Research

August 24, 2010: DRUG DEATHS RISE AGAIN
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Research
HEROIN IS BIGGEST KILLER - FOLLOWED BY METHADONE Drug-related deaths continue to increase, remaining higher than 2001 when the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse was founded to reduce them. Click here for related article on previous years' figures. UK...

July 9, 2010: DRUGS FIGURES PAINT INCORRECT PICTURE OF MISUSE
Comments: 1 | Categories: News , Research
MULTIPLE DRUG USE NOW THE NORM, HEROIN SHUNNED BY YOUNG Government drug policy is too centred on heroin abuse, fails to take account of the realities of current usage trends and needs to focus on individual user behaviour if it...

June 11, 2010: THE HEROIN TRIAL FAILURE
Comments: 9 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation , Research
by Anders Ulstein Read the full article here. Summary below. Read related article: Dodgy dossier 2. The Lancet report (29 May 2010) of a recent heroin prescription trial has been widely promoted as a success. But only five out of...

June 9, 2010: THE 'SCIENTIFIC CITIZEN'
Comments: 0 | Categories: Current Affairs , Policies, legislation , Research
THE DANGER OF UNQUESTIONING 'TRUST' by Kathy Gyngell Read the full article here. Summary below. Was anyone else more than a little disturbed by Professor Martin Rees' call in his Reith Lecture for public policy choices "to be leveraged by...

May 2, 2010: "STOP THE TOP": NTA RESPONSE... VS THE EVIDENCE
Comments: 2 | Categories: Current Affairs , National Treatment Agency - DoH , Policies, legislation , Research
Dr Jason Luty revealed research in the March 2010 issue of Addiction Today showing that the National Treatment Agency’s Top Treatment Outcome Profile form is “criminally invalid”. The NTA’s Colin Bradbury gives his defence below - and Addiction Today editor...

October 7, 2009: DODGY DOSSIERS OF ADDICTION NON-TREATMENT
Comments: 3 | Categories: Policies, legislation , Research
In the week of the Labour Party Conference, Jack Straw publicly called for heroin on the NHS – based on publicity for a project called Riott which had not been independently evaluated nor peer reviewed (click here for critique). The...

September 29, 2009: THE RECOVERY ACADEMY:
Comments: 3 | Categories: News , Research
RECOVERY AS THE ART OF LIFE ITSELF This summer, Addiction Today participated in the development of a 'recovery forum' blueprint for exchanging ideas and evidence about addiction recovery. Stephen Bamber and David Best were the architects – they build on...

August 26, 2009: DRUG POISONING DEATHS AT 8-YEAR HIGH
Comments: 2 | Categories: Research
HEROIN, MORPHINE AND METHADONE ARE THE MOST-CITED SUBSTANCES Deaths relating to drug poisoning – both legal and illegal drugs – have risen to their highest level since 2001, the year the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse was founded, reveal...

June 10, 2009: COCAINE HARMS: THE FACTS
Comments: 1 | Categories: Medical , Research
A brief over of the medical damage caused by cocaine; more to be added - please feel free to add your own research. Just click on the links below for information. Cocaine damage to brain cells 1 Cocaine damage to...

June 1, 2009: MORE BABIES ARE BORN DRUG-DEPENDENT
Comments: 1 | Categories: Research
Newborns with drug-withdrawal symptoms are up by 67% in 10 years as money for specialist rehab units runs out, writes Nina Lakhani of The Independent on Sunday. In 2007-8, 1,230 babies in England suffered from symptoms including poor sleep, agitation...

May 27, 2009: THE NTA, PAUL HAYES AND DRUG DEATHS
Comments: 0 | Categories: Letters , Research
LETTERS PAGE, Addiction Today issue 117 In April 2009, Paul Hayes, CEO of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, wrote two heavily-critical letters to Addiction Today editor Deirdre Boyd, one “for publication” and one “not for publication”. The reason?...

May 18, 2009: THE PHONEY WAR ON DRUGS
Comments: 1 | Categories: News , Research
FAILURE OF GOVERNMENT DRUG POLICY IS EXPOSED The government has repeatedly declared that it is fighting a "war on drugs". But Kathy Gyngell shows that this has been a facade, in The Phoney War on Drugs, published today by the...

March 10, 2009: FACTS vs PROPAGANDA
Comments: 0 | Categories: Research
Members of the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime are to sign a declaration to extend a "war on drugs" – a policy that some critics argue is ineffective and contributes to the spread of HIV. But the views...

March 3, 2009: "DRUG-RELATED DEATHS": DEFINITION
Comments: 4 | Categories: Medical , Policies, legislation , Prevention , Research
Further to the debate on what does or does not count as a "drug-related death", Peter O'Loughlin gives the authoritative definition, as below. In 2000, the advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) published a report, Reducing Drug Related...

March 1, 2009: RESIDENTIAL REHABILITATION: WHAT’S THE STORY?
Comments: 3 | Categories: News , Research , Therapeutic Techniques
The government’s Commission for Social Care Inspection and the NTA carried out a review of treatment services last year – inspector David Finney reveals findings that “residential rehabs outstrip other sectors in every outcome group we measure”. Print-friendly version: Download...

