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Daily news - 9th January 2024

Thank you To ESH Community for once again renewing their sponsorship to DrugWise Daily - Much appreciated.

UK news

Health inequalities ‘caused 1m early deaths in England in last decade’

Exclusive: Review by Michael Marmot decries 'shocking political failure’ behind differing life expectancies across country | Guardian, UK

Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation

Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are handheld electronic vaping devices which produce an aerosol by heating an e‐liquid. People who smoke, healthcare providers and regulators want to know if ECs can help people quit smoking, and if they are safe to use for this purpose. This is a review update conducted as part of a living systematic review. The aim was to examine the safety, tolerability and effectiveness of using electronic cigarettes to help people who smoke tobacco achieve long‐term smoking abstinence, in comparison to non‐nicotine EC, other smoking cessation treatments and no treatment | Cochrane Reviews, UK

Dorset former addict joins WithYou charity to help others

Bel says for 27 years drugs controlled her life, but four years after getting clean she's helping people who are in the situations she once found herself. At WithYou, a national drug and alcohol treatment charity, she now leads a new team who are reaching some of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole's (BCP's) most vulnerable communities | BBC, UK

Ofsted recognises Forward’s service delivery of adult education and apprenticeships

Following a recent inspection, The Forward Trust has been awarded a ‘Good’ rating by Ofsted, acknowledging achievements made in its adult education and apprenticeship schemes | DDN, UK

Illegal profits seized from drug trafficker

A trafficker jailed for four-and-a-half years for his part in supplying Class A drugs in Aberdeen is to hand over more than £6,500 he made during his offending | BBC, UK

International news

Heroin is main drug found in syringes collected from drug projects

A total of 165 syringes were collected from Merchants Quay drug projects in Dublin (100 syringes) and in the Midland region of Offaly, Longford and Laois (65). They were submitted to the National Drug Treatment Centre for analysis in late 2022. They found seven categories of drugs in the syringes, involving a total of 26 different substances. In one syringe, there were up to 15 substances found | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Dublin city centre street closed down due to drugs and crime

Council has been unable to control antisocial behaviour in Harbour Court off Abbey Street | Irish Times, Ireland

2023 Year in Review (PDF)

This report provides cumulative up-to-date statistics about the emergence and landscape of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in the United States based on data developed by the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE)’s NPS Discovery program | CFSRE, USA

Nitrous Oxide Effects Are Reversible With Early Treatment

Nitrous oxide is readily accessible to those who want to use it recreationally for the high it can provide. With just a few clicks, it can easily be bought online. But despite its availability, using the drug—commonly referred to as “whippets” (or “whippits”), “laughing gas,” or “hippie crack”—can have sobering consequences, including permanent, full, or partial paralysis. The good news is that the damage can be reversed, but clinicians must be quick to diagnose and appropriately treat patients, Yale experts say | Yale School of Medicine, USA

US Supreme Court rejects challenge to California flavored tobacco ban

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's challenge to a voter-approved measure in California that banned flavored tobacco products in the most-populous U.S. state | Reuters, USA

Responses to a “Typical” Morning Dose of Kratom in People Who Use Kratom Regularly: A Direct-Observation Study

[Open access] We aimed to assess acute effects following kratom use in adults who use regularly, and quantify alkaloids in the products, urine, and plasma | Journal of Addiction Medicine, USA

Researchers find drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity reduce alcohol cravings

In social media posts on the community network Reddit, users reported reduced cravings for alcohol when taking drugs intended to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity | Medical Xpress, USA

Study: About 22 adolescents died weekly from overdoses in 2022, driven by fentanyl-laced prescription pills

An average of 22 adolescents 14 to 18 years of age died in the U.S. each week in 2022 from drug overdoses, raising the death rate for this group to 5.2 per 100,000—driven by fentanyl in counterfeit pills, new research finds | Medical Xpress, USA

Given the attention, funding, and services that seek to reduce overdose mortality from fentanyl, it is important to understand whether a potential solution is for more people to switch from injecting to smoking fentanyl. As such, we set out to conduct a study to compare health and healthcare utilization outcomes associated with different modes of illicit fentanyl administration | DAD, USA

Study finds residential addiction treatment for US teens is scarce, expensive

Despite an alarming increase in overdose deaths among young people nationwide, a new "secret shopper"-style study led by Oregon Health & Science University researchers finds that access to residential addiction treatment centers for adolescents in the United States is limited and costly | Medical Xpress, USA

When People Ask Harm Reductionists, “What About Treatment?”

“What about treatment?” I’m commonly asked this question by well-intentioned folks when I say I am a harm reduction advocate, or whenever it is suggested that we need more access to harm reduction services in the community | Filter Magazine, USA

Disposable vape imports now banned

There has never been a better time to quit vaping, as today marks the commencement of the first stage of the Albanese Government’s vaping reforms: the ban on importation of disposable single use vapes | Department of Health and Aged Care, Australia

VAADA Press Release | Festival Overdoses Preventable

The eight overdoses which occurred at the Hardmission music festival on 6 January 2024 are distressing, not only due to the pain and suffering experienced by those directly affected but also for the broader community who view the overdoses as preventable | VAADA, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

The Lived Experience Of Opioid Users In Prison

Getting prison drug treatment remains a very variable experience | Russell Webster, UK

"Multinational industry has put alcohol at the centre of our culture, so we downplay its damaging impact."

Sarah Hulse is alcohol strategic manager for the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB). Here, she explains the motivation she takes to work every day | NHS North East and North Cumbria, UK

Cooking and Altered States: Tracing the Role of Psychoactive Substances in Human Evolution and Culture

As early humans explored their environment, they inevitably encountered various natural substances with psychoactive properties. Plants and fungi like psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, or mescaline-bearing cacti might have been accidentally or intentionally consumed. Some psychoactive substances traditionally require preparation or cooking to either activate their psychoactive properties or make them safe for consumption | Tony D'Agostino, UK

College applications rose in states that legalized recreational marijuana

Colleges in states where recreational marijuana became legal over the past decade saw a significant but short-term boost in applications from top-notch students. They also got more applications overall. Those were the key findings of a new study our team published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Contemporary Economic Policy | Conversation, USA

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