DS Daily - 1st June 2010

DS Daily on Twitter

In between publication of DS Daily real-time updates can now be followed on DrugScope's Twitter page [Editor]

Health advisers call for alcohol minimum price

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) will tell the government a minimum price for alcohol would be the best way to tackle Britain's drink-related problems, according to a leaked report [Telegraph, UK]

State of the Nation report

Poverty, worklessness and welfare dependency in the UK [Department for Work and Pensions, UK]

Iain Duncan Smith

Reforms will tackle poverty and get Britain working again - The speech [Department for Work and Pensions, UK]

Scottish 'drug recovery' charity launched

The Scottish Drug Recovery Consortium, funded by the Scottish government, is intended to deliver the national drugs strategy, The Road To Recovery [BBC, UK]

CQC registration

FAQs developed by the NTA/CQC for substance misuse service providers [NTA, UK]

Jails: £44m scandal of junkies

Shocking figures out yesterday show that every day the state pays for one in six of the entire prison population to be given methadone or other heroinsubstitutes - Policy Echange [Daily Express, UK]

Mother speaks out after tests show mephedrone killed son

A teenager who died after taking mephedrone was definitely killed by the then-legal party drug, a toxicology report has confirmed [The Herald, Scotland, UK]

Anti-drugs campaigner Barbara Harris brings crusade to sterilise addicts to UK

In California, Barbara Harris's Project Prevention has been accused of back-door eugenics. Now she's touring British cities [Observer, UK]

New pan-London guidance on children, young people and alcohol

The guidance was produced by gathering information from a select number of statutory bodies and practitioners across London and therefore cannot be taken as a comprehensive guide; however we hope that it will [London Drug & Alcohol Network, UK]

Annual drink and drug driving summer campaign commences on 1 June

Police officers will be out in force during the campaign in a bid to crack down on those who think they can drink and drive and get away with it [ACPO, UK]

Early intervention: call for documents

Has your authority adopted an early intervention policy in some aspect of its work with children, young people and their families? [EMIE, UK]

Consign the 'war on drugs' to history

Obama's drug control policy leaves the noisy rhetoric of the past behind. It could become one of his top domestic achievements [Guardian, UK]

Binge drinking kills teenage brain cells

Researchers have discovered that consuming a very high amount of alcohol in a short time can cause irreversible damage. In the long run youngsters risk becoming absent-minded and forgetful [Daily Express, UK]

Video: Intervention with John Southworth

UKESAD 2010 gave us the opportunity to catch up and interview international interventionist John Southworth [Inexcess TV, UK]

Children's voices

Experiences and perceptions of European children on drug and alcohol issues - PDF [EMCDDA]

Drug-related research: Member States

Updated - A better overview of ongoing research and existing research structures may assist researchers in Member States to avoid duplication, improve collaboration and help disseminate knowledge of funding opportunities [EMCDDA]

Battle to get rid of 'legal highs' heats up

The crackdown on head shops is to intensify with a new study set to identify the ingredients in products still on sale [Independent, Ireland]

A New Focus on Recovery

Something quite historic is afoot at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). For the first time, recovery will be embraced as a pivotal organizing concept through the activities of ONDCP. During a recent visit with ONDCP staff, we discussed ways this new focus on recovery could help - William L. White [ONDCP, USA]

Tackling the Difficult Problem of Prescription Opioid Misuse

Despite the paucity of data on their effectiveness, treatment agreements and urine drug testing are increasingly becoming standards of care [Annals of Internal Medicine, USA]

Form of medical marijuana won't get you high, but it's creating a buzz

William Courtney, MD, offered the chair to the right of the desk, the one occupied during regular office hours by a steady stream of patients seeking a doctor's recommendation for marijuana. In California, such a recommendation means an adult may grow, buy and smoke marijuana, all while remaining safely within the confines of state law [Washington Post, USA]