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Topic quick links:
Cover page
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All articles in this issue:
 New Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy
 Use of sedatives or tranquillisers and anti-depressants in Ireland
 Monitoring centre report reveals latest drug trends in Europe
 ‘Drug problems are too complex and dynamic for single magic bullet solutions’
 The first census of homeless persons in Ireland
 Probation Service annual report 2011
 NESC report commends city policing initiative
 Roadside drug testing
 MQI annual review 2011
 Taoiseach officially opens Riverbank Centre
 HSE publishes hepatitis C strategy
 The role of alcohol in rape cases in Ireland
 Prevalence of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Ireland
 Which talking therapies (counselling) work for drug users with alcohol problems?
 Mental health among homeless male hostel residents in Dublin
 Research on young people leaving state care in North Dublin
 From Drugnet Europe
 In brief
 Recent publications
 Upcoming events
 What makes for a ‘good’ drugs policy?
 Southern Regional Drugs Task Force stresses ‘humanistic’ approach
 Report of Alcohol Action Ireland conference ‘Time Please… For Change’
 Alcohol: increasing price can reduce harm and contribute to revenue collection
Upcoming events
by Joan Moore (compiler)

January

31 January 2013
Drugs and alcohol seminar: Managing the performance, safety and health risks of employee drug and alcohol use
Venue: Ashling Hotel, Dublin 8
Organised by / Contact: EAP Institute
Email: anita@eapinstitute.com
Tel: +353 51 855733
www.eapinstitute.com

Information: This seminarwill consider the implications for business on a proposed new law to test all road users for drug driving. Currently commercial drivers who register a reading of greater than 20mg/100ml of alcohol are deemed not fit to drive and the proposed new drug testing will pose an additional threat to employee livelihood. Section 13(1) b of the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires that an employee should ensure that he or she is not under the influence of an intoxicant to the extent that he or she is in such a state as to endanger his or her own safety health or welfare at work or that of any other person.  Section 19(1) requires that employers should assess the risks presented by those hazards and include them in a written assessment.  A further requirement under Section 20(1) of the Act is that the control measures for intoxicants should be included in the safety statement.
This seminar will also run on 23 May 2013 at The Prince of Wales Hotel, Athlone, Co Westmeath.


February

14 February 2013
Be the Change! DDN Service User Conference 2013
Venue: National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, UK
Organised by / Contact: Drink and Drugs News
Email: conferences@cjwellings.com
Tel: 01233 633315

Information: This is your chance to have your say and network with colleagues all over the country. Activism, inspiration, enterprise and all pathways to recovery will be central to a programme that will give every opportunity for service users and professionals to share expertise and practical learning.


March
 

Alcohol Awareness Week planned for March 2013www.alcoholforum.org

Information: Alcohol Forum, the alcohol-responsibility advocacy group based in the North Western area, has announced plans to launch the first ever national Alcohol Awareness Week in March 2013. The Forum is hoping to organise a national conference on 21 March in parallel with the event. Alcohol Forum is also a cross-border advocacy group and also offers support and advice to families affected by alcohol issues. See website for information about the Forum and for further details of the conference in due course.


May

6–11 May 2013
Testing the waters: 2013 conference
Venue: Obergurgl, Austria
Organised by / Contact: European Science Foundation / EMCDDA / Innsbruck Leopold-Franzens University
www.esf.org/index  /  www.emcdda.europa.eu/wastewater-analysis

Information: ‘Testing the waters’ is the title of the first international multidisciplinary conference on illicit drugs and wastewater. Wastewater analysis is a rapidly developing scientific discipline with the potential for monitoring real-time population-level trends in illicit drug use and for assessing the efficacy of drug control interventions. By sampling a source of wastewater – for example a sewage influent to a wastewater treatment plant – scientists can estimate the total quantity of drugs consumed by a community by measuring the levels of illicit drug metabolites excreted in urine. The conference will assess the state of the art in this emerging scientific discipline, consolidate research findings and identify a common approach and set of methodologies for wastewater analysis and monitoring. For information on applications and abstract submission, see the ESF website.


16–17 May 2013
Managing Drug and Alcohol Problems in Primary Care
Venue: National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, UK
Organised by / Contact: Royal College of General Practitioners
www.rcgp.org.uk/courses-and-events

Information: This, the 18th national conference, will once again examine the critical role primary care plays in working with drug users, their families and carers. The conference is the largest event in the UK for GPs, shared care workers, drug users, nurses and other primary care staff, specialists, commissioners and researchers interested in, and involved with the management of drug users in primary care. 

 


Drugnet Ireland is published by: 

Health Research BoardKnockmaun House
42–47 Lower Mount Street
Dublin 2

Tel: 01 2345 148
Email: drugnet@hrb.ie 

Managing editor: Brian Galvin
Editor: Joan Moore



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