Daily news - 1st July 2015

UK news

House of Lords: Tuesday 30 June 2015, Legislation: NPS Bill debate - video

Live recording of the debate. [Scroll down under the Agenda tab on the right of the screen and select item at 15.07.57 ] | Parliament.uk, UK

'Growing concern' over legal high use in Wales

There are growing concerns about the use of so-called legal highs across Wales, according to a charity | BBC, UK

Legal highs: could this finally be the end of the road?

As the dazed hordes of 177,000 revellers trudged away from Glastonbury this week, they did so over a carpet of tinkling silver canisters and spent balloons. The typical detritus of mass laughing gas binges, a drug which more than 400,000 16 to 24-year-olds admitted taking last year, is an ever present sight at festivals up and down the country. But perhaps, no more | Telegraph, UK

Is Irish ban on legal highs driving markets underground?

UK is to follow example of Ireland, where 2010 ban on ‘new psychoactive substances’ succeeded in closing head shops but also led users to illegal street markets and dark web to buy designer drugs | Guardian, UK

Academy concerns over Psychoactive Substances Bill

The Academy and other reserach organisations have written to the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Theresa May MP, to highlight concerns over unintended but damaging consequences for medical research of the Psychoactive Substances Bill | Academy of Medical Sciences, UK

Call for tobacco levy to fund non-smoking advertising as those quitting through NHS drop by a third in a year

Campaigners have called for a levy on tobacco industry profits to fund mass media advertising of official smoking services as the numbers trying to quit using NHS assistance in Scotland fell by almost a third in a year | Herald, UK

SMMGP Free learn module - Naloxone saves lives

These modules are free and open to all. You can access the modules once you have created an SMMGP e-Learning account | SMMGP, UK

Oil and Gas UK advises firms to ban e-cigarettes offshore

Industry body Oil and Gas UK is advising companies not to allow e-cigarettes to be used offshore | BBC, UK

Just how many arrests does the NCA make?

5 live Breakfast has been given exclusive figures from the National Crime Agency. The NCA is the UK's national law enforcement agency and deals with serious and organised crime | BBC Radio 5, UK

Trio jailed for Bridgend cannabis factory next to police HQ

Three men who ran a cannabis factory yards from police headquarters in south Wales have been jailed | BBC, UK

Men charged over £7m heroin find at Dover

Two men have been charged after heroin with an estimated street value of £7m was found in a lorry at the Dover ferry terminal, the Border Force has said | BBC, UK

International news

Why American Investors May Prefer Canada's Marijuana Industry

On June 11, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a provision in the country's medical marijuana law prohibiting the possession of marijuana extracts. The ruling potentially opened the door to the production of medical marijuana derivatives including tinctures, edibles, pills, and oils — and American investors took note | VICE, UK

Rand Paul to court marijuana industry donors at campaign fundraiser

The Republican is the first major-party presidential candidate to publicly seek out legal cannabis entrepreneurs to financially support his run | Guardian, UK

Melbourne prison unrest under control as riot police stand down

Several hurt and many prisoners transferred after hundreds of inmates at Ravenhall remand centre broke down doors and lit fires well into Tuesday night | Guardian, UK

HSE investigating rise in HIV amongst injecting drug users in Dublin

There has been a rise in the number of new cases of recently acquired HIV in persons who inject drugs in Dublin in the first quarter of 2015 | Journal, Ireland

Tamper-resistant opioids will not solve opioid addiction problem, study suggests

Governments in Canada and the United States are promoting tamper-resistant drugs, which are more difficult to crush, snort or inject, to prevent addiction and other harms. Opioid users may tamper with prescribed tablets, capsules or patches for a faster "high." However, a research group argues, tamper-resistant formulations of drugs will not solve the problems of opioid addiction and overdose | Science Daily, USA

Getting high in senior year: Researchers examine whether reasons for smoking pot are associated

A new study examines how reasons for illicit marijuana use relates to the use of other drugs individually, rather than grouping them into a single “illicit drug” group | Science Daily, USA

New study sheds light on the effects of marijuana on weight gain in young adults

While cannabis alters the functions of neurobiological circuits controlling appetite, its effect on weight gain is complex since several factors appear to be involved, says Didier Jutras-Aswad, University of Montreal professor and researcher at the CHUM Research Centre | News Medical, USA

Be bold on tackling ice, learn from 90s heroin crisis: Noffs Foundation

The national taskforce set up to target the problem of ice or crystal methamphetamine is wrapping up community consultations this week | abc.net.au, Australia

Motorist who struck schoolboy acquitted after experts suggest ice can have positive effects on driving

A drugged motorist who ran a red light and struck a schoolboy has been cleared of dangerous driving by an Adelaide judge, after two expert witnesses suggested methylamphetamine can have a positive effect on driver ability | abc.net.au, Australia

Comment, blogs and opinion

Interesting things on drugs and alcohol, July 2015

Andrew Brown, who is currently a consultant to MEAM, Mind and Addaction, produces a monthly round-up of interesting drug and alcohol statistics. The July edition features data on which groups with serious mental health problems are most vulnerable to crime, and how people with substance misuse problems present at hospital and A&E services | MEAM, UK

20 million Europeans smoke cannabis

Cannabis is Europe’s most commonly used illicit drug, with approximately 20 million adults, or around 6% of the population aged 15–64 years, having used the drug in the last year | Russell Webster, UK

Agenda: It is clear the problems with stop and search go back more than a decade

Earlier this year, the Scottish Government appointed an Independent Advisory Group to examine the use of stop and search powers | Herald, UK

More than 150 cities join the global call for drug policy reform

On or around the 26th June, activists and allies in more than 150 cities all around the world came out as part of the Support Don't Punish campaign’s ‘Global Day of Action’. This was the third year that the Day of Action has been held – with the momentum clearly building in time for the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs in April 2016 – from 41 cities in 2013, to 100 in 2014 and now 156 (at our last count) in 2015 | IDPC, UK

The war on drugs has reached into the womb - and threatens abortion rights

What does the war on drugs have to do with the war on abortion? More than you’d think: the anti-choice movement has been successfully using drug laws to give fetuses legal personhood rights for years | Guardian CIF, UK

Alcohol in the Workplace: how much is too much?

In this case, the Tribunal held that Mr McElroy, a healthcare assistant, was unfairly dismissed after it was reported he had attended for work smelling of alcohol | Simpson & Maverick, UK

Legal highs bill puts medical research at risk

New treatments for depression and experiments which might help explain human consciousness will be put at risk if the bill banning legal highs is passed, researchers have warned | Politics.co.uk, UK

Smoking and risk of schizophrenia: new study finds a dose-response relationship

Almost exactly a year ago, a landmark study identified 108 genetic loci associated with schizophrenia (Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2014). In a Mental Elf post on that study I wrote: “Genetic studies also don’t rule out an important role for the environment – [genome-wide association studies] might even help identify other causes of disease, by identifying loci associated with, for example, tobacco use.” | Mental Elf, UK