Daily news - 13th December 2021 |
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UK news
Risk of death from drugs up 55% since 2010 due to government cuts, say experts
UCL study finds lack of access to treatment contributed to fatalities amid criticism that latest strategy will stigmatise users | Guardian, UK
Causes of death among people who used illicit opioids in England, 2001–18: a matched cohort study
In many countries, the average age of people who use illicit opioids, such as heroin, is increasing. This has been suggested to be a reason for increasing numbers of opioid-related deaths seen in surveillance data. We aimed to describe causes of death among people who use illicit opioids in England, how causes of death have changed over time, and how they change with age | Lancet, UK
FPH lead cross-sector call to pilot Overdose Prevention Centres in the UK
FPH have lead a cross-sector call signed by 70 organisations and an additional number of individual signatories for Government to pilot Overdose Prevention Centres in the UK | FPH, UK
Overdose prevention centres will save lives, say UK senior doctors
Experts have joined forces to call for clinics to be set up where drug users can inject in a supervised setting | Guardian, UK
MP remembers epileptic son as he makes emotional case for access to cannabis oil
Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald said his son Rory died aged 16, 15 years ago | Independent, UK
Medical Cannabis (Access) Bill
We have a problem...That problem is that medical cannabis—cannabis-based medical products—is a very helpful and effective treatment for a number of medical conditions, but significant numbers of people who would benefit from being prescribed medical cannabis on the NHS are not able to get the prescriptions that they need | They work for you, UK
Filling the prescription
This article is the first in a series examining the past, present and future of buprenorphine in the treatment of opioid dependence. Buprenorphine is a medication used in opioid substitution treatment (OST), and it has also been used extensively for the management of pain | DDN, UK
Lawyer says Government can’t legally seize your passport if you do drugs
Boris Johnson’s grand 10-year plan to crack down on drug related crimes ‘is not compliant’ with human rights law, a legal expert has claimed | Metro, UK
Drugs: Misuse
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the use of GHB drugs in the UK | They work for you, UK
Apply to be a volunteer
Volunteering can help you gain confidence by giving you the chance to try something new and build a real sense of achievement, it can also help show of your skills to lots of different people and organisations. We will do our very best to promote you and do our best also to support you | FAVOR, UK
Isle of Man ex-pro cyclist spared jail for drug dealing
A former professional cyclist who was caught with cannabis worth about £2,000 while serving a suspended sentence has been given an "unusual" second chance | BBC, UK
Lorry driver jailed for smuggling £5m of cocaine in frozen pizzas
A lorry driver has been jailed after smuggling cocaine worth £5m into the UK hidden in frozen pizzas | BBC, UK
International news
On International Human Rights Day, UN drugs body silences UN human rights expert on ground-breaking report
In an unprecedented, last-minute decision, the lead UN drugs body has blocked the presentation of a report from a group of independent human rights experts that calls out governments for serious human rights abuses committed in the war on drugs | IDPC, UK
Meth and heroin fuel Afghanistan drugs boom
Heaped in plastic bags in a small room in rural southern Afghanistan, the white crystals glisten | BBC, UK
Addiction journal: US digital smoking cessation app for Black smokers
The iCanQuit app teaches people to observe, acknowledge, and accept their cravings to smoke rather than avoid them, and use life values such as religiosity, spirituality, family, and collectivism as motivation to quit. A study published in Addiction examined whether this smartphone app has the potential to address the disparity in smoking cessation rates between Black adults and the rest of the general population | SSA, UK
‘This isn’t the 60s again’: psychedelics business takes off amid culture clash
Experts fear if psychedelics fall exclusively into the hands of big pharma the industry will follow the same path as legal marijuana, making the rich richer | Guardian, UK
‘It’s a different beast’: US fentanyl deaths will rise, warns Narcan developer
Overdose crisis that killed over 100,000 Americans in one year is ‘all about fentanyl’, says Roger Crystal of Opiant Pharmaceuticals | Guardian, UK
New opioids - ten times the strength of fentanyl - create battleground for US medics
[Limited number of free articles per week] Nitazenes were created over half a century ago as pain medication but they were never approved for use in the US | Telegraph, UK
New Synthetic Opioid Protonitazene Increasing in Prevalence as “Nitazenes” Gain Traction Across the United States and Canada
The objective of this announcement is to notify public health and safety, law enforcement, first responders, clinicians, medical examiners and coroners, forensic and clinical laboratory personnel, and all other related communities about new information surrounding the emergent synthetic opioid protonitazene | CFSRE, NPS Discovery, USA
Why Prescription Opioids Aren’t Only a Problem for White Americans
Media and pop culture often portray prescription opioid addiction in the U.S. as a scourge of white communities. But recent data suggest a changing reality | TIME, USA
'Wellness' vapes are all the rage, but FDA says buyer beware
"Fights off tumors and alleviates symptoms of chemotherapy," one vape's advertising claims, while another is touted as an "asthma remedy, ADHD remedy, and dementia treatment." | Medical Xpress, USA
Lawsuit Takes Issue with Heineken's 0.0 Beer for Containing as Much as 0.03% Alcohol
The plaintiff argues that some customers don't want even this "minuscule amount of alcohol." | Food and Wine, USA
No Prison for Fentanyl Seller, Rules BC Judge: What Impact Might This Have?
