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Daily news - 18th May 2023

UK news

MPs to debate access to psilocybin treatments

On Thursday 18 May, MPs will hold a debate on access to psilocybin treatments. Watch the debate live on Parliament TV. Read the briefing here | UK Parliament, UK

What is monkey dust? The zombie drug causing users to eat glass – allegedly

When it comes to reporting on drugs such as the so-called “monkey dust”, the press twists the truth and harms vulnerable people. We spoke to a substance use expert to get the facts | The Face, UK

Number of children trying vaping rises 50% in a year in 'tide of experimentation'

Experimental vaping among 11 to 17-year-olds in Britain has increased from 7.7% last year to 11.6%, according to a survey of young people for charity Action on Smoking and Health | Sky News, UK

Alcohol and Drug-related Crime

What steps his Department is taking through the criminal justice system to tackle alcohol and drug related crime | They work for you, UK

Manx public asked to join focus group on harms of illegal drugs

Manx people are being asked to apply to be part of a focus group looking at the harms of illegal drugs. The workshop, to be held on 14 June, is part of a review on the impact of illicit substances, approved by Tynwald in 2020 | BBC, UK

Recovery Street Film Festival 2023

The competition is open to anyone regardless of their skill in film making. We want people to tell their story and will not be judging based on the quality of the film making. Submissions for the 2023 festival are now open, and the submission window will close on the 1st August 2023 at 11:59pm. All entries must be received by then to be considered | Phoenix Futures, UK

Forward wins new contract to continue to deliver services in HMP Wormwood Scrubs

Forward are thrilled to have been awarded the contract to continue to deliver substance misuse services in HMP Wormwood Scrubs, in partnership with PPG | DDN, UK

Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction - video

This raw documentary sees Busted’s Matt Willis open up about his struggles with addiction and the pressure it puts on his family, as well as looking into what helps him and others stay clean | BBC, UK

Dr Alex George: Five months of sobriety has made a ‘huge difference’

The youth mental health ambassador and TV doctor talks to Lauren Taylor about drinking, coping mechanisms and grief | Independent, UK

Oxford University to remove Sackler name from buildings over ties to US opioid scandal

[Possible paywall] Decision comes after a series of institutions cut their ties with the controversial family | Telegraph, UK

Gosport hospital drug deaths: Police identify 19 suspects

An independent panel found 456 patients died after being given opiates inappropriately at Gosport War Memorial Hospital between 1987 and 2001 | BBC, UK

Accused PC allegedly seized then returned Class A drugs

A police officer has been accused of gross misconduct after allegedly seizing and then returning Class A drugs to users in exchange for information about dealers | BBC, UK

International news

Preventing millions of hepatitis deaths is a ‘thundering moral imperative’

By 2040 the disease could kill more people each year than malaria, TB and Aids combined – despite the cost of treatment being ‘less than dinner for two’ | Guardian, UK

Raised by addicts, abused, neglected, broke: how Katriona O’Sullivan escaped her fate

Pregnant at 15, and soon to be homeless, O’Sullivan never expected to succeed – but became a leading academic. The author of Poor talks about everything that conspired to keep her down – and her ‘miraculous and rare’ ascent | Guardian, UK

Deaths among people who were homeless at time of death in Ireland, 2019

This feasibility study was commissioned by the Department of Health to address the need to improve understanding of premature mortality among people who are homeless nationally, and to provide more complete and accurate national data to inform policy | Health Research Board, Ireland

Seven homeless people died on average every month during 2019 - Health Research Board

The median age of those who died was 40, with over half dying from drug or alcohol overdoses, the first study of its kind has found | Irish Times, Ireland

The Role of Law Enforcement Officers in Drug Use Prevention within School Settings (PDF)

This guiding document primarily aims to improve the effectiveness of pre-existing and ongoing work of Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) involved in substance use prevention in schools. Its intentions are to incite LEO to re-assess their mode of operation and align their work with what the science of prevention suggests doing in such settings | UNODC, Switzerland

Smoke free Sweden: Why are Swedes stubbing out their cigarettes?

