Drugs

Citation

(2012), "Drugs", Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. 12 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dat.2012.54412caa.005

Drugs

Article Type: Round up From: Drugs and Alcohol Today, Volume 12, Issue 3

Recovery Partnership Bulletin (Spring 2012) – this partnership, comprising the Substance Misuse Skills Consortium, the Recovery Group UK and DrugScope, was formed last year to provide a new collective voice and channel of communication to government on the delivery of the aims and ambitions in the Drug Strategy, www.drugscope.org.uk/partnersandprojects/Recovery%2BPartnership

UK National Problem Profile Commercial Cultivation of Cannabis 2012 – from the Association of Chief Police Officers discusses the continuing cultivation of cannabis as a significant risk to the UK, www.acpo.police.uk/documents/crime/2012/20120430CBACCofCPP.pdf

EMCDDA – Europol 2011 Annual Report on the Implementation of Council Decision 2005/387/JHA reports on new drug detection rates for the EU for 2011. A total of 49 new psychoactive substances were officially notified for the first time in 2011 via the EU early-warning system, www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/implementation-reports

New heroin-assisted treatment – in this latest EMCDDA Insights report, findings from international trials now suggest that the supervised use of medicinal heroin can be an effective second line. The report provides the first state-of-the-art overview of research on the subject, examining the latest evidence and clinical experience in this area in Europe and beyond, www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/insights/heroin-assisted-treatment

Charting new waters: delivering drug policy at a time of radical reform and financial austerity – report from the UK Drug Policy Commission that gives the results of their 14-month study on the government’s public service reforms (including NHS reforms, police commissioners and payment by results), and how the combination of these with financial austerity could affect services related to illicit drug use, www.ukdpc.org.uk/publication/charting-new-waters/

Human enhancement drugs – the emerging challenges to public health – public health faces a new kind of drug problem with the growing prevalence of so-called “enhancement drugs” that have the potential to improve human attributes and abilities. People are seeking out enhancement drugs in a quest to improve their bodies and minds – to look younger and more beautiful, to be stronger, happier and more intelligent. These types of drugs share a few similarities with recreational or addictive drugs – such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and “legal highs” and users are unaware of the considerable harms of these drugs, www.cph.org.uk/showPublication.aspx?pubid=784

Estimating the crime reduction benefits of drug treatment and recovery – published by the National Treatment Agency this report estimates that current drug treatment provision prevents 4.9 million crimes in England a year, with an estimated saving to society of £960 million in costs to the public, business, the criminal justice system and the NHS, www.nta.nhs.uk/news-2012-vfm.aspx

Consideration of naloxone – reports on the findings from The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on whether naloxone should be more widely available in the UK, www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/agencies-public-bodies/acmd1/consideration-of-naloxone?view=Standard&pubID=1026509

Drugs in Sport – lists the major anti-doping organisations and regulatory bodies for sports taking part in the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics. It also includes links to sites that focus on health and ethical issues, educational resources, and journals, as well as recently published texts, www.salis.org/resources/Drugs_in_Sport.pdf