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Daily news - 7th April 2026

UK news

Harm Reduction Implications of Vaping Overtaking Smoking in Great Britain

In 2024, for the first time since national records began, more adults in Great Britain used e-cigarettes than smoked tobacco cigarettes. Data released by the UK Office for National Statistics in November 2025 showed that 10.0% of adults aged 16 years and over were current e-cigarette users, compared with 9.1% who smoked tobacco | IJPH, UK

Shisha tobacco’s availability is rising. Why does UK smoking policy fail to tackle it?

Upcoming law changes could tackle the public health impact of this pipe smoked tobacco—but only with increased awareness and culturally competent support, says Zainab Hussain | BMJ, UK

Rise in number of girls being identified as victims in county lines exploitation, data shows

Charities suggest ‘gendered understanding’ of crime means services often fail to recognise girls and young women as victims | Guardian, UK

'Medical cannabis cost my brother everything'

The brother of a man who took his own life while on medical cannabis has launched a campaign to tighten rules on its access for patients with complex mental health issues | BBC, UK

Medicines watchdog to investigate UK peptide clinics over health claims

Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds several clinics making potentially unlawful claims about benefits of unregulated therapies | Guardian, UK

What are peptides, are they safe and is there evidence to back up the hype?

Influencers and athletes are among those claiming substances can help with injury repair, weight loss and angi-ageing | Guardian, UK

New drug and alcohol support service launched

Inspire, started operating for residents across the West Northamptonshire Council area on Wednesday, and it offers free and confidential help to those in need. Several specialist organisations including Turning Point, Bridge, Family Support Link, Double Impact and Framework, have helped create the service | BBC, UK

Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Misuse

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of digital technologies in supporting treatment and recovery services for people experiencing drug and alcohol addiction | They work for you, UK

Offenders: Addictions

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an his estimate of the potential reduction in the (a) cost to the public purse and (b) court workloads of increasing the adoption of community-based rehabilitation in the treatment of alcohol and substance use and addiction reducing recidivism rates | They work for you, UK

Smoking and drinking among Gypsy and Traveller communities with Eve Taylor -audio

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Eve Taylor, a research fellow at University College London, UK. The interview covers Eve’s research article looking at smoking and drinking among the Gypsy and Traveller communities in England | SSA, UK

It's About Enabling...Hope | Listen UP Episode 14 - Kirsten Horsburgh

In Listen UP Episode 14, Scottish Drugs Forum CEO Kirsten Horsburgh shares frontline, human-first insights - highlighting how showing people their lives matter can shift everything, and why meeting people without judgement becomes the starting point for real change | Abbeycare Foiundation, UK

Rage room alcohol bid granted despite police fears

Customers visiting Rage It Out in Consett will be able to drink at the Queen Street site before and after sessions, after Durham County Council approved a licence application | BBC, UK

Illegally-filmed videos show prisoners partying and taking drugs in jail

The Scottish Prison Service have said it is doing all it can to stop the illegal use of mobile phones after videos emerged of prisoners partying and appearing to take drugs at a maximum security jail | BBC, UK

International news

Comparative effectiveness, safety and acceptability of pharmacological and psychosocial interventions for the treatment of cannabis use disorder: a network meta-analysis

Drawing on their reviews of studies of psychosocial and medication-based treatments, analysts pool these findings to estimate the relative effectiveness of all these approaches, even if they have not been directly compared within the same study. This most comprehensive review to date finds it can offer little reliable guidance on works best | University of Bristol, UK

Arrests after €7m worth of cannabis seized

Gardaí (Irish police) carried out a series of planned searches at a property in Athy, in County Kildare, on Wednesday | BBC, UK

Alcohol Underreporting Hides True Liver Disease Risk

New resaerch shows that underreported alcohol consumption can misclassify cases of steatotic liver disease, underestimating the true burden of alcohol-related conditions | EMJ, UK

German firm banned from marketing alcohol-free alternative as whiskey

A court in Germany, where people take their drinks seriously, sought to settle a long-running dispute on Thursday over alcohol-free whiskey, rum and gin alternatives | Yahoo News, UK

Scientists identify ‘neural fingerprint’ of psychedelic drugs in the brain

Analysis of more than 500 brain scans finds LSD, psilocybin and other psychedelics increase cross-talk between brain systems | Guardian, UK

Nicotine pouches not yet cleared for sale in US due to concerns over young users

FDA planned to fast-track applications for authorization, but agency reviewers raise alarm over addiction risk | Guardian, UK

Access Under Fire: OST in Wartime Lebanon

On 3 March, one day after Israel bombed Beirut for the first time since the so called ceasefire of November 2025, Lebanon’s Narcotics Department of the Ministry of Public Health, in charge of the Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) programme, announced an exceptional measure allowing OST patients to receive one month worth of medication per prescription | Talking Drugs, UK

Nine men charged over plot to smuggle 3.5 tonnes of cocaine into Australia by sea

Four men also charged in connection with seizure of 30kg of methamphetamine in Perth last August | Independent, UK

[Open access] Cannabis use has increased in the United States as legalization has spread. While Δ-9 THC remains the most-used federally illegal substance, use of other psychoactive hemp-derived products (Δ-8 THC, Δ-10 THC, HHC, THC-O) has grown. The current study investigated patterns of cannabis use and perceptions of harm and benefit of cannabis across states with differing cannabis laws | DADR, USA

[Open access] Various liberalized approaches to drug possession, including decriminalization, depenalization, diversion, and legalization, carry distinct implications for policing practices, which can vary based on geographic variation, including urbanicity, as well as the contextual factors that may be unique to different spaces. We present findings from a scoping review that includes all peer-reviewed studies (quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods) published in English that address the various liberalized policing approaches to drug possession | IJDP, USA

Methadone Dose and Patient-Directed Discharge in Hospitalized Patients With Opioid Use Disorder

[Open access] Among opioid-dependent patients admitted to a US emergency department, the higher the dose of methadone they were started on, the less likely they were to leave against medical advice – an unusual example of the holding power of sufficient doses of the medication | JAMA Network Open, USA

[Open access] Xylazine, a non-opioid sedative not approved for human use, poses serious health risks. It is primarily found in illicitly manufactured fentanyl, but xylazine-fentanyl combinations also appear as illicit stimulant adulterants. Although strategies exist to reduce the risk of xylazine-related harms, some high-risk populations may be unaware of the drug | DADR, USA

Behavioural Intentions Associated with Exposure to Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Testing Results: A Two-Phase, Multi-Wave Intervention Trial

[Open access] People who use anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) face health risks from illicit markets and limited tailored harm reduction services. This study aimed to examine whether laboratory testing results from submitted AAS products (ie, compound presence and purity) influence AAS consumers’ future behaviours | Substance Use and Addiction Journal, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

Reflections from the SSA’s first policy roundtable

The SSA recorded a policy roundtable discussion in February 2026 on the topic of a national alcohol strategy. To mark the release of the video, Science Communication Officer Holly Wood-Blake describes some of the key talking points and highlights the benefits of bringing people with different backgrounds together to address addiction policy problems | SSA, UK

Inside the Loop's London Launch

In the past month, The Loop opened two drop-in drug checking services in Camden and Hackney. They will run fortnightly and, for London – a city famed for policing drugs with a gusto matched by its appetite for taking them – these are unprecedented times | What are you on, UK

Scotland’s smoking ban turns 20 – it cut secondhand smoke exposure by 96%, but the job isn’t finished yet

At 6am on a quiet Sunday morning 20 years ago today, Scotland became the first UK nation to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces. It was a landmark moment in public health policy, and new research shows just how much has changed since | Conversation, UK

Alcohol is not what makes football in Scotland so special

We were told those days were past. And yet, after last month’s Scottish Cup quarter-final between Rangers and Celtic, we were confronted once again with violence and disorder that was impossible to ignore | The National comment, UK

Addicts don’t need a ‘safe’ space to inject but proper treatment - Susan Dalgety

Edinburgh is another step closer to copying Glasgow’s example and opening a drug consumption room where addicts can go to inject themselves with banned substances, free from fear of arrest and with help on hand if they overdose | Edinburgh News opinion, UK

The Windsor Framework: what does Brexit mean for the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in Northern Ireland?

In this blog ASH CEO, Hazel Cheeseman, explains that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is compatible with all EU regulation and will apply in Northern Ireland | ASH blog, UK

Banning Vaping in Public Places Is Disproportionate, Unscientific and a Waste of Taxes

In July 2024, Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised that his government would “tread more lightly on your lives.” It was a reassuring sentiment recognising that not every social concern requires a new rule, not every risk demands a ban, and not every headline justifies state intervention. Yet what has followed has been an avalanche of nanny-state micromanagement often with little scientific justification. The recent absurd proposal to ban vaping in public places is a perfect example | Parliament News, UK

Can medicinal cannabis help kids’ autism, ADHD or Tourette’s? Here’s what we know so far

In the past ten years or so there has been a lot of interest to see if medicinal cannabis can help children with emotional and behavioural problems – the ones associated with conditions such as autism, ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and Tourette syndrome | Conversation, Australia

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