Daily news - 24th December 2021

Jackie and Harry would like to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you again on January 4th 2022!

UK news

On Queerness & Drugs

The queer community and illicit drug users are inextricably linked: Both are subjected to similar politicisation of private practices, both are disproportionately aggravated by social harms, and are both fighting stigma and shame for the assurance of rights that should be fundamental. Drug use plays an outsized, if not wholly unsurprising part in the experience of the LGBTQ+ community today, for good and bad | Volteface, UK

A conversation with an addictions doctor - podcast

In this podcast Claire Fyvie interviews Dr David McCartney, an addictions doctor, about alcohol dependency, from the perspective of his own lived experience | National Wellbeing Hub, UK

Prisons: Smuggling

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many successful prosecutions there have been in the last 12 months for smuggling illegal substances into prisons in England | They work for you, UK

Operation Orochi

Since its start, how many arrests have been made as part of the Met's Operation Orochi? | They work for you, UK

Nottingham drugs gang jailed for dealing to young people

Nottinghamshire Police said brothers Jamil and Shakeel Amin "spearheaded" the operation, which had been running since 2018 | BBC, UK

Manchester cannabis farm worth millions found in raid, police say

A cannabis farm with a street value of "millions of pounds" has been found in Manchester city centre, police have said | BBC, UK

International news

Thai authorities seize crystal meth worth $30m bound for Australia

Drugs were stuffed inside boxing punching bags that raised suspicion among officials | Independent, UK

High Court challenge alleges Irish anti-drug legislation is against EU free movement of goods

The action has been brought by the owner of a shop which allegedly sells products containing traces of a cannabis related chemical | Journal, Ireland

Women's prison has highest drug detection rate in country

The level of drug testing conducted among prison populations also varies considerably between facilities | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Improving medication treatment leads to dramatic gains in emergency department care for opioid use disorder

A program designed to increase initiation of buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder in the emergency department led to a sixfold increase in its use at three Penn Medicine hospitals, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania | Medical Xpress, USA

Can a popular measure of impulsivity be used to understand recovery?

In spite of its good long-term prognosis, individuals with substance use disorder typically make multiple attempts to change before achieving sustained recovery. Tools that can help clinicians and recovery support staff identify relapse risk earlier may help prevent relapse and recurrence of use while reducing any associated harms. To explore its suitability as a marker of recovery over time, researchers examined the relationship between a widely used measure of impulsivity and perceived risk for relapse | Recvovery Research Institute, USA

Advocacy Orgs Denounce Mayor London Breed’s Call for an Emergency Order in the Tenderloin

“While we strongly support San Francisco’s leadership in adopting Overdose Prevention Centers (OPC) to address the overdose crisis, we cannot do it in a way that increases law enforcement presence and subjects people who use drugs, people experiencing homelessness, immigrants, and other residents of the Tenderloin to discriminatory searches and arrests..." | DPA, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

A Generational Shift In The Demand For Drugs?

This is the fourth in a short series of posts looking into the detail of the new drug strategy published earlier this month and which I summarised here. Today’s post looks at what the document has to say about drug prevention in a chapter entitled: “Achieving a generational shift in the demand for drugs” | Russell Webster, UK

Holiday heart syndrome: binge drinking can cause heart problems

Many people enjoy a tipple over the festive season, but overdoing it could cause “holiday heart syndrome”, a condition where the heart beats abnormally – known as atrial fibrillation or AF. This is often experienced as a fluttering in the chest. If it continues for a while and is left untreated, it could lead to a heart attack | Conversation, UK