Welcome
Welcome to our 'online newspaper', created to promote, support and enhance long-term, sustainable recovery from addictions/ dependencies of all kinds. We are delighted to receive and disseminate constructive comments, blogs, articles and research. Keep them rolling in! Deirdre Boyd, CEO and Editor
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The UK's last public debate on whether to reclassify cannabis to a Class B drug took place on the Eddie Nestor BBC Radio London show [midnight SUnday 4 May] where Addiction Recovery Foundation CEO Deirdre Boyd debated the issue with legalisation campaigner Steve Rolles. Was she successful ini changing minds? Click here to get the statistics and references used in the show
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ACMD KEEPS CANNABIS AT C.
GORDON BROWN "TO UPGRADE" IT
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has advised the government to retain cannabis at the Class C it downgraded it to - again ignoring the fears of addiction experts, the police, judiciary and medical profession. Newspapers report that prime minister Gordon Brown will take personal responsibility for toughtening the law. The U-turn will be a damning admission of what many people predicted: that Labour's soft policy of recent years was a mistake and will bring to a close a disastrous experiment begun by Tony Blair in 2004.
If Brown and home secretary Jacqui Smith agree to reject the ACMD's opinion, it will risk resignations from the council. Are resignations overdue? At about the time the ACMD handed its opinions over, Graham Brady MP was chairing the first meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cannabis and Children. Professor Robin Murray reviewed the evidence on links between psychosis and cannabis, while many present asked why a vast body of research had been ignored by the ACMD. Of great concern to some present was the "biased" composition of the ACMD - particularly relevant when the strongest points came from people who were ex-ACMD members.
FIGURES TO MPs SHOW MENTAL ILLNESS IS UP
The number of people admitted to hospital with schizophrenia and psychosis has shot up since the laws on cannabis were relaxed in 2004, according to figures given to MPs [24 April] in advance of the publication this week of ar eport from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on whether cannabis should be regraded up to a Class B drug. Read today/Comment.
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5TH UK/EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM ON ADDICTIVE DISORDERS
RECLAIMING LIVES: BEST PRACTICES FOR SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY
8-10 May 2008 Kensington, London
Over 60 speakers include Professor Carlo DiClemente, Professor Alan Marlatt, Standing Committee of European Doctors president Dr Michael Wilks, Professor Peter Friemann, ASAM president Dr Mike Miller, IC&RC president Jeff Wilbee, CARF CEO Nikki Migas, NTA chair Baroness Massey, All-Party Parliamentary Drugs Misuse Group chair Dr Brian Iddon MP, Dr David Best, Dr John Marsden, Dr Barry Karlin of CRC Healthcare, Hazelden vice president Nick Motu, bestselling authors Rokelle Lerner and John Friel... and many many more.. including a full theatrical play by the Outside Edge Theatre Company. Click today on the UKESAD tab above.
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ARCHIVE ARTICLES RECENTLY UPLOADED:
STAR RATINGS FOR TREATMENT CENTRES by inspector David Finney, published end-February. Read today/Comment.
CREATIVE WRITING as an inspiration for recovery - learn how to use it with this article printed in Addiction Today journal a year ago. Read today/Comment.
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COALITION FOR ADDICTION RECOVERY CHOICES
What is "recovery" from addiction? It affects millions of people in the UK, but most cannot define the answer.
"People in recovery and those who have power over their lives have a right to be consulted about how recovery is perceived," urges Addiction Recovery Foundation CEO Deirdre Boyd, who is also editor of Addiction Today.
"It is not as simplistic as whether they are alcohol- and drug-free but also whether the underlying problems - some going back to childhood - have been addressed adequately so that they stay healthy, rebuild healthy family and other relationships. For instance, how can an employer or potential employer assess if they can be trusted with sensitive jobs? When is an impaired lawyer 'recovered enough' to get their licence back? What about gaining the right to fill in a mortgatge-applicatoin form truthfully without being penalised, to get health and life insurance cover without being penalised, to be accepted by their GP, to be reinstated at university? All the people involved have different ideas on what recovery is - and not all are accurate or helpful." Read today/Comment.
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The right time for women to quit smoking.
Read today/Comment.
More than two alcoholic drinks a day risks Alzheimer's.
Read more here.
Inciting anorexia could mean a prison sentence.
Read more here.
Two glasses of wine a day can double breast-cancer risk.
Read more here.
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NEW PRISON AND ADDICTION POLICY UNIT
The Centre for Policy Studies has established a specialist Prison and Addiction Unit to "challenge the government's fundamentally flawed drug policy". PandA will scrutinise this rapidly expanding but largely unmonitored area of government intervention."Nothing short of a revolution in drug-abuse treatment in the UK is needed," urged PandA member Professor Neil McKeganey, professor of drug misuse research at the University of Glasgow. Read today/Comment.
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"IF ACMD BASES CANNABIS ADVICE ON KEELE UNIVERSITY REPORT, IT IS FLAWED"
The BBC reports that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has decided cannabis should remain a class C drug. Its home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the decision, in a private meeting, was based on research from Keele University which "found nothing to support a theory that rising cannabis use in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s led to increases in the incidence of schizophrenia later on". The most obvious flaw is that cannabis available 35 or so years ago was 7-12 times weaker than the product available today; this study is NOT comparing like with like. Read today/Comment.
In 2000, before the ACMD/government downgraded the classification of cannabis, Addiction Today printed an article with the research on its harms. Read it here.
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DRUNK, VIOLENT, PROMISCUOUS... A US VIEW OF UK YOUTH
The 7 April cover of renowned Time magazine identifies UK youth as "unhappy, unloved and out of control - an epidemic of violence, drime and drunknness has made Britain scared of its young". It criticises the education system and binge-drinking culture. Read today/Comment.
