Substance misuse resources

Under planned new laws anyone found in possession of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) for recreational use will face prosecution, according to the Guardian newspaper.

Nitrous oxide is one of the most popular recreational drugs among 16 to 24-year-olds and is usually inhaled from balloons filled via small metal cylinders, often found discarded on high streets.

It is already a criminal offence to supply it for its psychoactive effects under legislation brought in in 2016, but the gas is widely available online as it is used in the production of whipped creamed and freezing food, as well as for pain relief.

The Home Office is getting ready to add possession of it to the supply ban when it is meant for recreational use. It is expected to be classified alongside cannabis.

When the ban on possession for recreational use was first mooted by the then Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2021, the drug charity Release, who advocate for evidence-based drug policy, said it could leave tens of thousands of young people with a criminal record.

The Royal Society for Public Health, also in response to Priti Patel’s plans in 2021, said that criminalisation did not seem likely to reduce use of the drug.

The gas is known to produce a sense of euphoria, giggling and hallucinations, but can also cause dizziness, memory loss and injury due to leg weakness. It is said to inactivate vitamin B12 and consequently cause neurological problems.

According to doctors, the gas is responsible for an increase in spinal cord and nerve damage, as well as paralysis.

View our nitrous oxide resource...

We were commissioned to create a bespoke version of one of our most popular resources specifically to help clubbers celebrating Birmingham Pride Weekend to help them reduce the risks when using drugs.

We adapted our 16-page booklet, called the essential clubber’s guide to drugs & staying safe’, specifically for charity Life+, who handed it out to clubbers in Birmingham during the weekend. They referred to it as ‘life-saving’ when the story was featured in Birmingham Live.

Tom Jenkins, co-founder of Life+, said: "We’ve collaborated with Substance Misuse Resources for nearly a decade now. And it truly is a collaboration, as they’re great fun to bounce around ideas with. They give us the most up-to-date, relevant information possible and great-looking designs.”

David Kuczora and Tom Jenkins from Life+ with their clubbers guide

Visit our clubber’s guide resource page for more information.

Hundreds of thousands of people in need of free alcohol dependency treatment could get help more readily following new guidance urging GPs to monitor drinking habits much better in future, according to the Guardian.

Experts say that millions of people are either mildly or moderately dependent on alcohol, while hundreds of thousands have a severe dependency and are missing out on treatment or a referral to specialist services that could help. 

The new guidance has been drawn up by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), and is aimed at family doctors, as well as health, social care, voluntary sector and criminal justice workers, in England and Wales. They are urged to log information properly and in detail with validated questionnaires. 

The move has been welcomed by Dr Richard Piper, chief executive of the charity Alcohol Change UK. 

He said: “Over 10 million people in the UK consume alcohol at levels that pose a risk to their health and millions of us have mild or moderate dependency on alcohol – when we try to stop drinking, we often find it harder than we expect.

“Around 600,000 people have severe alcohol dependency and will, as a result, benefit hugely from professional alcohol treatment.

“Professional alcohol treatment is commissioned by local authorities across England and provided for free to everyone who needs it. And it works. However, there is currently a big problem: only around one in six of the people who could benefit from alcohol treatment actually take it up.”

A study published in Nicotine and Alcohol Research by Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) found that young adults who smoked at age 23 or 24 were more likely to switch to vaping by their late twenties if they believed it was the less harmful option.

Dr Katherine East, Associate Professor in Public Health at BSMS and lead author of the study, said misinformation is a major barrier to reducing smoking rates.

“There is a lot of misinformation circulating that vaping is as bad as smoking or even worse. While vaping is not without risks, the evidence is clear that vaping is much less harmful than smoking and can help people successfully quit smoking,” said Dr East.

The study found that in England in 2024, 85% of adults who smoke either wrongly believed that vaping was as harmful or more harmful than smoking or were unsure of the relative risks. This is a sharp rise from 59% in 2014.

Dr Jasmine Khouja, senior author of the study and Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol’s Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, said that addressing public misperceptions should be a priority.

“Our study highlights the need for interventions to improve the pervasive misperceptions about vaping that are currently observed among people who smoke,” said Dr Khouja.

