DS Daily - 20th September 2013 |
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Search begins to find best organisations to tackle high reoffending rates
A competition was launched today with more than 700 organisations from across the world looking to turn offenders’ lives around, as part of an annual £450 million package of rehabilitation contracts across England and Wales | MoJ, UK
Transforming Rehabilitation: a summary of evidence on reducing reoffending
This review of the evidence on reducing reoffending has been produced to support policy makers, practitioners and others who work with offenders | MoJ, UK
Probation reforms start in earnest...
19 September 2013 may prove to a momentous date in probation history. Minister of Justice Chris Grayling announced the formal launch of the competition for the 40% of the probation service which is being outsourced/privatised | RussellWebster.com, UK
Privatising probation may undermine essential voluntary services
Charities, community groups and social enterprises cannot afford to carry the same financial risk as large companies | Guardian, UK
Move to ban smoking in prisons
Scheme, which may be implemented as soon as spring 2015, expected to meet resistance, as 80% of inmates smoke | Guardian, UK
Should sugar be regulated like dangerous drugs?
A senior Dutch health official has called for tighter regulation of the sale and consumption of sugar, warning that it is the "most dangerous drug of the times" | BBC, UK
Parents 'unwittingly' give out positive drink message - video
Parents are "unwittingly" giving out positive messages about alcohol that are very hard to take back once their children become teenagers, a leading anti-alcohol campaigner has told Daybreak | ITV.com, UK
Cannabis: Spliffs and butts
It is high time for a new debate on drug policy but politicians remain wary | Economist, UK
Parents urge ban on slim drug
Medical student Sarah Houston, 23, died after taking a slimming drug which contained the dangerous fat burning drug DNP | BBC, UK
What's the link between alcohol and violent crime?
As the Association of Chief Police Officers calls for so-called 'drunk tanks' to be used to care for problem drinkers overnight, it's claimed that half of all violent crime relates to alcohol. What's the connection? | Full Fact, UK
Addicted to over-the-counter opium: Few realise codeine headache pills come from the same source as heroin - and evidence reveals more and more are getting hooked
Every morning after breakfast, before Sophia Zepeda leaves the house for university, the 23-year-old knocks back something a little stronger than just a coffee to help her get through the day | Mail Online, UK
Which adverse effects are associated with early cannabis use, is it caused by that use, and does that affect our response?
According to the last national school surveys nearly one in five 15 year olds in England (18%) and three in twenty in Scotland (14%) say that they have used cannabis in the last year | Mentor, UK
Now the Polmont peer educators take over delivery
The next phase of the Breaking Out project is well underway. After completing his own alcohol programme, Liam decided he would help us out by delivering the next taster session. These are sessions designed to give the next batch of potential recruits a flavour of the programme and, at the end, an option to sign up | Mentor, UK
Breaking worse: The emergence of krokodil and excessive injuries among people who inject drugs in Eurasia [Full free access]
Krokodil, a homemade injectable opioid, gained its moniker from the excessive harms associated with its use, such as ulcerations, amputations and discolored scale-like skin | IJDP, UK
The ‘do-it-yourself’ New Zealand injecting scene: Implications for harm reduction [Full free access]
Home produced opioid injectables have been a mainstay of the New Zealand injecting scene since the early 1980s | IJDP, UK
Peru drug mule women face at least six years in prison with guilty plea says prosecutor
The two U.K. women arrested in Peru last month trying to board a flight to Spain with 24 pounds of cocaine in their luggage face a minimum of six years and eight months in prison with no eligibility for parole if they plead guilty, the prosecutor handling their case said | Telegraph, UK
Former police chief shares Brighton’s approach to drugs at leading international conference
A former Brighton and Hove police commander shared his experiences of tackling drug-related crime at a leading international conference in Korea | Brighton & Hove News, UK
Halton crime gang jailed for guns and drugs offences
A Merseyside gang which "controlled illegal drug distribution" across a Cheshire borough has been jailed | BBC, UK
