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PHE LAUNCHES ONLINE NPS
MONITORING TOOL
‘We want to
encourage all
frontline staff...
to use the
system, which
over time will
greatly increase
our knowledge
of these new
substances.’
rosanna o’connor
A NEW NATIONAL SYSTEM to monitor the effects of NPS has been launched by
Public Health England (PHE) and the Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The pilot scheme will also share treatment best
practice between drug services, A&E departments, prisons, sexual health clinics,
GP surgeries and other settings.
All front-line health staff will be able to access the Report Illicit Drug Reaction
(RIDR) system to anonymously report information about NPS and their effects,
with the data then analysed to identify ‘patterns of symptoms and harms’. The
information will be used to improve patient safety, ‘inform treatment guidance
and help staff deal more quickly with unknown substances’, says PHE.
While there is widespread concern about NPS use among vulnerable
populations such as prisoners and homeless people, there is still little
available guidance and the harms ‘are often poorly understood’ by frontline
services, it adds.
‘The contents of NPS frequently change and their effects can be dangerous
and unpredictable,’ said PHE’s director of alcohol, drugs and tobacco, Rosanna
O’Connor. ‘Last year’s ban has helped reduce their easy availability, but we are
still seeing the most vulnerable groups – particularly the homeless, prisoners
and some young people – suffering the greatest harm from these substances.
We want to encourage all frontline staff in settings such as A&E, sexual health
clinics, prisons, drug and mental health services, to use the system.’
PHE has also published its latest hepatitis C data, with the most recent
estimates suggesting that around 160,000 people in England – and 214,000 in
the UK as a whole – are chronically infected. Injecting drug use ‘continues to be
the most important risk factor’ for infection, says the document. ‘In 2015, 52
per cent of people who had injected psychoactive drugs, participating in the
unlinked anonymous monitoring (UAM) survey of people who inject drugs,
tested positive for antibodies to HCV, and this proportion has remained
relatively stable over the past decade,’ it states.
RIDR website at report-illicit-drug-reaction.phe.gov.uk
Hepatitis C in England: 2017 report at www.gov.uk
CIDER STRENGTH RULES
THE GOVERNMENT has announced a
consultation on options to amend the alcohol
duty system so that rates ‘better correspond
to alcoholic strength’. The consultation will
look at the possible introduction of a new
band to target ‘cheap, high-strength white
ciders’ below 7.5 per cent ABV, as mentioned
in last month’s budget, along with a new
wine duty band to encourage the production
of lower-strength wines. Alcohol structures
consultation at www.gov.uk until 12 June.
BIORESONANCE
BUNKUM?
The controversial intervention ‘bioresonance
treatment’ was called ‘a new dimension in
quackery’ by an expert on BBC Radio 4’s You
and Yours. Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of
complementary medicine at Exeter University,
commented on a programme from Castle
Treatments, which costs up to £3,000 and
involves wearing a pendant for 24 hours a
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day and taking detox pills. Researchers found
the pendant to be made of plastic and
incapable of giving off the promised
‘resonance frequency’ to ‘neutralise
addiction’. ‘They say this is based on quantum
physics, but it is based on pure bullshit,’ said
Prof Ernst. ‘It is dangerous for your bank
account and dangerous because if people are
lured into bogus treatment they forgo
effective treatment.’ BBC Radio 4’s You and
Yours, 27 March episode, available on iPlayer
LIBERAL MEASURES
THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS have called for the
possession of drugs for personal use to be
decriminalised as a way of easing
overcrowding in Britain’s jails. There are now
more than 11,000 people imprisoned for drug
offences, the party says, while the overall
prison population in England and Wales has
nearly doubled in three decades. Meanwhile,
a new Australian report by former police
commissioners, judges and other senior
figures is calling for decriminalisation as part
of a widespread reform of that country’s drug
laws. Drug-related deaths, crime and ill-health
all continue to rise despite more than 80,000
arrests per year, says Can Australia respond to
drugs more effectively and safely. Report at
australia21.org.au
DRINKS MIXER
ALCOHOL CONCERN AND ALCOHOL RESEARCH
UK have merged, the charities have announced.
The merger will combine Alcohol Research UK’s
‘long history of research excellence’ and Alcohol
Concern’s ‘strong advocacy and campaigning
work’, with the latter’s assets and staff
transferring to Alcohol Research UK, along with
projects like Dry January. ‘The charities’ mission
and activities complement each other perfectly
and we look forward to determining the future
strategic direction of the combined organisation
in the coming months,’ said chair of the new
organisation’s board of trustees, Professor Alan
Maryon-Davis.
MINIMUM ACTIVITY
ENGLAND AND WALES should follow suit if
minimum unit pricing is introduced in Scotland
and proves ‘effective in cutting down excessive
drinking’, says a report from the House of Lords
Select Committee on the Licensing Act 2003. ‘It
does not make sense for a decision for England
and Wales to be postponed indefinitely,’ says
the document, although the legality of mini -
mum pricing is still being considered by the UK
Supreme Court (DDN, December 2016, page 4).
Select committee on the Licensing Act 2003:
post-legislative scrutiny at
www.publications.parliament.uk
NPS PERSPECTIVES
MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF YOUNG
PEOPLE HAVE TRIED NPS ‘AT LEAST
ONCE’ according to research
commissioned by Addaction. While
having to buy the previously legal
substances from street dealers was
regarded as an ‘inconvenience’, says
the document, NPS use was also seen
by young people as ‘heavily
stigmatised’. ‘Frontline young
people’s services have been creative
in adapting to meet these emerging
needs even in a time of tight
budgetary pressures,’ said
Addaction’s executive director of
external affairs, Karen Tyrell. ‘It’s
vital that those changes are
informed by what we hear from
people who have used NPS.’ Novel
psychoactive substances insight
report: the view from young people
at www.addaction.org.uk
More than
two-thirds of
young people
have tried nPs
‘at least once’.
Karen tyrell
April 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5