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Daily news - 11th March 2026

UK news

Next phase of alcohol and drugs response

A new plan (PDF) to reduce deaths and harms caused by alcohol and drugs has been published. The joint Scottish Government and COSLA plan aims to improve collaboration between government and grassroots delivery with a locally-led, accountable system, guided by clear national direction and support. Backed by more than £160 million in 2026-27, the plan builds on the Scottish Government’s five-year National Mission on Drugs which ends in April. A key priority is to expand treatment standards to include alcohol and all drugs | Scottish Government, UK

Generational smoking ban for UK edges closer to reality

Ministers are set to gain new powers to control the flavours and substances in smoking products | Independent, UK

[Open access] Driven by longstanding social inequality, policy stagnation, and an increasingly toxic, adulterated, criminalised drug market, the UK has experienced sustained increases in mortality from alcohol and other drugs over the past decade. Despite the scale of this crisis, public health discourse frequently treats people who use substances as one homogenous group, obscuring structural drivers that concentrate harm within marginalised communities | IJDP, UK

Liverpool launches ketamine plan

Users trying ketamine for the first time in Liverpool are as young as 14, with action being taken now to prevent escalation. Liverpool Council has launched a new action plan to tackle ketamine-related harms across the city, focusing on prevention, early intervention, and supporting families and young people | Birkenhead News, UK

Girl, 14, needs incontinence pads after using ketamine

A 14 year-old pupil has been forced to wear incontinence pads to class after ketamine use damaged her bladder, a school worker has told the BBC | BBC, UK

The 'powerful new tool' being offered to help people in Wales stop smoking

Smokers in Wales are being offered a "powerful new tool" to help them quit the habit. A new Public Health Wales app will offer "free, bilingual and personalised support" to help people quit for good | North Wales Live, UK

Mental health trust to help patients stop smoking

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust will use the money to offer practical support to about 1,200 inpatients over the next year across its adult and older adult wards | BBC, UK

NHS stop smoking services quarterly - Local Delivery Plan standard, 2025/26 (quarter 2)

In the period July to September 2025, NHS Scotland achieved 73% (1,286 quits out of 1,757) of a quarter of the annual LDP standard | PHS, UK

‘I signed the Pledge at an early age’ Investigating the long-term effects of involvement in the Band of Hope (PDF)

Hope UK aims to help children and young people make drug-free choices. To understand the long-term effectiveness of our work, we surveyed 65 former members of the Band of Hope (now Hope UK). We wanted to learn about their involvement and its impact on their attitudes towards legal and illegal drugs, and to compare these results to those of their peers in the general population | Hope UK, UK

Give to Gain: When women are heard, everyone benefits

Webinar TODAY. Wednesday 11 March, 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm. Residential detox and rehab are often the point at which women experiencing the greatest levels of marginalisation come into contact with treatment services. Many women arrive carrying intersecting experiences of trauma, stigma, poverty, racism, homelessness, criminalisation, motherhood and loss. Their voices are shaping not only how we deliver current services, but how we develop and deliver what doesn’t currently exist, filling key gaps in provision | Collective Voice, UK

Man who threatened children to sell drugs jailed

Police said Donnell J Magezi, 26, travelled from London to Leicestershire and made threats of violence towards teenagers in a bid to force them to sell Class A drugs in the county | BBC, UK

International news

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2025

2025 marked a significant and violent escalation in the use of capital punishment for drug offences. Confirmed drug-related executions increased by 97% between 2024 and 2025, reaching the highest levels recorded globally since Harm Reduction International began tracking this data in 2007 | HRI, UK

Temporal and geographical patterns of nitazene detections in drug samples and biospecimens in the United States, 2019–2024

[Open access] Nitazenes are a novel subclass of synthetic opioids that have been increasingly implicated in the United States (US) overdose crisis. Despite their growing presence in the illicit drug supply, national trends have not been systematically evaluated. This study aimed to describe temporal and geographic patterns in nitazene detections and assess substances co-involved in nitazene-positive biospecimens | Addiction, UK

Ketamine in Europe: EMPACT situation report

This publication presents a consolidated EU-level assessment of ketamine trafficking and related emerging risks, developed under Operational Action 1.5 of the 2024–2025 EMPACT Synthetic Drugs and New Psychoactive Substances action plan. Drawing on contributions from 32 countries, complemented by expert discussions and EUDA monitoring activities, the report provides an evidence-based overview of ketamine’s availability, supply patterns, non-medical use and associated security concerns across Europe | EUDA, Portugal

