DS Daily - 2nd June 2010

Alcohol use disorders: preventing harmful drinking

This guidance is for government, industry and commerce, the NHS and all those whose actions affect the population’s attitude to - and use of - alcohol [National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, UK]

Alcohol use disorders - clinical management

Care of adults and young people (aged 10 years and older) who have any of the following physical health problems that are completely or partly caused by alcohol use: [National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, UK]

Alcohol podcast

Professor Eileen Kaner and Professor Anne Ludbrook discuss the NICE public health guidance that aims to tackle the worrying rise in levels of alcohol consumption, binge drinking and alcohol-related deaths across the UK [National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, UK]

Alcohol minimum pricing and marketing changes now inevitable says Alcohol Concern

With practically every health body in the country now backing the move on alcohol minimum pricing, the new government needs to accept the evidence and introduce a minimum price urgently before thousands more lives are affected [Alcohol Concern, UK]

Alcohol Market Trends & Brands

This report examines: Beer & Lager; Wine; Spirits; Cider; and Mixers [YouGov, UK]

UK-wide crackdown on alcohol looms to close cross-Border loophole

Ministers at Holyrood and Westminster should work together to draw up a UK-wide alcohol pricing policy to avoid business migrating over the Border [The Scotsman, UK]

'Clarifying brief interventions' Academy briefing paper

The paper aims to clarify key issues relating to the delivery of brief interventions and related practice, particularly distinctions in the types of interventions and their key characteristics [AERC Alcohol Academy, UK]

Coming Clean: Combating drug misuse in prisons

This report contends that there are a series of fundamental problems with the way these issues are approached – and that despite repeated warning signs, the Prison Service appears destined to continue down the same failed path - PDF [Policy Exchange, UK]

Commissioning health and social care for offenders

We assess how Primary Care Trusts and local councils commission health and social care for offenders - report [Care Quality Commission, UK]

Time to re-examine UK drug policy and take a different approach to decision making

The news of the toxicology tests showing that the two teenage deaths in Scunthorpe (March 2010) were not linked to mephedrone, provides more evidence to support recent calls by the UK Drug Policy Commission for a fresh look at different ways of formulating drug policy [UKDPC]

Liverpool: Back to the Roots of Harm Reduction

Our new movie features the beginnings of harm reduction in Liverpool - filmed at the IHRA conference [Drug Reporter, Hungary]

Drugs worth £16m seized in Scotland in past year

Class A drugs with an estimated street value of more than £16m have been seized in Scotland in the past year, according to official figures [BBC, UK]

Anthrax Outbreak Information

Confirmed Cases 43 - deaths 13 [Health Protection Scotland, UK]

Research Tender

Tender to Undertake a Study on the Prevalence of Drug Use, including Intravenous Drug Use, and Blood Borne Viruses among the Irish Prisoner Population [NACD, Ireland]

Mephedrone becomes a class B drug in Jersey

Mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant, has been reclassified from a Class C to a class B category of drug in Jersey [BBC, UK]

Marijuana Legalization in California

In November 2010, California voters will consider a ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in the state [Harvard Crimson, USA]

Supporting All Women and Girls

As part of the White House Council on Women and Girls, ONDCP released its first report detailing programs, policies, and initiatives that are aimed at supporting women, both within our workforce and in communities everywhere [ONDCP, USA]

Liberian Officials Worked With U.S. Agency to Block Drug Traffic

Over the past three years, United States authorities say, South American drug traffickers have worked to build a base in the West African nation of Liberia, where vast quantities of cocaine could be sent by boat or plane and then reshipped to markets in West Africa and Europe [New York Times, USA]