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Daily news - 10th August 2023 |
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UK news
Open consultation: Visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices
Providers of residential and inpatient services should contribute to the national consultation on visiting guidance and legislation by DHSC Visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices to help ensure that the operational needs of residential and inpatient drug and alcohol services are fully considered and supported. The closing date is the 16th August | DHSC, UK
Non-fatal overdose risk associated with prescribing opioid agonists concurrently with other medication: Cohort study conducted using linked primary care, secondary care and mortality records
An apparently protective effect of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) on all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk has been widely reported. Non-fatal overdose (NFO) often precedes subsequent drug-poisoning deaths. We hypothesized that benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids, antipsychotics, antidepressants, Z-drugs or opioids increase the NFO risk when co-prescribed with OAT | SSA, UK
Nitazenes - Radio 4 Today Programme - 9th August - audio
Listen from 52 minutes in. Meg Jones (Cranstoun) and Professor Harry Sumnall (LJMU) discuss the spike in people dying from drug overdoses in Birmingham and other parts of the UK due to a rise in the prevalence of powerful synthetic opioids such as Nitazenes | BBC, UK
Drug deaths spike as synthetic opioids detected in Scotland
Synthetic opioids believed to be behind a spike in drug deaths have been detected in Scottish prisons, a leading academic has said | Herald, UK
So you want to start microdosing ketamine?
Ket is supposedly good for treating depression and addiction, with many hailing the benefits of smaller doses – here’s how you can try them safely | Dazed Digital, UK
Why does the sun make us want to get pissed?
It’s no secret that the rare sight of sun in the UK has us darting to a park armed with a four-pack of tinnies | The Face, UK
Guidance: Notification of tobacco or herbal products for smoking
Guidance for businesses on notifying the government that they are placing a tobacco or herbal smoking product on the market. Updated with new products | OHID, UK
New Beginnings & Aspire Documenatary Screening
Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:30 - 18:30 BST. Cast Waterdale Doncaster DN1 3BU. We’d love to invite you to the premier of our documentary about New Beginnings & Aspire showing the important work of our drug and alcohol services in Doncaster. The first screening will take place at 3:30 followed by a Q&A. There will be a chance to watch the film again with a second screening at 5:30pm also followed by a Q&A. If you would like to book as a group please send your request to Leah Cowan: leah.cowan@nhs.net | New Beginnings & Aspire, UK
Norman ‘Nobby’ Pilcher obituary
Drugs squad detective who arrested many famous rock stars in the 1960s, including John Lennon, Dusty Springfield and Brian Jones | Guardian, UK
Autistic boy 'left vulnerable to drugs gang'
A child with special educational needs was left vulnerable to drug dealers because of failings by Devon County Council, his mother claims | BBC, UK
St Mellons crash victims on laughing gas, court papers reveal
Victims of a fatal car crash had been drinking and inhaling laughing gas before the accident, a friend told police. Rafel Jeanne, 24, Darcy Ross, 21, and Eve Smith, 21, died while two other passengers survived with injuries | BBC, UK
International news
What in the World - Do vaping bans work? - audio
Around 60 million adults around the world vape but governments are trying to crack down by putting bans in place. New Zealand and Australia are two of the latest countries to introduce restrictions. What are the health risks to vaping and how does it compare to smoking cigarettes? Why are so many countries looking to restrict vaping and is there evidence to show that bans work? | BBC, UK
Submission to CERD: The right to health and the criminalisation of ancestral plants
In this submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ICEERS and IDPC provide feedback on the Committee's Draft General Recommendation on racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health, and argue that the General Recommendations should enshrine the right of Indigenous Peoples to grow, use, possess, heal, and travel with their ancestral plants, as an essential part of a right to health free from racial discrimination | IDPC, UK
Surge in Executions As Singapore Clears ‘Backlog’ of Death Row Dealers
Backed by the public, the super-rich city-state is ignoring international outrage to hang more and more low level drug couriers from ethnic minorities | VICE, UK
Alcoholic drink Hard Solo not aimed at minors, Asahi says, as Australian MPs push for limit on ads
Independent Kylea Tink says it ‘looks like a soft drink, tastes like a soft drink and has the same name as a soft drink’ | Guardian, UK
Harm Reduction International Conference 2023 - presentations
Recordings of the recent International conference in Melbourne are now available online| Harm Reduction International, UK
Fake posters claim heroin and crack use is permitted in certain Dublin areas
A number of fake posters have been erected on bins, walls and phone boxes across Dublin claiming certain areas of the city are “designated crack and heroin zones” | Independent, Ireland
Community Substance Misuse Team Intervention Model (PDF)
The Clondalkin Addiction Support Programme (CASP) was established in 1995 by community members, and workers in local voluntary and youth organisations, as a response to increasing numbers of young heroin users in the Clondalkin area. CASP is a community service for people who use substances, over 18 years of age, and their families from the North Clondalkin area. We respond to under 18’s and their families within the Mid-West, where substance misuse impacts them | CASP, Ireland
Doctors sound alarm about child nicotine poisoning as vapes flood the US market
Hospital toxicologist Ryan Marino has seen up close the violent reactions of children poisoned by liquid nicotine from electronic cigarettes. One young boy who came to his emergency room experienced intense nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, and needed intravenous fluids to treat his dehydration | Medical Xpress, USA
Drinking alcohol not likely to increase risk of a breast cancer recurrence
A Kaiser Permanente study provides new information that may help oncologists answer one of the most common questions they hear from breast cancer survivors: Is it safe to drink alcohol? | Medical Xpress, USA
OnPoint NYC, Operator of the Nation’s First Supervised Consumption Centers, Announces That It Has Intervened In Over 1,000 Overdoses
As of July 2023, OnPoint NYC’s supervised consumption centers have been utilized 83,519 times by 3,719 registered participants | OnPoint NYC, USA
Mayor of Tampa catches 70 pounds of cocaine during fishing trip in Florida Keys
Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa, Florida and her family found 70 pounds of cocaine while out on a fishing trip in the Florida Keys on July 23. The 25 bricks are estimated to have a street value of $1.1 million | Yahoo, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Drugs, Camera, Action! Balancing Accuracy with Drama
This is the second part of the “Drugs, Camera, Action!” article. You can read part one here. Coaching actors and crew members on how to portray the effects of various drugs required a lot of our double-edged expertise. On set, we had to develop a thick skin to let strong-minded directors and famous actors know when they were missing the target in portraying drug effects. We usually covered three key aspects of the drug experience: types of effect (subjective and behavioural), stages of effects (onset, main, residual), and intensity of effects (weak to strong) | Talking Drugs, UK
Lady Dealer review – drugs, couplets and a blaze of Beastie Boys
Alexa Davies’ performance as Charly, a rhyming drug dealer who is falling apart, is the gleaming heart of this production | Guardian, UK
Where Are They Going to Heal?
In April of 2023, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) designated the combination of xylazine with fentanyl an emerging threat. Over the preceding year, it started to become apparent that xylazine was rapidly spreading across the nation. By mid-July, a plan was formulated for a national response to address what was unfolding. One of the major focuses of the ONDCP plan includes learning from people working close to what is occurring on the streets to develop insight into what is happening and learn how to more effectively respond. That is a vital and too often ignored facet | Recovery Review blog, USA