London: Drinking Water Now Contaminated By Cocaine: REPORT

Cocaine use in the UK is now so common that traces of the drug have contaminated the drinking water supply, a report has shown. www.drugs.ie

In a study to assess the dangers from pharmaceutical compounds appearing in the water we drink, scientists discovered traces of cocaine after it had gone through intensive purification treatments.

Experts from the Drinking Water Inspectorate found supplies contained benzoylecgonine, the metabolised form of the drug that appears once it has passed through the body. It is the same compound that is looked for in urine-based drug tests for cocaine.

Steve Rolles, from the drug policy think tank Transform, told The Sunday Times that the findings were an indication of the scale of the use of the drug in Britain today.

“We have the near highest level of cocaine use in western Europe,” he said. “It has also been getting cheaper and cheaper at the same time as its use has been going up.”

According to the charity DrugScope, www.drugscope.org.uk there are around 180,000 dependent users of crack cocaine in England, and nearly 700,000 people aged 16-59 are estimated to take cocaine every year in Britain.

As well as benzoylecgonine, scientists also found traces of the common pain-killer ibuprofen and carbamazepine, a drug for treating epilepsy. The drinking water

tested also contained significantly higher quantities of caffeine.

Assessing the risk from pharmaceuticals appearing in the water supply, a recent report from Public Health England found that the quantities of cocaine found were

around a quarter of what appeared before treatment and, at a dose of just 4 nanograms per litre, was unlikely to represent a danger to the public.

“Intakes of the compounds detected in drinking water are many orders of magnitude lower than levels therapeutic doses,” the report said.

“Estimated exposures for most of the detected compounds are at least thousands of times below doses seen to produce adverse effects in animals and hundreds of thousands below human therapeutic doses.”
“Thus, the detected pharmaceuticals are unlikely to present a risk to health.”

NETHERLANDS: Dublin Gangster 'Fat Freddie Thompson' Arrested: UPDATED

Freddie Thompson is wanted in connection with an assault in a pub in Dublin in January of last year

A major Dublin criminal has been arrested in the Netherlands on foot of an extradition warrant.

Freddie Thompson, from Loreto Road in Maryland, Dublin 8, was detained by Dutch police today.

A false ID card and a falsely-obtained genuine passport were also seized.

UPDATE:

CRIME boss 'Fat' Freddie Thompson has been arrested wearing a disguise including a fake beard.

The mobster is wanted by gardai in connection with a violent disorder investigation following a row in a Dublin pub last year.

He was arrested when heavily armed Dutch police stormed a flat in Amsterdam yesterday.

The international warrant for his arrest was issued in January and it was thought that he was in Spain.

But the 33-year-old, from Loreto Road in Maryland, Dublin 8, was found hiding in a rundown area of Amsterdam where he had been living under an assumed name.

The Herald has learned that Dutch detectives learned of his whereabouts some time ago but had to be certain that the suspect was Thompson before making their move.

As a result of fresh intelligence, they decided to detain him yesterday and a special team of armed officers surrounded the flat before arresting him.

When he was detained, he was found in possession of false ID documents and a genuine passport, which had been doctored to match the ID.

Thompson was extradited to Spain two-and-a-half years ago after the Spanish authorities named him as a member of an international organisation based on the Costa del Sol.

The gang has members in a number of countries including Spain, the UK and Ireland.

Thompson had been living in Spain, but travelled regularly to Ireland.

He is currently on bail in Spain and being investigated there after police linked him to the organised crime empire of Christy Kinahan.

Detectives suspect Thompson worked for cocaine cartel controller Kinahan, dealing his drugs and laundering the proceeds.

Up to 30 members of the Kinahan mob were arrested by Spanish police in May 2010 under Operation Shovel.

While Thompson was not in Spain at the time Kinahan's gang were lifted, gardai arrested him here and sent him back in October 2011. He was allowed to return to Dublin at the start of last year.

BOTTLE:

WHILE HOME, HE WAS IN A SOUTH CITY PUB ON JANUARY 7 FOLLOWING THE FUNERAL OF GANGLAND MURDER VICTIM CHRISTY WARREN WHEN HE IS ALLEGED TO HAVE 

THROWN A BOTTLE AT A CUSTOMER AND PUNCHED HIM.

He is also accused of attacking two women at the bar and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Although no complaint was made to gardai, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Gardai are expected to apply immediately for Thompson's extradition back to Dublin to face charges related to the row in the pub and also to the possession of a false Irish passport.

Thompson ruled half of the vicious Crumlin-Drimnagh fighting factions that have claimed 17 lives in Dublin since 2001.

Thompson is said to have married his partner Vicky Dempsey in recent months.

In January, he failed to attend the funeral of his uncle, who died in jail.

Drug dealer John Brannigan was found dead in his cell in Wheatfield Prison.

The 49-year-old, who was a chronic drug addict, had been serving an 11-year sentence for dealing. It is believed he suffered a heart attack.

Brannigan was the father of one of Thompson's closest friends, Liam Brannigan.
UPDATE ENDS:
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RELATED AUDIO & VIDEO

• Watch: Freddie Thompson arrested in the Netherlands

Mr Thompson, who is 32, is wanted by gardaí in connection with an assault in a pub in Dublin in January of last year.

The incident took place at a reception following the funeral of a gangland criminal.

Thompson was extradited to Spain two-and-a-half years ago after the Spanish authorities named him in the High Court as a member of an international organisation based on the Costa Del Sol, which has members in a number of countries, including Spain, the UK and Ireland.

