Latest news with #drugUse
The National
06-07-2025
- The National
Egypt arrests nearly 50 drivers for drug use in clampdown after deadly crashes
Egyptian authorities arrested 48 drivers for drug use during a nationwide clampdown aimed at improving road safety, particularly on the Regional Ring Road, commonly referred to as the "Road of Death." The arrests were part of a sweeping 24-hour campaign by the Interior Ministry, which tested 355 drivers for narcotics and uncovered multiple violations, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The campaign comes in response to nationwide outrage over a series of deadly accidents on the Regional Ring Road, which connects six provinces and has become notorious for its high accident rate. The road has been made unsafe by poorly managed repair work, currently being carried out by the state, that forces two-way traffic into a single lane on a 110-kilometre stretch of the road. The crackdown also resulted in 744 traffic violations on the Regional Ring Road alone, including driving against traffic, overloading passengers, and failing to meet licensing requirements. In addition to the 48 drivers arrested for illegal drugs, 36 individuals wanted for a total of 136 court judgments were detained, and seven vehicles were impounded for serious violations, the ministry said. It promised to continue the crackdown. On Sunday morning, another crash occurred on the Regional Ring Road near the village of Al-Naamana in Sharqia province. The incident involved the collision of a bus carrying 26 passengers, a lorry, and two microbuses. The crash caused damage to the vehicles but no injuries or fatalities were recorded, according to the Sharqia Security Directorate. Police detained the drivers involved and launched an investigation. While no lives were lost in Sunday's crash, it has reignited concerns about the road's safety. On Saturday evening, nine people died and 11 were injured in a head-on collision between two minibuses on the road. On June 26, 19 people, including 18 teenage girls, were killed when a lorry crossed into oncoming traffic and crushed their minibus in Menoufia province. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has ordered the temporary closure of all repair zones on the Regional Ring Road and instructed authorities to make safe detours available. In a statement following Saturday's crash, he called for stricter enforcement of traffic laws, including oversight of lorry drivers and expanded drug testing.
The National
06-07-2025
- The National
Egypt arrests nearly 50 drivers for drug use in crackdown after deadly crashes
Egyptian authorities arrested 48 drivers for drug use during a nationwide crackdown aimed at improving road safety, particularly on the Regional Ring Road, commonly referred to as the "Road of Death." The arrests were part of a sweeping 24-hour campaign by the Interior Ministry, which tested 355 drivers for narcotics and uncovered multiple violations, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The campaign comes in response to nationwide outrage over a series of deadly accidents on the Regional Ring Road, which connects six provinces and has become notorious for its high accident rate. The road has been made unsafe by poorly managed repair work, currently being carried out by the state, that forces two-way traffic into a single lane on a 110-kilometre stretch of the road. The crackdown also resulted in 744 traffic violations on the Regional Ring Road alone, including driving against traffic, overloading passengers, and failing to meet licensing requirements. In addition to the 48 drivers arrested for illegal drugs, 36 individuals wanted for a total of 136 court judgments were detained, and seven vehicles were impounded for serious violations, the ministry said. It promised to continue the crackdown. On Sunday morning, another crash occurred on the Regional Ring Road near the village of Al-Naamana in Sharqia province. The incident involved the collision of a bus carrying 26 passengers, a lorry, and two microbuses. The crash caused damage to the vehicles but no injuries or fatalities were recorded, according to the Sharqia Security Directorate. Police detained the drivers involved and launched an investigation. While no lives were lost in Sunday's crash, it has reignited concerns about the road's safety. On Saturday evening, nine people died and 11 were injured in a head-on collision between two minibuses on the road. On June 26, 19 people, including 18 teenage girls, were killed when a lorry crossed into oncoming traffic and crushed their minibus in Menoufia province. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has ordered the temporary closure of all repair zones on the Regional Ring Road and instructed authorities to make safe detours available. In a statement following Saturday's crash, he called for stricter enforcement of traffic laws, including oversight of lorry drivers and expanded drug testing.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
'Reckless' ex-PC would have been sacked for drugs
A police officer has been dismissed from a force after it was found he was using unprescribed anabolic steroids. Ex Essex PC Joshua Brady tested positive for anabolic androgenic steroids which are a Class C drug and only available through prescription. A misconduct hearing took place on 17 June found Mr Brady had breached professional standards and concluded he would have been sacked if he had not already resigned. Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington, said: "Police officers who take drugs that are not prescribed by a doctor, or are not lawful, have no place in policing." Mr Brady was also placed on the College of Policing barred list. Mr Harrington added: "PC Brady was a young in-service officer with a bright future in policing who had represented police at the highest levels in sport. "But through foolish and reckless behaviour he has not only ruined his career but has put himself and the public at risk. "Police officers who take drugs that are not prescribed by a doctor, or are not lawful, have no place in policing." According to the NHS, most professional sports and organisations ban anabolic steroid use and test competitors for prohibited steroids. Anabolic steroids can be used as performance-enhancing drugs that increase muscle mass and decrease fat, as well as causing many undesirable effects. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BreakingNews.ie
