Hepatitis can’t wait
An online event by NHS England marked the start of the 10th World Hepatitis Day, with the slogan 'Hepatitis can’t wait'. The event reaffirmed...
We’ll publish drug strategy by end of the year, government says
The government has promised to publish a ‘long-term’ drug strategy by the end of the year, at the same time as it sets out...
Clubbers warned to pace themselves as venues reopen
A new harm reduction campaign by drug safety organisation The Loop in partnership with the Metro newspaper is warning clubbers to stay safe as...
Alcohol deaths up by 21 per cent
Alcohol-specific deaths increased by 20.8 per cent last year, according to PHE. There were 6,983 deaths in 2020, compared to 5,819 in 2019 –...
People with lived experience will make Black report ‘a meaningful strategy’
‘Is this one of the most important documents we’ve seen in a long time – or a rehash of old ideas?’ This was the...
Sector welcomes Black’s ‘gamechanger’
‘Thoughtful’, ‘thorough’ and ‘a gamechanger’ were reactions of the Drugs, Alcohol and Justice Cross-Party Parliamentary Group to part two of Dame Carol Black’s Independent...
Government commits to new drugs unit
A new drugs unit will be set up to help ‘end illegal drug-related illness and deaths’, the government has stated, following the publication of...
More than £550m needed to save treatment system, says Black report
The government needs to invest an additional £552m in the drug treatment system over the next five years through the Department of Health and...
Services now ‘on their knees’, says Carol Black
Funding cuts have left treatment and recovery services ‘on their knees’, commissioning has ‘become fragmented with little accountability for outcomes’ and partnerships between local...
Recommend vaping to help people quit smoking, says NICE
Health professionals can recommend e-cigarettes as tools to help stop smoking, according to new draft guidance from NICE and PHE.
‘The evidence shows that...
Cannabis four times stronger than 25 years ago
Cannabis potency has increased by as much as four times since 1995, according to UNODC’s World drug report 2021, a period that has also...
Childhood trauma can alter response to opioids
People with a history of childhood trauma are more likely to have a euphoric response to opioids, according to a study by scientists at...
One in six Scottish ambulance callouts alcohol related
One in six ambulance callouts in Scotland is alcohol-related, according to research by the University of Glasgow, rising to one in four during weekend...
Rising levels of violence associated with county lines activity
County lines activity is being characterised by rising levels of extreme violence and sexual exploitation, according to a report by the University of Nottingham’s...
Three quarters back tighter gambling ad restrictions
More than three quarters of adults and two thirds of 11-17-year-olds back a ban on gambling adverts on TV and radio before 9pm, according...
Scottish alcohol consumption falls to lowest level ever
Scotland’s population-level alcohol consumption has fallen to its lowest level since records began in 1994, according to Public Health Scotland.
Based on retail sales...
Duterte crimes against humanity investigation moves a step closer
The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) outgoing chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has formally requested an investigation into ‘the situation in the Philippines’, she has announced....
London gets first dedicated detox unit for homeless people
A new detox unit for homeless people will open in London next week, PHE has announced. Based at St Thomas’ Hospital in Lambeth, the...
COVID fails to dent ‘resilient’ European drug market
The European drug market has ‘continued to adjust’ to disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, says EMCDDA’s European drug report 2021: trends and developments.
Traffickers in...
Time to end ‘tobacco epidemic’, government urged
A report by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health has called on the government to make smoking ‘obsolete’ by 2030....
Scotland publishes new treatment standards
Ten new standards for drug treatment have been published by the Scottish Government’s Drug Deaths Taskforce, with the aim of reinforcing ‘a rights-based approach...
MUP has had ‘lasting impact’ on drinking levels
Minimum unit pricing (MUP) is having a lasting impact in reducing alcohol consumption in ‘some of the heaviest drinking households’, according to new research...
Experts call for drug law reform
‘One of the most important areas of social policy is still bound by legislation passed 50 years ago,’ Transform chief executive James Nicholls told...
New maps identify areas of need for gambling treatment
A new series of interactive maps to identify local levels of demand for gambling treatment has been released by GambleAware.
The maps show usage...
A quarter of adults worried about their post-lockdown drinking
One in four adults in the UK are concerned about the potential impact of lockdown easing on their alcohol consumption, according to new research...
PHE launches new family support pack
A new updated toolkit to support those helping families with parental drug and alcohol issues has been issued by PHE.
Parents with alcohol and...
Drug checking services have long-term influence on behaviour
Using drug checking services at festivals can permanently influence behaviour, according to a new study by the University of Liverpool.
The study looked at...
Alcohol deaths highest for 20 years
Deaths in England and Wales from alcohol-specific causes topped 7,400 last year, according to provisional data from ONS – almost 20 per cent higher...
Name change for SMMGP
Substance Misuse Management in General Practice (SMMGP) is changing its name to Addiction Professionals, the organisation has announced. The grassroots GP network recently held...
