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Ian Hamilton

@ian_hamilton_

Ian Hamilton is a senior lecturer in addiction and mental health at the University of York

<p>Ellen Mercer died in February last year</p>
Voices

Our laughing gas problem and the truth about decriminalising drugs

<p>Beyond the health risks that nitrous oxide poses, there is the more visible and widespread problem of littering by discarded canisters</p>
Voices

How banning laughing gas will just make things worse

<p>Nitrous oxide is widely used and is second only to cannabis in its popularity</p>
Voices

The debate around nitrous oxide abuse is no laughing matter

<p>We have an ageing population with a range of health problems that will need nurses </p>
Voices

Talking down nursing is dangerous – this proves it

<p>As with most issues, there isn’t one single factor that led to this mass resignation by the over-50s</p>
Voices

Over-50s have abandoned the workforce – here’s how to bring them back

<p>Sadly, we are leaving millions of people without the support they deserve</p>
Voices

Feeling ‘emotionally numb’? There could be a reason for that

<p>No amount of reorganisation will solve the shortage in funding that the NHS faces</p>
Voices

There’s one fatal flaw in how this government sees the NHS

<p>Paradoxically, part of the attraction of illegal drugs is their forbidden status, something that Prince Harry admits</p>
Voices

What Harry said about drug use and the psychological reason behind it

<p>UK drugs policy is caught in a time warp</p>
Voices

Will the UK finally decriminalise cannabis in 2023?

<p>It isn’t something for anyone dependent on alcohol, physically or psychologically</p>
Voices

Who is ‘dry January’ for, exactly?

<p>This new intelligence has implications for how we choose certain food types over others</p>
Voices

Love a burger but can’t stand coriander? There’s science behind that

<p>People are more likely to be successful at quitting smoking when there are as few obstacles as possible</p>
Voices

Why isn’t everyone enjoying the benefits of quitting smoking?

<p>We can’t blame people for thinking that cannabis products will treat pain, given the information they are exposed to</p>
Voices

We need to talk about cannabis and pain relief

Voices

We need to talk about cannabis and pain relief

Head shot of Ian Hamilton
Ian Hamilton
<p>We can’t blame people for thinking that cannabis products will treat pain, given the information they are exposed to</p>
<p>None of this would be necessary if we managed to break the taboo around men’s health – and their sexual health in particular</p>
Voices

Erection problems? Don’t just reach for the Viagra

<p>For many fans, this ban on alcohol won’t matter</p>
Voices

Should we copy Qatar and ban alcohol at football matches?

<p>A rise in temperature can lead to difficulty in sleeping</p>
Voices

Sleeping badly? Feeling low? I bet I know the culprit

<p>The solution is not complex. It costs money – but so does human misery</p>
Voices

How being cold could affect your mental health this winter

<p>The solution is not complex. It costs money – but so does human misery</p>
Voices

How being cold could affect your mental health this winter

<p>Not only are most nurses earning modest salaries, there is also little hope of this changing even with the current threat of industrial action</p>
Voices

Why has the gender pay gap grown over the last two years?

<p>Swearing has something of an image problem</p>
Voices

Could swearing actually be good for you?

<p>Jeremy Hunt did little to push for a long-term workforce plan as health secretary, but this could change now he is chancellor</p>
Voices

What will Jeremy Hunt as chancellor mean for the NHS?

<p>Following the results of the inquest into her death, he urged other parents to speak directly to their children</p>
Voices

How to talk to your child about suicide

<p>Starving the NHS of funds will accelerate inequality further</p>
Voices

What will austerity 2.0 mean for the NHS?

<p>The new home secretary, Suella Braverman, has told senior police leaders what she expects them to do </p>
Voices

Getting ‘tough’ on drugs is an outdated policy – it reeks of bigotry

<p>Coffey has already identified her priorities using the acronym of ABCD: Ambulances, Backlog, Care and Doctors/Dentists</p>
Voices

How exactly does the new health secretary propose to ‘fix’ the NHS?

<p>What women were doing in practice was forming bubbles before they were officially sanctioned</p>
Voices

Women were more likely to break Covid rules – and we all know why

<p>The new home secretary, Suella Braverman, has told senior police leaders what she expects them to do </p>
Voices

Getting ‘tough’ on drugs is an outdated policy – it reeks of bigotry

<p>Coffey has already identified her priorities using the acronym of ABCD: Ambulances, Backlog, Care and Doctors/Dentists</p>
Voices

How exactly does the new health secretary propose to ‘fix’ the NHS?

<p>What women were doing in practice was forming bubbles before they were officially sanctioned</p>
Voices

Women were more likely to break Covid rules – and we all know why

<p>While vaping is safer than smoking, we still don’t know how much harm it may cause in the long term</p>
Voices

Are fears about the impact of vaping on young people justified?

Voices

Are fears about the impact of vaping on young people justified?

<p>While vaping is safer than smoking, we still don’t know how much harm it may cause in the long term</p>
<p>We are still learning about the latest infection threat</p>
Voices

It’s time to bust some of the myths surrounding monkeypox

<p>Vilifying people like Sanna Marin, the Finnish prime minister, sends a clear signal that our collective attitude to drugs is still infantile</p>
Voices

How do you know if you have a problem with drugs?

