Daily news - 7th November 2014

UK news

DrugScope welcomes ACMD rejection of time-limited therapy

Welcoming the findings, DrugScope Chief Executive Dr Marcus Roberts said, “the notion that somebody who has been in the grip of a serious drug dependency for many years could be successfully treated to an artificial timetable has always been deeply flawed | DrugScope, UK

Policy paper: Time limiting opioid substitution therapy

Report to Lynne Featherstone in response to Norman Baker's request for advice on whether opioid substitution therapy should be time limited | Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and The Rt Hon Lynne Featherstone MP, UK

News story: Time limit for treatment would not help addicts

Independent experts have warned time limits on access to heroin substitute treatment would not benefit drug users' recovery from addiction | Home Office and The Rt Hon Lynne Featherstone MP, UK

Official drug advisers reject time limit on methadone substitution for addicts

Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs says time limits advocated by Iain Duncan Smith would lead to high rates of relapse | Guardian, UK

The secret diary of an alcoholic

Adrian Kelly has been sober for nearly two years after battling an alcohol addiction that nearly killed him. Memories are hazy, but his drinking diaries reveal the extent of his illness at its worst | Channel 4, UK

Older carers project

This exciting new project (funded by The City Bridge Trust from 2014-17) will work with carers aged 65+ who support a family member with drug and/or alcohol problems, to design and develop peer support networks in local communities | Adfam, UK

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? - BBC World Service Radio

Graphic photographs of some of the diseases caused by smoking have just been made available for governments to put on cigarette packets. Shocking pictures of everything from gangrene to mouth cancer | BBC Radio iPlayer

Smoking 'increases risk of chronic back pain'

"Smokers are three times more likely to suffer from back pain," the Mail Online reports. The headline was prompted by the results of a recent study, which involved observing 68 people with sub-acute back pain (back pain lasting for 4 to 12 weeks with no back pain in the previous year) over one year | NHS Choices - Behind the Headlines, UK

Warning over ‘legal high’ injections

Drug addicts are putting their lives in danger by injecting “legal highs” as an alternative to heroin, experts have warned | Edinburgh Evening News, UK

Exeter legal highs shop Wicked 'ceases trading'

A shop selling legal highs has closed after the owners decided not to fight an order by police | BBC, UK

Nick Conrad: Smoking and drinking when pregnant - BBC Radio

Nick asks if you think that pregnant women should be banned from smoking and drinking | BBC Radio iPlayer, UK

Sophie Jones methadone death: Father found guilty

The father of a two-year-old girl who died after drinking a heroin substitute has been found guilty of manslaughter | BBC, UK

Lamborghini drug cash launderer Timothy Shaw sentenced

An army veteran who transported £151,000 of drug cash out of Scotland in a Lamborghini Gallardo has been told to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work | BBC, UK

Child mental health services 'unfit'

There are "serious and deeply ingrained problems" with child and adolescent mental health services, officials warn | BBC, UK

Work programme: report published

Public Accounts Committee publishes its twenty-first report | Parliament.uk, UK

International news

Silk Road 2.0's alleged owner arrested as drugs website shuttered by FBI

Blake Benthall, 26, arrested after allegedly resurrected drugs and contraband goods market after original incarnation was shut down by the FBI last year | Guardian, UK

'Irish alcoholism nature' reason for job rejection for Irish teacher in South Korea

A teacher from the Republic of Ireland has been turned down for a job in South Korea due to the "alcoholism nature" of Irish people | BBC, UK

Marijuana on the march in the US: in which states can you smoke weed, and which states will legalise it next?

Wave of ballots could see the recreational use of the drug legalised in nine states within three years | Telegraph, UK

Gardaí seize drugs after probe into 'Darknet' drug operation

Ecstasy tablets, LSD and other controlled drugs to value €180,000 have been seized by gardaí in a raid on ‘Darknet’ drug distribution centre in Dublin | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Dutch dealers selling heroin as cocaine to tourists

Drug believed to have killed 22-year-old British visitor to Amsterdam | Irish Times, Ireland

Take home naloxone to reduce fatalities: scaling up a participatory intervention across Europe

Presentations from the conference | EMCDDA, Portugal

Teens living close to high number of tobacco shops more likely to smoke

Teenagers are much more likely to take up smoking if they live in neighbourhoods with a large number of shops that sell tobacco products, a study suggests | Medical Xpress, USA

A new meta-analysis on the relation of alcohol consumption to the risk of ischemic heart disease

Alcohol consumption is a major global risk factor for mortality and morbidity. Much discussion has revolved around the diverse findings on the complex relationship between alcohol consumption and the leading cause of death and disability, ischemic heart disease (IHD) | Boston University School of Medicine, USA

Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court

Silk Road 2.0, Launched in November 2013 After Its Predecessor was Shut Down by Law Enforcement, Has Enabled More Than 100,000 People to Buy and Sell Illegal Drugs Anonymously Over the Internet | FBI, USA

Shrinking Majority Of Americans Supports Marijuana Legalization, New Gallup Poll Shows

A new Gallup poll shows that while a majority of Americans still support legalization of marijuana, that majority has thinned out significantly in only a year's time | Huffington Post, USA

What is the world's biggest cash crop?

Most planted. Most fecund. Most popular. Most revenue | Information is beautiful, USA

How Quitting Smoking Changes Your Body

We've partnered with CVS Health to bring you a visual of what happens to your body after your last cigarette | Huffington Post, USA

Alcohol harm in emergency departments - video

In 2014, 2002 emergency department doctors and nurses in Australia and New Zealand responded to a survey which asked them about their experiences of alcohol-related presentations in their ED | Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

Take-home emergency naloxone to prevent deaths from heroin overdose

A paradigm shift is occurring in the treatment of heroin overdose. On 5 November the World Health Organization launched guidelines on the community management of heroin and opioid overdose and emergency administration of naloxone by people who are not medically trained | BMJ editorial, UK