Addiction World

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

2012-02-25T05:09:00.001Z

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.

Parliamentary bar brawl spotlights culture of drinking in Britain

2012-02-25T00:51:00.001Z

Take nine bars, add 650 members of Parliament and an equal number of journalists, lobbyists and staff, multiply by a vast quantity of taxpayer-subsidized booze, and what do you get? One giant political hangover. Even by the bibulous standards of Britain’s House of Commons – where the day care is located in a converted bar – the behaviour of Scottish Labour MP Eric Joyce was considered out-of-bounds. After drinking in the Strangers Bar, one of the parliamentary taverns, on Wednesday night, Mr. Joyce, 51, a former army officer, is alleged to have head-butted a Conservative MP and lashed out at other members of the House. (Andrew Scheer, Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, was a guest in the bar, according to his spokesman, but left before the scuffle.) Mr. Joyce, known in the press as “Airmiles Eric” for his lavish parliamentary travel expenditures, is said to have been annoyed that there were “too many Tories” in the Strangers Bar. Mr. Joyce was arrested and suspended from the Labour Party. Extreme behaviour, perhaps, but hardly uncommon in a country that is struggling to contain an epidemic of drink-related bad behaviour, and where politics and alcohol go together like – well, bangers and mash. Located only steps from the offices where David Cameron’s government is working on plans to curb Britain’s culture of excessive drinking (more drunk tanks, a possible minimum price on alcohol), the nine parliamentary bars are where politicians, lobbyists and journalists gather and gossip, often late into the night. A taxpayer-subsidized glass of whisky costs only £2.55 ($4), according to The Daily Telegraph, or about the cost of a Coca-Cola in the rest of London’s pubs. “The British drink more than Canadians, and they binge drink more,” says Lauren Dobson-Hughes, who worked in the office of Labour Minister Harriet Harman and now works in public affairs in Canada. “British politicians reflect that. Then you pile on the stress that they’re under, and you see what happens.” In the Strangers Bar, one of the more disreputable in Parliament, the motto is “What happens in Strangers stays in Strangers.” Ms. Dobson-Hughes says there is an “exit” sign located about a foot from the floor, so that those crawling home can find their way. One of the problems, she says, is that votes sometimes happen late at night: “You’ve got MPs sitting around waiting for a vote that may or may not happen, and they’re surrounded by all this subsidized booze.” For some, the vote never comes. In 2010, rookie Conservative MP Mark Reckless missed a vote on Chancellor George Osborne’s budget after overindulging in the hospitality of the parliamentary bar. He told BBC radio, “I don't intend to drink at Westminster again.” Of course, Mr. Joyce and Mr. Reckless are not the first British politicians to enjoy a tipple, and the electorate has never seemed particularly worried about its leaders’ desire to enjoy a pint or six. Winston Churchill famously made it through the Second World War with a drink by his side, and Margaret Thatcher consulted with her cabinet over stiff Scotches late at night in 10 Downing St. In his memoir, A Journey, Tony Blair wrote about how he worried he might be drinking too much while in office. “The relationship between alcohol and prime ministers is a subject for a book all on its own.” Mr. Blair said that while he was “not remotely a toper” his alcohol intake – stiff drink before dinner, half a bottle of wine with – put him “at the outer limit.” At least he wasn’t often seen drinking in public, unlike former (and possibly future) London mayor Ken Livingstone, who was spotted by a documentary crew drinking straight whisky during a meeting of the Greater London Assembly. Mr. Livingstone suggested the whisky was a cure for his bronchitis, and helped him with the “numbing tedium” of the sessions. Not to be outdone, Boris Johnson – who defeated Mr. Livingstone in the 2008 mayoral election and faces him again at the polls in May – told a magazine last year that two pints of beer during the day were beneficial: “You don’t feel drunk, you just feel ever so slightly superb.” There has been a greater spotlight recently on the problem of British professionals who drink to excess. Last week the BBC aired Britain’s Hidden Alcoholics, a documentary by the political strategist Alastair Campbell, who was Mr. Blair’s main adviser. “I should know” about secretive drunks, he says in the documentary. “I was one of them.” Mr. Campbell was drinking heavily when he worked on Fleet Street in the 1980s, but stopped before he went to work with the Labour party. In an e-mail interview Thursday, he said that despite the evidence of Mr. Joyce’s case, things were actually much more uproarious in the old days. “When I was a journalist I would say journalists and MPs drank more than the general public,” Mr. Campbell said. “Now I think they drink less. There used to be all sorts of incidents through drink in Parliament but they tended not to get reported. That's all changed.”

Campbell jogs the memories of sobering times | Comment & Opinion

2012-02-25T00:49:00.001Z

spin king and former boozehound Alastair Campbell alternately manhandling mangled livers and chortling about the old days with, of all people, Anne Robinson. Campbell is certainly qualified to talk about the damage excessive drinking can cause - including, it seems, to your short-term memory. Campbell reminded us twice who he was in the show’s opening three minutes. Being preached at by the man whose dodgy dossier took us into Iraq was like getting lessons on etiquette from Malcolm Tucker. And his partner Fiona Millar was wheeled out to talk about Campbell being “cruel and sometimes aggressive” when in the grip of the dreaded drink. Hard to imagine, isn’t it. But it’s not just odious public figures who drink too much. Some were intelligent professionals, others worked in the City. These were well-to-do sorts who just can’t say no to a seventh glass of Chablis after the opera. It was heart-rending but often scattergun stuff, with much of the running time spent on Campbell jogging through a gloomy forest as if fleeing his own mortality. Surely the problem isn’t supermarkets, or the price of drink. The problem, as Campbell finally came close to admitting, is us. We just can’t be trusted. As for our host, he gave up drinking in 1986, only returning to the occasional tipple more than a decade later. The country is still paying for some of the stuff he did when he was sober.

