New powers to help tackle the dangers of drug driving can now be used. A new Code of practice means that drivers will be compelled to undertake roadside impairment tests if the police suspect they are driving under the influence of drugs.

The Code details the way trained police officers must conduct the tests to help judge whether someone may be unfit to drive. Refusal to participate is an offence in the same way as failure to provide a breath test.

Breaking the links between drugs and crime:

Home Office Publishes Drugs Bill:

Proposals for a tough package of anti-drugs measures, including new powers for police to order ultrasounds or x-rays of dealers who swallow their drugs to conceal the evidence, were set out recently as the Home Office published the Drugs Bill.

At the heart of new legislation are measures aimed at building on existing work to break the link between drug addiction and crime by getting more drug users into treatment at an early stage and taking tougher action against dealers.

Proposals in the Bill include:

Giving police powers to test for class A drugs on arrest and require those who test positive to attend an assessment and follow-up appointment;

Making dealing near a school, or using children as couriers for drugs or drug-related money an aggravating factor in sentencing;

Introducing a new presumption that those caught with more drugs than reasonable for personal use intend to supply, which carries tougher penalties;

Tougher powers to deal with dealers who swallow their drugs or hide them in body cavities. The police would be able to order a drug or ultrasound and magistrates would be able to remand suspected swallowers in custody for up to eight days;

Dealing with the open selling of magic mushrooms by clarifying in law that fresh mushrooms, as well as prepared ones, are illegal; and A new drug intervention order to run alongside anti-social behaviour orders to address drug misuse by people committing anti-social acts.

A new kind of drug that could be used by date rapists has been spotted for the first time in a UK nightclub.

Oxycodone is a painkiller which is only available on prescription according to experts monitoring the nightclub scene.

It is a powerful sedative and could be used for drug-assisted sexual assault.

Unlike the well-known date rape drug Rohypnol, it does not cause memory loss, but it could make someone suddenly very drowsy.

Oxycodone is a big problem in the United States and we have been expecting it over here. Now it has appeared.

Wayne Jones, 19, was found dead in his home at Marine Parade, Saltburn, in May 2001. Teesside Coroner’s Court heard how this
person had died after taking a fatal dose of Heroin.

The inquest heard that an occasional drug user had died after injecting a large amount of Heroin at his home.

Wayne’s stepfather Andrew Wiseman told the court how he had only known his stepson to take heroin three times. Medical evidence showed he died shortly after injecting himself with a fatal dose of Heroin

Deputy Teesside coroner Gordon Heatherington also said: “Wayne died as a result of Heroin toxicity. I am satisfied that he was not a regular user of drugs”.

The Home Secretary David Blunkett, rejected a recommendation from MPs that Ecstasy should be downgraded to a Class B from a Class A drug.

A report from the Commons home affairs select committee, says ecstasy – a drug popular among the young in dance clubs – should be reclassified to attract a lesser jail sentence.

Although the MPs insist they are not condoning use of the drug, which killed 36 people last year, they consider it less harmful than other Class A substances such as and Crack Cocaine.

Placing it in a lower category would put it alongside barbiturates, amphetamines and – for now – cannabis.

David Blunkett added: “Ecstasy can, and does kill unpredictably and there is no such thing as a safe dose. I believe it should remain Class A”.

He also ruled out the committee’s suggestion that “safe” injecting houses, the so-called “shooting galleries” that exist elsewhere in Europe, should be opened.

Heroin victim’s death used as warning

The parents of a 21 year old student who died of a Heroin overdose have released graphic pictures of her death to warn other teenagers of the dangers of the drug.

Mick and Pauline Holcroft, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, have allowed pictures of their daughter Rachel Whitear to be used in an anti-drugs video for secondary schools.

They say they want to “make people think” about the dangers of the drug – and to challenge stereotypes about drug abusers.

Mrs Holcroft, 52, said: “It’s horrific to look at a photograph like that of your own daughter. We pray that this film will make a difference.

“It was a very difficult decision to release the photograph, but we thought that if we did so we would be using her body to help others.

If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone:

The 22-minute film, entitled Rachel’s Story, shows how she began as a “beautiful and brilliant” girl who had 10 GCSEs and two A-levels, and excelled at the piano.

Rachel’s mother and stepfather believe she first took heroin when she was 18, after being introduced to it by an older boyfriend who was an addict.

At first she kept her habit under control, was accepted by five universities and went to read psychology and sociology at Bath University.

But her addiction continued, and her parents noticed her personality had changed from fun-loving and outgoing to unhappy, insecure and unreliable.

She dropped out of university after a term and went to live in Exmouth with her boyfriend.

She died of an overdose in rented rooms in the town in May 2000, aged 21, just days after phoning her parents to say she was leaving her boyfriend and coming home.

Her body lay undiscovered for three days.

Pretty Harrowing:

The police photograph shows her body keeled over on the floor, with bruised and discoloured flesh and a hypodermic syringe in her hand.

Mike Denton, of Herefordshire LEA, said: “The photographs of Rachel after her death are pretty harrowing.

But some of the most harrowing parts are watching the emotions on the faces of Rachel’s mother and sister as they tell the story.

“If you were trying to put together an ideal background for a young person to grow up in and be happy and successful the Holcroft family would be it”.

“Yet even in that environment it was possible for this tragedy to happen.”

Experiment:

Mrs Holcroft said: “I think Rachel really hated what had happened to her. But you can’t take heroin one day and suddenly decide to stop.

“Part of what this film gets over is how a person can hide their addiction.”

Mr Holcroft said: “There’ll be a point in a child’s life when someone says ‘try that’. They’ll be put into a circle where they are encouraged to try things and experiment.”

The family hopes it will become a national educational resource.