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Daily news - 25th August 2023 |
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UK news
Off-trade alcohol availability and violence: Assessing the impact of on-trade outlet closures
There is strong and consistent evidence that on-trade alcohol availability is related to violence, but evidence regarding a similar association between off-trade availability and violence is more mixed | IAS, UK
Dying Homeless Project (PDF)
The Dying Homeless Project, which was set up by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in October 2017 and taken on by Museum of Homelessness in April 2019, aims to document and remember every person who dies whilst homeless in the United Kingdom. Deaths related to drug and alcohol use and overdoses are the highest category [of deaths], after physical health conditions. In particular, 24 drug related and overdose deaths were of people living on the streets and who had no fixed abode | Dying Homeless Project, UK
Leeds Festival: Drug death teen's dad says event is 'on probation'
Gianpiero Celino told the BBC he would be "worrying" about those attending the festival, which gets underway later. He said that although organisers Festival Republic had outlined new safety measures for this year's event he believes they should have been put in place earlier, with two other drug-related deaths since 2016 | BBC, UK
Caerphilly: Mum of drug-drive crash victim left 'broken' video
Roberts, 22, was jailed for three years and nine months but Chloe's mum Danielle O'Halloran says this is not long enough to deter people from driving while intoxicated | BBC, UK
Vaping and smoking cessation with Vassilis Sideropoulos - podcast
Rob Calder talks to Vassilis Sideropoulos about a recent paper on the role of vaping products in smoking cessation. The first author for this paper was Dr Catherine Kimber. Vassilis talks about the array of components that can contribute to quitting smoking when using vaping products. He summarises the research team’s work on identifying which combinations of support types are most effective. He talks about their research into advice on vaping products, nicotine strength and e-liquid flavours, as well as providing information on the relative harms of vaping and smoking and text message support | SSA, UK
Recovery Street Film Festival 2023 Award Ceremony & Screening
Fri, 29 Sep 2023 11:00 - 13:30 BST. Join us for a screening of our 15 shortlisted films for Recovery Street Film Festival 2023 with an award ceremony and special guest speakers | RSFF, UK
International news
The key to depression, obesity, alcoholism – and more? Why the vagus nerve is so exciting to scientists
This ‘electrical superhighway’ helps to control everything from our breathing to our immune system. Could stimulating it transform physical and mental health? | Guardian, UK
Inside the toxic world of vaping scientists
Their former colleagues and collaborators have turned on them; they are hounded by lobbyists and campaigners; and in some cases, the accusations have led them to question whether their work is helping or harming people | Politico, UK
Minister announces funding for drug and inclusion services
Drugs Strategy Minister, Hildegarde Naughton, has announced €3.5 million in funding to maintain existing drug and inclusion services across all health regions | Irish Examiner, Ireland
South American cartels will 'exploit' cuts to Irish naval service, expert warns
Michael O’Sullivan, who is the former head of MAOC-N, the EU frontline agency tasked with combating the Atlantic cocaine trade, said traffickers have their own “intelligence systems” and when they learn of cuts to naval strength among EU states they will target shipments accordingly | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Patients’ associations criticise France’s decision not to raise taxes on alcohol
The French government on Wednesday (23 August) shelved the idea of increasing tax on alcohol, tabled at the beginning of summer, in a move that pours water on the hopes of French anti-addiction associations | EurActiv, Belgium
Anesthesiologists should play bigger role in perioperative care of people with substance use disorders, say researchers
As use and misuse of alcohol, opioids, and psychostimulants continues to increase, anesthesiologists can become a more integral part of the care team managing patients with a substance use disorder (SUD), according to a series of three articles published in the September issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia | Medical Xpress, USA
Optimizing Longitudinal Tobacco Cessation Treatment in Lung Cancer Screening
Does adding a referral to pharmacy for prescription medication therapy management (MTM) to the evidence-based tobacco longitudinal care (TLC) program improve smoking abstinence rates compared with TLC without MTM among patients who are eligible for lung cancer screening (LCS), who smoke, and who do not respond to early tobacco treatment? | JAMA Network Open, USA
Juul to Restructure and Reduce Employees
Juul Labs has announced a company restructuring aimed at reducing operating costs and positioning the company to continue to advance its mission during a period of regulatory and marketplace uncertainty | Tobacco Reporter, USA
Psychostimulants, Opioids: ‘Drugs and the Body’ video series
In the Group 2 series of lectures, we examine the health effects of the two major illicit drug classes of the greatest clinical concern, the Psychostimulants and the Opioids. The illicit, and licit, use of these two drugs classes has had major impacts worldwide on morbidity and mortality. For each drug class we examine the major forms that these drugs take, and how they are consumed. We also cover topics such as withdrawal syndromes, the toxicity of these substances, mortality, their effects upon each of the major organ systems, as well as mental health | NDARC, Australia
Can counter-advertising dilute marketing effects of alcohol sponsorship of elite sport: A field experiment
[Open access] At alcohol-sponsored sporting events, counter-advertisements addressing alcohol harms may promote knowledge of harms and intentions to drink less. Counter-advertisements that additionally expose and critique alcohol sponsorship may detract from perceptions of sponsor brand image and intentions to purchase the sponsor's products | Addiction, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
New meta-analysis finds methadone better than buprenorphine for treatment retention in opioid dependence
Opioid dependence is far from a niche problem with an estimated 40 million people globally experiencing this difficulty. So, it is useful to have an opiate substitute to help wean individuals off their dependence on heroin and other similar drugs. This type of treatment is referred to as opioid agonist treatment or ‘OAT’ for short. Two of the most widely prescribed OAT substitutes are methadone and buprenorphine | Mental Elf blog, UK
Celebrating Poland’s Slow Yet Steady Drug Reform
While Poland is not known for being the most progressive country in their treatment of people who use drugs, changes have slowly yet steadily been occurring in the background. Global evidence, changing political opinion and pragmatic political developments have helped develop the country’s drug policies | Transform blog, UK