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Daily news - 29th July 2024 |
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UK news
Glasgow bid to join drug-checking pilot scheme
Glasgow has applied to join a drug-checking pilot scheme, which would allow drug users to test the content of illegal substances. A specialist facility would be based at the site of the UK’s first drug consumption room, which is scheduled to open in the city later this year. The application to the UK Home Office follows similar bids for drug check facilities in Aberdeen and Dundee | BBC, UK
Why scientific support for alcohol’s health benefits is fading
Research exposes flaws of older, often industry-funded studies and finds lowest mortality risk in lifelong abstainers | Guardian, UK
Cost of England’s four biggest killer diseases could hit £86bn by 2050
Study predicts overall economic cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke will rise by 61% prompting calls for a crackdown on alcohol, junk food and smoking | Guardian, UK
Get a free home test for hepatitis C
You can do a simple test at home to find out if you have hepatitis C | NHS, UK
Trustees (Ophelia House - Women's Residential)
Closing date tomorrow. We are looking to appoint a new trustee to our Ophelia House at the Ley Community Subsidiary Board | Phoenix Futures, UK
NHS Addictions Provider Alliance Announces New Co-Vice Chairs
The NHS Addictions Provider Alliance (NHS APA) is delighted to announce that Teresa Wirz and Becky Harris have been appointed as the new co-Vice Chairs. This marks an exciting new chapter in our ongoing mission to make a positive difference in addiction treatment services across England | NHS APA, UK
Essex Recovery Festival
2nd - 4th August. Lambourne End Centre, RM4 1NB. This festival is brought to you by Essex Recovery Foundation, a not-for-profit dedicated to creating safe and vibrant spaces for people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. It is hosted in partnership with Not Saints, the UK’s first sobriety-based record label | Essex Recovery Foundation, UK
Sacking of Met commander over drugs test overturned
The sacking of a senior Metropolitan Police officer over his failure to provide a sample for a drugs test has been overturned | BBC, UK
Boy, 16, killed woman after inhaling laughing gas
A 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of the manslaughter of a woman during a row after they both inhaled laughing gas on Christmas Eve | BBC, UK
Police renew appeal over £215k drugs tunnel find
Northumbria Police discovered the secret grow at a property in Highcliffe Gardens in Gateshead on 27 June | BBC, UK
Police seize cannabis plants with £1m street value
West Midlands Police said electricity supply at one site, a property on Sandon Road in Harborne, Birmingham, had been illegally bypassed | BBC, UK
Drugs in post and off-road bikes plague town
Cleveland Police said there was a rise in people ordering illegal substances from overseas and having them delivered in the post to Stockton | BBC, UK
Harm from problem gambling in Great Britain ‘may be eight times higher than thought’
Largest survey of its kind shows estimated 2.5% of adults have struggled with problem gambling | Guardian, UK
International news
Thailand’s cannabis law chaos offers lessons for the UK
Thailand's health minister had threatened to put cannabis back on the narcotics blacklist, but the plan was this week called off | i news, UK
Nearly 43,000 people commented on the DEA reclassifying cannabis. What did they say?
Analysis shows 59% of commenters want the proposed rule change to go further and for marijuana to be decriminalized | Guardian, UK
‘Nada cambia’: Mexican drugs lord ‘El Mayo’ has been captured, but does targeting kingpins work?