<p>What all this reminds me of is the considerable sacrifice that people make when complying with antidepressant treatment</p>
Voices

Depression kills sexual desire – are new antidepressants the answer?

<p>As with drugs, the ‘choice’ that many people have about whether to eat healthy or unhealthy foods is not a real choice</p>
Voices

We’re eating ourselves to death – food addiction is real

<p>As with drugs, the ‘choice’ that many people have about whether to eat healthy or unhealthy foods is not a real choice</p>
Voices

We’re eating ourselves to death – food addiction is real

<p>The name and concept for ‘The Wombles’ was born out of an accident rather than design, said creator Elisabeth Beresford </p>
Opinion

If we had listened to the Wombles in the 1970s, we’d be better off now

<p>A new women’s health strategy says medics should be given lessons on women’s health issues </p>
Voices

Why has it taken England until 2022 to prioritise women’s health?

<p>Consecutive Conservative prime ministers have prioritised reducing the amount spent on social security</p>
Voices

Penny Mordaunt’s catchphrase is a coded attack on the vulnerable

<p>It is right to seek help if you have a problem with alcohol, but it shouldn’t be used as an excuse for predatory sexual behaviour</p>
Voices

We’re told alcohol explains Chris Pincher’s behaviour – it doesn’t

<p>There is a logic to being wary of trying to negotiate with someone who is insane</p>
Voices

Calling Putin ‘mad’ only makes him more dangerous

<p>Not for the first time have women been overlooked when a virus emerges</p>
Voices

Why is the monkeypox vaccine only being offered to men?

<p>The journey through the menopause is not a universal or standardised experience</p>
Voices

Is too much medical treatment harming our health?

<p>A very small proportion of drinkers consume a significant share of all the alcohol produced and sold</p>
Voices

Is it right to raise prices for booze during a cost of living crisis?

<p>There is also a darker side to AA that is rarely mentioned, namely how members can be exploited</p>
Voices

Does Alcoholics Anonymous actually work?

<p>Most university staff in contact with students will want to do the right thing and ensure support is available</p>
Voices

The tragic death of Natasha Abrahart should be a wake-up call

<p>Stigmatising people can do harmful collateral damage</p>
Voices

Cocaine isn’t the reason for violence at football matches

Voices

Cocaine isn’t the reason for violence at football matches

<p>Stigmatising people can do harmful collateral damage</p>
<p>But a positive mental attitude can only take us so far</p>
Voices

Can you think yourself to better mental health?

<p>The data is overwhelming and depressing</p>
Voices

Depp v Heard talks about drugs – but do they really cause violence?

<p>This aspect of equality is no less important than any other</p>
Voices

Women are being short-changed when it comes to orgasms

<p>Many patients fear even beginning a conversation with their doctor about coming off medicines</p>
Voices

We are repeating mistakes from the 1970s on antidepressants

<p>Many patients fear even beginning a conversation with their doctor about coming off medicines</p>
Voices

We are repeating mistakes from the 1970s on antidepressants

<p>A team from Imperial College, London, carried out <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01744-z">a trial</a> with the psychedelic compound psilocybin to see if it could treat people with severe depression</p>
Voices

Psychedelics could help treat depression – we need more research

<p>I have worked with people in residential drug detox, and what struck me is how their lives evolved as they recovered from addiction</p>
Voices

In order to beat addiction, we must study those who don’t suffer

<p>The brutal irony is that drugs and alcohol are often used to numb poverty and stress</p>
Voices

Poorer people are dying earlier – our class divide is very much alive

<p>Wealth buys privacy, something most people need to experience pleasure</p>
Voices

This is how the cost-of-living crisis could affect your sex life

<p>Women’s health is still not treated on a par to men’s health</p>
Voices

Pregnant women who drink alcohol deserve compassion – not judgement

<p>Cannabis use is not a niche activity: an estimated 200 million people use the drug across the world</p>
Health and Wellbeing

What do we really know about the link between cannabis and psychosis?

<p>For those with drug problems who are unable to leave Ukraine, the future looks increasingly bleak</p>
Voices

Is Britain ready to welcome Ukrainians with drug problems?

<p>Sex workers aren’t an alien species – they are someone’s daughter, son, mother, partner or friend</p>
Voices

Why it might be time to decriminalise sex work

<p>Does Disney have a duty to reflect a better gender balance? </p>
Voices

How Disney’s skewed gender balance shapes our world

<p>‘Severing the link between the gambling industry and treatment is welcome but should never have been in place to begin with’ </p>
Voices

It’s not only betting firms funding the NHS – health hypocrisy is rife

<p>The World Health Organisation estimates that one in three women will experience some form of domestic abuse during their adult life</p>
Voices

Murder rates are down – but not for women killed by their partners

Voices

Murder rates are down – but not for women killed by their partners

<p>The World Health Organisation estimates that one in three women will experience some form of domestic abuse during their adult life</p>
<p>Common health problems are being dismissed on the basis that women should be able to cope and not make a fuss</p>
Voices

