Temporary email accounts

Best email spam filters deals with unwanted messages pretty great, but time to time some of the spam emails find the way to your inbox – nothing is perfect! But, maybe, there is a way to stop giving your email to unknown sources and avoid spam.
Many people use temporary email services to protect their real email addresses. When you need to fill out some registration forms or give away your email to shady/unknown sources you can simply create temporary email address and use it instead.
Below are some of the most popular temporary email services that will help you create temporary email address within a few moments:
1) Mailinator

One of the most popular and advanced temporary email services. They have several alternate domains you can use for your email. Check out also Mailinator widget for websites.
2) Melt Mail

Very simple service for setting up temporary email address that will forward incoming mail to your real address. Simplicity is the greatest quality of this service so if you want to go the easiest way use Melt Mail.
3) 10 Minute Mail

Using this service you are able to create email address that will work for 10 minutes. If you want to do something quick use 10 Minute Mail.
4) Guerrilla Mail

Don’t understand English? Use Guerrilla mail in German, Spanish, Polish and Dutch languages. Emails of this service are active for 15 minutes and after that they will expire.
5) TempEMail

Your email address created using this temporary email service will expire in 14 days, so it is very useful if you need to wait some time for some emails and you don’t know when exactly you will receive them.
6) MailExpire

Great service that offers you to create email that will be active from 12 hours up till 3 months depending on your needs. Only problem is that it works for me a bit slow.
7) Filz Mail

Very easy to use and simple solution. You even have a possibility to check for your mail using RSS feeds, which gives you great possibility to receive messages via your favorite RSS readers you use on daily basis.

Finally, describing itself as ~ `offer[ing] private, secure free email accounts .. [where the] .. Email is encrypted and spam/virus scanned`

Hushmail

Back to the real business soon ~ but in the meantime;

Whether you’re a high school or college student, a small business owner looking to set up a new business plan, or someone who wants to be better organized with your errands, goals and regular to-do lists, there are a variety of tools to keep your notes and tasks safe and filed away online. These 50 tools and tricks will revolutionize your note-taking by introducing you to techniques and websites that let you share ideas, store your thoughts directly on a web page and more.

Bookmarks and More

Save your notes and favorite sites to your toolbar or sidebar with these bookmarks and other helpful tools.

Evernote: Evernote captures images of web pages, to-do lists, pictures, and more to keep you organized. It’s a searchable tool that can be accessed from any of your computers or mobile devices.
MyStickies: Firefox’s add-on is similar to Mac’s Stickies tool. Color-code, edit and manipulate sticky notes on different websites to organize your notes.
Diigo: With Diigo, you can highlight text, annotate useful pages and search your saved sites.
Notefish: Notefish lets you save web content, highlight, annotate, and edit your notes and keep all your research organized.
Snip!t: Clip web pages and save notes with this tool. Snip!t can also suggest future searches and snips and let you share snips.
Fleck: Fleck is an online bookmarking and annotating tool that lets you save and share sites.

Productivity Tools

These note-taking tools are all about boosting your productivity and staying on top of your course load.

Toodledo: Toodledo is a web-based to-do list that lets you store and create numerous files.
Nozbe: This task manager is based on the Getting Things Done principle. You can access Nozbe with your phone, browser or iPhone and even share projects.
Remember the Milk: This cute tool lets you take down notes, to-do lists, and more. It sends you reminders via e-mail, SMS or IM and can be used with Google Calendar.
Treepad Lite: This all-in-one organizer lets you set up a tree structure that best follows your brainstorming and note-taking style.

Collaboration

Share your notes and edits with classmates, students, colleagues and team members to get the most out of your research and brainstorming.

