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Daily news - 7th July 2025 |
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UK news
Alcohol Awareness Week
July 7th - 13th 2025. There are so many ways that you can make change for yourself and others this Alcohol Awareness Week as we look at the links between alcohol and work. Whether it’s helping to change the role alcohol plays in a workplace or getting tips for managing your own drinking when the pressures of work pile up, we’ve got something for you | Alcohol Change UK, UK
New campaign focuses on alcohol and later life
Forward Leeds is launching a dedicated campaign raising awareness of the challenges and health risks associated with drinking in later life. The campaign, running in Alcohol Awareness Week (13-17 July), highlights how alcohol can affect older adults differently and aims to start conversations about healthier habits and increased wellbeing | Forward Leeds, UK
NHS plan 'doesn't go far enough' and is 'missed opportunity' to curb alcohol harm says Tyneside health chief
Health chief Alice Wiseman and recovering alcohol addict Karen Slater agree that the NHS 10-year-plan doesn't go far enough to prevent alcohol harms | Chronicle Live, UK
Guidance - Smoking and tobacco: applying All Our Health
Updated the document with new data on smoking prevalence and with new content aligning to the government’s Health Mission. Also updated links in the 'Further reading and resources' section | OHID, UK
Ketamine helped me escape my negative thoughts - then it nearly killed me
Abbie was 16 years old when she started using ketamine. It was the first time she had felt in control. The negative thoughts that had swamped her mind since a young age began to dissipate. Twelve years later and fresh out of rehab she's still battling with the addiction that almost took her life | BBC, UK
Drugs: Rehabilitation
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of supervised consumption sites for people with drug addictions in order to assist them in rehabilitation | They work for you, UK
University of Bath academics work: Conflicts of interest must be tackled to protect public health
Without tackling conflicts of interest with harmful industries, efforts to prevent disease and protect public health will fail | University of Bath, UK
SARG researchers share insights into youth and student drinking at national conference
Researchers from the Sheffield Addictions Research Group (SARG) recently presented their findings on youth and student drinking trends at the Student Health Association Annual Conference, held from Sunday 29 June to Tuesday 1 July 2025 in Sheffield | SARG, UK
Why are young people drinking less? - podcast
On this month’s podcast we spoke to Professor John Holmes, University of Sheffield, and Amy Pennay, La Trobe University, about their new book: Young People, Alcohol, and Risk: A Culture of Caution. We discussed the decline in young people's drinking; whether this is continuing into adulthood; factors influencing this decline; and why this has to be understood as a much broader sociological issue of generational change | IAS, UK
Let's talk e-cigarettes, June 2025 - podcast
Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson interview Lauren McMillan, University of Stirling about her project evaluating the effectiveness of an e-cigarette intervention for smoking cessation at centres for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness | University of Oxford, UK
New learning module for drug and alcohol support workers can help people in West Lothian kick tobacco
ASH Scotland’s new e-module provides vital information for alcohol and drug workers, and volunteers, to encourage smokers who are being supported to reduce their use of alcohol and other drugs to seek assistance to give up tobacco products | Daily Record, UK
Residents given chance to shape new drug & alcohol strategy
People in North East Lincolnshire are being given the opportunity to shape a new drug and alcohol strategy to help tackle drug and alcohol across the region. The push for public engagement is being driven by Public Health officials from North East Lincolnshire Council, with a number of workshops happening this month | NELincs.gov.uk, UK
Young People and Substance Use
Tuesday, August 19 · 10am - 1:30pm GMT+1. Iris Murdoch Building Stirling FK9 4NF. Join us at the University of Stirling to discuss "Young People and Substance Use | DRNS, UK
'Any excuse to go to pub' culture at crisis-hit cathedral
Priests and choristers at a cathedral mired in controversy did a "seven last shots of Christ" drinking game at a pub on Good Friday after services at the Archbishop of Wales' cathedral | BBC, UK
Drugs crisis in jails ‘worse than ever’ as seizures by prison officers near record-high
Blue-light emergency responses now ‘a normal part of life’ in prison, experts warn | Independent, UK
Armed Forces: Discharges
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel were discharged after failing a Compulsory Drugs Test in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025 for which the latest data is available | They work for you, UK
Traffickers who ran migrant cannabis farms jailed
Members of an organised crime gang which forced trafficked migrants to work in cannabis farms across the country have been jailed | BBC, UK
Police arrest 37 in major drug crackdown
Thirty-seven people have been arrested across the West of England in a major operation targeting drug supply networks | BBC, UK
Custody officer caught with cannabis at courthouse
Dylan Whittaker, who was working for security company Bidvest Noonan, was reported by a colleague after he was seen whispering with a former prisoner on 22 July | BBC, UK
International news
The Effect of Exposure to Alcohol Media Content on Young People’s Alcohol Use: A Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis
[Open access] Alcohol harm continues to present a public health priority. Whilst we know that a relationship exists between exposure to content and alcohol initiation and use in young people, the mechanism behind this effect is not well understood. Using the social identity approach as a meaning-making lens, a systematic review of the qualitative literature and meta-synthesis was conducted | Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, UK
Eight men sentenced over Ireland's largest cocaine seizure
Eight men have been jailed for their roles in trying to smuggle 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than €157m (£135m) | BBC, UK
Ibiza’s ambulance service risks collapse due to callouts to clubs, says union
A third of emergency responses are to clubs, largely to attend to people having bad experiences with drugs | Guardian, UK
The Documentary Podcast - Is the Taliban’s war on drugs working?
Afghanistan used to produce more than 80% of the world's opium, the key ingredient for the drug heroin. When the Taliban took over, they banned poppy farming completely. 3 years on, how has this measure been implemented and how is it affecting people? Yama Bariz and Mamoon Durrani from the BBC's Afghan service discuss the effectiveness of the Taliban's poppy eradication campaign and explain how the trade is moving to Pakistan | BBC Sounds, UK
'Ireland needs military-grade drones to fend off bombardment of drugs by cocaine cartels'
Experienced investigators and officers said that, while these sophisticated high-tech drones are expensive, they are “needed now”, such is the depleted state of Irish naval and air assets and the constant supply of cocaine over the Atlantic | Irish Examiner, Ireland
Vaping versus smoking’s impact on male fertility
Men who swapped cigarettes for vaping during IVF saw better sperm motility and fewer miscarriages, but experts warn that vaping isn’t risk-free for hopeful parents | News Medical, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
What is it like living next door to Scotland's drugs consumption room?
All eyes have been on Calton in Glasgow's East End since the UK’s first Safer Drug Consumption Facility began in January, allowing people to inject illegally-bought heroin or cocaine under medical supervision. Now some politicians and local campaigners are blaming the facility for increasing public drug use and discarded needles in the area. So what is the truth? | Herald, UK