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Daily news - 12th May 2023 |
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UK news
Synthetic cathinones: letter asking for updated harms assessment
Synthetic cathinones are currently Class B drugs. The Crime, Policing and Fire Minister, Chris Philp, wrote to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to commission an updated harms assessment. He asked for the assessment to consider whether certain synthetic cathinones are significantly more harmful than others and should be treated differently | Home Office and Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, UK
Monkey dust drug clampdown could be coming in UK
A relatively new and dangerous street drug called monkey dust, which is already banned in the US, could soon face tougher penalties in the UK | BBC, UK
Martha Fernback: Mum of girl who overdosed campaigns for drug legalisation
Anne-Marie Cockburn's daughter, Martha died in 2013 aged just 15, after taking a lethal dose of ecstasy. Anne-Marie believes her daughter would still be alive if drugs were legal and will join campaigners in Edinburgh to discuss regulation of the drug market | BBC, UK
SHAAP calls for UK Government to stand firm in face of pressure from whisky industry
SHAAP has written to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, encouraging him to stand firm in the face of lobbying for a duty freeze by the whisky industry and Scotland’s First Minister, Humza Yousaf. The letter states “claims by the alcohol industry that they are being treated unfairly by the duty changes do not stand up to scrutiny” as even after the planned increase to duty in August, in real terms spirits – including whisky – will be subject to 23% lower duty than ten years ago | SHAAP, UK
Over half of British smokers now believe vapes are just as harmful as cigarettes
British smokers are losing trust in vapes – with more than half now believing they’re just as, or more, harmful than cigarettes | Metro, UK
Public Health: Question for Department of Health and Social Care
Estimated NHS costs of alcohol use and smoking | UK Parliament, UK
Electronic Cigarettes: Sales
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) banning the sale of vaping devices and (b) providing vaping devices to active smokers | They work for you, UK
Swedish social enterprise cooperative visits 5 WAYS
Staff from Vägen Ut! visited 5 WAYS, our Recovery Academy in Leeds, on Wednesday 3 May for a seminar with members and staff about setting up and managing social enterprises | Humankind, UK
It’s Never Been a Better Time to Buy Drugs on Telegram
Prices are falling on the messaging app's drug markets despite inflation and record seizures | VICE, UK
Ronnie O'Sullivan 'lost himself' to alcohol and drugs for seven years
Ronnie O'Sullivan has said he "lost himself" for seven years to alcohol and drugs, and came to learn that "happiness is an inside job" | BBC, UK
Sheku Bayoh had mental disorder from drugs - expert
The public inquiry into Mr Bayoh's death in Kirkcaldy in 2015 heard that he had taken ecstasy and alpha-PVP | BBC, UK
Drugs kingpin jailed over huge Warwickshire amphetamine lab
The kingpin of an organised crime group that ran "one of the largest" amphetamine laboratories ever found in the UK has been jailed for 18 years | BBC, UK
Man denies smuggling £200m of cocaine in bananas through Portsmouth
A man smuggled cocaine with a street value of £200m into the UK in a shipment of bananas, a court has heard | BBC, UK
International news
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Conference of the Parties (COP): an explainer (updated April 2023)
From 20-25 November 2023, government delegations from around the world will meet in Panama City to discuss tobacco and nicotine policy at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Decisions taken at these meetings influence how international tobacco control policies are implemented at a national level. These decisions will be very significant in determining the future of safer nicotine products (SNP), such as nicotine vapes (e-cigarettes), snus, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products | GSTHR, UK
Fentanyl: why it’s the deadliest drug ever
It’s a synthetic drug, it’s up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It’s also the biggest cause of death for Americans aged between 18 and 45: more than gun crime, more than road accidents | Channel 4, UK
‘Guardians’ told Ayahuasca ceremony participants to ignore dying man, NSW inquest told
Dentist tells coroner he heard the laboured breathing of a visibly unwell man in the silence between songs | Guardian, UK
Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use to Focus on Experience of Individuals, Families, Communities, & Front-Line Workers
The Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use will hold its second meeting this weekend, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th May, in Dublin Castle, where members will focus on the lived experience of drugs use and its impact on individuals, families, front-line workers and communities | Citizen's Assemby, Ireland
This Is What a Medicinal Cannabis Farm Looks Like on Harvest Day
What struck me most was the staff’s dedication – they treated the plants as if they were puppies | VICE, Germany
Reducing alcohol use through alcohol control policies in the general population and population subgroups: a systematic review and meta-analysis
We estimate the effects of alcohol taxation, minimum unit pricing (MUP), and restricted temporal availability on overall alcohol consumption and review their differential impact across sociodemographic groups. Web of Science, Medline, PsycInfo, Embase, and EconLit were searched on 08/12/2022 and 09/26/2022 for studies on newly introduced or changed alcohol policies published between 2000 and 2022 | Lancet, USA
Assessment of Medical Cannabis and Health-Related Quality of Life
In this case series of 3148 patients, significant improvements were reported on all 8 domains of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey health-related quality of life assessment after commencing treatment with medical cannabis. Improvements were largely sustained over time | JAMA Network Open, USA
Michigan doctors express hesitancy to authorize medical cannabis use in new study
Although the drug is legal in Michigan, doctors in the state are hesitant to authorize their patients to use cannabis, while struggling to manage other influences on their patients' health care decisions, says a University of Michigan researcher | Medical Xpress, USA
Social work researcher introduces a new tool for treating alcohol and drug addiction
A multidisciplinary team led by a University at Buffalo social work researcher has developed and tested a new assessment tool that has the potential to help people recover from alcohol and drug addiction | Medical Xpress, USA
Could a Narcan vending machine help stem opioid deaths among young people?
A free vending machine that dispenses the overdose-reversal drug naloxone was unveiled this week at Santa Clara University, the first such campus resource in the San Francisco Bay Area, school officials said | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Outcomes of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland
On May 1, 2018, Scotland became the first country to implement minimum unit pricing (MUP; £0·50 per unit) for alcoholic drinks, with the aim to curb alcohol-related harms that impact Scotland more than other UK nations. A 2022 report from Public Health Scotland found that alcohol sales in Scotland fell by 3% in the 3 years following the implementation of MUP. Now, for the first time, a study published in The Lancet has evaluated whether this legislation has led to changes in important health outcomes | Lancet editorial, UK
No significant health benefits from drinking up to three units of alcohol a day
The idea that low-volume alcohol intake protects against all-cause mortality in general populations has been controversial,1 even though many studies appear to support this hypothesis. In fact, a closer look at these studies shows many inconsistent findings | IAS blog, UK
How getting out into nature can help people with drug and alcohol problems
Health professionals may suggest people spend more time out in nature to help with their physical fitness by doing activities in woods, parks or gardens, but research has shown nature-based programmes are also particularly effective for improving poor mental health | Conversation, UK
Opinion: to liberalise medical cannabis policy, campaigners should appeal to the government’s economic sensibilities
Is it time for campaigners utilise economic arguments when it comes to reforming medical cannabis policy? | Volteface, UK