Daily news - 22nd February 2016 |
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UK news
New Psychoactive substances (NPS): results of a questionnaire on the definition of NPS, proposals to establish a forensic centre for excellence, and improving data collection and information sharing
This report presents the results of a questionnaire on new psychoactive substances, issued by the Scottish Government in September 2015. The aim of the questionnaire was to gather views on three key areas: a definition of NPS, proposals to establish a forensic centre for excellence, and options for improving data collection and information sharing. The results will be used to further develop the Scottish Government’s policy programme on NPS | Scottish Government, UK
Councils need more powers to limit new alcohol premises
Councils need greater powers to limit the opening of late-night premises in areas where there are particular concerns about the impact of alcohol on public health | LGA, UK
[See also: LGA say council chiefs want public health licensing objective | Alcohol Policy UK, UK ]
Who should be first in line for the new treatments for hepatitis C?
The ethics are debatable, but the figures seem incontrovertible: under certain circumstances, to maximally save others from infection it is best to focus expensive, lifesaving treatments for hepatitis C on some injectors and not others | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK
Call to slash jail time for Scots prisoners who ditch drugs
Scottish prisoners should have their jail time slashed if they can prove they are drug free, according to a leading expert in tackling drug addiction | Scotsman, UK
The Life Project: Britain's birth-cohort studies are the envy of the scientific world - but will they survive in the 21st century?
From the dangers of smoking during pregnancy to the need for adult education, one extraordinary series of scientific studies, begun just after the Second World War, has informed cradle-to-grave health policy in this country. So why does almost no one know about them? And is the end around the corner? | Independent, UK
Scientists attack their 'muzzling' by government
State-funded scientists could be prevented from lobbying for change in their field under Cabinet Office proposals | Guardian, UK
Women’s football says no to alcohol and gambling sponsorship
The organisation which runs Scottish women’s football will never accept commercial partnerships with companies in the alcohol and gambling industries, according to a leading board member | Scotsman, UK
Brain scans used to see if Facebook is addictive
The question of whether heavy use of Facebook or other technology, such as constantly checking your smartphone, should be classified as a true addiction is controversial | NHS Choices: Behind the Headlines, UK
Alcohol tolerance, Simon Lederman, BBC radio iPlayer
Discussing alcohol tolerance [amongst other issues] | BBC Radio London, UK
University of York NPS survey
To mental health practitioner colleagues, the issue of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS)...has been receiving a great deal of media and government attention throughout the world. Mental health and medical practitioners’ anecdotal evidence and numerous press reports have indicated that a wide variety of NPS have been observed to be associated with some serious mental and physical health complications | University of York, UK
Blenheim’s Annual Report 2015
Last year Blenheim helped over 11,000 people across London, providing support services for drug and alcohol users, their families and carers | Blenheim, UK
Understanding Drugs and Addiction
Free online course. How do addictions develop? How are they best treated and prevented? Explore these questions with this free online course | Future Learn KCL, UK
Drugs, alcohol fuel 21 per cent rise in paramedic call-outs
Emergency crews have reported a 21 per cent rise in drug or alcohol-related call-outs across over the festive period | Edinburgh News, UK
Catering firm Toon Whip 'selling nitrous oxide as party drug'
A Newcastle catering company is selling nitrous oxide as a recreational drug which has been linked to deaths, rather than for whipping cream as advertised, a BBC investigation has found | BBC, UK
International news
Would society work better if drugs were decriminalised?
Many governments are shifting towards more liberal drug policies... But does a liberal drug policy help solve drug-related problems, or does it make them worse? What makes a successful drug policy and what are different countries doing to tackle the issue? This guide is produced in conjunction with My Perfect Country, for the BBC World Service, presented by broadcaster Fi Glover, entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, and Henrietta Moore, director of UCL Institute for Global Prosperity | BBC, UK
Thousands march through Sydney to protest against nightlife lockout laws
Opponents say the laws are killing off the Sydney’s nightlife with venues being forced to close and hundreds of jobs lost along with patronage | Guardian, UK
The sting: an American drugs bust in west Africa - audio
Using undercover agents, the DEA spent four years trying to bring down a cocaine trafficking gang in Liberia. Was the operation a triumph in the global war on drugs or a case of American overreach? | Guardian, UK
Myanmar vigilante opium stand-off continues
A stand-off is continuing in Myanmar between police and Christian anti-drug vigilantes, who want to destroy poppy fields in the northern state of Kachin | BBC, UK
Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone's husband charged with helping drugs baron avoid justice
Ex-City trader Jay Rutland - son-in-law to F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone - strenuously denies allegation he helped one of most wanted men | Telegraph, UK
Suburban customers who fuel gang wars
We look away when gangland killings happen, thinking it's nothing to do with us. But middle-class coke and dope users have blood on their hands too | Independent, Ireland
Aerobic fitness may protect liver against chronic alcohol use
Excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 80,000 deaths in the United States each year. Over time, excessive drinking can lead to several chronic conditions, such as fatty liver disease and cirrhosis. Now, a study shows that aerobic exercise may protect the liver against alcohol-related inflammation and injury | Science Daily, USA
