Home | Archive | Weekly | Reports
Weekly news - 17th October 2025 |
 |
In date order, Monday to Friday
Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme 2025 to 2026: updated funding allocations
The government recognises that homelessness and rough sleeping numbers remain high and that many people experiencing rough sleeping have substance misuse needs and can struggle to access the support they need. To tackle the continued pressures local authorities are facing, the government has provided an additional £3 million for the year 2025, to enable the local authorities currently receiving this funding to continue to support the most vulnerable in society | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, UK
Right to Addiction Recovery (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Transcript of the debate on the Right to Recovery Bill, held in the Scottish Parliament on October 9th | Scottish Parliament, UK
Pulse Report: Alcohol Advertising
This report presents the findings of a major ASA trial exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can strengthen the regulation of online advertising. Using our in-house Active Ad Monitoring system, we analysed nearly 6,000 paid-for alcohol-related ads served to UK audiences in early 2025, across social media, search and display. Overall compliance was very strong. Around 96% of ads were likely to meet the rules, with just 1–3% appearing to break them and a small proportion requiring further review | ASA, UK
Thousands of essential frontline workers could be funded by alcohol duty, new analysis shows
The government could generate £3.4 billion over the next five years by increasing duty on non-draught alcohol in line with inflation and reintroducing a 2% annual escalator above inflation, our new analysis has found | AHA, UK
Shops to require licence to sell vapes under proposed crackdown on rogue traders
A licensing system would ‘root out’ rogue operators and give enforcement officers stronger powers to shut them down, the Government said | Independent, UK
Illicit tobacco: facts, trends and industry tactics
Illicit/illegal tobacco refers to any tobacco products sold illegally in the UK, including smuggled genuine products, duty-free cigarettes sold on the black market, and counterfeit or fake tobacco. Illicit tobacco undermines the impact of lifesaving public health measures and sellers often have links with organised crime. This page explains what illicit tobacco is, what the UK is doing to tackle it, and how tobacco companies exploit concerns about illicit trade to undermine tobacco control | ASH, UK
'Record drug seizures only scratch the surface'
A "record-breaking summer" of cocaine seizures by Border Force "only scratches the surface", according to the head of a Kent drug rehabilitation charity | BBC, UK
Dangerous ‘nitazene’ opioids are on the rise: researchers are worried
Researchers who study trends in illicit drug use are concerned that sales of a potent class of synthetic opioids called nitazenes are on the rise globally | Nature, UK
Why giving up smoking may still help those with advanced cancer
Published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the study found that people with cancer who quit smoking had a 97 per cent lower risk of dying within two years compared to those who kept smoking | Independent, UK
Dementia risk for people who quit smoking in middle age ‘same as someone who never smoked’
Research finds kicking the habit halves rate of decline in verbal fluency and slows memory loss by 20% | Guardian, UK
Council set to expand drug and alcohol treatment
A local authority is set to award a multimillion-pound contract for drug and alcohol treatment that would expand its services. Peterborough City Council has worked with Change Grow Live Services Limited (CGL) for the past 10 years, but the current agreement is due to end in March 2026. Cabinet members will meet on Tuesday to consider authorising a new five-year contract worth £13.4m with CGL, which emerged as the preferred bidder after a competitive procurement process | BBC, UK
'Drug Consumption Rooms: Helpful or Harmful?' - new audio episode
The Forward Trust's CEO, Mike Trace, provides a deep-dive into the world of drug consumption rooms. Fresh from a recent visit to the UK's first legal drug consumption centre in Glasgow. As former deputy drug Czar to Tony Blair in the Labour Government, Mike's reflective podcast explores the complexity of this new approach - outlining the pros and cons of how these might evolve across the UK | Forward Trust, UK
Nicotine and medical research – a background
Nicotine has been widely accepted as a smoking cessation aid in the form of Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) since the 1980s, and has been included in the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines to treat ‘nicotine dependence’ since 2009.[1] But the therapeutic use of nicotine in medicine has a history – and potentially a future – that extends beyond its most common application. Research has indicated that nicotine could be a promising drug in managing and treating certain conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, neurodivergences, and psychosis | GSTHR, UK
Understanding the reasons behind an apparent reduction in the number of people accessing specialist alcohol and drugs treatment in Scotland
Public Health Scotland has investigated an observed reduction in the number of people accessing specialist alcohol and drug treatment services across Scotland through a three-phase programme of work | Public Health Scotland, UK
Alcohol consumption and harms dashboard
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) updates the Alcohol Consumption and Harms Dashboard (ACHD) with new estimates of partially attributable alcohol hospital admissions and partially attributable alcohol mortality statistics for persons aged 16 and over covering the calendar years from 2021 to 2023 | Public Health Scotland, UK
Additional Funding for Homelessness & Rough Sleeping 2025/26
I am pleased to announce to the House that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has allocated £84 million in additional funding across four homelessness and rough sleeping grants for 2025/26 | They work for you, UK
Rehab facility sees ketamine cases more than double
Jade Clark, manager of Sanctuary Lodge in Halstead, said people were not fully aware of the consequences of taking ketamine and that admissions for using it this year were already higher than the whole of 2024 | BBC, UK
Poorer health linked to more votes for Reform UK in England
These are the findings of a new analysis, led by researchers at Imperial and published today in the journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research, which explore the links between health outcomes and voting patterns during the 2024 general election | Imperial College, UK
Homeless prisoner died the day after early release
A prisoner died from the effects of drugs the day after he was released from prison with no accommodation to go to, a report found | BBC, UK
The Importance of Language – Not Proportioning Blame
Working in the Drug and Alcohol sector, we are witnessing an increasing number of deaths whether due to drug use, alcohol use, physical health issues, or mental health challenges. These sad outcomes often lead to coronial inquests... | AntiStigma Network, UK
Young people given stark warning on deadly risks of taking drugs
The government has launched a new campaign to alert young people to the dangers of ketamine, counterfeit medicines and adulterated THC vapes | Department of Health and Social Care and Ashley Dalton MP, UK
New frank campaign launches today to raise awareness of the risks of prolonged use of Ketamine - video
So let’s talk about ket. Common negative side effects of using ketamine include memory problems, hallucinations, confusion, dissociation and feeling disconnected from yourself, your thoughts and your feelings, nausea, agitation, impaired thinking | nowordsuk, UK
Drugs cut with dangerous substances - video
You never really know what is in any street drug or counterfeit medicine, whether purchased online or on the street. Be cautious of any drug sold illegally, including by illicit online pharmacies | nowordsuk, UK
Lancashire mum awaiting potential bladder transplant warns about the dangers of ketamine
Amber Currah, 27, began using the powerful drug, known widely as a horse tranquilliser, when she was 17-years-old, unaware of the long-term risks | ITV, UK
Better regulation, better Care. Consultation on improving how we assess and rate providers
Respond by 5pm on 11 December 2025. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has opened a consultation on proposed changes to how it assesses and rates health and care providers. These proposals aim to enhance the effectiveness and transparency of their regulatory approach | CQC, UK
Banning cigarette filters in the United Kingdom: Time to correct misperceptions of harms
Since the inception of filter-tipped cigarettes, followed by ventilated filters (i.e. ‘light’ cigarettes), tobacco companies have promoted cigarettes with filters as ‘safer’ than unfiltered cigarettes. However, an established, industry-independent, body of evidence has shown that filters and filter ventilation do not reduce toxicant exposure from smoking | Addiction editorial, UK