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Daily news - 18th July 2025

UK news

Unmet need in Scotland’s drug crisis revealed

Scots affected by drugs say peer groups provide vital support, but one-on-one mental health care is lacking across the country. Half of recovery service users revealed they have been met with stigma | Healthandcare.Scot, UK

Insight: What are synthetic drugs?

New, synthetic versions of harmful drugs, including synthetic opioids and synthetic cannabinoids, are increasingly found in UK’s illegal drug markets | House of Commons Library, UK

The safer management of controlled drugs: Annual update 2024

CQC is responsible for making sure that health and care service providers, and other regulators, maintain a safe environment for the management and use of controlled drugs in England | CQC, UK

Addictive nicotine pouches can legally be sold to children in shops

Watchdog warns there is currently no law in place to stop shops from selling nicotine pouches to children | Independent, UK

Bristol could have England's first safe space for drug taking

A plan for Bristol to set up England’s first ‘Overdose Prevention Centre’ - a facility which allows illegal drug users to take their drugs in a supervised space - took a big step forward last night with a major meeting held to discuss how it would work | Bristol Live, UK

Mum 'gave son ketamine' even as it risked his life

A vulnerable teenager whose ketamine addiction has left him with life-threatening health problems was allegedly given the drug by his own mother, a court has heard | BBC, UK

Electronic Cigarettes

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with schools on the potential impact of (a) children buying vapes from their peers and (b) preventing the use of vapes in schools on levels of (i) behaviour and (ii) teacher morale | They work for you, UK

Rise in drug trafficking in Derbyshire, report says

Drug trafficking in Derbyshire has increased by more than 60% compared to pre-Covid levels, according to new figures. The report, external by the county's police and crime commissioner says the number of trafficking "occurrences" in 2024 was 1,034, compared to 636 in 2019 | BBC, UK

Revealed: Why Greater Manchester Police refuses to give life-saving overdose drug to officers

Police force's response 'disappointing' and reasoning 'raises serious questions', says MP | Big Issue, UK

Men charged after cannabis farm uncovered

Two men have been charged after police discovered more than 3,000 cannabis plants during a raid in Bradford | BBC, UK

International news

Juul will be allowed to sell e-cigarettes ending long fight over flavored tobacco on store shelves

The FDA ruled that Juul’s studies show its e-cigarettes are less harmful for adult smokers, who can benefit from switching to vapes from cigarettes | Independent, UK

British woman charged with Thai cannabis smuggling

A 21-year-old British woman has been charged in Germany with trafficking drugs from Thailand. Cameron Bradford, from Knebworth in Hertfordshire, was arrested at Munich Airport nearly three months ago, on 22 April. Authorities in Germany said she had been charged with attempted transit of cannabis and abetting the international trafficking of cannabis | BBC, UK

The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research (ISFAR) critiques of alcohol research: Promoting health benefits and downplaying harms

[Open access] The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research (ISFAR), many of whose members are linked to the alcohol industry, has published over 280 critiques on alcohol and health research. This study investigated whether ISFAR critiques favour studies reporting alcohol's health benefits while being more critical of those identifying harms | Addiction, UK

Global scholarship programme seeks tobacco harm reduction leaders of tomorrow – two weeks left to apply

Deadline for applications 31 July 2025, with 25 entry-level places available. Run by UK-based public health agency Knowledge•Action•Change (K•A•C) with the support of a grant from Global Action to End Smoking, the THRSP is currently looking for its eighth cohort of Scholars, and there are now just two weeks left to apply. Successful candidates will receive a 12-month bespoke mentoring programme to undertake a THR-related project of their own design, plus up to $12k in financial support | GSTHR, UK

[Open access] Does your alcohol-dependent patient also have a weakness for sweets? If so, they are likely to benefit more from the medication naltrexone than less sweet-toothed patients. Both – liking sweets and responding well to naltrexone – are related to a family history of dependent drinking | Alcohol, USA

Opioid prescriptions remain higher in poorer Canadian communities

Despite an overall decline in prescribed opioid use in Canada over the past decade, a recent study found that people in poorer areas receive three times the prescriptions for opioids than those in wealthier areas | News Medical, USA

Police in Ontario Increasingly Obstruct Harm Reduction Service Delivery

Police in Ontario are increasingly interfering with the operation of health services, our recent study found. This obstructs people from accessing life-saving care. “People would like to access our services but cannot,” one service provider told us | Filter Magazine, USA

Hydromorphone Hopes: A Qualitative Study of People Initiating Supervised Short-Acting Injectable Opioid Treatment in Australia

[Open access] Sidestepping the extra regulatory and acceptability restrictions on heroin itself, injected hydromorphone is an alternative for dependent heroin injectors who find it hard to accept the milder effects of oral methadone or sublingual buprenorphine. In Australia this novel approach gave new hope to patients failed by more conventional treatments | DAR, USA

Understanding overdose and other drug-induced deaths in Australia: what the latest data tells us

Last month, the National Illicit Drug Indicators Project (NIDIP) - which provides epidemiological data on trends over time in drug-related harms and forms part of the broader Drug Trends program - published its latest 'Trends in overdose and other drug-induced deaths in Australia, 2004-2023'. Drug Trends Program Lead and NDARC Deputy Director, Dr Rachel Sutherland, provides an overview of this report and what it means moving forward | NDARC, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

Psychedelics and mental health: Can the field deliver on its promise?

Psychedelics experts across clinical trials, psychotherapy and regulation have been reflecting on the challenges facing the field since a webinar organised by the International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders (IAMHRF) in late 2024. This commentary looks at the future of psychedelics as mental health treatment and provides recommendations for moving the field forward | Mental Elf blog, UK

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