birminghammail--2019-06-17--Drugs bullying and no support - why HMP Birmingham faces long journey of recovery

Drugs, bullying and no support - why HMP Birmingham 'faces long journey of recovery'

A quarter of inmates locked up inside HMP Birmingham are still testing positive for drugs, a damning report revealed.  Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, concluded how "the scale of the task to improve treatment and conditions for prisoners in Birmingham is huge".  In a progress review of the notorious Winson Green jail, Mr Clarke also stated: "There is no doubt that the prison faces a long journey of recovery."  The inspector previously lambasted HMP Birmingham for being in an "appalling state" following a review back in August 2018.  Ten months on from his last visit, Mr Clarke found how one in four prisoners were still testing positive for drugs.  He also said it was "inexplicable" that HMP Birmingham "had been unable to secure funding for equipment such as a body scanner to help them stop drugs entering the prison".  HMP Birmingham made national headlines in 2016 after a 14-hour riot involving at least 500 inmates.  The mass disturbance on the morning of December 16 broke out on four wings.  In 2016, an investigation led by a former prison service director blamed chronic staff shortages and ongoing instability on the infamous riots.  However, more than 28 months on from the chaos, chief inspector Mr Clarke noted how progress is being made in Birmingham - but improvements still need to be made.  He said: "It is only right that I recognise the scale of the task to improve the treatment and conditions for prisoners at Birmingham. It is huge.  "There is no doubt that the prison faces a long journey of recovery.  "It is very clear that the governor, through his vision and very visible leadership, has energised the staff and undoubted pride and optimism are emerging around the prison.  "I think that optimism is well founded.  "Birmingham has already made some tangible improvements, and has the capacity for further change and improve if it retains strong leadership... and if those responsible for Birmingham at national and regional level provide it with the support necessary to sustain what has begun."  Based on a three-day visit between May 7-9 last month, the independent review of progress found a mixed overall picture.  Mr Clarke said there was insufficient progress in tackling anti-social behaviour and in improving work, training and education for most prisoners.  There was no meaningful progress in work to support the large number of sex offenders to address their offending behaviour, he said.  Mr Clarke, during a previous review in August 2018, said the treatment of prisoners among the worst inspectors had seen in recent years.  During last month's visit, Mr Clarke said inspectors found that HMP Birmingham "had worked exceptionally hard to address violence".  He added: "The causes of violence were now well understood and a range of actions had been taken to make the prison safer."  Levels of violence had decreased since 2018, though they remained considerably higher than the average for similar prisons.  Measures to ensure prisoners faced sanctions for their poor behaviour looked encouraging, he added, but had only recently been introduced and were not yet working effectively.  Similarly, considerable efforts had been made to identify victims of violence and bullying but as yet too little support had been offered.  Inspectors no longer observed overt drug use on the wings, Mr Clarke said.  Relationships between staff and prisoners had also improved, and the prison felt more ordered and controlled.  In August 2018, inspectors had found that control in the "fundamentally unsafe" prison was tenuous.  In 2019, "staff were more accountable, better supported and more able to establish appropriate boundaries and challenge poor prisoner behaviour".  The prison was also now much cleaner, Mr Clarke stated in his report.  Mr Clarke said HMP Birmingham had made reasonable progress in identifying and addressing the needs of prisoners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.  However, progress across other areas of education, skills and work - assessed by Ofsted inspectors - was insufficient.  "The provision did not meet most prisoners’ needs – most critically the substantial number of prisoners requiring English and mathematics education," detailed Mr Clarke.  Many of the weaknesses in public protection arrangements evident in 2018 had now been addressed.  However, Mr Clarke added: "The prison had devised a strategy to manage and progress the substantial number of prisoners convicted of sexual offences but, with no support or agreement from across the wider HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), the strategy was unrealistic and likely to fail."  At the time of this review visit the capacity at HMP Birmingham had been reduced to 977 as three of the large Victorian wings were now considered unfit and had been closed.


fortune--2019-10-11--The U.K.’s Public Health Center for Gaming Disorders Marks a New Era in Fighting Tech Addiction

Could CRISPR Be Used as a Targeted Virus-Killer?—Brainstorm Health


thesun--2019-01-04--Twelve ways to break your childrens screen addiction as technology and gaming disrupts sleep

Twelve ways to break your children’s screen addiction as technology and gaming disrupts sleep

POWER down your kids’ gadgets an hour before bedtime – or their health could suffer.  This is one tip from the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health, who have issued the UK’s first formal guidance concerning kids’ screen time.  They highlight how sleep patterns can be disrupted by long periods spent on phones, tablets and watching television.   However, they stop short of telling parents exactly how long is acceptable.  Psychologist Adam Alter, a professor at New York University, has some advice for parents on managing their children’s screen habits – and the extent to which those habits infringe upon family social life.  Professor Alter has authored the groundbreaking book Irresistible: Why We Can’t Stop Checking, Scrolling, Clicking & Watching, which explains the effects of screen time on the brain.    Some of that content might be educational and enriching.  Some of it is more likely to make our children distracted or even unhappy.  Chatting with loved ones who live far away, playing educational games and reading ebooks are perfectly healthy screen pursuits.  Spending endless hours on social media and violent video games are far less healthy alternatives.  OLDER kids sometimes struggle to understand why they shouldn’t spend every waking minute in front of a screen.  A helpful tool is to explain the concept of balance.  In the same way we balance small servings of dessert with larger portions of healthy food, we also need to balance the “empty calories” of mindless screen time with face-to-face conversations, physical activity and time spent outdoors.  THE American Academy of Pediatrics suggests ZERO screen time until kids reach between 18 and 24 months of age.  That is easier said than done, particularly when older kids begin to watch television around their smaller siblings.  If your youngster does start watching TV before the age of 18 months, don’t simply accept you have already lost the battle.  Instead, try to limit their screen time to a realistic hour a day.  YOUNGER kids tend to be mesmerised by screens, so it is tempting for parents to treat TVs and tablets as “miracle babysitters”.  It is far healthier to think of a screen as a second pair of hands.  Kids are more likely to benefit from brief periods of screen time when their parents sit with them and together they discuss the shows they are watching.  WHEN young kids master tablets and phones, they jump rapidly from one app or game to another.  They are more likely to learn to concentrate, persist and learn from the content they are consuming if they are taught to watch on a TV without a remote control or on a tablet with its screen locked to a single app.  SMARTPHONE use isn’t only a problem with children.  It can be an issue for adults too.  Youngsters have told me: “I wish Mum and Dad wouldn’t sit at the dinner table with their phones.”  But they will notice when your attention is fixed on a screen instead of them and think: “Why is this shiny rectangle taking all the attention? It must be important.”  Try to lead by example and don’t be constantly checking your phone when you are around your children.  KIDS are less likely to see the digital world as an enticing alternative to the real world when parents draw links between what they watch and everyday life.  After youngsters see a show about colours, for example, while their parents are folding laundry they can point out the colour of each item of clothing.  That reminds kids these same colours exist and can be enjoyed in reality too.  KIDS hate being bored but it is important they learn to entertain themselves, can think creatively and develop communication skills with other people.  Phones can be richly entertaining and are almost always available, making boredom all but extinct.  As soon as phones enter kids’ lives, they get pulled out at the first twinge of boredom.  These devices are portable, so children know they can access them everywhere. But they shouldn’t be used as a crutch for every idle moment.  PEOPLE who live in big cities adjust to the pace of urban life and find smaller towns or the countryside comparatively slow.  The same is true of kids watching frenetic TV shows. They come to demand that level of engagement from every experience and are less tolerant of things like reading and having a conversation, which require time, concentration and practice.  It’s important to expose kids to slower forms of educational TV content when they are young and to gradually increase the pace of that content as they mature.  SCREENS emit a bluish-white light that tricks the brain into thinking daytime even when we use them at night.  Kids who use screens within an hour of bedtime and during the night experience jetlag-like symptoms that make it harder for them to fall asleep, stay asleep and wake refreshed in the morning.  In general, kids shouldn’t use screens an hour before bed.  And they shouldn’t have phones, tablets and computers in their bedrooms.  WE assume we are punishing children by preventing them from being on screens.  But they are happiest when they are deeply engaged.  It might sound trite but the best way to do that is spending time doing things together like going for a walk and talking about what you see.  CHILDREN are happiest when their world includes some degree of structure and predictability.  It is important, then, to form consistent screen-time habits that include periods away from their devices.  For example, it is easiest to teach kids to discuss their days at the dinner table when they have learned from a young age that no one uses their phones or watches television during dinner.  Children respond well to routines, so you might introduce a rule whereby you don’t use devices after 5pm, say.


thesun--2019-01-26--Brit kids as young as 11 are being taken into care due to severe gaming addictions

