Daily news - 7th August 2017


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UK news

Hepatitis B: vaccine recommendations during supply constraints

Vaccine recommendations for adults and children during periods of vaccine supply constraints | PHE, UK

Smoking and tobacco: applying All Our Health

Evidence and guidance to inform healthcare professionals and maximise their contribution to reducing harm from smoking and tobacco | PHE, UK

Drugs 'fix rooms' backers study options for Wales

Campaigners who want "fix rooms" for heroin users in Wales to inject safely under supervision, have scoured the world to learn how they could be run | BBC, UK

'Fix rooms not about encouraging people to take drugs'

Campaigners who want "fix rooms" for heroin users in Wales to inject safely under supervision, have scoured the world to learn how they could be run | BBC, UK

Saving lives after heroin overdose

Over the past two decades, researchers from King’s College London have significantly changed public policy on naloxone, a fast-acting antidote which revives someone suspected of heroin overdose | KCL, UK

Spice ban ‘puts prisoners and homeless at risk’ as street drug goes underground

Public health services ‘overwhelmed’ by callouts to victims of the drug as fears grow that more dangerous compounds are becoming available | Guardian, UK

How spice, ‘the zombie drug’, is devastating communities

Spice was banned a year ago. Now campaigners say forcing the problem underground is making a dangerous situation worse | Guardian, UK

Two men found dead after drug used as elephant tranquilliser and banned as chemical weapon is discovered in their bodies

Carfentanyl, which is a synthetic drug, is so strong it is even used to tranquillise elephants and is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine | Mirror, UK

Pentylone: What is it, why should we care and how can Multi Agency Safety Testing help?

The Loop has conducted drug safety testing for partner agencies behind the scenes, since 2013, and for the general public, since 2016, through our Multi Agency Safety Testing (MAST) service | Volte Face, UK

Care mother’s drugs test results ‘could be contamination’

Apparently positive drugs test should not influence the outcome of a care case, a family court judge has ruled | Marilyn Stowe, UK

£1m cannabis farm disguised in Darwen mill building

An elaborate £1m cannabis farm has been uncovered in a former mill building complete with living quarters and a lift disguised by a stone fire place | BBC, UK

Newport leisure centre used as £1.6m cannabis farm

A disused council leisure centre in Newport was bought and turned into a cannabis farm worth up to £1.6m | BBC, UK

Harrogate drink-drug driver jailed for fatal crash

A man has been jailed for more than five years for causing the death of a woman in a crash in Harrogate | BBC, UK

Adam Walker: Wakefield Trinity prop suspended for positive cocaine drugs test

Wakefield Trinity prop Adam Walker has been suspended by the Rugby Football League under UK Anti-Doping protocol after testing positive for cocaine | BBC, UK

What do your drinking habits say about you? – quiz

Answer these questions – and find out the optimum alcohol intake, says Ben Ambridge | Guardian, UK

How Britain fell for Wetherspoon’s

Wetherspoon’s has won a special place in our hearts, bourgeois snobbery notwithstanding. As it nears its 40th birthday, Ed Cumming visits his local | Guardian, UK

 

International news

Opioid crisis: Five ways to tackle the US drug epidemic

The opioid epidemic has been called the worst ever drug crisis to hit the US. Former US Health Secretaries Kathleen Sebelius and Tommy G Thompson, and Aspen Health Strategy Group director Alan Weil, look at what could be done to help bring it to an end | BBC, UK

Closing Dark Web Marketplaces Won’t Reduce Drug Use or Trafficking

Contrary to what US Attorney General Jeff Sessions says, the recent shutdown of two major dark web sites – AlphaBay and Hansa – will not reduce the prevalence of online drug marketplaces or solve the opioid crisis. In fact, it may do the opposite | Talking Drugs, UK

The Butterfly Community: A Movement of Women Who Use Drugs in Indonesia

Risma is familiar with the harms that women can face in Indonesian prisons; in 2006, she was sentenced to 18 months incarceration after being caught with a small quantity of drugs | Talking Drugs, UK

Ban alcohol from supermarkets, urges New Zealand medical authority

Selling wine and beer next to food ‘normalises’ a dangerous drug and should be sold at specific outlets | Guardian, UK

French EasyJet pilot convicted for flying ‘while suffering the after-effects of ecstasy’

49-year-old Frenchman was handed 12-month suspended prison sentence after he admitted that taking ecstasy caused him trouble in landing a plane in Paris | Telegraph, UK

Marijuana company buys entire California town and plans to turn it into 'pot paradise'

A question remains: Will the new owners rename the place Potsylvania? | Independent, UK

