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Daily news - 2nd October 2023 |
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UK news
Response to ACMD advice on NHS England electronic prescribing proposal
The government responds to a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) regarding NHS England proposals on electronic prescribing | Home Office, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and The Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, UK
Queen Mary and Tower Hamlets unite to reduce the risks of nitrous oxide misuse
“Nitrous oxide (NOX/N2O) can damage your spinal cord and cause serious, permanent disability” - that is the message to young people in Tower Hamlets as part of a programme to highlight the consequences of using the drug | QMUL, UK
Alcohol prizes banned from Glasgow school tombolas
All Glasgow schools have been banned from having any alcohol on their premises, including bottles of wine at fundraising tombolas | BBC, UK
Disposable vapes ban ‘will hamper efforts to cut cigarette smoking’
[Possible paywall] Conservative party expected to outlaw single-use vapes at its conference to stop children becoming addicted | Telegraph, UK
Alcohol and Drug Deaths (“See Beyond — See the Lives — Scotland” Campaign)
Motion debated, That the Parliament notes the campaign, See Beyond - See the Lives - Scotland, developed by the University of Stirling, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) and the Salvation Army... | They work for you, UK
Sober October
Macmillan Cancer Support is here to do whatever it takes to support people living with cancer in the UK, but we can’t do it without you. So we're asking you to get involved in Sober October by going alcohol-free for the month of October, to raise money for people with cancer | MacMillan Cancer Support, UK
Stoptober - Quit smoking this Stoptober
Free tools, tips and support to help people stop smoking | NHA, UK
Concern as thousands of teens in Telford try vapes
Telford & Wrekin Council said more than 1,900 11 to 17-year-olds in the borough, were estimated to have experimented with vaping in 2023 | BBC, UK
North Somerset residents undergo “life-saving” dental transformation
Nine North Somerset residents who are in drug and alcohol recovery have received transformative dental work which has been described as “lifesaving”, thanks to a collaboration between North Somerset Council and local drug and alcohol support service, With You | With You, UK
Recovery Games 2023 Full Day Coverage - video
As Recovery month draws to an end Recovery Games 2023 tenth anniversary film is out. Many thanks to all the people, sponsors, supporters, teams and friends of recovery for being part of the games, taking part and showing that recovery can happen, is fun and does not need to be stigmatising | Aspire, UK
Mental Health in Academia with Dr Meg Spriggs - podcast
In this episode, Meg Spriggs shares her firsthand experience dealing with the challenges mental health while pursuing her studies in academia. She candidly talks about the difficulties she faced with anorexia and mood disorders which led to her investigating the potential of psilocybin for treating Anorexia Nervosa | Drug Science, UK
International news
Two men charged over cocaine seizure off Cork coast
The drugs, which Gardaí (Irish police) said have an estimated street value of €150m, were taken from a bulk cargo ship off County Cork on Wednesday | BBC, UK
‘I became a mafia drug dealer aged 10. Now I try to help children avoid the same fate’
Children in Scampia, a crime-ridden Naples suburb, face a scary ignorance ‘that normalises organised crime’, says Davide Cerullo. He uses nature, poetry, animals and stories to help them combat it | i news, UK
Inside San Francisco's 'poison pipeline' – ground zero of California's deadly fentanyl epidemic
[Possible paywall] New addiction treatment bill set to tackle abuse affecting everywhere from downtown San Francisco to one of richest US counties | Telegraph, UK
Family files lawsuit over teen’s suicide after he was arrested and expelled for having vape pen at school
‘Jase told us he was handcuffed and shackled. I can only imagine as a kid that cared so much for others to know that – that happened to him, and people could see that,’ his mother said | Independent, UK
US Navy will start testing elite Seals for illicit drug use
The US Navy will begin random drug testing of its special operations forces amid widespread concerns over the use of performance-enhancing drugs | BBC, UK
Two die after attending Sydney music festival as 10 others taken to hospital
Police have not ruled out possible drug overdoses but say they are looking at ‘all avenues’ of investigat | Guardian, UK
‘Predatory’ shops are selling lollies and vapes to children across Australia, with no date set for import ban
From the outside, the stores look like “every child’s dream”, says University of Sydney tobacco control expert Prof Becky Freeman | Guardian, UK
‘I’m a better musician than I ever was a drug dealer’: rapper Potter Payper on leaving prison behind
The UK’s hottest hip-hop star missed the launch of his debut album when he returned to jail for the 15th time. There’s more to him than his troubled past | Guardian, UK
Young persons behaviour & attitudes survey 2022: substance use (smoking, alcohol & drugs)
The Young Persons Behaviour & Attitudes Survey (YPBAS) is a school based survey carried out among 11-16 year olds (school years 8 to 12). It is commissioned jointly by a number of government departments and includes questions on a wide range of topics. Eight rounds of the survey have now taken place: 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2022. This publication presents an overview of the smoking, alcohol and drugs modules from the 2022 survey | Department of Health, Ireland
