Useful resources on the web
What is this?
Below you'll find some links to sites and publications that you may find useful or interesting. The ISCD is not responsible for content on external sites, and they may present information that we do not endorse. Help us improve by sending suggestions of evidence-based resources to the email address at the bottom of the page.
Other sources of drug information and advice
Our website, we hope, offers something unique in being led by the scientific evidence. However, there are plenty of other useful resources elsewhere on the web, some which offer things that we don't.
FRANK is the drugs advice and information service set up by the UK government. Go to them if you are after useful information on how to get support or treatment if you need it in the UK.
Whynotfindout.org provides drugs information and is particulary helpful in finding out about so-called 'legal highs', or new psychoactive substances, where there is not enough peer-reviewed evidence for the drugscience website to have an article.
DrugFucked is a drugs information site produced by the Terrence Higgins Trust. It gives blunt, clear information and harm reduction advice, including about the sexual uses and risks of drugs, particularly for men who have sex with men. It has a great feature informing people how their HIV medications could produce dangerous interactions with recreational drugs.
Erowid is a huge bank of information, mostly directed at and produced by drug users. Unlike the drugscience site and the others listed, it provides practical guidance on matters such as dosage which is vital knowledge if you understand the risks and have decided to try a drug. Caution is essential however as among the information based on scientific research are articles based on personal experience, beliefs and hearsay, which could be less reliable and coloured by an individual's personal attitude to drug use.
Erowid also collects accounts of personal experiences of the very best to the very worst effects that drugs can have. This can be helpful for learning from other people's mistakes and getting a more subjective view of drug effects, but remember that extremely positive, negative or unusual experiences may be more likely to motivate people to write, so these reports may not represent typical experiences.
Wired in to recovery is an online community for people recovering from drug addiction. Getting over addiction is easier with the support of other people in similar situations. There is also useful information about addiction and treatment here.
Articles about drug science
The British Association for Psychopharmacology posts articles about drugs and the brain, designed to be readable to non-specialists.
The science of harm reduction
Harm Reduction International collect statistical information about drug use, drug harms and harm reduction policies in place across Europe and the world. This information is presented in an interactive map.
How can you tell drug facts from tall tales?
Drug science often makes the news, but sometimes the facts get lost along the way.
Behind the Headlines, produced by the UK's National Health Service in collaboration with Bazian, checks the evidence behind big health stories when they emerge. They also produced a special report on alcohol health stories in the media.
Sense about Science is a charity that wants us all to benefit from scientific thinking. They have many publications that help people understand how to consider and use evidence, and they offer scientific advice too.
Full Fact are a non-profit making company who check the evidence behind claims that are made in public debate, by politicians and newspapers for example. They have considered many questions about drugs. You can even ask them to fact-check a public claim you have noticed being made by a politician or other opinion-former.