HiTask: Share tasks, notes, projects and more with your team using HiTask.
Backpack: Share project notes, post a group calendar, organize files and even use Backpack Messages to centralize your entire project with a team.
Basecamp: Students, teachers, small businesses and anyone wanting to organize a project can use Basecamp to keep notes and tasks organized in a central location.
Highrise: Highrise is a tool that helps you keep all of your contacts, messages and notes recorded from different conversations together.
Ta-da lists: Create a ta-da list to share with others all the assignments you need to complete.
43 Things: Use the 43 Things community to help you achieve your goals by publicizing your to-do lists, plans for the future and things you need to remember.
Purple Bunny: Scribble notes and questions in the margin of websites to keep your thoughts in order and get feedback from other users.
Digital Notes: Use this open source social bookmarking tool to “write down” notes on websites and then share with your friends or classmates.
WriteWith: Create documents with this tool to share your stories, brainstorming ideas, to-do lists and tasks with others.
LooseStitch: LooseStitch is a fun tool that lets your organize and share essay notes, presentations, outlines, to-do lists and more.

Organization and Efficiency Tips

College students can use these guides and tips to become a more organized, efficient note-taker.

Top 5 Tips for Effective Notetaking: This list includes a thorough list of tips that can help you be better prepared in class, improve your listening skills and more.
Geek to Live: Take great notes: Learn how to find your own notepaper, organize your lists and more.
Use online tools: Besides cutting down on the mess of papers and physical folders, online tools are faster and can be e-mailed, edited and searched more effectively.
Taking Notes from Research Reading: The University of Toronto shares this list of tips to get the most out of your research time.
Record your sources: Record all of your sources and annotations on the same page as the notes you take from that source. If you aren’t able to remember where you found the information, you may not be able to use it.

Accessories

Check out these highlighters and other accessories to make your online note-taking more fun and organized.

Wired Marker: Wired Marker is an online highlighter that permanently bookmarks your pages and selections.
WebNotes: WebNotes is a beta tool that annotates and organizes your notes with a highlighter, sticky notes, filing system and more.

Large Scale Projects and Tools

Use these tools for larger scale projects that depend on the input of many team members.

Kayuda: Use this mind mapping tool to keep all of your ideas, brainstorms and plans in order.
Famundo: Famundo is a family organizer and business tool that lets you share events, calendars, notes and commentary, and more.
FreeMind: Use FreeMind to prioritize and organize your ideas, plans and notes.

Notebooks

Record and manipulate your notes in these online notebooks from Google, Wiki, Microsoft Office and more.

Personal Wiki: Set up your own personal wiki to organize your favorite sites, notes and more on your desktop or mobile device.
Google Notebook: Google’s online notebook page lets you save, edit and organize notes or a text document easily.
Microsoft Office OneNote: This “digital notebook” can be shared, edited, searched, and saved. It even lets you capture digital handwriting, audio and video recordings and more.
Wridea: Add pages and tabs for every project, assignment, goal or story idea you have in your head.
Writeboard: Work with others on your assignments and task lists with this tool, which uses Backpack to keep it all organized.
yWriter4: This word processor lets you move around whole blocks of your writing or notes for maximum customized organization.
Springnote: This cute little online notebook is based on wiki. You can try the personal notebook, group version or iPhone version.
iLeonardo: This social research tool lets you share your notes and finds with friends.
WebAsyst: WebAsyst’s online notepad is free and lets you organize notes in an online filing system.
Zoho Notebook: Another free document tool, Zoho Notebook lets you share your text and embed multimedia content into your notes.

Multimedia and Multitasking Tools

These tools are made for more than just regular note-taking. Use them alongside services like Gmail, Twitter, Facebook and more.

Jott: Jott translates phone messages into to-do lists and reminders.
Todoist: This online task manager works well with Gmail, your Firefox sidebar, cell phone and more.
30 Boxes: 30 Boxes is an online calendar that helps you prioritize events and take notes.
Pageflakes: Pageflakes is a personal homepage generator and online community that lets you save favorite pages, connect to Facebook and Twitter, and more.
ubernotes: Use this tool to “take notes from anywhere,” including your browser, web apps, iPhone and cell phones, e-mail and AIM.
Mecanbe: Mecanbe is a tool that helps you achieve your goals and manage your tasks according to your charts and notes.
Twitterlights: This tool uses Twitter and the highlighting powers of i-Lighter to help you share specific excerpts with your Twitter friends.
Net Notes: Save your notes on different websites saved to your bookmarks.
Think Free: This office suite lets you edit documents and post to your blog remotely with Note; collaborate with team members to share notes with Workspace; and manage documents and brainstorms with My Office.
Notely: Use Notely’s high school or college versions to access organization tools like a calendar, to-do list, upload area and room for organizing and taking notes.

Upgrading the website .....

It should look and perhaps even feel different on this site now and a part of this is finding new things to operate with. In so doing I came across the following. It might be useful ~ enjoy

100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need

Organization

If you’re busy with lots of client work, it’s easy for things to get out of hand. Don’t let your work get away from you; organize information and projects with these tools.

Backpack: Get your projects organized by using Backpack. Create to-do lists, notes, files, images and a calendar with reminders that can be sent via email or to your mobile device.
Central Desktop: Collaborate, communicate and share files with clients and coworkers using Central Desktop.
iOrganize: With iOrganize, freelancers can organize work by keeping notes, ideas and bookmarks in one place.
Viapoint: Viapoint makes it easy for freelancers to store emails and files by client or project.
Stikkit: Use Stikkit’s “little yellow notes that think” to keep in touch, plan and collaborate with clients and coworkers.
Webnote: Webnote users can take notes using a web browser, then save and return to the notes on any computer. This is especially helpful if you’re working on-site with a client and have to use a computer other than your own.
Netvibes: Spend less time searching and more time working by customizing your browser’s start page with email, feeds, messaging, job boards and much, much more.

Calendars & To-Do Lists

Client meetings, important events and a never-ending list of things to do can wear you down if you can’t make them manageable. Use these handy calendars and to-do lists to keep your schedule from taking over your business.

Remember The Milk: Remember The Milk reminds you to take care of important tasks, so you’ll never forget when a project is due.
CalendarHub: Use CalendarHub’s web-based calendar to keep track of deadlines and set goals for your business.
Google Calendar: Google Calendar is a web based tool that allows users to organize their schedule, so you’ll always know exactly what you need to be working on.
Planzo: Planzo’s online calendar keeps freelancers connected to events and things to do. It lets you share your events just about anywhere, get a daily digest and receive text message reminders.
Spongecell: Spongecell is an online calendar made for freelancers with lots of meetings and engagements. Plan events, spread the word and allow guests to add content to your calendar.
Neptune: Neptune’s web based to do list tool helps you keep track of the things you need to take care of every day. It lets you email yourself new tasks, get an email report every morning and upload files to store with your projects.
Ta-da List: When you’re busy with lots of projects, it can be hard to keep track of what you’ve accomplished. Make web-based ta-da lists for yourself or other people, then share them and check items off as you go.

Your Money

Money is what keeps your freelance business going, but managing it can be tedious and time consuming. Sure, it’s fun to see money come in, but does anyone really like sending out invoices? Use these tools to make the process of managing your income easier and more enjoyable.

Wesabe: Use Wesabe to keep tabs on where the money in your business goes, helping you to make better financial decisions.
InstaCalc: InstaCalc is a web based calculator with lots of bells and whistles including spreadsheet capabilities, unit conversions and programming commands. It’s great for freelancers because you can send clients links to any of your calculations, put a calculator on your website or create charts and graphs from your calculations.
XE: If you’re working with an overseas client, you may need to handle foreign currencies. Use XE’s currency converter for accurate calculations with up-to-the-minute currency rates.
Dimewise: Use Dimewise’s web-based convenience to manage your business transactions wherever you are.
FreshBooks: FreshBooks offers a program for “painless billing,” so you’ll never have to spend hours sending client invoices out. Designed with service-based businesses in mind, this software provides a method to manage and send invoices, handle work orders and generate reports with ease.

