wouldn't exist were it not for drug and alcohol misuse. The interrelationship between drugs and alcohol and the entertainment industry needs further research. From my observations, it seems to me that many entertainers (as creative people) have sometimes needed some sort of stimuli (of the drug variety) to be so. Also it's the pressure that comes from being famous too that often does people in. And that's why drug and alcohol barons always target the rich and famous as they make good, well-paying customers.  Houston obviously succumbed to the temptations and pressures of being a celebrity. I often sometimes wonder about how celebrities crave the spotlight but yet want to shy away from it at the same time. This type of contradictory behaviour needs to be better understood and perhaps mental health professionals need to do more research into this issue as well. If some sort of answer were found, then mental health workers could understand how to treat alcohol and drug misuse/abuse amongst the entertainment community more effectively. Perhaps, as Virgin founder Richard Branson stated recently, we need to take a more liberal view of drug policy given that criminalising drug use has failed for both rich and poor users alike. If we were to take a more medicalised approach to treating drug addiction instead of just a criminalised one, then we would be able to support drug users more openly, proactively and effectively, irrespective of their background. But today the entertainment industry is mourning another of its own members again who has died young. RIP Whitney Houston.

New Brain Research Helps Explain Drug Addiction

15:03 New Brain Research Helps Explain Drug Addiction 0 Comments

Dismiss sex addiction as an excuse for weak behaviour, and you're ignoring an “explosive sexual health issue”

10:27 and you're ignoring an “explosive sexual health issue” , Dismiss sex addiction as an excuse for weak behaviour 0 Comments

Dismiss sex addiction as an excuse for weak behaviour, and you're ignoring an “explosive sexual health issue” heading our way, warns a leading sex-addiction expert. “Sex addiction might be used as an excuse by a man who has multiple sexual partners,” says JC Durbin, CEO of the Wicklow-based addiction treatment centre Toranfield House. “It might also be seen as a titillating subject. Yet there's nothing titillating about a man who continuously has unprotected sex with prostitutes who may have sexually transmitted diseases, and then goes home and has sex with his wife,” says the addiction counsellor. “There's nothing titillating about the compulsive masturbator, who masturbates up to 15 times a day, and whose life is spiralling out of control because of his compulsive behaviour,” says Durbin. The subject of sex addiction is back in the news, thanks to the 2011 film Shame, which stars Michael Fassbender and tells the story of a thirtysomething sex addict whose life is run on his need for sexual encounters. Sex addiction regularly crops up in the world of celebrities, with stars who have reportedly sought treatment for sex addiction including Michael Douglas, when he was married to his first wife Diandra, and Tiger Woods after he was caught out cheating on his ex-wife, Elin Nordegren. Comedian Russell Brand has written about his excessive sexual appetite in the autobiography My Booky Wook. While David Duchovny, star of The X-Files, was also allegedly treated for sex-addiction problems. Rather than seeing sex addiction as an excuse for cheats, Durbin believes we should be educating ourselves on how easy access to porn is putting young people at risk of sex addiction. Pornography on the internet is putting society at risk of an “explosive increase in sexual health issues”, he believes. “Porn can be accessed on mobile phones, meaning young people are exposed to sexual imagery at a very early age,” he says. “Because young people's first experience of sex is now often porn, and they are seeing sex presented in an excessive way, it may lead to problems with them modifying their sexual behaviour later and in real life,” he says. Durbin estimates between three to five percent of people with addictive problems will present with issues around sexual compulsivity. “I haven't seen the film Shame, but I've heard that the character derives no enjoyment from sex. That's a defining aspect of any kind of addiction,” the addiction counsellor says. “Heroin might feel enjoyable at first, but in the end all an addict is doing is using the drug to try to feel in any way normal. “Sex addiction involves compulsive and risky behaviour which has destructive consequences for the sufferer,” Durbin says. There are no statistics for sex addiction here but the American-based Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health estimates that up to 5 percent of people are afflicted. Durbin feels it's time to “destigmatise sex addiction”. “If you have a counselling group, and someone talks about being addicted to alcohol, and the next person about being addicted to drugs, the person who is addicted to masturbating will be the last to speak,” he says. Liam Lally is co-director of counselling at Accord marriage and relationship counselling service. He says: “In Accord we don't have any statistics on sex addiction. In 2011, 22 percent of our clients listed use of the internet as a problem in their relationships. People use the internet for work, gambling, games and pornography. All of those who use the internet to access pornography could not be described as sex addicts. “Sexual addiction is an intimacy disorder and the symptoms mostly consist of compulsive sexual thoughts and acts. Like all addictions, it interferes with the life, work and relationships of the individual and as the disorder progresses the individual usually has to increase the behaviour in order to achieve a measure of satisfaction. Signs that a person may be at risk of sex addiction can show up in careless or illicit behaviour a person might exhibit around their sex life. “A young person might date a lot, but as we get older we tend to modify our behaviour. If instead, a person's behaviour becomes excessive and extreme in the search for sexual encounters, they may be at risk of sexual addiction,” he says. While sex addiction is most often seen as a male problem, women also run the risk of experiencing the symptoms. Durban says: “It's not unheard of for a woman to present with extreme sexual behaviour.” “The distress caused to someone who can't control their sexual behaviour is considerable,” Durbin says. “Like any addiction, recovery is possible. But there has to be an acceptance that the problem of sex addiction exists first,” he says. - Evening Herald

many think that just being sober and going to meetings are true commitments and will lead them to recovery

13:17 many think that just being sober and going to meetings are true commitments and will lead them to recovery 0 Comments

With over 30 years in the addiction field, Gerard 'Jerry' Egan has provided excellent insight in his book Redemption From Addiction, into how recovery works and how addicts sabotage their recovery

One of the first issues he addressed is commitment; many think that just being sober and going to meetings are true commitments and will lead them to recovery. However, according to Egan a commitment means that one is willing to make the necessary changes, regardless of what they are, to start the journey of recovery.

Addicts, as the author states, have peculiar perceptions of how they view their substance of choice, and usually they blame everyone or everything but themselves on their choice to drink or use addictive substances. Regardless of what happens when one is drinking, or using, they choose time and time again to continue their use.

One interesting section I read was that when people are in recovery, they expect everything to be perfect and to feel wonderful. However, once one stops using, there are other obstacles that have to be overcome. One of those obstacles is taking a good look at oneself. Often times, due to the expectation that everything will be perfect and they will feel wonderful, addicts don't think they are making progress in recovery and believe the only way to get that great feeling is to go back to using again. Another interesting observation is many addicts believe their feelings or emotions are what drive them to use or to be in recovery. Egan clearly states it is the actions that make these choices and not anything else. By holding onto these negative feelings or continued inappropriate behaviors, addicts are resisting change and they become defiant to anyone or anything that tries to make them change.

Gerard 'Jerry' Egan covers the Redemption From Addiction which include topics such as: Power of Imagination, Power of Spirituality and Power of Right Action. Redemption From Addiction is a book that is a must-read for anyone who is impacted by addiction: the addict, families, friends. It isn't just about recovery but how the addict thinks and behaves that affects their recovery efforts and those around them. I highly recommend this book for its concise information and for a reality check.