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Daily news - 21st November 2022 |
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UK news
Bristol drug-checking service gains charity status
The UK's first Home Office licensed drug-checking service has been granted charity status | BBC, UK
UK’s First Addiction Advocacy Service
FAVOR are pleased to launch this report at the end of their first full year as the UK’s First & only addiction advocacy service | FAVOR, UK
Scotland’s leaders accused of having ‘forgotten’ about drugs death crisis
Political leaders appear to have “forgotten Scotland’s drugs death crisis” campaigners claimed, as they published a report calling for changes to be made in treatment services | Scotsman, UK
Establishing and embedding a Local Drug Information System (LDIS)
Mon, 5 December 2022, 14:00 – 16:00 GMT. This event is aimed at anyone responsible for establishing or running a Local Drug Information System (LDIS). It will provide an overview of the purpose of the LDIS and how it fits into regional and national systems. There will be an opportunity to hear from two areas on their experience of setting up and running an LDIS, and there will be a practical exercise on using the grading and efficacy matrices set out in the LDIS guidance Interactive session on establishing an LDIS. Please note, this event is being held twice; if you are unable to make the session on 5th December, please sign up for the one on the 25th January 2023 | DHSC, UK
New petition calls for GHB and GBL to be made ‘Class A’ substances
Urging the UK government to take action, it claims: “These drugs are associated with more deaths than ecstasy” | MixMag, UK
Making Smoking Obsolete Independent Review
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, The Khan review: making smoking obsolete published 9 June 2022, what steps his Department is taking to address the findings of that report | They work for you, UK
Sobriety tag changed my life, says alcohol offender
"I was using it as a mechanism when I was feeling down and sad, but then I'd drink too much at one time and end up binge drinking." | BBC, UK
Leamington Spa project to help with addiction moves step closer
A charity aiming to help people who are "entrenched in addiction" has raised more than £25,000 to run rehabilitation premises in Warwickshire | BBC, UK
The Alcohol 'Problem' Podcast: Drinking behaviour, risks and causes with Professor Tony Moss
In this episode Professor Tony Moss talks about key drivers of drinking behaviour and alcohol-related risks, problems and causes. This covers how alcohol use can develop into addiction, and the complex nature of associated problems and the range of psychological, social and sometime biological factors involved | Alcohol Problem Podcast, UK
Medicinal cannabis patient is ejected from venues for vaping
Greater education is needed around medicinal cannabis to prevent users feeling victimised when they visit pubs and restaurants, a patient has said | Jersey Evening Post, UK
Game, set, bankrupt: how an addiction to gambling on tennis lost me £40,000
The UK gambling industry is worth billions, with 5% of customers responsible for 70% of that revenue. That includes me – after my addiction spiralled in the pandemic | Guardian, UK
Police in Ivybridge and Brixham seize £460k of cash and drugs
Police seized £400,000 worth of cocaine and heroin when they stopped a van earlier this week | BBC, UK
International news
Multiple World Cup sponsors concerned over contracts after Qatar’s alcohol ban
Multiple sponsors have raised concerns or issues with Fifa about their contracts at the Qatar World Cup, the Guardian can reveal. It gives football’s governing body another headache hours after it was forced to ban alcohol from stadiums by the Qatari authorities, a decision that complicated its $75m (£63m) contract with the brewer of Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch InBev | Guardian, UK
‘It took my soulmate’: Mother’s warning on invisible drug that kills 150 every day
Gwen Dudley, 33, has lost the most important people in her life to drugs laced with fentanyl | Independent, UK
The term ‘heroin chic’ needs to die – even if skinny-worship rages on
The aesthetic may be back, but the phrase has dark roots. Industry veterans warn we shouldn’t revert to 90s beauty standards | Guardian, UK
Sex parties and fast cars: US agent turned cartel mole claims DEA corruption
As he enters prison, a disgraced former DEA agent who lived a decadent double life has claimed his own crimes were the tip of the iceberg | Guardian, UK
Fears milk from hemp-fed cows could make people drowsy
[Possible paywall] Concern over the use of cannabis-based feeds in countries where the drug has been legalised | Telegraph, UK
Australians warned not to drink poppy seed tea after spate of poisonings
‘I would very definitely lay off the poppy seed tea for the moment,’ academic says | Guardian, UK