Funeral home denies it's source of Whitney Houston coffin photo

2012-02-24T15:25:00.001Z

The owner of the funeral home where Whitney Houston's memorial was held says her business was not the source of the National Enquirer's photo of the singer in her coffin. Carolyn Whigham, owner of Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, N.J., told the Los Angeles Times Thursday, "I'm going to answer you as the publicist told me to answer you: We have no comment. But it was not the funeral home." She added, "I am very angry, very upset" about the photo, "just like the family, just like the fans. . . . Whitney was a personal friend to me and my family. We would not do that."

Gerard Butler checks into rehab, reports say

2012-02-24T15:24:00.001Z

GERARD Butler has checked into the Betty Ford clinic after becoming hooked on painkillers, according to US reports. 6 comments His problem was triggered by prescription drugs he took for injuries on the set of the 2006 blockbuster 300, it's alleged on website TMZ.com. It is thought to have escalated during the filming of his new movie, Of Men And Mavericks, when he suffered another injury in a surfing accident in December. Sources say that the star, 41, who has previously talked about his struggle with alcohol, was also being treated for issues with cocaine — although the underlying problem is painkillers. It was revealed that he chose to seek help before the problem got out of control, realising he was starting to rely on the prescription drug. Gerard kicked the booze habit after finding his behaviour went out of control in his early twenties, and ruined his potential for a law career. He said: "I had gone from a 16-year-old who couldn't wait to grasp life, to a 22-year-old who didn't care if he died in his sleep. "I used to drink until I couldn't remember anything. I was just mad for it and on a death wish. It was madness." And then added: "One or two drinks was never enough for me. I was a foot-on-the-floor-all-the-way drinker, so it had to go. I don't miss it. Now it's as if I never had a drink in my life. At one point, I could never have conceived going out and not drinking but, as time goes on, you lose the urge and the insecurity that often makes people drink in the first place."

MP Eric Joyce charged with assault

2012-02-24T06:58:00.001Z

MP Eric Joyce has been charged with three counts of common assault after a disturbance at a House of Commons bar. The MP for Falkirk, who has been suspended by the Parliamentary Labour Party, was arrested on Wednesday evening after police were called. Mr Joyce, 51, of Bo'ness, near Falkirk, has been bailed and will appear at West London Magistrates' Court on 7 March. The allegations relate to Conservative MP for Pudsey, Stuart Andrew, a second Tory MP and a Labour whip. Mr Andrew had been in the bar on Wednesday following a Commons event organised by his Conservative colleague MP Andrew Percy, for the Speaker of the Canadian Parliament. Having spent nearly 24 hours in custody, Mr Joyce was seen being driven away from the rear of Belgravia police station, in central London, late on Thursday after being charged. Warning to MPs The BBC understands officers involved in the investigation returned to the Commons on Thursday evening to interview eyewitnesses. The allegations relate to a disturbance in the Strangers Bar, which is reserved for MPs and their guests. Mr Bercow told MPs after Mr Joyce was arrested: "I take this matter very seriously, as do the House authorities. "I would ask that no further reference should be made to these reports in the Chamber." Mr Joyce, a former Army major, was elected in a by-election in December 2000 and has served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to a number of government ministers since 2003. He was PPS to the then defence secretary Bob Ainsworth until 2009, and prior to that had been a parliamentary aide to John Hutton, Mike O'Brien and Margaret Hodge.

