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Daily news - 27th November 2025 |
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UK news
Bid to let drug users smoke cocaine in consumption room
Health officials in Glasgow are planning to make the case for a smoking space to be added to the city's drug consumption room. The Thistle, which opened on Hunter Street in January, is a facility in which people can inject heroin or cocaine while under medical supervision without being prosecuted | BBC, UK
Saving Mum: Breaking the silence on alcohol addiction - audio
A daughter confronts her mum’s alcohol addiction, breaking silence, stigma and pain. Maleena Pone and her mum Jasbir share their story of grief, addiction and healing | BBC Sounds, UK
The sooner, the better
It’s never too late to change your life. But sooner is always better. Which is why our new strategy is built around a simple idea that will set the direction and drive everything we do in the coming months and years: Helping more people, sooner | Change Grow Live, UK
Nottinghamshire research project unearths attitudes on substance use
A grassroots research project has been launched in Nottinghamshire, exploring one main question – why do some people never make it to treatment for substance use? | Worksop Guardian, UK
Drugs and alcohol minister's family struggles fuel her fight against overdose deaths
Maree Todd's parents both battled alcohol and she believes they offered proof that recovery is possible. She pledges a key focus on benzos and admits that local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships need more support | Daily Record, UK
Opioids: Rehabilitation
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will expand substitution therapy interventions for those with opioid dependency | They work for you, UK
Drugs: Rehabilitation
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will expand access to drug detoxification services for people with substance abuse problems | They work for you, UK
Kids football coach removed from club and league after posting suspected 'drugs menu' in chat
A coach has been removed from a children's football club after posting an apparent drugs menu to a group chat containing coaches from some 300 grassroots league clubs | BBC, UK
International news
Australian government funds psychedelic assisted therapy for veterans in a global leading decision
The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) in Australia have recently decided to fund MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for treatment resistant depression (TRD) among military veterans with these diagnoses. This decision puts Australia at the forefront of psychedelic treatments for psychiatric disease | Drug Science, UK
Mortality and return to custody of individuals with a history of drug use one year post-release from the New South Wales custodial system
[Open access] Use of illicit drugs is associated with various poor health and social harms. We aimed to describe the mortality and return to custody of people in prison with a history of drug use once they are released into the community | Nature, UK
Crystal meth and cannabis seizures worth €2m made at Dublin Airport
On Thursday, November 20, officers found a package carrying 800g of crystal meth. The drugs, valued at about €48,000, were hidden in boxes of soup and labelled as “food | Irish Examiner, Ireland
New threat assessment system launched to strengthen Europe’s response to drug-related threats
The European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) launched the new EUDA Health and Security Threat Assessment System, designed to strengthen Europe’s preparedness for serious and emerging drug-related threats and to support coordinated responses. Foreseen under the EUDA regulation, the service was unveiled at the meeting of the Heads of Reitox national focal points (NFPs), taking place this week in Lisbon, bringing together representatives from across Europe | EUDA, Portugal
Cannabis use disorder adversely affects inpatient asthma outcomes
Patients with cannabis use disorder (CUD) admitted for asthma have an increased risk of severe asthma exacerbations and inpatient mortality, according to a study published online Oct. 20 in Cureus | Medical Xpress, USA
Unpacking NIAAA’s ‘recovery’ definition
The addiction field has continued to struggle to produce a testable operational definition of addiction “recovery” that can be used to estimate objective recovery rates that are distinct from rates of diagnostic remission alone or that can be used in social and legal decision making (e.g., child custody). The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) recently published a testable operational definition. This study was the first to examine its clinical and public health utility | Recovery Research Institute, USA
Trends in alcohol-related mortality rates before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic
Identifying whether the increases in alcohol-related deaths observed during the COVID-19 pandemic have persisted, and for whom, can help target prevention and intervention efforts. This study examined differences in alcohol-related mortality rates by demographics across time, including the years before and after the pandemic | Recovery Research Institute, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Budget 2025: Alcohol Change UK's response
Dr Richard Piper, CEO of Alcohol Change UK, said: “By keeping alcohol duty in line with inflation, the Government has taken a welcome step forward, while raising much needed revenue. This could see duty receipts rise to £14bn per year by 2030/31, which can be put to good use improving the nation’s health and public services. But overall, we expected bolder action today, proportionate to the scale of harm caused by alcohol to so many lives and communities across the UK... " | Alcohol Change UK, UK
SHAAP Chair comments on UK Budget
Following the announcement of the UK Government’s Budget on Wednesday 26th November, Dr Alastair MacGilchrist OBE, Chair of SHAAP said: “While it is welcome that the Chancellor did not cave to industry demands to freeze or cut alcohol duty and seems to have returned to the conventional approach to alcohol duty which is to increase it in line with inflation each year, it is a shame that the opportunity to introduce a duty escalator was not taken... " | SHAAP, UK
Zero-alcohol products: a tool for moderation or a tool for growth?
Zero-alcohol products, which taste and appear as common alcoholic beverages but contain little or no alcohol, have become an increasingly popular choice. Recent findings suggest around a third of adults in Great Britain have at least tried them, with similar findings observed in a survey of Australian teenagers | IAS blog, UK
How does Narcan work? Mapping how it reverses opioid overdose can provide a molecular blueprint for more effective drugs
Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, is one of the most important drugs in the United States’ fight against the opioid crisis. It reverses an opioid overdose nearly instantly, restarting breathing in a person who was unresponsive moments before and on the brink of death. To bystanders witnessing it being administered, naloxone can appear almost supernatural | Conversation, USA