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Daily news - 25th October 2022

UK news

Should disposable vapes be banned?

Walk down the street, and you will probably spot finger-sized colourful plastic tubes discarded on the ground | BBC, UK

Dozens of retailers in North Yorkshire caught selling alcohol to children as young as 15

Retailers in North Yorkshire are being warned about the implications of selling alcohol to children, after dozens were caught out | ITV, UK

WDP supports service users to get online, stay connected & gain vital digital skills

WDP’s service users will receive SIM cards with free mobile data (and texts and calls) via the Good Things Foundation’s National Databank. This new initiative will support service users to access online groups and support and manage day-to-day tasks. The pilot has started in our Brent, Cheshire West and Chester, Greenwich, and Merton services with the intention of rolling out to other services in the future | WDP, UK

International news

One alcoholic drink a day reduces fertility success in men by nine per cent, study finds

Women who drink the same amount also find their chances reduced, but by a smaller percentage | Independent, UK

Three New Yorkers killed by fentanyl-laced cocaine ordered from delivery service

Three people in New York City died last year after ordering cocaine from a delivery service with the substance being revealed to have included fentanyl | Independent, UK

Association Between Smoking, Smoking Cessation, and Mortality by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex Among US Adults

In this prospective cohort study of 551 388 US adults, smoking was associated with appreciably greater all-cause mortality compared with never smoking irrespective of race, ethnicity, or sex. Quitting smoking was associated with a reduction in the excess mortality associated with continued smoking, with larger reductions among those who quit at younger ages | JAMA Network Open, USA

A psychedelic industrial complex is emerging as new research on these substances and their effects is being approved. These substances show promise, but much remains unknown about their potential for both benefit and harm. Despite the paucity of reliable mechanistic evidence, some entrepreneurs have already begun to market psychedelic advice | IJDP, USA

This article studies Silicon Valley's culture of psychedelic drug use through extensive analysis of published interviews by tech industrialists, news reports, and recent studies on the tech industry's proliferation of mystical and utopian rhetoric | IJDP, USA

Microscopy reveals how psychedelics light up brain's neuropathways

What a long, strange trip it's been for psychedelic drugs. From their use in ancient indigenous ceremonies, to their often-caricatured association with the 1960s counterculture, to their recent reemergence as a potential therapeutic, hallucinogens have been embraced by very different communities for very different reasons. But scientists have never fully understood how these drugs actually work on the brain | Medical Xpress, USA

A Holistic Approach Towards International Counternarcotics Cooperation

We recently traveled together to Colombia to discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s holistic approach to counternarcotics with the newly elected Colombian government, which is informing how we address the production and trafficking of illicit drugs in our own hemisphere and around the globe | SAIS Review, USA

Stigma around opioid deaths needs to change, say medical professionals

Medical professionals and community groups dealing with opioid addiction in Newfoundland and Labrador say it's time to address the stigma around the drugs, especially when it comes to who they affect | CBC News, Canada

Japan sees sharp rise in drunken-driving cases linked to electric scooters

Japan has recently seen a sharp increase in the number of people being caught riding electric scooters under the influence of alcohol, amid the growing popularity of the vehicles | Japan Times, Japan

New research sounds the alarm on harmful use of vaping in young Australians

Adding to the growing body of evidence about the influence of vaping on young Australians, new research has found that nearly one-third of people between 14 and 17 years have reported vaping. In addition, the research – a collaboration between Cancer Council NSW and the University of Sydney, with funding support from the Minderoo Foundation and the NSW and Australian governments – has found that most young Australians find it easy to access nicotine vaping products | Croakey Health Media, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

'Just say no' to the invisible hand of the free market

In the uphill battle to dissuade people from using illegal drugs, one argument has long propagated the link between purchasing drugs and the funding of terrorism, pairing the use of cannabis, cocaine, and heroin with the support of dangerous, fundamentalist ideology | Volteface, UK

Ban gambling? Ban alcohol? Good luck with that

[Possible paywall] Suggested government interventions into the gambling industry are unworkable to the point of absurdity | Telegraph, UK

Manipulating light can induce psychedelic experiences – and scientists aren’t quite sure why

For millennia, people have used mind-altering techniques to achieve different states of consciousness, envision spiritual figures, connect with nature, or simply for the fun of it. Psychedelic substances, in particular, have a long and controversial history. But for just as long, people have been having these experiences without drugs too, using rhythmic techniques such as rocking, chanting or drumming | Conversation, UK

The North American opioid crisis: how effective are supervised consumption sites?

Scientific evaluations of supervised consumption sites (SCSs) have yielded a large, consistent body of peer-reviewed research showing the effectiveness of these services in reducing various drug-related harms and generating other health and community benefits. We were therefore surprised to see the Commission led by Keith Humphreys and colleagues portray SCSs as a controversial intervention while exclusively citing non-peer-reviewed documents,3 and we would like to highlight a number of other inaccuracies | Lancet correspondence, USA

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