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Daily news - 11th December 2023 |
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UK news
Street drugs stronger than heroin linked to 54 deaths in UK
Super-strength street drugs more powerful than heroin have been linked to at least 54 deaths in the UK in the last six months, the BBC has been told | BBC, UK
Health-care resource use among patients who use illicit opioids in England, 2010–20: A descriptive matched cohort study
[Open access] People who use illicit opioids have higher mortality and morbidity than the general population. Limited research has investigated how this population engages with health-care, particularly regarding planned and primary care. We aimed to measure health-care use among patients with a history of illicit opioid use in England across five settings: general practice, hospital outpatient care, emergency departments, emergency hospital admissions and elective hospital admissions | Addiction, UK
Should vaping have same restrictions as tobacco?
Public Health Wales (PHW) thinks it should, with plain packaging and no displays in shops. The agency, which is part of NHS Wales, is also supporting calls for a ban on disposable vapes because it believes they are link to a growth in the habit among young people, as well as being harmful to the environment | BBC, UK
Drugs and me - Chatbot
This new chatbot provides personalised and expert drug information anytime. Using the chatbot is free and you stay anonymous. We've designed the chatbot for people who use drugs, their friends and family, and professionals who work with people who use drugs | Drugs and me, UK
Bristol charity launches choir among services to combat alcohol addiction
Bristol Drugs Project (BDP) is offering a quiz which assesses how severe a person's alcohol dependency is, before offering them the right support. The charity provides one-to-one chats, drama groups and a recovery choir | BBC, UK
Drugs: Misuse and Mental Illness
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of hospital admissions for (a) drug related and (b) behavioral mental disorders in the last 12 months | They work for you, UK
Tobacco: Sales
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support she plans to provide to help retailer workers implement a generational ban on the sale of cigarettes | They work for you, UK
Smoking
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with the Government of New Zealand on the proposed generational ban on smoking | They work for you, UK
Gang jailed for drugs smuggling through the UK and Ireland
Four men who smuggled drugs from the Netherlands to the UK and Ireland have been sentenced to a total of more than 53 years in prison after a National Crime Agency investigation | NCA, UK
County lines drug gang leaders jailed
The man who led a so-called county lines gang which "flooded" a North Yorkshire town with heroin and crack cocaine has been jailed | BBC, UK
International news
Stephen Fry was given addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin after fall
Actor was prescribed controversial high-strength drug to prevent loss of muscle after complex fractures of leg, hip and pelvis sustained on stage | Guardian, UK
Kodak Black arrested on cocaine charges in Florida
Rapper Kodak Black, who was pardoned three years ago by Donald Trump, has been arrested in Florida on drugs charges | BBC, UK
‘Long-lost best friends’: the longevity movement finds psychedelics
The mental-health benefits of psychedelics are a draw for a growing community of people committed to reversing ageing | Guardian, UK
‘They’re trying to kill me’: Hunter Biden talks with Moby about the rightwing vendetta against him
In a podcast interview, Biden discusses addiction, sobriety and how his father’s foes would like to see him relapse | Guardian, UK
New Zealand smoking ban: Māori mourn loss of hard-won smoking reform
When New Zealand's new government announced it was scrapping the country's world-leading tobacco laws, it came as a particularly hard blow to Māori people | BBC, UK
HSE warns of 'extra risk' to drug users after eight overdoses in Cork in the last 36 hours
There have been no reported deaths to date, but drug users are being warned that a trace amount of a nitazene type substance has been identified by Forensic Science Ireland in a light brown powder asssociated with the overdoses | Journal, Ireland
Minister Hildegarde Naughton welcomes progress in the implementation of the national drugs strategy in 2023
The Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Hildegarde Naughton has highlighted the progress in the implementation of the strategic action plan for the national drugs strategy Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery | Depaertment of Health, Ireland
Young people find cocaine use increasingly common in party settings
Cocaine use is becoming normalised in parts of party culture, according to a new study of Roskilde festival attendees. It also shows that cannabis is now widely accepted and not even considered a ‘drug’ by many young people | University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Biden-Harris Administration Calls on Housing Community to Help Expand Access to Life-Saving Opioid Overdose Reversal Medications Like Naloxone
Today [Friday], the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a joint letter to public health departments and health care systems (PDF) to partner with housing providers, community development organizations, and other housing agencies to help expand access to naloxone and other life-saving overdose reversal medications in the communities they serve | SAMHSA, USA
Advisory: Low Barrier Models of Care for Substance Use Disorders
The Advisory outlines the principles and components of low barrier care, and how low barrier care may be leveraged to overcome substantial gaps in access, while also engaging individuals in treatment | SAMHSA, USA
No spike in overdoses seen with COVID-era expansion of methadone access
A new study led by researchers at Columbia University indicates that patients who receive methadone take-home doses—a protocol expanded during the COVID pandemic—are no more likely to overdose or drop out of care than those whose methadone is delivered at government‐approved opioid treatment programs | Medical Xpress, USA
Mindfulness could help women with opioid use disorder better control drug urges
Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) — a behavioral intervention that integrates training in mindfulness, emotion regulation strategies and savoring of natural rewards — could hold the key to mitigating relapse in women undergoing medically assisted opioid use disorder treatment, a Rutgers study found | EurekAlert, USA
New syndrome may be affecting babies exposed to fentanyl
Doctors report they are seeing what they think is a new syndrome in babies who are exposed to fentanyl while in the womb | Medical Xpress, USA
Magic Mushrooms: Why Psychedelic 'Designer Shrooms' Could Be The Future
Magic mushrooms can do some amazing things, from triggering vivid hallucinations to temporarily "dissolving" a person's ego and potentially even relieving treatment-resistant depression | Science Alert, USA
‘It’s Disgusting’: Viral Overdose Videos Are Hurting People at Their Lowest Moments
A man who was filmed overdosing without his consent is speaking out after going viral in a video by a YouTuber | VICE, USA
US Ramps Up Financial Crackdown on Mexican Drug Trafficking Orgs
United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Mexico from December 5-7, seeking support for a strategy of going after drug trafficking organizations’ money | Filter Magazine, USA
Australia 'lags internationally' in harm reduction as drug overdose deaths continue to rise
Forty-six-year-old Lisa Peterson considers herself lucky she is not dead yet. The advocate for the homeless in Melbourne injected heroin for six years before taking a break from it in 2023 | abc.net.au, Australia
How Fentanyl became the most dangerous illegal drug in America - audio
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used widely in hospitals as a powerful painkiller. Since the late 1960s, it's been one of the world's most important opioid analgesics. But in the United States illegal fentanyl use has exploded, last year it killed over 70,000 people. We examine the global supply chain and why fentanyl is unlike any other drug problem in history | abc.net.au, Australia
Number of youths vaping decreases, but data on Māori female teens a 'concerning story'
The number of youths regularly vaping has fallen for two years in a row, a new survey shows. The survey of about 30,000 students, conducted by smokefree action group ASH, showed the amount of 14-15 year olds vaping daily, weekly or monthly was down from 18.2 percent in 2022 to 16.4 percent in 2022 | RNZ, New Zealand
Blogs, comment and opinion
Turning the Page, WithYou: Dave’s Story
“I was holding down a good job, nice house, wife, family. But alcohol took all of that away from me. It’s not just health issues — it’s the wider picture and the ripple effect. Alcohol affects every single part of your life and body.” | With You blog, UK