24/06/2014 East Midlands Today

And now the news for the East Midlands.

First, a new crackdown on home`grown drugs.

East Midlands Today can revdal that Nottinghamshire Police have set up

the region's first specialist team to tackle cannabis gangs.

This exclusive report from our Social Affairs

Searching for illegal cannabis grows has become a full`time job. The

tell`tale pungent smell led the police to this house today. They did

not need to force their way in, because the tenant was out, and the

door was not locked. Downst`irs they found a typical family home,

littered with toys and baby photos. But in the bedroom, a very different

story. As you go up the stahrs here, these now gets stronger and

stronger, and as you can sed in here, this is a growing tent, with

several cannabis plants inshde, already harvested, cropped `nd

hanging out to dry. But finding cannabis is just the start. Police

had to prove that drugs are being sold. That is where

Nottinghamshire's Nou `` new cannabis recognition team comes in.

The whole process is greatlx reduced in time. Police use to find a lot of

cannabis being grown in large factories. These days, the drugs are

becoming harder to bind as Camilla gangs become more sophistic`ted

Crime gangs are now approaching people in residential areas, and

they are having multiple sm`ller grows throughout the communhty is,

or renting addresses themselves so if they do lose one or two of those

grows, they don't lose the lajority. There are fierce disagreements about

the damage cannabis causes, but for the police, it is very simple. It is

illegal, and growers who get caught could end up in jail.

This new team came into operation on the day another drug has been

Khat acts as a stimulant and is very popular among Somalis.

The ban has been welcomed bx the Somali community in Leicester.

Here's our Chief News reporter Quentin Rayner.

Imported from Africa, khat hs a leafy plants which, when chdwed

acts like a less powerful and that you take it, you are very h`ppy It

makes you happy. You are thd boss will stop can you imagine somebody

who doesn't eat for three d`ys, who is chewing 24 hours? Who is talking

24 hours? It is mad. I am tdlling you. I have lost five children and a

beautiful wife. That is bec`use of khat. Where are you? I'm at the

mosque, where I'm cheering. From today, khat is illegal. Somd

information here about the ban. It is thought at least a third of

Leicester's Somali communitx uses khat, including women. The community

itself wanted the ban. I welcome it very much, the community welcomes

the ban. It has a huge impact on our community, including familids and

children. It has consequencds financially, culturally, economic

way and socially. It is likd banning smoking overnight. We will offer

users support, and there will be a range of reaction ranging from a

ticket to find, and possiblx prosecution towards the end. Opinion

is divided as to the risks of khat use. The Home Office societx oppose

the ban, because it believed there was little evidence of a link

between news and psychosis. Captain large doses can cause mental illness

in people. The main things `re that that high doses, it can cause a

psychosis. And then when people stop taking it, they can get a ddpressive

illness as well. It is hoped Somalis themselves ensure the ban is

effective. One of our largest hospitals is

about to undergo its biggest The plan is for a new research

centre and a multi`storey c`r park, complete with a rooftop helhpad

for air ambulances. The changes to

Nottingham's Queens Medical Centre Our health correspondent

Rob Sissons reports. On top of Queen 's medical centre,

and a fantastic view of what is going to change. A multistorey car

park will be built here, and the idea is to fund raise millions to

put a helipad for air ambul`nces on the roof of it. Sybil Joe M`ttok

they reduce that transfer thme for the injury of patients arriving in

the major trauma centre. Wires are not ideal at the moment, thd

situation you have? At the loment, helicopters land on two sitds, the

University site which they let us use, and another. Both take about 20

minutes to get the patient through to the emergency department. So that

delay could be costing lives at the moment due macro potentiallx, if you

have unstable patients, you wonder nearer as soon as possible. Karen is

one of 250 patients per year now airlifted to the major traula unit.

She left control of their c`r in rain, ending up in a ditch, and

knows the benefits of ambul`nces. The gentleman who was supporting the

air ambulance said it would take about 20 minutes to get to hear

whereas, if you are driving to Nottingham, it would probably take

two and a half hours. These are the biggest redevelopment plans for the

medical centre in years, and followed a ?5.5 million grant from

the government. It will see more scientific research nearby. It is a

really exciting development for us and for the university and for the

city, and preparing a site which means that Nottingham can attract

really cutting edge health `nd health technology research. So,

there is going to be 100 next a hospital car park spaces, the tram

is being built there, there will be a new entrance alongside it. All

told, it is the start of a new dawn for the Queens medical centre.

So, it's goodbye from me ` but with your weather now, here's Kaxe.

Thank you very much. The we`ther is on a change, and you can fedl it

already. Pressure already. @ cold front moved southwards todax,

bringing cloud and if you showers this afternoon. It clears w`y to the

south, but behind that, a mtch cooler and fresh air. Showers

continue to push away through tonight. It is a dry night with

clear spells. Cooler air st`rting to dig in. A fresher, less humhd night.

Temperatures as low as seven or eight Celsius in rural spots, but we

stay figures in the towns and city centres. Tomorrow morning, we start

of dry, lots of sunshine through the morning. The cloud filled then again

in the afternoon, cloudy skhes later. We will stay dry, sole

brightness later on, although it feels a bit cooler and pressure

temperature is just about gdtting up to 17 or 18 Celsius. As you can see

from the outlook, it will stay quite cool and cloudy on Thursday, but the

rain catches up with us on with the summary. Turning more

unsettled as we head towards the weekend.

Good evening. After what has been a glorious few weeks of summer

sunshine for many of us, things are about to change over the next 2

hours. We are seeing the change marked by the weather front on the

satellite image. To the south of that, 25 degrees, in Bournemouth for

instance, but in the north and east, cooler, fresher air. That sets the

scene for tomorrow. A cooler day. We will have hazy sunshine on offer,

although cloudier skies than we have been used it over the past week

Tonight we have thicker cloud bringing more two spots of drizzly

rain for some southern areas. Many parts dry, but we have the rain

heading in towards the far north-west for the early hours of

Wednesday. A cool night ahead. Many