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Daily news - 18th November 2025 |
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UK news
Training the police on legalized medical cannabis: lessons in building public trust, reducing harm, and avoiding reputational damage
[Open access] The paper reports on a knowledge exchange and training pilot with police officers. It highlights the work still needed to provide training for police on the post-2018 cannabis prescribing regulations. It offers insights for improving police operational practice to reduce harm to medical cannabis patients and avoid police reputational damage | Policing, UK
Contingency management interventions for substance use and addictive behaviours: Review of the United Kingdom evidence base
[Open access] Contingency management programmes typically reward patients for complying with treatment or not using drugs. The 29 UK studies uncovered by this review suggest they work, but also that the barriers to incorporating them in routine practice are many and substantial | Addiction, UK
How social media is fuelling a drug crisis in UK schools
When teachers confiscate a vape from a student, they often assume it contains nicotine or perhaps even cannabis. What many don’t realise, is that some of these vapes contain Spice, a dangerous synthetic drug that young people often mistake for cannabis. As a scientist working at the University of Bath, I have been analysing vapes seized from English schools. Over the past two years, our team has found alarming levels of Spice in vapes that young people often believe to be cannabis (THC) vapes | Drug Science, UK
Mapped: Britain's smoking strongholds where rates have gone UP – despite vapes overtaking cigarettes
Seven areas in England have more smokers now than 14 years ago, according to Daily Mail analysis of official figures. Nationally, just 9.1% adults in Britain admitted to smoking last year, down from 10.5% in 2023 and just a fraction of the nearly 50 per cent in the 1970s, according to Office for National Statistics ONS data | Mail Online, UK
London Recovery Network webinar
27th November. Online. Following the launch of the London Recovery Network at Conway Hall in Recovery Month - this is the first online follow-up meeting for people to hear about progress and in this meeting we will hear about opportunities across London for people in all things creative. We'll send a final agenda out with the meeting invitation | London Recovery Network, UK
APCC Webinar - Long Acting Buprenorphine impact and implementation - no link
Thursday 4 December 2025. 13:30-15:00. The Addictions & Substance Misuse portfolio are hosting a webinar showcasing the impact this life changing drug has on the lives of those suffering with opioid addiction. We have a confirmed line up of speakers talking about the cost benefit analysis; the welsh perspective on scaling Buvidal; discussing the psychological needs of these patients; lived experience of someone who has transformed her life assisted by this drug; and a discussion to finish the webinar. Please contact elliott.fitzsimmons@apccs.police.uk to be added to the webinar or for any questions you may have | APCC, UK
UK Recovery Walk Bidding Specification Document (PDF)
The UK Recovery Walk and Conference has become an annual event that combines the celebration of recovery with advocacy activities. Each year, a new city or town takes on the responsibility for hosting the walk. Should you wish to nominate your town / city as the host of the UK Recovery Walk, you must first submit an expression of interest | FAVOR, UK
Prison's drug culture remains 'entrenched'
HMP Inspectorate of Prisons said there had been a "slight decline" in the number of positive tests at HMP Deerbolt, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, since its previous visit in 2024, but it described progress as "far from sufficient" | BBC, UK
Drugs raids funded by criminal money
A series of drugs raids have been carried out across the county, funded by money seized from criminals | BBC, UK
International news
Cigarette butts could be completely BANNED under plans to reduce pollution
Next week's global conference on tobacco control will consider what to do about the sheer volume of cigarette butts trashing the planet, with some recommending banning them completely | Mail Online, UK
UK downplays reports it has stopped sharing intelligence with US regarding narco-traffickers
Yvette Cooper makes first public comments by minister over issue linked to bombing campaign in Caribbean | Guardian, UK
EUDA and international partners exchange knowledge on early warning and response to new psychoactive substances
The EUDA met online with partners from the Western Balkans, European Neighbourhood Policy countries, Chile and Peru to exchange knowledge on early-warning systems (EWS) and responses to new psychoactive substances (NPS). The meeting focused on sharing experiences, building capacity and supporting the development of national EWS | EUDA, Portugal
Joint Statement from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction and the European Union Drugs Agency
Alexis Goosdeel, Executive Director of the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), and Dr. Alexander Caudarella, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), are pleased to announce the signing of a Working Arrangement at the ‘Issues of Substance’ conference between their respective organizations | EUDA, Portugal
Unregulated and unsafe: Expert warns of risks in substance use reduction apps
In a commentary published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers at Rutgers Health, Harvard University and the University of Pittsburgh discuss the impact of unregulated mobile health and generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications that claim to assist in substance use reduction | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Psychedelics might help terminal patients find peace
For many, the hardest part of dying isn’t physical pain but the fear, anxiety and sense of meaninglessness that often accompany it. While palliative care in the UK is rightly praised for easing pain and managing symptoms, patients’ emotional and spiritual suffering is often less well addressed | Conversation, UK
Australian drug driving deaths have surpassed drink driving. Here’s how to tackle it
Australia has made major progress in curbing drink driving. Decades of random breath testing, enforcement and powerful social media campaigns have cut alcohol-related road deaths significantly. Yet new data show more fatal crashes now involve drugs than alcohol. So, how has drug driving become so prevalent despite strict laws? Why has deterrence succeeded for alcohol but faltered for drugs? And what policy and behavioural changes can reverse this growing source of road trauma? | Conversation, Australia