Busts on rise for khat, drug favoured by Horn of Africa diaspora

2012-02-21T23:04:00.001Z

Canadian border authorities seize millions of dollars worth of an addictive drug known as ``khat'' at airports each year, but police services say the market is limited for a niche drug that isn't commonly available on the street. Most Canadians go their whole lives without hearing about the narcotic leaf, but within Canada's African diaspora there are many devotees of this ancient plant. Khat has been chewed in the Horn of Africa and the lands surrounding the Red Sea for thousands of years. Known to induce euphoria - and a feeling of wakefulness in users - it is deeply ingrained in the cultures of Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya and Uganda. Though it is legal in many African countries, in Canada khat is classified as a schedule four drug, which is lowest classification category for illegal drugs. Cocaine and heroin are schedule one, for example, while cannabis is schedule two. Jerry Jesso is chief of intelligence for the Canadian Border Services Agency and oversees drug interdiction programs at ports of entry across Canada. Whereas 15 years ago there was no khat smuggling to speak of in Canada, these days it's a different story. ``We seize khat probably two to three times per day, on average,'' he said. Khat comes in two predominant forms: twigs and leaves. The outer bark of the more potent twigs are stripped off with the teeth then chewed, while the milder leaves are chewed whole. Due to its bitter taste, khat is traditionally chewed into a paste with peanuts, resulting in a more palatable taste and texture. Nowadays, chewing gum is also used. The active ingredients in khat, whose scientific name is Catha Edulis, are cathinone and cathine. These are naturally occurring amphetamines, and the World Health Organization says there are no medical uses for khat. A major producer of the world's khat is Kenya, where the plant's production is the basis for a vibrant export economy. Unlike other generally dry places near the Horn of Africa, the fertile volcanic soils of Mount Kenya receive enough rain to produce bumper crops year round. Every day, small planes stuffed with freshly cut khat from Kenya's Meru county fly directly to the United Kingdom, where tens of thousands of eager addicts are itching for their daily fix. ``It's legal in the U.K.,'' Jesso said. ``They'll ship it there, then break down shipment before reshipping it on to Canada.'' For khat smugglers, speed is the name of the game. After only five days, the narcotic potency of khat dissipates, meaning any delay in shipping puts the profits of exporters and importers in jeopardy. ``They'll cut it, wrap it in banana leaf and wet it to try to keep it cool and maintain its freshness,'' said Jesso. ``But within 72 hours that stuff gets real nasty, as it breaks down and starts to rot.'' A bundle of khat - a daily dose for an addict, but enough for a number of casual users - can be bought for a few dollars in Africa. By the time it gets to Canada, however, the retail price goes as high at $70 or $80. Due to the volume that must be chewed to get high, Jesso said, khat is among the cheapest drugs out there on a per-gram basis. For this reason, smugglers have to move large quantities to turn a profit. ``Twenty kilograms is worth less than $10,000,'' he said. ``To make it worth their while they have to move large quantities of it.'' Smugglers use couriers to take large suitcases packed with khat into Canada. ``The couriers can be anything from Canadian citizens to duped visitors who think it's legal to do what they're doing,'' he said. ``In a lot of cases, it's U.K. nationals coming over.'' Many of these smugglers are caught by sniffer dogs, and sent home after a month in jail. CBSA spokesman Luc Labelle said that $55 million of khat have been seized in the past five years. ``What we intercept does impact the supply on the street level,'' Jesso said. ``And when we can impact the price of drugs on the street, we're doing a good job.'' Labelle said khat is most common in cities, particularly those with immigrant populations from Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea and Uganda. ``In Canada, areas with a large population from these countries, such as the Greater Toronto Area, tend to see higher usages,'' he said. Classified by WHO as a ``drug of abuse,'' khat is highly addictive, and many hard-core users chew most of their waking hours. A stimulant, it disrupts regular sleeping patterns, keeping chewers up all night, sometimes for days at a time. The acidic leaves, furthermore, are corrosive and long-term use results in rotten teeth and infected gums. Lethargy and loss of appetite is also common side effects, as is damage to the digestive tract. But perhaps most disturbing is the khat's effects on the male reproductive system. Although new users may experience a rise in sexual desire and performance, long-term use is known to cause severe erectile dysfunction. Farah Aw-Osman, executive director of the Canadian Friends of Somalia, said that khat remains popular among a certain segment of the Somali community, who buy khat that is imported from the U.K. ``Usually it goes to Europe, then they smuggle (it) here,'' he said. Khat addiction is a relatively minor issue here in Canada compared to the U.K., Aw-Osman said. Despite its legal status in the U.K., he said, it has had negative social and economic effects on the Somali community there, mostly due to the lethargy experienced by addicts. ``If you go to U.K., you see a lot of Somalis who came 20 years ago, but haven't reached anywhere,'' he said. ``They just chew khat all afternoon and night, then sleep all day.'' The negative side of khat is less apparent in Canada, Aw-Osman said, due to low usage rates and inconsistent supply. ``In Canada it's only a few people who use it, mostly in Toronto, Ottawa and Edmonton,'' he said. ``Sometimes they don't find it for one or two weeks.'' Aw-Osman said he's pleased to see that younger Somali-Canadians are not getting hooked on the narcotic leaf, and that most khat chewers are over the age of 30 or 40, and picked up the habit back home. ``It's only the people who were addicted to khat from previous use in Somalia (who) are using it,'' he said. ``The younger generation doesn't even know what khat is.'' Somali youth, interviewed in Ottawa by Postmedia News, said the younger Somali-Canadians were not interested in khat, and couldn't afford it even if they were. ``That stuff is for old men,'' one said. ``The youth don't chew it.'' Ottawa Police Staff Sgt. Mike Laviolette said Khat is not a big problem in Ottawa. He said Ottawa police haven't encountered it on the streets in recent years, and have not made any arrests related to the drug in recent memory. The market for the drug in Canada is limited, said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Greg Cox. ``There is a small market for `khat' - primarily users are African nationals,'' he wrote in an email. ``The shelf life for this product is quite limited and there is low value associated with it.'' RCMP couldn't provide information about the number of busts they made on khat smugglers or users, or what if any steps are being taken against the leaf. Hamilton, Ont.-based addictions expert Debbie Bang said khat is unique because there is only a very specific slice of the population that uses it. ``The bottom line is this is not a huge issue for general population,'' she said. Bang said that within marginalized communities - such as those that use khat - unconventional policing methods are often more effective. The affected population knows much more about the cultural context in which khat is used, she said, and could provide valuable advice on how to treat addicts. ``If this is a substance that's revered in its cultural context, you have to work with those that understand it and use it to know what the best approach would be,'' she said. ``They'll probably need to see some leadership from the Somali group, that would raise this and bring it forward,'' she added.

DEA: Heroin ‘hot spots’ throughout Charlotte

2012-02-21T22:52:00.001Z

Walking through the busy Arboretum shopping center on Providence Road, most people would not believe the Drug Enforcement Agency has identified it as a hot spot for drug dealing. The head of North Carolina’s branch of the DEA, Bill Baxley, said people are going into heavily trafficked business areas like the Arboretum to buy and sell black tar heroin, a type of heroin from Mexico with a tar --like texture that is growing in popularity among Charlotte’s teens. Baxley said the locations make sense to the sellers. “Traffickers aren’t dummies. They want to come to places that they’re not going to stand out,” he said. The area around the Arboretum isn’t the DEA’s only concern. Officers have also targeted parking lots in the SouthPark area, near South Boulevard and Tyvola, and by Carolina Place Parkway. Agents said the deals are also happening near the intersection of Monroe and Sharon Amity roads, near Monroe and Wendover roads, and near StoneCrest in Ballantyne. The buy areas are not a surprise to Diane Cureton, a former heroin addict who is now a substance abuse counselor. “There’s a certain boldness about it,” she said. Cureton works with local teens battling drug addiction. They tell her exactly how easy it is to get the drug. “A teen can be in the mall with a parent and, ‘I’m going in this store, mom.’ Meet you, get what they need to get and go on back and meet up with their parent,” she said. The easy access to the drug is why agents are stepping up their enforcement with a newly formed task force. They are concerned that, with all the drug activity, an increase in neighborhood crime might not be far behind. “Deals go bad. We are talking about violent Mexican trafficking organization,” Baxley said. “We can put that focus like a laser beam on those organizations and completely dismantle them.” The task force if federally funded and included officers from Mecklenburg and surrounding counties. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they have not seen an increase in heroin activity at the Arboretum or an increase in crime, but the DEA said its information is not based solely on arrests and crime. Agents said it is also based on intelligence and tips they receive. Officials at the Arboretum said Thursday afternoon they had not heard about the DEA’s assessment. The two sides are now communicating.

