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Daily news - 8th April 2026 |
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UK news
Treat jailed drug dealers like radical extremists, says prisons watchdog
Charlie Taylor, inspector of prisons for England and Wales, says dealers should be isolated and ‘assertively managed’ | Guardian, UK
Injecting equipment provision in Scotland
This annual release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on injecting equipment provision (IEP) services in Scotland. This includes the number of outlets; attendances and the types of injecting equipment distributed to people who used controlled drugs (including Novel Psychoactive Substances and Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs) in Scotland in 2024/25 | PHS, UK
National naloxone programme Scotland - Quarterly monitoring bulletin
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on the number of take-home naloxone kits issued by the National Naloxone Programme (NNP) in Scotland (1 July 2025 to 30 September 2025). Figures are presented separately for kits issued from community-based services (mainly specialist drug treatment and non-drug treatment services), kits issued in prisons at the point of liberation, kits dispensed via community prescription, and kits issued by Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) | PHS, UK
Jameson Whiskey and Drinkaware team up with renowned football manager Alan Curbishley to encourage fans to ‘Know Your Score’
New campaign urges football fans to check their drinking habits as the season reaches its final stages | Drinkaware, UK
Why does alcohol make us both happy and miserable – and what else does it do to our minds and bodies?
It sends us to sleep and wakes us in the night, excites us and depresses us, gives us confidence one moment, anxiety the next. How does this messy drug wield so much power? | Guardian, UK
‘I always considered social media evil’: big tobacco whistleblower on tech’s addictive products
Jeffrey Stephen Wigand revealed how tobacco companies targeted children; now he sees similar marketing by big tech | Guardian, UK
'I'm just so glad I stopped smoking when I did'
A mother and daughter are featured in a new campaign to inspire Yorkshire and the Humber's 562,000 smokers to quit. The Turn the Corner campaign, which is running on TV, radio and social media, aims to get across the message that every cigarette takes 20 minutes off your life | BBC, UK
Doncaster: Take Ketamine Seriously
Thursday, Apr 30 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Little Theatre Doncaster. Join Project 6 and Transform Drug Policy Foundation for a half-day conference exploring how communities, services, policymakers, and people with lived experience can shape a practical, evidence-informed, and compassionate response to ketamine use | Project 6, UK
Vape shop says child ban punishes single parents
A vape shop in Guernsey says new rules banning under‑18s entering its premises are unfair and will leave single parents struggling to buy products that help them quit smoking | BBC, UK
International news
The addict turned priest who fought the 'war on drugs'
Flaviano Villanueva, known as Father Flavie, is a Filipino priest who was awarded the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s highest honour, for "his lifelong mission to uphold the dignity of the poor and the oppressed". He works with homeless people on the streets of Manila, where he provides dignified care, showers, and – as he says Filipinos would want it – a buffet with unlimited rice. But Father Flavie did not, at first, feel worthy of the priesthood | BBC Sounds, UK
147. Rewarding the Human Mind with Dr Harriet De Wit
Join us in this episode as we speak to Dr Harriet de Witt, professor of psychiatry and neuropharmacology at the University of Chicago. She shares how she fell in love with the field, studying the animal model of self-administration, and how that work fed into her later research with human participants | Drug Science, UK
'There's always a way back' - GAA stars not immune to struggle of drug addiction
There is cocaine use in "every village and every town in Ireland", according to Cuan Mhuire addiction treatment services. Meanwhile, one in five male inter-county players surveyed by the Gaelic Players Association say they know a teammate struggling with drug misuse | RTe, Ireland
Commission evaluation of the EU tobacco control framework highlights progress and emerging public health challenges
The European Commission has published its evaluation of the EU tobacco control framework. It assesses the effectiveness, efficiency and relevance of the Tobacco Products Directive and Tobacco Advertising Directive in protecting public health and ensuring the smooth functioning of the internal market | EU Reporter, Belgium
CDC and ONDCP Issue Health Alert for Medetomidine, an Unusual Move
On April 6 the White House announced a Health Alert Network (HAN) advisory warning about the effects of medetomidine, an unregulated sedative that has been increasingly found mixed with fentanyl. The HAN was jointly issued with the CDC, which announced it several days earlier. This appears to be the first time that the federal government has used this type of alert to warn about the unregulated drug supply | Filter Magazine, USA
Prenatal smoking linked to broader mental health issues in children
Children exposed to maternal smoking before birth are more likely to experience behavioral and mental health challenges, according to a large study funded by the National Institutes of Health's Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program | News Medical, USA
Factors Associated With Rising Homelessness Within US States, 2019 to 2024
In this cohort study including the 50 US states and Washington, DC, each additional 1% of person-time covered by an eviction moratorium was associated with a lower increase in homelessness from 2019 to 2024, and a significant increase was observed for each home-equivalent lost to climate-related events per 10 000 population. By contrast, average rents, unemployment, emergency rental assistance, and substance use were not associated with year-over-year change in homelessness | JAMA Network Open, USA
STASH, Vol. 22(4) – Pathways to substance use disorder treatment: Syringe services programs and the criminal legal system
This week, STASH reviews a study by Leslie W. Suen and colleagues that examined how syringe services program use and criminal legal system involvement relate to recent SUD treatment among people who use drugs | CHA, USA
Could Aversion Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder Make a Comeback?
Schick Shadel Hospital in Burien, Washington, was the sole remaining facility in the United States to offer aversion therapy for alcohol use disorder. It shut down in 2022. Is that the last we’ll see of this form of treatment? | Filter Magazine, USA
From Magic Mushrooms to LSD: A Peek Inside Medicine’s Psychedelic Promise
t’s a modern scientific renaissance: Little more than half a century ago, psychedelics were largely outlawed, squelching emerging research into the mind-opening substances. Today, psychedelics have moved from pariahs to potential treatments showing encouraging clinical trial results | UCSF, USA
Social media posts educating public about illicit drugs being removed by Meta, Australian health experts say
Australian drug checking services say their Facebook and Instagram posts warning the community about dangerous substances are being removed by Meta. Organisations such as Canberra's CanTEST use social media to distribute public health warnings when dangerous drug combinations are circulating | abc.net.au, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Why alcohol warning labels and minimum unit pricing matter for cancer prevention
Alcohol is a well-established cause of cancer, yet many people remain unaware of the risk. Alcohol use contributes to at least seven types of cancer, and globally alcohol was estimated to account for one in 24 cancer cases in 2020 (Rumgay et al., 2021; IARC, 2012; Bagnardi et al., 2015). Here in Canada, our team estimated in our recent study in the Lancet that alcohol caused 9,498 cancer cases and 3,866 cancer deaths in 2022 | IAS blog, UK
Should clinics prescribe medicinal cannabis that they also supply? We asked 5 experts
You can have an online consultation, be prescribed medicinal cannabis, and have it sent directly to your home, in a seamless operation. This one-stop-shop certainly sounds convenient. But not everyone’s happy | Conversation, Australia