The People's Letters is the wonderful bookshop we share the space for our Harm Reduction Hub with. They are trying to meet a £10k goal by the end of March.
There's just under £4,000 to go, and just over two weeks!
Can you help them out?
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-people...
Our response to the Department of Health and Social Care's Consultation on Expanding access to naloxone was broadly supportive. We want to see the law reformed so relevant orgs can give naloxone to anyone who might witness an overdose.
Read our response here: www.release.org.uk/publications...
Next newsletter will be sent out this Friday afternoon, make sure you're signed up! ✉️
What We Need Now £3,000 (We already passed this milestone thanks to everyone's support!!) covers immediate running costs so we can stay afloat for now. £5,500 covers our quarterly rent payment due April, securing the space in the short term and relieving immediate financial pressure so we can focus on running and growing the shop. £7,000 allows us to cover rent and bills beyond April and begin expanding our stock. Hopefully we can get more of your favourite books, authors, and genres in the shop! More photos of the space and our free hot drinks and info station
£10,000 Gives us the ability to thrive! which means: more paid hours for the workers, improved accessibility signage, a baby changing table, expanded book and zine selection, more community events, capacity to offer the space for free to more grassroots and unfunded groups... If we exceed our target, we can consistently print and publish our own zines and merchandise, cover licensing, compliance, and costs more securely, support more free and low-cost community events, and build long-term financial stability, making sure that TPL can continue serving the community for many many years to come!
More Ways To Help If you'd like to contribute to building TPL in other ways, such as donating second-hand books, hiring the venue, sharing fundraising ideas, or offering your skills and experience, we'd love to hear from you! Feel free to visit us during opening hours or get in touch via email: info@peoplesletters.org - general enquiries events@peoplesletters.org - events/space hire TPL exists because people believed in it. If you can donate, share, or spread the word, you're helping prove that solidarity works, and that radical, community-led spaces deserve not just to survive, but to thrive. Thank you for being part of this 💗
Please donate and share widely!
We really need your help. It takes a lot of solidarity for third spaces to survive.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-people...
The People's Letters is the wonderful bookshop we share the space for our Harm Reduction Hub with. They are trying to meet a £10k goal by the end of March.
There's just under £4,000 to go, and just over two weeks!
Can you help them out?
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-people...
Release's harm reduction hub opening hours
Release's harm reduction hub list of what we offer, including advice, safer sex and drug materials, phone charging, computer use, naloxone
Our March opening hours! ☕💉
Monday-Thursday, 2-5pm
Saturdays, 4-7pm
And starting Wednesday 11th, we'll be doing every other Weds evening 7:30-10pm 🌜
Find us at 395 Cambridge Heath Road, where we share the space with the fabulous @peoplesletters.bsky.social 📚
Another PhD opportunity we’d like to draw your attention to is the chance to research the UK’s first Safer Drug Consumption Facility – The Thistle in Glasgow! Comes with the opportunity for a funded studentship.
Read more below, and apply by 24th March.
www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/...
Closing 5pm today!
Release was founded in 1967, meaning we turn 60 next year 🎉
This funded PhD opportunity to study 6 decades of our history has just been announced, supervised by @tobyseddon.bsky.social and @alexmold.bsky.social
Take a look, share, and apply by 27th March!
bloomsbury.ac.uk/drugs-civil-...
You can also sign up to Talking Drugs’ newsletter via that same link which will keep you updated on monthly Global Drugs news and commentary. A highly recommended accompaniment!
Release newsletter sign up graphic
Are you signed up to our newsletter?
Each one includes UK news affecting people who use drugs, insights on our daily work, and job, volunteering and training opportunities. The next newsletter will hit inboxes on Friday!
Sign up here: 479bc79a371911f09e81737cb7f40a5e.eo.page/3s9v5
There's either a position as 'Joint Head of Legal Services' or as 'Legal Director' available, depending on experience.
More information on that and details about what both roles entail are available on the link above ☝️
Contact liam@release.org.uk or niresha@release.org.uk for an informal chat
job vacancy ad at social justice charity organisation Release in legal leadership role
job vacancy at social justice organisation Release with salary dependent on position. full time, hybrid, in London, and application deadline
We're recruiting for a Senior Leadership Role in our legal team (and we've extended the deadline to apply)!
For more information, head to www.release.org.uk/vacancies
Deadline: 5pm, Monday 2nd March
graphic with opening hours for Release's harm reduction hub
graphic with information on what is offered at Release's harm reduction hub. this includes advice, signposting to local support, safer sex and drug use materials, and free phone charging, phone and computer use, needle and syringe programme, tea and coffee, community space
Our February opening hours:
Monday - Thursday, 2-5pm
Saturdays, 4-7pm
Wednesday 11th, 7-10pm
395 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9RA
Come by for a casual chat, a look at @peoplesletters.bsky.social's amazing book selection, and your safer drug and sex supplies!
The deadline to apply for our Legal Adviser role is coming up next week Thursday 5th February 2026 at 5pm!
Check out all the info and application details here: www.release.org.uk/vacancies
Poverty is deepening.
🔎 Our #UKPoverty2026 report was launched this morning.
People in very deep poverty now make up the biggest group of people in poverty, at 6.8 million people.
This is unacceptable for the fifth richest country in the world, and it has consequences.
🚨There is still an #AmberAlert in place 🚨
Worryingly, there have been NO updates on the situation since early December.
People are dying needlessly due to a lack of the right information...
#cychlorphine
metro.co.uk/2026/01/15/w...
Harm reduction advice applies no matter what you're taking.
Start low, go slow: Try a little bit of a new batch and wait to see what the effects/strength is before you go again. ⌛
Carry Naloxone. 🤝
Avoid using alone. 🫂
Test/check when possible. ✅
Cychlorphine has by now been linked to an estimated 13 deaths in the past few months. It has reportedly also shown up in supplies of cocaine, and possibly other drugs more commonly associated with nightlife drug use.
metro.co.uk/2026/01/15/w...
John Glackin from @streetskitchen.bsky.social also said "People are dying in Camden needlessly due to lack of information" and explained that there has been "no mention", which means they're unable to circulate information.
Our Head of Drugs commented that the recent crackdown on precursor materials used to make nitazenes means it was expected that another synthetic opioid would emerge on the market.
They also highlight the importance of public alerts, as many people at risk are not in touch with services.
At the end of last year, @bigissue.com reported on three deaths related to a new synthetic opioid that had emerged - cychlorphine - and asked why local warnings and public information had been delayed getting to frontline services.
Read the full report here: www.bigissue.com/news/social-...
job vacancy at release, advertising a for a legal advisor. picture has details of salary and hours and hybrid working. the job is in London and deadline to apply is 5pm Thursday 5th February
We are recruiting in our legal team!
We're looking for a Legal Adviser. This person will be delivering outreach advice and casework in benefits, housing and debt.
Deadline to apply is 5pm, Thursday 05 February 2026.
Full info and application details here: www.release.org.uk/vacancies
Step inside the UK’s first legal safer drug consumption room. In Drugreporter’s new video, Lynn MacDonald, service manager at The Thistle, takes us through a space built not only for life-saving safer use, but for compassion, dignity, and respect — putting care and humanity at the center.
opening hours at the harm reduction hub, 395 cambridge heath road, london e2 9ra
Our January opening hours:
Monday - Thursday, 2-5pm
Saturdays, 4-7pm
Wednesday 28th, 7-10:30pm
395 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9RA
Come by for a cup of tea, a chat, a browse in @peoplesletters.bsky.social, and re-stock your safer drug supplies, anything for injecting, and safer sex supplies!
Yesterday marked a year since the opening of the Thistle in Glasgow - the UK's first drug consumption room.
We hope they are paving the way for many more similar spaces to open across the UK, especially with news in October that drug checking at the space has been approved by the Home Office.
In England, take-home naloxone is patchy and varies by local authority bc there’s no national programme (unlike Scotland for example). Access often depends on people's contact with drug services.
We want naloxone in the hands of people who use drugs, their friends, family, and community.
The UK government has launched a consultation on expanding naloxone access, looking to change who can supply it and where it's available, notably without a prescription.
This is a good move as synthetic opioids like nitazenes have become a daily reality in drug supplies.
This research continues for the next few months, please continue to spread the word with anyone you know who might like to take part. 🗣️
Email housing-project@release.org.uk or text 07450974967 for more information!
We're back on Instagram, but just as The Hub for now!
