Focus
Constant cravings – Is addiction on the rise?
January 14th, 2019 Addiction was once viewed as an unsavoury fringe disease, tethered to substances with killer withdrawal symptoms, such as alcohol and opium. But now the scope of what humans can be addicted to seems to have snowballed, from sugar to shopping to...
Little international agreement over burning issue of vaping
January 14th, 2019 Despite much debate in the United Kingdom and United States there is little agreement over how safe e-cigarettes are, write University of Edinburgh public health Professor Linda Bauld and the University of Liverpool’s Dr Suzi Gagein The...
Nigeria isn’t doing enough to reduce tobacco use. Here’s why
January 14th, 2019 Tobacco remains the biggest public health threat, killing more than seven million people globally every year. The World Health Organization has recognised progress in Nigeria, but concerns remain about effective implementation, write researchers...
When common sense and sound judgment go up in smoke
December 5th, 2018 Government’s proposed anti-tobacco bill lacks any scientific assessment as an underlying principle of legislation, argues Tim Cohen, senior editor of Business Day. In a news story, Nick Hedley says tobacco company Philip Morris International sees...
Troublesome issues in e-cigarette policy in America
December 3rd, 2018 The Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) and e-cigarette policy scene continues to evolve in a direction that will result in substantially more tobacco-related addiction, illness and death, than what would likely occur with the skilled addition of a THR...
Reimagining addiction
December 3rd, 2018 Ill-informed opinion, rather than evidence, and an often misguided sense of what is moral shape attitudes to addiction and its treatment. In this fake news era it behoves addiction researchers to take evidence to the public and to governments more...
Public Health England: Stopping smoking – What works?
November 5th, 2018 Public Health England recently published Health Matters guidance focusing on the range of smoking quitting routes that are available and the evidence for their effectiveness. Two-thirds of smokers say they want to quit, however most try to do so...
US FDA warns companies of ‘illegal’ e-cigarettes in crackdown on youth vaping
November 5th, 2018 On 12 October the US Food and Drug Administration said it had sent letters to 21 e-cigarette companies questioning the legality of 41 of their products – the latest in a series of actions to thwart e-cigarette sales to youth. Earlier, the FDA sent...
Workplace and Recovery – How US employers and employees handle addiction
November 5th, 2018 Nearly three-quarters of US employers feel guilty about how they have handled employees’ drug or alcohol addiction-related problems, according to a survey of 737 employers and employees, writes Karen Higginbottom for Forbes. The Workplace and...
Expert opinion divided over health impacts as SA legalises dagga
October 8th, 2018 Following the legalisation of cannabis for personal use in South Africa, the SA Society of Psychiatrists and the SA Medical Association warned of its addictive nature and the need for support measures to deal with dagga’s negatives effects....
WHO launches new strategy to accelerate global tobacco control
October 8th, 2018 The Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control closed its eighth session – COP8 – on 7 October after adopting a new action plan to scale up the global tobacco control agenda over the next few years.The meeting...
‘White paper’ call to action on vapour products, harm reduction and taxation
October 8th, 2018 The International Center for Law & Economics in the US has produced a white paper it describes as a call to action for economists and health policy researchers to undertake the analysis – thus far absent from the debate – needed to...
Cigarette market is soaring in Africa – UCT study
September 3rd, 2018 Tobacco companies are thriving in Africa due to weak anti-tobacco and tax laws. A study by the University of Cape Town’s Economics of Tobacco Control Project found that tobacco use rose by 44% between 1990 and 2012, writes Amy Green for...
Supporters of South Africa’s Tobacco Bill speak out
September 3rd, 2018 Following a cacophony of criticism of South Africa’s Tobacco Bill, supporters the legislation are having their say. An article in Daily Maverick outlines a campaign by the tobacco industry to thwart planned moves to control smoking and...
Urgent strategies needed to tackle US opioid crisis – Doctors have a role
September 3rd, 2018 There are many ways to tackle America’s growing opioid addiction crisis. In articles in USA Today, a behavioural economist and a chief medical examiner propose letting doctors know when patients overdose and die, in order to reduce opioid...