Inverclyde men are four times more likely to die of drink than the average UK male.

Inverclyde men are four times more likely to die of drink than the average UK male.Government figures show the area now ranks second in the country for male alcohol-related death. Only Glasgow has a worse record and the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show the problem is continuing to rise. <br />Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil said the area is reaping the grim consequences of generations of alcohol addiction. <br />He said: “There’s no quick fix. What we’re dealing with is 20 years of alcohol addiction. <br />“The consequences of our unhealthy relationship with drink are with us — violence on our streets, underage drinking and binge-drinking. It’s still going on and we have to face up to it.” <br />But he added that there is hope for the future: “We’ve seen that with smoking going down that part of that battle was government action, but it was also that smoking became less socially acceptable. <br />“Once people come to the opinion that is’s unacceptable to drink and shout and bawl and fight in the street, that is part of the process of solving the problem.” <br />Pub landlord and Inverclyde health campaigner Ciano Rebecchi says cheap booze and a culture of drinking in Inverclyde is to blame for the current situation. <br />But he says the Government also needs to do more to help Inverclyde escape its drink death sentence. <br />Councillor Rebecchi said: “Government keeps telling us what they’re doing about it but what have they done? <br />“They talk about putting the price of drink up but people still buy it. <br />“We have got to change the culture here as well, and we got to educate as well. <br />“The first thing we’ve got to do is make drink is not being sold cheaply. <br />“We’re in a situation where here in Inverclyde you can by a can of strong drink cheaper than bottled water. That has got to change.” <br />Inverclyde Council’s alcohol service say action is already being taken to tackle booze addiction. <br />A spokesperson said: “Through Social Work, we have a dedicated alcohol team that works tirelessly in the community to offer support to those who need it. Since last year they have achieved two COSLA awards for their efforts and held a successful community event in November to raise awareness about addiction. <br />“We obviously want a healthier Inverclyde and hope more local people realise that help and support for alcohol related problems is available. <br />Through Inverclyde Alcohol and Drug Forum we will continue to work with partners on this key issue and we would urge those who need support to contact our alcohol service on 715812/3.” <br />Women in Inverclyde fare slightly better in the booze league of shame. Whilst the area has the second highest level of drink related death in men, the area is the fourth worst for female related death.

Inverclyde men are four times more likely to die of drink than the average UK male.

Inverclyde men are four times more likely to die of drink than the average UK male.Government figures show the area now ranks second in the ...

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Westminster, Islington and Camden Drug Courts

Three London councils - Westminster, Islington and Camden - have combined to set up the initiative, which will sit at the Inner London Family Proceedings Court. <br />The three-year pilot will cost more than £1.3m, with just under £900,000 coming from central government and the rest from the three boroughs. <br /> The focus will very much be on therapy and recovery and so therefore on the longer-term interest of the child <br />Currently two-thirds of children taken into care in inner London have parents with drug or alcohol problems. <br />Justice minister Bridget Prentice said: "Cases will be brought to court earlier wherever a parent is suspected of substance or alcohol abuse. <br />"And during the course of the case, the focus will very much be on therapy and recovery and so therefore on the longer-term interest of the child." <br />She added: "If we can take a step towards ending the misery drugs and alcohol abuse causes families, that can only be a good thing." <br />The concept of the court is American and relies on swift and co-ordinated action from drug experts, social workers and housing professionals. <br />The judge could order parents to attend one-to-one counselling or group sessions to avoid having their kids taken into care. <br />Specialist district judge Nick Crichton, who has campaigned for such a court for the past five years, said: "We are confident that the pilot court will be able to make a significant difference to the lives of the children whose cases will come before us, and we are excited that at last the project is about to start." <br />He said the court would not focus solely on detoxifying the parent, but seek at the same time to understand the other problems that could be contributing to their situation. <br />These could include abusive relationships, debt, mental health problems, learning difficulties, and housing issues. <br />The court could recommend visits to the housing department, Alcoholics Anonymous sessions, and even advise ending abusive relationships. <br />"To some extent we might have to be uncomfortably directive," Judge Crichton said. <br />Parents' progress will be monitored by the same judge every two to four weeks - a point emphasised by Judge Crichton as key to the pilot's success. <br />In the US, the courts have a high success rate of keeping children with their parents after they have received help. <br />Westminster councillor Sarah Richardson said: "This new court process will give us the chance to intervene and support the family unit rather than take it apart, by helping parents through treatments and recovery. <br />"This, we hope, will keep both the child safe and the family together." <br />The project will be evaluated by experts from Brunel University to see if parents on its programme are more successful in tackling their substance abuse. <br />It will also monitor whether children of addict parents can safely remain at home, or if the scheme helps youngsters in care be returned to their parents. <br />Judith Harwin, professor of social work at Brunel University, said there were two problems with the existing policy of dealing with addictive parents. <br />In cases of illegal drug use, such as crack or heroin, authorities had "far too speedy a response" to remove the child before "parents have a chance to show whether they can address their problems". <br />In other cases, such as alcohol abuse, the case comes to court "far too late". The child can already be suffering from neglect and is more difficult to place with an alternative family. <br />"This means the child may drift in care for a long time", which could have poor outcomes for their future education, health and employment prospects, Professor Harwin said.

