Daily news - 22nd April 2015


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Drop in binge drinking leads to 10% fewer injuries due to serious violence

Figures show decline in violent incidents at weekends involving men aged 18 to 30, easing pressure on A&Es, Cardiff University study finds | Guardian, UK

Foetal alcohol syndrome child refused Supreme Court compensation bid

A child born with foetal alcohol syndrome has been refused permission to take her case for criminal injuries compensation to the UK Supreme Court | BBC, UK

Lib Dems in call to de-criminalise drugs possession

Liberal Democrats today unveiled radical plans to decriminalise posession of drugs as they launched their Scottish manifesto | Scotsman, UK

Taking stock

[Free access article by Marcus Roberts, Former CEO of DrugScope] “When 80 per cent of your clients have a dual diagnosis, asking whether the service needs a dual diagnosis worker is getting things the wrong way around”. So commented one of the contributors to a national “summit” organised by DrugScope | Advances in Dual Diagnosis, UK

Calling time on missed opportunities: commissioning alcohol services to reduce avoidable harm

A multidisciplinary group of professionals involved in the clinical and societal management of patients with alcohol dependence met in Spring 2014, with the objective of defining themes for future developments in the management of alcohol dependence. Six themes were identified and 40 consensus statements were developed across these themes | MGP, UK

Electronic-cigarette use among young people in Wales: evidence from two cross-sectional surveys

[Full access] To examine the prevalence of electronic(e)-cigarette use, prevalence of e-cigarette and tobacco use by age, and associations of e-cigarette use with sociodemographic characteristics, tobacco and cannabis use among young people in Wales | BMJ, UK

E-cigarette users trying to quit smoking should vape every day, studies suggest

Researchers find those using e-cigarettes daily, especially ones with refillable tanks, made more effort to give up over a year than infrequent users | Guardian, UK

Realistic-looking E-cigarettes less likely to help smokers quit, study claims

More realistic-looking brands of e-cigarettes may be less likely to lead people to quit smoking, according to a new study | Independent, UK

What’s the best treatment for pregnant opioid-dependent women?

It probably depends on the outcome being focused on, found reviewers who searched for randomised trials involving pregnant opioid-dependent women which tested a maintenance treatment such as methadone maintenance against an alternative (or no) treatment | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

Relationship between alcohol-attributable disease and socioeconomic status, and the role of alcohol consumption in this relationship: a systematic review and meta-analysis (PDF)

Studies show that alcohol consumption appears to have a disproportionate impact on people of low socioeconomic status. Further exploration of the relationship between alcohol consumption, SES and the development of chronic alcohol-attributable diseases is therefore important to inform the development of effective public health programmes | Biomedical Central, UK

Measuring addiction recovery: development of a new tool for service users - survey

This questionnaire is part of a larger research project that is being conducted by researchers from King's College London, with the support of service users. The aim of the study is to produce a new tool for measuring recovery from addiction. This tool will only measure aspects of recovery that service users themselves think are important | King's College London, UK

Addaction psychiatrist's work on world first live drug trial

Weston psychiatrist Ben Sessa has been involved in cutting edge neuroscience projects that recently saw the world's first live brain scans of people taking LSD | Addaction, UK

Breaking free group enters strategic partnership with OCR

Digital healthcare pioneer Breaking Free Group has entered into a partnership with the UK’s leading examination and accreditation body, OCR (Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Royal Society of Arts) | Breaking Free, UK

Liverpool Lime Street street drinkers' site approved

A controversial centre near Lime Street Station for street drinkers to receive support has been granted planning permission | Liverpool Echo, UK

 

International news

Kansas medical marijuana advocate loses custody of son over cannabis use

Shona Banda faces potential charges including child endangerment after son told school officials she and her friends were avid drug users at the home | Guardian, UK

US drug chief to retire after report claims DEA agents had 'sex parties with prostitutes'

The investigation accuses agents of leaving their weapons with Colombian police while they went to have sex with prostitutes paid by drug cartels | Telegraph, UK

Waka Flocka Flame runs for president, pledges to legalise marijuana

But he won't be wearing no 'hot ass suits' in Congress | Independent, UK

Labor puts banned drinker register back on the cards for Northern Territory

New opposition leader says he will reintroduce the controversial alcohol management policy if elected in 2016 | Guardian, UK

Irish teens are starting to drink at age 13

Alarming new figures that show adolescents are developing harmful alcohol habits from a very young age | Independent, Ireland

