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Derbyshire public health expert Rosalie has teamed up with EMCAT to push for better, more ethical addiction treatment. With decades of experience tackling drugs, alcohol, and community health issues, she’s all about raising the bar on how people get help for addiction. Since joining Derbyshire County Council back in 2014, she’s taken charge of the Inclusion Health portfolio, which covers everything from mental health and suicide prevention to trauma-informed care, sexual heal

January 2026 - Clean Slate Clinic , Adfam , and the University of Sussex put out a white paper called Impact and Barriers: A National Survey of UK Adults on Alcohol Dependence. Alcohol dependence is still a huge problem in the UK. It’s not just about statistics - it’s messing with families, workplaces, and whole communities every single day. This report digs into what it really means to live with alcohol dependence, the walls people hit when they try to get help, and what ne

Introduction Reaching out for addiction help isn’t easy. For many, visiting a website or picking up the phone happens in a moment of real crisis - they’re dealing with health, family, work, and a heavy load of shame. How these sites handle personal data isn’t just a technical box to tick; it’s about ethics and trust. That’s why we took a close look at a range of UK-based patient-brokerage, referral, and home-detox websites. We focused on privacy policies, who’s actually cont

When people search online for addiction treatment, they might click on a link and believe they are reading about a real rehab clinic. In reality, some of the sites that appear to offer residential rehabilitation are not treatment providers at all, but intermediaries designed to capture enquiries and sell them on. These are what are termed “ghost rehabs”. This term describes a mismatch between what a website appears to be and what it actually does. What people usually mean by

David stands out as one of the UK’s top addiction psychiatrists, with more than ten years working on the front lines in both NHS and independent drug and alcohol services. Right now, he’s the Academic Secretary for the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Addictions. In that role, he shapes national guidance and drives research and education to improve addiction care across the country. He’s also the UK Clinical Director at Clean Slate Clinic , a social enterprise that

In the UK, entering a residential drug or alcohol treatment program is rare. Only 2% of those in treatment are expected to enter residential care. Out of every hundred people seeking help, just two receive intensive inpatient care - a cautious approach compared to other countries. How the UK Approaches Residential Treatment England has seldom made a residential treatment standard. The government favours community and outpatient care, reserving residential treatment for compl

As 2025 wraps up, it feels right to pause and look at what this year really meant for us at the Ethical Marketing Campaign for Addiction Treatment (EMCAT). When we kicked things off in mid-2024, our goal was simple: protect people from shady practices in addiction treatment. We’ve gone after unethical marketing, patient brokering, misleading ads, and sloppy data handling. This year, things started to shift - not just talk, but real progress. Regulators stepped in, new rules l

The Department of Health and Social Care, along with the UK Health Security Agency, just released fresh numbers on people struggling with opiate or crack cocaine use in England. These stats cover April 2022 through March 2023, and they’re more than just numbers - they help shape how we treat addiction, where the money goes, and what public health strategies need to look like. Here’s what stands out: Across England, about 310,700 people aged 15 to 64 are living with problemati

The Office for National Statistics just released its latest report on drug use in England and Wales, drawing from the Crime Survey for England and Wales for the year ending March 2025. This survey, based on self-reported answers from adults aged 16–59, with an extra look at 16–24 year old's, is about as close as we get to a real picture of drug use across the country. At first glance, not much has changed. Drug misuse hasn’t shot up, and there’s no sign of a post-pandemic spi

As advertisers embrace the festive season with bold and playful campaigns, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is reminding brands that drug-related humour is a regulatory minefield. Recent rulings show just how easily seemingly harmless wordplay can stray into a breach of the CAP Code. The ASA has reiterated that any reference to illegal drugs - however subtle, indirect, or humorous - is likely to be unacceptable . Even if a term is widely recognised by the target audi

ON 10th December 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England published the long-awaited Co-occurring mental health and substance use delivery framework: summary of actions . For the first time, England has a single, system-wide plan that treats drug and alcohol problems and mental ill-health as what they so often are: inseparable and interconnected . No more “you have to get clean/sober first before we can treat your depression”. No more bouncing between s

The Local Government Association (LGA) and the Ethical Marketing Campaign for Addiction Treatment (EMCAT) and Collective Voice have issued a strong and urgent call: end the practice of patient brokering in addiction services. Patient brokering involves paying referral fees or commissions to divert people into certain private rehab clinics - even when those clinics may not be the right clinical fit. It turns people in crisis into commodities, prioritising profit over their wel

For years, many commissioners, politicians and even some clinicians treated long-term residential rehab as an expensive luxury - something that belonged to the 1980s Minnesota Model era rather than a modern, “community-first” system. The new Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment, published on 28 November 2025, have just changed the conversation. Chapter 14 – Residential Treatment and Intensive Structured Day Programmes – is unequivocal: **long-term residential rehabilitat

In an era where recreational drug use is increasingly normalised through social media and pop culture, the quiet but resolute voice of public health policy reminds us of the hidden costs. Just last week, on November 21, 2025, DUP MP Jim Shannon raised a timely question in the House of Commons: "What steps is the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care taking to raise awareness of the health impacts of long-term marijuana use?" In her response, Parliamentary Under-Secret

In response to a parliamentary question, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care Ashley Dalton MP   reconfirmed  that “The Department set an ambition that 2% of the drug and alcohol treatment population should be accessing residential treatment” and listed a range of tactics aimed at improving outcomes for people with substance dependencies. While these statements signal intent, they fail to address the sector’s most urgent problem: there simply are not enoug

The Ethical Marketing Campaign for Addiction Treatment (EMCAT) is committed to ensuring that all advertising and online listings for addiction services are accurate, transparent, and ethical. In 2018, Google restricted advertising for addiction treatment services following widespread concerns about misleading marketing practices in the sector. Today, similar issues are re-emerging - this time through Google Maps listings. We’ve found that some operators are listing themselves

The Ethical Marketing Campaign for Addiction Treatment (EMCAT)  is proud to welcome Liz Martin MSc MBACP AP APM  to its Advisory Group....

Recent ASA Decision: Detox Today (July 2025) The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against Detox Today regarding...

July 2025 In a significant step to protect vulnerable consumers, Yell has announced robust updates to its advertising policies following...

1. Although announced in June 2024 - enactment starts 1st June 2025 The Scottish Government amended the National Health Service...