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Daily news - 19th May 2023 |
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UK news
Psilocybin: Calls to ease restrictions on magic mushroom drug
An MP has called on the government to ease restrictions on a drug found in magic mushrooms to allow it to be used to treat mental health conditions | BBC, UK
Experimental child vaping up significantly since 2022 but not current vaping
Surveys carried out by YouGov for ASH this Spring find that the proportion of children who have experimented with vaping has grown significantly since last year (up from 7.7% to 11.6%). In contrast there is no significant change since last year in the proportion of children currently smoking (4.8% in 2022 and 3.6% in 2023) or currently vaping (6.9% in 2022 and 7.6% in 2023) | ASH, UK
Vaping: Tighter rules calls amid rise in children using vapes
A doubling of children trying vaping within the past decade has prompted calls for tighter regulations | BBC, UK
Innovation Fund to Reduce Demand for Illicit Substances Call (RDIS) Phase 2 - webinar
Mon, 22 May 2023 12:00 - 13:00 BST. NIHR is launching phase 2 of a call as part of the Government’s 10 year drug strategy, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in partnership with the Joint Combating Drugs Unit (JCDU) (working across the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, Ministry of Justice, DHSC and the Department for Education). The call aims to fund projects that address demand for recreational drugs and are thereby likely to lead to reduced drug use and dependency | NIHR Research Design Service, UK
Naloxone (Police Officers)
To ask the Scottish Government how many front-line police officers have been trained to use, and equipped with, naloxone | They work for you, UK
Man who was addicted to heroin for half of his life turns life around with help of rehab centre
Rehab is often seen as the last resort for addicts, but one centre in Wales is hoping to change that | ITV, UK
Low and No Alcohol Beer - audio
Sales of alcohol-free beer in the UK have more than tripled in the past five years, and you'll find more types of no and low-alcohol beer on sale in your local supermarket. But what does 'alcohol-free' really mean? And are these drinks always better for your health? | BBC Radio 4, UK
Offshore worker jailed for £550,000 Aberdeen drugs haul
Lee Macrory, 29, was found with cocaine and diamorphine at his home in East Main Avenue in December 2021. The cocaine alone was worth about £500,000 | BBC, UK
Seizure of 2,500 illegal vape pens worth £17,500
Luton Council Trading Standards and Bedfordshire Police raided a premises in the Bury Park area of the town and also found shisha tobacco being decanted into unlabelled plastic pots for sale | BBC, UK
International news
Man arrested after €1m of cannabis found
A man has been arrested after cannabis with an estimated street value of about €1.08m (£937,510) was seized in Dublin | BBC, UK
The China-Mexico fentanyl pipeline: increasingly sophisticated and deadly
Advanced money-laundering techniques and clandestine precursor imports combine to stoke the opioid crisis – can the US stem the flow? | Guardian, UK
Minister Naughton announces successful projects for €1.5 million drug prevention and education funding scheme
This scheme supports Priority 1 arising from the mid-term review of the National Drugs Strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery which commits to strengthening the prevention of drug and alcohol use and associated harms among children and young people | Department of Health, Ireland
Number of men admitted to treatment for cocaine addiction at rehab centre doubles
Increase in admissions linked by Coolmine to drug’s availability, with charity saying cocaine now ‘as accessible as packet of cigarettes’ | Irish Times, Ireland
Biden drug czar: ‘All options are on the table’ for expanding methadone access
The federal government is aggressively exploring ways to increase access to methadone, a key Biden administration official told STAT | STAT news, USA
Why America Is Struggling to Stop the Fentanyl Epidemic
The United States is suffering the deadliest drug epidemic in its history. Overdoses claimed the lives of more than 100,000 Americans between August 2021 and August 2022 alone. Over the span of just a few years, drug deaths have doubled. Most of these overdoses involve fentanyl, which now kills around 200 Americans every day | Foreign Affairs, USA
A rural county's choice: Use opioid funds to pay off debt, or pay them forward to curb crisis?
Over the past two years, rural Greene County in northeastern Tennessee has collected more than $2.7 million from regional and national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. But instead of helping people harmed by addiction, county officials are finding other ways to spend it | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
The State of Drug Checking in the United Kingdom
I recently saw the article titled, “Home Office gives green light to first drug testing clinic” in the Guardian and “The UK’s first regular Home Office licensed drug checking service to be set up in Bristol” in Mixmag. The issue is – the articles were written three years apart and about sites set up by two different charities in different locations. It left me wondering which was the real first drug checking service to be licensed by the Home Office in the UK | Points blog, UK
Breaking the stigma: dual diagnosis awareness is crucial during Mental Health Awareness Week
Dual diagnosis, when someone is experiencing both mental-ill health and problems with drugs and/or alcohol at the same time, is an issue that affects a lot of people accessing either drugs and alcohol or mental health services. Yet it rarely gets the attention it deserves. For Mental Health Awareness Week, Miles, a member of the National Expert Citizens Group, shares his experience of dual diagnosis and highlights the need for holistic support for those experiencing it | Revolving Doors blog, UK
Harm reduction is evidence-led. We need to shout about it
After media attacks on UUK's taskforce on student drug use, Sunday Blake considers what universities can do when good work falls victim to hostile coverage | WONKHE blog, UK