HRB National Drugs Library e-newsletter volume 21, issue 11

Our newsletter includes links to Irish and international publications related to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. To view our entire collection of research and access our resources visit our website, Ireland's comprehensive substance use research library. And follow us @HRBdrugslibrary

Also, take a look at our NDTRS treatment data tables, services map and alcohol dashboard, among other resources on our site

Irish-related publications

Healthy Ireland survey 2025 - summary report

Ipsos B&A. (2025) Dublin: Department of Health

What we know from Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) 2008-2024: key well-being factors for children and young people

Philippe, Kaat et al (2025) Dublin: Department of Children, Disability and Equality

Exploring parental problem alcohol use in the Irish context: a narrative review of the literature and opportunities for improvement

McGettrick, Rachel and O'Sullivan, Katriona (2025) SSRN, Early online. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5603175

CRISSCROSS project: local pilot action plan

Health Service Executive. (2025) CRISSCROSS Project

Webinar recording. Supporting your teen when they’re feeling socially excluded

Major, Emmet et al (2025) Planet Youth

Ketamine [Audio]

Fox, Laura and Killeen, Nicki (2025) Dublin: RTE

An exploratory analysis of social connectedness and alcohol use of mature women

Clarke, Grainne et al (2025) Journal of Addictive Diseases, Early online. pp. 1-11. doi.org/10.1080/10550887.2025.2574911

Examining youth protections against gambling in Ireland: a tiger team (red team) examination of the national lottery.

Daly, Mia et al(2026) Epidemiology Biostatistics and Public Health, 21, (1). doi.org/10.54103/2282-0930/30098

Teacher attitudes towards and awareness of adolescent gambling behaviour in the Republic of Ireland

Murphy, Raegan et al (2025) Journal of Gambling Studies, Early online. doi.org/10.1007/s10899-025-10434-7

Assessment of gambling perspectives amongst elite Irish athletes; a qualitative analysis

Gearailt, Conall Mac et al (2025) Irish Journal of Medical Science, Early online. doi.org/10.1007/s11845-025-04179-w

Joining the dots housing precarity, homelessness and violence against women and girls

(2025) Dublin: National Women’s Council

Vaping and young people. [Webpage]

Health Service Executive. (2025)

Smokeless nicotine and tobacco products. [Webpage]

Health Service Executive. (2025)

An assessment of the efficacy of bail laws in Ireland

Staines, Lorcan (2025) Dublin: Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration

Re-offending by detected incidents 2024

(2025) Cork: CSO

Pre-legislative scrutiny of General Scheme of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025

Alcohol Action Ireland/Silent Voices submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. (2025) Alcohol Action Ireland

Police recorded drug seizures and arrests in Northern Ireland update to 30th September 2025

2025) Belfast: PSNI Statistics Branch

Clustering of oral health-related behaviors and their association with sociodemographic factors in adolescents living in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Camila, Ávila-Oliver et al (2025) Clinical and Experimental Dental Research, 11, (6). doi.org/10.1002/cre2.70209

Submission. Mental Health Commission - public consultation on national standards for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

(2025) Dublin: Alcohol Action Ireland

Mental Health Bill 2024: a plain English guide to key concerns and recommendations.

(2025) Dublin: Mental Health Reform

National Development Plan review 2025: securing Ireland’s future. Sectoral investment plan: Department of Health

(2025) Dublin: Department of Health.

Loneliness: what Ireland’s young people are telling us

(2025) Dublin: Spunout

School attendance data: primary and post-primary schools; and student absence reports: primary and post-primary schools 2023-2024

Tusla Education and Support Service. (2025) Dublin: Tusla

Afterschool care for school-aged children in Ireland

Russell, Helen et al (2025) Dublin: ESRI

Department of Education and Youth Inspectorate report (2024) and thematic review.

Department of Education and Youth Inspectorate. (2025) Dublin: Department of Education and Youth

Department of Children, Disability and Equality statement of strategy 2025 – 2028

(2025) Dublin: Department of Children, Disability and Equality

Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration statement of strategy 2025-2028

(2025) Dublin: Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration

Office of the Inspector of Prisons annual report 2024

Office of the Inspector of Prisons. (2025) Dublin: Office of the Inspector of Prisons

Social inclusion services key performance indicator metadata 2025

(2025) Dublin: Health Service Executive

Oberstown Children Detention Campus annual report 2024

(2025) Dublin: Oberstown Children Detention Campus

Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions annual report 2024

(2025) Dublin: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions

Extern Ireland annual report 2023 - 2024

(2025) Waterford: Extern Ireland

The State Laboratory annual report 2024

(2025) Dublin: The State Laboratory

Criminal Assets Bureau annual report 2024

(2025) Dublin: Criminal Assets Bureau

Activity of acute public hospitals in Ireland 2024 annual report

Healthcare Pricing Office, Health Service Executive. (2025) Dublin: Health Service Executive

Cork Simon annual impact report 2024

(2025) Cork: Cork Simon Community

Health Products Regulatory Authority annual report 2024

(2025) Dublin: Health Products Regulatory Authority

International publications

Foresight activities within the EU Agencies Network on Scientific Advice (EU-ANSA).

