Blog

Psychedelic tourism and growing demand surrounding species of psychoactive plants and toads might be posing a threat to their survival.

The symptoms of hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorders are often invisibile, delaying diagnosis. This leaves many to seek medicinal cannabis, leading to life-changing effects.

The Department of Veterans Affairs in Australia have recently decided to fund MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for treatment resistant depression among military veterans.

When teachers confiscate a vape from a student, they often assume it contains nicotine or perhaps even cannabis. What many don’t realise, is that some of these vapes contain Spice, a dangerous synthetic drug that young people often mistake for cannabis.

It is 60 years since ketamine was first tested in humans as an alternative but safer anaesthetic to PCP (phencyclidine) (Corssen and Domino 1966). It became widely used as the “buddy drug” for combatants in the Vietnam War: because of its great safety margin, it could be injected into wounded personnel by their buddies to relieve pain before the arrival of the medical team.

This pilot study assessed a video-based psychoeducational intervention designed to reduce substance-related harm among music festival attendees. Participants (N = 273) completed pre-intervention surveys, with 144 engaging in the intervention.

Drug related deaths are preventable most of the times and these increasing number on drug deaths prove that the government is failing to provide essential care to its citizens.

Emerging research suggests that prescribed cannabinoids may improve sleep quality both among people with formal diagnoses of insomnia and among those experiencing disturbed sleep in the context of other chronic health conditions.

To date, there has been a lack of consensus in the field of psychedelic research regarding key terms. It is our hope that development of this lexicon can aid in translating findings across various research groups and improve clarity and precision in our communications with each other and the general public.

Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is an emerging treatment that combines pharmacotherapeutic dosing sessions with psychotherapy. Despite limited regulatory approval, treatment seekers can access PAT through various avenues, including ketamine treatment centers and “supported adult use” psilocybin centers in the US, drug tourism, “underground” therapy, and participation in clinical trials.

Substance use at UK music festivals presents a significant public health challenge, with evolving patterns of drug use, associated risk behaviours, and harm reduction practices among attendees.

Drug Science responded to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs’ (ACMD’s) call on Ketamine use, harms and interventions. We hope that our evidence can help to develop rational debate, policy making and scheduling about Ketamine.

Germany has recently taken a landmark step by introducing compassionate access to psilocybin for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), marking the first such programme in the European Union.

Despite the resurgence of research into the clinical efficacy and mechanism of action of psychedelic drugs such as such as psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and MDMA they are currently in Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs regulations 2001.

The number of cannabis-related arrests has been increasing in Japan, accompanied by the implementation of stricter legal penalties. However, there has been little investigation into the motivations behind cannabis use or the reasons for continued use among users in Japan.

In 1996, Purdue Pharmaceutical's (Purdue) launched OxyContin, an opioid painkiller, with the largest marketing strategy in pharmaceutical history. Literature has now established that Purdue's marketing of OxyContin was a root cause of the current opioid crisis, responsible for over 600,000 deaths in and beyond North America.

Opioid-related deaths in Ontario remain persistently high, driven largely by an unstable and unregulated drug supply. In response, harm reduction services, such as supervised consumption sites/consumption and treatment services and safer supply programs, have been implemented to reduce the risks of overdose and connect people who use drugs with essential healthcare and social services.

A 2019 study revealed more than 80 products available online with implied benefits to alcohol hangover. Since then, several developments may have influenced the market.

This article discusses how unintended side effects from the international regime of drug criminalization may serve to increase harmful drug use among some population segments and performs systematic scoping reviews of two putative underlying dynamics relating to violence victimization and the forbidden fruit or psychological reactance effect.

Current regulation frameworks for medicines struggle to address the combination of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic elements in psychedelic therapy.

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) has an estimated lifetime prevalence between 1 and 2.3% and is associated with considerable worldwide disability, while in the UK, the annual economic costs of this disorder have been estimated to be in excess of GBP 5 billion.