DS Daily - 6th January 2010 |
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The Independent Council on Drug Harms
Professor David Nutt (Twitter) is working with the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies to establish an independent scientific council on drug harms. You can watch David talking about his plans [Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, UK]
Nick Heather on controlled drinking and the relationship to harm reduction
Nick distinguishes between harm reduction and harm elimination. He describes the way in which views of harm reduction in the USA have ‘muddied the waters’ in relation to the goal of controlled drinking. Nick says that the controlled drinking goal in the alcohol field may have been watered down more recently by the influence of the concept of harm reduction from the illicit drugs field [FEAD, UK]
Nick Heather explores harmful choices and explains Hyperbolic Discounting
Nick references George Ainslie’s work on ‘pico-economics’ and ‘breakdown of will’. He explains the idea of hyperbolic discounting and how this related to addiction. He also explores the concepts of resolutions and preferences and how these relate to our understanding of addiction [FEAD, UK]
Nick Heather on 'Choice, Behavioural Economics and Addiction'
Nick describes the background of a conference he convened with Rudy Vuchinich on behavioural economics and its relevance to addiction, and the book that arose from this conference. He also talks about Alcoholics Anonymous and how its benefits could be applied to secular mutual-aid groups. He then references the work of Keith Humphreys on self-help groups [FEAD, UK]
Overdose workshop
This latest workshop covers a range of overdose issues and has been designed to be run either as a full workshop, or as separate sections in NSP or one to one sessions [Injecting Advice, UK]
Accountability can break the cycle of crime - and more
Stephen Valle’s accountability model yields dividends in clinical- and cost-effectiveness. It can cut re-offending rates by an extra 10-40%, and has been applied to domestic violence programmes, courts, community and in-prison therapeutic communities [Addiction Today, UK]
Drug dealers get 100 years
Dealers who brought misery to the streets of Cardiff have been jailed for almost 100 years following a major police operation [Wales Online, UK]
Time to rebel against invasive drug rules
The debate on drugs in sport has been driven by fanaticism for too long [Times, UK]
Alarm as number of drivers using drugs continues to soar
The number of motorists driving under the influence of drugs continues to rise despite a Government commitment to clamp down on the offence [Independent, Ireland]
Technology new gateway into treatment for problem alcohol use: study
A recent evaluation by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows that online interventions for problem alcohol use can be effective in changing drinking behaviours and offers a significant public health benefit [Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada]
City Urged to Withdraw Flier on ‘Safer’ Heroin Use That Some See as How-To Guid
City health officials say the 17-page brochure, which has been in circulation since June 2007, simply recognizes that, realistically, it is impossible to stop every intravenous drug user. It offers “10 Tips for Safer Use” of heroin [New York Times, USA]
Women drug mules imprisoned around the world
What all these have in common is that they are mostly female, all poor, and at the lowest rungs of the drug trading hierarchy [Release]