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Daily news - 9th May 2024 |
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UK news
Alkyl nitrites: ACMD exemption consideration
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has provided an updated harms assessment of alkyl nitrites | ACMD, UK
Official Statistics: Alcohol Profiles for England: May 2024 update
Update of indicators in the Alcohol Profiles for England interactive tool. This new update now includes data on working years lost which shows: In 2022, there were 151,010 potential working years of life lost in England due to alcohol-related conditions which was an increase of 18.2% from 127,708 in 2016; the rate of potential working years of life lost due to alcohol among males was more than double the rate in females; For both males and females, the rate of potential working years of life lost due to alcohol was highest in the North East region and lowest in the London region | OHID, UK
Tobacco, e-cigarette and alcohol content in popular UK soap operas: a content analysis to explore changes in social norms and scene location
[Open access] Exposure to tobacco and alcohol on-screen promotes use and despite regulations and policies to limit impact, these behaviours remain common. We report a longitudinal analysis of tobacco, e-cigarette and alcohol content in three popular UK television soap operas, to examine changing social norms between 2002 and 2022 | DEPP, UK
SDF Event- Involving people who use drugs in the development of service provision, Mat Southwell - video
Scottish Drugs Forum's Insights Event featured insights into drug use, harms and service provision from a range of learning approaches - inquiry, research and experience. The programme covered a range of issues and interventions and provided opportunities for delegates to learn and engage with other perspectives and approaches | SDF, UK
Ketamine addiction: Rise in young people taking Ketamine prompts health warning
A woman who was severely addicted to Ketamine has said she's seen first hand the harm the damage the so-called "party drug" causes | ITV, UK
'My children didn't know if I'd be dead or alive'
A woman who struggled with alcoholism for 17 years has formed a support group to help other women | BBC, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of admissions to hospital due to alcohol poisoning in the last five years | They work for you, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Children and Young Children
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help educate children on alcohol harm | They work for you, UK
City plan for police powers to confiscate alcohol
Police could get additional powers to confiscate alcohol in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour, a city council is proposing. Norwich City Council wants to see changes to the 2021 Public Space Protection Order to reduce disorderly conduct and public drunkenness | BBC, UK
Move to increase age cigarettes can be sold
Deputies Peter Roffey and Lindsay de Sausmarez want Health and Social Care (HSC) to investigate increasing it from 18 | BBC, UK
Gym sorry over library bench 'alcoholics' claim
A firm which wants to turn an ex-library into a gym has apologised over comments suggesting a bench outside is "popular with local alcoholics" and should be removed | BBC, UK
Cannabis stash found in chicken lorry
Bulgarian national, Serghei Bacaianov, 41, was arrested at Port of Killingholme, Lincolnshire, after arriving from the Hook of Holland on 4 May | BBC, UK
Passengers spotted inhaling nitrous oxide on motorway
Police seized 23 bottles of nitrous oxide from a car after the occupants were seen inhaling from balloons on a motorway | BBC, UK
Chorley takeaway sold vapes to children in pizza boxes
A man from Lancashire was caught on video encouraging a 13-year-old volunteer test purchaser to tell their friends that they were the 'cheapest in town' for vapes | Lancashire Telegraph, UK
International news
Gardaí make €3.7m drugs seizure in two operations
About €3.7m (£3.2m) worth of cannabis has been seized by An Garda Síochána (Irish police) and Revenue Customs Service in two separate joint operations on Tuesday | BBC, UK
Thailand makes shock U-turn on cannabis laws
Cannabis was decriminalized for medical use in 2018 and recreational use in 2022 | Independent, UK
How will Sierra Leone clamp down on the addictive and lethal drug kush? - audio
Kush is being sold all across Sierra Leone. It’s a psychoactive blend of addictive substances and has been prevalent in the country for years. In today's episode, our reporter based in Sierra Leone Umaru Fofana talks to a man who became addicted to the drug and hears more about what the government are doing | BBC Sounds, UK
Chemicals in vapes could be highly toxic when heated, research finds
AI analysis of 180 vape flavours finds that products contain 127 ‘acutely toxic’ chemicals, 153 ‘health hazards’ and 225 ‘irritants’ | Guardian, UK
Australia should pass bill to ban non-prescription vapes, Senate committee finds
Recommendation comes after two days of hearings and nearly 300 submissions from health, education, pharmaceutical and other sectors | Guardian, UK
Our drug policies aren’t working: The evidence is in wastewater
The latest National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission suggested a 17% increase in drug consumption over the previous 12 months; the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Dr John Coyne believes that more attention should be paid to these sophisticated analyses, and that the findings highlight the need for a new approach to drug policies that should incorporate wider harm reduction and prevention strategies | Policing Insight, UK
