DS Daily - 6th March 2012

 

e-petition: Put effective drugs education on the National Curriculum

There is a lack of awareness and education, not helped by the fact that drugs education is not currently on the National Curriculum. We therefore petition to urgently get effective drugs education on the National Curriculum in Schools throughout the UK | HM Government, UK

Campaigners call for compulsory drug and alcohol education

Video - Every year thousands of children get involved in drugs, often with tragic consequences | BBC, UK

Mitch Winehouse wants compulsory drug lessons in schools

He's campaigning to have it put on the national curriculum in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and has launched a government e-petition | BBC, UK

Boosting cell production could help treat liver disease

Scientists have made an important step forward in their understanding of how the liver repairs itself in research that could in future help develop drugs to treat liver disease | Medical Research Council, UK

Prisoners leaving jail will have to join Work Programme to claim benefits

Jobcentre Plus staff will process claims for Job Seekers Allowance in prison to curb reoffending rates | Guardian, UK

Companies promised fee for giving ex-prisoners work

Ministers are promising that those who are released from jails in England, Scotland and Wales and move on to jobseeker's allowance will be placed straight on to the Work Programme | BBC, UK

Smoking and health 50 years on from landmark report

50 years ago on Tuesday, a key report was published that marked the beginning of a change in our relationship with smoking | BBC, UK

Wrexham homeless inquiries soar to record level

It is estimated that more than 3,400 people will have contacted it for help in 2011/12 - a three-fold increase since 2008/09 | BBC, UK

Montreal divided on location of safe-injection sites

The Montreal health authority wants to set up a string of three sites across the city ... City hall is onside about spreading the sites out to avoid concentrating them in one place – but that is where agreement ends | Globe and Mail, Canada

Harm reduction key issue at student drug conference

A conference put on by the Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy group is advocating for harm reduction sites like Insite | CBC News, Canada

Students set to tear into Canada's drug and imprisonment policies

Carlos Negraef, of the Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, says the upcoming 'Progress, Not Prisons' conference at the University of Calgary is grassroots effort to speak out against the Conservative government's drug and crime legislation | OpenFile, Canada

Chronic pain patients collateral damage of drug-abuse policy

OxyContin, a powerful painkiller, disappeared from Canada on March 1. It was replaced by OxyNEO, a chemically identical, but tamper-resistant version. The anger, confusion and physical pain that has resulted from this seemingly benign upgrade speaks volumes about what’s wrong with our approach to drugs in this country | Globe and Mail, Canada

Navy to step up Breathalyzer tests of sailors

The Navy soon will begin giving Breathalyzer tests to many of its sailors before they report to work aboard a ship under a new program that will spread to the Marine Corps later this year | SF Gate, USA

U.S. Remains Opposed to Drug Legalization, Biden Tells Region

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. delivered a blunt message on Monday to leaders in Latin America who are contemplating opening the door to the legalization of illicit drugs: The United States will not budge in its opposition | New York Times, USA

No impact from safe alcohol use campaign

A major overhaul of guidelines for the safe consumption of alcohol seems to have had no impact on Australians | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

Grasp of safe alcohol limits proves to be a long shot

The Centre for Alcohol Policy Research has found that apart from the 95 per cent of people unable to say what are safe drinking levels, up to 50 per cent could not even provide an estimate of hazard-free alcohol intake | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

Call to lift tax on cider to rein in alcohol abuse

The legal loophole, which sees ciders taxed in the same way as wines, has underpinned an explosion in the varieties of fruit-based drinks available, the chief executive of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, Michael Thorn, said | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

India introduces methadone treatment for drug abusers

UNODC, in collaboration with the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of India, has opened the country's first methadone maintenance treatment centre at the Civil Hospital in Kapurthala, in the State of Punjab, to treat heroin and opioid addicts | UNODC