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Weekly news - 12th January 2024

 

In date order, Monday to Friday

Open call for evidence: Drug prevention policies and landscape across the UK

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) seeks to gather insight into current government-led drug prevention policies and landscape across the UK. This call for evidence closes at 11:59pm on 13 February 2024 | Home Office and Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, UK

National Mission on Drugs: Annual Monitoring Report 2022-2023

This first standalone annual monitoring report provides an analysis of the progress made between April 2022 and March 2023 towards reducing the number of drug-related deaths and improving the lives of people affected by drugs in Scotland. It reports on the set of metrics described in the National Mission on Drugs: Monitoring Metrics Technical Paper, which are used to monitor progress towards the National Mission | Scottish Government, UK

New app aims to help liver disease patients abstain from alcohol

A mobile phone app which helps patients with alcohol-related liver disease to stay sober could help save hundreds of lives every year, according to researchers from UCL and the Royal Free Hospital who developed the app | UCL, UK

Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation

Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are handheld electronic vaping devices which produce an aerosol by heating an e‐liquid. People who smoke, healthcare providers and regulators want to know if ECs can help people quit smoking, and if they are safe to use for this purpose. This is a review update conducted as part of a living systematic review. The aim was to examine the safety, tolerability and effectiveness of using electronic cigarettes to help people who smoke tobacco achieve long‐term smoking abstinence, in comparison to non‐nicotine EC, other smoking cessation treatments and no treatment | Cochrane Reviews, UK

NPIS reports significant increase in nitrous oxide-related activities

The latest annual report from the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) shows a marked increase in activity related to nitrous oxide and ketamine | UKHSA, UK

Global Drug Survey 2024 - now open

This year GDS is focusing on the impacts of drug prices, trends in illicit tobacco use, use of performance and image enhancing drugs (e.g., steroids), perceptions of tobacco endgame policies, nitrous oxide use, and experiences of drug use in nightlife and festival settings. [See more info here] | GDS, UK et al

We need to look beyond economics on smoking, drinking and obesity

The tension between supporting big business and tackling the harm it causes bedevils public health policy | New Statesman, UK

Overdose Prevention Centres, Safe Consumption Sites, and Drug Consumption Rooms: A Rapid Evidence Review

Drug Science is pleased to announce the release of a rapid evidence reviewcollating and synthesizing the existing evidence on Overdose Prevention Centres (OPCs), outlining what we know about their impact on individuals, communities, and public health. The primary objective of this rapid review is to offer a comprehensive understanding of OPCs, for policymakers, politicians, service providers, health departments, current and potential service providers, researchers, and anyone else interested in the health and well-being of people who use drugs | Drug Science, UK

Drug consumption rooms could save thousands of UK lives, study finds

Facilities could also slash transmission of diseases and cut pressure on ambulance callouts and hospitals, study says | Guardian, UK

Our priorities for the next government

2024 is set to be a crucial year for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery system. The forthcoming general election is likely to take place this year, bringing potential political change. We will all also be keenly aware of the fast approaching funding cliff edge facing services in our sector, as we prepare to enter the 24/25 financial year and come closer to the end of the initial three year funding period announced alongside the ten year drug strategy | Collective Voice blog, UK

Nitrous oxide may be harmful for ‘heavy users’ according to new review, but more research needed

Nitrous oxide (more commonly known as laughing gas) is a widely used drug in the UK and many other European countries. This colourless, sweet tasting gas has been used for over a hundred years recreationally and in medicine as an anaesthetic and for pain | Mental Elf blog, UK