19-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Drug use, defecation, and sexual assault: 4,300 messages sent to Irish Rail text line
Irish Rail received nearly 4,300 messages to its dedicated text line for reporting antisocial behaviour on train services last year, with passengers complaining about drug use, violence, sexual assault, and indecent exposure. The shocking incidents that were reported in 2024 include a man defecating in the middle of a carriage, a fist fight involving a man and a woman, a passenger brandishing a sword, and a child being sexually assaulted. Advertisement The appalling insight into criminal and antisocial behaviour on the country's rail network has prompted a government TD to call for a dedicated public transport unit of An Garda Síochána. Records released under freedom of information laws suggest that drugs are regularly being openly abused on train services, with children even observed smoking cannabis on the Dart in January of last year. In February, one commuter texted Irish Rail to report a couple openly using cocaine on a train service with their baby in a pram in front of them, while a man on a train near Killiney last May was reported to have removed his trousers while smoking cannabis. Alcohol consumption was also a recurring problem. On February 29th, a 'violent, aggressive drunk man' was removed from a train at Clara, after which distressed passengers watched him 'vomiting and trying to fight'. Advertisement In July, a passenger contacted Irish Rail to report that a 75-year-old man had exposed himself to a young girl on an afternoon train service. She was 'visibly upset', they added. Similarly, a man on a train heading for Sydney Parade in Dublin last June was reported for 'exposing his d**k', and a man on a train at Booterstown was 'exposing his bare arse to young girls' in January. In May, passengers on a train at Howth Junction were shocked when a rock was thrown through the window, while one commuter reported that a group of 'young lads' had been travelling on the outside of the train before jumping off at Lansdowne Road. A man was reported to have defecated on a train in January and, in an unrelated incident, a passenger discovered 'an actual bag of faeces' in the middle of a carriage in September while travelling to Bray. Advertisement There were a number of complaints about couples engaging in 'sexually explicit acts' on trains. On October 11th, an individual reported that two fellow passengers were 'openly fingering each other and making out'. In late July, a passenger reported that a man and woman were punching each other on board a train, noting that 'she had him in a headlock at one point'. The woman subsequently disembarked at Sandymount. There were several complaints about the presence of blood on walls, windows and seats on carriages, as well as 'puddles' of vomit on floors, and 'dog poo' on some of the seats. In August, a troubling text message reported that a child had been sexually assaulted by a group of adolescents on a train early in the evening. The child disembarked at Bayside station, according to the report. Advertisement There were frequent instances of racist abuse on train services last year. In March, it was reported that two males were racially abusing 'a little boy' on a train, while a woman and her child were the targets of racist abuse near Connollly Station in September. In August, a passenger was made to feel very uncomfortable by a man who was walking up and down the train dressed as a clown. In March, a man boarded a train to Maynooth with a sword, according to two reports. On April 9th, a knife fight was reported on the Sligo-Dublin service around 11am, while a man 'slapped' a girl during a 'lovers' quarrel' on the Howth train near Connolly Station in January. A number of passengers who reported antisocial or criminal behaviour to Irish Rail via the text line said they had to get off the train for their own safety. Advertisement Fianna Fáil TD Cormac Devlin described the incidents described in the text messages as 'awful', and said there was a need to expedite plans for public transport policing contained in the Programme for Government. 'What's proposed at this stage is a standalone public transport service. My own preference would be that it would be a unit of An Garda Síochana,' he said. Ireland Housing target of 41,000 'not realistic', Minister... Read More 'This is why we definitely need to have more monitors, more proactive and visible deterrents on public transport – on carriages and platforms. Nobody wants to see these awful elements, particularly for youngsters. We need to ensure they are safe.' A spokesman for Irish Rail said antisocial behaviour was a societal issue to which train services were not immune, but added that there were a range of proactive and preventative measures in place to address it. 'The text line allows people to discreetly alert us to issues of concern, and is live monitored through our central security hub, who are in direct contact with our security teams on the network to coordinate response,' he explained. 'The vast majority of 50.1 million journeys on our network take place without incident, but we will continue to prioritise prevention of incidents, and rapid response working with our partners.'