Storage

Do you have too many client files clogging up your hard drive? Use these services to take a load off.

openonmy: openonmy’s website offers storage for files up to 1GB. These files are made to be accessible from any computer, so you can open them up even when on-site with a client.
Xdrive: Xdrive offers 5GB of online storage. Use their service to share files with your clients and coworkers.
YouSendIt: Have you ever had to clean out your inbox just so you’d have room to send out an email? YouSendIt puts and end to that trouble by sending files up to 2GB to your clients.
Flickr: Save space on your hard drive by uploading your photos to Flickr. It’s a great way to store, share and organize photos for your business.
Box: Create an online file-sharing location for you and your clients on Box.
MediaTemple: Keep your important client files safe on MediaTemple’s servers. They offer innovative hosting solutions for all kinds of websites.
DivShare: Use DivShare’s file hosting service to email files to clients or store them in a folder for shared access later.

Project Management & Productivity

Do you wonder where all of your time goes? Do your clients want frequent status updates? Keep tabs on your time and projects with these tools.

Harvest: Harvest offers web-based time tracking software with simplicity. Track your progress and inform your clients using Harvest’s reports.
Side Job Track: Side Job Track, designed with freelancers in mind, provides software that lets you track and manage project information. Features include job tracking, invoicing and reporting.
Basecamp: Basecamp offers a way to improve project communication. Use it to keep your teammates and clients informed about what’s going on with your projects.
ConceptShare: ConceptShare provides online design collaboration. Invite clients and coworkers to view your design and make comments on your work.
ProjectStat.us: Instead of fielding constant calls about the status of a project, let your customers view the status of their project online with ProjectStat.us.

Writing & Design Tools

Being creative can get expensive. Purchasing icons, stock photos, book publishing and the like can add up fast and eat into your profit margin. Check out these free and inexpensive tools designed to make the lives of freelance writers and designers cheaper and easier.

Writeboard: Have you ever had a client or coworker revise a document and end up wiping out your work? Use Writeboard to share and collaborate while saving separate versions each step of the way.
Lulu: Lulu gives fledgling writers an easy way to get published. Each product is printed as it’s ordered, so you don’t have to build an expensive inventory.
MailBuild: Built for web designers, MailBuild allows users to set up a template for client email campaigns.
MyFonts: Do you want to see how fonts will look on your design before committing to a purchase? MyFonts provides a source for trying out and buying new fonts.
IconBuffet: Find and trade stock icons for your web designs on IconBuffet.
stock.xchng: Add photos to your writing or web design at low or no cost. stock.xchng provides tons of stock photos, many of them royalty-free.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets: Don’t bother spending hard-earned money for the latest version of MS Word. Create, upload, share and edit word and spreadsheet documents online using Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
MorgueFile: MorgueFile’s high resolution photos are has-beens in the stock photography world, but that doesn’t mean they won’t do a great job spicing up your work.

Security & Privacy

Don’t let your work get stolen or compromised. Can you imagine how your business would suffer if you lost files due to a virus? Or worse, if the financial information of your clients got exposed to spyware? These services help you stay safe and secure.

SpamSieve: Fighting spam takes time away from your business and opens your system up to intruders. Use SpamSieve to keep spam out of your Mac email client.
Escrow: Don’t get burned by clients that make fraudulent payments. Use Escrow to protect yourself and your clients from payment fraud.
Cloudmark Desktop: Cloudmark protects your Outlook inbox from spam, phishing and viruses, so you’ll never have to worry about compromising business files when reading your email.
PayPal: Give your clients a way to pay without sharing their financial information by using PayPal.
Moneybookers: Open your business to the worldwide market safely. Use Moneybookers for secure worldwide payment and acceptance.
Spamato: Keep your business email secure by using Spamato with Outlook, Thunderbird or Mozilla Mail.
Spybot Search & Destroy: Make sure your confidential client information is safe from prying eyes by scanning for spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition: Protect your business files with a good antivirus program. AVG Anti-Virus offers a free solution for protecting your computer from viruses.

Mobility & Contact

When running a business, it’s essential that you’re able to keep in contact with clients, vendors, coworkers and other important acquaintances. Use these tools to communicate with ease.

