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Daily news - 7th June 2024

Thank you to The Association of Police Controlled Drugs Liaison Officers (APCDLO) who have renewed their sponsorship to DrugWise Daily. Their support over many years is much appreciated.

UK news

Why a Labour government won’t commit to widespread reforms to ease Scotland’s drug death crisis

An incoming Labour government will not overhaul drugs laws to combat Scotland’s drug deaths emergency, Keir Starmer has suggested | Scotsman, UK

Study suggests novel ways to use e-cigarette packaging to better protect consumers

A study funded by Cancer Research UK and led by experts from the Institute of Social Marketing and Health, recruited 31 young people (11–17 years old) and 39 adults in England and Scotland to explore how warning messages on e-cigarette and refill packaging are perceived and whether alternative messages could help encourage smokers to switch to e-cigarettes | University of Stirling, UK

How can agent-based modelling provide new insights into the impact of minimum unit pricing in Scotland?

[Open access] In recent years we have gained insight into the impact of minimum unit pricing (MUP)—a legal floor price below which a given volume of alcohol cannot be sold—on population-level reductions in alcohol sales, consumption and harm. However, several questions remain unanswered including how individual-level purchasing changes impact the local economy (e.g., balance between on-licence and off-licence outlets), lead to long-term population-level trends (e.g., youth drinking) and social harms (e.g., violence) | Addiction, UK

Plan to make city 'smoke-free' by 2030 approved

Liverpool City Council said it wanted to "denormalise" smoking by banning it from more public places and using existing laws to step up controls on the supply of tobacco | BBC, UK

Alcohol 'prohibition zone' planned for Scarborough

Drinking on the streets of Scarborough could be banned for the next three years after a plan to curb "urination and defecation" in public was backed by the majority of local residents | BBC, UK

A Cranstoun Manifesto for the UK General Election 2024: Social Justice Policy Recommendations for the Next Government

Cranstoun [has just launched] our policy recommendations for the next government, ahead of polling day on July 4th. We believe the changes we propose will deliver tangible benefits for health, well-being and a cost saving to the Treasury | Cranstoun, UK

Pupils given safety workshop about gangs and drugs

Pupils aged 10 and 11 in Ipswich took part in Crucial Crew - a yearly scheme that has seen 43,500 children attend since 1994 | BBC, UK

Vapes seized in wake of Spice spiking concerns

Serious violence, GRIP & drugs chief inspector Nick See said potentially dangerous vapes had become a "serious concern" for the force over the last few months | BBC, UK

Warnings after vapes sold to under-18s

Trading standards have sent out a warning after a number of retailers were found to be selling vapes to underage buyers. Police cadets in Gloucestershire were used in the test purchase tests in May across 21 stores across the county | BBC, UK

Drug producer jailed after property 'significantly hotter than neighbours' in Nottinghamshire

A man who grew more than 400 cannabis plants in his home has been jailed after police became suspicious of the high level of heat coming from his home | ITV, UK

Man jailed for role in drugs network worth £360m

A drug dealer has been jailed for 26 years for his role in a conspiracy to import and sell heroin and cocaine with a potential street value of about £360m | BBC, UK

International news

Closing doors, opening windows – Adaptations and opportunities for harm reduction services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe

[Open access] Across Europe, harm reduction services experienced significant disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyses the experiences of harm reduction service providers during the pandemic in 34 European cities, focusing on their main challenges, adaptations, and opportunities for change. A closer examination of Athens and Dublin offers an in-depth look into these experiences | DEPP, UK

US reverses ban on Juul vaping products

The FDA said the change didn't amount to authorising the products for sale and that a full review of Juul's products is pending | BBC, UK

BAT subsidiary lobbies Pakistan to allow export of cigarettes to Sudan

Exclusive: critics say British American Tobacco’s plan to ‘flood a country in crisis with cheap cigarettes’ is ‘shameful’ | Guardian, UK

Antidepressant withdrawal affects one in six people

One out of every six people have symptoms when they stop taking antidepressants - fewer than previously thought, a review of previous studies suggests | BBC, UK

