Daily news - 30th March 2015 |
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UK news
Guidance: Revised guidance issued under section 182 of Licensing Act 2003
This guidance is provided to licensing authorities in relation to the carrying out of their functions under the 2003 Act. It also provides information to magistrates’ courts hearing appeals against licensing decisions and has been made widely available for the benefit of those who run licensed premises, their legal advisers and the general public | Home Office and The Rt Hon Lynne Featherstone MP, UK
Counselling in schools: a blueprint for the future (PDF)
Departmental advice for school leaders and counsellors | Department of Education, UK
More pupils have mental health issues, say school staff
More children have mental health issues than two years ago, a survey of school teachers suggests | BBC, UK
Addressing complex needs: Improving services for vulnerable homeless people (PDF)
This report tells the story of the progress we have made in this parliament, increasing investment in homelessness services, providing strategic support to help authorities deliver effective prevention services, and testing innovative new approaches | Dept for Communities & Local Government, UK
Y-Stop feat Percelle Ascott (Mandem on the Wall & Youngers) Music from Giggs,Kyze & My Nu Leng Pt 1 - video
*Warning: This film contains explicit language*
A brand new film starring actors from Mandem on the Wall, Youngers and Eastenders as well as music from Kyze, Giggs and My Nu Leng. Y-Stop highlights your rights and vital skills needed to handle police stop and search scenarios | MYM: Million Youth Media & Release, UK
Council ban legislation creating 'bizarre' laws, campaigners say
A law that allows councils in England and Wales to ban certain activities in public is leading to "bizarre new criminal offences", campaigners say | BBC, UK
NHS bosses ask shops to stop selling legal highs
NHS chiefs are calling on shops to stop selling legal highs to curb an “alarming” strain on health services | Edinburgh News, UK
'Skunk' cannabis: Fifth man in court in Newtownards
A 37-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged over an international investigation into the supply of cannabis to Northern Ireland | BBC, UK
Booze banned on Saturday Middlesbrough to York trains
Police have issued a ban on rail travellers drinking or carrying alcohol on morning train services between Middlesbrough and York | BBC, UK
International news
Ireland Smoking Ban - BBC iPlayer Radio
In March 2004 Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. Many publicans feared it would hit their business hard | BBC iPlayer, UK
Willie Nelson to open chain of marijuana stores
Veteran country star plans to launch his own brand of weed, Willie’s Reserve, to sell in states where marijuana is legal | Guardian, UK
Marijuana cultivation in California is sucking streams dry, says new report
The drought-stricken state is facing further water shortages due to unregulated marijuana farms. Researchers say that needs to change — and fast | Guardian, UK
Ticking timebomb: why ice could be the new drug scourge of the outback
Concern is growing at the use of crystal meth, also known as ice, in remote communities, but services to keep the problem at bay have lost funding. And the ‘children of the intervention’ are the ones most at risk. A special report | Guardian, UK
CFMEU calls for mandatory drug testing on building sites to deal with ice scourge
Union and Victorian Labor reverse their opposition to mandatory testing in response to anecdotal reports of worksite accidents in which ice could be a factor | Guardian, UK
Sacred Cocaine: Inside the Peruvian Sect Accused of Growing Coca in the Amazon
"The Ataucusi are the new drug lords at the border. I've seen it with my own eyes," said a cargo handler, who declined to give his name, onboard an Amazon River ferryboat heading towards the Triple Border region, where Peru meets Colombia and Brazil | VICE, UK
Police dog dies after ingesting crystal meth in huge drug bust
Barney began having seizures and had a temperature of 109 | Independent, UK
Indonesia minister in row over free cigarettes
Indonesian anti-smoking groups have threatened to take legal action against a government minister for distributing free packets of cigarettes to members of an indigenous tribe | BBC, UK
Self regulation of alcohol industry ‘is no regulation’
Alcohol Action Ireland has called on the Government to prioritise the health of children and not to pass the alcohol industry’s self-regulatory codes into law | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Legally high? Teenagers and prescription drug abuse
Legal drugs such as OxyContin now kill more people than heroin and cocaine combined. While awareness of the dangers of illegal drugs has increased, many teens are still ignorant of the significant physical danger posed by legally prescribed drugs, according to a new study in Journal of Public Policy & Marketing | Medical Xpress, USA
U.S. ad campaign points to dangers of dual cigarette/e-cig use
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is launching an ad campaign warning consumers against the dual use of e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes | Reuters, USA
Powdered alcohol (PDF)
The name ‘powdered alcohol’ is somewhat misleading and some reports that have come out regarding the product have been inaccurate. The powdered substance is not freeze-dried and is not always in a powdered form per se. Alcohol is absorbed by a sugar derivative and through the encapsulation process, capsules of powdered alcohol are created. The sugar derivate used, dextrin, can hold 60 percent of its own weight in alcohol | NABCA, USA
New York State’s Medical Marijuana Rules Shaping Up as Unusually Restrictive
When New York State’s lawmakers were mulling legalizing the medical use of marijuana last summer, some proponents feared that the proposed law was so restrictive that it would prevent many patients from receiving the drug | NY Times, USA
Courts order ice addicts into oversubscribed support programs
NSW courts are repeatedly ordering ice users treatment programs that cannot take them, as funding cuts and staff shortages leave a generation of addicts stranded without support | SMH, Australia
World first trials for hepatitis C wonder drug in Sydney's maximum security jails
Two of NSW's maximum security jails are the location for a world-first trial of a new wonder drug that could stop the spread of the blood-borne disease hepatitis C through the prison populations | Age, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Drugs in Prison
A new report into Drugs in Prison from the Centre for Social Justice (a think tank formed by Iain Duncan Smith in 2004) sets out a three-pronged approach for tackling drugs in prison | Russell Webster, UK
What’s happening with cocaine?
Britain’s 2nd most popular drug | Russell Webster, UK
Secret Teacher: when does a relaxing glass of wine become a problem?
What began as a few glasses has become a bottle a night. I worry that if I don’t find another way to cope with stress, someone might call last orders on my career | Guardian, UK
Understanding the Problem Gambler
The problem gambler has an impulse control disorder and they see gambling in many different ways What excites them is the thrill of the chase, not the actual money. Read more to find out how a gambler thinks and how this unrealistic thinking can be challenged | Castle Craig, UK
Kofi Annan: The War on Drugs Has Failed in West Africa and Around the World
In 2013, a United Nations report estimated that the cocaine trade through West Africa was worth at least $1.25 billion a year. This is higher than the combined government budgets of several countries in the region, which has become an important transhipment point between Latin America producers and consumers in the United States and Europe | VICE, UK
Cannabis and Cancer
Not entirely unexpectedly feathers flew on the CLEAR facebook page this week when an extract from the forthcoming CLEAR document 'Medicinal Cannabis: The Evidence' was published | Clear, UK
Naloxone is not enough
There’s a comment on Join Together that suggests this is a straw man, that no one says naloxone is enough. There’s some truth to this. At the same time, how much action are we hearing about to increase access to treatment of an appropriate quality, intensity and duration? | Addiction & Recovery News Blog, USA