Daily news - 4th December 2020 |
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UK news
Market and tobacco industry response to standardised tobacco packaging in the UK (PDF)
Summary of two commissioned research projects examining changes in the tobacco market before, and after, the implementation of standardised packaging in the UK | Cancer Research UK, UK
Addictions: Health Services
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve addiction support services in the most disadvantaged communities | They work for you, UK
Clinical Insights - MDMA for Alcohol Use Disorder
Dr Ben Sessa presents the preliminary data in an ongoing open-label safety and tolerability proof of concept study exploring the potential role for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy in treating patients with alcohol use disorder | Drug Science, UK
QMJC November 2020 - Facebook and the Fun of Drinking Photos: Reproducing Gendered Regimes of Power
This beautifully written qualitative paper examines the meanings which young adults attach to sharing drinking photos on Facebook, and explores how these practices are gendered. The memorable title clearly conveys the topic, indicates the paper will focus on respondents’ perceptions (aligned with pleasure, rather than risk) and introduces the claim that ‘fun’ drinking photos ultimately reproduce gendered and heteronormative regimes of power | SSA, UK
Video: ‘All Good Points’ Episode 3 – ‘High Hopes’
In this episode George and Paul discuss: The UN has approved the WHO recommendation to reschedule cannabis – good news or irrelevant? And much more... | Volteface, UK
County Lines and Looked After Children
Since the National Crime Agency (NCA) published their first intelligence assessment in 2015, county lines has gone from being a little known phenomenon discussed by a small community of professionals to front page news in national newspapers, plot points in soap operas and the subject of documentaries and a movie. However, due to the lack of published data on the nature and scale of county lines exploitation, it remains an issue that generates heat but very little light | Crest Advisory, UK
Young black males in London '19 times more likely to be stopped and searched'
Study finds success rate for stops has fallen from 28% in 2018 to 22% between March and September this year | Guardian, UK
Webinar: Drug and alcohol related mortality - looking beyond the statistics - free event
Mon, 7 December 2020, 10:00 – 12:00 GMT. In October the Office for National Statistics published the latest statistics for drug-related deaths in 2019, showing – yet again – a record year in almost a decade of increasing deaths and an appalling picture of human loss and suffering | Collective Voice, UK
CBD 2021: The UK Opportunity
Dec 9, 4:00PM to Dec 9, 6:30PM GMT. At this event attendees will learn more about the potential of the UK CBD market (and by extension other cannabinoids), how upcoming changes to the UK legal framework could drastically reduce the number of market participants and how established companies can move into this space with the confidence their products are legally compliant | Association for the Cannabinoid Industry, UK
Staffordshire teacher banned for drugs offence
Bethan Thomas, who taught in Newcastle-under-Lyme, was not prosecuted and a misconduct panel said she should be able to continue teaching. But the education secretary decided she should be banned indefinitely to maintain public confidence in teachers | BBC, UK
International news
Barriers and facilitators for treatment-seeking for mental health conditions and substance misuse: multi-perspective focus group study within the military
Globally, millions are exposed to stressors at work that increase their vulnerability to develop mental health conditions and substance misuse (such as soldiers, policemen, doctors). However, these types of professionals are expected to be strong and healthy, and this contrast may worsen their treatment gap. Although the treatment gap in the military has been studied before, perspectives of different stakeholders involved have largely been ignored, even though they play an important role | BJPsych open, UK
Vancouver plan to decriminalize street drugs sets up battle with Ottawa
The city’s plan to reduce overdose deaths needs support from Canada’s government – but Justin Trudeau is likely to be reluctant | Guardian, UK
Smoking banned inside apartments in San Francisco — unless it’s cannabis
According to analysis, secondhand smoke causes more than 41,000 Americans a year | Independent, UK
Colombia Is Considering Legalizing Its Massive Cocaine Industry
A senator is trying to get a bill through congress that makes the government buy up and sell the country’s cocaine production | VICE, UK
Parents of overdose victim urge NSW to adopt warning system for drug offences
Parents of Alex Ross-King and Joshua Tam say politicians need to stare down critics of ‘decriminalisation’ to save lives | Guardian, UK
EMCDDA webinar: COVID-19 induced recession and drug-related problems
The EMCDDA is offering a series of webinars around the theme of COVID-19. The purpose of the webinars is to help those working in the drugs field understand how drug users, and those supporting them, are coping with the pandemic and to share knowledge and experience | EMCDDA, Portugal
Underage Youth and Young Adult e-Cigarette Use and Access Before and During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic
In this national, online, cross-sectional survey study of 2167 youth and young adults using e-cigarettes, 1198 respondents reported changing their amount of e-cigarette use, with 810 reducing or quitting e-cigarette use; e-cigarette access shifted to alternative retail stores and online. Reduced e-cigarette use or quitting was associated with adhering to shelter-in-place guidelines and was less likely if participants had used e-cigarettes more than 10 times or were nicotine dependent | JAMA network, USA
