Daily news - 31st March 2016

UK news

Ban on legal highs delayed over concerns law is not enforceable

Home Office confirms act will not come into effect on 6 April following confusion over definition of psychoactive substance | Guardian, UK [See also: Legal highs ban delayed by ministers amid worries it is unenforceable | Independent, UK ]

Are take-home naloxone programmes effective? Systematic review utilizing application of the Bradford Hill criteria

[Open access] Fatal outcome of opioid overdose, once detected, is preventable through timely administration of the antidote naloxone. Take-home naloxone provision directly to opioid users for emergency use has been implemented recently in more than 15 countries worldwide, albeit mainly as pilot schemes and without formal evaluation | Addiction, UK

Cannabis

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been prosecuted for cultivation of cannabis in each of the last five years for which records are available; in how many of those prosecutions a serious medical condition was cited in mitigation; and what the cost to the public purse was of those pros | They work for you, UK

Prisons: Drugs

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what research his Department is undertaking on the use and effects of psychoactive substances on the prison estate.ecutions | They work for you, UK

Motor Vehicles: Smoking

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prosecutions for smoking in vehicles with children present have been carried out under the Smoke-free (Private Vehicles) Regulations 2015 | They work for you, UK

Don't Bring The Pub Home Part 2 - video

The hidden harm of alcohol and its effects on young people in the home | Public Health Suffolk, UK

The Visual Effects of Ayahuasca in Humans: The First Study to Employ a Ketanserin Blockade

Ayahuasca, like other major psychedelic drugs, is thought to produce its characteristic effects through interaction with 5-HT2A receptors. But what happens if we block the receptor with ketanserin, a drug that selectively binds to the 5-HT2A receptors?| Beckley Foundation, UK

LSD Could Help Fight Depression By Inhibiting "Mental Time Travel”

Taking lysergic acid diethylamide – better known as LSD – could help people who suffer from depression to overcome their condition by preventing them from “ruminating” on past experiences. Several studies have shown that low mood is often associated with a tendency to dwell on one’s own history, yet new research indicates that LSD may inhibit the brain network that mediates this type of “mental time travel.” | IFL Science, UK

York's alcohol-related hospital admissions up more than a third

The number of hospital admissions involving alcohol in York has increased by more than a third in six years, Public Health England says | BBC, UK

'Unexplained' Boston deaths may be linked to batch of heroin

Police investigating the deaths of two men in Boston say they believe the men may have suffered an adverse reaction to a particular batch of heroin | ITV, UK

PCC calls for earlier pub closing times to combat ‘appalling’ behaviour

Pubs should be made to close earlier to reduce the strain on police and hospital workers, a police and crime commissioner (PCC) has said | Police Professional, UK

Debate: Could we relax drug laws in Bristol?

Following our investigation into drug crime in the wake of the latest huge police operation in St Paul's and Easton, we ask if the current approach to drugs is working | Bristol 247, UK

Isle of Man car smoking ban comes into force

A new law banning Isle of Man drivers from smoking in their cars if they are carrying children has come into force | BBC, UK

Teenager Aiden Stent banned from riding bike after selling drugs outside Sutton and Cheam schools

A teenage drug dealer who cycled between Sutton schools and parks selling cocaine and cannabis has been banned from riding a bike | Local Guardian, UK

Southampton acid attack was 'revenge for drug deal'

A woman was left scarred and blind in one eye after acid was thrown in her face out of revenge for a drug deal that went wrong, a court has heard | BBC, UK

Christopher James Wauchope: Man arrested in Castlederg over £64,000 Belgium drugs find

A man has appeared at Strabane Magistrates Court, County Tyrone, after the seizure of an estimated £64,000 worth of herbal cannabis in Belgium | BBC, UK

International news

Long-acting opiate-blocker helps released prisoners avoid re-addiction

Though few seemed willing to try this treatment, among those who did, opiate-blocking injections active for about a month helped formerly dependent prisoners in New York City’s jail avoid relapse to regular opiate use after release | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

How a father rescued his son from crystal meth addiction - BBC iPlayer radio

Jack Sutherland was a Hollywood PA and bodyguard who was injecting crystal meth from the moment he woke until he went to sleep | BBC, UK

