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Daily news - 13th January 2025

UK news

Cross-border addiction services awarded £12.4m peace funding

Two projects delivering addiction services in Northern Ireland and the border counties are to receive more than £12m in funding. The money, allocated through the cross-border Peaceplus programme, is distributed between a project helping people with alcohol dependence and another piloting digital devices aimed at helping people who struggle with substance abuse | BBC, UK

The Thistle - Safer Drug Consumption Room - video

Tour of the newly opened drug consumption room in Glasgow | Glasgow City HSCP | Glasgow City HSCP, UK

Nicotine Pouch Use in Great Britain at 1% in Youths and Adults as government plans to regulate

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, in partnership with Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has found that about 1% of adults (18 and over) and youths (11-18 year olds) report currently using a nicotine pouch | KCL, UK

'The dangers of ketamine are real'

The mother of a teenager who died after taking ketamine on her first day at Newcastle University has welcomed calls to upgrade the drug to class A | BBC, UK

Council leader says alcohol harm data 'alarming'

The rate of deaths linked to alcohol in Northumberland is far higher than the national average, figures presented to a health board have revealed | BBC, UK

Jameson teams up with Drinkaware and football legend Jay Bothroyd to encourage fans to check their drinking

Drinkaware, Jameson and former England international and football star Jay Bothroyd team up to launch campaign encouraging football fans to check their drinking | Morning Advertiser, UK

Man who lowered alcohol intake backs new campaign

Jamie Stevenson, from Chichester, West Sussex, said he changed his habits when one glass of wine an evening would often turn into an entire bottle | BBC, UK

Bolton to get government funding for stop smoking services

A report last year found that smoking costs the borough’s economy as much as £95M a year in health services and lost productivity. This prompted Bolton Council to sign off on spending a government grant worth more than £400,000 on stop smoking services, which has now been allocated for 2025 to 2026 | Bolton News, UK

Culture, politics & drinking with Dr James Nicholls - audio

In this episode we talk to Dr James Nicholls about how drinking came to be such a significant part of many modern cultures. We discuss how alcohol use and problems have evolved over recent centuries, and how this reflects various political and social pressures. This includes how drinking escalated with the development of alcohol production, and how laws, consumers and attitudes have shaped drinking practices to the current day | Alcohol Problem Podcast, UK

Jeremy Bentham on Drugs

Contemporary arguments for drug policy reform, in support of legalising or decriminalising drugs, commonly implicitly (or explicitly) invoke the ideas of well-known thinkers and philosophers including Aristotle, Kant and J.S. Mill. Mill’s famous liberal doctrine and ‘harm principle’, developed in his best-known work On Liberty, has been particularly influential and widely cited for its relevance | UCL Press, UK

Drug and Alcohol Addiction: Treatment

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, What steps his Department is taking to support drug and alcohol addiction treatment services | They work for you, UK

Tobacco: Sales

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill on the illegal sale of tobacco products in (a) non-grocery and (b) non-newsagent premises | They work for you, UK

Electronic Cigarettes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to help increase levels of awareness of the potential merits of switching to (a) vapes and (b) other alternatives to smoking among adult smokers, in the context of nicotine product display restrictions | They work for you, UK

Vicky Pattison wedding advert ‘glamorised smoking’, watchdog rules

Video posted on social media by reality TV star and her husband showed wedding party with cigars | Guardian, UK

Town's addicts struggling to get drugs, police say

Drug addicts in one of Wales' most deprived areas are telling police they are struggling to buy illegal substances after an initiative to cut crime, a force has said | BBC, UK

'Designer homes destroyed' by £1m cannabis factory

Cannabis with a street value of more than £1m has been found in two neighbouring 'designer' homes in a quiet village | BBC, UK

International news

Norway on track to equal Sweden’s smokefree status: GSTHR Briefing Paper explores widespread substitution of cigarettes by snus

Sweden’s historically low smoking rate hit the headlines late last year, and now a Briefing Paper from the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction explores how neighbouring Norway is treading a similar path | GSTHR, UK

GFN.TV Interviews #55 | QUIET TRIUMPH | Collapse in Youth Smoking Ignored by Public Health - video

Youth smoking rates in the United States have plummeted to historic lows—an unprecedented victory in tobacco control. Yet, public health seems oddly silent. Why is this monumental achievement not being celebrated? | GFN, UK

The GFN 2025 Film Festival

Following the success of last year’s film festival, we invite filmmakers, creators, and advocates to submit their works that highlight the importance of tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a key public health strategy. Through the power of visual storytelling, we aim to raise awareness, educate, and inspire positive change in individuals and society concerning tobacco use and its associated risks. The GFN 2025 Film Festival takes place during the Global Forum on Nicotine, 19 - 21 June 2025, at the Warsaw Presidential Hotel, Poland | GFN, UK

