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Daily news - 27th July 2023 |
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UK news
Transformation to children's social care to put families first
The first local areas have been selected to test an initial set of transformational programmes within children’s social care, supporting families through early help. The programme aims to ensure early help and intervention is available for families with challenges such as addiction, domestic abuse or poor mental health, to help them overcome adversity and stay together where possible, and to identify when to intervene to protect a vulnerable child when needed |
Department for Education and Claire Coutinho MP, UK
Hundreds of hospital patients quit smoking in NHS plan
Hundreds of hospital patients across the Humber and North Yorkshire have stopped smoking thanks to a new treatment plan, care providers said. More than 2,000 patients have attended since the rollout in August 2022, with a third now "completely smoke-free" | BBC, UK
Medical experts call for new service to save lives of alcohol frequent hospital attenders
New research with people who are repeatedly hospitalised due to alcohol (Alcohol Frequent Attenders – AFAs) highlights the need for improved services. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of the West of Scotland alongside medical colleagues at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Renfrewshire and was commissioned by expert alcohol medical group, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) | SHAAP, UK
Scotland alcohol advertising ban: Campaigners clash over effectiveness of proposed ban
A free market think tank has claimed there is “little evidence” to support a ban on alcohol advertising, saying marketing is aimed at encouraging current drinkers to switch brands. However, proponents of a ban said there is in fact “strong evidence” to suggest that alcohol advertising has a marked effect on underage drinking | Yahoo News, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Labelling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing alcohol labelling that states the associated health risks of alcohol consumption | They work for you, UK
Treatment workforce expands in wake of strategy funding
The drug and alcohol treatment workforce has grown by 1,670 staff in the first year of funding following the government’s drug strategy, the Home Office has announced. This includes more than 1,250 new drug and alcohol workers, almost 480 of whom are focused on criminal justice | DDN, UK
Stoke-on-Trent wins £1.2m to get drug addicts off the streets and into homes
A report to the city council's cabinet revealed there are almost 2,400 people using opiates and/or crack in the city | Stoke Sentinel, UK
One in three smokers feel guilty about the amount of money they spend on cigarettes
But with the price per cigarette looking set to rise to over £1 by the end of 2024, a quarter say they will be forced to quit the habit due to cost | Mirror, UK
Tory MP Sara Britcliffe, 28, reveals her struggle with being raised by an alcoholic mother who once abandoned her at an airport when she was just five-years-old
The Conservative Party's youngest MP Sara Britcliffe has revealed how she witnessed her mother's death from alcoholism when she was just nine years old. Ms Britcliffe's mother Gabrielle passed away in 2004, with her daughter describing her as 'the best woman that you could ever meet' | Mail Online, UK
Tougher rules could be brought in to tackle drug and drink driving in Guernsey
Guernsey Police could be given more powers to combat hazardous driving, including motorists who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol | ITV, UK
Smoking Bournemouth beachgoers given seaweed paper ashtrays
Ashtrays made of seaweed paper are being handed to beachgoers in an effort to reduce seaside littering. It comes after 48,000 cigarette butts were found in just one month on beaches in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council area | BBC, UK
Warning after vape nearly set North Somerset bin lorry alight
People have been warned not to throw away disposable vapes after a bin lorry "nearly caught alight" | BBC, UK
Man who ran drugs line to Scarborough is jailed
A man who supplied Class A drugs between Huddersfield and Scarborough has been sentenced to almost six years in jail | BBC, UK
International news
The impact of cannabis legalization and decriminalization on acute poisoning: A systematic review
[Open access] Many countries have recently legalized medicinal and recreational cannabis. With increasing use and access come the potential for harms. We aimed to examine the effect of cannabis legalization/decriminalization on acute poisoning | SSA, UK
Singapore to execute first woman on drugs charge for the first time in 20 years
Singaporean national Saridewi Djamani, 45, was found guilty of trafficking 30g (0.03oz) of heroin in 2018. She will be the second drug convict to be executed in three days, after fellow Singaporean Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, and the 15th since March 2022 | BBC, UK
No place for cheap alcohol: Scotland’s minimum unit pricing policy is protecting lives
Pricing policies are among the most cost-effective measures that countries can use to reduce alcohol consumption and harms. Published in June 2023, the independent evaluation of Scotland’s minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy concluded that in 2.5 years of operation, it has prevented hundreds of avoidable deaths and reduced health inequalities linked to alcohol consumption | WHO, Switzerland
Ukrainian refugees face high barriers to opioid use disorder treatment
The most effective treatment to care for people with opioid use disorder are opioid agonist therapies (OAT), including medications like methadone or buprenorphine. But interrupting this therapy may result in severe symptoms of withdrawal, relapse to injected opioids, overdose, and death. Unfortunately, many Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war have encountered obstacles when seeking these therapies in European Union countries, a new Yale-led study finds | Medical Xpress, USA
Behavioral economics strategies can help patients quit smoking after a cancer diagnosis
Researchers from Penn Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia find ‘nudges’ from electronic health records could improve the implementation of tobacco use treatment | Penn Today, USA
Researchers find Korean Red Ginseng may alleviate addictive effects of alcohol
Alcohol is one of the most commonly used psychoactive drugs, with a growing number of users in many parts of the world. Despite the awareness regarding its adverse effects, individuals can get habituated to alcohol consumption, leading to a medical condition called alcohol use disorder (AUD) | Medical Xpress, USA
Cigarette smokers more at risk for tobacco dependence than users of smokeless tobacco, multiple tobacco products: Study
Cigarette smokers have higher odds of tobacco dependence than those who vape or use a variety of types of tobacco products, according to a Mount Sinai study published in July in Nicotine & Tobacco Research | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Scottish police officer wants to change drug laws
Just recently the Scottish Government announced proposals to decriminalisethe personal possession of drugs and explore a roadmap to legal regulation. Their proposals show a commitment to treating drugs as a matter of health, rather than a criminal issue. If Westminster were to allow Scotland to move forward with these proposals, we could see a drastic reduction in drug deaths and see Scotland shed the title as the drug death capital of Europe | Anyone's Child, UK
How regulating drugs can protect young people
This blog makes the case for the legalisation and regulation of drugs and explains how it can protect young and vulnerable people in our communities. This piece is an edited extract of Transform’s Debating Drugs guide, which addresses common concerns about the legal regulation of drugs | Transform blog, UK
The joy of citron pressé: why dry July in Paris makes a refreshing change
Giving up alcohol for a month wasn’t hard, even in the apéritif-loving capital. But it opened my eyes to one of France’s simplest pleasures | Guardian, UK
Seeking Common Ground in Our Understanding of Addiction
There are many current models conceptualizing substance misuse and addiction. Many generally agree on what happens in the brain yet offer various schools of thought to explain why it occurs. Despite a lot of common ground, the proponents of each school of thought tend to emphasis how they differ rather than how they are consistent. This makes differences appear greater than similarities. Add to this the dynamic of our field for having a proclivity to argue a lot, even over small and sometimes misunderstood points and it contibutes to our disjointed view of addiction and recovery | Recovery Review blog, USA