Home | Archive | Weekly | Reports

Daily news - 4th January 2023

UK news

Press release: Christmas and New Year’s booze ban for 1,800 alcohol-tagged offenders

Around 1,800 offenders are wearing alcohol tags over the festive period as part of the government’s drive to protect the public from drink-fuelled crime | Ministry of Justice and The Rt Hon Damian Hinds MP, UK

Ad-Hoc Alcohol Monitoring Statistics Publication, Dec 2022

Around 1,800 individuals were actively monitored with an alcohol monitoring device at the end of November 2022. This is 1,000 more than the number who were being actively monitored at the end of December 2021. This increase reflects the national rollout of alcohol monitoring for prison leavers from June 2022 | MoJ, UK

[Open access] In recent years, reductions in drinking in the UK and the rise of online ‘positive’ sobriety communities have been observed, yet peer led support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and neo-liberal discourses of control and responsibility dominate public understandings of (problematic) alcohol use. This paper presents research exploring how women active in the ‘positive sobriety’ community on Instagram position and construct their non-drinking identities and relationships with alcohol within these overlapping discourses | IJDP, UK

Supermarkets could use robots to estimate shoppers' ages when buying alcohol

[Possible paywall] New AI technology allows anyone judged to be over 25 to continue to purchase their drink without further ID checks | Telegraph, UK

Drug gangs are giving free £5 ‘Elf Bar’ vape pens to vulnerable children as young as 12 in a bid to groom them into organised crime, youth worker warns

Vulnerable children are being groomed to commit crime by being bribed with £5 vapes, one youth worker claims | Mail Online, UK

Coventry City: Supporters given reminder over behaviour following reports of drug taking at games

Coventry City have warned fans that they face being banned if they take part in anti-social behaviour at games, following reports of drug use and underage drinking at matches | BBC, UK

International news

More US children are eating cannabis edibles by mistake

The number of US children under the age of six who accidentally ate cannabis edibles has increased in the last five years, as restrictions have loosened across the country, according to a new study | BBC, UK

Tobacco companies to be billed for cleaning up cigarette butts in Spain

Ruling is part of a package of measures designed to reduce waste and increase recycling | Guardian, UK

‘God told me I should take more LSD’: Sari Soininen on her acid-induced photographs

The photographer was entranced when she first took LSD – but months of heavy usage led to satanic visions and a car crash. Now she has captured the experience in a book of unearthly pictures | Guardian, UK

Irish man charged with smuggling cocaine to Australia internally in Kinder Surprise capsules

Federal police warn ‘smuggling drugs internally is idiotic’ after man, 28, charged with importing 120g of cocaine into Melbourne airport | Guardian, UK

Benefits of new legal drug injection centre 'outweigh risks'

The benefits of having a legal drug injection centre “outweigh” potential negative effects, the country’s top planning body has concluded | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Charity and HSE hail decision to permit drug injection centre

Planning permission for the country’s first ever drug injection centre marks a “new chapter” in how Ireland treats people in addiction, the head of Merchant's Quay Ireland (MQI) has said | Irish Examiner, Ireland

New York’s supervised injection sites have halted nearly 700 overdoses in just over a year

Sitting before a large mirror in a cubicle in East Harlem, a man in his mid-40s tied a length of elastic around his arm and began searching for a vein | Philedelphia Inquirer, USA

Researchers combat e-cigarette lung injury epidemic

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 1 in every 20 Americans uses electronic cigarettes or vapes—with many being middle and high school students. There has been an uptick in e-cigarette use over the years, as some adults have turned to the products to quit smoking and many adolescents are attracted to fun flavors and advertisements | Medical Xpress, USA

Legal Use of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Begins in Oregon

[Possible paywall] On Jan. 1, Oregon became the first state to allow adult use of psilocybin “magic” mushrooms. Licensed guides will likely determine whether the program is a success | NYTimes, USA

California Now Requires Naloxone Access on College Campuses

California is now requiring most public universities and colleges to offer students free naloxone, as well as provide trainings on how to use it. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have access, as the state’s naloxone distribution infrastructure is already struggling under rising demand | Filter Magazine, USA

LRDG Project 2022 [ Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines ]

CCSA is excited to have received funding from Health Canada to lead an initiative to update Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines (LRDG). The updated guidelines will provide people living in Canada with information to make well-informed and responsible decisions about their alcohol consumption | CCSA, Canada