NEWS ROUND-UP
Giving prison leavers OST on final day cuts drug death risk by more than 50 per cent
Providing prison leavers with OST on their final day in custody was associated with a 50 per cent reduced risk of all-cause mortality and a 54 per cent reduced risk of a drug-related death in the four weeks following release, according to analysis by OHID and the Ministry of Justice( MoJ). Overdose rates are notoriously high in the period immediately after release, often the result of reduced tolerance.
The report looked at the outcomes for prison leavers in substance misuse treatment in England between 2018 and 2022, analysing more than 270,000 prison spells and linking data from the MoJ’ s Prison National Offender Management Information System( p-NOMIS), the ONS mortality register and NDTMS statistics. Almost 40 per cent of prison spells completed between August 2018 and December 2022 were matched to a prison-based substance misuse record, with prison spells for theft having the highest rate of treatment – at more than 60 per cent.
Drug use rates are particularly high for prisoners serving short sentences, with a 2025 MoJ report finding that three quarters of those serving a year or less had an identified substance misuse need. According to NDTMS figures, nearly half of prisoners receiving treatment said opiates were one of their problem substances, while Dame Carol Black’ s Independent review of drugs stated that‘ people with serious drug addiction’ now occupy one in three prison
Deaths after prison release by cause and days after release Prison leavers in substance misuse treatment: 4-week outcomes – www. gov. uk
Days after release 0 to 7 days 8 to 14 days 15 to 21 days 22 to 28 days
Drug-related death 101 38 24 19
Other cause of death 41 28 21 21 places. There were almost 2,900 deaths linked to prison spells in the analysis data set, 293 of which occurred within four weeks of leaving prison – of these, more than 60 per cent were drug-related deaths.
According to a National Audit Office( NAO) report from earlier this year, the prison service had been too slow in responding to the‘ substantial, increasing and rapidly changing’ threat from drugs in the prison estate, including the increasing problem of synthetic drugs. Security weaknesses – such as around the use of drones to smuggle drugs into prisons – needed to be‘ addressed with more urgency’, it stressed, with the age and condition of many prisons making them particularly vulnerable to smuggling. A report from HM Inspectorate of Prisons last year concluded that drugs were now undermining‘ every aspect’ of prison life, with rising levels of assaults and a negative impact on rehabilitative work.
Prison leavers in substance misuse treatment: 4-week outcomes available at www. gov. uk
Longer opening hours‘ significantly’ increase ambulance call outs
EXTENDED LATE-NIGHT OPENING hours for bars and clubs can significantly increase alcohol-related ambulance call outs as well as levels of reported crime, says a report from the University of Glasgow in partnership with the universities of Stirling and Sheffield.
There were also‘ no meaningful economic benefits’ from longer opening hours, it adds, meaning they were‘ unlikely to revitalise the night time economy’.
The study, which is the first of its kind in the UK, looked at the impact of extended opening in venues across Glasgow and Aberdeen. Longer and more widespread licensing extensions in Aberdeen led to an 11 per cent increase in ambulance call outs along with an 8 per cent increase in reported crime, while in Glasgow – where far fewer venues had extended opening, and those that did had more regulated extensions – there was no comparable increase in either call outs or crime. Almost 40 Aberdeen venues were granted late-night extensions of up to three hours, while Glasgow saw just ten venues granted a one-hour extension. Scotland had more than 31,000 alcohol-specific hospital admissions in 2022-23, with alcohol estimated to be involved in more than 15 per cent of all ambulance call outs.
Impact of later trading hours for bars and clubs on alcohol-related ambulance call-outs and crimes in Scotland is published in the journal BMJ Public Health at bmjpublichealth. bmj. com
Wastewater analysis shows £ 9.8bn cocaine consumption for England
ANALYSIS OF WASTEWATER SAMPLES by the Home Office shows that an estimated 123,000kg of cocaine was consumed in England in the year to July 2025, equating to a £ 9.8bn market value. Ketamine consumption, meanwhile, was estimated at more than 30,000kg, with a market value of just under £ 1bn.
The Home Office’ s Wastewater Analysis for Narcotics Detection( WAND) programme has been taking samples from wastewater treatment plants since 2021, and now covers just under a third of England’ s residential population.
The analysis shows that cocaine has by far the largest estimated consumption levels and market value of the six drug types measured – cocaine, ketamine, heroin, amphetamine, MDMA and methamphetamine. Heroin consumption was estimated at almost 7,000kg with a £ 0.3bn market value; amphetamine at nearly 47,000kg, with a £ 0.5bn market value, and MDMA at just under 10,000kg, equating to a £ 0.3bn market value.
Unsurprisingly most drugs show higher concentrations in urban areas – with London, Manchester, Liverpool and Brighton‘ notable hotspots’. Wastewater analysis: estimating drug consumption available at www. gov. uk
4 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • MAY 2026 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM