Home | Archive | Weekly | Reports
Daily news - 2nd January 2024 |
 |
UK news
Guidance: Potent synthetic opioids: preparing for a future threat
Incident planning for potent synthetic opioids arriving into the illicit drug market. Updated to take account of recent changes in the opioids appearing on the illicit drug market | OHID, UK
Public health warning over potential risk of potent synthetic opioids [Isle of Man]
A warning has been issued about the potential harmfulness of illegal recreational drugs Nitazenes. The Manx public health directorate said while the group of synthetic opioids had not been found on the island yet they could lead to an overdose | BBC, UK
Belfast drug users warned over possible bad batch of 'benzos'
Drug users in Belfast are being warned that prescription drugs with the street name 'benzos' may be laced with other dangerous chemicals | BBC, UK
Carrots and sticks: Can governments do without public health regulation?
This is the first of three papers exploring tobacco, alcohol, obesity and gambling policy. It compares different types of policy approach, and concludes that more ‘interventionist’ and apparently politically challenging measures, such as strict regulations on availability and taxes, tend to be more effective | SMF, UK
Promoting positive change: young people give their views on the effects of alcohol marketing in Scotland
From phasing out alcohol advertising at sporting events, to reducing how often alcohol is promoted on TV and online, David Mackay, Policy Manager at Children in Scotland, discusses children and young people's approach to improving Scotland’s relationship with alcohol | Children in Scotland, UK
Peer naloxone champions celebrate the supply of the 3000th naloxone kit by innovative programme
The 8th National Peer Naloxone Network meeting has taken place at SDF’s office in Glasgow. This was an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the peers’ supply of the 3000th naloxone kit, a key milestone in the project and to network and plan future work. The group also attended a training workshop on reducing the harms of polydrug use prior to the meeting | SDF, UK
Universities rebrand freshers’ week to be more ‘inclusive’
[Possible paywall] More leading institutions are changing terminology to appeal to those who do not drink alcohol or those arriving as older students | Telegraph, UK
Drug deaths nearly double as funding for treatment halved - video
Craig Murphy has been sober for 15 days and is desperate to get into a rehab for treatment for drug and alcohol addiction | Sky News, UK
‘It’s a Small Little Pub, but Everybody Knew Everybody’: Pub Culture, Belonging and Social Change
Public houses have long served an important social role in the United Kingdom, yet in recent decades the conditions under which they operate have changed dramatically. While research has examined adaptations in the pub sector, there is little analysis of how this relates to social change as experienced in the lives of individuals and communities. Pubs are therefore a useful topic of sociological inquiry | British Sociological Association, UK
Greater Manchester backs ban on disposable vapes & calls for deposit return scheme to be introduced
Greater Manchester has thrown its support behind the Local Government Association’s recent call for a ban on disposable vapes, citing the fire risk the devices cause when they enter the waste stream | GMCA, UK
Race to Eliminate Hep C: World Hepatitis Day - video
For World Hepatitis Day 2023 (28 July) staff from Forward Leeds joined with staff from the Viral Hepatitis team at St James’s University Hospital, the Hepatitis C Trust and Leeds Council to run a 10K across Leeds | Forward Leeds, UK
Alcohol duty increase 'sickening' for pub industry in NI
The biggest single alcohol duty increase in almost 50 years could have a devastating impact on the pub industry, a businessman in County Down has said | BBC, UK
Met Police: Cdr Julian Bennett smoked cannabis before breakfast, flatmate says
A senior Metropolitan Police officer who wrote the force's anti-drugs strategy took LSD and magic mushrooms while off duty and smoked cannabis before work, a tribunal has heard | BBC, UK
International news
53rd session of the human rights council: drug policy highlights
On 14 July 2023, the Human Rights Council concluded its 53rd session (19/06/2023 to 14/07/2023). This briefing highlights key debates, decisions and documents in which drug control and its impact on human rights were analysed and addressed | HRI, UK
‘I can’t believe we’re having this conversation’: the states pushing for 14-year-olds to serve alcohol
As Republican-led states roll back the alcohol service age so teens can serve hard drinks, they also put them in danger | Guardian, UK
Sebastián Marset: Thousands hunt for alleged drug trafficker
More than 2,250 police officers have been deployed in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz as part of an international manhunt for a suspected drug smuggler | BBC, UK
The Netherlands at the forefront of tobacco control
The Netherlands has reached a significant milestone by becoming the fourth country in the world, following Türkiye, Brazil and Mauritius, to adopt the 6 cost-effective and high-impact policy measures known as MPOWER that help countries reduce demand for tobacco. This achievement is featured in the newly published WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic | WHO, Denmark
Trends in Alcohol-Related Deaths by Sex in the US, 1999-2020
In this cross-sectional study of 605 948 alcohol-attributed deaths, male individuals had a significantly higher burden of alcohol-involved mortality than did female individuals, with a male to female ratio of 2.88. Temporal trends revealed an increase in alcohol-related deaths among both sexes, with a significantly higher rate of increase observed for female individuals than for male individuals | JAMA Network Open, USA
Suicidal thoughts, attempts common among patients starting buprenorphine: Study
There is a high prevalence of suicidal thoughts and attempts among patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) initiating buprenorphine, according to a study published online June 1 in Addiction Science & Clinical Practice | Medical Xpress, USA
Marijuana addiction is real. Those struggling often face skepticism
Courtney took her first marijuana puffs at 17. Two decades later, she was raising a toddler son and hiding her dependence from most family members. She would light her pipe more than a dozen times a day, sneaking to the garage of her Missouri home while her son napped | Washington Post, USA
Stigma and Misinformation Maintain the Devastating Toll of Lung Cancer
August 1 is World Lung Cancer Day. Although this is the 12th iteration of an annual bid to spread awareness, lung cancer remains not only rampant, but plagued by stigma and misinformation | Filter Magazine, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Karen Tyrell - Drinkaware
This week we’re joined by the CEO of Drinkaware to talk through her career - from cell rooms to the boardroom. We get into society’s complicated relationship with alcohol and managing the organisation’s relationship with big business | Do more good blog, UK
Harm Reduction Best and Worst Practice
In 2016, INPUD commissioned a project that used in-depth, qualitative interviews with twenty peer drug user activists and harm reduction specialists from a range of different countries to develop a comprehensive set of seventeen key harm reduction interventions based on ‘best and worst practices’ in these areas. The result was a “Harm Reduction Best Practices Tool Kit”, intended for harm reduction service providers around the world | INPUD blog, UK
Opioids and cocaine are a deadly combination – and ‘polydrug’ deaths are rising
Drug deaths in the US involving both opioids and cocaine have increased dramatically in the past decade, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | Conversation, UK
A drink each day or just on the weekends? Here’s why alcohol-free days are important
In recent years, drinkers have become more aware of the health dangers of drinking alcohol, from disease to risky behaviour and poorer wellbeing. Events like the just-finished Dry July, Febfast and Hello Sunday Morning – when people voluntarily abstain from alcohol for periods of time – are growing in popularity and raise awareness about the risks involved in overindulgence | Conversation, Australia