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Daily news - 15th May 2024

UK news

10-year strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce (2024–2034)

Dame Carol Black’s independent review of drugs called for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce to be rebuilt to deliver better outcomes for the people it serves. In response, the government committed to developing a comprehensive workforce strategy and invested an additional £532 million between 2022 and 2025 to improve the capacity and quality of drug and alcohol treatment. This additional funding is supporting the expansion of the workforce by the end of 2024/25 with: 1) 800 more medical, mental health and other regulated professionals. 2) 950 additional drug and alcohol and criminal justice workers. 3) additional commissioning and co-ordinator capacity in every local authority | NHS England, UK

Consultation outcome: Proposals to expand access to take-home naloxone supplies

Responses to the consultation were overwhelmingly supportive of the UK Government and devolved administration’s proposals for enabling more organisations and individuals to supply take-home naloxone. There was widespread agreement that the proposed list of named services and professionals should be able to supply take-home naloxone without a prescription. Responses agreed with the need for training requirements, including on the storage and supply of naloxone, as well as how to support those people supplied with naloxone | Department of Health and Social Care, Department of Health (Northern Ireland), The Scottish Government, and Welsh Government

Six synthetic opioids to be banned

The Government will place 6 new synthetic opioids under the strictest level of control to help prevent drug related deaths in the UK and ensure anyone caught supplying these substances faces tougher penalties. This comes after 15 other synthetic opioids (including 14 nitazenes) were controlled as Class A drugs earlier this year | Home Office and The Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, UK

Correspondence: Government response to the ACMD's report on novel benzodiazepines

The Government responds to the ACMD's report on recently encountered novel benzodiazepines and related compounds | Home Office, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and The Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, UK

Correspondence: Government response to ACMD report on acyl piperazine opioids

Government response to the report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on acyl piperazine opioids, including 2-methyl-AP-237 | Home Office, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and The Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, UK

Government response to the ACMD's fourth addendum on nitazenes

Government response to the report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on 2-benzyl benzimidazole and piperidine benzimidazolone | Home Office, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and The Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, UK

New figures show youth vaping has plateaued while adult vaping is at an all-time high

The latest findings from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH’s) annual surveys of young people and adults find that 11% of British adults vape, up from 9% in 2023. However, rates of vaping among 11–17-year-olds have not increased, with 7.6% of young people vaping occasionally or regularly, and 17% of young people having ever vaped, similar to the levels reported in 2023. The new data is being presented at the International E-cigarette Summit in Washington today | ASH, UK

Mixed messages? Exposure to reports about alcohol’s suggested cardiovascular effects and hazardous alcohol use: a cross-sectional study of patients in cardiology care

[Open access] Hazardous alcohol use is a leading risk factor for disability and death, yet observational studies have also reported reduced cardiovascular disease mortality among regular, low-level drinkers. Such findings are refuted by more recent research, yet have received significant media coverage. We aimed to explore: (1) how patients with cardiovascular diseases access health information about moderate drinking and cardiovascular health; (2) the perceived messages these sources convey, and (3) associations with own level of alcohol use | BMC Public Health, UK

[Open access] We explored the early impact of changes to the UK alcohol tax system, implemented in August 2023, on the strength and price of alcoholic products available for sale on the website of the largest supermarket in England | Public Health, UK

The relationship between the price and demand of alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy food, sugar-sweetened beverages, and gambling: an umbrella review of systematic reviews

[Open access] The WHO highlight alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy food, and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes as one of the most effective policies for preventing and reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases. This umbrella review aimed to identify and summarise evidence from systematic reviews that report the relationship between price and demand or price and disease/death for alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy food, and SSBs. Given the recent recognition as gambling as a public health problem, we also included gambling | BMC Public Health, UK

Illegal vapes sold to children in toy shops

Illegal vapes are being sold alongside cuddly toys and action figures in toy shops, Trading Standards has said. Over the past few months, the authority in Swansea said it had seized more than 140,000 illegal vapes | BBC, UK