Mr Thompson had been living in Spain, but travelled regularly to Ireland.

Kildare: Failure To Monitor Drug Side-Effects Killing Patients: Psychiatrist

Failure to monitor the side-effects of drugs to treat long-term mental illness is shaving up to 20 years off the lives of thousands of patients, according to a leading consultant psychiatrist.

Siobhán Barry said up to 100,000 people, “enough to fill Croke Park on any given Sunday”, are on psychotropic medications — which have been shown to cause conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

This was mainly because of the significant weight gain associated with these drugs, said Dr Barry. In addition, many suffering mental ill health also smoked, and this compounded their physical health problems.

Yet the reality was psychiatric outpatients were not regularly monitored for the adverse health effects of long-term medication.

Ideally, their metabolic and cardiac health should be monitored from the time they started on medication and then checked every six months, Dr Barry said.

Potential problems could be picked up that way and addressed early. Failure to carry out these health checks was “reckless”, she said.

Instead, she said, they “die 20 years younger than their peers” who do not have enduring mental illness and are not on long-term medication.

The drugs in question included powerful tranquillisers such as Olanzapine, used to treat schizophrenia, rather than common antidepressants.

Addressing doctors at the Irish Medical Organisation’s AGM in Co Kildare, Dr Barry proposed a motion calling on Health Minister James Reilly to request that the Mental Health Commission audit the adequacy of facilities available for the physical monitoring of outpatients prescribed long-term psychotropic medication.

The motion was passed unanimously.

A separate motion calling on Dr Reilly to “urgently publish guidelines” in respect of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was also passed.

Outgoing IMO president, consultant psychiatrist Matt Sadlier, said failure to supply guidelines to doctors was akin to giving someone sitting a driving test a copy of a Road Traffic Act instead of the rules of the road.

However, the Department of Health said yesterday that a final draft of the guidance document to assist health professionals in the implementation of the Act has been signed off by a committee tasked with drawing up the guidelines.

“It is expected that this document will be ready for publication and dissemination shortly,” a department spokesman said.

Dublin: Ballymun Shooting Me Be Linked To Republican Dissents

The man was shot a number of times at Gateway Avenue in Ballymun

A man has been shot dead in Dublin.

He was shot a number of times at Gateway Avenue in Ballymun at around 8.45am.

The man has been named as John O'Regan and is believed to be in his 40s.

The killing is most likely to be linked to dissent republican criminal elements who are active in that Ballymun/Finglas area od Dublin City.

RELATED AUDIO & VIDEO

• Watch: Man shot dead in Dublin gun attack

He was brought to the Mater Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The scene has been preserved and gardaí are investigating the incident.

They are appealing for witnesses to contact Ballymun Garda Station on 01 6664400, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any garda station.

Keywords: ballymun shooting

Dublin: One-In-Five Problem Drinkers Abuse Other Drugs: REPORT

More than 40,000 cases were treated for problem alcohol use between 2008 and 2012 according to new figures from the Health Research Board (HRB).

High level findings

• The total number of cases increased from 7,940 in 2008, to 8,604 in 2011; then decreased to 8,336 in 2012.
• The number of new cases decreased in 2012, while numbers returning for treatment increased.
• One-in-five are using other drugs along with alcohol.
• The proportion of cases in employment has decreased from 30% in 2008 to 20% in 2012.
• There are notable regional differences in the numbers presenting for treatment.
•  In 2012, two out of three cases presenting were male and the median age of cases was 40 years old.
• Age 16 remains the median age that people in treatment started drinking - below the legal age. This has not changed for five years (2008 – 2012).

According to Graham Love, Chief Executive of the Health Research Board,

‘These figures indicate the level of harmful drinking taking place in Ireland. The adoption of the Public Health Alcohol Bill, which includes the introduction of minimum pricing, the regulation of the marketing and advertising of alcohol, and the health labelling of alcohol products, should help address key areas of alcohol-harm reduction among Irish people.'

Commenting on the findings HRB lead researcher, Dr Suzi Lyons, says,

‘The decrease between 2011 and 2012 reflects a fall in the number of new cases presenting for the first time. However, there was an increase in the number of cases returning for treatment which reflects a growth in the number of cases with chronic alcohol use problems.

The overall decrease could reflect a drop in people presenting for treatment, levels of participation and reporting to the HRB by the services Nationwide or a combination of both’.

Polydrug use

Almost one-in-five cases treated for problem alcohol use in 2012 also reported using at least one other drug. The most common drugs used in addition to alcohol were cannabis, cocaine, benzodiazepines and ecstasy.

‘The main concern with using more than one drug is that it increases complexity of cases and often leads to poorer outcomes for the patient’, explains Dr Lyons.

Regional trends

The incidence of new cases between 2008 and 2012 were highest in Waterford, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and Wexford. All of these counties had more than 224 cases per 100,000 of the 15-64 year old population. Incidence was lowest in Clare, Roscommon, Wicklow, Mayo and Meath, with each county reporting less than 83 cases per 100,000 of the 15-64 year old population.

‘Our records show different levels of reporting from different counties. In some regions all services are reporting all cases to the HRB, whereas there are inconsistent returns from others, which we can see in the West in particular. Incomplete reporting means that some counties figures understate the number of cases presenting for treatment. This could lead to inaccurate assessment in terms of need for services in a particular area’, concludes Dr Lyons.

The full report, Treated problem alcohol use in Ireland: figures from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System, is available at the LINK below.

See more at:

Treated problem alcohol use in Ireland: 2012 figures from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System