Bolsonaro to face probe after claiming COVID vaccines increase chance of contracting AIDS

The Brazilian president, who made the remarks in a live broadcast in October, remains unvaccinated and has pushed back against vaccine mandates.

Saturday 4 December 2021 

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro linked coronavirus vaccines to AIDS in a live broadcast

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be investigated after he claimed coronavirus vaccines may increase the chance of contracting AIDS.

Brazilian supreme court Justice Alexandre de Moraes instructed the country's top prosecutor, Augusto Aras, to look into the accusation raised by a pandemic inquiry conducted by Brazil's Senate.

Mr Bolsonaro said in a live broadcast on 24 October that "official reports from the UK government suggest that fully vaccinated people ... are developing Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) much faster than anticipated".

Facebook and Instagram took down that video days later, saying it violates their rules.

The Brazilian president, who remains unvaccinated and has frequently pushed against vaccine mandates, argued he was merely quoting an article in the magazine Exame and not making assertions.

Mr Moraes said in his ruling that Bolsonaro "used the modus operandi of mass dissemination schemes in social networks", which requires further investigation.

The future of any probe is uncertain, however.

Mr Aras rarely goes against the president and has not opened an investigation into Mr Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic despite calls to do so by the Senate committee.

Mr Bolsonaro has flouted local health protocols since the start of the pandemic and has complained that restrictions aimed at controlling the coronavirus do more harm than good.

More than 610,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Brazil, second only to the US.

The country's current seven-day average of deaths is below 300 a day, which analysts have largely credited to immunization efforts.

Canada’s job numbers heat up, but wages barely budge for wait staff

The Canadian job market is busier than before we made first contact with COVID-19 back in early 2020. But in some industries, especially hospitality, there is a shortage of workers and an upward pressure on wages as positions stay vacant.

Across all industries, average wages for new workers have risen 10 per cent (or $2.09 an hour) in the last two years, Statistics Canada said in its monthly jobs report released on Friday.

They’re up 8.5 per cent across new accommodation and food services workers overall but haven’t budged for food and beverage servers less than three months in who are making just under $17 an hour.

That makes more sense when restaurants, fast-food outlets and bars have been closed or restricted in operations as they have for much of that time, but makes starting pay a tough negotiating tactic for employers now that reopenings are the norm.

“The record-high job vacancies in September have continued to focus attention on the question of whether employers in some industries might raise wages to address recruitment and retention challenges,” Statistics Canada said in the report for November.

The federal agency said it was “possibly an indication that employers in this industry face challenges adjusting wages in the context of current business conditions.”

It counted around 190,000 more jobs in the economy overall in November than there were in February 2020, and a similar number of vacancies in accommodation and food services — the largest labour gap of any industry.

The shortages could grow more acute unless the new Omicron variant significantly disrupts these industries, RBC Economics said in a note, adding that a pay bump here could signal relatively modest overall wage growth of 2.7 per cent versus a year ago and could creep higher.

Among young women, the loss of around 30,000 full-time jobs came with an increase of 43,000 in part-time positions. For women aged 20 to 24, it was a second straight month of little job growth, while young men aged 15 to 24 also stood steady in the jobs data.

In contrast to minimal growth in food services jobs after two months of slippage, the number of people working in retail increased by 34,000 in November after adding 72,000 in October, which pushed it above the pre-COVID February 2020 level for the first time.

The reference period for the monthly labour survey was the week of Nov. 7 to 13. In Ontario and Quebec, capacity limits and distancing requirements recently eased in settings where proof of vaccination was required.

Employment in Ontario rose 68,000, or 0.9 per cent, a sixth straight month of gains that totals 421,000, or 5.9 per cent, since May.

After a pause in October, job growth resumed in the Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA) last month, up 44,000, bringing overall gains since May to 311,000, an increase of 9.5 per cent.

Morgan Sharp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

THE NEW KINGFISHER
Ron DeSantis plans Florida paramilitary force outside federal control

Oliver Milman 

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, has proposed an extraordinary plan to create a state paramilitary unit that he, rather than the federal government, would control.

DeSantis, a Republican, has asked state lawmakers to fund the establishment of what he is calling the Florida state guard to assist with “in state-specific emergencies”.

This force of 200 selected volunteers would “not be encumbered by the federal government”, the governor said.