EU-ANSA. (2025) Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union

Health at a glance 2025: OECD indicators

OECD, European Commission. (2025) Paris: OECD Publishing

Global state of harm reduction: 2025 update to key data

(2025) London: Harm Reduction International

An evaluation of a psychoeducational harm-reduction focused intervention targeting music festival attendees/at risk of negative outcomes surrounding recreational substance use

Rayner, CL et al (2025) doi.org/10.1177/20503245251391113

Trauma-informed principles in practice: a mixed-method study of co-producing systems change with people who have experienced multiple disadvantage

Stone, Tracey et al (2025) Health Expectations, 28, (6). doi.org/10.1111/hex.70472

“My advice is to not let him in”: how support for concerned significant others is shaped by professionals’ understandings of alcohol and other drug problems

Hans, Fagerstrom et al (2025) Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Early online. doi.org/10.1177/14550725251388554

"You're not informed unless you make it your business": insights from a Scottish national study exploring attitudes towards residential rehabilitation

Dumbrell, Josh et al (2025) Harm Reduction Journal, 22. doi.org/10.1186/s12954-025-01336-3

Pathways of hope - lived experience of drug + alcohol dependence, and recovery. A public information comic

Humanising Healthcare et al (2025) Glasgow: University of Glasgow

Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for adults with substance use disorder that have a co-occurring common mental health disorder: an umbrella review

Simpson, Emma L et al (2025) Drug and Alcohol Review, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/dar.70066

Contingency management interventions for substance use and addictive behaviours: review of the United Kingdom evidence base

Getty, Carol-Ann et al (2025) Addiction, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/add.70240

Universal treatment curriculum (UTC) self led courses

Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme. (2025) London: ISSUP

Risk reconsidered: insights from a data saturation analysis of sexual health research amongst gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men

Field, David James et al (2025) Culture, Health & Sexuality, Early online. pp. 1-12. doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2025.2567290

(2025) European Union Drugs Agency

Femicides in 2024: global estimates of intimate partner/family member femicides

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UN Women. (2025) Vienna: United Nations

Reluctant risk-takers: how law enforcement practices at festivals can obstruct safer drug use

Ruane, Dara (2025) International Journal of Drug Policy, 145. doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.105013

Research brief on transnational organized crime: special points of interest.

(2025) Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Tackling the drugs crisis in our prisons

House of Commons Justice Committee. (2025) London: House of Commons

Ending the cycle of reoffending – part one: rehabilitation in prisons

House of Commons Justice Committee. (2025) London: House of Commons

Drug use among people in prison: a global review of epidemiology, harms and interventions

Favril, Louis et al (2025) Addiction, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/add.7024

The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England

Chief Medical Officer for England. (2025) London: Department of Health and Social Care and Ministry of Justice

Supervised consumption sites and population-level overdose mortality: a systematic review of recent evidence, 2016-2024

Gariépy, Geneviève et al (2025) Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada: Research, Policy and Practice, 45, (9), pp. 357-366. doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.45.9.02

Mortality and return to custody of individuals with a history of drug use one year post-release from the New South Wales custodial system

Remond, Marc et al (2025) Scientific Reports, Early online. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-23552-4

Predicting drug overdose and death after “before medically advised” hospital discharge.

Naik, Haiten et al (2025) Canadian Medical Association Journal, 197, (38). doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.250492

Comparison of Office for National Statistics (ONS) and National Programme on Substance Use Mortality (NPSUM) data suggests that opioid-related deaths in England & Wales have been systematically underestimated

Chen, Shuoqi et al (2025) International Journal of Drug Policy, 145. doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.104976

Addressing the silent epidemic of recreational nitrous oxide use: a position, call to action and recommendations by the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine Committee on Biological Markers of Nitrous Oxide Abuse

Grzych, Guillaume et al (2025) Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Early online. doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2025-1060

Emergency department presentations, hospitalisations and police seizure data related to gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) in New South Wales, Australia, from 2015 to 2024

Siefried, Krista J et al (2025) Addiction, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/add.70202

A review of the evidence on the use and harms of Carisoprodol

(2025) London: Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs

Availability of nitazenes for purchase in Australia and internationally via cryptomarkets, September 2021 - August 2025.

