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Daily news - 26th November 2025 |
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UK news
Barriers to Recovery: Overcoming obstacles to alcohol recovery in the UK
Research shows that dependent drinkers face multiple, persistent barriers to entering recovery and social reintegration. This report uses data from interviews with professionals working in addiction and alcohol harm reduction to describe and discuss the key obstacles currently faced by people entering and sustaining recovery across the UK and make recommendations for change | IAS, UK
Surveillance of hepatitis C in Scotland
This annual release follows the HCV surveillance report published in January 2025 and includes the most up-to-date surveillance data through December 2024, except for data from the HCV clinical database, which is reported by financial year up to the end of March 2025. The report outlines Scotland’s progress toward achieving both national and World Health Organization (WHO) hepatitis C elimination targets | Public Health Scotland, UK
Judgement Kills: End the Stigma Against Women in Crisis
Every year, the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence calls on people around the world to stand together to end violence against women and girls. At Phoenix, this issue is deeply connected to the women we support. More than 65% of the women in our residential services, many of them mothers, have experienced physical, emotional, or sexual violence. During these 16 Days, this page will host resources, articles, and - with consent and compassion - survivor voices. We aim to raise awareness, challenge stigma, and encourage a culture where we are all slower to judge and quicker to understand | Pheonix Futures, UK
World's first lung cancer vaccine to enter clinical trials... but quitting smoking is still recommended as top way to avoid developing the disease
Researchers at University College London and the University of Oxford will run the trial over the next four years, with its first phase expected to commence in summer 2026. The team, who have been awarded over £2million from Cancer Research UK, will investigate the best dose of LungVax to give high risk patients and look for any potential side effects from various doses of the vaccine in the first phase of the trial | Mail Online, UK
Senedd Members urged to back landmark legislation to create smoke free Wales
Calls are being made for Senedd Members to back landmark legislation that will create Wales’ first ever smoke free generation | Nation Cymru, UK
More than two thirds of Brits can’t identify an illegal vape, survey shows
A nationwide survey from nicotine pouch brand übbs has uncovered significant gaps in public awareness around illegal vaping products | Talking Retail, UK
Implementing inserts in cigarette and hand rolling tobacco packs
A technical consultation seeking views on how to implement pack inserts in cigarette and hand rolling tobacco packaging. This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 20 January 2026 | DHSC, UK
Tobacco
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his policy is on the banning of cigarette filters, in the context of the upcoming eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control | They work for you, UK
'My 46-year gambling addiction began at seven'
Former gambling addict John Wade can trace the origins of his addiction back more than four decades to being drawn in to playing a fruit machine on holiday | BBC, UK
Mayor drove while more than double alcohol limit
Ryan Davies, 41, the mayor of Clun, was driving a grey Mercedes on Rookery Lane, near Knighton, on 25 May. A blood sample showed he had 183 milligrams of alcohol in his system - more than twice the legal limit | BBC, UK
Dogs poisoned by drugs on litter-strewn walk path
Mr Stoker-Jones said it had been "terrifying" and emergency vets had told him it was likely the dogs had ingested cannabis or methadone | BBC, UK
International news
Motivational smoking cessation counselling and community-based follow-up after hospitalisation for vascular disease: A randomised controlled trial
[Open access] Evidence for motivational interviewing for smoking cessation is weak, with limited data on long-term abstinence rates. This trial aimed to evaluate the effect of in-hospital motivational interviewing-based smoking cessation counselling combined with proactive referral to community-based follow-up on 6- and 12-month continuous smoking abstinence in patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease | Addiction, UK
Being a famous singer raises risk of early death, researchers say
Lead singers in bands fare better than solo artists, but fame – rather than lifestyle or job itself – seems to be major factor | Guardian, UK
Over 1,170 patients now receiving buprenorphine
The number of patients receiving buprenorphine reached 1,172 at the end of September. This marks an increase from 748 in April 2023, the last time the Medical Independent reported on the issue | Medical Independent, Ireland
STOP THE DEATHS – Uniting Against Preventable Overdoses in Scotland
Scotland continues to face some of the highest drug-related death rates in Europe. The Scottish Drugs Forum Stop the Deaths conference in Glasgow brings together people who have lived this reality from every angle — families, frontline workers, people with lived and living experience, policymakers, and activists — to confront the scale of the emergency and demand meaningful change | Drug Reporter, Hungary
Afghanistan Opium Survey 2025 (PDF)
During the 2025 season, most farmers continued to adhere to the ban on opium poppy cultivation, which is in its third year of enforcement. The total area under opium poppy cultivation in 2025 was estimated at 10,200 hectares, 20% lower than in 2024 (12,800 hectares) and a fraction of the pre-ban levels recorded in 2022, when an estimated 232,000 hectares were cultivated nationwide | UNODC, USA
More people are addicted to marijuana, but fewer of them are seeking help, experts say
Megan Feller smoked pot several times a day and couldn't eat, sleep or function without it. But at the time, she didn't see the need to reach out for help | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Stigma only makes drug use more dangerous
Until we stop framing all drug use and every overdose as problems of “addiction” and “substance use disorders,” we’ll keep missing the mark on overdose prevention | LATimes opinion, USA