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Weekly news -18th November 2022

In date order, Monday to Friday

Scottish Premiership own goal: new research reveals higher level of alcohol sponsorship in Scotland’s top flight football teams compared to other European countries

Ahead of the Scottish Government consulting on plans to restrict alcohol marketing, calls for a ban on alcohol sponsorship of sports are being made, as it is revealed [in a new report] that Scotland has a higher proportion of alcohol industry sponsors in comparison to football leagues in European countries with stricter alcohol marketing restrictions | SHAAP, UK

Ex-FM calls for end to alcohol adverts in sport

Former First Minister Henry McLeish has urged the Scottish government to end alcohol advertising in sports | BBC, UK

Evaluating the impact of MUP on alcohol products and prices 2022

This report evaluates the effect of minimum unit pricing for alcohol (MUP) on the price and range of alcohol products in the Scottish retail off-trade and wholesale sectors | Public Health Scotland, UK

Supermarket alcohol cost up 18% under minimum pricing

The cost of a unit of alcohol in Scottish supermarkets went up by nearly 18% after minimum unit pricing was introduced, a study has found | BBC, UK

UK music festivals: 'Drug checking could have saved Georgia'

An 18-year-old who died after taking high-strength MDMA at a festival might be alive if on-site drugs tests had been at the event, her mum says | BBC, UK

Priest among North East drug consumption room campaigners

A priest is calling for a law change to allow drug consumption rooms to open in the North East, the region of England where drug-related deaths are highest | BBC, UK

London homicides driven by drugs and social media, study finds

Drugs, missed mental health sessions and social media usage are factors driving homicides, a study [Scroll down to More reports from VRU] has found | BBC, UK

People, Planet, or Profit: alcohol’s impact on a sustainable future (PDF)

This report looks at: How alcohol production is an impediment to achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); How the alcohol industry uses the SDG agenda and corporate social responsibility to position itself as an engine of development; The environmental damage alcohol production causes, from using up water in water-stressed regions and destroying biodiversity, to the huge waste it creates; The human rights abuses of the alcohol industry, particularly in the Global South, and how we need to move towards a human rights-based approach to alcohol harm reduction | IAS, UK

Cannabis not made safer by increasing its CBD content

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London has found no evidence that cannabidiol (CBD) reduces the negative effects of cannabis | EurekAlert, UK

The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2022: The Right Side of History

This Briefing Paper, drawn from The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2022: The Right Side of History, considers when, how and why the approach now known as tobacco harm reduction really began | GSTHR, UK

Drug related deaths (DRD) are at historically high levels in the United Kingdom (UK), but some approaches that have the potential to reduce risk of mortality remain controversial. Public support makes an important contribution to drug policy development but there are high levels of public stigma towards people who use drugs (PWUD), and this is partly shaped by media representations. We investigated whether depiction of the characteristics of decedents represented in news articles about DRD was associated with differences in stigmatising attitudes and support for harm reduction policy | IJDP, UK

Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation

Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are handheld electronic vaping devices which produce an aerosol by heating an e‐liquid. Some people who smoke use ECs to stop or reduce smoking, although some organizations, advocacy groups and policymakers have discouraged this, citing lack of evidence of efficacy and safety. People who smoke, healthcare providers and regulators want to know if ECs can help people quit smoking, and if they are safe to use for this purpose. This is a review update conducted as part of a living systematic review | Cochrane Library, UK

Alcohol advertising and promotion - consultation [Scotland]

Opened 17 Nov 2022. Closes 9 Mar 2023. Restricting alcohol marketing is identified as one of the World Health Organization’s three ‘best buys’, the most cost-effective measures that WHO recommends to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm. Many our European neighbours have already taken action to restrict alcohol marketing including Ireland, France and Norway. This consultation sets out a potential approach for Scotland | Scottish Government, UK