Weekly news - 19th March 2010

Guardian Daily: How dangerous is mephedrone?

Our expert panel discusses the drug mephedrone, its effects and the likelihood of its prohibition, in a special edition of our daily news audio show with Jon Dennis [Guardian, UK]

Consultation: The Social Security (Welfare Reform Drugs Recovery Pilot Scheme) Regulations 2010

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has been asked by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to consider proposals for the Social Security (Welfare Reform Drugs Recovery Pilot Scheme) Regulations 2010. The regulations would introduce a pilot that would run for two years [SSAC, UK]

NTA response to DrugScope report: ‘Young people’s drug and alcohol treatment at the crossroads’

The DrugScope report: ‘Young people’s drug and alcohol treatment at the crossroads’ is a valuable addition to the current debate about the range, context and delivery of specialist drug and alcohol interventions for young people, and raises astute questions about the way forward [NTA, UK]

The TOP: Leading the world in outcomes monitoring

From Iran to Australia and Chile to Spain, the Treatment Outcomes Profile, or TOP, has been making a name for itself around the world [NTA, UK]

Rehab Online

Rehab Online is a new directory of residential rehabilitation services in England and Wales for drug and alcohol users ... Service providers who have not already registered with Rehab Online are encouraged to submit their details [Rehab Online, NTA, UK]

Sentencing for Drug Offences

This advice to the Sentencing Guidelines Council makes proposals in relation to the sentencing of the most commonly sentenced drug offences. It considers those offences which derive from conduct intended to bring illicit drugs into circulation (including importation, production and supply) as well as those relating to possession and use [Sentencing Advisory Panel, UK]

Justice reinvestment: response to select committee

Response to a Justice Committee report on justice reinvestment, which examines whether resources spent on criminal justice are being used effectively [Ministry of Justice, UK]

Tackling problem drug use

An uncorrected transcript of evidence [Committee of Public Accounts, Parliament, UK]

ACMD open meeting - 29 March 2010

There will be an opportunity for attendees to provide feedback to the ACMD and participate in a question and answer session [Home Office, UK]

The Government's response to the Health Select Committee's report on alcohol

Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Health. The Health Select Committee report can be downloaded here [The Stationery Office, UK]

Report of evidence Scottish Youth Commission on Alcohol

The purpose of this report is to describe the key sources of information considered by the Youth Commissioners, as well as presenting new evidence generated by the Youth Commission’s work [Youth Commission on Alcohol, Scotland, UK]

Report of recommendations

We, the Youth Commissioners, feel sure that implementing the recommendations included here will help the Scottish Government achieve its strategic objectives to make Scotland wealthier and fairer, healthier, smarter, safer and stronger, and greener [Youth Commission on Alcohol, Scotland, UK]

Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA)

GPs and nurses can do more to increase delivery of Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA). This was the finding of research commissioned as part of the Alcohol Effects campaign that indicates some healthcare professionals may underestimate its potential impact [Department of Health, UK]

Drug and alcohol treatment in the North West of England 2008/09

This publication details the results of the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) in the North West of England during 2008/09 [Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, UK]

On the state of public health

Annual report of the chief medical officer 2009 [Department of Health, UK]

Work programme 2010

The 2010 work programme is the first to fall under the EMCDDA’s new three-year strategy and work programme (2010–12). In terms of substantive technical activities, the three-year strategy aims to consolidate the core data sets held by the agency and enable more complex analysis of them PDF [EMCDDA]