Ayahuasca has been used as a medicine in Mesoamerican ceremonies for thousands of years, but the primary psychoactive compound, DMT, was not synthesised until 1931. DMT was studied during the wave of psychedelic research in the 1950s and 60s until research was banned in 1971 by the Convention of Psychotropic Substances. Ayahuasca was not included  …

Authors: RR Zafar, AK Schlag, DJ Nutt Published: December 9, 2020 An audit of the impact of medical cannabis in 10 patients with severe epilepsy. Background Scientific and anecdotal evidence suggest that whole-plant cannabis extracts are effective in reducing seizure frequency in individuals with a range of epileptic etiologies. We report a case series of  …

Authors: Jacob S Aday, Emily K Bloesch, Christopher C Davoli Published: November 25, 2020 Public and scientific interest into psychedelic drugs has grown steadily over much of the last two decades, before an exponential increase in recent years. We contend that 2019, in particular, involved myriad notable changes in the science, industry, and deregulation of  …

Dr Meg Spriggs – Psilocybin for Anorexia Nervosa Dr Meg Spriggs is a researcher at the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London where she works as a trial-coordinator and guide on trials of psilocybin. Her primary role is as one of the lead researchers on the Centre’s upcoming clinical trial assessing psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy  …

In this episode of the Drug Science podcast, Professor Nutt is joined by an old friend who he has known for 35 years. Professor Roland Griffiths is a researcher who has examined a wide range of psychotropic substances over the years. He has studied, the abuse potential of a number of different substances; caffeine dependence  …

Authors: James A Foulds, David Nutt Published: July 27, 2020 Methamphetamine was reclassified as a Class A drug in New Zealand in 2003. This meant harsher sentences for people convicted of its manufacture, importation or supply. Despite this, the number of convictions for methamphetamine-related offending continued to increase. In 2019, the New Zealand Court of  …

  DMT is a drug that’s relatively novel in western neuropsychopharmacology. Not much research has been done on this substance to date and many intoxicants are unable to recount their psychedelic experience. For the first time, this substance is being studied in an fMRI and EEG to elucidate why and how this drug elucidates vivid  …