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Daily news - 1st March 2023 |
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UK news
Increasing drugs services
Three organisations supporting people with problem drug use will receive more than £14 million to increase the number of residential rehabilitation placements. The funding will create an extra 225 placements each year and is part of the £100 million allocated to residential rehabilitation as part of the national mission on drug deaths | Scottish Government, UK
Alcohol related hospital statistics
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides information on alcohol-related inpatient and day case activity within general acute and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. This release covers general acute hospital activity for the financial years 1981/82 to 2021/22 and psychiatric hospital admissions from 1997/98 to 2021/22 | Public Health Scotland, UK
Surge in nitrous oxide abuse: New guidelines to help clinicians recognise cases and prevent spinal cord damage
Recommendations from a research paper on the diagnosis and treatment of spinal cord damage caused by nitrous oxide abuse have been simultaneously adopted as official clinical practice guidelines by the Association of British Neurologists. The unprecedented speed in translating research into practice is necessary as medical cases of nitrous oxide abuse surge in parallel with increased use of what is now the second most popular recreational drug among young people in the UK | University of Nottingham, UK
‘Professional adverts’ for county lines ensnaring children on Instagram and Snapchat
Drugs traffickers changing methods to recruit children as young as seven, parliamentary education committee hears | Guardian, UK
Substance worker lifts lid on trauma of addiction with clients from high flyers to heroin users
A service manager whose charity helps a wide range of people from heroin users to high earners gives an insight into addiction and how £3.5m funding will help. The service manager for treatment provider Change Grow Live in Stockton said: "We've seen our numbers of referrals triple in the last three years. It would have been very difficult for us to manage that without this extra funding."| Teeside Gazette, UK
Consumer views on Low and No Alcohol products 2022 (PDF)
In its fifth annual survey looking at low and no alcohol alternatives, the Portman Group commissioned the market research company YouGov to conduct an online survey of UK public attitudes to low and no alcohol products (those with an ABV below 1.2%). We seek to chart the continuing popularity of these products among UK consumers and understand what attracted them to the category | Portman Group, UK
Drugs Policy Inquiry - video
Commons Home Affairs Committee session on drugs policy in the UK, with evidence from ministers from the UK government and the Scottish government, from Wednesday 22 February | BBC Parliament, UK
Electronic Cigarettes: Health Hazards
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) respiratory, (b) cardiovascular and (b) cancer risks arising from vaping | They work for you, UK
Alcohol Alert podcast - February
On this month’s podcast, we spoke to Nicola Merrin, Policy and Research Manager at Alcohol Focus Scotland. We discussed the proposals within Scotland’s alcohol marketing consultation, how Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation could affect the proposals, and tactics the alcohol industry are using to fight against the proposals | IAS, UK
Writing for our lives
Turning Point created a poetry competition to collect a series of art both in the form of poems and illustrations following the School of Art project whose aim was celebrate the many talents of every individual we support. The School of Art gave people a place to express themselves as well as our poetry workshops and other creative forums. Louisa Adjoa Parker is a writer and poet of English-Ghanaian heritage who lives in southwest England who helped select the winning entries of the poetry book | Turning Point, UK
Women Supporting Women – stories from the frontline
Wed, 8 March 2023, 10:00 – 11:30 GMT. Are you working with women with drug or alcohol issues? Do you want to better understand what gender responsive treatment looks like in practice? Do you want to hear ideas as to what you can do to improve outcomes for women? This 90 minute webinar will be exploring good practice when working with women in drug and alcohol treatment services | Collective Voice, UK
Celebrating Maggie
Friday 10 March 2023. 2.30pm, St. George’s Bristol, BS1 5RR. BDP’s staff and trustees invite you to join us in celebrating the life of the tenacious & fabulous Maggie Telfer. The event will last approximately an hour and will be full of memories, celebration and song. Maggie loved colour and music, and there will be both | BDP, UK
Northamptonshire teen used missing children to sell heroin and cocaine in drug ring
Connor Walsh, previously of Queen Street in Rushden, Northamptonshire, ran a drugs line which supplied heroin and crack cocaine. Between March and September 2022, he organised the travel of two reported missing children, a 15-year-old boy from London and a 17-year-old boy from Essex, to supply drugs in Rushden | ITV, UK
International news
French MPs face alcohol ban after heavy boozing disrupts parliamentary sessions
[Possible paywall] Restrictions follow alcohol-fuelled pension reform debates that often degenerated into a barrage of insults and outbursts | Telegraph, UK
New York tries to atone for drug laws that disproportionately hit Black and Latino people
One of the first things that hits you as you walk through the streets of Manhattan is the smell: cannabis, it’s everywhere. But New York is far from the first US state to legalise the recreational use of marijuana. What’s striking about the legislation here is the belief that a drug, once seen as a social evil, can now be a means for social good - that it can right past wrongs | ITV, UK
More than a dozen people hospitalised from cannabis edibles in recent months
A HSE expert warned that sythetic canabinoids can cause respiratory problems, cardiac problems and mental health problems such as psychosis and paranoia | Journal, Ireland
FDA takes action against animal tranquilizer tied to fatal overdoses
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it has taken action to restrict imports of the veterinary tranquilizer xylazine to prevent illicit use of the drug | Medical Xpress, USA
Depression and anxiety symptoms linked to vaping nicotine and THC in teens and young adults
A survey of more than 2,500 teens and young adults led by the American Heart Association has found that vaping nicotine and THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana, was associated with self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety | Medical Xpress, USA
Adult smokers with mental illness consume the most caffeine in the US, finds study
Americans are drinking more caffeinated beverages than ever before, but Rutgers researchers have found one group that tops the charts in caffeine consumption: adult smokers with mental illness | Medical Xpress, USA
The DRAM, Vol. 19(3) – Basketball and alcohol: How does March Madness influence college students’ drinking behaviors?
