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Weekly news - 22nd September 2023 |
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In date order, Monday to Friday
Call for Evidence: Reducing the harm from illegal drugs
Closing date: Friday 17 November 2023. The Committee’s inquiry follows its May 2023 report on alcohol treatment services, and will examine both progress to-date in implementing the strategy, and the work of the cross-government Joint Combatting Drugs Unit. The Committee will also hear from senior officials at the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care, with likely topics including: progress on disrupting drugs supply; reducing long-term demand for drugs; any barriers to accessing treatment and supporting recovery; certainty of Government funding. If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here | Public Accounts Committee, UK
Pharmacological and electronic cigarette interventions for smoking cessation in adults: component network meta‐analyses
The most effective interventions were nicotine e‐cigarettes, varenicline and cytisine (all high certainty), as well as combination NRT (additive effect, certainty not rated). There was also high‐certainty evidence for the effectiveness of nicotine patch, fast‐acting NRT and bupropion. Less certain evidence of benefit was present for nortriptyline (moderate certainty), non‐nicotine e‐cigarettes and tapering of nicotine dose (both low certainty) | Cochrane Library, UK
‘Dire need’ for labels on alcohol and ads about unhealthy eating to cut avoidable cancers
Health campaigners call for hard-hitting messages about risks of drinking and of being overweight | Guardian, UK
Majority support ‘nanny state’ policies to improve Britain’s health outcomes
Brits largely support public health interventions like bans on advertising, regulating food prices, and affordability limits on gambling, a think tank shows today | SMF, UK
UK drug advisers recommended decriminalising possession in 2016, leak reveals
Exclusive: Guardian has seen copy of 27-page report that Home Office attempted to keep confidential | Guardian, UK
Disposable vapes could still be available to smokers through NHS scheme despite Government ban
Ministers are understood to be finalising plans to ban single-use devices, amid concerns they have sparked an epidemic of youth vaping across Britain | i news, UK
Spotlight: Bereaved families warn over dangers over 'lethal' drugs
The mothers of two young people who died after taking suspected "extra-strength" pills say people need to be aware street drugs are "lethal" | BBC, UK
Commissioning Quality Standard, strand 3 webinar: whole and integrated system approaches
19th October 2023 10am-12 noon. OHID published the Commissioning Quality Standards (CQS) for alcohol and drug treatment and recovery last year and is supporting its implementation with a series of webinars. Working with the English Substance Use Commissioning Group, OHID is delivering a series of free webinars on each of the four strands of the CQS throughout 2023. The webinars are of most value to commissioners and others implementing the CQS but will also be of interest to drug treatment and recovery providers. The next webinar will be on strand 3, covering whole and integrated system approaches. Register here | OHID, UK
95% of ex-smokers see positive changes soon after quitting
Stoptober is back and calling on smokers to join the thousands of others committing to quit from 1 October | Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and Neil O'Brien MP, UK
Injecting equipment provision in Scotland
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on injecting equipment provision (IEP). This includes the number of outlets, attendances and the types of injecting equipment distributed to people who used illicit drugs (including Novel Psychoactive Substances and Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs) in Scotland in 2022/23 | Public Health Scotland, UK
New report highlights emerging trends for substance use in Greater Manchester
New findings from the second GM TRENDS report have revealed the latest trends and patterns for substance use across Greater Manchester. Findings will help raise awareness of and inform harm reduction policies | MMU, UK
Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012: Report on the operation and effect of the minimum pricing provisions 2018 - 2023
The Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 allows the Scottish Parliament to set a price below which alcohol cannot be sold. The purpose of this report is to report on the operation and effect of the minimum pricing provisions during the first five years of the provisions being in force | Scottish Government, UK
New modelling of alcohol harms in Scotland
The Sheffield Alcohol Research Group has today (20 September 2023) published a major new report on the impact of alcohol pricing policies, alcohol consumption and harm in Scotland | University of Sheffield, UK
Proposal to raise minimum alcohol price to 65p in Scotland
The Scottish government is to consult on a proposal to raise the minimum unit price of alcohol to 65p. A 50p minimum price per unit was introduced in 2018, but that legislation will expire in April 2024 | BBC, UK
New advice for schools about vaping
Today, Public Health Wales has published new guidance for secondary schools to tackle vaping. The guidance sets out details of vaping use among young people in Wales and actions schools can take to address vaping. Figures from the School Health Research Network show that 20% of young people from year 7 to year 11 say they’ve tried vaping, with 5% of secondary school pupils in Wales vaping at least once a week | Welsh Government, UK
Impact Assessment, The Home Office - Control of nitrous oxide under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (PDF)
Home Office assessment of the potential impacts of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2023, which will ban nitrous oxide, on the police, courts and prison systems | Home Office, UK
Home Affairs Committee Report on Drugs - Early Day Motions - UK Parliament
EDM (Early Day Motion)1640: tabled on 19 September 2023. Motion text: That this House welcomes the Home Affairs Committee's Report on Drugs, published on 31 August, and supports its call for an increased public health response and expanded range of harm reduction approaches; shares the concerns of the Committee, in particular the urgent need for a strategy to combat the feared forthcoming flood of synthetic opioids; notes that this Report recognises the value of drug-checking services, diversion schemes, naloxone availability, actions to overcome stigma and other barriers to treatment... | UK Parliament, UK
Proposed site of Scottish drug room pilot revealed
The proposed site for the UK's first sanctioned drugs consumption room has been revealed. Hunter Street Health Centre in the east end of Glasgow has been earmarked as the location for a pilot scheme | BBC, UK
Open call for evidence: Drug use in ethnic minority groups
The deadline to respond has been extended to Friday 27 October 2023. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has previously investigated vulnerability and risk factors to developing drug dependence and vulnerability of specific groups including young people, homeless, and LGBT communities. Following this work, the ACMD has agreed to begin a self-commissioned workstream investigating drug use in ethnic minority groups | ACMD, UK
Alcohol: Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP): Continuation and Future Pricing: Consultation
Closing date of 22nd November 2023. The Scottish Government is conducting a public consultation to gather views from people, businesses, public bodies and interested parties on the proposal to continue the effect of the MUP legislation and, if continued, to set a new price of 65ppu of alcohol going forward | Scottish Government, UK
New Turning Point report 'A Sobering Thought' exposes alarming scale of alcohol-related harm
A new report published by Turning Point reveals that harmful drinking is costing the NHS over £1 billion per year. The report, titled "A Sobering Thought," highlights the devastating impact of alcohol-related harm and calls for urgent action to address the issue | Turning Point, UK
E-cigarettes are not a gateway into smoking
The most comprehensive study to date investigating whether e-cigarettes are a gateway into or out of smoking finds that, at the population level, there is no sign that e-cigarettes and other alternative nicotine delivery products promote smoking | Queen Mary University of London, UK