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Daily news - 30th May 2023 |
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UK news
No more free vapes for kids
A loophole that allows retailers to give free samples of vapes to children in England is set to be closed under new plans announced by the Prime Minister today to clamp down on youth vaping | Department of Health and Social Care, The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, and Neil O'Brien MP, UK
Vaping: Government plans underage crackdown
A loophole allowing retailers to give free vape samples to children is set to be closed under government plans to curb their use among young people | BBC, UK
Ministers urged to ban single-use vapes amid rising popularity with UK children
As many as 15% of 11- to 15-year-olds use vapes, experts suggest, with products often packaged in bright colours | Guardian, UK
Alcohol harms by local area (Scotland)
The local area profiles highlight the number of people drinking over the recommended low-risk guidelines, the number of hospital admissions and deaths as a result of alcohol, and the cost of alcohol harm to the public purse, among other key facts | Alcohol Focus Scotland, UK
Seaham: 'Heroin treatment let me continue recovery journey'
When he was 11, James Fowler tried drugs for the first time. By 20, he was using heroin and crack cocaine. His story from that point is grimly familiar to many struggling with addiction - he became estranged from his family, robbed and begged from people and spent time in prison. However, in 2019, his story took an unusual turn as he became one of the first and only people in England to receive free medical-grade heroin | BBC, UK
Five people die in two Glasgow 'drug den' hotels in just 19 days
Two of the victims were at the Rennie Mackintosh Station Hotel, including mum Charlene Biggley. Three others died at the Queens Park Hotel, which has been described as a “drug den” | Glasgow Live, UK
Keir Starmer slammed for 'playing political football' after U-turn on drug consumption rooms
The UK Labour leader has changed his mind on drug consumption rooms and now says he wouldn't stand in the way if he becomes Prime Minister – but one campaigner says anyone who thinks the plan will work is 'insane' | Scottish Daily Express, UK
North East has 'worst rates of alcohol-related hospital admissions' in England as report slams Government 'sleepwalking into a crisis'
Alcohol-related health issues are 'going in the wrong direction' as a new report lays bare how boozing causes more than 100 illnesses | Chronicle Live, UK
£7.25m backing for dementia-friendly pubs scheme
A scheme to introduce simple menus, training for staff and launch a Google map with dementia-friendly pubs charted on it has been backed with £7.25m funding by the UK Government | Morning Advertiser, UK
Using psychedelics for depression is exciting area, says ex-vaccines chief
Kate Bingham, who chaired UK’s Covid vaccine taskforce, tells Hay festival she hopes mind-altering drugs could treat mental illness | Guardian, UK
From Ritalin to Modafinil: your guide to taking study drugs safely
With deadlines mounting and exams looming, some university students will turn to stimulants to like Ritalin and Modafinil help them study – here’s how you can do so safel | Dazed Digital, UK
Sexual Intercourse: Drugs
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce risks to the (a) physical and (b) mental health of participants in chemsex | They work for you, UK
Man behind £135m cocaine empire is son of ex deputy police commissioner
[Possible paywall] Jonathan Arnold, 29, pleaded guilty after he was caught smuggling cocaine and ketamine in vehicles belonging to his fake removals business | Telegraph, UK
Birmingham arrests over heroin in pomegranate juice
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the contraband - with a street value of £38.8m - came into the UK mixed in with the bottled drink | BBC, UK
Belfast: Cannabis estimated to be worth £6m seized at port
Cannabis with an estimated street value of £6m has been seized at Belfast port, the National Crime Agency (NCA) says | BBC, UK
Three jailed for their roles in Harrogate county lines drugs operation
Qasib Hussain, 25, led a gang that bulk-messaged 2,901 drug users between July 2019 and February 2020, Leeds Crown Court heard on Friday | BBC, UK
International news
Global smoking and THR database
The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction maps the availability and use of safer nicotine products, regulatory responses to them, and the public health potential of tobacco harm reduction at the national, regional and global level. Our Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) Database is a daily updated, unique resource for anyone interested in how safer nicotine products are being used around the world | GSTHR, UK
Cannabis haul worth €3.9m seized in Dublin
Cannabis with an estimated street value of more than €3.9m (£3.389m ) has been seized by gardaí (Irish police) | BBC, UK
France struggles to stub out ‘explosion’ in contraband cigarettes
Criminal turf wars are a sign of deeper problems in country that has EU’s highest cigarette taxes | Guardian, UK
Peruvian police seize 58kg of cocaine bearing pictures of Nazi flag
Drugs found in shipment said to be destined for Belgium also had the name Hitler printed on them | Guardian, UK
Why Australia decided to quit its vaping habit
"The horse has bolted now, they are addicted," says Chris, a high school teacher in New South Wales | BBC, UK
Two men charged after police find $60m worth of cocaine in shipping container in Sydney
Police were called to a container logistics company in Port Botany after reports of a break and enter on Thursday night | Guardian, UK