Experiences of methadone service users explored in human rights-based study
Findings of the collaborative study between the Schools of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity and University College Cork, and a former PhD student from Maynooth University indicate that there is a significant gap between human rights, policy and best practice and how these are operationalised within the structures and practices of Irish opiate substitute prescribing services | Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
TD Gino Kenny to introduce bill that is ‘steppingstone towards full regulation of cannabis’
People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny will set to introduce a bill in Leinster House next week which will be a steppingstone towards full regulation of cannabis | Independent, Ireland
Pensioner says 'I'm not a criminal' as he calls to legalise cannabis following conviction in Cork
'I don’t have any animosity towards the gardai or the judiciary – I just think it’s a bad law and they know it’s a bad law' | CorkBeo, Ireland
Recreational use of nitrous oxide — a growing concern for Europe
The purpose of this report is to examine the current situation, risks and responses to the recreational use of nitrous oxide in Europe. To support this, the report also provides a state-of-the-art review of the chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology of the gas. It is intended for policymakers and practitioners | EMCDDA, Portugal
EMCDDA releases new analysis on the drug situation in the Western Balkans
Drug-related health and security threats in the Western Balkans are highlighted today in a new report published by the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA). Released in the framework of the agency’s latest Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance project (IPA7), funded by the EU, the report provides the latest picture of the drug situation in the region | EMCDDA, Portugal
Sexualized drug use among men who have sex with men in Madrid and Barcelona: The gateway to new drug use?
This original study compares the prevalences of drug use for any purpose and for sexualized drug use (SDU) among MSM. It also describes relevant characteristics of first SDU, analyzes to what extent SDU has been the first experience (the gateway) with different drugs by age and explores the correlates of SDU | Frontiers in Public Health, Spain
Can pharmacotherapies prevent alcohol use disorder in people with PTSD?
Survivors of abuse and trauma are vastly more likely than other people to develop alcohol use disorder (AUD); according to some estimates, as many as three-quarters of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) report drinking problems | Medical Xpress, USA
Juice worth the squeeze? Cost-benefit analysis of contingency management
Contingency management strategies, such as providing rewards for maintaining abstinence measured by negative toxicology screens, are among the most empirically supported treatments for substance use disorders and stimulant use disorders, in particular. They also save money | Recovery Research Institute, USA
The economic impact of recovery management checkups
Recovery Management Checkups are a long-term clinical approach to following up with patients with substance use disorder much like treating other chronic illnesses like hypertension or diabetes. Prior research has shown that this approach, which includes quarterly checkups, helps enhance long-term recovery outcomes. Can investment in this approach ultimately save health care costs? | Recovery Research Institute, USA
Philippines Undercounts Recent ‘Drug War’ Deaths
Police Claim of 46 Killed Far Below Independent Monitor’s Figure | HRW, USA
A Full Moon in the Amazon: My Ayahuasca Experience
In April 2021, I visited Pucallpa in the Amazon region of Peru. The city of 300,000 sits on the hot and humid banks of the Ucayali River, the headwater of the mighty Amazon to the north. I came with my partner and bandmate, Sonia, in search of pink dolphins, camu camu berries and starlit boat rides. But something else also drew us here | Filter Magazine, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
How do we manage the risks from street benzos?
In this piece we want to start to think about how we can manage and support people who are regularly using, and probably dependent on street benzodiazepines alongside opiates like heroin or methadone and possibly other drugs and alcohol | DRNS blog, UK
Cannabis and sleep: everything you need to know
Is cannabis good for sleep? Does it make you dream? What about THC vs CBD. Ruby Deevoy has all the answers | Volteface, UK
Why banning booze is not the answer
[Possible paywall] With fans in uproar over the Qatari World Cup alcohol ban, it's time to look a little closer at our reliance on drink | Telegraph, UK