Science

A drug-by-drug guide to a rational UK drugs policy

“Using drugs can be a rational choice, a bad choice, or in cases of addiction, a very constrained choice. It is never a crime. Therefore, no criminal sanctions for drug possession and use.” -David Nutt of Drug Science But it can’t just be a free-for-all. Just because you’re not throwing drug users in prison doesn’t…

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Science

Can psychedelics be therapy? Allow research to find out.

…it may be time to time to reconsider our current classification of controlled substances. Clearly we must continue to be vigilant about whether drugs pose physical harm to patients. But we could assess drugs using additional measurements, including the potential for dependence; social costs through damaged family and social life; and financial costs through health…

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Science

Six UK music festivals are to allow drug testing…

West Yorkshire Police assistant chief constable Andy Battle, who leads the policing operation at Leeds, said they were “looking at the possibility of supporting the festival’s organisers”. “We can never condone the use of illegal drugs, but we recognise that some people will continue to take them and we need to adapt our approach in…

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Science

We need to change the conversation about drugs legislation

…the British Medical Journal has come out in favour of legalisation, noting that the ban on many recreational drugs is causing huge harm to users Over the past two decades, the trend in most Western countries has been towards legalising or decriminalising drugs such as cannabis in line with scientific evidence about their relative harm.…

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Science

Psychedelic drugs enhance consciousness

Consciousness can be studied using magnetoencephalogram (MEG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) techniques to measure neural signal diversity…. The authors found that among the psychedelic drugs tested, there was an increase in signal diversity in the psychedelic state compared to placebo. These results were supported by the questionnaire results. The authors expected that three different psychedelic drugs…

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Science

Change, grow, live

We recognise that entering structured treatment is not always possible, or even desired by some individuals, and these people would be most likely to benefit from Safer Consumption Rooms. While we are not currently looking to establish any facilities of this nature, we would certainly be open to working with any of our commissioners who…

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