Ireland to implement minimum pricing from next year
The Republic of Ireland will introduce minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol from next January, according to health minister Frank Feighan.
‘MUP is a...
Problem drug use ‘not a personal failing’, says SDF manifesto
Problem drug use is neither ‘a lifestyle choice nor a personal failure’, states a new manifesto published by the Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF). A...
Half of Scots drinking more during pandemic
A survey by With You has revealed the ‘huge impact’ of COVID-19 on alcohol consumption in Scotland, with 49 per cent of respondents saying...
Change Grow Live launches country-wide homeless outreach initiative
Eighteen new homelessness outreach services, employing 130 staff, have been launched across England by Change Grow Live. Alongside access to drug and alcohol treatment,...
Magic mushrooms may be as effective as antidepressants
Psilocybin, the active compound in ‘magic mushrooms’, could be at least as effective in treating depression as a leading antidepressant medication, according to a...
Europe’s drug trade more violent than ever, says Europol
The use of violence in the illegal drugs trade has ‘escalated notably in recent years’, according to Europol’s European Union serious and organised crime...
Drug control a health and human rights ‘disaster’, says IDPC
The global drug control regime represents ‘a shocking health and human rights disaster’ according to a report from the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)...
With You launches needle exchange search engine
A new search engine for people to find information about needle and syringe services in their area has been launched by With You.
Accessible...
Country-wide naloxone awareness campaign launches
A national naloxone and overdose awareness campaign has been launched using posters of people who have been personally affected by overdose and now carry...
Prescribe exercise instead of pills for chronic pain, says NICE
People with chronic primary pain should be offered a range of treatments to help manage their condition, says new guidance from NICE, rather than...
Urgent funding needed for young people’s substance services, says RCPsych
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) is calling on the government to invest more than £40m in young people’s addiction services to ‘prevent lifelong...
Homelessness ‘substantially’ increases BBV risk for people who inject drugs
Homelessness and unstable housing are associated with a ‘substantial’ increase in acquisition risk for both HIV and hepatitis C among people who inject drugs,...
Smokers need social care ten years earlier
Smokers in England will need help with everyday tasks including ‘dressing, walking across a room and using the toilet’ ten years earlier on average,...
Alcohol duty freeze ‘a huge blow for health’
All alcohol duties are to be frozen for the second year running, the chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced in his much-anticipated budget, with no...
‘Bold policies’ needed to tackle drug deaths crisis, says royal college
Bold policies such as decriminalisation and consumption rooms are needed to help reduce Scotland’s record rates of drug-related deaths, says a new report from...
Lockdown had little effect on drug supply
The first COVID-19 lockdown made little difference to people’s ability to find drugs or suppliers, according to Release. However, supply shortages did lead to...
Parents ‘twice as likely’ to be drinking more heavily since lockdown
Parents are twice as likely to be drinking more often since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research by alcohol charity Balance....
More health service reform on the way
The government has published a new white paper setting out planned reforms to health and social care services. Integration and innovation: working together to...
A third of 17-year-olds have tried cannabis
More than 30 per cent of young people have tried cannabis at least once by the age of 17, according to research by UCL’s...
Provisional figures show 16 per cent increase in alcohol deaths
Provisional data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the first three quarters of 2020 show 5,460 deaths related to alcohol-specific causes, up...
Fall in drug-related hospital admissions
Hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of drug-related mental and behavioural disorders have fallen by 5 per cent, according to new figures from NHS...
Scotland allocates £250m to tackling drug deaths ‘national disgrace’
The Scottish Government has pledged £250m to tackling its record high rates of drug-related deaths, with £50m to be allocated annually for the next...
Government pledges £80 million for treatment services
The government has announced an £80m investment in drug treatment services across England.
The money will partly be used to increase the number of...
Young people’s drug use could be 20 per cent higher than...
Official estimates of lifetime drug use among young people could be as much as 20 per cent lower than the reality, according to a...
Substance service staff prioritised in vaccination rollout
People working in community-based addiction services will be given high priority in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations to healthcare staff, NHS England has confirmed.
A...
Face-to-face contact with older service users essential, study finds
Face-to-face contact with older adults receiving alcohol treatment is crucial, according to a survey commissioned by We Are With You.
Services moving online or over...
Scotland appoints minister to tackle record drug deaths
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has appointed a minister for drug policy to lead work on tackling the country’s record rates of drug-related deaths....
Boost for BBV testing among London’s homeless population
More than 1,000 people who had previously been sleeping rough were tested for blood-borne viruses between May and August this year, according to a...
Government pledges cash for rough sleeper substance support
More than 40 areas will receive money from a £23m fund to provide rough sleepers in emergency accommodation with drug and alcohol support, the...
Another record high for Scots drug deaths
Scotland recorded 1,264 drug-related deaths in 2019, according to the latest figures from National Records of Scotland.
The figure represents a 6 per cent...
Deprived areas bear brunt of public health cuts
The Midlands and the North have seen England’s biggest cuts to public health budgets over the last six years, according to new analysis from...