Terry Maguire

Is cannabis, a relatively safe drug in adults, more toxic in teenagers?

Terry Maguire on April 13, 2017, 4:27 pm7 Comments | Readers 1253

The mayhem an estimated 900 troubled youths impose on the West Belfast community – a community of 100,000 souls – is staggering according to a N. Ireland Assembly report which is putting in place a support programme to turn lives around. These individuals, mostly males, mostly in their late teens and early twenties, act antisocially which is a problem yes but the real worry is that, for a small but significant number at least, self-harm and suicide is a real …

An insight into the latest drugs crisis in Belfast…

Terry Maguire on April 6, 2017, 7:38 pm5 Comments | Readers 4929

I attended a community meeting called to address the local “Drug Crisis”. My invitation to join the panel was at short notice but I accepted; I am the local pharmacist and I am a concerned citizen. The last time this problem got out of hand I ended up with the point of a Bowie knife up my nose. The stimulus for the meeting was the weekend deaths of two local young men from drug overdose. A 27 year old was …

Poison of the American War with Vietnam still lingers over 40 years later…

Terry Maguire on April 5, 2017, 7:28 pm12 Comments | Readers 665

With revulsion, confusion and perhaps too much hypocritical moral indignation the World is coming to terms with yet another chemical weapons attack in Syria in the last few days. But toxic chemicals have always been in the arsenals of our armies. It is less acceptable to use them today off course but is there a good, proper or humane way to kill our enemies? Whether it be the typhoid containing cow carcasses of the Middle-Ages, the mustard gas of …