Daily news - 24th June 2020 |
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Coronavirus frequently updated resources
COVID-19 and addiction: webinars, podcasts and online discussions | SSA
Treatment and recovery services – and COVID-19 |Collective Voice
COVID-19 Information Hub | Scottish Drugs Forum
COVID-19 and smoking: resources, research and news | BMJ
Coronavirus: information and advice hub - alcohol | Alcohol Change UK
COVID-19 resources page for people who use drugs (PWUD) and drug service providers | EMCDDA
UK news
£105 million to keep rough sleepers safe and off the streets during coronavirus pandemic
The additional £105 million will be used to support rough sleepers and those at risk of homelessness into tenancies of their own, including through help with deposits for accommodation, and securing thousands of alternative rooms already available and ready for use, such as student accommodation | Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, HM Treasury, The Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, and The Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP, UK
Rough Sleeping: Coronavirus
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Government has made of the cost of specialist non-housing support needed by the 15,000 rough sleepers accommodated by the Everybody In initiative in order to prevent those people returning to rough sleeping | They work for you, UK
COVID-19 - Developments for naloxone delivery during covid and beyond - webinar
Fri, Jun 26, 2020 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM BST. Covid has raised new challenges and opportunities when it comes to the delivery of naloxone in Scotland. This webinar will look at some of these developments and explore what the recent statement of prosecution policy from the Lord Advocate has meant for expanding the number of services able to supply this life-saving medication | SDF, UK
How London developed a ‘woke coke’ problem
First it was eradicating single-use plastics and carbon-neutralising avocados on middle-class people’s minds. Now it’s the promise of 'ethical' recreational drugs. Madeleine Pollard investigates | Evening Standard, UK
Coronavirus: Cannabis plant seizures rise 'due to lockdown'
People spending more time at home during lockdown have been giving police tip-offs, leading to increased raids on cannabis farms, a force said | BBC, UK
Athlete Luke Traynor banned by UKAD for two years for cocaine use
Athlete Luke Traynor has been suspended from sport for two years for cocaine use, having served 13 months to date | BBC, UK
Liverpool raids uncover £1m in cash, drugs and designer goods
Police raids at four homes in Liverpool uncovered more than £1m in cash, a haul of Class A drugs and designers shoes | BBC, UK
International news
Bank of ideas for mobilisation. Support. Don't Punish - global day of action
As the 2020 Support. Don’t Punish Global Day of Action (26 June 2020) approaches, we offer a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing when it comes to mobilising impactfully whilst keeping physical distance to reduce the likelihood of new transmissions | IDPC, UK
Fundamentals of alcohol treatment
Row 2 of the Alcohol Treatment Matrix develops your understanding of the shared elements of effective treatment. Driven by the ‘negative’ findings of a huge US trial, a pivotal moment was the (re)recognition that interventions work partly because their cultural fit bequeaths them this power | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK
Jordan smoking rates highest in world amid claims of big tobacco interference
Exclusive: Health groups accuse firms of undue political influence as survey finds 80% of men use nicotine | Guardian, UK
'Divorce isn't an option': Afghan women find hope in saffron scheme
Drug addiction is common among men in many villages, leaving their wives to develop survival strategies for the family | Guardian, UK
EMCDDA Trendspotter briefing: impact of COVID-19 on patterns of drug use and drug-related harms in Europe
Since the start of 2020, European countries have been experiencing an unprecedented public health threat with the emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In order to investigate the effects and implications of this pandemic for people who use drugs in Europe, the EMCDDA instigated a mixed-method trendspotter study to investigate the current situation. This briefing provides a snapshot of the state of play with respect to the impact of COVID-19 on drug consumption patterns and drug-related harms during the early stages of the pandemic | EMCDDA, Portugal
Dutch government bans flavored liquid for e-cigarettes
The Dutch government is banning e-cigarettes with interesting flavors in an effort to make them less attractive to young people, State Secretary Paul Blokhuis of Public Health said in a letter to parliament on Tuesday. Tobacco flavors are exempted from the ban, so that smokers can continue to use e-cigarettes to quit, he said | NLTimes, Netherlands
Associations of Despair With Suicidality and Substance Misuse Among Young Adults
In this population-based cohort study in rural Appalachia, despair was longitudinally associated with higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behavior, illicit drug use, and opioid use, even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, prior outcome status, and prior depressive disorder status; despair was not associated with alcohol use disorder. There was no consistent pattern of moderation by race/ethnicity, poverty status, sex, or educational level | JAMA Network open, USA
Closed borders leading to more dangerous street drugs: OPP
Provincial police say the closure of the Canada-U.S. border during the COVID-19 pandemic has driven up the price of illicit street drugs and driven down the quality of what is being sold in eastern Ontario | CBC News, Canada
Trends and characteristics in MDMA deaths in Australia 2000-2018
This seminar provides information on deaths related to MDMA in Australia during a period when MDMA markets have undergone substantial changes, with increasing manufacture of high purity MDMA | NDARC, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Hazardous drinkers show elevated ‘waiting impulsivity’, relative to lighter drinking controls
We need interventions to address the issue of those who respond to stimuli prematurely, arges Matthew Mayhew | IAS blog, UK
Cannabis: high potency strains linked to greater chance of anxiety – new research
Cannabis is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world, though it’s only legal in a few places. Despite its popularity, there’s still a lot that researchers don’t know about how cannabis, including how it affects our mental health | NIHR HPRU in Behavioural Science and Evaluation Blog, UK