San Diego's deadly heroin problem

2012-02-21T22:50:00.001Z

It's been almost two years since the FDA approved a new time-release design of Oxycontin to prevent illegal misuse and abuse of the pain relieving drug. But the new version is causing San Diego authorities new stress. They're seeing an alarming rise in people switching to heroin as a potentially deadly substitute. Simone, a 22-year-old recovering addict from La Jolla, had been abusing Oxycontin, which became her gateway into heroin. "Every day I was risking my life, because I had no idea what was in the drug I was taking," she said. She says she crushed and smoked "Oxy," which cost her $80 a pill. Her habit became just too expensive, so she hooked up with heroin at only $40 a gram. "I tried it and automatically it was like, I want to feel this good all the time," Simone said. Scripps treatment program interventionist Nancy Knott says scoring heroin can be done anywhere in the county. "I consider this to be a community problem, a parent problem and a school problem," Knott said. News 8 first learned about the Oxycontin-heroin connection from county medical examiner Dr. Glen Wagner, who's seen it turn up during toxicology tests of apparent overdose victims. The bottom line for the medical examiner when it comes to the Oxycontin-heroin abuse connection? "A lot of folks come through my doors prematurely," Wagner said. Officials with the county's Health and Human Services Agency Drug and Alcohol Services division say they've seen an alarming increase of people using heroin who are between the ages of 18 to 25. "It's staggering to think in the past five years there's been a 229 percent increase," Susan Bower said. There's also another startling statistic when it comes to local addicts who admit to using heroin. "In 2007 heroin represented 10 percent. In 2011 it represented 17 percent. We're not seeing that kind of increase with other drugs," Bower said. DEA spokesman Tom Lenox says he hopes young adults are getting the message loud and clear about the deadly trend. "We don't want them using the prescription drugs illegally, and we certainly don't want them falling into the habit of becoming an addict to street-level drugs," Lenox said. Now 13 months clean, Simone says she's glad she's kicked the heroin habit and her life is back on track. "I never thought I'd have my family back in my life, my friends, and be happy and at peace sober," she said. The county has dozens of treatment centers that can help Oxycontin and heroin addicts, and they have a 24-hour access line as well.

Surrey woman's Thailand monastery stay to conquer heroin

2012-02-21T22:49:00.001Z

Surrey woman who has been addicted to heroin for three years has travelled to a Thai monastery to conquer her habit. Kathy Woods, 29, had been taking recreational drugs from the age of 18 and then tried heroin. Her family said her addiction had a devastating effect on them, especially her mother who was convinced she would one day find her dead. Reading-based charity East West Detox helped Ms Woods make the trip to a detox centre run by monks in Thailand. Ms Woods said: "You don't think it will happen to you. You just get in with the wrong crowd and do things and it gets out of control." Ms Woods had already tried to quit using heroin substitute methadone. She said: "It just zombifies you and keeps you on a level. "If I couldn't get heroin I'd go to the chemist and think I've got methadone that will carry me - it will help me enough until I can score heroin. "But it didn't stop me doing heroin. It's absolutely evil, evil stuff. Worse, I'd say, than heroin itself." East-West Detox charity helps out with access to treatment for addiction that has been carried out by monks at the Thamkrabok Monastery in Thailand since 1957. I'm not going to fail cos I'm never going to put myself through this again.” Kathy Woods Ms Woods was stripped of money, possessions and her passport. Before her treatment could begin she had to take a holy vow or Saccha. "It's making a commitment never to use addictive drugs again," said Ms Woods. The treatment meant her life was governed by a bell, with a strict daily regime of steam baths and teachings and for the first week she had to endure induced sickness. The monks believe induced sickness purges the body of all toxins. For the first five days addicts are given a vomiting medicine or yatan. Ms Woods said: "I'm not going to fail because I'm never going to put myself through this again." Ms Woods said the worse time for her was at night: "The withdrawals at night - they just go on so long because you're locked up at 9pm until 4.30am. "You can't sleep and there's no one in my dorm that speaks English either - that's the worst - the night time." Ms Woods stayed at The Hay centre for two and a half weeks The monks at Thamkrabok said they don't know how many of their patients stay clean after they leave. However, a report published in 2011 by East West Detox claimed their success rates were more than double than in the UK. Ms Woods returned home from the treatment early, after being in Thailand for two and a half weeks. Eight months after the treatment Ms Woods is still off heroin. She said: "I've got friends that still do it and the temptation has been there but after what I've gone through, some strength inside me has just said 'no' because if I do it once that will just be it. There's no going back. It has totally changed my life. Gavin, a former addict turned monk at the monastery, said: "Addicts have to take responsibility for themselves. "I think people who have addictions in any form of life have to look at themselves and say: "It was me - and I have to change. "It's strict - we have compassion we're Buddhists but overall - you follow the regime. If you don't like it you can leave."

Boozy films 'turn children into drinkers'

2012-02-21T07:52:00.001Z

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

2012-02-21T07:48:00.001Z

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."

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

2012-02-20T05:23:00.001Z

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

2012-02-20T05:16:00.001Z

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."

Dope smokers puff for hash legalisation in Poland

2012-02-19T23:47:00.001Z

A prominent Polish politician and several activists smoked cannabis in front of parliament on Friday as part of a campaign to decriminalise the drug. Police looked on as the head of the liberal Palikot's Movement, Janusz Paliko and several other people took puffs in the snow. Dozens more gathered around a platform where they smoked and chanted: "Grow it, smoke it, legalise it." Activists said they want the country's laws changed to decriminalise the possession and consumption of cannabis. They said they consider it hypocrisy that Poland is a major vodka producer but punishes casual users of soft drugs with prison terms of up to three years. "Vodka is more dangerous than marijuana," said Mateusz Klinowski, a law professor and head of the Polish Drug Policy Network, a group campaigning to decriminalise soft drug use. He said Poland's laws were "outdated and wrongheaded."

