DS Daily - 26th April 2011

Mev Brown: The needle and the damage done

After decades of failure when it comes to drug policy, Holyrood candidate Mev Brown looks at what's gone wrong | The Scotsman, UK

People dependent on drug and alcohol need appropriate support to get back to work

Response to the release of figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) which show that 79,360 people who claim Incapacity Benefit (IB) have either a drug or alcohol dependency | DrugScope, UK

PM vows action to get addicts on benefits into work

People on benefits due to drink and drug problems will be expected to work if they can, David Cameron has said | BBC, UK

The drunks who don't want to be cured

Wet-houses are often seen as 'writing people off', but if people are incurably alcoholic, is it right to deny them a peaceful life? | Guardian, UK

Welsh charity says firms suffer post-holiday hangover

Wynford Ellis Owen, chief executive of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, a registered charity which has been tackling substance misuse for more than 40 years, said: "Bank holidays are the worst causes of absenteeism due to alcohol | BBC, UK

Awful moment tragic ecstasy girl slumped to floor in front of me

Isobel Jones-Reilly had been telling friends how excited she was soon to be turning 16 when she slumped to the floor | Daily Express, UK

Re-analysis questions benefits of interactive drug education lessons

The story behind this analysis of the impact of interactive drug education teaching methods combines the death of a hugely influential analyst with the (in this case, understandable) withholding of negative findings, plus an object-lesson in how critical it is to choose appropriate ways of analysing your data | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

NTA support secures film awards

Two short films supported by the NTA have recently won awards | National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, UK

Homelessness services ‘shrinking’ as cuts bite

More than a quarter of hostels and day centres turned homeless people away last year because they were full | Inside Housing, UK

Cuts leave homelessness schemes more reliant on volunteers

Funding cuts are forcing homelessness projects to cut bed numbers and rely more on volunteers and part-time staff, research finds | Community Care, UK

Improving housing outcomes for young people: practical ideas

This paper presents 27 practical examples drawn from the housing sector which seek to improve housing outcomes for young people - PDF | Joseph Rowntree Foundation, UK

Benefits statistics provoke stereotypes and fear

The Government is in danger of unfairly demonising benefit claimants, says the charity | Rethink Mental Illness, UK

Moral welfare

I also wonder why this particular group of incapacity benefits claimants is picked out from the data. The suggestion seems to be that people suffering from diseases like alcoholism, drug dependency and obesity are morally culpable for their condition | Mark Easton, BBC, UK

Make the Big Society fair for the North

The report argues that relying on donations from business to provide resources for social action will put areas such as London – where large numbers of big business are headquartered – at a huge advantage | IPPR, UK

SMART Recovery announces first wave of partnership sites

With this model in place, we would also like to go public with our goal for there to be over 400 SMART Recovery meetings per week in the UK within three years. Partners include CRI and a City wide roll-out in Bristol, see full list here
| SMART Recovery, UK

Criminals 'must be taken off drugs'

Britain's drugs strategy is failing, with convicted offenders returning to crime because their addictions are not tackled, a senior police chief has warned | Wales Online, UK

Met chief: Stop keeping prisoners on drugs

Britain's drugs strategy is fuelling crime in London by failing to do enough to get addicts to kick their habit, a senior Met officer warned today | London Evening Standard, UK

Drugs warning as death toll rises

Grampian Police have issued an urgent warning to heroin users following the deaths of two drug users and a near fatal overdose at the weekend | The Scotsman, UK

Scratchcard warning over alcohol intake

Customers at high-street chemists will be invited to assess how much they drink under new proposals to tackle Scotland’s alcohol problem | The Herald, Scotland, UK

Under the influence

What we know about binge-drinking | DEMOS, UK

One in four ADHD sufferers 'fake or exaggerate' symptoms for drugs to get high or raise focus

One in four adults who say they have ADHD are faking or exaggerating symptoms to get stimulant medications, a study in The Clinical Neuropsychologist journal said | Daily Mail, UK

NHS reforms blog - mental health special

NHS reforms will have huge implications for people with mental health issues | Guardian, UK

Anger at 'appalling' Government legal high campaign

The Royal Society of Chemistry said it was left aghast by the use of the 'appalling' image of an unhinged chemist by Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire | Daily Mail, UK

Drug Addiction Treatment & Rehabilitation Report Summary

This examination looked at all the main publicly-funded treatment and rehabilitation services provided for persons with addiction to illegal drugs (mainly cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin). In particular, it looked at the extent to which the demand for treatment and rehabilitation services is met, and the timeliness of access to treatment | Comptroller and Auditor General, Ireland

HSE blasted for funding just 30 detox beds

A drug rehabilitation expert has slammed the Health Service Executive (HSE) for only providing 30 detox beds while there are as many as 20,000 heroin addicts nationwide | Irish Examiner

HSE to develop policy to tackle benzodiazepines overuse

The Department of Health and the HSE are developing new policy to improve practices around the overuse of benzodiazepines (BZDs) within the health system | Irish Examiner

It's Time for Drug Policy Reform in Poland!

After 10 years of zero-tolerance the Polish Parliament decided to reform the drug law - watch our movie and learn more! | Drug Reporter, Hungary

Russia's heartland in crisis as desperation and vodka take toll

Drink-related deaths among men in hard-pressed rural areas exacerbate the decline in the nation's population | Guardian, UK

Prescription drug addiction

How the epidemic is shaking up the policy world | Scope, Stanford, USA

New reports highlight important drug-related statistics in key metropolitan areas across the nation

A series of Metro Briefs providing detailed statistical snapshots of drug-related visits to hospital emergency departments occurring in 11 metropolitan areas across the nation | SAMHSA, USA

Multiple Inequities

For a generation, in one of the law’s gross inequities that has fallen unduly on African-Americans, 1 gram of crack cocaine was treated the same as 100 grams of powder cocaine in federal courts | New York Times, USA

US to regulate electronic cigarettes as tobacco

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's announcement came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a decision which said that electronic cigarettes are not drugs or devices unless they are marketed for therapeutic purposes | Telegraph, UK