Jon Snow
How I got stoned on skunk
I had sucked in two huge gulps of the stuff before I started spluttering. I am not a smoker, and the skunk was being delivered in vapour form – two huge balloons of the stuff.
-
Indonesia's executions: a weak president acting tough
The execution of eight convicted drug traffickers by Malaysia is a demonstration of the underlying weakness of the country’s President.
-
Jon Snow
-
Victoria Macdonald
After years of austerity, NHS ‘could experience a funding crisis’
The clamour is growing for something to be done about the NHS – through extra taxes, paying to see your GP, reconfiguring services, better use of technologies, more care in the community.
-
FactCheck: Winners and losers in sports doping
As two of the world’s fastest sprinters test positive for a banned substance, FactCheck looks at the recent history of doping in sport.
-
Victoria Macdonald
Decriminalising drugs – a wise investment?
Sir Richard Branson says it’s time to be brave on drugs policy. But as funding is cut for harm reduction programmes in many countries, perhaps there are more pressing issues.
-
Jon Snow
Why I shall not be getting stoned
I may not be taking part, but a Channel 4 experiment in which volunteers take Ecstasy in hospital conditions has already yielded ‘three scientific breakthroughs’.
-
Victoria Macdonald
Indian court battle threatens the supply of affordable medication
India manufactures one-fifth of the world’s generic drugs with about half sent abroad, largely to poorer countries. But a court case could threaten this supply of affordable medication to the developing world to treat conditions such as HIV and Aids.
-
Jon Snow
From sun to bust
I spent Sunday in the Solent on a boat sailed by my cousin Peter. A good wind in our sails, choppy seas, and glorious unbroken sunshine as we sped past the glistening white Needles. There was hardly another boat in sight. I wondered why, and suddenly remembered the Men’s Final at Wimbledon was on. Must…
-
Will £200m saving on NI fund more cancer drugs?
The Conservative Party claims it can pay for all cancer drugs on the NHS from the money it “saves” by not implementing the National Insurance rise.
-
Jon Snow
My battles for answers over Mephedrone
Jon Snow blogs about his interview with Home Secretary Alan Johnson on Mephedrone
-
Jon Snow
Dealing with drugs needs new thinking and new courage
Alan Johnson’s gift to personkind might be to re-engage Professor David Nutt and join with him in calling a halt to a bankrupt method of handling the drugs disaster
-
Faisal Islam
On drugs policy, crime is the elephant in the room
Were the home secretary ever to appoint a panel of independent economists to advise on drugs, those economists might note that there are alternatives to the present drugs policy which could wipe out certain types of crime altogether.
-
Arizona – the kidnap capital of the US
Arizona is a dangerous place to visit these days. It’s become the kidnap capital of the United States as a wave of violence associated with the raging drug wars in Mexico has swept across the border and into America. More than one abduction a day is reported to the police, and they know that represents…
-
Jon Snow
We have to say no to 'just say no'
There really must be another way. According to The Economist, 5 per cent of the world’s population abuses drugs. Yet the UN conference in Vienna has offered no new routes to combating this world-trashing menace. The Economist, for the second time in 20 years, calls for wholesale legalisation. In a recession the mere tax take…
-
Jon Snow
Admit it: the war on drugs has failed
Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, eats a coca leaf in front of the UN drug committee meeting in Vienna (see video below). He complains about the continuing war on what is a natural product in his country. We have discussed drugs here before. We have not been prepared to admit that the war on drugs…