DrugWise Daily |
6th August 2026 |
Thank you to our Premium sponsors:
|
|
Could you sponsor DrugWise Daily? Please Email Harry Shapiro to discuss |
|
UK news
Snapshot Report: The Depiction of Under 25s in Alcohol and Gambling Ads Online
This Snapshot Report examines the extent to which people aged under 25 feature in social media and online display ads in the gambling and alcohol sectors. The rules for these sectors are clear that people who are, or seem to be, under the age of 25 cannot play a prominent role or be seen gambling or drinking. Our findings show that the vast majority of advertisers in these sectors play by the rules and don’t take risks when it comes to the age of people in their ads | ASA, UK
Medetomidine found in drug supply in South West London
Surrey Substance Use Partnership's Local Drug Information System have received intelligence that Medetomidine, a potent non-opioid veterinary sedative, has contaminated the drug supply in Sutton, South West London | Forward Trust, UK
Too many vape shops on high street, shoppers claim
Shoppers have claimed there are too many vape stores on a town's high street after action was taken against two stocking illegal products | BBC, UK
It starts with a free holiday and ends in a Thai jail cell - NCA launches campaign warning against cannabis smuggling
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has launched a new social media campaign warning young people that smuggling cannabis from Thailand to the UK could land them in a foreign jail. The number of people trying to bring cannabis into the UK has sharply increased over recent years | NCA, UK
Heavyweight Parker cleared to fight after drugs ban
Former world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker has been cleared to fight again after his provisional suspension for testing positive for cocaine was lifted | BBC, UK
Police raid shuts multimillion-pound cannabis farm
Officers targeted the warehouse in Braithwaite on Monday morning and said they found almost 1,800 plants | BBC, UK
International news
Ireland’s de facto vape flavour ban delayed after Italy and Greece object
Ireland’s plan to restrict vape flavour names to “Tobacco” and “Unflavoured” has been delayed after Italy and Greece formally challenged the proposed rules at EU level. Both countries submitted “detailed opinions” through the European Commission’s Technical Regulation Information System, or TRIS, raising potential concerns about barriers to trade within the EU single market | Clearing the air, UK
Mortality and morbidity at legal drinking age thresholds: Evidence from a nationwide quasi-experimental study in Finland
[Open access] Strong evidence from Finland that legal drinking age (for both alcohol as such and two years later for spirits) matters for mortality, especially among men and when allied with the age threshold for a driving licence. Among women it was suicide rather than accidental death which spiked after reaching spirit-drinking age | Addiction, UK
Neuroscience-informed therapy provides massive cost-savings for opioid addiction treatment
A new economic evaluation from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has revealed that Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) - an innovative, evidence-based, neuroscience-informed therapy for opioid misuse and chronic pain - provides $12 in cost savings for every dollar spent, between two and six times more cost effective than other addiction treatments such as residential or intensive outpatient treatment | News Medical, USA
Medical cannabis compound alleviates nightmares associated with PTSD
Researchers at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin investigated whether a prescription medication containing THC – one of the active compounds of the cannabis plant – could help. As they report in Nature Medicine, more than half of the participants responded to treatment, while more than a third experienced a complete disappearance of nightmares | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Theorizing ahead of the data: A commentary on Piper et al.
Criticises what the author sees as the rush to theorise howpsychedelic drugs ameliorate substance use disorders when it is far from established that they actually do: "Speculative frameworks are written and cited as established accounts." | Addiction letter to the editor, UK
Is hemp a thirsty crop? New research measures just how much water cannabis farming can use
In South Africa, it’s been legal for several years for people to grow hemp (a type of Cannabis sativa with very low levels of the psychoactive compound THC), for personal use following changes to the law. There’s also been a growing interest in its medicinal and industrial potential for clothing, insulation and paper production. Many see it as a “green gold” opportunity for small-scale farmers | Conversation, South Africa