‘White people shouldn’t mess with it’: Native American church laments psychedelic cactus shortage

Western ‘psychedelic renaissance’ is partly to blame for dwindling supplies of peyote, which produces mescaline | Guardian, UK

What hepatology clinicians and their patients with alcohol-related liver disease think of wearable alcohol biosensors to aid abstinence from alcohol: A qualitative study

[Open access] After three months’ experience wearing an alcohol-monitoring wrist bracelet, liver disease patients (and their clinicians) in the USA explain the pros and cons and the impact they felt it had on drinking among these high-risk patients | Drug and Alcohol Review, USA

Audio-Based Care for Managing Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders in Adults

[Open access] What happens when you replace face-to-face care with phone contact? According to this review, in respect of facilitating transitions between levels of care for substance use disorders, “outcomes were comparable” | Medical Care, USA

Multi-method approach effectively identifies and engages children impacted by parental substance misuse into school-based prevention services

[Open access] Describes the thoughtfully constructed system developed in Maryland in the USA to identify and support children and their families when the child is affected by substance misuse among adults in the family. The system results in nearly all children being given parental permission to receive such support if they or their families raise concerns | Frontiers in Public Health, USA

[Open access] Passing on your opioid maintenance medications to other people is generally condemned as dangerous for the recipient and undermining the treatment of the donor. Patients tell a more nuanced story, including ‘therapeutic’ and compassionate motivations for diversion | IJDP, UK

New survey shows majority of Australians are concerned about industry proposal for more alcohol ads on TV

A new survey has found almost all Australians (90 per cent) are concerned by a commercial television industry proposal that could allow 800 hours of additional alcohol ads on TV each year | FARE, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

Harry’s blog 126: Tobacco harm reduction and ‘Podsnappery’

Mr Podsnap is a minor character in Charles Dickens’ novel Our Mutual Friend. Mr Podsnap was “well to do, and stood very high in Mr. Podsnap's opinion”. He was noted for his ignorant and wanton dismissal of anything he disagreed with – “I don’t want to know about it; I don’t choose to discuss it; I don’t admit it … I have also said that if [such things] do occur (not that I admit it), the fault lies with the sufferers themselves”. | NSP blog, UK

Taking pleasure seriously: Should alcohol research say more about fun?

This paper invites discussion on whether pleasure should receive more attention in public health-oriented research on alcohol. While there is a history of sociological and anthropological literature exploring alcohol and pleasure, this is much less common in public health-oriented alcohol research, and associated advocacy | Addiction opinion and debate, UK

Why Choosing An Alcohol-Free Lifestyle Can Create More Questions Than Answers

I first became sober curious in 2012. At that time, there was no sober curious movement, no term for it, and the alcohol-free drinks market didn’t exist (other than Becks Blue). The Dry January® challenge hadn’t emerged, so there was no social proof, no community, and little visible support or alcohol prevention outside of crisis intervention. I felt alone | Anti-Stigma Network, UK

Success - UK’s First Safer Drug Consumption Facility Opening

Transform is delighted to see the UK’s first Safer Drug Consumption Facility SDCF (aka Overdose Prevention Centre etc) open in Glasgow on the 13th January. Congratulations to all our colleagues north of the border for the hard work they’ve put into finally making this happen, including the ground-breaking work of Peter Krykant and his unofficial mobile facility | Transform blog, UK

Even 1 drink a day elevates your cancer risk – an expert on how alcohol affects the body breaks down a new government report

Over the past few decades, mounting scientific evidence has shown that as little as 1-2 alcoholic drinks per day can lead to increases in the likelihood of several cancers. This prompted the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, to release a new Surgeon General Advisory on Jan. 3, 2025, warning about the link between alcohol and cancer. This report highlighted the evidence and included a call for new cancer warning labels on alcoholic beverages | Conversation, USA

With more Americans able to access legalized marijuana, fewer are picking up prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications – new research

In states where both medical and recreational marijuana are legal, fewer patients are filling prescriptions for medications used to treat anxiety. That is the key finding of my recent study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open | Conversation, USA

We looked at 54 medicinal cannabis websites to see if they followed the rules. Here’s what we found

More Australians than ever are using medicinal cannabis to treat long-term health conditions, such as chronic pain, anxiety and cancer. Some go to their GP and receive a prescription, which they take to a pharmacy. But many bypass their GP. Instead, they buy it online from private medicinal cannabis clinics after a telehealth appointment with the clinic’s doctor | Conversation, Australia

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