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Daily news - 12th July 2023 |
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UK news
Pouring over public opinion: Alcohol Policies in the UK
This Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) report analyses recent public opinion polling data, carried out by YouGov Ltd. on behalf of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). It shares insights into how the public currently view action on alcohol, and what public support there is for policies to tackle alcohol harm. It also sets out our ‘AHA Manifesto’ for policymakers, which centres around four focus areas that would have the biggest collective impact on alcohol harm | AHA, UK
Geographies of alcohol and generation: Examining the decline in youth drinking in England through a spatial lens
[Open access] While international literature addresses the links between youth culture and the decline in youth drinking, little research has engaged with scholarship on youth geographies to more fully disentangle these links. This article explores how the decline is connected to shifts in where young people access and drink alcohol | Drug and Alcohol Review, UK
Politics Live: Drugs Law - video
Watch from 9 minutes 55 seconds in. The Scottish government is calling on Westminster to decriminalise drugs for personal use. Jo Coburn and a penal of MPs and journalists discuss the issues | BBC, UK
Evaluating the Huberman Lab alcohol episode with Dr James Morris - video
In this episode Dr James Morris evaluates the Huberman Lab's alcohol episode, particularly addressing why the language and terms used around alcohol problems are important. For instance, whilst the Huberman Lab's episode provides a detailed description of the ways alcohol can affect the brain, body and health, in using alcoholism terminology it overlooks a number of important issues. Notably, alcoholism is a non-scientific concept and embedded with stigma and myths about alcohol problems and their causes | Alcohol Problem Podcast, UK
Electronic Cigarettes: Health Hazards
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made, if any, of the safety of vaping; and what action they propose in consequence | They work for you, UK
Moderation or total abstinence? Adrian Chiles and John Robins talk honestly about their drinking
Their relationship with booze has taken these friends and broadcasters on very different journeys. Here they discuss what constitutes heavy drinking, successful moderation – and when it is time to give up altogether | Guardian, UK
Tom Holland: ‘I felt enslaved to alcohol’
The Spider-Man actor used a podcast appearance to speak about his struggles with alcoholism, and how giving up drinking has made him ‘the happiest I’ve ever been’ | Guardian, UK
Five-fold increase in cocaine seizures at Guernsey border
Efforts to tackle cocaine smuggling in Guernsey will continue to be a priority following a five-fold increase in illegal imports of the drug in 2022 | BBC, UK
Ham sandwich leads police to Blackpool and Fylde drug dealers
Images of a can of lager and a ham sandwich shared in encrypted messaging system EncroChat helped capture a pair of cocaine dealers, police have said | BBC, UK
Drugs worth £2m found in van destined for Northern Ireland
Officers were called to reports of a suspicious van in the Walsall area near Birmingham on Thursday | BBC, UK
International news
How an alarming rise in deaths linked to 'zombie drug' Tranq made Biden's White House act
Sometimes mixed with fentanyl, xylazine - often referred to as Tranq - has spread across the US at an alarming speed and has devastated communities there. Biden's White House has declared it a "grave threat". In May, the first death linked to the drug was announced in the UK | Sky News, UK
Opioid crisis: US and China at odds over influx of fentanyl
Who is responsible for the United States’ opioid epidemic? According to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, the culprits are “transnational criminal enterprises” who need to be tackled via international law enforcement operations. But according to Chinese state media, “the fentanyl crisis in the United States is demand-driven”, primarily by “the users themselves” | Guardian, UK
Melbourne injecting room: Salvation Army hub on Bourke Street being considered for CBD site
Victorian government understood to be examining charity’s building for city’s second supervised injecting room | Guardian, UK
Wastewater tests reveal the most popular drugs in each Australian capital city
Illicit drug use in Australia jumped over summer despite a string of high-profile drug busts | Guardian, UK
Flavored Vaping Ban in Ukraine Begins...
A ban on advertising e-cigarettes in Ukraine, including heated-tobacco products, came into effect on July 11. Flavored electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) products are also banned | Tobacco Reporter, USA
New insight into the damaging impact of chronic cocaine or alcohol use on cognitive flexibility
An estimated 50 million individuals in the United States struggle with the challenges of cocaine or alcohol use disorders, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Beyond the well-documented health risks, addiction to these substances detrimentally affects our cognitive flexibility, which is the ability to adapt and switch between different tasks or strategies. Although previous research has hinted at this connection, the underlying reasons for this cognitive impairment remain elusive | News Medical, USA
Nearly two thirds of youth would stop vaping without added sweet flavors, menthol, synthetic cooling agents
Major progress could be made in fighting the youth vaping epidemic with a complete restriction on sweet flavorings and cooling agents in both cartridge and disposable e-cigarette devices, according to a new study from the Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. The current U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) flavor ban only applies to cartridge electronic cigarette devices | EurekAlert, USA
Cocaine or Methamphetamine Use During Young Adulthood Following Stimulant Use for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder During Adolescence
In this cohort study of 5034 respondents, adolescents who used stimulant therapy for ADHD did not differ from their peers in cocaine and methamphetamine use at 19 to 24 years of age. In contrast, adolescents’ prescription stimulant misuse was associated with greater adjusted odds of later cocaine and methamphetamine use compared with population controls | JAMA Network Open, USA
Concerns are raised about whether cannabis is safe for older users - audio
Many senior citizens are using cannabis to deal with chronic health conditions but experts say they should beware of potentially negative interactions with medications and other problems | npr, USA
Study investigates the antioxidant activity of hemp leaves
In a recent study published in Antioxidants, researchers explored the antioxidant potential and extraction efficiency of active compounds from hemp leaves using different solvents and mixtures. Identifying cannabis varieties with superior antioxidant properties could produce antioxidant-rich leaves, promoting sustainability and minimizing waste | News Medical, USA
Report 19 of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
Report 19 of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program covered sampling in December 2022 and February 2023. In December, 57 wastewater sites were monitored nationally, covering a population of 13.9 million Australians. This report found that Australians are the sixth largest consumers of illicit stimulants out of 28 countries monitored between March and May 2022 | ACIC, Australia
Sydney hits ‘particularly high’ cocaine level, ending two-year decline
Sydney’s cocaine use has rebounded, as new data shows the city consumed more of the drug in December than any other time in the past two years, and most arrests for possession of the $300-a-bag drug are taking place in the CBD and eastern suburbs | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
The hopeless cycle of addiction – and drug running – behind bars
[Free registration may be required] It’s my seventh night in HMP Wandsworth at the start of my 45-month sentence for fraud. I live on A Wing now, with a new cellmate, John, a heroin addict. He’s an older guy, short, very slight, sores all over his face, neck and hands. Prison is full of men like John: addicts who get sentenced to a few weeks, or months, in prison. Some are regulars, welcomed back by guards and prisoners. One man completes three sentences while I am imprisoned there. What good does it do banging men like this up? | Spectator, UK
Taliban opium ban: the need for contingency planning
New analysis from David Mansfield, the leading expert in the field, suggests that the ban on opium threatened last year by the Taliban has come to pass, and there is an estimated 80%+ reduction in Afghan opium production - which supplies some 95% of the European heroin market. What are the implications of this opium ban for Afghanistan and the region; for global opium and heroin production, and for UK policy? | Transform blog, UK
Language Matters: Is My Country a “Narco-state”?
The term “narco-state” has been used by politicians, journalists, and law enforcement agencies since the 1980s. While it was initially used to describe Latin American nations like Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and, a few years later, my home country of Mexico, the term has continuously been applied to more and more countries | Talking Drugs, UK