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Daily news - 31st July 2023 |
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UK news
Newly published figures reveal 40% drop in alcohol treatment in Scotland over 10 years
New analysis by Alcohol Focus Scotland shows that access to specialist alcohol treatment dropped by 40% over the last 10 years. And the charity has warned that if we don’t act now to prevent and treat alcohol problems, Scotland could be turning the clock back 30 years to when death rates soared to record levels. In 2021, 1,245 people lost their lives to alcohol-specific causes, the highest number since 2008 | Alcohol Focus Scotland, UK
Children increasingly exposed to e-cigarettes on display in shops
Children increasingly exposed to e-cigarettes on display in shops, and more likely to buy from small shops, according to new analysis of data | Imperial College London, UK
Influencers and freebies: Big Tobacco’s push to sell nicotine pouches in UK
Health experts raise concerns over marketing for flavoured oral sachets that can legally be sold to under-18s | Guardian, UK
National statistics: reported road casualties in great britain, involving illegal alcohol levels: 2021
Estimates of casualties in collisions involving at least one driver or rider over the drink-drive limit in Great Britain for 2021 show that: between 240 and 280 people were killed in drink-drive collisions, with a central estimate of 260 fatalities. The estimate of fatalities for 2021 is the highest since 2009 and represents a statistically significant increase from 2020 the central estimate of the number of killed or seriously injured drink-drive casualties in 2021 is 1,880, an increase of 23% on 2020 an estimated 6,740 people were killed or injured in drink-drive collisions, an increase of 4% from 2020 | Department for Transport, UK
Warning over potentially fatal heroin in Lincolnshire after drugs deaths
Lincolnshire police have issued a warning about a potentially fatal supply of heroin circulating in the county | ITV, UK
Boots rapped for cash-back 'incentives' on addictive pills offering Advantage Card points on purchases of co-codamol
igh Street pharmacist Boots is offering points on purchases of addictive codeine painkillers – which customers can then use to buy 'treats'. The firm gives about 24 Advantage Card points – worth 24p – to customers buying Boots Ibuprofen & Codeine over the counter. It offers similar incentives for buying co-codamol, which are paracetamol and codeine tablets | Mail Online, UK
Fentanyl
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Scottish Government to ensure that policies on fentanyl are aligned across the UK | They work for you, UK
HIGH ON FEAR : How the Media Misinforms the Public About Drugs - video
This year, The Times published an article talking about ketamine use in universities, calling it “The Hidden Campus Killer”. As Paul North- director of advocacy and communications reform organisation Volteface - explains, it's a great example of how the mainstream media, what I would describe as problematically misinform the public around drugs | Expose News, UK
Tax on pints is about to fall – but don’t expect to pay less for beer
[Possible paywall] Rising costs of raw ingredients such as barley expected to cancel out lower duties | Telegraph, UK
‘Champion of the invisible’: blue plaque campaign for pioneer on homelessness
Anton Wallich-Clifford set up homeless venture the Simon Community in the 60s, inspiring other charities. Now supporters want belated recognition for his achievements | Guardian, UK
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Members - applications invited
Application deadline: 11pm on 21 August 2023. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is looking for 16 new members. Overall, commitment will equate to 10-15 days per year which should usually cover attending meetings, reading papers, drafting sections of reports and working group/committee involvement | ACMD, UK
£1bn drugs ring hid cocaine in frozen chicken, court told
"Vast" shipments of the drug were unpacked at a warehouse in Redditch, near Birmingham, and distributed around the UK, prosecutors said | BBC, UK
International news
A beachside city became California’s legal cannabis capital. Not everyone is stoked
Santa Barbara voters hoped for an economic boost, but a coalition of schools, rich homeowners and the wine industry are no longer feeling the buzz | Guardian, UK
Eight Row: A US restaurant that celebrates sobriety
At Seattle's Eight Row, the robust non-alcoholic beverage programme serves as a model of inclusivity when it comes to meeting the needs of diners opting out of alcohol | BBC, UK
Jamie Lee Curtis opens up about opioid addiction: 'My worst day was almost invisible to anyone else'
