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Daily news - 7th May 2025

UK news

DDN May 2025 - out now

‘I allowed what I thought was my friend into my property to stay… I’ve never felt so scared and powerless.’ Our cover story (p6) looks at cuckooing – a situation terrifying for victims and largely invisible to the outside world. It’s also a long-hidden crime that, after much campaigning, is about to be recognised as a specific criminal offence. Surrey’s Catalyst Support team help us identify the signs of this devastating form of exploitation and give guidance on helping victims. Meanwhile in Essex, we hear how lived experience has gone right to the heart of the commissioning process, with Essex Recovery Foundation directly influencing how services are designed and run (p10) | DDN, UK

Swindon barber calls on recovering addicts to speak out on new podcast

The Repurpose Project UK, organised by barber and social advocate Sylvester Okoli, who is from Swindon, is asking individuals in recovery from drug addiction to come forward and be a part of its new video podcast series | Swindon Advertiser, UK

Our two sons died on the same night after taking a Class A drug young people love... here is why I want it legalised

One night in December 2014, two policemen knocked on the front door of Ray Lakeman and his wife Sarah. They had come to tell them that their only children, Jacques, 20, and Torin, 19, had both lost their lives in the same night, after an overdose of MDMA – they had taken enough for 30 people | Daily Mail, UK

Share your thoughts on making referrals to residential rehab and post-rehab support

IFF Research is conducting research on behalf of Public Health Scotland to understand how the landscape has changed since early 2023 for professionals referring individuals experiencing difficulties with drugs and/or alcohol to residential rehabilitation and for post-rehabilitation support. We conducted baseline research in 2023 to assess the organisation, accessibility, and effectiveness of residential rehabilitation services for individuals with substance use issues. We are now seeking to find out how organisations involved in the referral to residential rehabilitation and the delivery of post-rehab support have changed, to identify any evidence of improvements, successes and challenges faced | IFF Research, UK

Kent sees highest number of vape sales to children

Kent's Trading Standards recorded more incidents of shops selling vapes to children between 2022-24 than any other region in England, new data shows | BBC, UK

Unhealthy commodities / substance abuse policy (Public Health Intervention) specialists

Closing date: 27 May 2025. Our Public Health Research Programme is looking for experts in evaluating public health interventions, to join its Funding Committee. This opportunity is for professionals currently active in unhealthy commodities or substance abuse - particularly in relation to public health interventions and policy The PHR Funding Committee’s role is to advise the Programme Director on the scientific quality, feasibility and value for money aspects of proposals submitted to the programme | NIHR, UK

Henri Michaux, Mescaline and the use of psychedelics in the creative act and as treatment for psychiatric disorders

9 May 2025. Free, booking essential. Vernon Square Campus, Lecture Theatre 2, WC1X 9EW. Timed to coincide with The Courtauld Gallery current exhibition Henri Michaux: The Mescaline Drawings, this Study Day aims to investigate Henri Michaux’s approach to the use of psychedelics, and reveal how they transformed his artistic creativity, and how this coincided with advances in medical research in the use of psychedelics | KCL, UK

Lunch Hour Lecture | Recent trends in smoking and vaping in England

29 May 2025, 1:00 pm–2:00 pm. Online. The talk will include an overview of changes in the prevalence and patterns of smoking and vaping, the types of products used, and differences across subgroups of the population. It will cover differences in the health risks of smoking and vaping and how the public perceive the relative harms. It will also discuss cessation trends including quit attempts, success rates, stop smoking aids and motives/triggers to quit | UCL, UK

'Vapes have caused fires in my bin lorry - it's scary'

Within the last six months in his job as a loader at a waste management company, Sean Holness has witnessed two fires that were the result of vapes being thrown in the wrong bin | BBC, UK

International news

The landscape of ketamine use disorder: Patient experiences and perspectives on current treatment options

[Open access] Often patients studied in the UK are appreciative of the treatment they receive, but many treatment-seeking ketamine users recruited online (three-quarters from the UK) felt at best lukewarm, 43% seeing services as “only somewhat effective” | Addiction, UK

Questionable generalizability of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption scoring warrants caution when used for outcome monitoring: Evidence from simulated and real-world trial data

A cut-down version of the AUDIT questionnaire recommended by Britain’s health interventions authority as a way to identify risky drinking has fundamental flaws, including items whose scores move in opposite directions. “Measurement issues in AUDIT-C scoring represents significant concerns for clinicians, researchers and policymakers.” | Addiction, UK

Call for clarity on laws around serving non-alcoholic beers to minors in pubs

Labour's Spokesperson on Justice Alan Kelly said he raised concerns with Jim O'Callaghan after he was contacted by a staff member at a pub who felt they had to police who drank what | RTe, Ireland

