DS Daily - 31st January 2011

Dramatic drop in amount of heroin in UK

Europe's biggest drug testing company, Concateno, said the number of addicts testing positively for heroin had halved in the past six months [BBC, UK]

Heroin Warning - potential danger of increase in overdosing and deaths

Test data shows 50 percent drop in heroin positivity rates - Warning follows publication of Government’s new drug strategy [Concateno, UK]

Exploring the new Drug Strategy

This Recovery News Special explores reactions to the coalition governments new drug strategy; George Williams discusses first impressions and future implications with expert commentators [Inexcess TV, UK]

NTA Stakeholder seminar

The treatment field welcomes the focus on recovery in the new Drug Strategy but is worried about the implications of localism and the impact of introducing payment by results. That was the message from a seminar hosted by the NTA to discuss the way forward for treatment services in the run-up to the establishment of Public Health England in 2012 [NTA, UK]

Second reading of Health and Social Care Bill

The Health and Social Care Bill will be debated in the House of Commons on Monday 31 January. The House of Commons Library has produced a Research Paper on the Health and Social Care Bill [Parliament, UK]

Coalition policy towards the NHS

Past contexts and current trajectories [History and Policy, UK]

Alcohol addict tells how he turned his life around

Wales’ deadly relationship with alcohol has again been highlighted this week. In a highly personal account, reformed alcoholic-turned-campaigner Wynford Ellis Owen tells Daniel Fisher it is spiralling out of control [Wales Online, UK]

Five tricks to make you buy more booze

At the last count, people in the UK were buying £37bn worth of alcohol each year. That means bars and drink companies are prepared to fight hard and sometimes dirty to get that cash [BBC, UK]

Contributions of Alcohol Use to Teenage Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infection Rates

Levels of alcohol related problems in young people are escalating as evidenced by recent reports of sharp rises in alcohol related liver disease amongst young people. However, alcohol consumption is also linked to poor sexual decision-making [North West Public Health Observatory, Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, UK]

Drug use down, drug problems up

In the same report where we found out that drug use is at its lowest level since records began, we also find out that more people than ever are being admitted to hospital in England because of drug problems [Binge Inking]

Drug addicts try to fool hair test

Guilty parents in Wales have taken to wearing wigs, swapping hair samples and bleaching and shaving their body hair – all to avoid a drug test thought to be the most accurate in the world [Wales Online, UK]

Secretary of State for Health launches revolutionary new services for people living with HIV

The Rt Hon Andrew Lansley MP and HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust launch a new resource, Life Plus, today, which will transform the way people with HIV manage their condition long term [Terrence Higgins Trust, UK]

Government to launch £400 million drive to tackle mental health treatment

Ministers want the doctors to stop simply prescribing pills to patients with a range of conditions including eating disorders, self harm, addictions, attention disorders and post-natal depression [Telegraph, UK]

BBC 3:“Cannabis – what’s the harm?” and The Sun: survey

Two media outlets not normally associated with presenting a complex view of the world had a go at doing just that this week – BBC 3 and The Sun! [UKCIA]

Teenage girl 'ladettes' just as likely to be alcohol binge drinkers

Government statistics show that girls aged under 15 are consuming an average 11.3 units of alcohol a week, the equivalent of six medium glasses of wine or five pints of beer [Telegraph, UK]

Drug policies and harm reduction in South East Europe

This briefing paper is the first of a series focusing on drug-related issues in SEE. It provides an overview of the current situation regarding harm reduction services and national drug policies in the region [IDPC]

Local initiatives best for tackling drugs

The importance of local, community-based drug projects has been
reinforced in the findings of a UCC study conducted by the
University’s School of Applied Social Studies [The Cork News, Ireland]

Cannabis social clubs in Spain

A normalizing alternative underway [Transnational Institute, Netherlands]

Netherlands freezes ties after Iran hangs Dutch woman

The Netherlands has frozen contacts with Iran after Tehran hanged an Iranian-Dutch woman for drug smuggling [ABC News, Australia]

A New Political Approach To Drug Legalization: Debate

There appears to be a new standard that’s developed in political-speak for elected officials who are asked about drug legalization but don’t want to roundly condemn the idea. The answer, the seeming equivalent of dipping a toe into the waters of legalization, is that the idea should be “open for debate.” [Wall Street Journal, USA]