Substance use prevention for immigrant families
[Open access] Review concludes that "For immigrant families, family-based intervention not only prevents substance use but also improves family function in a way that can reduce the negative influences brought by migration." All the studies the review found were conducted in the USA | Substance Use: Research and Treatment, USA
Treatment staff in Australia unsure about 'paying' patients for abstinence
[Open access] Focus groups with staff caring for substance users revealed what are probably common misgivings about 'contingency management' - the systematic application of rewards and/or sanctions to shape behaviour. Most fundamental was that such programmes usually set a goal (typically abstinence) independent of the patient's priorities, conflicting with a client-centred harm-reduction approach | DAR, USA
More than 321,000 US children lost a parent to drug overdose from 2011 to 2021: Study
An estimated 321,566 children in the United States lost a parent to drug overdose from 2011 to 2021, according to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry | Medical Xpress, USA
Rapid Initiation of Injection Naltrexone for Opioid Use Disorder: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial
In a 6-site stepped wedge cluster randomized clinical trial that included 415 individuals with OUD, more patients successfully initiated XR-naltrexone using the rapid procedure (62.7%) compared with a standard (12-14 days) procedure (35.8%). The rapid procedure was shown to be both noninferior and superior, but had a higher number of safety events and serious adverse events and required more staff attention | JAMA Network Open, USA
Researchers say future is bright for treating substance abuse through mobile health technologies
Despite the high prevalence of substance abuse and its often devastating outcomes, especially among disadvantaged populations, few Americans receive treatment for substance use disorders. However, the rise of mobile health technologies can make treatments more accessible | Medical Xpress, USA
Scientists unravel how psychedelic drugs interact with serotonin receptors to potentially produce therapeutic benefits
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have shed valuable light on the complex mechanisms by which a class of psychedelic drugs binds to and activates serotonin receptors to produce potential therapeutic effects in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety | Medical Xpress, USA
Do dying people have a 'right to try' magic mushrooms? 9th Circuit weighs case
That question is now before one of the nation's highest courts, with a Seattle-based palliative care physician appealing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration decision barring him from prescribing psilocybin to his late-stage cancer patients| Medical Xpress, USA
Stimulant Harm Reduction Should Include Synthetic Cannabinoids
Usually “stimulants” refers to methamphetamine or cocaine, or prescription uppers like Adderall. But it’s really just a catch-all term for anything that makes the systems in your body and brain more active, and there is no universal definition or list of criteria that stimulants all have in common. From a harm reduction perspective, one way to think about what makes something a stimulant is whether it involves a specific kind of “overdose”—one that’s very different from the kind we associate with opioids | Filter Magazine, USA
The Opioid Settlements Being Paid in Naloxone Don’t Quite Add Up
Amneal Pharmaceuticals, a New Jersey-based manufacturer known for generics, has agreed to settle the 900-plus lawsuits alleging it failed to report “suspicious” orders for opioids. Over a 10-year period, states, counties, municipalities and Tribal Nations will receive $92.5 million in cash and an additional $180 million in naloxone. Or for recipients that don’t want the naloxone, 25 percent of its value in cash. They should take the cash | Filter Magazine, USA
Peak health bodies join Government to fight vaping
[Open access] For the first time, the nation’s frontline health bodies have come together in support of the Government’s vaping reforms to prevent the sale, supply, manufacture and commercial possession of non-therapeutic vapes | Deaprtment of Health and Aged Care, Australia
New report suggests vape bans are not working - video
According to the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, 75 per cent of people don’t think the ban is keeping vapes away from children | Sky News, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
New Coalition Calls for Drug Legalisation in New Zealand
A newly formed Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa (HRCA) from New Zealand launched with an initial action of sending an open letter to the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, signed by national and international organisations as well as drug policy specialists calling for the legal regulation of all drugs. Launching on International Harm Reduction Day (7 May), HRCA was established to end harmful prohibitionist drug policies that are maintained through the nation’s Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, and replace it with “fit-for-purpose” drug laws that are grounded in evidence, harm reduction and human rights | Talking Drugs, UK