Daily news - 8th December 2021 |
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UK news
Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2020
Deaths caused by diseases known to be a direct consequence of alcohol misuse by sex, age, region and deprivation | ONS, UK
Local Alcohol Profiles for England: short statistical commentary, December 2021
There were 6,985 alcohol-specific deaths in England in 2020, an increase in the rate to 13.0 per 100,000 population from 10.9 in 2019. The number of alcohol-specific deaths has increased by 20.0% between 2020 (6,985) and 2019 (5,820). This increase has been confirmed in previously published reports from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) (formerly as Public Health England) in the Alcohol consumption and harm during the COVID-19 pandemic report and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the Quarterly alcohol specific deaths report | OHID, UK
Britain’s drinking deaths rose at record rate in pandemic
Official figures show deaths increased nearly 19% in 2020 as Public Health England notes changing consumption patterns | Guardian, UK
Scotland has highest alcohol death rate in UK
Scotland's alcohol death rate has risen for the second year running as the country takes the UK’s top spot in the latest statistics of alcohol related fatalities | Herald, UK
Local tobacco control profiles for England: short statistical commentary, December 2021
The current adult smoking prevalence in England for 2020 (April to December) was 12.1%. As explained in the ‘Background’ section below, due to a change in survey mode it is not appropriate to compare the 2020 prevalence figure to the previously published trend | OHID, UK
Ten-Year Drugs Strategy
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the Government’s new 10-year strategy for addressing illicit drug use, which has been published today | They work for you, UK
25 Years of Responsible Alcohol Regulation: A spotlight on 2021 (PDF)
This report highlights our work as a regulator for the past year and also reflects on the history of 25 years of the Code | Portman Group, UK
More than one in three drinkers underestimate when they’ve hit drink-drive limit, study finds
Researchers warn a “significant number of people” consider themselves fit to drive after consuming a dangerously high level of alcohol | i news, UK
Filling the Void Premiere
On Tuesday 23rd November, we presented the premiere of Filling the Void, a documentary about Bristol Recovery Orchestra. We had a fantastic evening enjoying live music and watching two films in the amazing space provided by Bristol Beacon | BDP, UK
Manchester shop caught selling bogus cigarettes down chute
A shop in Manchester that sold bogus cigarettes from an upstairs flat by passing packets down a chute has been stripped of its licence | BBC, UK
International news
Cheaper crack cocaine supplies in cities 'sees people travel from rural areas to buy the drug'
Tony Duffin of the Ana Liffey Drug Project believes a drop in crack cocaine cost is directly linked to increased supply | Journal, Ireland
Summary of assessments, findings and recommendations of the 44th World Health Organization’s (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), 11–15 October 2021 (PDF)
Summary of assessments, findings and recommendations of the 44th ECDD, 11-15 October 2021 | UNODC, USA
New Research finds that Youth Exposure to Tobacco Marketing is Associated with Tobacco and 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 | Prevention Research Centre, USA
Why China Could Revolutionize Global Tobacco Harm Reduction
China has just amended its tobacco monopoly law to include e-cigarettes, as Filter reported. This means that vaping products and their manufacturers will be regulated strictly by the Chinese government under the same process as cigarettes | Filter Magazine, USA
The DRAM, Vol. 17(13) - Home life in the balance: Drinking and work-family conflict
This week, The DRAM reviews a study by Sandra Kuntsche and Emmanuel Kuntsche that examined the association between work-family conflict, coping motives, and alcohol use among mothers and fathers of preschoolers in Switzerland | BASIS, USA
Cannabis for cats and dogs
Are CBD products right for your pet? | Humane Society of the United States, USA
75 per cent of people sent to B.C. prisons struggle with addiction, mental health: study
A first-of-its-kind study in B.C. highlights how our safety nets are failing tens of thousands of the province’s most vulnerable people | Vancouver Sun, Canada
Will psychedelics become mainstream? This Calgary company is betting on it
Investors, startups face big risks, but hope to become the next lucrative 'unicorn' | CBC News, Canada
Blogs, comment and opinion
We welcome long-term Drug Strategy that signals a new era for treatment
Change Grow Live, the UK’s largest provider of treatment services, today strongly backed the new approach to treatment in the Government’s new 10-year Drug Strategy and called for a renewed focus on the needs of people who use drugs when the strategy is implemented | Change Grow Live, UK
Chief Exec's Blog - Response to the Government's 2021 Drug Strategy
Beyond the damaging rhetoric that accompanied the launch the considerable investment in treatment and the acceptance of the Dame Carol Black recommendations in totality are very welcome | Phoenix Futures blog, UK
The 10-Year Drug Strategy: A Joint Statement
[Yesterday's] announcement shows the Government is serious about righting the wrong of nearly a decade of disinvestment in England’s drug treatment system. We are proud to have worked together to consistently call for this change which has the potential to change the lives of thousands of people and their families | NHS APA, UK
How will the Government’s new Drugs Strategy help LGBT people?