Research suggests that college game days and the success of the school’s sports teams are both associated with increased alcohol use. March Madness, which refers to the (U.S.) National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, is arguably the most popular college sporting event in the United States. This week, The DRAM reviews a study by Dustin R. White and colleagues that estimated the influence of the men’s March Madness tournament on student alcohol consumption | BASIS, USA
Professionally delivered "peer network counseling" as a brief intervention for youth: Best for those with highest substance use
Intervening with youth who have started to experiment with alcohol or other drugs is often key to stopping escalations in use and harms. Brief interventions may be a cost-efficient approach, but there is a gap in understanding who responds best to such approaches. This study examined a brief, socially-based intervention, Peer Network Counseling, to answer these questions | Recovery Research Institute, USA
Recovery support and harm reduction strategies both critical to addressing the opioid crisis, new research shows
More than 1 million Americans have died of a drug overdose since 1999, with these deaths at an all-time high despite significant investments to address this public health emergency. In this study, researchers used a simulation model to test the potential impact of 11 strategies across the continuum of care – prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery – on opioid use disorder and opioid-related overdose death | Recovery Research Institute, USA
Biden Touts Cannabis Pardons in Black History Month Speech
Speaking at an event commemorating the end of Black History Month on February 27, President Joe Biden again touted his move to pardon people for marijuana convictions—highlighting the racially disparate impact of cannabis enforcement | Filter Magazine, USA
Why Right-Wing Politicians Are Advancing Medical Cannabis in Brazil
On January 31, São Paulo’s Republicanos party Governor Tarcisio de Freitas shocked Brazil by ratifying a law that will authorize medical CBD and low-THC products under the country’s universal health care system (SUS). As baffled conservatives looked on, Freitas spoke publicly about the therapeutic benefits cannabidiol-based medicines had provided for his nephew, who experiences seizures due to a genetic disorder | Filter Magazine, USA
Cops Just Seized Nearly 9 Tons of Cocaine Hidden in Bananas
The massive seizure in the port of Guayaquil, Ecuador was found in a single shipping container of bananas | VICE, USA
Exposed: Alcohol Companies Among Instagram’s Fastest Growing Brands
Social media has become one of the most popular platforms in alcohol marketing, reaching a large group of people, often minors and young people, all over the world. A recent study by YesMore has revealed that several Big Alcohol companies are among Instagram’s fastest growing brands | Movendi, Australia
Characteristics and circumstances of cocaine-related completed suicide in Australia, 2000–2021
There has been a substantial global increase in cocaine use and associated harms. The current study aimed to: 1. Determine the case characteristics and circumstances of death of cocaine-related suicide in Australia 2000–2021; and 2. Determine the toxicological profiles of cases | DAD, Australia
My Choice – the importance of choice in drug treatment
There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to Opioid Agonist Treatment. What works for one person, may not work for another. The My Choice project highlights the importance of personal choice in drug treatment and shares the diverse experiences of people from around Australia | INHSU, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
UK Cannabis Industry Watch: Lyphe Group Restructures
The UK’s largest medical cannabis company has announced a new capital raise and the completion of an internal restructure | Volteface, UK
Australian drug kings have gone global
Police say that there are 38 outlaw motorcycle gangs operating in Australia, with around 4,600 patched members and hundreds, or even thousands, of hopefuls waiting in the wings... Bikies have long sat at the top of domestic drug distribution networks, and they’ve no shortage of customers | UnHerd, UK