If the $3.5m plan goes ahead, Florida would gain a state-run force alongside its national guard, which is jointly funded by the federal government and the states.

Florida has previously created a state guard in 1941 to fill in for national guard members who were fighting in the second world war, only for the unit to be disbanded in 1947.

Related: Ron DeSantis wants to pay anti-vaccine police $5,000 to relocate to Florida

“Re-establishing the Florida state guard will allow civilians from all over the state to be trained in the best emergency response techniques and have the ability to mobilize very, very quickly,” DeSantis said on Thursday.

Florida would actually become the 23rd state with a state guard, according to the governor’s office.

The proposal has been sharply criticized by Democrats, who accused DeSantis of authoritarian motives.

“No governor should have his own handpicked secret police,” tweeted Charlie Crist, a Democrat who is running for Florida governor in elections held next year, having previously served as governor as a Republican.

DeSantis said the state guard would be deployed to deal with the aftermath of natural disasters, such as the hurricanes that routinely hit Florida, although these troops could be put to other tasks.

In 2015, Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, used the state guard there to monitor federal military exercises in his state, amid a baseless rumor that the federal government was nefariously using Walmart supermarket parking lots to establish military control.

The push to establish a new state guard comes amid tensions between the Pentagon and Republican-led states over the vaccination of national guard members to protect them from Covid-19.

Troops have long received a variety of mandatory vaccinations while serving but the Covid vaccine has proved too controversial for some, despite repeated evidence showing its safety and efficacy.

The Department of Defense has said it may dock the pay of any soldier who refuses the jab.

DeSantis has not joined the pushback against military inoculations, although he has attempted to ban vaccine requirements, pay the fines of businesses that flout the federal vaccine mandate and plans bonuses to lure police officers from elsewhere who resist vaccine mandates.

DeSantis is following the rightwing populist mould of Donald Trump and is seen as a leading contender for the GOP’s presidential nomination for 2024, should the twice-impeached former president not secure it for himself.

Demagogues – The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation

https://fdrfoundation.org/publications/demagogues

Known as the Kingfisher, he had become the virtual dictator of Louisiana when he resigned as governor in 1932 to become senator. Long’s Share Our Wealth Plan called for deeply graduated, confiscatory income and inheritance taxes designed to redistribute large fortunes to the citizenry at large.

Huey Long Official Website | Biography, Quotes, Photos ...

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Huey Long 

1. Huey Long's Life & Times | Huey Long Timeline
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   Life & Times — Introduction. 1920s Louisiana was a powder keg of injustice, and Huey Long was a lightning bolt. The unique influences of his background collided with the oppressive social conditions of his times to produce an explosion of change. Huey Long grew up on a …

1. Watch Huey Long | Ken Burns | PBS
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IMF says chief economist taking top leadership role

By AFP
Published December 3, 2021

The IMF for the first time will have women in the two top leadership positions when chief economists Gita Gopinath takes the No 2 role - Copyright AFP Bertha WANG

The IMF’s high-profile chief economist Gita Gopinath next month will become the number two official at the Washington-based crisis lender, the fund announced Thursday.

Gopinath will succeed Geoffrey Okamoto as first deputy managing director, serving under IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva — the first time two women have held the top leadership roles.

Georgieva call Gopinath “the right person at the right time” to take the leadership role.

“Especially given that the pandemic has led to an increase in the scale and scope of the macroeconomic challenges facing our member countries, I believe that Gita — universally recognized as one of the world’s leading macroeconomists — has precisely the expertise that we need for the FDMD role at this point,” Georgieva said in the statement.

“Indeed, her particular skill set — combined with her years of experience at the Fund as Chief Economist — make her uniquely well qualified.”

Gopinath, who was appointed to her current role in October 2018, was due to return to her position at Harvard University in January but will now leave the university. She was born in India but also is a US citizen.

The economist, who leads the IMF team that produces the closely-watched quarterly World Economic Outlook, became a much more visible figure during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She displayed “intellectual leadership in helping the global economy and the Fund to navigate the twists and turns of the worst economic crisis of our lives,” Georgieva said.

Gopinath said that “As the pandemic continues its grip on us, the work of the Fund has never been more critical and international cooperation never more important.”

IMF warns of 'economic collapse' unless G20 extends debt relief

By AFP
Published December 2, 2021

The IMF called for urgent action to ease debt loads in poor nations and prevent "economic collapse"

 - Copyright AFP Bertha WANG Heather SCOTT

The IMF on Thursday urged advanced economies in the G20 to extend and improve their debt relief initiative, warning that many countries face a dire crisis without the help.

“We may see economic collapse in some countries unless G20 creditors agree to accelerate debt restructurings and suspend debt service while the restructurings are being negotiated,” IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said in a blog, adding that it is critical private creditors also offer relief.

The G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) expires at the end of the year, and without a renewal, countries would face financial pressure and spending cuts just as new Covid-19 variants are spreading and interest rates are expected to rise, she said.

“Debt challenges are pressing and the need for action is urgent. The recent Omicron variant is a stark reminder that the pandemic will be with us for a while,” Georgieva said in the blog co-authored by Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, director of the fund’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department.

Georgieva did not specify which economies faced a crisis, but referred simply to “low-income countries.”

Advanced economies in the Group of 20 announced the program last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which hit poor countries the hardest, hampering the ability of those governments to service their debt and support their people.

The G20 twice extended the DSSI, but the IMF and World Bank have been urging creditors to do more to help with the burgeoning debt load. There are 73 countries eligible for relief under the program.

– Debt distress –

The World Bank estimates that debt loads in poor countries surged 12 percent to a record $860 billion in 2020 amid the pandemic, and Georgieva said “about 60 percent of low-income countries are at high risk or already in debt distress.”

Given the problems with the debt relief program and the common framework for dealing with private creditors, only three countries so far have applied for relief — Chad, Ethiopia and Zambia — and they have faced “significant delays.”

The framework has “yet to deliver on its promise. This requires prompt action,” she said.

She noted that Chad’s program is hung up due to the need to restructure a large amount owed to a private company.

And with inflation surging in major economies, central banks are pulling back on stimulus and expected to begin raising interest rates next year, which would increase debt service costs for poor nations and likely would see capital flee those countries.

“No doubt 2022 will be much more challenging with the tightening of international financial conditions on the horizon,” Georgieva said.

The IMF is calling for improvements in the program, especially mechanisms to oblige private creditors to participate, which would encourage more poor countries to make use of the DSSI.

In addition, “a comprehensive and sustained debt service payment standstill for the duration of the negotiation would provide relief to the debtor at a time when it is under stress,” she said.

#ECOCIDE
Greek-flagged ship caused Brazil mystery 2019 oil slick: police

By AFP
Published December 2, 2021

A boy removing oil spilled on Itapuama beach, in Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Pernambuco State, Brazil. After a tw-year investigation police have said a Greek-flagged ship was behind the mystery slick - Copyright AFP Ronny Hartmann

A mystery oil slick that caused environmental disaster along a vast stretch of Brazilian coastline in 2019 and 2020 was caused by a Greek-flagged vessel, federal police said Thursday after a two-year investigation.

The police said “there is sufficient evidence that a Greek-flagged oil tanker was responsible for leaking” the oil that afflicted more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) of coast between August 2019 and March 2020.

The slick affected more than 1,000 towns in 11 coastal states, investigators said, without naming the company that owns the ship.

The vessel’s owners, as well as the ship’s captain and chief engineer, faced charges of “crimes of pollution, non-compliance with environmental obligations and damage to natural reserves,” police said.

In November 2019, Brazilian authorities identified the Greek oil tanker Bouboulina, owned by the Delta Tanker company, which is also based in Greece, as “the main suspect.”

But at the time Delta Tankers denied all responsibility for the environmental catastrophe, which threatened mangroves, humpback whale sanctuaries, coral reefs and numerous beaches in northeastern coastal cities, a poor region whose economy is highly dependent on tourism.

The police estimated that the costs incurred by federal, state and municipal public powers alone for the clean-up of beaches and the ocean ran to some 188 million reais ($47.7 million).

During the disaster, the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, whose environmental policies have been broadly criticized, mobilized some 5,000 soldiers for clean-up operations and more than 4,500 tons of oil residue were collected.

Diverse doubts: How vaccine scepticism takes root


By AFP
Published December 2, 2021

While large swathes of the global population remain unvaccinated because of a lack of access, other people who do are choosing not to get them -

 Copyright AFP RODGER BOSCH

Governments and scientists around the world are championing vaccination as the way to end the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yet while large swathes of the global population remain unvaccinated because of a lack of access, other people who can get their jabs are choosing not to.

