DS Daily : A daily drug and alcohol news service

This report was commissioned to inform Dame Carol Black’s independent review of drugs. It reviews models of commissioning, funding and accountability in order to provide insight for Dame Carol’s recommendations on the future of substance misuse services in England | University of York, UK

Warning as man dies amid spate of drug overdoses in Swansea

Health board in south Wales calls for users to take extreme care after 12 overdose cases in four days | Guardian, UK

Drink warning from family of vodka death student Mikey Cunniffe

Mikey Cunniffe fell asleep after finishing the bottle watching videos with his housemates and never woke up | BBC, UK

Professional education to reduce provider stigma toward harm reduction and pharmacotherapy

[Open access] A novel professional training was developed to reduce stigma toward harm reduction and pharmacotherapy for substance use disorders | Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, UK

Moral disengagement and the harms of cocaine use

[Open access] There has been recent UK media attention on the global impact of the cocaine trade and the morality of personal use of cocaine powder. In this study we investigated whether people who use cocaine engage in moral disengagement (MD) strategies to reduce anticipated guilt associated with use | Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, UK

Introduction to the first Home Office-licensed ‘drug checking’ service: the SSA talks to Dr. Amira Guirguis

Natalie Davies and Dr. Amira Guirguis discuss the scope of the first Home Office-licensed drug checking intervention, set inside a community substance misuse service in Somerset | SSA, UK

William to saddle up for charity polo match

The Duke of Cambridge is taking part in a game at the Guards Polo Club on Friday | Evening Standard, UK

Cocaine 'worth £2m' found floating off Sussex beach

Packages of cocaine with an estimated street value of £2m have been found floating off an East Sussex beach | BBC, UK

The top journalist, the mafia boss and the gunman: Dutch fear the rise of ‘narco crime’

While Peter R de Vries fights for life in an Amsterdam hospital the nation reflects on how to end the grip of drug gangs | Guardian, UK

Las Vegas lifts ban on cannabis for boxers and MMA fighters

The removal of the ban will not be retrospectively applied to athletes who have previously failed tests | Independent, UK

Strength-based approaches to overcoming stigma around addiction and recovery

July 15th 2021, 12-2 pm EDT. This event will show best examples and practices around challenging stigma and will bring together the science and lived experience of a woman in long term recovery. Speakers will provide a valuable insight into new data and research but the main focus of the event will be on building inclusion and reducing stigmatization of people in recovery by promoting and celebrating positive examples and ways to challenge and overcome stigma | UK

Revised CDC Opioid Guideline Not Expected Until Late 2022

The long wait for the CDC to finally unveil changes to its controversial opioid guideline is going to be longer than we thought | Pain News Network, USA

Science Doesn’t Support Idea That Marijuana Aids Athletes’ Performance

[Limited number of free articles per week] Contradictory data, contested claims and highly speculative research seem to be behind the Olympic ban on cannabinoids | NYTimes, USA

Horse tranquilizer detected in three fatal drug overdoses in Central NY

The tranquilizer, xylazine, may have been added to amplify the effects of other drugs, according to a news release from the county. It is often found in combination with opioids, officials said | Syracuse.com, USA

Maine Senate kills bill to reform state’s punitive drug laws

The Maine Senate voted 18-14 Wednesday night to kill a bill that advocates say would have begun to move Maine away from decades of failed, punitive “War on Drugs” policies by decriminalizing possession of scheduled drugs and making it a civil violation | Beacon, USA

Psychedelics Research FYI: Every Clinical Trial Underway Right Now Involving Public And Private Companies

What in 2019 was merely a buzzword for investors became a full-fledged industry boasting over 25 public companies, including six (and counting) that list their stock in the Nasdaq | Yahoo Finance, USA

Brazil Gains Ground on Medical Marijuana, in Defiance of Bolsonaro

In June, after a series of delays, a special commission of Brazil’s lower house of Congress finally voted on Bill 399/2015, which would permit the cultivation and sale of medical-use cannabis by licensed sellers. It was approved by a vote of 18 to 17, and will move to the Senate. Right-wing lawmakers are doing everything they can do stop it | Filter Magazine, USA

‘Not responsible’: Prime Minister criticised for supporting pub’s beers for jabs offer

The CEO of the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association has taken aim at the Prime Minister for backing a pub’s scheme offering free beers for people who get vaccinated against COVID-19 | 3AW, Australia

NSW Health issues urgent alert over 'potent hallucinogen' found in MDMA

Several people have been hospitalised in Sydney after taking a substance containing a potent hallucinogen which was misrepresented as MDMA powder | Sky News, Australia

Salvos back Flinders Street safe injecting room amid fierce opposition

Salvation Army leader Brendan Nottle has urged Melbourne to embrace a safe-injecting room on Flinders Street as part of the CBD’s post-COVID-19 recovery, saying drug use had been rife in that part of the city for two decades and was getting worse | The Age, Australia

Department of Health quizzed on medicinal cannabis pricing

The Department of Health has told MPs it does not regulate medicinal cannabis pricing after WA Greens senator Rachel Siewert highlighted the high cost of treatment in this year’s Senate Estimates hearings. Siewart asked whether there was any regulation on the prices being charged for medicinal cannabis products and highlighted concerns around pharmacies being linked to clinics | Cannabiz, Australia

Treat illegal drug use as health issue, says UK government review – here’s why

The scale of the illicit drug trade in the UK is immense. Last year, the first part of an independent review of the drugs trade found the market in the UK was estimated to be worth £9.4 billion a year – with the health, social and criminal damage from this industry costing society an estimated £19 billion annually | Conversation, UK

3 years after Scotland became the first country in the world to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol, a new analysis published in The Lancet Public Health corroborates that it is an effective option to reduce the off-trade purchase of alcohol | Lancet, UK

The Black Review: A shared mission for transformational change

Vivienne Evans, chief executive of Adfam, discusses how Dame Carol Black’s Review of the UK’s drug policies represents an opportunity to renew and reset the treatment and recovery system | DDN, UK

Dame Carol Black’s Review of Drugs. A Missed Opportunity To Speak Truth to Power

Any rational person must support Dame Carol's call for increased funding, better co-ordination and accountability between government departments. Had she been allowed, an intelligent, experienced woman like Dame Carol would surely have recommended fundamental changes to drugs policy. All drugs must be legally regulated in direct relation to their potential for health harms | Peter Reynolds, UK

Doctors, Nurses and Recovery

Last week a book I had ordered dropped through the letterbox. It’s Adam Hill’s ‘Long Walk Out of the Woods’. He’s a doctor who developed an alcohol use disorder and recovered from it. The book about his journey is next on my reading list | Recovery Review blog, UK

New SHAAP Director, Elinor Jayne

In her first week in the job, SHAAP's new Director reflects on the interesting yet challenging times ahead as SHAAP continues its work in tackling Scotland's alcohol problem, and supporting recovery | SHAAP, UK

Cannabis is projected to be a $70 billion market by 2028—yet those hurt most by the war on drugs lack access

As a cannabis entrepreneur based in Long Beach, California, Edgar Cruz’s work in the industry’s social equity space is personal | CNBC, USA

How Should We Do Drugs Now?

After a half century spent waging war on drugs, Americans seem ready to sue for peace. The 2020 elections brought plenty of proof that voters have leapt ahead of politicians in recognizing both the failures of the drug war and the potential of certain illicit drugs as powerful tools for healing | NYTimes opinion, USA

Extend Studio

Daily news - 12th July 2021

Improving drug treatment services in England: Models for commissioning and accountability (PDF)