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Daily news - 31st March 2025 |
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UK news
Alarms, overdoses and saving lives: Two days in UK's first drug injection room
A man in his 30s has overdosed in the "using space" – a room in the Glasgow facility where nurses supervise injections in eight booths. He had only arrived at The Thistle minutes earlier, animated about being searched by police on the Gallowgate. Staff rush to help, bringing him from his seat to a crash mat on the floor | BBC, UK
Prevention of Drug Deaths Parliamentary debate — [written record of the debate]
I beg to move, That this House has considered the prevention of drug deaths. I thank all Members for being here at this well-subscribed debate. Preventing drug-related deaths is an issue that touches communities across all four nations of this United Kingdom... | They work for you, UK
Plan launched to protect medical cannabis users
Medical cannabis users in one county could be the first in Wales to get specific protection from their council. A new motion will recommend that Flintshire council gives additional protection to social housing tenants and council staff who are legally prescribed cannabis | BBC, UK
It's Sober Spring! ELLY BLAKE is going boozeless for the next 90 days, but is it easier to give up alcohol at this time of year?
While Sober Spring is the lesser-known counterpart of Dry January and Sober October, it is a well-established campaign offering the sober curious a chance to reset and explore an alcohol-free lifestyle over three months | Mail Online, UK
Edinburgh youth substance use service faces closure
A service supporting young people in some of Edinburgh's most deprived communities to stop using drugs and alcohol is facing imminent closure following a funding cut | Herald, UK
Greater Manchester wins global recognition for smoking cessation
The 2025 Partnership for Healthy Cities Award was presented to Greater Manchester for its Making Smoking History programme, which has helped 126,000 people quit smoking, and its work on creating smoke-free areas | Healthcare Leader, UK
Project to reduce drug-related crime gather at East London event
A scheme aimed at reducing drug-related deaths and offending convened police and partners at a professional networking event to showcase the results achieved so far and plan for the future | Metropolitan Police, UK
VPZ launch campaign against super-size disposable vapes
Staff from VPZ, who have a store in Cowdenbeath, took to the streets around Holyrood to highlight concerns about super-size disposable vapes in the upcoming Tobacco and Vapes Bill | Central Fife Times, UK
Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Young People
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help safeguard young people from (a) drug and (b) alcohol addiction | They work for you, UK
‘Alcohol became a second self to blame for my desire’: how drinking fuelled my experiences of sex
‘Alcohol became a second self to blame for my desire’: how drinking fuelled my experiences of sex. Since her teens, Anna Beecher used drinking as a gateway to sexual encounters, a mask for both her vulnerability and accountability. It took falling for someone in the sober light of day to realise what love was | Observer, UK
Our Message Our Voice
Tue, 1 Apr 2025 13:00 - 14:30 BST. Online. Hear from people with lived experience of alcohol addiction: join us for our national survey results, launch of our co-produced film and Q&A | Our Message Our Voice, UK
Alcohol Alert - March 2025 - podcast
This edition includes: MUP webinar; What’s happened to the Health Mission?; Alcohol tariffs; Weight-loss drugs; and temporary takeaway system ends | IAS, UK
Gender and ethnicity pay gap report 2024
This year, for the first time, Change Grow Live is publishing our gender and ethnicity pay gap data as a single report. We have chosen to do this to acknowledge that structural inequalities don’t exist in isolation. This report is an opportunity for us to better understand our own organisation, and to ensure we have an organisation where people from every background can experience a sense of belonging, the way a modern and inclusive organisation should be | Change Grow Live, UK
Construction workers jailed over cannabis factory
Two Vietnamese nationals have been jailed, after police raided a Bradford cannabis factory containing drugs worth up to £1.2m | BBC, UK
International news
Tobacco products to disappear from shop shelves from April
Lighting up is about to become a lot less visible in Belgium. Starting 1 April 2025, all tobacco products—from cigarettes and cigars to vapes and rolling papers—will have to be kept out of sight in shops across the country | Euronews Weekly, UK
