Reports: April |
Working to decriminalise people who use drugs (PDF)
Scottish Drug Forum (SDF) were commissioned by Ana Liffey Drug Project in Ireland to conduct an evaluation of the recent decriminalisation and advocacy efforts, in five international jurisdictions | SDF, UK
Optimising personalised care for adults prescribed medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms
NHS England working in partnership with integrated care system (ICS) leads and representatives, has devised actions to help systems develop plans that can support people who are taking medicines associated with dependence and withdrawal symptoms. The actions will support ICSs to deliver on their 4 key objectives | NHS England, UK
National drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce census findings
The findings of the first-ever national drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce census completed in 2022 by Health Education England (HEE) and NHS Benchmarking Network (NHSBN). This census – which had an 83% response rate – covered the local authority (LA)-commissioned drug and alcohol treatment and recovery, LA commissioning teams and lived experience recovery organisation (LERO) workforce from 1st July 2021 to 30th June 2022. LAs will be receiving LA-level reports and employers that responded to the census have also received reports comparing LA- and employer-level findings to national findings | NHS Health Education England, UK
Official Statistics: Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE): March 2023 update
In 2021, there were 20,970 deaths that were related to alcohol in England, equating to a rate of 38.5 per 100,000 population. Of these 7,872 deaths were from chronic liver disease equating to a rate of 14.5 per 100,000 population and 7,556 deaths were wholly caused by alcohol equating to a rate of 13.9 per 100,000 population | OHID, UK
Official Statistics: Local tobacco control profiles: March 2023 update
In 2021, there were 26,410 deaths from lung cancer in England, equating to a rate of 48.5 per 100,000 population. In the same period there were 21,701 deaths from COPD in England in 2021, equating to a rate of 39.8 per 100,000 population | OHID, UK
SDF Publish Report on Peer Naloxone Supply Project
A new report published by SDF shows the evaluation of the peer-to-peer naloxone programme within three pilot areas: one prison, one rural, one urban.
The project aimed to establish, embed, and support high quality peer supply of naloxone as a core service across Scotland and ensure those involved in peer supply have an active voice in delivery of naloxone and other harm reduction interventions, including the sharing and promotion of good practice | SDF, UK
Evaluating the impact of alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) on alcohol-attributable deaths and hospital admissions in Scotland
We used a natural experimental study design to look at the impact of MUP on deaths and hospital admissions caused wholly or partially by alcohol consumption in Scotland. We used data for England as the main geographical control group. Data for English regions was used in sensitivity analyses | PHS, UK
International Narcotics Control Board expresses concern over the trend to legalize non-medical use of cannabis, which contravenes the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is warning in its Annual Report 2022 that legalizing the non-medical use of cannabis, which contravenes the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, seems to result in higher consumption and a lower perception of risk, especially among young people | INCB, Austria
Report 18 of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
Report 18 of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program covered sampling in August and October 2022. In August, 58 wastewater sites were monitored nationally, covering approximately 57% of the Australian population. Sites were selected to permit the ACIC to provide data on major population areas, sites of actual or potential concern from a drug use perspective. Key findings and additional data are available – by state and territory and drug type – as a guide to trends over the period the respective drugs have been monitored by the wastewater program | ACIC, Australia
Ukraine Snapshots.Services for Ukrainian refugees in De Regenboog Groep (PDF)
De Regenboog Groep (The Rainbow Group) is a non-profit organisation that hosts Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network. Established almost 50 years ago, it is based in Amsterdam. It provides services to people needing support due to homelessness, mental health problems, use of psychoactive substances, or financial and other personal issues | Correlation Net, The Netherlands
Report highlights the impact of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) on deaths and hospital admissions
The study estimated a 13.4% reduction in deaths, and a 4.1% reduction in hospital admissions, wholly attributable to alcohol consumption following the implementation of MUP. The study also found that MUP reduced deaths and hospital admissions where alcohol consumption may be one of a range of causative factors. The findings cover the period from MUP implementation up to the end of 2020 | Public Health Scotland, UK
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol consumption and harm in Scotland and England
This report collates existing research on changes in alcohol consumption and related health harms in Scotland, England and the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic | Public Health Scotland, UK
Global Report on Cocaine 2023: Local dynamics, global challenges (PDF)
The COVID-19 pandemic had a disruptive effect on drug markets. With international travel severely curtailed, producers struggled to get their product to market. Night clubs and bars were shut as officials ramped up their attempts to control the virus, causing demand to slump for drugs like cocaine that are often associated with those settings. However, the most recent data suggests this slump has had little impact on longer-term trends. The global supply of cocaine is at record levels | UNODC, USA
Interim monitoring report on statutory funded residential rehabilitation placements
This is the sixth report on Residential Rehabilitation within the Monitoring and Evaluation Programme led by Public Health Scotland. The report presents information on the number of Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) statutory funded placements into residential rehabilitation, with estimated costs, that were approved between 1 April 2021 and 31 December 2022 | Public Health Scotland, UK
Wastewater samples from over 100 European cities reveal latest drug-taking trends
The latest findings from the largest European project in the science of wastewater analysis are released today in Wastewater analysis and drugs — a European multi-city study, published by the Europe-wide SCORE group, in association with the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA). The analysis reveals a rise in cocaine and methamphetamine detections and describes how wastewater research can now tell us more | EMCDDA, Portugal
Adolescent Addiction Service Report 2023 (PDF)
In 2022 the service celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary and a conference was held in Bridge House, Cherry Orchard Hospital on 20th October to mark the occasion which was attended by representatives from multiple services | HSE, Ireland
Shooting Up: infections among people who inject drugs in the UK
This report describes the extent of infections and injecting-related harms among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the United Kingdom | UKHSA, UK
Alcohol-related injury: hospitalisations and deaths, 2019–20
Many hospitalisations and deaths involve injury where the person injured had consumed alcohol, referred to here as “alcohol-related” injury. This report presents data from 2019–20 on 30,000 hospitalisations and almost 1,950 deaths from alcohol-related injury. For both males and females, falls, intentional self-harm and assault were the leading causes of hospitalisation. Among all hospitalisations for injury, 1 in 4 intentional self-harm and 1 in 5 assault cases involved alcohol | AIHW, Australia
Strip search of children in England and Wales – analysis by the Children’s Commissioner for England (PDF)
In this report, we are publishing never-previously-published data on strip searches conducted under stop and search powers by police forces in England and Wales between 2018 and mid-2022 | Children's Commissioner, UK
Number of people attending safe needle and syringe programmes falls by 27 per cent
The number of people who regularly attended needle and syringe programmes (NSP) in Wales in order to access safe equipment to inject drugs, reduced by more than a quarter in 2021-22, compared to 2019-20. The figures, revealed in Public Health Wales’ annual report of NSP activity, show a substantial change both in the numbers of individuals attending the service regularly, and also the profile of service users, following the lifting of restrictions during the pandemic | Public Health Wales, UK
Pathways between probation and addiction treatment in England
A Better Outcomes through Linked Data report linking community sentence treatment requirements (alcohol and drug rehabilitation) with treatment services data | Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and Ministry of Justice, UK