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Daily news - 8th February 2024

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UK news

Tuesday 6 February 2024, Health and Social Care Committee: Oral evidence, Prevention in Health and Social care - video

On Tuesday 6th February, the Health and Social Care Select Committee heard evidence from Hazel Cheeseman, Deputy Chief Executive, Action Against Smoking; Asma Khalil, Vice President for Academia and Strategy, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG); Professor Peter Hajek, Director of Health and Lifestyle Research Unit, Wolfson Institute of Population Health Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London about preventing the harms caused by tobacco | UK Parliament, UK

Psychedelic-assisted therapy to treat anxiety disorders

Parliamentary briefing. How are anxiety disorders treated, how successful are current treatments and what is the potential role for psychedelic-assisted therapy? | UK Parliament, UK

Vapes could contain 'Spice' type drug, warn Public Health Wales

Vapes could contain a 'Spice' type drug, health experts warn. Public health officials claim there are "dangers" from illegal vape liquids and "highly potent" counterfeit prescription drugs | North Wales Live, UK

Psychedelic experiences linked with improved sexual function

Magic mushrooms, LSD and other psychoactive compounds may help to improve sexual function for months after the psychedelic experience | Imperial College London, UK

Electronic Cigarettes: Advertising

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to take steps to restrict the advertising of vapes at (a) sporting venues, (b) on packaging and (c) at point of sale | They work for you, UK

Alcohol brief interventions for people with cognitive decline

Tuesday, March 12 · 3:30 - 4:30pm GMT. Join our webinar to hear from Dr Philippa Case and her team about her recent systematic review, carried out in collaboration between the University of Hull and University of Kent. The review explored alcohol brief interventions for older adults experiencing cognitive decline | IAS, UK

Magilligan Prison: Drug use not being tackled sufficiently - report

There has been "insufficient progress" dealing with the problem of drug use at Magilligan Prison near Limavady, a report has found | BBC, UK

Hundreds of cannabis plants found in Droitwich raid

Hundreds of cannabis plants with an estimated street value of £410,000 have been found in an industrial unit | BBC, UK

International news

A cluster analysis of European life in recovery data: what are the typical patterns of recovery experience?

[Open access] There is little research around recovery pathways and how they cluster together by individual and situational factors according to time in recovery. This paper uses a cluster analysis with data from the European Life in Recovery (LiR) survey to produce typologies of recovery pathways around stages of recovery: early (<1year), sustained (1-5years), and stable (>5years). A secondary aim was to explore evidence of national variations among clusters | DEPP, UK

[Open access] Adolescent alcohol consumption is detrimental to multiple facets of health. However, there is a scarcity of data available on time trends in adolescents' alcohol consumption particularly from non-Western countries and low- and middle-income countries. Thus, we examined the temporal trend of alcohol use in a large representative sample of school-going adolescents aged 12–15 years from 22 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas | Journal Adolescent Health, UK

Boy, 13, dies from accidental fentanyl overdose

The teenager’s death comes amid a surge in fentanyl deaths, including among children, across the US | Independent, UK

'People will keep dying': Fentanyl crisis grips Mexico's border cities

The scene which greeted Tijuana's paramedics as they entered 'La Perla' bar in the early hours of the morning was grim. Two men were unconscious - a heavy-set man sprawled on the floor, his friend slumped in a chair - both clinging to life by a thread. Once more, the city's emergency services had been called out following a suspected fentanyl overdose - increasingly part of every nightshift, says paramedic Gabriel Valladares | BBC, UK

NSW to consider medicinal cannabis expansion and drug law reform as hemp industry tipped to boom

Exclusive: Agriculture minister Tara Moriarty flags opportunity for hemp farmers ahead of formation of agriculture taskforce to drive growth | Guardian, UK

Albanese government condemns ‘widespread marketing’ of nicotine pouches to young people

Regulated in Australia as prescription medicines, nicotine pouches are being promoted on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook | Guardian, UK

Antidepressant use higher for women around breakups than men – study

Women may find it harder to adjust to relationship splits later in life, according to a Danish study, with men more likely to re-partner | Guardian, UK

Why Isn’t Tobacco Harm Reduction Prioritized for Unhoused People?

People experiencing homelessness are among a number of marginalized groups who remain acutely vulnerable to smoking-related harms, even as global smoking prevalence has declined. In the United Kingdom, for example, where the smoking rate has fallen significantly, 14.5 percent of the adult population smokes. Yet evidence suggests that among unhoused people, the rate is a staggering 76-85 percent | Filter Magazine, USA

Trends in Current Electronic Cigarette Use Among Youths by Age, Sex, and Race and Ethnicity

This cross-sectional study found a substantial increase in youth e-cigarette use prevalence in the early 2010s, peaking in 2019 and declining during the early 2020s to still-concerning levels. From 2021 to 2022, use increased for certain groups, such as Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black youths. Temporal e-cigarette use trends by age, sex, and race and ethnicity highlight disparate groups that require tobacco prevention services | JAMA Network Open, USA

Homelessness leads to more drug, alcohol poisoning deaths

Reducing homelessness by 25% could save almost 2,000 lives lost to opioid overdoses, according to new research from the University of Georgia | EurekAlert, USA

New data show a third of states restrict access to lifesaving medicine for opioid use disorder

Amid an overdose crisis that claimed more than 100,000 lives last year alone, newly released data show that laws in more than one-third of states restrict access to buprenorphine, a lifesaving treatment for opioid use disorder | Medical Xpress, USA

Many hookah manufacturers have not complied with FDA-mandated nicotine warning labels, finds study

Since August 2018, the US Food & Drug Administration has mandated that all hookah (also known as waterpipe tobacco or shisha) manufacturers include a nicotine warning on their packaging to communicate the harms of the tobacco in their products | Medical Xpress, USA

Opioid agonist treatment and trust in the community pharmacy setting: a qualitative study of perceptions and experiences

[Open access] Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) in New South Wales Australia involves prescribed consumption of methadone or buprenorphine formulations and is commonly accessed through community pharmacies. People with a history of drug use often feel mistrusted and this can deter them from starting or staying in treatment. This study sought pharmacist and consumer perspectives to understand how treatment engagement can be best supported | DEPP, Australia

Changes to vaping rules in Australia

You might have heard Australia is ‘banning’ vaping. But what does this mean? And what effect will the changes have? Here, we breakdown the changes that are happening – and what you can do if you, or someone you know, are impacted | ADF, Australia

Should Drugs Be Legalised? | Stephen Bright, PhD - video

Could psychedelics be the answer to the mental health crisis? Join me in Episode #299 as I sit down with psychologist and academic, Dr Stephen Bright, to examine the prevalence of drug usage, what this means in the context of mental health, and how psilocybin and MDMA might be the future of mental health treatment | The Proof, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

Can a health case sustain a new Public Health Supplement in Scotland?

Following a Scottish Government announcement that it is considering reintroducing the Public Health Supplement – a tax on large retailers selling alcohol and tobacco – in this blog we look back at the previous application of this policy, which was in place in Scotland from 2012-2015, and examine some of the key insights and lessons learned from our research on it | IAS blog, UK

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