CHILDREN as young as 11 are being taken from their families over fears they are addicted to gaming.  As many as 13 kids were put into care in just a two-month period because of concerns over the amount of time spent on computers or consoles.  It is believed the severe interventions are the first of their kind, according to an investigation by The Mirror.  Parents are being warned to look out for warning signs of gaming addiction.  Affected youngsters often lag behind at school and shun friends and family as they shut themselves away to play video games around the clock.  Of the 13 children taken into care, one was aged just 11, according to The Mirror.  They came from Yorkshire, Merseyside, London, Gloucestershire and the Isle of Wight, according to data released under Freedom of Information.  Some of the children were removed because their parents were gaming addicts and neglected them.  The 11-year-old was taken into care by Wakefield Council in West Yorkshire.  Experts say that parents offering unrestricted access to computers and games consoles allows kids to become hooked.  Prof Griffiths, a behavioural addiction specialist at Nottingham Trent University, added: "People are now being taken in to care because of their gaming and I am not surprised.  "What I’m talking about is children mainly between eight and 18.  “If there is parental responsibility children wouldn’t have unfettered access around the clock.  "We are talking about gaming that takes over a child’s life to the neglect of all else."  Signs of addictions include loss of interest in other actives and hobbies.  Personality changes - including becoming more aggressive and violent - are also common.  The World Health Organisation has recognised gaming addiction as a mental health condition.  We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


thesun--2019-03-30--Footballs silent addiction Gaming makes me aggressive and Im worried itll finish my career

Football’s silent addiction: Gaming makes me aggressive and I’m worried it’ll finish my career

AN English football star has told how playing Fortnite for up to 16 HOURS a day threatens to end his relationship - and his career.  The EFL player admits to sometimes missing training because of his marathon Xbox sessions.  ![ A top English footballer says his addiction to playing the Fortnite video game could cost him his career and relationship]()  Alamy  A top English footballer says his addiction to playing the Fortnite video game could cost him his career and relationship  He is now worried his girlfriend will leave him and his club will ditch him because of his gaming addiction.  And he says there are many more in the sport just like him.  SunSport was put in touch with the player by his psychotherapist Steve Pope, who is a specialist in addiction, depression and anxiety.  The pro has asked to remain anonymous for fear of damaging his reputation in the game.  But he hopes by speaking out he will raise awareness about an addiction which has been described as a “silent epidemic” in football.  The ace’s account is likely to resonate with dozens of his fellow professionals, who also while away their free time on consoles.  Dele Alli, who yesterday announced a partnership with a gaming chair company on Instagram, Harry Kane and Mesut Ozil are among the Premier League stars known to be fans of Fortnite.    ## MISSING TRAINING  But the anonymous EFL player, who is out of contract in the summer, insists gaming has become a “massive problem".  And SunSport has learned the PFA have been contacted by clubs who are concerned about the gaming habits of some of their players.  On his own experience, he revealed: “When I get back from training, the first thing I do is turn the Xbox on to play Fortnite.  “I play for about eight to ten hours a day, but I once played 16 hours non- stop the day before a match.  “When we have away matches and we travel by coach, I am gaming from the moment we leave and then I carry on in my hotel room at night.  “It is quite normal for me to stay up playing until two o’clock or three o’clock in the morning.  “I get a lot of eye strain, I am tired the next day and I miss training sometimes.  “When I started missing training, that was when I knew I needed help as I was getting in trouble from my club.  > I know they play for a lot of hours because I play Fortnite with them - as well as with players from other clubs  “This has been going on for about a year now.  “If I get told to come off the game, I am sometimes quite aggressive. I have mood swings.  “If I keep gaming, I worry that it could potentially finish my career.  “It is also affecting my relationship with my girlfriend because I play on the Xbox instead of seeing her.  He added: “I think some of my team-mates need help as well.  “About 50 per cent of our squad are into gaming.  “And I know they play for a lot of hours because I play Fortnite with them - as well as with players from other clubs.”  The EFL pro says he got into Fortnite after seeing Prem heroes like Dele playing it, and he enjoys its competitiveness and speed.  In the shooter game’s battle royale mode, 100 players fight to be the last person standing and can play solo, as a duo or in squads.  It has around 250 million players worldwide and was popular with the England squad at last summer’s World Cup.  Research by The Sun found that, between them, Tottenham trio Kane, Dele and Kieran Trippier clocked up 1,137 matches during their time in Russia.  ### Don't suffer in silence - the help is there  PFA members who want support for addictions can email wellbeing@thepfa.co.uk  Members of the public can visit www.videogameaddiction.co.uk or call their helpline on 08000 886 686.  With matches lasting 20 minutes on average, that meant they spent up to 379 hours playing Fortnite.  While data also showed how Dele played 23 matches the day before England’s semi-final defeat to Croatia - approximately more than seven hours on the game.  A leading sports physician recently suggested Arsenal forward Ozil’s frequent back problems could be because he spends too much time on Fortnite.  Ingo Frobose, a professor for prevention and rehabilitation at the German Sport University Cologne, said: “It could be the cause of Ozil's back problems because a competitive athlete feels the consequences of hours of inactivity much faster than a non-athlete.”  And Dr Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University says excessive gaming can cause visual and auditory hallucinations, wrist pain, elbow pain and tenosynovitis.  A number of high-profile sports stars in America have also recently spoken about the mental effects of being addicted to Fortnite.  And former world snooker champion Neil Robertson also confessed to a problem in 2017.  ## HAPPY CHEMICALS  Jeff Whitley, a player welfare officer at the PFA, told SunSport: “Some clubs have rung up and asked us to go and speak to their players specifically about gaming addictions.  “Some lads aren't setting sensible boundaries.  "They are going back to their digs after training and playing from two in the afternoon to two in the morning and it is having an impact on their mental health."  The player who has confided in SunSport is one of five pros from both England and Scotland currently seeing gaming addiction expert Pope.  Pope, who used to be the club psychotherapist at Fleetwood, told SunSport: “Over the last few years, we have probably treated more than 20 footballers for this problem alone.  “But that is just the tip of the iceberg. They are all at it.  “It is the biggest scourge of our times. It’s a silent epidemic because footballers can’t be tested for it.  “I don’t think clubs realise what a big problem this is and the debilitating effect excessive gaming has on a player’s psyche.  “They wouldn’t let a footballer have a bottle of vodka in their hotel room the night before a game, so why would they let him loose with an Xbox?  ![ Dele Alli spent some of his spare time at the World Cup playing video games]()  https://www.instagram.com/dele/?hl=en  Dele Alli spent some of his spare time at the World Cup playing video games  “Footballers have an addictive personality because that’s what makes them good at their job.  “From an early age at academies, they are conditioned to work for a high, whether that is making a great pass or scoring a great goal. That is the work- for high.  “The brain likes that feeling, likes that elation, likes that rush.  “But if they are not getting that high from football, they are getting it from something else - alcohol, drugs, gambling or gaming. That is the lazy high.  “Footballers are trained to be competitive and with the kind of games they are playing, Fortnite or Fifa, they are continually in a competition. It’s a follow on from playing football.  “The trouble is they are playing the games all night and use up all their happy chemicals so their brain is imbalanced.  “So come the match the following day, they are as flat as a pancake. They are a jangled wreck, trying to clear their head.  “When I worked in-house at Fleetwood, we banned game stations the night before matches.  “I would walk the hotel corridors at night time nicking PlayStations and Xboxes to stop them using them.”  Pope added: “If it’s a national problem, which gaming is, then why shouldn’t it affect footballers who have hours and hours to kill on planes, trains and coaches, and then sit in hotel rooms by themselves?  “For footballers, the real appeal about computer games is that, unlike with other addictions, they can’t be tested for it.  “It is a problem that needs to be outed to save players’ careers.”  ![ Harry Kane is a confirmed lover of playing video games in his spare time without any issues]()  Rex Features  Harry Kane is a confirmed lover of playing video games in his spare time without any issues  Mesut Ozil likes to relax by gaming when he is not playing football


thesun--2019-04-06--Prem stars treated for addiction to Fortnite as gaming affects their form

Prem stars ‘treated for addiction to Fortnite as gaming affects their form’

PREMIER LEAGUE stars are currently seeking treatment for addiction to Fortnite as excessive "gaming affects their form", it has been claimed.  The game recently came under fire from [Prince Harry who called for it to be banned](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8786794/prince-harry-blasts-fortnite- social-media-parents-responsibility/) after one star admitted to missing training because of his marathon Xbox sessions.  ![ Professional footballers are losing their careers because of an addiction to Fortnite, it has been claimed]()  Alamy  Professional footballers are losing their careers because of an addiction to Fortnite, it has been claimed  Dele Alli, who recently announced a partnership with a gaming chair company, Harry Kane and Mesut Ozil are among the Premier League stars known to be Fortnite fans.  One young pro – called Sam to protect his identity – revealed that following the England stars in their love of the battle royale game has now left his career hanging by a thread.  He told the [Mirror](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier- league-stars-admit-becoming-14246643): “One friend played with Harry Kane, then I saw Dele Alli doing a Fortnite dance in a goal celebration. The whole world seemed to be about Fortnite. By Christmas I had an alarm for 6am to get games in before training.  “I’d play until 4am. Soon I was late for training most days and off my game. The coaches asked if I had problems at home.  “I lied, saying mum and dad were fighting, which made me feel terrible.”  > I’d play until 4am. Soon I was late for training most days and off my game.  Sunday Mirror figures claim Kane, 25, has played 3,362 Fortnite games since July 2017, while Spurs pals Alli, 22, and Kieran Trippier, 28, have played 4,437 and 3,760 respectively.  The shooter game's battle royale mode, in which 100 players fight to be the last person standing as a solo or with friends, now boasts around 250million players worldwide.  Sam is with a Football League team in the North West but his addiction to Fortnite led to him becoming on the verge of losing his contract.  The 20-year-old is currently [being treated by his psychotherapist Steve Pope](https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8735239/football-silent- addiction-gaming-fortnight-addiction-career/) and revealed he now agrees with Prince Harry's views on the game.  ### Don't suffer in silence - the help is there  PFA members who want support for addictions can email wellbeing@thepfa.co.uk  Members of the public can visit www.videogameaddiction.co.uk or call their helpline on 08000 886 686.  He added: "He was right about Fortnite being created to be addictive.  “Most parents will take a quick look at it, see it is a 12 age rating, and think it’s fine. It’s worse than drink and drugs. It has no health warning.  “A month ago I was late for a match and my coaches went ballistic.  “They said they’d have to call my parents in. I panicked. I told mum and dad everything. They’d read about Steve Pope and called him.  “He told me to cut my gaming to two hours a day and keep a diary on how my football was going. As soon as I realised I was getting my old form back I decided never to game again.”  ![ Dele Alli spent some of his spare time at the World Cup playing Fortnite]()  https://www.instagram.com/dele/?hl=en  Dele Alli spent some of his spare time at the World Cup playing Fortnite  ![ Harry Kane is also a lover of playing the game in his spare time without any issues]()  Rex Features  Harry Kane is also a lover of playing the game in his spare time without any issues Mesut Ozil likes to relax with Fortnite when he is not playing football  Football’s silent addiction - Gaming makes me aggressive and I’m worried it’ll end my career


thesun--2019-06-03--Online game addiction test reveals if youre likely to suffer from gaming disorder

Online game addiction test reveals if you’re likely to suffer from ‘gaming disorder’

IF you're worried that you or someone else might be a gaming 'addict', there's now an online test to find out if you're right.  An international team of psychologists has written an online quiz, which takes about 20 minutes to complete, that tests you against the the criteria set by the World Health Organisation.  It also lets you see how your gaming habits measure up against other people.  To be officially diagnosed with gaming disorder, you need to have suffered "significant impairment or distress over a period of 12 months" as a result of games, with the definition providing nine areas to test.  "If all diagnostic requirements are met and symptoms are severe," then, according to the WHO, that time period can be shortened.  The test is described as the "first-ever standardised psychometric tool for assessing [gaming disorder]" and was developed with a study on 560 gamers from the UK and China.  As well as being a test to see if you've got a problem, the test will gather data on the "severity and accompanying detrimental effects to the gamer’s life" of playing for too long.  You can take the test online here.  The WHO description of gaming disorder does make it clear that it's the potential negative impacts that define game addiction, and recognise that "spending copious amounts of time gaming" on its own isn't enough to define addiction.  The test doesn't provide a formal diagnosis, but it will flag if you are "meet the WHO criteria for gaming disorder" so that you can seek professional help, according to lead researcher Dr Bruno Schivinski.  “We want to understand the point at which gaming becomes a health problem, and which factors contribute to the development of gaming disorders," Schivinski says.  "We hope there will be thousands of participants in the next phase of the study.”  Addiction rates in the UK might be as high as 14.6 per cent, according to the researchers, who hope to use the test to get a clearer perspective on how big the problem actually is.  The initial research, published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction focused on university students who said they had played games in the past year, with 6.4 per cent "reported having experienced significant problems in their lives due to their gaming behaviour."  Compared to Chinese gamers, Brits "exhibited significantly higher levels of depression, loneliness and severity [of gaming disorder symptoms]" – but gaming disorder itself was equally prevalent for both groups.  The study also found that women, who made up about half of the test sample, were just as likely as men to suffer from gaming disorder.  Being lonely and depressed were both strongly associated with problem gaming.  On average, the gamers who answered the survey played games for 12 hours a week, with half of that coming at weekends.  The UK games industry has previously hit out at the WHO and the idea of gaming disorder, claiming there was "no evidence" linking playing games to addiction.  "Addictive and immersive technologies" are the subject of an ongoing parliamentary investigation.  Reports of "gaming disorder" have been coming from all quarters, with one professional footballer revealing to The Sun how he feared it might ruin his career.  Children as young as 11 are reportedly being taken into care as a result of the disorder, while other parents have reported the troubling effects of compulsive gaming on their own children.  Adults have reported problems too, with one revealing he wrecked his life after blowing £15,000 of wedding savings on video games.  We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


thetelegraph--2019-10-07--Web giants 'cashing in' on misery of children, says NHS boss, amid surge in treatment for gaming add

Web giants 'cashing in' on misery of children, says NHS boss, amid surge in treatment for gaming addiction

The head of the health service has accused internet firms of "cashing in" on addiction, as he announced NHS plans to treat children with disorders caused by gaming and social media.  Simon Stevens said the service had been left "picking up the pieces" of young lives wrecked by obsessions fuelled by technology, as he attacked giants for failing to behave responsibly.  Health chiefs highlighted other countries who have banned under 16s from online gaming after midnight, as they announced plans for the first centre to treat children with such addictions.  It follows the Telegraph’s Duty of Care campaign calling for more stringent regulation of web giants, in order to protect children from harm.  The national centre, opening next month, will work with those whose lives are being “wrecked” by an obsessive interest in computer games, with treatment offered face-to-face or by Skype.  It follows the World Health Organisation's (WHO) decision last year to classify gaming addiction as a medical disorder.


politicalite--2019-11-04--GET HELP: These Are The First Signs of Gambling Addiction

CasinoGuardian is a website where people can find accurate content about the gambling industry in the UK.  The website provides the latest news from this sector alongside comprehensive information regarding various casino games, payment methods, and gaming operators.  Their latest infographic tackles a bit darker subject, that of gambling addiction and the symptoms it comes with. Casino Guardian considers this an important subject to tackle. No person can escape from the grip of pathological gambling without recognising their behaviour is problematic in the first place.  Identifying the signs of addiction is the first step on the path towards recovery. The trouble with this form of compulsive behaviour is that its symptoms are easy to overlook. The infographic aims to illustrate the different stages a person with this problem goes through.  Among the first signs of gambling addiction is the urge to recklessly expose higher and higher amounts to risk. CasinoGuardian explains this with the way gambling affects the brain’s chemistry and more particularly, the functioning of neurotransmitters like dopamine. Over time, the gambler needs greater stimuli to achieve the same effect of reward.  If this continues for some time, addiction begins to take hold of the individual. Such persons are prone to denying there is a problem. They prefer to keep their gambling activities and expenditures secretive out of fear family and friends would disapprove.  Another common symptom is the preoccupation with gambling. This is all the pathological gambler is thinking about and craving. Such people find reasons to skip work or school which gradually leads to job loss and other repercussions.  As you progress through the infographic, you will see how this condition escalates outside the control of the affected. This process is associated with more serious symptoms such as borrowing, theft, failed attempts to stop, mental health issues, and even physical decline.


thesun--2019-12-28--Number of emergency hospital admissions linked to gambling addiction hit record high

THE NUMBER of emergency hospital admissions linked to gambling addiction has hit a record high, figures show.  Cases have doubled in six years, with the NHS facing a “rising tide” of gambling-related illnesses, including psychosis.  NHS chiefs warn Brits are being egged-on by “shameless” bookmakers, with punters risking their health and money.  Gambling-related hospital admissions in England have more than doubled from 150 in 2012/13 to 321 in 2018/19.  Cases of pathological gambling, where people turn to crime to fund their addiction, increased by a third in the last 12 months.  There were 98 cases in 2016/17, 132 in 2017/18 and 171 in 2018/19, figures from NHS Digital show.  The first ever gambling clinic aimed at young people opened earlier this year.  And the NHS has committed to opening 14 new problem gambling clinics by 2023/24.  Claire Murdoch, National Mental Health Director for the NHS said: “Our NHS is fighting back against a rising tide of gambling related ill health as more people than ever before are being egged-on by shameless gambling firms not just to take a chance with their money, but with their health too.  “While the NHS will always be there for people – adapting, improving and increasing different and new treatments as our patients need them as part of our Long Term Plan - the gambling industry, which takes upward of £14bn a year from punters, must take the blame for this increase and ensure a fair amount of its profits help its customers who may suffer from addiction.”    A person affected by gambling-related harm addiction has an intense desire to bet that interferes with their day-to-day lives.  The NHS estimates that over 400,000 people in England have an addiction to gambling and two million people are at risk of developing the condition.  There has also been an increase in the number of young people that are affected by gambling-related harm.  There were 46 hospital attendances for gambling-related addiction by people aged under 25 last year, with the youngest aged 15.  This compares with 37 people under 25 receiving treatment the year before – an increase of a quarter.  NHS Digital data published earlier this month found that more than half of people living in Britain gamble.  Research has shown betting firms spent an estimated £1.5billion in 2017 on advertising.  And a report in the British Medical Journal called for the introduction of a mandatory tax on the industry to fund and prioritise treatment.  Bookmakers are currently encouraged by the Gambling Commission to donate a combined £10million to charities which help victims of gambling addictions.  This is just 0.07 per cent of what gambling companies currently receive from punters. • GOT a story? RING The Sun 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk


thetelegraph--2019-10-10--Gambling addiction may be genetic, according to pioneering UK study

Gambling addicts may have a genetic predisposition to become hooked, the first scientific study of its kind has found.  Addiction may also change people’s brains to become more sensitive to the thrill of betting, the researchers found.  For the first time, they took a group of people with gambling disorder - now recognised as a condition treatable on the NHS - and compared them with their siblings who were not addicts and a control group.  They discovered that the siblings were bigger risk takers and more impulsive than a control group, evidence of a genetic predisposition to gambling.  The problem gamblers and their siblings were more likely to act impulsively in the face of negative emotions, and placed larger bets when they faced higher-risk odds.  There was, however, no difference in the brain scans of non-gambling siblings and the control group, suggesting that the brain activity found in the addicts may have developed as a result of their gambling.  Previous research using MRI brain scans show Fortnite and other addictive video games can have a similar effect on children’s brains as drug abuse or alcoholism.  They show the “reward” system in the brains of young heavy users of social media and video games display the same changes in function and structure as those of alcoholics or drug addicts.  The researchers said siblings of problem gamblers were particularly difficult to recruit for the study because family relationships are often strained as a result of their addiction.  The study, part funded by the Medical Research Council and conducted by researchers from the University of British Colombia, involved 20 people with gambling disorder, recruited from the UK national problem gambling clinic in London and 16 siblings.  "Since our study had a relatively small sample size, we hope it will encourage other researchers to replicate it so we could learn more about how genetics play a role in the gambling disorder," said study co-author Dr. Henrietta Bowden-Jones, director of the National Problem Gambling Clinic and lead on behavioural addictions for the Royal College of Psychiatrists.


cnn--2019-08-23--Buttigieg rolls out plan to push for mental health care fight addiction

Buttigieg rolls out plan to push for mental health care, fight addiction

"For years, politicians in Washington have claimed to prioritize mental health care while slashing funding for treatment and ignoring America's growing addiction and mental health crisis," Buttigieg said in a statement. "That neglect must end. Our plan breaks down the barriers around mental health and builds up a sense of belonging that will help millions of suffering Americans heal."  Buttigieg's 18-page plan sets out three distinct goals. It aims to prevent 1 million deaths by drugs, alcohol or suicide by 2028. It also says it would guarantee that 75% of people who need mental health services receive them by the end of Buttigieg's hypothetical first term as president. Finally, the plan wants to reduce people incarcerated due to mental illness by 75% — a move that fits into a previous proposal by Buttigieg to cut total incarceration at the federal and state levels by 50%.  To address the opioid epidemic, Buttigieg proposes expanding take-home naloxone programs, which dramatically increase the availability of the overdose fighting drug, to all states by 2024. The plan would also require all insurers -- including Medicare and state Medicaid agencies -- to cover medication-assisted treatment as a way to fight opioid addiction.  To tackle the mental health issue, Buttigieg pledges to "dramatically" expand the mental health and addiction workforce by creating training and education programs for the field and use his previously released national service plan to create service opportunities to help people with mental health issues. Buttigieg would also require "every school across the country to teach Mental Health First Aid courses" and launch "a national campaign to end social isolation and loneliness." Mental health is a key issue for voters in 2020. Presidential candidates are often asked about it during town halls, and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand released a plan on the issue earlier this week, joining similar proposals by candidates like Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton and former Rep. John Delaney, among others. "We've got to break the silence about mental health," Buttigieg said earlier this month in Iowa. "We'll know we're getting somewhere when it's just as routine to get an emotional health checkup as it is getting a physical." The rise in questions about mental health has come in the context of mass shootings across the country, including recent shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. "There's no question that all of us are safer when there's proper mental health care, but that also shouldn't be a free pass to deal with immediate issues that we know we've got to get on top of from countering violent extremism to managing access to deadly weapons," Buttigieg said on the recent trip to Iowa. Buttigieg also often talks about mental health through his own experience with mental well-being after serving in Afghanistan in 2014. "We're getting better at this, slowly but surely," Buttigieg said in Iowa. "When I came back from Afghanistan, we did a better job than we did a generation ago on encouraging people to talk about it, but it's still something that I think a lot of people hesitate to come forward about." Buttigieg also spoke about mental health when he traveled to the Veterans Community Project in Kansas City in July. The nonprofit has been spearheaded by Jason Kander, a Missouri politician and veteran who dropped out of the race to be Kansas City's mayor in order to treat his post-traumatic stress disorder.


dailyheraldchicago--2019-10-09--'We're not alone' - 'Sesame Street' tackles addiction crisis

NEW YORK -- "Sesame Street" is taking a new step to try to help kids navigate life in America - it's tackling the opioid crisis.  Sesame Workshop is exploring the backstory of Karli, a bright green, yellow-haired friend of Elmo's whose mother is battling addiction. The initiative is part of the Sesame Street in Communities resources available online.  "Sesame Street" creators said they turned to the issue of addiction since data shows 5.7 million children under age 11 live in households with a parent with substance use disorder.  "There's nothing else out there that addresses substance abuse for young, young kids from their perspective," said Kama Einhorn, a senior content manager with Sesame Workshop. It's also a chance to model to adults a way to explain what they're going through to kids and to offer simple strategies to cope.  "Even a parent at their most vulnerable - at the worst of their struggle - can take one thing away when they watch it with their kids, then that serves the purpose," Einhorn said.  This summer in Manhattan, The Associated Press looked on as puppeteers, producers and show creators crammed into a small studio in the nonprofit's Manhattan headquarters to tape some of the upcoming segments.  Karli, voiced and manipulated by puppeteer Haley Jenkins, was joined by a young girl - 10-year-old Salia Woodbury, whose parents are in recovery.  "Hi, it's me, Karli. I'm here with my friend Salia. Both of our parents have had the same problem - addiction," Karli told the camera.  "My mom and dad told me that addiction is a sickness," Salia said.  "Yeah, a sickness that makes people feel like they have to take drugs or drink alcohol to feel OK. My mom was having a hard time with addiction and I felt like my family was the only one going through it. But now I've met so many other kids like us. It makes me feel like we're not alone," the puppet continued.  "Right, we're not alone," Salia responded. "And it's OK to open up to people about our feelings."  In the segment, Karli and Salia each hold up hand-drawn pictures of flowers, with multiple petals representing "big feelings" - like anger, sadness and happiness. They offer ways to feel better, including art and breathing exercises.  The segment leans on carefully considered language. Creators prefer "addiction" to "substance abuse" and "recovery" to "sobriety" because those terms are clearer to children. Despite the subject, the mood was light in the room, largely thanks to Jenkins' calm and empathic manner.  "I know it feels awkward because people don't normally have conversations standing shoulder-to-shoulder," she told Salia between takes. "This is weird, but trust me, it looks good."  Karli had already been introduced as a puppet in foster care earlier this year but viewers now will understand why her mother had to go away for a while. The introduction of her backstory follows other attempts by entertainment companies to explore the issues of addiction, including "The Connors" on ABC and "Euphoria" on HBO.  The online-only segments with Karli and Salia are augmented with ones that feature Elmo's dad, Louie, explaining that addiction is a sickness , and Karli telling Elmo and Chris about her mom's special adult meetings and her own kids' ones.  Karli also opens up about her family to Abby Cadabby in another segment, and Karli tells Elmo about how she mistakenly used to feel like her mom's addiction was her fault. Karli, Elmo, Rosita and Abby Cadabby also sing "We're Special and So Are You." Viewers are referred to free online resources in both English and Spanish that include videos, storybooks, digital interactives and games.  Children's therapist Jerry Moe, the national director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Children's Program, helped craft the segments and resources, saying he was grateful to help since there's been a paucity of resources for the preschool age-group.  "These boys and girls are the first to get hurt and, unfortunately, the last to get help," he said. "For them to see Karli and learn that it's not their fault and this stuff is hard to talk about and it's OK to have these feelings, that's important. And that there's hope."  "Sesame Street," which began airing in 1969, has a long history of tackling topical issues in a way approachable to children. It's had puppets with HIV, jailed parents and autism, explored homelessness, women's rights and even girls singing about loving their hair.  "For everything we've done - from military families to homelessness - it's all about how to make children free to talk and to give parents the tools to do just that. They tend to avoid it and it's what they need more than anything," said Sherrie Westin, president of global impact and philanthropy for Sesame Workshop.  Salia's parents - Sam and Jaana Woodbury, who are raising four girls in Orange County, California - said they welcomed the show's attention on opioid and alcohol addiction. They've been in recovery for about eight years.  "When I was going through addiction, I felt extremely alone and isolated. I didn't have any connection to the outside world," said Jaana Woodbury. "I think it's amazing that 'Sesame Street' is using their platform to share resources to help other women and fathers."  At the end of the taped segment with Karli and Salia, the puppet turns to the girl. "I'm so glad we're friends, Salia," Karli said.  "OK," says her friend.  And they do.


eveningstandard--2019-03-18--Social media addiction should be classified as a disease MPs say