Westminster, Islington and Camden Drug Courts

Three London councils - Westminster, Islington and Camden - have combined to set up the initiative, which will sit at the Inner London Famil...

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UK's first family drug and alcohol court

The UK's first family drug and alcohol court is due to open in London today.<br />The court, based on a US model, will hear childcare cases where one or both parents suffer from an addiction to alcohol or narcotics.<br />The new venture will hear family cases - such as child care applications - from three London councils - Westminster, Islington and Camden. A specialist judge will work with addiction specialists and social workers at the Family Drug and Alcohol Court, fast-tracking addicted parents into treatment and recovery programmes.<br />The three-year pilot, set up as a joint initiative by the three councils, will cost more than £1.3m, with just under £900,000 coming from central government and the rest from the three boroughs. <br />Currently, two-thirds of children taken into care in inner London have parents with drug or alcohol problems. <br />Justice minister Bridget Prentice said: "Cases will be brought to court earlier wherever a parent is suspected of substance or alcohol abuse. <br />"And during the course of the case, the focus will very much be on therapy and recovery and so therefore on the longer-term interest of the child." <br />She added: "If we can take a step towards ending the misery drugs and alcohol abuse causes families, that can only be a good thing." <br />The judge will be able to order parents to attend one-to-one counselling or group sessions to avoid having children taken into care.<br />The court may also recommend that a parent ends an abusive relationship or can advise them to visit a housing department or attend AA meetings.<br />Specialist district judge Nick Crichton, who has campaigned for such a court for the past five years, said: "We are confident that the pilot court will be able to make a significant difference to the lives of the children whose cases will come before us, and we are excited that at last the project is about to start." <br />Parents' progress will be monitored by the same judge every two to four weeks - a point emphasised by Judge Crichton as key to the pilot's success. <br />The project will be evaluated by experts from Brunel University

UK's first family drug and alcohol court

The UK's first family drug and alcohol court is due to open in London today. The court, based on a US model, will hear childcare cases w...

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stops the drug from reaching the brain and producing a sought-after high

In a search for what could be the ultimate cure for drug addiction, scientists have developed a vaccine which prevents the body from getting high.<br />The hope is that it can stop people from falling back into a spiral of addiction if they have a relapse.<br />The most promising results so far have been with cocaine, but researchers hope it could also one day be used to cure addiction to methamphetamine, heroin and even cigarettes.<br />"The vaccine slowly decreases the amount of cocaine that reaches the brain," said Thomas Kosten, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who has been working on the vaccine since 1995.<br />"It's a slow process, and patients do not go through any significant withdrawal symptoms."<br />The vaccine works by getting the body's immune system to recognize the drug as foreign and attack it in the blood stream.<br />It does so by injecting an altered version of the drug into the body which has been attached to a protein that the body will recognize as a threat.<br />"The body then says, 'This is a foreign article. I should start making antibodies to it,'" Kosten said in a telephone interview.<br />The cocaine molecules eventually pass through the kidneys and are excreted through the urine.<br />That stops the drug from reaching the brain and producing a sought-after high.<br />Use of the vaccine would lead to a gradual tapering of dependence, Kosten said.<br />"Gradually, antibody levels would rise. If you kept using (cocaine), you'd get less and less of an effect."<br />Of all the drugs tested, cocaine is the easiest one for which to develop a vaccine because of an enzyme in the bloodstream, cholinesterase, that helps break it down, Kosten said.<br />He has also begun to test vaccines for methamphetamine and heroin in animal studies, and hopes to eventually add nicotine to the list.<br />"That's going to be the moneymaker," he said.<br />The injections are designed for therapeutic -- not for preventative -- use, and are meant for those already suffering from addiction.<br />That, however, does not rule out other possible future uses, Kosten said.<br />"You could potentially inject pregnant cocaine users with the vaccine to prevent their fetuses from becoming contaminated," he explained.<br />Other uses could include administering the vaccine to high-risk adolescents in order to prevent them from becoming addicted early on, he said, while acknowledging that this would raise serious ethical and legal questions.<br />Testing for the cocaine vaccine has included a series of five injections over a period of three months, Kosten said.<br />The vaccine has one more large scale human study scheduled before it is ready for the federal Food and Drug Administration approval process.<br />A similar nicotine vaccine is also in the early stages of testing by several groups of European researchers. Kosten hopes to have the vaccine on the market in two to three years.

