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Daily news - 19th October 2022 |
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A really BIG thank you to Change Grow Live for renewing their much appreciated sponsorship to DrugWise Daily!
UK news
Injecting equipment provision in Scotland
This release presents information on injecting equipment provision (IEP). This includes the number of outlets, attendances and the types of injecting equipment distributed to people who use illicit drugs (including Novel Psychoactive Substances and Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs) in Scotland in 2021/22 | PHS, UK
Laughing-gas makers call for sales ban to stop misuse
A ban is urgently needed to stop people buying and misusing laughing gas, manufacturers say | BBC, UK
Renowned pizza oven brand Gozney launch new Tom Gozney Signature Edition Roccbox in partnership with With You, to honour the journey of its founder
Pioneering pizza oven brand Gozney has announced the launch of its Tom Gozney Signature Edition Roccbox. Inspired by their founder’s rebellious approach to design, the new edition celebrates his 15-year odds-defying journey from drug and alcohol dependency to visionary designer | With You, UK
Psilocybin
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what evidence her Department uses to support the classification of psilocybin as a Class A drug | They work for you, UK
BMS Talk: David Nutt - Are fungal medicines the future of psychiatry? - video
In this BMS Talk, connected with UK Fungus Day 2022, Professor David Nutt (Imperial College London) talks about the historic use of fungal products, especially psilocybin and how it is being developed as a powerful new agent for the treatment of depression and addiction today | BMS, UK
Week of West Midlands drugs raids results in 66 arrests
Drugs worth more than £235,000 have been seized by the police and 66 people have been arrested, in a week-long operation by West Midlands Police | BBC, UK
Hundreds of cannabis plants seized in raids
Hundreds of cannabis plants, crack cocaine and heroin have been seized in a series of major police raids across Merseyside and Cheshire | BBC, UK
International news
‘Canberra ketamine’: new recreational drug discovered at Australian pill-testing service
'As far as we’re aware, this is the first detection of a new drug by a drug-checking service anywhere in the world,’ says professor | Guardian, UK
Alcohol-induced deaths in Australia at their highest in 10 years, study finds
Health experts point to late-stage liver disease, neurodegenerative diseases and heart failure as conditions that can be caused by long-term drinking | Guardian, UK
Colombia drugs: Kingpin Don Mario sentenced to 35 years
A court in New York has sentenced an infamous Colombian paramilitary leader and drug kingpin to 35 years in jail | BBC, UK
‘70% of relevant professionals lack parental-alcohol abuse training’, claims UCC study
600,000 people in Ireland live with the adverse childhood experience of parental problem-alcohol use, and research demonstrates a link between PPAU and mental-health problems | Echo Live, Ireland
Effect of Implementation Facilitation to Promote Adoption of Medications for Addiction Treatment in US HIV Clinics
In this randomized clinical trial of 3647 patients with opioid, alcohol, or tobacco use disorder, during short-term follow-up compared with the control period, implementation facilitation was not associated with a statistically significant increase in observed provision of medication for opioid use disorder (27% vs 28%) or alcohol use disorder (8% vs 13%). There was a significant increase in provision of medication for tobacco use disorder (33% vs 40%) | JAMA Network Open, USA
Cannabis users could be candidates for heart transplants, according to new research from IU cardiologists
Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine have concluded the medical and scientific establishment should expand and re-contextualize its understanding of cannabis use and heart transplantation, suggesting the potential for a completely new approach to determining transplant candidacy | EurekAlert, USA
Sri Lanka: Draft ‘Rehabilitation’ Law Would Spur Abuse
The Sri Lankan government should withdraw a draft law that would give the authorities broad powers to detain people in military-run “rehabilitation” centers, placing them at great risk of abuse, Human Rights Watch said | HRW, USA
Scientists Discover ‘Disconcerting’ New Imitation Ketamine on the Market
One user told VICE World News the high was like ketamine but less happy, while experts warn the short- and long-term effects are completely unknown | VICE, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Swiftly scrapped, certainly a failure and tough to enforce - Consequences of the recent Home Office White Paper
In response to the government’s recent White Paper on ‘tough consequences’ for recreational drug use, Drug Science has warned that the proposed measures are unlikely to work, and will increase the impact of institutional racism in the control of drug possession | Drug Science, UK
I’m a Tory MP, but I think Thérèse Coffey is putting ideology above the nation’s health
The libertarian health secretary is in danger of casting herself as unwilling to tackle the great scourges: smoking and obesity | Guardian opinion, UK
Cannabis and the Menopause: Menopause Awareness Day 2022
Cannabis has been used as a medicine for thousands of years. Surely we should be making it available to those who want it to help alleviate menopausal symptoms | Volteface, UK
Finding sober spaces at university
Socialising at university can be daunting for those that prefer to avoid alcohol. In this blog, Leilani van Someren, President of the Queen Mary Sober Socials society, shares some alcohol-free freshers’ tips | AHA UK blog, UK
‘If only we had the political will’ Why Russia’s rise in drug overdose deaths is unlikely to end soon
According to data from Russia’s Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat), over 10,000 Russians died from drug use in 2021. That’s 37 percent more than in 2020 — and twice as many as in 2019. To find out what’s causing the spike in overdose deaths, and what the government can do to prevent them, Meduza turned to Alexey Lakhov, former development director at the Humanitarian Action Foundation, creator of the Drugmap project, and a member of the Steering Committee of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association | Talking Drugs, UK
Why is the American right suddenly so interested in psychedelic drugs?
Magic mushrooms are no magic cure for society’s ills, and a substance as powerful as psychedelics can be dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands | Guardian opinion, UK
The toad boom: the false narrative of ancestral 5-MeO-DMT use
Anny Ortiz returns with her fourth contribution to the Pharmaceutical Inequalities series. In this latest post she interrogates how the false narrative of ancestral 5-MeO-DMT use, that started with one man ten years ago, has given way to toad churches that may threaten the future viability of their sacrament – the toad | Points blog, USA