US couples are installing open marijuana bars at their weddings

In US states where marijuana is legal, some couples are decking out their weddings with open bars filled with marijuana | Independent, UK

Copper cocktail mugs could give you food poisoning, experts warn

The warning comes from Iowa's Alcoholic Beverages Division, who have declared that copper and copper alloys can be poisonous when consumed | Independent, UK

One in three drowning victims consumed alcohol before death

Irish Water Safety (IWS) is issuing the warning ahead of this August Bank Holiday weekend | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Most Irish adults unaware of alcohol guidelines, survey finds

HSE recommends limit of 11 standard drinks for women and 17 for men each week | Irish Examiner, Ireland

€3.5M Govt fund to support community health projects welcome – Minister Harris

The Minister for Health, Simon Harris TD today welcomed the recent announcement from the Department of Rural and Community Development of the approval of the 2017 Dormant Accounts Action Plan | DoH, Ireland

New study generates more accurate estimates of state opioid and heroin fatalities

Developing a statistical model to fill in the blanks on death certificates presented in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine | EurekAlert, USA

How to stop the deadliest drug overdose crisis in American history

The opioid epidemic could kill hundreds of thousands in the next decade. But America can beat it | Vox, USA

Why are doctors underusing a drug to treat opioid addiction?

Access to counseling for patients, mentoring for physicians could help increase use, survey says | Science Daily, USA

Compound derived from marijuana interacts with antiepileptic drugs

New research published in Epilepsia, a journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), suggests that an investigational neurological treatment derived from cannabis may alter the blood levels of commonly used antiepileptic drugs. It is important for clinicians to consider such drug interactions during treatment of complex conditions | EurekAlert, USA

Opioid addiction: Doctor-shopping accounts for increased prescriptions and risk

To satisfy her dependence on prescription opioids, Christine Drinnan visited 10 doctors in the last few months of her life, six in the 10 days immediately preceding her death from painkillers taken by millions of Australians every year | Age, Australia

Prescription opioid epidemic coming to Australia

Prescription opioid painkillers were so common on the streets of Sydney's Darlinghurst and Kings Cross that recovering addict John*, 49, found them easier to buy than heroin, his "stone" of choice | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

RACP: Drug testing dole recipients harmful

Physicians are concerned proposed plans to drug test welfare recipients will have considerable consequences for those battling addiction | Health Times, Australia

North Richmond health centre staff attend record number of heroin overdoses on clinic grounds

Staff at an inner-city community health clinic are increasingly acting as first responders to heroin overdoses in and near the centre’s grounds | Herald Sun, Australia

Stop talking about drug addicts like we’re not here

I’m not talking about the perils of being a student shackled with HECS-debt, housing prices or, heaven forbid, avocados. I’m not even talking about my homosexual orientation and how it forbids me from rights that so many straights take for granted | news.com.au, Australia

 

Blogs, comment and opinion

Actions we're taking to prevent drug-related deaths

The ONS has published the latest figures for drug-related deaths in England and Wales, covering all deaths registered in 2016 | PHE Blog, UK

Drug related deaths hit new high

3744 deaths registered in 2016 | Russell Webster, UK

Nuggets of gold; brilliant; insightful; the best; refreshingly different

Some of the comments on the Effectiveness Bank now presented for you to scroll through, our response to the observation from a site user that for such a valuable and unique service, we were reticent at self-promotion | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

Public Health and the power to persuade: Are we winning the argument?

I often write on this blog about evidence-based policy, I want to write this week about how I feel torn in relation to this issue | Thinking to some purpose blog, UK

Drug Safety Testing: Saving lives, increasing awareness

Knowing what is in any drug, and how strong it is, can reduce the risk of overdose, poisoning or long term damage. So ‘drug safety testing’ involves people handing over a sample of their drugs voluntarily, and without fear of arrest, for testing to identify what it contains, including any contaminants and its strength | Transform Blog, UK

Fentanyl concern may demonise a vital drug

Dozens of UK drug deaths have been linked to the opioid fentanyl, but, when used legally, it can be a useful weapon in the fight against acute pain | Guardian letters, UK

Philippines’ ongoing war on drugs shatters hopes of peace for a generation

When he was elected president of the Philippines in July 2016, President Rodridgo Duterte promised to negotiate peace agreements with the major insurgent groups that have destabilised much of the country for decades | Conversation, UK

The war on weed: the NFL's troubled history with marijuana

The NFL’s brutality often leaves its players with crippling pain. But many believe the league has fought against a sensible alternative to addictive opioids | Guardian Blog, UK