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Weekly news - 26th April 2024

 

In date order, Monday to Friday

Deadly nitazene drug adverts on X and SoundCloud, BBC finds

Thousands of posts offering deadly drugs known as nitazenes have been found on X and the music platform SoundCloud by a BBC investigation | BBC, UK

5 minutes on Nitazenes - audio

Simeon McAnoy used to work as a door-to-door window salesman in Birmingham - until he died of a drug overdose. It’s believed he thought he was taking heroin. But he wasn't. It was a new super-strength synthetic opioid. They’re known as nitazenes and the BBC has learned they’re behind dozens of recent deaths across the UK. Data from The National Crime Agency shows that nitazenes have been linked to at least 54 deaths in the last year, while an additional 40 cases are awaiting forensic toxicology | BBC, UK

Vaping amongst Children and Young People in Wales Incident Response Group (PDF)

In July 2023, Public Health Wales convened an Incident Response Group (IRG) to investigate the rise of vaping amongst children and young people. The IRG drew on health protection approaches to managing outbreaks of communicable disease to drive a rapid response to an issue perceived as urgent amongst key stakeholder groups in Wales | Public Health Wales, UK

Coroner calls for change after co-codamol overdose

A coroner is calling for paramedics to have GP records "readily available" after the death of a 57-year-old who accidentally overdosed on co-codamol | BBC, UK

Plaid decriminalise drugs call in police elections

Plaid Cymru has called for the decriminalisation of drugs, in its pitch for the police and crime commissioner elections | BBC, UK

UK Medical Cannabis - Patient Incident Questionnaire

Release is launching a vital initiative. We are launching the #ReleaseOurMeds campaign to protect the rights of patients to access their medicine. There has been an increase in reports of patients having negative encounters with the police due to their possession of prescribed cannabis medication | Release, UK

Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2022

Deaths caused by diseases known to be a direct consequence of alcohol, by age, sex, and region. In 2022, there were 10,048 deaths (16.6 per 100,000 people) from alcohol-specific causes registered in the UK, the highest number on record | ONS, UK

Heavier drinking during Covid led to 2,500 more deaths from alcohol in 2022 – ONS

Official UK figures show 33% jump in deaths from alcohol-specific causes from 2019 – the highest since records began in 2001 | Guardian, UK

Synthetic opioids previously linked to UK deaths are being ‘advertised for sale on social media’

Suppliers boast to undercover reporters about promoting illegal nitazenes, on SoundCloud and X | Guardian, UK

Cigarette prices motivating more quit attempts, study says

The rising price of cigarettes is motivating more people - one in four adults in England - to give up smoking, research suggests | BBC, UK

New high nicotine vaping tax could drive riskier habits

Proposed new taxes on nicotine vaping products that increase with nicotine strength may have unintended negative health consequences, according to researchers at London South Bank University | LSBU, UK

National naloxone programme Scotland - Quarterly monitoring bulletin

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on the number of take-home naloxone kits issued by the National Naloxone Programme (NNP) in Scotland. Figures are presented separately for kits issued from community outlets, kits issued in prisons at the point of liberation, kits dispensed via community prescription, and kits issued by Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) | PHS, UK

Is standardised packaging an alternative to nation-wide vape ban?

A senior lecturer at King’s College London has suggested that alternative legislative methods, such as a ban on colourful vape packaging, could be implemented instead of an outright ban on the sale of disposable vapes | SW Londoner, UK

Alcohol, e-cigarettes, cannabis: concerning trends in adolescent substance use, shows new WHO/Europe report

Across Europe, central Asia and Canada, a concerning picture of adolescent substance use emerges from a new WHO/Europe report. With over half of 15-year-olds surveyed having experimented with alcohol and a shocking 1 in 5 having recently used e-cigarettes, the risks to young people are clear. The new data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study also highlights a narrowing gender gap in substance use, emphasizing the need for targeted prevention strategies. The long-term consequences of these trends are significant, and policy-makers cannot afford to ignore these alarming findings | WHO, Denmark

England child alcohol use tops global chart, finds WHO report

A third of 11-year-olds and more than half of 13-year-olds in England have drunk alcohol - putting it top out of 44 countries examined in a report by global health experts | BBC, UK

Scotland worst in world for boys smoking cannabis - report

Fifteen-year-old boys in Scotland have the highest rate for smoking cannabis according to a new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The study found that nearly a quarter (23%) of boys aged 15 in Scotland surveyed said they had tried the Class B drug at some point | BBC, UK

Life-saving Naloxone nasal spray issued to frontline police officers

More than 250 frontline police officers have volunteered to carry a life-saving nasal spray which reverses the effects of opioid overdose | North Yorkshire Police, UK

New EMCDDA resource on drug consumption rooms: a local response to local problems and needs

The EMCDDA has released today a new miniguide on drug consumption rooms (DCR) as part of its Health and social responses to drug problems: a European guide. The resource is the first miniguide in a bundle of reports dedicated to drug-related interventions. It provides an overview of key issues related to these facilities, including service delivery, guidance and existing evidence and latest developments in Europe. It also considers implications for policy and practice | EMCDDA, Portugal

We know how to deter British children from alcohol, say experts, after concerns over WHO report

Study found Great Britain had worst rate of child alcohol consumption in world, but youth drinking is said still to have ‘declined sharply’ | Guardian, UK

Patients prescribed gabapentinoids at increased risk of drug misuse or overdose, researchers find

Keele researchers have found a link between patients prescribed gabapentinoids and a greater risk of ‘adverse events’ such as drug misuse, overdose, and major trauma such as a bone fracture or head injury | Keele University, UK