links for 2009-11-10

• BBC NEWS | Wales | North West Wales | Pupils get insight on drug world
  School pupils are being given a stark insight into the world of addiction and criminality in a project involving former drug dealers and users.

  The pilot scheme is targeting pupils aged 13 and 14 at Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni on Anglesey.

  (tags: wales)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-11-09

• Drinking by Scots parents revealed by young – Herald Scotland | News | Health
  More than 2000 youngsters in Scotland have contacted ChildLine in the past decade to talk about their parents’ harmful drinking.

  At least 230 contacted the help line in 2008/09 – with 87 talking about physical abuse in relation to their parents’ drinking.

  By contrast, about 0.1% of children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland called the discuss the issue.

  (tags: scotland alcohol parentaldruguse)
• Drugs and the BNP: introducing Information is Beautiful | News | guardian.co.uk
  A couple of interesting visualisations of the statistics around deaths caused by individual drugs and the amount of press coverage they received.
  (tags: drugs data visualization)
• Teenagers are using cannabis less but drinking more – Children & Young People Now
  Teenagers across Europe are using cannabis less but are more likely to binge drink, according to latest data from drug addiction monitoring experts.
  (tags: Europe cannabis alcohol)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-11-07

• The Press Association: 'Soft schools increase crime risk'
  Lax standards of school discipline make pupils more likely to turn to crime and drugs, Government research has revealed.

  The Home Office study found pupils at schools which were soft on violence and truanting more likely to break the law.

  As a result, the authors urged ministers to consider toughening up discipline policies.

  Worryingly, the survey of young people's behaviour found nearly three quarters were caught up in either crime, drug taking or anti-social behaviour over four years. Over a single year, the figure was 44%.

  (tags: behaviour)
• Sex and drug lessons from age 5 – Telegraph
  "Sex and drug lessons will be compulsory under plans announced by the Schools Secretary. "

  Despite the title there's nothing in the body of the story about drug education.

  (tags: pshe)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-11-06

• Religious groups challenge new rules on pre-consent lessons – Times Online
  Religious groups reacted with anger to the move by the Schools Secretary, which will make it compulsory for all pupils aged 15 will learn about relationships, sex and drugs over the course of a year. The age of consent in the UK is 16. The Muslim Council of Britain vowed to mount a challenge to the new laws that it says contravene the right for children to be taught according to their parents’ tradition.
  (tags: pshe)
• Cannabis use among teenagers continues to fall | Society | guardian.co.uk
  Cannabis use among teenagers has continued to decline in the UK owing to a change in attitudes in the current generation of school students, according to the annual survey from the European drug agency.

  But Britain has retained its position in top spot for cocaine consumption with 5% of young adults aged 15 to 24 reporting that they have used the drug in the past year.

  (tags: europe cannabis cocaine)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-11-05

• One-third in youth jails for non-violent crimes – Youth Justice – Children & Young People Now
  Non-violent offences can include breaches of community orders, drug offences or car crime.
  (tags: criminaljustice)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-11-03

• Letters: Why Professor David Nutt was shown the door | Politics | The Guardian
  "As for his comments about horse riding being more dangerous than ecstasy, which you quote with such reverence, it is of course a political rather than a scientific point. There are not many kids in my constituency in danger of falling off a horse – there are thousands at risk of being sucked into a world of hopeless despair through drug addiction."

  Alan Johnson MP in a letter to the Guardian explaining his decision to sack the Chair of the ACMD

  (tags: ACMD)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-10-29

• Survivor's tale of a life hooked on crystal meth – London Informer
  "There's a new market out there waiting to be explored and exploited. I never could have believed what happened to me, so we need to warn young people before it gets out of control."

  Miss Myers first tried the drug aged 23, after moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry. She was living next door to a crystal meth addict – known as a tweaker.

  (tags: crystalmeth)
• BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | Youngsters' alcohol abuse warning
  Youngsters aged between 11 and 16 in Southampton are being invited to an event aimed at educating them about the dangers of drinking too much alcohol.

  Scheduled to coincide with schools' half-term break, the Southampton Kids Alcohol Awareness day will be held at Oceana in Leisure World on Thursday.

  (tags: alcohol)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-10-27

• Date-rape drink spiking 'an urban legend' – Telegraph
  Widespread spiking of drinks with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB is an "urban legend" fuelled by young women unwilling to accept they have simply consumed too much alcohol, academics believe.
  (tags: alcohol)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-10-26

• Pot, schizophrenia only slightly linked – UPI.com
  Researchers at the University of Bristol and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine analyzed numbers of users, the risk of developing schizophrenia and the risk of marijuana use causing schizophrenia and found it would be necessary to stop 2,800 young men who are heavy marijuana users or in young women, 5,000 heavy users, to prevent a single case of schizophrenia.

  Among light marijuana users, those numbers rise to more than 10,000 young men and nearly 30,000 young women to prevent one case of schizophrenia.

  (tags: cannabis mentalhealth)
• MEL B: My week in Apathy City living with a family on benefits | Mail Online
  Drugs are, without doubt, the biggest scourge affecting young people today, and I believe those getting involved in drugs are younger than ever.

  When I was growing up, drug dealers were grown men in their 30s. Now they are teenagers and they are dealing and using drugs in schools. It wasn't like that when I was a teenager.

  I attended Intake High School in Bramley, Leeds, which is not the best of areas. However, I was not aware of kids taking drugs in class or on the school premises.

  (tags: illegaldrugs celebrity)

Filed under: Delicious

links for 2009-10-23

• Addicts offend to get rehab, says Amy Winehouse's father | Society | The Guardian
  Professor Neil McKeganey, from the centre for drug misuse research at Glasgow University, described the rise in the use of cocaine as "very worrying". He said: "In my view, cocaine is one of the most serious threats we are facing. It's not yet on the scale of heroin but it is changing dramatically in terms of misuse."

  Asked about the extent to which the behaviour of drug-taking celebrities could be blamed for drug use among the young, he said: "We wouldn't have one of the largest drug problems in Europe if our drug prevention policies had been successful. I think that [celebrity drug use] doesn't help matters, but it doesn't have a substantial impact on young people taking drugs."

  (tags: celebrity cocaine)
• Convicts teaching children: How indecent assault and drug use are no bar to working in schools | Mail Online
  Dozens of teachers with criminal convictions are being allowed to remain in the classroom, a shocking investigation has discovered.

  Members of staff who have been convicted of crimes including harassment, battery, assault, indecent exposure, indecent assault and possessing Class A drugs have not been banned from teaching.

  (tags: teachers)
• BBC NEWS | Wales | Valium dealers 'target children'
  Police in a south Wales community are trying to tackle the supply of valium after a number of people, including children, have been taken to hospital.
  (tags: valium Wales)

Filed under: Delicious