Legal high warning at T in the Park music festival - BBC News
Organisers at this year's T in the Park say festival-goers should avoid taking legal highs "at all costs".
Scotland's biggest festival takes place at Balado in Kinross-shire this weekend.
The warning follows the death of a teenager at the RockNess festival in the Highlands last month.
Nineteen-year-old Alex Heriot was reported to have taken a substance known as Benzo Fury at the Dores event, close to Loch Ness.
Geoff Ellis, festival director of T in the Park, said: "Legal highs are not made for human consumption, they're dangerous and people should avoid them at all costs."
BBC Weather: Rain warning for Saturday
'No tolerance approach'Traders at the festival have been banned from selling legal highs for the past four years.
Mr Ellis said drugs would be confiscated if they were found during searches.
Superintendent Rick Dunkerley Tayside PoliceThis is no different from the streets of Scotland all year round. We have a no tolerance approach to drugs and will be robustly dealing with people
One festival-goer, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he'd tried Benzo Fury.
"It puts you on cloud nine," he said. "But the come-down is horrific, horrible. It is not a nice thing at all."
Superintendent Rick Dunkerley of Tayside Police said T In The Park becomes "Scotland's fifth biggest city for the weekend".
"This is no different from the streets of Scotland all year round," he added. "We have a no tolerance approach to drugs and will be robustly dealing with people."
It comes as the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) calls for the power to confiscate legal highs in the same way they can do with alcohol.
The categorisation of legal highs is complex as the chemical make-up of them is constantly being manipulated.
This means as soon as one is made illegal, another with a slightly different compound can take its place.
Chief Superintendent David O'Connor, president of ASPS, said: "We have this strange situation where we can seize alcohol from young people but if you find them with drugs, not prescribed or over the counter, you don't have a firm legal footing to deal with it."
He has discussed the possibility of changing the legislation with Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
Eighty-five thousand people are expected at T In The Park to see bands and artists including Snow Patrol, the Stone Roses, Kasabian and Calvin Harris.
Neville expects United to bounce back - Football
Published: 06 Jul 2012 - 12:47:15
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville expects his old side to be relishing the challenge of proving their doubters wrong in the forthcoming season.
United were pipped to the Barclays Premier League title by neighbours City on the final day of the season. With an embarrassing exit from the Champions League group stage and a trophyless end to the season there was an inevitable debate about how good Sir Alex Ferguson's team actually was.
But Neville believes questions about the club's ability to win silverware will only spur on the players. He told www.manutd.com: "You can bet they would have had a frustrating summer after not winning any trophies last season."
He added: "The beauty of football is that you start afresh each year with a clean slate.
"United now have an opportunity to put things right. The challenge this season is always the same: it's to win the Premier League, do well in the cups and do well in the Champions League.
"That challenge never changes but, obviously, when you don't win anything you have an added incentive because people start to question the team and wonder if the empire is crumbling.
"The manager and the players have had to cope with all that before, so this challenge is something they'll all be looking forward to.
"You can go back over 20 years and probably count on both hands the number of pre-season games Manchester United have lost.
"There's no question players give 100 per cent. The nature of the club, the nature of the players, the nature of the manager is such that you always go out to win."
Related Manchester United News
CANADA STOCKS-TSX may may open higher, jobs eyed - Reuters UK
July 6 |
July 6 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index looked set to open slightly higher after Thursday's share price fall, while focus remains on U.S. and Canadian jobs figures that are expected to show tepid growth.
TOP STORIES
* U.S. employers likely quickened the pace of hiring last month but not enough to allay worries that Europe's debt crisis is shifting the economy into low gear.
* Italy's cabinet approved spending cuts worth 4.5 billion euros ($5.57 billion) this year, heading off an impending sales tax increase
* The head of the International Monetary Fund expressed concern about a deterioration in the global economy, saying the outlook has become more worrying as developed and big emerging nations show signs of slowing down.
* Soaring sales of the Galaxy smartphone drove record quarterly profit of $5.9 billion at Samsung Electronics, although the South Korean tech giant is sweating over how Europe's debt crisis is denting demand in its biggest market for televisions and home appliances.
* Canadian oil and gas producer Pengrowth Energy Corp cut its monthly dividend by 43 percent to 4 Canadian cents on weak oil and gas prices, its first cut since November 2009. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ To receive an early e-mail of Reuters Morning News Call - Canada -- a preview of market moving news -- Thomson Reuters subscribers can register at ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
MARKET SNAPSHOT
* Canada stock futures <0#SXF:> traded up 0.06 percent
* U.S. stock futures <0#SP:>, <0#DJ:>, <0#ND:> were down in the range of -0.05 to -0.015 percent
* European shares, were down
COMMODITY PRICE MOVES
* Thomson Reuters-Jeffries CRB Index : 290.93; fell 0.79 percent
* Gold Futures : $1645; fell -0.87 percent
* US Crude : $85.49; fell 1.98 percent
* Brent Crude : $99.17; fell 1.52 percent
* LME 3-month Copper : $7628; fell 0.87 percent
CANADIAN STOCKS TO WATCH
* Sandvine Corp. : The network equipment maker posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss as revenue fell 24 percent.