French sociologist Jerome Gaillaguet, who has spent years speaking to those who choose not to vaccinate, told AFP their reasons can be diverse and surprising. His answers have been condensed and edited for clarity.

– Is there an anti-vax phenomenon? –

The influence of a loosely-defined activist anti-vaccine movement cannot be discounted but it has to be separated from hesitation.

The way the media frames it you get the impression that there is an anti-vax phenomenon that is widespread with people firmly opposed to vaccination.

Those movements exist and are highly visible and noisy on social media. But the reality is not at all the same: it’s doubt.

The vast majority of people are feeling real hesitation or even indifference and there are as many reasons behind the hesitation as there are states of mind.

As soon as you start talking to people you realise that doubt comes from experience and it comes in many different forms.

And when you start to follow people over time you can see how things can evolve.

Media buzz around a controversy will change attitudes, and I’ve also seen people change their minds after becoming parents.

You also find a huge amount of defiance among people with bad experiences with healthcare.

For example, some people may hesitate if they have gone to doctors who minimise their problems while failing to offer any solutions.

– Have you seen attitudes change? –

One woman I talked to was about 60 years old, we met in 2017 and she was pretty hesitant about vaccines.

When she was younger she worked as a pharmaceutical salesperson who sold medicines to doctors.

She came to the conclusion that lab profits were far more important than people’s health and eventually she got sick of that life and left everything behind to open a pizzeria.

Yet a year into the pandemic she went to get vaccinated without hesitation because she had been in constant contact with customers and had seen many people get sick or die.

She made friends with a nurse who worked in a hospital that was greatly affected.

It can also work the other way.

One person when I first met her was pretty mistrustful. Then, over the course of a few years, the issue kind of disappeared from the media.

She began to have friends and acquaintances with children and she had friends who were doctors and a grandfather at home and she began to think about getting the flu vaccine to protect him.

She began to think: “I was young and rebellious but I can see that risks linked to vaccination are very rare.”

But then the vaccine became mandatory to get a health pass and she completely turned again.

She said: “I do not accept being told what to do.”

– Is the health pass counter-productive? –

In the short and middle term, the health pass [in France] helped force people who were hesitant to get vaccinated by restricting their day-to-day lives.

Of course it did: we were telling them they would no longer be able to travel or go to a restaurant.

But we replaced the health concerns with social concerns.

We took people out of a situation where they had to think in terms of pandemic risks — like whether someone close to them might be fragile, whether they could get sick or whether they might be at high risk.

Acting like these questions did not enter into it when they concern a huge part of the population does nothing to solve the problem of trust in vaccination.

Lawyer for Philippines' Nobel Prize winner Ressa 'confident' about Oslo trip

By AFP
Published December 3, 2021

The former CNN correspondent is on bail pending an appeal against a conviction last year in a cyber libel case -

 Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Ernesto Distefano

A lawyer for Philippine Nobel Prize winner Maria Ressa, who faces multiple court cases, said Friday he was “confident” the journalist would be allowed to travel to Oslo to collect the award in person.

Ressa, co-founder of news website Rappler, and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were given the award in October for their efforts to “safeguard freedom of expression”.

The former CNN correspondent, who is on bail pending an appeal against a conviction last year in a cyber libel case, applied to three courts for permission to travel to Norway for the December 10 ceremony.

The Court of Appeals, which is handling the cyber libel case, on Friday gave her the green light after rejecting government lawyers’ claims that she was a “flight risk”.

Ressa has already received permission from a regional trial court hearing another case, according to Francis Lim, one of her lawyers.

She is still waiting for the Court of Tax Appeals to rule on her travel application, but Lim said: “We are confident that it will be granted.”

Ressa has been a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his government’s policies, including a drug war that has killed thousands.

Since Duterte was swept to power in 2016, Ressa and Rappler have endured what media advocates say is a grinding series of criminal charges, investigations and online attacks.

She faces a total of seven court cases, including the appeal against a conviction in the cyber libel case, for which she faces up to six years in prison.

Ressa, who is also a US citizen, returned to the Philippines on Thursday after a court-approved trip to the United States.

