Daily news - 11th May 2015

Jasper Woodcock obituary

Our friend Jasper Woodcock, who has died aged 89, was director of the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence from 1975 until his retirement in 1993, helping that body build up a substantial reputation for providing impartial, evidence-based information about drugs. The organisation later merged with the Standing Conference on Drug Abuse to become DrugScope in 2000 (which has recently closed down due to lack of funds) | Guardian, UK

Children as young as 10 'smoke before exams', survey suggests

Children as young as 10 are smoking cigarettes, eating junk food and drinking energy drinks for breakfast before sitting exams, a study says | BBC, UK

Indonesia executions: Hope for death row British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford as UK diplomat’s ‘affair’ exposed

Lindsay Sandiford, from Teeside, who was caught in possession of drugs when she arrived in Bali, could be executed by firing squad within weeks | Independent, UK

Drugs worth £1.46m seized after campaign against dealers

Almost £1.5m of illegal drugs have been seized in Northern Ireland following a media campaign against drug dealers, police have said | BBC, UK

Greater Manchester Police undergo extra training to better deal with mental health patients

The additional training coincides with Mental Health Awareness Week and will include guidance on how to deal with crisis situations | Manchester Evening News, UK

Morgan Freeman calls for marijuana to be 'legalised across the board'

Morgan Freeman has called for cannabis to be legalised “across the board”, claiming it helps him with pain management and has many other “useful uses”| Independent, UK

Porn and video game addiction are leading to 'masculinity crisis', says Stanford prison experiment psychologist

A leading psychologist has warned that young men's brains are being 'digitally rewired' by unprecedented use of video games and pornography | Independent, UK

International news

Synthetic marijuana hospitalizations surge tied to chemical formulas 'tweak'

Over 1,500 cases have been reported in US since April, as overseas manufacturers circumvent regulations with dangerous new variations of legal highs | Guardian, UK

Colombia to ban coca spraying herbicide glyphosate

Colombia has announced it will stop using a controversial herbicide to destroy illegal plantations of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine | BBC, UK

Indonesia's war on drugs is based on faulty information

Indonesia has executed 14 drug traffickers this year as part of President Joko Widodo's war on a "narcotics emergency" he says is killing at least 40 people a day, but researchers have questioned the reliability of the study that produced that figure | Business Insider, UK

Rail passenger 'found smuggling heroin under foreskin'

Chinese man on train to Tibet chose unusual place to hide his drug supply | Telegraph, UK

Tennessee health worker was secretly running $17.5m pill mill operation: FBI

Sylvia Hoftsetter, 51, is accused of running clinics that provided some 12m opioid prescriptions in four years, making her rich ‘beyond her wildest dreams’ | Guardian, UK

Legalise cannabis supporters march in Paris, other French cities

Placards and banners with the message "Ganga for all!" could be seen in the streets of Paris on Saturday as hundreds marched in support of legalising cannabis. As part of the Global Marijuana March, the crowds were calling for a change in France's drug policy | RFI, France

The opioid epidemic and its impact on orthopaedic care

The United States makes up less than five percent of the world's population but consumes 80 percent of the global opioid supply and approximately 99 percent of all hydrocodone—the most commonly prescribed opioid in the world | Medical Xpress, USA

E-cigarette vapor could lead to emphysema, study finds

Like tobacco, e-cigarettes affect a smoker's lungs and long-term exposure could lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – more commonly known as COPD or emphysema – according to the latest research by Central Michigan University College of Medicine's Neeraj Vij, an associate professor of molecular and cell biology | Medical Xpress, USA

Motivational Interviewing Makes Tobacco Seem Disagreeable To Smokers, Helps Them Quit

Quitting smoking is difficult: Only a small percentage of people who attempt it without any medication (four to seven percent, according to the American Cancer Society) are successful. With medications, and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), that fraction rises to 25 percent — which is better, but still quite low | Medical Daily, USA

What You Should Know About Medical Marijuana for Pets

Now that 23 states have given medical marijuana the green light (with even recreational use now allowed in another four states and Washington D.C.), growing weed has become a growing business. The newest frontier: getting Fido and Fluffy on board with the cannabis revolution | TIME, USA

New resources for substance use in pregnancy

Researchers at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre have developed evidence-based resources to assist primary healthcare providers in supporting pregnant women who use alcohol and other drugs | NDARC, Australia

Coalition Government launches advertising campaign to combat ice

The Federal Coalition Government has launched a hard-hitting new advertising campaign aimed at educating families and the broader community about the dangers of the drug ice, or crystal methamphetamine | Health.gov.au, Australia

Behind Australia's love affair with illicit drugs

When it comes to drug use, Australians are world leaders. More than 40 per cent of us have used drugs illicitly and we have one of the highest rates of illegal use per capita despite also having some of the most expensive prices | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia