DS Daily - 5th October 2012 |
 |
Record numbers recovering from drug addiction
Nearly 30,000 (29,855) successfully completed their treatment in 2011-12, up from 27,969 the previous year and almost three times the level they were seven years ago (11,208). The data also reveals that nearly one third of users in the last seven years successfully completed their treatment and did not return, which compares favourably to international recovery rates | NTA, UK
Drug treatment 2012: progress made, challenges ahead
Drug use is declining, more drug users are recovering. The original pool of heroin and crack addicts is shrinking. Even so, plenty of work remains to be done… | NTA, UK
Statistics for drug treatment activity in England 2011-12
National Drug Treatment Monitoring System | NTA, UK
Statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System
The Numbers 1 April 2011– 31 March 2012 Vol1 | NTA, UK
Statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System
Technical Notes 1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012 Vol 2 | NTA, UK
DrugScope responds to latest substance use treatment and trend figures from the NTA
DrugScope welcomed the figures as evidence of the significant progress being made in improving treatment and recovery outcomes - but warned that the achievements of the past seven years may be compromised if investment comes under threat | DrugScope, UK
Addaction responds to latest drug figures and warns against complacency
Today’s figures show how far things have come over the past seven years and Addaction would call for everyone involved in the changes to healthcare to fully understand the benefits - both financial and societal - that a well funded, creative treatment system delivers | Addaction, UK
Fewer young heroin users treated in England
The number of young heroin addicts in England receiving treatment has dropped to its lowest recorded level, official figures suggest | BBC, UK
Number of young adults needing drug treatment falls 23% in a year
National Treatment Agency says over-40s are now only age group whose numbers going into drug treatment are increasing | Guardian, UK
Will recession mean a new generation of addicts?
Heroin users seeking treatment are getting older, according to new research, but there are fears the UK's most recent recession could lead to a new generation of addicts | Channel 4, UK
Sharing the Learning
The Drug and Alcohol Transitions Project for Young Adults Derby City | Addaction, UK
The role of housing in drugs recovery
A practice compendium |CIH, UK
Dumfries and Galloway NHS exceeds targets
Health services in the region have exceeded government targets for treating people with drug and alcohol problems | Dumfries & Galloway Standard, UK
Schoolboy, 17 dies after taking laughing gas with friends
Schoolboy, 17, who fell into a coma after taking laughing gas with friends dies four weeks later | Daily Mail, UK
Drugs Live: the facts behind the programme
It has also been claimed that our study was not as original as claimed, and was merely a TV gimmick that trivialised and potentially glamourised MDMA use. We refute this unfounded assertion | Drug Science
Hepatitis C Commissioning Toolkit
The Hepatitis C Commissioning Toolkit aims to save lives by reducing mortality rates from hepatitis C. It supports commissioning for a key outcome of the NHS and Public Health Outcomes Frameworks: to reduce mortality in people under 75 years from liver disease | HCVAction, UK
UK government ends funding for HIV-specific phone helplines
The Department of Health has ended its support for the telephone helplines operated by Terrence Higgins Trust, Black Health Agency, fpa and Brook, with funding instead diverted to a centralised operation run by the private company Serco | Aidsmap, UK
Opiate substitution treatment and HIV transmission in people who inject drugs
Opiate substitution treatment provided as maintenance therapy is associated with a reduction in the risk of HIV infection among people who inject drugs | BMJ
The on-going under-funding of harm reduction
Despite the wealth of evidence supporting key harm reduction interventions such as needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) and opioid substitution therapy (OST), they remain woefully underfunded around the world | Talking Drugs
Feedback on individual patients helps counsellors reverse poor progress
Confirmation that the failure to improve outcomes of a system for feeding back client progress to counsellors was probably due to aggregating outcomes across their caseload rather than enabling them to identify and take recommended actions in respect of individuals doing poorly | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK
Beware British binge drinking, Cambridge video tells foreign students
A video urging new international students to steer clear of Britain's binge-drinking culture will be shown at Cambridge University this week | Telegraph, UK
The Alison Chesney & Eddie Killoran Memorial Lecture
Monday 22nd October 2012, at 1800, The Old Library, the Guildhall, London | Knowledge - Action - Change, UK
Ketamine: a cure for depression?
