Weekly news - 24th July 2020 |
 |
Coronavirus frequently updated resources
COVID-19 and addiction: webinars, podcasts and online discussions | SSA
Treatment and recovery services – and COVID-19 |Collective Voice
COVID-19 Information Hub | Scottish Drugs Forum
COVID-19 and smoking: resources, research and news | BMJ
Coronavirus: information and advice hub - alcohol | Alcohol Change UK
COVID-19 resources page for people who use drugs (PWUD) and drug service providers | EMCDDA
In date order, Monday to Friday:
Wider Impacts of COVID-19 on Health (WICH) monitoring tool
The wider impacts of COVID-19 on health monitoring tool (WICH) looks at the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the population's health and wellbeing. Includes alcohol sales and consumption and smoking status and smoking habits | PHE, UK
Working years of life lost due to alcohol mortality
The aim of this ad hoc statistical release is to quantify the burden alcohol puts on the working-age population in England | PHE, UK
English councils call for smoking ban outside pubs and cafes
LGA press peers to impose condition on pavement licences but government is opposed | Guardian, UK
Take-up of ‘low dead space’ syringes
Contracting a blood-borne virus is an ever-present risk for people who share injecting equipment. Could switching to ‘low dead space’ syringes cut down the risk of becoming infected with hepatitis C, and is switching from their ‘high dead space’ counterparts a realistic prospect for all people who inject drugs? | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK
The Vital Importance of the Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist role within Addiction Services
The role of the Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist is uniquely commissioned in the NHS and is an indisputable asset when it comes to the successful and efficient running of addiction treatment services and providing support across primary as well as secondary physical and mental healthcare services, as highlighted in the current treatment system in Bristol | NHS Substance Misuse Provider Alliance blog, UK
The Forward Trust and WDP join Collective Voice
Following the news in April of We Are With You joining Collective Voice, we are delighted to announced that The Forward Trust and WDP are also joining | Collective Voice, UK
Nitrous oxide: No laughing matter?
On Tuesday 21 July MPs will discuss the misuse of nitrous oxide (commonly known as laughing gas) in an adjournment debate. This Insight explains what nitrous oxide is and how its use as a recreational drug is currently policed | House of Commons library, UK
Parliamentary briefing on tackling the misuse of Nitrous Oxide
Nitrous oxide is a gas that was discovered in the late 1800s by UK scientists Priestley and Davy, the latter being President of the Royal Society. At the time nitrous oxide was used by them along with leading scientists, writers and philosophers to explore the boundaries of the consciousness especially the sense of self | Drug Science, UK
Nitrous oxide: MP wants to see tightening of laughing gas laws
A Labour MP has called for ministers to tighten the regulations on the sale of nitrous oxide | BBC, UK
Safeguarding children at risk from sudden unexpected infant death
National review into sudden unexpected death in infancy in families where children are considered at risk of significant harm | Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, UK
Drug Deaths Taskforce meeting: June 2020
Minutes and supporting papers from the fourth meeting of the taskforce, held on 18 June 2020 | Scottish Government, UK
Drug users who lack access to clean water use dangerous alternatives to prepare injections
Strategies to reduce the harm to homeless people who inject drugs rarely focus on their lack of access to clean water. This matters because injecting drugs prepared with unclean water or alternatives to water can lead to serious infections and illness | NIHR, UK
Misuse of Nitrous Oxide
[House of Commons debate introduced by Rosie Duffield MP (Lab)] We have all seen the tell-tale bullet- shaped silver canisters and their balloon companions littering our beaches and parks this summer. On Saturday morning, I saw yet another little pile of littered canisters at every 10 paces or so along Whitstable beach in my constituency | Hansard, UK
COVID-19 guide for drug and alcohol residential rehab and detox services
This guide, produced with the close involvement of Public Health England, residential services, and their membership bodies in the sector, aims to provide specific and useful information for all residential detox and rehab services dealing with COVID-19 | SCIE, UK
Expert warns drug-driving 'could soon exceed' drink-driving
Tom Nelson, director of Forensic Services, said one of the main challenges is the complexity of testing for 17 drugs, from cocaine to diazepam | BBC, UK
NHS provides just 18 prescriptions for cannabis-based medical products in 2019
Only 6.5% of the total number of cannabis-based medical products prescribed in 2019 were prescribed through the NHS, a report by the Care Quality Commission has found | Pharmaceutical Journal, UK