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Daily news - 17th June 2024

UK news

General election 2024: the health and care manifesto pledges

This resource is intended as a summary of the commitments the three largest parties in England have made for the NHS, social care and public health in their manifestos, associated costing documents and media reports ahead of the general election on 4 July | King's Fund, UK

UK's Labour promises to ban smoking for younger generations

Britain's opposition Labour Party said it would stop the next generation from legally buying cigarettes if it wins a national election on July 4 | Reuters, UK

Young people’s use of disposable vapes: A qualitative study

[Open access] Youth use of disposable vapes has increased markedly in the United Kingdom in recent years, yet little is known about the motivations, experiences and perceptions of young people themselves. This study aimed to explore young people’s experiences and use of disposable vapes | Addiction, UK

Collective Voice appoints Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs

Collective Voice is delighted to announce that Will Haydock will be joining the organisation as Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs in July | Collective Voice, UK

UK’s largest pubs and breweries demand immediate cut in beer duty

British beer drinkers cheering on England and Scotland pay 54p duty per pint compared with German or Spanish fans paying less than 5p, a letter says | Independent, UK

'I started drinking aged 11 and couldn't stop'

A third of 11-year-olds in England have drunk alcohol, a recent study by the World Health Organization found. Chloe Ward had her first drink at that age and alcohol dominated her life for the next decade | BBC, UK

'I was coaching people yet taking cocaine alone'

When Nathan Askew was arrested in 2014 for crashing his car after drinking, he thought it was the wake-up call he needed to get sober and stop taking drugs | BBC, UK

Young people vaping in Jersey 'a concern'

Vaping amongst young people and children is "a concern", Jersey's director of public health has said | BBC, UK

SSA-funded project launches ‘collegiate recovery toolkit’

The Collegiate Recovery UK project was awarded an SSA Engagement Grant in 2023, and has now launched a website and free collegiate recovery toolkit. Collegiate Recovery UK’s mission is to help students thrive by making higher education settings ‘recovery friendly’. The project aims to support the growth of collegiate recovery programmes across the UK, including through the development of a collegiate recovery toolkit, which is available to download from today | SSA, UK

Sober Euros: Sales of low and no alcohol beer help drive £2.7bn spending spree

Tesco said it expected to sell 33 million packs of beer and cider over the coming month but was also predicting it would shift a record 5.5 million bottles and cans of ‘no’ and ‘low’ alcohol options | Evening Standard, UK

Gang that made millions from huge drugs deals jailed

A drugs gang who imported and supplied huge quantities of cocaine and heroin, collecting millions of pounds in the process, have been jailed | BBC, UK

Woman given football ban after supplying drugs at match

A woman has been banned from football games for eight years and was given a 30-month custodial sentence after pleading guilty to supplying Class A drugs at a match | BBC, UK

International news

A cycle of debt, sex work and cocaine: the women in west Africa caught in Europe’s drugs trail

As white powder bound for European ports floods the city of Agadez in Niger, female migrants are the most common victims in a growing addiction crisis | Guardian, UK

Maryland governor says he will pardon 175,000 marijuana convictions to right ‘historical wrongs’

Wes Moore promises mass pardon of low-level convictions to coincide with Juneteenth holiday marking Black slave emancipation | Guardian, UK

HSE Risk Communication - Monitoring Emerging Overdose Situation

The HSE is issuing a risk communication to people who use drugs following a cluster of overdoses in Dublin and the Mid-West. Analysis by the Emerging Trends Laboratory at the HSE National Drug Treatment Centre has confirmed nitazene in yellow, round counterfeit benzodiazepine tablets associated with these overdoses. The HSE advises that there is EXTRA RISK at this time and strongly recommends people not to take these tablets | Drugs.ie, Ireland

HSE warns against illegal benzodiazepine tablets following cluster of overdoses across Ireland

Presence of nitazene, a dangerous synthetic opioid, confirmed in yellow, round counterfeit tablets | Irish Times, Ireland

Citizens’ Assembly doesn't have 'expertise or time' to identify law changes on drug possession

The chair of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs told members of the Oireachtas Drugs Committee that it didn’t have the “expertise or time” to identify what laws needed to be changed to implement their recommendation to decriminalise possession of drugs for personal use | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Another $31.4 Million in Funding Opportunities for Priority Behavioral Health Needs

To advance President Biden’s Unity Agenda for the nation, HHS will award funding to support behavioral health for racial and ethnic minorities and other underserved populations, substance use treatment and recovery, and integration of primary and behavioral health care  | SAMHSA, USA

Does a place of last drink initiative affect the likelihood of alcohol sales to obviously intoxicated patrons?

