DS Daily - 21st September 2012

Why have prison needle exchange programmes not yet been rolled out in the UK?

Despite the UK Department of Health’s intention back in 1999 to “identify health problems, deliver treatment and ensure seamless transition back into the community,”2 the government seems unable to turn this into policy | BMJ

Operation Hawk - Preying on drug dealers

Operation Hawk is a renewed emphasis on local police tackling local drug dealing using local intelligence. Tackling street level drug dealing | Metropolitan Police, UK

Youth offending teams lose more than 800 posts

More than 800 youth offending team posts were lost in the space of a year as funding cuts hit local authority budgets | Children & Young People Now, UK

Steroid users at Bristol needle exchange more than double

Figures from the Bristol Drugs Project, which runs the exchange, show that about 450 out of 950 people using it in the year 20011-12 injected steroids | BBC, UK

MSP highlights young professionals' 'dangerous attitude' towards drugs

T in the Park court cases lead MSP to highlight young professionals' 'dangerous attitude' towards drugs | The Courier, UK

How communities can work with the new police commissioners

The new police commissioners will be elected in November and voluntary organisations must be ready to work alongside them - Clive Martin, director of Clinks | Guardian, UK

Neil Young quits drugs and alcohol

Singer embraces sobriety as he prepares to publish his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace | Guardian, UK

Alcohol Industry Influence on Public Policy

A Case Study of Pricing and Promotions Policy in the UK | Alcohol Research UK

100,000 Britons back call for freeze in Beer Tax, forcing Parliamentary debate

Campaigners say it’s a wake-up call for the Government and its damaging tax policy on Britain’s beer and pubs | British Beer & Pub Association, UK

Nelson McCausland bans 'all you can drink' promotions

The Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland has decided to ban promotions offering unlimited amounts of alcohol for a fixed price | BBC, UK

Welsh Health Survey, 2011

These statistics on the health and health-related lifestyle of people living in Wales are based on data from the Welsh Health Survey 2011 | Welsh Government, UK

Expert advice on how to get the treatment system working better

Improving addiction treatment systems is difficult and prone to unintended consequences. All the more welcome then is guidance from leading US experts with top-level experience in UK and US drug policy. They favour tactics like UK payment-by-results schemes. These may, as the reviewers say, be patient-focused, but are they patient-centred? | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

Substance use and life values - survey

Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University (UK) are carrying out a survey on how people who use substances (e.g. alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs) feel in their day to day life | LJM, UK

Tough choices ahead

Illustrating the choices and trade-offs in the next spending review | IPPR, UK

New guidelines for monitoring drug users entering treatment

Published in the EMCDDA Manuals series, the guidelines have been revised to better reflect the realities of today’s drug situation and changes in treatment services and data monitoring systems. They follow a three-year revision process involving experts from the EU Member States, Croatia, Turkey, Norway and Switzerland | EMCDDA

Treatment demand indicator (TDI) standard protocol 3.0

Guidelines for reporting data on people entering drug treatment in European countries | EMCDDA

Snus

Current regulation - A uniform and responsible product regulation | Swedish Government

Seven questions to harm reduction, HIV and other NGOs working in prisons

This survey aims to produce a brief overview on an NGO perspective regarding the role that NGOs play in prison health | Euro HR

Cannabis consumption to be liberalised

Despite dogged opposition by conservatives, parliament has approved a proposal to impose a fine on consumers of small amounts of cannabis instead of opening formal criminal proceedings. However, the decision stops short of legalising the substance | Swiss Info, Switzerland

Gardai seize drugs worth €3m after year-long operation

Four suspects were in custody last night after the seizures in Limerick and Kilkenny. As a result of two interceptions by the garda national drugs unit, more than 250kg of cannabis resin and 50kg of herbal cannabis were recovered | Independent, Ireland