Cocktail calories rarely cross your mind when the day ends and a chilled glass lands in your hand. Perhaps they should. A WebMD countdown, reviewed by Jabeen Begum, MD, in 2021, ranks five popular cocktails by how much they add to your daily intake. The figures are hard to ignore. Add up all five drinks and the total reaches 2,740...
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Psilocybin Is Racing Toward Approval, but the Evidence Is Not Keeping Up
Psilocybin FDA approval has not happened yet, but the groundwork is already being laid. As of June 2026, the US Food and Drug Administration has not approved psilocybin for any use. Even so, the drug holds breakthrough status for major depressive disorder and treatment resistant depression. That label is designed to speed up development and review. A new JAMA Insights...
Cannabis Industry Faces a Reckoning as 63 Studies Link Use to Violence
A new systematic review and meta analysis in Psychological Medicine puts hard numbers on the cannabis violence risk. The authors pooled 63 peer reviewed studies covering 265,079 people. Cannabis users had significantly higher odds of committing violent acts. Giulia Trotta and colleagues from King’s College London and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust searched the literature up to...
Cannabis and Tobacco Together: Two New Studies Raise Fresh Concerns for Young People at Risk of Psychosis
Cannabis and tobacco use often go hand in hand. For young people who already show early signs of psychosis, that habit may carry more weight than anyone assumed. Two linked studies from the same North American cohort point to a higher chance of developing a psychotic disorder, and weaker results on thinking tasks, among those who use both. Daniel Bello...
Two Habits, One Cycle: Pornography and Drug Use
What happens when pornography and drug use stop being separate behaviours and become part of the same reinforcing cycle, and are current harm reduction approaches equipped to address that cycle? Pornography and drug use can look like separate problems. The sources behind this article suggest that, for some people, they are not. This article looks at how pornography and drug...
National Red Ribbon Rally Unites Young People and Communities for a Drug Free Future
The 2026 Red Ribbon Rally has arrived with a message young people can carry anywhere: make a difference, be a hero, stay drug free. The Drug Enforcement Administration premiered the virtual National Red Ribbon Rally on dea.gov on 1 October 2026. Anyone can share it throughout October. This year also marks the 41st year of Red Ribbon Week and the...
Young People Are Being Drawn Into Drug Networks, and Europe Wants Answers
Organised drug crime across Europe is pulling in young people faster than the tools to protect them can keep up. That is the central warning in a new technical report from the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), published in Lisbon on 30 September 2026. The report examines the recruitment of young people into criminal drug networks and sets out where...
Three Years Into the UK’s Drug Strategy, the Treatment System Still Has Gaps
A new UK drug strategy evaluation has handed the government a mixed report card. The extra money was welcome and the aims have wide support. Yet the treatment system is not world class, and a whole system approach to alcohol and other drugs has not arrived. The findings come from RAND Europe. Researchers Lucy Strang and Jennifer Newbould discussed them...
Cychlorphine and the Limits of Managing Overdoses After the Fact
A new synthetic opioid is spreading through the illicit drug supply, and the early data make sobering reading. Ella Ruder reported in Becker’s Behavioral Health on 14 September 2026 that cychlorphine has been tied to at least 55 deaths across the United States since 2025. Laboratory work suggests the drug is about 10 times more potent than fentanyl. Those facts...
Want a Stronger Immune System? Start by Cutting Out Booze and Nicotine
If you want to strengthen your immune system, a WebMD slideshow has 13 tips to try. Medically reviewed by Jabeen Begum, MD, on 24 June 2025, the list leans towards adding things: more movement, more sleep, more colour on the plate. Two tips ask for the opposite. They tell you to cut back on booze and to give up smoking....
Getting Paid to Vape? Researchers Warn Smart Vapes That Reward Puffing Could Fuel Addiction
Picture a vape that pays you every time you use it. Two such devices already exist, and experts are not impressed. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina’s Hollings Cancer Center say smart vapes that hand out cryptocurrency could make addiction more likely. They also fear quitting will get harder. The warning appears in a Perspective piece in the...
How Schools Can Turn Trauma Informed Care Into Everyday Practice
Trauma informed care is moving up the agenda in UK schools, even when policy documents never use the phrase. The idea itself is simple. Staff learn how harmful experiences can shape a child’s wellbeing, then adjust the way they teach and respond. Trauma means an event, a series of events or a set of circumstances that a person experiences as...
Scotland Records 1,133 Drug Deaths as Decriminalisation Row Divides Holyrood
Drug fatalities in Scotland rose by 11 per cent in 2025, with 1,133 people losing their lives. According to the National Records of Scotland, the country still has the highest rate of drug deaths in Europe. The figures have also fuelled a heated row over decriminalisation. What the Figures Show The age standardised rate reached 21.4 deaths per 100,000 people,...
Your Liver Does Hundreds of Jobs, So Give It Less to Deal With
Most of us never think about our liver until something goes wrong. A WebMD feature by Paul Frysh, medically reviewed by Poonam Sachdev, MD, on 23 July 2024, is a good prompt to change that, and a good reason to look after your liver. It names three main jobs. The liver filters harmful things from your blood, stores fuel and...
Trauma Exposed Children Are Heading Towards Drugs, and Demand Reduction Cannot Wait
Demand reduction starts long before a teenager lights a first cigarette or tries an illicit drug. A large Brazilian study now shows why. Researchers from the University of Bath and the University of São Paulo followed thousands of children from birth. They found that behaviour problems in adolescence help carry the effects of childhood trauma into smoking, drug use and...
NIH Puts $6 Million Behind Healthier Workplaces for Addiction Treatment Staff
A $6 million federal grant is targeting a problem that rarely makes headlines: the strain on the addiction treatment workforce. The NIH has awarded the money through its HEAL Initiative. The research team behind it wants residential treatment jobs to be healthier, safer and easier to stay in. The funding, announced on 24 September 2026, backs the Residential Staff Health...
Princess of Wales Visits the Southend Scheme Where Gardening Helps Recovery
The Princess of Wales got her hands dirty on 24 September, joining people in recovery at a gardening session in Southend, Essex. She was marking Addiction Awareness Week in her role as patron of the Forward Trust. Kate turned down the offer of gardening gloves and helped to pot plants at Garon Park. When asked whether she did much gardening...
Drug Use Stays Stubbornly High While Rehab Doors Stay Shut, National Survey Finds
Australian drug trends 2026 tell a familiar story. Methamphetamine and heroin remain easy to buy, people keep using them for years, and the road out of addiction is still blocked for many who want to take it. The numbers come from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Sydney. Its 2026 Illicit Drug Reporting System findings draw on...
Arizona Attorney General Takes Kratom Maker Botanic Tonics to Court Over Feel Free Marketing
Arizona has launched a kratom lawsuit against the company behind Feel Free, a flavoured tonic that the state says hides its risks behind a wellness image. Attorney General Kris Mayes filed the complaint against Botanic Tonics, LLC in Maricopa County Superior Court on 23 September 2026. The announcement calls it a first in the nation. The kratom lawsuit accuses the...
Alcohol Addiction Is Changing Shape, and Screening Has to Keep Pace
Fewer young people are drinking, yet millions of adults still battle alcohol addiction. That is the blunt message from Dr George Koob, director of the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. He shared the latest research on alcohol addiction in a recent episode of The State of Mental Wellbeing podcast, hosted by Mohini Venkatesh of the National Council....
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