Ajudge in Canada made a rare decision: She chose not to send a woman to prison for a drug trafficking conviction. The woman will get probation instead | Filter Magazine, USA
Cultural stigmatization and police corruption: cannabis, gender, and legalization in Mexico
[Open access] Mexico may well be the largest country in the world to legalize cannabis. Nevertheless, it is culturally conservative and a certain discrepancy exists between liberalization reforms and popular opinion regarding cannabis. | DEPP, USA
They've saved hundreds of lives. Will B.C. provide a safe drug supply to help save theirs?
"One by one, we're losing our colleagues. Coming into work finding out someone that you know has passed away. It’s the worst thing in the world. How much more crying can we do?" | Vancouver Sun, Canada
New research: Exposure to childhood trauma associated with increased risk of opioid use disorder (OUD) among people prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain
To reduce the likelihood of opioid use disorder (OUD) among people prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP), it is important to identify individual risk factors for OUD among this population. However, until now, little has been known about the relationship between a childhood trauma and OUD risk among people prescribed opioids for CNCP | NDARC, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
UK drugs strategy promises to be tough on criminals, but evidence shows this doesn't work
We should invest in research, provision of new treatments, and safe injecting rooms, writes David Nutt | BMJ opinion, UK
Want Drug Policies That Actually Work? Look at Portugal
This week the government launched a ten-year strategy “to combat illegal drug use”. While allocating a much-needed £780m fund for drug treatment and recovery, it also announced a string of reactionary measures including £300m for the further policing and punishment of both dealers and users | Novara Media, UK
Deaths attributable to alcohol, air pollution and flu must be modelled rather than counted
People might like a single number to explain an issue but health is much more nuanced than that | Guardian opinion, UK
The 12 steps may not work for everyone, but can transform lives
Readers respond to an article by Oscar Quine, in which he described his experience of a 12-step rehabilitation programme for drug addiction | Guardian letters, UK
Alcohol marketing and me: stories from those in recovery
In this blog, Peter and Nikki share their stories of recovery and shine a light upon how alcohol marketing can make the journey more difficult | AHA blog, UK
US Woman Wins Deportation Appeal Having Lived in the UK for 53 Years
It is hard to conceive of a situation in which a person who has been living in the UK for 53 years might be deported back to her country of birth, the United States. This was the reality for 75-year-old Polly Gordon, who, despite her more than half a century as a UK resident, was ordered to return to the United States after she served a 12-month sentence for the supply of a controlled drug | EIN blog, UK
I’m all for New Zealand giving tobacco a kicking – but don’t criminalise smoking
Making substances illegal has never worked, simply because it fails to address the reasons why people use them | Guardian opinion, UK
“Swimming Against the Social Tide”? – Lockdowns and the Sober Curious Movement
Sober curious movements have sprung up across the world, as more and more young people stay alcohol-free longer, or reduce their alcohol use. Sober curious movements allow people to ‘experiment’ with making alcohol-free choices, write guest experts Megan Cook and Gabe Caluzzi. This encourages people to reflect on the role alcohol plays in their life | Movendi blog, Sweden
Editorial: New York City is saving people from drug overdose deaths. Why can’t California?
For years officials in U.S. cities hit hard by the opioid epidemic — San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston, to name a few — have been trying to open facilities where addicts could safely self-administer their illicitly obtained substances without the fear of overdosing or of being arrested | LA Times editorial, USA
It Takes a (Recovery) Village
One of the reasons that I am so focused on our history as a recovery movement is that our past can tell us a great deal about the types of challenges we have faced, which strategies have been most successful, and the themes that occurred over time that influenced these processes. It helps us see our path forward | Recovery Review blog, USA