Daily news - 14th December 2020 |
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UK news
Extra help for rough sleepers with drug and alcohol dependency
Rough sleepers across England will receive extra support to help them recover from drug and alcohol misuse | Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England, Jo Churchill MP, and Kelly Tolhurst MP, UK
COVID-19: guidance for commissioners and providers of services for people who use drugs or alcohol
Updated to reflect recommendations for best practice for drug and alcohol services in the current stage of the pandemic | PHE, UK
Drugs tsar says addicts 'neglected and ignored'
Prof Catriona Matheson was appointed to chair the taskforce last year after a record number of drug misuse deaths in Scotland acted as a "wake-up" call. The much-delayed figures for 2019 are due to be published on Tuesday | BBC, UK
Lockdown and beyond: A COVID insight report (PDF)
This report tells our shared COVID story through the form of open letters from families and team members, statistical reports from our Helpline and other services, and information on our COVID response throughout the pandemic | SFAD, UK
Covid: Lockdown 'devastating' for those affected by alcohol and drug use
A Scottish charity supporting those affected by alcohol or drug use has revealed 1,680 people had asked for help between March and November, up from 935 in the same period last year | Herald, UK
Ending the pain of children with severe epilepsy? An audit of the impact of medical cannabis in 10 patients
Scientific and anecdotal evidence suggest that whole plant cannabis extracts are effective in reducing seizure frequency in individuals with a range of epileptic etiologies. We report a case series of 10 individuals using CBMPs in the UK to treat their conditions | Drug Science, Policy and Law, UK
Cannabis fund Sapphire wins charity status
[Free one month trial available] A doctor has won an 18-month struggle with the Charity Commission to set up Britain’s first charity to fund cannabis medicines for people denied treatment on the NHS | The Times, UK
Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Rehabilitation
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to (a) increase the number of places and (b) reduce the waiting time for NHS funded drug and alcohol rehabilitation services | They work for you, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Prices
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the findings of the report by the Alcohol Health Alliance UK Small change: alcohol at pocket money prices, published in November, what steps they are taking to limit the sale of cheap, strong alcohol | They work for you, UK
Final Report - Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drug Commission
Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership's Alcohol and Drugs Commission has announced its proposals to tackle the challenges posed by alcohol and drugs in Renfrewshire | Renfrewshire Council, UK
Smoking cessation for cannabis users: The SSA talks to Hannah Walsh
In 2020 the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) published a briefing about delivering smoking cessation services for people who used both cannabis and tobacco. The SSA talked to the first author Hannah Walsh | SSA, UK
The science of addiction - audio
Some people are addicted to drugs, others to alcohol. Addicts often crave a substance, and yet when they inject or consume it, it doesn’t bring them any pleasure. David Edmonds finds out how humans can want something, but not like it | BBC, UK
This Is How Psychedelics Hack the Brain, According to Scientists
The “pivotal mental state” is described in a mind-blowing new scientific paper that looks at how drugs can reroute people out of psychological dead ends | VICE, UK
Scotch eggs: 10-fold surge in demand for 'substantial meal'
The snacks were deemed by ministers last week to be sufficient to order alongside alcohol in tier 2-area pubs | Guardian, UK
Regulatory action taken against former manager and trustee of Birmingham rehabilitation charity
The Commission has concluded that the initial trustees and former manager of a Birmingham rehabilitation charity failed to comply with their legal duties | Charity Commission, UK
Over 200 global delegates attend ‘CBD 2021: The UK Opportunity’ end of year event
The Centre for Medicinal Cannabis and sister company the Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI) finished 2020 on a high note with over 200 delegates from around the world attending our virtual event “CBD 2021: The UK Opportunity” which took place on Wednesday 9 December | CMC, UK
£44m of MDMA shipped to Australia hidden in excavator
Three men have been arrested in London and two in Western Sydney following the seizure of 450 kilos of MDMA hidden within an excavator that was shipped into the Port of Brisbane from the UK earlier this year | NCA, UK
John Wright murder: Stockton victim was beaten over fake money drug deal
A drug dealer accused of murdering a man wanted to hit him with a cosh as punishment for paying for crack cocaine with fake money, a court has heard | BBC, UK
International news
Should you avoid alcohol when getting a coronavirus vaccine?
