In 2020, the Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms (CSUCH) data reported that substance use resulted in a loss of $22.4 billion in productivity. This represents 45.6% of the overall cost and harms of substance use, which amounted to $49.1 billion in Canada for that year, as per the latest available data. The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) has recently published a resource titled "Cost of Substance Use on the Economic Productivity of Canadians – Findings at a Glance," which sheds light on the expenses and consequences linked to the decline in productivity. Some key...

Background: Electronic cigarette usage has seen a significant increase globally in recent years, with many countries reporting a rise in users. However, the way African news portrays this phenomenon remains unclear.

Methods: This study employs a mixed-methodology approach to investigate this subject. The research focuses on news articles about electronic cigarette use obtained from AllAfrica, an online African news archive. A total of 38 online news and opinion articles published between June 2017 and June 2022 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Content analysis revealed prevalent...

In the UK, alcohol presents an urgent and growing problem: 70 people die due to alcohol every day. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated this crisis, with alcohol-specific deaths having increased by 27% between 2019 and 2021, reaching record highs.

The estimated cost of alcohol on the UK healthcare system is £8.3 billion annually. Predictions show that unless alcohol consumption returns to pre- pandemic levels, by 2034 it will cost the already-stretched NHS in England an additional £1billion.Although alcohol harms have increased, sadly the provision of treatment has not: only one in five...

BACKGROUND: Coolmine’s implementation of quality standards involves a period of change management, strategic planning, and national policy development.

METHODS: A narrative case study focusing on national policy and internal strategic planning.

CONCLUSIONS: From 2000, Coolmine embarked on a change management journey that kept the organisation at the forefront of drug and alcohol treatment in Ireland and internationally while maintaining fidelity to the Therapeutic Community. The strategy for quality assurance is replicable across similar organisations.

It has been announced that local authorities across England will benefit from an extra £421 million government funding through to 2025 to improve drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery.

The extra funding will enable the creation of over 50,000 high-quality places for drug and alcohol treatment.

The funding will enable local authorities to:

• recruit more staff to work with people with drug and alcohol problems
• support more prison leavers into treatment and recovery services
• invest in enhancing the quality of treatment they provide - in turn helping make streets safer by getting...