Man, Nicola et al (2025) UNSW Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre

The rise of nitazenes: what pharmacists need to know

Wilkinson, Emma (2025) The Pharmacist

The nitazene epidemic in Estonia: a first report

Abel-Ollo, Katri et al (2025) European Journal of Public Health, Early online. doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaf160

Afghanistan opium survey 2025

(2025) Vienna: UNODC

Post-discharge use of opioids, psychostimulants, and treatment medications following residential opioid discontinuation with NET Device™ monotherapy

Greenwald, Mark K et al (2025) Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1627267

A systematic review investigating prenatal cannabis and tobacco co-exposure: impacts on neonatal, behavioral, cognitive and physiological outcomes

Argote, Mathilde et al (2025) Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports, 17. doi.org/10.1016/j.dadr.2025.100376

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, 2016 to 2022

Swartz, James A and Franceschini, Dana (2025) JAMA Network Open, 8, (11). doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.45310

Neighborhood level factors and use of cigarettes, cannabis and e-cigarettes: a population-based study among Canadian adults

Fraser Wood, Truman et al (2025) PLoS ONE, 20, (11). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320035

UK policy paper. Licensing taskforce report and government response

(2025) London: Department for Business & Trade

Regulatory capture in UK alcohol licensing policy: the 2025 'licensing taskforce' report

Nicholls, James and Fitzgerald, Niamh (2025) Addiction, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/add.70241

A healthier future. A long-term vision to tackle alcohol harm in the UK

(2025) London: Institute of Alcohol Studies

Has alcohol consumption in England returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels? A monthly population study, 2014 to 2024

Buss, Vera Helen et al (2025) Addiction, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/add.70258

QualityWatch indicator: alcohol-related harm and drinking behaviour

(2025) London: Nuffield Trust

Do alcohol industry-funded organisations act to correct misinformation? A qualitative study of pregnancy and infant health content following independent analysis

Mitchell, Gemma et al (2025) Globalization and Health, 21. doi.org/10.1186/s12992-025-01125-4

'Zero-alcohol' products and the guise of responsibility

Edwardes, Fraser et al (2025) Journal of Public Health Policy, Early online. doi.org/10.1057/s41271-025-00607-4

The use of alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks in pregnancy in the UK

Maslin, Kate et al (2025) European Journal of Public Health, Early online. doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaf188

Examining changes in the prevalence of cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempts in the context of a cost-of-living crisis and alcohol duty reforms: A population survey of risky drinkers in Great Britain, 2021-2024.

Jackson, Sarah E et al (2025) Addiction, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/add.70248

Barriers to recovery: overcoming obstacles to alcohol recovery in the UK

(2025) London: Institute of Alcohol Studies

“It has some major knock-on effects”: ambulance clinicians’ experiences of attending alcohol-related call-outs and perceived impact on the Scottish ambulance service (IMPAACT study)

Uny, Isabelle et al (2025) Drugs: Education Prevention and Policy, Early online. doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2025.2576804

Delineating trajectories of alcohol consumption and alcohol problems from adolescence to young adulthood: an integrated assessment of genetic, familial, and psychosocial factors

Cheng, Hui G et al (2025) Alcohol, Clinical & Experimental Research, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/acer.70166

Socio-economic differences in the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy use in alcohol use disorder: a cohort study of 148 626 individuals in Sweden

Elling, Devy L et al (2025) Addiction, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/add.70238

Outcomes from a national consensus event targeting service development strategies for alcohol related brain damage

Quelch, Darren et al (2025) Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Early online. doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2025.2579313

The combined impact of smoking, alcohol, and obesity on past trends in educational inequalities in life expectancy in England and Wales, Finland, and Italy, 1990-2017

Janssen, Fanny et al (2025) European Journal of Public Health, Early online. doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaf181

Smoking profile tool [Data for England; 2024 analysis for UK].

(2025)United Kingdom. Department of Health & Social Care.

Trends in initiation of regular cigarette smoking in 28 European countries, 1940-2019: retrospective reconstruction from repeated cross-sectional surveys

Teshima, Ayaka et al (2025) European Journal of Public Health, Early online. doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaf184

Social determinants of support for tobacco control policies to end the use of commercial cigarettes: findings from the 2022 International Tobacco Control Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey

Feliu, Ariadna et al (2025) Tobacco Control, Early online. doi.org/10.1136/tc-2025-059676

The risk of lung cancer from vaping or e-cigarette usage: a systematic review

Mohapatra, S et al (2025) ESMO Open, 10, (12). doi.org/10.1016/j.esmoop.2025.105910

Evidence update on the respiratory health effects of vaping e-cigarettes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Kundu, Anasua et al (2025) Tobacco Induced Diseases, 23, 177. doi.org/10.18332/tid/209954

'I'd rather have worse gums than worse lungs': young people's views of nicotine pouches in the UK.

MacGregor, Andy et al (2025) Addiction, Early online. doi.org/10.1111/add.70214

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The HRB National Drugs Library newsletter is a free subscriber-only monthly email newsletter offering relevant Irish and international news and information on alcohol and other drugs research. E-mail addresses provided for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter will only be used by the library to distribute the requested information. The newsletter is published by the HRB National Drugs Library, Health Research Board. The library is staffed by qualified information professionals who handle a wide range of enquiries. Not sure what we can do for you? Email us and we will be happy to discuss your information needs.