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Daily news - 10th August 2022

UK news

Commissioning quality standard for drug and alcohol treatment

With the help of an expert advisory group, and following open consultation last year, OHID has published a national adult drug and alcohol treatment commissioning quality standard. The standard was one of the key recommendations of the second part of Dame Carol Black’s review of drugs, agreed by government and trailed in the drug strategy. The standard provides guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services in their areas | OHID, UK

[Open access] The special section Practising Recovery: new approaches and directions aims to shed light on the variety of epistemological, methodological and policy-making practices that emerge in empirical studies of recovery from the use of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) | IJDP, UK

New trustees join the Collective Voice board

The Collective Voice board is delighted to announce the appointment of three new trustees to help lead the charity into a new and exciting era | Collective Voice, UK

Distribution licence given for medicinal cannabis

A Guernsey medicinal cannabis company has become the first in the Channel Islands to receive a wholesale distribution agreement licence from the UK Government | BBC, UK

Cancer sufferer who put cannabis in her food to ease pain is sentenced after police search

Heather Kennedy couldn't afford cannabis oil so used regular cannabis instead | Daily Post, UK

Man grew his own cannabis supply to help cope with back pain

A man who grew his own cannabis supply to help cope with back pain has kept his freedom | Shields Gazette, UK

UK Patient Conference: Medical Cannabis Awareness Week 2022

Fri, 4 November 2022, 10:30 – 18:30 GMT. London. This daytime conference will be a chance for the medical cannabis patient and prescriber community to come together and be heard | Drug Science, UK

International news

Addiction Audio: Opioid agonist treatment modelling with Matt Hickman - podcast

In this episode, Professor Matt Hickman talks about using population modelling to identify the population implications of Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT). He covers the impact that OAT has on drug-related deaths and other causes of mortality as well as how models can be used to explore what mortality rates would have been without OAT in New South Wales, Australia | SSA, UK

‘A lot of healing went on’: Aaron Rodgers says ayahuasca helped NFL career

The NFL says Aaron Rodgers will not face any penalties for a series of ayahuasca trips he took in the 2020 and 2022 offseasons | Guardian, UK

Syringe Analysis Pilot Project 2022

The HSE in partnership with Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) has launched the findings from the first Syringe Analysis Pilot Project. The Syringe Analysis Pilot Project is the first of its kind in Ireland, whereby community services and a laboratory have collaborated to conduct analysis to inform health-led responses. and the HSE National Drug Treatment Centre Laboratory led on the application of this innovative process | Drugs.ie, Ireland

Synthetic drugs in syringes raises new addiction concerns

Dangerous synthetic stimulants are being injected along with drugs such as heroin in worrying new polysubstance injecting patterns, a new report has identified | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Posttraumatic growth following a drug-related death: A family perspective

This paper explores the experience of posttraumatic growth in families who have lost a family member to a drug-related death. Seven family units were interviewed, and interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Analyses revealed themes that reflected positive adaptation and growth, including (a) reframing the loss, (b) open dialogue and social support, and (c) reclamation of purpose | Death Studies, Ireland

Covid-19 and alcohol associated liver disease

The COVID-19 pandemic is having substantial impacts on the health status of individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). AUD and ALD have both been impacted throughout the pandemic, with increases in alcohol use during the early stages of the pandemic, reduced access to treatment during the mid-pandemic, and challenges in managing the downstream effects in the post-COVID era. This review will focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted AUD and ALD epidemiology and access to treatment, and will discuss to address this rising AUD and ALD disease burden | NIH NLM, USA

How did perceived social support across COVID-19 restrictions alter alcohol and cannabis use in emerging adults?

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers demonstrated changes in alcohol and cannabis use among young adults in Canada and the United States (US) during pre-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) times, COVID-19-induced lockdown, and when social restrictions eased later | News Medical, USA

Legalized cannabis linked to fewer synthetic cannabinoid poisonings

Synthetic cannabinoids, dangerous designer drugs known by such street names as K2, Spice or AK-47, appear to have less appeal in states that have legalized the natural form of cannabis | EurekAlert, USA

Effect of a Peer-Led Behavioral Intervention for Emergency Department Patients at High Risk of Fatal Opioid Overdose

In this randomized clinical trial of 648 emergency department patients at high risk of opioid overdose, there was no difference in treatment engagement within 30 days of the visit for participants who received a peer-led intervention vs those who received a standard behavioral intervention by a clinical social worker (32% vs 30%) | JAMA Network Open, USA

Restrictions on Psilocybin ‘Magic Mushrooms’ Are Easing as Research Ramps Up

Magic mushrooms are undergoing a transformation from illicit recreational drug to promising mental health treatment. Numerous studies have reported positive findings using psilocybin—the mushrooms' main psychoactive compound—for treating depression as well as smoking and alcohol addiction, and for reducing anxiety in the terminally ill. Ongoing and planned studies are testing the drug for conditions that include opioid dependence, PTSD and anorexia nervosa | Scientific American, USA

Stigma has corrosive effects on all aspects of care and can undermine individual and population health outcomes. Addiction-related stigma has implications for opiate agonist treatment (OAT) and the people who receive, provide and fund it. It is important to understand how stigma is made in OAT and the political purposes that it serves, in order to change the relations of stigma and avoid the reproduction of stigma in the delivery of new treatment formulations, such as extended release buprenorphine (BUP-XR) | IJDP, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

Realising our rights: How to protect people from alcohol marketing

Globally alcohol causes the deaths of 3 million people every year and more than 200 diseases and conditions. Alcohol marketing causes alcohol consumption, so its contribution to this significant burden of harm must be recognised and addressed | IAS blog, UK

How Do We End the ‘War on Drugs’? Perhaps Scandinavia Has the Answer..

The policy debate around drugs in the UK is muddled and tripolar. It’s split between people who believe in legalization, decriminalization, and continuing prohibition | Volteface, UK

What Role does Philosophy Play in the Future of Psychedelics?

TalkingDrugs interviewed Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, one of the leading philosophers connecting the thought and practice around psychedelics with philosophical understandings of today | Talking Drugs, UK

California Becomes Second State to Defy Federal Law and Authorize Safe Consumption Sites

This week the California State legislature passed and sent to the Governor’s desk SB57, introduced by Senator Scott Wiener, which authorizes the County and City of San Francisco, the County and City of Los Angeles, and the City of Oakland to approve safe consumption sites, dubbed “Overdose Prevention Programs” (OPPs) | CATO Institute blog, USA

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