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Prisons
drug trade 'worth £100m' |
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Former National Offender Management Service
drug treatment head Huseyin Djemil said the Prison Service had
no idea of the size of the drugs market [BBC, UK] |
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Crowded
jails 'make Scotland more dangerous' |
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Bill Aitken, the Tory justice spokesman said "overcrowding
should be tackled by cracking down on crime, rehabilitating prisoners
in jails free from drugs and alcohol" [Telegraph, UK] |
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Number
of babies born to drug-addicted mothers doubles in four years |
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There were 1,970 such babies born last year
- compared with 1,057 in 2003 - and in more than half the cases
they were born addicts themselves [Daily Mail, UK] |
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Walking
away from a life lived for drugs |
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A new Lothian abstinence programme has shown
addicts there is a way to halt the spiral of abuse [Edinburgh
Evening News, UK] |
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Recovery-snakes
and ladders:part 2 |
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I wanted the pain I was in, not just physically
but mentally as well, to stop for good. I took a huge overdose
of 10 bags of heroin, the most I'd ever taken in one go before
was 2, and they were very small. This was not a cry for help,
I believed this amount was guaranteed to finish me off and stop
my pain for good [I did it my way, Blog, UK] |
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LLR
DAAT New Facebook group |
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To coincide with the second National Alcohol
Awareness week, Leicestershire DAAT have launched a Facebook
group and the first in a series of online
surveys related to alcohol use [LLR DAAT, UK] |
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Police
join team to manage school for troubled pupils |
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The Sheffield Youth Offending Team made up
of workers from the police, probation and social services, drugs
and alcohol specialists, and housing officers has jointly set
up a trust to manage Heritage Park Community School in the city
[Times, UK] |
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Style
not content key to matching patients to therapeutic approaches |
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New analysis of video-recorded therapy sessions
from one of the Project MATCH alcohol treatment trial clinics
suggests that whether therapists appropriately adjust their interpersonal
style to the patient matters more than which therapy they practise
[Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK] |
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Still
hard to find reasons for matching patients to therapies |
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After finding no overall difference in effectiveness
between the therapies it tested, the latest report from the UK
Alcohol Treatment Trial (UKATT) has confounded expectations that
some patients would benefit most from a motivational approach
while others would best be matched to one focused on supportive
social networks; does it really come down to, 'You pays your
money and you takes your choice' [Drug and Alcohol Findings,
UK] |
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Helping
drug treatment patients find work pays (some) dividends in
Scotland |
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Findings from Scotland's DORIS project suggest
that providing employment-related support as part of the addiction
treatment package does improve the employment prospects of at
least a minority of patients; patients who received such support
were three times more likely to work [Drug and Alcohol Findings,
UK]. |
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Substance-focused
initiatives not only way schools help prevent risky substance
use |
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Surveys in England's West Midlands region indicate
that schools which engage pupils with their school and their
education also protect them against risky forms of substance
use; these and an earlier report from Glasgow offer a way to
prevent substance misuse by focusing on core educational and
social virtues [Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK] |
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Alcohol
Concern appoint new Chief Executive |
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Alcohol Concern has today announced the appointment
of Don Shenker as Chief Executive. Shenker comes to the role
after three years within Alcohol Concern as Director of Policy
and Services [Alcohol Concern, UK] |
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44,000
pints seized from underage public drinkers |
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Police seized 20,945 litres of alcoholic drinks
(44,265 pints) from underage drinkers during a February half
term clamp down on public drinking [Home Office, UK] |
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City
uncovers teen booze culture |
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An intoxicated primary school youngster was
among dozens of children admitted to the accident and emergency
unit at a Hull hospital, a report has found [BBC, UK] |
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Electronic
patient records have advantages for STI clinic |
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Electronic patient records can be successfully
introduced into a sexual health clinic, leading to an improvement
in patient care, according to an article published in the April
edition of Sexually Transmitted Infections [Aidsmap, UK] |
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Coroner's
cannabis agenda brought into question |
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The agenda of a coroner who has called MP's
dealing with the cannabis classification issue to look into the
death of a supermarket worker from Doncaster has been questioned,
after it turns out the suicide victim, Stuart Lester, had killed
himself after taking "a number of ecstasy tablets" [Canna
Zine, UK] |
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Binge
Drinking and Europe |
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We are confident that this report will be
a useful resource for everyone involved in reducing the harmassociated
with this particularly harmful style of alcohol consumption.
