DrugWise Daily |
9th June 2026 |
Thank you to our Premium sponsors:
|
|
Could you sponsor DrugWise Daily? Please Email Harry Shapiro to discuss |
|
UK news
Joining up services for people facing multiple disadvantage
Policy Lab worked with MHCLG's Changing Futures programme to shape services around the lived experience of people facing multiple disadvantage | Policy Lab, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and HM Treasury, UK
'I was a prisoner in my home': Drug gangs 'cuckooing' hundreds of homes a week, police warn
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people's homes are being taken over by criminals every week in the UK, usually to store and deal drugs, police chiefs have told the BBC | BBC, UK
Over 1.3m illegal vapes seized by UK councils in 2025
More than 1.3 million illegal vapes, e-liquids and e-cigarettes were seized by UK councils in 2025, with Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council confiscating the highest number at nearly 292,000 products | Convenience Store, UK
Challenges and successes implementing a skills-based preventative drug-use intervention early in secondary education
[Open access] Experiences of teachers and pupils at English schools while undertaking the unfamiliar task of implementing a substance use education package aiming to develop pupils' decision-making and social skills using interactive rather than didactic teaching methods | DEPP, UK
'It's not enough to say alcohol is bad' [Guernsey]
More needs to be done to change drinking culture among young people in Guernsey, a youth service founder says. A recent Freedom of Information request, external to health leaders highlighted the number of admissions to the Emergency Department for underage alcohol and drug use, as well as self-harm, had increased since 2010 | BBC, UK
30 West Lothian locals sleep rough in support of 'vital' new addiction recovery facility
Richie Roncero, the founder of charity Steps to Hope, will sleep rough in 26 UK cities over 26 weeks from October 17. The campaign aims to fund a five-bedroom expansion to the organisation's West Lothian residential programme, Hope House, and cover its running costs for a year | Edinburgh Live, UK
High Sheriff to walk through Purbeck in 200 mile trek for youth
The High Sheriff of Dorset is to walk more than 200 miles around the county’s boundary this summer, including a leg through Purbeck, to raise awareness of a drugs threat to local children | Swanage News, UK
Seven Nottingham shops sold vapes to children
Police and trading standards officers revealed the results earlier this month, after volunteers under 18 were supervised as part of the crackdown | BBC, UK
Pair used companies as front to import cocaine
Muhammad Hussain, 37, was sentenced to 28 years in prison at Lincoln Crown Court after setting up a number of plastic businesses on the Corringham Road industrial estate to disguise the shipment of Class A drugs from South America | BBC, UK
International news
Colombia After Petro: The Unfinished Business of Petro’s Drug Policy Reform
On 25 April, a bomb shattered the Pan-American Highway in Cauca, southwest Colombia. 21 were killed in the deadliest attack on civilians in decades. President Gustavo Petro denounced the perpetrators – a breakaway faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which signed a peace treaty with the state a decade ago – as “terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers.” | Talking Drugs, UK
Experts raise concerns over increased snus use in Ireland
Professor Ray Walley, a GP and a board member of the Standing Committee of European Doctors - a body that represents national medical organisations at the European level - has said Ireland should be a world leader in banning snus, just as it was when in introduced the smoking ban in 2004 | RTe, Ireland
One daily drink no longer looks harmless, as alcohol's risks rewrite moderate drinking rules
The new research, called the Alcohol Intake and Health Study—initially commissioned by the U.S. federal government to inform development of the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines—found a mortality risk from alcohol of 1 in 25 for people who consumed an average of 14 drinks per week. In contrast, drinking up to seven drinks per week was associated with only minimally elevated risks for most conditions | Medical Xpress, USA
Study points to possible primary route for the transmission of alcohol use disorder within families
Brain activity related to how young adults value reward appears to be linked to longer-term drinking patterns, according to a study of college students with family histories of alcohol use disorder (AUD). The findings raise the possibility of precision medicine—individualized interventions to modify risk—for young people vulnerable to addiction | Medical Xpress, USA
Experiences of a drug decriminalization policy among police and people who use drugs in Baltimore City: a post-structural policy analysis
[Open access] You might have thought both police (relieved of the 'waste of time' of arresting substance users) and people who use drugs (no longer under threat of arrest) would be happy with Baltimore's decision not to prosecute for possessing an illicit drug. Both did see benefits, but there were serious concerns on the debit side too | SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, USA
Ozempic, GPL-1s may help curb substance use disorders, study finds
A new study led by researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso found that use of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and other GLP-1s is associated with a lower risk of developing alcohol, opioid, nicotine and cocaine use disorders | Medical Xpress, USA
Between solitude and safety: A qualitative scoping review of overdose risk and the built environment
[Open access] Investigates an unusual aspect what affects the risk of overdose: the built environment. In particular, the balance between privacy – risking dangerous isolation – versus facilitating social connection, making overdose rescue more possible but possibly also heightening risk | Wellbeing, Space and Society, USA
A scoping review of ayahuasca-assisted therapy for Indigenous people living with addictions: gaps, lessons learned and policy implications
[Open access] In the Americas indigenous peoples practice healing ceremonies based on psychedelic preparations of the ayahuasca vine, including interventions to treat addiction. Studies from Brazil, Canada, Mexico and Peru suggest positive effects, but without the reassurance of randomised trials | DEPP, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
One year of disposable vapes ban | Editor’s comment
It’s a year now since the ban on single-use vapes came into force, with the aim of cutting youth vaping and reducing the environmental impact of discarded devices. But has it worked? | Talking Retail comment, UK