Daily news - 19th December 2017 |
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UK news
State of the Sector 2017: Beyond the Tipping Point
Adfam, on behalf of the Recovery Partnership, is proud to publish State of the Sector 2017. This is the fourth in the series of reports written about the drug and alcohol treatment sector in England. For 2017 we have taken a more narrative approach, focusing primarily on interviewing key stakeholders and highlighting their experiences in the sector, current concerns and thoughts for the future. We have concluded that our treatment system has moved beyond the tipping point identified last year into worrying territory | Adfam, UK
Take-home Naloxone in England
To map out and assess the provision of take-home naloxone in England, Release requested information from all local authority areas under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 through a self-completion questionnaire, as local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug treatment services | Release, UK
'Neglectful' councils give heroin overdose cure to just 12% of users in England
Local governments are losing the battle against opioid deaths across England partly because of a refusal to properly distribute a cheap overdose antidote, new figures reveal | IBTimes, UK
Butane Hash Oil (BHO): UK and Ireland DrugWatch Information Sheet
Cannabis concentrates can be made using a range of processes that extract THC from herbal cannabis, and have been in use for thousands of years in the form of paste, oil and hashish | DrugWatch, UK
January 2018 – Addiction Current Issue
This is a quick summary of the main discovery for each research paper we have published | SSA, UK
Yeovil and Weston-super-Mare focus of BBC Drugsland spin off County Lines following a 'spike in violent, drug related crime'
County Lines is a BBC iPlayer spin-off from the popular series Drugsland - focusing on Yeovil and Weston-super-Mare | Somerset Live, UK
New Dundee drugs commission ‘must listen to addicts’
A Dundee drugs charity boss has welcomed moves to set up a new commission in the city to tackle substance abuse | Evening Telegraph, UK
Scores of trafficked child slaves from Vietnam are disappearing from UK care homes and being forced to work in suburban nail salons and cannabis farms
A few days ago, a haunting photograph of a missing child was put up on Scotland Yard’s website | Mail Online, UK
Policeman masterminded a wholesale drug trafficking racket after becoming hooked on Breaking Bad
Apolice patrolman masterminded a wholesale drug trafficking racket after becoming hooked on the TV crime drama Breaking Bad, a court heard | Telegraph, UK
Police to use melting snow rooftops to snare Northern Ireland cannabis growers
The PSNI have asked residents to report sightings of rooftops where snow has not settled even though neighbouring buildings have had a heavy coating | Belfast Telegraph, UK
Jailed Smethwick drug dealer 'jumped naked' from window
A Black Country drug dealer has been jailed for 20 years after he was found with drugs and firearms | BBC, UK
Royal Victoria Hospital workers who stole drugs jailed
Two staff members who stole drugs from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast have each been jailed for six months | BBC, UK
How 'designer' steroids aim to beat anti-doping tests
Justin Gatlin’s coach claimed that athletes are able to get away with doping because the drugs they use cannot be detected by tests | Telegraph, UK
International news
California offers to reduce and wipe away marijuana convictions as they prepare for the legal selling of recreational pot, potentially helping low-income minorities
As California prepares for the legal recreational selling of marijuana to start on January 1, a provision in the new state law may overturn many drug convictions, saving thousands of people | Mail Online, UK
Prescription drugs misused by 1 million Australians in year, report shows
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report also finds ‘substantial rise’ in drug-induced deaths involving prescription drugs [see report near end of this section] | Guardian, UK
Australian man in Bali charged with drug offences that can carry death penalty
Isaac Roberts was arrested after arriving from Bangkok on 4 December, allegedly carrying amphetamines and ecstasy | Guardian, UK
Over 20% of Irish drivers admit to driving the morning after a night out
A recent survey of over 6,000 motorists found that one in five people have, on at least one occasion in the past year, driven on the morning after a night out while unsure of if they were within the legally permissible blood alcohol limit | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Warning as number of steroids seized surges 300%
There has been an explosion in the number of anabolic steroids seized, with quantities in the first eight months of the year up 300% compared to 2016 | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Why is the demand for steroids rising among young people?
