Daily news - 7th December 2021

UK news

Press release: Largest ever increase in funding for drug treatment

The government's ten year Drug Strategy aims to tackle drugs and prevent crime, backed by the largest ever increase in funding for drug treatment | Department of Health and Social Care and Home Office, UK

From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives

The drug strategy sets out how the government and its partners will take action to tackle drug misuse and the harms it causes | Home Office, UK

Ten-Year Drugs Strategy Statement - video

Coverage of the statement in the House of Commons on Monday 6 December, by home minister Kit Malthouse on the government's ten-year drugs strategy | BBC, UK

Drug strategy to tackle 300,000 problem users, says PM

The government will aim to provide rehab for 300,000 drug users who carry out half of all thefts, robberies and burglaries, Boris Johnson has said | BBC, UK

Drug targets for prisons in England and Wales

Jails in England and Wales will be set targets for the first time to keep out drugs under prison reform proposals | BBC, UK

Letter to ACMD on drug misuse prevention review (PDF)

As you know, tackling drug misuse and the harms that it causes remains a priority for this Government. Today our ten-year Strategy for tackling drugs, was published. The Strategy will present our whole-of-government response to drive down drug supply and demand. This includes delivering a world-class treatment and recovery system, and an even tougher response to criminal supply chains and the demand that fuels these illegal markets | ACMD, UK

DDN December/January 2021

It’s been a while since we got together for ‘live’ debate, so what a treat to be given DDN sessions at HRI’s online Constellations event. We chose to focus on naloxone action, peer-led initiatives on hepatitis C, and two issues that have fired up our pages for many years – ensuring people are on the dose that suits them, and the all-important dialogue that moves way beyond the ‘harm reduction v recovery’ days and focuses on our collective assets and interests. Our reports on pages 10, 12, 16 and 21 give a flavour of the will – and urgent need – to unite on these vital issues | DDN, UK

Government announces ‘largest ever’ increase in treatment funding

A ‘record’ £780m over three years to ‘rebuild the drug treatment system’ has been announced by the government as part of its much-anticipated new drug strategy. While every local authority in England will receive extra money ‘to combat drug and alcohol misuse’ over the next three years, those with the greatest need will receive the funding first, the government says | DDN, UK

Minister admits he would be ‘surprised’ if parliament didn’t have illegal drug use

Some ‘lifestyle users’ of class A substances at Westminster, says policing minister after cocaine found | Independent, UK

Former drug user: Government has long road ahead - video

As the government overhauls its drug policy, a former user told the BBC rehab for drug users is the only way forward | BBC, UK

Does the stigma around drugs and the people who use them cost lives?

Evidence demonstrates that many who could benefit from treatment can be discouraged from doing so by language, attitudes and behaviours that appear judgmental, even if these are displayed unwittingly. Stigma can negatively impact the morale of those providing support services, and friends and families of those at risk can often feel the effects of stigma by association, at a time when they too deserve support | Drug Deathes Taskforce, UK

Stress of pandemic sees more people take up smoking for first time in decades

The stress of the pandemic has seen more people take up smoking for the first time in decades, according to ONS stats set to be released this week | The Sun, UK

Alcohol could be banned in spaces around Wembley Stadium after ‘intolerable’ behaviour at the Euro 2020 final

Baroness Casey of Blackstock’s review called on the Football Association to lead a national campaign to bring about change in attitudes of fan behaviours | i news, UK

Diageo joins forces with government for new campaign to tackle drink driving

Diageo has partnered with THINK!, the government’s official road safety campaign, to launch a new digital programme aimed at tackling drink driving over the festive period | Asian Trader, UK

All You Need To Know About Drug Decriminalisation

Decriminalisation theoretically refers to the removal of a criminal sanction from an act | Volteface, UK

