DRUGS: THE POLITICS
Others found their ‘cocaine’ was actually Boric acid, a household cleaner which would have left them feeling unpleasant but nothing more.
However, some of the ecstasy tested was actually Pentylone, a highly dangerous stimulant, the effects of which can last up to 36 hours.
It acts like a super-strength methamphetamine which can leave users feeling agitated and anxious.
Dealers realise it is a class B drug - so they are making more money and taking less of a risk as sentences for dealing are much softer. The kind of testing operation seen in Bristol could well be heading to Manchester soon. The Loop certainly wants to bring this to its home city.
“It should be introduced, I would imagine this year, and it really needs to be,” co-founder Fiona Measham said.
“Four out of five people are buying what they expect, but quite often it’s a higher purity and higher strength.
“Drug-related deaths are higher than they have ever been at the moment. In the UK they are so strong that people are over-dosing.
“People are just taking way too much. We are finding ecstasy tablets that could be three times the usual dosage. Our message is start with a quarter [of a pill] and regularly sip water.
“It’s very cheap and very easily available and higher purity here in the UK. Compared to Australia, for instance, it’s so much cheaper.”
By day, Fiona is a professor of criminology at Durham University, but since helping to found The Loop in Manchester five years ago, she has been working to solve what appears to be an intractable drug problem in our city and elsewhere.
Like many of the 500-plus volunteers who work with her, Fiona’s efforts stem from a drug-related tragedy.
A close friend who had bought magic mushrooms from a legal high shop in Manchester city centre jumped to his death from the 23rd floor of a Salford tower block. He was just 32. “It was devastating,” Fiona, 54, said. “It was one difficult, silly crazy day he did that and the consequences last a lifetime for his girlfriend, his mum and dad and his brothers. It’s tragic for everybody. I deal a lot with the parents of teenagers and children who have died because of drugs. It’s heartbreaking.
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to outlive your own child.
“If we can save someone’s life by testing it’s worth doing.”
Already there are reports that The Loop’s drugs testing service is working.
At the Bristol festival, the Red Cross reported a 12pc reduction in drugrelated medical episodes.
In one case, medics are said to have concluded that the early intervention of The Loop saved the life of one man, who had consumed pentylone and had been taken to hospital.
Sporadic calls to legalise the illicit drugs trade have been largely fallen on deaf ears down the years, with successive governments backing the status quo.
Last year, Withington MP Jeff Smith called for the legalisation of cannabis, a class B drug, and the decriminalisation of ecstasy.
As an indie, dance and house DJ in the 1990s and early 2000s, he played at some of the north’s top clubs and club nights, including Poptastic in the Gay Village, the Leadmill in Sheffield and Cockpit in Leeds.
During a 20 year career in the music industry, Mr Smith played in front of tens of thousands of people during a regular slot on the main stage at V Festival, warming up for mega-stars such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Prodigy, Blur and Pulp.
On one particularly memorable night, he found himself doing the aftershow party at a Stereophonics concert underneath the stage at Old Trafford cricket ground.
Those experiences shaped Mr Smith’s views and led him to making an impassioned speech in Parliament urging the government to legalise cannabis and decriminalise pretty much every other drug, arguing it would save lives and transform society for the better, last year.
He told the M.E.N: “I think we have to change our approach and focus very much on harm reduction rather than criminalisation.
“We need to recognise that people do take drugs, but we need to find a way so that people don’t end up in hospital or worse because of that.
“Services like The Loop provide are really valuable and I strongly support it being rolled out in Manchester and elsewhere.”
Mr Smith also repeated previous calls for a change in the law, firstly around cannabis.
“The war on drugs isn’t working,” Mr Smith added. “Use is static, deaths are up and violence and criminal offences are up. So we need a fresh approach. I would legalise cannabis. I would make it safe, get some tax income from it and regulate it properly so people know what they are getting.
“I don’t see the value in criminalising users. That’s different from suppliers and dealers.
“There’s a wider debate to be had [on supplying and dealing] but one step at a time.” here in Greater Manchester and are doing all we can to stop it happening, bring offenders and justice and offer support to the vulnerable people that these criminals pray on.
“These figures show an increase in the number of crimes we have dealt with that come under the ‘drug trafficking’ umbrella and although we understand this will be concerning for some people it is important to stress that an increase in recorded offences doesn’t necessarily suggest there are more crimes taking place.
“Unlike crimes such as burglary and car theft, the majority of drug offences are recorded as a result of proactive police operations rather than being reported by the public.
“An increase in drug crimes therefore means we’re uncovering more offences than previous years as a result of running more operations.
“Between April 2017 and April 2018 more than £166m-worth of drugs was seized from the streets of Greater Manchester as a result of proactive police operations.
“In addition offenders for drug and firearm offences were sentenced to a combined total of 861 years.
“Drugs feature across many different types of crime, from burglary and antisocial behaviour to criminal exploitation and modern day slavery, to name but a few. It is a priority therefore for us to disrupt the drugs market through enforcement and early intervention and diversion. We are working closely with partners across the board to achieve this, and will continue to do so for as long as drugs cause misery on our streets.
“It is difficult to say that one drug is more problematic than others but Spice continues to be a significant challenge and we remain committed to tackling the dramatic increase we’ve seen in this.
“Similarly we are aware of an emerging issue with prescription drugs being sold on the black market and are working with the NHS to address this.”