Home | Archive | Weekly | Reports

Daily news - 13th September 2023

UK news

Nitrous oxide: MPs approve bill to ban laughing gas possession

MPs passed the bill by 404 votes to 36, and it will now go to the House of Lords, where opposition is unexpected | BBC, UK

Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: April to June 2023

There were 600 suspected drug deaths during the first six months of 2023. This was 7% (38) higher than during the same period of 2022. After following a downward trend since early 2021, the rolling 12-month total number of suspected drug deaths has increased slightly in recent quarters | Scottish Government, UK

Glasgow drug consumption room could be approved ‘within weeks’

UK’s first pilot hailed as ‘life-saving’ expected to be approved after it goes before officials on 27 September | Guardian, UK

National naloxone programme Scotland - Quarterly monitoring bulletin

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on the number of take-home naloxone kits issued by the National Naloxone Programme (NNP) in Scotland. Figures are presented separately for kits issued from community outlets, kits issued in prisons at the point of liberation, kits dispensed via community prescription, and kits issued by Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) | Public Health Scotland, UK

Ban on single-use vapes in UK may ‘flood market with illegal products’

Ministers said to be planning to legislate against the devices because of concerns about children’s health | Guardian, UK

How dangerous is vaping - and why the concern over young vapers?

Calls for bans on cheaper disposable vapes have been growing as more young people take up the habit. The Welsh government has called on the UK government to prohibit the single-use vapes, saying it needs to be "part of a suite of measures to address youth vaping" | BBC, UK

E-cigarettes, Varenicline and Cytisine found to be the most effective stop-smoking aids

A comprehensive new analysis has found that nicotine e-cigarettes, varenicline and cytisine are the most effective options currently available for helping smokers quit long-term (going at least six months without smoking) | University of Oxford, UK

Patients feel misled by pledge of cannabis on NHS

A high-profile government climbdown which legalised a type of cannabis medicine on the NHS five years ago misled patients, campaigners say | BBC, UK

With You Announces Appointment of New CEO

With You is pleased to announce the appointment of Simon Phillips as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Simon will join With You from Macmillan Cancer Support, where most recently he has been Chief Operating Officer, with responsibility for strategy and performance alongside cancer support operations | With You, UK

Painkillers, addiction and me: One mother's story

Helen Dews has lived with chronic pain for almost 20 years. As well as a degenerative disc in her back, Helen also has two stomas and scar tissue. She says initially she was prescribed codeine and tramadol to try and tackle the pains which wracked her body, before she was moved on to morphine and fentanyl | BBC, UK

Electronic Cigarettes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of people who vape who were not formerly tobacco smokers | They work for you, UK

Kate Middleton gets a sniff-down from drug detection dog during prison visit

The Princess of Wales had an encounter with a drug detection labrador called Penny while visiting a Surrey prison to learn about the work of an addiction charity. Kate is a patron of The Forward Trust, which supports inmates at HMP High Down near Banstead, and was highlighting their work ahead of Addiction Awareness Week next month | Metro, UK

Salford: Vaping and smoking ban outside schools and in parks

Health chiefs are set to introduce smoking and vaping bans outside city schools and in parks. The ban comes amid concerns nicotine addiction rates in Salford are the highest in Greater Manchester | BBC, UK

Slug & Lettuce and Yates's owner to charge more at peak hours

The pub group that owns Slug & Lettuce and Yates's bars has said it will charge about 20p more per pint during peak hours due to cost increases | BBC, UK

New free legal support service for people at risk of losing their home

In August, the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS) was launched, a government funded scheme which provides free legal advice and representation (legal aid) to people facing the loss of their home | Homeless Link, UK

Londonderry: Protest staged over length of drug dealer sentences

A protest has been held outside Bishop Street Courthouse in Londonderry asking for longer sentences to be handed down to convicted drug dealers | BBC, UK

International news

Aid for the war on drugs

This report follows development aid being spent on narcotics control around the world. It calls on governments and donors to divest from punitive and prohibitionist drug control regimes which undermine their other health and human rights commitments, and invest in programmes which prioritise community, health and justice | HRI, UK

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which UK Government delegates will be attending the Europe Preparatory Meeting for the Tenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Turkey from 9 October 2023; and whether UK delegates plan to hold discussions on support for vaping and reduced risk products as an alternative to smoking at this meeting | They work for you, UK

Colombia cocaine: Cultivation reaches record high

The area planted with coca bushes in Colombia reached a record high last year, an annual report to the UN says. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that potential coca production had risen by 24% since 2021 | BBC, UK

