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FAMILY FACTS
Adfam wants to hear from organisations
providing support for families affected by drugs
or alcohol for its
2014 health check
project.
‘We want to know more about what’s
happening in the sector in terms of
sustainability, funding, networks and
partnerships,’ says the organisation, which will
publish a report based on the findings. Service
managers can take the survey at
www.surveymonkey.com/s/9KYMHMH
until the
end of September.
The annual Adfam/DDN
Families First conference takes place in
London on 23 October.
Details at
drinkanddrugsnews.com/2014-ddnadfam-
families-first-conference
SEARCH ME
The Home Office has published guidance for
police forces on the implementation of the
best use of stop and search scheme, which
aims to create ‘greater transparency,
accountability and community involvement’. A
report from Release last year found that black
people are more than six times more likely to
be stopped and search for drugs, and more
than twice as likely to be charged if drugs are
found (
DDN
, September 2013, page 4).
Best
use of stop and search scheme at www.gov.uk
MASS DEBATE
A guide to help people ‘make the case for the
legal regulation of drugs from a position of
confidence and authority’ has been produced
by Transform. ‘If someone tells you that legal
regulation would mean a drugs “free-for-all”, or
that the war on drugs can be won if we simply
fight harder, you’ll be equipped to reply with
short, clear and memorable counter-
arguments,’ it says.
Debating drugs at
www.tdpf.org.uk
E-CIG SAFETY
WHO is calling for a ban on the indoor use of
e-cigarettes along with their marketing and sale
to young people, as ‘experimentation with e-
cigarettes is increasing rapidly among
adolescents’. There is also ‘insufficient
evidence to conclude that e-cigarettes help
users quit smoking or not’, it says. While the
report was welcomed by the Faculty of Public
Health, Professor Gerry Stimson of Imperial
College, and co-director of Knowledge Action
Change, said that WHO was ‘exaggerating the
risks of e-cigarettes while downplaying the
huge potential of these non-combustible, low-
risk nicotine products to end the epidemic of
tobacco-related disease’.
Report on e-cigarettes
to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control at www.who.int
BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT
DrugFAM’s sixth annual conference,
Supporting
the recovery of those bereaved by drugs and
alcohol
, takes place in Birmingham on 4
October.
Full details at www.drugfam.co.uk
Health warnings should be included on all alcohol labels, says
the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Alcohol Misuse,
to go alongside a new government-funded awareness
campaign on alcohol harm.
The recommendations are among ten measures set out in
the group’s
Manifesto 2015
, along with stronger marketing
regulations to protect the young, increased funding for
treatment, making public health a core licensing objective and
minimum unit pricing. ‘Consumer information on alcohol
products usually extends no further than the volume strength
and unit content,’ it says. ‘In order to inform consumers about
balanced risk, every alcohol label should include an evidence-
based health warning as well as describing the product’s
nutritional, calorific and alcohol content.’
The document also wants to see alcohol harms made the
responsibility of a single government minister with ‘clear
accountability’, and mandatory training in parental substance
misuse for all healthcare professionals and social workers.
‘Alcohol abuse has become a national pandemic and needs to
be treated as such,’ it says, and the group is calling on all
political parties to commit to the ten measures.
‘Due to alcohol, one person is killed every hour and 1.2m
people are admitted to hospital a year,’ said the group’s chair,
Tracey Crouch MP. ‘Getting political parties to seriously
commit to these ten measures will be a massive step in
tackling the huge public health issue that alcohol is.’
Political parties ‘run for cover when they are confronted by
the drinks industry and its immensely powerful lobby,’ added
vice-chair Lord Brook of Alvethorpe. ‘These proposals give
them another chance to consider whether they really have
the guts to take a different line for the country’s wellbeing in
the future.’
All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Alcohol Misuse
manifesto 2015 at www.alcoholconcern.org.uk
NEWS IN BRIEF
September 2014 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 5
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
News |
Round-up
Put health
warnings on all
alcohol, say MPs
IN THE FRAME:
current and
former clients, their families
and staff, gathered at
Huntercombe Maidenhead
Hospital, a specialist child and
adolescent mental health
facility, to help raise money for
a local hospice. ‘Everyone really
looks forward to the annual
fete,’ said hospital manager
Iris Cupido. ‘It’s a great way for
our entire hospital community
to come together.’
Legislation has come into force this month
allowing services to provide aluminium foil ‘for
the purpose of smoking drugs’, with a new
briefing from Public Health England (PHE)
explaining the new rules and providing advice on
their implementation.
The aim of the legislation is to reduce injecting-
related harms, with the condition that foil be
supplied ‘in the context of structured steps either
to engage people in a treatment plan or as part of
a treatment plan’.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
(ACMD) previously advised the government that
‘the balance of benefit’ from providing foil
favoured exempting it from Section 9A of the
Misuse of Drugs Act – which relates to the
prohibition of supply of ‘articles for administering
or preparing controlled drugs’ – with the home
secretary announcing last year that the
government had accepted its advice (
DDN
, August
2013, page 4).
Provision of foil with be monitored via new
fields added to the Needle Exchange Monitoring
System (NEXMS), along with a series of
interviews with service providers to be carried
out next year. The PHE briefing urges services to
make sure staff are ‘aware of the respiratory
complications of smoking from foil’ and able to
provide advice, as well as address concerns
around issues such as ‘drug smoking’s lesser
effectiveness and increased cost’.
Aluminium foil for smoking drugs: a briefing for
commissioners and providers of services for people
who use drugs at www.gov.uk
Foil rules for
services come
into force