Daily news - 29th June 2015 |
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UK news
Two new "legal highs" to be banned under temporary order
As a public protection measure the ACMD has recommended that the two compounds – 4-Methylmethylphenidate and Ethylnaphthidate – should be added to a new TCDO, alongside the original five substances, while it continues to gather evidence for permanent control advice | Home Office and The Rt Hon Mike Penning MP, UK
Letter to Mike Penning on methylphenidate-based novel psychoactive substances
On 31 March 2015, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) provided advice to the then Minister of State for Crime Prevention, recommending a Temporary Class Drug Order (TCDO) on a number of methylphenidate-based Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) | ACMD, UK
Methylphenidate-based novel psychoactive substances: temporary class drug order report
This report advises on a temporary class drug order report on a number of methylphenidate-based novel psychoactive substances (NPS) | ACMD, UK
Number of legal highs rockets as new psychoactive substances go global
Peru and the Seychelles are just two of the countries to have recently reported the emergence of a market in some of the 541 synthetic drugs identified by UN | Guardian, UK
National report sheds light on health and wellbeing of young people
Statistics on the health, care and wellbeing of young people in England - from birth to young adulthood - are published today in a report from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). It brings together in one place for the first time a range of information, including use of hospital services, talking therapies, prescribing, immunisations and lifestyle trends. The report aims to provide a more joined-up picture of key areas of health and care among younger age groups | HSCIC, UK
Charity calls for spirit duty rise in Budget on back of new figures of under 18s drinking
The charity Alcohol Concern is calling for a rise in spirit duty of 4% above inflation after their new survey has found that children in treatment for alcohol are consuming more spirits than any other type of alcohol | Alcohol Concern, UK
Alcohol Brands Consumed by Young People in Treatment 2015 (PDF)
In 2013-14 over 10,000 children and young people sought treatment for alcohol as either a primary or secondary substance.1 Drug and alcohol services offer vital support for young people and are well positioned to improve broader understanding of their consumption patterns | Alcohol Concern, UK
Glastonbury 2015: Has the hippie crack balloon burst? What is nitrous oxide anyway?
Last year more than two tonnes of used nitrous oxide containers were picked up from the fields of Glastonbury. The silver, bullet-shaped canisters contain a mild anaesthetic normally administered to dental patients or to women in labour | Independent, UK
What works: why we value evidence-based practice (MWS 03) - video
Mentor Webinar Series, Session 3: Join Jamila Boughelaf, Project Manager for Mentor ADEPIS, and Jade Forester, Marketing & Communications Officer for Mentor, to learn more about why we place evidence at the heart of Mentor’s work. We will discuss the complexities of identifying 'risks,' a range of evidence-based prevention methods, and the recent integration of the CAYT repository into ADEPIS. | Mentor Foundation, UK
Relief for Britain's troubled pubs as younger landlords take charge
Newcomers are stemming decline as they attract a younger crowd | Telegraph, UK
JLA survey into alcohol-related liver disease
We want to hear from people who: are at risk of, or worried about, alcohol-related liver disease or have or have had alcohol-related liver disease | JLA, UK
Join us for the Recovery Street Film Festival
Submit your entries for the 2015 Recovery Street Film Festival before Monday 20 July to be in with the chance of winning £1,000 worth of prizes | Recovery Street Film Festival, UK
Bassetlaw MP John Mann calls for full investigation after six heroin deaths in a week
Bassetlaw MP John Mann has called for an investigation into six heroin-related deaths in Nottinghamshire over the past week | Worksop Guardian, UK
Drug mule Melissa Reid could soon be heading home after court ruling in Peru
Drug mule Melissa Reid could be sent home to Scotland within weeks after a Peruvian court agreed she could be sent home | Herald, UK
Three Scots charged in UK-wide drugs investigation
Three people from North Ayrshire and Perth have been charged with drugs offences following their arrests as part of a UK-wide police operation | BBC, UK
British musician faces five years in Chilean jail after admitting dealing drugs
Alexander Harrild, who was educated at exclusive Dulwich College, is being held in one of Santiago's most notorious prisons with rapists and murderers | Telegraph, UK
'Inept' head of family drug-dealing gang sentenced to nine years in jail
Carl Honey-Jones, his wife Donna and four relatives lived a conspicuously lavish lifestyle while claiming benefits, Swansea crown court hears | Guardian, UK
Nurse who smoked crack cocaine in telephone box struck off
Police found the nurse openly smoking the addictive Class-A drug in a phone box in London's West End | Telegraph, UK
Motorway police in Lockerbie £110k drugs bust
Police have seized drugs which they said are worth £100,000, after stopping a car on the M74 motorway near Lockerbie | BBC, UK
Eight arrested in M6 drug raids in Staffordshire
Eight men have been arrested on suspicion of drugs offences after three vehicles were stopped on the M6 motorway | BBC, UK
Southampton drugs gang sentenced
Eight members of a criminal gang, including four from the same extended family, have been handed sentences for dealing crack cocaine and heroin | BBC, UK
