If YOU don’t talk to your children about drugs and alcohol… who will?

You are invited to a free presentation delivered by the Department of Education, Police and Care for the Family from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

If you would like to attend please contact Carolyn Shipstone on (07624) 491043 or email carolyn.shipstone@cff.org.uk

If YOU don’t talk to your children about drugs and alcohol… who will?

You are invited to a free presentation delivered by the Department of Education, Police and Care for the Family from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

If you would like to attend please contact Carolyn Shipstone on (07624) 491043 or email carolyn.shipstone@cff.org.uk

If YOU don’t talk to your children about drugs and alcohol… who will?

You are invited to a free presentation delivered by the Department of Education, Police and Care for the Family from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

If you would like to attend please contact Carolyn Shipstone on (07624) 491043 or email carolyn.shipstone@cff.org.uk

If YOU don’t talk to your children about drugs and alcohol… who will?

You are invited to a free presentation delivered by the Department of Education, Police and Care for the Family from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

If you would like to attend please contact Carolyn Shipstone on (07624) 491043 or email carolyn.shipstone@cff.org.uk

An e-news round up of International and Island Drug and Alcohol news issued by the Isle of Man Drug and Alcohol Strategy, Chief Executive’s Office, Department of Home Affairs.

Download the Issue 2 Newsletter PDF 233KB

In August 2009 the Home Office announced that the following substances will be banned, subject to parliamentary approval, in December 2009:

• Synthetic cannabinoids such as ‘Spice’ will be controlled as a Class B drug alongside cannabis.
• BZP (Benzylpiperazine) and related piperazines will be controlled as Class C drugs
• GBL (Gamma-Butyrolactone) and a similar chemical – which are converted in to the Class C drug GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) in the body and often used as ‘club drugs’. They will be controlled as Class C drugs and banned when intended for human consumption.

In addition, a further 24 anabolic steroids, testosterone-like products often used by sports people and increasingly being used by the general public, and two growth promoters will be classified as Class C drugs.

Briefing prepared by Dr Harry Sumnall and Olivia Wooding,
Centre for Public Health,
Liverpool John Moores University
Web: www.cph.org.uk

This briefing presents information on the substance Mephedrone (also known as: 4‐ MMC, ‘Meow’, ‘M‐Cat’) and other related drugs. This substance has received recent media attention concerning its legality and (largely unconfirmed) speculations around its contribution to the deaths of several young people. Little scientific evidence is available on mephedrone and most information is derived from users themselves or user orientated websites such as erowid.org. FRANK has some general information on mephedrone (talktofrank.com).

Key points:

• Mephedrone and related drugs are currently legal and have no licensed medicinal use. The ACMD is currently reviewing evidence and is expected to advise Government in 2010.
• Mephedrone is usually available as tablets or powder.
• It costs around £3 for a dose and produces effects that users report are similar, but not identical to, ecstasy/MDMA. Bulk purchases up to 1kg are significantly discounted by retailers.
• The effects last for around 2 to 3 hours when taken orally. After effects such as insomnia may last for several hours longer.
• Negative effects appear to be dose related and are similar to ecstasy/MDMA. They include: a desire to redose, uncomfortable changes in body temperature (sweating and chills), heart palpitations, impaired short term memory, insomnia, tightened jaw muscles, grinding teeth (trismus and bruxia), and light headedness.
• There has been little scientific investigation of mephedrone. Two A&E case reports from London confirmed the presence of mephedrone. In one, the patient presented with heart palpitations and blurred vision; body temperature was slightly below normal. The patient recovered approximately six hours after oral treatment with the benzodiazepine lorazepam. In the second case, mephedrone had been taken with other substances and the presentation was primarily due to ingestion of GHB.
• No information is available on the interaction of mephedrone with other drugs.

Important Note: As there is little scientific evidence available at this time, much of this information was obtained from user reports and the user orientated website www.erowid.org and therefore should be treated with some caution.

Download the full PDF (287KB)

ALL parents and carers of secondary school children are to receive a letter warning about the current threat of legal highs.

Home Affairs Department Member Bill Malarkey, who himself has two teenage daughters, has responsibility for the Chief Minister's Drug and Alcohol Strategy. He said: The issue of the availability of legal highs is taken very seriously by government. We have established a joint working party with representatives from Health, Education and Home Affairs departments investigating the issues that arise from legal highs and the action we can take, with assistance from the Attorney General's Chambers and Customs and Excise.

However, I feel it's important that parents of secondary school children should be fully aware of what is available to their children, and I hope my letter will serve to encourage parents to play their part in educating their children to refuse any drugs that are offered to them whether they are legal substances or any drugs.

We all have a role to play in this, and I want to keep everyone safe this Christmas.

The letter explains that plant food, mephedrone and other substances known as herbal highs can be easily obtained over the internet or bought locally. It states: They are not illegal but that does not mean they are safe. They are known to cause serious medical side effects and behavioural changes and could be fatal. Some are even labelled Not for Human Consumption but this does not seem to discourage people from taking them.

The letter explains what the Isle of Man Government is doing: As a matter of urgency, we are looking at ways we can prevent these substances from being sold but unfortunately as fast as you make one substance illegal, it is replaced by another product almost immediately. This is an ongoing challenge for government.

It concludes with contact numbers and websites where parents can obtain more information about legal highs, including the Department of Education's drug and alcohol liaison officer on 693837 and DASH (Drug Advice Service and Helpline) on 615622, or the Drug and Alcohol Team on 617899.

