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Daily news - 5th September 2024 |
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UK news
Britain takes decisive action to ban 'zombie drug' xylazine
Legislation has been laid in Parliament to ban xylazine and 21 other dangerous drugs | Home Office and The Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP, UK
National Mission on Drugs Annual Report
Sets out the progress made between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 by national government, local government and third sector partners towards reducing drug deaths and improving the lives of those impacted by drugs in Scotland | Scottish Government, UK
Smoking: Public Places
To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have, and on what timescale, to introduce legislation to extend the ban on smoking in public places; and what additional measures such legislation will contain | UK Parliament, UK
The Use of Prescription Cannabis in Buildings: Guidance for tenants and landlords (PDF)
This position paper aims to provide guidance for landlords, housing associations, property managers, and tenants regarding the use of prescribed medical cannabis in properties and premises in the UK. The focus is on tenants, sub-tenants, leaseholders, individuals part of a commonhold, and the general public | Cannabis Industry Council, UK [See also blog post in blogs section below]
Heroin in 2024: Trends and Treatment
Wednesday, September 11 · 1 - 5pm GMT+1. Expert led discussion on heroin: Current trends, novel treatment & critical policy. Essential for practitioners & policymakers | Drug Science, UK
Art exhibition in Margate paints a vivid and honest picture of addiction
In Margate, Kent, an art group made up of people in recovery from addiction, along with staff from the Forward Trust have put together an exhibition of their work | Forward Trust, UK
Cannabis worth £450,000 found in disused buildings
Two men have been arrested after cannabis plants worth more than £450,000 were found at two town centre properties | BBC, UK
Four guilty of smuggling £4.3m of drugs in container
Four men have been found guilty of smuggling £4.3m worth of cannabis from Africa to the UK hidden in sacks of gari powder | BBC, UK
International news
Predictors of substance use during treatment for addiction: A network analysis of ecological momentary assessment data
Patients starting addiction treatment in France completed records four times a day of their feelings and substance use. Results confirmed that craving and self-efficacy (respectively desire for, and confidence in ability to not use, primary substance) are key and independent factors leading to substance use which “must therefore be targeted and treated together to effectively prevent relapse” | Addiction, UK
Stuffy, unhealthy or ‘just mid’ – are young people over wine?
The wine industry is worried that gen Z and millennials are turning away from the grape, citing cost, health risks and alternatives such as mocktails and marijuana | Guardian, UK
US hospital sued after nurse accused of replacing fentanyl with tap water
Lawyers file $303m lawsuit against Oregon hospital claiming it failed to prevent diversion of drug from IV drips | Guardian, UK
Medetomidine Infiltrates the US Illicit Opioid Market
[Abstract only] The opioid crisis, driven by synthetic opioid use, has continued to lead to tens of thousands of deaths per year. Although deaths appear to have begun to level off or slightly decline, the crisis has become increasingly complicated due to the emergence of comixtures of synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) with other central nervous system depressants, including animal tranquilizers | JAMA Network, USA
Can you identify the new threat attracting Gen Z to nicotine use?
Survey finds just 1 in 4 adults could identify nicotine pouches if they saw them, but they are skyrocketing in popularity | EurekAlert, USA
Health care service utilization and drug overdose death: A national nested case–control registry study
[Open access] Do vulnerable drug users die because stigma drives them to avoid services? In Norway, just the opposite: leading up their overdose deaths they sought help from “multiple services multiple times”, particularly GPs. The implications is that opportunities to prevent the deaths were missed | American Journal on Addictions, USA
Could Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Change Addiction Treatment?
After years of being seen as dangerous “party drugs,” psychedelic substances are receiving renewed attention as therapies for addiction -- but far more research is needed, according to a new special series of articles in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, published at Rutgers University | JSAD, USA
Psychedelics show promise for treating PTSD by suppressing learned fear responses
Ongoing research is revealing how psychedelic drugs like psilocybin (the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms") and LSD may help treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by suppressing learned fear responses | Medical Xpress, USA
Cannabis Legalization a Potential Vote-Winner in Key Swing States: Poll
A new public opinion survey in the key presidential election swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin shows that voters strongly support marijuana reform, with 84 percent of respondents in favor of medical cannabis and 62 percent backing broader adult-use legalization | Filter Magazine, USA
Illicit Drugs Reporting System (IDRS): Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids among a sample of people who regularly inject drugs in Australia, 2000-23
The Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) is a national drug monitoring system intended to identify emerging trends of local and national concern in illicit drug markets, and form part of Drug Trends.
In this bulletin we aim to describe reports of use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioid products in a sample of people who regularly inject illicit drugs in Australia between 2000 and 2023 | NDARC, Australia
Overdose in Australia: Findings from Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2024 - video
Catch up on our webinar for expert insights on the latest data on overdose in Australia, as we launch Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2024 | Penington Institute, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
‘We must face up to Bristol’s drug problem with bold solutions’
Ten years ago, my partner died of an overdose of heroin and crack. It was a day I never thought I’d see, even though we’d been through a year of hell as he tried again and again to stop using | Bristol 247 opinion, UK
The key to winning the drugs battle is beating addiction
Sarah (not her real name) was 15 when I first met her. A stunningly beautiful, popular young woman, succeeding in school, and who from outward appearance had the world at her feet should never have been coming to police attention. But come to police attention she did, and became a near constant feature of my early years as constable in the then Northern Constabulary | Herald opinion, UK
Do alcohol warning labels work?
Health warning labels on alcohol bottles are often evaluated as a behaviour change intervention, but they can play many other roles beyond behaviour change, especially in the shorter term. One of them is raising awareness of the harms associated with alcohol – most prominently cancer as one of the lesser known risks. Reaching this aim can be considered as a relatively low-hanging fruit, but there is surprisingly little research into the extent to which the cancer warnings could increase cancer knowledge | IAS blog, UK
Landlords Risk Legal Trouble Over Prescription Cannabis Accommodations
As the use of prescription cannabis becomes increasingly common in the UK, landlords and housing associations are facing a new legal challenge: how to accommodate tenants who use medical cannabis. Despite cannabis being legal for medicinal use since 2018, many landlords remain unaware of the legal implications of restricting its use in rental properties. According to a new report by the Cannabis Industry Council (CIC), The Use of Prescription Cannabis in Buildings, landlords who fail to provide reasonable accommodations for tenants using prescribed cannabis could be breaching the Equality Act 2010, which protects people with disabilities | Volteface, UK