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Daily news - 26th January 2026 |
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UK news
Safer inhalation devices: a rapid Health Impact Assessment of a harm reduction pilot for people who smoke crack cocaine
An assessment by the Welsh public health NHS trust concludes that providing inhalation devices to people who smoke crack “could reduce drug-related harms, improve engagement and provide a non-judgemental and inclusive point of access for individuals who are often excluded from traditional services.” | Harm Reduction Journal, UK
Drug and prison to rehabilitation information: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. 8 questions were asked including: 1. How many people since 2022 from custody/prison to rehab have completed the 12 weeks programme? 2. How many of those people since 2022 from custody/prison to rehab completed the 12 weeks and are no longer using drugs? and 3. How many people from prison to rehab reoffended within the 12 weeks and were returned to prison? | Scottish Government, UK
No disruption to fan safety in WSL alcohol trials
Trials providing supporters with the option to consume alcohol in the stands at Women's Super League games have received positive feedback on fan safety | BBC, UK
New drug support service welcomed by former addict
The New Start Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centre on Whitby Street in Hartlepool replaces a "not fit for purpose" facility which was used by some 1,400 people in 2025, Hartlepool Borough Council said | BBC, UK
Councillors may have to take random drug tests
The leader of a council will consider introducing random drug testing for councillors. Jeremy Newmark from Hertsmere Borough Council in Hertfordshire made the comment in a response to a written question from his Labour Party colleague Linda Smith | BBC, UK
Sheffield-Based Short Film ‘Hooked’ To Partner with National Addiction Charity
Hooked, a short film set in Sheffield, is partnering with national addiction charity The Forward Trust as it prepares for production next month | Forward Trust, UK
Residential Rehabilitation for Addiction: A Glorious Struggle - podcast
Forward Trust CEO Mike Trace looks back on half a century of drug/alcohol residential rehabilitation history, celebrates the tens of thousands of people whose lives have been transformed, and bemoans the continued problems with funding and referral systems that undermine their important work | Forward Trust, UK
Tony Adams Joins #TeamForward for the London Marathon 2026
The Forward Trust is proud to announce that Tony Adams MBE, former England and Arsenal captain and Chair of The Forward Trust, will be taking on the extraordinary challenge of running the London Marathon this April in support of our work | Forward Trust, UK
SARG researcher Dr Parvati Perman-Howe secures NIHR Career Development Award
We are delighted to announce that Dr Parvati Perman-Howe, a Research Associate within the Sheffield Addictions Research Group (SARG), has secured a highly sought-after Career Development Award. The award will support Parvati in establishing a new research agenda focused on the public health impact of mid-strength drinks | SARG, UK
Alcoholic Drinks: Rehabilitation
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to devise an alcohol strategy which reduces (a) use and (b) harmful use and (c) dependency on alcohol | They work for you, UK
Size of cannabis farms in north Wales jumps 138%
Data gathered from Freedom of Information requests has revealed a spike in the size of illegal cannabis growing operations across north Wales. While the number of cannabis farms appears to be in decline, with 10 farms discovered between September 2024 and 2025 compared to 21 for the same period in 2023/24, the size of individual operations is increasing | Nation.Cymru, UK
Island 'safer place' after drug 'kingpin' jailed
Jamie Smith, 38, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for playing a leading role in the importation and selling of both cocaine and cannabis on the island | BBC, UK
International news
Rising Concerns Over Cannabis Smoking and Lung Health
Cannabis smoking, increasingly common in the era of legalisation, may have measurable effects on respiratory health. A recent cross-sectional study explored the clinical and airway epithelial consequences of cannabis use, revealing links between high exposure and impaired lung function, abnormal imaging findings, and altered immune responses | EMJ, UK
CDC seeks to block ‘never use alone’ messaging used by overdose prevention groups
The phrase is part of ‘harm reduction 101’, which has led to significant declines in overdose fatalities in the US | Guardian, UK
What to know about FDA's review of new Zyn advertising proposal
The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to allow new advertising messages about Zyn, a type of nicotine pouch that's growing in popularity | Independent, UK
Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned alleged cocaine kingpin in US custody
Ryan Wedding turned himself in at US consulate in Mexico City and is due to appear in court in California on Monday | Guardian, UK
US military says it struck vessel in eastern Pacific, killing two people
Since September, military has carried out more than 30 strikes against boats that it alleges smuggle drugs | Guardian, UK
Caribbean cannabis growers eye budding domestic sales and exports
The musky scent of this cannabis plant is distinctly different from the citrusy aroma of another that he is also holding | BBC, UK
Visiting The Thistle: The UK’s First Legal Safer Drug Consumption Room in Glasgow
Step inside the UK’s first legal safer drug consumption room. In Drugreporter’s new video, Lynn MacDonald, service manager at The Thistle, takes us through a space built not only for life-saving safer use, but for compassion, dignity, and respect — putting care and humanity at the center of the service | Drug Reporter, Hungary
Global webinar: WHO Operational guide for needle and syringe programmes for people who inject drugs
5 February 2026 11:00 – 12:15 CET, Online. WHO is co-organizing this webinar with the International Network on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users (INHSU) and Médecins du Monde (MdM) to launch the new WHO technical document Needle and syringe programmes for people who inject drugs: Operational guide | WHO, Switzerland
Dublin’s supervised injecting facility: An assessment of its impact on discarded needles
[Open access] Medically Supervised Injecting Facilities (MSIFs) are locations where illicit drugs can be injected using sterile equipment under professional supervision. They aim to reduce risks associated with public injecting and injecting alone such as overdose and related harms. Ireland’s first MSIF opened in December 2024. This study assesses its impact during its first four months | IJDP, USA
Minimal progress toward sustainment: 10-year replication of substance use EBP sustainment trajectories and associations with implementation characteristics
Once government funding had expired only a minority of US services sustained an experimental treatment programme for young people. Conclusion: “the past decade of research on sustaining youth substance use [evidence-based practices] has not necessarily produced measurable impacts” | Implementation Science, USA
Link between smoking and depression confirmed in study
A research group led by the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim has confirmed for the first time within the German National Cohort (NAKO) an association between cigarette consumption and depression. The findings show that depression occurs more frequently over the lifetime of current and former smokers than among those who have never smoked | Medical Xpress, USA
South Dakota Lawmakers Reject Bill to Let Dying People Use Medical Marijuana in Hospitals
A South Dakota legislative committee has rejected a bill that would have allowed terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis in hospitals and hospices. The House Health and Human Services Committee voted 12-1 on January 22 to defer the measure to the 41st day of the session, effectively killing it | Filter Magazine, USA
Calls to bring back hard-hitting anti-smoking campaigns to warn off gen Z
Experts say Australia is becoming complacent in the war against tobacco and other nicotine products. While advertising tobacco is illegal, social media is hard to regulate, with tobacco consumption and "cig-fluencers", renormalising these behaviours for gen Z | abc.net.au, Australia
Blogs, comment and opinion
Lived experience and empirical knowledge: domination or integration?
I’ve been in and around professional addiction and recovery circles for more than 30 years. In that time, I’ve spent a lot of time in rooms where empirical knowledge was a suffocating force. It determined what and who was valued, heard, and respected in ways that did not lead us any closer to truth or extend recovery to more people suffering from addiction | Recovery Review blog, USA