Home | Archive | Weekly | Reports
Weekly news - 28th June 2024 |
 |
In date order, Monday to Friday
Addicts being charged huge sums for private rehabilitation services they do not need, expert warns
Addicts are being charged huge sums for private rehabilitation services they do not need, one of the UK's leading experts in the field has claimed | Mail Online, UK
Video prompts call for action on city drug abuse
There have been renewed calls for action to address drugs issues in Belfast city centre. It comes after a video was widely shared on social media of a man appearing to take hard drugs in "broad daylight" on Thursday on Donegall Place | BBC, UK
Philip Morris backed organisation is targeting UK smoking cessation services
Smoking cessation teams in the UK have been warned against taking funding from a tobacco industry backed organisation that has been boycotted by the World Health Organization, The BMJ has found | BMJ, UK
Slow-release ketamine tablets help prevent depression relapses, UK trial finds
71% of patients found to experience a relapse compared with 43% who received the pills twice a week | Guardian, UK
Warning issued over super-strength ecstasy pills ahead of Glastonbury festival
Drug charity The Loop says young festivalgoers are particularly at risk as potency of pills returns to pre-pandemic levels | Guardian, UK
National drug and alcohol treatment waiting times
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) reports on waiting times for people accessing specialist drug and alcohol treatment services between 1 January and 31 March 2024. In 2011, the Scottish Government set a Standard that 90% of people referred for help with problematic drug or alcohol use will wait no longer than three weeks for specialist treatment that supports their recovery | PHS, UK
The cost of complacency: A harm reduction funding crisis
Since 2020, the world has experienced several acute crises which have tested the resilience of harm reduction services. Economic, political, humanitarian and environmental crises have also put harm reduction at risk. Harm reduction services, particularly those led by the community of people who use drugs and civil society have shown their ability to reach those most in need and adapt to changing circumstances in times of crises | HRI, UK
Over 3 million annual deaths due to alcohol and drug use, majority among men
A new report from the World Health Organization highlights that 2.6 million deaths per year were attributable to alcohol consumption, accounting for 4.7% of all deaths, and 0.6 million deaths to psychoactive drug use. WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders provides a comprehensive update based on 2019 data on the public health impact of alcohol and drug use and situation with alcohol consumption and treatment of substance use disorders worldwide. The report shows an estimated 400 million people lived with alcohol and drug use disorders globally. Of this, 209 million people lived with alcohol dependence | WHO, USA
Newsbeat: Festival Drug Testing - audio
We hear about the strength of some drugs found at Parklife from a charity testing them. The Loop is warning about some being stronger than they've seen for a few years | BBC Sounds, UK
World Drug Report 2024
A global reference on drug markets, trends and policy developments, the World Drug Report offers a wealth of data and analysis and in 2024 comprises several elements tailored to different audiences. The web-based Drug market patterns and trends module contains the latest analysis of global, regional and subregional estimates of and trends in drug demand and supply. The Key findings and conclusions booklet provides an overview of selected findings from the analysis, while the Special points of interest fascicle offers a framework for the main takeaways and policy implications that can be drawn from those findings | UNODC, Austria
Davey defends support for legalising cannabis and smoking ban
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has insisted his support for legalising cannabis is not "inconsistent" with backing a phased smoking ban | BBC, UK
New analysis reveals highly dynamic and resilient market for new psychoactive substances
The EU market for new psychoactive substances (NPS) is highly dynamic and resilient, characterised by a high turnover of potent, cheap and available substances. This is according to a new study released today by the EMCDDA and Europol: EU Drug Market: New psychoactive substances | EMCDDA, Portugal