A youth charity has launched free anti-vaping resources for schools across England. The materials give primary school pupils the knowledge and confidence to resist nicotine products before they reach secondary school. Talk About Trust spent 18 months developing the programme. The charity piloted it across nine Dorset schools and shaped it alongside NHS anti-vaping work...
UK alcohol deaths have reached their highest point on record. A growing coalition of public health researchers, clinicians, and policy experts is now warning that without bold government action, the toll on people’s lives, the NHS, and the wider economy will only grow worse. This warning comes as the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) and...
A Texas couple are taking legal action against OpenAI after their 19-year-old son died of a drug overdose. The case puts a harsh spotlight on AI chatbot misuse in everyday life. The family say the platform gave reckless, unqualified guidance that cost their son his life. Leila Turner-Scott and her husband, Angus Scott, filed the...
Fentanyl crisis prevention has never been more urgent. In the United States, more than 80,000 people die from opioid-related causes every year, and the vast majority of those deaths now involve fentanyl or similar synthetic drugs. Behind every one of those numbers is a person, a family, and a community that will never be the...
More than 2.2 million Australian men engage in risky drinking in midlife, a landmark national study has confirmed. Researchers found that men aged 30 to 59 routinely exceed safe limits, yet public health campaigns continue to overlook them almost entirely. Flinders University led the research in partnership with the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF). It...
Every year, thousands of people arrive in A&E across the UK having survived an opioid overdose. Many leave without receiving any meaningful help for the underlying problem. A growing body of research is asking whether placing peer support workers in A&E could change that. New research published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine suggests it...
England’s drug and alcohol care system is leaving thousands without joined-up support. A major RAND Europe report, published in 2026, finds that structural barriers, deep-rooted stigma and weak policy direction are still blocking progress where it matters most. The report is part of a wider evaluation called D-SITAR. Researchers examined how well drug and alcohol...
Gabapentinoids, which include gabapentin and pregabalin, now rank among the most prescribed medicines in the world. Gabapentinoid drug poisoning risk is a real and growing public health concern that too few people talk about openly. In the United States, gabapentin has become the seventh most prescribed drug. In the UK, prescriptions have climbed sharply over...
The White House now calls commercial marijuana harms a national public health threat. The newly released National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) spotlights the fast spread of high-potency cannabis risks across the country. Officials tie these products directly to rising addiction rates, youth exposure, and organised crime. The strategy also takes aim at an industry that,...
Achieving one year of sobriety is a big milestone. But long-term alcohol relapse is more common than many people realise. It can happen even after years, sometimes decades, of being alcohol-free. A study published in Frontiers in Public Health in early 2026 has begun to shed light on exactly this. It examined what changes in...