News and Notes
Compiled by John Witton and Jean O'Reilly
Japan Abandons Plan to Ban Indoor Smoking
In March 2017 the Financial Times (FT) reported that the Japanese health ministry's plan to ban indoor smoking in public places before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games had been contested by forceful lobbying from the country's tobacco and leisure industries. Japan Tobacco is 33.35 per cent owned by the state and had the support of an estimated 100 parliamentary members of the ruling Liberal Democratic party according to the FT. On 30 January 2018, the health ministry published a plan that would ban smoking completely in hospitals, schools, universities and government offices. But the Japan Times reports that the plan would still permit smoking in restaurants and bars where special rooms are set aside for exclusive use by smokers. Minors will be prohibited from entering smoking spaces. The health ministry plans to introduce the legislation in stages before the 2020 Games. Commenting on the health ministry's retreat from its original plans to ban indoor smoking, a senior health ministry official said “It would be difficult to introduce thorough restrictions by disregarding smokers. We need to take a first step.” The Japan Times also reports that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will review its plan to introduce its own indoor smoking ban as the host city for the Games as a result of the health ministry announcement.
Sources: https://www.ft.com/content/785b1b46-ffdd-11e6-96f8-3700c5664d30
Iran Changes Law on Capital Punishment for Drug Offences
The New York Times reports that Iran has abolished capital punishment for some drug offences. More than 500 people were executed in Iran 2017, the majority for drug offences. The Iranian parliament passed amendments to the country's drug laws in August 2016. Under the changes the threshold for a death sentence was raised to possession of 50 kg of opium, 2 kg of heroin or 3 kg of methamphetamine. Previously, possessing 5 kg of opium or 30 g of heroin was a capital offence. According to The New York Times around 5000 people are currently awaiting execution in Iran for drug-related crimes. In January 2018, the head of the judiciary, Sadegh Amoli Larijani, announced that anyone awaiting execution for such crimes was entitled to have his or her case fully re-examined. The move had been approved by Iran's Guardian Council. While welcoming the changes, BBC News reports that Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, from Iran Human Rights, cautioned “Since most of those sentenced to death for drug offences belong to the most marginalised parts of Iranian society, it is not given that they have the knowledge and resources to apply for commuting their sentence.”
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/world/middleeast/iran-drugs-death-penalty.html
New UK Review of E-Cigarette Evidence
Public Health England has published a report that updates the evidence on e-cigarette use and heated tobacco products among adults and young people. The report reviews the available international evidence on the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as an aid to quitting by smokers, the risks to health compared with smoking, and public understanding of those risks. The evidence suggests that e-cigarettes could be contributing to at least 20,000 new quits in England per year and that e-cigarette use is associated with improved quit success rates over the last year. The report concludes that smokers who switch completely to vaping are likely to cut health risks substantially and that the evidence does not support concerns that e-cigarettes are a route into smoking among young people.
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/phe-publishes-independent-expert-e-cigarettes-evidence-review
Medical Cannabis Bill in Portugal
The Left Bloc party in Portugal is sponsoring a parliamentary bill that would legalize the medical use of cannabis. In 2017 Portugal's medicines regulator, INFARMED, authorized a medical cannabis plantation in Cantanhede in central Portugal. According to Reuters the project's owner, Tilaray, plans to export the medical cannabis to Germany. Against this background Reuters reports that the Left Bloc party have argued that it is “unnatural and hypocritical” that Portuguese patients could not buy cannabis legally while their country is exporting cannabis for legal medical use. The Left Bloc party supports the ruling Socialist Party in parliament, which may assist the passage of the bill. The Portuguese Doctor's Association has said it supports the bill, although it did not support the bill's provisions that allow patients to grow their own cannabis at home. Miguel Guimaraes, the head of the Doctor's Association, said “the parliament bills should follow scientific evidence and restrict themselves at this stage to medicines, researched formulas.”
