This week’s episode features Professor Bruce Alexander, a psychologist and professor emeritus from Vancouver, BC, Canada, author of two books about addiction: Peaceful Measures: Canada’s Way Out of the War on Drugs and The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit. Professor Alexander conducted a series of experiments into drug addiction known as the  …

This week’s episode features English television and radio presenter, and model Melanie Sykes. Melanie is an advocate for medical cannabis use for childhood epilepsy and other chronic conditions. In 2021 she became an Ambassador in Medcan Support – a non-profit community interest company who provide free resources and educational material on medical cannabis, the endocannabinoid  …

What do Ketamine, Alcohol and Cannabis all have in common…not much, other than they are all up for discussion in this episode of the Drug Science Podcast! This week we’re talking about ketamine with Professor Celia Morgan, a Professor of Psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter and the academic lead for Exeter Translational Addiction Partnership  …

 Professor Nutt and Professor Barnes will be talking about medical cannabis. Should our future doctors obtain proper education on how to use botanical medicines? Should we change the way we think about drugs and treatments? Tune into this week’s episode to find out!   Who is Prof Mike Barnes? Professor Mike Barnes is a  …

 Tune in to this week’s episode to learn more about his interesting insights into UK politics and especially to UK’s drug policies.   Who is Norman Baker? Norman Baker, described by our host, professor Nutt, as “the first and last truly honest politician” is a Liberal Democrat and former MP for Lewes in East  …

 Have a listen to this week’s episode in which Professor Nutt and Dr Ross talk about the land of Golden Wattle – a DMT-rich plant – fighting for its Drug policies being based on Science. Who is Dr Margaret Ross? Dr Margaret Ross is a Senior Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist from Melbourne, Australia and  …

 Who is Dame Theresa Marteau? Theresa Marteau is a British health psychologist, professor, and director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge. Her initial research concerned communicating risk information and found out that people usually don’t change their behaviours despite receiving any form of information about preventable diseases like  …

 Today’s episode features Dr Peter Gasser, the president of the Swiss Medical Society for Psycholytic Therapy.  Professor Nutt and Dr Gasser talk about the rather unusual and innovative attitude to psychedelic research in Switzerland.   How can Britain learn from the Swiss? What are the drug policies in the Albert Hofmann’s – the discoverer of LSD –  …

 This week on the Drug Science podcast, Professor Deborah Mash tells us about Ibogaine. A hallucinogenic compound derived from the roots of a West African shrub, sometimes used as a treatment for heroin or cocaine addiction. Professor Mash found herself trying to reverse the damage that cocaine had caused on the streets of Miami,  …

 In this episode of the Drug Science Podcast, world-renowned journalist and psychedelics author Michael Pollan joins Prof David Nutt to discuss gardening. Of course, this being the Drug Science podcast, there’s no mention of sunflowers or strawberries. Instead, these two icons of psychopharmacology discuss the cultivation of mind-altering plants and everything else you might  …

 This week’s episode features Doctor Sheila Vakharia and Professor Alex Stevens, together with Professor Nutt they will be talking about decriminalization and drug policies in the US and the UK. Has both countries’ drug policies arisen from colonialism and social class hierarchy? What are the consequences of the policies that can be witnessed today?  …

 This week’s episode features “The Mithoefers” – Annie and Michael Mithoefer – the pioneers of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Michael Mithoefer, MD is a Clinical Investigator and acting Medical Director of MAPS Public Benefit Corporation. Together with his wife Annie, they completed the first phase 2 clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD in 2009 and  …

 Today’s episode features Ollie Ollerton, a former UK Special Forces soldier and directing staff (DS) of Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins. Mr Ollerton has always been involved in the social cause, serving in the army as well as supporting multiple charities. Thanks to the publicity from SAS: Who Dares Wins he has been, among  …

 How can you study yourself and deal with the problems buried deep inside of you? In this week’s episode, Dr Meckel Fischer and Professor Nutt hope to answer these puzzling questions!   Who is Friederike Meckel Fischer?  Friederike Meckel Fischer is a German psychotherapist who also trained as a medical doctor. Her career involved  …

 This week’s episode features British Academy Global Professor Julia Buxton. Her research focuses on illicit drug markets and the impact of counter-narcotics policies on development, gender equality and security. In her career she’s led projects and worked with multiple universities around the world including the Central European University in Budapest. Outside of Europe, she  …

