Daily news - 21st December 2021 |
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UK news
NHS drug pledge broken for asthma sufferers and smokers, report reveals
A promise to ensure that people with severe asthma and smokers who want to quit can get the drugs they need has been broken by ministers and the NHS, a health service report reveals | Guardian, UK
The NHS vs nicotine: Could prescription e-cigarettes be the solution?
Whilst smoking rates have been steadily declining over recent years, from 20% of UK adults in 2011 to 14% in 2019, recent evidence suggests that there was a 25% increase in young adults 18-34 who smoked during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Unfortunately, smoking is not a temporary vice, and this increase remains today | The Mancunian, UK
Push to protect and vaccinate rough sleepers with £28 million government funding boost
The Protect and Vaccinate scheme will help to increase vaccine uptake among people who are homeless and sleeping rough | Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Eddie Hughes MP, UK
Glass Pharms: initiating domestic supply of medical cannabis in the UK
Glass Pharms will begin the domestic supply of medical cannabis in the UK from the world’s first carbon-negative cannabis cultivation facility | Cannabis Wealth, UK
Leeds county lines drug dealer 'exploited vulnerable boys'
A man from Leeds who exploited "vulnerable" teenage boys in a county lines drug network has been jailed for seven years | BBC, UK
International news
Global Drug Survey 2022 is Live!
The available data for drug-related trends in the UK, and around the world, is extremely lacking. Crime surveys and national statistics have a narrow scope due to the limited data which they collect. Enter the Global Drug Survey (GDS), which collects data directly from people who have experience with drugs and which has become an invaluable resource for tracking trends in drug use | Drug Science, UK
Online age verification being trialled for alcohol sales could be extended to gambling and video games
FoI documents show the government’s Digital Transformation Agency has been preparing for age verification and digital ID trials since September | Guardian, UK
The Dumbest Drug Scare Stories of 2021
2021 was another vintage year of irritating nonsense about the world of drugs | VICE, UK
Tobacco control works – new WHO report shows inspiring progress globally
The new WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use - WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000–2025 - shows that amid the global crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are continuing to successfully tackle the tobacco epidemic. Countries have not been distracted, but instead have made strong headway in protecting their populations from the harms of tobacco. The report notes that 150 countries globally are seeing declining tobacco use rates | WHO, Denmark
Season’s greetings and warm wishes for a safe and healthy 2022
In 2021, the EMCDDA embarked on a new five-year Roadmap under its Strategy 2025 and an ambitious programme to contribute to a healthier and more secure Europe. We entered this new phase amid considerable uncertainty, as COVID-19 continued to run its course | EMCDDA, Portugal
DrugNet Europe - December
Latest round-up of research and news | EMCDDA, Portugal
Israeli study gives encouragement, and guidance, to cannabis-for-autism efforts
Scientists say their work may cause a pivot in research, as it suggests THC is the more promising cannabinoid than CBD | Times of Israel, Israel
Unprecedented increase in overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic – with substantial regional variation
After experiencing a slight decrease in 2018, drug overdose deaths increased again in 2019, setting an all-time high. Preliminary reports from states and cities indicate that overdose death rates are further increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. National data, too, support this increase in overdose deaths, though this evidence is not yet official. In this study, researchers further clarified the impact of COVID-19 on the opioid crisis by calculating month by month overdose counts during the pandemic | Recovery Research Institute, USA
How well does online CBT stack up with CBT delivered in-person?
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted ongoing barriers to alcohol use disorder treatment engagement, leading to widespread adoption of internet-delivered treatments and digital recovery support services. Interventions leveraging these digital technologies have emerged as one strategy for expanding alcohol use disorder treatment access to those who may otherwise not receive it | Recovery Research Institute, USA
Alcohol and Dementia: Why the Evidence Has Been Suppressed
A familiar substance has repeatedly been associated with protection against dementia. But we’re not allowed to learn that. Instead, government and public health bodies conceive their task to be to suppress positive data about alcohol | Filter Magazine, USA
Ex-WHO Director Slams Its Tobacco Harm Reduction Denial
The World Health Organization’s reputation took another big hit at a conference in London earlier this month that discussed global vaping policy | Filter Magazine, USA
Risks and Harms Associated with the Nonmedical Use of Benzodiazepines in the Unregulated Drug Supply in Canada (CCENDU Bulletin)
This bulletin summarizes the risks and harms associated with nonmedical benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-like substances that are increasingly being identified in drugs on the unregulated market, particularly drugs sold as opioids | CCSA, Canada
Mental Health and Substance Use During COVID-19: Spotlight on Youth, Older Adults & Stigma
Serious impact from COVID-19 on mental health and substance use continues, especially among youth | Mental Health Commission of Canada and the CCSA, Canada
Support groups struggle to meet in person during the pandemic
Ottawa's Alcoholics Anonymous Intergroup says two dozen of their 90 groups are currently inactive | CBC News, Canada
Research highlights gap in methamphetamine use figures
Methamphetamine use could be two to four times higher than estimated figures in national surveys, researchers at The University of Queensland have found | University of Queensland, Australia
Increased demand and regulation reform allows domestic cannabis industry to blossom
In a secret greenhouse in southern Tasmania 3,000 cannabis plants sit bathed in golden light, ready for harvest | abc.net.au, Australia
The rise of psychedelic retreats
One night in 2019, while strangers vomited around her, Lynn Cohen had a vision. After being tipped off by a friend, the 62-year-old US woman travelled from her home in Milwaukee to Chicago to drink ayahuasca — a sludgy, psychoactive brew from the Amazon that ignites hallucinations while also inducing nausea | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Response to Right to Recovery Bill Consultation
Release has partnered with Cranstoun, Transform and EuroNPUD in their response to the Scottish Conservative's consultation consultation for the Right to Addiction Recovery Bill which is being proposed within the Scottish Parliament as a potential act of law. While the focus on recovery and its potential motivations are laudable, many questions remain in its zero-tolerance perspective for drugs, and how such a view in policymakers may influence treatment service provision | Release, UK
DCP Faculty of Addiction responds to government’s drug strategy
What does the new government 10-year drug strategy mean for psychologists working within addiction services? The chair of the DCP’s Faculty for Addictions Andre Geel responds… | BPS blog, UK
The End of Smoking – Not If, But When
Professor Gerry Stimson of Knowledge-Action-Change shares his thoughts for the future of vaping. Also see our full 2022 Vape Predictions Roundup | Ashtray blog, UK
Is the UK an ideal location to run psychedelic trials?
The UK Government, in their determination to attract investment and talent to post-Brexit Britain, have announced the fastest increase in R&D spending ever. By playing a more enabling role, the government wants to make the UK a science and innovation powerhouse as part of their revival strategy post-Brexit and -COVID-19 | Clerkenwell Health, UK
Another Year Goes By Without The Regulation of Medical Cannabis in Brazil
Felipe Neis Araujo reflects back on the Brazilian development – or lack thereof – around the provision of medical cannabis | Talking Drugs, UK