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Daily news - 28th July 2023 |
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UK news
Preventing drug use in young people: commissioning letter
Letter commissioning the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to work on a project to prevent drug use in children and young people | Home Office, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and The Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, UK
Drivers of powder cocaine use in young people and adults: call for evidence
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has issued a call for evidence on the prevalence and drivers of powder cocaine use by young people and adults. The ACMD’s Drivers of Cocaine Use Working Group has been formed in response to a commission from the Home Secretary | Home Office and Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, UK
Consultation on drug and alcohol services in the city [Liverpool]
Starts: Tuesday 18th July 2023. Ends: Sunday 13th August 2023 If you're a resident, someone who works in the city, or are affiliated to a local organisation, the council is keen for you to voice your opinion. We are proposing to redesign our drug and alcohol services and would like to commission a new model for the city that brings drug and alcohol recovery services together. We would like to hear your views about our current drug and alcohol services and tell us about your experiences. What is working, what isn’t and how could we make improvements | Liverpool City Council, UK
Last orders for takeaway pub pints as Covid rules expire
The government has decided to call time on Covid-era licensing rules that made it easier for pubs in England and Wales to sell takeaway drinks | BBC, UK
Prescription Drugs: Addictions
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of long-term and permanent harm caused by the use of benzodiazepines, Z-drugs and antidepressants | They work for you, UK
Forward Leeds in race to eliminate hepatitis C
28th July. For World Hepatitis Day (28 July) staff from Forward Leeds will join staff from St James Hospital, the Hepatitis C Trust and Leeds Council on a 10K run across Leeds | Forward Leeds, UK
Recovery Games Registrations
Saturday 16 September at The Hatfield Activity Centre, Old Thorne Road, Hatfield, Doncaster, DN7 6EQ. The Games bring together people in recovery, their friends and family and the wider community to have fun, celebrate and make positive connections | Aspire – Doncaster Drug & Alcohol Services, UK
Cryptocurrency: Four members of £5m drugs gang jailed
A drugs gang have been jailed for a multimillion pound operation which laundered profits in cryptocurrency. Police estimated they sold more than 40kg of cocaine with a street value of about £4.6m | BBC, UK
International news
Singapore executes a woman for first time in almost two decades
Saridewi Djamani was handed a death penalty after being convicted of trafficking 30g of heroin in 2018 | Guardian, UK
Cara Delevingne says her journey to sobriety after viral photos has been worth ‘every second’
Cara Delevingne has spoken out about her journey to sobriety, explaining that it has not been easy but she now feels “stable and calmer” | Independent, UK
Kevin Durant says 'everybody does' cannabis in NBA
Basketball star Kevin Durant has said the NBA commissioner could smell cannabis on him as he lobbied to end the league's ban on the drug | BBC, UK
The Deadly Rise of Underwater ‘Parasite’ Cocaine Smuggling
The wetsuit-clad, unconscious form of Bruno Borges, a professional scuba diver and adrenaline junkie from Brazil, was found floating in the industrial port of Newcastle, Australia, surrounded by 54 kilos of cocaine bricks in May last year | VICE, UK
Composition of social networks to build recovery capital differ across early and stable stages of recovery [Australia]
[Open access] The study provides evidence that the elements (e.g. diversity and number of supports) of a social network that facilitate recovery capital change as individuals progress through recovery stages, and highlights the importance of peer support in early recovery | Addiction, Research and Theory, UK
Thousands of vapes seized in Melbourne raid as police send ‘clear message’ to stores
Public health expert warns police are fighting an uphill battle to stamp out the illegal trade until federal reforms enacted | Guardian, UK
Two thirds of Irish public would support disposable vape ban, Ipsos poll finds
A survey carried out by the independent polling organisation Ipsos found that 64pc of respondents support the banning of disposable e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, 28pc opposed the measure, while 8pc said they were unsure | Independent, Ireland
World Hepatitis Day - 28th July
'We’re not waiting' is call to action for WHD 2023. It’s a call to accelerate elimination efforts of viral hepatitis now and the urgent need for testing and treatment for the real people who need it. Individuals and communities around the world are making change happen in their own lives and in world around them. We celebrate them, while demanding more action | World Hepatitis Alliance, Switzerland
