DDN 0715 - page 4

been launched by a coalition of more than
30 organisations. While the Home Office
recorded 100 such crimes a week in
England and Wales in 2013, it’s estimated
that only around 6 per cent of incidences
are actually reported. ‘We know that people
can turn to using drugs or alcohol as a
means of coping with the stress of being
targeted in a hate crime attack,’ said
London Friend chief executive Monty
Moncrieff (
DDN
, April, page 12). ‘We want
to help people recognise incidents of hate
crime, and provide support for them to
both report it and deal with the emotional
issues this might bring.’
DIABETES DANGER
CONSUMING 26 UNITS OF ALCOHOL
over a
three-day period can increase the risk of
developing type 2 diabetes by up to five
times, according to a new fact sheet from
Alcohol Concern, with the risk ‘particularly
acute’ in women. Just two drinks a day,
meanwhile, can increase the risk of breast
cancer by 18 per cent. ‘Alcohol is no ordinary
item for consumption and people need to
be more aware of the risks associated with
its use,’ said chief executive Jackie Ballard.
‘Alcohol is linked to over 60 medical
conditions including diabetes, cancer and
high blood pressure. We need evidence-
based health warnings and nutritional
information to be made available on alcohol
labels to allow people to make an informed
choice.’ The charity is also calling for an
increase in spirit duty of 4 per cent above
inflation in this month’s budget.
Fact sheets at
News
SUBSTANCE STOPS
MORE THAN 400 PEOPLE
a month are being
arrested for drug driving in England and
Wales, according to figures obtained under an
FOI request by the Institute of Advanced
Motorists. While more than 900 arrests were
made by forces between March – when the
new offence was introduced (
DDN
, March,
page 4) – and May, the figures reveal ‘little
consistency’, with the Metropolitan Police
making more than 200 arrests and other
forces, including Warwickshire, Leicestershire
and Gwent, making none.
TEMPORARY TACTICS
TWO MORE ‘LEGAL HIGHS’
have been banned
under a Temporary Class Drug Order (TCDO)
while the government’s Psychoactive
Substances Bill makes its way through
Parliament (
DDN
, June, page 4). The
compounds 4-Methylmethylphenidate and
Ethylnaphthidate have been added to five
already controlled in April (
DDN
, May, page 4)
after having been found on sale as
replacements for the banned drugs. ‘We are
determined to protect young people from the
dangers of so-called “legal highs” and target
those who profit from their trade,’ said crime
minister Mike Penning.
PBR PROBLEMS
PAYMENT BY RESULTS
schemes are risky,
expensive and hard to get right, according to a
report from the National Audit Office. Credible
evidence for their effectiveness is ‘now
needed’, says
Outcome-based payment
schemes: government’s use of payment by
results
, adding that when poorly designed, PbR
models – which account for around £15bn of
public spending – can create ‘perverse
incentives’ that prioritise people who are
easier to help and neglect others.
Document at
REPORT IT
A NEW CAMPAIGN
to raise awareness of LGBT
hate crime, and urge people to report it, has
read the full stories, and more, online
TWO NEW
SUBSTANCES A
WEEK IDENTIFIED
IN EUROPE
NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
(NPS) are now being
detected in Europe at a rate of two per week, according
to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction (EMCDDA). More than 100 NPS were reported
last year, says the
European drug report 2015
, with the
total number of substances being monitored by the
agency now standing at more than 450.
As in previous years the majority of substances
reported were either synthetic cannabinoids or
cathinones, with the internet now playing a ‘growing role’
in supplying both NPS and more established drugs and
posing a ‘major challenge to law enforcement and drug
control policies’. The British government recently moved
to introduce a blanket ban on all NPS (
DDN
, June, page 4).
Meanwhile, although problems relating to heroin
continue to ‘account for a large share of drug-related
health and social costs’ across the continent, demand for
the drug appears to be stagnating, says the document.
More than half of Europe’s 1.3m long-term opioid users
are now estimated to be in treatment, while the number
of people entering heroin treatment for the first time
stood at 23,000 in 2013, down from 2007’s figure of
almost 60,000. The median age of opioid users rose by
five years between 2006 and 2013, with a ‘significant
number’ now in their 40s or 50s. However the report
warns of potential future problems as a result of
increased opium production in Afghanistan and
alternative smuggling routes into Europe.
Unsurprisingly, cannabis remains the continent’s most
widely consumed drug, with almost 20m people
reporting use within the
last year and more than
60,000 people entering
first-time treatment for
cannabis problems in
2013, while cocaine is still
Europe’s most commonly
used illicit stimulant. The
document also reports
increasing potency levels
for cannabis, MDMA and
other drugs.
‘The report shows that we
are confronted with a rapidly
changing, globalised drug
market,’ said European
commissioner for migration,
home affairs and citizenship,
Dimitris Avramopoulos. ‘I am
particularly concerned that
the internet is increasingly
becoming a new source of
supply, for both controlled and
uncontrolled psychoactive substances.’
The latest United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s
(UNODC)
World drug report
, meanwhile, finds worldwide
drug use rates to be ‘stable’, with just over 5 per cent of
15 to 64-year-olds using an illicit substance in 2013 and
the total number of problem drug users standing at 27m.
Around 1.65m people who inject drugs are living with
HIV, while 2013 saw just under 190,000 drug-related
deaths. Just one in six problem drug users has access to
treatment, the document adds. ‘Women in particular
appear to face barriers to treatment,’ said UNODC
executive director Yury Fedotov. ‘While one out of three
drug users globally is a woman, only one out of five drug
users in treatment is a woman.’
European drug report 2015 at
World drug report 2015 at
COST CONCERNS
CHARITIES AND LIVER SPECIALISTS
have
written to health secretary Jeremy Hunt
urging him to overturn attempts to limit
the number of hepatitis C patients able to
access new treatments. Organised by the
Hepatitis C Trust, the letter expresses
concern about NHS England’s ‘seemingly
unprecedented requests’ for NICE to delay
access to a new generation of drugs on
affordability grounds. NICE has already
ruled favourably on the cost-effectiveness
of one drug, sofosbuvir, and is currently
appraising others. ‘Patients have been
waiting years for these new highly tolerable
drugs that can cure almost everyone, all but
eliminate hepatitis C in England and address
a major health inequality,’ it states. NHS
England’s arguments for delaying access
were ‘absolutely ridiculous’, said Hepatitis C
Trust chief executive, Charles Gore.
Letter at
4 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| July/August 2015
NHs
England’s
arguments,
‘absolutely
ridiculous’.
CHArlEs GorE
‘We are
confronted
with a rapidly
changing,
globalised
drug market.’
Dimitris
AvrAmopoulos
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