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Daily news - 24th April 2023

UK news

Deprivation and the impact on smoking prevalence, England and Wales: 2017 to 2021

Statistics on cigarette smoking prevalence among adults in England and Wales by the Index of Multiple Deprivation, including proportions and distribution of smokers within each decile | ONS, UK

Tolerance breaks: how much weed is too much weed?

Daily cannabis use is not without its consequences, and tolerance plays a big role in this. Taking a t-break can reset your relationship with weed while allowing you to enjoy it like you used to | Dazed Digital, UK

Carmarthenshire care home serves alcohol to let residents feel normal

William James, of Gwernllwyn Care Home in Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire, applied for a licence to serve alcohol until midnight, seven days a week | BBC, UK

Cannabis Conversations at King's

Wed, 24 May 2023 18:15 - 20:30 BST. Kings College London The Great Hall Strand Campus London WC2R 2LS. Leading cannabis researchers and people who use cannabis come together to discuss current and future research in this unique event at King's | Drug Science and King's College London, UK

Illegal drugs in Britain and their future, as seen in 1994

Many millions were smoking joints and popping pills, might the time come to legalise it? | Guardian, UK

Cocaine haul found floating in English Channel

A Border Force vessel and the RNLI were deployed early on Wednesday morning where they found a number of packages in the sea | BBC, UK

Former Lincolnshire PC who took cocaine would have been dismissed

A former police officer who admitted taking cocaine would have been dismissed had he not already resigned, a misconduct hearing has found | BBC, UK

Cannabis farm found in derelict church

Police said they seized more than 1,400 plants at the former Stoke United Reform Church, on Harefield Road | BBC, UK

International news

Alcohol Profile 2022 published

Public Health Intelligence has published Jersey’s Alcohol Profile for the last two years. The biennial report contains the latest alcohol statistics for Jersey, considers trends over time, and compares Jersey with other jurisdictions where appropriate | Gov.je, Jersey

Third of islanders in Jersey binge drinking says report

Average alcohol consumption per Jersey adult in 2022 was 12 litres of pure alcohol a year, or about 8.1 pints of beer or 2.6 bottles of wine a week | BBC, UK

Spanish firm wrong to fire electrician for drinking alcohol during working day, court rules

High court found electrical company had not proved man was drunk after he was seen drinking beer, wine and brandy at lunch | Guardian, UK

Branson urges Singapore to halt execution of cannabis convict

British tycoon Richard Branson Monday urged Singapore to halt the imminent execution of a man sentenced to death over one kilogram of cannabis, saying it "may be about to kill an innocent man". | Mail Online, UK

Looking to the future: EMCDDA hosts the EU agencies’ foresight meeting

More and more organisations, including EU bodies, are integrating foresight methods into their activities to guide organisational strategies and increase their preparedness for significant future developments. Against this backdrop, the EMCDDA has been hosting this week the 5th meeting of the ‘futures cluster’ of the EU Agencies Network on Scientific Advice (EU-ANSA). This is the first face-to-face encounter since the group was formed in 2019 | EMCDDA, Portugal

Netherlands bans sale of all nicotine pouches

The Dutch government on Friday said it would ban the sale of all types of nicotine pouches in the Netherlands, while widening the rules for tobacco to include all other types of tobacco-free nicotine products | Reuters, USA

Ingestion of Illicit Substances by Young Children Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This cross-sectional study used an interrupted time series including 7659 children presenting with ingestions. There was an immediate increase in overall ingestions among children younger than 6 years in the pandemic period compared with the prepandemic period, attributed to cannabis, opioid, and ethanol ingestions, and there was a sustained monthly increase in overall ingestions attributed to opioids | JAMA Network Open, USA

Narcan's over-the-counter price will still put it out of reach for many, experts say

Emergent BioSolutions announced Thursday that it plans to sell the medication, which can reverse the deadly affects of opioid overdoses, for an average of less than $50 for two doses | Medical Xpress, USA

How alcohol consumption contributes to chronic pain

Chronic alcohol consumption may make people more sensitive to pain through two different molecular mechanisms—one driven by alcohol intake and one by alcohol withdrawal. That is one new conclusion by scientists at Scripps Research on the complex links between alcohol and pain | Medical Xpress, USA

Psychedelics may treat depression and anxiety symptoms in cancer patients better than prescription antidepressants

Roughly 10% of patients with cancer experience anxiety, while 20% report depression. However, current research suggests that available prescription antidepressants do not significantly decrease depressive symptoms in cancer patients compared with a placebo | Medical Xpress, USA

“A Dream Location”: RI Safe Injection, Inhalation Site Slated for Early 2024

Rhode Island’s first safe consumption site (SCS) is expected to open in Providence in early 2024. If approved by the city this summer, the long-awaited center will be run by people with lived experience, and have booths for inhalation as well as injection. It will likely be the country’s first state-operated SCS | Filter Magazine, USA

Man Set to be Executed Over 1 Kilogram of Cannabis He Never Touched

Tangaraju Suppiah, convicted of abetting a drug trafficking attempt, is set to be hanged next week, sparking concern from activists about the fairness of his conviction | VICE, USA

The Dangers of Giving Dogs Alcohol

We all know that dogs can't eat chocolate, but there are plenty of other substances that can harm man's best friend, including one of our favorite vices: alcohol | Newsweek, USA

‘Life goes on’: Meet the Ukrainians who stayed to help the most vulnerable

Koshikova is one of the many charity and social service workers who have stayed in Ukraine, keeping services running “under bullets” for some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens, whose number and needs have grown drastically in wartime. Those they help include people on methadone programs, women who have been the victims of rape and violence and inmates in increasingly overcrowded prisons at risk of picking up diseases without access to clean needles | WA Today, Australia

‘Join the movement’: Minister calls for pill testing trial in NSW

A NSW minister has broken ranks to urge her Labor government colleagues to “join the nationwide movement” toward pill testing at music festivals, while also suggesting controversial policing tactics such as strip searches and drug-detection dogs should be part of the promised drug summit | SMH, Australia

Drug use at music festivals: Key findings and harm reduction recommendations

Music festivals have been linked to an increasing number of drug-related deaths in recent years, with the ongoing debate about how to effectively respond. This presentation summarised key findings and recommendations from a large doctoral study on drug use at music festivals, covering topics such as drug detection dogs, drug checking, drug amnesty bins, onsite medical services, drug use patterns and practices, reasons for using drugs and adverse experiences | NDARC, Australia

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