Chinese people dodge censors to discuss Peng Shuai case online


ByAFP
Published December 3, 2021

Peng Shuai alleged that former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex. — © AFP

With coded references to “eating melons” and “that person”, Chinese social media users are getting creative to discuss tennis star Peng Shuai online as censors race to scrub all mentions of her sexual assault allegations.

When Peng last month posted that former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex, censors were quick to scrub the message and obvious discussion of Peng from social media.

The 35-year-old’s allegations spread on Twitter — which is blocked in China but accessible using special Virtual Private Networks — and sparked an international outcry.

And many found ways to get around the censorship inside the Chinese firewall, initially using Peng Shuai’s initials in English, “PS”, to refer to the former world doubles number one online.

Messages including those initials were soon censored.

“Eddie Peng is too handsome,” read one since-deleted post, according to screenshots — in an apparent reference to the Taiwanese actor. The characters for the movie star’s surname and “handsome” make up Peng Shuai’s name in Chinese.

On pop culture review site Douban, some users turned to a mix of English and Chinese.

“Her WB id no le,” one user wrote in a screenshot of a now-deleted Douban forum thread, referring to the disappearance of Peng’s official Weibo account from the platform’s search function.

“I hope her ping’an,” another user said, wishing for the tennis player’s safety.

Douban is considered a more liberal platform, often drawing discussion pushing the political boundaries of the Chinese internet.

Some took to the “Tennis” topic page on Weibo to post obliquely about a “big melon” that had exploded in the world of tennis overnight.

In Chinese internet slang, the phrase “eating melon” means to consume gossip.

“Even when I’m asleep I must wake up to eat melon,” one Weibo user wrote in a now-deleted post, after Peng’s allegations were posted late one evening, describing Zhang — or the “person involved” — as “too politically sensitive”.

The authorities have been quick to catch up, swiftly identifying and deleting new coded posts related to Peng — even blocking the Douban page for the Korean drama “Prime Minister & I”, where users had retreated to discuss Peng’s claims against Zhang.

But the sheer volume of comments means that some linger, especially those made on remote parts of social media unrelated to Peng Shuai.

“I support WTA” and “please respect every woman”, commenters wrote on a Weibo post by the Women’s Tennis Association listing 2021 tournament winners.

Some online users starred out some letters from “WTA” to avoid censors, with one asking on Weibo if the “*TA” move on Wednesday to cancel tournaments in China was “because of that person?”

WTA chief Steve Simon sticks to his guns in Peng Shuai case

Steve Simon's standoff with China in the Peng Shuai affair has earned the head of the Women's Tennis Association praise as an innovative leader with the courage of his convictions.

© ROSLAN RAHMAN Steve Simon has decided to suspend all the WTA's tournaments in China over the Peng Shuai affair

Since taking over as WTA chair and CEO in 2015, Simon had made China the main source of revenue for the women's circuit, signing a lucrative 10-year contract in 2018 to make Shenzhen the host of the traditional end-of-season tournament for the women's game.

Giving that event to a country which already had nine other tournaments for a total of 30 million dollars (26.4 million euros) did not look like a risky strategy at the time.

But three years on the financial interests of the WTA could be considerably weakened by the consequences stemming from Peng, an ex-doubles world number one, who went missing after claiming on social media that a former senior Chinese Communist Party official coerced her into sex.

After threatening to cancel tournaments in China, the WTA on Wednesday announced "the immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong".

"We're definitely willing to pull our business and deal with all the complications that come with it," Simon warned after Peng's disappearance, insisting the issue was "bigger than business".

While the International Olympic Committee has been criticised for failing to hold China to account two months before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the WTA's stand has earned Simon praise, including from tennis legend Billie Jean King, who founded the WTA organisation in 1973.

"I applaud Steve Simon & the @WTA leadership for taking a strong stand on defending human rights in China & around the world," King wrote on Twitter.

"The WTA is on the right side of history in supporting our players. This is another reason why women’s tennis is the leader in women's sports."

Former men's world number one Andy Roddick also praised the WTA's action: "There are a lot of organizations who can afford to do something like this a lot more than the WTA can ... Respect. Doing the right thing is a lot easier when there aren’t associated costs."

- 'Thoughtful and respectful' -

Simon, a 66-year-old American, first entered tennis in 1989 in a sales role at the Indian Wells tournament after six years at sportswear giant Adidas, taking over the direction of the tournament in 2004 and turning it into the "fifth Grand Slam".