Drinking alcohol after getting a coronavirus vaccine can significantly blunt the immune response and potentially render the vaccine ineffective, according to a leading Russian scientist | New Scientist, UK
Some Dealers Are Checking Their Drugs to Keep Clients Alive
A new study shows how drug dealers can play a crucial role in harm reduction during the overdose crisis | VICE, UK
Taking the drug Ecstasy appears to help solve marriage problems, scientists discover
[Limited number of free articles per week] Researchers have suggested that the Class A substance could transform the future of relationship counselling | Telegraph, UK
America's longest-serving marijuana prisoner freed after 31 years
Richard DeLisi, now 71, was sentenced to 90-year prison term in 1989 for marijuana trafficking, as part of era’s ‘war on drugs’ | Guardian, UK
Bill to decriminalise small amounts of MDMA, heroin, ice and other hard drugs to be introduced in the Australian Capital Territory
A bill to decriminalise small amounts of hard drugs will be introduced in the Australian Capital Territory next year | Mail Online, UK
Malaysia coast guard makes record £19.2m crystal meth seizure
[Limited number of free articles per week] Country's maritime agency said it had seized more than two tonnes of crystal methamphetamine from a boat off the country's west coast | Telegraph, UK
Permanent medical cannabis delivery service to be established for Irish patients
The temporary service that was set up in April will now be made permanent | Journal, Ireland
Reitox national focal points’ activities during the COVID-19 pandemic
This report highlights the responses taken by the EMCDDA's Reitox network of national focal points to the COVID-19 crisis and describes the challenges met by the organisations and the strategies produced to overcome these challenges | EMCDDA, Portugal
As more red states legalize marijuana, some officials try to nip it in the bud
With his state reeling amid one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the nation, the last thing South Dakota Speaker of the House Steven Haugaard wants to be dealing with during the upcoming legislative session is marijuana. But the state's voters haven't left the Republican much choice | News Medical, USA
Eureka City Council Votes 3-2 to Suspend Syringe Exchange Services
A marathon special meeting of the Eureka City Council, stretching from 7 until 11:30 p.m., resulted in the council voting 3 to 2 in favor of a resolution temporarily prohibiting all syringe exchange services within city limits, with councilmembers Natalie Arroyo and Leslie Castellano dissenting | NCJ, USA
New Compound Related to Psychedelic Ibogaine Could Treat Addiction, Depression
Anon-hallucinogenic version of the psychedelic drug ibogaine, with potential for treating addiction, depression and other psychiatric disorders, has been developed by researchers at the University of California, Davis. A paper describing the work is published Dec. 9 in Nature | UC Davis, USA
Oxycodone-related ambulance presentations are more likely to be women and those with mental health issues
A new study by researchers from Monash University has shown that women and people with mental health issues are more likely to require attendance by an ambulance for oxycodone misuse | Mirage, Australia
Cheers to no-alcohol beers, but are prices too high?
Sipping a beer as an antidote to the summer heat is increasingly a sober affair as sales of zero-alcohol beers boom, but there are questions about the prices being charged | Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand
Gang members robbing and assaulting people using online app to buy drugs
A man attempting to buy cannabis was hit around the head with a metal object and robbed of his money in Wellington’s central city earlier this month – just one of least 10 serious “standover” type incidents involving drug deals, police say | Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand
Blogs, comment and opinion
Collective Voice holds first webinar on substance misuse and mortality
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 blog, UK
Stewart Paterson: Another wasted year in Glasgow's drug death shame
Standing outside Peter Krykant’s overdose prevention van is a depressing experience, brightened only by one man’s determination to do what he can to save lives | Glasgow Times, UK
Opinion: Stop Calling it Recreational Use
Oftentimes we are keen to distinguish between medical and recreational cannabis use. But does this distinction do more harm than good for advancing recreational reform? | Volteface, UK
“Access to medical cannabis is a human rights issue”
Drug policy expert, Dr Melissa Bone, discusses the pitfalls in UK cannabis regulations | Cannabis Health, UK
Weaponizing Stigma: ‘people don’t die from overdoses’
Sean Fogler, a doctor in recovery writing on Stat, explains how his dual roles – that of a physician and that of a person with experience of addiction and recovery – gave him a unique insight into attitudes to patients with substance use disorders and mental health problems in health care systems | Recovery Review blog, UK
Essential work, precarious labour: The need for safer and equitable harm reduction work in the era of COVID-19
This commentary highlights labour concerns and inequities within the harm reduction sector that hinder programs’ ability to respond to converging public health emergencies (the overdose crisis and COVID-19), and potentially contribute to spread of the novel coronavirus | IJDP commentary, Canada