Heroin addict fell in front of train, inquest hears

2012-02-19T13:52:00.001Z

A recovering heroin addict was killed after falling off a platform at Clapham Junction, an inquest heard. Jason Hicks, 36, who lived in supported housing in Vauxhall, was close to the edge of the platform and fell under a stopping train on August 4 last year. Thursday's inquest heard he was on release from prison and was receiving treatment for drug addiction. Witness David Elton said he saw Mr Hicks appear from behind a pillar whilst he was waiting for a train travelling in the other direction. He was advancing fast and walked past the yellow safety line. Mr Elton said: "He moved straight to the edge of the platform and must have been within millimetres of the passing train. "I thought 'what the hell are you doing?', and he was gone. I think he intended to jump." Train driver Daniel Eden said he saw Mr Hicks standing very close to the edge of the platform with a walking stick. The inquest heard Mr Hicks was responding well to rehabilitation, but during a session in January said "I don't feel ready to get any extra help." He had hepatitis B and C, and drank about 210 units of alcohol a week. Coroner Dr William Dolman recorded a verdict of death from multiple injuries as a result of an accident, despite Mr Elton's belief he intended to kill himself. He said: "He was undergoing treatment and prospects looked good for him. He was doing well with his progress during rehabilitation, there were no other problems."

Houston's death puts focus on prescription drug addiction

2012-02-19T13:50:00.001Z

Whitney Houston's funeral, held today at the Newark church she sang at as a child, and the governor's order to fly the American flag at half-staff in her honor has resulted in debates as to who the flag should be lowered for, and a continued discussion about prescription drug abuse and addiction. The Grammy Award winner, who died Feb. 11, at the age of 48, was found with prescription pill bottles in her Beverly Hills hotel room. For years, Houston had struggled with cocaine, marijuana, and prescription drug addition. "It's tragic, but if there is any good that comes out of this is a lot of discussion and a lot of awareness," said Becky Carlson, assistant director of the Center for Prevention and Counseling in Newton. "Parents can use this tragedy as a way to start opening the eyes of young people," Carlson said. "Parents need to realize that what they say does matter and they should use Whitney Houston as a stepping stone to open the door to discuss (drug abuse and addiction.) Talk to them early, talk to them often." In 2008, Carlson said the Center for Prevention and Counseling's drug and alcohol survey that is administered every two years revealed a 42-percent increase in 12th-grade students' use of pain killers. In response, the center established a prescription drug task force made up of many different sectors of the community, stemming from law enforcement to health care. "Monitor what you have in your house, secure it, and dispose of it," Carlson said. One lesson that can be taken from the celebrity's death, Carlson said, is that addiction can happen to anyone. "It's equal opportunity," she said. "It doesn't matter who you are, your background, how famous you are or aren't, it can affect anyone and we have to understand that when someone has a problem, they need the resources to get them help." Houston's alleged overdose also harkens back Karen Ann Quinlan, the 21-year-old Roxbury woman who became unconscious after coming home from a party, where she'd mixed Valium and alcohol. Several days later, her coma was deemed irreversible and she was transferred from Newton Memorial Hospital to St. Clare's Hospital in 1975. There, her family requested that she be taken off her ventilator, setting the stage for a tedious legal battle. The Supreme Court eventually ruled in the family's favor, and Quinlan was removed from the respirator. She continued to receive artificial nutrition and hydration and lived for another nine years until her eventual death in 1985 from pneumonia. Quinlan's case pioneered the right-to-die movement and set precedent for a patient's right to refuse medical care and control her or her own treatment. "As far as mixing medication and alcohol, it's a common practice when trying to get high," Carlson said. "That's when you see people overdose, not always dying, but landing in hospitals." "Any time you're taking medications that aren't prescribed for you, it's like Russian Roulette," Carlson said. Houston, who was born in Newark and was raised in nearby East Orange, is being laid to rest at a private funeral today. The invitation-only ceremony was held at New Hope Baptist Church. Christie declared that all flags in the state be flown at half-mast today. Some criticized the governor's decision, believing that the honor should be reserved for the military, first responders, and elected officials; others said he's wrong for honoring a celebrity and drug addict. Carlson, however, praised Christie for his declaration, which she believes will bring awareness about substance abuse, and his statement: "There but for the grace of God go I." "Understanding addiction is critical," she said. "Addiction can happen to anyone." Freeholder Susan Zellman said, "It's very considerate of the governor to recognize the untimely passing of such a great New Jersey talent by flying the flag half-staff." Sussex County Freeholder Director Phillip Crabb said, "It's up to the governor. If he sees it fit to order it at his discretion, we stand by his decision, and we get it done, and move on."

OxyContin change a concern for addiction workers

2012-02-19T13:49:00.001Z

Former addicts and front-line addiction workers say the plan to stop manufacturing the opiate OxyContin could lead to new problems, as users switch to different drugs. Purdue Pharma Canada has said it will stop manufacturing the drug in Canada at the end of the month and replace it with a new formulation called OxyNEO, which will be harder to crush for snorting or injection. Health Canada says when the pill is chewed or crushed, then injected or inhaled, it produces a "heroin-like euphoria." Former addict Jamie Walsh, from Ottawa, said the experience of withdrawal from the drug was something he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. He said he has concerns about what people will do when they can't access the drug. "With Oxy, even sometimes when I was at my lowest points and I really didn't want to use the drug no more…there's really no other choice," said Walsh, who has been clean for three years with the aid of Harvest House, a south Ottawa centre for people trying to break addictions. Few options during OxyContin withdrawal "You either go to a hospital and come down, or go to a methadone clinic and come down, or go to jail," said Walsh. Harvest House associate director Gary Wand said he believes addicts will still find a way to abuse the new pill…or move on to another drug like heroin. "People who are abusing opiates will tend to want to get more opiates in a different form to avoid getting sick," said Wand. Dr. Clement Sun with the Addiction Centre Toronto said the change is a good start but agrees the new medication won't solve the underlying issues. "It's a good attempt," said Sun. "It certainly isn't going to make our job any easier, it's a pill that can't be crushed as easily, so in terms of drug addicts, they are just going to switch to something else." Wand said the best advice he can give is for anyone addicted to OxyContin to get clean as soon as possible.

