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Daily news - 15th August 2022 |
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UK news
Former Liverpool drug user told to 'drop dead' gives strong message to naysayers
Cathy Doyle had almost given up. She got addicted to heroin at the age of 15, spent 27 years on methadone and at her lowest ebb was told to "drop dead." | ITV, UK
Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids?
The one million figure has been circulated widely but can be traced back to an extrapolated estimate from 2015. A recent review by a panel of 55 experts suggests a more accurate figure could be around half of that | Full Fact, UK
No solid proof cannabis oil can ‘cure’ cancer
While there is good evidence that some cannabis products can be beneficial to cancer patients to manage pain or treatment of side effects, there is no evidence it can cure the disease | Full Fact, UK
Adfam National Forum: Drug and Alcohol Prevention
Thu, 1 September 2022, 10:30 – 12:00 BST. Adfam's latest practitioner welcomes Professor Harry Sumnall of Liverpool John Moores University to talk about drug and alcohol prevention | Adfam UK
BuddyUp Volunteer Training
Fri, 16 September 2022, 09:30 – 16:00 BST. Do you want to be a life saver? With our training you can remotely support someone injecting drugs alone, and send help if they need it | Cranstoun, UK
Wakefield: Project ADDER nets nearly £2.2m drugs haul and 65 arrests
Drugs worth almost £2.2m have been seized and 65 arrests made as part of a government-backed project in Wakefield | BBC, UK
International news
Would New York’s crack cocaine epidemic spread to London? The Observer investigates in 1987 - From the archive
Our reporters took to the streets of Harlem to assess the dangers of the lethal drug | Guardian, UK
‘Listening to the people’: Beth Macy on the opioids crisis and her Dopesick sequel, Raising Lazarus
What’s next, the author asks, now the US has ‘a generation of users that started with heroin and fentanyl’ | Guardian, UK
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 | WSU Insider, USA
Most eutylone-involved deaths in 2020 occurred in two states
Most eutylone-involved deaths in 2020 occurred in two states, and deaths commonly co-involved illicitly manufactured fentanyls (IMFs) and cocaine or methamphetamine, according to research published in the Aug. 12 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report | Medical Xpress, USA
Comparative Effectiveness of Opioid Tapering or Abrupt Discontinuation vs No Dosage Change for Opioid Overdose or Suicide for Patients Receiving Stable Long-term Opioid Therapy
In this comparative effectiveness study of 415 123 episodes of stable long-term opioid therapy among 199 836 individuals, opioid tapering was associated with a small absolute increase in opioid overdose or suicide compared with a stable opioid dosage. No significant difference in outcomes between abrupt discontinuation and stable opioid therapy was identified | JAMA Network Open, USA
Despite drop in popularity, cigarette smoking continues to be a leading cause of US cancer deaths
“Our study provides further evidence that smoking continues to be a leading cause of cancer-related death and to have a huge impact on the economy across the U.S.” | The Hill, USA
Americans Want Stricter Vaping Regulations, Mixed on Tobacco
Six in 10 Americans would like the laws and regulations dealing with electronic cigarettes to be stricter, a view shared by majorities of men, women and all age groups. Views on e-cigarettes are also bipartisan, with more than half of Republicans, independents and Democrats wanting stricter laws | Gallup, USA
Ohio Harm Reductionists Sue for Transparency in Opioid Settlement Spending Decisions
The state of Ohio is getting over $800 million from a settlement with opioid manufacturers to help address the overdose crisis and substance use disorder. But the OneOhio Recovery Foundation, an entity set up by the state to manage most of these funds, is coming under fire. On August 8, the nonprofit Harm Reduction Ohio (HRO) filed two lawsuits alleging that the Foundation is illegally keeping its decisions and meetings largely behind closed doors | Filter Magazine, USA
Historical and Geopolitical Reasons Underlying Thailand's Loosest Drug Policy
With effect from June 2022, Thailand has taken a radical policy step by decriminalising the cultivation and consumption of cannabis. It had already liberalised the use of cannabis for medical purposes through the promulgation of the Narcotic Act (No. 7, 2019) back in February 2019 but the latest move is even more significant | Saint Pierre Center for International Security, China
Feasibility and consumer acceptability of take-home fentanyl test strips
This webinar shared results of a pilot study of feasibility and consumer acceptability of take-home fentanyl test strips | NDARC, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Drinkers like us? Why sharing ‘ordinary’ drinking stories can matter
In this blog James Morris highlights why we need to look more closely at the stories we tell and hear around alcohol use and problems | SHAAP blog, UK
Alcohol, obesity and chronic liver disease research: A call to action
With the dramatic rise in liver disease - compounded by multicausality, associated multimorbidities and health inequalities - NIHR liver disease experts Lynsey Corless, William Rosenberg and Karina Mahiouz are calling for new research collaborations and ways of working to improve identification and management of this preventable disease | NIHR blog, UK
Catherine Salmond: We must shake off the jokes and deal with Scotland’s alcohol problems
[Free registration required] Alcohol and Scotland. They go hand in hand, don't they? | Scotsman opinion, UK
Legal regulation of drugs in Colombia
[Last] week Colombia’s new President, Gustavo Petro, called for an end to the drug war. During his swearing-in, he declared “It’s time for a new international convention that accepts that the war on drugs has failed”. | Transform blog, UK
Addiction, Stigma, and Liberation
I recently stumbled on this educational page about stigma from the National Harm Reduction Coalition. It’s well done and illuminates the assumptions and goals for their stigma reduction efforts. They frame responding to drug use as a choice between liberation and stigma, with harm reduction as the path to liberation | Recovery Review blog, USA
And finally...
Bear cub possibly hallucinating after eating 'mad honey' rescued in Turkey
The disoriented youngster was captured on camera wobbling and whining in the back of a pickup truck after being collected on Thursday. She is thought to have become intoxicated after eating an excessive amount of mad honey - a type of rhododendron honey that can have hallucinogenic effects | Sky News, UK