DrugWise Daily |
5th May 2026 |
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UK news
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill - Frequently asked questions
This page provides responses to frequently asked questions about government plans to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to create a smokefree generation | ASH, UK
Addiction & Drugs - Biannual public opinion trackers
Explore the latest public opinion about Addiction & Drugs with these newly updated trackers | YouGov, UK
How easy or difficult do you think it would be for you to purchase cannabis, if you wanted to?
Survey conducted on 23 April 2026 on 5355 GB adults | YouGov, UK
What do people with experience of alcohol dependence think about alcohol pricing policy?
This briefing note reports on findings from a study evaluating alcohol pricing policies in Great Britain. These include Scotland’s minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy - originally introduced in 2018 and subsequently increased in 2024 - and reforms and increases to alcohol taxes introduced across the UK in 2023. The research aimed to find out what people with experience of alcohol dependency think about alcohol pricing policies and their perceived impacts, as well as exploring the other policy options they would recommend | SARG et al, UK
Context, mechanisms and outcomes of a social enterprise model of residential rehabilitation for problem substance use: A realist-informed process evaluation
[Open access] Meaningful work was seen as the key to successful recovery in a therapeutic community in Scotland. It could work, especially for those best placed to benefit, but by minimising the role of psychosocial support the project may have consigned its most needy residents to failure, two of whom (out of nine in the study) nearly died due to post-drop-out overdoses | Addiction, UK
Trading Standards ‘ready to enforce smoke-free future’ as Tobacco and Vapes Bill becomes law
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has welcomed the passing of the Bill, having played a central and sustained role in supporting its development from the outset | Talking Retail, UK
Five arrested after contaminated drug overdoses
Humberside Police said they had received reports on Thursday and Friday of four people becoming unwell after taking what are thought to be contaminated drugs. All four remain in hospital | BBC, UK
'I turned to alcohol due to pain from undiagnosed arthritis'
A 29-year-old man says he turned to alcohol to cope after his arthritis went undiagnosed for more than a decade, leaving him in severe pain | BBC, UK
‘Nobody’s going out!’ Why is Britain’s nightlife in such decline – and can anything save it?
One in four late-night venues went out of business between 2020 and 2025. Those that remain are struggling to pull in customers. Maybe a night out in Birminghan will reveal why | Guardian, UK
Hull 'really safe city' for drug gangs, police say
Drug dealers from London, Birmingham and Manchester are targeting Hull because it is "a really safe city" and "they don't think they will have as much competition", a police chief says | BBC, UK
Teacher banned after drinking alcohol in class
A former English teacher has been banned from the profession after drinking alcohol and having slurred speech while taking a class at a school in Nottingham | BBC, UK
Man appears in court after £1m suspected cocaine seizure
A man has appeared in court after police seized suspected cocaine with an estimated street value of £1m at a property in Dungannon, County Tyrone | BBC, UK
Could Jersey become a test bed for legalising recreational cannabis use?
A campaigner from Northern Ireland is calling on Crown Dependencies to consider becoming test beds for legalising recreational cannabis use. Charlotte Caldwell successfully lobbied the UK government to allow her disabled son the right to a medicinal cannabis prescription | ITV, UK
International news
AFS backs Lancet Commission call to raise alcohol prices to cut liver disease
A new Lancet Commission on liver health in Europe highlights a growing and largely preventable burden of liver disease, with around 284,000 deaths each year linked to conditions such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Alcohol is identified as a major contributing factor alongside obesity, poor diet and viral hepatitis, with experts warning that without action the scale of harm will continue to rise | Alcohol Focus Scotland, UK
Researchers uncover link between weight loss drugs and alcohol intake: ‘Its importance cannot be overstated’
Alcoholics given semaglutide reduced alcohol consumption, had fewer heavy drinking days and saw a reduction in alcohol cravings | Independent, UK
The psychometric properties of validated tools to assess cannabis use disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Reviews options for using brief questionnaires and diagnostic tools to identify problem cannabis use among different populations | Addiction, UK
John Oliver on gas station drugs: ‘Dangerous substances that can be made by just about anyone’
The Last Week Tonight host dug into the unregulated ‘wild west’ of kratom, boner pills and ‘gas station heroin’ | Guardian, UK
On the 2026 Hungarian Elections and the Future of Harm Reduction | Interview with Péter Sárosi
On the 12th of April, the long-awaited parliamentary elections in Hungary took place. After 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s regime and its repressive drug policies, the autocratic prime minister lost the elections to conservative Péter Magyar and his centre-right party Tisza, which won a two-thirds parliamentary majority | C-EHRN, The Netherlands
Cannabis Microdosing More Common Than Psychedelics Among US Adults, National Survey Finds
Cannabis is the most commonly microdosed substance in the U.S., with about 9.4% of adults — roughly 24 million people — reporting lifetime use. More people reported microdosing for recreational reasons than for medical reasons. Cannabis microdosing was nearly twice as common as psilocybin, LSD or MDMA, challenging the perception that microdosing is mainly a psychedelic practice | UC San Diego, USA
Updated alcohol warning labels may prompt people to cut back, study suggests
Although the United States requires a warning label on alcoholic beverages, alcohol-related deaths have risen steadily over the past two decades. However, new labels warning of specific disease risks, including cancer and liver disease, could better motivate reduced drinking, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs | Medical Xpress, USA
A brownie, a drink, a drive: Hidden impairment standard sobriety tests completely miss
Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have added to evidence that using cannabis edibles and alcohol together worsens driving impairment compared with consuming either substance alone. The study also found that cannabis (alone or with alcohol) did not impair performance on standard field sobriety tests | Medical Xpress, USA
Gambling and Substance Use: Early Evidence From Sports Betting Laws
[Open access] Relatively strong evidence that legalisation of online sports betting in US states has led young men who already 'binge' drink to do so more often. Possible mechanisms include drinking while placing bets and/or on hearing the results and the mental and financial consequences of gambling | Health Economics, USA
Trump administration ends funding for fentanyl test strips, baffling public health groups: "It doesn't make sense"
Test strips used to determine if illicit drugs contain deadly contaminants including fentanyl will no longer be covered by federal funding, reversing a position the Trump administration held as recently as July and leaving public health organizations worried that the U.S. will lose the progress it has made combatting fatal overdoses | CBS News, USA
InSight Crime’s 2025 Cocaine Seizure Round-Up
As the United States drags the drug war back in time, traffickers are leaping forward, creating new ways of disguising and moving cocaine while weaving sophisticated global networks to reach new markets. InSight Crime’s 2025 Cocaine Seizure Round-Up reveals a fast-evolving global market. Roughly half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean increased their cocaine seizures. The other half saw them fall as trafficking routes shifted in response to new international interdiction strategies | Insight Crime, USA
Reverse engineering ketamine's effects may lead to new antidepressants
Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have "reverse engineered" ketamine's antidepressant effects to identify potential new strategies for treating depression. While there are many effective treatments available for depression, not all patients respond to them | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Tackling smoking isn’t an affront to personal freedom –it’s defence against a deadly addiction
As this Bill made its way through Parliament, we heard familiar arguments directly echoing lines from the tobacco industry’s well-worn playbook. Perhaps the most frustrating was the claim that smoking is simply a matter of free choice. In reality, around 8 in 10 smokers have tried to quit. This is a statistic that speaks not to choice, but to how hard it is to escape addiction | Cancer Research UK blog, UK
The new vaping licensing regime – lessons to be learned from alcohol licensing | Viewpoint: Graeme Cushion
Whilst we now know that the new vape licensing regime will be introduced, the detailed regulations are yet to be published. We are led to believe that it will be very similar to the current regime for alcohol licensing created by the Licensing Act 2003 | Talking Retail opinion, UK