Whitney Houston 'binged on cocaine, booze and pills' in final months

2012-02-19T00:06:00.001Z

Whitney Houston had reportedly fallen off the wagon in the last few months on her life and was bingeing on cocaine, alcohol and pills. After months of sober living during 2011, Houston, who died February 11 at age 48, "was as bad as she ever was". "The last three months of Whitney's life were truly tragic," Radar Online quoted an insider as telling Star magazine. One eyewitness mentioned Houston’s behaviour when she hit Playhouse nightclub in Hollywood on the night of January 2. "Whitney got buck-wild… She drank cognac and champagne and seemed completely out of it from the moment she arrived until the moment she left, at 2:30 am PST," the source was quoted as saying. Weeks later, she continued the party at the Beverly Wilshire, a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills. "Whitney was in a lounge chair drinking pina coladas all afternoon. "Once in a while, she would get on her cell phone and start screaming at someone. She seemed almost manic at moments and practically unconscious the next," another eyewitness said. That erratic behaviour continued up until her death; according to CNN anchor Don Lemon, Houston was spotted doing somersaults in the pool in the days before her death whilst drinking alcohol, from as early in the morning as 10 am. The singer’s funeral will be held on Saturday afternoon at New Hope Baptist Church in her hometown Newark.

Sinaloa cartel carving drug routes in Caribbean

2012-02-18T15:53:00.001Z

Dominican Republic — The Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s largest drug-smuggling organization, is working with Dominican criminal groups to establish a Caribbean trafficking route, Dominican and US officials said. In recent months, Dominican officials have blamed the Mexican group for a handful of murders and stealing a corporate jet under the cloak of early-morning darkness from an airport here. The jet, which was later recovered in Venezuela, was going to be used to transport cocaine from South America, officials said. The Sinaloa presence was confirmed when authorities, working with the US Drug Enforcement Agency, the DEA, arrested a Mexican national and confessed Sinaloa member. During interrogation, Luis Fernando Bertolucci Castillo admitted to having a direct line to reputed cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. He was later extradited to the US to face drug charges late last year. “The Sinaloa cartel is seeking to create a route to Europe using the Dominican Republic,” Dominican Ambassador to the US Anibal de Castro said this month, citing Bertolucci’s statement. That marked the government’s first public acknowledgement of the group’s presence. Read more: Mexico's drug war by the numbers The cartel members are also seeking logistical support from Dominicans, according to a member of the Dominican National Direcorate for Drug Control, a branch of the military that combats trafficking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. That includes relying on Dominicans to provide them with small planes for drug flights from the southern Venezuelan state of Apure, as well as obtaining precursors to synthetic drugs such as amphetamines used for crystal meth, the source said. So far, the group’s presence appears limited to small cells. However, Sinaloa’s mere existence adds a level of complexity to a country already struggling with a handful of international criminal groups. It also suggests cartels are examining the Caribbean as a supplement to the preferred Central America-Mexico route — a shift US officials have feared. The Obama administration has warned that the drug war in Mexico would push cartels to increasingly run drugs through the Caribbean. The islands were the preferred routes for notorious kingpins like Pablo Escobar in the 1980s until a US crackdown pushed the trade toward Mexico.

Doherty has been in prison three times, had at least 15 court appearances, a conviction for burglary, more than 26 drugs charges and is currently on bail for cocaine possession.

