News

Substance Misuse

Local: Drug busting project to shop them and drop them,
WAG, 4 March 2011.

Residents across the Neath area will be encouraged to lend a hand in freeing their neighbourhood of drug dealers under a new project to tackle substance misuse. The...

 

National: More evidence on cannabis psychosis,
NHS Choices, 2 March 2011.

"Young people who use cannabis are doubling their risk of developing psychotic symptoms," the Daily Mail has reported. Mental health problems may also persist among continual users...

 

National: Cannabis use 'raises psychosis risk' - study,
BBC News, 2 March 2011.

Using cannabis as a teenager or young adult increases the risk of psychosis, a report suggests. The study published in the British Medical Journal involved tracking 1,900 people...

 

National: Ecstasy dangers 'unclear',
NHS Choices, 22 February 2011.

"Ecstasy does not wreck the mind," The Guardian reported. According to the newspaper, experts have said that previous research into ecstasy was flawed and that "too many...

 

National: Drug relapse brain region found in rats,
BBC News, 20 February 2011.

Scientists in the US have identified an area of the brain which makes heroin-addicted rats relapse. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, showed that part of the medial...

 

National: Mephedrone freely available on the internet despite ban,
BBC News, 8 February 2011.

The drug mephedrone, banned almost a year ago, is still easily available to buy on the internet, the BBC has found. Mephedrone became a class B drug, the same as speed or...

 

Local: Work goes on to help end drugs problem,
This is South Wales, 2 February 2011.

THIS month, the Star reported that drug deaths in Llanelli were on the decrease - ending an alarming spiral of tragedy. We discovered in 2009 that the number of people killed by...

 

Local: Better medical service will improve prisoners’ health and management,
Wales Online, 10 January 2011.

Lucy Merredy explains why a comprehensive forensic medical service in Wales will mean a better service for prisoners and benefit the wider society. IN the increasingly complex...

 

National: Stroke recovery boosted by a course of Prozac,
BBC News, 10 January 2011.

Giving stroke patients Prozac soon after the event could help their recovery from paralysis, a study has found. Researchers discovered more improvement in movement and greater...

 

National: Taking the magic mushroom drug psilocybin for a trial,
BBC News, 6 January 2011.

Last summer, while filming for my new BBC4 series, The Brain - A Secret History, I took part in the UK's first scientific trial of psilocybin - the active component of magic mushrooms. It...

 

National: Scientist says designer drug makers 'stole' his blueprints,
BBC News, 5 January 2011.

An American chemist has spoken out against the misuse of scientific research to create designer drugs. Writing in the journal Nature, Professor David Nichols of Purdue University...

 

Did you know

  •    You are entitled to review your medications with your local pharmacist free of charge.
  •    A healthy balanced diet, taking more exercise and losing weight if necessary may delay the onset of diabetes.
  •    Young people aged 13-25 years can access free, confidential sexual health advice and condoms from the Cardiff Condom-Card (C-Card) Scheme.
  •    A reduction in dietary salt intake from 9g to 6g could reduce blood pressure.
  •    In England and Wales, alcohol misuse leads to some 33,000 hospital admissions each year for alcohol-related liver disease.
  •    Improving your diet could prevent an estimated third of cancers.
  •    Over 40% of 5 year olds in Cardiff have one or more decayed teeth.
  •    Currently, over half of the population of Cardiff are reported to be overweight or obese.
  •    If you drive at twice the legal alcohol limit you are at least 30 times more likely to cause a road crash, than a driver who hasn't been drinking.
  •    A healthy balance diet, physical activity and maintaining a healthy body weight have been shown to be effective in the prevention and treatment of hypertension.
  •    Obesity is associated with a reduction in life expectancy of approximately 9 years.
  •    Regular exercise can really help if you're feeling depressed, stressed or anxious.
  •    A diet rich in fruit and vegetables decreases the risk of coronary heart disease.
  •    Of the people alive today, 650 million will eventually be killed by tobacco.
  •    An extra portion of fruit and vegetables per day could decrease the risk of coronary heart disease by 4% and stroke by 6%.
  •    If you are regularly physically active, you are 50% less likely of becoming obese.
  •    Nearly £2000 a year could be saved by quitting smoking 20 cigarettes per day.
  •    If you are regularly physically active, you are approximately 50% less likely to develop coronary health disease than those who do not exercise.
  •    By taking regular physical activity you are at reduced risk of developing osteoporosis.
  •    Smoking during pregnancy has been identified as a cause of cot death.
  •    In Wales, the total cost of physical inactivity to the health service and the economy as a whole is estimated at around £650 million per year.
  •    6,000 deaths from coronary heart disease in men each year are directly due to alcohol.
  •    Only 26% of adults in Cardiff undertake the recommended 5 x 30 minutes exercise per week.