Police seizure of drugs without arrest among people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada, before provincial ‘decriminalization’ of simple possession: a cohort study

Several jurisdictions in Canada have recently considered decriminalizing possession of illicit drugs for personal use (henceforth, simple possession) as part of their responses to the ongoing drug toxicity/overdose crisis. In this context, we sought to examine an early implementation case of a de facto depenalization policy of simple possession offences in Vancouver, Canada, that was enacted in 2006. Specifically, we characterized experiences of people who use drugs (PWUD) whose drugs were discretionally seized by police without arrest | Harm Reduction Journal, UK

Psychedelic treatment in mental health lacks evidence, Australian experts say

Monash University study reveals a hesitancy to support widespread use of psilocybin and MDMA due to concerns about poor quality of evidence | Guardian, UK

US drug overdose deaths more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2020, study finds

The United States is experiencing its highest overall death rates in more than a century, fueled in part by drug overdose mortality. The origins of the current epidemic are due, at least in part, to a 1986 World Health Organization pronouncement that pain treatment is a universal right. As such, cancer pain treatment guidelines were developed, which included the provision of opioids. In 1995, OxyContin was approved for the management of pain, paving the way for widespread prescription of opioids | Medical Xpress, USA

[Open access] Opioid overdose causes one in four deaths among people experiencing homelessness in Boston, MA. To reduce overdose risks, the experience and perspectives of people experiencing homelessness should be incorporated into housing, overdose prevention, and substance use treatment efforts | IJDP, USA

People who used e-cigarettes before pregnancy were more likely to stop smoking than those using nicotine replacement therapy

One of the first U.S. studies on maternal use of e-cigarettes suggests they could be a potential smoking cessation aid during pregnancy | University of Buffalo, USA

Your body's own cannabinoid molecules may calm you during stress

When you are under stress, your brain may release its own cannabinoid molecules to calm you down, activating the same brain receptors as THC derived from cannabis plants according to a new study | Medical Xpress, USA

Vape blitz leads to seizure of thousands of illegal e-cigarettes containing nicotine in SA

Nearly 5,000 vapes have been seized in a crackdown on illegal e-cigarettes by South Australian health authorities, who inspected 180 businesses across the state | abc.net.au, Australia

Effectiveness of nicotine salt vapes, cytisine, and a combination of these products, for smoking cessation in New Zealand: protocol for a three-arm, pragmatic, community-based randomised controlled trial

Combining short-acting nicotine replacement therapy with varenicline increases smoking cessation rates compared with varenicline alone, but not all people tolerate these medications or find them helpful. We aim to investigate the therapeutic potential of an analogous combination, by evaluating the effectiveness, safety, and acceptability of combining nicotine salt e-cigarettes with cytisine, compared to nicotine salt e-cigarettes or cytisine only, on smoking abstinence at six months | BMC Public Health, New Zealand

Blogs, comment and opinion

Alcohol deaths in Scotland continue to rise

Dr Alastair MacGilchrist, liver specialist and Chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) considers the possible explanations for, and implications of the latest statistics on alcohol deaths in Scotland | SHAAP, UK

A ‘responsible’ drinking campaign that features cocktail recipes?

Alcohol Focus Scotland is "deeply concerned" that the Scottish Government has pledged to support a whisky industry campaign to raise awareness about the alcohol content of drinks | Alcohol Focus Scotland, UK

Using Aid for War: $1 Billion Funnelled from Aid into Drug War Budgets

The latest report by Harm Reduction International (HRI) highlights how dozens of donors, led by the US and EU, have used international aid funding to fund “narcotics control” activities | Talking Drugs, UK

The heritage and evolution of Volteface

The word Volteface comes from the French word Voltafaccia, a combination of voltare, meaning ‘to turn’ and faccia ‘face’. In English it therefore describes a sudden and complete change of opinion or policy, the UK’s legalisation of cannabis in 2018 being a perfect example. From the outside a Volteface can look reactionary and at times be a surprising turn of events, but it does not necessarily mean the change of position is not considered or wreckless | Volteface, UK

You Are Not Alone

You Are Not Alone is the story of a mother and son. It recounts the devastating emotional impact of a teenager’s descent into the ravages of addiction, and the resulting agonies of his family | D Bickerton, UK

Is tobacco control the new Big Tobacco?

In their frantic opposition to safer forms of nicotine use, the tactics of tobacco control activists seem eerily familiar | Counterfactual, Australia

Extend Studio