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Weekly news - 16th August 2024

In date order, Monday to Friday

Nearly 3 million people in Britain have quit smoking with a vape in the last 5 years

New data from health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) finds that vapes have been the most popular aid to quitting among those who have successfully stopped smoking in the last 5 years [1]. Their latest survey found that overall 5.6 million adults currently vape, 53% who whom have stopped smoking, 39% are still smoking and 8% have never smoked | ASH, UK

UK shortage of drug used to prevent brain damage in alcoholics

Experts say addiction patients are being treated as second-class citizens as ‘essential’ Pabrinex is withdrawn | Guardian, UK

Alkyl nitrites: ACMD exemption consideration

Updated: Updated a reference to research by Measham, McCormack, Simmons and Wignall after it was accepted for publication. Added accessible versions of the documents | ACMD, UK

An investigation into patterns of Alcohol drinking in Scotland after the introduction of minimum unit pricing

[Open access] In Scotland the run-up to the change and the actual change in 2018 to a minimum unit price for alcohol reduced overall drinking and heavy drinking, but only significantly among moderate drinkers, not those drinking at more hazardous levels | PLOS One, UK

Hundreds tested for HIV and hepatitis in new scheme

The Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust introduced the Opt-Out routine testing in its emergency department at the Queen's Medical Centre on 30 July. It means anyone aged 16 or over who is having their blood taken - for any reason - will be tested for the blood-borne viruses, unless they choose to opt out | BBC, UK

County drug users warned by local authorities of Nitazenes - strong synthetic opioids more potent than heroin - now in circulation

Police, health organisations, and North and West Northamptonshire Councils have issued a joint warning about the latest dangerous drugs in circulation in the county and across the UK | Northamptonshire Telegraph, UK

Addiction Mission Priority Setting Partnership survey - What questions about addiction would you like to see answered by research?

Your questions could be about what might cause addiction, support services, treatment, rehabilitation, mental or physical health, or anything else that is important to you. We want to hear your questions, no matter how big or small | Office for Life Sciences / James Lind Alliance, UK

Cannabis could help people cut down or stop opioid use, research shows

USC study finds cannabis can help manage withdrawal symptoms, as well as cravings and anxiety after withdrawal | Guardian, UK

Harms linked to drinking may be greater for people in worse health, study finds

Research finds even moderate alcohol consumption more damaging to health of the economically deprived | Guardian, UK

What action does the public think the government should take on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food?

England’s high burden of preventable ill health is still being driven by three leading risk factors: tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food. Over the past decade, the government has focused on supporting individuals to change their behaviour, rather than taking population-level action to minimise people’s exposure to these risk factors in the first place, such as through marketing regulation, fiscal policy and licensing. But both approaches – population-level action and individual support – are needed if this burden of preventable ill health is to be successfully reduced | Health Foundation, UK

Needle Exchange Surveillance Initiative (NESI): Monitoring blood-borne viruses and injecting risk behaviours among people who inject drugs in Scotland, 2008–09 to 2022–23

The aim of the Needle Exchange Surveillance Initiative is to measure and monitor the prevalence of blood-borne viruses (hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV), other health harms, risk behaviours and uptake of harm reduction and health services among people who inject drugs in Scotland | Public Health Scotland, UK

IARD launches resources to support workplace alcohol policies

One in three (34%) employers say staff socialising in person is important given the increase in hybrid working. Three in four (73%) companies have more generations in their workforce than ever before. But four in five (79%) employers do not have policies on responsible alcohol consumption in the workplace and eight out of 10 (81%) do not have guidance on inclusive social events. IARD launches new resources to support the development of alcohol in the workplace policies and tools for line-managers | IARD, UK

The Pain of our Loss – an open letter from families bereaved by substance use

We are family members who have lost a loved one through substance use. We have lost children, partners, siblings, and parents. Some of us have been bereaved for nearly thirty years, and some for only a few months. We have written this letter as a collective account of our experiences, to highlight the need for change | SFAD, UK

The Needle Exchange Surveillance Initiative (NESI): Everything you ever wanted to know about NESI (but were afraid to ask)

Yesterday marked the publication of the report from the 8th iteration (or “sweep” as we usually call it) of the Needle Exchange Surveillance Initiative (NESI), which was carried out from November 2022 to December 2023. NESI is a national “bio-behavioural” survey of people who inject drugs (PWID), so-called because it collects information on people’s self-reported behaviour via a questionnaire and collects biological information via a blood spot (which is obtained via a finger-prick device and later tested for blood-borne viruses). Participants are recruited from needle exchange sites across the country | DRNS blog, UK

There has never been a more dangerous time to take drugs, says NCA as annual threat assessment is published

The National Crime Agency has today released its annual assessment of serious and organised crime, with a stark warning that taking drugs has never been more dangerous. The threat from drugs to the UK has increased due to a rise in the production of cocaine, an expanding synthetic drugs market, an increase in the availability of synthetic opioids, and more cannabis being imported | NCA, UK