stops the drug from reaching the brain and producing a sought-after high

In a search for what could be the ultimate cure for drug addiction, scientists have developed a vaccine which prevents the body from getting...

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Drug Court model for United Kingdom

Instead of sentences, Mercer County Circuit Court Judge William Sadler handed down diplomas and new leases on life Monday.<br />The judge and a crowded courtroom of supporters gathered to wish seven graduates of the Southern Regional Drug Court well on their way into new, drug-free journeys, and two of the special speakers know what it’s like to travel the same roads.<br />Melissa Tedder was one of the first to complete the Mercer County program designed to provide alternative sentencing designed to help drug offenders overcome addiction and escape time behind bars. At the time she entered the program, Tedder didn’t have much to smile about and even fewer opportunities in her outlook.<br />“I was a menace to society. My life had fallen apart as a result of my drug addiction,” she said Monday.<br />This week, she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face as she told the audience how her life had turned around since she entered the program and graduated in June 2007. In fact, she’s getting married soon. She’s held a job for 18 months straight, and she’s worked hard to repair relationships with her children and her mother.<br />Though she did the recovery work herself, she said it never would have been possible without the court’s strict supervision and the support of the drug court treatment team.<br />“I’ll always be grateful for this program,” she said.<br />Kenneth Shrader, another graduate, said he carries many titles. He’s a father, a husband, an employee and more. A couple of years ago, there were some other names he called himself.<br />“I was hopeless. I was an addict,” he said.<br />Shrader said his family and everyone who cared about him had given up, but there was one chance left. He was referred and accepted to the drug court docket, and today, he’s sober and once more surrounded by a family who knows he is strong enough to beat addiction.<br />Holding his new baby and watching his daughter in the audience, he said those relationships showcase the biggest differences in his life.<br />“Today, I remember a 4-year-old who didn’t want to leave her mommy’s leg, and now comes running to her daddy at the door,” he said.<br />Magistrate Mike Flanigan, who oversees the misdemeanor segment of the Southern Regional Drug Court along with Magistrate Rick Fowler, hosted Monday’s ceremony and reminded the seven graduates that the celebration was not a conclusion.<br />“It’s not the end, only the beginning,” he said.<br />Though Sadler said he was a skeptic when Circuit Court Judge Derek Swope approached him about a drug court, he said he became a believer as a team of community corrections officials began touring similar courts and making plans for their own in late 2004 and early 2005.<br />“We saw what drug court was truly about ... It was truly about helping people with addiction problems,” he said, along with relieving the court system of non-violent drug offenders and the expenses associated with incarcerating non-violent offenders.<br />It costs approximately $25,000 a year to incarcerate someone, and Mercer County has struggled to tame its bills to the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver. Participants in Monday’s graduation said the drug court not only saves money in jail fees; they said it spends treatment dollars more wisely.<br />In addition, drug court participants are expected to submit to drug testing, complete treatment goals, hold down jobs and give back to the communities in which they were once burdens.<br />Drug Court Coordinator Laura Helton said the 78 participants accepted so far have completed more than 15,000 hours of community services, performing tasks that would have cost the county an estimated $92,000 if community corrections clients had not performed them.<br />West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Brent Benjamin, has attended all three of the local drug court graduation and said he was proud to see seven graduates Monday, a sure sign the program is picking up momentum. While speed of completion and statistics were to be commended, he said they were not the most important things to recognize during the graduation ceremony.<br />“The lives changed are what matter,” he said. <br />To the grads, he said, “Get out there, and start the rest of your lives.”<br />The keynote speaker for the day, West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard, changed his address after hearing the previous graduates speak.<br />“I don’t know anything I could say that would be as powerful as what Melissa Tedder and Kenneth Shrader had to say,” he said.<br />There are five drug courts in operation in West Virginia — three for adults and two for juveniles. Maynard said their successes prove to judges and observers alike that putting people behind bars isn’t always the answer.<br />“This works. This saves lives and saves families,” he said.<br />Though he said words would never be enough to express his pride in the treatment team and graduates, he said he still had two special ones to deliver: “Thank you.”<br />“Thank you for making changes in your lives,” he said. “God bless you, and thank you for being such a success and for making the program such a success.”<br />As the seven new graduates were called to accept their diplomas, Flanigan and Sadler touted their accomplishments in the program and tallied their drug-free days, and all announcements were met with broad smiles and a room full of applause.<br />At the conclusion, Flanigan announced, “To our graduates, congratulations. To our participants, you’re next.”

