Authors Harjeev Kour Sudan, Andy Man Yeung Tai, Jane Kim and Reinhard Michael Krausz Published November 19, 2023 Introduction The Dark Web is a subsection of the Internet only accessible through specific search engines, making it impossible to trace users. Due to extensive anonymity, the drug trade on the Dark Web makes regulation complicated. We  …

Authors WaiFung Tsang, Simon GD Ruffell, Nigel Netzband, Angelina Jong, James Rucker, Quinton Deeley and Jack Hollingdale Published November 16, 2023 Background The potential benefits of ayahuasca on mental health conditions are well documented. This pilot study is the first to explore whether there is an association with ayahuasca use and reductions in inattention, hyperactivity  …

Authors Rosalind Gittins, Roya Vaziri, and Ian Maidment Published November 16, 2023 Introduction Over the counter and prescription-only medication misuse is of concern. Little is known about the impact on friends/family who provide individuals with support. It is important to increase understanding to identify how substance misuse services (SMS) and others can better meet their  …

Authors Octavian Dixon Ritchie, Cameron N Donley and Gabrielle Dixon Ritchie Published September 6, 2023 Background On February 3, 2023, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, announced that on July 1, 2023, the psychedelics 3′4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and psilocybin will be medically accessible and regulated for psychiatric use in  …

Authors Petter Grahl Johnstad Published September 6, 2023 Abstract The world has a long-standing system of drug control intended to suppress the use of a range of psychoactive drugs on the basis that such use is very harmful both to the users themselves and to their social surroundings. This perception of harmfulness has a long  …

Authors Anoek S Van Vugt, Josjan Zijlmans, Ramon Lindauer and Levi Van Dam Published September 1, 2023 Background PTSD in adolescence causes much suffering and has substantial health-care costs. Many patients with severe PTSD do not respond to psychotherapy or continue to have symptoms despite trauma-focused psychotherapies and psychopharmacological treatment. A recent alternative in the  …

Authors Zakaria Belrhiti and Fatima Zohra Serghini Published September 1, 2023 Background Worldwide, approximately there are 15.6 million people who inject drugs. Recently, a rising prevalence of hepatitis C virus among the people who inject drugs community (8.2 million, 40 to 80% of people who inject drugs) urged governments to implement targeted preventive and structural  …

Authors Hannah Thurgur,  Anne Katrin Schlag,  Elizabeth Iveson,  Adele Hosseini,  Michael Lynskey,  David J. Nutt Published August 31, 2023 Abstract Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can result in a range of persistent symptoms impacting everyday functioning for a considerable proportion of patients, a condition termed Long coronavirus disease (COVID) or post COVID-19 syndrome.  …

Dr Rose Crossin Department of Population Health – University of Otago, Christchurch Drug harm is a significant public health burden in Aotearoa New Zealand (1,2,3); though harms are not evenly distributed across the population. Māori are the indigenous population of Aotearoa New Zealand, making up approximately 17% of the total population, and have a notably  …

Authors Benjamin A. Korman Published July 31, 2023 Abstract Rising international migration, paired with increasing public support for far-right political parties, poses a growing challenge to the countries tasked with successfully integrating immigrants into their society. Further complicating this matter is the fact that the acculturation process which immigrants undergo to fully integrate into their  …

Authors Antonio Metastasio, Silvio Mignogna, Riccardo Paci, Milena Mancini, Fabio Melelli, Enrico Lando, Ornella Corazza and Giovanni Stanghellini Published July 31, 2023 Abstract Since its discovery in 1943, LSD has been used by artists, scientists, and intellectuals, amongst others, to stimulate their creative insights. Federico Fellini, one of the most important film directors in the  …

By Mags Houston – Head of Projects and Communications at Drug Science  Even before I joined the Drug Science team, the Drug Science podcast has been a vital and inspiring source of information for me when it comes to UK drug policy. I recall listening to a couple of early episodes as I prepared for  …

Any type of recreational drug use is likely to carry a degree of risk, both long-term and short-term. This is true for legal recreational drug use like drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco, but is heightened for illicit drug use. One reason for this, among others, is that illicit drugs are, by nature, unregulated. It is  …

Dr Fiona HuttonAssociate Professor at the Institute of CriminologyDirector Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University, Wellington Dr Geoff NollerBioethics Department, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin Alice McSherry Doctoral Candidate at the School of Environment, University of Auckland While cannabis based medicines hold out the promise of much needed relief, at the same  …

Authors Balázs Szigeti, Lawrence D. Phillips and David Nutt Published July 17, 2023 Background The two pillars of modern medical research are where in most randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the active treatment is compared with placebo. A recent expert consensus survey endorsed the statement that ‘Results from placebo-controlled trials are more reliable than results from  …

