DS Daily - 9th January 2012

Alcohol guidelines

Eleventh Report of Session 2010–12 | Science and Technology Committee, House of Commons

Two drink-free days a week needed, MPs' report says

It is one of the recommendations in a report by the Science and Technology Committee, which is calling for review of all government guidelines on alcohol in the UK | BBC, UK

Binge-drinking policy is too soft on drinks firms, says MPs' report

The Department of Health's strategy for promoting responsible drinking is flawed because it relies on the drinks industry to put public health before profit | Independent, UK

The Sainsbury’s solution to binge drinking?

Cut the price of beer, wine and mixer cans | Daily Mail, UK

Minimum pricing study published

The research, out of the Centre for Addictions, is based on 20 years of data from 1989 to 2010, and suggests that a 10 percent increase in the minimum price of an alcoholic beverage leads to a more than 16 percent decrease in its consumption compared to other beverages | Alcohol Focus Scotland, UK

More elderly in London 'seek drink problem help'

There has been a sharp rise in the number of elderly people being treated for drinking problems in London, data suggests | BBC, UK

Help for heroes to beat alcholism

Army veterans struggling with alcoholism are to be given a unique opportunity for free treatment at one of the Britain’s most prestigious rehabilitation centres | Daily Express, UK

You booze, you lose, but drinking culture is hard-wired into rugby

Danny Care has paid the price for his misdemeanours, but the problem of drink is not the drinker's alone | Guardian, UK

Children aged 11 are being held for dealing in drugs as 12,000 under-16 are arrested

The figures reveal youngsters are experimenting with cannabis, ecstasy, speed, cocaine and even heroin | Daily Mail, UK

Towards a smarter drugs policy

US drugs debate is dominated by a Manichean divide between prohibitionists and liberalisers, obscuring real scientific solutions | Guardian, UK

Cannabis farms 'endemic' on Nottingham estate

Small cannabis farms are "endemic" on a Nottingham estate, according to a Nottinghamshire police officer | BBC, UK

We don’t have no drugs education

The myth of universal drugs education in England | Drug Education Forum, UK

Welcoming a forward step in tackling deadly drug drivers

The government announced last week that a panel of experts will be appointed to consider the practicalities of changing drug driving law, which Brake argues is long overdue | Brake, UK

Ket, meph, crystal and gbl: the party drugs blighting the lives of clubbers

Like many of the exclusive clubs where London's latest generation of drug users mingle, the new Club Drug Clinic in the bowels of Chelsea and Westminster hospital welcomes its visitors through an inauspicious door that commuters rushing up to Fulham Road could be forgiven for missing | London Evening Standard, UK

Supporting the transfer from child to adult services in mental health

A new guide to working with young people with mental health problems can offer support for social care staff, says SCIE deputy chief Amanda Edwards | Guardian, UK

Police and crime commissioners: the rat-catcher vote

A chief constable will fight to keep the job he holds at the whim of a commissioner whose job depends on pleasing the voters | Guardian, UK

Is Ireland failing its heroin addicts?

The number of heroin users in Ireland is the highest in the EU while deaths of people on methadone programmes increasing. In the first of a two-part series on Ireland’s heroin problem, we ask how addicts are being treated here | Irish Times

High time we tackled State's heroin problem

The mortality rate among Irish adults due to drug-induced deaths is also high – the second-highest in the EU – with about 70 deaths per million population, which is 3½ times higher than the EU average | Irish Times

Confidential service against drug dealing stops

Sinn Féin is calling on the Government to immediately reinstate the 'dial to stop drug dealing' initiative | Irish Examiner

B.C. report calls for drug policy review

Health Officers Council suggests provinces should move toward regulation, not criminalization | Canadian University Press

Treating the tiny victims of Canada’s fastest-growing addiction

A growing number of Canadian babies are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, an addiction to drugs their mothers took while pregnant | Globe and Mail, Canada

FIPPA, releases documents through proactive disclosure

With the application of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to Ontario hospitals as of Jan. 1, 2012, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is welcoming the increased public accountability the legislation brings | CAMH, Canada