International news
Minimum alcohol pricing cuts serious crime, study reveals
Imposing a minimum unit price for alcohol leads to a dramatic fall in drink-related crime, including murders, sexual assaults and drink-driving, a new study shows | Observer, UK
Medical marijuana arrives next week in Minnesota – but smoking it is banned
Under new rules that set the state apart from others, patients will have to stick with pills and oils, and the drug will only be sold in eight locations | Guardian, UK
How Britain's khat ban devastated an entire Kenyan town
Mild stimulant used to be Maua’s most valuable export, bringing prosperity to all involved. A year since it was outlawed, the local economy has been devastated | Guardian, UK
Italian mafia’s cocaine trafficking leaves trail of drug devastation among poor of Brazil – video
The all-powerful Calabrian crime syndicate 'Ndrangheta has forged a deadly network of drug trafficking routes through Brazil – 80% of all cocaine arriving in Europe comes through the country's Santos port. To mark International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, we hear from the anti-'Ndrangheta experts risking their lives to speak out against the syndicate, and take to the streets of Brazil's Crackolândia districts, where crack addiction is destroying lives | Guardian, UK
Steroid abuse prevalent in Irish society – Irish Sports Council
Monaghan’s Thomas Connolly used the same substance athlete Ben Johnson availed of | Irish Times, Ireland
Half of students have used cannabis
Nearly half of third-level students have recently smoked cannabis and almost a third have recently taken ecstasy, research indicates | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Diet pill death ‘a first for Ireland’
A young man in his 20s has died after taking deadly dieting pills bought online — in what an expert has said is the first loss of its kind here | Irish Examiner, Ireland
New psychoactive substances in Europe: Innovative legal responses
This short report provides an overview of how European countries are developing innovative legal responses to the challenges presented to public health and drug policy by the rapidly evolving market for new psychoactive substances | EMCDDA, Portugal
Room for change
New website campaigning for drug consumption rooms | Room for Change, Hungary
World Drug Report
The World Drug Report presents a comprehensive annual overview of the latest developments in the world's illicit drug markets by focusing on the production, trafficking and consumption of the main types of illicit drugs, along with the related health consequences of those drugs | UNODC, USA
Female drug users shun treatment for fear of losing children: U.N.
Female drug users worldwide are far less likely than their male counterparts to undergo treatment due to discrimination against mothers and pregnant women and the cost of childcare, transport and treatment, the U.N. drugs body said on Friday | Reuters, USA
Anti-Smoking Policies Work: With Cigarette Smoking On The Decline, Those Who Remain Want To Quit
As smoking declines, public health researchers assume more of the remaining smokers arehardened — unwilling or unable to quit. A new study from UCSF finds the exact opposite is true | Medical Daily, USA
Blogs, coment and opinion
Government co-ordination of payment by results (NAO 1)
This is the first in a series of posts on the National Audit Office’s recent report: Outcome-based payment schemes: government’s use of payment by results. The report’s overall conclusion is that because of the lack of a clear evidence base, the PbR approach is currently laden with risk | Russell Webster, UK
Why anti-cancer properties in cannabis must be investigated
Cancer is a word that conjures up many images. It is a varied disease that affects many people and can leave families distraught. There are fortunately treatments for a large number of these cancers, which work by restricting tumour growth and inducing cell death. However, there are cancers which pose more of a challenge, and so finding new drugs that can fight these ones becomes even more important | Conversation, UK
The Guardian view on legal highs: the sleep of reason
To ban everything not expressly permitted is neither liberal nor sensible and will prove unworkable | Guardian, UK
Here’s the drug that every school should legalise
Schools are finding it increasingly difficult to keep children’s attention. Some studies have reported a 42% increase in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in less than a decade | Conversation, UK
Drinking by 11, alcoholic by 20, sober by 35: one woman's story
As new research shows that 43 per cent of women want to drink less, one woman reveals how she became an alcoholic by 20 – and how she finally kicked the habit | Telegraph, UK
I drink because I like the way it feels. That doesn't mean I have a problem
There have been times that I’ve drunk too much, and times when I haven’t drunk anything at all. But I finally figured out why I drink, and why I won’t stop | Guardian CIF, UK
Medical Marijuana Is Gaining Traction, But Many Still Refuse To See The Benefits
Marijuana. Pot. Weed. Grass. Dope. Most of us can think of a few names for it, and most of us probably have an opinion on it too. Across the world, the cannabis plant is both loved and hated, lauded and denigrated | Medical Daily, USA
Peer distribution of injecting equipment
I bet, if we asked the average Jo Blow on the street, they could not fathom the illegality of peer distribution. It is illegal in all states and territories for someone (unless they are authorised because they work in a recognised service) to pass on a sterile piece of injecting equipment to someone who needs it | Carla Treloar Blog, Australia