DS Daily - 19th March 2013 |
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150% rise in hospital admissions for over 60's with alcohol related mental health problems
Huge rise in number of over 60's requiring hospital admission for alcohol related mental health problems. Read the briefing (PDF) | Alcohol Concern, UK
A fine VINTAGE? The benefits and consequences of alcohol consumption in older adults
We know a lot about the health consequences of drinking too much alcohol, but most of this research comes from studies of adults in their twenties, thirties and forties. But what about older adults? | Mental Elf, UK
Number of over-60s suffering mental health problems caused by excessive drinking soars 150% in a decade
Older people have been warned about the dangers of excessive drinking after figures showed the number suffering alcohol-related mental-health problems has rocketed by 150 per cent in a decade | Mail Online, UK
Price-based measures to reduce alcohol consumption (PDF)
In this briefing note we compare the effectiveness of the proposed minimum unit price and quantity discount ban to an alternative policy which reforms and significantly simplifies the structure of excise taxes levied on alcohol | IFS, UK
NICE - invitation to Tender to undertake fieldwork on needle and syringe programmes
Invitation to offer for the provision of a fieldwork relating to the update of Nice guidance on needle and syringe programmes: providing injecting equipment to people who inject drugs | NICE, UK
Cannabis scratch and sniff cards to track down farms
Marijuana-scented scratch cards are to be posted to hundreds of households in a bid to detect illegal cannabis farms | BBC, UK
Conference 2013: Professor Keith Humphreys and Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on Science and British Alcohol Policy
President Obama’s former drugs advisor, Professor Keith Humphreys, discusses the role of science in developing alcohol policy. Arguing that policy should be about values, not simply science, he presents three areas in which evidence can, nonetheless, strongly inform the debate | Alcohol Research UK, UK
Jeremy Sare: Drug driving limits
Ministers wish to present the policy as tough and resolute when the science is complex, has clear analytical limits, and may be open to legal challenge | BMJ Blogs, UK
Theresa May doesn’t need to defend drug prohibition
Recent figures show the libertarian claim that the ‘war on drugs is being lost’ is becoming less and less credible | Commentator, UK
Ambitious plan to cut alcohol-related admissions at Coventry hospital
Doctors in Coventry will make an ambitious attempt to reduce the number of patients who are hospitalised by excessive drinking | Coventry Telegraph, UK
Copenhagen may import US cannabis
Copenhagen’s plan to legalise cannabis may see the city import the drug from certain locations in the United States | Ice News, Denmark
Obstacles Ahead in Burma’s Opium War
Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle is a crumpled baize of lofty peaks and lush valleys straddling the triptych borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma | Time, USA
Some Alcohol May Ease Fibromyalgia Symptoms
Researchers have found that low to moderate amounts of alcohol may improve the quality of life among individuals with fibromyalgia | Psych Central, USA
Pharma Gamesmanship in the Booming Business of Addiction Therapeutics: the Case of Suboxone
Pharmaceutical companies and opiates have a complicated, intertwined history. Analgesia was and continues to be a big business as well as an ongoing medical conundrum | Blog of Alcohol and Drug History Society, USA
Breaking: $18m cannabis bust in vineyard
Police, who are still at the scene, estimate between 4000 and 6000 plants were discovered growing under wines of the Upper King River Road property. The crop could be worth up to $18 million | Border Mail, Australia
'Luxury' item cocaine sells at premium
Cocaine is a ''luxury'' product in Australia, with users paying up to four times as much for the drug as those in Britain, a survey has found | Canberra Times, Australia
Why the TGA should make it harder for people to get Xanax
The body responsible for regulating drugs in Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), is poised to decide whether to restrict access to benzodiazepines, such as Xanax, Valium and Normison | Conversation, Australia