 U.K. to Give Free Heroin to Addicts
A pilot program in Brighton and Hove, England will distribute free heroin to addicts in a bid to cut crime and addiction.
The U.K.'s National Health Service is sponsoring the program, which would cost between $20,000 and $30,000 per user annually. Addicts would be allowed to inject themselves with government-provided heroin under supervision, similar to a "safe-injection" site established in Vancouver, Canada. They also would receive doses of methadone to take home with them at night.
Outcomes among the addicts taking part in the program will be compared to those of 10 patients receiving methadone only.
However, Peter Stoker of the U.K.'s National Drug Prevention Alliance criticized the program. "It is perpetuating dependency," he said. "Abstinence should be their goal, not continuance. There needs to be a plan on how to give up, not how to keep on using."
Rich Cook, a recovering heroin addict who runs a recovery group in Brighton, said his main concern is what happens when the pilot program ends. "The downside would be the aftercare. Will people be supported after the trial ends? I have been assured they will be supported but it is a concern the trial would just stop."¤
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 Mexican Drug War Spreads to YouTube
Warring factions in Mexico's bloody drug war are trading insults and warnings in violent videos posted online at YouTube.
Videos posted by warring cartels on the Internet site include "narcocorridos," or drug-trafficker ballads, by performers like singer Valentin Elizalde, whose hits included "To All My Enemies." The video for the song features images of shooting victims; Elizalde himself was gunned down after a concert in November.
Even more graphic are execution videos posted by rival cartels as warnings to rivals and informers; some include death threats, which also are transmitted via online chat rooms. Experts say the cartels have borrowed the tactics from Islamist terror groups like al Qaida.
The videos represent a potential gold mine of information for law enforcement, but Mexican police have been slow to monitor sites like YouTube for anti-drug intelligence. "It's a shame," said Alejandro Paez Varela, an editor at the Mexican magazine Dia Siete. "Everything's here: names, places. They even say who they are going to kill."
"Mexican law enforcement is ill-equipped to deal with this," said Andrew Teekell, an analyst at Stratfor, a private intelligence firm.
Meanwhile, partly thanks to YouTube exposure, the late Elizalde has two of the three top-selling Latin albums in the U.S.
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