He stood out for his innovations -- the tournament was the first to adopt "hawkeye" technology on all courts -- and his personality.

Serena Williams praised Simon as "thoughtful and respectful" on his appointment as WTA chief in November 2015, recalling his decisive role in convincing her to return to play in Indian Wells a few months earlier, after boycotting it for 14 years because of racism from spectators.

"Steve couldn't have been more helpful, professional and supportive. I know how much he cares about the opinions of the players. He's a good listener, he has our best interests in mind," said the 23-time Grand Slam winner.

King agreed that Simon was "the right person for this job", praising a "thoughtful, respectful" man.

"Steve Simon is the right person for the job," King said. "His track record is marked by success. He is thoughtful, respectful and he has excellent business judgement.”

Speaking about his new role as head of the WTA, Simon said advocating for change was "the right thing to do".

nip/ng/ea/gj

#LEGALIZEDRUGS

Thousands of addicts lost their lives in 2020 when they should have been saved

By Dr. Tim Sandle
Published November 30, 2021

Germans queue up at a Covid vaccination centre in Berlin - Copyright INDONESIA FOREIGN MINISTRY/AFP Handout

Recently released data, presented in the London Evening Standard, reveals that of the 275,896 people who accessed treatment for their drug and alcohol addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic, a staggering 3,726 lost their lives. This is based on the UK population.

Further, the number of addicts who lost their lives whilst already in the treatment process in 2020 rose by a staggering 27 percent compared to the previous year. 2020 saw a rise in the proportion of people dying while in treatment in all substance groups. Those seeking treatment for opiate addiction but who instead lost their lives rose by 20 percent, and those in treatment for alcohol addiction but who instead died rose by a sharp 44 percent.

Drug and alcohol addiction treatment experts UKAT blame treatment services closing their doors to addicts during the pandemic.

Nuno Albuquerque, Head of Treatment for the UK Addiction Treatment Group tells Digital Journal: “The start of the coronavirus crisis was extremely frightening and uncertain. But drug and alcohol treatment is critical care intervention and cannot be simply put on pause. We know that a concerning number of facilities closed their doors to addicts who were already in the treatment process and although it was such a difficult time, it cannot be a coincidence that more people have subsequently lost their lives when they were in fact trying to save it.”

Albuquerque explains that the figures go on to reveal that people in treatment for alcohol alone make up the second largest group (28 percent) after those in treatment for opiates. The number of people who started treatment for alcohol addiction in 2020 rose by 3 percent compared to the previous year- from 74,618 to 76,740 (based on UK government statistics).

Although the numbers are relatively low, there was an increase in adults entering treatment in 2020 to 2021 with ketamine problems (from 1,140 in 2019 to 2020 to 1,444 this year). This is a 27 percent rise in one year and is part of a trend in rising numbers entering treatment over the last 7 years.

The rise in people suffering with mental health illness alongside a substance addiction is also revealed. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of those who started treatment for all substance groups needed mental health treatment as well, but a quarter of them (25 percent) who had a mental health need were not receiving any treatment to meet this need.

Unfortunately, Albuquerque adds, there are still thousands of people suffering with drug and alcohol dependency who aren’t getting the treatment they need.

The new data reveals that there are an estimated 602,391 adults with alcohol dependency in need of specialist treatment, but only 107,428 of them were in treatment for alcohol in 2020/21. This means that an estimated 82 percent of adults in need of specialist treatment for alcohol are still not receiving it.

The story is much the same for those needing help for opiate and crack use. The proportion of estimated opiate users who are not in treatment has continued to rise from 41 percent in 2014 to 2015 to 47 percent in 2019 to 2020. The proportion of crack users who are not in treatment is 58 percent.

Albuquerque clarifies further: “Report’s like these are frightening because each figure is a person, each figure could be your mother, father, grandparent, colleague or friend. Reports like these should be being discussed by Government as a priority, but instead we get radio silence.”

In terms of action taken, Albuquerque outlines: “We have been lobbying for the Government to reinforce ring fenced, protected budgets for drug and alcohol treatment and prevention for some time. The decision to remove these protected budgets back in 2012 has been the catalyst for disaster. It’s time they admitted that and make the change required to help those who need it.”