DS Daily - 17th March 2010

NTA response to DrugScope report: ‘Young people’s drug and alcohol treatment at the crossroads’

The DrugScope report: ‘Young people’s drug and alcohol treatment at the crossroads’ is a valuable addition to the current debate about the range, context and delivery of specialist drug and alcohol interventions for young people, and raises astute questions about the way forward [NTA, UK]

The TOP: Leading the world in outcomes monitoring

From Iran to Australia and Chile to Spain, the Treatment Outcomes Profile, or TOP, has been making a name for itself around the world [NTA, UK]

Sentencing for Drug Offences

This advice to the Sentencing Guidelines Council makes proposals in relation to the sentencing of the most commonly sentenced drug offences. It considers those offences which derive from conduct intended to bring illicit drugs into circulation (including importation, production and supply) as well as those relating to possession and use [Sentencing Advisory Panel, UK]

Methadone for jailed heroin addicts: safety net or life sentence?

Parliamentary answers have revealed that 65,000 prisoners were prescribed it in the past year, including nearly 20,000 on a maintenance programme which can last years — an annual rise of 57 per cent [Times, UK]

Reliance on methadone a dangerous game for both users and the Government

Whichever way you look at it, the Government’s increasing reliance on methadone to treat heroin addicts involves moral issues. Predominant among these is that the State is in effect cast in the role of drug dealer — conceivably for as long as the addicts live [Times, UK]

Justice reinvestment: response to select committee

Response to a Justice Committee report on justice reinvestment, which examines whether resources spent on criminal justice are being used effectively [Ministry of Justice, UK]

Tackling problem drug use

An uncorrected transcript of evidence [Committee of Public Accounts, Parliament, UK]

Home Office forced to evaluate its drugs strategy...but not yet

Whilst we were busy at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna a potentially really important meeting of Parliament's Committee on Public Accounts happened, following up the National Audit Office report on the UK Drugs Strategy [TDPF, UK]

Schools urge action on legal drug mephedrone

Head teachers have called for urgent action over the legal drug mephedrone following the deaths of two teenagers [BBC, UK]

Two teenage boys die within hours of each other 'after taking new legal high Mephedrone'

Police revealed they have arrested two men in connection with the deaths and have appealed to anyone who has taken the drug to see a doctor 'as a matter of urgency' [Daily Mail, UK]

Three arrested over suspected mephedrone deaths

Drug has become increasingly popular among young club goers despite fears about side-effects [Guardian, UK]

ACMD open meeting - 29 March 2010

There will be an opportunity for attendees to provide feedback to the ACMD and participate in a question and answer session [Home Office, UK]

Prescribed medicines: Killers from the chemist

They are behind a string of celebrity deaths. But these legal drugs also blight thousands of more ordinary lives [Independent, UK]

Anthrax outbreak information

Confirmed Cases now 27 [Health Protection Scotland, UK]

On the state of public health

Annual report of the chief medical officer 2009 [Department of Health, UK]

Support for homeless migrants

Their health can be badly affected by rough sleeping and they are vulnerable to drug and alcohol misuse and crime [CRI, UK]

Concateno celebrates its 10 millionth microplate test

The microplates have become the essential front-line test for drug screening in a variety of forensic sample types [Concateno, UK]

Report of evidence Scottish Youth Commission on Alcohol

The purpose of this report is to describe the key sources of information considered by the Youth Commissioners, as well as presenting new evidence generated by the Youth Commission’s work [Youth Commission on Alcohol, Scotland, UK]

Report of recommendations

We, the Youth Commissioners, feel sure that implementing the recommendations included here will help the Scottish Government achieve its strategic objectives to make Scotland wealthier and fairer, healthier, smarter, safer and stronger, and greener [Youth Commission on Alcohol, Scotland, UK]

Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA)

GPs and nurses can do more to increase delivery of Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA). This was the finding of research commissioned as part of the Alcohol Effects campaign that indicates some healthcare professionals may underestimate its potential impact [Department of Health, UK]