DS Daily - 10th October 2011

Promising results from pilot UK family drug and alcohol court

The first family drug and alcohol court in Britain offers intensive specialist support to parents of children at risk due to parental substance use problems; the result in this small-scale pilot study was better parental and child outcomes at lower cost | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

Top boy: stories of Hackney's young drug dealers

Ronan Bennett spent two years interviewing gang members in east London for his powerfully personal TV drama, Top Boy. Here he describes their hidden, hopeless world – and the lengths they'll go to escape from it | Observer, UK

New hard hitting drugs campaign in Swansea

The Heroin Ruins Lives Campaign aims to raise awareness of the impact the class A drug is having on users, their families and friends, and the wider community on a daily basis | This is South Wales, UK

Drug gangs from English cities blamed for huge rise in heroin use

Organised crime gangs from big English cities are being blamed for a big rise in heroin use in South West Wales while users of the deadly drug are falling across most of England and Wales | Wales Online, UK

Gin Lane 2011

Liz Jones discovers what drives young women to binge on 20p shots putting them on a path to self-destruction | Daily Mail, UK

Special report

Why do intelligent young women who are nurses, teachers and mothers drink themselves to oblivion every night across Britain? | Daily Mail, UK

Alcohol limits advice 'confusing'

The advice on alcohol limits is too confusing according to Debbie Bannigan, head of the charity Swanswell | BBC, UK

Scotland the brave

Addiction psychologist Tim Stockwell says the world is waiting to see if minimum pricing works | British Medical Association

Deaths in Custody

October 2011 - Statistical Analysis of all recorded deaths of individuals detained in state custody between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2010. 6% (N=89) of self-inflicted deaths were as a result of drugs or alcohol overdose | Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody, UK

Social media is becoming essential to charity fundraising, says Institute for Philanthropy

Philanthropy and Social Media gives advice to charities and funders on how to use social media for activities including fundraising, connecting with supporters and delivering their services | ThirdSector, UK

‘Cops and docs’ approach to drugs ineffective, says expert

Dr Paul O’Mahony, associate professor of psychology at Trinity College, Dublin, said the traditional "cops and docs" method, combining the criminal justice system with the health service, is totally inadequate and new legislation is urgently needed if matters are to improve | Irish Examiner

Drink companies’ sport sponsorship ‘requires scrutiny’

The culture of major sports events and summer festivals being heavily sponsored by drinks companies needs to be closely scrutinised if the problem of alcohol abuse if to be adequately tackled, a public health specialist has stressed | Irish Examiner

Dutch to reclassify high-strength cannabis

The famous cannabis-selling coffee shops of the Netherlands are facing new tighter restrictions | BBC, UK

Russia is under a threat of a new round of the HIV/AIDS epidemic

Sharing of non-sterile syringes by injecting drug users remains the main route of HIV transmission – over 59.2% of all registered HIV cases, according to the Federal Scientific and Methodological Center for AIDS | Harm Reduction International

Greeks pay for economic crisis with their health

The impact of cuts on drugs services appears particularly troubling. HIV infections rose significantly in 2010, with injecting drug users accounting for half of the rise. The numbers are on course to rise by 52% this year | Guardian, UK

Illegal Marijuana Industry

California’s Top Federal Law Enforcement Officials Announce Enforcement Actions Against State’s Widespread and Illegal Marijuana Industry | DEA, USA

Federal prosecutors launch coordinated crackdown on Calif. medical pot dispensaries

Federal prosecutors announced an aggressive crackdown on California pot dispensaries Friday, vowing to shut down dozens of growing and sales operations and saying that the worst offenders are using the cover of medical marijuana to act as storefront drug dealers | Washington Post, USA

Threat of crackdown doesn't stop Calif. pot expo

The federal government's vow to crack down on pot growing and sales operations in California has not stopped a marijuana expo in the San Francisco Bay area although organizers said some vendors had pulled out | SF Gate, USA

U.S. Drug Policy Would Be Imposed Globally By New House Bill

The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would make it a federal crime for U.S. residents to discuss or plan activities on foreign soil that, if carried out in the U.S., would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) - even if the planned activities are legal in the countries where they're carried out | Huffington Post, USA