Irish Government Grows Ever More Hostile to Vaping

The Irish government has ramped up its hostility towards safer nicotine products by approving new legislation to further tighten restrictions on vapes and nicotine pouches. Though the announcement is confusingly worded, the bill threatens to ban vape flavors | Filter Magazine, USA

Experimental vaccine could help turn the tide on America's opioid epidemic

Virginia Tech researchers are advancing a new generation of vaccines designed to block opioids from reaching the brain and triggering their addictive effects, work that could help prevent overdose deaths that now exceed 100,000 each year in the United States | Medical Xpress, USA

Cannabis intoxication disrupts many types of memory

Smoking cannabis can do more than blur memories. It can reshape them. A new Washington State University study found that people who consumed THC were more likely to recall words that were never presented and struggled with everyday tasks such as remembering to do something later | Medical Xpress, USA

[Open access] In the US, 40 states and the District of Columbia (DC) have implemented medical cannabis legalization (MCL), while 24 states and DC have enacted some form of recreational cannabis legalization (RCL). We examined the association between cannabis legalization and law enforcement cannabis seizures to understand illegal drug market responses to increasing state cannabis legalization | IJDP, USA

Rapid opioid dose reduction increases risk of mental health emergency department presentations

New Monash University research has found that rapidly reducing or abruptly stopping prescription opioids significantly increases the risk of mental health or substance use-related emergency presentations | Medical Xpress, USA

New psychedelic fungus rewrites origins of magic mushrooms

The discovery of a new magic mushroom species in Africa is forcing mycologists to take another look at the famous psychedelic fungi’s evolutionary history. According to a study published today in the journal Proceedings B of the Royal Society, both the popular Psilocybe cubensis and a newly described species shared a common ancestor roughly 1.5 million years ago—but not in the region of the world many assumed | Popular Science, USA

STASH, Vol. 22(3) – Detecting substance use disorders in the dentist’s office

Dentists often establish long-term relationships with their patients, and some people who visit their dentist don’t seek other kinds of healthcare. As a result, dentists might be in a good position to screen their patients for SUDs and offer counseling when needed, ensuring that fewer cases go undetected. This week, STASH reviews a study by Jenna McCauley and colleagues that explored dentists’ views on, and tendency to engage in, these practices | CHA, Canada

Spike in deaths from novel benzos 'a major public health concern'

Poisoning deaths from ‘novel’ benzodiazepines (NBZDs) – designed to mimic brand-name drugs like Valium and Xanax but with greater potency – have spiked in the last six years. Out of nearly 260 fatal NBZD-related toxicity cases reported since 2013, about 87% of these deaths occurred between 2020 and 2025, according to findings from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney | NDARC, Australia

Blogs, comment and opinion

WithYou responds to the Scottish Government's alcohol and drugs strategic plan

One of Scotland's largest drug and alcohol charities has welcomed the Scottish Government's new 10-year strategy, Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery. But WithYou is calling for sustained funding and clear accountability to turn commitments into action | WithYou, UK

SHAAP comments on publication of Scotland’s Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan 2026-2035

Commenting on the publication of Scotland’s Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan 2026–2035, alcohol experts Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) call on the Scottish Government to ensure today’s commitments are backed by sustained funding and accountability | SHAAP comment, UK

Alcohol, family and change: rethinking drinking across generations in Romany Gypsy and Traveller communities

Alcohol use is often treated as an individual behaviour – something shaped by personal choice, knowledge, or risk awareness. But for many people, drinking is relational, and negotiated within families, communities and across generations. This is true in Romany Gypsy and Traveller communities, where family relationships, care and interdependence play a central role in everyday life | IAS blog, UK

Higher buprenorphine doses help patients stay in opioid use disorder treatment, new study finds

Patients who are prescribed higher daily doses of the medication buprenorphine for opioid use disorder are significantly more likely to stay in treatment. Those on 17 to 24 milligrams averaged 190 days in care compared to 90 days for those on 8 milligrams or less. Yet Black patients are less likely than white patients to receive the higher doses | Conversation, USA

Just thinking about tequila, whiskey or wine shifts your mindset – new research

Thinking about certain types of alcohol can alter your mood and trigger certain mindsets, especially among young consumers. For instance, tequila calls up a party mindset, whiskey activates a masculine mindset, and wine primes a sophistication mindset | Conversation, USA

As tonnes of illegal tobacco sneak in past our borders, we risk missing a threat that could cost us billions

The social and economic problems caused by Australia’s illegal tobacco trade have been widely reported, including ongoing firebombings, shootings and intimidation targeting tobacco retailers across several states. But while the scale of the booming illicit trade is well known, its biosecurity risks have received little public attention. This is a significant omission | Conversation, Australia

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