Drug Court model for United Kingdom

Instead of sentences, Mercer County Circuit Court Judge William Sadler handed down diplomas and new leases on life Monday. The judge and a c...

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Scotland needs an army of 750 new drugs workers

Scotland needs an army of 750 new drugs workers if the escalating problem of substance misuse is to be tackled effectively, according to the Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF), which submitted recommendations to the government last week in the hope they will influence its forthcoming Drugs Strategy for Scotland.<br />SDF director Dave Liddell said it was time to stop treating drug addiction as a medical problem and more as a social problem. He said the 750 workers proposed by the SDF would be broken down into 200 housing support posts, 200 workers to help drug users find work, 250 family support officers and 100 outreach workers.<br />Liddell said: "It's about wraparound treatment that goes beyond the medical focus, and those 750 posts recognise that people with drug problems, in most cases, have a range of social problems, and if they are not addressed then the chances of them addressing their drug problem is pretty remote."<br />He insisted that extra investment for drugs resources should come out of the regeneration budget, which is about £1.6 billion over the next three years.<br />Liddell said it was clear existing regeneration programmes "don't take full account of the social problems that exist in that community" and instead concentrate on the "bricks and mortar".<br />"It's not enough to fix housing stock on its own; it's about regenerating the entire community," he said.<br />"We should look at the models we use for development in third world countries where you start to prepare those communities to become more resilient, and that obviously involves education, training and employment in the local area."<br />Joy Barlow, head of Scottish Training on Drug and Alcohol (Strada) said it was time for everyone entering social care professions to have basic training in drug and alcohol misuse.<br />"Very few professionals have drug and alcohol misuse training as part of their pre-qualification or undergraduate diploma. For example, very few school teachers ever really had the opportunity to explore these issues. It is fundamental that teachers are able to identify and intervene with those children who are experiencing drug and alcohol misuse or are living with someone who is.<br />"The Curriculum for Excellence is going to find it hard to meet its four national characteristics, which include things such as confident learners, if quite a few of them are disadvantaged by life's circumstances, and drug and alcohol misuse can be a disabling life experience for them," she said.<br />"Drug and alcohol misuse probably impacts every level of professional discipline across Scotland today, and in education and training we are not hitting the spot."<br />Andrew Horne, director of Addaction Scotland, a drug and alcohol treatment charity, said more staff were needed to address the log jam of drug addicts who were seeking services.<br />"I met a guy in our service who couldn't even get on a waiting list because he was seen as not priority, and he then doesn't show up on statistics. If you can't get into treatment you can't get into rehabilitation.<br />"He is left out there and that happens quite a lot. You have a motivated person who can't even stabilise or detox, he can't even get his foot in the door.<br />"Then there are those who want to get out, but there aren't enough employability workers in the field who can help with training and education."<br />A Scottish government spokesman said: "We welcome the Scottish Drugs Forum's recommendations and will give them careful consideration as we develop our new drugs strategy."

Scotland needs an army of 750 new drugs workers

Scotland needs an army of 750 new drugs workers if the escalating problem of substance misuse is to be tackled effectively, according to the...

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Malta's first National Drugs Policy

Malta's first National Drugs Policy was launched which will be coordinated by a newly set up National Coordinating Unit for Drugs and Alcohol within the Ministry of Social Solidarity. <br />€69,000 (Lm30,000) have been allocated to Caritas for the organisation’s drug harm reduction shelter. Other entities running drug rehabilitation programmes will also benefit from financial aids, so that those who opt to follow residential care instead of a prison sentence could receive a weekly allowance.<br />Minister Dolores Cristina announced that the Housing Authority will be renting out two apartments for youths who finished residential programmes and need help integrating in society.<br />She also said the policy provides the necessary tools to battle the drug problem better in Malta. The policy streamlines the practices to be adopted by various entities involved in providing drug-related services and aims to improve the quality and increase the provision of services as well as provide a more coordinated mechanism to reduce the supply and demand of drugs.

Malta's first National Drugs Policy

Malta's first National Drugs Policy was launched which will be coordinated by a newly set up National Coordinating Unit for Drugs and A...

