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7,000 Nutt out
The government has rejected calls – in
a petition signed by more than 7,000
people – to reinstate sacked ACMD
chair Professor David Nutt. ‘Scientists
expressing their honestly held expert
opinions should not find themselves in
fear of losing their jobs,’ states the
petition. Home secretary Alan Johnson
responded by saying that the chair of
the council ‘has to be able to accept
(government) decisions and continue
his work as an advisor to, rather than a
critic of, government’. Professor Les
Iversen was appointed interim ACMD
chair (
DDN
, 18 January, page 4)
following the dismissal of Prof Nutt
(
DDN
, 2 November 2009, page 4).
Danish distribution
Denmark has opened a clinic to
distribute diamorphine – medicinal
heroin – to drug users under medical
supervision, according to news wire
service AFP. The clinic will distribute the
drug to around 120 ‘hardcore’ drug
users in Copenhagen. ‘Our objective is
not to cure heroin addicts, but to help
those who are not satisfied by
methadone by providing them with
clean heroin, allowing them to avoid
disease and the temptation of criminal
acts to obtain the drug,’ the clinic’s
head, Inger Nielsen, told AFP.
No snooze, you lose
More than half of drinkers surveyed for
the government’s
Know your limits
campaign did not realise that alcohol
can disrupt sleep patterns. ‘Although
many people may feel alcohol helps
them get off to sleep it is also a major
culprit for disrupting your night, as it
can interfere with the body’s chemical
processes needed for sound sleep,’
said Sleep Council spokesperson
Jessica Alexander. Alcohol stops the
brain from releasing vasopressin, a
chemical that regulates the amount of
water in the body.
Government guidance
The Home Office has issued a
document setting out the policy context
of government research into drugs,
drug use and drug-related harms. The
aim is to provide ‘a foundation,
direction and guidance for collaboration
within government and between
government and other stakeholders’, it
says.
The cross-government drugs
research strategy available from
drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk
News |
Round-up
4 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 1 March 2010
News in Brief
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
DrugScope: younger service users
need more appropriate support
Young people frequently find that adult treatment
services are not appropriate for their needs, with
the risk of them dropping out, says a new report
from DrugScope.
The drugs most likely to cause a problem for those
aged 18-25 are alcohol and cannabis, according to
Young people’s drug and alcohol treatment at the
crossroads
, alongside cocaine, ketamine, GBL and
mephedrone. The majority of adult services, however, are
geared towards treating heroin and crack dependency.
The treatment system needs to be more flexible to
effectively meet the needs of older teenagers and young
adults, says the report, which is based on interviews with
more than 150 professionals, as well as service users
themselves. There are also blind spots that mean the
treatment system cannot respond to shifting patterns in
drug use, it says, such as a lack of information on the
problematic use of skunk, despite it being a widely-
reported issue.
Most young people entering treatment have multiple
needs, such as mental health issues, lack of training or
employment opportunities, or involvement with the
criminal justice system, it says, and young people’s
services should not be judged by the same targets as
adult services. ‘Most young people who access
specialist drug and alcohol services do not need to be
prescribed substitute drugs and very few indeed would
benefit from residential treatment,’ it states. ‘Some do
not even need structured therapy related to their
substance use. Almost all, however, need support on
other issues in their lives.’
The report calls for a national ‘radar’ service to
provide early warning of emerging drug trends, a national
policy framework for young adult services and a review of
‘the basic assumptions and frameworks of the drug
treatment system to take account of changing patterns of
substance misuse’. DrugScope also wants to see a joint
NTA/DCSF review on the availability and quality of young
people’s treatment services across the country.
The quality of young people’s services remained
variable despite the ‘welcome expansion’ in recent
years, said chief executive Martin Barnes. ‘Gaps also
exist in meeting the needs of younger drug and alcohol
users when they reach the age of 18 and move into adult
treatment services. This next generation of problem drug
and alcohol users are likely to need support for alcohol,
cannabis and stimulant use, not to mention the issues
underpinning their substance misuse. Despite an
improvement in the range of treatments available in adult
services, the majority are still geared towards treating
heroin and crack addiction.’
Available at www.drugscope.org.uk
Only 15 per cent of drinks labels give consumers the right
amount of information about alcohol units and health
harms, according to research commissioned by the
government.
Around 500 samples from 60 supermarkets were
analysed by Campden BRI to determine the level of
compliance with voluntary self-regulation. Under the
voluntary guidelines, drinks labels should feature five key
pieces of information – NHS recommended limits, unit
information, a responsible drinking message, advice for
pregnant women and the Drinkaware logo. Only 15 per cent
of drinks in the sample met all the criteria.
The government is now launching a new consultation on
drinks labelling. The three options, it says, are to ‘do nothing
and continue with the current voluntary agreement; renew
and strengthen the self regulatory agreement, or introduce a
mandatory requirement on labelling’.
Some sections of the industry were making ‘substantial
progress’, the government acknowledged. It had praise for
the cider sector, supermarket ‘own label’ products and the
Heineken, Molson Coors, Fosters and Kronenbourg beer
brands, but other sections of the industry had ‘much more to
do’ to live up the agreement, it said.
‘Whilst there should be no need to bring in legislation
when the industry can clearly sort it out themselves, we will
not hesitate to act decisively if the industry does not deliver,’
said public health minister Gillian Merron. ‘I expect to see
much more leadership from more of the major producers.’
The British Beer and Pub Association said the industry
was ‘delivering good and growing levels of information on
labels’. The government should ‘continue to back the
voluntary approach as the best way of achieving their
objective of better information for consumers,’ said chief
executive Brigid Simmons.
However Alcohol Concern chief executive Don Shenker
said the industry had ‘shown itself incapable, time and
again, of complying with voluntary agreements’ and that it
was ‘not interested’ in providing consumers with the
information to make healthy choices. ‘With alcohol playing a
factor in many strokes, heart disease and several cancers,
causing a death every hour in England, all alcohol labels
should have clearly displayed unit information, safe drinking
guidelines and a health warning. This needs to be a
mandatory part of all labels, policed through trading
standards, with tough sanctions for non-compliance.’
Monitoring implementation of alcohol labelling regime
stage 2 and Consultation on options for improving
information on the labels of alcoholic drinks to support
consumers to make healthier choices in the UK available at
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthimprovement/Alcohol
misuse/DH_112472
Consultation period ends 9 May
‘85 per cent’ of drinks not labelled properly