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At Drug Science we like to cover different topics relating to drugs. These topics cover the many different ways that psychoactive substances have an impact on our culture and society.
The early use of MDMA (‘Ecstasy’) in psychotherapy (1977–1985)
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also known as ecstasy, was first synthesized in 1912 but first reached widespread popularity as...
Drug Science
Apr 11, 20181 min read
New analysis of alcohol and cannabis – what’s the harm?
This blog discusss DrugScience’s latest multi-criterion decision analysis of cannabis and alcohol regulation. Read the open access paper...
Drug Science
Apr 5, 20183 min read
Substance misuse-related poisoning deaths, England and Wales, 1993–2016
Context In recent years there has been an increase in the availability of ‘novel psychoactive substances (NPS)’ or ‘legal highs’. In...
Drug Science
Apr 3, 20182 min read
A multi-criterion decision analysis applied to alcohol and cannabis regulation
Authors: Ole Rogeberg, Daniel Bergsvik, Lawrence D. Phillips, Jan van Amsterdam, Niamh Eastwood, Graeme Henderson, Micheal Lynskey, Fiona...
Dr Anne Schlag, Professor David Nutt and more
Feb 11, 20182 min read
An effective hangover treatment: Friend or foe?
Background The purpose of this study was to examine whether drinkers would change their alcohol consumption behavior if an effective...
Drug Science
Nov 17, 20172 min read
My dead daughter's shoes
This blog piece was originally a speech delivered by Anne-Marie Cockburn at the Nordic Reform Conference 2017 Hello, I am Martha’s mum. I...
Anne-Marie Cockburn
Nov 5, 20175 min read
No laughing matter: how the anti-nitrous oxide campaign is a waste of time and money
Nitrous oxide has returned to our headlines – last month two possession with intent to supply Crown Court cases collapsed and this week...
Oli Stevens
Oct 5, 20175 min read
A fentanyl future?
Today’s report of over 60 deaths last year in which fentanyl was implicated raises major alarm bells in the opioid treatment community....
Drug Science
Aug 5, 20173 min read
Psychedelic drug use in healthy individuals: A review of benefits, costs, and implications for drug policy
The potential of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of mental health problems is increasingly being recognized. However, relatively little t
Drug Science
Jul 26, 20171 min read
Specific harm reduction strategies employed by MDMA/ecstasy users in the United States and the United Kingdom
Both recreational and problematic 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)/ecstasy users could benefit from employing harm reduction...
Drug Science
May 29, 20171 min read
WHO and UNDP change in leadership: What views on drug policy and harm reduction?
The UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs held in April 2016 has been organized by the international drug control entities, but...
Drug Science
May 4, 20171 min read
Recreational MDMA testing - a European perspective
As the United States experiences an overwhelming opioid crisis; as the world’s press is flooded with extra-judicial killings targeting...
Drug Science
Feb 5, 20178 min read
THCv - an abject cop-out from the ACMD, another research opportunity for the UK lost
The cannabis plant produces over 100 compounds with therapeutic potential. Most of these have never been properly studied because of the...
Drug Science
Jan 24, 20174 min read
How the law against synthetic cannabinoids might destroy pharmaceutical discovery in the UK
On December 14th the government put into effect new controls against a whole range of synthetic cannabinoids. This was their third round...
Drug Science
Jan 10, 20174 min read
The 15th anniversary of the Portuguese drug policy: Its history, its success and its future
Fifteen years ago when Portugal decriminalized the consumption of all narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances it was both a bold and a...
Drug Science
Jan 1, 20171 min read
Constructing drug effects: A history of set and setting
Set and setting is a term which refers to the psychological, social, and cultural parameters which shape the response to psychedelic...
Drug Science
Jan 1, 20171 min read
Psilocybin for anxiety and depression in cancer care? Lessons from the past and prospects for the future
This special issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology contains two landmark studies – the most rigorous controlled trials to date using...
Drug Science
Dec 10, 20164 min read
‘Scotch mist’: the ongoing saga of Alcohol Minimum Unit Pricing
‘Scotch mist’ may be taken to refer to a whisky-based beverage (Scotch whisky, crushed ice and lemon peel). More traditionally, the term...
Drug Science
Dec 10, 20166 min read
Better late than never? After 82 years the WHO reviews cannabis!
The WHO is the world’s leading health organisation guiding governments around the world. So we expect their advice to be up to date and...
Drug Science
Dec 10, 20163 min read
I blame Fabric’s closure on this country’s backward drugs policy
A version of this post was published in The Guardian It seems the London club Fabric has had its licence revoked on the grounds that its...
Drug Science
Sep 10, 20163 min read
Expert Report on cannabis legalisation for the Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats became the first UK political party to call for cannabis legalisation. An expert report was commissioned by the Lib...
Drug Science
Apr 3, 20161 min read
Cannabis Review for the attention of the WHO
Read the full report The scheduling under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs assumes a scientific justification. However, cannabis...
Drug Science
Apr 3, 20163 min read
The poppers ban is a veiled attack on pleasure
ntercourse. Why is the government so anti-pleasure, particularly for gay men? Much of the drive to ban legal highs has come from the...
Drug Science
Mar 10, 20161 min read
Ketamine as an essential medicine
Authors: Polly Taylor, David Nutt, Val Curran, Rudi Fortson, and Graeme Henderson Published: March 11, 2016 A letter to The Lancet...
Polly Taylor, Professor David Nutt and more
Mar 3, 20161 min read
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