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Daily news - 2nd December 2022

UK news

HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation framework

The Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring (UAM) Survey of People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) is an annual cross-sectional biobehavioural survey that recruits people who have ever injected psychoactive drugs who attend specialist drug and alcohol services across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland... In England the proportion of PWID ever having had an HIV test was 81% in 2021, with 32% reporting having had a test in the past 12 months. Among PWID who started injecting in the past 3 years, during 2020 and 2021, 58% reported ever having had a diagnostic HIV test, with 52% of these reporting a test in the past 12 months | UK HSA, UK

Drug and alcohol services - co-occurring substance use and mental health concerns: literature and evidence review

Review of the existing evidence on co-occurring substance use and mental health concerns and the integration of mental health and substance use services relevant to a Scottish context. It forms part of a wider rapid review of co-occurring substance use and mental health concerns in Scotland | Scottish Government, UK

Police deal with hundreds of reports of drug offences involving children as We Are With You charity hits out at laws

Kent Police deal with almost 500 reports of drugs offences involving children every year it has emerged – as a charity hits out at stigmatising users | Kent Online, UK

Scottish alcohol marketing proposals would ‘cripple’ us, say convenience retailers

A new proposal that seeks to restrict alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland has been met with concern over the “damaging impact” it could have on convenience retailers | The Grocer, UK

Forgotten voices: Policing, stop and search and the perspectives of Black children

Our latest research has found that only 36 per cent of Black children and teenagers trust the police compared with 75 per cent of young White people. The trust figure for Black people aged ten to 18 was the lowest of any ethnic group and was even lower among Black Caribbean children | Crest Advisory, UK

County lines: ‘I was 11 and in a drugs gang - why did nobody save me?’

Every week, children criss-cross the UK on buses and trains, ferrying drugs as part of county lines operations. BBC News spent months with one organisation battling to help children who are in danger, hearing young people's stories of abuse and their families' heartbreak, and learning what it takes for them to break free. Three people tell us their story of county lines | BBC, UK

Criminal Investigation: Drugs

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of police (a) powers and (b) resources for investigating the potential use of (i) GHB and (ii) other drugs in cases of sudden unexpected death | They work for you, UK

Volteface Launches Latest Report ‘Known Unknowns’ Examining Clinician Perspectives on Medical Cannabis

Known Unknowns represents a dive deep into the perceptions, concerns and hopes of UK clinicians for medical cannabis, which, although being legal since 2018, still sits on the fringes of the UK healthcare system with prescribing remaining low. Our report recognises that in order to move forward, the industry faces challenges, and for cannabis to become mainstream as a treatment, a number of concerns that currently exist amongst clinicians must be addressed | Volteface, UK

London not ‘hottest’ cannabis market in Europe but hope lies in CBD

The UK government should capitalise on its efforts in medical cannabis research if it wants to keep up with the budding market growing across Europe | City AM, UK

Isle of Man medicinal cannabis dispensing service begins

A medicinal cannabis dispensing service has begun on the Isle of Man as part of a one-year trial | BBC, UK

Overdose Risks of Over the Counter and Prescription Medication Use

Wed, 14 December 2022, 10:30 – 12:00 GMT. DRNS knowledge exchange event exploring overdose prevention for people using opioids for chronic pain | DRNS, UK

The everyday life of drugs: producers, dealers, consumers, enforcers

Thu, 8 December 2022, 17:30 – 20:00 GMT. This seminar will showcase research on the everyday realities, perspectives and experiences of participants in illicit drug economies | CIVAD, UK

Key findings - December 2022

This is a quick summary of the main discovery for each research paper in the latest issue of Addiction journal | SSA, UK

Birmingham men used Christian group to smuggle cannabis - investigators

A gang used a Christian organisation as a front to import 400kg (881lbs) of cannabis into the UK, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said | BBC, UK

International news

Methamphetamine-associated heart failure: a systematic review of observational studies

Rates of heart failure associated with the growing illicit use of the stimulant drug methamphetamine, or meth for short, are rising worldwide and now affect a wide range of socio-economic and racial groups, finds a review of the available evidence, published online in the journal Heart | BMJ, UK

Here's What We Know About the British 'Drug Lord' Arrested in Dubai

British citizen Ryan Hale is accused of being the boss of a so-called super cartel which trafficked a third of Europe's cocaine | VICE, UK

Open letter: Halt executions for drug offences in Saudi Arabia

Harm Reduction International and the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, together with 34 co-signing organisations, urge the United Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to take all possible steps to halt the spate of drug-related executions witnessed in Saudi Arabia since 10 November 2022; against official commitments and international standards | HRI, UK

‘I’ve lost my children to vaping’: the tragic stories behind the soaring rates of youth addiction

How do you help a child who is addicted to nicotine from vaping to quit? It’s a question that Australian parents and doctors are now grappling with | Guardian, UK

Members of the European Parliament endorse a broader mandate for the EMCDDA

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) adopted a report creating the European Union Drugs Agency and endowing it with new competences | EMCDDA, Portugal

Dutch ban on flavored e-cigarettes to begin on October 1; Only tobacco flavor allowed

The Netherlands will ban all e-cigarette flavors except tobacco on October 1 next year, according to an amendment the government published in the Staatscourant. From then, there will be no more banana, biscuit, or fruit loops flavored vape liquids or e-cigarettes, only a limited number of tobacco flavors. The ban also covers pre-filled e-cigarettes and disposable vapes | NL Times, The Netherlands

2000 to 2020 saw increase in drug overdose death rates in seniors

From 2000 to 2020, there was an increase in the age-adjusted rates of drug overdose deaths for adults aged 65 years and older, according to a November data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics | Medical Xpress, USA

Buprenorphine, not methadone, may be safer treatment for opioid-use disorder during pregnancy

People with opioid-use disorder who are pregnant may have more favorable neonatal health outcomes when using buprenorphine, an active ingredient in suboxone and other medications approved for treatment of opioid-use disorder, compared with methadone, according to a Rutgers researcher | Medical Xpress, USA

Study gives a peek at how ketamine acts as 'switch' in the brain

Ketamine, an established anesthetic and increasingly popular antidepressant, dramatically reorganizes activity in the brain, as if a switch had been flipped on its active circuits, according to a new study by Penn Medicine researchers | Medical Xpress, USA

What’s in New York’s Illicit Cannabis: Germs, Toxins and Metals

[Free registration maybe required] A report from a medical cannabis trade group found contaminants such as E. coli and salmonella in some products purchased at unlicensed dispensaries | NYTimes, USA

Ohio Senate Passes Bill to Expunge Cannabis, “Paraphernalia” Records

The Ohio Senate approved a large-scale criminal justice reform bill on November 30 that contains provisions to protect people from having criminal records for arrests or convictions over simple possession of marijuana “paraphernalia.” It also includes measures clearing a path for people to have convictions for cannabis possession and other charges sealed and expunged | Filter Magazine, USA

Public Outcry Forces Brazil to Pause Drastic Medical Cannabis Restrictions

In a month of political whiplash for Brazil’s battle over medical marijuana access, public outcry has delayed regulators’ bid to reinstate prohibition for almost all eligible patients | Filter Magazine, USA

Spatial-temporal trends in the risk of illicit drug toxicity death in British Columbia

We found that the odds of fatal overdose were about 30% higher in rural areas than in large urban centers, with some regions reporting odds 50% higher than others. Temporal variations in fatal overdose revealed an increasing trend over the entire province. However, the increase occurred earlier and faster in the Interior and Northern regions | BMC Public Health, Canada