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Supply and demand of illicit drugs in Europe is
entering an ‘important new era’, according to a
report from the European Monitoring Centre for
Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and Europol,
with both globalisation and the internet having a
profound impact.
Technology has been a ‘significant game-changer’ in
the trafficking, production and distribution of drugs,
says
EU drugs markets
, with the internet acting as both
marketplace and communication tool, while
globalisation has meant more countries being used as
storage, transit or production locations. The market is
‘increasingly dynamic, innovative and quick to react to
challenges’, states the report, with new trafficking
routes and ‘multi-substance consignments’ replacing
the trafficking of specific drugs along well-defined
routes. There is also a growing trend for producing
drugs close to their intended markets so they are less
likely to be intercepted.
The EU is now also a ‘key source of expertise and
know how’ regarding synthetic drug production and
intensive cannabis cultivation, it says. A total of 73 new
psychoactive substances were officially notified for the
first time in the EU in 2012, up from 49 in 2011 and 41
in 2010. ‘The speed at which changes are occurring and
the parallel need to respond rapidly to new
developments is a challenge to conventional statistical
reporting models,’ says the report, the first time the
two agencies have provided a joint analysis of the
European market.
The increasingly joined-up nature of the market
represents ‘one of the most complex and invasive
criminal phenomena of our times,’ said EU
commissioner for home affairs, Cecilia Malmström.
‘Organised crime groups are now more likely to deal in
many substances at once and are more likely to join
forces. National measures are simply insufficient, no
matter how robust they are.’
The 2012 annual report from the International
Narcotics Control Board (INCB) also highlights the
‘unprecedented proliferation’ of new psychoactive
substances and calls for ‘concerted action’ from states
to prevent their manufacture and trafficking. ‘Clear
action must be taken now by governments to prevent
and deal with the abuse of these so-called ‘legal highs’
which are already a threat to public health,’ said INCB
president Raymond Yans.
Meanwhile, the Home Office has announced that a
range of legal highs including methoxetamine – sold as
Mexxy – and the synthetic cannabinoids contained in
Black Mamba and Annihilation are now class B drugs.
Methoxetamine was subject to the UK’s first temporary
class drug order last year (
DDN
, April 2012, page 4).
EU drug markets report: a strategic analysis at
www.emcdda.europa.eu
INCB annual report at www.incb.org
TRAINING OF SUBSTANCE
Understanding drug and alcohol use should
be a key part of social work practice and
professional development, according to a
new Adfam report.
Parental substance use:
through the eyes of the worker
calls for
compulsory pre-qualification training in
substance issues for all social workers, and
warns that local authority budget cuts are
risking child protection. ‘We know there are
hundreds of thousands of children whose
parents have a serious drug problem and
yet in many ways we continue to skirt
around the issue instead of tackling it head
on,’ said chief executive Vivienne Evans.
Available at www.adfam.org.uk See April’s
DDN for a profile of the chair of the British
Association of Social Workers special interest
group on alcohol and other drugs, Dr Sarah
Galvani.
TRANSFORMING OPINIONS
More than half of the British public
support either the legalisation of cannabis
or decriminalising its possession,
according to an Ipsos MORI poll for
Transform, with around two thirds also
supporting an independent review of ‘all
of the possible policy options’ for
controlling drugs. ‘These results show just
how far ahead of politicians the public
are,’ said the organisation. ‘Whilst Labour
and Conservative politicians shy away
from the debate on drugs, around half of
their supporters want to see legal
regulation of cannabis production and
supply or decriminalisation of cannabis
possession, and a significant majority
want a comprehensive review of our
approach to drugs,’
TOP TIPS
The NTA has refreshed the TOP website to
make it more accessible, and added
resources including a
Getting better
outcomes
slide pack and a plain English
document on how to use TOP to ‘enhance
keyworking and improve outcomes’.
www.nta.nhs.uk/healthcare-top.aspx
HIV HELP
Improvements can be made to the range
and quality of services for injecting drug
users in relation to HIV risk, according to
a report from the National Aids Trust.
Around one in 250 people in the UK who
inject drugs is living with HIV, rising to one
in 111 in London.
Injecting drug users and
HIV
explains the epidemiology and sets
out key policy issues.
Available at
www.nat.org.uk
March 2013 |
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Round-up
NEWS IN
BRIEF
Internet drives ‘new era’
for European drug market
The number of deaths related to heroin and morphine fell
from 41 per cent of total drug-related deaths in 2010 to
32 per cent in 2011, according to figures released by the
International Centre for Drug Policy (ICDP) at St George’s,
University of London.
The total number of drug-related deaths in the UK fell
by seven per cent from 1,883 in 2010 to 1,757 in 2011,
says the
National programme on substance abuse deaths
(np-SAD) 2012 report
, continuing the downward trend
that saw deaths fall by 14 per cent between 2009 and
2010. The number of deaths from legal highs ‘remained
steady’ in 2011, however, following a large increase the
previous year.
Deaths related to methadone rose by four per cent to
31 per cent between 2010 and 2011, while deaths
involving other opiates including prescription painkillers
rose by six per cent to 28 per cent. Deaths involving
cocaine rose from 8.7 to 9.2 per cent of the total and
amphetamines from 2.9 to 3.7 per cent. The report covers
deaths that have been formally investigated, and includes
information from coroners and police forces across the
UK. More than 70 per cent of the deaths were of males,
and 66 per cent were under the age of 45.
‘Whilst an overall decline in drug-related deaths in the
UK is indeed excellent news, further monitoring of the
situation needs to happen over the next few years,’ said
acting director of the ICDP, Professor Fabrizio Schifano.
‘Particular attention needs to be paid to both the
emerging issues of novel psychoactive substances, which
are commonly known as ‘legal highs’, and the increasing
concern relating to prescription drugs' misuse and related
fatalities.’
Meanwhile, Scottish GPs have ‘minimal’ awareness of
the country’s naloxone programme, according to research
by the University of Aberdeen. ‘GPs tend to classify
naloxone provision as a specialist service and therefore
assume it is not part of their remit,’ says the document,
including ‘those with higher involvement of specialist
training in substance misuse’. The report calls for
improved training and information resources for GPs. Two
of Northern Ireland’s health trusts – the Belfast Trust and
the South-Eastern Trust – have failed to distribute
naloxone, despite it being available to them since July
2012, the BBC has reported.
Drug-related deaths in the UK at www.sgul.ac.uk
General practitioner engagement with the Scottish
National Naloxone Programme: a needs assessment project
at www.healthscotland.com/documents/6258.aspx
Heroin deaths continue to fall