Campfire: Campfire is a web-based chat tool that’s ideal for online meetings with clients or coworkers.
Meebo: Don’t miss out on a client just because you don’t use the same instant messaging tool. Get access to every major messaging service on Meebo’s website without having to download anything.
FaxZERO: Online communication is popular, but sometimes you just have to send a fax. But who wants to invest in a fax machine and phone line for something that happens only on a rare occasion? Instead, use FaxZERO to send a fax anywhere in the US or Canada for free.
eBuddy: Don’t miss out on important messages while you’re away from your base of operations. Log on to eBuddy to sign on to online messengers using your mobile device.
K7: FaxZERO lets you send out a fax for free online, but what if a client wants to fax something to you? Enlist the help of K7, a service that assigns users a phone number that accepts fax and voicemail messages, which are then sent to your email.
GoToMeeting: Use GoToMeeting to keep in touch with clients and coworkers via online meetings.
LogMeIn: Don’t let your business suffer because you can’t take your computer on the road. Use LogMeIn to get access to your computer’s desktop anywhere.

Marketing & Networking

You provide a great service and offer awesome rates, so why isn’t the world knocking down your door with business? Perhaps it’s because they have no idea you exist. Get your name out there and find new clients with these tools.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn offers online networking at its best. Find opportunities and contacts based on your work and the people you already know.
askCHARITY: Take advantage of askCHARITY’s database of key media contacts to get the word out about your business.
Craigslist: Craigslist is an invaluable tool for any freelancer. Find clients, sell your work, buy supplies, network and more using Craigslist.
Coroflot: Use Coroflot to post an online portfolio and find design jobs.
ProfessionalOnTheWeb: ProfessionalOnTheWeb hosts a directory of portfolios. Make sure yours is there when clients search for help.
Elance: Use Elance to get connected with clients that need your services on a project.
37signals Gig Board: Use the 37signals Gig Board to find freelance jobs in programming, design and more.
WebProJobs: Find full-time and freelance web professional jobs on WebProJobs.
Job Pile: Job Pile aggregates popular freelance job boards, so you can spend time working instead of searching.
YouTube: Use YouTube’s viral video to get the word out about your creativity.
CafePress: CafePress offers on-demand printing for promotional items as well as a place to sell your design.
Spot Runner: Use Spot Runner to build a TV advertising campaign.

Business & Legal

Paperwork isn’t always fun, but it is necessary. Forms and agreements can provide legal protection and help you avoid disputes down the road. Check out these tools that help you protect yourself and spend less time on the boring stuff.

MyNewCompany: Get legal and tax protection for your freelance business by making things official. Use MyNewCompany to incorporate or form an LLC online.
Help Me Work: Get the stability of corporate life while still working as an independent consultant. Help Me Work takes care of taxes, client billing, paychecks, benefits, retirement plans and more.
Designers Toolbox: Get set up with all the legal forms your design business may need with Designers Toolbox.
Creative Commons: Use Creative Commons to specify how much or how little legal restrictions you want your work to carry.
AIGA: Protect your business with AIGA’s standard form of agreement for design services.
Nolo: If you’ve got a legal question about your business, head to Nolo. Experts there offer legal advice for independent contractors and consultants.
Creative Public: Head to Creative Public for forms, contracts, pricing guides and more for your design business.

Client Contact & Feedback

Your clients are what keep you in business, so itâ€™s important to check in with them and make sure they’re satisfied. Use these programs to keep in touch with your clients and find out what they have to say about your work.

Breeze: Send out email campaigns to your clients with Breeze’s easy tool.
Wufoo: Use Woofoo to make forms, surveys and invitations for your customers with ease.
Relenta CRM: Keep track of customer relationships using email, contact, document and activity management with Relenta.
Highrise: Don’t lose track of your customers: keep in touch with Highrise’s online contact management system.
ScratchnScribble: Use ScratchnScribble’s service to have handwritten or printed greeting cards sent to your clients.

Website Tools

Clients are looking for your business online. Will you be there? Check out these applications to make sure your business has an excellent online presence.