132-page PDF [Institute of Alcohol Studies, London and the German
Centre for Addiction Issues (DHS)] |
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Jr.
and sr. high students learn about dangers of drug abuse |
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If you do drugs, you can be guaranteed a short
life, a date with a jail cell, or both. That was the message
jr. and sr. high students heard from retired police detective
Steve Walton, a seasoned veteran of an elite undercover drug
task force. Walton now spends his time traveling around Canada
to talk about drug abuse to kids, parents, working professionals,
and employers [Barrhead Leader, Canada] |
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"Ignore
The Experts And Reclassify Cannabis:" Drug War Truthiness
In the UK |
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Over in the United States, where our president
is very good at "sticking with his beliefs" in spite
of facts that contradict him, we call this the argument from "truthiness." Wikipedia
describes it as "as a satirical term to describe things
that a person claims to know intuitively or 'from the gut' without
regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts." [Drug
Law Blog, USA] |
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The
Coalition Impact: Environmental Prevention Strategies |
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This publication provides an overview of the
environmental strategies approach to community problem solving.
It includes real examples of efforts where environmental strategies
aimed at preventing and reducing community problems related to
alcohol and other drugs were implemented. 36-page PDF [CADCA,
USA] |
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Study
Suggest Alcohol Prevention Should Start Early |
|
|
A study by the University of Minnesota School
of Public Health and the University of Florida suggests that "tweens" should
receive alcohol prevention programs prior to sixth grade, when
nearly one in six children are already alcohol users [CADCA,
USA] |
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Air
Force drug testing seems to deter use |
|
|
The Air Force spends about $16 million annually
to operate its drug testing and prevention programs ... The Air
Force has reported a steady annual decline in positive results
since the initiative was implemented in 2004 [Stars and Stripes,
USA] |
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Police
Department to Start Routinely Testing Officers for Steroid
Use |
|
|
Prompted by an investigation into a Brooklyn
pharmacy that revealed several officers were steroid customers,
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly decided last month to add
steroids to the list of substances police officers are tested
for [New York Times, USA] |
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U.S.
army promotes using keychain alcohol detectors to fight drunken
driving |
|
|
Hoping to save a life when an army buddy's
had too much to drink, 767 soldiers and civilians on the army's
largest training post now carry personal alcohol detectors in
their cars or on their keychains [Daily Gleaner, USA] |
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Cognition-enhancing
drugs common among academics |
|
|
A survey of individuals who read the journal
Nature, a technical bioscience publication, reveals that roughly
one in five use prescription drugs to improve their focus, concentration,
or memory [Reuters] |
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Taskforce
to tackle drink and drug use |
|
|
Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced the
establishment of the taskforce - to be led by the professor of
global health at the Nossal Institute of Global Health, Dr Rob
Moodie - as she released a report showing that in 2004-2005,
the social cost of alcohol, tobacco use and illicit drugs was
about $56 billion [The Australian] |
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Prevention
Taskforce Misses Opportunities |
|
|
A great deal of prevention and management comes
from GPs. It is incomprehensible that the Taskforce doesn’t
include a practising GP ... Every hour of every day across Australia
GPs are advising patients on prevention measures around alcohol,
smoking, drugs, obesity and diet, exercise, diabetes, and cardiovascular
disease [AMA, Australia] |
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The
costs of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug abuse to Australian
society in 2004/05 |
|
|
This report is the fourth study by the present
authors of the social costs of drug abuse in Australia. 143-page
PDF [Commonwealth of Australia] |
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Redevelopment
of the drugs and driving website |
|
|
With support from the Transport Accident Commission
(TAC), the DrugInfo Clearinghouse has just completed the redevelopment
of the drugs and driving website [Drug Info, Australia] |
|
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Drugs
and driving in Australia |
|
|
A survey of community attitudes, experience
and understanding. 104-page PDF [Drug Info, Australia] |
|
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The
effectiveness of the Illicit Drug Diversion Initiative in rural
and remote Australia |
|
|
Report presents an evaluation of the effectiveness
of the IDDI in rural and remote Australia, drawing on quantitative
and qualitative evidence to explore the extent to which the stated
objectives of the IDDI have been achieved in rural and remote
locations [Department of Health and Ageing, Australia] |
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New
Website Aims To Stop Maori Smoking |
|
|
A new website and 0800 number have been launched
to help Mäori women and their whänau get more information
about and link into Aukati Kaipaipa – a free smoking cessation
service [The Scoop, Australia] |
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Drug
addiction growing rapidly in Afghanistan |
|
|
Opium harvest broke record during 2007 [Boston Globe, USA] |
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