* Research In Motion Ltd. : Investors in the BlackBerry maker should not re-elect one-time lead director John Richardson to the board of the struggling company at Tuesday's annual meeting, proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis said. The advice repeats a long-standing Glass Lewis concern that Richardson failed to properly oversee the provision of stock options to RIM employees, which were erroneously back-dated over an eight-year period.
* Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd. : Air Canada and WestJet flew fuller planes in June, while smaller regional carrier Porter Airlines reported slightly emptier flights than a year earlier.
ANALYST RECOMMENDATIONS
Following is a summary of research actions on Canadian companies reported by Reuters.
* Copper Mountain : Canaccord Genuity cuts target price to C$6.25 from C$6.80 to reflect the brokerage's cut in its copper price forecast for 2012
* Genivar Inc : Canaccord Genuity cuts price target to C$22 from C$24 after the company bought the UK based design and engineering firm WSP Group
* Richelieu Hardware : NBF raises target price to C$36.50 from C$35 after the company posted solid quarterly results
* Tuscany International : NBF cuts target price to C$1.25 from C$1.35 and removes from Action List on Latin America E&P Cash Flow Review
* Westjet Airlines : CIBC raises target price to C$20.75 from C$18.50, and Canaccord Genuity to C$25 from C$24; says company is still on track to achieve its growth targets
ON THE CALENDAR
* Major Canadian economic data includes Ivey PMI index
* Major U.S. events and data includes ECRI weekly index ($1= $1.01 Canadian) (Reporting By Mohit Malukani)
Ramprakash wanted to carry on - ESPN.co.uk
Mark Ramprakash has announced his retirement after being told that he was not part of Surrey's selection plans for the rest of the season. He brought an end to his 25-year career but insisted he is still more than capable of playing county cricket.
"I want to go out there now and play," Ramprakash said. "I still feel I can play at this level without doubt, that's what I've trained for. Even though I was left out of the side, I've been committed to playing at this level."
Ramprakash, 42, made only 107 runs in five County Championship matches this season, including only the third pair of his career, before being dropped.
"I had a tough start to this season but I continued to try and remain fit and wanted to play. However, last week I was informed I was not in Surrey's selection plans, therefore I decided it was time to step aside.
"So much has happened to the club this season I really wanted to try and contribute," Ramprakash said, reflecting on the tragic death of Tom Maynard and the subsequent indefinite compassionate leave granted to captain Rory Hamilton-Brown that has created a difficult environment at The Oval.
But even amid such emotional turmoil, Surrey found no place for Ramprakash, whose retirement means they have also discarded the services of the most experienced player in county cricket.
"It's been a very difficult decision to make," Ramprakash said. "I asked lots of professional players about when they knew the time was right. This year I wanted to come in and finish my career strongly and September would likely be the time that I'd look to pastures new. But not being in Surrey's plans that sort of moved things forward and the last thing you want to do is go on too long. I feel the time is right now.
"I would like to express how lucky I feel to have had a long and enjoyable career in a game that I love passionately. It's been an honour and a privilege to represent Middlesex, Surrey and England."
Ramprakash maintains the belief that he can still perform at county level but ruled out, for the time being, a move to another county. "That's not in my mind at the moment," he said. "I thought long and hard over the weekend. In my mind I'm looking to push on. I had to ask myself whether I had the energy and desire to go to a new club. Next year I'll be 43, is it just delaying the inevitable?"
Outside a match in the Middlesex League on Saturday for Stanmore and appearances for the Professional Cricketers Association Masters XI his playing future is unsure.
Ramprakash said he wanted to be remembered as a player who gave everything for his side and shrugged off suggestions of regret at his international career. "You do the best you can at that time and I know I couldn't have trained any harder. I tried to listen to the right people and I did the best I could at that time. And if you know that you don't look back with any regrets."
He named his 133 against Australia at The Oval in 2001 as his best innings and praised the changes during the later stages of his career that have meant the England team of the current era is better prepared for success.
"The England structure has developed so much. From when Duncan Fletcher took over there's been much more made of trying to create a team feel. When you speak to players backs in the 1990s we had our county helmets on, we used to play for the county, play a Test match and then go back to the county.
"You can see the results. There is such togetherness and a team feel to England now, debutants feel well looked after and it's a great credit to the management and backroom staff that they integrate players in a smooth way."
As for the future, Ramprakash says he enjoys watching and talking about cricket and is keen to keep up his media work; he impressed as an analyst during ITV's coverage of this season's IPL. But he is also a Level 4-qualified ECB coach. "I've been involved in the game a long time and seen lots of good players. Coaching does interest me. I enjoy working with young players and accelerating their learning."
But for now Ramprakash leaves the game with his greatest achievement having scored a hundred first-class centuries. "I don't think I'll be the last one," he said.
Alex Winter is an editorial assistant at ESPNcricinfo
0 Responses to "Legal high warning at T in the Park music festival - BBC News"
Post a Comment