Mattha Busby

A four-year analysis of more than 62,000 incidents across 13 English police forces found that people directed into treatment and education through drug diversion schemes were about one-third less likely to reoffend than comparable people prosecuted for possession. Researchers and policing bodies support expanding diversion, which could reduce court pressure and costs, but say eligible cases are still diverted too infrequently. The study also found significant disparities: people from deprived areas were more heavily policed and Black people were less likely to be diverted than white people for similar offences. Reform advocates welcomed diversion but argued that it remains limited compared with full decriminalisation and legal regulation.

The Trump administration has directed the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to prohibit federal funds from purchasing or distributing fentanyl, xylazine and medetomidine test strips, reversing a policy adopted under Biden. Harm-reduction advocates and experts warn the decision will reduce access to inexpensive tools that help people identify dangerous substances and could increase overdose deaths, while some states and programs have already halted purchases. Critics also say the guidance conflicts with a law signed by Donald Trump that authorized access to drug-detection products. The administration argues that taxpayer funds should support abstinence, recovery and proven overdose-prevention measures, although the White House’s national drug strategy says test strips should be legal. The policy comes alongside broader cuts to addiction and overdose-prevention funding, despite a reported 26% decline in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024, while Trump has separately moved to expand psychedelic-therapy research and reclassify cannabis.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order intended to accelerate research into and access to psychedelic drugs as treatments for mental-health conditions. Ibogaine, derived from a West African shrub and showing potential for addressing long-term effects of traumatic brain injury, is a prominent focus. The discussion examines Joe Rogan’s possible influence on Trump’s interest in psychedelics and considers what the order could mean in practice for scientists, researchers and patients.

The US Department of Defense is preparing two randomized studies in which 186 active-duty, reserve and guard personnel with PTSD could receive MDMA-assisted therapy, with treatment potentially beginning next year. The research, funded under legislation signed by Joe Biden and supported by Donald Trump’s push to accelerate psychedelic research, could lead to adoption of the therapy across the military. Advocates say MDMA may help service members process trauma and reduce veteran suicide, but critics warn that treating soldiers so they can return to combat could deepen moral injury and be exploited to improve combat effectiveness. Comparable psychedelic-assisted treatment efforts are also being developed for soldiers and trauma survivors in Ukraine and Israel.

Donald Trump’s executive order directs U.S. agencies to accelerate research and regulatory reviews for psychedelic treatments, potentially fast-tracking psilocybin for depression and MDMA for PTSD while expanding consideration of ibogaine and other investigational drugs. The order has boosted psychedelic companies and could unlock substantial public funding, but it may conflict with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s position on Schedule I substances. Advocates welcome a threshold moment for research, while warning that pharmaceutical interests could benefit before patients, traditional practitioners or Indigenous communities. Concerns include inadequate clinical training, continued criminalization, ibogaine’s cardiac risks, and the lack of consent, royalties or benefit-sharing for Gabonese and other communities whose knowledge and cultural traditions underpin psychedelic medicines. The policy’s ultimate significance will depend on rescheduling, access rules and who controls and profits from the emerging market.

Cocaine use in the United States has fallen sharply, particularly among Generation Z, declining from 5.9 million users in 2017 to 4.3 million in 2024 and from 2.1 million to 811,000 among 18- to 25-year-olds. Experts attribute the shift to concerns about fentanyl contamination, mental-health effects, cocaine’s association with heavy drinking and nightlife, and growing interest in ketamine, psychedelics, cannabis and prescription stimulants. Despite lower use, cocaine-related overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2016, driven by increasingly potent cocaine, polysubstance use and possible fentanyl involvement. The article argues that US drug culture is moving toward a more diverse and unpredictable mix even as policymakers continue to pursue older cocaine-war narratives.

Mrs Doubtfire remains a feelgood film because it combines grief and family breakdown with slapstick and warmth. Rewatching it as an adult, the writer sees Robin Williams’s Daniel Hillard not only as a lovable father willing to transform himself to stay close to his children, but also as intrusive and controlling toward his ex-wife and her new partner. The film’s ending, which presents family as something that can change and rearrange rather than simply reunite, now feels especially moving to the writer after personal experiences of parental loss and adult breakups.

American basketball player Jarred Shaw was sentenced to 26 months in an Indonesian prison and fined $50,000 after being convicted of possessing 132 cannabis gummies ordered to treat Crohn’s disease. Although he was cleared of trafficking and avoided a possible death sentence under Indonesia’s severe drug laws, his health has deteriorated in custody because of inadequate food and delayed medical treatment. Shaw has lost significant weight, suffers abdominal pain and other symptoms, and is awaiting hospital tests including a colonoscopy. His legal team is seeking compassionate release, while Shaw is trying to remain positive and hopes to reassess his basketball career after recovering his health.

The release of the Oscar-tipped film Marty Supreme has helped drive a US table tennis revival, with PingPod reporting a 20–40% increase in new reservations and Major League Table Tennis recording its strongest regular-season ticket sales and attendance. Players and club operators welcome the new interest but say it must translate into sustained support for professional athletes, whose earnings remain limited. The film has also prompted debate over its dramatic portrayal of the sport, contrasting anger and individual genius with table tennis’s real-world emphasis on discipline, focus, longevity, community and mental-health benefits.

Ibogaine, once associated primarily with countercultural politics, is gaining support from evangelical Christians, Republican governors, military veterans, technology billionaires and other figures on the US right. Texas has committed $50m to ibogaine research, while reform efforts are developing in Ohio and Colorado, partly because of the drug’s reported effects on veterans with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries and depression. Advocates describe ibogaine as a spiritually transformative treatment, but critics warn that its adoption by conservative and commercial interests may reduce a complex healing practice to a transactional medical product. Research involving special forces veterans has found substantial symptom improvements, yet ibogaine can interact dangerously with other drugs, cause cardiac arrest and has been linked to at least 33 publicly reported deaths. The growing movement therefore combines promising therapeutic findings with significant medical risks and an increasingly politicized struggle over who defines psychedelic healing.

Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood is confronting the spread of medetomidine, a veterinary sedative increasingly mixed with fentanyl after Pennsylvania cracked down on xylazine. The drug leaves people unconscious even after Narcan reverses an opioid overdose, produces severe and rapid withdrawal, and is linked to organ failure, heart problems and heavy hospital demand. Harm-reduction workers and physicians say detox and rehabilitation systems are not equipped to treat it, while officials have expanded policing and treatment initiatives under Mayor Cherelle Parker. Those efforts have drawn criticism for restricting mobile harm-reduction services and lacking supervised overdose-prevention sites. Advocates argue that regulated safe-supply programs could reduce the harms caused by an unpredictable illicit drug market.

American basketball player Jarred Shaw is being held in pre-trial detention in Indonesia after police intercepted 132 imported cannabis gummies intended, he says, to manage pain and other symptoms from Crohn’s disease. He faces possible life imprisonment or the death penalty under Indonesia’s strict drug laws, despite insisting the gummies were for personal medical use rather than distribution. Shaw has not yet had a court appearance, has been banned for life from the Indonesian Basketball League, and is raising funds for legal fees. Cannabis advocates argue that the case reflects disproportionate punishment for a nonviolent offense, while Indonesian police say they are investigating a possible international drug network.

Thick fog is expected to continue disrupting flights at several UK airports through Sunday, with delays and cancellations reported at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and Manchester. Nats has maintained temporary air restrictions in low-visibility areas for safety, while passengers have been advised to check directly with their airlines. Further unsettled weather is forecast around New Year’s Eve, including snow and heavy rain in Scotland and strong winds in northern England, raising the risk of additional travel delays and power cuts.

Jazwell Brown, 49, appeared in court charged with murdering Joanne Pearson and Teohna Grant after a suspected stabbing at a block of flats in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, on Christmas Day. He also faces two attempted-murder charges and charges related to possessing a knife in public and causing unnecessary suffering to a police dog. Brown was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Luton Crown Court. Two other people were seriously injured but remained stable, and police confirmed that the injured Staffordshire bull terrier survived.

Kirsty Carless, 33, has been charged with murdering Louis Price, 31, after police found him in cardiac arrest at a property in Norton Canes, Staffordshire, on Christmas Day. Price later died despite medical efforts. Residents expressed shock, floral tributes were left, and Staffordshire police said additional neighbourhood officers would support the investigation and reassure the community. The Independent Office for Police Conduct is reviewing a referral following recent police contact. Price’s family described him as a well-loved, generous community member who enjoyed fishing and football.

More than 1,300 critically endangered Desertas Island land snails have been reintroduced to Bugio, an uninhabited island in Madeira’s archipelago. The two species were believed extinct after going unrecorded for over a century, but small populations were rediscovered between 2012 and 2017. Chester Zoo and partner zoos in the UK and France developed a successful captive-breeding programme, producing multiple generations before the snails were released into a protected refuge where invasive predators have been eradicated. Each snail is marked for monitoring, with further releases planned if the reintroduction succeeds.

Pope Francis used a BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day message to urge people not to respond to wars, social injustice and violence with pessimism or resignation. He emphasized hope, kindness, humility, empathy and gratitude as ways to build a more humane society, and linked these values to the Catholic Church’s forthcoming jubilee year, which will bring millions of pilgrims to Rome.

A woman’s body was found inside a residential property on Carterford Drive in Norwich after a fire early on Boxing Day. Police and fire crews attended, with seven fire engines and a search and rescue team deployed. The woman has not yet been formally identified, her next of kin have been informed, and the cause of the fire remains unknown as inquiries continue.

A political scientist argues that Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory reflected frustration with the economy under Joe Biden rather than a mandate for sweeping or divisive policy changes. Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy has proposed conditioning US weapons support on peace talks, while Elon Musk has called for abolishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum says her conversation with Trump reduced the risk of a tariff war, although she did not agree to close Mexico’s border. Israeli minister Avi Dichter says Israeli forces may remain in Gaza for years, with no clear postwar governing or reconstruction plan. Other developments include unrest in Georgia over EU accession talks, allegations of Taliban abuses, Spain’s paid climate leave, methanol poisoning deaths in Laos, European war-preparedness efforts, the survival of a Canadian hiker lost for 50 days, urban agriculture in the Netherlands and guidance for parents discussing sex and consent with children.

Canada's federal government and provincial premiers agreed to coordinate their response to Donald Trump's threatened 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, including possible retaliatory measures. The briefing also reports criticism of Kamala Harris's campaign after the US election, a major Russian attack on Ukraine's power infrastructure, severe snowfall in South Korea, a multinational cocaine seizure, a US-China prisoner exchange, and new CDC data showing only a 2% decline in US abortions after post-Roe restrictions. Other items cover the arrest of an FBI fugitive in Wales, renewed debate over fluoride safety, UN negotiations on plastic pollution, and the environmental recovery of abandoned villages in Bulgaria.

Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge will remove a stained-glass window commemorating statistician and geneticist Sir Ronald Fisher, subject to listed-building consent. Fisher was a prominent advocate of eugenics and founding chair of the university's eugenics society. The decision followed pressure from anti-racism activists, graffiti at the college, and a student petition signed by about 1,500 people. The college also announced plans involving disciplinary and complaints reforms, implicit-bias training, and renewed work on its Legacy of Slavery committee.