Study identifies pitfalls, solutions for using AI to predict opioid use disorder
More than 10 million Americans misused prescription opioids in 2019, and nearly 75 percent of drug overdose deaths in 2020 involved an opioid. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdose deaths involving opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, have increased eightfold since 1999 | Medical Xpress, USA
Magic mushrooms found to reduce anorexia nervosa psychopathology
Researchers at the University of California at San Diego have studied the effects of magic mushrooms as a therapeutic in treating anorexia nervosa. In their paper, "Psilocybin therapy for females with anorexia nervosa: a phase 1, open-label feasibility study," published in Nature Medicine, the researchers detail the treatment results for an otherwise therapeutic-resistant disorder | Medical Xpress, USA
Canada 'falling behind' in efforts to lessen teen vaping, researcher says
Dr. Struik is disheartened by the results from the recent Health Canada's Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, which states that 29% of Canadian students from grades 7 to 12 have tried an e-cigarette, and 17% have vaped in the past month, revealing that the number of Canadian teens using e-cigarettes are among highest in the world | Medical Xpress, USA
Social Media Depicts Kensington as “Zombieland”—and It’s Deadly
A15-second YouTube video begins with a white car passing across the frame. The camera reveals two young white people, a man and a woman. They are on Kensington Ave., the heart of the overdose crisis in Philadelphia. The woman is digging through her belongings, which include sunglasses, a hat and a water bottle; she is smoking a cigarette and putting clothing in a tote bag. The shirtless man writhes or stretches on the sidewalk; he looks like he just woke up | Filter Magazine, USA
Pharmacological management of acute methamphetamine withdrawal
This seminar provided an overview of Liam’s PhD studies, beginning with a systematic review and meta-analysis of previously researched pharmacological treatments for methamphetamine withdrawal. It then proposed a novel treatment option, lisdexamfetamine, before reporting on the results of a novel clinical trial investigating the safety and feasibility of using lisdexamfetamine to treat acute methamphetamine withdrawal. This then followed by a brief look into how sleep is measured in substance use trials and the seminar concluded with a qualitative examination of clinical trial participants experiences during the above studies | NDARC, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Guest blog: Support for adult children of alcoholics at work
Zara Wright looks at the behaviour of adult children of alcoholics (ACOA) in the workplace and shares findings from her MSc research, as well as ways employers can offer support | Drinkaware blog, UK
Only Drug User Solidarity Will End Prohibition
People who take prescribed opioids or other heavily stigmatised drugs sourced from a doctor try hard to differentiate themselves from so-called “junkies” who buy chemically similar drugs from the illicit market. I find this incredibly peculiar. After all, there is quite some overlap between patients who struggle with chronic pain and people who use illicit opioids, with many of the latter self-medicating because they were unable to access the medications they need from a doctor | Talking Drugs, UK
10: Rethinking Drug Laws: book launch episode - podcast
This special episode marks the publication of my new book, Rethinking Drug Laws: Theory, History, Politics, published by Oxford University Press. It draws on over a decade of theoretical, conceptual, historical and empirical work in area of drug law reform, to set out a new paradigm for thinking about the past, present and future of global drug control | Toby Seddon, UK
What do darknet drug markets look like in 2023?
The days of the Silk Road and Dread Pirate Roberts may be behind us, but darknet drug markets appear to be as prevalent as ever. With the collapse of the Russian Hydra marketplace in 2022, we explore the state of darknet drug markets in 2023 | Volteface, UK
Addiction: A treatise from 1561
In 1561, physician and philosopher Pascasius Justus Turq published a monograph on the description and treatment of pathological gambling. When the monograph came to the attention of the authors in 2006, there existed no known translation of it in any modern language. In 2014, it was translated and published in French. This paper analyses the monograph’s key content elements and its place in the history of the concept of addiction | SSA, UK
Additional Commentary on the Mathematical Model of Recovery
Dr. Coon had an excellent post on the recent paper offering statistical modeling of recovery utilizing a non-parametric model. Dr. Coon does a great job explaining the paper and highlighting the contexts, so I would like to offer a broader overview of the concept of measuring recovery and why this paper is kind of a big deal | Recovery Review blog, USA