New SSA podcast: episode 1 with Oliver Standing

The first episode of the SSA’s new podcast has been published today and features Oliver Standing from Collective Voice. There is also a feature on recommissioning, including interviews with Dr Will Haydock and Professor Alison Ritter, a feature on treatment and research during the COVID-19 lock-down by SSA-funded PhD student Chloe Burke, and an interview with specialist prescribing nurse Dr Peter Kelly | SSA, UK

Cranstoun Arrest Referral Service saves over £15 million to taxpayers

On the day of Government’s new drug strategy, in the West Midlands, a partnership between Cranstoun, the Police and Crime Commissioner and Probation announce a cost avoidance figure of over £15 million from the Cranstoun Arrest Referral Service | Cranstoun, UK

Lancashire gang who smuggled drugs in meat lorries jailed

A gang who smuggled millions of pounds of cannabis from Spain to east Lancashire hidden in crates of frozen meat have been jailed | BBC, UK

International news

Nick Clegg joins calls for countries to shift towards decriminalising drugs and regulated sale of cannabis

A new report calls on governments to ‘break their addiction to punishing users, and instead legalise and regulate all drugs’ | i news, UK

European Commissioner Johansson and EMCDDA Director Goosdeel visit Belgian National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology

European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson will visit the Belgian National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC), in Brussels today, accompanied by Alexis Goosdeel, Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). The delegation will be welcomed by NICC Director-General, Dr Pierre Van Renterghem. The purpose of the visit is to gain an insight into the work of the institute and its state-of-the-art drug laboratory | EMCDDA, Portugal

Make Alcohol Policy a Priority for Paradigm Shift in European Liver Disease Response

The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and The Lancet have published a landmark report on liver disease in Europe. In this brand new EASL-Lancet Liver Commission a multi-disciplinary group of experts calls for a paradigm shift in the liver disease response in Europe: prevention and early detection, not end-stage treatment of complications | Movendi, Sweden

New research finds that youth exposure to tobacco marketing is associated with tobacco & cannabis co-use

New research from the Prevention Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation finds that reported exposure by youth to tobacco marketing was associated with co-use of tobacco and cannabis on a given day | EurekAlert, USA

Recent cannabis use linked to extremes of nightly sleep duration

Pattern even more pronounced among heavy users (20 out of preceding 30 days) | EurekAlert, USA

Accessibility to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder After Interventions to Improve Prescribing Among Nonaddiction Clinics in the US Veterans Health Care System

A quality improvement implementation initiative across 35 nonaddiction clinics (primary care, pain, and mental health) seeing a total of 7488 patients in 18 Veterans Affairs facilities was associated with increased prescribing of specific MOUD | JAMA Network, USA

Young People Who Use Drugs Views Toward the Power and Authority of Police Officers [Canada]

[Open access] Many young people who use drugs are structurally vulnerable to policing powers given the ongoing criminalization of drug possession. Police authority limits and the expression of that authority may play a significant role in police encounters among young people who use drugs | CDP, USA

“Looking After Yourself Is Self-Respect”: The Limits and Possibilities of Men’s Care on a Night Out [Australia]

[Open access] Notions of masculinity have played a central role in social and cultural research on men’s drinking events. Within this context, masculinity is regularly called on to explain the problematic disparities that mark men’s alcohol consumption, including men’s disproportionate involvement in drinking and a range of alcohol-related harms | CDP, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

Expert Comment: The new drug strategy may not be as bad as it looks

With the Government publishing its 10-year Drugs Strategy today (6 December 2021), Alex Stevens, Professor in Criminal Justice at the University’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR), explains how behind the tough-sounding rhetoric in the strategy, there may be investment in life-saving treatment | University of Kent, UK

Guest blog: The Governments new drug strategy

Today sees the announcement of the government’s new drug strategy, a 10 year plan backed by the biggest new investment in tackling drug misuse in many years. This is great news for the drug treatment and recovery sector and for public health more widely, and it will provide a strong foundation to build on | RSPH blog, UK