Reformed and Rising: Interview with Former Heroin and Cocaine User

“…I ended up in the ghettos of The Gambia.  Drugs robbed me of my life as I knew it.  When night descended, robbing and stealing was the norm.  I would take money from my mum, from family and wherever I could find it.  In desperation, I would break the door to my mother’s room to [...]

Illegal drugs: NHS reports rapid rise in young users being hospitalised

The number of under-25s admitted to hospital with mental and behavioural problems linked to illegal drug use has risen by 18% in a decade, figures showed today. In the decade from 1996, drugs-linked hospital admissions among children under 16 rose 48% from 272 to 402 and there was a 17% jump among those aged 16 [...]

The west African connection: drug barons find new route on to the streets of Britain

Drug gangs are increasingly smuggling cocaine on to the streets of Britain using new routes through west Africa, a senior intelligence officer warns today. Latin American cartels are developing the route into Europe after a crackdown on transatlantic shipments, prompting the British agency that fights organised crime to expand the number of field officers it [...]