DrugWise Daily |
17th June 2026 |
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UK news
Nicotine as a wellness product? The smoking alternatives being pushed by big tobacco
Vapes are just one of a variety of alternative nicotine products the industry is using to replace profits from the decline in smoking. Katharine Lang and Madeline Hutcheson outline what they are and the risks they pose to health | BMJ, UK
Drinkaware unveils new shared ambition to reduce number of risky drinkers in the UK by 2 million
Drinkaware, the UK's leading charity tackling alcohol harm, has today launched a new five-year strategy setting out an ambitious shared target to reduce the number of risky drinkers in the UK by two million, by 2030 | Drinkaware, UK
Where there’s smoke | In focus: Smoking and next-gen
Whether it’s plain packaging, ‘going dark’ or the ban on disposable vapes, the smoking and smoking alternatives category has been subject to some pretty radical legislation over the past 10 years or so | Talking Retail, UK
Make ketamine a Class A drug, PCC says
A police and crime commissioner (PCC) has called for ketamine to be reclassified as a Class A drug, warning there is a "crisis waiting to happen". In January, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) advised the government the drug should remain as Class B, saying reclassifying in isolation would be unlikely to "reduce prevalence or misuse". County Durham and Darlington PCC Joy Allen criticised the position as "out of step with reality" | BBC, UK
Police expect drug-driving spike during World Cup
Police are expecting an increase in drug-driving offences in Essex to coincide with the England men's World Cup matches. Essex Police has said drug-driving is an "epidemic" in the county. Arrests for driving under the influence of cocaine and cannabis almost doubled from 971 in 2024, to 1,874 in 2025 | BBC, UK
Three arrested after record-breaking £139m cannabis seizure
Police said 12 tonnes of cannabis had been recovered from containers on 6 May, in transit to a port on the south coast of England | BBC, UK
International news
Provision of safer smoking equipment to reduce health harms and enhance service engagement among people who use crack: a realist informed review
[Open access] Asks "why, for whom, and in what circumstances do safer inhalation initiatives achieve (or fail to achieve) their aims", foremost of which are harm reduction and engagement in services. Consistently influential were social and political environments and the genesis of the services in community action versus top-down commissioning | IJDP, UK
The peptide boom: how the US got hooked on unregulated ‘miracle’ drugs | On the Ground
Across the US, thousands of people are injecting themselves with unregulated peptides in pursuit of weight loss, muscle growth and younger-looking skin. Despite being labelled 'not for human consumption', the substances are readily available online and have surged in popularity among people disillusioned by traditional healthcare | Guardian, UK
Synthetic cooling agents in e-cigarettes link to abnormal heartbeats
Synthetic cooling ingredients added to e-cigarettes caused abnormal heartbeats (arrhythmias) and increased cardiovascular risk measures in mice and lab-grown human heart cells, according to new independent research published today in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association | News Medical, USA
How do recovery community centers support people in recovery over time?
More than 1 in 10 adults in the United States believe they had a substance use problem at some point, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Among these adults, more than 7 in 10 considered themselves to be in recovery. An increasingly common way people support their recovery is by visiting recovery community centers (RCCs), which have emerged across the country and in Pennsylvania | Medical Xpress, USA
Cannabis branding may appeal to youth despite regulations, study finds
Unlike cigarettes or alcohol, cannabis products often come packaged as colorful gummies, chocolates, candies and snacks that can look remarkably similar to items found in a grocery store aisle | Medical Xpress, USA
Short-Acting Opioid Dose and Patient-Directed Discharge in Hospitalized Patients With Opioid Use Disorder
In this single-site cohort study comprising 669 hospitalizations, there was a dose-dependent association between short-acting opioid dose and reduced hazard of patient-directed discharge within 72 hours | JAMA Network Open, USA
The DRAM, Vol. 22(6) – Impacts of minority stress and resilience on alcohol use among transgender and gender diverse emerging adults
This week, as part of our Special Series on Addiction Among Emerging Adults, The DRAM reviews a study by Theodore Quinn and colleagues that explored the effects of gender minority stress and resilience on alcohol use and harms among TGD emerging adults | CHA, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Why It Matters: Recognising LGBTQIA+ Struggles in Addiction and Accessing Support
As a proud trans woman who has been through addiction and is in recovery this is something that I feel very strong about, and as it feels like we are going backwards with our rights and progress in the world now is the time to be louder, more informed and supportive than ever | AntiStigma Network blog, UK
12: A Short Guide to…. the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 - audio
A short guide to the main piece of drug control legislation in the UK, describing its history, how it works and arguments for its reform or repeal. Draws on my research on the historical origins of the Act (here and here) and its legal structure and functioning (here) | Toby Sedon, UK
England and Wales are out of step on drink driving
When the Government recently closed its public consultation on a new Road Safety Strategy, one issue stood out above almost any other: drink driving | IAS blog, UK
The over-50s are most likely to overdose. Here’s how older people use drugs
When many of us think about drug overdose, we picture young people at a music festival or people dependent on street heroin. But the latest figures from the Penington Institute show older Australians are increasingly dying from overdoses. On average, seven people died every day from a drug-related overdose. Unintentional drug overdoses make up more than 80% of those deaths. For the first time in a decade, this year’s report showed people aged 50–59 years made up the highest proportion of unintentional deaths (25.5%). People 40–49 years old are a close second (25.4%) | Conversation, Australia