The mayor of London is to launch a review examining the feasibility of decriminalising cannabis as part of a new approach to tackling drug-related crime. Should he be re-elected on 6 May, Sadiq Khan said he would set up an independent London drugs commission to examine the potential health, economic and criminal justice benefits of decriminalising the class-B drug. Khan believes there is widespread public support for a more relaxed approach to decriminalisation, citing polls showing more than half of the UK – and nearly two-thirds of those in the capital – support legalising cannabis for adult recreational use. (See also: By 52% to 32% Britons say they would support the legalisation of cannabis in the UK | Why cannabis reform is a vote winner in London)

A new service providing medical grade heroin to the most problematic drug users in Glasgow is ready to open. The Enhanced Drug Treatment Service will treat the most at risk heroin users who are in danger of overdose, HIV and Hepatitis C. The facility is a first in Scotland and described by officials as "gold standard" treatment. The facility, costing £1.2m which is located just outside the city centre expects to treat around 20 patients in the first year and doubling to 40 in year two. The city’s Health and Social Care Partnership wants to open a safe drug consumption facility on the same site but UK drug laws currently won’t allow it. (See also: Scottish government urged to declare drug addiction emergency | Pioneering Glasgow clinic offers addicts pharmaceutical grade heroin)

On 1 November 2018, the UK changed the law on medicinal cannabis. Medicinal cannabis products were moved from schedule 1, meaning they have no medicinal value, to schedule 2, which allowed doctors to prescribe them under certain circumstances. This change to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 was partly a response to a rapid evidence review by the chief medical officer, which concluded that some medicinal cannabis products were effective for some medical conditions, and partly due to formal advice from the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to change the schedule. Since the rescheduling, many NHS patients have been frustrated by what they see as a slow and bureaucratic system that has denied them access to cannabis treatments.

The Metropolitan police could change how it deals with cannabis possession amid concerns stop and search powers damage community relations, and yield little in the way of illegal drugs. The move is part of plans drawn up by London’s mayor to ease the race crisis engulfing policing. More potential changes will be unveiled later on Thursday to the way Britain’s biggest force deals with communities in London. Research starting this month will examine how effective the Met’s pursuit of those suspected of possessing cannabis is in tackling violence in London. Suspicion of drug possession is the most common reason given by officers when using controversial stop and search powers, with black people more likely to be stopped than white.

A scheme that will see drug addicts given daily doses of medical-grade heroin will begin. Costing £12,000 per person, the scheme in Middlesbrough, on Teesside, will see people take diamorphine twice a day under medical supervision. The Heroin Assisted Treatment facility was announced last September but organisers said they had only recently secured the necessary licences. Critics have said the scheme would perpetuate addiction. Danny Ahmed, of Foundations Medical Practice which will host the clinic, said: "This treatment and recovery pilot is aimed at those for whom all other current methods have failed. This removes the constant need to commit crime in order to fund street heroin addiction."

A Cabinet minister has denied that behind the scenes talks with London are the reason for a delay in sending controversial legislation on legalising cannabis in Bermuda to the Governor for consideration. The remarks came after OBA former premier Craig Cannonier said the fact that the Cannabis Licensing Bill had not been sent to Government House more than four weeks after passing Parliament was “unusual”. Mr Cannonier insisted he had information that the delay may have been caused by correspondence between the Government and 10 Downing Street over the issue. However, Jason Hayward, the Economy and Labour Minister, dismissed the suggestion. Mr Hayward told a press conference: “I am not aware of any negotiations.”

A drug consumption van where addicts can inject heroin has been launched in Glasgow - despite warnings it could be breaking the law. Peter Krykant, a recovering heroin addict and former drugs worker, has modified a minibus into a facility where he says addicts can safely take drugs under supervision. He hopes it will help prevent overdoses and blood-borne viruses among users. The UK government said it had no plans to introduce drug consumption rooms. It added that anyone running such a facility would be committing offences including possession of a controlled drug and being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug. (See also: 'I'll risk jail to save lives'; UK's first illegal drugs consumption room launches in Glasgow)

A protest against the government’s proposed ban of legal highs erupted in laughter on Saturday, as dozens of demonstrators simultaneously inhaled nitrous oxide outside the Houses of Parliament. The demonstration was in opposition to the psychoactive substances bill, which would criminalise the sale and supply of any mood-altering drug not specifically excluded from existing drugs legislation. The demonstration was organised by the Psychedelic Society of London, whose members were on hand dishing out balloons filled with nitrous oxide, known as nox, as well as leaflets instructing protesters how to use the drug safely.

More than 1,100 children have been trafficked into the UK’s drug trade, new Home Office figures reveal. The data obtained by the drug reform charity Transform shows that 1,173 children were enslaved by drug dealers in 2019. Figures from January to December 2019 show that the majority of the 1,853 people estimated by the Home Office to have been trafficked into the illicit drugs business were children. Transform obtained the Home Office statistics through a freedom of information request and released them on Thursday to mark the UN’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. (See also: UK must regulate drug market to combat human trafficking)

Drug addicts should be allowed to use illicit substances in “supervised injecting facilities” with medical staff on hand to ensure no one dies, health groups are urging ministers. Senior doctors, public health specialists, drug experts and health charities want the government to approve trials of “overdose prevention centres” (OPCs) to cut Britain’s soaring toll of drug deaths. Supporters of the idea say that while letting users consume hard drugs in safe places, watched over by nurses and doctors, is controversial, it reduces fatalities and drug-related crime. Scores of organisations and individuals working in the health and drug fields have signed a statement co-ordinated by the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) calling on ministers to permit the creation of some centres in order to save lives.

