Home | Archive | Weekly | Reports
Daily news - 24th November 2022 |
 |
UK news
Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales: 2021 registrations
Almost two in five deaths of homeless people were related to drug poisoning in 2021 (259 estimated deaths; 35.0% of the total number), consistent with previous years. There were an estimated 99 suicide deaths and 71 alcohol-specific deaths, accounting for 13.4% and 9.6% of deaths respectively | ONS, UK
Universities must acknowledge the value of students in recovery
University throws up many temptations, but if we offer the right support for addiction we are often rewarded with strong, tenacious students and staff | Times Higher Education, UK
Law that lets children as young as five drink alcohol should be changed, says doctor
[Possible Paywall] Health lecturer says home-drinking age needs to be raised as study finds exposure to liquor can lead to long-term issues | Telegraph, UK
Addictions
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of support provided by his Department to families affected by addiction | They work for you, UK
Unlicensed Shisha Bars: Questions to the Mayor of London
Are you aware of the growing issue surrounding unlicensed shisha bars in boroughs such as Brent and Ealing, which have become a hub for anti-social behaviour and gang-related violence? | They work for you, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2nd November 2022 to Question 72439 on Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse, for what reason his Department has not made a specific assessment on the independent review of alcohol harms; and whether he intends to meet with Alcohol Change UK when his Department conducts an independent review of alcohol harms | They work for you, UK
Apology ordered over abrupt pain drug withdrawal
A GP practice in the Borders has been ordered to apologise to a patient for the abrupt withdrawal of medication to help cope with nerve pain | BBC, UK
Dealers Are Jumping on the World Cup Bandwagon
Possession of narcotics may be punishable by a lengthy prison sentence in Qatar itself, but in the UK dealers are offering special World Cup party packs | BBC, UK
Online gambling causing surge of suicidal young men in A&E, NHS clinic says
A 42% annual rise in demand for NHS gambling clinics has resulted in the health service needing to open another two facilities in England | Independent, UK
Portsmouth dockers walk free after £118m cocaine haul trial
Two Portsmouth dock workers accused of conspiring to import £118m of cocaine into the UK have walked free from court after their trial jury was discharged | BBC, UK
Swansea: Lamborghini seized in haul from £6m drugs gang
A Lamborghini supercar was among £6m worth of assets confiscated from a south Wales drugs gang | BBC, UK
International news
Screening EVERY former and current smoker over 50 for lung cancer could quadruple survival rates, study shows
Screening every former and current smoker over 50 for lung cancer could quadruple survival rates, a study has indicated | Mail Online, UK
Six men charged over international drug ring after Sydney dawn raids seize cash, cocaine and crypto
NSW police say several transnational organised criminal networks were collaborating on drug imports | Guardian, UK
Drugs: India police say rats ate 200kg of seized cannabis
Police in India have blamed rats for destroying nearly 200kg (440lbs) of cannabis seized from pedlars and kept in police stations | BBC, UK
Young people and alcohol – What do we know and what can we do about it?
Nov 30, 2022 11:30 AM in Dublin. This webinar is hosted by the HSE Health and Wellbeing Alcohol Programme as part of EU Alcohol Awareness Week.
The panel of speakers will discuss the statistics around alcohol use among adolescent and young people in Ireland and the wider environmental impacts. The speakers will be joined by an expert panel who will discuss how we, as a society, can help raise awareness on how to protect young people in Ireland from the harms of alcohol | HSE, Ireland
A Visit to the Drug Consumption Room in Athens - video
At the international meeting of the Corelation European Harm Reduction Network, participants had a chance to visit the Drug Consumption room of OKANA, the largest service provider in Greece. The Drug consumption room started as a pilot project back in 2011, to reduce needle sharing and infections, to end overdoses and to reduce public nuisance caused by the open drug scenes in Athens. The room could only operate for 9 months as a pilot project, before the prosecutor shut it down. Athenians had to wait ten years, to be able to finally open it again | Drug Reporter, Hungary
Association of Opioid and Stimulant Use Disorder Diagnoses With Fatal and Nonfatal Overdose Among People With a History of Incarceration
In this cohort study of 6816 individuals with a history of incarceration, people with both opioid and stimulant use disorder diagnoses had approximately 2.5 times the hazard of overdose compared with people with no substance use disorder diagnoses. Stimulant use disorder alone was associated with a similar hazard of fatal overdose as opioid use disorder alone | JAMA Network Open, USA
Study shows link between vaping and risk of caries
Research by faculty from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine found patients who said they used vaping devices were more likely to have a higher risk of developing cavities. With CDC surveys reporting that 9.1 million American adults-;and 2 million teenagers-;use tobacco-based vaping products, that means a lot of vulnerable teeth | News Medical, USA
Marijuana Majority
[Free subscription required] Americans support marijuana legalization, but many of their political leaders do not | NYTimes, USA
N.W.T.'s top doctor says highly toxic carfentanil detected again in Hay River
Dr. Kami Kandola, chief public health officer, said it's the second time the toxic drug has shown up in the community in the past year. The first detection was in June | CBC News, Canada
The 'Ndrangheta: Versatile Middlemen in the Cocaine Pipeline to Europe
The port of Gioia Tauro was buzzing with activity in December 2020. In addition to deliveries of legitimate cargo, a container from Santos, Brazil, had arrived carrying 300 kilograms of cocaine | Insight Crime, Colombia
Blogs, comment and opinon
I used to go to great lengths for a drink before a football match. But there is joy to be had without booze
After the alcohol ban in Qatar, there is the possibility that England could win the World Cup roared on by sober fans | Guardian, UK
Brazilian Open Letter to Lula Urges For Incarceration and Drug Policy Rethink
Since president-elect Luiz Lula da Silva’s campaign started gathering momentum, civil society organisations have demanded he prioritise the review of current drug policies as soon as he takes the presidential office | Talking Drugs, UK
A death by any other name: substance-induced or substance-related mortality
Tomáš Formánek and colleagues have used the Czech national registers to shed light on the contribution of alcohol and substance use disorders to the risk of mortality following a range of physical health conditions.1 The scope is impressive, and while the general results of increased mortality are unsurprising, the magnitude of 10–40 life-years lost for most of the physical health conditions they investigated is both compelling and concerning | Lancet comment, Denmark