Teens say plain cigarette packaging would deter them from smoking
Research on groups of 15 and 16-year-olds has found the cigarette brands encourage teens to start smoking but that non-smokers would be discouraged from even trying them and current smokers would quit if cigarettes came out in ‘plain packs’ | Journal, Ireland
Ireland has second highest rate in the world of cancer and binge drinking, Seanad hears
Huge increases in alcohol-related liver disease among young adults, says Minister | Irish Times, Ireland
An alcoholic's brain
There is a complex relationship between the brain and alcohol dependence, writes Danielle Barron | Irish Medical News, Ireland
Keeping up with legal high market ‘impossible’
One in six of Ireland’s teens has admitted to using them — the highest proportion in the EU — while one person a week died in Britain as a result of these drugs last year | INEF, Ireland
Chronic Care Management for Dependence on Alcohol and Other Drugs The AHEAD Randomized Trial - [Free article]
People with substance dependence have health consequences, high health care utilization, and frequent comorbidity but often receive poor-quality care. Chronic care management (CCM) has been proposed as an approach to improve care and outcomes | JAMA, USA
Team-Based Addiction Care Not as Effective as Experts Hoped
To treat chronic illnesses like diabetes and hypertension, the gold standard now involves a coordinated, team-based approach. So researchers hoped the same benefits would be help addiction patients | TIME, USA
Marijuana legalisation - Tokers’ delight
Ever since November 2012, when Colorado and Washington state became the first jurisdictions in the world to legalise marijuana for recreational use, the big question has been how the federal government would respond. The drug remained illegal under federal law; would Barack Obama’s administration tolerate the states’ deviation? | Economist, USA
When It Comes To Illegal Drug Use, White America Does The Crime, Black America Gets The Time
White Americans are more likely than black Americans to have used most kinds of illegal drugs, including cocaine, marijuana and LSD. Yet blacks are far more likely to go to prison for drug offenses | Huffington Post, USA
Dangerous Club Drug ‘Molly’ A Growing Concern In Md.
Federal authorities bust an international drug ring with ties to Maryland. They are especially concerned about one drug called “molly,” a very popular drug in clubs | Baltimore CBS, USA
No Tolerance for Zero Tolerance
Notes from Drug Policy Alliance's Back-to-School Teleconference on Drug Education and Zero Tolerance Policies | SSDP, USA
Marijuana Legalization: The Republican Argument For Doing It
“Children are growing up with a total lack of respect for the Constitution and for the law," Pauline Sabin, the first woman to sit on the Republican National Committee, said in regard to prohibition in 1932. "The young see the law broken at home and upon the street," she added. "Can we expect them to be lawful?” | PolicyMic, USA
War On Drugs Endangers Prison Guards, Says Union Leader
The war on drugs is putting prison guards in danger, the leader of a prison guard union said at a congressional hearing Thursday | Huffington Post, USA
Vancouver’s Insite celebrates 10 years, 2 million visits, zero deaths
man shooting up in the back doorway of an alley with dirty water. A First Nations elder found dead in her rocking chair with a needle in her arm. Countless people overdosing and dying alone in dilapidated single room occupancy hotels | Metro News, Canada
Music festivals 'a snapshot' of wider Australian drug culture
A national youth support group believes music festivals are unfairly targeted as drug-taking events because most organisers take their duty of care seriously | ABC News, Australia
Research: Last drinks rule cut violence 33%
Professor John Wiggers of the University of Newcastle's School of Medicine and Public Health's research found a 33% sustained reduction in alcohol-related crime after mandatory lockout at 1.30am and reduced trading hours for serving alcohol were introduced in 2008 | My Daily News, Australia
Is Red Bull Downplaying Research On The Harms Of Mixing Alcohol And Energy Drinks?
Step away from the Jägerbomb. Peter Miller, a psychologist from Austrialia's Deakin University, has taken to BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) to air his view that energy drink titans like Red Bull are meddling in research that explores the harms of mixing energy drinks and alcohol, providing funding and placebo supplies to scientists whose research supports their interests | Popular Science, Australia