Home | Archive | Weekly | ReportsWeekly news - 12th August 2022 |
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In date order, Monday to Friday
MoJ & NHS England come out in support of prison recovery wings
The Forward Trust’s Mike Trace discusses the Ministry of Justice’s plan to support prison recovery wings across England and Wales | DDN, UK
Laughing gas patients 'through the roof' amid rise in use of powerful larger nitrous oxide cylinders
Large canisters of nitrous oxide intended only for caterers appear to be driving an "exponential growth" of patients suffering from the gas' effects, experts have told ITV News | ITV, UK
Northamptonshire Police to carry overdose life-saver drug Naloxone
Medication that can save the life of someone following a drugs overdose is to be carried by a police force's front line officers | BBC, UK
Medical cannabis now prescribed to 17,000 in UK – but many are still using black market
Around 17,000 people in the UK are now thought to have received legal medical cannabis for a range of conditions including chronic pain, depression, insomnia and Parkinson’s | Metro, UK
Guidance: List of most commonly encountered drugs currently controlled under the misuse of drugs legislation
Updated to include additions to the list since December 2019 | Home Office, UK
Call for alcohol harm focus to be on par with drugs
More than 1,000 people have died due to alcohol in Scotland in every single year but one over the past two decades, leading to calls for alcohol harm to be given the same focus as drugs death | Health and Care Scotland, UK
Commissioning quality standard for drug and alcohol treatment
With the help of an expert advisory group, and following open consultation last year, OHID has published a national adult drug and alcohol treatment commissioning quality standard. The standard was one of the key recommendations of the second part of Dame Carol Black’s review of drugs, agreed by government and trailed in the drug strategy. The standard provides guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services in their areas | OHID, UK
Syringe Analysis Pilot Project 2022
The HSE in partnership with Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) has launched the findings from the first Syringe Analysis Pilot Project. The Syringe Analysis Pilot Project is the first of its kind in Ireland, whereby community services and a laboratory have collaborated to conduct analysis to inform health-led responses. and the HSE National Drug Treatment Centre Laboratory led on the application of this innovative process | Drugs.ie, Ireland
Covid lockdowns normalised harmful drinking, medic says
Harmful levels of drinking were normalised through the Covid pandemic, charities and medical staff have said. Substance misuse charity Barod said referrals for alcohol addiction increased by 41% compared with before the pandemic | BBC, UK
Briefing: Premature mortality in people affected by co-occurring homelessness, criminal justice involvement, opioid dependence, and psychosis (PDF)
People affected by homelessness, involvement in the criminal justice system, problem use of opioids (such as heroin), or psychosis tend to have poorer health and a higher risk of dying early. However, previous research has tended to study these experiences individually, despite the fact they often go hand-in-hand | University of Glasgow MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, UK
What do Britons think of the current approach to drugs and addiction?
Drug deaths in England and Wales are at a record high, while figures in Scotland are the worst in Europe. In many parts of the world, drug policy is shifting, with some states in the US moving to decriminalise certain banned substances, and some European nations adopting so-called ‘harm reduction’ approaches to tackling the threat of substance abuse to both individuals and society | YouGov, UK
Implementing depot buprenorphine in England - webinar
Thu, 8 September 2022, 10:00 – 12:00 BST. OHID is organising a webinar for drug treatment providers on the practical implementation of models of delivery of depot buprenorphine as an alternative in opioid substitution treatment. The webinar will be on Microsoft Teams and will feature case studies showcasing different models, their implementation challenges and how they can be managed. Tickets from Eventbrite | OHID, UK
Research and analysis: People who inject drugs: HIV and viral hepatitis monitoring
Data tables and commentary for the unlinked anonymous monitoring surveys of infections and risk among people who inject drugs (PWID). Updated with 2012 to 2021 data and report | UK HSA, UK
The socioeconomic gradient of alcohol use: an analysis of nationally representative survey data from 55 low-income and middle-income countries
Alcohol is a leading risk factor for over 200 conditions and an important contributor to socioeconomic health inequalities. However, little is known about the associations between individuals’ socioeconomic circumstances and alcohol consumption, especially heavy episodic drinking (HED; ≥5 drinks on one occasion) in low-income or middle-income countries. We investigated the association between individual and household level socioeconomic status, and alcohol drinking habits in these settings | Lancet, UK