2012-02-18T09:26:00.001Z

Pete Doherty: I was a bit unhinged - Profiles - People - The Independent

Pete Doherty swings into the room, puts his beer-bottle down and takes off his battered Raskolnikov-style coat before removing his blue sweater and his T-shirt, too, without embarrassment. A brief glimpse of the former Libertines frontman's tattooed torso and scarred belly reveal the ravages of his 32 years. He quickly replaces his T-shirt, which had been inside-out, and begins posing moodily for photographs, in a room littered with strange objects: taxidermy, antique furniture and canvases. Is this for a music video? Has he got an album coming out? No. It may look pretty rock'n'roll, but it is, in fact, the start of Doherty's bid to be taken seriously as a fine artist. Jumpy like a cat, Doherty shows me around London's Cob Gallery, where his first UK solo art exhibition (he showed work at the Chappe gallery in Paris in 2008) will open next week. Most of the artwork is yet to arrive, but nine canvases are scattered around the black-walled, underground space in Camden. The paintings are spare, with lots of white space showing through linear outlines, glued-on paper and Doherty's spidery scrawl. Their unifying feature, apart from the artist's signature, is that they have been painted in blood. Doherty's blood. It is a technique he refers to as "arterial splatter": an ex-girlfriend's father coined the phrase. The streaky, brown-ish marks, by turns thick (as if he's just swished a bloodied thumb across the surface) and bespattered (he squirts his blood from a syringe) are unmistakably human. Click here or on "View Gallery" to see Pete Doherty's work in pictures, with commentary from the artist A further 20 new blood-paintings will be shipped in from Paris, where the singer now lives, to form the top half of a collaboration between the curators of Cob and another gallery, Guts for Garters. The show is called On Blood: A Portrait of the Artist. The first part of the title refers to his blood paintings, and the latter half to a decision by curator Cassie Beadle to exhibit a selection of strange curiosities, trinkets and detritus hoarded by Doherty over the years. Painting is something of a collective process for Doherty. A "fucking accurate" portrait of his friend Peter Wolfe, from the band Wolfman and the Side-Effects, was drawn by his friend Alizé Meurisse, and Doherty has added a splatter or two and some song lyrics into the mix. An early portrait of The Libertines, which the artist modestly disparages, has been added to, not only by his eight-year-old son Astile, but also by his good friend, the late Amy Winehouse, who drew a small self-portrait in her own blood. "She was on the phone to her dad when she did that. She said, 'Dad, I'm with Pete and he's making me draw with my blood!' He didn't like me much, her dad." The actress Charlotte Gainsbourg added a sketch of a house to a painting called Leet Strife – a less pretentious title than "Street Life", he says. Doherty explains that for his newest works he has been using watercolours. He says it is the only way he can begin to replicate the "emulsive, wishy-washy residue on the neck of a crack-cocaine bottle". Alarmingly, he then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a broken crack-pipe ("It's an old one, I promise") and holds the glass up to the light so I can see the silvery remains of the drugs. "Look at the colours, the oranges. You see that there? You can only get that with watercolours." Marc Quinn made wonderful sculptures from his own frozen blood, but is there something a bit faddy and pretentious about painting with it? I suggest that the self-harm element might be rather gruesome, but Cob curator Victoria Williams has an intriguing take on it. "It's about breaking down the boundaries between yourself and your art. I don't think it's destructive, it's quite giving actually," she says. "It's certainly not about gore." Later in the day, the curators, Doherty and his manager are getting ready to drive a van to Wiltshire, to the mansion the artist used to rent from Lord Cardigan but vacated after the roof fell in. There is some anxiety, Doherty having arrived over an hour late, that they will not get to rifle through the storage container there until after dark. Doherty is rather apprehensive about what they will find. "Everything flooded when the roof fell in," Doherty says. "Then it froze, then it flooded again when it melted. We stuck everything into storage but lots of it was ruined. Have you ever seen mould that looks all fluffy and white like snow?" I haven't. Nor have I met Doherty before, although he insists that I have: that famous face, his dishevelled hair now touched with grey, eyes outlined by lack of sleep and a smirking, disarming smile. The curators have quite a task ahead, sifting through the piles of "silks, bones, leathers, skulls, palettes – what's that thing you put canvases on? – oh yeah, easels, frames, boots, laces, wigs, mannequins..." that are, apparently, Doherty's passion. His proclivity for hoarding leads him to talk about his infamous on-again, off-again relationship with the supermodel Kate Moss, from whom he finally separated in 2007. "Kate used to collect elephants, so I'd buy them for her wherever I went," he says. "When we split up she destroyed all my stuff, but she didn't destroy my elephants. Because I couldn't get over her for a while I just kept buying elephants and now I've got a huge elephant collection for sale. I might post them anonymously to her as a wedding present." Despite Moss having married her long-term boyfriend, Jamie Hince, last July, her name is rarely printed without mention of her tempestuous relationship with Doherty. The singer's penchant for heroin and crack-cocaine led to the end of their relationship and the model's association with him dented her reputation and helped to earn her the epithet "Cocaine Kate". Moss publicly split from Doherty after footage of her allegedly taking cocaine at a studio where he was recording with Babyshambles was sold to the press. Prosecutors decided not to charge the supermodel, in the absence of forensic or direct eyewitness evidence, but Moss lost contracts with H&M, Burberry and Chanel before admitting herself to rehab. I ask Doherty if he has any regrets about the demise of their relationship. He is silent for a long time: "I suppose I must have, but I was a bit unhinged at that time," he shrugs. "The drugs. The thing is, she knew from day one when we began our relationship that I was using very heavily. She knew that. So, you can't suddenly turn around and say, 'you've got to stop all that'. I do have regrets about Kate, but I wouldn't want to talk to you about them. I'd only talk to a highly skilled doctor with large amounts of morphine and a hypnotherapist. And a small monkey." He laughs and then lets out a scream before putting his finger in his mouth. He has cut it on the broken crack-pipe in his pocket. He bleeds only slightly, but it's a sign that we need to talk about something else. I joke that I've got some paper in case he wants to make a drawing. He declines, the mood having dropped, and for a moment the connection between his art and his well-documented self-harming hangs in the air. The show is a chance for Doherty to revitalise his image in the wake of his many falls from grace. In 2003 the singer was ejected from The Libertines, at the height of their success, by his one-time best friend Carl Barât, thanks to his increasing dependence on Class-A drugs. Doherty went on to front Babyshambles, with whom he released two albums, and also produced a solo record called Grace/Wastelands in 2009, but his celebrity reputation has always rather eclipsed his music. In 2010 The Libertines reformed for appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals – but, as the release of Roger Sargent's film about the band's revival, The Libertines: There Are No Innocent Bystanders, released next month, reveals, with Doherty the appeal of the story is usually greater than the sound. Doherty has been in prison three times, had at least 15 court appearances, a conviction for burglary, more than 26 drugs charges and is currently on bail for cocaine possession. I ask how he is managing his addictions. "I've stopped injecting," he says, giving credit for this improvement to a new girlfriend, whose name he decides not to disclose, but whose parents he is meeting at their Oxford home this evening.

Singer Whitney to be laid to rest

2012-02-18T09:23:00.001Z

Family, friends and a host of celebrities are set to attend the funeral of singer Whitney Houston. They will gather for a private service at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, where Whitney sang as a child. To the rest of the world, Whitney Houston was the pop queen with the perfect voice, the dazzling diva with regal beauty, a troubled superstar suffering from addiction and, finally, another victim of the dark side of fame. But to her family and friends, she was just someone they loved who they nicknamed "Nippy". The church, which seats about 300 people, will be filled with friends, family members and some of her famous connections. Kevin Costner, her co-star in the movie blockbuster The Bodyguard, is scheduled to speak, as is Clive Davis, the music mogul responsible for launching and guiding her career. Her cousin and fellow singer Dionne Warwick will be on the programme, as will friends including Alicia Keys, Tyler Perry and gospel stars Donnie McClurklin, Kim Burrell and Cece Winans. Ray J, who spent time with Whitney in her last days, will also be in attendance. In a statement released on Friday, he expressed his devastation over her loss and added: "Nippy, I miss you so much." Aretha Franklin also remembered her as Nippy and recalled how Whitney used to refer to her as Aunt Ree. "Hard to believe," Franklin wrote in an email as she prepared to sing at the funeral for the girl she watched growing up. Whitney, 48, was found underwater in a bath by a member of her staff at the Beverly Hilton Hotel last Saturday. After the funeral, Whitney is scheduled to be buried beside her father, John Russell Houston, at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, near where she grew up.

