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Daily news - 2nd January 2026 |
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UK news
Press release - Lives to be saved by boosting access to drug overdose medication
Government launches consultation to help combat rising drug deaths from opioids, as part of record £3.4 billion in investment in drug and alcohol services | Department of Health and Social Care and Karin Smyth MP, UK
Open consultation - Expanding access to naloxone: supply and emergency use
This consultation seeks views on proposals to make further legislative changes to expand access to take-home naloxone supplies and naloxone for emergency use. This consultation closes at 11:59am on 9 March 2026 | Department of Health and Social Care, The Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Department of Health (Northern Ireland), UK
‘Absolutely frightening’: surge in ketamine cases hits UK urology wards
Young adults and teenagers prevalent in ‘skyrocketing’ admissions linked to class B drug, say doctors in northern England | Guardian, UK
Cannabis THC vapes a 'threat to younger generation'
The rising use of cannabis vapes is a "threat to the younger generation" in Bradford, a meeting was told. E-cigarettes containing THC, the psychoactive element of cannabis, are illegal for recreational purposes but have been found on sale in the district | BBC, UK
Dry January 2026
Get the New Year off to a flying start by taking part in the Dry January® challenge 2026. Feel fitter, healthier and happier when you take a break from the booze | Alcohol Change UK, UK
Offenders in England and Wales to have alcohol levels tracked over new year period
Sobriety tags worn by thousands released from prison or serving community sentences will monitor wearers’ sweat | Guardian, UK
ACMD annual report 2023 to 2025
An overview of work carried out by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) from January 2023 to December 2025 | ACMD, UK
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs member biographies
Owen Bowden-Jones, Carole Hunter, Richard Stevenson, Paul Stokes, Derek Tracy and Rosalie Weetman have left the ACMD. David Wood is now the chair | ACMD, UK
White Christmas: why cocaine is everywhere in December
A seasoned drug dealer says cocaine sales rise by 50 per cent over the festive period | New Statesman, UK
Nutrition key in new alcohol abuse rehabilitation scheme to fight addiction
Addicts found eating nutritious food helped them beat their addiction, with one person in the programme saying: "I've lost a lot of weight, my skin feels better, my hair feels better" | Sky News, UK
Text messages could be key to helping TB patients quit smoking, according to study
Tuberculosis (TB) patients who smoke will recover far more quickly if they can quit - and help could come from their mobile phones, according to new research | University of York, UK
'Hot chocolate helped me beat drug addiction'
"Christmas was just another day when I was in that life, it wasn't a celebration," says Abbie. As a recovering addict, she says in the past the festive season meant trying to make sure she had enough drugs to last until Boxing Day | BBC, UK
Gen Z shunning the pre-flight pint for matcha green tea, airports say
Healthier trends of younger travellers are transforming departure lounge habits, says Manchester Airport Group | Guardian, UK
Wednesday briefing: What St Albans tells us about Britain’s changing pub culture
With young people drinking less, and landlords wrestling with unpredictable trade, one city’s pub history offers clues to the future of Britain’s boozers | Guardian, UK
The great debate about whether the NHS should use magic mushrooms to treat mental health
Larissa Hope truly believes that psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, saved her life. Back when she was 17 and starting out as an actress, she was cast in the TV drama Skins, but the new-found fame brought out a previously buried trauma. She didn't find antidepressants effective - but that small dose of psilocybin, which she took under clinical supervision, marked a turning point | BBC, UK
Two charities that received £1.1m from Sackler Trust kept anonymous to prevent ‘serious prejudice’
British charitable trust that draws on OxyContin-maker fortune says it exempted names to protect reputations | Guardian, UK
Prisons and Young Offender Institutions: Drugs
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons and Young Offender Institutions currently have (a) an Incentivised Substance Free Living Unit operating, (b) a Drug Recovery Wing operating, and (c) a Drug Strategy Lead in post | They work for you, UK
Drugs: Research
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings have been held of the cross-government officials working group on research with controlled drugst | They work for you, UK
Our 2025 Wrap
This annual review is a month-by-month snapshot of 2025, capturing key moments that have helped us to support over 35,000 people – 3,000 more than last year and our highest ever reach | Forward Trust, UK
Drug detection dog visits school to educate
A specially-trained detection dog has been visiting a school as part of the police's efforts to educate and deter students from using drugs | BBC, UK
Seven shops given closure orders over vapes
Police have issued closure orders to seven shops over the illegal sale of goods such as vapes as part of an operation into organised crime and money laundering | BBC, UK
