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Daily news - 2nd October 2025

UK news

Estimating the burden of alcohol on the health of Northern Ireland (PDF)

In June 2025, British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland commissioned the Sheffield Addictions Research Group to use recent data on hospital admissions and deaths to estimate the burden that alcohol currently places in Northern Ireland. This analysis builds on previous work in England and Scotland | SHAAP, UK

Alcohol and Older People

This week marks the International Day of Older Persons and the Our Message Our Voice lived experience project are encouraging awareness and reflection on the topic of older persons and alcohol. We have launched our poster campaign and added further resources to our website | Our Message Our Voice, UK

Alcoholism and Drugs: Rehabilitation

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide certainty on funding to voluntary organisations delivering drug and alcohol treatment services | They work for you, UK

Drugs: Misuse

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential impact of supervised drug consumption facilities on (a) crime and (b) health | They work for you, UK

Drug-testing Schemes

That this Assembly recognises the role of harm reduction initiatives in preventing drug-related deaths at festivals and concerts; acknowledges that the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) rapid drug-checking schemes have operated successfully at events such as Electric Picnic for a number of years, providing warnings to concertgoers on potent and potentially lethal substances... | They work for you, UK

A lexicon for psychedelic research and treatment

Led by Prof David Nutt, the Drug Science Medical Psychedelics Working Group published a key paper delineating a standardised terminology for clinical development and regulatory classification for psychedelic medicines | Drug Science, UK

The Manifesto Sessions -Trauma-Informed Practice

Monday 20th October 2025 – 10.00am. Our 5th webinar within our Manifesto Sessions webinar series will focus on trauma informed practice. As part of our ‘Setting the blueprint for a more equal and prosperous Wales for people who use substances’, we want all substance use services in Wales to be underpinned by a trauma-informed approach | Barod, UK

'It's scary how much we were spending on smoking'

Greg Underwood, 40, started smoking when he was 12 and his partner Samantha Street, 37, had her first cigarette when she was 13 | BBC, UK

Head of organised crime group jailed for 19 years

The head of an organised crime group that supplied more than £1m worth of class A drugs has been jailed for 19 years and eight months | BBC, UK

Former detective guilty of prison drone drug drops

Police said drones containing prohibited items were flown into HMP Onley in Northamptonshire and HMP Gartree in Leicestershire throughout 2021 and 2022 | BBC, UK

Interim drug and alcohol commissioner to earn £100k

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) wants to recruit someone with the right expertise on a temporary basis, and claimed the role was too important to wait for a permanent appointment | BBC, UK

‘I can’t escape these machines’: addicts tell of huge losses from slot gambling

Councils given more powers to stop ‘unwanted’ sites opening, as number of UK slot machines exceeds 30,000 | Guardian, UK

International news

NSW urged to stop strip-searches of young people after court ruling spotlights police conduct

Supreme court rules police suspicion that a person is in possession of a prohibited drug ‘is not sufficient to conduct a strip-search’ | Guardian, UK

Ultra-processed food addiction in a nationally representative sample of older adults in the USA

[Open access] Ultra-processed foods (UPFs; industrially produced foods typically containing unnaturally elevated levels of refined carbohydrates and/or added fats) became more widely introduced into the United States (US) food environment in the 1980s and have proliferated since. UPFs have been shown to trigger an addictive-like response. This study examines the prevalence of ultra-processed food addiction (UPFA) in older US adults and its association with various health domains | Addiction, UK

Attorney General James Stops Misleading Marketing of Unauthorized Opioid Overdose Drug

Indivior Promoted Unauthorized Overdose Drug Opvee as Alternative to Narcan to Public Officials Throughout New York. Following OAG Settlement, Indivior Announced Plans to Cease All Promotion of Opvee | Office of the New York State Attorney General, USA

More men die of overdoses partly because many combine alcohol with drugs

Research conducted at West Virginia University suggests consuming alcohol with fentanyl and other drugs may explain, in part, why more men than women die from unintentional overdoses | Medical Xpress, USA

Wearable patch can help reduce cravings and stress in early addiction recovery

A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham shows that a non-drug, wearable device can help people with substance-use disorders (SUD) manage stress, reduce cravings, and lower their risk of relapse in real time | Medical Xpress, USA

Overdose prediction tool for cocaine developed

If there are prediction models for who might be at risk of cancer or diabetes so that they can get attention before it's too late, why can't there be a predictor for overdoses? A new tool designed to help people who use stimulants like cocaine or methamphetamine answers that question, using demographics and other available information to identify who is at risk | Medical Xpress, USA

From the year 2000 New South Wales police could caution rather than charge for possession of (or using) a small amount of cannabis. From this reform emerged “some of the strongest evidence to date that diverting individuals detected in possession of small quantities of illicit drugs reduces the risk of reoffending, rather than increasing it” | IJDP, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

Why are kids snorting pink cocaine? It’s perfect for the Instagram generation

The selling point of “pink cocaine” is not, as you might expect, cocaine. More often than not, the trending party drug of 2025 contains no cocaine whatsoever. Nor does it contain 2CB, the synthetic psychedelic that gives the drug its more common street name: tusi (as in “2-C”). These days, the powder is more likely to be a mixture of MDMA, ketamine and caffeine. No, the reason pink cocaine is “one of the most significant developments in the drug market in recent years” (according to a recent Spanish government report) is rather more basic. It’s because it’s pink | UnHerd, UK

Caffeine pouches deliver a fast hit – and hidden risks

A new caffeine craze is brewing on social media – no kettle required. Caffeine pouches promise a fast, discreet hit of energy without the faff of brewing coffee or cracking open an energy drink. But while they may look like a harmless pick-me-up, experts warn they carry real risks, especially for teenagers and people with underlying health conditions | Conversation, UK

The State of Academic Research on Nicotine, Part 3

This is a multi-part series on content that I first presented in my Michael Russell Oration at the Global Forum on Nicotine conference in Warsaw, June 2025 (full video). This is a high-level and wide-ranging synopsis of: (Part 1) the pervasive, but often preventable, flaws in research on nicotine and tobacco; (Part 2) how problematic incentive structures in academia have contributed to the state of the research; and (Part 3, here) what we can do about it | Selya Behavioral Science Substack, UK

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