Task Force to Tackle Online Opioid Sales in US as Public Health Emergency Extended
On 29 January US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department was forming a team to address online sales of illicit opioids, called the Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement team (J-CODE). Sessions said “the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] will dedicate dozens more Special Agents, Intelligence Analysts, and professional staff to focus solely on this one issue,” and the J-CODE team will “coordinate across the FBI's offices all around the world to target and disrupt the sale of synthetic opioids and other drugs on the darknet.” On 19 January the public health emergency resulting from the opioid crisis declaration announced in October 2017 was extended for a further 3 months. POLITICO reports that Mike Fraser, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said “We are hopeful the administration and Congress will use this renewal to focus on getting new dollars to states to scale up treatment, recovery and prevention programs.”
https://www.phe.gov/emergency/news/healthactions/phe/Pages/opioid-24Jan2018.aspx
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/19/trump-opioids-emergency-declaration-extension-300590
Indian Government Seeks Change to Legal Status of Tobacco Industry
Reuters reports that the Indian Ministry of Health petitioned the Supreme Court on 8 January to classify tobacco as “res extra commercium.” If the classification is applied then the tobacco industry's legal standing to trade would be denied and, according to Reuters, would give authorities more opportunity to impose restrictions on tobacco. This doctrine of “outside commerce” was applied to alcohol in India in the 1970s and allowed complete bans on alcohol in some Indian states and stricter regulation of alcohol. “The effects of tobacco are much more than even alcohol ... It will be a fillip to this drive against tobacco,” said government lawyer R. Balasubramanian, who is acting on behalf of the Ministry of Health in the case.
Vermont Legalizes Recreational Cannabis use
Vermont has become the ninth US state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. On 22 January Governor Phil Scott signed a bill that legalizes cannabis use for adults aged 21 and over and allows for the possession of up to an ounce of cannabis, as well as two mature and four immature plants. Vermont is the first US state to legalize cannabis legislatively. Other states have legalized cannabis through voter-approved ballot initiatives, a process not available in Vermont. The new measures include stronger penalties for selling cannabis to anyone under 21 or enabling their consumption of the drug. Consuming cannabis in public will be illegal as will using cannabis in a vehicle with a child present. The new measures will come into force in July. Governor Scott said “I personally believe that what adults do behind closed doors and on private property is their choice, so long as it does not negatively impact the health and safety of others, especially children.” Vermont's law does not create a state marketplace for sales of cannabis. Governor Scott has established a cannabis advisory board to examine the state's involvement in recreational cannabis sales and develop comprehensive education, prevention and highway safety strategies. The board's findings are expected by 15 December. According to Governor Scott, “There must be comprehensive and convincing plans completed in these areas before I will begin to consider the wisdom of implementing a commercial ‘tax-and-regulate’.”
Supervised Injecting Facility Planned for Philadelphia
Officials in Philadelphia announced in January that the city will allow supervised injecting facilities in the city. Opening a supervised injecting facility was among the recommendations of Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney's 2017 task force to combat the opioid epidemic. Mayor Kenney said “Philadelphia's fatal overdose rate is the worst in the nation among large cities, and incidents of overdose have steadily increased to an alarming degree,” adding “I applaud the work of the task force and city leadership in taking this bold action to help save lives.” In support of the announcement the city officials released a report that estimated that a supervised injecting facility in Philadelphia could prevent up to 76 drug overdose deaths per year. In January 2017 Seattle was the first US city to announce plans to open a supervised injecting facility. The Seattle city council announced in November that they would allocate $1.3 million for a facility in the city. In contrast, the city of Philadelphia will not be funding or operating a site, but plans to provide support to private sector development of the facilities. According to Buzzfeed other cities, including San Francisco, Ithaca, Denver, and New York, are also considering opening facilities.
http://dbhids.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/OTF_LarsonS_PHLReportOnSCF_Dec2017.pdf
UK Embassy Staff Lobbying for Tobacco Companies
Freedom of Information requests have shown that officials in the UK's Foreign Office (FO) and Department for International Trade (DIT) have been lobbying on behalf of UK-based tobacco companies operating overseas. The Guardian reports that the disclosures show that FO and DIT staff met British American Tobacco (BAT) representatives nine times in the last four years to discuss a tax dispute with the Bangladesh government. It was also revealed that a UK government trade adviser was seconded “for a few days” to BAT headquarters in Budapest and then to a BAT office in Pécs. According to The Guardian the UK government drew up new guidelines for UK embassy staff after the UK ambassador to Panama was accused of lobbying the Panama government on behalf of BAT in 2012. Despite this, the new disclosures show that there have been six meetings between BAT and UK embassy staff in Panama in recent years.
Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/27/british-embassies-promote-tobacco-abroad-hypocrisy
https://www.ft.com/content/9e142628-6de5-11e1-b98d-00144feab49a#axzz46qRiLLA6
New US Report on Health Effects of E-cigarettes
The US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have published a review of the evidence on the human health effects of e-cigarettes. The report concludes that e-cigarettes are likely to be far less harmful than conventional cigarettes but that their long-term health effects are unclear. David Eaton, the chair of the Committee that wrote the report, said “E-cigarettes cannot be simply categorized as either beneficial or harmful,” adding “In some circumstances, such as their use by non-smoking adolescents and young adults, their adverse effects clearly warrant concern. In other cases, such as when adult smokers use them to quit smoking, they offer an opportunity to reduce smoking-related illness.” The report was commissioned in 2016, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was given the authority to regulate tobacco products that had previously been outside its jurisdiction, such as e-cigarettes and cigars. According to The New York Times Mitch Zeller, head of the FDA's tobacco division, said that the report has helped identify gaps in the research evidence base and will also aid the agency in its review of applications for lower-risk tobacco products and the potential harm or benefits those pose to individuals and the public.
Sources: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24952/public-health-consequences-of-e-cigarettes
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/health/e-cigarettes-smoking-fda-tobacco.html
Alcohol ban for Women Lifted and Reinstated in Sri Lanka
On 10 January BBC News reported that Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera, had amended a 1955 law that that prohibited the selling or buying of alcohol by women. The move was part of an initiative to remove discriminatory legislation on Sri Lanka's statute books. According to The Guardian a finance minister spokesperson said “The idea was to restore gender neutrality.” But the move met with resistance in the Buddhist majority country where alcohol drinking by women is seen by some as contrary to religious and cultural beliefs. On 14 January Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said he had ordered the finance minister to revoke his decision. No explanation was given for the return to the original law.
E-cigarette ban in Singapore
Following parliamentary approval of amendments made to the Tobacco (Control of Advertisement and Sale) Act in November 2017, the purchase, use and possession of e -cigarettes is illegal in Singapore from 1 February 2018. Shisha and chewing tobacco are also banned as a result of the amendments. A phased increase in the smoking age from 18 to 21 will be introduced in yearly increments starting in January 2019.
Conferences and Events
National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, 2–5 April 2018, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Website: https://vendome.swoogo.com/2018-rx-summit/61096
Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) 39th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions, 11–14 April 2018, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Website: https://www.sbm.org/meetings/2018
American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Annual Conference, 12–15 April 2018, San Diego, California, USA. Website: https://www.asam.org/education/live-online-cme/the-asam-annual-conference
5th International Conference on Behavioral Addictions (ICBA), 23–25 April 2018, Cologne, Germany. Website: https://www.icba2018.com/
Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) Faculty of Addictions Psychiatry Annual Conference, 26–27 April 2018, Belfast, Ireland. Website: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/traininpsychiatry/conferencestraining/conferences/addictionsfaculty2018.aspx
American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) Annual Meeting, 26–29 April 2018, Vancouver, Canada. Website: http://www.painmed.org/annualmeeting/
Substance Abuse Librarians and Information Specialists (SALIS) and Association of Mental Health Librarians (AMHL) Conference, 1–4 May 2018, Berkeley, California, USA. Website: http://www.salis.org/conference/conference.html
American Psychiatric Association (APA) Meeting, 5–9 May 2018, New York, New York, USA. Website: https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/meetings/annual-meeting
International Conference on Addiction and Associated Disorders (iCAAD), 7–9 May 2018, London, UK. Website: https://www.icaadevents.com/icaad-london-may-2018-hc95
IOTOD 2018 (Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence), 14–16 May 2018, Madrid, Spain. Website: http://iotodmeeting.com/iotod-2018/
International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) Conference, 16–18 May 2018, Vancouver, Canada. Website: http://www.issdp.org/
McLean Conferences: Addiction 2018, 17–19 May 2018, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Website: http://www.mcleanhospital.org/events/addictions-2018-conference
National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) Conference, 20–22 May 2018, Denver, Colorado, USA. Website: https://www.naatp.org/training/national-addiction-leadership-conference
Society for Clinical Trials (SCT) Annual Meeting, 20–23 May 2018, Portland, Oregon, USA. Website: http://www.sctweb.org/public/meetings/2018/home.cfm
