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Daily news - 19th December 2024 |
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UK news
Deaths from alcohol at record high in England
There has been "a catastrophic rise" in deaths caused solely by alcohol in England over the past four years, prompting public-health experts to call for urgent action | BBC, UK
Reduce Demand for Illicit Substances - Phase 3 launch webinar
Jan 21, 2025 01:00 PM London. NIHR has launched Phase 3 of the Innovation Fund to Reduce the Demand for Illicit Substances. The funding opportunity aims to fund projects that address demand for recreational drugs and are thereby likely to lead to reduced drug use and dependency. The NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Specialist Centre for Public Health is hosting this online briefing event for prospective applicants. The webinar will provide information about the funding opportunity and the assessment process, and will give an introduction to the additional support NIHR can provide | NIHR, UK
Dry January: what are the benefits and drawbacks?
Is giving up alcohol for a month good for our health long-term, or can Dry January be harmful? An expert explains and provides tips to get you through | BBC GoodFood, UK
Via’s success and journey towards Hep C micro-elimination
We’re proud to share our Hepatitis C micro-elimination impact report for 2021-2024. At Via, working towards eliminating Hep C in our services is a key priority for us and our teams have been working tirelessly through enhanced testing, diagnosis and support, and ensuring that treatment pathways are available and accessible. Working in partnership with Gilead Sciences, and as part of the Drug Treatment Services Providers Forum, we’ve reached many milestones over the past 3 years | Via, UK
Recovery Walk Scotland 2024 - Glasgow - video
Recovery Walk Scotland is Scotland's biggest recovery event of the year. Over 2,000 people gathered in support of recovery in Glasgow Green on Saturday 12th October 2024, to honour those we have sadly lost to addiction, to connect with one another, to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of recovery from addiction | Scottish Recovery Consortium, UK
SDF Trends 2024, Scottish Ambulance Service 'Drug Harm Reduction' - video
Presentation on 'Drug Harm Reduction by Suzie Gallagher, Kira Watson & Kieran Whitford from the Scottish Ambulance Service. View and download the slides for the presentation here (PDF) | SDF, UK
SDF Trends 2024 Dr Hazel Torrance, Post Mortem Toxicology 'Challenges in Detecting New Substances' - video
Presentation on 'Post Mortem Toxicology: Challenges in Detecting New Substances' by Dr. Hazel Torrance, Head of Forensic Toxicology Service. View and download the slides for the presentation here (PDF) | SDF, UK
Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Allocations Announcement 2025/26
Statement made on 18 December 2024. We are taking action to support councils to deliver homelessness and rough sleeping services. In the Autumn Budget, we announced that funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This brings the total spend on homelessness and rough sleeping to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26, a record level of funding | UK Parliament, UK
Charities warn homelessness services will close if National Insurance hike goes ahead
Charities have warned that homelessness services will close if the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions goes ahead | Inside Housing, UK
Prisoner died in fire after smoking spice
The "truly shocking" death of a prisoner who set himself on fire in his cell while trying to smoke the drug spice has led to heavy criticism from the prisons watchdog | BBC, UK
100mph laughing gas driver jailed for killing friends
A driver who was filmed inhaling laughing gas behind the wheel before a high-speed crash has been jailed for killing three teenage friends | BBC, UK
International news
The Swedish sobriety secret: dry December – and off-licences shut on a Saturday night
For decades, the authorities in Sweden have encouraged people to drink responsibly – and with a state alcohol monopoly, strict rules and growing abstinence, they seem to be succeeding | Guardian, UK
A World of Harm: How U.S. taxpayers fund the global war on drugs over evidence-based responses - video
Harm Reduction International and Drug Policy Alliance launched the report "A World of Harm: How U.S. taxpayers fund the global war on drugs over evidence-based health responses". Listen to Collen Daniels, Kassandra Frederique, Myra Mabilin and Rebeca Calzada on the global effects of the war on drugs funded by the U.S | HRI, UK
Fans to be banned from drinking alcohol in stadiums at Saudi World Cup
Football fans will be banned from drinking alcohol in stadiums at the 2034 World Cup after last week’s controversial award of the tournament to Saudi Arabia | Guardian, UK
NSW agrees to pill testing trial at music festivals amid calls from experts to decriminalise drugs
Government’s 12-month trial follows years of pressure from health advocates to introduce pill testing and end ‘harmful’ drug policing practices | Guardian, UK
No methanol or illicit drugs in alcohol served at Fijian resort where Australians fell ill, tests find
Australia urged to remove the word ‘spike’ from its recently upgraded travel warning to the popular Pacific holiday destination | Guardian, UK
Cooperation with the Western Balkans: first national drug datasheets unveiled
The European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) has launched its first set of Western Balkan datasheets, offering the latest overview of the drug situation in the region. The online datasheets provide a comprehensive summary of drug use, supply and drug-related harms and responses in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. They include detailed descriptions of key indicators, alongside data tables and interactive graphics designed to enhance visualisation and user engagement | EUDA, Portugal
DrugNet Europe - December 2024
Latest news round-up. This issue focuses on our Management Board elections, job opportunities, new datasets, upcoming events and multilingual content | EUDA, Portugal
The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) National Estimates from Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, 2023
