Diamorphine-assisted treatment is the prescription and provision of hygienic, medical-grade diamorphine to patients in a clinical set-up – patients attend a clinic and are dosed by a clinician once or twice a day depending on individual needs. Drug-related deaths in the UK have risen significantly over the past 10 years, with a steep increase in …
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was first synthesised in 1938 by Albert Hoffman at the Sandoz AG Pharmaceutical Company in Basel, Switzerland LSD was the 25th lysergic acid derivative developed by Hoffman during a discovery project for pharmacologically active derivatives of lysergic acid which would act as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant LSD became widely used …
For far too long school students have been denied access to the truth about drugs, which has undermined their trust in health information in general and put them at greater risk of harm. This new initiative sets out to rectify this failure by presenting teaching materials that are evidence-based, balanced and proportionate. In this way, …
Any recreational drug use is likely to carry a degree of risk. This includes legal highs such as alcohol and tobacco but is especially true of illegal drugs due to lack of regulation and the often unsafe context in which they may be consumed. It is of utmost importance that frontline healthcare workers understand the …
Ketamine, 2-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-(methylamino)-cyclohexan-1-one, is a dissociative sedative with analgesic and anaesthetic properties, now being investigated as an antidepressant, alone and as part of ketamine-assisted therapy. Discovered in 1962 by Calvin L. Stevens, and first tested on humans in 1964, ketamine was approved for medical use by the USA in 1970 and remains widely used to this …
Drug usage is currently extremely high and it is particularly prevalent amongst those suffering from mental health conditions. Despite this, many healthcare workers are not trained to recognise the signs of substance misuse and are often unaware of how to treat this distinctive patient group appropriately. Psychiatric patients who use drugs are much less likely …
Supervised Injection Facilities (SIFs) are known by many names including Safe Injection Facilities, Overdose Prevention Centres, and Drug Consumption Rooms. There are subtle nuances between these amenities, but they all function to provide safe spaces for people to consume controlled drugs under the supervision of trained professionals who can save lives if overdoses occur. Drug-related …
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 …
MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) was first synthesised in 1912 by chemists at the pharmaceutical company, Merck in Germany. In 1985, MDMA was placed in schedule 1, resulting in no research being conducted into the potential therapeutic applications of MDMA between 1985 – 2000. However, since then, MDMA has been included in over 5000 academic articles and administered to …
The psychotropic effects of Psilocybe mushrooms were largely unknown in the West until the 1950s, despite evidence that they had a long history of indigenous use in Central and South America, and possibly other parts of the world. Western civilisations had very little knowledge of this relatively ‘new‘ psychotropic and subsequently banned research into its …
On the 1st of November 2018, medicinal cannabis products were removed from schedule 1 and placed in schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. This change in the law has left patients, medical professionals and law enforcement perplexed about who should and who should not have access to medicinal cannabis. As access to …