Overdose deaths from common sedatives have surged, new study finds
Headlines about America’s worsening drug epidemic have focused on deaths from opioids—heroin and prescription painkillers such as OxyContin. But overdose deaths have also soared among the millions of Americans using benzodiazepine drugs, a class of sedatives that includes Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin, according to a study | Science Daily, USA
Bath salts difficult to detect in biological samples, study finds
Synthetic cathinones or 'Bath salts' continue to be popular among recreational drug users and a new study highlights the challenges associated with the detection of these drugs in biological evidence | Science Daily, USA
Push the tobacco industry to change through economic incentives, researchers say
Public health measures to reduce smoking would have more success if policy makers intervened to curb the vast profitability of the tobacco industry, say University researchers | Science Daily, USA
Lancet review of substance use in young people highlights burden of alcohol among Australian teens; need for more research evidence to tackle the issue
A major global review of substance use in young people, published last week in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, confirms that adolescence is a critical period for developing substance use related problems which can affect later health outcomes, and highlights the need for more research and better prevention and intervention worldwide. In Australia, alcohol made up the largest burden among young people, with males being most affected. Illicit drug use in Australia accounted for more health harms among young people than in any other region of the world | NDARC, Australia
Lockouts: Poll shows two-thirds of NSW residents want laws to stay
More than two-thirds of NSW residents support the government's crackdown on alcohol-fuelled violence, including lockouts and 3am last drinks, a Galaxy poll has shown | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Taliban evolves into dedicated drug cartel
Shortly after sunrise, an Afghan special operations helicopter descended on two vehicles racing through the empty deserts of southern Afghanistan, traversing what has become a superhighway for smugglers and insurgents | Age, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Smoking, statistics and public health
Interesting to read the Statistical Bulletin released yesterday by the Office of National Statistics about Britain’s smoking habits. The release can be seen as a source of celebration or concern in seemingly equal measure. With 19% of the adult population smoking these figures are consistent with last year and at an average of 11.4 cigarettes day, we’re smoking at record low levels | CRi Blog, UK
Alcohol and tobacco in YouTube music videos: young female teenagers most exposed
If you haven’t heard of YouTube, you could be accused of having lived under a rock for the last decade. The streaming service, which hosts everything from homemade video clips of cats to big production music videos has over a billions users, which equates to almost a third of all individuals using the internet. In 2014, “Music” was the most searched term on YouTube, with music videos being most popular among younger audiences, the so-called “YouTube Generation”. - | Mental Elf, UK
If smoking cannabis at the school gates is making headlines, that’s probably good
In my school days there were no parents anywhere near the school gates, and it routinely all got a bit Lord of the Flies. The fuss about a few stories on exotic and atypical adult misbehaviour suggests standards are tightening, not slipping | Guardian Opinion, UK
'We must not imprison people simply for possession of drugs for personal use'
It's time for Scotland to change its approach to drug abuse. The current policy towards it is costly and fails to work for everyone | Herald Opinion, UK
Why is Facebook shutting down legal marijuana pages in the US?
Cannabis has been now made legal in 23 states in the US. In some states, like Colorado, it's legal for both recreational and medicinal purposes | BBC blogs, UK
Decriminalisation: Are we ready to treat addiction as an illness?
The decriminalisation of possession of small amounts of drugs could soon be a reality in Ireland, writes Jack Cahill | Irish Times, Ireland
The illusion of anonymity - video
Interview with Brian J. Frederick, one of the authors of 'The internet and drug markets': The last decade has seen the emergence of new internet technologies that have acted as important facilitators of online drug markets. The internet now hosts a range of virtual marketplaces (both on the surface and deep web) for selling and buying illicit substances, as well as representing a new arena for health and law enforcement interventions | EMCDDA, Portugal
Aging addicts are among our most vulnerable populations—yet we never talk about them
In June of last year, I stopped to visit my 65-year-old mother and her 58-year-old husband in the sun-bleached hills of Sonoma County, where I was giving a reading from my new book. My stepfather, an exuberant talker who usually defaults to a cheerful facade, greeted me with trembling hands and a slurring, teary ramble about the job from which he’d been unceremoniously laid off six months prior | Quartz, USA
How Economists Would Wage the War on Drugs
The monstrous cartels that run the narcotics business face the same dilemmas as ordinary firms—and have the same weaknesses | Wall Street Journal, USA
Pill testing proposals unworkable
When persons with the gravitas of Bob Carr (Foreign Minister 2012 – 2013 and NSW Premier 1995 – 2005) [The Australian 7 December 2015] and former Australian Police Commissioner Mick Palmer [ABC 4 Corners 15 February 2016] call for pill testing facilities to be established at music festivals, attention is necessarily drawn. Calls magnified even further given the tragic deaths of two patrons at separate Stereosonic festivals in late 2015 from drug overdoses | Sydney Morning Herald Comment, Australia
Should restrictions on dispensing naloxone be lifted?
Online poll | Medical Journal Australia, Australia