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We've migrated to a more flexible system for the running of Daily Dose but you can still get to the 7 years worth of archived content if you need to..
Whichever way you look at it, the Government’s increasing reliance on methadone to treat heroin addicts involves moral issues. Predominant among these is that the State is in effect cast in the role of drug dealer — conceivably for as long as the addicts live [[Times, UK]
It is given to half the country’s estimated 300,000 heroin addicts while parliamentary answers have revealed that 65,000 prisoners were prescribed it in the past year, including nearly 20,000 on a maintenance programme which can last years — an annual rise of 57 per cent [Times, UK]
Amid calls from headteachers and drug campaigners for an instant ban, the Home Office drugs minister, Alan Campbell, said he would take “immediate action” after advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which is due at the end of this month [Guardian, UK]
R. Gil Kerlikowske became director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy in May. Kerlikowske, 60, has worked in law enforcement for nearly four decades [Washington Post, USA]
Reducing Australia’s blood alcohol limit for drivers to 0.02 is probably inevitable, a public health expert says as other prominent academics also voice their support for the move [Sydney Morning Herald, Australia]
Gordon Brown’s refusal to clamp down on cheap alcohol is the biggest public health failing of the last decade, England’s chief medical officer has said [Telegraph, UK]
The alcohol-crash expert said Queensland mirrored Victoria, where two-thirds of booze-related crashes involved drivers with blood alcohol readings of 0.15 or above, many of whom were repeat offenders [news.com.au, Australia]
Street signs warning Romanian drivers to be careful of drunken pedestrians lying on roads were erected by road safety chiefs worried about the “despairing” levels of accidents [Telegraph, UK]
The NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally, has banned alcohol at all RTA promotions, admitting that alcohol supplied at a young driver safety event this year sent a ‘‘very confusing message’‘ [Sydney Morning Herald, Australia]
Joe Gerstein, founder of the Smart Recovery treatment programme that is spreading from the US as an alternative to AA, explains why he rejects the myth that alcoholism is a ‘disease’ to be endured rather than cured [Guardian, UK]
The UK’s only residential rehab centre for young people worked where other schemes failed. But short-termism has closed it [Kathy Gyngell, Guardian, UK]
The home affairs select committee (HASC) yesterday published its report on the cocaine trade, and what a woeful job they have done… The current report lacks evidence, contradicts current expert thinking and, frankly, panders to a “tough on drugs” stance that by their own admission does not work [Niamh Eastwood of Release, Guardian, UK]
The federal law that mandates harsher prison terms for people arrested with crack cocaine than for those caught with cocaine powder is scientifically and morally indefensible. Bills to end the disparity are pending in both the House and Senate [New York Times Editorial, USA]
The UK’s only residential centre for young people whose lives are blighted by drugs and alcohol has been forced to close its doors [Guardian, UK]
My own view is that “harmful use” – whether of cocaine, alcohol, over-eating, or any other self-destructive behaviour – is a symptom of an underlying malaise [Telegraph, UK]
Until we know the real harm of legal recreational drugs such as mephedrone, they should be put into a holding ‘class D’ [David Nutt in Guardian, UK]
The truly alarming statistic that at least 900 children in Scotland are suffering severe damage caused to the brain and organs before birth by foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and that thousands of others have learning and behavioural difficulties as a result of their mothers’ drinking during pregnancy must concern us all [Herald Scotland, UK]
[BBC, UK]
The UK’s last specialist residential rehabilitation and detox clinic specifically for teenagers addicted to alcohol or drugs is closing today [BBC, UK]
Though the Cambodian government says its 11 state drug treatment centers are all voluntary, a report released by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) last month says only 1-2% of drug users enter Cambodia’s drug rehabilitation facilities by choice [Time, USA}
