Daily news - 7th July 2015 |
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UK news
DDN magazine: July edition
In this month's DDN, nutritionist Helen Sandwell looks at the risk of ‘pure, white and deadly’ sugar to people in recovery. Also this issue – GPs fight to preserve access to shared care at this year’s SMMGP conference, and how to improve support for those bereaved through drugs or alcohol | DDN, UK
Fatal incident investigations issue 9 - New Psychoactive Substances (PDF)
This Learning Lessons Bulletin examines deaths of prisoners where the use of ‘NPS’ type drugs was suspected | Prison and Probation Ombudsman, UK
Legal highs a factor in prison deaths, says ombudsman
Legal highs are suspected to have been a factor in 19 self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales over the past two and a half years, an official investigation has found | Guardian, UK
The advisory council on the misuse of drugs (ACMD) has highlighted eight problems with the proposed legislation on legal highs
The government's plan to ban legal highs could result in young people disproportionately punished and branded criminals, according to the The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) | BBC Newsbeat, UK
Home Office asked to rewrite Psychoactive Substances Bill
The advisory council on the misuse of drugs (ACMD) has highlighted eight problems with the proposed legislation on legal highs | MixMag, UK
Revealed: North-south divide on alcohol consumption advice to pregnant mothers as research finds boozing is "prevalent"
The University of Cambridge-led research's call for change comes as it emerged there was a north-south divide on advice to pregnant mothers on alcohol consumption | Herald, UK
Hand sanitisers need better warning labels after child suffers alcohol poisoning, say doctors
A three-year-old girl was poisoned by an alcohol-based hand sanitiser as reports suggest increase in teenagers deliberately drinking hand sanitiser gels | Telegraph, UK
Former council worker caught with cannabis struck off
A nurse caught smuggling cannabis into Scotland from Amsterdam inside a sock in December 2011 has been struck off | BBC, UK
Telford 'Superman' drugs trial collapses
The trial of a man charged with supplying ecstasy pills marked with a Superman motif has collapsed | BBC, UK
Bill Cosby admitted buying drugs to give women for sex
Court documents show actor and comedian obtained sedatives to give to women he wanted to have sex with | Telegraph, UK
International news
UK Khat ban - For the people by the people. 1 year on
The UK banning of Khat a year ago surprised much of UK society who had not heard of the drug - let alone aware that there was campaign to stop its use | Hiraan Online, Somalia
Report of visit by a Committee delegation to examine the impact of Portuguese approach to the possession of certain drugs (PDF)
The Joint Committee decided to undertake a study into the effects of crimes carried out in communities by gangs and held a number of public hearings in relation to this matter | Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, Ireland
Phone line set up to target illegal drug and weapon smuggling into prisons
A new confidential phone line has been set up to stop illegal trafficking of drugs and weapons into Irish prisons | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Drugs supply ‘stops inmates kicking the habit’
The supply of drugs into prisons “seriously undermines” the ability of inmates to kick the habit, the country’s largest voluntary drug and homeless organisation has said | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Cannabis construction: entrepreneurs use cannabis in home construction
Using hemp as an insulation material in construction | NY Times, USA
Researchers reveal brainwave changes in patients receiving nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as "laughing gas," has been used in anesthesiology practice since the 1800s, but the way it works to create altered states is not well understood. In a study published this week in Clinical Neurophysiology, MIT researchers reveal some key brainwave changes among patients receiving the drug | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
New report provides more evidence of how drug decriminalisation saves lives
As Britain significantly ratchets up the war on drugs with the psychoactive substances bill, the parliament in Ireland is investigating alternatives. Chief among them is Portugal, which has experimented with decriminalisation | Politics.co.uk, UK
I’ve been in Britain’s grimmest prisons, but Pentonville’s the worst
Life inside HMP Pentonville is one of drugs, overcrowding and alienating hopelessness. The chief inspector of prisons has captured it perfectly in his report | Guardan CIF, UK