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Daily news - 3rd March 2026

UK news

[Open access] Rising living costs and changes to alcohol taxation influence drinking behaviours. This study aimed to examine associations between financial hardship and alcohol reduction attempts in the context of a cost-of-living crisis and alcohol tax reforms in Great Britain | IJDP, UK

[Open access] Late-night alcohol trading hours are generally associated with increased alcohol-related harm. Since 2018, two Scottish cities have allowed extensions in late-night alcohol trading hours with the aim of revitalising the night-time economy. This is the first study to directly observe whether and how bars and nightclubs use these extensions, and collect rich qualitative data about venue environment and staff behaviour | IJDP, UK

Bars close and hundreds lose jobs as US firm buys Brewdog in £33m deal

Hundreds of people have been made redundant and dozens of bars have closed after craft beer firm Brewdog went into administration. US beverage and medical cannabis company Tilray has bought the company's UK brewing operations, brand and 11 pubs in a £33m deal | BBC, UK

Large cannabis factory closed down by police

A man has been arrested after police closed down a large cannabis factory inside a property in Essex | BBC, UK

International news

Quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer are due to lifestyle factors, research finds

More than a quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer are due to lifestyle factors such as red meat intake and smoking, according to the largest study of its kind | Guardian, UK

The effect of alcohol minimum unit pricing and cancer warning labels on cancer incidence and mortality in Canada: an epidemiological modelling study

[Open access] Alcohol consumption increases cancer risk and is responsible for substantial cancer incidence and mortality. Alcohol policies have the potential to reduce cancer burden but remain under-implemented. Several Canadian jurisdictions are considering minimum unit pricing (MUP) and alcohol warning label (AWL) strategies. We aimed to assess the effect of these policies on cancer incidence and mortality in Canada | Lancet, UK [See also commentary in Blogs section below]

The changing face of addiction: ‘Some people were first using drugs in their 50s and 60s’

The prevalence of multiple addictions makes supporting people much more complex | Irish Times, Ireland

New measures unveiled to combat 'dangerously high' alcohol consumption

The government has unveiled a raft of new measures to curb “dangerously high” alcohol consumption while strengthening existing policies on the issue, under a new national policy spanning the next five years | Times of Malta, Malta

Overdose Prevention Centers and Neighborhood Commercial Activity in New York City

In this cohort study of the first 2 publicly recognized OPCs in the US, there were no significant changes in foot traffic and consumer spending after the OPCs opened in the East Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods in New York City | JAMA Network Open, USA

Clinical Pharmacists, Medications, and Contingency Management for Targeting Smoking in HIV Clinics

In this randomized clinical trial involving 323 participants, those receiving nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) with or without contingency management (CM) had similar reductions in cigarettes per day (CPD) at 12 weeks. Among participants who started with NRT alone and did not achieve week 12 abstinence, adding CM led to lower CPD than switching to oral medications. Participants who started with NRT and then added CM achieved lowest CPD at week 24 | JAMA Network Open, USA

Supreme Court ponders law making it a crime for marijuana users to own guns

The Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in an important gun case that has united an array of strange bedfellows, from conservative gun rights groups to liberal civil liberties groups | NEPM, USA

More severe alcohol use disorder, greater self-stigma: Implications for recovery

In addiction, self-stigma is defined as your own internalized negative beliefs about the condition and such beliefs may influence the timing and chances of recovery. Identifying who may be prone to self-stigma could inform strategies to address it and prevent relapses. This study analyzed data from adults enrolled in telehealth alcohol use disorder treatment to determine characteristics of those with high self-stigma | Recovery Research Institute, USA

Providing opioid use disorder medications in jails: Results from a randomized study in 67 communities

Initiating medication treatment for opioid use disorder in criminal justice settings and linking to medication services upon release can reduce overdose. However, less than half of jails in the US offer such medication treatment. This study investigated the impact of a large-scale intervention designed to support communities in implementing evidence-based practices, such as expanding medication treatment and linkage | Recovery Research Institute, USA

“Would You Want to Live Next to a Clinic?”—Methadone NIMBYism

The speeches at the press conference in Harlem were a distillation of stigmatizing ideas about methadone, clinics and patients that have existed since clinics opened in the 1970s | Filter Magazine, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

Synthetic cannabinoids found in 13% of school vapes tested

Easy to use, stealth-like and extremely potent, Synthetic Cannabinoids/THC vapes have quickly become the go to for cannabis users who need to fly under the radar. It makes sense that the ears of our curious teenagers in England may well have pricked up at the idea of getting high without attracting the unwanted attention of those attempting to safeguard them against the harms of drugs | Mental Elf blog, UK

The UK is about to start an experiment that could end smoking for good – but it won’t be easy

Anyone born after January 1 2009 will never be able to legally buy tobacco in the UK thanks to the tobacco and vapes bill, which is expected to become law in March 2026. When it does, it will mean that the legal age for tobacco sales will rise by one year every year from 2027 onwards | Conversation, UK

Why Aren't Young People Turning to Drugs?

At first glance, this looks like a contradiction. On one side, we have solid national data showing that 11–15 year olds are drinking less than they did twenty years ago. Smoking rates have fallen dramatically. Self-reported controlled drug use among younger adolescents is lower than in the early 2000s. On the other side, we have rising levels of reported anxiety, depression and psychological distress | Tony D'Agostino, UK

Not all alcohol policies are created equal

In The Lancet Public Health, Adam Sherk and colleagues provide important modelled analyses of the potential impact of two alcohol control policies—minimum unit pricing (MUP) and alcohol warning labels on products—on cancer outcomes in Canada, finding substantial potential public health benefits. Importantly, the scale of these effects is such that the authors estimate that alcohol taxes would have to increase by over 50% to achieve similar effects | Lancet comment, UK

What decades of research reveal about involuntary substance use treatment – and why evidence points elsewhere

Since President Donald Trump issued a July 2025 executive order aimed at “ending crime and disorder on America’s streets,” national attention has increasingly focused on involuntary treatment as a response to visible homelessness and drug use | Conversation, USA

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