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Daily news - 2nd November 2022 |
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UK news
An introduction to the alcohol and drug Commissioning Quality Standard(CQS)
Thu, 24 November 2022, 15:00 – 16:00 GMT. Following the publication in August 2022 of the CQS, OHID is offering a webinar to alcohol and drug treatment commissioners and local partners which will provide an overview of the CQS, what it aims to achieve, how it can be used, and how it fits with other drug strategy tools (like the outcomes framework) | DHSC, UK
Research Briefing: The Smokefree 2030 ambition for England
In 2019, the government set out an ambition for England to become "smokefree" by 2030, but the 2022 Khan review found that England is on course to miss this target. This briefing provides discussion on the government's associated policy | House of Commons Library, UK
Regulation is not a dirty word: Local retailers’ views of proposals for new tobacco laws
This briefing presents the results of a survey of local retailers in the United Kingdom, focusing on the findings for England. The survey explored retailers’ attitudes to selling tobacco and to proposals for new measures to further reduce the harm of tobacco, including measures that would directly affect their business. It also investigates retailers’ views of e-cigarettes and vaping products | ASH, UK
Smoking
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the The Khan review: making smoking obsolete, published 9 June 2022, what assessment she has made for the implications for her Department's policies; and whether she will take steps to implement the recommendation to provide accurate information to healthcare professionals on the benefits of vaping in helping patients to stop smoking | They work for you, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the fiscal impact of the planned changes to alcohol duty from August 2023 | They work for you, UK
Data: 51% of Brits to spend less on alcohol over the Christmas period
Over half (51%) of Brits are to spend less on alcohol than they usually would during the festive season as the cost-of-living crisis bites, new research has revealed | Grocery Gazette, UK
Trio jailed over £3m cocaine-running plot
Three men have been jailed for their part in running drugs and cash between London, the Midlands and west England | BBC, UK
Birmingham New Street Station suspicious package turns out to be cannabis grinder
Hundreds of people were evacuated from Birmingham New Street Station after a security alert that turned out to be caused by a cannabis grinder | BBC, UK
International news
The Global State of Harm Reduction 2022
The Global State of Harm Reduction is the only report that provides an independent analysis of harm reduction in the world. Now in its the eighth edition, the Global State of Harm Reduction 2022 is the most comprehensive global mapping of harm reduction responses to drug use, HIV and viral hepatitis | HRI, UK
Is vaping safe? Why UK scientists are calling new research on the effects of e-cigarettes ‘irresponsible’
US research that has said vaping can lead to “worrisome changes” in blood pressure and heart function has drawn criticism from British scientists who told i the evidence remains that e-cigarettes are significantly safer than smoking | i news, UK
Boxer From the Balkans Charged With Record US Coke Bust
Goran Gogic, a former heavyweight boxer from Montenegro, is accused of overseeing a massive operation shipping cocaine from the US east coast to Europe | VICE, UK
Chemsex Is On The Rise In Asia Despite Harsh Drug Laws and Massive Stigma
Asia's chemsex scene is growing fast, a new report finds, with more than 1 in 10 gay men in Hong Kong and Malaysia going to meth-fuelled parties in the last 6 months | VICE, UK
Afghanistan opium cultivation in 2022 up by 32 per cent: UNODC survey
The 2022 opium crop in Afghanistan is the most profitable in years with cultivation up by nearly one-third and prices soaring, even as the country is gripped by cascading humanitarian and economic crises, according to a new research brief from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) | UNODC, Austria
Estimated Deaths Attributable to Excessive Alcohol Use Among US Adults Aged 20 to 64 Years, 2015 to 2019
The estimates in this cross-sectional study of 694 660 mean deaths per year between 2015 and 2019 suggest that excessive alcohol consumption accounted for 12.9% of total deaths among adults aged 20 to 64 years and 20.3% of deaths among adults aged 20 to 49 years. Among adults aged 20 to 64 years, the proportion of alcohol-attributable deaths to total deaths varied by state | JAMA Network Open, USA
Fentanyl and counterfeit prescription drugs: Facts and myths
Fentanyl's growth from its original design as an effective surgical pain management tool to a leading cause of overdose death and concern has happened quickly—with severe consequences | Medical Xpress, USA
Civil commitment to treatment associated with reduced healthcare utilization that is on par with more voluntary treatment
Civil commitment to substance use disorder treatment is a contentious issue and the evidence for this intervention is mixed. In this study, researchers examined the effect of involuntary treatment for individuals with severe alcohol use disorder on subsequent healthcare utilization | Recovery Research Institute, USA
“Drink like a man”: Masculinity and hazardous drinking among lesbian and bisexual women
Lesbian and bisexual women have higher rates of hazardous drinking than heterosexual women. Health disparities in alcohol use may be explained by greater stress resulting from heterosexism, but also by increased hazardous use in order to align with perceived “masculine” drinking norms. To inform this question, this study examined lesbian and bisexual women’s experiences with alcohol, minority stress, and gender expression | Recovery Research Institute, USA
The Stigmatization of Smoking Is Not Harm Reduction
Smoking has been stigmatized for some time. Once it was normal for idolized film actors, philosophers and writers to be photographed in a cloud of smoke, with a cigarette in hand or hanging off their mouth. Today, people who smoke are often pitied or shamed | Filter Magazine, USA
“Overdose Has Many Faces”: The Politics of Care in Responding to Overdose at Sydney’s Medically Supervised Injecting Centre [Australia]
[Open access] Drug consumption room literature often presents overdose as a stable phenomenon, which can be responded to in the same way from one context to the next. The literature is dominated by a clinical paradigm that implies that consumption rooms are effective because they provide sterile spaces and medical supervision, yet this is not the only way in which such services are delivered, nor is it the only component of the care provided at centers with a clinical focus | Contemporary Drug Problems, USA
'Wonderful initiative': Halton police to begin providing naloxone kits to those leaving their central lockup
Halton police will be participating in a pilot program that will see them distributing naloxone to all individuals being released from their central lockup | Inside Halton, Canada
Blogs, comment and opinion
The Vending Machine Saving Lives in Ohio
Since early last year, a vending machine in the US state of Ohio has provided crucial harm reduction supplies to a local community | Talking Drugs, UK
Uber Eats’ cannabis delivery partnership with Leafly is mostly smoke and mirrors
Before 2018, cannabis was illegal in Canada. Now, as of mid-October, Uber Eats can deliver it in Toronto as the result of a partnership with Leafly, an online marketplace for licensed cannabis retailers. This is the first time Uber will deliver cannabis anywhere in the world | Conversation, UK
Transdisciplinarity to Address Inequality in Psychedelic Studies
My introduction to psychedelic studies occurred just a few months before Michael Pollan published the now (in)famous book How to Change Your Mind, which helped introduce psychedelics to the mainstream and propel their hype-train down the tracks. After its publication, I began to see more headlines promising that psychedelics could end the mental health crisis or even address climate collapse | Points blog, USA