Nearly 450,000 steroids were seized in the first eight months of the year, despite warnings over their ingredients and health side-effects. Why are so many young people using them, asks Pádraig Hoare | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Medicinal cannabis: the long journey to acceptance
One year after becoming the first person in Ireland allowed to use medicinal cannabis, three-year-old Tristan Forde is thriving | Irish Times, Ireland
Flanagan may open inquiry into Garda drug collusion allegations
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has signalled the establishment of an inquiry into allegations of Garda collusion in the heroin trade | Independent, Ireland
'If our house prices rise, so does cocaine use and we are at it again' - Dr Chris Luke says drug played a role in the crash
Cocaine in Ireland is now 95pc pure. Dr Chris Luke says the drug played a role in the crash and will do so again, writes Niamh Horan | Independent, Ireland
Drug squads: units specialised in drug law enforcement in Europe. Situation in the EU Member States, Norway and Turkey in 2015
In 2013, findings of a first study on drug squads were published in the EMCDDA Paper series. A follow-up study was carried out in 2015 and resulted in the production of this paper. The focus of this limited update is monitoring and analysing changes in the number of specialised drug squads and their staffing levels between 2012 and 2015 | EMCDDA, Portugal
Fight against illicit drugs: Commission proposes to ban seven new substances
Today, the Commission is proposing to ban seven new psychoactive substances (NPS) across the European Union, in addition to nine others banned previously this year | European Commission, Belgium
Dutch to restrict sales of laughing gas, after surge in use among young clubbers
The health ministry says it wants to make it more difficult for teenagers to buy laughing gas following a report by addiction clinic Trimbos on the rising use of the drug by youngster | Dutch News, Netherlands
Norway’s Parliament Votes To Decriminalize All Drug Use
“This is the start of a big rush reform. Now a big effort is being done to switch the system from punishment to help.” | Huffington Post, USA
Firefighters Will Soon Be Armed With The Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug
Firefighters in a Delaware county ravaged by opioid addiction will start carrying the overdose reversal drug Narcan in an effort to more effectively combat overdose deaths | Daily Caller, USA
Cigarette smoking is increasing among Americans with drug problems
Odds of smoking among Americans with a substance use disorder are more than five times greater than the overall population | EurekAlert, USA
How a multi-million dollar empire built around urine drug tests exposes flaws in California’s rehab laws
Philip Ganong, his wife and their 34-year-old son built a fast-growing, multi-million-dollar empire on urine | Orange County Register, USA
Canadians consumed C$5 billion to C$6.2 billion in cannabis in 2015 - study
Canadians consumed an estimated C$5 billion ($3.8 billion) to C$6.2 billion worth of cannabis in 2015, a study by Statistics Canada showed on Monday, ahead of the nationwide legalization of recreational use of the drug next year | Reuters, USA
Researchers target cannabinoid receptors with new line of pain‑relief products
As the clock ticks down to the July 1 deadline when recreational marijuana will be legalized in Canada, governments are scrambling and the controversy is mounting among those who want a say in how it will be grown, sold and regulated | Medical Xpress, USA
Non-medical use of pharmaceuticals: trends, harms and treatment 2006–07 to 2015–16
The non-medical use of pharmaceuticals is common—about 1 million Australians (4.8%) aged 14 years or older reported recent non-medical use of a pharmaceutical drug. Prescriptions for opioid analgesics continued to increase and chronic pain and mental illness was higher among people with recent non-medical use of a pharmaceutical. Drug-induced deaths where benzodiazepines or other opioids like oxycodone and codeine were present, has more than doubled over the past decade | AIHW, Australia
A million Australians abuse prescription drugs
Almost a million Australians are abusing and misusing pharmaceutical drugs,with legal painkillers posing a growing problem, research has found | Age, Australia
NZ needle exchanges mark 30th anniversary of becoming legal - video
One of the country's most successful public health initiatives, the needle exchange program has become a network of hundreds of outlets | TVNZ, New Zealand
Medicinal cannabis bill to be introduced tomorrow
Health Minister David Clark will introduce a government bill on medicinal cannabis to Parliament tomorrow but it will not be as liberal as Green MP Chloe Swarbrick's bill, which would allow for suffering people to grow, possess or use cannabis for therapeutic purposes | NZHerald, New Zealand
Blogs, comment and opinion
Preparing for the festive risks for opioid users, fentanyl and beyond
Christmas and the New Year can be a stressful time for everyone with people often at their most vulnerable | PHE Blog, UK
Harry's blog: Safe havens
One of my favourite Woody Allen quotes come from his film Stardust Memories which goes, “intellectuals are like the Mafia. They only kill their own.” Fortunately, within the conflicted world of tobacco control and tobacco harm reduction, there are relatively few albeit influential sabre-rattlers. But this area of public and scientific discourse is relatively new, so plenty of time for the dogs of war to be let loose | NSP blog, UK
If you enjoy drinking, you should be against the development of hangover-free alcohol
We need the cold light of day where bilious, lonely, hungry, horny, paranoid and regretful moments skewer our consciences as 24 units of vodka ebb from our systems. It is these hangovers that give us time to take stock of our shortcomings | Independent voices, UK
The role of the National Service User Council at CGL
Following the appointment of CGL's new Chief Executive, a process that involved service users for the first time, we caught up with Sue Edwards and David Pontin from the National Service User Council to find out more about the role of the group | CGL blog, UK
Personal pain fuels my mission to fight alcoholism, says JONATHAN ASHWORTH MP
Earlier this year the Sunday Express revealed how children as young as five were calling a charity helpline to be read bedtime stories because their parents were too drunk to put them to bed | Express, UK
Child protection and alcohol
Sir, – Your Editorial (December 13th) highlights the implications of the new landmark mandatory reporting system of child protection concerns and the downstream effects of this new legislation. As stated, child welfare is of the utmost importance | Irish Times letters, Ireland