Big Cartel: Set up an online store to sell your products using Big Cartel’s service.
WordPress: Blog about your business and industry with WordPress.
Inblogit: If you’re a design professional, your blog should be attractive. Use Inblogit for blog functionality with more flexbility in design.
Icebrrg: Create web forms with Icebrrg so that your website can generate customer inquiry and feedback.
XHTMLized: If you’re too busy to build a website yourself, use XHTMLized. They take your design and turn it into a web page that is browser and search engine friendly.
XHTMLiT: XHTMLit offers freelancers another time-saving solution for converting design into HTML.
Userplane: Make your website interactive for your clients by bundling chat, messaging, video, search and live presence with Userplane.
Ning: Let your clients network with each other by creating your own Ning social network.
ExpressionEngine: Impress your customers by having a website with lots of features. Use ExpressionEngine to publish just about anything on your website.
FlashDen: Build a great-looking website that your clients will want to visit. Buy Flash, audio, video and fonts to make your website look good at FlashDen.

Printing & Packaging

When your products look good, your business does too. Presentation makes a difference, so be sure to make a good impression by using these innovative printing and packaging tools.

Jewelboxing: Impress your customers with Jewelboxing’s customized, professional-grade DVD and CD packages.
Qoop: Qoop prints everything freelancers might need: business cards, apparel, promotional items, posters and more.
Moo: Moo prints note cards and mini cards from your photos and design. These can be used for promotional materials or business cards.

Tools to Give & Take

These tools pack a double-whammy of functionality. Use them to get the resources you need or as an alternative revenue stream.

Google AdWords: Use Google AdWords to advertise your business or make money by putting AdWords on your website.
Prosper: Using Prosper’s people-to-people lending website, you can borrow money for business expenses from real people. If you have extra cash, use Prosper to earn interest by lending to others.
Text Link Ads: Generate interest in your website and attract clients with Text Link Ads or earn money by selling space for others on your site.
PayPerPost: Use PayPerPost to have a blogger write about your product or service. Alternately, you can earn money by writing about someone else’s business.
Guruza: Find answers to your business questions or earn money by giving expert advice on Guruza.

Miscellaneous

From office suites to creative stimulation, these tools have a lot to offer for freelancers. Check out these applications that cover anything and everything else you might need for your business.

Zoho: Zoho’s Office Suite includes a variety of software solutions for freelancers: a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, wiki writer, notebook, project management, CRM solution, database creator, calendar, web conferencing, email and chat.
Veetro: Veetro offers another all-in-one solution that specializes in the tools freelancers need the most. This program combines money, document, task and customer management with email marketing, reporting and blog publishing.
Work: Are you clueless about what it takes to run a business in your industry? Work offers guides that show you how.
Pandora: Get your creative juices flowing with Pandora’s fully customizable internet radio.

Drug related deaths in the UK – Annual report 2009

The Annual Report of drug-related deaths in the United Kingdom report published by the national programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (np-SAD) is used by universities, the UK Government, national and international agencies as an indicator of the extent and nature of drug problems and misuse, and makes a contribution towards the prevention of substance abuse problems.

The findings indicate a decrease in deaths in 2008 reported directly to np-SAD by coroners when compared to the number reported in last yearâ€™s report. However, when the figures for SCDEA cases are added the result is an increase in drug-related deaths during 2008 for the United Kingdom as a whole. These apparently diverging patterns underline the fact that further vigilance and constant monitoring of the drug-related fatalities situation is essential for understanding the evolution of the phenomenon.

Time to change.

ReasonaAbility = A campaign site with the intention to change the stigma attached to mental illness. Looks goodÂ

About Us

Time to Change is England’s most ambitious programme to end discrimination faced by people who experience mental health problems.

Our vision:
To make lives better for everyone by ending mental health discrimination

Our mission:
To inspire people to work together to end the discrimination surrounding mental health

Who are we?

The programme of 35 projects is led by Mind, and Rethink (Mental Health Media have now merged to become part of Mind). It is funded with Â£16m from the Big Lottery Fund and Â£4m from Comic Relief, and evaluated by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, London.Â

The programme is backed by international evidence on what works, and has at its heart people with direct experience of mental health problems.

It will include:

We aim to work with all sectors and communities to tackle a lingering taboo and one of the greatest social injustices.

A world first

Not only are we Englandâ€™s biggest ever attempt to end stigma and discrimination and improve well-being, we are also a world first.

Other anti-discrimination programmes have measured their ability to change public attitudes around mental health, but we are the first to aim to change behaviour.

We will measure our success by evaluating our impact on the experience people actually have of discrimination.

Our aims:

To create a 5% positive shift in public attitudes towards mental health problems
To achieve a 5% reduction in discrimination by 2012
To increase the ability of 100,000 people with mental health problems to address discrimination
To engage over 250,000 people in physical activity
To produce a powerful evidence base of what works

Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales, 2008

Date: 26 August 2009
Coverage: England and Wales
Theme: Health and Care
.

The number of deaths related to drug poisoning, which includes deaths involving both legal and illegal drugs, for males was 2,075 in 2008, an increase of 8 per cent compared to 2007 and the highest number since 2001.
The number of female deaths rose to 853 in 2008, an increase of 17 per cent compared with 2007, after falling for the previous three years from 2005 to 2007.
There were 897 deaths involving heroin or morphine in 2008, an 8 per cent rise compared to 2007, and the highest number since 2001.
There were 235 deaths involving cocaine in 2008, an increase of 20 per cent compared with 2007 and a continuation of the upward trend.
The number of deaths involving antidepressants increased slightly from 335 in 2007 to 381 in 2008, but over the period 2004 to 2008 as a whole this figure has decreased by 19 per cent.
In 2008, the total number of drug misuse deaths rose to 1,738, the highest level recorded since 2001.
The figures presented here are the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) database of deaths from drug-related poisoning, for the period 2004 to 2008. Provisional figures for 2008 (based on provisional death registrations for 2008) are included with updated rates for 2007 (based on the mid-year population estimates for 2007). The database contains information on deaths from 1993; results based on registrations of deaths in each calendar year from 2003 to 2007 were published in 2008.1 Provisional mortality rates for 2008 have been calculated using the population projections for 2008,2 as population estimates are not yet available. Final figures and rates for 2008 will be presented in the next annual update.

Substance Abuse, Schizophrenia And Risk Of Violence

A study published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine demonstrates that there is an association between schizophrenia and violence, but shows that this association is greatly increased by drug and alcohol abuse. Importantly, the study also finds that the risk of violence from patients with psychoses who also have substance use disorder is no greater than those who have a substance use disorder but who do not have a psychotic illness – in other words, schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses do not appear to be responsible for any additional risk of violence above the increased risk associated with substance abuse. Potentially this finding has implications for attempts to reduce violence in society, suggesting that strategies aimed at reducing drug and alcohol abuse would be more successful than focusing on mental illness.

Whether or not there is a link between psychotic illnesses and violence has been disputed in the medical literature as well as being a controversial issue with far-reaching social and policy implications. Seena Fazel, of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of all previous studies examining psychotic illness and the risk of violence to try and resolve their varied conclusions – some of the previous studies concluded that there is no increased risk of violence from patients with schizophrenia, whilst others have reported that there is a marked increase in the risk of violence in individuals with schizophrenia. The opinion emerging in the last couple of decades that there is a modest association between schizophrenia and violence is thought to have influenced policy and legal developments, with the number of patients in secure hospitals increasing in Western countries. Many mental health charities and clinicians specializing in mental health contest this opinion – arguing that the perception that people with mental illness are more violent is a myth reinforced by the media, contributing to a social stigma around mental illness that damages many people and prevents understanding.

In their systematic review, the researchers identified 20 studies that compared the risk of violence among people with psychotic illness with those in the general population. Using statistical tools to allow for the differences between the studies, the researchers found that the risk of violent outcomes did increase for individuals with schizophrenia or other psychoses. Men with schizophrenia or other psychoses were typically four to five times as likely to commit a violent act as a man in the general population; for women with schizophrenia or other psychoses there was an eight times greater risk of violence than women in the general population – although the researchers suggest this might be explained by the lower prevalence of alcohol and drug use in the general female population. When analysing the characteristics that differed between the studies, including study location and whether the diagnosis was for schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder, the researchers found that substance abuse was the only factor causing variation between the studies. Substance abuse greatly increased the risk of violence for those with a psychotic illness, but this increased risk of violence was similar to those in the general population with substance abuse but no psychotic illness – suggesting that most of the excess risk of violence in psychotic patients appears to be mediated by the abuse of drugs and alcohol.

