PSYCHOACTIVE
BREAKDOWN
A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE
to the Psychoactive
Substances Act, including an explanation of
its terminology, exemptions and sentencing
framework has been produced by Release.
Download it at
LOCAL ACTION
A NEW FUND TO SUPPORT
innovative local HIV
prevention initiatives has been launched by
PHE. The 2016-17 scheme, which has funding
of up to £600,000, is particularly interested in
proposals related to stigma, diagnosis and risky
behaviours such as drug use, and represents an
opportunity for ‘local areas to further benefit
from national support’ said PHE’s national
director of health and wellbeing, Kevin Fenton.
Organisations can register their interest at
News
LONG-TERM TOLL
ALCOHOL-RELATED ADMISSION RATES
are
falling for the under-40s but rising among
over-65s, according to the latest local alcohol
profiles from PHE, with the overall rate of
admissions remaining flat in 2014-15. ‘While
it is good news that the rate of alcohol-
related hospital admissions is falling in
younger age groups, councils have concerns
around the rise in admissions among over
65s,’ said LGA community and wellbeing
spokesperson Izzi Seccombe. ‘These figures
warn of the dangers of regular drinking over
a long period of time and the impact this can
have on the body of an older person, which is
less able to handle the same level of alcohol
as in previous years.’
fingertips.phe.org.uk
DRIVING FORCES
ONE IN FIVE PEOPLE
surveyed by price
comparison site Confused.com admitted to
drug driving, with 7 per cent of cases
involving illegal drugs. A quarter of 18 to 24-
year-olds said they’d driven under the
influence of drugs, putting the figures at odds
with official police statistics that show just
over 1,000 arrests for drug driving in the
whole of 2012. A new offence of driving with
more than the specified limit of a controlled
drug in the body – with fines of up to £5,000 –
was introduced last year (
DDN
, March 2015,
page 4). ‘Drug driving is one of the most
serious crimes a driver can commit and one
that needs to be addressed to make our roads
safer,’ said Confused.com spokesperson
Gemma Stanbury.
read the full stories, and more, online
THE DECLINING LEVELS OF MDMA USE IN
EUROPE SINCE THE EARLY TO MID 2000S
HAVE BEEN REVERSED
, according EMCDDA’s
annual drug report, with nine out of 12
countries reporting higher estimates of use
than in previous years.
More than 2m 15 to 34-year-olds
reported using the drug in the last year, it
says, making MDMA once again a
‘stimulant drug of choice’ for Europe’s
young people – both existing users and
younger generations. Powders, crystals and
pills containing high doses of MDMA are
now more commonly available, with
municipal wastewater surveys also finding
higher levels of MDMA residues including
‘sharp increases’ in some cities –
attributable to higher purity levels and/or
increased use. In higher-prevalence
countries MDMA is ‘no longer a niche or
subcultural drug’, says the report, with high levels of use
in bars as well as nightclubs.
The number of new psychoactive substances (NPS)
being discovered continues to grow, meanwhile, with 98
substances reported for the first time in 2015 and the
total number being monitored by the agency now
standing at more than 560.
As in previous years most of the new substances were
synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones, although the
document also warns about NPS producers targeting
‘more chronic and problematic drug users’ with synthetic
opioids, 19 of which have been detected since 2009.
Eleven of these were fentanyls, which can be highly
potent and ‘may be sold as heroin to unsuspecting users,
posing a risk of overdose’, it says. In 2015, 32 deaths in
Europe were linked to the opioid acetyl fentanyl.
Around 1.2m people received treatment for illicit drug
use across the EU in 2014, and there were 6,800 opioid-
related deaths – slightly up on previous years – with
‘worrying’ rises in Ireland, Lithuania and Sweden
alongside those reported in the UK (
DDN
, October 2015,
page 4). Cocaine remains the continent’s most commonly
used illicit stimulant, cited as the primary drug for 60,000
people entering treatment, while levels of cannabis use
are also rising in some countries.
‘The revival of MDMA brings with it the need to
rethink existing prevention and harm-reduction responses
to target and support a new population of users who may
be using high-dose products without fully understanding
the risks involved,’ said EMCDDA director Alexis Goosdeel.
‘This is particularly worrying since MDMA is moving into
more mainstream social settings and is increasingly
available via online markets.’
European drug report 2016 at
4 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| June 2016
‘LANDMARK’ LAW
THE GOVERNMENT’S CONTROVERSIAL
PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES ACT
has finally
come into force,
with sanctions in
the ‘landmark’
legislation including
up to seven years in
prison for the
production or
supply of a
‘psychoactive
substance for
human consumption’. The act will ‘bring to
an end the open sale on our high streets of
these potentially harmful drugs and deliver
new powers for law enforcement to tackle
this issue at every level in communities, at
our borders, on UK websites and in our
prisons’, said crime minister Karen Bradley.
However, 64 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds
surveyed by YMCA said they intended to
continue using the substances in the future,
despite the legislation.
The big ban theory at
‘The act will
tackle this
issue at
every level.’
Karen BraDley
MDMA BACK IN VOGUE AS NPS
NUMBERS CONTINUE TO RISE
Tablets (millions)
United Kingdom
Ireland
Germany
Spain
France
Turkey
200 6
2002
2007
2003
2008
2004
2009
2005
2010 2011
2014
2012 2013
25
20
15
10
5
0
Other countries
Quantity of MDMA seizures: trends to 2014.
Source
‘Drug
driving is
one of the
most
serious
crimes a
driver can
commit.’
