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Next month, a free seminar will provide those working in child protection and family law with insights as to how hair testing parents for illicit substance and alcohol use can be used to support their work. Taking place on Tuesday, 11th November, 2pm-4.30pm at Trades Hall, Glasgow, the event is the latest in a series of non-commercial CPD seminars held by TrichoTech, a Concateno group company and Europe's largest hair testing laboratory, and TV Edwards LLP Solicitors.

The Priory Group is using its expertise to help GPs recognise and deal with the signs of problem and excessive drinking. The UK's leading independent provider of addiction treatment services has commissioned a series of web TV programmes to raise awareness of its specialist services to GPs and other medical practitioners and one of the first subjects tackled was alcohol addiction.

Since the UK's move to 24-hour drinking, a large city centre hospital in Birmingham has seen an increase in drink-related attendances between the hours of 3am and 6am. A new study, published in the open access journal BMC Public health, shows no significant decrease in alcohol-related attendances after 24-hour drinking was introduced but a significant shift in the time of attendances.

Urgent action is needed to prevent a 'silent epidemic' of alcohol-related dementia in the UK, psychiatrists have warned. Writing in the November issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, two London-based psychiatrists with a special interest in dementia discuss the potential impact of increasing alcohol consumption among young and middle-aged people.

A future president McCain or Obama should adopt a national drug-control strategy that reflects research showing that prevention and treatment are more effective than international drug interdiction, according to policy researcher John Carnevale, Ph.D.

Phillip Morris USA is giving its Virginia Slims cigarette packages a makeover with pink "Purse Packs" that contain smaller, easier-to-carry cigarettes.

Students attending schools where 20 percent of the student body is Hispanic are far more likely to be exposed to alcohol advertising than students attending schools with fewer Hispanic students, according to researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Texas.

University of London researchers suggest that "light drinking" - defined as up to two drinks a week throughout pregnancy -- will not increase a child's risk of developing behavioral or cognitive problems.

"Neuroscience 2008," the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting-Find out the latest news about the brain and its complexity from the world's top experts. Several Institute Directors and program leaders from the National Institutes of health (NIH) will be available to discuss success stories and new directions in neuroscience research during this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting.

Proposition 5 will not help Californians find community-based alternatives to deal with their dire drug problem, but will instead make matters much worse, writes Douglas Marlowe.