DS Daily - 14th October 2013

Game on: drug and alcohol services and the new local players - Updated Conference brochure

As the new arrangements for localised drug and alcohol treatment funding bed down, this conference brings together an array of top level speakers and workshops leaders to discuss all the current hot topics of importance to our sector. Find out more here | DrugScope, UK

National Crime Agency warns of heroin purity increasing, and possible link to overdoses [no link]

The National Crime Agency have released an intelligence assessment showing that heroin with a particularly high purity level is circulating in the UK, and that this may be linked to increasing numbers of fatal and near-fatal overdoses. The UK-wide average purity from police seizures of quantities of heroin above 25g was 39% in June 2013, up from 13% in July 2012. There are also regional variations, with some areas such as the West Midlands seeing particularly high purity levels. Drug treatment clients should be advised about these concerns, and asked to relay the message to others not in touch with treatment services | NCA, UK

TWP venue starts testing seized drugs to alert clubbers

A nightclub in Greater Manchester is beginning a project to examine the quality of seized drugs | BBC, UK

Man died after overdosing on caffeine mints

Coroner calls for more awareness of dangers after John Jackson ate too many Hero energy sweets | Independent, UK

Smoke without fire

The decision by MEPs to reject a European Commission proposal to treat electronic cigarettes as medicinal products was as sensible as it was unexpected | Telegraph, UK

Cigarettes: EU rules to curb tobacco sales to teenagers - video

There could be a ban on flavoured cigarettes, bigger health warnings on all packets, and the end of packs of 10 cigarettes, after a vote in France this week | BBC, UK

Tobacco Industry Illicit Trade Claims Shown to be Wrong, Again

Official figures released today show that the level of tobacco smuggling in the UK in 2012/13 was no higher than in 2010/11, the last published set of figures | ASH, UK

Opinion: Being tough on drugs means being pro-reform

The Sunday Times is claiming to have knowledge of the results of Jeremy Browne’s drug policy “grand tour”. In an article today, Put that in your pipe, Mrs May [pay per view], the paper describes many conclusions expected to feature in the final report which will bring great cheer to the ordinary Liberal Democrat member | Lib Dem Voice, UK

Cannabis - Should cannabis be legal everywhere?

Post debate sum up | Economist, UK

ITV Exposure finds torture and coercion in Britain's home-grown cannabis industry

The home-grown cannabis industry has links with the darkest elements of organised crime, including torture and coercion, with small hobby growers feeding in to a brutal black economy worth billions of pounds a new ITV Exposure has found. ITV Exposurespoke to one criminal who robs growers of their crops and who freely admitted that he tortures people to get the answers he wants | ITV.com, UK

Fatal addiction: Britain's 6,200 state-sponsored drug addicts hooked on heroin substitute for more than TEN years

Thousands of drug addicts have spent more than a decade hooked on a heroin substitute prescribed by the NHS at a cost of £200 million, The Mail on Sunday can reveal | Mail on Sunday, UK

Drug slammed as 'methadone for alcoholics' could cost NHS Scotland more than £200m a year

Nalfamefene, which is supposed to reduce alcohol cravings, has been given the green light for use in Scotland and could end up costing the taxpayer millions | Daily Record, UK

Exit 'Nod', the Apple of Silk Road heroin dealers. We could be about to meet a real-life Walter White

Credit where credit’s due: "Nod" is a great pseudonym for a heroin dealer. That’s a defining characteristic of the smackhead – the nod. Shot up and blissful, they nod out, the world a gauzy background to the high. Nod was the most popular heroin seller on Silk Road, the semi-hidden online market for illicit substances and criminal contract jobs which has been smashed by US law enforcement | Telegraph, UK

Fake ecstasy the warehouse project and why there needs to be a new approach to drugs?

Two weeks ago, in the early hours of Saturday morning, six people were taken to hospital in Manchester after taking a bunch of dodgy pills. One man – since named as 30 year-old Nick Bonnie from Gloucestershire – died | Vice, UK

Britain's fastest-growing legal high chain opens branch next to drug rehab charity

A Sunday People probe reveals the proliferation of shops selling alternatives to drugs - with one opening below a rehab centre | Sunday People, UK

Plans to slow down sales of legal highs at Leeds ‘headshops’

A by-law forcing shops selling ‘legal highs’ to black out their windows and ban under-18s from entering is to be considered by Leeds City Council | Yorkshire Evening Post, UK

Denver planning to make SMELL of marijuana illegal even though it's perfectly legal to buy it in Colorado

The use of recreational marijuana is now legal in Colorado, but if a proposed ordinance becomes law in the state's largest city, pot smokers could face jail time and fines if smoke wafts onto a neighbor's property | MailOnline, UK

Inside a neighborhood scarred by drugs and despair: Life on the tough streets of Pablo Escobar's hometown where drug addicts and prostitutes struggle to survive

It is one of Colombia's most dangerous neighborhoods, a crowded and dilapidated crush of drug dealers, prostitutes and the homeless fight for survival. But despite the poverty and despair of Barrio Triste - Sad Neighborhood - photographer Juan Arredondo found glimmers of hope among the people who call it home | MailOnline, UK

Reefer madness! Vets say more pets POISONED and HIGH from marijuana, can have SEIZURES and DIE from the drug

The number of pet animals poisoned and high on marijuana is growing higher, veterinarians say. California Bay Area-based veterinarians told KTVU on Tuesday more pets are being rushed to animal emergency rooms severely ill and high on the drug. The rise in emergency cases coincides with the rise of medical marijuana, they said | MailOnline, UK

Prison education: 'How I turned my life around'

As Ofsted inspectors deliver a critical verdict of the education prisoners receive in England's jails, one ex-inmate describes how he finally learnt a vital lesson | BBC, UK

G4S: Transforming Rehabilitation is a once in a lifetime opportunity

Debbie Ryan, Director of Rehabilitation and Resettlement for G4S, gives her views in the latest in a series of interviews about the MoJ’s probation reform programme: Transforming Rehabilitation | RussellWebster.com, UK

Mayor backs use of mobile injecting units in city

Plans are under way to set up "mobile injecting units" to stop drugs addicts from shooting up on Dublin's main streets, the Sunday Independent has learnt | Independent, Ireland

Rise in addiction to cocktail of alcohol, cocaine and benzodiazepine

One of Ireland's largest drug treatment centres has reported a rise in addiction to a cocktail of alcohol, cocaine and benzodiazepine among the clients using its service last year | rte.ie, Ireland

Alcohol and education costs drive 0.2pc increase in consumer prices

Irish consumers are paying slightly more on day to day living as average costs rose 0.2pc in September compared to the same month last year | Independent, Ireland

Coroner: Cannabis use putting young people at risk of stroke

Heavy use of high-potency cannabis is putting young people at risk of stroke, a leading specialist told an inquest | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Naloxone Expansion In California Will Enable Family, Friends To Save Lives At Home

Family and friends of more drug users in California will soon be able to reverse overdoses at home with a lifesaving injectable drug | Huffington Post, USA

The Vapologist will see you now: Inside New York's first e-cigarette bar

At the Henley Vaporium, e-cig experts want to help you live a healthier lifestyle with bubble gum-flavored air | The Week, USA

I-Team: E-Cigarettes, Used to Smoke Marijuana, Spark New Concerns

One lifelong marijuana user confessed to smoking it on the train from New York to Baltimore, using a vapor pen | NBC News, USA

Critique 126: Moderate alcohol intake may lower the risk of rheumatoid arthritis

To summarise the evidence regarding the dose-response association between alcohol consumption and risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) | Boston University School of Medicine, USA

The definitive history of Silk Road

Before Ross William Ulbricht decided he wanted to change the world, he studied physics at the University of Texas at Dallas, worked as a peer-reviewed research scientist, and finally, served as CEO of a small online used book store called Good Wagon Books. In his spare time, he enjoyed the occasional psychotropic drug | Daily Dot, USA