It was used to treat soldiers in Vietnam, found favour with vets as a horse tranquilliser and became popular with clubbers. Now it could offer hope to millions | Independent, UK
National Parenting Strategy
Making a positive difference to children and young people through parenting. Press release | Scottish Government, UK
Children's commissioner for Wales attacks youth service cuts
The children’s commissioner for Wales has called for urgent action to protect youth services, amid fears that young people are suffering as a result of swingeing cuts | Children & Young People Now, UK
Video: RCGP chair Professor Clare Gerada's full conference speech
Professor Gerada paid tribute to 'heroes of general practice' and warned that the NHS reforms have left GPs and the NHS in turmoil in her speech at the 2012 RCGP conference | GP, UK
Sniffing out the internet drug barons
On the beat with the British arm of Operation Pangea, an initiative that has seized £6.5m worth of illegal medicines | Guardian, UK
Record amount of £2m is spent on helping smokers kick habit
The highest ever number of Lothian smokers tried to kick the habit last year, with health chiefs spending a record £2.2 million on nicotine- replacement treatments to assist them | The Scotsman, UK
Budapest at the edge of an HIV explosion?
In Budapest, there only remain two or three weeks' reserves of sterile needles and syringes to provide to intravenous drug users - according to NGOs dealing with low-threshold services in the Hungarian capital | Drug Reporter, Hungary
Heroin abuse on the increase
Multi-agency approach is needed in Clare to tackle the scourge of heroin abuse. The proposal comes against the background of complaints that the illicit substance is readily available in Ennis and surrounding areas | Clare Champion, Ireland
Houses of the Oireachtas
Addiction Services: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] | Drugs.ie, Ireland
The remedy as the problem
Increasing rates of addiction to OTC painkillers and microbial resistance to common antibiotics are causing concern among the medical community | Medical Independent, Ireland
Study finds combined dopamine dysfunction in drug addicted, schizophrenic patients
Since substance use disorders often occur concurrently with other mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, a new NIDA-funded study examined amphetamine-induced dopamine release in patients with comorbid schizophrenia and substance dependenc | NIDA, USA
When It Comes To Drugs, A 'House' Deeply Divided
Drug abuse is primarily a medical problem, not a crime against society. American anti-drug policy is a means of social control that's rooted in racial and ethnic prejudice. The country's incarceration industry has become a self-sustaining force, predicated on economics rather than justice | NPR, USA
Sir Richard Branson labels US drugs policy ‘racist’
American drugs policy is a “war on black people” and results in the jailing of too many African Americans, billionaire entrepreneur and drugs law campaigner Sir Richard Branson said Wednesday | Metro
Joint operation results in $52 million narcotics seizure
The Joint Organised Crime Group (JOCG) has seized an estimated 52 kilograms of narcotics and arrested two Canadian nationals as a result of intelligence provided by the Australian Crime Commission
Painkiller deaths on the rise
Older people misusing painkilling medication have driven the first rise in deaths from heroin and other opioid drugs in more than 10 years, experts say | The Age, Australia
Too early to relax alcohol bans
Before the Queensland government presses ahead with its plan to give Aboriginal communities the option to relax alcohol management plans, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Glen Elmes should do his homework on the impact of such plans on the lives of families and individuals during the past decade | The Australian
Corrections backtracks over failed drug tests
The Department of Corrections has scrambled to back away from suggestions it might start telling police about who fails its pre-employment drug tests | Radio New Zealand
Introducing FISD: Local alcohol and drug prevention in Sri Lanka
The Foundation for Innovative Social Development (FISD) is a national NGO working towards the improvement of living standards in local communities in Sri Lanka. One of their programs addresses alcohol and drugs as an obstacle to development | Alcohol, Drugs and Development, Norway
Tragedy of Cape’s ‘tik babies’
Cape Town - Each year around 1 000 young women addicted to crystal methamphetamine, or tik, give birth to so-called tik babies in Cape Town | IOL, South Africa