Dental anaesthetic, boric acid, ground up malaria tablets and household cleaners.. what’s really in illegal New Year’s party drugs
Hartlepool heads grim drugs table
and then music festivals. This year the testing expanded to include Bristol and Durham – and is likely to be rolled out to other parts of the UK.
Prof Measham, a criminology lecturer at Durham University, y said: “We say to people the safest way to take drugs is not to take them at all.
“Our approach remains somewhat controversial, but I think it’s becoming less so. There is a concern our work could be seen to encourage drug use because it’s claimed we are making drug use safer.
“It’s not about making drug use safer, it’s about making people safe. We don’t condone drug use, and we say that when people bring samples. One in five people throw away their drugs and say they don’t want to take them now they know what’s in them.
“They hand them to us and police take them away for safe destruction.” Local police support the approach. Durham’s Chief Constable Mike Barton backs legalisation of cannabis and has discussed so-called “shooting galleries” for heroin addicts.
Drug-related hospital admissions were down 95 per cent after The Loop HARTLEPOOL is top of a league table which underlines a grim North-South divide on drug-related mental health problems.
Hospital admissions are 14 times higher in the northern town than the City of London.
Prof Harry Sumnall, of the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University, said drug deaths are also highest in coastal and ex-industrial towns where jobs are scarce.
He said: “These areas also bear the brunt of budget cuts around public health.”
Recovering heroin addict Ian Bacon, 40, said it is easy to get drugs in Hartlepool. He said: “I could go out and within five minutes find someone who could get gear I wanted.”
Ian is being helped by a Christian rehab centre called Reach Out Ministries. Also getting support is Derek Lynch, 51, who said: “By 15 I was addicted to heroin. You’ll rob, lie, cheat and steal and basically sell your own grandmother to get your next fix.”
Hartlepool Borough Council said tackling drug misuse is a top priority. A new plan focuses on prevention and providing psychosocial support and treatment.
Most admissions for drug-related mental and behavioural disorders, per 100,000 population: Hartlepool 548, Blackpool 520, Middlesbrough 428, St Helens 426, Hull 399, Hackney 364, Knowsley 362, Liverpool 343, Blackburn with Darwen 333, Stockton on Tees 328. Fewest admissions: City of London 39, Rutland 56, Surrey 62, Bracknell Forest 67, Redbridge 76, Kent 76, Wokingham 78, Windsor and Maidenhead 83, Merton 84, Northamptonshire 85. Source: NHS Digital. carried out testing at a music festival in Cambridgeshire. It came as the UK was named as having the highest drug-related death rate on record, and one of the highest rates in Europe.
Prof Measham said a similar service has operated in Holland or 25 years.
She added: “The Netherlands have a much lower drug-related death rate than here and they do not have higher use because of the testing either.
“Two in five people that we see will take smaller amounts or stop altogether. We talk about dosage and flag up the harmful contents and contaminants. So we are raising awareness.”
The samples are analysed by onsite chemists and a printout reveals the molecular formula.
Anything unidentified is taken to Durham University’s chemistry department for a fuller analysis.
Once the results are known the user is invited to discuss the outcome with two “harm reduction” workers.
Psychiatrist Dr Lili Galindo said: “Explaining results gives us a chance to reach out to people who might never have come forward for help.
“We show them how they can keep themselves safe and encourage them to think about risky behaviours which they might not have done before.”
The scheme comes in the wake of a string of party drug deaths.
Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattinson is mourning her friend Paul Burns, 37, who died in June after taking ecstasy.
And Reece Murphy, 16, died in Somerset in July after a bad reaction to the same drug. Mum Sarah Lush released a photo of Reece unconscious in a hospital bed to warn others.
If you are worried about drugs call the Frank helpline at any time on 0300 1236600 or text 82111.
Some people throw their drugs away once we show them what they contain FIONA MEASHAM CRIMINOLOGY LECTURER & DRUG TEST FOUNDER