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Daily news - 13th November 2024

UK news

Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADP) 2023/2024 Annual Survey

This publication reports on responses to the annual survey of Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) in Scotland for 2023/24. Its main aim is to evidence progress of the National Mission by providing information on the activity undertaken by ADPs. Responses were received from all 30 Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in Scotland. The survey included sections relating to cross cutting priorities and outcomes in the National Drugs Mission outcomes framework and covered activity over 2023/24 | Scottish Government, UK

Welsh Overdose Awareness Day 2024

Friday 13th December marks ‘Welsh Overdose Awareness Day’, an opportunity to raise awareness of overdose, how to reduce the risk and what can be implemented to help mitigate against various issues associated to drug-related overdoses, here in Wales | Barod, UK

Patients find it useful to receive quit smoking help while at hospital accident and emergency

A University of East Anglia led study in collaboration with Exeter and other partner institutions has looked at how well a smoking cessation program worked when offered to people unexpectedly in emergency departments | University of Exeter, UK

More people smoking in parts of Devon and Cornwall

Figures show more people in some parts of the south west of England are smoking, despite levels across the UK falling to their lowest since records began in 2011 | BBC, UK

Alcohol and the Brain: Explained - video

Alcohol very easily finds its way into the brain, and when there, has a profound effect on many of the brain’s structures and functions. Our film looks at how alcohol gets into the brain, which parts of the brain it affects, the acute and chronic harms it can cause, how it can harm the brain of foetuses, adolescents, adults, and older people, and what can be done to reduce this harm | IAS, UK

Cannabis cultivation facility backed by planners

Proposals for a multimillion-pound facility to cultivate medicinal cannabis on the Isle of Man for exportation have been given the green light by planners | BBC, UK

Going ‘alcohol free’ at the SSA conference

Four members of the SSA’s conference committee write about a relatively modern conundrum for event organisers – ‘Should we serve alcohol?’ | SSA, UK

Rizzle Kicks star on drug abuse amid music comeback

Jordan Stephens has revealed how a drug addiction contributed towards the break-up of hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks | BBC, UK

Pair jailed after £1m cannabis farm found in office

Two men have been jailed after police found a cannabis farm capable of producing drugs with a street value of £1m in a disused office building | BBC, UK

International news

Propaganda: 100 years of fear, manipulation and persuasion – in pictures

Drugs, war, apartheid and the environment are some of the themes covered in the book Propagandopolis, by Bradley Davies and published by FUEL, which charts a century of efforts to influence and control | Guardian, UK

Spanish police arrest ex-fraud chief after €20m found in walls of his house

Investigation into country’s largest cocaine bust reveals cash in home of former head of anti-money laundering | Guardian, UK

Portland’s first ranked-choice vote elects progressive outsider as mayor

As US electorate moves to right, Oregon city bucks trend and also elects most diverse city council in history | Guardian, UK

A new network of forensic and toxicology laboratories to strengthen EU preparedness on drugs

On November 12th, the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) convened the inaugural meeting of its newly established network of forensic and toxicological laboratories, a key initiative outlined in its new mandate. This network will play a critical role in supporting EU preparedness on drugs | EUDA, Portugal

[Open access] Research has demonstrated positive associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and substance use behaviours in young adults. However, many of these are based on cross-sectional data. The pathway between ACEs and substance misuse among emerging adults is also not fully understood and few studies have investigated potential mediating factors | Addictive Behaviors, USA

Trends in Alcohol Use After the COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Cross-Sectional Study

[Open access] Alcohol is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increases in stress-related drinking and alcohol-related deaths. Analyses of whether increased alcohol use has persisted since the pandemic and trends among subpopulations could inform public policy and health care initiatives to mitigate alcohol-related morbidity and mortality | AIM, USA

Boredom, relaxation and experimentation are among top reasons teens vape

Nicotine vapes are sometimes marketed as aids for cigarette smoking cessation. However, teens do not typically turn to electronic nicotine vapes to curb smoking habits, according to University of Michigan research | University of Michigan, USA

What Does “Lived Experience” Really Mean?

Policymakers frequently fail to listen to those they serve, making it impossible to understand their needs. “Nothing about us without us” has long been a principle of the drug policy reform and harm reduction movements—and rightly so. In recent years, it has been good to see more agencies and institutions than before recognize this basic omission, and begin inviting people with “lived experience” to participate in policy development, research and service delivery | Filter Magazine, USA

Management of opioid use disorder: 2024 update to the national clinical practice guideline

In an evolving landscape of practices and policies, reviewing and incorporating the latest scientific evidence is necessary to ensure optimal clinical management for people with opioid use disorder. We provide a synopsis of the 2024 update of the 2018 National Guideline for the Clinical Management of Opioid Use Disorder, from the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Matters | CMAJ, Canada

Queensland drug laws have diverted thousands from the criminal justice system, but the LNP plans to axe the measures

Queensland's new premier has confirmed the LNP will repeal drug laws that are diverting thousands of people from the criminal justice system and have the support of police and doctors | abc.net.au, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

5 years on and nothing has changed!

In November 2019 I wrote a blog called ‘no apology for my outrage’ which announced the start of the closure process for a women’s residential treatment centre in London called Grace House. In that blog I spoke of the systemic issues that were preventing women from accessing residential treatment in a service that had just been rated as outstanding by CQC. The service closed in early 2020. 5 years later almost to the month, I started the consultation process for the National Specialist Family Service based in Sheffield. You may have seen the service featured in a 2017 documentary broadcast on BBC2. Sadly, that consultation was to close the service, the last remaining residential substance use treatment option for families | Phoenix Futures blog, UK

Adfam at 40 – Chris Lee: “one of the most stigmatised healthcare conditions in the country”

For our latest ‘Adfam at 40’ article we speak with Chris Lee, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at Change, Grow, Live, who previously also worked as a drug and alcohol commissioner in Lancashire | Adfam blog, UK

Advocating for Change: The Power of Lived Experience and the Fight for Recovery Rights

As we enter into Addiction Awareness Week, it’s a critical time to reflect on the journey we’ve been on as a community and the immense challenges we continue to face in the battle against addiction | Action on Addiction blog, UK

Layers of Reality: The Role of Critical Realism & Epigenetics in Addiction

To understand the world more clearly, can we think of it in three layers? What we observe, what happens behind the scenes, and the deeper reasons that drive events? Critical Realism, a philosophical approach, offers a framework to understand the complex issue of addiction by dividing reality into three interconnected domains: the empirical (what we observe), the actual (events and processes, whether observed or not), and the real (underlying mechanisms and structures) | Tony D'Agostino, UK

Here’s what happens when a school is located near a cannabis dispensary

As more states legalize marijuana, researchers are examining the effects of legalization on society. Angus Kittelman, an assistant professor of special education at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Gulcan Cil, a senior statistician at Oregon Health & Science University, decided to look at the effects of cannabis dispensaries being located near schools. They discuss their research in the following Q&A with education editor Jamaal Abdul-Alim | Conversation, USA

Improving community engagement in addiction science

Medical research can sometimes become disconnected from the interests and needs of the people it is intended to serve. This is true across diseases and disorders, and addiction research is no exception. Too often, scientists who study drugs and addiction have not meaningfully engaged people with lived and living experience of substance use | NIDA blog, USA

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