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Weekly news - 14th February 2025

In date order, Monday to Friday

‘There has never been a more dangerous time to take drugs’: The rising threat of synthetic opioids

New synthetic opioids (NSOs) are one of the fastest-growing groups of new psychoactive substances around the world | Independent, UK

'Sniffing ketamine in hospital was my lowest point'

Every generation seems to have an association with an illegal drug. Baby boomers had LSD, Gen X had pills and millennials had cocaine. So could ketamine be Gen Z's drug of choice? | BBC, UK

Calls for UK government to tackle alcohol-related deaths in older people

Health experts say record number of over-55s are dying from heavy drinking while under-35s are consuming less | Guardian, UK

Almost 20,000 treated for drug and alcohol misuse

Almost 20,000 people were treated for drug and alcohol misuse in the West Midlands last year. The region's Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, presented the figures in his annual report and said half of serious crimes, such as murder and theft, were drug-related | BBC, UK

Government ramps up efforts to end HIV transmissions in England

Over 20,000 self-testing and self-sampling kits will be made available to help end HIV transmissions by the end of the decade | Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, UK Health Security Agency, Ashley Dalton MP, The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP and The Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP, UK

Correspondence - Government response to ACMD advice on reform to hemp licensing fees

Government response to the ACMD's advice on increasing the level of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) permissible in industrial hemp from 0.2-0.3% and assessment after 2 years | Home Office and Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP, UK

Substance use expert calls for change in drugs law to enable more safe drug consumption spaces

The call from Professor Catriona Matheson comes as she prepares to give evidence at a government inquiry | University of Stirling, UK

In Numbers: How The UK Media Talks About Nitazenes

Over the past year, we have seen an increasing amount of attention given to nitazenes. A relatively unknown yet potent class of synthetic opioids first produced in the 1950s, nitazenes have recently resurfaced across multiple illegal markets around the globe. While stronger opiates being used to enhance the heroin market is nothing new, nitazenes were thrust into the British media spotlight when they were found to be connected to a spike in drug-related deaths in the north of England in 2023/4, as well as their widespread detection across various drug supplies as early as April 2021. Given this rapid emergence and spread, media outlets play a key role in determining how nitazenes are understood by the nation | Talking Drugs, UK