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Daily news - 29th September 2025

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

Health trends and variation in England 2025: a Chief Medical Officer report

This report provides a snapshot on health in England and, where relevant, the wider United Kingdom. Some of the trends are longstanding, such as the changing age structure of the population and the improvements in health following substantially reduced smoking prevalence. Some important trends are less predictable, including cohort effects such as alcohol use, with lower median consumption by young people now than 3 decades ago (but still significant harmful drinking) | DHSC, UK

Alcohol-related Deaths - First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 5:32 pm on 25 September 2025

The number of alcohol-related deaths remains significantly higher than it was decades ago, and those who live in our most deprived communities are four and a half times more likely to die from alcohol-specific causes than those in the least deprived areas. Will the First Minister provide an update on the targeted intervention that his Government is taking, or might take, to address that inequality? | They work for you, UK

Police unveil new tool to crack down on ‘abhorrent’ vape spiking

Children as young as 14 were admitted to hospital after cannabis products were placed in vapes | Independent, UK

Ex-pupil affected by drugs awarded £145k damages

A woman who showed psychotic symptoms after smoking mephedrone in a vape at a boarding school has been awarded £145,000 in damages at the High Court | BBC, UK

'Walking was a great tool to help me get sober'

Jimmy Thistle, who is now a Peer Mentor at Motiv8 Addiction Services, came up with the idea to hold a walking challenge from the east to the west coast of the Isle of Man to raise awareness overcoming addiction | BBC, UK

Recovering addicts urge others to seek help

Jess Fry, 42, from Robinswood, spent a month at the residential rehabilitation clinic Abbeycare Gloucester, in Minsterworth, after years living as a "functioning alcoholic". She returned to Abbeycare a year after her stay to help others at the clinic's annual Recovery Gathering | BBC, UK

Substance use and the night time economy - video

We are joined by Mike, a door supervisor at the Live Lounge in Cardiff, and Anna, the Young Persons Service Manager at Cardiff and the Vale Drug and Alcohol Service (CAVDAS). Mike discusses his experiences of working on the doors at one of Cardiff's busiest night clubs while Anna, sheds light of CAVDAS' harm reduction work in the night time economy | Barod, UK

Smoke-free outdoor areas proving popular - council

The majority of people asked in surveys have backed a Liverpool initiative for smoke-free outdoor areas at all bars and cafes serving food and drink, the city council has said | BBC, UK

10 Downing Street: Alcoholic Drinks

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much has been spent on alcohol for the 10 Downing Street business unit via (a) the Government Wine Cellar, (b) Berry Bros and (c) other suppliers since 4 July 2024 | They work for you, UK

Hospitality Industry and Night-time Economy: VAT

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to reduce value added tax for hospitality and night-time venues to boost recovery, encourage investment and support long-term growth | They work for you, UK

Rapper Digga D in court over cannabis profits

The drill star, whose real name is Rhys Herbert, was jailed for three years and 11 months in January for importing cannabis and selling 99lbs (45kg) of it on a commercial scale | BBC, UK

From drug theft to Dubai arrests: How a Scottish gangland feud went global

The arrests of four major Scottish crime figures in Dubai remain shrouded in mystery more than 10 days after they were taken into custody | BBC, UK

International news

Teen opioid addictions often untreated as youth overdose deaths rapidly rise in US – study

Drug overdoses are now a leading causes of death among US teens as fentanyl possibly drives surge, researchers warn | Guardian, UK

K-cure: South Korea’s booming market for traditional (and novel) hangover remedies

Hovenia dulcis - known in Korean as heotgae – has become the cornerstone of South Korea’s booming hangover cure industry | Guardian, UK

Genetic influence in addiction with Wei Deng - podcast

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim speaks to Dr Wei Deng, an assistant professor from McMaster University and St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Canada. The interview covers the research article Wei led examining externalising as a common genetic influence for a broad spectrum of substance use and behavioural conditions using a large UK longitudinal dataset | SSA, UK

Minister for Health welcomes ban on tobacco products and nicotine inhaling products from self-service and vending machines

The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has welcomed the upcoming ban on the sale of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products by self-service and vending machines. This move is part of a series of measures included in the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023 | DoH, Ireland

Minister Murnane O’Connor attends inaugural meeting of the Reference Group advising Ireland’s new national drugs strategy

The Reference Group will support the Steering Group in drafting the successor national drugs strategy, by providing real-world knowledge and lived experience of drug use and providing guidance and recommendations to the Steering Group while the new strategy is being drafted. With drug use trends having changed in Ireland over the last number of years, it is important that this new strategy accurately reflects, addresses and is informed by individual, local, regional, rural, and urban experiences | DoH, Ireland

Laws on advertising ‘zero-alcohol’ drinks ‘long overdue’

The Public Health (Alcohol) (Amendment) Bill 2025 was brought before Dáil Éireann this week by Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice | IMT, Ireland

Ethan Nadelmann: The progress on psychedelics creates momentum for broader drug policy reform

At ICPR 2024, we spoke with Ethan Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, about how psychedelics fit into the broader landscape of drug policy reform | Drug Reporter, Hungary

Our COPOLAD III journey: building a stronger EU–LAC partnership on drugs

When our contribution to the COPOLAD III programme wrapped up in March this year, it marked the end of nearly three years of the latest collaboration between the European Union and Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries in the drugs field (1). But the story doesn’t end there. Today, we are revisiting that journey and unveiling new resources, including a summary of the project results and a video capturing its added value | EUDA, Portugal

Multilingualism at the heart of our work

Multilingualism and accessibility are key features of the EUDA’s Communication Strategy 2025-2028. Communicating in languages other than English increases impact, while promoting plain language supports clarity and machine translation, thereby facilitating content creation in EU and non-EU languages | EUDA, Portugal

Emergency calls for pediatric opioid exposure on the rise

Years after the opioid epidemic began in the mid-1990s, emergency medical services are seeing increases in emergency calls for pre-teens and adolescents, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 National Conference & Exhibition | Medical Xpress, USA

Smoking decline linked to fewer newborns with gastroschisis, research finds

A decline in smoking in the general population, including pregnant people, over the last few decades corresponded with a decline in infants born with a birth defect called gastroschisis, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 | Medical Xpress, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

Transform Scotland - Drugs: Strategy of harm reduction is all wrong and causes more deaths than it prevents, say experts

The drugs deaths scandal in Scotland will never end as long as we continue prioritising harm reduction over rehabilitation, experts warn | Sunday Post, UK

Ketamine, depression and childhood trauma: new evidence from a community study

Childhood trauma is one of the biggest risk factors for major depressive disorder; in fact, studies have shown that it increases the risk of depression by more than twofold... In hope of solving this problem, ketamine has been proposed as a possible solution. Ketamine has been shown to be effective in treating treatment-resistant depression, providing an antidepressant effect which is both rapid and lasting | Mental Elf blog, UK