DrugWise Daily |
14th September 2026 |
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UK news
Addiction recovery walk to bring thousands to city
Exactly one year ago, Steve Rowe was stuck at home with "nothing to fill my day up apart from drinking", he says. Fast forward 12 months, he's helping to organise a charity walk for 4,000 people who have been impacted by drug and alcohol addiction | BBC, UK
Smokefree generation communications toolkit
On 1st January 2027 the UK will become only the second country in the world to introduce a ‘smokefree generation’ by continuously raising the age of sale for tobacco. This communications toolkit contains resources to help you maximise the opportunity that this presents for the benefit of public health and play your part to ensure it is a success | ASH, UK
Experiences of MAT standards implementation for people who use cocaine and crack
Scotland has adopted national standards on drug-based treatment of problem substance use. What difference have they made in relation to their cocaine use for opioid-dependent patients being prescribed methadone or buprenorphine? | SDF, UK
PsilOpioid: A randomised controlled trial to investigate psilocybin therapy in opioid use disorder
PsilOpioid is a research study being conducted by Imperial College London. This study aims to test whether psilocybin (a substance found in ‘magic mushrooms’) can be helpful in treating people with opioid use disorder in early abstinence. To find out more, please visit the Imperial College London website or call 07442791857 | Imperial College London, UK
Nitazene warning after drugs seized on island
Public health officials have issued a warning after tests found a highly potent synthetic opioid in drugs seized by authorities. The alert has been issued in the Isle of Man, where substances recently examined were found to contain nitazenes | BBC, UK
Charity launched to help women with addiction
Lou's Lighthouse, based in Oxford, finds them temporary accommodation and provides daily check-ins along with life skills workshops | BBC, UK
County records lowest number smoking in pregnancy
A meeting this week is set to be told the figures for smoking at the time of delivery are now 4.8%, well below the government's 6% target and the lowest figure recorded locally | BBC, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Delivery Services
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure delivery companies delivering alcohol comply with age and licensing requirements | They work for you, UK
Hospitality Industry: Alcoholic Drinks
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the press release, Cheers! Football fans to raise a glass for the World Cup, published 8 June 2026, and with reference to the answer of 12 September 2025, to Question 75190, Hospitality Industry: Alcoholic Drinks, if she will make it her policy to reintroduce the easement of automatic take-away / off-sales for all licensed premises that expired in March 2025 | They work for you, UK
Driving under Influence
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many drivers and riders killed in road collisions had (a) toxicology results available, (b) toxicology results available for alcohol and (c) toxicology results available for drugs, in each of the last ten years; and what proportion of all deceased drivers and riders those figures represented in each year | They work for you, UK
Vinted Brain: How Britain lost its mind to online shopping addiction
Banbury Lodge rehabilitation centre is a former care home in Oxfordshire with space for 20 residents. The manager Nick Dunkley shows me a common room where they come to relax. There’s a timetable on the wall: medication at 8am (Benzodiazepines for alcohol addiction, methadone for heroin), then group therapy, which is where they are now, in small clusters behind closed doors | New Statesman, UK
Recovering Edinburgh addicts hounded with 'tempting special offer' drug deals
By moving onto social media and encrypted messaging, it lowers the risks for organised criminals running drugs who can also take advantage of anonymous crypto transactions and deliveries to online shopping drop off lockers | Edinburgh Live, UK
Couple charged over Sydney ketamine raid face new gang charges
An Edinburgh couple charged over drug offences in Australia after 107kg of ketamine was seized have now also been charged with being part of a criminal gang | BBC, UK
International news
Lollipops containing €500k of cocaine seized at airport
Approximately 5kg of cocaine which was hidden inside lollipops has been seized by revenue officers and gardaí (Irish police) at Dublin Airport | BBC, UK
Record heatwaves in France set to make champagne stronger
