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Daily news - 2nd January 2025

UK news

Guidance: Medicine choices in opioid substitution treatment

Recommendations for prescribing methadone and buprenorphine to people in treatment for opioid dependence in England | DHSC, UK

Guidance: Local stop smoking services and support: funding for 2025 to 2026

Information about the additional funding of £70 million to local authorities in England for stop smoking services and support in 2025 to 2026 | DHSC, UK

Press release: Quit for a week and save a day, say health experts

Smokers who choose to quit on 1 January could save a whole day of their life by 8 January, according to new research | DHSC, UK

Quitting smoking may be easier with a smartwatch app, researchers say

Motion-sensor software sent alerts to prevent lighting up at most vulnerable moments for those trying to quit | Guardian, UK

Single cigarette takes 20 minutes off life expectancy, study finds

Figure is nearly double an estimate from 2000 and means a pack of 20 cigarettes costs a person seven hours on average | Guardian, UK

Dry January - Who's the Boss. You are!

Double your chances of having a totally alcohol-free month with the free Try Dry® app for a total body and mind reset. From better sleep and a mental health boost, to saving money and time - there's a whole lot to gain from the Dry January® challenge | Alcohol Change, UK

Dry January: I spent a year without alcohol

Exactly one year ago I set out on a personal challenge - I decided to stop drinking alcohol for the entirety of 2024 | BBC, UK

UK teenage girls outdrink boys by widest margin in Europe, study finds

Teenage girls are outdrinking their male peers in the UK at a greater rate than in any other European country, according to research. More than a third of 15-year-old girls in the UK report getting repeatedly drunk, compared with less than a quarter of boys the same age, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found | Guardian, UK

A proof-of-concept analysis of data from the first NHS clinic for young adults with comorbid cannabis use and psychotic disorders

[Open access] Patients completing treatment at Britain’s only clinic for psychosis combined with cannabis use disorders made dramatic reductions in their cannabis use and associated improvements in mental health | Cambridge University Press, UK

Major £45m project to change public health in Liverpool

A new “innovative” £45 million initiative is coming to Liverpool next spring. Liverpool City Council has awarded a contract to Change Grow Live, a social care charity, to deliver an all-age drug and alcohol treatment and recovery service | Liverpool Echo, UK

Illegal drug dealing or use recorded at NI health trusts

Illegal drug dealing or drug use has been recorded at healthcare buildings at Northern Ireland's five regional health and social care trusts trusts | BBC, UK

Steroid Drugs: Death

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many death certificates mentioning steroids were issued in each of the last five years | They work for you, UK

Driving under Influence: Convictions

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted of drink driving offences in the last 12 months | They work for you, UK

Calls for rehabilitation courses as thousands have been caught drug-driving more than four times

More than 33 thousand British drivers have been caught drug-driving multiple times, with ministers urged to consider rehabilitation courses to reduce reoffending | LBC News, UK

Rapper took up cannabis at 12, court hears

UK rapper Digga D told a court he has been using cannabis since the age of 12 to help with his frequent migraines | BBC, UK

Ten ways to spot a cannabis farm being grown

Cannabis plants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds have been seized in the East of England over the past year. One senior police officer in the region said he wanted to debunk the “narrative” that cannabis was “harmless”. Data published in January showed more than 500,000 cannabis plants were discovered in England and Wales in 2022-23. Police have released a checklist of the tell-tale signs a cannabis farm is being grown | BBC, UK

International news

Risk and protective factors for cannabis use in adolescence: a population-based survey in schools

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance in Ireland and globally. It is most likely to be used in adolescence, a period of biopsychosocial vulnerability to maladaptive behaviours. This study aims to investigate the risk and protective factors for cannabis use among adolescents | Cambridge University Press, UK

‘Kids now don’t want to drink’: Dublin’s dry(ish) pub, one year on

Board’s clientele come for its big array of drinks – no longer all alcohol-free – and even bigger array of games | Guardian, UK

Belgium becomes first EU country to ban sale of disposable vapes

Products banned on health and environmental grounds, while Milan outlaws outdoor smoking | Guardian, UK

‘Who knows what they’re going to do?’: US cannabis industry braces itself for Trump administration

The industry looks back wistfully on a past year of promise but little delivery, and wonders what next under Trump | Guardian, UK

FDA restricts psychoactive mushroom used in some edibles

The regulator warned food manufacturers that Amanita muscaria – more commonly known as the fly agaric – and the compounds it contains are not authorized to use | Independent, UK

‘There was so much fear’: the battle to keep children out of Colombia’s armed gangs

War Child supports Indigenous community efforts to protect youth from recruitment into war for drugs and gold | Guardian, UK

US places sanctions on Australian man over alleged global narcotics trafficking role

David Jonathan Thackray, who was jailed in New Zealand in 2014, is one of three Australians now subject to such sanctions | Guardian, UK

Health at a glance: Europe 2024. State of health in the EU cycle (PDF)

Health at a Glance: Europe 2024, State of Health in the EU Cycle reveals that: among 15-year-olds, Ireland has the lowest rate of smoking, at 7%, and among the lowest rates of cannabis smoking, at 4%, in the EU; the proportion of 15-year-olds reporting repeated drunkenness is among the lowest in the EU, at 13% | OECD, France

Effectiveness of Machine Learning Based Adjustments to an eHealth Intervention Targeting Mild Alcohol Use

[Open access] Impacts of fine-tuning adjustments to a Dutch internet-based self-help programme for risky drinkers offer useful information for developers seeking to optimise such interventions | European Addiction Research, The Netherlands

