News and Notes
2018; Wiley; Volume: 113; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/add.14414
ISSN1360-0443
Autores Tópico(s)Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
ResumoIn July the Japanese parliamentary upper house, the Diet, passed an amendment to the country's Health Promotion Act 2002 banning smoking in public spaces across the country. The ban will be implemented in stages but completely in place by April 2020, and before the Tokyo Olympics start in July. The Japan Times reports that the amendment designates certain public institutions such as schools, hospitals and municipal offices as nonsmoking. Non-compliant operators and smokers will face fines of up to 500 000 yen and 300 000 yen respectively. But for some public facilities, including restaurants and bars, the amendment only prohibits indoor smoking. Additionally, even inside these spaces, smoking will be allowed in segregated, well-ventilated rooms, where no drinking or eating will be permitted. Establishments capitalized at 50 million yen or lower and with a floor space of up to 100 square metres can choose to allow smoking if they put up a sign warning their customers. Consequently, The Japan Times reports that an estimated 55 percent of restaurants and bars nationwide will be exempt from the ban. In contrast, an anti-smoking ordinance adopted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in June is expected to make more than 80 percent of the city's restaurants and bars smoke-free. The Japan Times observes that the amendment had met resistance from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and tobacco industry groups which had led to the amendment being weakened. According to Japan's health ministry the measure will raise the World Health Organization's grading of Japan's anti-smoking efforts by one rank to the second-lowest level. Sources: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/18/national/crime-legal/japans-watered-smoking-ban-clears-diet/#.W2GorjqWyUm https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/05/31/national/science-health/japan-violating-anti-smoking-treaty-bowing-tobacco-industry-expert-says/#.W2LPuzqWyUk Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said in his State of the Nation address in July that the anti-drug campaign, which has led to thousands of deaths in his country, would continue. President Duterte said “Let me begin by putting it bluntly: the war against illegal drugs is far from over,” adding “It will be as relentless and chilling, if you will, as on the day it began.” Since the anti-drug campaign began in June 2016, 4,354 alleged drug users and dealers have been killed, according to the government's figures. However, the New Straits Times reports that human rights organizations and other critics of the campaign say the true number of deaths could be three times higher. New rules governing police operations were introduced in January 2018 following public outcry about the deaths of three teenagers, including 17-year-old Kian delos Santos in August 2017, as a result of police actions. Rappler, an online news service that has been strongly critical of President Duterte and his anti-drug campaign, reports that an order issued to all police officers states that the “Rule of law shall always prevail during the conduct of anti-illegal drugs operations and respect for human rights shall always be strictly observed.” Under the new rules, police operations should take place only during the day and the police should wear body cameras and be accompanied by human rights observers. Deaths have fallen since the introduction of the new rules, according to Rappler, from an average of 5 deaths per 100 anti-drug operations to one per 100. Sources: https://www.nst.com.my/world/2018/07/393720/philippines-duterte-pledges-unrelenting-drug-war https://www.rappler.com/nation/207947-pnp-report-death-toll-war-on-drugs-july-sona-2018-philippines The Canadian federal government passed the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act in May. The legislation imposes new plain and standardized packaging for cigarettes and introduces new regulations around the sale and promotion of alternative tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes. On 22 June the Canadian Health Minister, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, released new national regulations for the plain packaging, which are subject to a 75-day consultation period. Plain packaging is expected to be in operation in Canada sometime in 2019. Sources: http://strategyonline.ca/2018/05/11/government-to-impose-plain-packaging-on-tobacco-products/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=government-to-impose-plain-packaging-on-tobacco-products https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2018/06/plain-and-standardized-appearance-for-tobacco-packaging.html Manhattan District Attorney (DA), Cyrus Vance, announced a new policy in July that will end the prosecution of cannabis possession and use in the New York borough. The initiative follows the publication of a report from the DA's office, Marijuana, Fairness and Public Policy. Prosecutions will be made only where cannabis is being sold or “it poses a significant threat to public safety.” “Every day I ask our prosecutors to keep Manhattan safe and make our justice system more equal and fair,” Mr Vance said in a statement accompanying the announcement, adding “The needless criminalisation of pot smoking frustrates this core mission, so we are removing ourselves from the equation”. The DA's office estimates that prosecutions for cannabis offences would drop from 5,000 cases per year to 200 per year in the borough. The new Manhattan policy follows New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement in June that from 1 September, New York City police will give summonses for those caught smoking cannabis, while still arresting those with past arrests or convictions. According to The New York Times Mayor de Blasio said that one of the goals of the new policy would be to address the sharp racial disparity in cannabis offence arrests. These moves come against a backdrop of strong signals from incumbent New York State Governor, Andrew M. Cuomo (Democrat), that his administration is considering cannabis legalization across the state. Governor Cuomo is facing competition from Cynthia Nixon, who favours cannabis legalization, in the Democrat Party primaries in his forthcoming re-election campaign. Sources: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/marijuana-smoke-manhattan-nyc-cannabis-weed-smoking-cyrus-vance-a8472091.html https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/DANY-Report-on-the-Legalization-of-Recreational-Marijuana-Final.pdf https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/nyregion/nypd-marijuana-arrests-new-york-city.