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Despite 'massive shift' towards smoking over injection, Ontario has only 1 supervised drug inhalation space
Advocates and researchers say Ontario is far behind when it comes to protecting the growing number of drug users in the province who are choosing to inhale opioids rather than inject them. "We know what we need to help support people who smoke their drugs — and we've been really, really behind the curve on it," said Gillian Kolla, an assistant professor of medicine at Memorial University, who studies drug use across Canada. Data shared with CBC Toronto last week from the Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner shows that in 2024, just four per cent of deadly opioid overdoses are thought to have been caused by injection alone — down from 20 per cent in 2018. That's the opposite trajectory of the statistics for inhalation alone, which are thought to be responsible for 40 per cent of last year's fatal overdoses — up from 18 per cent in 2018. Though Kolla cautioned that the coroner's data has some uncertainty baked in, since about half of overdose fatalities are listed as having no evidence at all as to what consumption method was used, she said the growing move toward inhalation has been a clear trend in Canada for years. Opioid toxicity deaths in Ontario where inhalation was the only mode of usenearly doubled between 2017 and 2021, according to a study carried out by Kolla and academic colleagues. "We have multiple sources of data that are telling us about this," she told CBC Toronto. "We can see it when we talk to harm reduction programs which distribute equipment to people who use drugs," Kolla said. "And when we talk to people who use drugs about how their use is changing, they are also talking about how they have been moving more towards smoking." The growing need for safer ways to inhale drugs has long been obvious to Joanne Simons, Casey House CEO. Her specialty Toronto hospital, which serves people who have HIV or are at risk of it, runs the province's only supervised inhalation booth, installed in 2021. "It's a very simple setup," Simons said of the small room. "There isn't anything super technical about it other than a very powerful fan that is venting any of the smoke outside of the building." She said the hospital decided to open the booth in the first place because clientele were requesting it, and that since then, about 80 per cent of the people who arrive to use supervised consumption services at Casey House are choosing to inhale over inject. "We're thinking about doing a second one because the need is so great," said Simons, describing the move toward smoking as a "massive shift." Ontario's 2019 consumption and treatment services plan, which approved 15 supervised consumption sites in the province, did not include funding for inhalation booths. At a price tag that Simons estimates around $50,000, that means only supervised consumption services that can solicit private funding and donations — like Casey House — can foot the bill to build one. "Since we've installed it, we have had consistent interest from [other health centres] across the country, in terms of what it does," said Simons. "I think the barrier to entry actually is the funds." The government "does not and will never support the use of illicit drugs in public spaces," said a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones in a statement. "Our focus is on connecting people struggling with addictions challenges to treatment and recovery, not giving them the tools to use toxic, illegal drugs," Ema Popovic said via email. A couple of kilometres south of Casey House, at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in St. Michael's Hospital in downtown Toronto, Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi has been examining the health implications of the shift towards inhalation. The researchers and advocates that spoke to CBC Toronto for this story all said that part of what's been driving changing habits is the belief among people who use drugs that it's safer. So, is it? When it comes to the risks posed by needles specifically, Bayoumi says inhalation would "clearly be safer" since it dodges the possibility of infection via dirty equipment. The risk of overdose may also be lower, he said. "There is some evidence that … the rate at which the drugs accumulate in the blood is slower with smoking than it is with injecting, which allows people to control the amount of drug that they're taking in more precisely," said Bayoumi. Calls to fund safe inhalation sites have been ongoing since Liberal Kathleen Wynne was premier in the mid 2010s, said Zoë Dodd, co-organizer of the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society. Dodd said her organization set up a supervised inhalation tent in Moss Park in 2017, where they operated unsanctioned for a year. Eventually, they moved indoors and had to give up the tent. "We saw thousands of people through that service. And we reversed many, many overdoses within that tent itself," she said, adding that now, she and other harm reduction workers have to run outside when they're alerted to an inhalation overdose. This spring, Doug Ford's government closed nine supervised drug consumption sites and transitioned them into HART Hubs, their new concept for treating addiction and homelessness. The province invested over $500 million to build 28 HART Hubs across the province, according to the health minister's spokesperson. "HART Hubs will reflect regional priorities, providing community-based, life-saving services including mental health and addiction care, primary care, social and employment services," Popovic said. Data from the coroner shows more than 2,200 Ontarians died from opioids in 2024 – a slight dip from the last few years – and more than triple the deaths from a decade ago.