February 22, 2009: GPs, THE NTA AND THE NUMBERS GAME
Comments: 14 | Categories: Policies, legislation , Research
In good faith, the Substance Misuse Management in General Practice issued guidance now proven to be based on unfounded figures – they were taken at face value from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Peter O’Loughlin puts the record...

February 21, 2009: ECSTASY/MDMA: THE RESEARCH FACTS
Comments: 2 | Categories: Research
REPLY TO MARK EASTON, BBC From Professor Andy Parrott Swansea University, Wales. I would like to reply to the Mark Easton ‘blog’ about my MDMA-presentation to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. This 20 minute Powerpoint presentation comprised...

February 2, 2009: DRUG-RELATED DEATHS - UK 2008
Comments: 1 | Categories: Research
NATIONAL PROGRAMME ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE DEATHS ST GEORGE'S UNIVERSITY OF LONDON The National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths is managed by the International Centre for Drug Policy, which is within the Division of Mental Health, St George's University of London....

December 1, 2008: WHO ARE THE 70,000 NOT IN REHAB NOR ON SUBSTITUTE MEDICATION?
Comments: 3 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation , Research
Jon Hibbs, communications director of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, has written to Addiction Today stating that "one third of people in treatment (sic) are not on substitute medication. NDTMS figures, given in a recent parliamentary question, confirmed...

November 17, 2008: REHABS WORK: RESEARCH ON SUCCESS
Comments: 12 | Categories: Research , Therapeutic Techniques
Peter McDermott, a Board member of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, stated in The Observer national newspaper [16 November] that "Residential rehab doesn't actually work very well" alongside other negative comments. After Addiction Today complained to the NTA...

November 17, 2008: DRUGS UNCOVERED
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation , Research
ASPECIAL REPORT BY THE OBSERVER Click here for an indepth report by the Sunday newspaper on drug attitudes and much more.

November 13, 2008: "AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ACMD ABOUT ECSTASY"
Comments: 9 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation , Research
BY PROFESSOR ANDREW PARROTT The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has been devoting time to reclassifying ecstasy downwards, even though not requested by government to do so. Deirdre Boyd recalls parliament’s criticism of the ACMD here. Read Professor...

November 12, 2008: ACMD: ACRONYM OR ANACHRONISM?
Comments: 18 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation , Research
After the debacle and harm stemming from its recommendation to downgrade the classification of cannabis, the ACMD now wants to downgrade a drug which can be 10 times more powerful than cocaine. It is an opportune time to recall the...

November 3, 2008: NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE: ALCOHOL
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation , Research
The National Audit Office has published a report on Reducing Alcohol Harm: health services in England for alcohol misuse. The report found that a quarter of Primary Care Trusts had not accurately assessed the alcohol problems in their area and...

October 8, 2008: TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS:
Comments: 0 | Categories: Policies, legislation , Research , Therapeutic Techniques
ALCOHOL SERVICES The National Treatment Agency has released its Review of the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems. It is mostly excellent and a great reference tool – but some conclusions have led to a judicial review being explored by...

October 3, 2008: THE NTA: SUCCESS OR FAILURE?
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation , Research
MARK EASTON'S UK Excerpt from Today programme, BBC Radio 4 "Drug treatment officials were busy rubbishing my journalism yesterday afternoon, telling anyone who would listen that the man from the BBC had got his figures wrong. (Listen to my report...

September 25, 2008: ASSESSMENT IS THE KEY
Comments: 2 | Categories: Research , Therapeutic Techniques
Heated debates about abstinence vs harm minimisation could be coolly eliminated if... satisfactory, appropriate assessment identifies whether someone is dependent/ addicted or merely a misuser/abuser, states Norman Hoffmann. This article was first published in Addiction Today journal in 2002. It...

September 17, 2008: "ADDICTION IS A DISEASE"
Comments: 5 | Categories: Medical , Policies, legislation , Research , Therapeutic Techniques
“Drug [including alcohol] addictions are medical diseases which deserve parity in national healthcare programmes...” states scientist and professor Carlton Erickson, as he reveals the neurobiological research. Although this article was first printed in Addiction Today journal in 2002, the vast...

August 30, 2008: CANNABIS IS STRONGEST PREDICTOR OF LIFETIME ILLICIT DRUG USE
Comments: 2 | Categories: Cannabis comment , News , Research
DATA FROM 1,265 CHILDREN ACROSS 25 YEARS “The use of cannabis in late adolescence and early adulthood is the strongest risk factor for later involvement in other illicit drugs,” confirms a study led by Professor David Fergusson at the Department...

August 26, 2008: “TIMEBOMB GENERATION”:
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Research
TEENAGERS HOOKED ON DRUGS, BINGE-DRINKING, SMOKING AND UNDERAGE SEX, WARN CONSERVATIVES. The scale of the health problems facing youngsters aged 11 to 19 was laid bare perhaps for the first time by official figures from the NHS Information Centre. The...