Champagne lovers may find themselves getting tipsy more quickly after French producers have been given the go-ahead to raise the alcohol content in a bottle of bubbly for the first time following this summer's record heatwave | BBC, UK
Authorities in Libya seize tens of thousands of ecstasy pills marked with face of Muammar Gaddafi
Libya has become a major hub for synthetic drugs and other narcotics on their way to local users and other parts of Africa | Independent, UK
The effectiveness of breathing interventions for people who use drugs with Ari Roxburgh - podcast
In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Ariel (Ari) Roxburgh. Ari is a Clinical Psychologist and addiction researcher at Monash University and Turning Point, Australia. The interview covers Ari’s review on controlled breathing and heart rate variability biofeedback for drug use-related outcomes | SSA, UK
EUDA webinar: Understanding dual disorders - video
This webinar will provide an overview of dual disorders (DD), introduce the recently launched EUDA health and social responses miniguide, and offer practical insights from EU-based initiatives. Participants will gain a clearer understanding of the challenges associated with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, as well as examples of how these are being addressed in different contexts | EUDA, Portugal
The Conversations We're Not Having About Alcohol - podcast
When we talk about alcohol at WHO, we often start with the evidence. Today, we're starting with people's experiences. Aleksandra Olsen works on communications about alcohol and health here at WHO Regional Office for Europe. At WHO, it is common that we will talk about units, thresholds and risk. Today, Aleks put all of the statistics aside and invited three women in for a conversation | WHO, Switzerland
Psychedelics: Saving Lives and Transforming Health Care – Interview with Tomáš Páleníček, MD, PhD - video
Psychedelic research in the Czech Republic has a long and distinguished history. At ICPR 2026, we spoke with psychiatrist and neuroscientist Tomáš Páleníček about clinical research, altered states of consciousness, innovative therapeutic approaches, and the future of psychedelic science in Europe and beyond | Drug Reporter, Hungary
Sex differences in cannabis use disorder study outcomes: An aggregated secondary analysis of medication trials
[Open access] Evidence that women can (but not always) respond differently to men to medications to treat substance use problems, in this case related to cannabis use | DAD, USA
Clinical applications of wearable devices for individuals with at-risk substance use and substance use disorders: A systematic review
[Open access] Generally in the form of wrist‐worn devices, wearables have been used to capture and/or notify sleep quality, stress, craving, substance use, and overdose risk | American Journal on Addictions, USA
Proof-of-concept trial of PP-01 for mitigating cannabis withdrawal syndrome in participants with cannabis use disorder
[Open access] A combination of the medications nabilone and gabapentin substantially reduced withdrawal discomfort among daily/near daily cannabis users who had previously experienced discomfort, promising to lower a barrier to stopping cannabis use | American Journal on Addictions, USA
Educational campaigns could shift views on menthol cigarette and flavored cigar bans
Four in five Black adults mistakenly believed that proposed bans on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars would have targeted smokers rather than the makers and sellers of these products | Medical Xpress, USA
Ketamine reveals shifting brain activity patterns linked to depression improvement in older adults
Researchers at Texas A&M University's Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine have identified time-specific patterns of brain activity following ketamine treatment in older adults with treatment-resistant depression | Medical Xpress, USA
Impact of drug decriminalization and recriminalization on drug-related crime and health outcomes in British Columbia: a population-level time-series analysis
[Open access] Drug decriminalization and recriminalization in BC were associated with substantial changes in police-reported drug possession incidents but no corresponding changes in drug toxicity deaths or hospitalizations when compared to other regions in Canada. The findings suggest decriminalization is effective at reducing drug possession incidents but is insufficient in isolation to affect health outcomes | CMAJ, Canada
Blogs, comment and opinion
A brief history of the hangover and its cures – from cabbages to cloves and the lungs of a goat
Anyone who has ever woken up with a hangover will recognise its physical and psychological effects: headache, nausea, self-loathing, regret, and perhaps even some shame at the uninhibited behaviour that accompanied the intoxication | Conversation, UK