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Daily news - 5th September 2022 |
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UK news
Rough sleepers helped to rebuild their lives with new strategy backed by £2bn government support
Government today publishes landmark £2 billion Rough Sleeping Strategy to drive forward manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping for good | Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities , The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, and Eddie Hughes MP, UK
ASH guidance on developing school policies on vaping (PDF)
This guidance is for Designated Safeguarding Leads, PSHE leads and others developing school policies on vaping, in the context of the far greater risk from smoking | ASH, UK
£1.8m project to evaluate police-led drug diversion schemes
Professor Alex Stevens from the University’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, working with the College of Policing, has been awarded £1.8m from the Government’s Evaluation Accelerator Fund to evaluate police-led diversion (PDD) schemes for drug-involved suspects | University of Kent, UK
2022 Recovery Street Film Festival shortlist
The 15 films that made it onto the 2022 Recovery Street Film Festival shortlist | RSFF, UK
'Why I made a film about my addiction' - video
A recovering alcoholic, who nearly lost his life to drink, has made a film about his struggle. Jit Chauhan, 48, of Oadby, Leicestershire, said he was drinking a litre of whisky a day when his addiction was at its worst | BBC, UK
Love Hemp hopes its CBD range will be a big hit at Tesco
Oils, gummies and chocolates made with CBD continue to go mainstream | Evening Standard, UK
Officer who wrote Met’s drug strategy smoked cannabis daily, panel told
Commander Julian Bennett refused to take a drug test in 2020 after his lodger contacted police alleging drug use | Guardian, UK
International news
'Flesh of the Gods': The Trippy History of Magic Mushrooms
With magic mushrooms seemingly being used more widely than ever, it's high time we look at the ancient history of psychotropic fungi | VICE, UK
Payout for US detainee who miscarried after police stopped for coffee on way to hospital
Southern California officials agree to pay Sandra Quinones, who went into labor while detained in local jail, $480,000 | Guardian, UK
US-level mortality? Sounding the alarm about fentanyl overdose in Australia
Deaths from the powerful opioid, along with pethidine and tramadol, are up a staggering 1,275% since 2006. A new report warns without ‘decisive action’ a crisis looms | Guardian, UK
A hotel in Melbourne’s affluent Brighton wants to become a rehab clinic – some locals aren’t happy
Opponents say the Brighton Savoy is in an ‘inappropriate location’ for such a facility, but others claim the backlash is ‘a political beat-up’ | Guardian, UK
Drug Monitoring - Friday 2nd September
On Friday 2nd September 2022, after testing in our onsite lab, we issued a caution relating to a purple skull shaped pill branded 'Mybrand'. The caution was issued due to concern for the strength of the product. The pill was found to contain approximately two times the average adult dose. What this means is that it may be easy to take too much of this substance which could lead to a drug related emergency/overdose | HSE Drugs.ie, Ireland
Teenagers influenced by smoking parents to start using e-cigarettes, research says
Teenagers whose parents are smokers are 55% more likely to try e-cigarettes, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Barcelona, Spain | News Medical, USA
UK Program Will Pay People to Quit Smoking During Pregnancy
Pregnant people will be offered vouchers worth up to £400 (almost $500) to quit smoking in a pilot scheme in the North West of England. The program hopes to reduce harms and address widening health inequalities | Filter Magazine, USA
Cannabis legalization decreases the stock market value of major pharmaceutical firms
Researchers from California Polytechnic State University and The University of New Mexico find that stock market investors predict cannabis legalization will reduce conventional pharmaceutical sales by billions of dollars | Medical Xpress, USA
Is the Psychedelic Therapy Bubble About to Burst?
A new paper argues that excitement has veered into misinformation—and scientists should be the ones to set things straight | WIRED, USA
Habitual Alcohol Intake and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation in Young Adults in Korea
In this cohort study including 1 537 836 adults aged 20 to 39 years, an up to 25% higher risk of incident atrial fibrillation was associated with a higher cumulative alcohol burden for 4 years, and up to 47% with sustained heavy drinking over 4 years | JAMA Network Open, USA
New report calls for overhaul to methamphetamine approach
Minimising the Harms from Methamphetamine, jointly commissioned by the NZ Drug Foundation and the Helen Clark Foundation, takes a comprehensive look at methamphetamine harm in Aotearoa and proposes a suite of new health-based solutions backed by local and international evidence | NZDF, New Zealand
Blogs, comment and opinion
Harm reduction for tobacco?
Of all the arguments that have been used to support vaping, the most prominent and perhaps the most compelling has been the idea of “tobacco harm reduction.” | Inquirer.net opinion, USA