Read articles from United Kingdom

January 29, 2021 by telegraph.co.uk

Super-skunk cannabis has contributed to a record 100,000 people admitted for NHS treatment for drug-related mental health problems.

The number admitted with drug-related mental or behavioural disorders rose by three per cent to 99,782 in the past year, while hospital admissions for drug-related mental crises were up by 21 per cent in the decade that has seen super-strength cannabis emerge.

The new strains have seen the amount of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, increase up to five-fold – from five per cent 10 to 15 years ago to as much as 20 to 25 per cent.

January 26, 2021 by thenorthernecho.co.uk

Figures from a UK survey by Portland Communications show that just under half of smokers interviewed wished to stop in the New Year. Yet sadly almost 70 per cent had lit up within the first week of January, with over half smoking more than they were before their decision to quit.

January 26, 2021 by youtube.com

This event is for anyone who is interested in finding solutions to smoking-related death and disease in adults presenting with substance use, mental illness and homelessness.

January 13, 2021 by news-medical.net

Researchers at the University of York are calling for more stringent regulatory measures to reduce the health burden of smokeless tobacco, a product often found in UK stores without the proper health warnings and as a result of illicit trading.

Smokeless tobacco is particularly popular in Asia and Africa and includes chewing tobacco as well as various types of nasal tobacco. They contain high levels of nicotine as well as cancer producing toxic chemicals, making head and neck cancers common in those who consume smokeless tobacco products.

January 11, 2021 by thetimes.co.uk

Of all the many business collapses of 2020, perhaps one of the most disappointing was the demise of a smoking-cessation start-up backed by a colourful cast of big City names.

Kind Consumer is the London-based developer of the Voke nicotine inhaler device. It had ambitions to upend the multibillion-pound tobacco market by solving one of public health’s most devastating and costly problems: smoking-related disease.

January 08, 2021 by vapingpost.com

This week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the third lockdown in England, which started this week and will last until around mid-February. [...] The UK fully endorses the use of vapes as smoking cessation and/or harm reduction tools, and it is a well known fact that the pressures brought about by the pandemic are leading to a lot of smoking relapses. To this effect, public health experts have been pointing out that closing vape shops at this time is particularly nonsensical. Only last October, the government-funded campaign – Stoptober, was urging smokers to quit cigarettes by switching to vaping.

January 07, 2021 by thegrocer.co.uk

Trade body the UK Vaping Industry Association is lobbying government to classify vape shops as essential retailers.

The lobbying effort has been ongoing since the first national lockdown in March, but the association has redoubled its efforts, warning that former smokers who have made the switch to electronic alternatives “could be tempted back”.

Furthermore, UKVIA says, many smokers will have made new year’s resolutions to quit, with vaping a good way to help them achieve this ambition.

December 17, 2020 by nursingtimes.net

A report published [...] by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has called for a national plan to implement training on smoking for mental health staff, including nurses and psychiatrists. The call comes in response to concerns reported by staff who felt they were ill-equipped to support their patients.

The charity said its report highlighted that the current training of mental health nurses and psychiatrists to help their patients to quit smoking was “woefully inadequate”.

December 15, 2020 by eurekalert.org

Young people who prefer to stay up late are more impulsive than their peers who go to bed earlier, which makes them more likely to drink alcohol and smoke, a new study in the journal Chronobiology International, reports. In the first study of its kind, researchers from the University of Surrey and Brunel University London investigated how being an evening type (someone who prefers to stay up late and functions better in the evening) links to impulsivity, anxiety, and substance use. Young people often prefer to stay up late, and those who do are known to be at higher risk of mental health issues and problematic substance use.

December 09, 2020 by ft.com

British American Tobacco expects annual revenue growth to be at the top of its forecast range, after the pandemic delivered a smaller-than-expected blow to the industry.

A collapse in duty-free sales at airports has hit the FTSE 100 company, but overall demand for cigarettes during the Covid-19 crisis has proved resilient.

As a result, the £66bn company said on Wednesday that adjusted revenue growth for the financial year will be at the upper end of the 1 to 3 per cent range it has forecast. [...]