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Daily news - 5th August 2024 |
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UK news
Exclude drinks industry from alcohol policy planning, UK campaigners urge
Drinks business accused of ‘interfering’ with past efforts to reduce harms as alcohol deaths hit record high | Guardian, UK
Fentanyl and Nitazenes: Health Hazards
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to educate the drug using community on the risks of (a) nitazine and (b) fentanyl | They work for you, UK
Drugs: Misuse
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of illicit drug deaths | They work for you, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Minimum Unit Prices
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of minimum pricing for alcohol. Any new plans to reduce alcohol harm will be announced in Parliament in the normal way. There are no such plans at present | They work for you, UK
Alcoholism: Women
To ask His Majesty's Government how many clinical diagnoses of alcoholism there were for women in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, (4) 2022, and (5) 2023 | They work for you, UK
Foetal alcohol syndrome: Why fathers need to watch what they drink too
A father's alcohol consumption has long been overshadowed by the focus on what a mother drinks. But that could be about to change following new research | BBC, UK
Suicidal Ideation in Medicinal Cannabis Patients: A 12-Month Prospective Study
To document the prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation (SI) among individuals seeking cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs); to test whether SI declines or intensifies after three months of CBMP treatment and to document 12-month trajectories of depression in those reporting SI and other patients | Drug Science, UK
Revolution in the air: how laughing gas changed the world – podcast
Since its discovery in the 18th century, nitrous oxide has gone from vaudeville gimmick to pioneering anaesthetic to modern party drug | Guardian, UK
Alcohol duty frozen in proposed 2025 budget [Jersey]
Single person tax allowances are set to increase and alcohol and fuel duty will be frozen under new proposals in the 2025 Government Budget - subject to approval by the States Assembly | BBC, UK
Frank Skinner looks back: ‘I liked being famous – I felt noticed for the first time. But at some point it has to end’
The comic on his nightmarish first gigs, how he finally became sober, and dying by his own sword | Guardian, UK
Seven people a day held over drink or drug-driving - police
Over 2,600 people have been arrested for drink or drug-driving offences in Lancashire in the last 12 months | BBC, UK
Warning after euthanasia drugs taken from vet's van
Officers are concerned that the drugs can cause serious illness or even death if consumed by humans | BBC, UK
Son murdered dad in drink and drug-fuelled rage
A man who beat his father to death in his own home after consuming cocaine and drinking alcohol has been given a life sentence | BBC, UK
International news
Singapore hangs man for trafficking 36g of heroin
Singapore’s narcotics bureau says convict was ‘accorded full due process under law’ | Independent, UK
Drug Consumption Rooms in Europe – Operational Overview
The study aims to provide an overview of the range, scope and structure of care services for people who use drugs currently provided by drug consumption rooms in Europe. To this end, the study: describes the operational characteristics, capacities and services of DCRs in Europe, as well as their settings and client characteristics; identifies recent developments in the operational characteristics, capacities and services of DCRs in Europe | C-EHRN, The Netherlands
The recovery experiences of homeless service users with substance use disorder: A systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis
The relationship between homelessness and substance use disorder (SUD) is layered and complex. Adults pursuing recovery while dealing with homelessness and SUD face many challenges. Little research has inspected qualitative first-person accounts of recovery in the context of homelessness and SUD, and few studies have employed conceptualisations of recovery beyond abstinence. In this systematic review study, we examine the qualitative literature on the recovery experiences of adult homeless service users with SUD | IJDP, USA
Sowing the Seeds of Division in Badakhshan
A second consecutive year of a poppy ban in Afghanistan, but at what price? | Alcis, USA
New Zealand Boosts Heated Tobacco Products for Harm Reduction
New Zealand has halved its excise tax on heated tobacco products—a move which many experts say boosts the country’s emergence as a world leader in tobacco harm reduction | Filter Magazine, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
The drug market is at the centre of the prisons crisis – here is what we can do to tackle it
Today (2 August), I had the privilege of attending the latest graduation event at our ‘Y Bont’ programme in HMP Swansea. This intensive 12-step drug/alcohol recovery programme aims to equip prisoners (whose offending is addiction-related), with the strength and skills to live a drug and crime-free life | Forward Trust blog, UK
What Happens When Abortion Medication is Criminalised?
On 9th May 2022, just one week after Politico leaked the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Vanessa Williamson and John Hudak at the Brookings Institute made an ominous prediction. “History suggests that the prospective anti-abortion laws are likely to echo the ‘War on Drugs,’” they wrote. “They will not eliminate the behaviour that is outlawed, but will, through biased, targeted enforcement, disproportionately harm poor people and people of colour.” | Talking Drugs, UK