Daily news - 29th April 2021


Weekly subscribe button

UK news

Free e-cigarettes for smokers in A&E trial

Smokers attending emergency departments will be given free e-cigarettes and taught how to use them, in a trial designed to help people quit | BBC, UK

MPs debate alcohol labelling

Dan Carden MP, who proposed the debate, called the Government consultation on alcohol labelling—part of the obesity strategy— “a welcome positive step” that would help consumers make more informed choices about their own health and wellbeing | AHA, UK

Alcohol Products: Labelling

When we consider the role of alcohol in our society, we see that there is a balance to be struck. As with many things in life, there is the good and there is the bad, because we cannot escape the very real harm alcohol inflicts | They work for you, UK

Substance use and depression more closely linked for generation Z teens

Substance use and antisocial behaviour are more likely to go hand-in-hand with poor mental health for generation Z teens compared to millennial adolescents growing up a decade earlier, finds a new UCL study | UCL, UK

#35 - Crack Cocaine

This week’s episode features Carl Hart, professor of neuroscience and psychology at Columbia University in New York. Professor Nutt and professor Hart discuss drug addiction and its political context in the US. Are drug policies racist? Were they made to help or to harm? What does the declaration of independence have to do with drug criminalization? | Drug Science, UK

Vaping and smoking cessation with Máirtín McDermott and Leonie Brose

Rob Calder talks to Dr Máirtín McDermott and Dr Leonie Brose about their research into the effectiveness of e-cigarettes for quitting smoking | SSA, UK

Alcohol Shorts - Episode 12 With Megan - podcast

Megan McGarrigle is Alcohol Focus Scotland’s Youth Engagement Officer. Megan focuses on developing work around an alcohol-free childhood through engaging with children and young people across the country | SFAD, UK

Operators advised over heater safety issues

Pub operators have been advised that allowing customers to bring portable heaters to beer gardens creates a risk that is “very difficult” to manage | Morning Advertiser, UK

SEEDS introduction - video

We are a collective of students and alumni that hope to plant seeds for critical conversations that help us reflect on and think about how we plant the roots for social justice in drug policy | SEEDS for change, UK

Adfam National Forum - End of Life Care

Thu, 29 April 2021, 10:00 – 11:30 BST. Adfam's online forums bring together practitioners working with families affected by substance use or gambling | Adfam, UK

Drugs in Scotland: Holyrood Elections 2021

Thu, 29 April 2021, 19:30 – 21:00 BST. An evening to discuss the importance of drug policy reform in Scotland ahead of the crucial Holyrood elections | Volteface, UK

Launch Event: Alliance On Drugs Policy, Business and Racial Justice

Thu, April 29, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM BST. Launch Event: New Black Centred Alliance On Drugs Policy, Business and Racial Justice | Blacksox and Transform, UK

Ashford stabbing trial: Teen guilty of drugs row murder

A teenager has been convicted of murdering a man in a row over fake banknotes being used in a drug deal | BBC, UK

Midlands gang who hid drugs in cereal box jailed

Four members of a drugs gang who hid more than £150,000 worth of heroin in a cereal box have been jailed | BBC, UK

 

International news

Last call before Turkey lockdown prompts alcohol sales surge and worries about religious bullying

Government’s draconian 17-day coronavirus lockdown comes with ban on alcohol sales | Independent, UK

Facebook allows advertisers to target children interested in smoking, alcohol and weight loss

Social media giant gave organisation behind a page for Australian 13- to 17-year-olds option to run alcohol, smoking and gambling ads for as little as $3 | Guardian, UK

Non-hallucinogenic psychedelics: scientists close in on compound

Discovery could accelerate development of easy-to-use treatments for mental health conditions | Guardian, UK

Woolworths pulls pin on Dan Murphy’s store in Darwin near three dry Aboriginal communities

Controversial plans axed after review finds company failed to consult enough with Indigenous communities | Guardian, UK

Kratom use rare, but more common among people with opioid use disorder

Substance used by 0.7% of US population and 10.3% of people with opioid use disorder | EurekAlert, USA

Should Dying Cancer Patients Suffer From Undertreated Pain Because of 'Concerns Regarding Addiction'?

Two recent studies show how ham-handed efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions undermine medical care | Reason, USA

How Fear, Misinformation, Stigma Have Devastated US Pain Patients

Tamera Lynn Stewart had been taking prescribed opioids for 12 years to treat her chronic pain, following some cancer-related surgeries. Then one day in April 2018, her doctor told her he could no longer maintain the treatment that had worked so well for all those years | Filter Magazine, USA

Biden's 'American Families Plan' Would Open Food Benefits To People Convicted Of Felonies

More than 20 states still have food benefit restrictions for people convicted of drug felonies thanks to a law from the 1990s | Huffington Post, USA

How Fentanyl, More than Heroin, Drives US Opioid Market

Based on available data — as well as interviews with more than a dozen counterdrug officials, drug policy experts and academics — the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has displaced heroin as the leading driver of the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States and is contributing to a deadly scramble for market-control back in Mexico | InsightCrime, USA

Researchers identify a psychedelic-like drug without the hallucinogenic side effects

Psychedelic drugs have shown promise for treating neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. However, due to their hallucinatory side effects, some researchers are trying to identify drugs that could offer the benefits of psychedelics without causing hallucinations | EurekAlert, USA

Cannabis companies eye carbon footprint labels on their products

Move over, nutrition facts – food companies and consumer packaged goods manufacturers are adding carbon-footprint labels to their products in an effort to be transparent about their environmental impact | MJ Biz Daily, USA

Prioritize 'safe supply' in opioid crisis, says Yukon harm-reduction group

Providing a safe supply of prescription alternatives is "urgently needed" and should be the top priority in dealing with Yukon's opioid crisis, according to the executive director of Blood Ties Four Directions | CBC News, Canada

Lack of educational opportunities influence drug use for rural youth

For the study, Majee spoke with youth in rural South Africa about the factors contributing to drug abuse for the NEET population, which stands for young people around the world “Not in Employment, Education or Training.” | Mirage News, Australia

Woolworths cancels Dan Murphy's store plans for Darwin near three dry Indigenous communities

The company said a review found Woolworths had not done enough to engage with Aboriginal groups concerned the store would worsen the region's already high rates of alcohol-related harm | abc news, Australia

 

Blogs, comment and opinion

Exploring different approaches to drug and alcohol rehabilitation

Detox and rehabilitation facilities play an important role in support. A mixed model is emerging in a complex treatment landscape | Nye Jones [We Are With You], UK

I’m seeing more alcoholics in A&E than ever – I fear a year of lockdowns and loss is to blame

Without proper investment in preventing alcohol abuse, the NHS will be left in the lurch for years to come | i news, UK

Big Four + Big Four: adding up the Government's lobbying links

As the Westminster lobbying scandals rumble on, Andy Rowell (Group Editor) and Phil Chamberlain (Managing Editor) of Tobacco Tactics at the Tobacco Control Research Group attempt to unravel the complex relationships between the tobacco industry, those who speak for them and the people in power | University of Bath blog, UK

Youth in Iceland: a blog from Reykjavik, March, 2020 by Pat and Hannah

As part of the Youth in Iceland Model project (see the main project page), a small group of us had the fantastic opportunity to visit Reykjavik for the Planet Youth Conference in March 2020, and to hear first-hand how the ‘Icelandic Model’ had been developed as a method for delaying young people’s engagement with substance use | SSA, UK