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All articles in this issue:
Politicians call for drug policy reforms
Towards UNGASS 2016
Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015
Minimum unit pricing for alcohol: what will it really mean?
Preventing alcohol-related harm: what communities can do
First national youth strategy launched
Regulating sponsorship by alcohol companies of major sporting events
Community Alcohol Response and Engagement
Methadone-maintained patients in primary care
Alcohol conference and training seminar
Politicians call for drug policy reforms
byBrigid Pike


In November 2015 a number of high-profile Irish politicians called for a variety of reforms in drug policy including medically-supervised injecting facilities; decriminalisation of drug use;  the adoption of compassion, human rights and equality, community and democratic participation as appropriate platforms on which to think about the drugs problem; and the adoption of a health rather than a criminal justice approach to the drugs problem. Whether this month will be remembered as a turning point will depend on whether and how the debate is taken forward by political parties in the run-up to the 2016 general election, and whether and how the debate is reflected in Ireland’s third national drugs strategy, due by the end of 2016.


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Towards UNGASS 2016
byBrigid Pike


On 14 October 2015 the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) held an informal briefing for member states at the UN headquarters in New York. It was entitled Preparing for UNGASS 2016: Examining complex drug policy issues. The briefing was co-sponsored by the United Nations and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN. In introducing the three contributors, the Swiss ambassador to the UN highlighted the need for drug policies to be based on human rights and public health principles and the importance of considering the full range of linkages between the world drug problem and Agenda 2030


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Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015
byDeidre Mongan


Minister for Health Leo Varadkar launched the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill on 8 December 2015.The Bill addresses alcohol as a public health issue for the first time and it aims to reduce alcohol consumption in Ireland to 9.1 litres of pure alcohol per person per annum by 2020 and to reduce alcohol-related harm.


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Minimum unit pricing for alcohol: what will it really mean?
byJean Long


The publication of the HRB's National Alcohol Diary report last year reinforced the case to introduce minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol in Ireland.1 The recent response of the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General re-ignited the debate and was taken by some to suggest that MUP was not going to be legally enforceable. However the judgement was a little bit more nuanced than that.


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