The heroin addict who inspired Barack Obama to act on drugs has died. Now he’s honouring her legacy

‘Your advocacy will make a difference’. President declares addiction to illegal substances like heroin should be treated with the same approach as tobacco consumption or traffic fatalities | Independent, UK

Obama shortens prison sentences for 61 drug offenders

Announcement comes day after the president criticized the war on drugs: ‘For too long we’ve viewed drug addiction through the lens of criminal justice’ | Guardian, UK

Heroin overdoses aren’t accidents in this county — they’re now homicides

Charles Kiessling, the coroner of Pennsylvania's Lycoming County, was called to a death scene earlier this year | Business Insider, UK

Pakistan Ban on Alcohol - BBC radio iPlayer

In the spring of 1977, just weeks before he was removed from office, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced a ban on alcohol for Pakistan's muslim population. But did prohibition stop Pakistanis from drinking? | BBC World Service, UK

More children taken into care after upsurge in crack cocaine addiction

The devastating impact crack cocaine can have on families is starting to appear across Tallaght communities, after a number of children were taking into care | Echo, Ireland

Cocaine production explained - video

This motion graphic is intended to provide an indicative schematic overview of selected stages of a production process. It must be noted that alternative methods, chemicals and procedures may | EMCDDA, Portugal

Synthetic drug production explained - video

Heroin production explained - video

New research: Nine laws particularly effective in reducing underage drinking fatalities

New research reveals that nine laws designed to reduce underage drinking have been instrumental in saving more than 1,100 lives each year in the states that have adopted them, and that an additional 210 lives could be saved annually if they were adopted in every state | Science Daily, USA

Naltrexone is alternative treatment for opioid addiction, Penn-led study finds

Naltrexone has potential to replace methadone, a controversial drug in opioid addiction treatment | EurekAlert, USA

Genome-wide association study of cannabis

Cannabis dependence is a serious problem worldwide and it is of growing importance in the United States as marijuana becomes increasingly legal | Medical Xpress, USA

Mind-altering drugs could treat mental disorders

Psychedelic compounds have had a colorful past. Although initially investigated for medical uses, they were banned after cultural and political times changed in the 1960s and 1970s. Now, the compounds are getting another chance in the mainstream, according to the cover story of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society | Medical Xpress, USA

Weight Gain Associated With Smoking Cessation May Increase Heart Disease Risk In People With Mental Illness

It’s widely known that smoking is bad for you — in fact, cigarette use harms nearly every organ of the body, including the heart | Medical Daily, USA

Young Australians are drinking a lot less while older Australians are drinking more

It’s official. Australians are drinking less and the under thirties are driving the fall, according to new research from the University of New South Wales, La Trobe University and the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, published online in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health | NDARC, Australia

An Online Intervention for Co-Occurring Depression and Problematic Alcohol Use in Young People: Primary Outcomes From a Randomized Controlled Trial

Depression and problematic alcohol use represent two of the major causes of disease burden in young adults. Integrated treatments have been shown to be effective; however, there remains a significant gap between those in need of treatment and those receiving it. The increased availability of eHealth programs presents a unique opportunity to treat these conditions | JMIR, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

Should alcohol limits for men and women really be the same?

The UK’s new alcohol guidelines advise that men and women shouldn’t drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week. Previous advice for the British drinker presented a higher threshold for men, so this represents a considerable change. So what was the evidence that the limits should not take gender into account?| Conversation, UK

Psychoactive Substances Act delayed while the Home Office works out what it has banned

We got confirmation yesterday that the psychoactive substances bill has been delayed while the police and the Home Office try to work out what to do with it. It's been clear for some time that this was going to be the case, but a letter to a business owner from Hampshire police, published by the Alternative Trade Association, confirms it | Politics.co.uk, UK

The Sloppy Legal Highs Ban Proves the Government Is Terrible at Drugs

After an embarrassing setback with poppers a couple of weeks ago, the government has reportedly postponed the Psychoactive Substances Act "indefinitely" | VICE, UK

The Social Value Act: helping commissioners improve local health and reduce inequalities

With 1 April nearly upon us, local authorities, government departments, NHS trusts, clinical commissioning groups and other public sector bodies have been busy planning their budgets and commissioning services for the next financial year | PHE Blog, UK