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Daily news - 18th March 2026

UK news

Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: October to December 2025

There were 1,146 suspected drug deaths in 2025. This was 8% (81) more than in 2024 (1,065). After following a downward trend in 2024, the rolling 12-month total of suspected drug deaths has been increasing in 2025 | Scottish Government, UK

Evaluation of the National Mission on Drug Deaths: feasibility and added value of an ongoing national lived experience feedback survey in Scotland

This report presents the findings from stakeholder consultations about the feasibility and added value of establishing an ongoing national lived experience feedback survey in Scotland. In 2024 we ran a national pilot survey of individuals with experience of using drugs, about the support available to them. We published the findings from that pilot survey in July 2025. Between July and October 2025, we spoke to 20 stakeholders about their involvement in developing and carrying out the survey, and their use of the survey findings. This briefing presents the findings from those consultations | Public Health Scotland, UK

Evaluation of the National Mission on Drug Deaths: exploring changes to family support

This publication presents findings from an externally commissioned study on the support available to families of individuals with experience of using drugs. The study explores any changes in the support since 2021, when the National Mission was introduced. The study also explores what family support provision is currently like in Scotland. The study captures the perspective of family members and family support providers | Public Health Scotland, UK

Evaluation of the National Mission on Drug Deaths frontline staff survey

This publication presents findings from a 2025 online survey of staff working in frontline alcohol and drug services in Scotland. This is a short follow-up survey to a longer earlier survey of staff in frontline alcohol and drug services in 2023. This report compares the 2023 and 2025 responses to 12 statements about staff's experience of working in frontline alcohol and drug services | Public Health Scotland, UK

National drug related death database (Scotland)

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information from the National Drug-Related Deaths Database (NDRDD) on Drug-Related Deaths (DRDs) registered in Scotland in 2021 and 2022, with trend data from 2012. The report narrative and main points focus on DRDs registered in the most recently reported year, 2022 | Public Health Scotland, UK

Scotland’s Health First: A Manifesto for Tackling NCD Prevention and the Commercial Determinants of Health (PDF)

Scotland’s health is deteriorating. 85% of people believe commercial industries should take greater responsibility for the harm caused by their products.1 We are urging bold but practical steps that the next Parliament can implement in its early years to help reverse this trend and build the foundations of a healthier, more prosperous Scotland | NCD Alliance Scotland, UK

Synthetic opioid linked to 1,000 deaths across the UK in just two-and-a-half years

Synthetic opioids represent the most significant threat in the ongoing battle against illegal drugs, with one specific type, nitazenes, linked to 1,000 deaths across the UK in just two-and-a-half years. This stark warning comes from Graeme Biggar, Director General of the National Crime Agency (NCA) | Independent, UK

'Ketamine made me someone I didn't want to be'

Finley Worthington said he was 18 when he first took the powerful horse tranquiliser drug, and six months later he was using it daily | BBC, UK

Smashed Live Delivers Vital Alcohol Education to Thousands of London Students

Collingwood Learning’s award-winning alcohol education programme, Smashed Live, supported by Diageo, this week will give secondary school students across London a crucial lesson on the risks of underage drinking, in an effort to reduce underage drinking and its associated harms among young people | London Post, UK

ACMD members' register of interests

Added 'Co-organiser, Cambridge-Stanford Addiction Policy Forum' to the declaration of interests for Professor Keith Humphreys | ACMD, UK

Alcohol price hike and smoke-free rules suggested [Guernsey]

Health experts are recommending increasing alcohol prices and introducing smoke-free legislation, with age-related sales ban and restrictions on smoking in some outdoor public places | BBC, UK

International news

Regulation of Alcohol-Free and Low-Alcohol Drinks: Learning From a Comparative Analysis of Eight Countries

[Open access] No/lo drinks are growing rapidly and are often promoted as part of the solution to alcohol harm. But less is known about how they are regulated internationally. A new international study examined labelling, taxation, licensing, and marketing rules for no/lo drinks across eight countries. A key finding was that most countries do not regulate no/lo drinks as a distinct category. Instead, regulatory systems typically rely on alcohol by volume thresholds that define when a product counts as "alcohol" | DAR, UK

GLP-1 receptor agonists reduce substance use disorder: a role for addiction to chemsex drugs?

