DS Daily - 16th January 2013

The Recovery Festival – 12 & 13 March 2013: Engaging employers and supporting recovery

The Recovery Festival aims to bridges between the business and recovery communities; to engage, inform and seek ways to work together. The Recovery Festival will create an environment in which employers can: challenge assumptions they may have about addiction; experience the talent and ambition of those in recovery; and understand how they can help unlock talent and ambition for mutual benefit. Details online about how to be involved | Recovery Group, UK

DrugScope joins forces with St Mungo's on campaign for women

Leading charities DrugScope and St Mungo's are working together to get the right help at the right time for women who are homeless and facing drug or alcohol problems | St Mungo's, UK

Drink and Drugs News

January issue out now | DDN, UK

Life’s what you make of it

DDN hears from four winning entrepreneurs – whose success was made even more remarkable by their challenging journeys overcoming addiction | DDN, UK

British Medical Association calls for a new drug policy - Audio

BBC Radio 5 live Morning Reports spoke to Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's Head of Science and Ethics and got the reaction of Mike Linnell from Lifeline, a charity that provides support for addicts| BBC, UK

Drug policy must change, urges police chief - video

The government's drugs strategy in England and Wales is not working because it focuses too much on criminal prosecutions, a police chief has told the BBC | BBC, UK

Irrational drugs policies incentivise experimenting with the unknown

The UK spends more than any other country in Europe on its drugs policy – 0.48 per cent of GDP according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction | City A.M., UK

Regulate cigarette manufacturers like water companies - report

The UK government could raise at least £500m a year by capping the amount of profit tobacco companies can make from cigarettes, academics have said | BBC, UK

Alcohol pricing challenge goes to Court of Session

A legal challenge to the introduction of minimum pricing on alcohol in Scotland is under way at the Court of Session in Edinburgh | BBC, UK

Festive drink-drive numbers drop in Wales by nearly 8%

The number of motorists who failed roadside alcohol breath tests in Wales over the Christmas period fell in 2012 | BBC, UK

E-cigarette company to launch TV advertising campaign

E-Lites to test UK ban on promoting smoking on TV with campaign featuring Waterloo Road actor Mark Benton | Guardian, UK

Scottish trial challenges need to supervise methadone

What happens when stabilised opiate-addicted patients are suddenly no longer required to take their methadone under supervision? In Scotland, the first randomised trial patients stayed longer and there was no dramatic escalation in heroin use | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

Drugs users 'fear calling 999'

Drug users may not dial 999 in emergencies or give full information to doctors and nurses who treat them because they fear potential criminal prosecution | Belfast Telegraph, UK

Medics urge curbs on sleeping pills

The prescription of sleeping pills and tranquillisers should be reduced and carefully monitored because of the dangers of addiction and dependency, a group of health professionals is due to say | Belfast Telegraph, UK

Recruiting drug couriers from Tajikistan

Tajikistan is a transit point for one of the most lucrative drugs routes in the world | BBC, UK

Pot smokers might not turn into dopes after all

Revisiting data casts doubts on link between heavy cannabis use and declining IQ | Nature, UK

Coca and Snus: Sweden's Self-defeating Hypocrisy on Drugs

Tradition is disposable. Evidence is marginal. Economic arguments are not important. This, in a nutshell, is what Sweden said to the UN to oppose traditional uses of coca in Bolivia. It is opposite of what it says to the EU to defend the use and sales of snus at home | Huffington Post, UK

New state-by-state report shows a significant decrease in adolescent smoking in most states during the past decade

Current cigarette smoking among 12- to 17-year-olds fell significantly from 2002 to 2010 in 41 states, according to a report (PDF) by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration | SAMSHA, USA

Homeless Drug Overdose Study: Nonprofits Fight Leading Cause Of Death Among Without Shelter

Overdoses of drugs, particularly prescription painkillers and heroin, have overtaken AIDS to become the leading cause of death of homeless adults, according
to a study of homeless residents of Boston | Huffington Post, USA

Marijuana Legalization, Taxation Supported By Majority In Hawaii: Poll

Hawaii's governor signed a bill legalizing medical marijuana back in 2000, but a new poll shows that the state's residents are ready to take it a step further | Huffington Post, USA

Consensus Statement on the Use of Medications in Treatment of Substance Use Disorders (PDF)

Numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of including medication in the treatment of some individuals with substance use disorders | NASADAD, USA

World Briefs: G-8 nations discuss terrorism, drugs

The United States and its allies from the Group of Eight are meeting in Washington this week to improve international cooperation on counterterrorism and anti-crime measures, including measures to combat the growing encroachment of Latin American drug cartels in West Africa | Washington Times, USA