Cannabis-related hospital visits rising, often tied to mental health conditions: Study

More people are landing in the hospital with cannabis-related problems—and for many, a mental health condition is the primary issue, according to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs | Medical Xpress, USA

Lifesaving opioid addiction meds are rarely started after emergency visits for overdose

Medications proven to effectively treat opioid addiction are rarely given after emergency department visits for overdose, and who gets them varies, sometimes greatly, depending on race, ethnicity or geography, University of Michigan researchers say | Medical Xpress, USA

Nearly quarter of people on long-acting opioids develop addiction, study reveals

More than one in five people prescribed extended-release painkillers such as OxyContin developed an addiction within a year, according to a newly released study mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration | Medical Xpress, USA

Review: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder

When picturing a "typical" alcoholic, people tend to imagine a person drinking at home alone. But that focus overlooks the social origins of many serious alcohol problems, say the authors of a new review paper in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science | Medical Xpress, USA

Shifting nicotine product preferences observed in US high school students

University of Southern California and University of Michigan researchers report expanded use of non-tobacco nicotine products among U.S. adolescents. While exclusive e-cigarette use has declined, dual use of nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes has risen | Medical Xpress, USA

Development and evaluation of a machine learning model to predict acute care for opioid use disorder among Medicaid enrollees engaged in a community-based treatment program

[Open access] Pennsylvania’s health service developed an algorithm which from medical records alone was able to stratify patients treated for opioid addiction into those most or least likely to return for acute care due to their addiction. The method offers a way to identify and then more effectively intervene with high-risk patients | Addiction, USA

Brazilian ritual root gets second life as potential anti-depressant

Long used in Indigenous Brazilian rituals, the jurema preta plant, which contains a potent psychedelic, is gaining ground as a potential treatment for depression | Medical Xpress, USA

Burlington Plans to Open Vermont’s First Overdose Prevention Center

On April 28, the City Council of Burlington, Vermont, voted unanimously to approve opening an overdose prevention center (OPC) in the city. The state authorized such facilities in 2024, and this is slated to be the first to open—though a number of steps remain before that will happen, including determining the exact location, so the timeline is unclear. At the Downtown Health Project, as it will be known, people will be able to use drugs that they bring with them, with harm reduction workers on hand to keep them safe and provide various forms of support | Filter Magazine, USA

The decentralisation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) point-of-care testing is a core part of Australia's strategy to meet WHO elimination targets. However, little is known about the experiences of providers implementing these interventions and thus what is needed to improve integration. The study aim was to understand operator experiences, including the challenges and enablers, of implementing point-of-care testing as part of a National Point-of-Care Testing Program | IJDP, USA

New Opioid Data May Not Reflect Harms Accurately, FDA Advisors Warn

New research about the harms of long-acting opioids may underestimate risks, members of two FDA advisory committees said Monday | MedPage Today, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

A Conversation with: Power of Pop Fund

On a slightly grey morning, Maxine and I hopped on a zoom call to discuss the radical potential of pop culture to create social change. At The Anti-Stigma Network, our work on stigma has naturally focused on our work with people affected by drugs and alcohol. We settled into what would be a meaningful, and at times humorous conversation about how doing great work can feel joyful and even entertaining. This blog post explores some of the themes of our discussion and aims to give those who are interested a little further insight into how pop culture can advance social justice | AntiStigma Network, UK

Closing the gap between academic research and service delivery: the addictions research and practice SIG

What is the addictions research and practice Specialist Interest Group? - A group of individuals with shared interests seeking to improve the link between research and clinical practice in addiction services; both in terms of translation of research into practice, but also its conduct in service delivery settings | IAS blog, UK

Trump is dismantling a key worker safety group. It’s another betrayal of the working class

In a similar way to its response to the September 11 attacks, in the grip of the epidemic of opioids and suicides that have cost tens of thousands of lives over the past two decades, Niosh has sought to understand the workplace component of these challenges. These efforts have helped to shed light on the pathway linking occupational injuries to a high risk of drug overdoses among workers in certain occupations, particularly in the construction industry, and contribute to efforts to prevent these deaths | Guardian opinion, UK

More Australians are overdosing on GHB. But there are ways to reduce your risk

Gamma hydroxybutyrate – better known as GHB – is an increasingly popular illegal drug being used recreationally in Australia. While it can create feelings of euphoria, disinhibition and increased libido, GHB carries serious risks. The difference between a recreational dose and an overdose of GHB – usually taken as a liquid – can be less than 0.5ml | Conversation, Australia

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