Mel Gibson Invited to Whitney Houston's Funeral

2012-02-18T09:22:00.001Z

Mel Gibson was invited to Whitney Houston's funeral ... and the family extended the invite because Mel tried to help the singer during a very dark period in her life ... TMZ has learned. Sources tell us ... several years ago, when Whitney was about as bad off with drugs and alcohol as she ever was, Mel quietly intervened and spent a lot of time with her, trying to help her break the addiction cycle. We're told Whitney's family is "extremely appreciative" and wanted Mel at tomorrow's funeral, but because of family plans he can't attend.

Men who smuggled drugs from Dover to Skelmersdale jailed

2012-02-17T23:41:00.001Z

A gang who smuggled heroin and cocaine into the UK hidden in a lorry have been jailed for a total of 31 years. Carl Robinson, 30, and Graham Miller, 38, both of Skelmersdale, were tracked bringing the drugs from Dover to Lancashire in August last year. They were arrested after meeting Ian Adderley, 46, of Kirkby, in Skelmersdale. All three pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import and supply Class A drugs at an earlier hearing. They were arrested in dawn raids on 12 August after a major surveillance operation carried out by officers from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Titan. Officers also seized the class A drugs which had an estimated street value of more than £1m. 'Ill-gotten gains' Robinson, who also pleaded guilty to affray in connection with an incident at a pub in Skelmersdale on 6 August, was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison. Adderley, who also admitted cannabis production was sentenced to 12 years, and Miller to nine years and six months in jail. Speaking after the trial, Det Supt Jason Hudson, head of operations for Titan, said it would do all it could to end the mens' criminal enterprise. "Titan is here to dismantle and disrupt the organised crime groups causing the greatest levels of harm to the North West," he said. "This group clearly fit that category and we are committed to not only arresting and bringing those people to justice but also financially ruining them, to ensure that all the financial gain that they have managed to achieve through their ill-gotten gains can be taken off them."

Turkish criminal gangs are ruling over the streets in the UK

2012-02-17T23:38:00.001Z

Turkish criminal gangs are ruling over the streets in the UK, controlling much of the drug market in Germany, as well as providing political influence in the Netherlands. Turkish mafia has launched a wide range of activities in various European countries, has its own network subject to certain Turkish political circles. This is stated in the reports of the European countries and the UN. Turkish mafia is influential especially in Germany and the Netherlands. According to annual report of the German police, Turks as well as migrants from Nigeria and Sierra Leone are playing major role in coordination of crime among the immigrants. The number of residents of not German nationality suspected of organizing criminal gangs reached 471,067, while 106,396 out of them were Turks. As to drug trafficking, 26.6% of Germany’s drug dealers are Turks, 21.9% of those engaged in cocaine trafficking are Turks as well. The representatives of this ethnic group stood out as part of those involved in sex crimes in Germany - 34.9% of rapes and other similar crimes accounted for Turks only. German press reports that dangerous Turkish youth criminal gangs are operating in the cities of Germany. They also deal with the main business of Turkish mafia – drug trafficking and prostitution. Back in 2010 Militant Islam Monitor website wrote that Turkish criminal gangs are controlling the streets of Berlin. Turkish groups also form a part of a large Turkish community in the Netherlands. It is dominated by Turkish gangs, engaged in buying and selling drugs. According to local police, these groups often appear with their families and clans. The dealers are often controlled directly from Istanbul. The Turks in the Netherlands and Belgium are also selling weapons, are dealing with trafficking of immigrants, prostitution, forgery and money laundering. In the UK drug market is also under control of the Turkish clans. The British press reported that the Turkish criminals are fueling fear. According to law enforcers, about 90% of imported heroin is of Turkish origin. The Turks engaged in heroin business are mainly concentrated in the eastern part of London. They have links with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Back in 2006 thirteen members of a Turkish gang were arrested for hiding 13 kilos of heroine in a butcher shop. Later police found famous Hamit Gokenc aka “Mafia babası” (God father). The criminal gang he was heading had close ties with Turkey’s Grey Wolves gang. As a result of police operation, 22 kilos of heroine was found. In order to understand the reasons for Turkish mafia’s influence in Europe, we must look back at the history. Drug trafficking, distribution and use of drugs were considered a normal thing under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Prior to the ban on cocaine, opium and other drugs in Europe, they were imported directly from the Ottoman Empire. Exports of opium was one of the main sources for income. Naturally, the Turkish suppliers entered the European market being particularly active in France. After the First World War, the Turks formed alliances with the Yugoslav, Bulgarian and Greek criminal circles by organizing cooperation in drug smuggling. Nowadays, the Turkish-Bulgarian, Turkish-Serbian and Turkish-Albanian groups are active in this business. Large Turkish communities formed in Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary are contributing to this. After the Second World War, when Marseilles was major opium trafficking center, the Turkish mafia established ties with the leaders of the drug market – Marseille residents and Corsicans. Then, they expanded their activities reaching the United States. Nowadays, the Turks are controlling major part of the black drug market in Europe - about 93%. The reports of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says 110 tons of heroine entered Europe in 2009, while 80% came by a route lying through Turkey. Thus, the Turkish criminal groups are expanding their activities in Germany and the Netherlands due to a large and influential community. In the UK, the lever is a huge community of Sunni Muslims. The Muslims from African countries are also joining the Turkish clans selling drugs in the European streets.