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Daily news - 18th June 2024 |
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UK news
Alcohol, drugs and driving consensus statement
The BMA, in collaboration with a range of organisations representing medical professional bodies, alcohol and road safety charities and campaign groups, police and emergency services, and others, have developed this consensus statement setting out key actions that are needed to tackle this issue | BMA, UK
Doctors’ call for cut to England’s drink-drive limit wins wider support
BMA to lobby next government to make legal maximum the equivalent of a small glass of wine or beer | Guardian, UK
Testing and Treatment Interventions in Community Settings Key to Controlling a Recent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Outbreak Among People Who Inject Drugs in Glasgow: A Modeling Study
[Open access] Community-based testing and treatment successfully brought Glasgow's 2015 HIV outbreak under control. Without these it was estimated that about three times as many people would have been infected by 2020 | Journal Infectious Diseases, UK
Voicing Loss research published: the role of bereaved people in coroners’ investigations and inquests
New research published today (by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London, & the Centre for Death & Society at the University of Bath) has examined the role of bereaved people in coroners’ investigations and inquests. The Voicing Loss project interviewed 89 bereaved people (about a fifth of whom had been bereaved following a gambling or substance use related death) & a large group of coronial professionals and witnesses. A new website launched today includes research, practice & policy papers, general information about coroners’ investigations and inquests, links to related resources, and a series of Expert Insight articles | ICPR et al, UK
Alcohol Awareness Week - Rise and Raise
1-7 July 2024. The theme for Alcohol Awareness Week 2024 is ‘Understanding alcohol harm’ and we encourage you to see what you can achieve early in the day when not affected by alcohol harm and having more energy when not drinking or taking a break from alcohol | Alcohol Change UK, UK
Research study survey: brief questionnaire of practitioners' experiences of older service users' recreational drug use and prescription drug misuse
We are exploring practitioners' experiences of older service users' recreational drug use and prescription drug misuse through a brief survey. It's not something we know much about yet in our UK population, and we want to conduct an initial investigation to inform whether any further research/attention in public health is warranted. We're keen to get responses from a range of practitioners: including GPs, pharmacists, substance use and mental health support workers, and support workers working with other marginalised groups | Newcastle University, UK
Public alcohol ban for borough approved
The public space protection order will prohibit consuming alcohol or having an "open container" that is "reasonably believed" to contain alcohol in public places | BBC, UK
Electricity tip-off leads to £5m cannabis farm
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) uncovered the large-scale growing operation in a disused building after being contacted by the electricity board | BBC, UK
Internatonal news
Support. Don't Punish - Global Day of Action
June 26, 2024. For over a decade, the Support. Don’t Punishcampaign has resourced a global, decentralised network of change-makers in drug policy reform and harm reduction to reduce stigma, end violent and neglectful policies and practices against our communities, and ensure redress for all | IDPC, UK
German police seize cocaine worth billions in biggest ever bust
Prosecutors in the western city of Duesseldorf said they confiscated the 35.5 metric tons of cocaine last year following a tip from Colombian authorities. They added they found 25 tons of cocaine in the port of the northern city of Hamburg, another 8 tons in the Dutch port of Rotterdam and almost 3 tons in Colombia. The drugs were hidden among vegetables and fruit | Independent, UK
Maryland pardons 175,000 people of cannabis convictions
Maryland's governor has pardoned more than 175,000 people convicted of cannabis offences, in a move to address "decades of harm caused by the war on drugs" | BBC, UK
Ireland joins European ports network tasked with tackling drug trafficking
Irish authorities have set up a high-level implementation group to join a European ports network tasked with tackling the booming sea trade in international drug trafficking | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Switzerland set to ban disposable e-cigarettes
Switzerland’s House of Representatives voted in favour of a motion to ban sales of disposable electronic cigarettes on Wednesday by 122 votes to 63 with four abstentions | SwissInfo.ch, Switzerland
Kush: FTIR spectrometer testing indicates presence of synthetic cannabinoids and nitazenes in Freetown and Bissau
