DS Daily - 10th December 2010

Drug Misusing Offenders: Results from the 2009 cohort for England and Wales

This report presents the latest annual statistics on the proven offending of individuals (aged 18 and over) identified as Class A drug-misusing offenders [Home Office, UK]

High demand for drug, alcohol and substance misuse training to be included in Social Work Degree

A recent poll carried out by the General Social Care Council (GSCC) shows that an overwhelming 89 per cent of social workers surveyed want the Social Work Degree to include training on drug, alcohol and substance misuse [General Social Care Council, UK]

Social work degree should include training on drug and alcohol misuse, social care poll shows

Training on drug, alcohol and substance misuse must be included in the social work degree and not left until post-qualifying courses, the latest poll from the General Social Care Council has concluded [Children & Young People Now, UK]

The new drug strategy – just two cheers

Just two cheers for the new drug strategy - for its renewed commitment to reducing demand and restricting supply. But as for real hopes of treatment reform, it proved a disappointment [Centre for Policy Studies, UK]

Response to UK Drug Strategy 2010

We are particularly pleased to see the balance shifting toward the recovery agenda, though without abandoning the other achievements of the last ten years. This is a pragmatic and realistic settlement of a debate that has at time been worryingly fractious [SMART Recovery, UK]

Lining yourself up for a criminal record?

Addaction has teamed up with Citysafe and Merseyside Police in a campaign to deter visitors to Liverpool’s city centre from using cocaine [Addaction, UK]

Has the Government watered down its drugs strategy?

Has the Government really watered down its drugs policy, as some are saying? [Telegraph, UK]

Drug harms paper: a summary

The ISCD’s first published work, launched in the Lancet on 1 November 2010, has attracted considerable attention in the media worldwide and from the public. The summary below lays out the basics of what the papers shows and what it cannot [David Nutt's Blog, UK]

Statutory Homelessness: 3rd Quarter (July to September) 2010, England

The latest National Statistics on Statutory Homelessness - PDF [Communities and Local Government, UK]

Homelessness on rise, say charities

Official statistics show 12% increase in applicants in last quarter, prompting worry that it could become a trend [Guardian, UK]

High Society

The Wellcome Collection's exhibition on drug culture [New Statesman, UK]

The Children’s Society’s response to the publication of the White Paper

Stripping adults who refuse treatment for drug use of their benefits will have a significant impact on families with children. This cannot be taken lightly [Children’s Society, UK]

Heading for a national crisis on methadone treatment

The article that appeared in the November 26 edition of Irish Medical Times regarding the training of Level 1 and 2 GPs under the Methadone Protocol Scheme contained a number of important and misleading inaccuracies [Irish Medical Times]

Buprenorphine treatment in pregnancy: less distress to babies

NIH study compares buprenorphine to methadone in opioid addicted pregnant women [NIDA, USA]

New Data Shows Progress on Disrupting Cocaine Production

These findings highlight the Obama Administration's unprecedented government-wide public health approach to reducing drug use and its consequences in the United States [Of Substance Blog, ONDCP, USA]

Should an Overdose Antidote Be Made More Accessible?

The results of these programs have been overwhelmingly positive: access to naloxone typically reduces rates of death from overdose, and there's no evidence to suggest that making naloxone available increases drug use or encourages reckless use of higher doses [TIME, USA]