DS Daily - 9th August 2010

Heroin warning in Reading after three deaths

The sudden deaths of three men in separate incidents in a Berkshire town could be linked to contaminated heroin, police have warned [BBC, UK]

NTA Business Plan 2010/11

The key actions identified in the Business Plan are: Improving outcomes - Better value for money - Championing abstinence-focussed treatment - Commissioning a rebalanced treatment system - Rehabilitating offenders [National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, UK]

NTA publishes 2010/11 business plan

The new direction of travel follows the announcement that from April 2012 the NTA will cease to be a separate organisation and its functions will be transferred into the proposed new Public Health Service [National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, UK]

NTA plans more effective treatments to help users quit drugs

Providers of drug treatment services must be clear from now on that the long-term ambition for addicts seeking help is successful rehabilitation, under plans set out by the [National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, UK]

A unique chance to rethink drugs policy

Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg are perfectly placed to launch a national debate on whether we should try legalisation - Editorial [Observer, UK]

David Cameron shifts drug addicts treatment to live-in schemes

David Cameron plans to press ahead with an expensive shift in treatment for drug addicts, towards residential programmes and away from the use of methadone as a substitute licensed drug [Guardian, UK]

Drug Treatment Consensus Statement

SMMGP have added our support to a Drug Treatment Consensus Statement which was drafted by the Drug Sector Partnership (Adfam, DrugScope, eATA and the Alliance) [SMMGP, UK]

Drugs: the problem is more than just the substances, it's the prohibition itself

Maria Lucia Karam, a retired Brazilian judge and a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, argues that drugs should be legalised - but regulated [Observer, UK]

War on drugs: why the US and Latin America could be ready to end a fruitless 40-year struggle

Mexico's president Felipe Caldéron is the latest Latin leader to call for a debate on drugs legalisation. And in the US, liberals and right-wing libertarians are pressing for an end to prohibition. Forty years after President Nixon launched the 'war on drugs' there is a growing momentum to abandon the fight [Observer, UK]

President Obama's New Drug War Strategy and the Low-Down on 'America's Trillion Dollar Dope Game'

The war on drugs is the longest war the American government has ever fought, longer than World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. And even after 40 years, the battle to enforce the laws of the land that prohibits "getting high on dope", this poisonous, addictive trade continues to thrive with the ferocity of an earthquake across the planet. Quite obviously, there is no clear-cut victory in sight [New Criminologist]

Marijuana legalisation's unintended consequences

Next November, Californians will ballot on allowing people 21 years and older to possess, cultivate and transport cannabis for personal use, as well as enable its commercial production and sale. Professor Keith Humphreys of Stanford University School of Medicine's psychiatry and behavioural sciences departments, discusses the potential consequences [Addiction Today, UK]

Raise liquor prices by 150% to beat binge-drinking, says Alcohol Concern

As the coalition government confronts the problem, Alcohol Concern argues that minimum pricing is the only solution [Observer, UK]

Alcoholics face long wait for treatment

Patients with alcohol problems who want to quit drinking are having to wait up to six months for specialist support [The Herald, Scotland, UK]

Alarming rise in young children taking alcohol and drugs

Latest statistics reveal GPs across Wales referred under-12s 126 times to specialists such as paediatricians and community drug teams – including 66 times for alcohol, 17 for heroin, 13 for cannabis, three for cocaine and even one for crack-cocaine [Wales Online, UK]

Ayahuasca: indie's new drug of choice

Have this generation's crop of hippy-dippy indie artists found a new drug to match their music? [Observer, UK]

Benzocaine targeted in drugs war on 'cutting agents'

Police say they are making a major dent in drug dealers' profits by seizing large quantities of chemicals used to dilute cocaine and other class A drugs [BBC, UK]

Christopher Kennedy Lawford Interview

At UKESAD 2009 Inexcess TV managed to get an interview with Christopher Kennedy Lawford, a fascinating man with an incredible life. In long time recovery Christopher talked us through his journey from being a privileged young man to his multi addictive lifestyle [Inexcess TV, UK]

'We can't afford Big Society' say charities

Many charities and voluntary groups expected to form a crucial part of David Cameron's Big Society will struggle to survive because of cuts in public sector budgets, experts have warned [Public Service, UK]

Don't take offence if we lecture you on how to stay alive and healthy

In an excoriating critique, Britain's leading GP says we, not the state, must take responsibility for our wellbeing [Observer, UK]

Top GP condemns Britons for recklessly neglecting their health

In a dramatic intervention in the public health debate, Professor Steve Field criticises parents, mothers-to-be, the very overweight, smokers and drinkers for damaging their own health, or their children's, through irresponsible actions [Observer, UK]