Daily news - 4th December 2014 |
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UK news
Briefing paper 5: Commissioning Substance Use Services (PDF)
The role of commissioner is complex and requires excellent analytical skills. The following briefing looks at commissioning from a number of different angles and for a variety of different services | Skills Consortium, UK
Autumn Statement promises better support for people with multiple needs (PDF)
The Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) coalition has welcomed today’s commitment in the Autumn Statement to better support people facing multiple needs | MEAM, UK
Shameful health inequalities
Blenheim have pledged in their 2014 annual report to campaign for best practice and positive change to address the many health inequalities in the alcohol and substance misuse field | Blenheim, UK
E-cigarette use by children concerns fuelled by research
Three times as many children have tried e-cigarettes than smoking tobacco, according to official figures | BBC, UK
Toxicologist warns drinkers to wait before driving
Drivers should think twice about what they drink as the new lower alcohol limits come into effect, a forensic toxicologist has warned | BBC, UK
Scotland-England drink-drive difference highlighted
The Scottish justice secretary is visiting Dumfries and Galloway and Cumbria to highlight the new drink-driving limit north of the border | BBC, UK
Should treatment systems maximise coercion, or maximise voluntary engagement?
On-line course asks whether collaboration with law enforcement authorities and/or coercion undermine or amplify treatment’s crime-reducing power, and whether treatment systems should maximise coercion, or maximise voluntary engagement | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK
NHS Devon surgery restriction for smokers and obese plan revealed
Smokers and the morbidly obese in Devon will be denied routine surgery unless they quit smoking or lose weight | BBC, UK
Taunton hospital deters smokers with children's messages
Children's no smoking messages broadcast outside a maternity unit have reduced the number of people lighting up, bosses say | BBC, UK
Cannabis breathalyser to be tested in US to detect drug driving
Researchers have invented a breathalyser capable of instantly detecting whether a driver is under the influence of cannabis | IBTimes, UK
Four teens hospitalised after taking legal highs
Four teenagers have been admitted to hospital after taking so-called legal highs, police have said | ITV, UK
Legal highs forfeited by court after raids on Heads and Phone Doctor in Folkestone, Third Eye in Canterbury, Bong Shop in Margate
A ground-breaking court case has led to hundreds of so-called legal highs seized at four shops in Kent to be permanently removed from use | Kent Online, UK
Drug lord ran heroin empire from garden shed in Havering
A drug dealer sold millions of pounds worth of heroin, cocaine and cannabis from his headquarters in a humble garden shed | IBTimes, UK
Manchester: Two arrested in inquiry into NI drugs supply
Detectives investigating the supply of controlled drugs into Northern Ireland have arrested two men | BBC, UK
Isle of Man drink-drive campaign begins
A police crackdown on drivers impaired by drink or drugs over the festive period is to get under way in the Isle of Man this month | BBC, UK
The 9th Annual Conference of the ISSDP will be held in Ghent on 20-22 May 2015 - Call for papers
The Scientific Program Committee for the 9th Annual Conference of the ISSDP invites you to submit an abstract for oral or poster presentations for the Conference. All submitted abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Program Committee | ISSDP, UK
International news
AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd ordered to stay off drugs after breaching bail
A New Zealand judge tells rocker to stay off drugs after a confrontation which led him to being handcuffed and detained by police | Telegraph, UK
The role of social and human capital in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction (PDF)
This paper reports the results of an evidence review on the role of social and human capital in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. It has been written for a practitioner audience – to provide stakeholders with key messages from recent research that can be used to inform the decisions they need to make | Health Research Board, Ireland
The efficacy and effectiveness of drug and alcohol abuse prevention programmes delivered outside of school settings (PDF)
This paper reports the results of an evidence review on the efficacy and effectiveness of drug and alcohol abuse prevention programmes delivered outside of school settings. It has been written for a practitioner audience, with the objective of providing stakeholders with key messages from recent research that can inform the decisions they need to make | Health Research Board, Ireland
Why those drug drivers will be taken off our roads
Our Road Safety Authority expert says the new push will help save lives | Independent, Ireland
Public views sought on tobacco controls
A public consultation on imposing tougher tobacco sale restrictions has been launched by the Department of Health | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Cigarette-vending machines to be outlawed and under-18s to be banned from selling cigarettes
Businesses and the public have until mid-January to give their views on the plans, which is contained in a Department of Health consultation document published yesterday. The most controversial part would see around 7,000 cigarette-vending machines put out of business. The sector employs 145 people directly and is worth €175m to the economy | Independent, Ireland
Court Strikes Down Drug Tests for Florida Welfare Applicants
A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down a 2011 Florida law requiring drug tests for people seeking welfare benefits even if they are not suspected of drug use, a measure pushed by Gov. Rick Scott in his first term in office | NY Times, USA
Investors flock for Australia's 'George Clooney of medicinal cannabis' company
Australia's first initial public offering in a medicinal marijuana company is three times oversubscribed, giving high hopes to its founder's ambitions to become "the George Clooney of medicinal cannabis" | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Alcohol consumption increased oral cancer risk
The aim of this review was to provide a global picture of the association between alcohol drinking and a large variety of cancers | Dental Elf, UK
Sustained smoking cessation intervention for hospitalised smokers
Earlier this year the US Surgeon General recommend that tobacco cessation counselling and pharmacotherapy should be offered to smokers in every healthcare setting (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2014) | Mental Elf, UK
A letter to David Cameron: UK drugs policy is not working
Dear Prime Minister, We have written to you on several occasions to highlight the harms of the current criminal justice approach to drugs... | Release Blog, UK
Celebrity Rehab: Negative Influence Or Positive Role Model?
Both it seems. At least that was the opinion of rehab influencers we surveyed | Help4addiction blog, UK
Why Anti-Smoking Groups Should Endorse Snus And E-Cigarettes
The good news is that the smoking rate has hit a new low. It is now just under 18% of all adults – but the goal of a totally smokeless society is elusive | Forbes, USA
Opposing the Overdose Antidote Narcan Means Approving of Death Sentences for Heroin Users
The search for an elixir of life, capable of reviving the dead, has persisted since the early mumblings of recorded history and ancient mythology. During one of China's earliest imperial dynasties, emperor Qin Shi Hang (260 - 210 BC) was fabled to have sent thousands of young people to the eastern seas to recover the elixir of life. Two expeditions never returned | VICE, USA