Ismael Zambada García, architect of the powerful Sinaloa narco-syndicate was arrested last week. A writer who has closely followed Mexico’s crime organisations traces his deadly career | Guardian, UK
Ireland struggles with growing cocaine problem - video
International drug smugglers are increasingly using Ireland as a back door into Europe. Police, coast guards, marines and customs authorities have so far been unable to secure the fjords and bays, which are difficult to control | DW, Germany
World Hepatitis Day 2024: practical resources to help European countries beat viral hepatitis
Eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030 is a target set under the UN Sustainable Development Goal on Health. Ahead of World Hepatitis Day, the EUDA has released an update of its interactive elimination barometer designed to support countries in monitoring their progress towards the elimination of viral hepatitis among people who inject drugs | EUDA, Portugal
World Hepatitis Day: How Scotland Worked With People Who Inject Drugs
I’ve experienced a lot of harms related to substance use, but the one that got me into harm reduction was hepatitis C. Its prevalence just didn’t make sense to me. There’s an effective cure. So why aren’t more people getting tested and treated? | Filter Magazine, USA
Adult Smoking Cessation — United States, 2022
In 2022, the majority of the 28.8 million U.S. adults who smoked cigarettes wanted to quit, approximately one half tried to quit, but fewer than 10% were successful. Fewer than 40% of adults who smoked used treatment (counseling or medication) when trying to quit; one half received clinician advice or assistance to quit. Compared with adults who smoked nonmenthol cigarettes, those who smoked menthol cigarettes had similarly low quit success despite a higher quit attempt prevalence | CDC, USA
Suspected Counterfeit M-30 Oxycodone Pill Exposures and Acute Withdrawals Reported from a Single Hospital — Toxicology Investigators Consortium Core Registry, U.S. Census Bureau Western Region, 2017–2022
Patients aged 15–34 years accounted for approximately two thirds of 143 suspected exposures to counterfeit pills containing fentanyl evaluated at a U.S. hospital. The majority of patients with exposures were hospitalized, 69% of whom were admitted to an intensive care unit. Substances in addition to fentanyl were detected in approximately 90% of exposures | CDC, USA
Increased e-cigarette use prevalence is associated with decreased smoking prevalence among US adults
[Open access] If US adults who smoke cigarettes are switching to e-cigarettes, the effect may be observable at the population level: smoking prevalence should decline as e-cigarette prevalence increases, especially in sub-populations with highest e-cigarette use. This study aimed to assess such effects in recent nationally-representative data | Harm Reduction Journal, USA
Partial Nicotine Reduction and E-Cigarette Users’ Puffing Behaviors Among Adults Aged 21 to 35 Years
Results of this study provide evidence of compensatory puffing behavior among current e-cigarette users in this population when partial nicotine reduction is applied, suggesting that at least for current e-cigarette users, partial nicotine reduction can lead to enhanced exposure to some toxicants in the short term | JAMA Network Open, USA
Antidepressants may increase risk of relapse in some people with alcohol use disorder
According to a new study, antidepressants may reduce the risk of relapse in people with alcohol use disorder—but only if the antidepressants are effective in reducing their depression symptoms. People whose depression symptoms do not improve with antidepressant treatment may have an increased risk for relapse into problem alcohol use | Medical Xpress, USA
Endpoints for Pharmacotherapy Trials for Alcohol Use Disorder
[Open access] Investigates research relating to how we should measure the worth of a medication for alcohol use disorder, including whether the patient’s perspective on how well they are doing should be primary | Pharmaceutical Medicine, USA
Veterans lobbied for psychedelic therapy, but it may not be enough to save MDMA drug application
Military veterans have spent years lobbying for the use of psychedelic drugs to treat PTSD, but a sharply critical review of the club drug MDMA has put the therapy's approval in doubt | abc.net.au, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Women’s Treatment Working Group calls for strong leadership from the new Government
The Collective Voice Women’s Treatment Working Group brings together representatives from specialist women’s services, women with lived experience of using drug and alcohol treatment services, female leaders in the drug and alcohol treatment sector and women service leads delivering specialist community and residential drug and alcohol services | Collective Voice blog, UK
Invisible Borders and Gang Governance in Honduras
Jason* walks into the small, dimly lit room and sits down on one of the sofas across from his friends. His phone blares with a sporadic chatter from within his pocket: “Chikis turning from Paris into Germany. […] Here, all calm! All calm! […] Shots! Shots on the other side!” | Talking Drugs, UK
The German thirst for beer is waning – it’s not cool to be drunk any more
From Berlin’s techno scene to Oktoberfest, a revolution in drinking culture is taking place, and it’s led by young people | Guardian opinion, UK
Supervised inhalation is a necessary intervention in the drug poisoning crisis
All safe consumption sites should receive government funding for supervised inhalation. This way, the growing number of people who inhale substances will be closer to the help they need in case of drug poisoning. They’ll also have access to detox, treatment and other health care and social resources | Conversation, Canada