DS Daily - 5th November 2012

Why invest?

How drug treatment and recovery services work for individuals, communities and society | NTA, UK

Drugs Misuse Statistics Scotland

This annual publication presents the latest available information from a range of national data sources relevant to drug misuse | ISD Scotland

Residential drug rehab 'dying' in Scotland warns expert

An emergency summit is to be held to discover why occupancy rates at Scotland's residential drug treatment centres are so low | BBC, UK

Drugs debate should have medical necessity at its heart

Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader, Willie Rennie MSP, has condemned hysterical and simplistic approaches to tackling drug misuse ahead of next week’s Scottish Parliament debate on Scotland’s drugs strategy | Scottish Liberal Democrats, UK

Voluntary charities unite in opposition to criticism on drug equipment expenditure

A coalition of 14 voluntary sector agencies operating in Scotland has rebuffed political criticism of Scottish Government spend on drug paraphernalia for injecting drug users | Hepatitis Scotland

The doctor battling drink and depression will see you now

Thousands of medics hide their addiction or mental illness and carry on working. Sanchez Manning reports on calls to give them greater support | Independent, UK

New SMMGP Blog

We must act now to secure the future of primary care based drug and alcohol treatment. Permalink | SMMGP, UK

Heroin user infected with anthrax in Oxford

Case is the 12th in Europe since June and follows two deaths in Blackpool | Guardian, UK

Fewer under-18s need specialist treatment in England

National Treatment Agency documents increasingly successful treatment of children with alcohol and drug problems in England. Patient numbers have fallen in line with falls among young adult patients and the general population, a sign of fewer drug problems generally, though cannabis bucked the downward trend | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

More teenagers need help for cannabis despite drop in use

New and more harmful strains of cannabis could be responsible for the growing number of teenagers seeking specialist help after using the drug despite overall use falling, experts have claimed | Telegraph, UK

More teens seek help for cannabis use

New and more harmful strains of cannabis could be responsible for the growing number of teenagers needing specialist help after using the drug | Newsletter, UK

Regulatory system to deal with legal highs 'can't cope'

The problem we've got is there are so many new substances coming out on the market, it's hard for the regulatory system to keep up | BBC, UK

Ex-Rangers star Alex Rae joins calls for a change to national drug policy

RAE, who battled alcohol addiction, has gone on to help hundreds of addicts himself and is convinced Scotland should review the prescribing of methadone to heroin users | Daily Record, UK

Somalis urge government to ban khat

About 100 members of the Somali community have demonstrated outside Downing Street to call on the government to ban a herbal high | BBC, UK

Nottinghamshire Healthcare staff win national awards

Mark Holmes, who leads the ‘Community Matron in High-Volume Service Users’ programme within the Trust’s Substance Misuse Services (SMS) has won the Nursing in Mental Health category after being nominated for its assertive outreach and innovative management of patients who regularly frequent the hospital setting | Chad, UK

Drinks industry refuses to swallow government line on alcohol pricing

Despite general agreement that something must be done about Britain's booze culture, opinions remain divided over plans to introduce a minimum unit price | Observer, UK

Alcohol guidance among latest batch of NICE public health briefings

Tackling the harm caused by alcohol and addressing health inequalities are among topics covered in NICE's latest set of local government public health briefings | NICE, UK

Alcohol ban on Scotland’s trains branded a success

ScotRail introduced a ban on alcohol between 9pm and 10am three months ago and only five passengers have been reported to the Proscurator Fiscal since its introduction | The Scotsman, UK

Grandma’s curse

Some of the effects of smoking may be passed from grandmother to grandchild | The Economist

Managing the impact of Housing Benefit reform

DWP is working to manage the introduction of the housing benefit reforms and has a critical role to play in anticipating adverse consequences | National Audit Office, UK

How can payment systems help to deliver better care?

This report reviews the role and objectives of payment systems in the English NHS, focusing on Payment by Results (PbR), which accounts for around 30 per cent of the total English NHS budget | The King's Fund, UK

Children 'with no state' in UK

Inside Out London has uncovered stories of children who according to official records do not exist - some forced into sex work to eat | BBC, UK

Snare of the Dog's

Sharp-nosed sniffers help find tonnes of Dublin Airport contraband | Irish Sun

Liver cirrhosis deaths double in last 15 years

Levels of mortality from cirrhosis of the liver have doubled in the last 15 years as a “direct result of alcohol consumption”, a leading consultant on gastroenterology has said | Irish Times

Tobaccolypse Now! No butts

Let's declare our intent to ban trade in tobacco. The case for governments declaring an intent to ban all commerce in tobacco is simply unanswerable | Independent, Ireland

Life saving pioneer work in Bulgaria

The second video advocacy film from Bulgaria is dedicated to an NGO struggling with the elements amongst deteriorating legal environment | Drug Reporter, Hungary

Three US states poised to legalise cannabis and defy 'war on drugs'

Washington, Oregon and Colorado set to allow recreational use | Guardian, UK

Washington I-502

Marijuana Legalization Measure, Supported By 53 Percent Of Voters: Poll | Huffington Post, USA

Marijuana’s Recreational, Medical Use on Ballots in Six States

Marijuana advocates have placed measures on ballots in six states dealing with the recreational or medical use of the drug, defying federal efforts to crack down on use where it’s already legal | Bloomberg, USA

U.S. cities become hubs for Mexican drug cartels’ distribution networks

The success of the Mexican cartels in building their massive drug distribution and marketing networks across the county is a reflection of the U.S. government’s intelligence and operational failure in the war on drugs | Washington Post, USA

Cartels push methamphetamines, heroin

Members of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and other drug trafficking organizations are driving a surge in the dealing of heroin and methamphetamine | Washington Post, USA

Parents use test kits to screen kids for drugs

Sales of do-it-yourself home drug tests have risen with concerned parents using the kits to bust their children | The Australian

Police fear death risk in plan for drunk tank

The promise by the NSW Premier, Barry O'Farrell, to set up ''drunk tanks'' across Sydney has been labelled ''Barry's Fight Club'' by police, who fear locking up hordes of drunk revellers will lead to more violence and may result in deaths in custody | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia