VSA Headlines - September 2016

The annual report into drug-related deaths in England and Wales was published this month, showing: "There were 3,674 drug poisoning deaths involving both legal and illegal drugs registered in England and Wales in 2015, the highest since comparable records began in 1993."

It should be noted in addition that these numbers do not include deaths from VSA and Re-Solv is in the process of submitting a request for this data.

This month, Public Health England have also published Understanding and preventing drug-related deaths: The report of a national expert working group to investigate drug-related deaths in England.

VSA headlines from the UK and around the world this month included:

UK

What the 1980s Glue Sniffing Epidemic Can Teach Us About Preventing Ecstasy Deaths: ... Called Re-Solv, the charity, which still exists today, played a key role in getting the message across, and by the 1990s teenage deaths from glue sniffing had plummeted.

Driver jailed for crashing car while inhaling laughing gas: [She] receives 20-month sentence after crashing car in Manchester while inhaling nitrous oxide, injuring herself and others.

Gangs selling laughing gas in Hackney go underground as ‘legal high’ is outlawed: Emma Bartholomew accompanies the police out on a Friday night to see the extent of the nitrous oxide trade since it was made illegal – and finds that, although eradicated in Shoreditch, organised gangs now work in Dalston.

First man jailed for selling ‘legal highs’ at music festival: A man has become one of the first to be prosecuted under new laws on ‘legal’ highs.

No laughing matter: Brit holidaymaker in Ayia Napa turns into hysterical wreck after inhaling a massive balloon full of nitrous oxide.

Other 'legal highs'

Legal high deaths triple in prisons: Prisons Ombudsman says inmates are dying in legal high-related murders, and because of psychotic episodes and suicides triggered by the drugs.

'High Way' to Hell: File on 4 traces the supply [of NPS] back to labs in China. (See also news story: What goes on inside a Chinese 'legal high' factory?)

USA

Inhalants — The Easy to Acquire but Deadly Drug That Nobody Talks About: “It’s the forgotten epidemic,” says Harvey Weiss, who runs the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition, a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based organization that aims to fight against inhalant abuse.

Woman accused of huffing gas near toddler (FL): An Inverness woman is facing a charge of child neglect after being accused of huffing gasoline while a toddler was present.

St. Albans man arrested again for violence after allegedly huffing paint (WV): A man is back behind bars after deputies say he violently robbed a woman in a grocery store parking lot Thursday.

Woman accused of 'huffing' in front of police (OH):  A 32-year-old woman is charged with “huffing” compressed gas out of a can right in front of police as they were there to arrest her on a prior charge involving the same offense.

Driving crimes, accidents and fatalities caused by VSA were reported in FL, Traverse MI, Troy MI, PA, Bremerton WA and Seattle WA.