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Weekly news - 13th October 2023

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In date order, Monday to Friday

ACMD advice on 2-benzyl benzimidazole and piperidine benzimidazolone opioids

Updated with an addendum (PDF) that covers consideration of a further 4 newly detected 2-benzyl benzimidazole (nitazene) opioids | ACMD, UK

Synthetic opioids may be behind rise of fatal overdoses in West Midlands

Exclusive: About 30 deaths in two months being examined for the involvement of heroin substitutes called nitazenes and xylazine | Guardian, UK

Nitazenes: Super strength street drugs linked to multiple NI deaths

Super strength street drugs which are "500 times stronger than morphine" have been linked to multiple deaths across Northern Ireland for the first time, a coroner has said | BBC, UK

The Sober Myth: Are Young Adults Really a Generation of Non-Drinkers?

The proportion of young adults who do not drink has increased from 14% in 2017 to 21% in 2023 while remaining relatively stable among the rest of the population (approx. 13%). Young adult drinkers are less likely than the rest of the population to drink weekly or more often (46% vs 56%) and less likely to drink above the Chief Medical Officers’ (CMOs) low risk drinking guidelines (17% vs 20%). Young adult drinkers are the age group most likely to binge drink in the UK (74% vs 63% of drinkers aged 25 and over). However, the prevalence of binge drinking has fallen for both groups since 2017 (from 82% among young adult drinkers and 66% among drinkers aged 25 and over) | Drinkaware, UK

Wes Streeting threatens to ‘come down like ton of bricks’ on vaping industry

Shadow health secretary says government is ‘asleep at wheel’ as more children become addicted | Guardian, UK

Vapes should be prescription only, Mark Drakeford says

The first minister said he was "attracted" to Australia's policy of restricting the sale of vapes to pharmacies. He has backed UK government plans that could see a ban on disposable vapes | BBC, UK

[Open access] This paper reports on the first qualitative study to interview people prescribed cannabis in the UK. Cannabis is a class B controlled substance under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs (MoD) Act, but a 2018 change to UK regulations provided for the prescription of cannabis for medical purposes. Relatively few people have been able to access a prescription, despite this policy change. This paper examines their experiences | IJDP, UK

Identifying evidence to support action to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in health A systematic scoping and mapping review (PDF)

This report examines the review-level evidence that is available to guide action on reducing socioeconomic inequalities in health. Evidence about public health interventions, programmes and policies applied to populations, groups and other geographically defined areas or jurisdictions was sought to explore whether they preferentially improve the health outcomes of people experiencing socioeconomic inequalities | LJMU, UK

The Kerslake Commission 2023: Turning the Tide on Rising Homelessness and Rough Sleeping

The Kerslake Commission was convened to learn the lessons from the ‘Everyone In’ initiative which supported people who were sleeping rough during the pandemic, and which led to a 37% drop in rough sleeping. The landscape is now vastly different, with the 2022 official figures showing a 26% increase in rough sleeping and the more recent statutory homelessness figures showing the number of households who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation is the highest since records began | Kerslake Commission, UK

Press release: Government sets out next steps to create ‘smokefree generation’

The government has launched a public consultation on youth vaping as part of measures to clamp down on vapes being promoted to children | Department of Health and Social Care, Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Rebecca Pow MP, The Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP, and The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, UK

Never start vaping, says 12-year-old girl with lung damage

A 12-year-old girl who suffered a lung collapse and spent four days in an induced coma has told the BBC that children should never start vaping. Sarah Griffin had asthma and was a heavy vaper when she was rushed to hospital with breathing problems a month ago | BBC, UK

UK food regulators slash recommended dose of CBD over health risks

Food Standards Agency drops advised daily limit from 70mg to 10mg in surprise reversal, citing risk to liver and thyroid issues | Guardian, UK

The role of UK alcohol and drug (AOD) nurses in a changing workforce

[Open access] This paper presents the findings from an exploratory study on alcohol and other drugs (AOD) nurses’ views on current career opportunities and challenges and on how their role has been affected by clinical and structural changes in service delivery | DEPP, UK

Better access to drug-related services for asylum seekers, a 'high priority' say reception centre staff

Better access to drug-related services for asylum seekers and empowering reception centre workers through training in drug use response are among the priorities highlighted in a new report out today: Professionals working in reception centres in Europe: an overview of drug-related challenges and support needs. The needs-assessment study is released by the EMCDDA and the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) | EMCDDA, Portugal

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