“In recent years, we’ve seen a growing number of people believe that vaping is equally or more harmful than smoking. Our study shows that these beliefs could be stopping some people from switching from smoking to vaping as a less harmful alternative.”

Professor Ann McNeill, co-author of the study and Professor of Tobacco Addiction at King’s College London, stressed the urgency of tackling misinformation.

“Smoking is uniquely deadly and will kill one in two regular sustained smokers, yet most people who smoke do not know vaping is less harmful and can help them to stop smoking completely. Our study shows the importance of addressing vaping misperceptions among people who smoke,” she said.

The study analysed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a long-term research project based at the University of Bristol. The research was funded by the Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA).

Further Information

• Nicotine and Alcohol Research – Study link

• NHS – Vaping to quit smoking

• Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) – Facts about vaping

• Cancer Research UK – E-cigarettes and vaping

• Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children – Study information

• Society for the Study of Addiction – Funding body

 The government has set aside £421 million in extra funds for 151 local authorities to help them recruit more staff to work with people who have drug and alcohol problems and invest in the quality of their treatment services.

According to the government, the money will help create more than 50,000 high-quality treatment places and will support more people in residential rehabilitation or in-patient detoxification. A better recovery service will then sustain them outside treatment, helping to reduce the relapse rate.

The money is expected to help more prison leavers into treatment and recovery services too.

Tim Young, chief executive of The Alcohol & Drug Service (ADS), said: “We welcome today’s announcement as, without funding the ambitions set out in the National Drug Strategy would remain just words on a page. “So, whilst there are no quick or easy fixes for systemic problems such as substance misuse, this presents an opportunity to turn those ambitions into reality and, provide hope for individuals, families and communities.”

The funding is prioritised for areas with the highest need based on the rate of drug deaths, deprivation, opiate and crack cocaine prevalence, crime rates, and the size of the population likely to need treatment.

The improved service will be available for a wide range of substances, including powder cocaine, ecstasy, prescription drugs and cannabis. The latter, statistics show, is the most common substance that young people receive treatment for – at 87%.

Health Minister Neil O’Brien said: “This funding will help improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol recovery services right across the country, helping more people access the support they need, saving lives and benefitting communities.”

The move is part of the government’s drug strategy published in December 2021, in which it estimates that over the first three years of its implementation this additional funding will prevent nearly 1,000 drug-related deaths.

The money will be doled out across England and over two financial years, up to 2025.

MPs have urged Government to ease restrictions on magic mushroom drug psilocybin so it can be researched properly for its potential to treat mental health conditions, as reported on the BBC website.

In a debate in parliament, the MP for Warrington North Charlotte Nichols, who said she suffered from ‘debilitating’ PTSD, said studies had found psilocybin was an effective treatment in a range of mental health conditions including PTSD, depression, anorexia and addiction. 

She said: "It feels like institutional cruelty to condemn us to our misery when there are proven, safe, and effective treatment options if the government would only let us access them."

Psilocybin is categorised alongside MDMA (ecstasy) and LSD under Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. That means it’s illegal to possess or prescribe

and can only be used for research purposes with a specific home Office licence. 

MP for Reigate Crispin Blunt told the Commons the cost was too much for many researchers. He said it was ‘scandalous’ that the government had not prioritised reclassifying psilocybin.

Home Office Minister Robert Jenrick said the government wanted to ‘tackle this issue across all categories of section one drugs, to reduce barriers to legitimate research rather than focus on individual drugs’.

A recent study showed that psilocybin can improve the symptoms of severe depression for up to 12 weeks.

The trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, tested 1mg, 10mg and 25mg doses on 233 people from 10 countries in Europe and North America. The best results came from the 25mg dose.

But experts said more studies were needed.

About 100 million people worldwide have serious clinical depression that doesn’t respond to available treatments. Almost a third attempt suicide.

Study author and consultant psychiatrist Dr James Rucker said the drug was thought to have ‘a direct action on the brain, putting it into a more flexible state and providing a window of opportunity for therapy’.

According to the NHS, misuse of psilocybin can also trigger psychotic episodes. 

The report, called The Cannabis Conundrum: a way forward for London, has been produced by the London Drugs Commission, which was set up by Khan in 2022 and is chaired by Labour Peer and former Justice Secretary KC Lord Charlie Falconer.

It calls for the law to be modified on the basis that the severity of penalties for related offences, particularly possession, is ‘disproportionately high’.

It goes on to say that the law on cannabis possession is experienced disproportionately by those from ethnic minority groups, particularly London’s black communities who are more likely to be stopped and searched by police on suspicion of cannabis possession, though no more likely than white people to be found carrying the drug.

The report’s key recommendation include:

• Removing natural (but not synthetic) cannabis from the Misuse of Drugs Act
• Moving it under the Psychoactive Substances Act instead
• Focusing criminal justice efforts on dealers rather than users
• Providing better medical support for those with cannabis addiction

The report concludes: “While not a perfect solution, we therefore recommend natural (but not synthetic) cannabis be removed from the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). This will bring it under the Psychoactive Substances Act (PSA). We think this represents the best way of addressing key harms of the current law.”

London Mayor Khan said: “I’ve long been clear that we need fresh thinking on how to reduce the substantial harms associated with drug-related crime in our communities.”

Commission Chair Lord Falconer said: “This is the most extensive consideration of what is the correct public policy response to cannabis in recent times. It is clear that a fundamental reset is required. Legalisation is not the answer.

“The criminal justice system response needs to focus only on the dealers and not the users.

“Those who suffer from the adverse effects of cannabis - which may be a small percentage of users but it is a high number of people - need reliable, consistent medical and other support. And there needs to be much more education on the risks of cannabis use.

“Our Report provides detailed recommendations on how the law needs to change to reflect a new focus for the criminal justice system, and how the response of the public and other sectors can better support those damaged by cannabis use.”

The report is based on the evidence of over 200 experts and academics from London, across the UK and around the world. It makes 42 recommendations and makes overarching conclusions that relate to public health, policing, the justice system and education.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We have no intention of reclassifying cannabis from a Class B substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act.”

Cannabis is currently classified as a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act, meaning possession can result in up to five years in prison, while supply and production offences can carry up to 14 years.

For full details, read The Cannabis Conundrum report.

According to a recent report by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS), "58,108 people committed a drug driving offence between 2010 and 2019. Of these, 14,224 had a previous drink/drug driving offence on their record, meaning 24% of drug driving offenders were re-offending." By comparison, 7% of people who had a drink-drive conviction were re-offending, the report added.

Ten repeat drug drive offenders were involved in fatal accidents. In addition, over 400 offenders had numerous previous drug/drink offences on their record - with one offender having 18 prior convictions.

In 2019, 92 people died, and 672 people were seriously injured where drugs impaired a driver/rider - an increase since 2013 when 36 people died, and 241 people were seriously injured in such collisions.

Most people who re-offend did so soon after their conviction. The report said, "11,402 committed an offence in the year after their previous offence." These numbers don't include people who weren't caught, so the actual level of re-offending is likely to be higher.

Generally, drug drivers are more likely to have a criminal record, most of which are drug-related. Research carried out in 2017 found that "67% of those convicted of drug driving offences had one or more previous convictions. In addition, 28% of those convicted had ten or more previous offences. Typically, these offences were for theft/burglary or drug-related."

More than half of people screened for drug driving were under 30, with the highest percentage of positive results being in the 20-25 age group. In addition, men were more likely to test positive than women - 61% of tests on men were positive, compared to 51% for women.

Cannabis, followed by cocaine, was the most common drug detected. Unsurprising considering most roadside saliva devices test for cannabis and cocaine, the most widely used illegal drugs in the UK. However, there is also evidence that controlled prescription drugs, such as benzodiazepines and opioids, are frequently used at levels that could impair driving.

Many drivers who test positive for drugs may also have alcohol in their system and vice versa. But as drug driving combined with drink driving carries no additional penalty, a drug driving test may not be carried out if an initial alcohol test proves positive. As a result, the number of drivers combining alcohol and illegal drugs is unknown. However, a 2017 French study found that half of the drug drivers also had alcohol levels above the permitted limits in France.

While certain groups are more likely to drug drive, drug driver is happening throughout the general population. The number of drug drivers appears higher than reported, and it is clear that a wide-ranging strategy is needed to tackle the problem. The strategy needs to gather accurate, up-to-date data to underpin enforcement and provide support for people convicted of drug driving to reduce the level of re-offending.

The report concludes with several recommendations, including,
better education of drivers around the risks of drug driving, introducing a new drug and drink driving offence - supported by increased levels of enforcement. Improving detection rates by using roadside tests to detect a broader range of drugs and introducing a new drug drive rehabilitation course - similar to the existing drink and drug driving course - but run exclusively for drug drivers.

Go to Drug Driving resource... 

Our updated and redesigned resource, Drink Less Alcohol - Six Steps to Changing your Drinking Habits, can support people who want to control their alcohol use and reduce the amount they are drinking.

A longstanding belief that moderate alcohol consumption might be beneficial for health is being challenged by recent research. This new study suggests that the supposed health benefits of moderate drinking have been exaggerated due to flawed methodologies in previous studies.

Canadian scientists analyzed 107 studies on alcohol consumption and lifespan. They discovered that many of these studies failed to account for individuals who had reduced or stopped drinking due to health issues. Consequently, these studies compared drinkers with non-drinkers, who were often less healthy, skewing the results in favour of alcohol consumption.

Dr. Tim Stockwell, a researcher at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria, stated, "It's been a propaganda coup for the alcohol industry to propose that moderate use of their product lengthens people's lives." He emphasized that this misconception has influenced national drinking guidelines and public health policies globally.

Published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, the analysis highlights a significant issue: the group of non-drinkers often included sick individuals, which distorted the perceived health benefits of moderate drinking. "Estimates of the health benefits from alcohol have been exaggerated while its harms have been underestimated in most previous studies," Stockwell noted.

The analysis also reevaluated the commonly cited J-curve effect, which suggests that light drinkers have lower death rates. While initial data indicated that light to moderate drinkers had a 14% lower risk of dying compared to abstainers, this benefit disappeared in higher-quality studies that accurately categorized former drinkers and lifelong teetotalers.

The implications of these findings are substantial. Former UK Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies has consistently argued that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. Supporting Dame Sally Davies' view, a major 2018 study linked alcohol to 2.8 million deaths in 2016, identifying it as the leading risk factor for premature death and disability in 15- to 49-year-olds. Additionally, significant percentages of cancer deaths among those over 50 were associated with alcohol consumption.

Despite this evidence, current UK guidelines suggest adults limit their drinking to 14 units per week. However, the growing body of research indicates that even low levels of alcohol can be harmful. A 2019 study of over half a million Chinese men linked alcohol to more than 60 diseases, including liver cirrhosis, stroke, and various cancers.

Dr Iona Millwood from the University of Oxford, a co-author of the Chinese study, explained, "Studies of alcohol and health can be subject to biases, even when they are well-conducted. This is because drinking patterns tend to correlate with other factors, such as smoking and socioeconomic status, and people often change their drinking patterns in response to poor health. We are seeing increasing evidence that the apparent beneficial health effects of moderate drinking are unlikely to be causal."

These findings call for a reevaluation of how the health impacts of alcohol are studied and understood, advocating for more rigorous methodologies to provide more precise insights into the actual effects of alcohol consumption.

Go to Alcohol resources...

Health professionals warn that serious, sometimes irreversible bladder damage linked to regular ketamine use is affecting a growing number of people across the UK. Cases have surged in recent years, with experts saying the drug scars and inflames the bladder. They're calling for urgent action to raise awareness and tackle a largely overlooked public health issue.

In 2014, the UK government reclassified ketamine from Class C to Class B after growing evidence showed it could cause serious harm to the bladder, urinary tract, and kidneys. The change intended to reduce use by making possession and distribution a more serious criminal offence. However, use among 16–24-year-olds has steadily increased since then—from 0.8% in 2012–13 (around 50,000 people) to 3.2% in 2019–20 (about 200,000), rising again to 3.8% in 2022–23—roughly 235,000 young people—according to ONS data.

The move followed recommendations from the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which had raised concerns about long-term health risks, particularly bladder damage. However, over a decade later, usage has not declined, and health services nationwide are now dealing with the consequences.

Urology clinics in England and Wales have reported a steady rise in patients with ketamine bladder, some as young as 19 requiring invasive treatment. Dr Mohammed Belal, a consultant urologist and member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, told the BBC in early 2024 that the increase in cases was striking. "These are symptoms we'd normally associate with elderly people," he said. "Now we're seeing them in people in their twenties."

Amber Currah, 27, from Morecambe, is one such case. She began using ketamine socially in her late teens, but by the time she realised something was wrong, the damage was already underway. "It got to the point where I realised the bladder damage had started," she told the BBC, "but the only thing that would take away the pain was ketamine." Amber has since stopped using the drug but still lives with chronic pain and incontinence.

Regular ketamine use can trigger damage to the bladder lining, causing inflammation, scarring, and pain and eventually shrinks the bladder, reducing its ability to hold urine. Some people are left needing to urinate much more frequently. Others become incontinent or develop intense burning pain during urination.

Many people experiencing symptoms don't connect them to their drug use. Frequent urination and pelvic pain are often mistaken for urinary tract infections, leading to delayed diagnosis. Specialists often find the damage is already permanent by the time they see patients. In the worst cases, patients require surgery to remove the bladder entirely, leaving them with a urostomy bag for life.

A particularly harmful aspect of ketamine bladder is how the drug itself masks the damage it causes. Because ketamine is an anaesthetic, some people use it to dull the pain—creating a cycle where the drug becomes both the source of harm and a temporary escape from it.

In a statement issued in February 2024, the Home Office cited "increasing" evidence of the long-term harm caused by ketamine misuse. It followed renewed calls to tighten controls, echoing the findings of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), whose 2013 report led to ketamine's reclassification as a Class B drug. Ministers are now considering whether it should be upgraded again—to Class A.

Once considered a niche club drug, ketamine has become increasingly mainstream over the past decade. People snort ketamine in small doses on nights out, often dipping the tip of a key or a small spoon into a bag of powder and inhaling a "bump"—a method sometimes called keying, or sometimes chopped into lines and snorted through a straw or rolled note. Effects kick in within 10 to 15 minutes and last around an hour.

At low doses, ketamine can produce a sense of detachment, euphoria, and mild visual distortions. Higher doses, however, can lead to stumbling, confusion, and what users refer to as a "K-hole"—a state of intense dissociation where they may feel immobilised and disconnected from reality.

Support services for people looking to reduce or stop their use are patchy, and not all drug services have clear guidance on how to deal with ketamine-related health issues. Harm reduction workers are now pushing for ketamine harm reduction resources to be included more explicitly in education, outreach, and treatment pathways.

Public health experts say the UK is lagging when it comes to raising awareness of ketamine-related harm. While some progress has been made in nightlife settings, awareness among the general public—and even among GPs—remains low.

Go to our ketamine resources page

Police forces are set to crack down on drink spiking as part of a new government push that will see it clarify that it is a crime.

As part of a raft of measures introduced by Home Secretary James Cleverly, coordinated police action across all forces in England and Wales will tackle spiking during key weeks of the year. At the same time, the government is planning to modernise the law so it is clear that spiking – putting alcohol or drugs into someone’s drink or body without their consent – is illegal. It will include separate guidance – set in law – that will give a clear, unequivocal definition of what spiking is.

The change will update parts of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which already makes it an offence to maliciously administer poison so as to endanger the life of someone or inflict grievous bodily harm.

The new law is designed to give victims confidence to report incidents to the police, raise public awareness of the crime and a sentence of up to 10 years in prison for anyone found guilty of spiking.

Additional government’s measures include the following: 

• Training door staff to spot potential perpetrators and victims
• Research into a test kit to help drinking venues and the police to detect spiking in real-time
• An online tool to make it easier for someone to make an anonymous report if they fear they have been spiked
• Spiking guidance and advice toolkit for anyone wanting information on what it is, how to report it, how to support a victim and which criminal offences can be used to report it.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said: "Spiking is a perverse crime which can have a lasting impact on victims. Our comprehensive new measures are designed to help police and staff in bars, restaurants, pubs and other premises to protect victims and bring more offenders to justice."

According to a Home Office report, the police receives an average of 561 reports of spiking a month, mostly from women after incidents in or near bars and nightclubs.

A UN report warns of the rapid spread of nitazenes—super-strength synthetic opioids more potent than fentanyl—across Europe and North America. These drugs, linked to soaring overdose deaths, have been detected in the UK, US, Canada, and several European nations. The rise of nitazenes coincides with Afghanistan’s strict ban on opium poppy cultivation, which has slashed global heroin supply.

The Taliban's crackdown, hailed as the most successful in history, has seen opium production drop by up to 95% since 2022. Satellite imagery confirms that major poppy-growing provinces, including Helmand, have seen cultivation collapse by over 99% according to a BBC report. While the move aligns with the Taliban’s religious stance and aims to curb addiction, many Afghan farmers who once relied on poppy cultivation have been forced to grow alternative crops such as wheat. However, wheat and other substitutes generate significantly lower income than opium, pushing many farmers into poverty and worsening economic hardship.

Despite the ban, heroin prices have not yet surged, suggesting large stockpiles remain. However, experts warn that as supplies dwindle, users may increasingly turn to synthetic opioids like nitazenes, which carry a far higher risk of overdose. The UK has classified nitazenes as Class A drugs, yet trafficking continues.

This shift marks a critical turning point in global drug markets. While the Taliban’s ban has achieved what decades of Western intervention failed to, its long-term consequences remain uncertain. As heroin supply tightens, the spread of potent synthetic alternatives could drive a new wave of deadly drug crises.

Background on nitazenes

Nitazenes are a class of synthetic opioids first developed in the 1950s by pharmaceutical companies as experimental painkillers. However, due to their extreme potency—some being up to 40 times stronger than fentanyl—they were never approved for medical use. Unlike heroin and morphine, which are derived from the opium poppy, nitazenes are fully synthetic, meaning they can be easily produced in illicit laboratories. This has led to their increasing availability on the black market, often mixed into other drugs without users' knowledge, leading to a surge in overdoses. The unpredictable potency of nitazenes has made them a growing concern among health officials worldwide.

Global drug use trends

Global drug use increased by 20% in the past decade to 292 million users in 2022, the report said. Cannabis remains the most widely used with 228 million users worldwide. It is followed by:

• Opioids - 60 million

• Amphetamines - 30 million

• Cocaine - 23 million

• Ecstasy - 20 million

Further information

View our Understanding Fentanyl & Nitazene Risks: A Guide for Opioid Users

First produced in 1887, amphetamine (Speed) has had many uses; it is both a legally prescribed medication and used illegally in recreational or nightlife settings. Our new 20-page Speed resource focuses on people who use speed as a stimulant to keep the party going a little bit longer. It is suitable for people who use speed or need to know more about its effects and risks.

In the 1970s and 80s, using speed (aka whizz, Billy, and sulphate) increased among young people in the mod and punk scenes and the all-nighter Northern Soul clubs - before gaining a new lease of life in the rave clubs of the 80s and onwards. It is still one of the most popular illegal drugs in the UK.

Our new speed resource starts with a brief history, followed by how speed affects your body and brain, how it's used, and how it can make you feel.

The following section on risks covers:

• Spreading germs
• Nostril damage
• Injecting,
• Lack of sleep
• Low energy
• Heart attack and stroke
• Psychosis
• Addiction

Order from the substance resource shop

The second half of the resource provides information on mixing drugs, the law, and drug driving.

The final part - Think! - contains harm-reduction advice on reducing the risks associated with using speed.

We have condensed down all the latest up-to-date information about speed into an attractive, compact 20-page booklet that covers all the potential health risk and provides information and advice on how to reduce those risks. You can buy copies of the Speed resource in our substance shop.

Substance Misuse Resources proudly announces the launch of Drug Talk, a groundbreaking harm reduction website for young adults from ethnic minority backgrounds living on the Wirral. Our creative team was commissioned by Wirral Multicultural Organization and Wirral Council to design and develop the site.

It's the first and only website to provide drug and alcohol information written and designed specifically for young adults from ethnic minority backgrounds, whether they use drugs themselves or are worried about a friend or family member who does. Drug Talk fills a crucial gap in accessible, culturally-sensitive resources.

Our brief was to create a site that would encourage conversations around drug and alcohol use and harm reduction among ethnic minority communities living on the Wirral, specifically to help tackle the silence that comes from the associated cultural stigma. People from ethnic minorities don't take any more drugs than anyone else, but if they do, they're less likely to ask for support because of this silence.

Substance Creative Director Ian Molyneux said: "Our challenge was to design a distinctive website that was both culturally and visually appropriate. We have been creating drug and alcohol resources for over 30 years, so we understand how important it is to produce resources that resonate with users and don't lecture them. In today's visually-literate world, people are constantly scrolling through high-quality graphics and engaging stories and doing it across various platforms and media. That means grabbing and keeping hold of their interest is becoming ever more challenging. We've designed Drug Talk so it stands out and cuts through the noise to provide a platform that young people from ethnic minority backgrounds can relate to - and trust.

"The site's brand is based on a speech bubble to promote starting and having conversations around this difficult topic. We use illustrations of people and drugs in a way that give ethnic minorities on the Wirral a sense of ownership. All the images – as well as the language – have been designed to be visually striking, as well as non-judgmental and non-stigmatising.

"Everything we did was informed by research, carried out by public health research consultant Andrew Bennett and with people from ethnic backgrounds living on the Wirral. A significant feature of Drug Talk is an accessibility tool called Recite Me, which allows the entire website to be translated into around a hundred languages (including audio). Recite Me also includes accessibility features for neuro divergencies so people can adapt the site to their specific needs, such as dyslexia or autism".

Research informed the range of drugs selected for harm reduction advice on Drug Talk, and the information used for the content came from our own range of harm reduction resources. The content has been written specifically for people with English as a second language.

The information on drugs is broken down into easy-to-digest categories that include what the drug is, how it's used, its effects, associated problems and risks and reducing those risks, staying in control and the law around the use of that drug. The latter includes how a conviction might affect an asylum claim. Drug Talk offers support, as well as further support and referral pathways.

We've also included downloadable, bite-sized versions of the harm reduction information on each drug.

The project was funded by a grant from Wirral SSMTR (Supplementary Substance Misuse, Treatment and Recovery) administered by Wirral Council. We partnered with the Wirral Multicultural Organisation and Wirral Met College, creating different designs that were tested directly with people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

To commission Substance, or talk about any creative, design, or development project you're planning, get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Ian on 07532 214 432. Or, find out more about what we do.

Go to Drug Talk website

Deaths related to alcohol use have risen to record rates during 2020, according to a report by the Office for National Statistics.  The figures for 2020 show a higher death rate than in any years since records began in 2001. There were ten deaths per 100,00 people in 2001; the figure for 2021 stands at 14 deaths per 100,000.

Figures show that males die on average at twice the rate of females; 19 deaths per hundred thousand (5,957) for males and nine deaths per 100,000 females (3,017 deaths). That gap widens in London, where it rises to over three times that rate; 15 deaths per 100,000 people for males and five deaths per 100,000 for females. 

 The report found that around 80% of deaths were due to liver disease; although alcohol-related cirrhosis can take a decade or more to develop, most deaths from liver failure happen due to recent alcohol intake, a recent PHE study found.

 Recorded Alcohol deaths peaked at the ages of between 55 and 59; this age range accounted for over 1550 deaths, with the youngest age range 25 -29 accounting for 46.

 Speaking in the Guardian, Dr James Tucker, the head of health analysis, said: "There will be many complex factors behind the elevated risk since spring 2020.

 "For instance, Public Health England analysis has shown consumption patterns have changed since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, which could have led to hospital admissions and ultimately deaths. We've seen increases in loneliness, depression, and anxiety during the pandemic and these could also be factors. However, it will be some time before we fully understand the impact of all of these."

Charities and health experts have warned that changing drinking habits, which saw more people drinking at home during lockdown, could lead to a sharp rise in people misusing alcohol and increased demand for services.

 Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance - a coalition of charities and campaign groups - said the increase in deaths linked to alcohol was "devastating".

 "Each of these numbers represents a life of an individual cut short by alcohol consumption and a family that has been left in mourning." He said the government must urgently introduce an alcohol strategy that addresses health inequalities, and improve access to treatment, "and stop the sale of cheap, strong alcohol that is so harmful to health."

 Prof Julia Sinclair, chair of the addictions faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the numbers were "a wake-up call to the government," and that millions more people have been drinking at levels that will affect their health and put them at risk of addiction

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We are committed to supporting everyone's mental and physical wellbeing through the pandemic, and we encourage anyone who is struggling to come forward for help."