Jamie Lee Curtis shudders to think what would have happened had her opioid addiction raged during today's fentanyl crisis | Yahoo News, UK
Minister O’Gorman invites applications under the What Works Building Evidence Fund 2023
Grants of up to €50,000 will be made available to community and voluntary sector organisations working with children and young people through a prevention and early intervention approach. The total value of the fund is €600,000 | Gov.ie, Ireland
Warning over "bad batch" of benzos following multiple overdoses among drug users
Multiple overdoses among people taking "blues and yellows" containing benzodiazepines and likely opiates have been reported in recent days | Irish News, Ireland
DrugNet Europe - Issue 167 July 2023
Latest monthly round-up of drug policy news from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction | EMCDDA, Portugal
FDA Approves Second Over-the-Counter Naloxone Nasal Spray Product
Today [Friday 28th July], the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved RiVive, 3 milligram (mg) naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray for over-the-counter (OTC), nonprescription use for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose. This is the second nonprescription naloxone product the agency has approved, helping increase consumer access to naloxone without a prescription | FDA, USA
Researchers compare near-death experiences and psychedelic experiences
Researchers analyzed the similarities and differences between a near-death experience (NDE) while in a coma and the experience induced by a psychedelic drug. Despite the common themes that emerged, such as space-time transcendence or ego dissolution, only in the NDE were the themes of life review, meeting deceased loved ones, and a threshold of no-return reported | Medical Xpress, USA
Justice Department asks federal court to dismiss Safehouse’s supervised injection site case
With negotiations broken down, both sides are preparing to square off in court over Safehouse’s contention that its leaders have a religious duty to intervene to stop potential overdose deaths | Philadelphia Inquirer, USA
On World Hepatitis Day, People Who Use Drugs Should Be the Focus
July 28 marks the fifth annual World Hepatitis Day, dedicated to increasing awareness. But we cannot meaningfully increase awareness without focusing on people who use drugs, who bear a hugely disproportionate burden of disease and death from viral hepatitis | Filter Magazine, USA
Bill Launched to Ban Federal Hiring Discrimination Over Cannabis Use
Bipartisan lawmakers in Congress have filed a bill to protect people from being denied federal employment or security clearances due to marijuana use—and to provide relief for people who lost opportunities due to cannabis in the past | Filter Magazine, USA
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. She recommends ‘opioid substitution therapy’ instead. When the author uses this term in a revised submission, a different reviewer says that this term implicitly supports the canard that ‘methadone just substitutes one addiction for another’. Trying to moderate the dispute, an assistant editor proposes ‘medication-assistedtreatment’, to which everyone agrees | Addiction editorial, UK
COVID-19 and commerce complicate minimum unit pricing effects on health
We have read the recent study by Grant MA Wyper and colleagues,1 which showed that the implementation of minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol in Scotland resulted in a statistically significant reduction of 13·4% of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption. However, we have identified several concerns | Lancet correspondence, UK
Come Ship Some Cocaine With Me: How Cocaine Enters Europe
I have been invited to write about the production, logistics, and transportation of cocaine, particularly the UN’s Office of Drugs and Crime has just estimated that the drug is at its highest level of production since records began. I am not an academic, nor a formal researcher. However, for four decades, I enthusiastically studied the methods and routes used to move cocaine from the source to the market | Talking Drugs, UK
We Know What Happens When We Prosecute Drug Dealers as Murderers
[Seems to be open access] Stories of narcotics-related death and debasement flooded the media. Politicians stoked panic about marijuana. Parents feared that teenagers would tip into addiction. Congress held hearings. “We need only to recall what we have read in the papers this past week to realize that more and more younger people are falling into the clutches of unscrupulous dope peddlers,” a representative insisted, urging passage of legislation imposing tough mandatory minimum sentences for drugs | NYTimes opinion, USA