Declines in Electronic Cigarette Use Among US Youth in the Era of COVID-19—A Critical Opportunity to Stop Youth Vaping in Its Tracks
The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has increased at an alarming pace among youth, a striking reversal of decades of public health progress aimed at reducing youth tobacco use in the US. Between | JAMA network, USA
Policy changes to pharmacy-based naloxone provision significantly increased uptake among high-risk individuals
Pharmacy-based naloxone dispensing increased in Ontario—particularly among individuals at a high risk of accidental opioid overdose—following changes to the Ontario Naloxone Program for Pharmacies (ONPP), suggests a new study by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) | Medical Xpress, USA
Overdose-Related Cardiac Arrests Observed by Emergency Medical Services During the US COVID-19 Epidemic
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic took grip of the US 2 decades into an accelerating overdose crisis that caused more than 70 000 deaths in 2019 alone. Front-line health care professionals and officials have sounded the alarm that the social and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic may impede efforts to flatten the overdose curve | JAMA Network, USA
How Big Data Can Save Lives in the Opioid Crisis
The use of big data to address the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts poses ethical concerns that could undermine its benefits without clear governance guidelines that protect and respect patients and society, a University of Massachusetts Amherst study concludes TN, USA
A Fentanyl User’s Dispiriting Search for Safe Supply in Toronto
When I heard earlier this year that a safe supply of opioids would be made more widely available for people who use drugs in my hometown of Toronto, I was excited but hesitant | Filter Magazine, USA
Retailers make it easy for WA kids to buy e-cigarettes
E-cigarette e-liquids being promoted by an online store based in WA resembling Pokémon cartoon characters | Mirage News, Australia
'No strategy': Drug possession compromise on the table to end bitter cabinet division
A three-strike drug possession policy would only apply to young offenders under a compromise position floated by ministers opposed to broader reform to end a cabinet stand-off within the NSW government | SMH, Australia
‘Social outcast’ behind $17 million dark web drug syndicate
As a teen he would pretend to be a drug dealer on video games. Years later this baby-faced Aussie was behind a $17m drug ring | News.com.au, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Will prejudice be a barrier to understanding the potential of psychedelics in treating depression?
We still have a lot to learn about how effective psychedelics are in the treatment of depression, but even if the evidence is there, patients and prescribers are likely to have additional anxieties around these drugs, writes Ian Hamilton | BMJ Opinion, UK
Lifetime perspective on alcohol and brain health
The maintenance of brain health is central to health and wellbeing across the lifespan. Evidence suggests three periods of dynamic brain changes that may be particularly sensitive to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol: gestation (from conception to birth), later adolescence (15-19 years), and older adulthood (over 65 years) | BMJ Editorial, UK
Developing the Health Index for England
The Health Index provides a single value for health showing how health changes over time, and can be broken down to focus on specific topics to show what is driving these changes | ONS blog, UK
Saving the UK’s nascent CBD industry: The CDPRG outlines recommendations for the UK Government in a new briefing paper, ahead of the UN vote on THC content in CBD products
At the 63rd United Nations (UN) Session on the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, leaders from around the UN’s member states will vote on removing cannabidiol (CBD) preparations with less than 0.2 percent THC from international control. In this new briefing paper, the CDPRG recommends that the UK vote in accordance with this recommendation, safeguarding the growth of our burgeoning CBD industry, and stimulating the UK’s biosciences sector | CDPRG blog, UK
Reasons to be cheerful
If you are looking for reasons to be cheerful in these testing times, read on. I’ve been taking a look at a piece of research (1), about to be published, from the Recovery Research Institute in Massachusetts, which examined questionnaire responses from over 25,000 people who identified as having a past alcohol or drug problem which was now no longer problematic | Recovery Review blog, UK
Looking back over the year
Looking back over the year 2020 – a year so profoundly characterised by its unpredictability – I find it heartening to reflect on the unwavering commitment of our dedicated teams in our residential rehabs across the country | Phoenix Futures blog, UK
The politics of drinking
Recent months have introduced many new words and phrases to our vocabularies, so how about another one: ‘Covid temperance’? | Phil Mellows, UK
County Lines review – dark tale of the burdens borne by drug mules
A desperate teenager is drawn into a perilous criminal network in an affecting drama that reflects a real-life scandal | Guardian, UK
Opinion: Pandemic Shaming Can Backfire. Here’s a Better Way
During a pandemic that has already claimed more than 1.4 million lives worldwide, the safest strategy, unquestionably, is to abstain from festivities with those outside of our immediate households. But not everyone values safety more than social connection — and public shaming and blanket demands for abstinence can backfire. How, then, can we balance our security and sanity, to ensure that we save as many lives as possible? A concept developed by and for people who inject drugs can help | Undark opinon, USA