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Daily news - 7th October 2022 |
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UK news
Alcohol-related Cancers
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported prevalence of alcohol-related cancers in Scotland | They work for you, UK
Calls for cannabis to be made Class A 'completely crazy', say experts
Experts said the proposal 'flies in the face of all evidence and reason' | Wales Online, UK
Celebrating Recovery Month
With You staff share what Recovery Month means to them in hope that their experience will inspire others | DDN, UK
‘I Started My Own Family Support Group’ – Nancy (Family Member)
How and when did the Caithness Family Support Group start? - Well, I’ve got a son who has drug problems. He’s coming up for 40 and I’ve had problems with him since he was 15... | SFAD, UK
Lewisham Primary Care Recovery Service rated Good by the Care Quality Commission
The community-based service, which provides treatment from a main hub and eight GP practices as part of a GP shared care scheme, was praised by CQC for its compassionate staff and their holistic approach | Humankind, UK
Free webinar: Every Family Has A Story: How We Inherit Love and Loss
Monday 10th October, 13:00 - 13:30. Bestselling author and psychotherapist Julia Samuel will talk about latest book, drawing on her acclaimed work with individuals from a wide variety of families, across multiple generations | Addiction Professionals, UK
Five arrested in county lines drug raids across Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire Police and officers from East Midlands raided five addresses in Northamptonshire on Wednesday | BBC, UK
International news
Biden pardons thousands with federal convictions of simple marijuana possession
President urged governors to follow suit, saying such criminal records have ‘imposed needless barriers’ on people of color | Guardian, UK
QMJC September 2022: Ethnography and recovery houses
The latest Qualitative Methods Journal Club is now online. This month, the discussion focused on ethnography in a recovery house for people who use drugs and who are immigrants. The QMJC talked about issues of access and entrée, and how researchers’ roles and responsibilities can change in public, private and hidden spaces | SSA, UK
Scientists discover why heroin is addictive
[Free registration required] ‘Greater impairment was correlated with earlier age of first drug use,’ study author adds | Independent, UK
French hunters react angrily to drinking ban plan to reduce accidental deaths
Hunting lobby, which has support of Emmanuel Macron, claims its members are being ‘stigmatised’ | Guardian, UK
Paris police dismantle crack users’ camp
Paris police on Wednesday dismantled a camp that is home to over 100 crack users, the latest move in a campaign that has repeatedly displaced the addicts around the capital | Expatica, France
Notes from the Field: E-cigarette Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2022
Since 2014, e-cigarettes have been the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. middle and high school students | CDC, USA
Biden to pardon all federal offenses of simple marijuana possession in first major steps toward decriminalization
President Joe Biden is taking his first major steps toward decriminalizing marijuana, fulfilling a campaign pledge to erase prior federal possession convictions and beginning the process of potentially loosening federal classification of the drug | CNN, USA
Vermont dispensaries to begin selling recreational marijuana
Vermont dispensaries are set to begin selling marijuana for recreational use, though only three will be ready to do so on opening weekend | Yahoo, USA
Recovery capital protective against relapse during the height of COVID-19 pandemic
The increased stress, isolation, and other stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic may negatively impact recovery. This study explored if pandemic-related stressors were linked with higher odds of relapse among American adults in recovery from alcohol use disorder | Recovery Research Institute, USA
Evaluation of Early Ketamine Effects on Belief-Updating Biases in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression
This case-control study in patients with TRD showed that belief updating became more optimistically biased as soon as 4 hours after a first ketamine infusion. This early cognitive effect of ketamine was formalized by stronger asymmetrical reinforcement learning and mediated at 1 week of treatment the clinical antidepressant effect | JAMA Network, USA
Alberta to be 1st province to regulate psychedelics for therapy, government says
Province also adding new restrictions for prescribing high-potency narcotics | CBC News, Canada
Blogs, comment and opinion
The case for repoliticising alcohol use and harms
Exceptional work is being done throughout the world to mitigate the ever-escalating crisis of harms caused by the criminalisation of drugs. Along with directly operating harm reduction responses like safe consumption sites, drug testing, Naloxone trainings, and distribution of safe supplies, drug user organisations are making clear and evidence-based demands for large-scale provision of a legal, regulated, and safe supply of drugs to stem the tide of toxic and fatal poisonings (which reached almost 1,300 deaths in the first seven months of 2022 in the Canadian province of British Columbia) | IAS blog, UK
Intersecting Drug Policy and Abolition: A Conversation
The War on Drugs has failed in its stated goal of reducing drug use and sale and has instead resulted in a devastating trail of trauma, pain, and suffering, for families, and communities, with communities of colour facing the harshest impact | Talking Drugs, UK
Changing drug-use by changing the Law: New Zealand in Focus
For those gearing up for summer festivals in the Southern Hemisphere, the key advice is to check your drugs | Volteface, UK
Colombia’s Truth Commission Backs Drug Regulation for Peace
The Colombian Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition (the Truth Commission) published its final report in June 2022. In a pioneering move it urged the new government to legally regulate drugs in order to end violence | Transform blog, UK
Points Interview: Cannabis narratives in British India with Utathya Chattopadhyaya
Today’s post features an interview with Utathya Chattopadhyaya, an assistant professor at the University of Santa Barbara. He is a historian focusing on the British Empire and South Asia, who looks at British colonialism’s role in reshaping agrarian communities and the political economy of intoxicant commodities | Points blog, USA