Our CEO Monty Moncrieff takes a look at the Government’s new Drugs Strategy and what it means for LGBT people | London Friend, UK
Humankind welcomes long overdue investment into drug treatment services
As one of the largest drug and alcohol charities in England, we welcome the 10-year drug strategy published yesterday which is a significant milestone for the sector and has the potential to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the country | Humankind, UK
WDP responds to the government's new drug strategy
WDP welcomes the publication of HM Government’s 10-year drugs plan and, in particular, its adoption of the recommendations of Dame Carol Black’s Review of Drugs | WDP, UK
RCPsych responds to new ten year Drug Strategy
Responding to the Strategy, Professor Julia Sinclair, Chair of the Addictions Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: "Action to support the treatment of addiction as a long-term illness is extremely welcome. The additional £780m investment will significantly expand access and strengthen drug treatment services which have experienced years of cuts... | RC PSYCH, UK
Abstinence-based recovery nearly killed me – the Tories’ ‘war on drugs’ won’t work
Criminalising drug users only makes things worse. They need support to get safer medications and deal with underlying problems | Guardian, UK
The Tories don’t want a modern drugs strategy – they prefer outdated macho rhetoric
While the world moves towards an evidence-based approach, the UK government is still stuck in the past | Guardian, UK
Alcohol, Ethnicity & BAME Multiple Disadvantage
By Sohan Sahota, Managing Director and co-founding member of BAC-IN, a Nottingham based, specialist drug and alcohol recovery support service for individuals, families and young adults from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities | SHAAP, UK
Drinkaware comment on alcohol-specific deaths in the UK registered in 2020
Data published today by the Office for National Statistics found that in 2020, there were 8,974 deaths (14.0 per 100,000 people) from alcohol-specific causes registered in the UK. An 18.6% increase compared with 2019 (7,565 deaths; 11.8 per 100,000 people) and the highest year-on-year increase since the data time series began in 2001. Between 2012 and 2019, rates of alcohol-specific deaths in the UK have remained stable, but a statistically significant increase was seen in 2020 | Drinkaware, UK
E-Cig Summit 2021 Roundup – Part 1
Since 2013, the E-Cigarette Summit has been shaping the vaping debate, bringing key scientists, policymakers and public health professionals together. It’s an incredible opportunity to learn a huge amount about vaping in a very short period of time, and as usual Amanda Strange has done a simply superb job putting it together | Ashtray blog, UK
What Biases Do You Observe Among Many of the Scientific and Medical Experts in the Field?
In a recent conversation, a colleague in the field told me they are attempting to “Catalog the biases at work among many of the scientific and medical experts in the field.” And they said to me, “I’d like to hear what biases you observe.” | Recovery Review blog, USA
Quiet Radicals: The Life and Work of Ruth and Edward Brecher
There’s something about the topic of drugs that can invite great writer couples to tackle the subject together. Going back nearly a century, spouses Dr. Charles E. Terry and Mildred Pellens co-authored their 1,042-page opus The Opium Problem in 1928 | Points blog, USA
Making the tobacco industry pay for cigarette litter could stop 4.5 billion butts polluting the Australian environment
Cigarette butts with filters are the most commonly littered item worldwide, with a staggering 4.5 trillion of them tossed into the environment each year. This is a huge problem; many end up on beaches and in the ocean, and the tar from burnt tobacco in the filter can be toxic to wildlife | Conversation, Australia