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overdose kits

overdose kits given to heroin addicts have saved eight lives, leading to calls for them to be provided for thousands of addicts in Scotland.<br />About 300 of the kits – syringes loaded with the drug naloxone – have been given to addicts' friends and families under two Scottish pilot schemes. Similar action has sharply cut deaths in Berlin, San Francisco and Chicago.<br />The pilot schemes, in Glasgow and South Lanarkshire, involve take-home doses of naloxone, a liquid that is injected and blocks the effects of opiates. It will keep a heroin user who is slipping into a potentially fatal coma alive for up to 20 minutes.<br />Under the pilots, which have been running since last April, with the cost of around £40,000 funded by local NHS boards, family members and friends of drug users are given training on how to detect the early signs of an overdose and on basic resuscitation techniques.<br />There have been six successful uses of the drug in Glasgow and a further two in South Lanarkshire.<br />But one of Scotland's leading drug experts has voiced grave fears that the drug will only encourage even more reckless drug abuse among Scotland's estimated 50,000 heroin addicts.<br />Neil McKeganey, professor of drug misuse research at Glasgow University, also believes giving drug users' families needles to take home will put children in danger and says the pilots are not being properly evaluated.<br />With the number of drug deaths hitting a record high of 421 in 2006 and a similar figure expected for 2007, experts say naloxone kits should be given to thousands of addicts' relatives and friends around the country.<br />Dr Jane Jay, chairwoman of the National Drug Death Forum, said: "This drug has, in a number of cases, made the difference between life and death. The cost is relatively low, but I would also ask 'what price a life'?"<br />She is now urging Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, to approve a national roll-out of naloxone among all heroin addicts in Scotland.

overdose kits

overdose kits given to heroin addicts have saved eight lives, leading to calls for them to be provided for thousands of addicts in Scotland....

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zolpidem,Stilnoct

sleeping drug which actor Heath Ledger had admitted taking has been linked to six deaths in the UK.<br />Figures obtained by the Sunday Herald have revealed that six fatal suspected adverse drug reactions to zolpidem have been reported to Britain's medicines watchdog since 2001.<br />Almost 200 further incidents of adverse reactions, ranging from psychiatric and cardiac disorders to "injuries" and eye disorders have also been reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).<br />Ledger was found dead by his housekeeper at his New York apartment last Tuesday. Pills were found near his body and Ledger recently admitted taking the prescription drug Ambien - the trade name of zolpidem in America - to combat insomnia.<br />Results of a postmortem examination last week on the 28-year-old actor, who had won acclaim in films such as Brokeback Mountain, are inconclusive, but there has been speculation he died from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.<br />This prompted movie star Jack Nicholson to say the tragedy could be a warning about the dangers of certain sleeping pills. Nicholson said he had taken Ambien and it had serious side effects.<br />During a promotional visit to London for his latest film he said: "I warn people about Ambien. I almost drove off a cliff once. I don't take sleeping pills but somebody said, take this, it's mild'.<br />"I got a call in the middle of the night, kind of an emergency, and I almost drove off a cliff 50 yards from my house. I live up in the mountains in Aspen. It's something to warn people about."<br />The figures from the MHRA show the incidents recorded under its "yellow card" scheme, which doctors use to alert the agency to patients suffering side-effects to a drug. Health professionals and patients report reactions on a voluntary basis - companies are legally obliged to do so - and it is designed to act as an early warning system to flag up any previously unrecognised problems.<br />A total of 197 suspected adverse drug reactions have been reported to date in connection with zolpidem - which is marketed as Stilnoct in the UK - the majority of which were categorised as psychiatric disorders.<br />Six cases of deaths linked to a suspected adverse reaction to the drug were also recorded - three involving psychiatric disorders, with the rest categorised as general disorders, injuries and vascular disorders.<br />Last year research by Australia's Federal Health Department linked zolpidem to a series of incidents of strange behaviour, including a woman who painted her front door while still asleep.<br />Problems involving zolpidem have emerged in America, where some people have been injured by cars driven by people under the influence of the drug.<br />A spokesman for the MHRA said the safety of zolpidem has been "carefully monitored" and product information had been updated to include warnings of psychiatric adverse effects.<br />A spokesman for Sanofi Aventis, which makes Stilnoct, said it could not comment on the MHRA figures, but said when taken as prescribed, the drug was "generally well tolerated".

zolpidem,Stilnoct

sleeping drug which actor Heath Ledger had admitted taking has been linked to six deaths in the UK. Figures obtained by the Sunday Herald ha...

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