Recent posts
A lens for women
Women’s experiences with substance use are substantially different from men’s. They tend to have higher rates of childhood trauma, are far more likely to...
Deaths involving nitazenes quadruple in a year
There were 5,565 deaths related to drug poisoning registered in England and Wales in 2024, according to the latest ONS figures – up from...
Mental block
It’s no secret that the pathway to accessing residential treatment services can be challenging, particularly when it comes to substance use and complex mental...
Working it through
On 15 August, more than 85 employers, professionals, IPS employment specialists and people in recovery gathered at a church in Lincoln for a lively...
Rough justice
The number of women sleeping rough is estimated to be more than ten times greater than the official figures. What’s more, the measures women...
Breaking the silence
While group therapy sessions are an important part of treatment and recovery, they can be hugely intimidating – and counterproductive – for people with...
A piece of the action
The Alcohol Care Team Innovation and Optimisation Network (ACTION) is a subscription-based quality improvement network sitting under the College Centre for Quality Improvement at...
Border Force seizes £1bn worth of cocaine in three months
The Border Force confiscated almost 15 tonnes of cocaine worth more than £1bn between 1 June and 31 August, the Home Office has announced...
Government consults on revising ‘outdated’ licensing rules
The government has launched a four-week, fast-track review to ‘tear up outdated licensing rules that have been holding back pubs, bars and local events’....
Police charge record number of senior county lines gang members
The government’s County Lines Programme has closed more than 2,300 ‘deal lines’ and charged more than 1,120 senior gang members in the year since...
Deaths of homeless people up almost 10 per cent in a...
The number of people who died while homeless increased by 9 per cent last year, to 1,611. The figures equate to ‘an average of...
One in five adults ‘still addicted to tobacco’, says WHO
Tobacco ‘still hooks one in five adults worldwide’ says a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) – ‘fuelling millions of preventable deaths’.
The...
At the sharp end
Access to needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) is a core component in sustaining the work done by the Hepatitis C Trust, the trust’s director...
Hungry for change
If a service provider, you are likely used to seeing people present wired, worn out, and running on empty. While the drugs they’re using...
Ketamine deaths increase twenty-fold in a decade
Deaths involving ketamine have increased twenty-fold since 2014, according to research by King’s College London, the University of Hertfordshire and Manchester Metropolitan University. However,...
Urgent action needed to improve alcohol care in Scottish hospitals, say...
The Scottish Government needs to take urgent action to improve hospital care and support for people with alcohol issues, says a consensus statement from...
‘Any amount’ of alcohol increases dementia risk, say researchers
Any level of alcohol consumption could increase the risk of dementia, according to a study by researchers at the University of Oxford, Yale University...
Brighter futures
Bridges Family and Carers is a specialist service in Stockton-on-Tees providing support to people who have a loved one with issues with drugs or...
Scotland sees 7 per cent fall in alcohol-specific deaths
There were 1,185 alcohol-specific deaths registered in Scotland last year, according to the latest National Records of Scotland figures. The total is 7 per...
Gordon Moody: treatment for gambling-related harm
We help people reclaim and rebuild their lives free from gambling-related harm.
Gordon Moody are the UK’s leading charity dedicated to providing residential treatment and...
News
Deaths involving nitazenes quadruple in a year
There were 5,565 deaths related to drug poisoning registered in England and Wales in 2024, according to the latest ONS figures – up from...
Border Force seizes £1bn worth of cocaine in three months
The Border Force confiscated almost 15 tonnes of cocaine worth more than £1bn between 1 June and 31 August, the Home Office has announced...
Government consults on revising ‘outdated’ licensing rules
The government has launched a four-week, fast-track review to ‘tear up outdated licensing rules that have been holding back pubs, bars and local events’....
Police charge record number of senior county lines gang members
The government’s County Lines Programme has closed more than 2,300 ‘deal lines’ and charged more than 1,120 senior gang members in the year since...
Deaths of homeless people up almost 10 per cent in a...
The number of people who died while homeless increased by 9 per cent last year, to 1,611. The figures equate to ‘an average of...
One in five adults ‘still addicted to tobacco’, says WHO
Tobacco ‘still hooks one in five adults worldwide’ says a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) – ‘fuelling millions of preventable deaths’.
The...
Ketamine deaths increase twenty-fold in a decade
Deaths involving ketamine have increased twenty-fold since 2014, according to research by King’s College London, the University of Hertfordshire and Manchester Metropolitan University. However,...
Urgent action needed to improve alcohol care in Scottish hospitals, say...
The Scottish Government needs to take urgent action to improve hospital care and support for people with alcohol issues, says a consensus statement from...
‘Any amount’ of alcohol increases dementia risk, say researchers
Any level of alcohol consumption could increase the risk of dementia, according to a study by researchers at the University of Oxford, Yale University...
Scotland sees 7 per cent fall in alcohol-specific deaths
There were 1,185 alcohol-specific deaths registered in Scotland last year, according to the latest National Records of Scotland figures. The total is 7 per...
Goal of national IPS coverage ‘very close to being met’
The goal of achieving national coverage for Individual Placement and Support (IPS) in community drug and alcohol treatment is very close to being met,...
Problem gambling ‘quadruples’ suicide risk in young people, say researchers
Problem gamblers face triple the suicide risk after a year – and quadruple the risk after four years – when compared to people who experience...
Opioid-related deaths more than 50 per cent higher than official figures,...
Opioid-related deaths in England and Wales from 2011 to 2022 were 54.7 per cent higher than recorded, according to research by King’s College London....
Government announces addiction research funding
More than £10m in funding will be made available for addiction research, the government has announced, to tackle the UK’s ‘critical shortage’ of world-class...
Authorities missing opportunities to safeguard child criminal exploitation victims
Crucial opportunities to safeguard the victims of child criminal exploitation are being missed, warns a new report from the Alliance for Youth Justice (AYJ)...
New research project on substance dependency in care homes launched
A new research project looking at how people with drug and alcohol problems are supported in care homes has been launched by the University...
Introduce mandatory alcohol labelling to protect against FASD, Balance urges
The government should introduce mandatory alcohol health labelling that includes warnings about drinking during pregnancy, says the North East alcohol programme Balance. The call...
Scottish Government announces funding for women’s and young people’s services
The Scottish Government has allocated £1.1m to the Aberlour Children’s Charity for perinatal support and recovery services, Public Health Scotland has announced. It is...
Up to a quarter of vapes confiscated in schools contain spice
Up to one in four vapes confiscated in English secondary schools contain the synthetic cannabinoid ‘spice’, according to researchers from the University of Bath....
Children exposed to gambling content at ‘unprecedented levels’
Children and young people in the UK are being exposed to gambling content at ‘unprecedented levels’, according to a new report from GambleAware. In...