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Daily news - 26th July 2023 |
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UK news
Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) quarterly report
The Drugs Team at Public Health Scotland has compiled this report of drug-related indicators in order to inform action to prevent drug harms and deaths. Benzodiazepines were the most prevalent drug type detected in the Scottish Prisons Non-Judicial Drug Monitoring Project between January and March 2023, detected in 21% of samples, with bromazolam being the most prevalent benzodiazepine detected. Synthetic cannabinoids were the second most prevalent, detected in 19% of samples | Public Health Scotland, UK
Correspondence: The use and harms of Cumyl-PeGaClone
Government response to the ACMD's review of the evidence on the use and harms of Cumyl-PeGaClone | Home Office, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and The Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, UK
Prodrugs: pills your body converts into an illicit drug can evade detection, but we don’t know how big the problem is...
Drug traffickers have found a way to trick enforcement agencies by using one of the most potent tools our bodies have: our metabolism. Welcome to the world of prodrugs | University of Winchester, UK
'Alarming' increase in drug-related A&E attendances
Medics have called for urgent action to halt Scotland's drug crisis after figures revealed an "alarming" increase in drug-related A&E attendances | Herald, UK
'I lost my mum to alcoholism aged nine - she needed support'
[Possible paywall] Tory MP Sara Britcliffe describes her mother’s battle with alcoholism and the toll it took on her as a child | Telegraph, UK
Electronic Cigarettes: Public Health
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that public health messages on vaping are targeted at adults | They work for you, UK
Electronic Cigarettes: Health Services
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to create stop vaping programmes for (a) adults and (b) children and young people | They work for you, UK
International news
“Like the first time, all over again”: sex, relationships, and risk for relapse to substance use after release from prison
[Open access] Sex, relationships, and substance use often go hand in hand. Despite this, the impact of sex and relationships on recovery are often overlooked in the field of substance use disorder treatment (SUDT). This study aims to explore sex, relationships, and relapse risk for people in recovery and as an overlooked area of importance in SUDT | DEPP, UK
US states consider harsh ‘war on drug’-era laws to combat fentanyl crisis
Some lawmakers have even classified the opioid as a ‘weapon of terrorism’ and want to impose the death sentence for its distribution | Guardian, UK
Michael K Williams: drug dealer in overdose death of Wire actor sentenced to 30 months in prison
Williams’ nephew and The Wire creator David Simon spoke on behalf of Carlos Macci, 72, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to possessing and distributing narcotics | Guardian, UK
Don’t ‘treasure hunt’ for marijuana that washed up on beach, say Florida police
Police in Neptune Beach say ‘a large amount of marijuana washed ashore’ and that it had begun to degrade and rot | Guardian, UK
Disordered alcohol and substance use in Irish farmers: A cross-sectional survey
[Open access] Farming is a high-pressure occupation. Populations of farmers face significant health risks, including injury, mental illness, and in some cases, heavy alcohol use. However, there is little research on farmers’ use of substances beyond alcohol. This study examines factors relating to Irish farmers’ disordered alcohol and substance use | Journal of Rural Health, Ireland
Senator holds fentanyl round table as WA becomes overdose epicenter
Why is Washington the epicenter of the fentanyl crisis? U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell posed the question at a Seattle round table she convened Monday about the deadly drug, where speakers talked about innovations happening locally and the challenges that lay ahead. The senator pointed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showing the state had the biggest increase in the nation—more than 21%—in fatal overdoses reported between February 2022 and February 2023 | Medical Xpress, USA
Primary care doctors face barriers in treating alcoholism
Researchers explored how primary care physicians who have some familiarity with medications for alcohol use disorder (MAUD) make prescribing decisions and identify reasons for the underuse of MAUD in primary care. They interviewed 19 primary care physicians who had recently prescribed MAUD to patients in an outpatient setting | Medical Xpress, USA
ASHES, Vol. 19(8) – Chasing the high: Moving from vapes to cocaine use
A prevailing counter-narrative to the gateway hypothesis is the common liability theory, which argues that underlying vulnerabilities such as sensation seeking or childhood poverty explain why many people make the transition to other drugs. This week, ASHES reviews a study by Constanza Silva and colleagues that examined the relationship between adolescent e-cigarette use and later cocaine use while controlling for underlying vulnerabilities | BASIS, USA
Legal Battle Resumes Over Bid to Shut Down Santa Cruz Syringe Program
A court battle is raging to determine the future of a syringe service program in Santa Cruz, California. On one side are local officials, who argue the state approved the program in their town without getting their input. On the other, program operators and the state public health department say they did everything the law required—and that the lawsuit is just a cynical effort to destroy a life-saving service | Filter Magazine, USA
Did ASAM Fight to Limit Federal Methadone Reform Bill?
The American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM) successfully fought to prevent expansion of methadone prescribing to a wide range of medical practitioners in a current federal reform bill, alleges a source familiar with the negotiations | Filter Magazine, USA
International Overdose Awareness Day - August 31st
International Overdose Awareness Day is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind. The campaign raises awareness of overdose, which is one of the world’s worst public health crises, and stimulates action and discussion about evidence-based overdose prevention and drug policy. The campaign also acknowledges the profound grief felt by families and friends whose loved ones have died or suffered permanent injury from a drug overdose | Pennington Institute, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
How Addiction handles disagreements over potentially harmful terminology
A peer reviewer of a submitted paper on methadone maintenance states that she avoids the author’s term ‘opioid agonist therapy’ because new patients associate it with agony and become less willing to try the medication | Addiction Editorial, UK
Smoking and bipolar disorder: the physical and mental health impact of tobacco cessation
Tobacco control measures have two main aims – to prevent people ever starting to smoke, and to help those who do to make and maintain a quit attempt. Whilst we know that current smoking presents an obvious risk, and therefore an intervention opportunity, there is less focus on people with a history of smoking. We have well established evidence to demonstrate the risks of any smoking compared to never smoking, and we know that the longer we remain smoke free after being a smoker, the better our health outcomes are (Galucci et al., 2020, Duncan et al., 2019). But what about the population of people who are at a higher risk of physical health conditions relating to their mental illness? | Mental Elf blog, UK
The science is clear. So why can’t governments agree on vaping?
There’s one thing scientists, doctors and health officials debating vaping can agree on: They want people smoking tobacco cigarettes to quit. That’s where consensus ends | Politico, UK