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Daily news - 21st November 2025 |
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UK news
UK government will not change law for more legal drug rooms
In January, The Thistle in Glasgow became the UK's first facility where people could inject heroin or cocaine while under medical supervision without being prosecuted. The Scottish Affairs Committee recommended that the UK government should change reserved legislation to create a new legal framework for similar facilities to open across Scotland, but this has been refused. However the Home Office granted a licence to legally test drugs for dangerous contaminants at the same site as The Thistle, making Glasgow the first city in Scotland to offer this | BBC, UK
“You’re not informed unless you make it your business”: insights from a Scottish national study exploring attitudes towards residential rehabilitation
[Open access] Despite Scotland’s commitment to patient-centred substance use care, little is known about how individuals learn of residential rehabilitation. This study explores whether national policy goals of informed decision-making translate into on-the-ground practice | Harm Reduction Journal, UK
Addiction Awareness Week 2025 – supporter toolkit (PDF)
This Addiction Awareness Week (23-30 November), we are on a mission to get the nation talking about addiction by demonstrating the power of conversation. This toolkit provides guidance on how you can get involved | Forward Trust, UK
Warning issued over "dangerous" contaminated ketamine circulating in Manchester
MANDRAKE say that "multiple samples" of ketamine have tested positive for traces of medetomidine, which can be deadly when combined with the sedative | MixMag, UK
The rise of nitazenes: What pharmacists need to know
The spread of nitazenes into the recreational drug market has governments and experts seriously concerned and not just in the UK. Now, a new ‘anti-drugs’ campaign has warned young people of the serious risks associated with taking ketamine, synthetic opioids or deliberately contaminated THC vapes. It comes amidst growing concerns that synthetic opioids – particularly nitazenes – are increasingly appearing in counterfeit medicines sold illegally online | The Pharmacist, UK
Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA): programme data
A summary of the activity of the Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) programme since its launch in March 2022. Updated summary page and added a new data column for January to March 2025 in the accessible version, ODS file replaced with an updated version | Home Office, UK
Late-night venue numbers down 4.6% in 12 months, 28% since pandemic
Years of rising costs, safety fears and poor public transport are among factors that have seen the late-night economy contradict by 4.6% in 12 months – and 28% since Covid | Morning Advertiser, UK
Friday-night drug deals helping Russian war machine, UK crime agency warns
The NCA said a man linked to a Russian-led money-laundering network operating in the UK had bought a bank in Kyrgyzstan which was used to make payments on behalf of the Russian war machine | BBC, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report by the Drugs, Alcohol & Justice APPG entitled Action on Alcohol Harm – Priorities for Policymakers, published on 10 July 2025 | They work for you, UK
Driving under Influence: Testing
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2025 to Question 86746 on Roads: Accidents, whether her Department has received requests from the Department for Transport for data on (a) drug and (b) drink driving tests since July 4th 2024 | They work for you, UK
Public Houses: Electronic Cigarettes
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of banning vaping inside pubs on the economic viability of community pubs | They work for you, UK
Sustaining Success: The future of hepatitis C elimination in England
Nov 26 from 12:30pm to 2pm GMT. This session will explore how we can build on the remarkable progress of the hepatitis C elimination programme to date – and what it will take to sustain success in the years ahead | Hepatitis C Trust, UK
Benzodiazepines/Z-drugs and Opioid Co-use: Research and Recommendations
Nov 28 from 11am to 12pm GMT. Online. Join us for a webinar in collaboration with University of Bristol and University of Bath on understanding the lethal interaction between benzodiazepines, z-drugs and opioids | DRNS, UK
Vape recycling collections to tackle fire threat
Vapes and batteries will be collected weekly by a local authority in a bid to cut fires in waste collection vehicles. Durham County Council said it will pick up the items alongside its weekly food waste collections which are due to begin in the spring | BBC, UK
New pub to train young people with disabilities
A new pub designed to prepare young people with learning disabilities or autism for employment is opening in the centre of Brighton | BBC, UK
Prison death prompts concerns over drug supply
Derrion Adams died on 31 October 2024 and a coroner who looked into his death found HMP Birmingham was not able to prevent criminals from delivering dangerous drugs | BBC, UK
International news
I won't be silenced, says French anti-drugs activist after murders of two brothers
A prominent French anti-drugs campaigner whose brother was killed by drugs criminals last week, five years after the murder of his elder brother, has vowed to stand up to intimidation and "keep telling the truth about drugs violence" | BBC, UK
She was pregnant and addicted to fentanyl. Getting to keep her baby saved them both
A baby is born in withdrawal every 18 minutes in the US, and most end up in foster care. At centers like Maddie’s Place, mothers stay with their infants – and leave together, in recovery | Guardian, UK
Olympic snowboarder-turned-drug kingpin charged with murder of witness, say US officials
A former Olympic snowboarder who is now allegedly running a drug cartel orchestrated the killing of a federal witness by releasing his image to a fake news website, the US justice department has said | BBC, UK
Call for injection centre to be trialled in Limerick City to take drug users off the streets
Social Democrats councillor Shane Hickey-O’Mara proposed at November’s Metropolitan District meeting that an injection centre be opened in the city akin to the one in Dublin | Limerick Post, Ireland
EUDA webinar: Care without conditions — housing-first and employment-first approaches
3 Dec 2025. This webinar brings representatives from three inspirational European programmes to share how they deliver reintegration on people’s own terms, focusing on dignity, health, safety and opportunity rather than on abstinence | EUDA, Portugal
Remembering Peter Krykant, Who Knew Harm Reduction Couldn’t Wait
It’s been a few months since Peter Krykant’s passing in July, at the age of 48. He hit the global harm reduction scene with a bang. The story of him running an unauthorized overdose prevention site from a van in Glasgow, after years of inaction from the Scottish and British governments, catapulted him into the spotlight | Filter Magazine, USA
Progress on overdose deaths could be jeopardized by federal cuts, critics say
The Trump administration has made deep cuts to the main federal agency focused on fighting opioid addiction, potentially jeopardizing the nation's recent progress on reducing overdose deaths, some public health officials and providers say | Medical Xpress, USA
People With COPD, Like My Husband, Are Being Failed
Iwas deep in thought at the store, flipping through my binder of coupons and trying to stretch our grocery money, when my phone rang. It was my husband, and he was gasping for air... | Filter Magazine, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
How prohibition-based policies caused a cannabis problem
Prof D Nutt and Prof Ilana Crome respond to an article about the dangers of cannabis-induced psychosis in vulnerable people | Guardian letters, UK
How e-cigarettes compromise children’s human rights - Rapid response
The article by Gatehouse et al. interprets the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as a basis to regulate e-cigarettes with the overarching goal to reduce the appeal, availability, and affordability of e-cigarettes to children. Rising youth nicotine use is a legitimate public-health concern, and we have supported urgent new regulations in the UK aimed at limiting youth access to e-cigarettes. However, the following reasons mean a balanced approach is more appropriate | BMJ, UK
A Day in the Life Premiere
There’s a new Irish documentary that deserves to be seen far beyond Dublin’s north inner city. It’s called A Day in the life , and it might just be the most honest portrayal of addiction and recovery I’ve seen on screen | Annemarie Ward, UK