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Daily news - 28th April 2023 |
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UK news
Increases in ‘deaths of despair’ during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and the United Kingdom
[Open access] The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted mental health, health-related behaviours such as drinking and illicit drug use and the accessibility of health and social care services. How these pandemic shocks affected ‘despair’-related mortality in different countries is less clear. This study uses public data to compare deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide in the United States and the United Kingdom to identify similarities or differences in the impact of the pandemic on important non-COVID causes of death across countries and to consider the public health implications of these trends | Public Health, UK
New Psychoactive Substances in the Homeless Population: A Cross-Sectional Study in the United Kingdom
[Open access] The last few years have seen the emergence of new psychoactive substance among the homeless population, specifically synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists. The purpose of this study is to investigate the knowledge and experiences of new psychoactive substances amongst users from the homeless population | International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, UK
Overhaul of UK online gambling laws could see £2 slot machine limit for under-25s
Delayed white paper expected to put most controversial proposals, including affordability checks, out to further consultation | Guardian, UK
Addiction Audio: ‘We smoke, but we’re not smokers’
Rob Calder talks to Dr Katie East on Addiction Audio, the podcast from Addiction journal, about people who use heated tobacco products and the language they choose to describe those products. Katie explains why there is ambiguity around the nomenclature and how this may have implications for healthcare interventions | SSA, UK
Forward Leeds doctor chosen for international honour
Dr Joe Tay, the Clinical Director of Forward Leeds is one of only four people from the UK selected to be a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice by the US-based Commonwealth Fund in 2023 | Forward Leeds, UK
Street Drugs Discussions: Deep Dive into Naloxone
Fri, 19 May 2023 12:00 - 14:00 BST. This webinar features a panel of academic and frontline worker experts to discuss overdose prevention drug Naxolone | Drug Science, UK
Drug dealer ordered to pay back dark web cryptocurrency millions
A drug dealer who stashed millions of pounds in cryptocurrency by supplying drugs via the dark web will be forced to hand it over to authorities | BBC, UK
International news
Overdose deaths in San Francisco hit 200 in three months: ‘A crying shame’
The 41% spike comes as the city closed an outreach center that stocked Narcan and allowed supervised drug use | Guardian, UK
Families Matter – Recording of live webinar 25.04.23
The aim of the recorded webinar is to help empower family members to recognise and respond to drug-related overdose | HSE, Ireland
Seven prisoners hospitalised after taking homemade drugs in Dublin prison
Three of them were taken to hospital where one remains gravely ill, and the Irish Prison Service says drug use has soared once more following the pandemic | Dublin Live, Ireland
U.S. Adult Smoking Rate Hits New All-Time Low
U.S. cigarette smoking dropped to another all-time low last year, with 1 in 9 adults saying they were current smokers, according to government survey data released Thursday. Meanwhile, electronic cigarette use rose, to about 1 in 17 adults | TIME, USA
Older drivers drinking or using drugs up to four times likelier to be at fault during a car crash
Substance use among older drivers increases the probability of them being at-fault two to four times during a crash, a new study, analyzing nine years' worth of US nationwide highway traffic data, shows | Medical Xpress, USA
Research examines the role of genetics in opioid use disorder
New research out of the University of Cincinnati examines the association between genetics and the presence of opioid use disorder (OUD). The study identified six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or genetic variants that are linked to OUD | Medical Xpress, USA
Twitter Bolsters Charm Offensive With Cannabis Advertisers
The social-media company is now letting cannabis companies post pictures of their products in ads, less than three months after it first opened the door to their paid-for posts with heavier limitations | WSJ, USA
Delaware just became the latest state to legalize recreational marijuana. See a list of every state where cannabis is legal
In April 2023, Delaware became the latest state to legalize cannabis, pushing the total number of states where adults can legally consume marijuana to 22, along with Washington, DC and Guam | Business Insider, USA
Harlem Businesses Sue to Stop Cannabis Dispensary Planned for 125th Street
[Free registration required] The lawsuit suggests more problems may be ahead for New York State’s troubled rollout of the recreational marijuana industry | NYTimes, USA
Collaborative and creative policies needed to maximize psychedelics' therapeutic potential, say researchers
Research supports the promise of psychedelics in treating conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, but the future regulatory landscape for these drugs remains unclear. Experts from Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania, American University and Harvard Law School call for creativity and collaboration at the federal and state levels in developing policies for the use and oversight of psychedelics and a commitment to developing a strong evidence base for efficacy and safety | Medical Xpress, USA
‘I'm Back In Withdrawal’: Methadone Shortage Is Hitting Opioid Users Hard in Mexico
Harm reduction agencies say thousands of former opioid users are at risk | VICE, USA
Queen’s and KHSC launch clinical trial of psilocybin therapy to treat alcohol use disorder
Researchers at Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) will soon begin recruiting patients to study the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy for the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD). The Phase 2b clinical trial, sponsored by Vancouver-based Clairvoyant Therapeutics, will assess whether motivational enhancement therapy and the use of psilocybin can help those living with the disorder | Queen's University, Canada
Council stands firm on not allowing Peterborough city workers to administer naloxone
City council has rejected an idea to allow city workers in municipal facilities to volunteer to administer naloxone when someone in the building is suspected of a drug poisoning | Toronto Star, Canada
‘Only takes 5 minutes’: naltrexone surgical chip implant first could help end scourge of alcoholism in China, offer hope to people with other addictions
A 36-year-old man with an addiction to alcohol has become the first person in China to receive a surgically implanted chip designed to remove his craving for a drink | SCMP, China
Wastewater samples reveal new psychoactive drugs
More than a dozen new psychoactive drugs have been detected in 16 countries by an international wastewater surveillance program. The University of Queensland-led team analysed samples in 47 cities in Europe, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, China, Brazil and the Republic of Korea over three consecutive new year periods | University of Queensland, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Trends in alcohol-specific deaths in the UK and industry responses
[Free registration required] Alcohol-specific deaths (encompassing those deaths that are a direct consequence of alcohol, such as alcohol-related liver disease) in the UK have taken an extremely concerning turn, with the Office for National Statistics reporting 9641 such deaths in 2021—the highest on record and a 27·4% increase since 2019 | Lancet comment, UK
Editorial: Haven’t we learned yet? Harsher penalties won’t save us from fentanyl
Who made fentanyl? Not the legitimate stuff that’s prescribed for post-surgical pain, but the illicit street drug that’s killing Americans at a frightening pace. It’s concocted in labs in the U.S. and Mexico, using chemicals shipped from China, India and elsewhere overseas | LA Times opinion, USA
I Don’t Want to See You Get High
I’m glad that draconian anti-marijuana laws have disappeared. But we need a taboo against public consumption | The Atlantic, USA
No, vapes aren’t 95% less harmful than cigarettes. Here’s how this decade-old myth took off
In a 2014 paper detailing the outcomes of that meeting, the authors rated “electronic nicotine delivery systems” (e-cigarettes) as having “only 4%” of the maximum relative harm of cigarettes | Conversation, Australia