Social media addiction should be classified as a disease, MPs say

Politicians have called for more “robust” research on the addictive effects of social media, which they say should be taken as seriously as "cigarettes, alcohol, gambling or drugs".  MP’s from the all-party parliamentary group on social media and young people’s mental health, have criticised the “lack of legislative response” to regulate platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  Labour MP Chris Elmore who chairs the group, and its secretary, Conservative MP William Wragg said that, especially for young people, social media is an “integral part of their daily routines.”  “It is paramount that we protect young people to ensure they are kept safe and healthy when they are online,” they said.  The group report called #FilterNews focussed on how there has been no clinical diagnosis for social media and called for research into whether its “addictive” nature is sufficient for official disease classification.  “For a growing number of people of all ages, spending hours on social media is now a completely normal part of their daily routine,” the report said.  “There has been a lack of legislative response to regulate social media platforms, given the huge influence they have on everyday life.”  In his Politics Home article, Chris Elmore MP referred to the recent death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life after viewing material about self-harm on social media.  He said:" For me, tragedies like Molly’s underline exactly why it’s vital the government takes real and meaningful action to get to grips with the crisis unfolding online.  "It’s essential that we urgently commission robust research into the impact social media is having on our young people and review whether it warrants being classified as an official disease.  "Just as with other addictions – cigarettes, alcohol, gambling or drugs – we need to realise that while a scroll through Facebook might not have any apparent physical effects, the damage it can do to someone’s mental health must not be underestimated."  The group report suggested that social media addiction should be considered in the same light as gaming disorder.  The World Health Organisation plans to include gaming disorder in the next revision of International Classification of Diseases (ICD).  WHO proposals will be presented in May 2019 for adoption in member states by January 2022, after international experts in different disciplines reviewed gaming disorder through a series of consolations.  MPs said: "If the World Health Organisation were to classify social media addiction in the International Classification of Diseases, it could be done in a similar way to gaming disorder.”  The Royal Society of Public Health charity helped write the report after conducting a UK-wide survey in 2017, asking 1,479 young people, aged 14 to 24 about five most popular platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube.  The survey found that 46% of girls compared to 38% of all young people reported that social media had a negative impact on their self-esteem.  Participants reported that social media was responsible for creating feelings of anxiety and depression, negative body image, cyber bullying, poor sleep and a fear of missing out (FOMO).  It also found 12% of children who spend no time on social networking websites have symptoms of mental ill health, but the figure rises to 27% for those who are on the sites for three or more hours a day.  The report comes amid the intensifying pressure facing technology companies over the impact of social medial on users.


politico--2019-04-05--California tests if addiction treatment can be incorporated into primary care

PLACERVILLE, Calif. — California had just weeks to get a program that used medication to treat opioid use disorder up and running after receiving $90 million in federal grants in 2017. So officials found a model that was already working in Vermont, and supersized it to fit the sprawling state.  The scaling up of the "Hub and Spoke" system, particularly in rural areas, has presented challenges but also delivered results in locales like this Gold Rush-era city east of Sacramento — and dovetailed with existing efforts to expand medication-assisted treatment to give the state a two-pronged approach to confronting the opioid epidemic.  Hub and Spoke, first launched in Vermont in 2012, features a system of regional addiction treatment centers or "hubs" that are connected with "spokes" like primary care practices and local clinics. Patients have individual treatment plans. The system allows many patients to get help close to home, at clinics that offer buprenorphine, a drug seen as the gold standard for treating opioid abuse symptoms, and that employ behavioral health providers and nurse case managers. Those with more complex cases, who for example need to be treated daily with methadone, can be referred to a centralized hub.  After starting with 18 hubs and 57 spokes, the California effort has expanded in a year and a-half to include more than 200 spokes statewide. The state has also layered on other programs, including one that treats people suffering from opioid withdrawal in an emergency room with buprenorphine, and then refers them to a nearby spoke, often the next day.  California doesn't rank with opioid abuse hot spots like West Virginia, Ohio or New Hampshire. But rural pockets, particularly in the north of the state, have experienced alarming overdose death rates.  Beth Tanzman, the Vermont state health official who manages Hub and Spoke there, told POLITICO that while states like Louisiana and New Hampshire have adapted the program, “it’s so important and impressive to see states like California figure out how to scale treatment” for opioid use disorder.  As of last month, more than 13,000 patients in the state have used the model, and the number of physicians prescribing buprenorphine has increased by 82 percent since July 2017, according to the state Department of Health Care Services.  The overarching goal in California is to create a framework for treating a range of addiction disorders, including alcohol, methamphetamines and other substances.  “We know people with addiction are showing up in emergency rooms and clinics and they have mental health issues and they’re getting arrested and they go to jail,” said Kelly Pfeifer, a physician and addiction specialist at the California Health Care Foundation. “Why shouldn’t they get treated wherever they land?”  As it builds out the hub-and-spoke system, California has taken advantage of several waves of federal grants totaling some $266 million to expand the use of medication-assisted treatment. The state may yet have to tap into other sources and find efficiencies once the grants run out.  Despite the short-term nature of the grants, California wanted to take an aggressive approach, said Marlies Perez, chief of substance use disorder compliance at the state's health care services department. “These federal dollars have been huge in making this happen.”  The money has helped fund an innovative emergency department program, originally called the E.D. Bridge program, which offers patients experiencing opioid withdrawal symptoms immediate access to buprenorphine, also known by the brand name Suboxone. A form that dissolves under the tongue and can resolve symptoms within a matter of minutes is provided right in the emergency room.  The program started a year ago in 12 hospitals and now includes 31 hospitals and one clinic, nearly half of which are located in rural areas of the state.  “We want the entire state,” said Aimee Moulin, an emergency physician at the University of California, Davis who is a regional coordinator for the Bridge program. “Our overall goal is to make this the standard of care.”  Placerville is one of the few places in California where the Hub and Spoke and Bridge programs are being deployed together, offering immediate overdose treatment in the small, rural hospital’s emergency department.  “We’re a small county and a small organization, but we’re going to start seeing this take off across the state because of these two programs,” said Loni Jay, a physician who in November opened a new spoke, Marshall CARES, an outpatient clinic steps from the hospital, Marshall Medical Center in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.  The county — El Dorado — was quick to establish spokes, due primarily to providers at El Dorado Community Health Centers who were already prescribing buprenorphine well in advance of the hub-and-spoke federal grant. Marshall Medical Center was also one of the first hospitals in the state to sign on to the E.D. Bridge pilot. The hospital recently brought on board a substance use navigator to help guide patients.  “What we’re doing is providing a full integration of care — behavioral health, a MAT [medication-assisted treatment] program, R.N. case managers, licensed alcohol and drug counselors, medical assistants,” said Terri Lee Stratton, CEO of the four-clinic El Dorado Community Health Centers.  The nearest hub still is nearly an hour away, in Roseville. But most providers say they rarely have to refer patients, because they can typically be managed at the clinic level.  Patients suffering from withdrawal who show up at the emergency room get treated on the spot with Suboxone. Then they’re set up with a next-day appointment at a nearby spoke.  Though Marshall providers treat just one or two patients a week in this fashion, they say the program is already starting to have an effect.  “We treat them quickly and effectively, and that doubles the likelihood of them being in treatment in 30 days,” said Arianna Sampson, a physician assistant who helped set up the Bridge program.  For the 49 weeks starting in August 2017, 92 percent of the patients treated at the hospital with Suboxone followed up by seeking care at a spoke, according to Sampson, with the nearest one 15 miles away. After a year, 26 of those patients were still in treatment, accounting for a 74 percent success rate.  Meanwhile, buprenorphine use in El Dorado County increased 89 percent from 2015 to 2017, according to state public health statistics. Statewide buprenorphine prescribing increased just 14 percent over that period.  California still faces barriers to getting these programs up to speed around the state, including stigma from health professionals and resistance from traditional substance-abuse providers. To prescribe buprenorphine, doctors have to get special training and a federal license known as an “X-waiver.” Though that's created bureaucratic hurdles, the opioid legislationl Congress passed last October expanded who could prescribe it.  The experience has professionals optimistic the region will have the infrastructure to treat other forms of substance abuse, including methamphetamines.  “I truly believe we’re reversing this opioid epidemic,” Sampson said. “But what we know about the history of humankind, there will be something else.”


prepareforchange--2019-03-16--What Are the Different Types of Addiction

What Are the Different Types of Addiction?

A person may seem to make a voluntary choice to try a drug or begin a type of behavior, but a variety of genetic and environmental factors influence those decisions. Those factors increase or decrease the likelihood of an individual becoming addicted to that substance or behavior.  The disease of addiction can occur after ingesting drugs or alcohol or engaging in activities that stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain. It is exemplified by continued compulsive behavior that compromises a person’s health, career and relationships.  The brain of an addict physically changes when he or she continues the behavior driving their addiction, especially when the addiction involves drugs or alcohol. However, any stimulating behavior can cause changes that lead to addiction.  “Most drugs start off being rewarding,” former National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Glen Hanson told DrugRehab.com. “That gets the person interested in them… As the addiction proceeds, then some of that shifts. It goes from the reward being the attraction to a compulsive behavior. Compulsive behaviors aren’t necessarily rewarding behaviors.”  Addiction, whether in the form of substance use or other behavior, usually begins with a positive experience. However, the high that drugs give a drug user or the thrill that compulsive behavior gives an addict eventually result in negative long-term consequences that outweigh any short-term benefit.  Addiction can be either behavioral or substance related. An intense feeling of emotional need or physical craving characterizes them both. Both types of addiction carry a number of other similarities, but behavioral addiction does not possess the same physical symptoms that accompany drug addiction. Experts disagree on the similarities and differences between the symptoms and consequences of the types of addictions.  Drugs are addictive substances that change the way the body — the brain in particular — handles communication and processes information. Long-term drug use causes physical changes in the brain that lead to a substance use disorder. Different drugs affect the body differently.  Stimulants, such as tobacco, cocaine or prescription amphetamines, stimulate the brain and nervous system, causing increased alertness. Depressants, such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines, slow activity in the brain and nervous system, causing relaxation. Hallucinogens, such as LSD and PCP, drastically disrupt the way the brain and nervous system communicate, causing hallucinations.  “The kind of treatment you provide is very individualized. It depends on who the person is, what support systems they have in place and their dedication.”  — DR. GLEN HANSON, FORMER INTERIM DIRECTOR OF NIDA, DIRECTOR OF THE UTAH ADDICTION CENTER  Alcohol addiction is often referred to as alcoholism or an alcohol use disorder. It’s one of the most common addictions in the United States, with an estimated 16.6 million suffering from the disease. Alcohol addiction occurs when regular, excess drinking causes harm or distress.  Prescription drugs are approved medications used to treat symptoms of diseases and other medical conditions. Even when used as prescribed, they can cause physical changes that can lead to addiction. When they’re used in any way other than as prescribed by a doctor, the likelihood of prescription drug addiction drastically increases.  As with drugs, certain behaviors cause brief feelings of happiness or euphoria. However, some long-term behaviors cause a person to lose control of their actions. People suffering from these addictions experience symptoms similar to those of drug addicts, including cravings, tolerance, withdrawal and relapse.  Research indicates people who suffer from substance abuse disorders are very likely to suffer from co-occurring mental health disorders and vice versa. An individual can suffer from a behavioral addiction, a drug addiction and a mental health disorder all at the same time.  Disclaimer: We at Prepare for Change (PFC) bring you information that is not offered by the mainstream news, and therefore may seem controversial. The opinions, views, statements, and/or information we present are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, espoused, or agreed to by Prepare for Change, its leadership Council, members, those who work with PFC, or those who read its content. However, they are hopefully provocative. Please use discernment! Use logical thinking, your own intuition and your own connection with Source, Spirit and Natural Laws to help you determine what is true and what is not. By sharing information and seeding dialogue, it is our goal to raise consciousness and awareness of higher truths to free us from enslavement of the matrix in this material realm.


theguardianuk--2019-01-09--Constant cravings is addiction on the rise

Constant cravings: is addiction on the rise?

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 social media. The UK’s first NHS internet-addiction clinic is opening this year; the World Health Organization (WHO) has included gaming disorder in its official addictions diagnosis guidelines.  The first glimmer of this shift was in 1992, when tabloids reported that Michael Douglas – Hollywood royalty, fresh from starring in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct – was holed up in an Arizonan rehab facility with sex addiction. No matter that, to this day, Douglas stringently denies ever suffering from the condition – the way we perceive addiction had begun to unfurl.  Back then, the broadening of the term was often viewed in medical circles as lazy appropriation; however, neuroscience has now largely accepted that it is the same brain chemical, dopamine, driving these irrepressible cravings. What’s more, our 21st-century world is so heavily baited with cues and stimuli – from stealthy marketing to junk food, not to mention the nagging lure of online life – that it appears to be rigging our dopamine systems to become “hypersensitised”.  “The range of what people are getting addicted to has increased,” confirms Michael Lynskey, a professor of addiction at King’s College London. “For my parents’ generation, the only options were tobacco and alcohol. Now there are more drugs, including synthetics, along with commercialisation and ways – especially online – of encouraging prolonged use of different things.”  Many of these emerging conditions are seen as behavioural rather than physical, substance-related addictions – but the consequences can be as grave. Gambling is the longest established behavioural addiction, having been medically recognised since 2013. Suicide rates, along with the likelihood of substance addiction, are higher among compulsive gamblers. “I see gambling students who drop out of university because they can’t stop,” says Henrietta Bowden-Jones, the consultant psychiatrist behind the forthcoming NHS internet-addiction clinic. “I see people with shopping compulsions who are in so much debt because they couldn’t stop themselves from buying three dresses in different sizes, that in the end their businesses and families suffer.”  Sometimes, she says, compulsions flit between different vices – for example, a young man seeking refuge from family problems might toggle between gaming and porn. “I saw [a gaming disorder patient] yesterday,” she adds, “who then went on to spending money on objects and clothes. You can somehow shift the behaviour but it’s an illness we don’t yet know enough about.”  It is hard to overlook, however, the fact that many of these thrills are available at the touch of a screen. When the addiction charity Addaction commissioned a YouGov survey in October 2018, it found that parents are twice as worried about their teenage children being addicted to social media as they are about drugs, and a similar ratio when comparing worries about gaming and drugs. Also in October, the EU announced it would fund the European Problematic Use of the Internet Research Network to investigate the public health implications.  Not everyone agrees with defining these new disorders as addictions – after all, you can’t overdose on them. Gambling and gaming are the only ones to have made it on to the WHO list of addictions. However, a paradigm shift in understanding addiction is in motion.  Take sex addiction. Seeking treatment for this controversial condition has, in cases such as that of the golfer Tiger Woods, been criticised as a cynical shortcut to redemption for philanderers. On the other hand, neuroscientists who have been able to study the brains of people with debilitatingly compulsive obsessions with sex witness similar responses to those they have observed in drug addiction cases.  Most of the standard criteria for addiction diagnosis do apply to these disorders, says Lynskey: “Tolerance, neglect of responsibilities, inability to stop, withdrawal.” Withdrawal is the obvious sticking point, although sugar withdrawal symptoms have been induced in lab rats – sweats, shakes, changes in body temperature, anxiety, the whole kaboodle. “If a teenager becomes irritable when a gaming session is cut short, there’s some discussion as to whether that’s a sort of mild withdrawal,” says Lynskey.  Terry Robinson, an esteemed professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan – together with his colleague, Kent Berridge – identified dopamine as the neurochemical responsible for craving. He thinks debating the semantics of addiction is unhelpful. “Whether it’s drugs, sex, gambling or whatever, you’re looking at impulse-control disorders where people have difficulty refraining from maladaptive use. There are certainly similarities in terms of the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms involved.”  Once Robinson and Berridge had identified dopamine as “wanting” and pleasurable brain opiates as “liking” – two distinct phenomena – they discovered that you don’t have to like something in order to want it: a key finding about addiction. In addicts’ brains, the craving is unbearable even when they no longer like the object of their desire. Berridge once told me that the “massive”, “robust” wanting systems in the brain can be turned on with or without pleasure, whereas pleasure “has a much smaller and more fragile brain basis … That’s why life’s intense pleasures are less frequent and less sustained than life’s intense desires”. It also explains, perhaps, why humans are so easily herded into wanting new stuff and instant gratification, even when these things don’t make us happy.  “What’s happening in these addictions,” says Robinson, “is that the dopamine system is becoming hypersensitised, leading to these pathological motivational states.” He has identified three factors that could help explain why “there seems to be a wider variety of problematic things [to get addicted to]”. (He does caution, however, that “getting into social factors is very difficult in terms of proving cause and effect”.)  The first factor is that our modern environment is stuffed with craving-inducing stimuli. “People don’t appreciate the power of cues that have been associated with rewards, be it a drug or sex or food, in generating motivational states.” In fact, addicts can start liking the cues more than the end goal, such as the rigmarole of scoring drugs and so on. “The amount of cues associated with highly palatable foods are everywhere now,” he says. “Drugs, sex and gambling as well, and that has changed quite a bit over the years and could be leading to more problematic use.”  Lynskey agrees, adding “some of the marketing and design of gambling machines is a step ahead of all of us academics in devising ways to attract users and boost dopamine and retain them”. The “like” button, quantifying approval and igniting a compulsion to check social media, is a similar example. Introducing a report into the effects of social media on young people in early 2018, the UK’s children’s commissioner Anne Longfield wrote that “some children are becoming almost addicted to ‘likes’ as a form of social validation”.  Robinson’s second consideration is dosage. Our liking of sweet tastes suited us when we were hunter-gatherers, helping us choose ripe energy sources. Now, we have high-fructose corn syrup, which blows our minds with unnatural levels of glucose. Similarly with drugs, he points out: “Chewing coca leaves in the Andes is not the same as smoking crack cocaine. The pharmacology is different and this can also increase propensity to addiction.”  His final factor is simply access. “Food, sex, gambling and drugs – availability these days is much greater than it was in the past.” (Sex addiction can include consuming porn, sexting, compulsive masturbation, exhibitionism and chemsex.)  All these factors, Robinson continues, “combine in complex ways – and I’m sure we don’t understand them all – to increase the probability of problematic use in a variety of things”. Does this mean that more people are at risk in this era of throbbing dopamine excitation? Major risk factors for addiction, such as deprivation and childhood trauma, are still important predictors for how easily your dopamine system can be hijacked, says Robinson – “but you have laden on top of that ubiquitous cues, more potent formulations and increased availability”.  Another theory about what is driving the diversification of addictive behaviours stems from a series of experiments conducted in Canada in the late 1970s known as Rat Park. The psychologist Bruce Alexander found that lab rats, while isolated in empty cages with the option of drinking either plain or drugged water, easily became addicted to heroin; if you put rats in a vast, toy-filled enclosure with other male and female rats for company, the heroin couldn’t compete. The context was driving addiction, rather than the drug itself. The resulting study made minimal waves when it was published – yet today, Alexander is being flown all over the world to share his take on addiction, which he calls the dislocation theory.  “The modern world breaks down all kinds of community, all kinds of tradition and religions and stuff that has made life integral and full for people in the past,” he says. “You can’t just say: ‘OK, now I’m going to give you back what modernity took away.’ We have to reinvent society, as we perpetually do, with an eye on making sure there are enough connections for human beings with each other in a traditional way, so that people can grow up and be content enough so they don’t need to find substitutes in addiction for life.”  Organisations such as Addaction in the UK, he says, “are finding ways to get [addicts] together into groups and planting these groups in communities and getting the community to support people in these groups, not to give up their addictions but to have a meaningful life”. Steve Moffatt, policy manager at Addaction, says that like all such services, “we’re just starting to try to understand the level of issues that are out there. For this generation coming through, social media is a big thing and online activities generally, but we still don’t know the extent.”  Despite the increase in the range of addictions, says Lynskey, there are still probably fewer addicted people than there were 30 years ago because the level of nicotine dependency – the most deadly one – has dropped from 50% to less than 20% in the UK. However, updates to diagnosis guidelines mean that people who sit lower on the addictive spectrum can now be seen as having problematic dependencies. The influential American Psychiatric Association, he says, “used to distinguish between ‘abuse’ and ‘dependence’, whereas now they are in a single category of drug-use disorders. Perhaps as many as one in four males would meet the criteria for alcohol dependency, and a lower, but still substantial, number of females.” And yet these people are at no risk of seizures or death if they go into withdrawal. “There is a spectrum,” he says, “whether it’s alcohol or drug dependence or shopping addiction and people have become a bit happier with placing the point at which behaviour becomes problematic at a lower level of use.”  Bowden-Jones says the best evidence for treating behavioural addictions is using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help avoid cues (for example, taking a different route home so you don’t pass the bookmaker), rewarding good behaviour and reaffirming what people have to lose with constant reminders, such as on wristbands.  Assistance can also come in the form of stimulus-control tools. “There are fantastic blocks to put in place that can stop you from watching porn, gambling and indeed anything to do with the behaviour you have an issue with, except for gaming,” says Bowden-Jones. “We need to get to a position where, in the cold reality of your day, you can say: ‘I don’t need to spend more than two hours a day doing this, so I will block myself after two hours [of play].’” This responsibility, she says, lies with the gaming industry.  Mindfulness meditation has also helped to reduce substance abuse. In fact, it was found to be more effective than the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step programme and CBT in 2014 research led by Sarah Bowden, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Pacific University in Portland, Oregon; the previous year, Bowden, Berridge and other neuroscientific luminaries met to discuss addiction with the Dalai Lama. After all, Buddhists caught on to this craving problem thousands of years ago, using meditation to overcome the very urges that they identified as the linchpin of human suffering, long before these dopamine-fuelled times.  A modern challenge is the ubiquity, and the necessity: gone are the days when recovering behavioural addicts can be told to avoid the ever-necessary internet, for example. “Younger generations will be socially cut off,” says Bowden-Jones, “and what our patients say is when they feel they’re missing out, it pushes them more toward the virtual life that they already have a problem with rather than engaging properly in their face-to-face lives.” As Moffat says, “that’s where they get their validation”.  Many of us would plot our internet habits on the lower end of this spectrum: slaves to our phones, wasting hours that we will never get back stuck down internet rabbit holes, compulsively checking for likes. “There’s a great distinction,” says Bowden-Jones “between functional use and use that is not necessary. It’s like eating too much cake, which makes you feel bad. People who are on social media too much, it’s not a positive experience, although it may have started off as such.” There goes the dopamine without the pleasure, again.


