Home | Archive | Weekly | Reports

Daily news - 22nd November 2024

UK news

THINK! partners with Heineken to promote drink driving awareness campaign ahead of Christmas

New THINK! campaign encourages drivers to opt for 0% drinks if driving at Christmas | Department for Transport and Lilian Greenwood MP, UK

Calls for "Booze and Fags" tax on supermarkets as health groups make plea to SNP Government

Health campaigners have united to demand a “public health supplement” on retailers selling “health harming products” like alcohol and tobacco | Daily Record, UK

Can vaping stop you from turning back to cigarettes?

A UCL-led study found that about one in five people in England who stopped smoking for more than a year currently vape, equivalent to 2.2 million people | i news, UK

Stop smoking service expands

A service that helps people in Telford and Wrekin to quit smoking is to expand, after the council said the habit remained a "significant public health issue" | BBC, UK

Tynwald backs move to modernise approach to drugs

A move to modernise the Isle of Man Government's approach to illegal drugs has been backed in Tynwald. The principles to inform the island's future drug policy, developed by the Department of Home Affairs, follows the publication of an independent review on the harms of illegal drugs | BBC, UK

Over 80,000 people using illegal drugs in Kent

A report to go before a meeting of the Kent Community Safety Partnership (KCSP) on Thursday says that 32,000 of those are users of class A substances, such as heroin | BBC, UK

Ethics in focus: the power and principles of telling stories of substance use

28th November 2024, Online. Join Anti-Stigma Network for an expert led discussion on the ethics and power of storytelling as we dive into ethical considerations, responsibilities, and best practices for sharing stories about people that use substances, addiction, recovery, and resilience | AntiStigma Network, UK

SDF #InnovativePractice2024, WithYou Dundee, 'Harm Reduction Support in a Community Hub' video

Presentation on 'Harm Reduction Support in a Community Hub' by Graeme Callander from WithYou, Dundee | SDF, UK

SDF #InnovativePractice2024 The Corner & Hillcrest Futures 'STRIVE Service for Young People' - video

Presentation on 'STRIVE - Co-located joint NHS/third-sector Provision of Early Interventions for Young People' by Erin Lees & Katie Anderson of The Corner Dundee & Hillcrest Futures | SDF, UK

Drones could bring guns into prisons in England and Wales, watchdog fears

Exclusive: Chief inspector says drones are ‘number one concern’ amid ‘inadequate’ Prison Service response | Guardian, UK

Why do we have such overcrowded prisons? - audio

Our prisons are overcrowded, the Government recently released a group of prisoners early to ease the pressure. Britain seems to incarcerate more people per head of population compared to any other Western European country. Now the Government has announced there is going to be a Review of Sentencing to see what we can do to reduce the number of people in prison | BBC Radio 4, UK

International news

Fake-alcohol deaths highlight SE Asia's methanol problem

Suspected methanol poisoning from tainted drinks has reportedly killed five tourists in a Laos holiday town in the past fortnight | BBC, UK

Socioeconomic variation in tobacco smoking among the adult population in Ireland

[Open access] Differences in smoking prevalence across socioeconomic groups are a major driver of health inequalities. Although smoking prevalence continues to decline across most developed countries, socioeconomic inequalities in smoking still persist. While Ireland is among a small number of countries with a tobacco-endgame goal set to achieve a smoking prevalence of 5% by 2025, the challenge this presents by socioeconomic status is uncharted | Nicotine & Tobacco Research, UK

Nigel Farage’s anti-WHO campaign has link to nicotine products industry

Action on World Health co-founder’s firm provides services to organisation that advocates for nicotine pouches | Guardian, UK

November 2024 - UNODC EWA: New evolution of “semi-synthetic” cannabinoids

A series of new cannabinoids with structural similarities to cannabinoids that occur naturally in the cannabis plant has emerged in recent years. They have become known as “semi-synthetic” cannabinoids on the illicit drug markets. “Semi-synthetic” cannabinoids suggest that these substances were manufactured from naturally occurring cannabinoids, however some structural properties indicate that not all substances under this group name were derived from CBD or THC | UNODC, Austria

Denmark Moves Toward Permanent Medical Cannabis Program

Denmark is poised to cement its place as a leader in medical cannabis regulation. On November 19, Minister of the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde proposed making the country's medical cannabis trial scheme permanent, a bold move following years of steady growth in patient participation | Benzinga, USA

Alcohol-induced liver disease hospitalizations, transplants on the rise

From 2005 to 2021, alcohol-induced liver disease (AILD)-related hospitalizations and liver transplants (LTs) increased among women and men and in younger and older adults, according to a research letter published online Nov. 14 in the Journal of the American Medical Association | Medical Xpress, USA

Researchers investigate half-life of xylazine to advance care for overdose patients on the drug

A novel study published in the journal, Clinical Chemistry, has found that it takes the human body much longer than previously thought to clear xylazine—one of the most popular emerging drugs of abuse in the U.S. This much-needed insight into how the body processes xylazine could improve treatment of overdose patients who've taken it | Medical Xpress, USA

Ketamine carries risks, say researchers. Yet for some patients, it's 'the only thing that works'

Ketamine carries risks, say researchers. Yet for some patients, it's "the only thing that works." At the Ketamine Clinic for Depression at Massachusetts General Hospital, patients make their way each day to receive intravenous infusions of the powerful anesthetic that has become an alternative therapy for treatment-resistant depression | Medical Xpress, USA

Georgia lawmakers consider funding research on how psychedelics might help veterans

A bipartisan panel of Georgia lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed a plan recommending the state spend up to $5 million studying the effects of ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and other mind-altering drugs on mental health treatments for military veterans | Medical Xpress, USA

Advocates, Lawmakers Urge Biden to Expand Cannabis Clemency Now

On November 20, advocates, formerly incarcerated people, their families and congressmembers gathered at the United States Capitol, urging President Joe Biden to use his clemency powers to help repair decades of injustice caused by cannabis prohibition | Filter Magazine, USA

[Open access] The decriminalization of drug possession in varied forms is gaining some traction around the world. Yet prospects for people with lived and living experience of drug use to influence the direction of drug law and policy reform remains bound by stigma and exclusion. This study considers the aspirations for decriminalization of people who inject drugs through 20 semi-structured qualitative interviews with the clients of the Sydney injecting centre. What does decriminalization mean for those most criminalised by drug law and policy? | IJDP, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is back! What’s next?

After not making it over the legislative line to become law under the last Government, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill has finally been returned to Parliament. This is fantastic news for health campaigners, who see the Bill as the single biggest public health measure of a generation. With its passing, the Bill will save tens of thousands of lives and prevent those who are born in or after 2009 from being trapped in a lifetime of tobacco addiction, early disability and premature death | ASH blog, UK

Extend Studio