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Weekly news - 14th July 2023 |
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In date order, Monday to Friday
Drug Law Reform proposals - news story
Decriminalisation of all drugs for personal supply is one of a number of polices which the Scottish Government is calling on the UK Government to implement in a new paper on drug law reform. The move would allow people found in possession of drugs to be treated and supported rather than criminalised and excluded. Decriminalisation would also mean that without a criminal record, people in recovery would have a better chance of employment | Scottish Government, UK
A Caring, Compassionate and Human Rights Informed Drug Policy for Scotland
This paper outlines what a progressive, evidence-based drugs policy would look like with public health and the reduction of harm as its underlying principles | Scottish Government, UK
Scotland proposes drug decriminalisation in Westminster challenge
Elena Whitham, the Scottish minister for drugs policy, calls for legislation devolution in reform plan | Guardian, UK
More enforcement needed to stop drink-driving, say UK experts
BMA’s move to cut limit is welcomed but Scotland data suggests better enforcement needed to reduce accidents | Guardian, UK
UK’s soaring liver cancer death rate blamed on alcohol and obesity
One of the country’s leading health charities is calling for urgent action to reduce the “carcinogenic effects” of cheap alcohol and unhealthy food after a 40% increase in deaths from liver cancer in a decade | Guardian, UK
Open consultation: Visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices
Providers of residential and inpatient services should contribute to the national consultation on visiting guidance and legislation by DHSC Visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices - GOV.UK to help ensure that the operational needs of residential and inpatient drug and alcohol services are fully considered and supported. The closing date is the 16th August | DHSC, UK
Impact of the introduction of medical cannabis in the UK on risk perception and recreational use of cannabis: A longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis
Cannabis was rescheduled in the UK in November 2018 so that it can now be prescribed as a treatment for certain medical conditions. It is not yet known whether this has had an impact on peoples’ perception of its risk or on their recreational use of cannabis | Drug Science, UK
Pouring over public opinion: Alcohol Policies in the UK
This Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) report analyses recent public opinion polling data, carried out by YouGov Ltd. on behalf of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). It shares insights into how the public currently view action on alcohol, and what public support there is for policies to tackle alcohol harm. It also sets out our ‘AHA Manifesto’ for policymakers, which centres around four focus areas that would have the biggest collective impact on alcohol harm | AHA, UK
Geographies of alcohol and generation: Examining the decline in youth drinking in England through a spatial lens
[Open access] While international literature addresses the links between youth culture and the decline in youth drinking, little research has engaged with scholarship on youth geographies to more fully disentangle these links. This article explores how the decline is connected to shifts in where young people access and drink alcohol | Drug and Alcohol Review, UK
Politics Live: Drugs Law - video
Watch from 9 minutes 55 seconds in. The Scottish government is calling on Westminster to decriminalise drugs for personal use. Jo Coburn and a penal of MPs and journalists discuss the issues | BBC, UK
Researchers welcome new support for ‘monkey dust’ users'
As part of the new National Drug Strategy, ‘From harm to hope’, Stoke-on-Trent City Council received additional grant funding of just over five million pounds from April 2022 to March 2024, to improve drug and alcohol treatment | Staffordshire University, UK
Alcohol-free venue provides ‘safe space’ for community - video
A cafe in Cheltenham is one of a growing number of alcohol-free live entertainment venues across the UK. Sophia Downes, 26, works at the Sober Parrot and gave up drinking six months ago | BBC, UK
Some UK drug and alcohol treatment services are providing creative arts interventions to aid recovery as part of their offering to service users
This study investigates what currently is on offer and the perception of the usefulness creative arts can bring to the table. More research is needed to substantiate effectiveness levels and extend the understanding of how these interventions are delivered | Qeios, UK
Is anyone still talking to FRANK?
Twenty years since the government's drug advice service was launched, UK narcotics laws have never been so backwards and FRANK so quiet. Is he still active? DrugWise Director, Harry Shapiro is interviewed | Huck Magazine, UK
MPs criticise Blackburn Rovers vaping sponsorship deal
Steve Brine, Conservative chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee, said the Championship football team should "look themselves in the mirror". Meanwhile another MP said she was "outraged" in the opposition day debate in the Commons on children and vaping | BBC, UK
Ex-England international Dele Alli reveals childhood drug dealing and sexual abuse
Everton midfielder Alli spoke candidly [Video] about his trauma and recently checking into a mental health rehab facility | Independent, UK
Ketamine effective for treatment-resistant depression: clinical trial
In research published today in the British Journal of Psychiatry, researchers led by UNSW Sydney and the affiliated Black Dog Institute found that more than one in five participants achieved total remission from their symptoms after a month of bi-weekly injections, while a third had their symptoms improve by at least 50 per cent | UNSW, Australia
Opioid crisis: addiction, overprescription, and insufficient primary prevention
There are many sources of opioids, including raw poppy seeds, products made from poppy seeds (eg, poppy seed tea or kits for smoking), semisynthetic drugs (eg, heroin, morphine, and oxycodone), and synthetic drugs (eg, methadone and fentanyl). Over the centuries, opioids have been used as surgical analgesics, to stop diarrhoea and prevent tooth decay, as an adjuvant treatment of insomnia, to treat cancer and chronic pain, and as a recreational drug | Lancet editorial, UK