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Daily news - 1st October 2025 |
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UK news
Stoptober 2025
Stoptober is back with a new suite of resources to encourage smokers to make a quit attempt this October! With a whole calendar of both 'ready to use' and localisable resources, you will have the means to tailor this campaign to your specific audiences, from mid-September through to 31st October | DHSC, UK
Speaking Without Stigma: Changing the Conversation Around Substance Use
Turning Point, has launched a campaign called Speaking Without Stigma to highlight the importance that language plays in supporting people. The Speaking Without Stigma, a guide to reducing stigma in substance use through the language we use, which has been produced in collaboration with people supported by Turning Point, challenges words and phrases that can stigmatise people and suggests alternate options that put people first | Turning Point, UK
National drug and alcohol treatment waiting times
10,641 referrals were made to community-based specialist drug and alcohol treatment services: 5,123 (48.1%) were for problematic use of alcohol, 3,990 (37.5%) for problematic use of drugs, and 1,528 (14.4%) for co-dependency (problematic use of both alcohol and drugs) | Public Health Scotland, UK
Estimated numbers of people prescribed opioid substitution therapy in Scotland
In the 12-month period ending 31 March 2025 (the end of 2024/25 Q4), Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) was prescribed to an estimated minimum of 28,015 people in Scotland. In the 12 months to the end of the previous financial year quarter (2024/25 Q3) an estimated minimum of 28,644 people were prescribed OST | Public Health Scotland, UK
NHS stop smoking services quarterly
In the period January to March 2025, NHS Scotland achieved 90% (1,585 quits out of 1,757) of a quarter of the annual LDP standard | Public Health Scotland, UK
Lancashire mum warns of the dangers of Ketamine use after the drug left her needing new bladder
A young mother who spent years addicted to ketamine is urging others to seek help before it is too late - after her usage caused irreversible damage to her bladder | ITV, UK
NHS Highland launches 5-year plan as smoking costs £30 million and youth vaping on the rise
Smoking-related harm is costing NHS Highland up to £30 million a year, it has been revealed. The health board will be asked to endorse and implement a new tobacco and vaping strategy for the next five years when it meets | Inverness Courier, UK
Northern Ireland Assembly - Drug Testing Schemes Part 1 - video
Coverage of the debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly on drug testing schemes, on Tuesday 30 September | BBC iPlayer, UK
Northern Ireland Assembly - Drug Testing Schemes Part 2 - video
Further coverage of the debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly on drug testing schemes, on Tuesday 30 September | BBC iPlayer, UK
The Manifesto Sessions: #4 Safer Inhalation Devices - video
The fourth webinar of The Manifesto Sessions, discusses safer inhalation devices (SIDs), often referred to as crack pipes | Barod, UK
Forward staff take on a skydive to raise money this recovery month
On Sunday 28th September, a group of 9 employees and volunteers from The Forward Trust met at Headcorn Aerodrome in Kent to jump 12,000 feet to raise money for the charity | Forward Trust, UK
Campaign group calls beach smoking ban idea unfair [Guernsey]
Calls to ban smoking on Guernsey beaches have been described as "unenforceable" and "unfair on those people that choose to smoke" by a campaign group | BBC, UK
Three shops closed over illegal vapes and tobacco
The stores in Newmarket, Suffolk, had been found to be selling the products despite warnings from the police and the local trading standards team | BBC, UK
International news
Creating Safer Injecting Practices Through Community-Led Harm Reduction: Lessons From People Who Use Steroids for the Alcohol and Other Drug Sector
[Open access] Research on anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS) use has addressed health outcomes, social dynamics, service access and risk management strategies. Yet little work has examined how these domains converge in injection practices, where community-led knowledge and structural barriers shape harm reduction. This study aimed to explore people's experiences of injecting AAS, focusing on practices, challenges and sources of harm reduction knowledge, and examined how consumers develop safer injection methods through lived-living expertise | Addiction, UK
Rural inpatient hospitals and substance use—a 10-year retrospective analysis
[Open access] The data demonstrates significant disparities in substance-related admissions, discharges, and treatment across the hospitals, highlighting the need for integrated care pathways, personalized services, and targeted professional development to address substance use presentations effectively. The findings underscore that a one-size-fits-all approach is insufficient | Irish Journal of Medical Science, Ireland
Ban on sale of tobacco and nicotine from self-service and vending machines
The sale of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products from self-service and vending machines has been banned | Irish Legal News, Ireland
“Parents Matter: Vaping Products & Psychoactive Substances: What You Should Know as a Parent - webinar”
Oct 7, 2025 11:30 AM in London. The HSE will host a webinar for parents and guardians with a specific focus on the psychoactive substance HHC | HSE, Ireland
Health Care Professional Willingness to Treat Opioid Use Disorder vs Type 2 Diabetes in Primary Care
This cross-sectional study of 375 PCPs (primary care professionals) in Ohio found that participants viewed type 2 diabetes as more complicated to treat, viewed patients with type 2 diabetes as more responsible for their diagnosis, and had more empathy toward patients with OUD. However, participants were more willing to treat type 2 diabetes in primary care and more likely to refer patients with OUD to a specialist | JAMA Network Open, USA
Therapeutic effects of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing for substance use disorders: a meta-analysis of addiction-related and emotional symptoms
[Open access] Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapyaims to reduce the salience of memories or stimuli related to a client’s condition by pairing these with activities such as eye movements. In substance use disorders results suggest craving is reduced but without significantly affecting the severity of addiction | Frontiers in Psychiatry, USA
Experts warn federal cuts may extinguish momentum in tobacco control
A new commentary paper in Nicotine and Tobacco Research argues that recent cuts to the National Institutes of Health, including about $2 billion in terminated research grants and a $783 million cut to research funding linked to diversity and inclusion initiatives, will have a dramatically negative effect on efforts to combat tobacco usage and health disparities in the United States | Medical Xpress, USA
Poppy Growing Shifts to Pakistan After Taliban’s Crackdown in Afghanistan
Afghanistan used to have the distinction of producing the opium for 95 per cent of the heroin on the European market, and about 80 percent of the world’s illicit supply. But since the ruling Taliban announced a ban on growing the crop in 2022—it was already technically illegal, but the announcement amounted to increased threats—cultivation has plummeted | Filter Magazine, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Are vapes 95% safer than smoking? Probably, and scientists should be blunt about it
It’s hard to avoid the impression that smoking is extremely bad whereas vaping is far healthier in a relative sense | i news opinion, UK
Calm in a can? Here’s what the evidence says about the chill-out drink craze
In a world that rarely slows down, a new wave of “functional beverages” is promising to help us do exactly that. So-called “chill-out drinks”, marketed as natural stress relievers, are appearing in supermarkets and online stores as a calming alternative to caffeinated energy drinks or alcohol. But do they work and are they safe? | Conversation, UK
As US warships prowl the Caribbean, our region must hold fast against Trump’s gaslighting
American attacks have killed more than 14 people they claim were drug traffickers in our waters. Now our islands are at risk of being dragged into a manufactured conflict we are ill-equipped to endure | Guardian opinion, UK