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Daily news - 9th January 2025 |
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UK news
Home Office requests review of ketamine classification
The government will seek expert advice on reclassifying ketamine to become a Class A substance | Home Office and The Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP, UK
BBC World at One - 8th January 2025
Listen from 48 minutes in. Discussion on whether to change Ketamine to a Class A drug with Professor Fiona Measham | BBC, UK
Vapes four times more profitable to convenience stores than tobacco
Small convenience stores are selling less tobacco, and the tobacco products they do sell are much less profitable to them than vaping products, according to new analysis from the University of Edinburgh. Profit margins from vapes were far higher than those of tobacco products, with an average of 37.1% for vape products compared to 8.5% for tobacco products in September 2022. For comparison, profit margins were, on average, 21.0% across all product types | ASH, UK
YouGov survey shows more people drinking low and no alcohol alternatives than ever before
The results show that well over a third (38%) of UK drinkers are now consuming low and no alcohol alternatives semi-regularly (12% regularly and 26% occasionally) – compared to 35% in 2023 and 29% in 2022, with a notable increase in regular consumption from 8% in 2023 to 12% in 2024 | Portman Group, UK
Drug and Alcohol Addiction: Treatment
Scroll to Column 717. Dan Carden (Liverpool Walton) (Lab) asks Andrew Gwynne, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, What steps his Department is taking to support drug and alcohol addiction treatment services | UK Parliament, UK
Tobacco and Vapes Bill (First sitting)
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is currently at committee stage in the house of commons. On 7th January experts provided evidence to committee members regarding details of the bill. Hazel Cheeseman, Chief Executive of ASH gave evidence alongside CMO’s for the four nations and regional Chief executives from ASH in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland | UK Parliament, UK
Innovative HIV Testing Expanded in Liverpool
HIV testing is set to increase across Liverpool’s hospitals, with “Opt-Out” testing for HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C. This approach is being introduced in Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments at Aintree University Hospital and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital | Liverpool City Council, UK
Life saving drug used by South Yorkshire Police for the first time
Naloxone was used last Friday on a woman suffering a suspected overdose | Rayo, UK
Prisoners hospitalised after Christmas drug misuse
Five prisoners were taken to hospital on Christmas Day following widespread drug misuse at a Scottish prison | BBC, UK
A moment that changed me: I went to Kew Gardens – and found a place of safety after homelessness and drug addiction
I’d had a very tough few years after my father died, living on the streets and sleeping with one eye open. But as I looked at a tulip tree that day, my love of gardening came flooding back | Guardian, UK
'Cannabis Club': New spaces designated for medicinal cannabis in Channel Islands
Within the last five years, the use of medicinal cannabis within the Channel Islands has increased, which has led to spaces opening up for people to use it in a social setting. In Guernsey, the latest statistics have revealed there were 17,000 prescriptions issued last year, compared to 12,000 the year before. The Green Retreat is Guernsey's first 'cannabis club' and has had a successful first year, allowing islanders to use medicinal cannabis in a shared social setting | ITV, UK
Sheffield: Take Drugs Seriously
Thu, 6 Feb 2025 19:00 - 21:00 GMT. Sheffield. Come along to learn about the impact of drugs in Sheffield and how we can better protect our community. Join the discussion about what a new approach to drugs could mean for South Yorkshire, your family and your community | J Slater, UK
From Heroin to Hope: Webinar with Turning Point Central London
Tue, 21 Jan, Online. In this webinar we'll be discussing the reasons why people are dying from heroin, what Turning Point are doing locally to address this, and the impact support and treatment has had on individuals in our community | Turning Point, UK
Record number of drink and drug driving arrests
More than 300 people were arrested in December, "worryingly" 24% more than in the same month the previous year, Lancashire Police said | BBC, UK
Police 'frustrated' by drug and drink driving arrests
The number of people arrested for drug and drink driving in a north-west England county over the Christmas period has been described by police as "frustrating" | BBC, UK
International news
Interventions for quitting vaping
This study aimed to conduct a living systematic review assessing the benefits and harms of interventions to help people stop vaping compared to each other or to placebo or no intervention. And to assess how these interventions affect the use of combustible tobacco, and whether the effects vary based on participant characteristics | Cochrane Library, UK [See also Conversation article in Blogs section below]
Michael Jackson’s daughter reveals drug and alcohol addiction after five years of sobriety
Paris Jackson detailed recovery from heroin and alcohol addiction while also celebrating five-year sobriety mark | Guardian, UK
A radical departure from Ireland’s approach to drug addiction - audio
A few days before Christmas, Ireland’s first medically supervised injection facility opened in Dublin, almost a decade after it was first proposed by Government. The centre, which was first proposed in 2015, will initially run as an 18-month pilot at the Merchants Quay Ireland Riverbank location | Irish Times, Ireland
Trends in Treatment Need and Receipt for Substance Use Disorders in the US
Despite the profound consequences of substance use disorder (SUD), treatment rates have remained critically low. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues by disrupting health care services and increasing stress and isolation. This study aimed to describe treatment needs, treatment receipts, perceived needs, and treatment barriers during 2013 to 2023 | JAMA Network Open, USA
Qualitative findings from North America’s first drug compassion club
In Canada, the ongoing fatal overdose crisis remains driven by the unpredictable potency and content of the illicit drug supply. From August 2022 until October 2023, the Drug User Liberation Front [DULF] operated a drug compassion club [CC], which sells drugs of known composition and purity without medical oversight. The present study is a qualitative evaluation of this project | PLOS One, USA
Research shows ketamine use is on the rise in U.S. adults: New trends emerge
A study analyzing data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that past-year recreational ketamine use among adults has increased dramatically since 2015, including significant shifts in associations with depression and sociodemographic characteristics such as race, age and education status | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
DSM Foundation responds to government moves to reclassify ketamine as a Class A substance
The government has announced plans to seek advice on ketamine, including consideration of whether it should remain a Class B substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 10971 or move to Class A, the most tightly regulated group | DSM Foundation, UK
Want to quit vaping this year? Here’s what the evidence shows so far about effective strategies
Lots of people who vape want to quit, but there’s very little guidance on how best to do so. In the U.S., recent reports estimate that 5.9% of youth and 4.5% of adults currently vape. This proportion varies worldwide, however. In Britain, an estimated 7.8% of youth and 11% of adults vape. Vaping nicotine is addictive, and more and more research is being done to find out how best to quit | Conversation, UK
The Black Market Beckons: Biden’s Last-Minute Move on Nicotine
Axios reports that the Biden Administration is planning an 11th-hour move to order cigarette manufacturers to reduce the nicotine content in the tobacco cigarettes they market to consumers—possibly by as much as 95 percent. The FDA proposed the rule in 2022, and the Office of Management and Budget cleared the rule proposal on January 3, 2025 | CATO Institute blog, USA
Reflecting on NIDA’s 50th year and looking to 2025
This past year, NIDA commemorated its 50th anniversary, which made me reflect on how far addiction science has come in a half century—from the barest beginnings of an understanding of how drugs work in the brain, and only a few treatment and prevention tools, to a robustly developed science and multiple opportunities to translate that science into clinical practice. Yet the challenges we face around drug use and addiction have never been greater, with annual deaths from overdose that have vastly exceeded anything seen in previous eras and the proliferation of increasingly more potent addictive drugs | NIDA blog, USA