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Daily news - 20th December 2022

UK news

Hewitt review: call for evidence - GOV.UK

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has appointed the Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt to consider how the oversight and governance of integrated care systems (ICSs) can best enable them to succeed. More information about the objectives and scope of the review can be found in the Hewitt review terms of reference. There is a call for evidence to gather views from across the health and social care system, as well as from patients, the public, and the wider voluntary sector. You can respond as an individual, or on behalf of an organisation by completing the online survey | DHSC, UK

Alcohol duty to be frozen for further six months

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had said in his Autumn Statement that prices would go up in February, reversing a decision made by his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng. But the Treasury is now freezing the duty until August 2023 when a new system for calculating taxes on alcohol is also due to come into force | BBC, UK

ACMD advice on 2-benzyl benzimidazole and piperidine benzimidazolone opioids

Updated to include consideration of a new synthetic opioid | ACMD, UK

The Benzo Research Project: An evaluation of recreational benzodiazepine use amongst UK young people (18-25)

The Benzo Research Project is a student-led group researching recreational benzodiazepine use in young people with the aim of sparking conversation and raising awareness. Over the course of 16 months, the Benzo Research Project collected 81 anonymous testimonies on non-medical benzo use amongst young people in the UK. We conducted an inductive thematic analysis of 73 testimonies received between March and September 2022 | Benzo Research Project, UK

Women, alcohol, pregnancy and FASD (PDF)

This report builds on work already being carried out in Scotland’s communities. Raising awareness and increasing understanding of FASD will help community nurses and midwives engage more effectively with those affected and the key people in their lives. The continuing professional development proposed in this report will focus on heightening their competence and confidence in this area of practice. The main findings and recommendations also appear as a series of blogs on the QNIS/ HPBL website | QNIS, UK

Getting it right for women with a drug problem: issues and improving practice - Katy MacLeod - video

All of us have complex needs. When these needs are addressed by services, too often people are asked to negotiate around specialist services to ‘make them work’. Better joint working has been recommended many times. This event looked at ways services can get it right for everyone and proposes that we develop services that are better at designing and delivering comprehensive treatment, care and support for people | SDF, UK

Family of alcoholic investment banker, 51, who hanged himself after his GP told him to start drinking again are awarded £700,000 payout by the NHS

The partner and daughter of an alcoholic former investment banker who took his own life after his GP told him to start drinking again have been offered £700,000 in compensation by the NHS | Mail Online, UK

‘Fuel to the fire:’ Survey of ambulance service shows alcohol placing a huge demand on frontline workers

A new survey of frontline workers at the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) has found that alcohol-related call-outs are placing an avoidable demand on 9-in-10 staff | AHA UK, UK

Sutterton fire: Charger warning as blaze rips through home

A fire that ripped through a family home was started by an e-cigarette charger that was left plugged in | BBC, UK

Oversized vapes seized during raids on shops in Darlington

Vapes four times the legal size were seized from shops as part of a crackdown | BBC, UK

International news

[Open access] Most recently, there has been a stark increase in synthetic benzodiazepine-laced opioids (i.e., ‘benzodope’) in some Canadian jurisdictions. This unique combination carries distinct and amplified risks for people who use drugs including fatal and non-fatal overdoses, increased dependence and withdrawal symptoms, and places them in extremely vulnerable positions | IJDP, UK

Panel warns FDA’s beleaguered tobacco unit lacks direction

The lack of clear direction and priorities at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's tobacco division has hampered its ability to regulate electronic cigarettes and other products, according to an expert panel assembled to examine problems at the agency | Independent, UK

EMCDDA technical expert meeting on hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and related cannabinoids

On 16 December, the EMCDDA held the first ‘Technical expert meeting on hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and related semi-synthetic cannabinoids (SSCs)’ as part of its ongoing work to support EU and national preparedness and response to emerging NPS risks. Hexahydrocannabinol is the first semi-synthetic cannabinoid reported in the EU and has been monitored as a NPS by the EU Early Warning System since 21 October 2022 | EMCDDA, Portugal

Czech EU Presidency: a human rights-based approach to drug policy

This month, the Czech six-month Presidency of the Council of the EU draws to a close. With the motto ‘Rebuild, Rethink, Repower’, the Presidency focused on five key priorities: managing the refugee crisis and post-war reconstruction of Ukraine; energy security; strengthening European defence capabilities and cybersecurity; strategic resilience of the European economy; and the resilience of democratic institutions | EMCDDA, Portugal

Season’s greetings and warm wishes for a peaceful 2023

As we reach the end of 2022, we look back on a year which has seen Europe face the trials of war, growing instability in food and energy supplies and ongoing social and economic challenges as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. At this time, our thoughts are with those most affected and we hope for more peaceful times ahead | EMCDDA, Portugal

Pandemic fueled alcohol abuse, especially among women, but there are treatment options

Brook was 34 years oldwhen her use of alcohol escalated, a way of coping with a breast cancer diagnosis | CNN, USA

Evaluation of Cancer Deaths Attributable to Tobacco in California, 2014-2019

In this population-based cohort of 395 459 patients with a tobacco-associated cancer, nearly one-half of cancer deaths were associated with tobacco use, which is almost double what was previously estimated. Current tobacco use was higher than in the general population but decreased over time, leading to a modest but significant decline from 2014 to 2019 in the proportion of cancer deaths associated with tobacco | JAMA Network Open, USA

Considering layering medication and psychosocial treatment for people with co-occurring opioid use and mental health disorders: What improves outcomes?