Potential effects of drinking alcohol during pregnancy

Exposure to alcohol can seriously affect the baby's development, particularly the brain and spinal cord | Independent, Ireland

Treatment of cannabis-related disorders in Europe

This publication reviews the interventions used in the treatment of cannabis disorders and maps out the geography of cannabis treatment in Europe | EMCDDA, Portugal

Marijuana Activists Cheer Michele Leonhart's Exit from the DEA

Advocates hope that outgoing chief Michele Leonhart will be replaced by someone who is more open to studies that show marijuana is relatively safer than other drugs | Bloomberg politics, USA

Setting The Record Straight On The Phrase 'Gateway Drug'

Denise Kandel coined the term, often associated with marijuana, in a research paper 40 years ago. But her work suggested nicotine, not pot, was most likely to lead to the use of harder drugs | npr, USA

Cannabis consumers show greater susceptibility to false memories

A new study published in the American journal with the highest impact factor in worldwide, Molecular Psychiatry, reveals that consumers of cannabis are more prone to experiencing false memories | EurekAlert, USA

An Innovative Drug Policy That Works

Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is off to a good start. The program, launched in 2011 as the first of its kind in the country, allows law enforcement officers to direct people charged with low-level drug or sex work offenses into community-based services instead of prosecution and jail. We spoke to LEAD founder and project manager Lisa Daugaard, shortly after an evaluation that showed the program was exceeding expectations | OSF, USA

Marijuana Ice Cream Is A Thing: Cannabis Creamery In Sausalito Serving Up THC-Laced Sweets

Ben and Jerry said they were considering making pot-flavored ice cream "where it was legal," but they've been beaten to the punch. Isaac Lappert, a third-generation ice cream purveyor and graduate of The Culinary Institute, started Cannabis Creamery in (rich) hippie and hot-tub central: Sausalito, California | IBTimes, USA

Ice Help Line

The Andrews Labor Government has established a new Ice Help Line as part of a $45.5 million Ice Action Plan to support families and ice users, Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley announced today | Victorian Government, Australia

Ice advice: 24-hour line offers help to addicts and their families

A 24-HOUR helpline has been launched to combat the effects of the ice scourge | Herald, Australia

Ice campaign could backfire, say experts

A national taskforce on crystal methamphetamine—or ‘ice’—has begun working on a strategy to deal with the growing impact of the drug. The PM has flagged a major public awareness campaign, but some experts are concerned a broad-based ad campaign could backfire | abc.net.au, Australia

Injection and diversion of Oxycontin drops following introduction of tamper proof formula

There is increasing concern about tampering and diversion of pharmaceutical opioids. In April 2014 the manufacturers of OxcyContin introduced a reformulated abuse-deterrent sustained-release oxycodone formulation Reformulated OxyContin®. The Australian National Opioid Medications Abuse Deterrence (NOMAD) study was established to assess the impact of the reformulated product in reducing tampering and non-medical use | Drug and alcohol research connections, Australia

 

Blogs, comment and opinion

CEO blog: Three priorities for the incoming government

You can tell there’s an election coming. UK drug policy has become increasingly prominent in recent weeks, with bans on legal highs, pledges of ‘progressive reform’ – counter-accusations of being ‘soft on drugs’ – and promises to prioritise PSHE education in schools. Public Health England also released a useful guidance documenton promoting the health and wellbeing of children and young people in schools, among a plethora of publications from government departments since the beginning of 2015 | Mentor Blog, UK

If you really want to legalise cannabis, then why on earth would you go and get high in a park?

Embarrassing displays of public consumption like the 420 celebrations are not going to lead to meaningful drug reform, but I know what will | Independent Voices, UK

Be here…when?

In this guest post, Matt, a regular contributor to this blog, takes a close look at the paradox of being in the moment. It that a good thing — as meditation teachers counsel us? Or is it a sink-hole in time — a stagnant swamp where addiction can take root and grow? Thanks Matt, for this fascinating exploration of the relation between addiction and time | Memoirs of an addicted brain, USA

Old ideas for a new era

Sam Quinones and I share an affinity for this startling fact: more Americans now die of drug overdoes than car crashes | Ponits: The blog of the alcohol and drugs history society, USA

Want to quit smoking? Switching to e-cigarettes won’t help

A study published today in the leading journal Addiction might just change everything for electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) | Conversation, Australia