Saturday, 21 August 2010
Legal high drugs to be banned immediately
Ministers have become highly concerned about the increasing popularity of so-called legal high substances, and have been frustrated by their inability to halt their arrival and sale in the UK.
This week the legal high substance Ivory Wave was blamed for the death of chef Michael Bishton, 24, whose body was found in the sea in Whitecliff Bay, near Bembridge, Isle of Wight, on Saturday.
Currently the Home Office’s advisers on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs have to consider the danger of a drug before it can be banned.
However, this process is seen as too unwieldy. Instead, under the changes, ministers will be able to ban legal high drugs temporarily, while the advisory council meets to discuss a permanent ban.
Tougher penalties will also be brought in, with suppliers facing 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine if they are caught with a legal high substance which has been banned temporarily.
However there will no penalties for anyone caught in possession to “prevent the unnecessary criminalisation of the young”, the Home Office said.
James Brokenshire, the Crime Prevention minister, said: “The drugs market is changing and we need to adapt current laws to allow us to act more quickly.
“The temporary ban allows us to act straight away to stop new substances gaining a foothold in the market and help us tackle unscrupulous drug dealers trying to get round the law by peddling dangerous chemicals to young people.
“Anyone tempted to try a legal high must understand it is not safe or sensible to take a substance when you do not know what it is or what is in it - especially when some are claimed to be pond cleaner or bath salts.”
The new powers are expected to be in place by the end of the year, when an amendment is tabled in Parliament to the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act.
Under the proposals, police will be able to confiscate suspected substances and the UK Border Agency will seize shipments entering the country.
Earlier this month it emerged that six people were admitted to hospital in Cumbria after it was believed they had used the latest legal high drug Ivory Wave.
The drug - openly on sale for £15 a packet and labelled as "soothing" bath salts – is said to be more dangerous than mephedrone, known as "miaow miaow".
That drug, which was sold as “plant food”, was banned in April after it was linked to up to 26 deaths.
Tim Hollis, the lead on drugs policy at the Association of Chief Police Officers, said it welcomed plans to introduce temporary bans on legal highs.
He said: “All too often people think that just because a product is legal, it is safe. However the make-up of these substances is often unknown and can be dangerous.
“The emphasis is clearly on public safety. Police will continue to focus our enforcement on those who import and deal in these drugs. We also look forward to contributing to the Government’s drugs policy consultation.”
Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee last month, Home Secretary Theresa May said legal highs were the "next battle" in the fight against drugs.
Christopher Hope @'The Telegraph'
vaughanbell 'Legal highs' to be banned immediately as they appear in the UK. http://is.gd/esyyt
It's like having Monty Python in power.
It's like having Monty Python in power. 
ggreenwald Kudos to @SeanPaulKelley -a harsh critic of WikiLeaks' non-redacted disclosures- for re-considering in light of evidence: http://is.gd/esl4f
Brits in the Big Apple!
New York is home to some 120,000 English men and women - including photographer Jason Bell. Inspired by the sheer number of British-born people who live there, he tracked down some of better known faces, but also others who do their 'day jobs' in The Big Apple.
His photographic results - published in a new book 'An Englishman in New York' - are on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London. BBC Radio 4's magazine programme Broadcasting House travelled to the US - and caught up with Jason, and some of his subjects.
An Englishman in New York: Photographs by Jason Bell' can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery, London, until 17 April 2011.
Jason Bell can be heard on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House, on Sunday 22 August from 0900 BST.
All photographs copyright Jason Bell. Music by Sting.
Related links
Video protects girls from the negative effects of looking at ultra-thin models
'No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted' - that's the concluding catchphrase of a one-minute video called 'evolution' made by Dove a few years ago to show how cosmetics and computer trickery are used to create the unrealistic portrayals of female models on advertising billboards. Now a team of researchers at the University of the West of England, led by Emma Halliwell, have tested whether viewing this short video can buffer young girls against the negative effects of looking at images of ultra-thin female models. Past research found such a benefit when adult women viewed a similar video but this is the first time the idea has been investigated with young girls.
One hundred and twenty-seven girls, aged ten to thirteen, from two schools in the South of England, were recruited for what they thought was an evaluation of 'attitudes to health, appearance and magazines'. In keeping with the cover story, tests of body satisfaction and esteem were embedded among other questionnaires to try to conceal the true purpose of the study.
Consistent with past research, girls who looked at thin models subsequently reported lower body satisfaction and confidence compared with girls who looked at pictures of landscapes. The key finding was that this negative effect was not seen among the girls who watched the Dove video first, before looking at the ultra-thin models. The body self-esteem and confidence of these girls was just the same as among girls who watched the video and then looked at pictures of landscapes.
'Theoretically, we assume that the intervention disrupted the upward social comparisons that many young girls make when viewing idealised media images,' the researchers concluded. 'Moreover, we propose that the comparison is avoided because the media models have been construed as artificial and, therefore, an inappropriate comparison target.' Halliwell and her team added that future research will be needed to test the truth of this reasoning and also to test whether the benefits of watching the evolution video, or others like it, can be sustained over time.
One hundred and twenty-seven girls, aged ten to thirteen, from two schools in the South of England, were recruited for what they thought was an evaluation of 'attitudes to health, appearance and magazines'. In keeping with the cover story, tests of body satisfaction and esteem were embedded among other questionnaires to try to conceal the true purpose of the study.
Consistent with past research, girls who looked at thin models subsequently reported lower body satisfaction and confidence compared with girls who looked at pictures of landscapes. The key finding was that this negative effect was not seen among the girls who watched the Dove video first, before looking at the ultra-thin models. The body self-esteem and confidence of these girls was just the same as among girls who watched the video and then looked at pictures of landscapes.
'Theoretically, we assume that the intervention disrupted the upward social comparisons that many young girls make when viewing idealised media images,' the researchers concluded. 'Moreover, we propose that the comparison is avoided because the media models have been construed as artificial and, therefore, an inappropriate comparison target.' Halliwell and her team added that future research will be needed to test the truth of this reasoning and also to test whether the benefits of watching the evolution video, or others like it, can be sustained over time.
Friday, 20 August 2010
Can an 11-year-old be a sex offender?
To tell it one way, on Wednesday, a British judge let the two accused sexual assailants of an 8-year-old girl go free. Or to put it another way, a pair of little boys have been put on trial for their innocent curiosity, and now carry the stigma of being registered sex offenders. In this story, nobody wins.
Later, under intense questioning, she said she had lied about being raped, but that she had been "naughty," and that she had been afraid to tell her mother. Attorneys in the case described it as a game of "show me yours and I will show you mine." In her testimony, the girl said she had not been penetrated, and there was no forensic evidence to suggest she had been.
The boys, who now have the distinction of being Britain's youngest registered sex offenders, received three years probation. They will be supervised, and work with social workers who will "train, guide and educate" them. In handing down the sentence, the judge said, "The jury decided that you did something very wrong which if you had been older would have very serious consequences for you. But you are very young and while I do not accept what happened was a game, I do accept that you didn’t realize how serious what you were doing was."
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