DS Daily - 24th March 2011 |
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The Home Office Drug Strategy blog pilot has now ended
The blog ran for two weeks as a method of capture comments and thoughts from delivery partners on the Drug Strategy. The Home Office are keen to hear your views on the blog, in particular if it was a useful way to share views and ideas, successes and challenges. Please send your views to Amie.Shallcross@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk [Home Office, UK]
Psychosis with coexisting substance misuse
This guideline offers best practice advice on the assessment and management of people with psychosis and coexisting substance misuse [NICE, UK]
Lord Advocate's Guidelines on the supply of Naloxone
New Guidelines from the Lord Advocate lifts some of the legal restrictions on the supply of the life-saving opiate reversal drug Naloxone [Scottish Drugs Forum, UK]
BBC survey reveals snapshot of UK teenagers
Alcohol and drugs also featured high on the list of major threats. Full report [BBC, UK]
More harm reduction needed to curb hepatitis C in England
Trends in hepatitis C infection among recent initiates to drug injecting in England between 2004 (when a national action plan was launched) and 2008 indicate the importance of reinvigorating and extending the coverage of harm reduction measures such as needle exchange and substitute prescribing [Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK]
NICE calls for routine offer of HIV tests in high prevalence areas
GPs in areas of high HIV prevalence should offer routine HIV testing when registering new patients and to anyone who has a blood test, says [NICE, UK]
Decision on MS cannabis drug delayed
A radical decision on giving Scottish patients the first licensed cannabis-based treatment on the NHS has been delayed, to the disappointment of clinicians and patients [The Herald, Scotland, UK]
Alcohol misuse tackled in Liverpool
Alcohol misuse is being addressed by health bosses in Liverpool, who have unveiled a three-year strategy to tackle the problem [BBC, UK]
Dáil to debate alcohol-testing Bill
Legislation giving gardaí the power to carry out mandatory breathtesting at the scene of a crash is to be debated in the Dáil tomorrow, the first Bill to be considered by the new Government [Irish Times]
Remove addicts' children, says priest
Fr Peter McVerry told a conference in Dublin yesterday he felt very sorry for the children of active drug users as they did not receive the love and attention they needed [Irish Times]
Province nixes independent addictions agency
The Ministry of Health has decided not to go ahead with the creation of an independent addictions agency recommended by a provincial advisory committee in November [Star Phoenix, Canada]
An assessment of illicit drug policy in Australia (1985-2010)
This monograph forms part of the Drug Policy Modelling Program (DPMP) Monograph Series [DPMP, Australia]
Managing Drug and AlcoholPrevention and Treatment Services
Hansard excerpt: Auditor-General: Managing Drug and AlcoholPrevention and Treatment Services - Page 60 [Parliament, Victoria, Australia]
AER Foundation calls for action to stop irresponsible discounting of alcohol
The Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation (AER Foundation) today hit back at the irresponsible discounting of alcohol products by large Australian retailers, pointing to unequivocal evidence of a direct link between the cost of alcohol products and consumption levels [AERF, Australia]
Huge liquor barns fly under the radar in the alcohol debate
The sale of bulk liquor at cheap prices and with no safeguards is not in the community's interest [The Age, Australia]
Navy chief demands end to booze culture
Navy chief Russ Crane has read the riot act to his sailors, threatening tough new measures unless the service changes its hard-drinking culture [SMH, Australia]
NGOs key partners in expanding efforts to prevent drug dependence
The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yury Fedotov today met with members of the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) community at the 54th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs [United Nations]
Global SMART Update
The UNODC Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporing and Trends (SMART) programme enhances the capacity of member states in priority regions to generate, manage, analyse, report and use synthetics drug informtion to design effecive policy and programme intervenions [UNODC]
Drug Courts Are Not the Answer
Toward a health-centered approach to drug use [Drug Policy Alliance]