DDN May 2017 DDN May 2017 | Page 4

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NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY ISSUES FENTANYL WARNING

THE NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY( NCA) has taken the‘ unusual step’ of warning drug users to be vigilant following the detection of powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl in heroin supplies in the north east of England. Fentanyl and its analogue carfent anyl are thought to have contributed to recent deaths among drug users in the Yorkshire, Cleveland and Humber areas.

Fentanyl is a licensed medicine used to treat severe and terminal pain, and is around 100 times more potent than morphine, while carfentanyl is more powerful still. Even in the‘ unlikely event’ that users know their drugs contain fentanyl, the risk of overdose is high, warns the NCA.

The NCA and West Yorkshire Police recently targeted a laboratory suspected of producing the drugs, and there are concerns that the substances could have been‘ distributed to drug dealers across a much wider area’, putting people in other regions at risk. While initial toxicology revealed fentanyl analogues in‘ a small number’ of the north east deaths,‘ specific retesting has started to indicate that the influence of fentanyl is greater than first suspected’, said the NCA’ s head of drugs threat and intelligence, Tony Saggers.

‘ We now believe UK customers beyond the north east region are likely to have received consignments of these drugs,’ he continued.‘ I am particularly concerned that drug dealers within established heroin markets may have purchased fentanyl, carfentanyl, or similar substances from this facility. They may not know how dangerous it is, both to them when they handle it, and to their customers.’ The criminal justice implications of supplying fentanyl mixed into other drugs would‘ inevitably’ be deemed aggravating, he stated, and‘ claiming ignorance of the consequences’ would be no defence.

PHARMACY FIRST

PHARMACIES IN URUGUAY will be able to sell cannabis for recreational use from July onwards, the country’ s National Drug Board has announced. Uruguay legalised the cultivation, distribution and consumption of the drug in 2013( DDN, January 2014, page 4), and so far 16 pharmacies have registered to sell five-gram containers of cannabis grown by state-licensed producers. Anyone wishing to buy the drug will need to sign up to a national registry, with maximum limits imposed on monthly purchases. Meanwhile, the Canadian government has introduced legislation to legalise and‘ strictly regulate’ cannabis, following its announcement at last year’ s UNGASS( DDN, May 2016, page 4). Subject to parliamentary approval, the proposed Cannabis Act would create a legal framework for controlling the production, distribution, sale and possession of the drug, with sales to

Public Health England has also issued a drugs alert to emergency services, treatment agencies and other bodies, urging them to advise heroin users to‘ be extra cautious about the sources from which they get their drugs, and about the drugs they take, maybe starting with just a quarter hit of a new supply’. Drug services should also supply naloxone to‘ all those at risk’, it adds, while any areas seeing spikes in drug-related deaths should contact local coroners to establish if fentanyl is routinely screened for in toxicology results.‘ If it is not, consideration should be given to resubmitting samples for retesting,’ it states.

‘ We are urging heroin users to be extra careful about what they are taking,’ said PHE’ s director of drugs, alcohol and tobacco, Rosanna O’ Connor.‘ They need to look out for each other and be alert to any signs of an overdose, such as lack of consciousness, shallow or no breathing,“ snoring”, and blueing of the lips and fingertips. If possible, they should use naloxone if someone overdoses, and immediately call for an ambulance. We strongly advise all dependent drug users to get support from local drug services.’

Drugs alert at https:// www. cas. dh. gov. uk / Home. aspx

anyone under 18 prohibited along with‘ any products, promotion, packaging or labelling that could be appealing to young people’, according to health minster Jane Philpott.

GLOBAL BURDEN

AROUND 1.75M PEOPLE WORLDWIDE were newly infected with HCV in 2015, says the World Health Organization’ s Global hepatitis report 2017, bringing the total number of people living with hepatitis C to 71m. Injecting drug use and unsafe injections in healthcare settings remain the most common transmission routes, states the document, which calls for a‘ scaling up of harm reduction services – particularly access to sterile injecting equipment and OST.‘ Viral hepatitis is now recognized as a major public health challenge that requires an urgent response,’ said WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan. Document at www. who. int / en http:// health. baltimorecity. gov / Fentanyl

CRIMINAL CASH

TRANSNATIONAL CRIME is now valued at between $ 1.6tn and $ 2.2tn annually, with drug trafficking accounting for between $ 426bn and $ 652bn of that, says a report from Global Financial Integrity( GFI). Only counterfeiting is more profitable than drugs, says Transnational crime and the developing world.‘ The fight against transnational crime needs to be redirected to combating the money the crimes generate,’ said GFI president Raymond Baker.‘ This means shutting down the global shadow financial system that facilitates the moving and secreting of illicitly generated funds. None of this is technically difficult. It is a matter of political will.’ Report at www. gfintegrity. org

HARM’ S WAY

HARM REDUCTION RESPONSES in Europe are being limited by‘ austerity, international donor retreat and poor political support’ according to a report from Harm Reduction International( HRI). Some EU member states are experiencing funding crises that‘ must be addressed if public health emergencies are to be avoided’, warns HRI. www. hri. global

INCENDIARY ISSUES

SMOKING CAUSES ONE IN TEN DEATHS GLOBALLY, according to a study published in The Lancet. While the scale-up of tobacco control is a‘ public health success story’, smoking remains‘ a major risk’ for early death and disability worldwide and requires sustained political commitment, says Smoking prevalence and attributable disease burden in 195 countries and territories, 1990- 2015. Meanwhile, the Royal Society for Public Health( RSPH) is calling on UK vape retailers to adhere to a code of conduct after an undercover investigation found that nearly 90 per cent of shops were‘ either knowingly or unwittingly’ prepared to sell e-cigarettes to people who had never smoked or vaped.‘ High street vape stores are the visible face of vaping in the UK, and so it is crucial that they are seen as responsible retailers of evidence-based quitting aids, rather than lifestyle products,’ said RSPH chief executive Shirley

Cramer. Report at thelancet. com

It is crucial that vape products are seen as evidence-based quitting aids, rather than lifestyle products’.

ShIrley Cramer

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