UN WARNS OF CRYSTAL METH PANDEMIC

A dance and sex drug which is more addictive than crack cocaine is
becoming a global problem, the United Nations' drug control agency
warned today.

The International Narcotics Control Board said it was concerned about
rising use of methamphetamine, or crystal meth.

The board called on governments across the world to introduce tougher
restrictions on chemicals used in the manufacture of the drug, which
is also known in varying forms as "ice", "meth", "Tina" and "Nazi crank".

The drug's use has increased exponentially in the past decade,
particularly in the US where it is considered to be a major problem.
The American singer Rufus Wainwright is among several celebrities who
have admitted overcoming an addiction to crystal meth, which allows
users to stay awake for days and increases sexual arousal.

The INCB president, Hamid Ghodse, said the use of methamphetamine was
"extremely worrying".

"If I want to pick on one major drug problem pandemic today, it is
methamphetamine," Professor Ghodse said. "It has not yet affected that
much of western European countries and the UK but, as we know, as drug
misuse occurs in North America, sooner or later it gets here."

He added: "We are trying to encourage governments to focus on the
precursor chemicals used in the drug's manufacture, so that we can try
to prevent any wider abuse of methamphetamine."

Crystal meth was now regarded as the No 1 problem drug in North
America, Prof Ghodse said.

But the extent of its use in Britain is obscured by the fact that
seizures and arrests are lumped in with amphetamines, meaning no
statistics are collected specifically on crystal meth.

Police chiefs and the government have commissioned separate studies
into methamphetamine to see if the use of crystal meth is spreading.
The home secretary, Charles Clarke, has ordered that drug deaths be
monitored to see if they are linked to the drug.

Customs will send all seizures of odourless white powders to forensic
labs for analysis and new mental health patients with drug problems
will be tested to see if they have taken crystal meth.

However, in November, the government's Advisory Council on Drugs
Misuse advised against reclassifying crystal meth from a class B drug
to class A because it could have the "unintended consequence of
engendering interest among potential users".

Meth is a synthetic drug that can be snorted, smoked, injected or
eaten, and is relatively simple to make from household products using
a basic school chemistry set. The highly volatile mix of chemicals has
caused several explosions in the US. Canada recently introduced life
sentences for its manufacture.

The INCB's annual report also said governments should screen all
incoming and outgoing mail to combat "drugs by post" scams. Drug
dealers were increasingly using the postal system to move the
substances across borders, Prof Ghodse said.

Each country should set up regular and thorough searches of mail -
including private carriers - and limit the points of entry for
parcels, the report said.

Meanwhile, a report commissioned by MPs today raised questions over
the way the government classified illegal drugs.

The study for the all-party science and technology select committee
said that including magic mushrooms in the same category as heroin and
crack cocaine did not appear to reflect scientific evidence.

It concluded that drugs were not put in class A, B or C according to
the harm they caused; instead varying criteria had been applied from
drug to drug. The report did not, however, come to any conclusions
about the effectiveness of current drug classifications.

In January, Mr Clarke announced plans for a complete overhaul of the
way illegal drugs were categorised and prohibited.

Today's report, by consultants Rand Europe, said: "Classification is
not based upon a set of standards for harm caused by a drug, it varied
depending upon the drug in question."

On magic mushrooms being in the most serious category, where supplying
the drugs carries life imprisonment, it added: "The positioning of
them in class A does not seem to reflect any scientific evidence that
they are of equivalent harm to other class A drugs."

The theory that cannabis use acted as a "gateway" to more serious
drugs had not been proven despite extensive research, the report added.

It supported the government's decision to downgrade cannabis two years
ago from class B to class C, saying that the evidence to do so was
"conclusive" at the time.