13th European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association (EUROPAD) Conference, 25–27 May 2018, Krakow, Poland. Website: http://www.europad.org/europad18.php
Australian and New Zealand Addiction Conference, 28–30 May 2018, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Website: https://addictionaustralia.org.au/
Kettil Bruun Society (KBS) 44th Annual Meeting, 28 May – 1 June 2018, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Website: http://www.kettilbruun.org/kbs-annual-meeting/
Society for Prevention Research (SPR) Annual Meeting, 29 May – 1 June 2018, Washington, DC, USA. Website: http://www.preventionresearch.org/2018-annual-meeting/
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) International Forum, 8–11 June 2018, San Diego, California, USA. Website: https://www.drugabuse.gov/international/international-forum
College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) Annual Meeting, 9–14 June 2018, San Diego, California, USA. Website: http://cpdd.org/
International Conference on Opioids, 10–12 June 2018, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Website: http://www.opioidconference.org/
20th International Conference on Addiction Treatment and Therapy (ICATT), 11–12 June 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark. Website: https://waset.org/conference/2018/06/copenhagen/ICATT Therapy
International Narcotics Research Conference (INRC), 12–16 June 2018, San Diego, California, USA. Website: http://www.inrcworld.org/2018/2018mtg.htm
41st Annual Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) Scientific Meeting, 16–20 June 2018, San Diego, California, USA. Website: https://www.xcdsystem.com/rsoa/index.cfm?ID=OJjNsB7
International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) 28th Annual Symposium, 30 June – 5 July 2018, Leiden, The Netherlands. Website: http://www.icrs.co/
22cd International AIDS Conference, 23–27 July 2018, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Website: http://www.aids2018.org/
American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Meeting, 11–14 August 2018, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Website: http://www.asanet.org/annual-meeting-2018
3rd International Congress on Addictive Behavior and Dual Diagnosis, 16–17 August 2018, Stockholm, Sweden. Website: https://dualdiagnosis.conferenceseries.com/
National Conference on Addiction Disorders (NCAD), 19–22 August 2018, Anaheim, California, USA. Website: https://vendome.swoogo.com/ncad-2018/home
International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE) Annual Meeting, 29–31 August 2018, Prague, Czech Republic. Website: http://www.isaje.net/annual-meeting.html
2018 Congress of the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ISBRA), 9–13 September 2018, Kyoto, Japan. Website: http://www.congre.co.jp/isbra2018/
INEBRIA 2018 (International Network on Brief Interventions for Alcohol and Other Drugs), 27–28 September 2018, Santiago, Chile. Website: http://inebria.net/
IntNSA (International Nurses Society on Addiction) 42nd Annual Educational Conference, 3–6 October 2018, Denver, Colorado, USA. Website: http://www.intnsa.org/conference/
NAADAC (The Association for Addiction Professionals) 2018 Annual Conference, 5–9 October 2018, Houston, Texas, USA. Website: https://www.naadac.org/2018annualconference
31st ECNP Congress (European College of Neuropsychopharmacology), 6–9 October 2018, Barcelona, Spain. Website: http://2018.ecnp.eu/
2018 Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM-SMCA) Annual Meeting and Scientific Conference, 25–27 October 2018, Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada. Website: https://www.csam-smca.org/events/2018-csam-annual-meeting-scientific-conference/
International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) Annual Meeting, 3–6 November 2018, Busan, Republic of Korea. Website: http://isam2018-busan.com/2017/english/main/index_en.asp
Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Meeting, 3–7 November 2018, San Diego, California, USA. Website: https://www.sfn.org/annual-meeting/neuroscience-2018
Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA) Annual Conference, 8–9 November 2018, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Website: https://www.addiction-ssa.org/symposium
Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA) Annual National Conference, 8–10 November 2018, San Francisco, California, USA. Website: https://amersa.org/conference/conference-at-a-glance/
The Liver Meeting 2018 (AASLD: American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases), 9–13 November 2018, San Francisco, California, USA. Website: https://www.aasld.org/events-professional-development/liver-meeting
American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting and Expo, 10–14 November 2018, San Diego, California, USA. Website: https://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
8th European Alcohol Policy Conference, 20–21 November 2018, Edinburgh, Scotland. Website: http://www.8eapc.eu/
11th European Public Health (EPH) Conference, 28 November – 1 December 2018, Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Website: https://ephconference.eu/
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) Annual Meeting and Scientific Symposium, 6–9 December 2018, Bonita Springs, Florida, USA. Website: https://www.aaap.org/annual-meeting/
News and Notes welcomes contributions from its readers. Send your material to John Witton, News and Notes Editor, Addiction, National Addiction Centre PO48, 4 Windsor Walk, London SE5 8AF. Fax +44 (0)20 7848 5966; e-mail [email protected]
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