Cannabis farms found in homes, casino and under M1
In the past 12 months cannabis farms have been uncovered in village homes, an abandoned casino and even in a boarded-up drainage culvert beneath a motorway | BBC, UK
Cannabis driver asked police for directions
A motorist who asked police for directions while she was smoking a cannabis joint has been banned from driving for 17 months. Fiona George, 52 and from Penzance in Cornwall, was visiting Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria when she was caught drug-driving on 7 June, Carlisle Magistrates' Court heard | BBC, UK
International news
Falling price of cocaine forces drug traffickers to reuse narco-submarines, say Spanish police
Previously vessels would be sunk once they had completed their cargo runs from South America to Europe | Guardian, UK
The impact of memory training on abstinence among individuals with alcohol use disorder
From Germany an intriguing finding – that adding memory training to usual treatment significantly raised abstinence rates among heavy drinkers, and the effect persisted after training had ended. Were they better able to assimilate the multi-pronged therapies offered at the clinic? | Frontiers in Psychiatry, UK
The little-known program contributing to a decline in overdose deaths in the US
Crisis intervention training helps police recognize substance use disorders and connect people with treatment | Guardian, UK
‘Just like so many families’: US parents of addicted kids relate to the Reiners – but fear stigma
The challenges of drug and alcohol addiction are familiar, but violence against others is highly unusual, parents say | Guardian, UK
Inside the US’s psychedelic church boom, where taking drugs is legal
Religious groups using banned drugs are increasingly testing the limits of faith and law – and winning | Guardian, UK
Even one drink a day raises mouth cancer risk by 50%, study warns
Consuming even as little as 2 grams of beer per day could increase mouth cancer risk, scientists say | Independent, UK
Trump’s shadow war in Venezuela grows, but country’s strongman leader still clings to power
Report of a drone attack on a port facility signals new phase in US military campaign against Nicolás Maduro | Guardian, UK
Executions in Saudi Arabia hit highest number on record in 2025
Analysts attribute increase to kingdom’s ‘war on drugs’ as authorities kill 356 people by death penalty | Guardian, UK
Simple reminder emails increase clinicians' use of database for safe opioid prescribing
A new randomized clinical trial finds that simple reminder emails substantially increase clinicians' use of a database that supports safe prescribing of opioids and other drugs, even though opioid prescribing patterns themselves did not meaningfully change during the study period. The study was led by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the University of Southern California | News Medical, USA
Prescribing of some controlled medications has decreased in youth over past two decades
In the past two decades, there were decreases in prescribing of some controlled medications to adolescents and young adults, according to a study published online Dec. 15 in Drug and Alcohol Dependence | Medical Xpress, USA
Cannabis use among teens tied to poor school performance
A new study of more than 160,000 teens finds that even occasional cannabis use among 8th, 10th and 12th graders is tied to worse outcomes at school and more emotional distress | npr, USA
Could Next-Generation Medicines Help Cure Opioid Addiction?
New medications are in the pipeline that could help people win their battles against addictive substances, including opioids | Scientific American, USA
Naloxone Boxes: New Strategy Makes OD Antidote Accessible 24/7, for Free
In 2021, Harm Reduction Michigan (HRMI) began using streetside newspaper-style boxes to station naloxone kits in outdoor spaces where the public could access them for free. More than 24,000 doses were dispensed this way between 2023 and 2024, and as of December 2024 HRMI had installed 184 boxes across more than half the counties in the state | Filter Magazine, USA
The DRAM, Vol. 21(13) – Experiences with and motivations for attending online mutual support meetings for alcohol use
Mutual support groups are a low-barrier, non-clinical option for people seeking to reduce or stop drinking. Programs like Alcoholics Anonymous allow peers to connect and support one another in achieving and maintaining sobriety. While mutual support meetings have been traditionally held in person, they are now available online. This week, The DRAM reviews a study by Jessica L. Sousa and colleagues that examined the experiences of people who attend online mutual support group meetings for problematic drinking | CHA, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Utility or futility? Toward an operational definition of addiction ‘recovery’
Wrestles with the issue of whether in the interests of measurement to narrow the definition of recovery to remission from harmful substance use, or to muddy the measurement waters but better reflect lived experience by incorporating social and psychological domains | Addiction Research & Therapy, UK
After getting so drunk I hugged a bouncer before blacking out, I wondered, what does alcohol do to our brains?
Why do some people get drunk more quickly and feel more impaired? Biology and genetics play a role but alcohol’s effects on the brain are complex | Guardian, UK