‘We can’t tackle drink-spiking alone’: Met teams up with London venues amid increasing reports

Police are working with nightclubs to combat the crime, raise awareness among clubbers and improve victim support | Guardian, UK

International news

Ban on sale of tobacco products to those under 21 agreed by Govt

The Cabinet has agreed to ban the sale of tobacco products for those aged under 21. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said he hopes to progress legislation quickly to give it legal effect | RTe, Ireland

Scientists discover surprising details about xylazine in combination with fentanyl

Unregulated use of fentanyl and overdose deaths have increased dramatically in recent years, and this trend was made more alarming when authorities found fentanyl laced with the animal tranquilizer xylazine | Medical Xpress, USA

Exploring Anabolic Androgenic Steroid Use Among Cisgender Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Men

Cisgender gay, bisexual, and queer men using AAS reported insufficient medical support, suggesting that further research is warranted on the utility of practitioner education, the safety and efficacy of community-developed harm reduction methods, and the impact of AAS decriminalization on health care outcomes for this patient population | JAMA Network Open, USA

Novo to test Wegovy and other obesity drugs against alcohol-related liver disease

Novo Nordisk will test whether its GLP-1 drugs can help people with alcohol-associated liver disease, and, as part of that, will study if the treatments will change the amount of alcohol people drink | STAT News, USA

Fake drug and alcohol treatment centers cause a big scandal in Arizona - audio

Several Native American families are suing the state of Arizona for not doing enough to crack down on fake addiction treatment centers. The scheme allegedly bilked billions in taxpayer dollars | npr, USA

Study shows how excessive drinking affects others

A new study published in Addiction journal shows around a fifth of adult Australians reported harm from the excessive drinking of people they know, and investigates its impacts on family, friends, and colleagues | LA Trobe University, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

WithYou responds to expansion of access to life-saving opioid overdose treatment

Robin Pollard, Head of Policy at WithYou says: “We welcome today’s announcement that the UK has adopted new legislation which will enable a number of additional services to supply naloxone without a prescription.
“Naloxone is a potentially life-saving drug that temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. In 2022, there were 4,907 drug-related deaths registered in England and Wales, which is the highest number since records began. Opiates were involved in well over half of these, and so increasing access to naloxone plays a vital role in preventing drug-related harm and deaths... | With You, UK

Increased access to life-saving Naloxone an important step – but alone it will not stem the tide

The Forward Trust, a national addiction recovery charity has welcomed the planned expansion of life-saving opioid overdose treatment and a new alcohol and drug workforce plan | Forward Trust, UK

The 67th UN CND—upholding human rights in drug policy

Addressing the harms associated with drug use, illicit transnational drug trade, and the policies tied to them is one of the greatest policy challenges of our time—with intersectionalities to health, economics, and security. Restrictive interpretations by many Member States of the International Drug Control Conventions over the last 60 years have led to mass incarceration, lack of due process and fair trial, disproportionate sentencing, corporal punishment, ineffective compulsory drug treatment centres, extra-judicial killings, and iniquitous death penalty | Lancet corresspondence, UK

Martin Raw obituary

Anti-smoking campaigner whose research and activism helped to persuade millions of people to give up cigarettes | Guardian, UK

Binge drinking is a growing public health crisis − a neurobiologist explains how research on alcohol use disorder has shifted

With the new Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black” in U.S. theaters as of May 17, 2024, the late singer’s relationship with alcohol and drugs is under scrutiny again. In July 2011, Winehouse was found dead in her flat in north London from “death by misadventure” at the age of 27. That’s the official British term used for accidental death caused by a voluntary risk | Conversation, USA

Why do religious teens engage in less risky behavior? A psychologist explains

We surveyed multiple times the religious beliefs and risk behavior of over 1,400 teens from Florida between 2010 and 2012. Although the majority of our sample self-identified as Christian, many of the teens identified as belonging to other religious groups or as nonreligious. Our work has focused on risky behaviors – such as using alcohol, drugs and tobacco – that are socially unacceptable, potentially harmful and often illegal for teens | Conversation, USA

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