DS Daily - 30th November 2011

Estimating the prevalence of problem drug use in Scotland 2009/10

The report contains estimates of the prevalence of problem drug use (opiates and benzodiazepines) in 2009/10 for council, Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP), health board (HB), and police force areas in Scotland - Summary | ISD, Scotland

Tackling Scotland's drugs legacy

Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs Roseanna Cunningham, who has responsibility for drugs policy, spoke following the publication of statistics that estimate problem drug use in Scotland | Scottish Government, UK

Scotland's heroin user numbers rise to 59,600

Nearly 60,000 people in Scotland have a serious drug problem – and a growing number are men aged 35 and over, according to latest national estimates | Scottish Drugs Forum, UK

Poverty "probably biggest single component" in Scotland's drug problem

Response to 2009/10 prevalence figures | Scottish Drugs Forum, UK

Older drug users on the rise but opiates trend reducing in young

An NHS report has indicated that there could now be up to 61,000 drug users between the ages of 15 and 64 in Scotland, an increase of more than 4,000 since 2006 | The Scotsman, UK

Neil McKeganey: The case for legalising drugs is fatally flawed

At a recent parliamentary committee meeting, Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, added her name to calls for the decriminalisation of some illegal drugs. The arguments being put forward are deeply flawed | The Scotsman, UK

Residential treatment directory

Available online from | Drink and Drugs News, UK

Lasting relief for partners and parents coping with addiction in the family

In England a brief primary care counselling programme for family members living with a relative with substance use problems unusually aims primarily to improve their lives rather than that of the substance user. Even a year later it seems to have succeeded, and the improvements accumulated rather than faded | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

X Factor row

Is it wrong for pop singers to cover drug-themed songs? | BBC, UK

Mental Health Bulletin

Fifth report from Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS) annual returns, 2011 | NHS Information Centre, UK

Community treatment orders

It’s time to review over-use of draconian powers which deprive rights of mentally ill, says | Rethink, UK

Young people call for better access to school nurses

The top five services that young people said all school nurses should provide include advice on drugs, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, stopping smoking and how to access other health services such as counselling | Children & Young People Now, UK

Tracking Dublin's HIV scene

Analysis showed that about a quarter of transmission of the virus was through male-to-male sexual contact, and a similar percentage was through intravenous drug use, or needle sharing | Irish Times

Prohibiting drugs hasn’t worked – so why are we still trying?

The fact is that the long standing system of prohibition has created an environment in which alternative views cannot be tolerated, resulting in the increasingly understood ‘retirement syndrome’, whereby recently retired government officials fall over each other to call for legalisation – freedom from political office allowing them to speak their minds. Danny Kushlick, TDPF | The Journal, Ireland

World AIDS Day 2011

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) will join forces in Brussels on the eve of World AIDS Day (30 November) to host a scientific seminar at the European Parliament | EMCDDA