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Community mobilisation and local alcohol action plans: an evaluation
by Lucy Dillon
A report on the National Community Action on Alcohol Pilot Project (NCAAPP) was published in December 2015.1  The findings of this report, a process evaluation of the project which began in 2015, are outlined below.
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National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm – Annual Report 2014
by Margaret Curtin
The 13th annual report from the National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm was published in September 2015.1 The report contains information relating to every recorded presentation of deliberate self-harm to acute hospital emergency departments in Ireland in 2014, and complete national coverage of cases treated. All individuals who were alive on admission to hospital following deliberate self-harm are included, along with the methods of deliberate self-harm that were used.  Accidental overdoses of medication, street drugs or alcohol are not included.
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Drug and alcohol trends in Blanchardstown
by Vivion McGuire
On 8 March 2016 Blanchardstown Local Drugs and Alcohol Task Force (BLDATF) launched its Drug and alcohol trends monitoring system (DATMS) 2016.
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In this issue
National Drugs Strategy: progress in 2015
Drugs policy in the new programme for government
European drug trends 2016
EU drug markets report 2016
Human rights and drug policy – international perspectives
After UNGASS 2016
Drug users’ human rights
EU drug markets report
Drug treatment courts
What are human rights?
The quality of crime statistics
Modelling OST outcomes with urinalysis and DAIS data
Drug service for LGBT young people
Community mobilisation and local alcohol action plans: an evaluation
Rapid HIV testing service piloted
HIV infection among homeless people who inject drugs
National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm – Annual Report 2014
Frequent attenders at a Dublin inner-city emergency department
Women and methadone maintenance treatment
Drug and alcohol trends in Blanchardstown
 
Catherine Byrne TD,Minister of State for Communities and the National Drugs Strategy
Drugs policy in the new programme for government

May 2016 saw important developments for those working in the illicit drugs area. A new programme for government was published and a new Minister for Communities and the National Drugs Strategy appointed.

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Policy
National Drugs Strategy: progress in 2015
by Lucy Dillon

The Department of Health has published its annual report for 2015 on progress in implementing the actions included in the National Drugs Strategy.The report is a descriptive account of activities over the period – in some cases they are reported at a national level, while in others they are reported at the level of the Community Healthcare Organisations (CHOs).

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Human rights and drug policy – international perspectives
by Brigid Pike

The work of four international bodies with a particular interest in investigating just what a human-rights based approach to drug policy might look like is outlined below.

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After UNGASS 2016
UNGASS 2016 has been and gone. Held on 19–21 April in New York, it comprised not only the general assembly sessions but also over 40 side events, which were organised by individual member states, UN agencies and international NGOs.
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Drug users’ human rights
Just what are the rights of drug users and how can legislators, policy makers, law enforcers and service providers ensure their rights are taken into consideration?  In 2015 the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) produced its first paper considering the drugs phenomenon from a human rights perspective, and in particular human rights as defined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
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What are human rights?

According to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), ‘human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to everyone. International law, including treaties, contain the provisions which give human rights legal effect.’1 In the decades since World War Two, human rights standards have been adopted at United Nations, Council of Europe and the European Union level. Ireland has committed to upholding many of these standards.

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Prevalence
European drug trends 2016
by Brian Galvin
 
At the launch of the European Drug Report 2016 in Lisbon: Dimitris Avramopoulos, European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship and Alexis Goosdeel (director) and Rosemary Martin de Sousa (head of communications) of the EMCDDA

In May 2016 the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published the European drug report 2016: trends and developments summarising  the latest trends across the 28 EU member states, and Norway and Turkey.1  The report highlights the increasing use of MDMA following a period of decline in recent years, with greater levels of production helped by new sources of precursors and production techniques.  The drug’s popularity with existing stimulant users has grown and a new generation of users is emerging, presenting greater health risks as more high potency products become available. 

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