NEW DIRECTION
DECADES OF ARRESTING AND
PROSECUTING PEOPLE WITH
SUBSTANCE PROBLEMS
has ‘failed to
tackle the root cause’ of dependency,
says the Scottish Police Federation’s
(SPF) 2016 manifesto. Although the
SPF stresses that it is not advocating
legalisation or decriminalisation, the
document states that courts should
be free to impose mandatory participation in
health and education programmes, with
criminal sanctions reserved for those ‘preying
on the vulnerable and peddling misery’.
Programme for policing 2016 – 2021 at
CONTROLLED
ENVIRONMENTS
NICE HAS ISSUED NEW GUIDANCE ON THE
SAFER USE OF CONTROLLED DRUGS LIKE
METHADONE
,
morphine and diazepam.
Designed to help professionals navigate
‘complex legislation and regulations’, the
guidance also includes a list of practical
recommendations for storage, disposal, record
keeping and prescriptions. The aim is to
‘support organisations and individuals to
minimise the potential harms associated with
these medicines by having robust systems and
processes in place’, said chair of the guideline
development group, Tessa Lewis.
Guidelines at
May 2016 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 5
DOCTORS: E-CIGARETTES
‘NO GATEWAY’ TO SMOKING
E-CIGARETTES ARE MUCH SAFER THAN SMOKING
, do not
result in the normalisation of smoking and do not act as a
gateway to smoking, says a report from the Royal College of
Physicians (RCP). The controversial devices are therefore a
useful harm reduction tool and ‘likely to be beneficial to UK
public health’, it states.
E-cigarette use is limited ‘almost entirely’ to people who
already smoke, says the RCP, with the report finding ‘no
evidence’ that the products have attracted significant use
among non-smokers. Using them is also ‘likely to lead to quit
attempts that would not otherwise have happened’, a
proportion of which will be successful, it adds.
However the report says that concerns about the effects of
long-term use ‘cannot be dismissed’, although the risks are
likely to be less than 5 per cent of those associated with
smoking tobacco. Regulation needs to be balanced and should
‘not be allowed significantly to inhibit the development and
use of harm reduction products by smokers’, it warns. Plans by
the Welsh Assembly Government to ban the use of e-
cigarettes in public places were narrowly defeated earlier this
year (
DDN
, April, page 5).
While the RCP acknowledges that the tobacco industry
‘can be expected to try to exploit these products to market
tobacco cigarettes and undermine wider tobacco control
work’, their use should still be widely promoted as a smoking
substitute, it states.
‘The growing use of electronic cigarettes as a substitute for
tobacco smoking has been a topic of great controversy, with
much speculation over their potential risks and benefits,’ said
chair of the RCP’s tobacco advisory group, professor John Britton.
‘This report lays to rest almost all of the concerns over these
products, and concludes that, with sensible regulation, electro-
nic cigarettes have the potential to make a major contribution
towards preventing the premature death, disease and social
inequalities in health that smoking currently causes in the UK.’
Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction at
STARK STATS
SMOKING IS THE ‘SINGLE LARGEST FACTOR’
in the difference in
life expectancy between people with mental health conditions
and the general population, according to an ASH report. Those
with a mental health condition are twice as likely to smoke, says
the document, which calls for national targets alongside better
access to medications, evidence-based services and peer support.
‘We know that people with a mental health condition are just as
likely to want to stop smoking as other smokers,’ said director of
external affairs at Rethink Mental Illness, Brian Dow. ‘But this
can be much harder if, for example, you are using smoking as a
coping mechanism.’
The stolen years – the mental health and
smoking action report at
‘Quitting is a lot
harder if you are
using smoking
as a coping
mechanism.’
BRian doW
‘With sensible
regulation,
electronic
cigarettes have
the potential to
make a major
contribution
towards preventing
the premature
death, disease and
social inequalities
in health that
smoking currently
causes in the UK.’
PRoFeSSoR John BRiTTon
HEP GAP
DOCTORS IN THE UK, US AND AUSTRALIA ARE
LESS LIKELY TO DIAGNOSE HEPATITIS C
in their
patients than those in other countries,
according to a survey by the World Hepatitis
Alliance. Fewer than 16 per cent of people in
the UK were offered testing after describing
hep C symptoms to their doctor, compared to
69 per cent in China.
Findings at
LEGAL CHALLENGE
AROUND 60 PER CENT OF DEATHS RELATED TO
‘LEGAL HIGHS’ ALSO INVOLVE OTHER DRUGS
OR ALCOHOL
, according to analysis of figures
by ONS. ‘When more than one drug is
mentioned it is impossible to tell which was
primarily responsible for the death,’ it says.
The median age for deaths is 28, compared to
38 for drug misuse deaths generally, with five
out of six deaths among men.
Deaths
involving legal highs in England and Wales:
between 2004 and 2013 at
CHEMICAL BALANCE
THE GOVERNMENT HAS ISSUED UPDATED
GUIDANCE ON THE LICENSING OF PRECURSOR
CHEMICALS
–
substances with legitimate
commercial uses but which can also be used
in the manufacture of illicit drugs. The
regulation covers more than 20 chemicals,
divided into three different categories. ‘It is
necessary to recognise and protect the legal
trade in these substances, while at the same
time discouraging their diversion for illicit
purposes,’ says the Home Office.
Documents at
‘efforts
should be
better
directed in
trying to
help those
with
problems
overcome
addictions.’
SCoTTiSh PoLiCe
FedeRaTion, 2016
ManiFeSTo
