In 2020,1339 drug-related deaths were registered in Scotland.

This is a 5% increase compared to figures from 2019.

Other key findings show:

• The number of drug-related deaths has increased substantially over the last 20 years – there were 4½ times as many deaths in 2020 compared with 2000.
• Men were 2.7 times as likely to have a drug-related death than women, after adjusting for age.
• After adjusting for age, people in the most deprived parts of the country were 18 times as likely to die from a drug-related death as those in the least deprived.
• Almost two-thirds of all drug-related deaths...

Supporting Women to Access Appropriate Treatment (SWAAT) is a National Drugs Strategy Strand 2 Strategic Health Initiative which aims to build community capacity to support women to access treatment and recovery from drug and alcohol use across the Tallaght and Ballyfermot LDATF areas. Drug and Alcohol Task Forces play a key role in assessing the extent and nature of the drug problem and in initiating appropriate responses so that there is a coordinated approach involving all sectors in addressing problematic drug and alcohol use in local communities.

Summary of findings:

• Prior exposure to...

Background:

Tobacco smoking and e-cigarette use are strongly associated, but it is currently unclear whether this association is causal, or due to shared factors that influence both behaviours such as a shared genetic liability. The aim of this study was to investigate whether polygenic risk scores (PRS) for smoking initiation are associated with ever use of e-cigarettes.

Methods and findings:

Smoking initiation PRS were calculated for young adults (N = 7,859, mean age = 24 years, 51% male) of European ancestry in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a prospective birth...

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected drug use and supply? What drugs are causing the most concern today? What are the latest trends in drug production and trafficking?

Find out more in the recording of the online media event from 9 June 2021 on occasion of the launch of the European Drug Report 2021: Trends and Developments. Based on data from 29 countries (EU 27, Turkey and Norway), the report delivers the latest overview of the drug situation in Europe.

Summary

This report provides a technical review of the current body of knowledge regarding new benzodiazepines that are monitored by the EU Early Warning System.

The aims of this report are to strengthen situational awareness of new benzodiazepines in Europe and to help stakeholders prepare for and respond to public health and social threats caused by such substances.

The European Commission announces today the first edition of the Horizon Europe info-days, to take place online from 28 June  to 9 July 2021.

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion.

The 10-day event will give the opportunity to prospective applicants, and other stakeholders of EU research and innovation, to receive information and ask questions about the novelties, main funding instruments and processes of Horizon Europe.

The Horizon Europe info-days will address 9 themes, each featuring a programme of exclusive...

The VNGOC together with the UNODC Civil Society Unit will be holding two webinars to present and discuss the World Drug Report 2021, which will be launched on 25th June.
 
VNGOC are looking for civil society speakers wishing to present at these webinars, on how they use the data compiled in the World Drug Report each year and how these data impact their work. 

• The first webinar will be held on 13th July 2021 and will focus on Asia, Oceania and Europe.
• The second webinar will be held on 15th July 2021 and will focus on Africa and the Americas. 

Each webinar will comprise welcome remarks...

Introduction

Analysing communal wastewaters for drugs and their metabolic products in order to estimate their consumption in the community is a developing field, involving scientists working in different research areas, including analytical chemistry, physiology and biochemistry, sewage engineering, spatial epidemiology and statistics, and conventional drug epidemiology.

This page, put together by EMCDDA, presents the findings from studies since 2011. Data from all studies may be explored through an interactive tool, and a detailed an analayis of the findings of the most recent study in 2020...

Source: https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/13745/TD0321143ENN_002.pdf

Summary

Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the way we live, with European countries having to introduce unprecedented measures to protect public health. As with all areas of life, drug consumption, related harms and drug markets have been impacted, as have the services established to respond to drug-related problems. During the first weeks of the pandemic, the EMCDDA instigated two rapid assessment studies to identify the initial impact and implications of COVID-19.

Objective: -

• To present results from studies carried out to collect insights from people who use drugs and service providers on how COVID-19 control measures have affected their lives, as well as the drug market 
• To discuss how some of the changes observed are worth becoming a ‘new normal’

Background: In April 2020, in the framework of the EU4Monitoring Drugs (EU4MD) project, two research teams launched a 6-month long cohort study among people who use drugs in Georgia and Ukraine. The aim was to document how the COVID-19 lockdown measures may impact their social-economic status, drug use...