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Daily news - 23rd January 2023 |
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UK news
Pandemic drinking: Alcohol misuse treatment up 10%
The number of adults treated for alcohol misuse in England climbed 10% in the year to March 2022, fuelled by a rise in drinking during lockdown. New government data shows this rise pushed the number of people receiving treatment for all types of substance misuse to 289,215, a seven-year high | BBC, UK
Experts criticise PCCs' call to re-classify cannabis
Calls from Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in west England to re-classify cannabis as a Class A drug have been criticised by experts | BBC, UK
Environmental impact of single-use vapes
An urgent review of the environmental impacts and management of single-use vapes has been commissioned. The review, which comes in response to emerging concerns around the negative consequences of the disposable devices, will inform potential policy responses, which could include a ban of the products | Scottish Government, UK
Vapes (Impact on Public Health)
To ask the Scottish Government what work is under way to assess the impact of vapes on public health... | They work for you, UK
Adverse Childhood Experiences (Recovery)
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to help recovery from adverse childhood experiences... | They work for you, UK
Drugs: Organised Crime
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what further steps she is taking to tackle illegal drugs gangs in the UK... | They work for you, UK
'People are dying like flies' The Welsh town crumbling under the weight of homelessness and drugs
The number of deaths related to drug poisoning in Neath Port Talbot rose 127% between 2020 and 2021, and over 400% between 2019 and 2021 | Wales Online, UK
Former Wigan cocaine addict now works for the charity that saved his life
But local services brought him back from the brink and now the 21-year-old is a recovery worker for drug and alcohol support provider WithYou which has just had its contract renewed with Wigan Council | Wigan Today, UK
Keighley project part of new drug and alcohol service
Led by national charity Humankind and also involving organisations the Bridge Project and Create Strength Group, the scheme will provide treatment and recovery services across the Bradford district and aim to better meet the needs of its communities | Keighley News, UK
Drug Related Deaths Conference 2023
Thursday 16th March. The Public Health Institute Drug Related Deaths annual conference 2023 will take place online as a Microsoft Teams Webinar. The event will take place between 9am-5pm | IMS, UK
Lancashire Police shut down 70 cannabis farms worth £2m
Seventy cannabis farms have been shut down and more than 2,500 plants and 100 kilos of the drug with a street value of almost £2m have been seized. The details emerged as 28 men were jailed for their involvement in the multi-million-pound drugs ring | BBC, UK
Leeds drugs: Three men arrested over £2m cocaine and MDMA seizure
Police have seized a "substantial haul" of Class A drugs with a street value of more than £2m in Leeds | BBC, UK
International news
Global survey of consumer organizations advocating for safer nicotine products
The study investigated the role and activities of organizations that advocate for the adoption of and access to safer nicotine products (SNPs), such as nicotine vaping products (e-cigarettes), Swedish-style snus, nontobacco nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products, as safer alternatives to combustible cigarettes and other high-risk tobacco products, following a harm reduction approach. The aim was to map the number and locations of nicotine consumer organizations globally and describe their history, legal status, membership, structure, objectives, working methods and activities, and funding | Public Health Challenges, UK
Criminalising nicotine vaping in Australia could cause ‘further harm’, drug experts warn
Prohibitionist approach risks fuelling the black market, worsening health outcomes and sending people to jail unnecessarily, experts say | Guardian, UK
Podcast: Drugs and Ireland - the Citizens Assembly [Spotify]
Episode one: the scale - Ahead of the Citizens Assembly on Drugs, Paul McAuliffe and Briege McOscar speak to Senator Lynn Ruane, Philly McMahon and Peter McVerry about the scale of drug use in Ireland. [39 minutes] Episode two: the impact - The conversation continues with Maureen Penrose, Jack Nolan and Denise Proudfoot as they talk about the impact of drugs in Ireland for both families and communities. [38 minutes] | Fianna Fail, Ireland
Drug debt intimidation: ‘There is nothing they won’t do, pipe bombs, fire bombs, homes are vandalised’
Criminal gangs often threaten the families of loved ones to extort money, and the issue is escalating | Irish Times, Ireland
Overdose deaths involving buprenorphine did not proportionally increase with new flexibilities in prescribing