Combined drug and mental health teams promised
Long-awaited services for people with dual diagnosis — with both mental health and drug issues — have been announced, but questions remain on implementation | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Vaping to be banned in Ireland for under-18s by mid-July
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to bring full legislation to Cabinet this week | Irish Times, Ireland
Highly potent drugs discovered at festival as phase two of HSE harm reduction testing begins
Warnings were issued as testing programme for summer 2023 events began at three-day weekend music event | Buzz, Ireland
Daughter of medicinal cannabis campaigner dies aged 13
Vera Twomey fought to secure access to medicines for Ava Barry, who had Dravet syndrome | Irish Times, Ireland
Philip Morris boss campaigns to sell more heated tobacco
US tobacco giant Philip Morris International is fighting to get Britain, France and other countries to make it easier to promote alternatives to cigarettes such as heated tobacco and vaping | France 24, France
Psychometric Performance of a Substance Use Symptom Checklist to Help Clinicians Assess Substance Use Disorder in Primary Care
In this cross-sectional study of 23 304 positive screens for daily cannabis or any other drug use, the 11-item checklist provided scaled, unidimensional information on the presence and severity of substance use disorder. The checklist performed well across patient age, sex, race, and ethnicity | JAMA Network Open, USA
Association of Selected State Policies and Requirements for Buprenorphine Treatment With Per Capita Months of Treatment
In this cross-sectional study using US county-level pharmacy claims data, educational requirements for buprenorphine prescribers beyond those required to obtain a waiver were associated with increased buprenorphine dispensing, as was continuing medical education related to substance misuse and addiction. Prescription drug monitoring programs, pain management clinic laws, and Medicaid policies had no association with buprenorphine dispensing | JAMA Network Open, USA
DEA moves to revoke major drug distributor's license over opioid crisis failures
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it will strip one of the nation's largest drug distributors of its license to sell and ship highly addictive painkillers within 90 days if some kind of negotiated settlement isn't reached | npr, USA
New Law Shapes Colorado’s Legal Psychedelics Landscape
The governor of Colorado has signed a bill to create a regulatory framework for legal psychedelics under a voter-approved initiative | Filter Magazine, USA
Vancouver to consider 2-year pilot that would allow indoor smoking at supervised consumption sites
To combat the toxic drug overdose crisis, Vancouver city staff are recommending that indoor smoking be allowed in supervised consumption sites. Vancouver has four federally-approved spaces where services such as supervision for the inhalation, injection, oral and intranasal consumption of drugs are offered | CTV News, Canada
The minimum unit price of alcohol in the Northern Territory
In an attempt to reduce heavy alcohol consumption and related harms, the Northern Territory government set a floor price for alcohol in October 2018. This price was set at $1.30 per unit of alcohol, 10 grams of pure alcohol or one standard drink. Two government evaluations and peer-reviewed research articles have directly examined the influence of the minimum unit price on alcohol consumption, and related harms in the three years following its implementation. This presentation discussed those findings, the difficulties of researching the minimum unit price, and what we do not know | NDARC, Australia
Study results prompt call for medicinal cannabis policy evaluation
A New Zealand study into the therapeutic benefits of cannabis has added to the growing body of evidence that it has positive effects on pain, sleeplessness and anxiety, researchers say. Of the 213 people in the study who were taking cannabis for therapeutic reasons, almost 96 per cent reported that taking cannabis helped them with a number of conditions, and 49 per cent said they had been able to reduce, or entirely stop their prescription medicine | University of Otago, New Zealand
Blogs, comment and opinion
Prevention and policy: hoping for a gathering storm and not a storm in a teacup
Anyone who has followed health policy in England over time will recognise the cycle of rhetoric about prevention. We see announcements of revolutionary approaches and then mostly inaction, punctuated by minor announcements, all for the cycle to start again | Kings Fund blog, UK
Terminally ill Britons deserve more access to experimental treatments
[Possible paywall] Let's seize the moment, as we peel back the layers of stultifying regulatory culture in our medical and research pipeline | Telegraph, UK
‘My instinct is to look for the gag’: Martha Watson Allpress takes Lady Dealer to the Edinburgh fringe
The writer of the acclaimed Patricia Gets Ready… returns with a lockdown-inspired comedy drama about a drug dealer having a power cut | Guardian, UK
In B.C., Alberta and around the world, forcing drug users into treatment is a violent policy
Intervention without human rights goes by many names — involuntary institutionalization, compulsory drug treatment, “coerced care,” forced abstinence or a combination of all of those terms. Involuntary treatment in the Global South has been labelled inhumane by rights-based organizations, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNAIDS and Human Rights Watch | Conversation, Canada