Daily news - 3rd August 2021 |
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UK news
Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales: 2020 registrations - statistics due out today at 9.30am
Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales from 1993 to 2020, by cause of death, sex, age and substances involved in the death | ONS, UK
Expanding access to naloxone - consultation
Naloxone is a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, and therefore can help to prevent overdose deaths. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Department of Health in Northern Ireland (NI DoH), the Scottish government, and the Welsh government are seeking responses to this consultation to assess the viability of proposals to widen access to naloxone by expanding the list of services and individuals that can give it out without a prescription or other written instruction. Our intention is to prevent at-risk people who use drugs from dying due to an opioid overdose. The consultation will be open for 8 weeks | DHSC, UK
Statistics on Alcohol: England
This note provides a summary of statistics on alcohol consumption among adults and children in England. Data on alcohol-related hospital admissions in England and alcohol-related deaths in England, the UK and worldwide is also shown | House of Commons Library, UK
The Right to Recovery Bill explained
The Bill enshrines in law the right to seek treatment and that treatment to lay out ALL appropriate treatments options that the COUNTRY has at its disposal | FAVOR, UK
Tragic Deaths in London & Bristol as Clubs Reopen Across the UK
The return of night life sadly comes with the return of increased drug-related harm. Over the weekend two young people died in Bristol and London from what is believed to be high strength MDMA pills | Volteface, UK
Smoking-related cancer twice as prevalent among poor in England
Overall cancer rates are higher among the wealthy, finds Cancer Research UK – but smoking and its cancers are now concentrated among the poor | Guardian, UK
Exploring men’s alcohol consumption in the context of becoming a father: a scoping review
[Open access] The transition to fatherhood may present a ‘teachable moment’ when men evaluate their health behaviors. This scoping review synthesizes evidence on men’s experiences of alcohol consumption in the context of fatherhood, and on interventions to reduce drinking among new fathers | DEPP, UK
Trial to test if cannabis-based mouth spray can treat brain tumours
First such study in the world aims to find out if Sativex combined with chemotherapy can help treat glioblastoma | Guardian, UK
The medical cannabis provider fighting for fairer access for UK patients
Ben Langley is founder and chief executive of the medical cannabis provider Grow Group | i news, UK
Current List - August 2021
Addiction publishes new book lists five times per year, both in print and on this website. Items are alphabetised by author within each list | SSA, UK
Bradford teacher banned for drinking alcohol in school
A teacher who admitted drinking alcohol at work and shouting an offensive phrase at a colleague has been banned from the classroom | BBC, UK
International news
‘Dangerous data’: drinking after dependence part 2: A gentlemanly start
Mike Ashton of Drug and Alcohol Findings continues his serialisation of the project’s essay on the most controversial issue in alcohol treatment: whether dependent drinkers should always be advised to aim for abstinence. In this instalment: In early 1960s London, psychiatrist D.L. Davies opened up the first telling crack in the abstinence-only consensus | SSA, UK
Evaluation of Patient Reported Safety and Efficacy of Cannabis From a Survey of Medical Cannabis Patients in Canada
This article summarizes the findings of Cahill et al.1, a study which evaluated patient reported safety and efficacy of medical cannabis for a broad range of medical conditions | The Cannabinoid Journal, UK
Shares slide after China brands online games 'electronic drugs'
Tencent and NetEase shares fell more than 10% in early Hong Kong trade before regaining some of those losses | BBC, UK
Two Years After Oakland’s Psychedelic Decrim, What’s Been the Impact?
Over two years ago, in June 2019, the city of Oakland, California became the first in the US to decriminalize plant-based entheogens including psilocybin, iboga, ayahuasca and mescaline cacti. Since then, the reform seems to be having its intended effect of preventing arrests for these substances | Filter Magazine, USA
Fentanyl-Tainted Marijuana Is A Myth That Refuses To Go Away
Last week, a disturbing social media post went viral in the Santa Cruz, California area, a remote, sometimes reclusive beach-and-college town surrounded by rugged hills covered in verdant redwoods about two hours south of downtown San Francisco | Forbes, USA
'These are our children': How ribbon displays are honouring overdose deaths
August marks Overdose Awareness Month and a group of Manitobans got an early start to the campaign | CTV News, Canada
Year-long campaign against alcohol and drug abuse planned [India]
Ernakulam, which has been identified as one of the most liquor-addicted districts in the country, has 2,300 hotspots of alcohol and drug abuse, as per a survey conducted by the Social Justice Department in association with Kudumbashree | The Hindu, India
Increase in cannabis consumption likely if decriminalised in Australia says new study
A new study has found that an estimated 4.2 per cent of the population aged 14 and over, who have never tried cannabis before, would try it if use of the drug were legal | NDARC, Australia
ACT needs to get tough on school-aged vaping, push for federal regulation: Marisa Paterson
The ACT government needs to boost education programs targeted at young people taking up vaping in an effort to reduce the potentially harmful practice, a Labor backbencher says | Canberra Times, Australia
Synthetic cocaine laced with fentanyl sold in Canberra
A teenager in the ACT has had a severe reaction to a substance believed to have been sold as synthetic cocaine, sparking a warning from police | Canberra Times, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Black Review recommends additional £1.78 billion for treatment and recovery
As noted previously Collective Voice strongly welcomes Dame Carol Black’s Independent Review of Drugs and its call for increased funding. In conversation with some colleagues we have noted confusion as to the headline amount called for by the author. We offer a short clarification below | Collective Voice, UK
Seventh consecutive year of increasing drug-related deaths
1,339 people lost their lives to a drug-related death in Scotland in 2020, according to an annual report from the National Records of Scotland | Public Health Scotland, UK
Solve the drugs crisis? Listen to the ‘Real Experts’
The media will clamour for comment and politicians will line up responses to meet print deadlines. By contrast, those working in deprived communities to combat the consequences of substance misuse, families mourning the lives of loved ones lost on the altar of addiction or even those carrying scars while on the journey towards recovery, there will be another set of emotions altogether | Scotland Can, UK
The impact of COVID-related disruption on the moral economy of illicit drug distribution, by Angus Bancroft and Idil Galip
The Scottish Government estimates that there are between 55,800 to 58,900 people aged 15-64 years with problem drug use in Scotland, defined in terms of problematic opioid and/or benzodiazepine use | Blogs.ed.ac.uk, UK
Despite Data, WHO’s War on Tobacco Alternatives Continues
Paid in part by Michael R. Bloomberg’s billions and U.S. taxpayers, the World Health Organization (WHO) has officially denounced e-cigarettes and vapor products. In a mystifyingly misleading report published July 27, the WHO has demonized e-cigarettes, urging governments to “strictly regulate” the newfangled disruptive technologies, dismissing (if not ignoring) the very notion and science of tobacco harm reduction | Inside Sources, USA
Here Comes Trouble: An Anti-Tobacco Hero’s Complicated Legacy
A lauded tobacco scientist’s crusade against vaping has some critics — and former allies — questioning his research | Undark, USA
Sha’Carri Richardson’s Story Shows Us Drug Testing Is a Harmful Drug War Tactic
Right now, Sha’Carri Richardson should be running toward her Olympic dream, but she’s not because of a harmful drug war practice: drug testing| Truthout, USA