 This week’s episode features Richard ‘Rick’ Doblin, who is the founder and director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) – a non-profit research organisation he established in 1986. Somewhere between getting an undergraduate degree in psychology and a doctorate in public policy, Rick, having had discovered psychedelics, began his fight against unjustified  …

 This week’s episode features Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss and March, and founder of the Beckley Foundation, which directs and supports research into psychoactive substances and their effect on the brain and cognitive function. Professor David Nutt and Amanda talk about the beauty behind psychoactive substances as well as the, equally interesting, stories from  …

This week’s episode features Carl Hart, professor of neuroscience and psychology at Columbia University in New York. Professor Nutt and professor Hart discuss drug addiction and its political context in the US. Are drug policies racist? Were they made to help or to harm? What does the declaration of independence have to do with drug  …

 Psilocybin is being heralded as a major breakthrough in the fight against depression, but how does it compare to the most effective treatment that doctors prescribe for depression? This week’s episode features Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, a British neuroscientist who has led some of the most influential psychedelic studies to date. Professor Nutt and Robin  …

 This week’s episode features Dr Gabor Maté, a Hungarian-Canadian physician who’s main interests include childhood development and trauma, and their impact on lifelong physical and mental health. Professor Nutt and Dr Maté talk about the inseparable nature of our body and mind. How do they affect each other? How can psychedelics offer therapeutic potential  …

Peter Krykant previously used intravenous drugs whilst living homeless in Birmingham. His lived experience has shown him the benefits of drug consumption rooms; to prevent the spread of bloodborne diseases and protect people who use drugs from accidental overdose. Seven weeks ago, Peter set up the first UK drug consumption room which attracted the attention  …

After discovering that there was very little literature review regarding the impact of psychedelics on the philosophy of the mind, philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes started to research how these drugs have impacted western philosophy. On this episode of the podcast, Peter examines the cultural history of the philosophy of psychedelics and how they’ve shaped philosophers’ perceptions  …

Psychologist Dr David Luke, is a Senior Lecturer studying states of transpersonal consciousness. It is well known that psychedelic drugs can induce altered states of consciousness but is this approach too heavy handed to derive benefit from a transpersonal experience? Activities such as yoga, meditation and sensory deprivation can induce this altered state of consciousness  …

In 1971, the war on drugs went international when the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed into international law. This Convention broadened the scope of previous UN drug legislation, facilitating the prohibition of almost any drug imaginable at the time. However, in the past 50 years, various countries across the world have been rejecting  …

Mobeen Azhar has been a journalist for 17 years investigating the societal harms related to the ‘war on drugs’. Upon returning to his hometown of Huddersfield, Mobeen started to uncover grizzly story behind the roadside execution of Yassar Yaqub. Described in court as a 28-year-old office clerk, Yassar Yaqub was shot dead by police on  …

A special treat this week as the two titans of psychopharmacology discuss the medicinal chemistry of psychedelics. Dr Nichols is the Founding President of the Heffter Research Institute, an organisation designed to promote research of the highest scientific quality with psychedelics in order to contribute to a greater understanding of the mind leading to the  …

The US opioid crisis is a result of a fractured and fragmented healthcare service. Federal and state policy created a system whereby doctors were rewarded for prescribing highly addictive substances. This epidemic was compounded when the same federal and state government suddenly restrained these prescriptions, forcing people into the black market. Now underground drug dealers  …

Tobacco and alcohol are the largest sources of preventable death in the world. Our current treatments are only 15% effective at best. However, psilocybin-assisted therapy has achieved an astonishing 80% success rate in clinical trials. Professor Matthew Johnson is paving the way for this new an innovative treatment to address one of the most damaging  …

This week, Professor Nutt speaks to journalist Johann Hari about the ‘war on drugs’. It is now widely accepted that the ‘war on drugs’ has failed, with many people believing it can never succeed. Despite this, politicians from around the world continue to follow this mantra as an effective strategy to reduce drug-related harms. The  …

The tables have been turned in this one-off special of the Drug Science podcast. In this episode, Professor David Nutt is interviewed by renowned singer-songwriter – Joss Stone. Professor Nutt is the Chair of the Drug Science Scientific Committee and currently the Edmund J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and Head of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit at  …