The authors acknowledge that further research is needed to clarify the relationship between schizophrenia and other psychoses, substance abuse, medication adherence and violence. However, the authors suggest that their findings could help redress the stigmatization of patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses. They conclude: “As substance use disorders are three to four times more common than the psychoses, public health strategies to reduce violence could focus on the prevention and treatment of substance abuse at an individual, community and societal level.”

Funding: No specific funding was received for this study.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation:
Fazel S, Gulati G, Linsell L, Geddes JR, Grann M (2009)
“Schizophrenia and Violence: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.”
PLoS Med 6(8):e1000120.doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000120

Adverse effects of widely-prescribed drugs are often overlooked because there is so little truly independent academic evidence

ReasonAbility = An opinion piece by David Healy in the Guardian (28/8/09)

Since 2005, the SSRI paroxetine, first marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Seroxat, has carried warnings of risk of birth defects. In the US litigation in which I have been asked to give evidence, the plaintives will argue that, even before they were launched, there was good laboratory evidence that the SSRIs might cause problems, and, following their initial marketing, evidence emerged over a decade ago from clinical use that the drugs actually do cause problems.

Yet these drugs have been actively promoted, de facto primarily to women of child-bearing years. How could this happen?

Part of the problem is that having gone to their GP with a nervous problem, many women become dependent on a prescribed SSRI and find it impossible to stop using it whether they wish to get pregnant or if they find they are pregnant while on treatment. But few, if any, of these women will have been informed of either the risk of birth defects or the risk of becoming addicted. Why not?

What we are seeing here is the astonishing marketing power of pharmaceutical companies, which can now effect huge changes in medical culture within months. In this case, a great part of the scientific literature (the primary marketing tool of companies) on the use of antidepressants in pregnancy and on dependence on antidepressants is ghostwritten â€“ just as virtually all literature on giving antidepressants to children was, at one point, company-written. Firms of medical writers are contracted to pharmaceutical companies to place in academic journals articles attributed to, but not actually authored by, university researchers.

Because of this, guideline makers like Nice, which can only go by the published literature, are trapped. Regulators, like the FDA and MHRA, which reflect a professional consensus rather than lead on issues like this, are likewise stuck. Doctors who believe their role is to follow Nice, the MHRA and the scientific evidence are in the same bind.

The process of manufacturing clinical consensus has become so slick that it is now almost impossible to find independent articles from academic physicians with no links to industry that will sound a note of caution about prescribing antidepressants to women of child-bearing years. This is a problem that increasingly applies across all of medicine â€“ from the use of HRT, to drugs for osteoporosis, respiratory or gut problems, pain-relief, as well as all psychotropic drugs.

Where once drugs were seen as poisons to be used judiciously and with caution, they are now treated as fertilisers whose more or less indiscriminate use can only do good. Where once farmers knew to keep their cattle out of fields growing the serotonin reuptake inhibiting weed, St John’s Wort, as it caused miscarriages, under industry influence women have been herded by doctors in exactly the opposite direction.

Matrix Intensive Outpatient Treatment for People With Stimulant Use Disorders

ReasonAbility = This seems to have a host of useful tools to its fingertips.
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The handouts in this book will help you get the most out of your Matrix treatment. Some handouts ask questions and have spaces for your answers. Other handouts ask you to read and think about a subject or an idea, or they contain advice or reminders about recovery. It is a good idea to keep and review the handouts after you have used them. They will help you stay strong as you continue in your recovery.
During each treatment session, your counselor will ask you to follow along on the handout while he or she goes over it with the group. The counselor will give you time to think about what it says and write your answers to questions it may ask. The group will then discuss the handout. You should share your thoughts and ask questions during this time. If you still have questions, there will be more time to ask questions during the last part of each session.

Reasonability

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