Marti Pellow says recovery 'the thing that I'm most proud of'
The former Wet Wet Wet frontman turned solo star shared his story when he and Tiernan began talking about being "powerless" | RTe, Ireland
Pregnant women advised to avoid mentholated e-cigarettes
Vaping during pregnancy is becoming more common, but its impact on early human development is not well understood. A new study by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, now reports that the flavor chemical menthol used in electronic cigarettes could pose risks to a developing baby | Medical Xpress, USA
Empowering nurse practitioners to improve care for opioid use disorder
Zhanette Coffee, Ph.D., MSN, APRN, spent years working as an advanced practice nurse with certifications in family practice and addictions nursing and saw firsthand the challenges faced not only by patients with opioid use disorder, but also by the health care professionals providing treatment to those patients | Medical Xpress, USA
Kate Bolduan Reports in “Fentanyl in America: A Way Out” for The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper
The result of over two years of on-the-ground reporting, Bolduan embeds with those most impacted by America’s opioid overdose epidemic. As the crisis enters its “third wave,” Bolduan engages with emergency medical technicians, physicians at treatment centers and people struggling with addiction themselves, all seeking new solutions to a decades-old problem | CNN, USA
Trump chooses Fox News contributor Sara Carter as next drug czar
Carter’s selection comes as a surprise: Her background is not in drug policy, public health, or law enforcement, and she has never served in government. Her journalism in the past decade, however, has been staunchly pro-Trump, with a particular emphasis on border issues and former President Biden’s perceived failure to stem illegal immigration and the trafficking of illicit drugs | STAT News, USA
Fragile Gains, Persistent Setbacks: The Muddled Arc of American Drug-Law Reform
This Collection, which analyzes the legal, social, and political dimensions of drug decriminalization in the context of current debates, comes at a pivotal moment for advocates of drug-policy reform. Two narratives of drug-policy reform have emerged in recent decades. One is a story of swift but fragile gains... | Yale Law Journal, USA
The Colorado psychedelic mushroom experiment has arrived
Colorado regulators are issuing licenses for providing psychedelic mushrooms and are planning to authorize the state's first "healing centers," where the mushrooms can be ingested under supervision, in late spring or early summer | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
HMP Millsike: Forward Trust working in partnership with MITIE and People Plus
This week marks a landmark in the history of The Forward Trust. We have been empowering people and families to break the cycles of addiction or crime to transform their lives since 1991 – and we are now proud to be part of the launch of the latest new prison to be opened in England – Millsike in North Yorkshire | Forward Trust blog, UK
Cannabis legalisation: what can we learn about psychosis risk from the great Canadian (quasi) experiment?
Many Mental Elves have blogged about cannabis and psychosis in the past. For example, we know that cannabis use in adolescence is associated with an increased risk of psychosis diagnoses in adulthood in a dose-response manner (Richardson, 2018). We also know that the more frequent use and higher potency of cannabis are associated with elevated risks of psychosis (Sheridan Rains, 2019). But what would happen to the risk of psychosis if we greatly reduce the barrier to accessing cannabis at the population level? | Mental Elf, UK
Reflections on the Scottish Alcohol Research Network (SARN) Early Career Researcher (ECR) Event: What it meant to me as an ECR
Jessica Greenhalgh is a Research Assistant at the Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services and Research at the University of Stirling. My research focuses on substance use, homelessness, and justice, working across multiple projects that explore harm reduction, treatment interventions and social policy impacts. In this blog, Jess writes about her experience attending SARN events as an ECR, and shares a preview of the findings from her research on MAPs | SHAAP blog, UK
White snus: why ‘tobacco free’ doesn’t mean risk free
A habit that is worrying health authorities in Sweden where increasing numbers of teenagers are taking what’s known as “snus” is also concerning football authorities in England where one-fifth of professional players are regularly indulging because they say it improves their game | Conversation, UK