DS Daily - 28th June 2010 |
 |
Home Office error reveals how FOI request handled
The Home Office postponed an FOI release of research on drugs policy because it wanted "to avoid a focus on the gaps in the evidence base" on the effect of its strategy [BBC, UK]
Home Office internal document reveals bunker mentality of secrecy and suppression
An internal Home Office memo, accidentally leaked to the BBC’s Martin Rosenbaum today exposes a culture of playing fast and loose with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests that could expose Government policy to criticism [TDPF, UK]
Experts don't live in the real world
Drugs prof got it wrong [News of the World, UK]
Anthrax Outbreak Information
Confirmed Cases 46 - deaths 13 [Health Protection Scotland, UK]
Volunteering: a Pathway to Employment
Volunteering with CRI has helped Jemma, a former scientist, start a new career in social care. After training as a volunteer with Rochdale REACH, Jemma is now starting a full time job in a needle exchange in Ashton-under-Lyne [CRI, UK]
Call for all-party meeting on minimum pricing
Opposition leaders have launched an attempt to find alternatives to the SNP's flagship minimum unit price plan for alcohol [BBC, UK]
Tesco sells lager at below cost
Tesco has emerged as the only supermarket to be 'caught' pricing its alcohol below cost since calling on the Government to outlaw the practice only a month ago [Daily Mail, UK]
Labour's former Home Secretary Alan Johnson: 'I failed on binge drinking'
Labour’s last Home Secretary has apologised for the party’s failure to tackle binge drinking – the first admission that his Government’s policies on alcohol have left a damaging legacy [Daily Mail, UK]
Doctors will urge alcohol ban on all public transport at BMA conference
A motion at the British Medical Association conference will call for a ban on drunkenness on intercity trains and cross-Channel ferries [Guardian, UK]
Binge drinking sends high blood pressure cases soaring by 74%
The number of adults diagnosed with raised blood pressure - or hypertension - as a result of drinking too much alcohol has jumped by 74 per cent in five years [Daily Mail, UK]
Lower drink-drive limits in place as of September 2011
Lower limits for drink-driving will come into force in September next year when up-to-date equipment becomes available, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has said [Drugs.ie, Ireland]
NIDA/SAMHSA Blending Initiative
Harnessing the skills, resources, and knowledge of two federal agencies to facilitate moving important scientific findings into mainstream addiction treatment practice is the goal of the NIDA/SAMHSA Blending Initiative [ATTC, USA]
Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention
A Guide for Public Health Practitioners [American Public Health Association]
Calls for prison needle exchange
Calls for a needle exchange program in Australian prisons have been met with resistance from prison officers who fear the needles could be used as weapons [World News, Australia]
Drug policies 'boosting AIDS'
Policies that criminalise drug use are increasing the spread of AIDS, experts said on Monday, calling for a milder and more effective approach to preventing drug use [SMH, Australia]
Canterbury top in alcohol-related deaths
The figures, released to The Press by the Coroner's Office, show alcohol-related death rates have skyrocketed due to what experts describe as a binge-drinking culture entrenched in Kiwi youth [Stuff.co, New Zealand]
Call to Action for a Global Drug Policy Reform
The War on Drugs has become a War on People [IDPC]
World Drug Day message
Think health, not drugs [UNODC]
Russia's drug chief opens drug observatory in Russian Far East
The aim of the Observatory in the Russian Far East city of Khabarovsk is to collect and analyze information on the fight against drug trafficking across the region [RIA Novosti, Russia]
Night Ban on Alcohol Prepared
A Kremlin-backed bill to ban late-night sales of strong beer and hard alcohol at stores and kiosks has been submitted to the government, Vedomosti reported Friday [The Moscow Times]
Harm reductionists and lawyers challenge mandatory death penalty in India
While executions for drugs are taking place in China, the Indian Harm Reduction Network and the Lawyers' Collective have a legal challenge against the mandatory death penalty for drugs in their country [IHRA]