The proportion of opioid overdose deaths involving buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder, did not increase in the months after prescribing flexibilities were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study | NIH, USA
Flavored cannabis marketing is criticized for targeting kids
When New York’s first licensed recreational marijuana outlet opened last month, the chief of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, Chris Alexander, proudly hoisted a tin of watermelon-flavored gummies above the crowd | AP, USA
New Hampshire Lawmaker Files Psychedelics Legalization Bill
A New Hampshire state lawmaker has introduced legislation that would legalize the possession and use by adults of psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin, the primary psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms. The measure, HB328, was introduced in the New Hampshire House of Representatives by Republican state Rep. Kevin Verville on January 5 | Forbes, USA
Mexican students intoxicated by TikTok challenge
Mexican authorities are warning about the dangers of a viral TikTok challenge that has left school students intoxicated after taking a controlled medication | Medical Xpress, USA
Peru’s Coca Reform Chance Disappears Amid Political Crisis
Adeadly crackdown on political protests in Peru continues, as President Dina Boluarte tries to silence calls for her to resign, and Congress resists demands for new elections this year. Drowned out by the current crisis, which followed the ousting of President Pedro Castillo, is how Peruvians have lost any potential for drug policy reform—in a country where coca is produced in large quanties, and which is almost entirely without sactioned harm reduction | Filter Magazine, USA
Another New Year, another group of festival-goers saved by NZ’s frontline drug heroes
While we wait for sensible drug law reform, we can thank our lucky stars for the NZ Drug Foundation and the lifesaving – or at the very least, bad-trip-preventing – work they do testing drugs at music festivals | Spinoff, New Zealand
Blogs, comment and opinion
The Latest Drug & Alcohol Treatment Trends
On the 19 January 2023, the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities published the adult substance misuse treatment statistics for 2021/22. In this blog post, I summarise the main trends in treatment numbers | Russell Webster, UK
Councils need urgent clarity about how addiction services will be funded in future – LGA responds to adult substance misuse treatment statistics
Responding to Office for Health Improvement and Disparities figures showing that the number of people accessing drug and alcohol treatment services has increased | LGA, UK
Does access to medical cannabis decrease alcohol sales?
When countries legalise cannabis, do people drink more alcohol than before, or less? | Volteface, UK
Networking, international travel, and personal development: the benefits of an SSA travelling scholarship
Qutba Al Ghafri was awarded an SSA travelling scholarship in 2022. Here she blogs about attending the biggest addiction conference in Europe, visiting the leading authority on illicit drugs in the European Union, and presenting her trailblazing research on treatment and harm reduction services for people who use drugs in Muslim communities | SSA blog, UK
Response from Drug Science to the Australian Government consultation on potential reforms to the regulation of nicotine vaping products
The black market and mislabelling of nicotine e-liquids exists precisely because Nicotine Vaping Products (NVPs) are regulated as medicines and only available on prescription. Given the reluctance of many General Practitioners (GPs) to prescribe, the complicated policies and procedures involved, and the lack of awareness among smokers, it is not surprising that many turn to an easier illegal supply chain | Drug Science, UK
Letters to the Editor: No parallel between nursing homes and prisons
[Scroll to the bottom of the letters] The issue of the legalisation of cannabis highlights the clash between Ireland’s young, progressive electorate and an old, Catholic establishment. The outcome is inevitable but while weak politicians procrastinate, the gangsters take control of our streets with violence and exploitation of children the result | Irish Examiner letters, Ireland
Building a Recovery Affirming Care System on a Foundation More Solid than Stigma
Over the course of my decades of work in the SUD field and as a person in recovery, I can honestly say that I have tried as hard as I can to do my very best to serve people in need of help with a substance use condition. I suspect most others in this field share this same ethic | Recovery Review blog, USA
My teen’s vaping. What should I say? 3 expert tips on how to approach ‘the talk’
You’ve dropped your daughter off at her friend’s house and while cleaning the car, you find what looks like a USB drive on the passenger seat. It’s a disposable vape | Conversation, Australia