Weekly news - 26th April 2019


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Brexit threatens the UK’s ability to tackle illicit drugs and organised crime: what needs to happen now?

The decision by the UK government to leave the European Union comes at a time when parts of the UK are experiencing a marked rise in reported gun and knife crimes. The health effects of Brexit will have serious consequences as to how the UK tackle this upsurge in drug-related crime | Health Policy, UK

Four in five teachers bullied in school with some turning to drugs and alcohol to cope

'Bullying is destroying many teachers' health and driving them from the profession,' says union | Independent, UK

'Costs are crippling': more than 900 British pubs vanished in 2018

Annual review shows low consumer confidence and high business rates remain a hurdle | Guardian, UK

420: Seven charts on how cannabis use has changed

Around the world, on the 20 April - or "420" - cannabis users will be lighting up to celebrate "weed culture" and protest about its prohibition in many countries | BBC, UK

Health authority ‘ignoring evidence on harmful effects of e-cigarettes’

A leading health professor has accused Public Health England (PHE) of ignoring mounting evidence on the harmful effects of e-cigarettes | ITV, UK

Vaping brand with flavours loved by teens set for big UK expansion

The world’s leading vaping brand is planning a significant UK expansion, including the marketing of fruit flavours that critics have said are designed to appeal to teenagers | Telegraph, UK

Testing of illicit drugs in the Netherlands could be a model for the UK

Nearly five years ago Daan van der Gouwe, a drug researcher at the Dutch Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (Trimbos), received laboratory test results on a “Pink Superman” ecstasy tablet that had been submitted for testing by an anonymous drug user | BMJ, UK

A question of substance

Within the field of mental health, substance misuse represents a microcosm of mental disorders: environment interacts with genetics, stigma hinders treatment, and untreated disorders create a downward spiral of more mental ill-health, economic hardship, and poor familial support or even increased risk of experiencing domestic violence | Lancet, UK

'People dying waiting for drug and alcohol treatment'

People are dying because they are not getting the treatment they need to deal with drug and alcohol abuse, according to the Welsh Conservatives | BBC, UK

'One in four' NHS doctors suffering from a mental health condition

More than a quarter of NHS doctors suffer from mental health conditions, a survey indicates, as leading medics say many refuse to seek help for fear it will ruin their career | Telegraph, UK

Popular children to be recruited as anti-drug 'influencers' in Government funded project

Teenagers, who have been voted by their classmates as the most influential, will be trained to discourage their peers from taking illegal substances | Telegraph, UK

County lines: posters for social housing staff

Posters to support the government’s work to deal with county lines – this is where urban drug dealers expand their activity into small town markets | Home Office, UK

‘You can’t arrest your way out of record drug-related deaths,’ say police

Police forces across the UK are offering drug users pre-arrest education and treatment instead of a caution or charge | Guardian, UK

CBD in cannabis could reduce psychosis risk from high strength skunk, study shows

Cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical derived from the cannabis plant, can counteract the effects of high strength "skunk" strains and may help to reduce the risk of serious mental health conditions like psychosis, according to a new study | Independent, UK

US drug company executives charged with fuelling opioid crisis

Two former executives of a major US pharmaceutical company have been charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in an unprecedented case | Telegraph, UK

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS prescriptions for medicinal cannabis (a) THC and (b) CBD have been issued in England since December 2018 | They work for you, UK

Revealed: Arrests for Growing Weed Have Fallen By More Than Half

FOI data obtained by VICE demonstrates how more police forces have effectively decriminalised the production of cannabis | VICE, UK

Ex-tobacco worker was given 1,200 cigarettes a month

An ex-tobacco worker who has inoperable lung cancer is considering suing his former employers over free cigarettes given out as a "perk" of the job | BBC, UK

New National Strategy to tackle problem gambling

Health bodies, charities, regulators and businesses are being brought together to tackle problem gambling | BBC, UK

How the US military's opium war in Afghanistan was lost

The US has spent $1.5m (£1.15m) a day since 2001 fighting the opium war in Afghanistan. So why is business still booming? | BBC, UK

Researchers verify new method of HIV transmission among injection drug users and effective prevention technique

'Cook your Wash' campaign reduces risk of HIV transmission | EurekAlert, USA