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INCREASE FOCUS ON OLDER
PEOPLE, ROYAL COLLEGE URGES
SERVICES SHOULD INCREASE their focus on
older people because of the sheer number of
‘baby boomers’ needing help for substance
misuse issues, says a report from the Royal
College of Psychiatrists.
Improved training is needed at all levels,
including the training of more addictions
psychiatrists, says Our invisible addicts, an
updated version of a 2011 report from the
college. With most substance problems in
older people ‘going undetected’ there is an
urgent need to improve diagnosis, treatment,
education, training, service development and
policy, it stresses.
Older people with substance issues face a ‘complex
constellation of risks’, the report says, which can result in
presentation to a wide range of services including drug
and alcohol treatment, primary care, acute hospitals,
older people’s mental health, social care, housing,
criminal justice and the voluntary sector – in many cases
‘the staff in these settings have little specialist
knowledge of how to deal with such complexity’, it adds.
The document calls for a multi-sector approach,
improved peer support and development of a clinical
workforce with the ‘appropriate knowledge, skills and
attitudes’ to provide identification, assessment, referral
and treatment – ‘in particular, we see a need to reverse
the loss of multi-professional specialist training in
addictions that has taken place in recent years’.
While older people respond well to brief advice and
motivational therapy – and in some cases can have
better outcomes than younger people – there is a
‘paucity of UK-based research and evidence for
treatment interventions and services’ around the
‘[this is] a
problem that is
likely to increase
further over
coming decades.
ProfeSSor IlAnA Crome
management of substance use disorders in older people,
and the population has also traditionally been under-
represented in research studies. It is also vital that
people not be excluded from treatment because of their
age, stresses the report, which was produced by a
working group of professionals across a range of clinical
specialities as well as service users.
‘In the 21st century, substance misuse is no longer
confined to younger people,’ said working group chairs
Professor Ilana Crome and consultant psychiatrist Dr
Tony Rao. ‘The public is poorly informed about the
relationship between substance misuse and health risks
in older people. We need a clear and coordinated
approach to address a problem that is likely to increase
further over coming decades. By improving our approach
to substance misuse in older people from detection to
continuity of care, we can also improve both quality of
life and reduce mortality in a vulnerable group that
deserves better.’
Our invisible addicts 2018 at www.rcpsych.ac.uk
POTENT PERCENTAGE
Almost 95 per cent of cannabis seized by police in
2016 was of a high potency variety, according to a
report from King’s College, London and GW
Pharmaceuticals. Researchers analysed almost a
thousand police seizures across the country and
found that 94 per cent were of strong ‘skunk’
sinsemilla, compared to 85 per cent in 2008 and just
over half in 2005.
The study, published in Drug Testing and
Analysis, found that the stronger varieties’ market
dominance was the result of lack of availability of
weaker cannabis resin. ‘The increase of high-
potency cannabis on the streets poses a significant
threat to users’ mental health, and reduces their
ability to choose more benign types,’ said senior
author Dr Marta DiForti. ‘More attention, effort and
funding should be given to public education on the
different types of street cannabis and their potential
hazards.’ Study at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
doi/10.1002/dta.2368/abstract
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘more attention,
effort and funding
should be given to
public education’
Dr mArtA DIfortI
After a
five-year
battle,
Scotland
confirms
minimum
unit pricing
of 50p for
alcohol
DUTERTE DEEDS
THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) –
which investigates genocide and crimes
against humanity – is opening a preliminary
examination into the Philippines, it has
announced. The examination will ‘analyse
crimes allegedly committed’ in the context of
the government’s war on drugs, said the ICC’s
prosecutor, specifically ‘extra-judicial killings
in the course of police anti-drug operations’.
The preliminary examination process is used
to decide if there a ‘reasonable basis’ to
proceed with a full investigation.
PRIMARY NUMBERS
THERE WERE 82,135 HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
with a primary or secondary diagnosis of drug-
related mental and behavioural disorders in
2016-17, according to NHS Digital, up from
81,904 the previous year. The total is nearly
double the 38,170 figure from a decade ago,
although NHS Digital says this increase will be
‘partly due to improvements in recording of
secondary diagnoses’. The number of
admissions with a primary diagnosis of drug-
related mental and behavioural disorders,
however, was down by 12 per cent in 2016-17,
to 7,545, although that figure is still 12 per cent
higher than a decade ago. ‘People with both
mental health and substance misuse issues can
find it extremely difficult to access mental
health services,’ said Addaction spokesperson
Karen Tyrell. Statistics on drugs misuse, England
2018 at digital.nhs.uk
PRICING IT IN
THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT has confirmed
that it will recommend the country’s
minimum unit price be set at 50p, following a
public consultation. Minimum pricing is set to
come into force on 1 May after a five-year
legal battle with the drinks industry (DDN,
December/January, page 4). Scottish Liberal
Democrats leader Willie Rennie, however, has
called for the price to be set at 60p to reflect
factors such as the impact of inflation, w hich
has ‘eroded the value of the original minimum
price during the years that this policy has
been caught up in the courts’. Meanwhile, a
report from the University of Sheffield’s
alcohol research group has found that three
quarters of all alcohol drunk in Wales is
consumed by less than a quarter of the
population, with just 3 per cent of harmful
drinkers consuming 27 per cent. Last year’s
Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol)
(Wales) Bill (DDN, November 2017, page 4), is
set to introduce minimum pricing if passed by
the National Assembly for Wales.
Research on the likely impact of and public
attitudes towards a minimum unit price for
alcohol in Wales at gov.wales
March 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5