Validity of prenatal AUDIT screening for alcohol disorders – a Nationwide Swedish register study

[Open access] In Sweden two-thirds of pregnant women recently diagnosed and/or treated for alcohol-related disorders were not identified as risky drinkers by their answers to a routinely applied screening questionnaire | Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences, Sweden

Milan says no to all outdoor smoking in Italy's toughest ban

Smokers in Italy's financial and fashion capital of Milan risk being fined for lighting up on city streets or crowded public areas, after the country's toughest ban came into effect on Wednesday | Medical Xpress, USA

Flavored E-Cigarette Sales Restrictions and Young Adult Tobacco Use

[Open access] Using a cross-sectional survey dataset covering 376 963 young adults (age 18 to 29 years), this quasi-experimental analysis found that state restrictions on flavored ENDS sales were associated with a 3.6−percentage point (ppt) reduction in daily vaping as well as a 2.2 ppt increase in daily smoking relative to trends in states without restrictions | JAMA Health Forum, USA

Medical cannabis laws linked to increase in cannabis use disorders

Medical cannabis laws are associated with increased cannabis use disorder and cannabis poisoning, while recreational cannabis laws are associated with increased cannabis poisoning, according to a study published online Dec. 23 in JAMA Psychiatry | Medical Xpress, USA

After Years of Foot Dragging, CDC Plans Review of Opioid Guideline

Eight years after releasing its controversial 2016 opioid guideline and two years after revising it, the CDC is finally making plans for a review of the guideline’s impact on patients, caregivers, doctors, and the practice of pain management | Pain News Network, USA

Neuroanatomical Variability and Substance Use Initiation in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

In this cohort study of 9804 participants, variability in brain structure, including greater whole brain, cortical, and subcortical volumes, and thinner prefrontal cortex, but thicker cortex otherwise, was significantly associated with early (ie, age <15 years) substance use initiation (ie, alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, or other). The majority of brain structure features associated with substance use initiation were evident among substance-naive children at baseline who later initiated | JAMA Network Open, USA

Alcohol Use Disorder - the Forgotten Epidemic: A Follow-Up Study of Mandated Treatment & Successful Treatment Completion by Sex and Race/ethnicity

Key question was whether across the USA legal pressure to enter treatment was associated (perhaps via weaker motivation) with poorer outcomes. Of this there was no sign. Instead, national records suggested that “mandated treatment presents a motivation to engage in the treatment process, making the individual more likely to complete treatment successfully” | Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, USA

Smartphone app can help reduce opioid use and keep patients in treatment, study shows

Patients with opioid use disorder can reduce their days of opioid use and stay in treatment longer when using a smartphone app as supportive therapy in combination with medication, a new study by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) shows | Medical Xpress, USA

Boston to distribute Narcan via vending machines, kiosks to prevent opioid overdoses

Boston will have four vending machines and eight indoor kiosks distributing life-saving Narcan and other harm reduction supplies in another step toward preventing overdose deaths, Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Public Health Commission announced | Medical Xpress, USA

Interviews with women in methadone maintenance treatment in the USA prompt a reframing of “acts of resistance that result in discharge” as attempts to regain control over one’s body in the face of rules, treatment decisions and life-curtailing requirements imposed by the clinics | IJDP, USA

Drug overdose deaths plummet in San Francisco. What’s changed?

After surging during the COVID pandemic into a crushing public health emergency, drug overdose deaths in San Francisco plummeted in 2024, according to preliminary data compiled by city health officials | LATimes, USA

The Most Notable Federal Marijuana Actions of 2024

The year 2024 saw a hodgepodge of federal and congressional marijuana policy developments—with major news related to the Biden administration’s rescheduling push, modest reform proposals advancing on Capitol Hill and various actions from federal agencies | Filter Magazine, USA

Cost–benefit analysis of Canada’s Prison Needle Exchange Program for the prevention of hepatitis C and injection-related infections

[Open access] Estimates that every dollar spent on Canada’s prison needle exchange programme (or which would be invested in its expansion) saves twice as much in the averted cost of treating injection-related infections, especially hepatitis C | CMAJ, Canada

Blogs, comment and opinion

Another amazing year for The Forward Trust employment services directorate

As part of The Forward Trust, our Employment Services directorate has had an incredible year, providing vital support across various programmes | Forward Trust blog, UK

2024 at BDP

We’ve had a lot to celebrate this year, from the micro-elimination of Hepatitis C to the 10-year anniversary of Creative Communities, all of our staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly to make BDP’s 38th year a great one! | BDP, UK

Family drug and alcohol courts are still running and are a success

Since they were piloted in 2008, these courts have expanded their reach across England, writes Miranda Paris | Guardian letters, UK

Hallucinogens approved for treating psychiatric disorders: what does the science say?

Once sidelined in the 1970s, psychedelic substances – ranging from esketamine (a ketamine derivative) and psilocybin (the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms) to MDMA – are being reintroduced as potential therapies for severe psychiatric disorders | Conversation, France

From Cleopatra to Wellington, leaders have always taxed beer. But Australia’s system has made beer extra pricey

Beer has existed for thousands of years. It was the drink of choice in ancient Egypt, in northern Europe in the Middle Ages and, of course, remains popular around the world today | Conversation, Australia

The surprising ways ‘swimming off’ a hangover can be risky, even if alcohol has left your system

It’s the morning after a big night and you’re feeling the effects of too much alcohol. So it can be tempting to “refresh” and take the edge off a hangover with a swim at the beach, or a dip in the cool waters of your local river or pool. But you might want to think twice | Conversation, Australia

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