Ingrained sexism in healthcare means women are suffering in silence

<p>It is evident that alcohol played a significant role in the day-to-day business of Downing Street</p>
Voices

Booze lubricated Partygate – let’s confront that inconvenient truth

<p>It would have an immediate effect on the number of people taking tests</p>
Voices

It will never be the right time to charge for tests during a pandemic

<p>Mayor of London Sadiq Khan </p>
Voices

A drugs-related criminal record is often more harmful than the drug

<p>Mayor of London Sadiq Khan </p>
Voices

A drugs-related criminal record is often more harmful than the drug

<p>The real test for the government is whether this is a genuine attempt to keep people ‘safe’ or just another headline grabbing stunt in their renewed ambition to get tough on drugs</p>
Voices

Random drug swabbing by Met officers isn’t going to keep people safe

<p>Drugs don’t distinguish between rich and poor but the impact they have on these bookends of society differ radically</p>
Voices

Think drug addiction is ‘self-inflicted’? You’re part of the problem

<p>‘No matter how well-intentioned you are about your new year resolution, unfortunately most of us won’t make it into February’ </p>
Voices

How to help achieve your new year resolutions

<p>Most of the medicines we rely on today for a range of health problems were developed without being tested on women</p>
Voices

Science still says women’s health is not as important as men’s

<p>Find another way to unwind, like meditation, instead of reaching for booze. </p>
Voices

Maximising your chance of success this Dry January

<p>While drugs claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 last year, this is dwarfed by the lives cut short by alcohol at 8,974 in 2020</p>
Voices

Alcohol is deadly – why doesn’t the war on drugs target it?

<p>‘People have found their own solutions to improving how they feel and think during the pandemic’ </p>
Voices

‘Microdosing’ has risen since Covid – people need a safe environment

<p>Is the lack of coordinated messaging more deliberate than accidental? </p>
Voices

The government is stoking division over Christmas parties

<p>12-year-old Ava White died after she was stabbed following an argument in Liverpool city centre </p>
Voices

We must address the root causes of knife crime

<p>Health Secretary Sajid Javid </p>
Voices

Racial bias in medical equipment is a red herring – and Javid knows it

<p>‘As the strength of ecstasy pills has incrementally increased in recent years, so have reports of adulterants, adding to the case for providing drug testing to users’ </p>
Voices

Letting people test their drugs will reduce needless deaths

<p> A shortage of nurses means agencies are sometimes used to fill staffing shortfalls</p>
Voices

Private agencies are exploiting the NHS nurse shortage

<p>‘It is not clear if the health secretary will advise NHS employers to sack any staff who refuse the vaccine ... the NHS is already carrying 93,000 staff vacancies’ </p>
Voices

We can’t afford to lose NHS staff over vaccine mandates

<p>Research shows that those who experienced stress during the pandemic increased the amount of alcohol they drank and how often</p>
Health

How the pandemic created a generation of ‘grey area’ drinkers

<p>The ACMD recommended against making nitrous oxide possession illegal in 2015</p>
Voices

Get a grip, Priti Patel – laughing gas isn’t a major threat to society

<p>A patient undergoes ‘smell training’ as part of her recovery from Covid-19</p>
Voices

Losing your sense of smell with Covid can ruin your sex life

<p>Research shows that those who experienced stress during the pandemic increased the amount of alcohol they drank and how often</p>
Health

How the pandemic created a generation of ‘grey area’ drinkers

<p>The ACMD recommended against making nitrous oxide possession illegal in 2015</p>
Voices

Get a grip, Priti Patel – laughing gas isn’t a major threat to society

<p>A patient undergoes ‘smell training’ as part of her recovery from Covid-19</p>
Voices

Losing your sense of smell with Covid can ruin your sex life

<p>Anyone caught in possession of a class A drug like heroin or crack-cocaine will be given a warning rather than face prosecution in Scotland. </p>
Voices

Scotland is right – punishing drug users won’t help, they need care

<p>‘A new report has found that 20 per cent of all hospital admissions in those aged over 65 are due to the adverse effects of prescribing medicines’ </p>
Voices

Overprescribing medicine is due to social problems, not health issues

<p>There has been a 40 per cent rise in the use of opiates like tramadol, codeine and dihydrocodeine compared to pre-pandemic levels </p>
Voices

Long NHS waiting lists have led to a dangerous explosion in opiate use

<p>Boris Johnson has announced a UK-wide 'health and social care levy' to address funding</p>
Voices

The ‘levelling up’ agenda must address regional inequality

<p>‘Research found 2.1 per cent of children aged 12 and under admitted to sending a sext’ </p>
Voices

We must confront the reality that children under 12 are ‘sexting’

<p>The stress of Covid-19 has fuelled Britain’s nicotine habit</p>
Voices

The rise in young people smoking is down to more than just stress

<p>Afghan farmers harvest opium sap from a poppy field in the Gereshk district of Helmand province</p>
Voices

We will soon feel the impact of bumper opium production in Afghanistan

<p>In Scotland, deaths due to alcohol rose by 17 per cent in the last year with 1,190 people losing their lives</p>
Voices

Alcohol-related deaths are the highest in Scotland since 2008 – why?

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