DS Daily - 4th March 2013 |
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The Contribution of Clinical Psychologists to Recoveryorientated Drug and Alcohol Treatment Systems
The British Psychological Society have published a guide for service commissioners and service managers (PDF), that describes the unique contribution of clinical psychologists to effective recovery-orientated drug and alcohol treatment systems. It details clinical psychologists' competences and how these can be deployed to enhance recovery outcomes for service users and their families | BPS, NTA, UK
Police and Crime Commissioners: giving local people a voice on cutting crime
Ron Ball, was elected as the Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire, and here, after three months in the job, he shares some of his insights and thoughts about how the system will work and how alliances may need to be forged to tackle competing priorities and limited resources | NTA, UK
National Forum on Drug-Related Deaths in Scotland - Annual Report 2011/12
This is the fifth report from the National Forum on Drug-Related Deaths. The Forum is an independent expert group which examines trends and disseminates good practice on reducing drug-related deaths in Scotland | National Forum on Drug-Related Deaths, UK
'Rockstar' drug hospitalises seven in Lanarkshire
Taking a drug called "Rockstar" has led to seven people in the Glasgow area being hospitalised over the weekend - and to a public warning from police | BBC, UK
Breaking Bad and the collapsing taboo around hard drugs
This week an inquest into the death of the Surrey cricketer Tom Maynardfound that he had taken cocaine and Ecstasy | Telegraph, UK
Smoke without ire: Doctors may be allowed to prescribe electronic cigarettes
Nicotine chewing gum tastes like something the cat dragged in and patches make you look as if you’ve been shot | Mirror, UK
Met Police seize cocaine with street value of £5m
Cocaine with an estimated street value of £5m has been seized by police in a raid in central London | BBC, UK
43,000 strip-searches carried out on children as young as 12
Campaigner criticises 'institutionalised child abuse' after FOI request reveals huge number of searches in custody | Guardian, UK
Alcohol abuse's hidden world - video
What happens when you drink alcohol? The answer, on one level, is simple - you get drunk. But the science reveals a complicated series of reactions that lie behind drinking - between chemicals and neurons, genes and environment, people and society | BBC, UK
Spanish police swoop on Colombian drug gang's 'branch office for hit men'
Seven Colombians in Madrid suspected of running a "branch office of hitmen" were arrested this week. Fiona Govan reports on the group who worked out of a Colombian restaurant | Telegraph, UK
Onwards and Upwards - Non-Medical Prescribing in Substance Misuse (PDF)
A quiet but significant revolution has been taking place in substance misuse services over the last seven years. A new group of health professionals has been enabled to prescribe and they are doing so in ever increasing numbers to this patient group | National Substance Misuse Non-Medical Prescribers Forum, UK
National Substance Misuse Non Medical Prescribers Forum Conference (PDF)
Programme for the Conference which includes the speakers, workshop details and a delegate list | National Substance Misuse Non-Medical Prescribers Forum, UK
Hepatitis C detector promises hope and nothing more
Wherever people are confronted with serious threats and a lack of solutions there is a potential market in false hope | Guardian, UK
Scientists explain 'beer goggles'
‘Beer goggles’, the phenomenon used to explain how a few stiff drinks can transform the plainest face into something much more attractive, has been revealed as a myth by a brain expert | Telegraph, UK
Norway mulls tolerating heroin smoking
The Norwegian government said on Friday it wants to decriminalize the inhalation of heroin, a method considered less dangerous than injecting it, to reduce the number of overdoses in the country | Local, Norway
Outside Box, Federal Judges Offer Addicts a Free Path
Federal judges around the country are teaming up with prosecutors to create special treatment programs for drug-addicted defendants who would otherwise face significant prison time, an effort intended to sidestep drug laws widely seen as inflexible and overly punitive | New York Times, USA
Sending Out Smoke Signals
Not everyone at a gathering has the same reaction to the sight, or should I say stink, of marijuana. Some will lick their lips in anticipation of being propelled into a delicious psychosocial gavotte | New York Times, USA
France considers marijuana-based drug
he French government is considering legalizing a marijuana-based spray for muscle pain. If Sativex becomes legal, it would be the first authorized use of medical marijuana in the country | UPI News, USA
Nasal spray gives families the power to reverse overdose
The Foxborough woman could tell that her son had been using again. On that November day in 2011, he was hyper and overly affectionate. “Dear mother,” he called her | Boston Globe, USA
Too high to drive? Marijuana-friendly Colorado debates blood-level limits
When is someone too stoned to drive? | Washington Post, USA
Stubbing Out Cigarettes for Good
Fewer than one in five American adults smoke, a share that’s plunged by about half since the 1960s | New York Times Opinion, USA
Suboxone Alternatives?
There have been a number of events over the past couple weeks that have been ‘game changers’ in the efforts by Reckitt Benckiser to hang onto their profitable treatment for opioid dependence, Suboxone | PsychCentral, USA
Demand surges at Halifax needle exchange
A needle exchange program in Halifax has handed out an additional 100,000 needles this year over last and there is still another month to go before year-end | CBSNews, Canada
Alprazolam and heroin related deaths
A powerful anti-anxiety drug has been involved in a rising number of heroin-related deaths (HRDs) in Victoria in recent years, according to new research | Monash University, Australia
Fears rising over hazards of marijuana substitutes
Products sold as marijuana substitutes and reviewed by teenage customers as giving a 25-minute-long ''eight out of 10'' high continue to be sold in Canberra stores | Canberra Times, Australia
Cannabis linked to heart attack, stroke
Cannabis use may also double the stroke risk in young adults, besides being linked with heart attack and emphysema, a progressive lung disease causing shortness of breath, says a new study | Herald Globe, Australia
Cannabis users in jail likely to reoffend
At least one in three criminals use cannabis while in prison and regular users are highly likely to reoffend after their release from custody | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Frank memoir explores the cost of our drinking culture
Scottish born journalist Jill Stark was a health reporter with a blind spot: despite writing about Australia's binge-drinking culture for The Age newspaper, she would regularly drink to excess, as she'd done since her teens | Australian, Australia
Australian experts back British call for ad ban to curb alcohol harm
A complete ban on all alcohol advertising and sponsorship, a minimum price of 75¢ per unit of alcohol, requiring one-third of each alcohol label to be given to health warnings, and increasing taxes are some of the recommendations from the report, ''Health First: an evidence-based alcohol strategy for the UK'' | Age, Australia
Experts wary of e-cigarettes as test run looms
The first Australian clinical trial of e-cigarettes as quit-smoking tools will kick off this year with support for the devices building, but the government and some public health experts remain wary | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia