We are all in the gutter – but some of us are counting the nitrous oxide canisters
Joel Golby
MP Rosie Duffield wants to clamp down on laughing gas for health reasons. It’s the litter she should be worried about, says writer Joel Golby
May 2020
Coronavirus crisis could increase users' drug habits – report
Addiction expert says lockdown will be ‘tipping crisis’ for some recreational users
October 2019
The empty doorway
Spice is more than a deadly drug – it's a window on our society
Mike Power
Soaring use of the ‘zombie drug’ is an inevitable response to a systemic failure in social care and drugs laws
August 2019
Fears of public health emergency as drug deaths hit record levels
Figures for England and Wales show 16% rise in deaths from drug poisoning in 2018
April 2019
Spice in Sheffield: the city’s drive to tackle the highly addictive drug
How a joined-up approach is helping to reduce the number of people found comatose in the city centre
December 2018
Prisons ban Christmas cards with glitter due to drugs epidemic in jails
Measure in England and Wales aims to combat problem of post being sprayed with drugs
September 2018
Vapers tricked into buying synthetic cannabis-laced product
Huge rise in ambulance callouts to deal with spice users
August 2018
Surge in monkey dust drug use linked to social media, police say
Online conversations blamed for spreading use of class B drug popular in West Midlands
June 2018
Jeremy Hunt told shortage of suitable housing puts people with Asperger's at risk
Coroner writes to health secretary after vulnerable man died in care home that had not been inspected by watchdog
November 2017
Cambridge student 'confused' after taking legal high, inquest hears
Thomas Millward, 19, died after being found unconscious at Girton College in March 2016
Cambridge student died in fall after taking legal high, inquest told
Thomas Millward, 19, died in hospital after sustaining ‘traumatic’ brain injury in stairwell of Girton College, court hears
Drug use more likely than smoking among secondary school pupils
NHS survey finds 19% of youngsters aged 11-15 in England have smoked, 24% have taken drugs and 44% have drunk alcohol
September 2017
The laughing gas verdicts represent a failure of Britain’s drug policy
Harry Sumnall
The opportunity is being missed to license lower-risk substances like nitrous oxide. Instead, users are being directed towards more harmful drugs, says Harry Sumnall, a professor in substance use
August 2017
Laughing gas still illegal despite court decisions, UK government says
Home Office says nitrous oxide remains banned under Psychoactive Substances Act after collapse of two recent prosecutions
July 2017
Teenager dies in Devon after adverse reaction to suspected ‘legal high’
15-year-old girl dies in hospital after being found unconscious in park in Newton Abbot
Chemsex drugs and former legal highs targeted by Home Office
Experts praise return to harm-reduction in strategy aimed at cutting illicit drug use and improving dependence recovery rates
Number of prison deaths linked to new psychoactive drugs rises to 79
Figure for England and Wales since 2013 went up by 21 in latest revision, watchdog tells MPs, saying system is still in crisis
June 2017
Prohibition didn't work for alcohol and it's failing for marijuana
Jeff Sparrow
Almost one in three drugs overdoses in Europe recorded in UK
