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April 2008

April 30, 2008: UNITY GROUP: WORKING TOGETHER
Comments: 0 | Categories: Misuse & Addictions Week , News
MISUSE & ADDICTIONS WEEK: WHERE TO FIND HELP 23-30 June 2008 PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS Addiction Recovery Foundation Addiction Today journal staff will be partnering with The Recovery Network to hold a London-based event during the Misuse & Addictions Awareness Week. *******...

April 30, 2008: DoH ADDS TO GUIDANCE FOR REHABS:
Comments: 0 | Categories: Funding opportunities , News , Policies, legislation
CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR INPATIENT AND RESIDENTIAL REHABILITATION SUBSTANCE MISUSE (DRUG & ALCOHOL) SERVICES 2008/9. At the end of April, Nick Lawrence, deputy director and head of alcohol, drugs and tobacco policy at the Department of Health sent out addendum...

April 30, 2008: Centre for Addiction Treatment Studies opens its doors
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Training
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT - AND PRACTICE The Centre for Addiction Treatment Studies officially opened in April to meet the needs of a field where demand for counselling skills is escalating quicker than the development of skills. Deirdre Boyd was given...

April 28, 2008: THE RIGHT TIME FOR WOMEN TO QUIT SMOKING
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Research , Therapeutic Techniques
Women smokers seeking to kick the habit have a greater chance of success if they do so in the days before their menstrual cycle, say scientists from the University of Minnesota. Surges and lulls in levels of the sex hormones...

April 27, 2008: MENTAL ILLNESS UP AFTER CANNABIS DOWNGRADE
Comments: 0 | Categories: Cannabis comment , News
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 a...

April 25, 2008: ADDICTION CONSULTANT IS NHS "BEST OF THE BEST"
Comments: 0 | Categories: News
Dr Sanju George, from Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust’s The Bridge substance misuse service, beat off competition from hundreds of health projects in the region to win the top prize at the West Midlands’ Health and Social Care Awards....

April 22, 2008: COALITION FOR ADDICTION RECOVERY CHOICES
Comments: 4 | Categories: News
What is “recovery” from addiction? It affects millions of people in the UK, but most cannot answer the question. “People in recovery and those who have power over their lives have a right to be consulted about how recovery is...

April 20, 2008: DIFFERENT STRAINS OF CANNABIS CAUSE DIFFERENTPROBLEMS
Comments: 4 | Categories: Cannabis comment , News , Research
People who smoke different strains of cannabis show different psychological symptoms, states a study in the April British Journal of Psychiatry. Research suggests a link between cannabis use and psychosis, such as schizophrenia. But cannabis contains a number of chemicals...

April 18, 2008: MORE THAN TWO DRINKS RISKS ALZHEIMER'S
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Research
More than two alcoholic drinks a day could mean you get Alzheimer's disease almost five years earlier than otherwise. If you also smoke, you hasten the onset of of the degenerative brain condition by up to seven years. The findings...

April 16, 2008: INCITING ANOREXIA RISKS JAIL
Comments: 0 | Categories: News
A bill which would make it illegal for anyone - including fashion magazines, advertisers and websites - to publicly incite anoexia passed a major hurdle in the french parliament on 15 April. The proposal was adopted by the lower house...

April 14, 2008: TWO WINES A DAY DOUBLE BREAST-CANCER RISK
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Research
A study by researchers at the University of Chicago of almost 185,000 women found that just two large glasses of wine a day can raise the risk of breast cancer by 51%. One large glass of wine raises the risk...

April 10, 2008: OLYMPIC COMMITTEE TACKLES DRUG CHEATS AT BEIJING
Comments: 0 | Categories: News
The International Olympic Committee - IOC - plans strict measures to tackle drugs cheats at the Beijing Olympics this summer. At previous Games, athletes caught with only some of the substances on the banned list could be punished but that...

April 8, 2008: ALCOHOL HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS RISE 50%
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Research
Alcohol-related casualty admissions in the South West rose by 50% between 2001-5, according to a survey by the SW Public Health Observatory. It also raised concerns about the number of young people drinking too much: the report estimated that 728,500...

April 7, 2008: NEW PRISON AND ADDICTION POLICY UNIT
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation
'PandA' pulls no punches. 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. It will...

April 7, 2008: ANALYSIS OF FAILURE: NATIONALISATION OF ADDICTION
Comments: 1 | Categories: Policies, legislation
The 2008-2018 drug strategy. by Kathy Gyngell. Who could fail to disagree with the sentiments behind the government’s revised drug strategy, Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities, 2008 -2018 Strategy (Home Office, 27 February 2008)? Strengthening communities, working together, “a clear...

April 5, 2008: CANNABIS AND SCHIZOPHRENIA: THE LINKS
Comments: 0 | Categories: Cannabis comment , Medical , News
1972: Study of US servicemen finds widespread cannabis smoking contributed to a five-fold increase in schizophrenia between 1968-1971. 1974: Researchers find cannabis could trigger latent schizophrenia, intensify symptoms and cause the condition even where it would not otherwise occur. 1981:...

April 5, 2008: TEENAGE DRINKING CORRODES MEMORY
Comments: 0 | Categories: Medical , News , Research
Binge drinking as a teenager could damage memory for years, says researcher Dr Thomas Heffernan, A Northumbria University psychologist, at the British Psychological Society 's annual conference in Dublin. This is critical, given that children of 12 are being treated...

April 4, 2008: NURSES CALL FOR CANNABIS TO BE CLASS B DRUG
Comments: 0 | Categories: Cannabis comment , News
Mental Health Nurses Association/Unite "utterly reject" ACMD comment News reports that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (no ACMD hyperlink openly available) would decide to keep cannabis as a class C drug were criticised as “deeply regrettable” by...

April 4, 2008: ACMD THINKING IS FLAWED IF IT BASES ADVICE ON KEELE REPORT
Comments: 2 | Categories: Cannabis comment , News , Policies, legislation
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...