read the full stories, and more, online
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
PUBLIC HEALTH BODY BACKS
FESTIVAL DRUG TESTING
THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH (RSPH) has
called for music festivals to provide drug safety testing
facilities ‘as standard’, with the harm reduction
measure also extended to city nightlife areas.
The call follows concerns about increasing purity
levels of club drugs, with tests ‘repeatedly’ reporting
ecstasy pills containing 150g and more of MDMA,
compared to averages of around 50-80mg in the
1980s and ’90s (DDN, March, page 4).
Drug safety testing pilots have already been
carried out at UK festivals with the support of local
police, and harm reduction organisation The Loop
plans to extend testing to eight of this summer’s
events. RSPH research found that around a third of
festival-goers and clubbers would ‘definitely or
probably’ not take their drugs if testing revealed the
strength or composition to be different than
expected, while almost half said they would take less
or ‘be more careful’. Last year RSPH published a report
that advocated decriminalising the personal
possession of all illegal drugs (DDN, July/August 2016,
page 4).
‘While the use of stimulant club drugs such as
ecstasy can never be safe, and RSPH supports ongoing
efforts to prevent them entering entertainment
venues, we accept that a certain level of use remains
inevitable in such settings,’ said RSPH chief executive
Shirley Cramer. ‘We therefore believe that a pragmatic
harm reduction response is necessary.’
Testing facilities provided an opportunity to
‘impart practical harm reduction advice to an
audience who would not normally engage with drug
services’, she
continued. ‘We
urge events
companies to
make these
facilities a
standard part of
the UK festival
and clubbing
landscape, and
we urge both
local and
national police
and public
health
authorities to
provide the
support that will
enable this.’
‘We believe
that prioritising
public health
over criminal
justice for drug
SHirley CrAMer
users at a time
of growing
concern about drug-related deaths at festivals and
nightclubs can help to reduce drug-related harm both
on and off site,’ added The Loop’s director, and
professor of criminology at Durham University, Fiona
Measham.
Read Kevin Flemen’s article on ecstasy on page 14.
OVERDOSES UP
FLAWED
FINDINGS?
EXPENSIVE DIRECT-ACTING
ANTIVIRALS (DAAs) for people with
hepatitis C ‘do not seem to have any
effects on the risk of hepatitis C-related
morbidity or all-cause mortality’,
according to a review for the Cochrane
Library. While DAAs – which cost
around £30,000 per patient – seem to
eradicate the virus from the blood it is
questionable if this leads to ‘no
hepatitis C in the body and improved
survival and fewer complications’,
says the review. However ‘several
CHArleS Gore
limitations’ meant the quality of
evidence was ‘very low’, the authors acknowledge, while a letter to the
Guardian from leading hepatology professors and Hepatitis C Trust
CEO Charles Gore stated that as the review analysed short-term clinical
trials that ‘were neither designed nor powered to assess mortality’ it
was ‘fundamentally flawed’. Review at www.cochrane.org
review is
fundamentally
flawed.
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘We accept that
a certain level
of use remains
inevitable in
such settings.’
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF DRUG OVERDOSE
DEATHS in Europe has risen for the third
consecutive year, according to EMCDDA’s
European drug report 2017. There were 8,441
fatal overdoes, ‘mainly related to heroin and
other opioids’, in the 30 countries covered by
the report in 2015, compared to 7,950 the
previous year. While previous European drug
reports have highlighted the exponential
increases in NPS being detected for the first
time, 2016 saw the number fall to 66 from the
previous year’s 95. Although this signifies a
‘slowing of the pace’, it still represents more
than one per week and NPS remain ‘a
considerable public health challenge’, the
docum ent stresses. Report at
www.emcdda.europa.eu
DEADLY DRINKING
AN AVERAGE OF 22 PEOPLE PER WEEK DIED
of an alcohol-related cause in Scotland in
2015, according to an NHS Health Scotland
report, a figure that’s 54 per cent higher than
in England and Wales. The following year saw
10.5 litres of pure alcohol sold per adult in
Scotland, enough to exceed the chief medical
officer’s recommended 14 units by 44 per
cent every week of the year, says Monitoring
and evaluating Scotland’s alcohol strategy. ‘It
is worrying that as a nation we buy enough
alcohol for every person in Scotland to
exceed the weekly drinking guideline
substantially,’ said lead author Lucie Giles.
‘The harm that alcohol causes to our health
is not distributed equally; the harmful effects
are felt most by those living in the most
disadvantaged areas in Scotland.’
Report at www.healthscotland.scot
GET TRAINED
FREE ALCOHOL INFORMATION and brief advice
(IBA) training in Islington is being offered by
Blenheim in association with Islington council.
‘Islington experiences some of the highest
levels of alcohol-related harm in London,’ said
council public health strategist Angelina
Taylor. ‘We are delighted to be working with
Blenheim to deliver training to frontline staff
across Islington in order to support our
residents.’ More information at
blenheimcdp.org.uk/training/iba
FAST SUBSTITUTION
THE SCOTTISH MEDICINES CONSORTIUM has
recommended the fast-dissolving
buprenorphine oral lyophilisate Espranor for
restricted use within NHS Scotland. Current
licenced
buprenorphine
tablets can take
up to ten
minutes to
dissolve, which
often involves
close supervision.
‘Having another
choice of
treatment
available is
always a cause
for celebration,
and by now
being able to
offer a simpler
form of
buprenorphine
we may
increase its use
and reduce
AnneMArie WArd
some of the
problems seen
with
conventional pills,’ said CEO of Faces and
Voices of Recovery, Annemarie Ward.
Having choice
of treatment
is always a
cause for
celebration
July/August 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5