The prevalence rate for opioid use disorder is higher among people with co-occurring mental health disorders as compared to the general population. Integrated multi-component behavioral interventions for individuals with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders (COD) are optimal for addressing the diverse needs of people with COD. However, engagement in treatment is a large issue for this population | BASIS, USA

Indicators of “success” in buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder

Opioid abstinence and treatment retention are common markers of success for individuals receiving opioid use disorder medications. Going beyond these markers to include all desired outcomes for buprenorphine treatment in both patients and prescribers may increase how readily buprenorphine services are adopted in clinical practice. This study asked physicians prescribing these medications in primary care as well as their patients receiving the medications what they believe are indicators of treatment success | Recovery Research Institute, USA

Greater harms for different drinking patterns in younger versus older people may reflect the nature of alcohol use disorder over the life course

What constitutes harmful drinking for individuals not meeting alcohol use disorder criteria varies by life stage. Therefore, screenings to identify people that need treatment may be more accurate if they account for someone’s life stage. At the same time, an age-based approach could make these screenings overly complex. To examine the potential utility of an age-based screening approach, this study examined whether some drinking variables were better predictors of harms for younger versus older adults | Recovery Research Institute, USA

How Drugs Grew in Our Prison Flower Beds for Over a Decade

A few staff members were in the know. Mainly the ones who’d been around a while, which was never very many. They’d bring in special requests—tomato seeds and the like—then a few weeks later bring out a pallet of healthy plants to reach maturity at home. But for the most part COs walked past the attractive flowers each day not realizing any of them were functional | Filter Magazine, USA

Medical cannabis treating at least 2.7 percent of population

An estimated 600,000 Australians are using medical cannabis - but that's according to data from 2019. Considering the dramatic increase in the number of doctors registering to prescribe in the past two years, and the rapid growth of applications for prescriptions, the figure today is likely to be much higher | University of Sydney, Australia

Lambert Initiative opens Cannabis as Medicine Survey 2022

The Lambert Initiative has launched the latest edition of its Cannabis as Medicine Survey, CAMS22, predicting a big increase in the number of Australian patients | Cannabiz, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

Government urged to reconsider decision to cut alcohol duty

Dr Richard Piper, Chief Executive of Alcohol Change UK, is calling on the government to reconsider its decision urgently to freeze alcohol duty and instead to increase it in line with inflation to save lives | Alcohol Change UK, UK

Drug deaths are rising and overdose prevention centres save lives, so why is the UK unwilling to introduce them?

In late 2020, a converted van appeared in central Glasgow. Inside were clean needles, sterilising equipment, mirrors, “sharps bins” for the disposal of syringes, and supplies of the overdose reversal drug naloxone. There were also boxes containing protein bars, tea, blankets and a defibrillator, as well as two chairs and tables where injections could be prepared | Conversation, UK

Even England’s police want to decriminalise hard drugs. Why won’t our posturing politicians listen

Police chiefs’ plan to recommend addiction services would be far more effective than this futile ‘war on drugs’ | Guardian, UK

Vaping’s “major role” in the UK’s record low smoking rate shows that harm reduction works

As has been widely reported, new data published last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals that the smoking rate for over 18s in the UK in 2021 declined to a record low of 13.3%. The ONS described the drop in smoking numbers since the previous year’s rate of 14.0% as statistically significant and concluded that vaping had played “a major role” in the reduction | NNA blog, UK

The Trip Report 19/12

Through the work of organisations such as WEDINOS, The Loop, and SaferParty, we know a little more about the drugs in circulation. The report provided below is a summary of their findings over the last few weeks | Cameron Scally, UK

Has Rishi Sunak taken drugs? Every politician who has ever admitted to using drugs

Reports of traces of cocaine having been found in Chevening and Downing Street during Liz Truss’ brief tenure – allegations she refutes – last week reignited discussions about politicians and their use of drugs. Politicians – though we might sometimes believe otherwise – are human beings like the rest of us, and this list is not about (to borrow a phrase from the Labour Party) naming and shaming them for their drug use | Volteface, UK

Free SIM cards help The Hepatitis C Trust stay in touch with homeless patients

A new iniatitive from Vodafone is helping The Hepatitis C Trust staff and volunteers stay in touch with patients who are experiencing homelessness | Hepatitis C Trust blog, UK

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