Round up

Citation

Goodair, C. (2014), "Round up", Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. 14 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/DAT-02-2014-0013

Round up

Article Type: Round up From: Drugs and Alcohol Today, Volume 14, Issue 2.

Alcohol

Eyes on ages: a research on alcohol age limit policies in European Member States. Legislation, enforcement and research – an overview is given of age limit policies for alcohol in the EU highlighting good practices from all over Europe to reduce the availability of alcohol for minors (ec.europa.eu/health/alcohol/docs/eyes_on_ages_report_en.pdf)

Use as Abuse: A Feasibility Study of Alcohol-Related Elder Abuse – the findings from this study by Alcohol Research UK explores the relationship between alcohol misuse and elder abuse. The complex associations remain only partially understood, however, and further investigation warranted (www://alcoholresearchuk.org/alcohol-insights/use-as-abuse-a-feasibility-study-of-alcohol-related-elder-abuse/)

Drugs

State of the Sector 2013 – DrugScope's research report for the Recovery Partnership contains the findings from a survey of nearly 170 drug and alcohol services, from across England's four Public Health England regions. It identifies that the drug and alcohol sector in a period of flux and facing a number of challenges (www.drugscope.org.uk/Resources/Drugscope/Documents/PDF/Policy/SOS2013_Main.pdf)

United Kingdom: Drug Situation – UK Focal Point On Drugs – comprehensive information on the drug situation in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/united-kingdom)

Part of the picture: lesbian, gay and bisexual people's alcohol and drug use in England – substance dependency and help-seeking behaviour provides clear evidence on substance use issues among lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) populations. It focuses on further exploration of problematic and dependent drug and alcohol use and on help seeking behaviour, particularly among those who indicated substance dependency (www.lgf.org.uk/potp12)

Principles of Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment: A Research Based Guide – published online by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse describes treatment approaches, including the principles to consider in treating adolescent substance use disorders; frequently asked questions about adolescent drug use; settings in which adolescent drug abuse treatment most often occurs; evidence-based approaches to treating adolescent substance use disorders; and the role of the family and medical professionals in identifying teen substance use and supporting treatment and recovery (www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-adolescent-substance-use-disorder-treatment-research-based-guide)

Towards a safer drug policy: challenges and opportunities arising from “legal highs” considering the effectiveness of the current system for regulating new psychoactive substances – report of an inquiry into new psychoactive substances from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform (www.countthecosts.org/sites/default/APPG_NPS_INQUIRY_PRINT_FINAL1.pdf)

Benzofurans: a review of the evidence of use and harm – review of the evidence of misuse and harm in relation to the benzofuran-type substances by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (www.gov.uk/government/publications/benzofurans-a-review-of-the-evidence-of-use-and-harm)

Effect of reclassification of cannabis on hospital admissions for cannabis psychosis: a time series analysis – an open access article from the International Journal of Drug Policy that explores the effects of the reclassification of cannabis in 2004 and 2009 and whether there is an association with changes in the numbers of people admitted for cannabis psychosis (www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959%2813%2900090-X/fulltext)

Drug-related deaths in the UK: January-December 2012 – this surveillance report presents information on drug-related deaths, both of addicts and non-addicts that occurred during 2012 and for which Coronial inquests and similar formal investigations have been completed and information submitted (www.sgul.ac.uk/research/projects/icdp/our-work-programmes/substance-abuse-deaths)

Tobacco

E-cigarettes and Nicotine Containing Products – information describing electronic cigarettes (mentor-adepis.org/e-cigarettes-nicotine-containing-products-ncps/)

Videos, web sites and other media

Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs web site Drug Science offers objective information on drugs and drug harms to the public, to educators and to academics (www.drugscience.org.uk/about/us/)

Public Health England blog – official blog of Public Health England, providing expert insight on the organisation's work and all aspects of public health – includes a piece on understanding alcohol-related hospital admissions (wwws://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/)

The Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London has launched a free online learning course in partnership with FutureLearn, “Understanding Drugs and Addiction”. The course covers how do addictions develop, how are they best treated and how are they prevented? (www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-drugs-and-addiction)

“Ask Andrew” weekly video podcast. Mentor YouTube videos and podcasts – with questions from children on alcohol and drugs (www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL32US2r2CETOMOt4dKv_zxnEdm9GrDuuB)

Christine Goodair
Compiled by Christine Goodair, who is a Programme Co-ordinator, based at St George's University of London, London, UK.