DrugWise Daily |
23rd December 2025 |
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Dear readers, sponsors and advertisers, thank you for all your support this year. We will see you again on January 2nd 2026. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Jackie and Harry.
UK news
Three in four UK adults embrace moderate drinking over Christmas
Moderation is in this Christmas, with nearly three in four (73%) UK adult drinkers intending to moderate their drinking over the festive period, according to a new survey by Drinkaware | Drinkaware, UK
Britons reported to be drinking less, as data shows consumption at record low
More moderate alcohol habits rather than total abstention appear to have driven fall | Guardian, UK
NHS is tackling ketamine use with dedicated Newport group
A specialist group established in response to an increase in ketamine use is intended to prevent users needing hospital services, a health board has said | Free Press, UK
People Are Paying to Get Their Chatbots High on ‘Drugs’
An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT | WIRED, UK
Jersey could relax cannabis laws in new proposals
Cannabis laws in Jersey could change, with the States Assembly set to debate whether personal use should be treated as a health issue rather than a crime | BBC, UK
County lines drug dealer jailed for five years
Ammar Hroub, 25, from St Leonards, was found to have topped up a phone associated with the drug network. After being arrested, police discovered the drugs in a car he was linked to, Sussex Police said | BBC, UK
Two men in court after £10m of cocaine and heroin seized
Around £10m of cocaine and heroin was recovered during a raid in Shettleston, Glasgow, on Sunday | BBC, UK
International news
Growing restrictions on vape sales making it harder for smokers to quit and driving others into hands of criminal dealers
Best way to stop teenagers using e-cigarettes is to properly police underage sales not ban flavoured ones that are helping so many adults to stay smoke-free | Irish Independent, Ireland
Gardaí arrest 170 in one week for driving under the influence as drug use rises
184 people have died on Irish roads in 2025, already exceeding previous year’s total of 174 | Irish Times, Ireland
Webinar | European City Initiative for Drug Policy - video
The dynamic, one-hour session was designed to spotlight innovative and practical city-level approaches to urban drug policy and harm reduction. Three European cities delivered short, focused presentations, offering a close look at their strategies, models, and latest developments, followed by a moderated Q&A | C-EHRN, The Netherlands
Illicit “captagon” manufacturing disrupted following regime change in Syria, says new UNODC research brief
One year after the regime change in Syria, the large-scale manufacturing of “captagon” has been disrupted, according to a new research brief by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) publishing preliminary findings of a wider report to be released in 2026 about the evolution of the synthetic drug market in the Arab countries | UNODC, Austria
DrugNet Europe - December 2026
Latest monthly news round-up on drug policy developmnts in Europe | EUDA, Portugal
A Rare Case of Open Debate on Tobacco Harm Reduction
“If safer alternatives can save lives, what responsibility do we have to science, to fairness and to the people we serve?” Suely Castro put that question to an audience at the United Kingdom’s Parliament in London. Hosted by the nonprofit she founded, Quit Like Sweden, the December 4 event examined the implications of Sweden’s approach to tobacco harm reduction: making safer nicotine products “acceptable, affordable and accessible.” | Filter Magazine, USA
Estimated Number of People Who Inject Drugs [PWID] in the United States, 2022
There were an estimated 2,392,100 PWID in 2022, which was 35% lower than the 2018 estimate. Most PWID were male and non-Hispanic White. The US South had the highest number of PWID. Reduced PWID population size may reflect improved data inputs or a true decline in the number of PWID because of high levels of overdose fatality or shifts in routes of drug consumption | AJPH, USA
For teens, any cannabis use may have impact on emotional health and academic performance
Using marijuana just once or twice a month was associated with worse school performance and emotional distress for teens, according to a large national study of adolescents led by Ryan Sultán, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. The more frequently teens used cannabis, the more likely they were to report emotional distress and other social and academic problems | Medical Xpress, USA
Mixing lab rigor with real life, researchers craft new recipe for groundbreaking alcohol studies
Nearly 80% of Americans aged 12 and older have consumed alcohol at least once in their lives, and 10% of the population suffers from alcohol use disorder. And yet, scientists still know surprisingly little about how alcohol shapes our social experiences in the moment, such as how we feel, behave and connect with others while drinking, and how this might translate to risk of developing alcohol problems | Medical Xpress, USA
Analyzing opioid content on TikTok: Competing narratives and limited public health messaging
With millions of people using the popular social media platform TikTok every day, many encounter videos about opioids. Yet little research has examined what these videos depict. This study analyzed opioid-related TikTok content to better understand how the platform portrays opioid use, treatment, and recovery | Recovery Research Institute, USA
Not just whether, but how often and when, adolescents misuse prescription stimulants predicts later cocaine use
Existing evidence finds that nonmedical prescription stimulant use (e.g., Adderall) during adolescence is linked to later cocaine use. However, previous studies only consider whether or not nonmedical prescription stimulant use occurred, not how much and how recent the use was. This study expands on current “yes/no” consideration of nonmedical prescription stimulant use examining how often and how recent use occurred in order to help identify adolescents at greater risk of later cocaine use | Recovery Research Institute, USA
How to sip smart this festive season
Almost half of Australian teenagers who drink alcohol say they get it from their parents, prompting fresh warnings from researchers as families prepare for Christmas and New Year celebrations | Medical Xpress, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
I thought an edible would take the edge off family Christmas. I spent the day on the floor
If there’s anything worse than children yelling in your ear as you wonder if you’ll regain the capacity to distinguish a door from a window, I haven’t experienced it | Guardian, UK
Coffee, Nicotine, and the Politics of Acceptable Addiction
Every morning, hundreds of millions of people perform a socially approved ritual. They line up for coffee. They joke about not being functional without caffeine. They openly acknowledge dependence and even celebrate it. No one calls this addiction degenerate. It is framed as productivity, taste, wellness—sometimes even virtue | Brownstone Institute, USA