When i-Base reported several GLP-1 studies in people living with HIV from CROI 2024, we included a discussion about whether anecdotal reports of breaking the dopamine reward pathway associated with reduced craving for food might help reduce dependence on chemsex drugs which currently have no effective treatment to support and manage withdrawal | I-base, UK

Joint statement delivered at the 69th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs on the death penalty for drug-related offences

This statement was delivered by Amnesty International, Harm Reduction International and Justice Project Pakistan at the 69th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs to draw attention to the continued use of the death penalty for drug-related offences. The organizations call for its full abolition, as well as on UNODC to document the human rights impact of drug control policies in its yearly World Drug Report | Amnesty International, UK

‘He’s definitely no Walter White’: former US academic charged with dealing meth

Alan Jay White, nicknamed ‘the professor’, arrested after raid of Indiana home found 78 grams of suspected meth | Guardian, UK

Sharp rise in ketamine byproducts detected in wastewater

There has been a 40% jump in detections of ketamine in wastewater, providing further evidence of the rising use of the party drug in Ireland | Irish Examiner, Ireland

European Network for Drug Consumption Rooms: 2026 Technical Meeting in Amsterdam

On February 11th and 12th, members of the European Network of Drug Consumption Rooms (ENDCR) gathered in Amsterdam for a technical meeting. Co-organised by the ENDCR, C-EHRN (ENDCR Host), and the EUDA, the event brought together experts and stakeholders to discuss network updates, data-collection, thematic capacity-building, advocacy, evaluation models, and future steps for Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs) across Europe | C-EHRN, The Netherlands

UMass Amherst Research Links Early Adult Drinking to Middle Age Cognitive Decline

It’s well known that alcohol consumption is an age-old method for coping with stress. But surprising research led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that, when such self-medication begins in early adulthood, negative cognitive effects start to show up in middle-age—even after long periods of total abstinence | UMass, USA

[Open access] Non-Hispanic Black adults ages 55 and older experienced the sharpest increases in drug overdose mortality from the mid-2010s onwards. We aimed to elucidate longitudinal patterns of rising overdose mortality among this population and identify key substances driving this trend | DADR, USA

New Mexico Will Fund Psychedelic Treatment for Patients on Low Incomes

On March 11, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed the budget for the upcoming fiscal year into law, and in doing so, underlined the state’s position at the vanguard of alternative mental health treatments | Filter Magazine, USA

Blogs, comment and opinion

Cutting drug deaths must be election priority in Scotland

The Salvation Army is calling on political parties in Scotland to identify clear priorities for reducing drug deaths as the latest figures are published (Tuesday 17 March) by the Scottish Government in the final significant release of data on drug deaths ahead of the May election | Salvation Army, UK

Do prescribed opioids increase self-harm and suicide?

This research explores the link between the use of prescribed opioids and harm, including non-accidental fatalities. This is an important topic to investigate, as there is a widely held belief that individuals prescribed opiates are at increased risk of self-harm and suicide. There is research to support this view, and it is easy to see why a powerful, potentially toxic group of drugs like opiates could be used by those who want to inflict harm on themselves or wish to end their life. However, it is crucial to dig deeper into the association between prescribed opiates and self-harm to try to understand the relationship | Mental Elf blog, UK

Alcohol industry pushback forces Irish Government to kick health warning labels down the road

Last year, the alcohol industry managed to delay Ireland’s alcohol health warning labels (AHWLs) for another 2 years. What’s going on and what arguments did they make? | IAS blog, UK

Crack Cocaine Day Programmes and Lessons from the Past

Crack cocaine remains one of the most persistent challenges in England's treatment system, yet services are still largely built around opioid dependence rather than stimulant use. In 2024–25, 32,399 adults entering treatment in England reported crack cocaine problems | Tony D'Agostino, UK

Magic mushroom-infused products appear in Colorado gas stations – what public health officials want consumers to know

A Denver food and cannabis investigator became suspicious of PolkaDot-branded chocolate bars sitting next to convenience store energy shots and nicotine pouches in January 2026 | Conversation, USA

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