Public Health England has been accused of watering down a briefing on the life-saving merits of overdose prevention centres (OPCs) after a paper was retracted and then rereleased with a much less optimistic outlook on the facilities. The paper by PHE’s knowledge and library service was published in March 2019 after appeals from Labour to run pilots of OPCs but it was taken down and altered by the agency’s national drugs team after it faced calls to recommend the establishment of such centres in the UK. The Scottish government released a report on international approaches to drug policy reform which said OPC’s have “consistently been shown” to prevent fatal overdoses, improve uptake of addiction treatment and provide healthcare to hard-to-reach communities.

A former chief inspector has said he believes that over a third of drug stop-and-searches by UK police are used “as an excuse to harass people”, after an analysis showed that officers are using the powers as a pretext to punish or exert control, rather than to find drugs. Despite a 2011 decision to rein in stop-and-search because so many Black and Asian people were being targeted, the tactic is back on the rise after a surge in knife crime. There was a sharp jump in the number of searches between 2017/18 and 2018/19, from 250,000 to 384,000. Despite the coronavirus lockdown, that figure has skyrocketed in London, increasing by 103 percent in the year up to May of 2020. (See also: As a police officer, I know stop and search is really about power)

While the COVID-19 lockdown might have brought most parts of the economy to a halt, it seems to have had little affect on drug dealers. They have even found opportunity in the situation. They wear personal protective equipment (PPE) to avoid infection, finding a neat way to cover their faces to avoid police surveillance in the process. The COVID-19 pandemic has not diminished the supply of and demand for illicit drugs in the UK – particularly cannabis and cocaine. And while it might be difficult to see the attraction of using stimulants and party drugs like MDMA and cocaine in the confines of your own home during lockdown, users seem to be taking full advantage of the extra time on their hands.

There is no evidence that tough enforcement of the drug laws on personal possession leads to lower levels of drug use, according to the UK government’s first evidence-based study. Examining international drug laws, the groundbreaking Home Office document brings to an end 40 years of almost unbroken official political rhetoric that only harsher penalties can tackle the problem caused by the likes of heroin, cocaine or cannabis. It is signed off by the Conservative home secretary, Theresa May, and the Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker. (See also: Government’s drug laws survey was suppressed, Lib Dem minister says)

Black Britons are increasingly likely to be stopped and searched by police compared with white people, according to shocking new figures that challenge Theresa May’s attempt to reform the controversial power. The most authoritative analysis of the data since the Stephen Lawrenceinquiry nearly 20 years ago found that black Britons are now nine times more likely to be stopped and searched for drugs than white people, despite using illegal substances at a lower rate. In 2014, when home secretary, May announced measures to make stop and search less biased, describing it as “unfair, especially to young black men”. But instead, the study The Colour of Injustice: ‘Race’, drugs and law enforcement in England and Wales found that its use has become more discriminatory.

The regulation of khat, one of the most recent psychoactive drugs to become a globally traded commodity, remains hotly contested within different producer and consumer countries. As regimes vary, it has been possible to compare khat policies in Africa, Europe and North America from different disciplinary perspectives. The research established the significance of khat for rural producers, regional economies, as a tax base and source of foreign exchange. At the same time, khat as a psychoactive substance is associated with health and public safety problems that in turn are met with often ill-informed legislative responses. Bans have in turn lead to the criminalisation of users and sellers and illegal drug markets.

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La gobernadora de Bermudas, Rena Lalgie, anunció que el Reino Unido bloqueó la controvertida apuesta del Gobierno local de legalizar el uso y la producción del cannabis en este territorio británico de ultramar. "He recibido una instrucción, emitida a mí en nombre de Su Majestad (la reina Isabel II), de no aprobar el proyecto de ley tal como está redactado", dijo la gobernadora en un comunicado sobre una medida que estaba pendiente desde hace meses del consentimiento real. Lalgie detalló que Londres concluyó que el proyecto de ley "no es coherente con las obligaciones que tienen el Reino Unido y Bermudas en virtud de la Convención Única sobre Estupefacientes de 1961". (Véase también: Bermudas seguirá adelante con su proyecto para legalizar la producción de cannabis)

Sadiq Khan has appointed a drugs tsar to explore the potential benefits of legalising cannabis. The mayor has asked Lord Falconer, formerly Lord Chancellor in Tony Blair’s government and a current member of Labour’s shadow cabinet, to lead a review of the law on the class B drug. Establishing a London drugs commission was a manifesto pledge and Mr Khan has previously called for an “evidence-based approach” to potential decriminalisation. Mr Khan said the commission would examine the effectiveness of UK drugs laws on cannabis and the potential for reducing “drug-related harm”. City Hall does not have the power to change the criminal law but could influence the debate. (Transform: London's cannabis commission: what can it actually achieve?)

Sadiq Khan’s proposed plan to end the prosecution of young people caught with cannabis in three London boroughs “does not go far enough”, according to experts. It was reported this week that the Mayor of London is considering a new pilot scheme in the boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley that would see any under-25s caught with small amounts of cannabis redirected to education or counselling services instead of facing arrest. Experts in the fields of criminal justice and public health have welcomed the move. But Professor Alex Stevens, professor of criminal justice at the University of Kent, has called for the Mayor of London to be more ambitious with his proposals. (See also: A drugs-related criminal record is often more harmful than the drug itself)