Mr Malarkey's letter follows an announcement by pub and nightclub licensees that they will call the police and eject anyone in possession of legal highs from their premises. Additionally, people found with substances suspected of being legal highs on licensed premises face the prospect of an unlimited Island-wide ban from all pubs and clubs.

Additional links:

• www.gov.im/dha/ceo/danda
• www.bealcoholawareiom.com
• www.gov.im/lib/docs/education//drugalcoholpolicy.pdf
• www.daa.im
• www.drugs.org.im

What are they?

• So called ‘legal highs’ are substances that are taken to achieve an altered state of mind (a “high”), that are not currently controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and therefore are legal to possess.
• There are a large number of substances, some sold under brand names, known as ‘legal highs’, some examples are: GBL, BZP, Mephedrone, and “Spice”.
• They can be called all kinds of names, for example: Legal E, Party Pills, Fast Lane, Silver Bullet.
• Some legal highs can have similar effects to stimulant or depressant drugs that are illegal, such as euphoria and reduced inhibitions, and a range of side effects such as paranoia, fits and even a risk of coma or death.

What you need to know

• You usually can't know exactly what you're really taking if you take a ‘legal high’, so the effects can be very unpredictable
• Just because they are legal to possess doesn't mean they are safe Most of theses substances are illegal to sell, supply, or advertise for human consumption, under medicines legislation, because of their effects on the body.
• Legal highs can contain a range of potentially dangerous chemicals, and their chemical makeup changes all the time — so you can never be 100% certain what you have bought, and what the effects might be.
• The chemicals in legal highs have, in most cases, never before been used as drugs, so have had no tests performed on them to show that they are safe. Nor do they have a long history of use, so that health problems would have become apparent.
• Legal highs can carry a serious health risk.
• Some legal highs, such as GBL, have been implicated in some cases of death
• You increase the risk if you combine alcohol with any substance that causes a ‘high’, including the risk of death.

The risks

• Risks range from reduced inhibitions, drowsiness, excited or paranoid states, coma, seizures, and death.
• The risks are increased if you combine taking legal highs with alcohol or other depressant or stimulant substances.
• Because they are new, and the chemical makeup of many legal highs is constantly changing, the risks are unpredictable and are often still being analysed.

What does the law say?

• Even though some substances may not be controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 — for example, in the same way as cannabis and cocaine are — it can still be illegal to sell, supply or advertise them under medicines legislation.
• Many suppliers use descriptions such as bath salts, plant food, research chemicals, fertiliser and cleaning fluid, or statements such as ‘not for human consumption’ in order to try to get around the law.
• Subject to Parliamentary agreement, the Government will make a number of these so called ‘legal highs’ illegal under the 1971 Act, by the end of the year. These are GBL (and its like chemical l,4-Butanediol (l,4-BD) (when intended for human consumption only); BZP and its related compounds (such as mCPP,TFMPPand others); and synthetic cannabinoids (such as those found in “Spice”).
• The Government and its advisers, the ACMD (Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs) continue to monitor the risks and harms from a variety of legal and illegal substances. The Government is committed to take action against other so called ‘legal highs’ that pose a significant health risk.
• In March this year (2009), the ACMD was commissioned by the Government to look at the harms and availability of so called ‘legal highs’. Its advice on synthetic cannabinoids¹ is the first output of this work.
• As a priority of the ACMD's thematic review, it will be looking at the ‘cathinone’ compounds², which include Mephedrone. Its advice will inform government's response to these substances.

What else is Class B?

Subject to Parliamentary agreement, synthetic cannabinoids will be controlled under the 1971 Act as Class B drugs.

• Class B drugs include: cannabis and amphetamines³.
• You can get up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine, or both, for possession, and up to 14 years in prison, or an unlimited fine, or both, for dealing.

What else is Class C?

Subject to Parliamentary agreement, GBL and l,4-BD, (when intended for human consumption only), as well as BZP and its related compounds will be controlled under the 1971 Act as Class C drugs.

• Class C drugs include: tranquillisers, steroids, Ketamine, and GHB.
• You can get up to two years in prison, or an unlimited fine, or both, for possession, and up to 14 years in prison, or an unlimited fine, or both, for dealing.

Information taken from http://talktofrank.com.

• 1. See ACMD's Report.
• 2. These compounds are ‘cousins’ of the pheneythylamines (family of amphetamine compounds that include MDMA ‘ecstasy’). Cathinone and some of its derivatives are already controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (e.g. Cathinone itself; Methcathinone), but most substituted cathinones are not controlled. These include: 4-Methylmethcathinone (Mephedrone, 4-MMC); 4-Methoxymethcathinone (Methadrone) and Methylone (the cathinone analogue of MDMA).
• 3. Other amphetamines are either Class A (methylamphetamine) or are Class C substances such as benzphetamine.

The Department of Education Drug and Alcohol Liaison Officer (Orla O’Donoghue) invites students to put their name forward to represent their school year or college for opinions and suggestions for supporting the Chief Minister's Drug and Alcohol Strategy, the schools' Drug and Alcohol Curriculum, and many other drug and alcohol projects.

If this appeals to you please email Orla.

The Department of Education, The Isle of Man constabulary and Care for the Family present to parents and carers on a regular basis.

The next sessions will be from 1.15pm to 3.15pm on:

• 6th March at Rushen Primary school
• 9th March at Scoill Ree Gorry school
• 16th March at Ballacottier school
• 23rd March at Peel Clothworkers school

If you would like to attend please e-mail.