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Daily news - 21st July 2025

UK news

Contaminated drugs warning issued by health chiefs

A county's public health leaders have issued a warning about contaminated drugs circulating at festivals and parties over the summer. The councils are working with charities such as Change Grow Live and Ngage on the warning | BBC, UK

Britons still smoke an astonishing number of cigarettes every year

Charities have urged the Government to prioritise the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to curb smoking | Independent, UK

Sociodemographic and Regional Differences in Cigarette Consumption Across Great Britain: A Population Study, 2022–2024

[Open access] While smoking prevalence has declined and regional differences have narrowed over recent decades, strong socioeconomic and geographic disparities in consumption remain, with particularly high levels among less advantaged groups and in regions with historically poorer health outcomes, such as the North East and Scotland. Addressing these disparities through targeted public health efforts and cessation support could contribute meaningfully to reducing health inequalities across Great Britain | Nicotine & Tobacco Research, UK

Longitudinal study of risk factors predicting cannabis use disorder in UK young adults and adolescents

[Open access] Cannabis use disorder (CUD) affects up to 1 in 5 people who try cannabis. In order to develop effective interventions to prevent and treat CUD, it is important to identify the factors that predict it. This longitudinal study investigated whether eight potential risk factors predicted CUD levels at 12-month follow-up | Nature, UK

Among people who use heroin, tobacco smoking and illegal drugs cause a similar number of premature deaths

[Open access] Most people who use heroin also smoke tobacco, but there is limited investment to reduce the prevalence of smoking in this group. This may be due to a perception that tobacco is less harmful than other substances and is a lower priority problem. Among people who use heroin in England, we aimed to compare tobacco smoking and illegal drugs in terms of the risk of premature death and years-of-life lost | Addiction, UK

Glasgow drug-check facility roll-out needed to tackle rise of opioid overdoses

Drug-checking services at sites in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee have been proposed since last summer as part of a pilot scheme - but are yet to be approved by the Home Office | Glasgow Live, UK

Drinking alcohol the night before a morning drive puts lives at risk, motorists warned

More than a fifth of motorists have drunk alcohol after 10pm when needing to drive before 9am the following morning | Independent, UK

Alcoholic Drinks: Advertising

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of alcohol adverts on people with addictions | They work for you, UK

Public Health Research - Modelling the effects of public policy on e-cigarette use

Closing date - 9 December 2025 at 1:00 pm. Our Public Health Research Programme is looking to fund research to explore what modelling can tell us about the impact of current and potential public policies on e-cigarette use. This is a two-stage funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application | NIHR, UK

A new start after 60: I was a successful businessman – and a crack addict. Now I save other users’ lives

Andy Kalli discovered cocaine at the age of 29, and was soon blowing almost everything he earned on drugs. Twenty-four years later he finally hit rock bottom | Guardian, UK

Creative Recovery bring addiction recovery centre stage

A Greenock recovery group is changing the narrative around addiction support as they help build confidence, break barriers and let people be ‘big kids again’ with their theatre workshops | Greenock Telegraph, UK

'Gangsta Debbs' - the granny who used her family to run an £80m drug empire

In the early hours of an April morning in 2023 undercover officers watched as a woman loaded boxes into a hire car at a retail park near the port of Harwich in Essex | BBC, UK

Mum jailed for using children to smuggle cocaine

Farzana Kauser, 54, of Waterlily Road in Manningham, was jailed for 13 years and four months at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, after admitting importing 180kg of cocaine in May. She was arrested while collecting her four sons, daughter and daughter-in-law from Birmingham Airport on 11 November 2024 as they returned from Cancun with suitcases loaded full of drugs | BBC, UK

Former shop keeper had 77,000 illegal cigarettes

A former shopkeeper has been jailed for 22 months after being convicted of possessing more than 77,000 illegal cigarettes and 16kg (2st 5lb) of hand rolling tobacco | BBC, UK

International news

Changing trends in drug overdose mortality in Spain, 2001–2022

[Open access] Between 2001 and 2022, drug overdose deaths in Spain increased substantially, beginning in 2010 and further accelerated in 2018, though population rates remain low. The most prevalent underlying ICD-10 drug categories were other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances—likely reflecting polydrug use—and narcotics and psychodysleptics. The observed rise in deaths involving antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic, antiparkinsonism and psychotropic drugs, particularly intentional overdoses among females, highlights the need for sex-based interventions | Addiction, UK

How changes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity mediate substance use disorder (SUD) severity during and after treatment for co-occurring PTSD and SUD: Results from Project Harmony

[Open access] Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly co-occurs with substance use disorders (SUD). Comorbid PTSD and SUD (PTSD+SUD) is associated with greater severity and impairment and poorer treatment outcomes. Several interventions exist to treat PTSD, SUD and PTSD+SUD; however, research has yet to elucidate the indirect pathways underlying treatment for PTSD+SUD. The present study examined how changes in PTSD severity relate to changes in SUD severity across treatment types during and post-treatment | Addiction, UK

The erosion of safer supply programs in Ontario, Canada: A dangerous step backward

Opioid-related deaths in Ontario remain persistently high, driven largely by an unstable and unregulated drug supply. In response, harm reduction services, such as supervised consumption sites/consumption and treatment services and safer supply programs, have been implemented to reduce the risks of overdose and connect people who use drugs with essential healthcare and social services | Drug Science, UK

Did alcohol facilitate the evolution of complex societies?

[Open access] The size and complexity of human societies increased dramatically over the Holocene. Researchers have proposed a variety of potential drivers of this major transition, including our predilection for alcoholic beverages. This “drunk” hypothesis argues that drinking alcohol facilitated the rise of complex societies because it promotes social bonding, increases cooperation, and enhances human creativity | Nature, UK

Warning labels on alcohol an idea from ‘different time’, Minister warned Cabinet colleague

Plans to require health warnings on alcohol products were thought up in a “very different” time to the current period of global economic uncertainty, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke privately warned a Cabinet colleague | Irish Times, Ireland

Vaporized Nicotine Products for Smoking Cessation Among People Experiencing Social Disadvantage: A Randomized Clinical Trial

[Open access] Vaporized nicotine products (VNPs) are more effective than nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for smoking cessation in general populations, but their effectiveness among low socioeconomic groups was largely unknown. Findings indicate that VNPs were more effective than NRT for smoking cessation in this population. Given the challenges for cessation among these socially disadvantaged populations, VNPs present a promising treatment option for this priority group | American College of Physicians, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

Better Than Well: Why People in Recovery Make Exceptional Employees

If you’ve spent time in a boardroom lately, you’ve heard the same mantras repeated: “We need people who can handle change.” “We need team players with resilience.” “We need problem solvers who don’t give up.” What if I told you that one of the largest, untapped sources of exactly those people is right in front of you and most organisations overlook them entirely? I’m talking about people in recovery from addiction | AnneMarie Ward, UK