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DEADLY DRINKING
Alcohol-related mortality in Scotland was
80 per cent higher than in England and
Wales in 2011, according to figures from
NHS Health Scotland and the Glasgow
Centre for Population Health. Around 23
per cent more alcohol than south of the
border was sold in the country during the
year. ‘We must tackle the toll that
Scotland’s unhealthy relationship with
alcohol is taking on our society,’ said
health secretary Alex Neil.
A comparison
of alcohol sales and alcohol-related
mortality in Scotland and Northern England
at www.healthscotland.com
RECOVERY CASH
Recovery-orientated drug and alcohol
treatment centres are set to receive
£10m in new capital funding, PHE has
announced. The money will be distributed
via local authorities to NHS and voluntary
sector providers, with all recovery-focused
adult services eligible to bid. ‘We are
delighted to announce this additional
investment which will provide valuable
support for ambitious and creative
recovery-focused initiatives across the
country,’ said director of alcohol and
drugs, Rosanna O’Connor. The
applications process will be managed via
PHE’s regional centres, with awards to be
announced in March 2014.
ACCESS ALL AREAS
The government’s decision to abandon
minimum unit pricing for alcohol was partly
the result of the ‘extraordinary access
granted to companies and industry groups
by individual MPs and many government
departments’, according to a report
published in the
BMJ
, with 130 meetings
taking place with lobbyists, few of which
were publicly documented.
www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.f7646
PAUL GOGGINS
Former drugs minister Paul Goggins has
died aged 60, after collapsing while
jogging. Labour leader Ed Miliband called
him a ‘dignified, humane, wise and loyal’
politician.
INFECTIONS TOOLKIT
A new toolkit on monitoring infectious
diseases among people who inject drugs
has been launched by EMCDDA, including
study methods and example
questionnaires as well as a
comprehensive overview of the key issues.
The organisation has also published a
guide to the civil society organisations
engaged in drug policy advocacy in Europe.
Drug-related infectious diseases and Drug
policy advocacy organisations in Europe at
www.emcdda.europa.eu
NEWS IN BRIEF
January 2014 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 5
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
News |
Round-up
Just over 20,000 under-18s received help for drug and
alcohol problems in 2012-13, according to figures from
Public Health England (PHE), down more than 600 from the
previous year.
More than 13,500 sought help for cannabis as their main
problem drug, and more than 4,700 for alcohol, while
‘historic low’ figures for young people needing help for heroin
or cocaine – 175 and 245 respectively – were offset by
increasing numbers having problems with amphetamines,
mephedrone and other new psychoactive substances.
‘Young people’s alcohol and drug use is generally less
established than adults’, so they tend to respond quickly and
positively to interventions,’ says
Substance misuse among
young people in England 2012-13
, with the average length
of a treatment episode around five months.
‘While the overall picture on young people’s substance
misuse is fairly positive, cannabis and alcohol still present
real challenges and services are also having to adapt to
cope with the consequences of increased use of club
drugs and newer substances,’ said PHE’s director of
alcohol and drugs, Rosanna O’Connor.
Meanwhile a report from Dr Foster found that people with
a drug or alcohol problem accounted for almost 20 per cent of
all emergency hospital admissions among the 40-44 age
group. The latest figures from the Office for National
Statistics (ONS), however, show that the proportion of
adults who drank on at least five days of the previous week
has fallen from 22 per cent to 14 per cent of men and from
13 per cent to 9 per cent of women, with the over-65s the
group most likely to have drunk regularly. ‘People who drink
frequently – every day or on most days of the week are just
as likely as those who don’t drink as often to think they are
in good health,’ said Drinkaware chief executive Elaine
Hindal. ‘However, the medical evidence is clear; regularly
drinking above the lower-risk alcohol guidelines increases
the chances of developing health problems such as liver
disease and cancer.’
Substance misuse among young people in England 2012-13
at www.gov.uk; myhospitalguide.drfosterintelligence.co.uk;
Drinking habits amongst adults, 2012 at www.ons.gov.uk
Fewer young people in treatment
Ketamine should be upgraded from a
class C to class B drug, the Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)
has recommended.
The recommendation follows
increasing evidence of bladder damage
caused by frequent use of the drug,
says ACMD, as well as the growing
numbers of people seeking treatment
for ketamine-related problems – up
from just over 100 to more than 800 in
the five years to 2010/11.
The drug was controlled as class C in
2006, following a previous review by
ACMD, with home secretary Theresa
May telling the council in 2012 that a
review of the latest evidence was ‘now
warranted’ (
DDN
, April 2012, page 4).
Among the new report’s
recommendations are that more is done
to make people aware of the long-term
physical risks of frequent use, as there is
‘currently no evidence-based ketamine
education or prevention work being
delivered in schools in the UK’, as well as
awareness raising around how ‘the
analgesic, anaesthetic and dissociative
effects of ketamine can potentially make
users vulnerable to robbery, assault
and/or rape’.
The drug should also be considered
as dependence-forming for some users,
it says, and wants to see treatment
services ‘able to respond to this need
with NICE-recommended psychosocial
interventions’. Healthcare practitioners –
‘particularly, but not just, GPs’ – should
also be asking those presenting with
unexplained urinary tract symptoms
about ketamine use, it says.
‘The harm ketamine posed to users
prompted the ACMD to recommend its
control in 2004 – since then, we have
seen evidence of a worrying trend of
serious bladder damage occurring
among frequent users,’ said ACMD chair
Professor Sir Les Iversen. ‘It is a
potentially dangerous drug at high doses
and with frequent use, with serious
psychological and physical implications
for those who misuse it.’
DrugScope welcomed the review but
said that reclassification would not be
enough to address the public health
problems associated with the drug.
‘Drug users, nightclub and festival staff
and healthcare practitioners all need to
be better informed about ketamine, its
effects and potential for dependency,’
said director of communications and
information, Harry Shapiro. ‘This is
especially important in general health
settings when people present with
unexplained bladder problems.
The ACMD’s recovery committee has
also published its second report,
What
recovery outcomes does the evidence tell
us we can expect?
, warning that drug
recovery will be ‘a long battle’ for some.
Reports at www.gov.uk
Upgrade ketamine to
class B, urges ACMD
DIGGING FOR RECOVERY
:
Phoenix Futures service users
planted a tree to represent
each person who had
completed treatment in 2013
during a ceremony at the end
of last year. The first 700
saplings in Phoenix Forest, on
the outskirts of St Albans, were
planted two years ago with the
intention that they grow into ‘a
testament to life after
addiction’, says the charity.