theguardianuk--2019-02-11--England hospital admissions for addiction soar as treatment budgets fall

More than half of the local authorities in England have cut their budgets for alcohol and drug treatment, even though admissions to hospital for problems related to addiction are soaring, say MPs.  Liam Byrne, the chair of the cross-party parliamentary group for children of alcoholics, and Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, have both spoken of the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic father. They are among the MPs campaigning against the cuts.  The data comes from a freedom of information (FoI) request by Byrne to local authorities, which are responsible for drug and alcohol treatment in their areas but are struggling with huge demands on their limited public health budgets.  “Every child of an alcoholic comes to learn the brutal hard way that we can’t change things for our parents, but we can change things for our children,” said Byrne.  “But frankly that’s harder if addiction treatment budgets are being cut left, right and centre. What this year’s data shows is that it’s simply a false economy. We’re spending money dealing with A&E admissions when we should be trying to tackle the addiction that lands people in hospital in the first place.”  The FoI data shows that alcohol-related hospital admissions are up by 13%, with 39,000 more last year than in 2009, while alcohol treatment budgets have been cut by 4%.  The average budget cut for alcohol and drug treatment services last year was £155,000, but some were much higher. The largest absolute cut was by Birmingham city council at £3,846,000, which is 19% of its budget.  Islington cut the largest proportion of its budget, at 34%, amounting to £2,431,800.  Local authorities plan to cut addiction treatment services by a further 2% next year. That is an average of more than £75,000. Ninety-three per cent of local authorities say that addiction treatment budgets will stand still or fall next year.  The only positive news from the all-party parliamentary group is that 67% of local authorities now say they have services in place to support the children of alcoholics, up from 50% last year and less than 25% in 2015.  “As I know from my own personal circumstances, alcohol abuse can have a devastating impact on families, especially children,” said Ashworth, who told the Guardian in 2016 that the issue would be a priority for Labour.  “We are seeing more admissions to hospital where alcohol is a primary cause, deaths from substance misuse at high levels and yet, rather than expanding specialist treatments services, deep cuts will be imposed on them again. This fails some of the most vulnerable in society. Government ministers must reverse these cuts as a matter of urgency.”  The vice-chair of the parliamentary group, Caroline Flint, said: “Investment in addiction treatment services is about more than helping those patients; it is about preventing the chain of damage that scars the lives of subsequent generations.  “Breaking the cycle is essential. This cannot be achieved if the quality of treatment services cannot be relied upon. I hope ministers will listen to the patients and to the children of alcoholics and address this funding crisis immediately.”  A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “All children deserve a stable and happy place to call home and it’s heartbreaking that hundreds of thousands of children growing up with alcohol-addicted parents in this country are robbed of this. Children whose parents are dependent on alcohol face a poorer outlook in all aspects of their life – from their education to their mental health.  “In December, we committed to fund the National Association for the Children of Alcoholics’ helpline expansion, so that more children in this difficult position have rapid access to support and advice.  “Robust Government action has led to a fall in alcohol consumption in recent years – but we remain committed to tackling alcohol-related harms and protecting the innocent victims of addiction such as children of alcoholics.”  • The article on this headline was corrected on 11 February 2019 to make clear that the data only applies to England, not to the UK.


theguardianuk--2019-08-24--The science of addiction a personal struggle to kick cocaine gives a neuroscientist unique insights

The science of addiction: a personal struggle to kick cocaine gives a neuroscientist unique insights

