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Daily news - 23rd April 2025

UK news

New DHSC Permanent Secretary Appointed

Samantha Jones has been appointed as the new Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care | Cabinet Office and Department of Health and Social Care, UK

“A sporty, healthy twist?”: interrogating the deployment of health and wellness discourses in No and Low alcohol (NoLo) marketing and consumer practices

Little is known about how No and Low alcohol (NoLo) drinks are promoted and used, making it difficult to draw conclusions about the implications of this expanding market. Drawing on analysis of UK-based marketing materials and semi-structured interviews, this paper adopts a critical social marketing perspective and ‘healthism’ lens to interrogate the alcohol industry’s use of health messaging in NoLo marketing and how these messages are reflected in consumer narratives | Journal of Marketing Management, UK

Rotherham volunteer wins award for supporting others after alcohol recovery

Rotherham volunteer Darren Fox has won the Determined Volunteer Award from drug and alcohol charity WithYou for his work supporting others following his own recovery from issues with alcohol | DDN, UK

From Junior Apprentice to medicinal cannabis entrepreneur

At just 17 years old, Arjun Rajyagor was told by Lord Alan Sugar he had "natural business flair combined with intelligence" and could be "the best at whatever he wants to do" | BBC, UK

Recognising excellence in our membership community

Applications are now open for two prestigious prizes: The Fred Yates Prize for Early Career Researchers is awarded to an early career researcher for their significant and specific contributions to the field of addiction. The Impact Prize is awarded to a person or team whose work has had a strong public-facing impact | SSA, UK

Drone-smuggled drugs may have caused prison deaths

One of the UK's largest prisons is failing to tackle an "alarming" amount of drugs that have led to a "spate" of deaths, a damning report has said | BBC, UK

Alcohol sales bid blocked over nursery concerns

A Thai restaurant which shares a car park with a nursery has had its application to sell alcohol from midday turned down over concerns about the impact on children | BBC, UK

Rubbish piled up after pro-cannabis event in park

A waste company said it has spent 48 hours clearing rubbish from a park following a public event to support the legalisation of cannabis | BBC, UK

A Healthcare Needs Assessment on Gambling Harm

The national healthcare needs assessment (HCNA) report estimates the prevalence of gambling harms in Scotland, maps service provision and demand for services, recognising the limitations of the current evidence. It draws on the views of people living in Scotland who have experienced gambling harms or work in services to support those who do, and compares these findings to evidence from England and Wales... | Public Health Scotland, UK

International news

France: How the “war on drugs” is turbo-charging surveillance powers

Fuelled by absurd rhetoric, the government is proposing what has been dubbed “the worst surveillance law in the EU”. Experts warn that it will fail to achieve its aims. However, the broad scope of the law means the powers can be used against migrants, their supporters, and to crack down on dissent. As official reports have made clear, dealing with drug use and trafficking requires long-term, low-tech policies – not high-tech police surveillance powers | IDPC, UK

Methadone in the madness: a case series and review of methadone management in hospital settings

[Open access] The management of patients on chronic methadone therapy for opioid use disorder presents unique pharmacological and psychosocial challenges in hospital settings. This case series discusses complexities such as methadone’s variable pharmacokinetics, alternatives to oral methadone and conversion ratios. Additionally, it outlines the nuances around the psychosocial considerations of methadone therapy and addressing addiction-related behaviors without compromising patient dignity. The review calls for individualized care plans with uninterrupted opioid agonist therapy... | Pain Management, UK

Greece mulls ban on flavoured e-cigarettes

Drastic action on child-friendly tobacco marketing may now make more political sense for Athens | Euractiv, Belgium

Hospitalized patients who receive alcohol use disorder treatment can substantially reduce heavy drinking

Nearly 30 million adults in the United States experience alcohol use disorder (AUD), but the vast majority of people with this condition do not receive treatment. A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and Boston Medical Center (BMC) researchers indicates that hospitals may be an ideal setting to close this gap in care | Medical Xpress, USA

A repurposed anti-inflammatory drug may help treat alcohol use disorder and related pain

A preclinical study by scientists at Scripps Research finds that a drug already FDA-approved for treating inflammatory conditions may help reduce both alcohol intake and pain sensitivity—two issues that commonly co-occur with alcohol use disorder (AUD) | Medical Xpress, USA

Comparing the effects of prescribed safer opioid supply and methadone in Ontario, Canada: a population-based matched cohort study

Research from ICES and Unity Health Toronto shows that safer opioid supply programs and methadone both reduce opioid overdoses, health care utilization, and costs | Lancet Public Health, USA

Psychedelic use shows minimal link to schizotypal traits with possible reduction in delusional thinking, study suggests

Psychedelic drugs are seeing a surge of interest from mainstream medicine, and initial results suggest that psychedelic-therapy can be a safe and effective treatment for some mental health conditions. However, the side-effect profile is still incompletely understood. In particular, the use of psychedelics has been posited to carry a risk of triggering latent psychotic disorders or persistent visual hallucinations, known as hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) | Medical Xpress, USA

Alcohol Use and Abusive or Neglectful Behaviors Among Family Caregivers of Patients With Dementia

In this cohort study of 453 family caregivers, screening positive for hazardous drinking was associated with higher odds of neglectful and psychologically aggressive behaviors toward care recipients. Alcohol consumption on a given day, regardless of quantity, was independently associated with higher odds of physically aggressive and neglectful behaviors on the same day | JAMA Network Open, USA

Michael Bloomberg Won His Vietnam War on Vaping

Vietnam has a big-time smoking problem. A huge proportion of men, particularly—44.3 percent, by one estimate—smoke cigarettes. Smoking kills more than 100,000 people a year in Vietnam, according to the World Health Organization. Tobacco-related diseases also contribute to rising health care costs in a country where, despite rapid economic growth, per capita income remains below $5,000 a year | Filter Magazine, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

How Fomo – the fear of missing out – affects young people’s binge drinking

Despite their popularity with policymakers, psychological research has generally shown that campaigns based on fear do not change behaviour. What’s more, our research has found that even when young people thought they would regret what they did when drunk and made plans to drink less, they still ended up drinking the same amount. Over a number of research studies, we’ve tried to figure out why regret doesn’t change drinking behaviour. What we’ve found is that for many young people, the fear of missing out on the good things they might experience while drinking outweighs the fear that they might do something they regret | Conversation, UK

European Harm Reduction Is Facing a Funding Crisis

Harm reduction has long been a cornerstone of European public health, minimising drug use risks like overdose deaths or preventing the spread of infectious diseases. These interventions have been instrumental in improving the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs (PWUD) | Talking Drugs, UK

Why Big Tobacco should pay for the cost of smoking

For the past three years, the IPPR’s Commission on Health and Prosperity has been making the case that better health is Britain’s greatest untapped route to economic strength. We’ve argued that investing in the nation’s health can address some of our biggest challenges | ASH blog, UK

Are teenage alcohol-related harms matching declines in consumption?

Our team investigated trends in adolescent alcohol-related harms in high-income countries around the world. The results indicated that although harms have been declining in some countries, they usually have not kept up with declines in consumption | IAS blog, UK