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Just click here for a free and confidential test.
Courtesy of JoinTogether.com
For Sources of Help, click the resources at top right.
For US help, click through on the screening links.
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REWARDING TREATMENT PROVIDERS FOR RESULTS WORKS
A government which pays substance-abuse treatment providers for results, not services, could foster improved quality of care and accountability, according to a study by the Treatment Research Institute. Thomas McLellan PhD and colleagues, with consultant Jack Kemp, studied Delaware's results-oriented contracting system and concluded that providers "improved their ability to attract patients and keep them engaged in treatment longer – both signs of improved addiction treatment quality and accountability for services." Read today/Comment.
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ALCOHOL INCREASES BREAST CANCER RISK BY 50%
Cancer Research says alcohol causes about 2,000 breast cancer cases a year. Now the Department of Health has confirmed that women who drink above the government's recommended limit of 14 units a week are 50% more likely to develop breast cancer. It has launched a £10million campaign targeting women who might not be aware. Read today/Comment.
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INSURANCE IN U.S. MOVES TO COVER ADDICTION/ DEPENDENCY ON A PAR WITH OTHER ILLNESS
In a major victory for addiction treatment and recovery advocates, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to mandate that insurers cover addiction and mental illness on par with other illnesses. "We have waited 12 long years," said Jim Ramstad, cosponsor with Senator Patrick Kennedy of the bill. Read today/Comment
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CATCH UP ON THE 10-YEAR DRUG STRATEGY TO 2018
Drugs: Protecting families and communities underscores what Addiction Today has been striving for across two decades: "The goal of all treatment is for drug users to achieve abstinence from their drug – or drugs – of dependency," states the drugs strategy for 2008-2018. "For some, this can be achieved immediately, but many others will first need a period of drug-assisted treatment with prescribed medication. Drug users receiving drug-assisted treatment should experience a rapid improvement in their overall health and their ability to work, participate in training or support their families. They will then be supported in trying to achieve abstinence as soon as they can."
A radical tool in persuading drug users into treatment is the use of benefits. Read today/Comment.
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NICE GUIDELINE ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE
"I was alarmed not to see the many treatment centres specialising in recovery from alcohol dependence NOT represented on the list of stakeholders informing/steering the Management of Alcohol Dependence guidelines from the National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence," reports Addiction Today editor Deirdre Boyd. Read today/Comment.
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MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOW ON CLINICAL GOVERNANCE
Deadline 14 May 2008
Guidance on clinical governance in drug treatment is due to be published this summer. As part of this, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse has published a draft - and is inviting treatment providers, commissioners/ purchasers and others to comment. The aim is to identify best practice. The consultation document, Clinical Governance in Drug Treatment: A Draft Good Practice Guide for Providers and Commissioners is to be sent to key organisations.
"Clinical governance is the mechanism for implementation of changes in practice required by recent clinical guidance,” explained NTA director of quality, Annette Dale-Perera. “This is an opportunity for people providing and commissioning treatment to influence the shape of the final guidance." Read today/Comment.
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SCOTLAND MOVES FROM METHADONE DEPENDENCE TO REHAB
A new Scottish anti-drugs strategy by this summer will see a move away from dependence on methadone to treat addicts, with more emphasis on drug-free and residential rehabilitation. But there is no sign of help for the estimated 50,000 children who live with drug-addicted parents. Officials will review drugs budgeting, and report by spring next year. Read today/Comment
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ADDICTED CELEBRITIES NEED HELP NOT MOCKERY
Click on the screen below to watch the excellent CBS show featuring Craig Ferguson on recovery – almost 1 million people have.
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DRUG OFFENCES SOAR 21% IN A YEAR
Home Office figures show that drug offences leapt by over 60% since Labour relaxed the law on cannabis possession in 2004. Drug crime rocketed by 21% last year alone. And there were 55,700 drug offences in July-September last year – police counted 34,600 drug offences in July-September 2004, the time of the reclassification. Read today/Comment
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TREATMENT-CENTRE LEAGUE TABLES
Action plan by ‘healthcare watchdog’ has started... “They are not league tables,” insists Peter Burkinshaw of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, when discussing joint reviews by the Healthcare Commission and the NTA of alcohol- and drug-treatment providers, to identify and promote improvements where needed. The results are not due until autumn – but already providers are describing them as league tables. “If I came top, I’d be boasting about it,” said the chief executive of one treatment centre, as others nodded in agreement. Read the March Addiction Today for more details. Read today/Comment
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WOMEN'S DRINK DEATHS DOUBLE
"Thirty-somethings most at risk," government experts warn - lower tolerance and long licensing hours identified as key factors. Read today.
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WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN 2008? Three expert views
First columnist: PAUL HAYES, CEO of the National Treatment Agency
"The consensus that ‘treatment works’ is being overtly challenged in the media for the first time in many years. This is in part a reflection of a shift in thinking in some political and academic circles to support an increasingly abstinence-focused system. The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse believes the evidence supports a treatment system which balances the immediate benefits to individuals and communities of maintenance and harm reduction, with the long- term benefits of recovery from dependency and treatment completion... Read today / Post comment
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THE GUIDE TO REHAB - WHAT REALLY WORKS
20 research facts everyone should know about rehab treatment for alcohol and drugs dependency
In late 1999, Dr David Best (who was working with the National Addiction Centre), Addiction Today editor Deirdre Boyd and the then-CEO of EATA met to initiate an easy-to-use reference document about addiction treatment which could be used by professionals and general public, and which not only covered the key issues but were based on incontrovertible research addressing those issues. EATA requested Addiction Today to publish in full the key research findings - seven years later, we republish the facts. They have not dated. Read today/Comment