When Professor Judith Grisel sat down to write her book Never Enough (a guide to the neuroscience of addiction that has been her life’s work), she didn’t expect to share so much of her own story. Nevertheless the resulting chapters are a collision of the personal and professional, detailing the deep links between her work life and the decade of drug and alcohol addiction that almost destroyed her.  On paper, Grisel was an unlikely candidate for going off the rails. One of three children, she describes a privileged upbringing in a progressive, suburban area of New Jersey. With an airline pilot father and a mother who was a registered nurse, Grisel remembers growing up in a “perfect-looking family”.  As her research would go on to help demonstrate, there was no single factor that predicted her drug problems. Neuroscientists have found a complex blend of nature and nurture at work in addictive tendencies and their research shows that many genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors work together in complex ways that often remain elusive.  “Why me?” is the question that underpins much of Grisel’s research, and she continues to wonder why friends who drank heavily with her in high school were spared addiction. In Never Enough she offers a smorgasbord of theories behind her own and others’ predisposition to addiction: an “extreme” personality and love of risk-taking, trying drugs at a young age, lower levels of endorphins in the brain, potential hypersensitivity to the neurological rewards of drugs alongside, more surprisingly, her own parents’ strict response to her behaviour.  “If they had just been a little more lax, if I hadn’t been the first child, I probably could have been normal,” she reflects. Grisel did not experience the childhood poverty, insecure housing or abuse we have come (rightly) to associate with some drug users’ histories. Instead she believes the misery within her parents’ relationship and the pressure she felt to keep up appearances had the greatest impact on her trajectory. “Their marriage was so dysfunctional that my mother eventually got an annulment from the Pope but we never acknowledged it at the time. As a kid I felt like a prop in this play of the perfect family.”  A pivotal moment came when, aged nine or 10, Grisel found her mother crying at the kitchen sink. “I asked her what the matter was and she answered that she was crying because she was so happy. My stomach sank a thousand feet because I knew it wasn’t true but I also knew there was no way to reach the truth.” Her mother’s insistence that the family ignored the reality of their problems and instead went along with a pretence of happiness had a profound and negative impact on the way Grisel herself came to understand her own emotions and place in the world.  “What I learned to do in that moment,” she explains, “was to doubt my reality; to realise that what was critical in life was the story, the veneer. And that felt like dying.”  So began Grisel’s search for a way to escape her everyday life, a life that felt false and full of pressure to go along with the pretence, and instead to find a way to feel something that felt like the truth. It started with an obsession with reading books, “I would read constantly, upside down if I had to,” and then aged 13 (reaching a key developmental point when the teenage brain is primed for risky behaviour) she had her first drink. “I thought, this is how people get through life. I can pretend all this stuff, because I can have this little secret where I’m nice and warm inside,” remembers Grisel. “It was the first time in my life I remember feeling relaxed.”  Grisel swiftly progressed to the “solace” of daily drinking, smoking marijuana and regular drug use. “I loved being able to connect to my true self and I only seemed to be able to do that when I was wasted,” she explains. Unsurprisingly, she was soon in trouble at home and school, trouble that escalated through her teenage years until she was “kicked out” by her parents when she was 19 – dropping out of her first year of college at the same time. After years of trying a range of ways to stop Grisel taking drugs her family now withdrew financial support entirely. As she left home, despite her “brawny high school football player brother” crying in the street, she felt exhilarated: “I felt like all the restraints were off and things got very bad after that.”  Increasingly detached from her parents, who she barely saw over the next four years, Grisel’s life became entirely focused on drugs. “I was scraping by on nothing but lies and evasion and my only priority was staying loaded.” Now injecting cocaine, her dedication to the next hit led to frequent homelessness and unemployment. When she did find work she stole from the till, she regularly took credit cards from strangers and ruthlessly stole money and drugs from friends. Soon she was “facing lunatic dealers and DEA agents” with a single-minded determination that she also credits with her subsequent scientific tenacity.  The depravity of Grisel’s addicted life, described in the memoir chapters of Never Enough, illustrates the vicious cycle of the “A and B process” she explains in the scientific sections of her book. When humans engage in any mind-altering activity, the effects are known as the “A process”. Whether it’s the sedation of alcohol or the rush of cocaine, users often feel pleasure from the initial use of their drug of choice. But as Grisel is at pains to explain, “There is no free lunch.”  She believes people might make better choices if normal brain function was more widely appreciated. “The brain adapts to any addictive substance or activity by producing the exact opposite effect,” says Grisel. This opposite state, known as the “B process”, is led by the brain’s drive to return to its baseline state – and it’s why hangovers and comedowns are such unpleasant experiences. Our brains are so efficient at returning to normal that with regular use we need more and more of the drug or activity to feel the “A process” and the oppositional “B process” kicks in almost instantaneously. Soon, as Grisel herself experienced, we need the drug just to feel normal and without it we only feel the negative impact of the “B process”.  With addiction rates rising steeply, helping people avoid being imprisoned in this cycle is a priority for many worried parents, case-workers, researchers and Grisel herself. But, just as a simple set of causes of addiction doesn’t seem to exist, there doesn’t appear to be a magic recipe for recovery either. Grisel describes her own transformation from addict to sober scientist as a collection of coincidences and luck. “I was inexplicably fortunate. I think I was carried through by circumstance,” she says.  A lucky break led to better housing and a move away from injecting cocaine. After a “terrifying encounter” with her reflection in the mirror, the final push she needed to start her recovery came from her parents. In a crucial moment of compassion from her father, he told her he wished only happiness for her life and the 23-year-old finally realised just how unhappy she was.  A drug-treatment facility in Minnesota was followed by a three-month stay in a women’s halfway house and then Grisel began to repair her life. A key motivation for staying sober was her determination to find a cure for addiction. At the beginning of her career, Grisel and others in her field were convinced they would swiftly find that cure, but as neuroscientific understanding has deepened it has revealed just how much we don’t understand. “In the book,” Grisel reflects, “I was shocked that I couldn’t say that neuroscience is making great strides. It didn’t seem true to me.”  Though she can’t yet offer a magic switch to turn off addiction, She now believes much of the answer lies not in manipulating DNA but in encouraging human love, compassion and connection. With more high-potency drugs available more widely than ever before, alongside a sea of addictive technology enticing adults and children to “fritter away our lives checking updates just like users fritter away their lives snorting cocaine”, Grisel believes we need a range of tactics to tackle the global problem of addiction. “The people right next to us are an obvious place to start,” she adds. “Human relationships and connections are the low-hanging fruit.”  With her own 16-year-old daughter and grown-up stepsons she and her husband have prioritised staying emotionally connected to their children and, when they are worried about behaviour, sharing their own feelings rather than telling their children what to do. “I will say, ‘I love you and I’m really concerned about this. If you need help, I will give it to you,’” Grisel says. “But I will also be clear that I am not going to enable the behaviour.” Despite choosing to parent differently from the way that she was brought up, Grisel now reflects on her parents with compassion, believing that if you have a child who is an addict, “It’s an almost impossible situation to be in and very hard to know what to do.”  Decades of research and experience have led Judith Grisel to believe that the dominance of addictive substances and activities in contemporary life are leading society to the brink of an addictive black hole and that it is only by connecting with each other that we can avoid being sucked in. “Right now we’re in a rising phase of escapism and pharmacology – this epidemic of addiction is really an epidemic of avoidance. Above all we need better ways to cope with life and to be present to our experiences.” Despite her concerns, she does have hope. “Ultimately you can’t avoid yourself. It didn’t matter how high I got, I was stuck with myself. I think we’re soon going to get to that point as a society and then we might finally have our moment of truth.” Then, Grisel believes, we’ll discover that the way out of addiction was actually inside us all along.  Never Enough: the Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction by Judith Grisel is published by Scribe, priced £9.99. Buy it for £8.79 at guardianbookshop.com


theirishtimes--2019-01-22--Big increase in heroin addiction in Cork and Kerry

The number of people seeking treatment for heroin use in Cork and Kerry has soared over the last decade, a leading expert in drug addiction has revealed.  Numbers seeking treatment for cocaine have also grown, particularly since the economic upturn.  David Lane of the Cork Local Drugs and Alcohol Task Force said that drug addiction treatment services were now providing services to some 500 heroin addicts in Cork and Kerry, up from around 100 in 2008.  Some 80 per cent, or approximately 400, of these are in Cork city and county with 20 per cent, or around 100, in Kerry, but the service had noted there had been no great increase in recent months and those availing of the service were primarily older users with few under 25 abusing heroin.  “In terms of treatment services, we have had steady numbers in terms of those coming to us for help around heroin addiction but we are not seeing a significant spike in recent months so while there may be an increase in terms of the gardaí arresting people for personal use, we are not seeing it.  “It is an aging profile of people - we are not getting significant numbers of people in their late teens or early 20s experimenting with heroin - the 500 or so people we are seeing are in their late 20s, 30s and 40s - we are not seeing that significant numbers of people in their late teens presenting to services.”  He was speaking at Cork City Hall where he addressed a Cork City Council Joint Policing Committee meeting on Monday.  Mr Lane said the Cork Local Drugs and Alcohol Task Force, which has a staff of 60, currently has one outreach worker working with heroin addicts on a needle exchange programme but he was confident that they would have a second in place in Cork city before the summer.  He said that the service was currently providing two biohazard bins in Cork for heroin users to dispose of their needles and drug-taking equipment but he believed that they needed to increase this to four or five and on occasion swap their locations as drug users change where they inject their heroin.  “We do not see injecting drug use taking place in very public places, not in residential area and in areas where people can see this happening. The biohazard bins will be used for a certain period of time but then the problem will move on to another area and we need to follow it,” he said.  Mr Lane said the task force had also noticed an increase in more recent years in the numbers seeking assistance for cocaine addiction.  “There are more people presenting to us with problems of cocaine. People have more disposal income, it does recollect that type of economic culture which does emerge when the economy is doing well,” he added.  Mr Lane said that trends in drugs use can change over time. The closure of head shops saw a move away from psychoactive drug use. While alcohol continued to prove the primary addiction for many of the 1,500 the services deals with in Cork, many are receiving treatment for poly-drug use.  “The vast majority of people coming to us looking for help are poly-addicted so you are not just talking about a single substance but a variety of substances. People who have problems with over the counter medications and prescription drugs as well would feature in about 10 per cent of cases coming to us.”  Mr Lane said that the problem of people becoming addicted to prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines were higher among certain cohorts such as the homeless, for whom alcohol addiction was also a huge issue along with mental health issues.


theirishtimes--2019-12-27--Plans to create new drugs helpline for people living with addiction

The State’s anti-drug information service is set for a shake-up with plans to create a new helpline for people living with addiction.  The HSE has been asked by Minister for Health Simon Harris and Minister of State with responsibility for drugs Catherine Byrne to examine establishing a helpline similar to the Frank service in the UK.  While the HSE has long run the National Drug and Alcohol Helpline, the two Ministers want a new service similar to the British anti-drug propaganda service. Frank, which was designed by an advertising agency to replace Britain’s existing drugs helpline, was set up by the UK department of health and the Home Office in 2003.  In place of blunt anti-drugs messages, it positioned itself as an “older brother” figure that young people could turn to for advice about illicit substances. It also distanced itself from officialdom, by giving no indication it is an agent of government.  This led to criticism from some Conservative politicians that it focused more on harm reduction and risk minimisation rather than prevention and intervention.  Mr Harris said he had met people affected by drug addiction several times in recent months. “Their experiences are different but they shared one common issue: stigma. Few felt they could talk to their peers, their families about their or their loved one’s illness. We often focus on the person who is addicted and rarely on those around them.  “I strongly believe this helpline could offer people an avenue of support. I also strongly believe that people who are in recovery should be at the other end of the line too. Nobody can speak to this better than those who have experienced it. Obviously this has to be matched by professionals but few people understand the scourge of addiction better than those who experience it.”  Ms Byrne said the proposal could complement a goal of the national drugs strategy, namely to promote and protect health and wellbeing.  Meanwhile, Merchant’s Quay Ireland has been granted planning permission to open Ireland’s first facility for injecting drugs under medical supervision.  An Bord Pleanála said on Christmas Eve that the Dublin charity could proceed with the development of the Riverbank Centre facility which will include seven injecting booths and an after care area.  The charity was initially refused planning permission by Dublin City Council for the centre but appealed the decision.  “With one death every day in Ireland from a drug overdose, this facility will save lives,” the charity said.  In 2016, 736 people died in Ireland from drug-related causes, the fourth-highest rate in Europe, according to the charity.