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Weekly news - 21st July 2023

In date order, Monday to Friday

Dele Alli: Sleeping pill addiction 'widespread' in football, says psychotherapist

Addiction to sleeping pills in football is "much wider than people realise", according to former Oxford United psychotherapist Gary Bloom. Everton midfielder Dele Alli said he spent six weeks in rehab for sleeping pill addiction and mental health issues | BBC, UK

Disposable vapes: Councils call for total ban by 2024

Disposable vapes cause litter problems, are a fire hazard and appeal too strongly to children, according to local councils in England and Wales. The Local Government Association says 1.3m vapes are thrown away each week and wants them banned by 2024 | BBC, UK

SNP minister told to halt community health cuts amid drug deaths fears

Leading public sector trade union Unison has written to the health secretary to warn cuts "make no sense when Scotland has the worst drug death tragedies in Europe" | Herald, UK

Smokers who get e-cigarette flavour advice more likely to quit, report finds

Study says quarter of smokers had quit after three months and 13% cut consumption by more than half | Guardian, UK

New multi-city syringe analysis uncovers latest patterns of injecting drug use

The latest patterns of injecting drug use in a selection of European cities are presented today in a new analysis from the EMCDDA. The findings are from the agency’s ESCAPE project, which investigates the substances used by people who inject drugs (PWID) by chemically analysing the content of used syringes. In the latest ESCAPE data-collection round (2022), the contents of 1 845 used syringes were analysed via a sentinel network of harm-reduction sites in 10 EU cities, plus Oslo, Odessa and Tunis. The results show that the drugs being injected in Europe are highly diverse, with a total of 54 psychoactive substances identified | EMCDDA, Portugal

UK cough syrup could be pharmacy-only over addiction fears

Cough syrup or codeine linctus could no longer be available over the counter because of concerns it is addictive and can lead to serious health problems. Rising numbers of reports of drug abuse and dependence to codeine medicines are being made to the UK medicines safety regulator | BBC, UK

Drugs: Fake opioid selling will get worse - ex-addict

Welsh Emerging Drugs and Identification of Novel Substances (Wedinos) analysed 4,979 samples last year and found two out of every five contained "unknown substances", up from 35% in 2021-22 | BBC, UK

National statistics - Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, financial year ending 2022

Updated - The number and quantity of fentanyl analogue seizures made by Border Force has been updated. This revision affects the total number of seizures and total number of Class A seizures | Home Office, UK

‘People will do drugs. Why not minimise the damage?’ The charity caring for tripped-out ravers

PsyCare UK offers hydration and colouring books to people who have overdone psychedelic drugs – but hardline government policies are making this kind of harm reduction service harder to provide | Guardian, UK

Industry consulted on raising minimum alcohol price in Scotland

The alcoholic drinks industry is being consulted on the possibility of increasing the minimum price of a unit of alcohol from 50p to more than 80p. The Scottish government's minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy, in place since 2018, is due to expire next year | BBC, UK

Impose heavier restrictions on disposable vapes to limit child use, urges Committee

The Committee believes that the Government can maintain a public health message on the potential value of vapes as a tool to help smokers to quit while ensuring that its messaging and education, enforcement and regulatory approach keeps them out of sight and reach of children | UK Government, Health and Social Care Committee, UK [Letter sent to Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP here]

MPs call for restrictions on disposable vapes to limit use by children

Chair of health committee says packaging and marketing of vapes should be restricted | Guardian, UK

Lincoln drug deaths linked to "unusually strong" heroin batch

A deadly batch of heroin could be responsible for two deaths and a further six overdoses in Lincoln, police have said. The first death was on 27 June with the second fatality on Tuesday. A total of six overdoses have been recorded in the past week, Lincolnshire Police said. All of the affected reportedly used similar doses of the narcotic but officers said it was "unclear what is affecting the potency" | BBC, UK

Bristol PCs trained to use overdose drug after heroin deaths

Police officers are being trained how to use a drug that can stop heroin overdoses after a batch in Bristol is suspected of causing six deaths. Around 400 officers have now been learning how to use a nasal spray version of Naloxone, called Nyxoid | BBC, UK

Half the public think the Government is not doing enough to reduce smoking FOUR YEARS after the Government pledged to make England smokefree

New data (PDF) published on 19th July shows that the public believe further action is needed to tackle smoking. The data is published as MPs and peers gather to mark four years since the Government committed to make England ‘smokefree’ by 2030. Progress has been stalled and Cancer Research UK estimate it will be missed by 9 years. Smoking is currently still killing one person every five minutes in England | ASH, UK

Co-involvement of Opioids in Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Cocaine and Psychostimulants, 2011–2021

Drug overdose deaths involving cocaine and psychostimulants with abuse potential (that is, drugs such as methamphetamine, amphetamine, and methylphenidate) have risen in the past several years. A recent report highlighted that drug overdose deaths involving cocaine rose 22% and drug overdose deaths involving psychostimulants rose 33% from 2020 through 2021. By the end of 2021, the report counted 24,486 drug overdose deaths involving cocaine and 32,537 drug overdose deaths involving psychostimulants. This report presents trends from 2011 through 2021 in death rates involving cocaine and psychostimulants, with and without opioid co-involvement | CDC, USA

From harm to hope: first annual report 2022 to 2023

The first annual report of the drug strategy sets out the progress from the first year of delivery, one year into the government’s 10 year plan. This report outlines progress on national delivery following the first full year of funding associated with the strategy, including delivery against commitments and goals, the key issues and challenges, including delivery of the recommendations made by the government’s Independent Advisor Dame Carol Black in her 2021 Review of Drugs | Home Office, UK

Drugs contaminated with synthetic opioids: a collective message

The drugs available in the UK seem to be changing lately. As people services, we have come together to make a shared statement/clarification on some of the new drugs the people we support use, and the risks they present | Change Grow Live, Humankind et al, UK