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Daily news - 4th October 2023 |
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UK news
DDN October 2023 - out now
With Mental Health Awareness Day this month, we’re looking at some key areas of support. Our cover story explores moral injury (p6) – an area we haven’t talked about directly before, but which traces a clear path from combat-related experiences to escaping trauma through substances. Veterans make up a significant part of our DDN community and we hope that this will open up more dialogue with Combat Stress and the other support charities who are ready with highly skilled interventions. Meanwhile, the more we understand the reasons for young people’s substance use, the better equipped we are to help them cope with the effects of adversity, abuse and exploitation and can aim for the essential ‘whole school’ approach (p12) | DDN, UK
HIV testing, PrEP, new HIV diagnoses and care outcomes for people accessing HIV services: 2023 report
This report presents data on HIV testing, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), new HIV diagnoses, late diagnoses, and the care outcomes for people accessing HIV services. Data is mostly focused on activity in 2022 in England | UKHSA, UK
Vaping: New study launched into long-term impact on vascular health
A new study, which will take 18 months to complete, will investigate the body's response to e-cigarettes. Specifically, researchers will look at the blood vessels | Sky News, UK
In-cell videos to inform and inspire prison clients
Forward is working with HMPPS to produce videos and podcasts that prisoners can listen to and watch in their cells. Featuring the voice of ‘lived experience’, the content ranges from information to raise awareness of the dangers of misusing substances, to inspirational stories of recovery and rehabilitation | Forward Trust, UK
How to do Britain’s boozy party conferences sober
Conference season can be a minefield for people swerving drunken antics | Politico, UK
Let's Talk About Addiction - Register for our Event
November 2nd (7:00pm - 8:45pm). This eventwill be a platform for open, honest, and compassionate conversations about addiction and recovery. It's an opportunity to bring together family, friends, and colleagues to share experiences, raise awareness, and foster understanding about a topic that affects us all | Action on Addiction, UK
Man pleads guilty over York schoolboy's drugs death
A man has admitted conspiring to supply drugs after the death of a 15-year-old boy who had taken ecstasy. Josh Reeson became ill on Fulford Road, York, in September 2020 and died in hospital two days later | BBC, UK
Scarborough drug dealer who used teenager to sell cocaine is jailed
A drug dealer who used a 17-year-old boy to sell cocaine on his behalf has been jailed for four years | BBC, UK
International news
Four men in court over Cork drugs seizure
Four more men have appeared in court charged in connection to last week's cocaine seizure off the Irish coast | BBC, UK
Why we know so little about cannabis – and why scientists are worried
While research on marijuana has surged in the last 20 years, our understanding of the drug is decades behind that of other substances, like tobacco and alcohol | New Scientist, UK
Jamaica: Children in hospital after eating cannabis sweets
More than 60 children have been taken to hospital in Jamaica after eating sweets containing cannabis, the country's education minister said | BBC, UK
EMCDDA-Europol Webinar: EU Drug Markets – focus on amphetamine
This webinar provides an overview of the EU amphetamine market, from production and trafficking, to distribution and use. The speakers will discuss the processes, materials and actors involved at different stages and levels of the market. Some attention will also be dedicated to captagon production and trafficking. Finally, key issues will be defined and recommendations for action at EU and Member State level will be provided | EMCDDA, Portugal
Study shows most adolescent vapers do not use cessation resources
Hongying Daisy Dai, Ph.D., from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and colleagues examined the prevalence and associations of sociodemographic factors, vaping behaviors, and harm perception with the adoption of different vaping cessation methods among current e-cigarette users who made one or more quit attempt in the past 12 months from the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) | Medical Xpress, USA
The WAGER, Vol. 28(10) – Trends in gambling and alcohol use between 2009 and 2019 among Finnish adolescents
Adolescence is a developmental period during which risky behaviors—such as gambling and alcohol use—tend to emerge. In Finland, gambling and alcohol use among underage adolescents is common. Advising adolescents on the potential harms of risky behaviors is important because gambling at an early age is associated with a greater risk of developing addictive behaviors such as problem gambling and alcohol dependence later in life. This week, the WAGER reviews a study by Tiina Latvala and colleagues that examined trends in the relationship between adolescent gambling and alcohol use between genders over time | BASIS, USA
How to Unite the Psychedelic and Harm Reduction Movements?
Who here is a drug user?” asked Maurice Byrd, co-director of the Harm Reduction Therapy Center (HRTC) in San Francisco and a private-practice psychedelic therapist. At some psychedelic conferences, the majority of hands might remain down. Psychedelics aren’t drugs, the common narrative goes, they’re medicine | Filter Magazine, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
E-cigarettes: a double-edged sword in the battle to stop smoking
This blog is written by Turning Point Hammersmith & Fulham’s Stop Smoking Service lead Stephen Adeniyi for Stoptober. It discusses the ongoing debate surrounding electronic cigarettes, which has polarised opinions of their use to stop smoking over the last decade | Turning Point blog, UK
Are hallucinogenic drugs losing their stigma?
The UK seems on the brink of a ‘psychedelic renaissance’ – but, stripped of shamanic ritual and sanitised for medicinal purposes, will psilocybin retain its power? | Spectator, UK
Partnerships for change: tackling binge drinking and alcohol related crime
Binge drinking and alcohol related crime across the UK has fallen significantly in recent years. Alcohol-related violent crime has fallen by almost half (47%) in Britain since 2009/10 (ONS, September 2020 / Scottish Government, March 2021). Whilst binge drinking* among UK drinkers has fallen by over a quarter (29%) in the last decade (Health Survey for England, December 2022 / Scottish Health Survey, January 2021; *drinking over 6-8 units in a single session) | Portman Group blog, UK
Whistling in the Wind: The Inevitable Return of Poppy Cultivation to Afghanistan
There is now little doubt that farmers across vast swathes of the country abandoned opium production this year. Most notable is the dramatic fall in cultivation in the province of Helmand, where typically as much as half of Afghanistan’s poppy crop is grown. Here cultivation fell an astounding 99% from 129,000 hectares in 2022 to only 740 hectares twelve months later | Alcis, UK
Psychedelics plus psychotherapy can trigger rapid changes in the brain − new research at the level of neurons is untangling how
The human brain can change – but usually only slowly and with great effort, such as when learning a new sport or foreign language, or recovering from a stroke. Learning new skills correlates with changes in the brain, as evidenced by neuroscience research with animals and functional brain scans in people. Presumably, if you master Calculus 1, something is now different in your brain. Furthermore, motor neurons in the brain expand and contract depending on how often they are exercised – a neuronal reflection of “use it or lose it.” | Conversation, USA