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Daily news - 12th December 2022

UK news

Correspondence - ACMD vulnerable groups: young people’s drug use

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has undertaken a review of research evidence relating to the prevalence of drug use and commissioning of treatment services for young people. This letter outlines ACMD findings to date, notes important developments in the field of young people’s drug use and recommends areas of focus for future work | ACMD, UK

Drugs A to Z: A guide to common drug names in Scotland

This guide has been produced by the RADAR Team at Public Health Scotland (PHS). The purpose of this document is to provide a resource for emergency service call handlers to appropriately identify, categorise and coordinate the response to emergency call outs involving drugs. It includes key street names of common drugs as well as brief descriptions of drug types and categories | Public Health Scotland, UK

Stop and search: a plan for change

An independent national task force must be set up to bring about wholesale changes in the way police in England and Wales use stop-and-search powers, particularly around public confidence and disproportionality - that’s the principal recommendation from our latest report | CREST, UK

Pregabalin: Misuse

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance has been issued to Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust to help ensure Pregabalin is not misused in patients who consume alcohol and smoke while being prescribed that drug | They work for you, UK

120 police officers in the north-east to be issued naloxone kits to combat record drug death numbers

This is the first time officers in north-east division are receiving the personal issue kit, with more officers to be trained and equipped in the near future | Press and Journal, UK

Burgers and coats: county lines gangs exploit hardship to recruit UK kids

Headteachers report that drug groups are using the cost of living crisis to groom cold and hungry pupils | Guardian, UK

‘We have to ask ourselves whether a pattern of behaviour is associated with addiction, or could be a core feature of autism’

In the first episode of a two-part SSA podcast, Rob Calder talks to Professor Julia Sinclair, Chris Torry, Professor Sam Chamberlain, and Dr Janine Robertson from the Substance use, Alcohol and Behavioural Addictions in Autism (SABAA) project. With expertise and experiences spanning research, diagnosis, treatment, and lived experience, they offer a unique commentary on the similarities between behaviours associated with autism and addiction, and the challenges and opportunities these present for treatment services | SSA, UK

Tory Steve Barclay to stub out plan to make Britain tobacco free by 2030

Whitehall sources say he is abandoning the scheme to raise the legal age for buying tobacco one year every year until no-one was able to buy cigarettes at all | Mirror, UK

Alcohol-free off licence cashing in on Generation Z's taste for sobriety

[Possible paywall] Laura Willoughby, founder of Club Soda, said fewer young people were drinking because they had mental health concerns | Telegraph, UK

‘Alcohol affects every organ’: hangovers and how to survive them

As the party season kicks in, so will the effects of having one too many. Here are the sobering facts behind hangovers and tactics that might help you avoid them | Guardian, UK

First football ban for drugs offences, say Staffordshire Police

A football fan caught taking cocaine at a match has become the first person in the UK to be banned for drug offences, a police force said | BBC, UK

Huddersfield: Illegal vapes and cigarettes seized

A joint operation with Trading Standards led to the seizure of 28,000 illegal cigarettes, 1,519 oversize vapes and a quantity of shisha tobacco | BBC, UK

Criminal gang trio jailed after biggest-ever heroin seizure in Merseyside

Members of a drugs gang have been jailed after they were found with heroin worth £4-5 million | ITV, UK

Cannabis gardeners of £250k ex-Millom nightclub farm jailed

Three men who acted as gardeners of a £250,000 cannabis factory set up in a former nightclub have been jailed. Eight rooms at what used to be The Ritz in Millom, Cumbria, had been converted for cannabis production, Carlisle Crown Court heard | BBC, UK

International news

Patterns of mortality risk among patients with substance use disorder: an opportunity for proactive patient safety? [Sweden]

[Open access] Patients with substance use disorder (SUD) suffer from excess mortality compared to the overall population. This study aims to identify patterns in death rates among patients with SUD visiting a SUD emergency ward and to explore whether this knowledge can be used as input to identify patients at risk and increase patient safety | BMC Psychiatry, UK

Team spirit: the Australian agave farm aiming to quench a global thirst for tequila

Premium tequila is outperforming other alcoholic drinks as we swap shots for sips, espresso martinis for margaritas | Guardian, UK

Disney+ sets out its ad-break stall: no alcohol, no politics and no Netflix

Walt Disney debuted the ad-supported version of its Disney+ streaming service yesterday with strict rules: No alcohol commercials, no political spots and no ads from competitors | Independent, Ireland

Stigma around drug use preventing people from coming forward to access key supports

Tony Duffin, the CEO of the Ana Liffey Drug Project, said that there was a distinction between ‘drug use’ and ‘problematic drug use’ | Journal, Ireland

PAREA Event in the European Parliament - video

On 6th December, we organized our first policy meeting in the European Parliament, looking at the basic ingredients of psychedelic novel treatments captured in the event’s title: “Psychedelic-assisted therapies in the treatment of brain disorders” | PAREA, Belgium

EMCDDA participates in Latin American regional meeting on early warning systems

This week, the EMCDDA participated in a meeting ‘Early warning systems in response to opioids and new psychoactive substances’, organised by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organisation of American States (OIS) and the Canadian authorities (1). The agency participated remotely in the event, which was held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (7–8 December) | EMCDDA, Portugal

Finland Discussing Drug Consumption Rooms To Prevent Harm

According to a survey conducted by the Finnish Broadcasting Company in 2021, Finnish police chiefs considered drug-related criminality and its side effects as the most serious threats to citizens’ security in Finland | OWP, USA

Alcohol-involved injuries linked to increased risk of dying in the next year

When people are injured severely enough to require treatment at the hospital and they are either intoxicated or have an alcohol use disorder, they have a fivefold increased risk of dying in the next year, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs | Medical Xpress, USA

Today's adolescent substances of choice may be harder for adults to detect

The past decade has seen a global surge in adolescent use of e-cigarettes/vaping, cannabis, and prescription opioids not-taken-as-prescribed. Relying on detection through informal observation is quickly becoming a thing of the past. A new article provides health care professionals and parents concrete steps for screening, detection and intervention | Science Daily, USA

Study reveals the presence of metal particles in cannabis vape liquids

The regulation and legalization of cannabis in Canada, as well as at the state level throughout the United States, have increased the availability of several commercial cannabis products | News Medical, USA

Characterization of Problematic Alcohol Use Among Physicians: A Systematic Review

In this systematic review of 31 studies involving 51 680 participants in 17 countries, problematic alcohol use in physicians was identified by a self-reported survey, with reported use increasing over time. Methods of assessment and outcome definitions were highly variable, and limited information was identified on how problematic alcohol use varies among physicians based on age, sex, specialty, and training stage. | JAMA Network Open, USA

Tobacco Use and Incidence of Adverse Oral Health Outcomes Among US Adults in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study

This nationally representative cohort study found associations of current combustible tobacco use with the incidence of adverse oral health outcomes and also found an association between current ENDS use and the incidence of bleeding after brushing or flossing | JAMA Network Open, USA

San Francisco’s proposal to open supervised drug consumption sites stalled by legal issues

San Francisco’s proposal to open a dozen so-called wellness hubs where people can use drugs under the supervision of trained staff, including a couple by next June, has stalled because of legal and logistical issues | SF Chronical, USA

New Court-Ordered Cigarette Warnings Will Omit Harm Reduction

On December 6, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that tobacco companies would be required to post signs in retail stores warning about the dangers of smoking | Filter Magazine, USA

Health Canada finalizes amendments on cannabis research and testing, and cannabis beverages

Today, Health Canada announced that amendments to the Cannabis Act and its regulations concerning cannabis research and testing, and cannabis beverages have been approved and are now in force as of December 2, 2022. A copy of the final regulations, as well as the Regulatory Impact and Analysis Statement is expected to be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, on December 21, 2022 | Government of Canada, Canada

Stricter enforcement of licensed premises is more effective than blanket 'lock-out' laws

Research shows public support for monitoring of responsible alcohol service laws and late-night premises | NDARC, Australia

The doctor, the regulator and the patients who will suffer

While the government wrestles with setting up a second safe injecting room, a clinic that helps thousands of addicts is likely to close because of a bureaucratic decision that has left patients devastated and substance abuse experts bewildered | Age, Australia

New Zealand 'grossly' underprepared for fentanyl outbreak

The NZ Drug Foundation says we need to assume that the deadly synthetic opioid will continue to show up on our shores after 13 people were hospitalised from overdoses in Wairarapa in June this year | Today FM, New Zealand

Blogs, comment and opinion

Alcohol deaths in the UK rose to record levels in 2021

There has been a record rise in deaths from alcohol in the UK, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In 2021, 9,641 people died as a result of alcohol: a rise of 7.4% from 2020 | Conversation, UK

Paul Townsley and Dr Roya Vaziri respond to the rising number of alcohol related deaths

“It is a tragedy that 9,641 people in the UK died due to alcohol during 2021. We must remember the heartbreak that each one of these lives lost will have caused for families, friends, and communities across the country... | Humankind, UK

Alcohol-specific deaths rise to record high

2021 saw 9,641 people die from alcohol-specific causes which constitutes the highest number on record and an increase of 7.4% from the year before | Collective Voice, UK

Why do so many drug and alcohol addicts relapse? The answers are complex

It’s important for patients to know past relapses don’t define you, and ongoing help from professionals and friends is critical to recovery | Guardian CIF, UK

Crispin Blunt: Cannabis prohibition has failed across the world. The UK must embrace evidence-based reform

Alongside my work as Conservative MP for Reigate, I am the unremunerated Chair of the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group (CDPRG), which calls for evidence-based UK drug policymaking. CDPRG is non partisan – but evidence-based policy is a proper Conservative response to reducing drug related harms that have exploded over the last six decades | Conservative Home, UK