Florida divers find trove of suspected cocaine packages in Atlantic Ocean

State is considered a high-intensity trafficking spot where ‘cocaine sharks’ may be consuming the drugs underwater | Guardian, UK

A third of adults do not know how to properly dispose of vapes, survey finds

One in three adults in Ireland do not know where to dispose of vapes properly, according to a new survey, as advocates urged people to keep beaches and waterways free of vape waste this summer | Irish Examiner, Ireland

[Open access] While the supply of cannabis is commonly assumed to be dominated by criminal gangs, a sizable share of the domestic cannabis supply is provided by small-scale growers. This article examines the nature and scope of small-scale growers’ distribution practices, with a particular focus on cross-country differences and variations between different types of grower-distributors | IJDP, USA

Heavy Lifetime Cannabis Use and Mortality by Sex

In this cohort study of 121 895 participants, in the fully adjusted model among females, the risk for CVD mortality was significantly higher among heavy cannabis users compared with never users; there was no association among males. No association was observed among females or males for all-cause and cancer mortality | JAMA Network Open, USA

Higher First 30-Day Dose of Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Is Associated With Decreased Mortality

[Open access] Across Kentucky the higher the dose-band opioid-dependent patients were started on buprenorphine the fewer died over the following year, mainly but not only due to fewer overdose deaths - important results, because clinicians are often hesitant about prescribing high initial doses | Journal of Addiction Medicine, USA

How a low-nicotine cigarette policy could improve public health

The introduction of low-nicotine cigarettes has been proposed as a potential method to reduce cigarette use; however, no significant clinical trial to date has provided evidence to support this hypothesis. A recent study published in The Lancet Regional Health compares the effects of low-nicotine cigarettes in a setting where regular cigarettes and non-combusted alternative nicotine delivery systems are freely available | News Medical, USA

Ohio Bans More Nitazenes, Claiming They Cause Deaths on Their Own

Ohio has temporarily banned nine nitazene analogs as Schedule I controlled substances, making sale and use within the state illegal. In the process, Governor Mike DeWine (R) took the bold step of portraying nitazenes as substances that are causing overdose deaths on their own, without any other drug contributing. This is a distortion of how nitazenes function in the United States drug supply, and it’s unusual if not unheard of for a government representative to state it so plainly | Filter Magazine, USA

Hong Kong announces blanket ban of e-cigarettes

Hong Kong announced plans on Thursday for a blanket ban on e-cigarettes, citing a "consensus" on the need for action and their impact on the health of young people | Medical Xpress, USA

Law change to curb vaping ineffective

The study, published in New Zealand Medical Journal, tested specialist vape retailers’ compliance with the new regulations for single-use vapes and is the first study to audit compliance with Aotearoa New Zealand’s vaping-related legislation. Co-author Lesieli Katoa, who conducted the audit as part of a summer studentship, says high-nicotine vapes remained widely available at prices school children could easily afford | University of Otago, New Zealand

Blogs, comment and opinion

Why Miami’s Approach to Addiction Is Working

The force behind Florida’s first legal needle exchange, Dr. Hansel Tookes, received an anxiety-provoking call from the state surgeon general’s office in April 2022. Health officials wanted to tour his Miami site, which provides clean syringes and other health care to people who inject drugs, an approach known as harm reduction that aims to stop people from getting hurt by drugs, rather than stop them from getting high | NYTimes opinion, USA

Young people may see more than 20 alcohol ads per hour on social media, research finds

It’s a Friday night and you’re scrolling through Facebook, mindlessly thumbing past photos from friends, when a liquor advertisement catches your eye. It promises one-hour delivery and 30% off, and the next thing you know your Friday night has an entirely different trajectory | Conversation, Australia

And finally...

Meth-addict fish, aggro starlings, caffeinated minnows: animals radically changed by human drugs – study

Addiction, anxiety and sex reversal have been reported in species by researchers as a range of substances contaminates ecosystems | Guardian, UK

Smokers butt out as birds nest in cigarette bin

A pair of blue tits forced smokers to dispose of their dog ends elsewhere after taking up residence in a cigarette bin | BBC, UK

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