DrugWise Daily |
24th July 2026 |
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UK news
Cuckooing: How Drug Dealers Are Occupying UK Homes
In the UK, the practice of “cuckooing” has become increasingly prominent, particularly through its highly mediatised connection to county-line drug cases, where drug sellers sell substances across wide regions. Cuckooing refers to when a home or property becomes occupied by people selling or producing drugs. Despite cuckooing happening since at least the 2010s – if not earlier – attention on it has recently spiked: a Freedom of Information request by the BBC showed that police investigations into cuckooing in London alone nearly tripled from 2023/24 to 2025/26 | Talking Drugs, UK
Aberdeen granted permanent alcohol licence
Aberdeen Football Club has been granted a permanent alcohol licence by the city council for matches at Pittodrie. They participated in two alcohol trials last season and a permanent licence - the first for a Scottish Premiership club - has now been granted for the Richard Donald Stand Lower concourse area. Alcohol was banned in Scottish football stadiums since 1981 until the trials | BBC, UK
Driving under Influence
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps she has taken to help prevent accidents resulting from drug driving | They work for you, UK
Digital Intoxication: Online Alcohol Marketing Explained - video
This documentary investigates how digital alcohol marketing actually works: the algorithms that find people already drinking heavily and target them "disproportionately", the influencers (including The Rock, Beyonce, and Kendall Jenner) promoting their own alcohol brands to hundreds of millions of followers without ad disclosure, and the rise of alcohol marketing inside e-sports, video games, and even the metaverse | IAS, UK
13: The Next Fix: A conversation with Kojo Koram - audio
In this episode, I talk to Kojo Koram, Professor of Law and Political Economy at Loughborough University, about his new book ‘The Next Fix’. | Toby Seddon, UK
International news
Europe’s biggest rail network bans alcohol from all train stations after brutal attack
The operator of Germany’s national railway is banning alcohol consumption at all train stations across the country. The ban will be introduced at all 5,400 stations by 15 October. The move is intended to improve safety for employees and passengers, the operator said | Independent, UK
Quantifying the potential of alcohol policies for cancer prevention in the EU: a modelling study
[Open access] Assesses the potential impacts of increased taxes, a Sunday sales ban, a national marketing ban, and an integrated policy such as that in Lithuania. Concludes that "Implementation of major alcohol policies could prevent thousands of cancer cases in the EU." | Lancet, UK
Prison guards capture drug-mule cat smuggling narcotics into Russian prison
Authorities at a correctional facility in the Nizhny Novgorod region, in Western Russia, discovered a cat attempting to smuggle substances into the building | Independent, UK
From outreach to psychiatric care: Ria Al-Halabi on SANANIM’s comprehensive harm reduction model
To discuss the recent updates on the Czech harm reduction landscape and learn more about the comprehensive approach of SANANIM’s contact centre, we spoke with Ria Al-Halabi, the head of the contact centre | C-EHRN, The Netherlands
Adolescent substance use continues to rise through mid-teens, national study finds
As substance use continues to be a major public health concern among adolescents, researchers from the University of California San Diego analyzed the latest data from one of the nation's largest longitudinal studies of youth to better understand when substance use begins, how it changes during adolescence and which substances are most commonly used together | Medical Xpress, USA
Adjunctive Psychosocial Interventions and Opioid Abstinence Among Patients Receiving Buprenorphine
In US primary care settings, also allocating new buprenorphine patients to cognitive-behavioural therapy and/or peer recovery support "did not produce meaningful improvements in substance use or in broader functioning", a familiar finding in both methadone and buprenorphine maintenance | JAMA Network Open, USA
County-Level Uptake of Take-Home Methadone and Adverse Events Among Commercially Insured Individuals
[Open access] COVID-related relaxations in US requirements for methadone to be consumed under clinical supervision did not result in significantly more overdoses among patients or reduced retention, confirming previous findings. The suggestion is that these (for patients,unpopular) requirements can safely be relaxed, widening access to treatment, though any impacts on non-patients also need to be put in the balance | Ovid, USA
South America’s Drug Supply Is Rapidly Becoming More Synthetic
In South America, drug-related harms look quite different from most other regions. The prohibition of crops like cannabis and coca has sparked violence and political instability in many countries—conflicts stoked by international interference. But unlike North America—or, to a lesser but increasing degree, Europe—South America largely has not experienced an overdose crisis related to synthetic opioids and drug combinations | Filter Magazine, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
If Andy Burnham is looking to tax businesses that ‘do not make a positive contribution to society’, he should start with big tobacco
This morning, new Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced his intention to cut business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. He said that this will partly be funded by "reviewing reliefs for businesses that do not make a positive contribution" | ASH blog, UK