The Scandinavian country is a trailblazer when it comes to quitting smoking, but other forms of tobacco consumption are still popular | Euronews, Belgium

Drug overdoses in the US slightly increased last year. But experts see hopeful signs

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the numbers plateaued for most of last year. Experts aren't sure whether that means the deadliest drug overdose epidemic in U.S. history is finally reaching a peak, or whether it'll look like previous plateaus that were followed by new surges in deaths | Medical Xpress, USA

New national study finds adolescent vapers much likelier to use cannabis and binge drink

A new study of more than 50,000 US adolescents across the country indicates that vaping nicotine is strongly linked with an increased likelihood of high levels use of binge drinking and cannabis usage | Medical Xpress, USA

Here’s How California and New York Mishandled Marijuana Legalization

Legalizing marijuana was supposed to crush the illicit market in California and New York. Instead, it’s thriving | WSJ, USA

State announces criminal system savings to fund substance use treatment

Portland, OR – May 17, 2023 When voters passed Measure 110 in 2020, they recognized that criminalizing individual possession of controlled substances is ineffective, expensive, and does disproportionate harm to communities of color. Measure 110 was also designed to increase treatment options in local communities by capturing dollars saved from the criminal system and investing them into local addiction recovery services | HJRA, USA

The Fight to Open a Safe Consumption Site in Chicago

Illinois harm reduction advocates are urging state lawmakers to pass a bill authorizing safe consumption sites (also known as overdose prevention sites, or OPS), as time runs out in the legislative session. The sites would be a lifesaving resource in a state where overdose is the leading accidental cause of death, but not enough politicians seem to agree | Filter Magazine, USA

UVic-led project offers steps to repair Canada’s failing alcohol policy

A University of Victoria-led project on Wednesday revealed worsening alcohol policy grades across the country and proposed detailed steps to get Canada back on track | University of Victoria, Canada

Canada has some of the highest teen vaping rates in the world, new data shows

Almost 1 in 4 older Canadian high school students reported vaping in past month | CBC News, Canada

[Open access] From October 2018, the Northern Territory (NT) government introduced a minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol of $1.30 per standard drink. We assessed industry claims that the MUP penalised all drinkers by examining the alcohol expenditure of drinkers not targeted by the policy | ANZJPH, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

This is how the media deceives us on drug use - video

In this video Paul discussed a recent Times article which stated that ketamine has become a 'campus killer' and Universities are 'gateway' to its use | Volteface, UK

Inside the UK’s largest independent cannabis study

Researchers at King’s College London are conducting the Cannabis & Me study, exploring the effect of cannabis use on the brain. The team, led by Dr. Marta Di Forti, have received £2.5m of funding from the Medical Research Council to recruit 6,000 participants, making it the largest independent study of its kind. We spoke to Dr. Di Forti about the Cannabis & Me study and the information potential participants may require | Volteface, UK

Using counter-ads to kick alcohol sponsorship out of sport

A new study published in BMC Public Health found that counter-advertising exposing and critiquing alcohol sports sponsorship bolstered public support for restrictions on this harmful marketing | IAS blog, UK

Catch-Up on #CADrugsUse - video [Irish Citizen's Assembly on drugs]

Brendan Minish and Peter Reynolds discuss the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use | Peter Reynolds, UK

I left my party lifestyle behind for a week in a nunnery – and began to see the light

Among the Benedictine nuns of Minster Abbey, without my phone, or alcohol, or mirrors, a truer path to happiness emerged | Guardian opinion, UK

Legalizing Marijuana Is a Big Mistake

Of all the ways to win a culture war, the smoothest is to just make the other side seem hopelessly uncool. So it’s been with the march of marijuana legalization: There have been moral arguments about the excesses of the drug war and medical arguments about the potential benefits of pot, but the vibe of the whole debate has pitted the chill against the uptight, the cool against the square, the relaxed future against the Principal Skinners of the past | NYTimes opinion, USA

Editorial: Why does California allow cannabis edibles that look like kids’ snacks?

When California voters passed Proposition 64 in 2016 to legalize the adult recreational use of marijuana, they were told cannabis would have strict labeling and would not be packaged or marketed in ways that would appeal to children. But the market is now flooded with pot products that are designed to look like candies and snacks popular with kids and in flavors that are enticing to young people | LA Times opinion, USA

Illegal, occasionally deadly, and not much fun. What is the frog toxin Kambô and why do people use it?

Kambô is an oozy substance harvested from the defensive skin secretions of the Amazonian giant monkey tree frog. In the traditional medicine of some indigenous peoples of the Amazon, Kambô is applied to superficial burns on the skin of participants to produce an intense purging effect | Conversation, Australia

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