As part of this study, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency of Sierra Leone, and the Judicial Police of Guinea-Bissau authorised the GI-TOC and its partners to conduct chemical testing of ‘kush’. FTIR spectrometer testing of ‘kush’ indicates the presence of synthetic cannabinoids and nitazenes, powerful synthetic opioids in Freetown and Bissau | Global Initiative, Switzerland
Identifying connections between adverse childhood events and substance use disorders
Physical and sexual abuse, having parents who misuse substances, and witnessing violent crime are tragic events that don't remain locked in a single point in time. Rather, they are termed adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and 64% of American adults who participated in a recent survey reported experiencing at least one ACE prior to turning 18 years old | Medical Xpress, USA
NIH-funded intervention did not impact opioid-related overdose death rates over evaluation period
COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly dangerous drug supply among factors that may have contributed to diminished impact of intervention | NIDA, USA
Study finds gaps in care following nonfatal overdoses among Medicare beneficiaries
Researchers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that among a cohort of 137,000 Medicare beneficiaries who experienced a nonfatal overdose in 2020, almost 24,000 (17.4%) experienced a subsequent nonfatal overdose, and about 1,300 (1%) died from overdose in the following year | Medical Xpress, USA
VT Safe Consumption Site Bill Dies, One Vote Short of Overturning Veto
The Vermont General Assembly failed to gather enough votes to overturn the governor’s veto of a safe consumption site (SCS) pilot, ending the push to authorize SCS for now. After the House voted in favor of overturning the veto, only 19 senators voted to do the same. They needed at least 20 | Filter Magazine, USA
Surge in fatal opioid overdoses in Ontario shelters, report finds
Researchers from the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) at St. Michael's Hospital and Public Health Ontario have analyzed health data from the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario and ICES, and found that there were 210 accidental opioid-related toxicity deaths within shelters between January 2018 to May 2022, with the number of deaths more than tripling during the study period | Medical Xpress, USA
Drug checking: pronciples of praxtice - a model for Victoria (PDF)
This report outlines a set of guiding principles designed to enable the introduction of drug checking in Victoria, as well as proposed models for service delivery. It draws on findings from a consultation process undertaken in early 2024 with a group of alcohol and other drug experts, including experts specialising in harm reduction programs, community representatives (‘peers’), alcohol and other drug services, auspicing agencies and academics | VAADA, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
What does the upcoming General Election mean for ending alcohol harm?
A general election has been announced for Thursday 4 July and candidates have started their campaigns to be elected. We want you to know that we will be working hard to make sure the next government takes alcohol harm seriously and works with us to end it – and we will need your help to do this! | Alcohol Change UK blog, UK
Calls to US poison centers spiked after ‘magic mushrooms’ were decriminalized
Calls to poison control centers spiked across the U.S. for adolescents and young adults exposed to the hallucinogen psilocybin, according to our analysis of data from 55 U.S. poison centers between 2013 and 2022. The calls increased after 2019 when psilocybin was decriminalized and legalized in several cities and states | Conversation, USA
Oral nicotine pouches deliver lower levels of toxic substances than smoking – but that doesn’t mean they’re safe
Oral nicotine pouches – like Zyn and Velo in the U.S. – appear to be less toxic than cigarettes and deliver comparable levels of nicotine. This makes them an alternative for people who smoke. However, people who’ve never smoked are using them, too, and youth are open to trying them. These are key findings of our recent systematic review, published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research | Conversation, USA
Compassionate, or enabling?
I’ve generally avoided reading commentary on addiction and Hunter Biden because there’s so much more to his story than addiction. However, a few lines in a printed Washington Post conversation grabbed my attention because it introduced questions about enabling Hunter | Recovery Review blog, USA
Brain injury after overdose is a hidden epidemic: Recognizing and treating the survivors of the toxic drug crisis
The toxic drug crisis is Canada’s longest-standing public health emergency, but many are unaware of the brain injury epidemic that underlies it. June is brain injury awareness month, and as researchers investigating the intersections between brain injury, mental health and substance use, we want to shed light on one of the more under-recognized consequences of drug toxicity in Canada | Conversation, Canada
Mourning the loss of an esteemed colleague, Professor Jan Copeland
It is with great sadness that we note the untimely passing of Professor Jan Copeland. Jan played a critical role in the success of NDARC over many years | NDARC, Australia