Home | Archive | Weekly | ReportsWeekly news - 2nd December 2022 |
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In date order, Monday to Friday
National Drugs Mission: Taking concrete action to combat stigma - video
A debate in the Scottish Parliament, tabled by the Scottish government, on the National Drugs Mission, from Thursday 24 November | BBC, UK
Environmental impact of disposable vapes - Research Briefing
A debate has been scheduled in Westminster Hall for 4.30pm on Tuesday 29 November. The debate will be opened by Kirsten Oswald MP. This debate pack provides further information about the concerns about the environmental impact of disposable vapes, the regulations in place, along with various calls for change. A separate Commons Library briefing, The regulation of e-cigarettes, provides further information on the health and product safety aspects of vapes | House of Commons Library, UK
Operation Desert Light: Europol take down massive cocaine 'super cartel'
A drug "super cartel" that controlled about a third of Europe's cocaine supply has been dismantled, police have announced | BBC, UK
Cannabis oil failed to improve pain or quality of life in palliative care cancer patients, study shows
Researchers say despite the lack of symptom relief, more trials are needed to focus on the targeted use of medicinal cannabis | Guardian, UK
Government to use Vaccine Taskforce model to tackle health challenges
Addiction: £30.5 million, including funds contributed through collaboration with Scottish Government, will be deployed to accelerate the development of new technologies to prevent deaths from overdoses across the UK. This could include wearable devices which can detect the onset of a drug overdose and signal to first responders to prevent deaths, and better support people with substance use disorders to manage and combat their addiction. Funding will also help grow research capacity and capability across the UK to better understand addiction and the most effective ways to treat it as a chronic healthcare condition | Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, Will Quince MP, and The Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP, UK
An analysis plan for the evaluation of the impact of alcohol minimum unit pricing on deaths and hospital admissions in Scotland
This study looks at the impact of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol that came into effect in Scotland in 2018. This document describes our statistical analysis approach to evaluating the impact of MUP on deaths and hospital admissions caused wholly or partially by alcohol consumption in Scotland | Public Health Scotland, UK
MUP Evaluation Evidence Synthesis Protocol
This protocol describes how we are synthesising the evidence about the effects of MUP. The protocol sets out the context of the evaluation, justifies the methods used and sets out the steps involved | Public Health Scotland, UK
Cancer in the UK: Deprivation and cancer inequalities in Scotland (PDF)
People living in more deprived areas in Scotland are more likely to get cancer and are, sadly, more likely to die from the disease than those in less deprived areas | Cancer Research, UK
Is the government finally recognising the potential of a medicinal cannabis industry?
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published new guidelines earlier this month to support companies applying for authorisation of unlicensed cannabis-based products | Cannabis Health, UK
Schools: Electronic Cigarettes
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to work alongside (a) headteachers and (b) other school leaders to help reduce vaping in schools | They work for you, UK
HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation framework
The Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring (UAM) Survey of People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) is an annual cross-sectional biobehavioural survey that recruits people who have ever injected psychoactive drugs who attend specialist drug and alcohol services across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland... In England the proportion of PWID ever having had an HIV test was 81% in 2021, with 32% reporting having had a test in the past 12 months. Among PWID who started injecting in the past 3 years, during 2020 and 2021, 58% reported ever having had a diagnostic HIV test, with 52% of these reporting a test in the past 12 months | UK HSA, UK
Drug and alcohol services - co-occurring substance use and mental health concerns: literature and evidence review
Review of the existing evidence on co-occurring substance use and mental health concerns and the integration of mental health and substance use services relevant to a Scottish context. It forms part of a wider rapid review of co-occurring substance use and mental health concerns in Scotland | Scottish Government, UK
Police deal with hundreds of reports of drug offences involving children as We Are With You charity hits out at laws
Kent Police deal with almost 500 reports of drugs offences involving children every year it has emerged – as a charity hits out at stigmatising users | Kent Online, UK
Scottish alcohol marketing proposals would ‘cripple’ us, say convenience retailers
A new proposal that seeks to restrict alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland has been met with concern over the “damaging impact” it could have on convenience retailers | The Grocer, UK
Forgotten voices: Policing, stop and search and the perspectives of Black children
Our latest research has found that only 36 per cent of Black children and teenagers trust the police compared with 75 per cent of young White people. The trust figure for Black people aged ten to 18 was the lowest of any ethnic group and was even lower among Black Caribbean children | Crest Advisory, UK
County lines: ‘I was 11 and in a drugs gang - why did nobody save me?’
Every week, children criss-cross the UK on buses and trains, ferrying drugs as part of county lines operations. BBC News spent months with one organisation battling to help children who are in danger, hearing young people's stories of abuse and their families' heartbreak, and learning what it takes for them to break free. Three people tell us their story of county lines | BBC, UK
Volteface Launches Latest Report ‘Known Unknowns’ Examining Clinician Perspectives on Medical Cannabis
Known Unknowns represents a dive deep into the perceptions, concerns and hopes of UK clinicians for medical cannabis, which, although being legal since 2018, still sits on the fringes of the UK healthcare system with prescribing remaining low. Our report recognises that in order to move forward, the industry faces challenges, and for cannabis to become mainstream as a treatment, a number of concerns that currently exist amongst clinicians must be addressed | Volteface, UK
Isle of Man medicinal cannabis dispensing service begins
A medicinal cannabis dispensing service has begun on the Isle of Man as part of a one-year trial | BBC, UK