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Daily news - 14th June 2023 |
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UK news
Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: January to March 2023
This quarterly report presents Police Scotland management information to provide an indication of current trends in suspected drug deaths in Scotland | Scottish Government, UK
The child vaping crisis: ‘From what my daughter says, 90% of her year do it’
Last week, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said disposable vapes should be banned because of their popularity among children – with many parents now feeling they are fighting a losing battle | Guardian, UK
Laws to stop under-18s vaping take first steps [Isle of Man]
New legislation that would prohibit the sale of vaping products to those under the age of 18 has taken its first step in the Isle of Man's parliament | BBC, UK
The contribution of health behaviour to socioeconomic inequalities in alcohol harm: Analysis of the UK biobank, a large cohort study with linked health outcomes
[Open access] This is the first study to use the UK Biobank database to: 1) test whether participants of a low socioeconomic position (SEP) are less likely to drink, but more likely to suffer alcohol-related harm, and 2) test the contribution of behavioural factors | SSM Population Health, UK
Drugs: What are they good for? - 5-MeO-DMT
5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or ‘toad venom’ as it’s better known, is a tryptamine psychedelic that occurs naturally in multiple species of plants and shrubs, is present endogenously in some humans | Drug Science, UK
NHS to deploy street mental health teams to help England’s rough sleepers
£3.2m plan aims to curb rise in people sleeping rough as councils cut homelessness budgets | Guardian, UK
Electronic Cigarettes: Passive Smoking
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the impact on public health of second-hand vapour from e-cigarettes in public spaces | They work for you, UK
Smoking
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve smokers’ awareness of reduced risk products other than vapes and e-cigarettes | They work for you, UK
High and dry: inside the burgeoning trend of alcohol-free festivals
To most people, the idea of attending a festival without a beer near-permanently clutched in their grasp is more of a nightmare than a dream. But could alcohol-free festival-ing be the future? | Evening Standard, UK
Judge jails barrister who tried to buy drugs from two men he represented
Henry Hendron, whose clients have included the Earl of Cardigan and Nadine Dorries, sentenced to 14 months | Guardian, UK
Michael Anton O'Connor: Drug gang guilty of murder
Members of a drugs gang have been found guilty of murder after a man was stabbed in a case of mistaken identity | BBC, UK
Tennis balls full of drugs thrown over wall into Welsh prison
The drugs had a potential value of more than £2,000 if sold to prisoners inside | Wales Online, UK
International news
Vaping: Medical researchers call for ban on e-cigarette advertising after finding most young people ‘at risk’
Young people in the UK were less likely to believe vaping is addictive or harmful compared to those in Australia where susceptibility was lowest [according to a new study] | i news, UK
Americans are drinking alcohol at levels not seen since the Civil War, report says
A new report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has found that the average American drinks about the same amount of alcohol as people did in 1860 | Independent, UK
Two charged after €1.29m drugs seizure
Gardaí (Irish police) have seized drugs with an estimated value of €1.29m (£1.1m) during searches in a large rural site in County Kildare on Monday | BBC, UK
Sale of vapes at music festivals to be banned
The sale of cigarettes and vapes at music festivals will be banned under the Government’s new laws to clamp down on the “soaring” popularity of vaping among teenagers | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Teens rarely receive addiction medication in US treatment centers, reveals research
New research reveals that only one in four adolescent residential treatment centers across the United States provides a medication used to treat opioid use disorder, despite an ever-rising number of overdose deaths among young people nationwide resulting from a surge of illicit fentanyl | Medical Xpress, USA
Education on under-prescribed drug helps reduce cravings for those with alcohol use disorder, study finds
To assist people trying to recover from alcohol use disorder, Jason Ipsarides conducted a study as a doctoral student at the University of Missouri's Sinclair School of Nursing. The study helped raise awareness about the benefits of naltrexone, an opioid antagonist that blocks the receptors in the brain associated with the reinforcement of addictive behaviors, such as alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder | Medical Xpress, USA
‘The drug bust paradox’: Study shows opioid deaths double after police action
Police drug busts are strongly associated with a large and sudden spike in overdose deaths, according to a new study | STAT News, USA
Mood-altering mushroom sales bloom despite safety concerns
The market for gummies, powders and capsules containing extracts of the fungus is raising eyebrows, though, amid concerns from the FDA and in the absence of human clinical trials | Health News Florida, USA
Canada Mandates Health Warnings on Every Single Cigarette
Canada will soon be the first country in the world to mandate that a health warning be printed on every individual cigarette. The stated aims are to make tobacco less appealing, encourage people to quit smoking, and dissuade youth and others who don’t smoke from starting in the first place | Filter Magazine, USA
Reducing stigma towards people living with HIV and people who inject drugs using social norms theory: An online study with Australian health care workers
Despite extensive evidence regarding the negative effects of stigma experienced by people living with HIV (PLHIV) and people who inject drugs within health care settings, comparatively little evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of initiatives to reduce this stigma.Findings suggest that interventions based on social norms theory that address health care workers’ perceptions of their colleagues’ attitudes can play an important role in contributing to broader initiatives to reduce stigma in health care settings | DAD, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Why we need to talk about the devastating impact of losing a loved one to alcohol
Last month SHAAP, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, Salvation Army and The University of Stirling launched the powerful, hard-hitting ‘See Beyond’ campaign to shine a light on the devastating impact the loss of a life to alcohol or drugs has on those left behind | AHA UK blog, UK
Unveiling the hidden health hazards of alcohol use
Alcohol consumption is prevalent around the world and is increasing in many middle-income countries including China. While the harmful effects of heavy drinking for certain major diseases (e.g., liver cirrhosis, stroke and several types of cancer) are well established, the broader impact of alcohol use on a wide range of diseases remains largely unexplored | IAS blog, UK