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/nyregion/marijuana-new-york-cuomo-legalization.html In June the UK Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, commissioned reviews of the medical and therapeutic benefits of cannabis from the Chief Medical Advisor to the UK government, Professor Dame Sally Davies, and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). The move followed widespread media attention given to cases involving children being denied access to cannabis oil to control epileptic seizures, most notably 12-year-old Billy Caldwell and six-year-old Alfie Dingley. In her review, Professor Dame Sally Davies concluded that there is evidence that medicinal cannabis has therapeutic benefits. In its review the ACMD recommended that such products meeting a “clear definition of what constitutes a cannabis-derived medicinal product” should be placed in Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. Cannabis has been a Schedule 1 drug and considered to have no therapeutic value and cannot be lawfully possessed or prescribed in the UK. Following these reviews, Sajid Javid announced on 26 July that he has decided to reschedule cannabis-derived medicinal products and allow them to be prescribed. Javid said that “This will help patients with an exceptional clinical need, but is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use.” The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will develop a definition of what constitutes a cannabis-derived medicinal product so that they can be rescheduled and prescribed. Only products meeting this definition will be rescheduled and other forms of cannabis will not be available on prescription. Ash Soni, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, observed that moving cannabis-based medicinal products to Schedule 2 would allow “research to understand the benefits and risks.” Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/19/cannabis-based-medicines-should-be-allowed-say-uk-drug-advisers https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cannabis-derived-medicinal-products-to-be-made-available-on-prescription https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/features/medical-cannabis-what-will-pharmacys-role-be/20205193.article?firstPass=false CTV News reports that the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on 13 July that British Columbia (B.C.) does not have to give the tobacco company, Philip Morris International, access to detailed B.C. health databases to help the company in its defence in a damages trial. Together with the other provincial governments of Canada, B.C. is suing the tobacco company to recoup smoking-related health-care expenditures in the province. Philip Morris International had wanted access to B.C. databases which compiled individual health-care records about individuals, including details of medical services and prescription drug use. The tobacco company rejected a compromise offered by the B.C. government that would give it and other tobacco companies restricted access through an agreement with Statistics Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the province's favour, saying that the disclosure of such information is barred by a provision of the B.C. legislation protecting "health care records and documents of particular individual insured persons." A trial date of 4 November 2019 has been set in New Brunswick for the first damages trial in Canada, with other provinces still in preparatory stages. Sources: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/supreme-court-affirms-privacy-protections-in-tobacco-health-data-case-1.4011875 https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/17185/index.do 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 Addiction Health Services Research (AHSR) Conference, 17–19 October 2018, Savannah, Georgia, USA. Website: https://www.augusta.edu/institutes/ipph/ahsr2018/ 2018 American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Global Conference on Clinical Pharmacy, 20–23 October 2018, Seattle, Washington, USA. Website: https://www.accp.com/meetings/gc18/index.aspx 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/ 27th World Federation of Therapeutic Communities (WFTC) World Conference, 28 October – 1 November 2018, Bangkok, Thailand. Website: http://wftc.org/wps/events/27th-world-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 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs (APSAD) Auckland Conference, 4–7 November 2018, Auckland, New Zealand. Website: http://www.apsadconference.com.au/ Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA) Annual Conference, 8–9 November 2018, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. 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 Medical Council on Alcohol (MCA) Symposium on Risky Drinking, 14 November 2018, London, UK. Website: http://www.m-c-a.org.uk/events/2018_symposium Association for Behavioral Analysis International (ABAI) Substance Use and Addiction Conference, 19–20 November 2018, Washington, DC, USA. Website: https://www.abainternational.org/events/addiction-2018.aspx 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/ Schweizer Arbeitsgruppe für Cannabinoide in der Medizin (SACM) Conference, 19 January 2019, Bern, Switzerland. Website: http://www.saphw.ch/en/stcm-conference-30-2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, 14–17 February 2019, Washington DC, USA. Website: http://meetings.aaas.org/ Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Annual Meeting, 20–23 February 2019, San Francisco, California, USA. Website: http://www.srnt.org/?page=2019_meeting American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) Annual Meeting, 7–10 March 2019, Denver, Colorado, USA. Website: http://www.painmed.org/annualmeeting/ American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT) Annual Meeting, 13–16 March 2019, Washington, DC, USA. Website: https://www.ascpt.org/Meetings/Annual-Meeting 2019 Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction Meeting, 4–6 April 2019, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. Website: https://addictionpsychology.org/ 26th Harm Reduction International Conference (HR19), 28 April – 1 May 2019, Porto, Portugal. Website: https://www.hri.global/hr19 International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) Conference, 22–24 May 2019, Paris, France. Website: http://www.issdp.org/ College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) Annual Meeting, 15–19 June 2019, San Antonio, Texas, USA. Website: https://cpdd.org/ International Congress on Dual Diagnosis, 19–22 June 2019, Madrid, Spain. Website: http://www.icdd-congress.com/ 14th AIDSImpact Conference, 29–31 July 2019, London, UK. Website: http://www.aidsimpact.com/ 22nd International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference (T2019), 18–21 August 2019, Edmonton, Canada. Website: https://t2019.org/ 17th European AIDS Conference, 6–9 November 2019, Basel, Switzerland. Website: http://www.eacs-conference2019.com/ International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication, 12–14 September 2021, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Website: https://peerreviewcongress.org/index.html Lisbon Addictions 2019, 23–25 October 2019, Lisbon, Portugal. Website: http://www.lisbonaddictions.eu AATOD (American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence) Conference, 19–23 October 2019, Orlando, Florida, USA. Website: http://www.aatod.org/2019-aatod-conference/ 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 john.witton@kcl.ac.uk Conference entries should be sent to Jean O'Reilly at jean@addictionjournal.org. Subject to editorial review, we will be glad to print, free of charge, details of your conference or event, up to 75 words and one entry only. Please send your notification three months before you wish the entry to appear.
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