Daily news - 2nd December 2021 |
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UK news
Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales: 2020 registrations
Experimental Statistics of the number of deaths of homeless people in England and Wales. Figures are given for deaths registered in the years 2013 to 2020. Almost two in five deaths of homeless people were related to drug poisoning in 2020 (265 estimated deaths; 38.5% of the total number), consistent with previous years | ONS, UK
Some 688 homeless deaths registered in 2020, official estimates show
The figure was lower than the previous year but the Office for National Statistics said it could be an underestimate because of the pandemic | Independent, UK
Cigarette Stick Health Warnings Bill [HL]
This private member’s bill would seek to place a requirement on tobacco manufacturers to print health warnings on individual cigarette sticks and cigarette rolling papers. It is scheduled to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 3 December 2021 | UK Parliament, UK
Project ADDER
Information on Project ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery), the government’s pathfinder programme combatting drugs misuse | Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care, UK
Methadone to be replaced by ‘abstinence-based’ rehab to treat drug-addicted prisoners
[ Limited number of free articles per week.] Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary, says heroin substitutes aren’t helping convicts get clean | Telegraph, UK
Residential Rehabilitation
The next item of business is a statement by Angela Constance entitled “Pathways to Recovery: Update on progress and milestones for expanding access to Residential Rehabilitation in Scotland”. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions | They work for you, UK
Women's Report
In February 2021, the Taskforce had a discussion about the particular issues facing women who use drugs and their families. It was decided to set up a short life working group to further explore the key themes and recommendations from the literature and consider their practical application. All members of the working group had a strong interest in this work, some with professional experience and others with lived experience | Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce, UK
Britain's first drug consumption space opens in Bristol today
The Overdose Prevention Centre has previously been in Glasgow for most of 2021, where its founder Peter Krykant said he and its staff helped supervise more than 1,000 injections by people using illegal drugs, and treated multiple overdoses | Bristol Live, UK
Drugs: Organised Crime
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of enabling the British Transport Police to access train operating companies' on board CCTV in real time for the purposes of tackling county lines drug trafficking | They work for you, UK
Are stoners actually lazy? Cannabis, reward, and motivation
Thu, 9 December 2021, 17:15 – 18:15 GMT. Learn about the science of drugs from young researchers! | Drugs and Me, UK
Brook House: Spice drug tested on young detainee, inquiry told
Detainees at an immigration removal centre tested the drug spice on a younger man, an undercover BBC reporter has told a public inquiry | BBC, UK
Northampton: Cocaine worth £78m seized by police
Cocaine valued at up to £78m has been seized from a lorry making a delivery to an industrial depot | BBC, UK
International news
GDS 2021 Global Report (PDF)
GDS2021 launched at the end of an unusual year. Participation was lower than in previous years. However, data from 32,022 people from 22 countries were still used in the preparation of this report. The Executive Summary can be found here | GDS, UK
People ‘microdosing’ on psychedelics to improve wellbeing during pandemic
Addiction expert says findings of survey suggest small doses of drugs being taken to treat health issues | Guardian, UK
CBD, ‘Snake Oil’ or Life-Changing?
This week Volteface examines the emerging and seemingly booming CBD industry. In this piece we had the opportunity to discuss the topic with Paul Moore, patient advocate and Chief Executive Officer at Green Machine CBD. Moore discussed the vast potential applications and benefits that the CBD business offers to both the UK and Europe | Volteface, UK
Plans afoot to ‘silence’ community drugs organisations, says campaigner
Anna Quigley, from the Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign, made her comments to the Joint Health Committee | Independent, UK
Jamaican Government Launches Campaign About How Great Weed Is
The Jamaican Ministry of Health and Wellness uses music and bus adverts to bust negative myths about cannabis and promote medical weed | VICE, UK
Gangsters use vehicles to ram into Mexico prison and free nine inmates
The armed group broke into the jail in Tula and opened fire, injuring a guard and a police officer | Guardian, UK
Steep rise in teens using e-cigarettes as girls increasingly turn to the devices
The use of e-cigarettes by Irish teenagers has almost doubled . Research has found vaping has risen rapidly among adolescents with the current number of teenagers using e-cigarettes jumping from 10pc to 18pc between 2015 and 2019 | Independent, Ireland
Drug-related infectious diseases: health and social responses
Now updated. This miniguide on responding to drug-related infectious diseases is one of a larger set, which together comprise Health and social responses to drug problems: a European guide 2021 | EMCDDA, Portugal
Drugnet Europe November 2021
Monthly Euroepan drugs news roundup | EMCDDA, Portugal
The award winning animated documentary Kostya Proletarsky is now available online!
The animated documentary is based on the true story of Kostya Proletarsky, a drug user and HIV activist who died as a result of mistreatment and torture at a Russian prison. The animation features original audio interviews with Kostya and his mother Irina, and aims to commemorate Kostya and many others who have not survived prisons around the world | Drug Reporter, Hungary
E-cigarettes may be independently linked to erectile dysfunction, new research finds
Smoking has long been associated with Erectile Dysfunction (ED) and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). However, little research has explored if there is a similar association among men who use Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), commonly referred to as e-cigarettes | Medical Xpress, USA
Why cannabis smells skunky
As cannabis is legalized in more areas, it has become increasingly popular as a medicinal and recreational drug. This plant produces a pungent, skunk-like odor that is pleasing to some but repulsive to others | EurekAlert, USA
Psychedelic Telemedicine Has Arrived. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Long wait times, minimal therapy, and wrong dosing are some of the bad experiences clients say they’ve had with Mindbloom, a ketamine company. It and other psychedelic tech startups are raising questions about the limits of telemedicine in this field | VICE, USA
MindMed and Liechti Lab publish first human data on the interacting effects of an SSRI and psilocybin
Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc. a leading biotech company developing psychedelic-inspired therapies, is pleased to announce the publication of the first data on the interaction of the selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI) escitalopram with the acute response to psilocybin in humans | PR Newswire, USA
Alcohol and cannabis use falls around the world, but psychedelics are on the rise
According to the Global Drug Survey’s (GDS) latest report, which was published on Thursday, there's less smoking and drinking occurring when comparing to the year prior | Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand
Blogs, comment and opinion
Understanding how COVID-19 impacted on people who use drugs
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK in early 2020, there was concern about its impact on vulnerable groups in society. In this blog, Jo Kesten, Research Fellow at the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation at University of Bristol and Catriona Matheson, Professor at the University of Stirling and Chair of the Ministerial Drug Death Task Force for Scotland, discuss the findings and wider policy implications of two independent research projects to investigate how people who inject drugs were affected | NIHR HPRU in Behavioural Science and Evaluation Blog, UK
Even after 40 years the response to Aids in many countries is still held back by stigma
It is hard to protect yourself from HIV when having sterile syringes or condoms can lead to arrest: discrimination is restricting progress in eliminating HIV | Guardian, UK