[Open access] Seems like a good idea: hold the last bar that served them to account for serving intoxicated patrons who then get in trouble with the police. But in the US state of Minnesota such laws could not be shown to have moderated the almost universal serving of clearly drunk patrons, highlighting the importance of implementation and enforcement | Alcohol Clinical & Experimental Research, USA

Genetic-based guidance reduces alcohol consumption among young adults, study finds

Researchers from University of Tsukuba found that personalized guidance significantly reduced alcohol intake among young adults who habitually engage in excessive drinking. This guidance was based on individual genetic information related to alcohol metabolism. Their findings underscore the effectiveness of personalized alcohol-reduction strategies | Medical Xpress, USA

High out-of-pocket costs may be barrier to filling naloxone prescriptions, study shows

Patients are less likely to fill prescriptions for naloxone when they face increases in out-of-pocket costs, according to research by the University of Michigan | Medical Xpress, USA

Study finds data-driven intervention did not impact opioid-related overdose death rates over evaluation period

A data-driven intervention that engaged communities to rapidly deploy evidence-based practices to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths—such as increasing naloxone distribution and enhancing access to medication for opioid use disorder—did not result in a statistically significant reduction in opioid-related overdose death rates during the evaluation period, according to results from the National Institutes of Health's HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-Term) Communities Study | Medical Xpress, USA

[Open access] With no incentives on offer, of 3317 college students in Brazil who joined the trial under a third completed a follow-up assessment. Their results suggested that in the short term a computerised intervention can reduce drinking, but six months later no impacts were apparent | DAD, USA

Xylazine awareness, desire, use and exposure: Preliminary findings from the Rhode Island community-based drug checking cohort study

Open access] Community-based drug checking services (DCS) involve the testing of small amounts of drugs to increase community knowledge of unregulated supplies and decrease harms. This study characterized xylazine awareness, desire, use and exposure among people who use drugs (PWUD) in Rhode Island, US | DAD, USA

[Open access] This commentary examines the involvement of policing in the development, and throughout the first 15 months of its implementation, of BC's decriminalization framework | IJDP, USA

[Open access] One in six residents attempted suicide within two years of leaving three residential therapeutic communities in Queensland, Australia, most commonly in the first month. Among the recommendations are screening for and addressing suicide risk during treatment and improving continuing care following discharge | Journal Affective Disorders, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

In Middlesbrough, I found drug dealers and their victims locked in a circle of despair

In a community blighted by the crack and heroin trade, few believe that politicians can help | Guardian opinion, UK

Crafting effective regulatory policies for psychedelics: What can be learned from the case of cannabis?

The turn of the century brought a resurgence of interest in psychedelics as a treatment for addiction and other psychiatric conditions, accompanied by extensive positive media attention and private equity investment...In the United States, citizen action and corporate financing have led to petitions and ballot initiatives to legalize psilocybin and other psychedelics for medical and recreational use. Given this momentum, policymakers must grapple with important questions that define whether and how psychedelics are made available to the public, as well as how companies produce and promote them | Addiction, UK

Why we are sceptical about this study of antidepressant withdrawal symptoms

Prof John Read and Dr James Davies argue that a recent review’s findings are not relevant to the majority of real-world antidepressant users, while readers offer their own experiences of using the drugs | Guardian Letters, UK

Thailand risks reversing successful reforms, repeating drug policy failures

When Thailand’s Prime Minister Sretta Thavisin announced plans to re-schedule cannabis as a narcotic and reduce the threshold for possession of methamphetamine for personal use (not for supply to others) from 5 pills to 1 pill, he signalled a return to drug policies championed over two decades ago | IDPC blog, UK

Many people get withdrawal symptoms when they try to stop antidepressants. So how can you safely stop?

Around one in seven Australians take antidepressants. The decision to start is often made in a time of crisis, with the thought they might help for a period and then be stopped. Most people don’t start antidepressants thinking they will take them for life | Conversation, Australia

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