FASDcare: understanding the experiences and needs of family caregivers of people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in Ireland
Our new report shines a light on the lives, challenges and support needs of families raising children and young people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders here in Ireland. The FASDcare study is the first of its kind in Ireland and included a survey of 70 caregivers | Alcohol Forum Ireland, Ireland
First culturally adapted EUPC training course in Portuguese delivered in Brazil
This week, the first culturally adapted European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC)basic training course in Portuguese was delivered online for 22 Brazilian participants | EMCDDA, Portugal
DrugNet Europe - September
Monthly drug policy news round-up from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction | EMCDDA, Portugal
Exploring dog ownership in the lives of people with substance use disorder: a qualitative study
[Open access] Recovery from substance use is commonly seen as a process of integrating social relationships and creating a sense of meaning in one’s life. Dog owners describe a close relationship with their dog that impacts many aspects of their everyday life. Yet for individuals with substance use disorder (SUD), little is known about how dog ownership could affect their lives. The aim of this study was to explore how people living with SUD experience and describe their everyday life when owning a dog | Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, Norway
Reducing the harms of xylazine: clinical approaches, research deficits, and public health context
[Open access] Xylazine has emerged as a consistent part of the unregulated drug supply in recent months. We discuss major domains of xylazine’s harm, current knowledge deficits, clinical and harm reduction strategies for minimizing harm, and xylazine’s public health and policy context. As an interdisciplinary team from across the USA, we have pooled our knowledge to provide an overview of xylazine’s current and emerging contexts | Harm Reduction Journal, USA
Officials agree: Use settlement funds to curb youth addiction. But the 'how' gets hairy
When three teenagers died of fentanyl overdoses last year in Larimer County, Colorado, it shocked the community and "flipped families upside down," said Tom Gonzales, the county's public health director | Medical Xpress, USA
In US, this year's back-to-school supplies include Narcan
Before Jackson Danzig leaves the house each morning, he makes sure his backpack is filled with the usual high school necessities: books, homework, lunch—and the Narcan sitting on his bedside table | Medical Xpress, USA
‘Out of control’: new findings suggest NSW Police aren’t abiding by strip search procedures
With festival season kicking off this weekend, new data has revealed a disturbing trend about police drug detection dogs | News.com.au, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Voices of Recovery
Early on in my recovery journey, I found a resource online that helped me connect to others in recovery. Back then you generally had to look outside treatment if you wanted to do that. That resource was called Wired In. Piloted by Prof David Clark, Wired In empowered people to recover from substance use problems. That’s where I started writing about recovery regularly and where I found my wider recovery voice | Recovery Review blog, UK
Turning Point's response to government's naloxone recommendations and overdose prevention centre
Clare Taylor, Chief Operating Officer at Turning Point responds to the publication of the Government response to the ACMD’s recommendations on naloxone and the news that the UK’s first overdose prevention centre has had the green light in Glasgow | Turning Point, UK
Disposable vapes and the race to prohibition
As an enthusiastic and prolific vaper, I have mixed feelings about disposable e-cigarettes. For the last two years I have watched the rapid ascent of Geek Bars, Elf Bars and Lost Marys with a sinking feeling that a tabloid panic was on its way. It arrived this summer | The Critic, UK
Harm reduction in Canada versus the UK: one researcher’s takeaways from visiting British Columbia
Dr Hannah Carver was awarded an SSA travelling scholarship to visit harm reduction services in Canada that are ‘either limited or non-existent’ in the UK, including drug checking services, drug consumption rooms, and managed alcohol programmes. Here, she blogs about her trip – the people she met, the interventions she witnessed, and what she learned about harm reduction | SSA blog, UK
Drug consumption rooms: Why Scotland needs more than just one pilot centre in Glasgow – Meg Jones
The evidence is clear that overdose prevention centres, also known as drug consumption rooms, save lives, but running two pilots would allow comparisons that would help establish best practice | Scotsman, UK
Alcohol labelling: evidence-based health policy in action
HRB evidence and analysis have been instrumental in informing the decision makers shaping Ireland's new alcohol labelling regulations. In this blog post, Research Officer Anne Doyle explains the data underpinning this landmark legislation - and the importance of making people aware of the facts around alcohol consumption so they can make informed health choices | HRB blog, Ireland