The frequency of substance-related visits increased by 5.8 percent compared to estimates in 2022. Rates of all substance-related ED visits from participating hospitals were highest among individuals with the following characteristics: males (2,668 per 100,000), individuals who were not Hispanic or Latino (2,391 per 100,000), and Black individuals, after accounting for the underlying population (4,053 per 100,000 versus 1,736 per 100,000 in the next highest subpopulation). The top substances reported were alcohol, cannabis, opioids, methamphetamines, cocaine, and benzodiazepines | SAMHSA, USA
Fact Sheet: Why Overdose Deaths Are Decreasing
Overdose deaths in the United States dropped by nearly 17% between July 2023 and July 2024. However, over 93,000 people died of drug overdose in that period, more than the number of people who died from vehicle-caused accidents or firearms combined. This remains an urgent public health issue that requires evidence-based solutions | DPA, USA
Perspectives on Diversion of Medications From Safer Opioid Supply Programs
Diversion encompasses a wide spectrum of practices (selling, sharing, and loss of medications), and occurs for complex reasons that surveillance and punitive measures are unlikely to mitigate. Diversion may be best addressed by expanding medication options to better match patients’ diverse substance use needs and high tolerance, alongside wraparound social supports | JAMA Network Open, USA
Frontal White Matter Changes and Craving Recovery in Inpatients With Heroin Use Disorder
This cohort study of inpatients with HUD on medication-assisted treatment found whole-brain normalization of structural connectivity in frontal white matter pathways implicated in emotional regulation and top-down executive control. Observed associations with decreases in baseline craving further support the possibility of recovery, highlighting the relevance of these white matter markers to a major symptom of addiction, with implications for clinical outcome monitoring | JAMA Network Open, USA
A systematic review of the reasons for quitting and/or reducing alcohol among those who have received alcohol use disorder treatment
[Open access] Asked by researchers, what do patients and clients say led them to stop drinking excessively? Reviewers found that the most common types of reasons are also reported by people who cut back without treatment, suggesting these “are fundamental and are not a result of treatment alone” | Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports, USA
Understanding the Implications of the Taliban’s Opium Ban in Afghanistan
The Taliban’s opium ban, coupled with Afghan farmers’ replacement of poppy largely with low-value wheat, is likely to worsen dissatisfaction and political tensions. The Taliban’s persistence in enforcing the ban has been notable, especially in 2024. If the ban remains in place, it would demonstrate the regime’s strength but also worsen rural poverty, increase dissatisfaction among landholders and spur political instability | USIP, USA
Screening with telephone-based intervention reduces risky alcohol use in Texas study
Researchers from Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin successfully implemented a screening and telephone-based intervention program for unhealthy alcohol use at a large Federally Qualified Health Center system in Texas. The study demonstrated significant reductions in alcohol use among a diverse adult patient population, including those insured through county-based programs for otherwise uninsured or low-income individuals | Medical Xpress, USA
Why I Report on Tobacco Harm Reduction
Tobacco harm reduction, which I’ve been covering as a journalist for a couple of years now, has often felt a strange space to work in. Polarizing, compassionate, full of justified hope, yet often dispiriting. Beset with hostility and falsehoods, yet fascinating. People who smoked cigarettes and then found tobacco harm reduction (THR) often talk about their “journey.” And that’s how I’ve come to see my work: a purposeful journey, with surprises around the corners | Filter Magazine, USA
New Jersey Governor Issues Pardons for Dozens of Drug-War Convictions
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) has announced pardons for dozens of people with older convictions, most of whom had drug convictions. It highlights the power elected officials have to reverse the impact of the drug war—and the need for them to use it more | Filter Magazine, USA
Living On
Living On is an experimental film project series that brings together young people who use(d) drugs, researcher Danya Fast, and filmmakers in Vancouver. Imagined in collaboration with the youth narrator, these short films allow young people to author and illustrate their own stories about drug use, recovery, care, overdose and living through loss. They move beyond familiar, often stigmatizing, images of drug use in Vancouver in order to develop alternative visual vocabularies for telling these stories | BCCSU, Canada
UQ research aims to improve fetal alcohol spectrum disorder diagnosis
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can be difficult to diagnose, but University of Queensland researchers have established the most scientific approach to detecting the disorder | University of Queensland, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Beyond the ‘Wine Mum’: Understanding Midlife Women’s Drinking
Alcohol use among midlife women (late 30s to 50s) has received increased attention in research recently. Alongside this, popular representations of “wine mums” – stressed caregivers who turn to wine for relief – have grown. But is this stereotype accurate or helpful? Our study delved into the complexities of drinking among several Australian women to explore how their day-to-day lives and identities shape their drinking habits | IAS blog, UK
COP16: How The Global Drug War Drives Environmental and Indigenous Harms
This October was the Conference of the Parties (COP) 16 to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Colombia, which I attended with the International Coalition on Drug Policy Reform and Environmental Justice to promote the Coalition’s report, “Revealing the Missing Link to Climate Justice: Drug Policy”. | Talking Drugs, UK