With first human study, Scientists believe a drug found in Amazonian plants could help the UK’s stroke victims — and the 1.81 million of us who live with depression For centuries, certain plants in the Amazon basin (such as Mimosa tenuiflora and Diplopterys cabrerana) have been used in traditional medicine and ritual. This is due  …

Authors Jon Waldron, Meryem Grabski, Tom P Freeman, Margriet Van Laar and Valerie Curran Published July 4, 2023 Background Cannabis was rescheduled in the UK in November 2018 so that it can now be prescribed as a treatment for certain medical conditions. It is not yet known whether this has had an impact on peoples’  …

Authors Sean M Viña and Amanda L Stephens Published June 23, 2023 Abstract Although there is a growing support for the use of psychedelics to improve the health of marginalized groups, there are some critical gaps. First, no empirical studies have examined the effects of psychedelics on Black Americans. Second, there is little research on  …

Written by Sally Turner MSc  What is 5-MeO-DMT? 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or ‘toad venom’ as it’s better known, is a tryptamine psychedelic that occurs naturally in multiple species of plants and shrubs, is present endogenously in some humans (1, 2), and is excreted by the Colorado river toad (hence the nickname). 5-MeO-DMT has been consumed by indigenous  …

Authors Rayyan Zafar, Maxim Siegel, Rebecca Harding, Tommaso Barba, Claudio Agnorelli, Shayam Suseelan, Leor Roseman, Matthew Wall, David Nutt and David Erritzoe Published June 12, 2023 Abstract Psychedelic therapy has witnessed a resurgence in interest in the last decade from the scientific and medical communities with evidence now building for its safety and efficacy in  …

Authors Jaden Brandt Published April 25th, 2023 Abstract The unprecedented progress in the science and clinical investigation of psychedelic medicine will require those in healthcare leadership and the legislative policy arena to conceptualize how future reforms, policy creation, and clinical practice should occur to broaden access to these agents while simultaneously maximizing effectiveness and mitigating  …

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is collecting written evidence regarding the health and social harms of nitrous oxide. Background In 2015 the ACMD considered the emerging issue of nitrous oxide abuse. In 2021, the then Home Secretary commissioned the ACMD to conduct an updated health and social harms assessment and whether  …

Dr. Joanna Kempner Dr. Joanna Kempner is a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, where she studies the overlap of science, medicine, technology, and inequality. When institutionalized medicine has failed to provide adequate treatment options in the past, people tend to mobilise as a movement to develop their own options. In the past, this can  …

Border controls No legislative changes ought to be made to Australia’s current border controls for nicotine products. The black market and mislabelling of nicotine e-liquids exists precisely because Nicotine Vaping Products (NVPs) are regulated as medicines and only available on prescription. Given the reluctance of many General Practitioners (GPs) to prescribe, the complicated policies and  …

Written by Tiago Vasconcelos Psychiatric disorders can be considered to disturb the brain’s equilibria, emerging when different factors converge to push the brain towards inefficient states. Depression and anxiety are two of the most pervasive mental health conditions, and are challenging to treat; an estimated 30% of depression sufferers prove resistant to first-line treatment (Al-Harbi,  …

Prof. Jo Neill The generalised public perception of psychedelic drugs is rooted in their legal categorisation as a Class A, Schedule 1 drug. Drugs in this category are considered to have the potential to harm an individual and society, and have ‘no medical use‘. The former point, regarding their safety, is one of the most  …

Written by Professor David Nutt  I have just come back from a 3-week lecture tour of South-Eastern Australia supporting the cause of the charity Mind Medicine Australia (MMA) They have been raising money for psychedelic research for about 4 years with considerable success. Through their efforts, the Australian government last year put up $15million for  …

Response by: Prof David Nutt – FMedSci Imperial College London Prof Jo Neill – PhD University of Manchester On behalf of Drug Science We read with concern the editorial by Bertha Madras that accompanied the new COMPASS Pathways trial of psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) due to several inaccuracies and negative bias. It displayed a  …

By Alice Lineham *Note that throughout this article the term ‘teenager’ is used to refer to individuals between the ages of 13-18. Since the turn of the century, an influx of psychedelic trials have taken place at renowned institutions across the globe. Weekly news stories are lauding these compounds for their benefits in treating adults  …

Event review written by Nikol Naydenova In the heart of London, on Great Portland Street, patients, prescribers, cannabis advocates, police officers, and journalists all met together to discuss and debate their shared belief that medical cannabis could revolutionise healthcare. In honour of Medical Cannabis Awareness Week, held at the International Students House, Drug Science and  …