A damning report has laid bare the scale of drugs behind bars across England and Wales. It warns that a near total absence of purposeful activity is fuelling boredom, violence and self harm. Charlie Taylor published his final Annual Report as Chief Inspector of Prisons on 7 July 2026. He said prisoners often have nothing...
A major new review published in The Lancet Psychiatry examining global cannabis policies ought to have settled the argument. Instead, it will almost certainly deepen it. Indeed, I suspect the review will keep both tribes happily supplied for years to come. Drug policy, after all, has become not merely a disagreement about evidence but an entire ecosystem of...
New national data has revealed that overdose deaths in Australia have climbed to their highest level on record. People in their fifties are now more likely to die from an overdose than any other age group. The figures appear in the Penington Institute’s Overdose Snapshot 2026. Overall, the report paints a troubling picture of a...
A New York Times podcast on the global drug crisis raises urgent concerns, but leaves the most important questions unasked. There is something almost cinematic about the way The New York Times framed its recent investigation into the synthetic drugs crisis. A mysterious death in a Chicago jail. A criminal investigator who says “keister” instead...
As Vietnam launches its toughest anti-drug campaign yet, it is choosing its model. And it isn’t the one its neighbour just abandoned. Through June, Vietnam ran its 2026 Anti-Drug Action Month under a blunt national theme: a shared determination to build a drug-free commune. Provincial police forces launched simultaneous high-intensity operations to suppress drug crime...
A new study from Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus found alcohol-related deaths among adults 65+ are disproportionately concentrated across Western and Mountain West metros highlighting what clinicians say is an often-overlooked addiction and mental health issue among older Americans. The study analyzes CDC WONDER alcohol-induced mortality data and U.S. Census population estimates from 2020–2024 to identify: Where are Americans...
In the early hours of Saturday morning, Houston police carried out a nightclub raid on the East Freeway after months of complaints from local residents. Officers executed a search warrant at Latxica and seized narcotics, illegal alcohol and unlicensed tobacco products, detaining multiple people including those believed to be management. The Houston nightclub raid targeted...
Native American Overdose Deaths Remain High as US Figures Fall For the first time in a quarter century, deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide have fallen across the United States. Native American overdose deaths, however, tell a very different story. The overall decline is real and worth acknowledging. But for Native communities, the numbers remain...
For the first time in the recorded history of the US overdose epidemic, death rates have declined across all four defined waves of the crisis. A study published in June 2026 in the journal Addiction, led by researchers at the University of California San Diego, found that the national overdose death rate fell by 24.4%...
Melbourne’s alcohol wars are now impossible to ignore. Since February 2025, criminals have struck nearly 20 hospitality venues across the city. They have carried out arson attacks, shootings, and attempted kidnappings at popular bars and nightclubs. Small business owners are bearing the brunt of it, and the industry is rattled. Experts warn the situation echoes...