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Daily news - 13th September 2024

UK news

Queen’s adopts new evidence-based approach to support students around drug and alcohol use

Queen’s University Belfast and Queen’s Students’ Union have signed up to a UK-wide programme aimed at prioritising student wellbeing around drug and alcohol use | Queen's University Belfast, UK

Informing Alcohol Consumers: 2024 UK Market Review

The Portman Group’s latest market review has revealed near universal levels of adherence across the alcohol industry with the Portman Group’s voluntary health labelling guidelines. The review emphasises the alcohol industry’s ongoing commitment to delivering the highest standards of voluntary best practice regarding alcohol labelling, and ensuring that consumers are able to make an informed choice about their alcohol consumption. The study, which is the largest of its kind, sampled 500 alcohol products from the UK’s top brands | Portman Group, UK

Ministerial statement on drugs and alcohol, Thursday 12 September 2024

Alcohol harms are one of Scotland’s most pressing health and social issues. Earlier this week it was revealed that in 2023 there were 1,277 deaths from alcohol in Scotland, an increase of one death compared to 2022 and now standing at the highest level since 2008. Furthermore, in 2022/23, there were 31,206 alcohol-related hospital stays. This means that every day in Scotland, more than 3 people lose their lives and almost 100 more are hospitalised because of alcohol. All of these devastating harms are avoidable.) | SHAAP, UK

Client of local drug and alcohol charity skydives to raise funds and awareness

Susie, a client at WithYou in Cornwall, is set to take on the ultimate challenge of completing a charity skydive to raise money and awareness for WithYou | DDN, UK

Protests at Glasgow homeless shelter as council orders closure

Homelessness campaigners have staged a protest against the closure of a shelter in Glasgow city centre after the council ordered it should be shut down | BBC, UK

Medical Cannabis Project

We are looking for volunteers to talk to us about their experiences of taking non-prescribed cannabis for medical reasons. We would like to ask you about your experiences and the issues that arise for people who need medical cannabis. You would be asked to share your story of obtaining and taking medical cannabis without prescription (or of caring for someone who does) | LJMU, UK

Invitation to Tender for research on sociodemographic patterns in the use of the Alcohol Change UK app

We are commissioning a research project to better understand sociodemographic differences in the reach and use of our Try Dry® app. The deadline for submissions is 9am on Monday 7th October 2024 | Alcohol Change UK, UK

Prisoner's drug death followed housing search failure

A man was found dead from a drug overdose after his request for temporary accommodation following his release from jail was not accepted, a report has said | BBC, UK

International news

Psychedelic‐assisted therapy for treating anxiety, depression, and existential distress in people with life‐threatening diseases

Psychedelic‐assisted therapy refers to a group of therapeutic practices involving psychedelics taken under therapeutic supervision from physicians, psychologists, and others. It has been hypothesised that psychedelic‐assisted therapy may reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and existential distress in patients facing life‐threatening diseases (e.g. cancer). However, these substances are illegal in most countries and have been associated with potential risks | Cochrane Library, UK

Royal Navy makes first 'narco-sub' drugs seizure

A Royal Navy patrol ship has seized drugs from a semi-submerged vessel and a speedboat in the Caribbean | BBC, UK

How to escape the ‘heroin hustle’: the project helping South African addicts

Heroin use has risen sharply across the country but in Pretoria, a programme of methadone and support is successfully helping people regain their lives | Guardian, UK

Cocaine users die in NSW of heroin overdoses after consuming tainted drugs

Two others hospitalised, prompting health department to warn ‘heroin and other opioids can be found in cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA’ | Guardian, UK

Drugs and Decriminalisation in Asia: Legal Reforms in Southeast Asia Webinar

Sep 25, 2024 09:00 AM, London. This webinar is the first in a series discussing drugs and decriminalisation in Asia. It aims to provide updates on recent legal reforms towards decriminalisation, and to discuss how they might support efforts towards harm reduction and human rights objectives | IDPC et al, UK

'They'll shoot you' - Family forced to flee over son's drug debts

A woman who was forced to flee the country after her son racked up significant drug debts has spoken of the trauma her family experienced after becoming the target of drug-related intimidation | RTe, Ireland

[Open access] In 2022 a community association set up a club operating from a shopfront in Vancouver for users of cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine at high risk of overdose. Defying legal restrictions, it sold them these drugs tested for quality and in limited weekly amounts. Compared to when they were not members, users’ experience of non-fatal overdose more than halved | IJDP, USA

[Open access] Analyses the genesis of an anti-overdose media campaign in Canada which, by stressing that addiction “can affect people from all walks of life”, is said to have “perpetuated the exclusion and dehumanization” of marginalised populations most at risk | IJDP, USA

[Open access] Benefits from the patient’s point of view of prescribing a fentanyl skin patch to dependent opioid users who have not done well in more conventional regimens such as methadone maintenance | IJDP, USA

Uptick in drug overdose rates widely reported in Colombia, especially among young women

Overdose rates in Colombia involving illegal opioids, hallucinogens, stimulants and sedative psychotropic medication increased greatly during 2018–2021, mainly caused by overdoses in young women, according to a study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Drug overdoses increased by 356% from 8.5 to 40.5 per 100,000 individuals from 2010 to 2021. The findings are published in the American Journal of Public Health | Medical Xpress, USA

Understanding what helps families with teens maintain household vaping bans

In the roughly 20 years since e-cigarettes were introduced in the United States, use among young people has grown substantially. By 2022, more than one in five high school seniors reported they had vaped nicotine in the previous month | Medical Xpress, USA

New form of addiction care for people with mild intellectual disability is effective, says researcher

Problematic substance use occurs relatively frequently in people with a mild intellectual disability. But the mainstream addiction care is not always effective for this group | Medical Xpress, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

Mike’s monthly vlog

September 2024 – “This month is actually Recovery Month. For us at The Forward Trust, recovery is the process by which people confront drug or alcohol addiction, gambling or mental health problems and find ways of moving towards a lifestyle that is constructive, positive and fulfilling.” | Forward Trust vlog, UK

My wife’s drinking is way over guidelines but she never loses control. What do you suggest?

Alcohol consumption can be hard to talk about, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith, but trying to subtly change your wife’s behaviour without explaining why is likely to make her bristle | Guardian, UK

How will the ban on smoking in pub gardens be enforced?

In January, I considered how local authorities would enforce the ban on the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 1st 2009. With some difficulty – without a new army of Trading Standards officers being recruited | Conservative Home, UK

Philly residents with opioid addiction get medication from the ‘bupe bus’ − creating a path for treatment

A mobile team offering medication treatment to people with opioid use disorder showed promise in getting patients in Philadelphia to return for follow-up visits, according to a peer-reviewed study I co-authored that was released in the September 2024 issue of the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment | Conversation, USA

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