Broadening the scope of the discussion, a framework is explored for formulating national drug policies that will minimize a myriad of harms—social, medical, criminal, financial, and environmental. A further eight – Minimizing the Harms of Legal and Illegal Drugs – describes fairly well the author’s main goal of harm reduction, which he refers back to frequently. But again they were just way to abstract and felt like a cursory glance at potential policy solutions rather than a thoughtful engagement with them. However, as my 2007 Lancet report had shown (and as confirmed by our †2010 Lancet paper) across a range of different sorts of harm, cannabis was by no means as damaging as many other drugs, particularly alcohol. Incidentally, many drugs that have medical uses are both covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act, and regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Medicines Act ( Figure 1.

Seven did a good job at looking at the specific evolution of British policy on Mephedrone, and did a much better job to analyze something specific with a granularity that actually she some light on the issue.Don't get me wrong, the events are worth writing about, but Nutt doesn't give much substance here, he just gives you a sort of tabloid overview of the situation that felt like it was about 95% filler and 5% content. He is the chairman of Drug Science, a non-profit which he founded in 2010 to provide independent, evidence-based information on drugs. In the US there were more than 60,000 deaths from opioids in 2017, a total greater than all the American deaths in the Vietnam war. It makes many people do illegal things (and he argues that the legal effects – getting jailed – are much worse than smoking it) – kids included.

But it is the addicts that commit the most crime; addiction treatment has been shown to have a causal effect in reducing crime, and it is the addicts that are most at risk of adverse health consequences. The findings described throughout the book perfectly demonstrate how the media has corrupted the general public’s perspective on drugs. It also covers the basics of how different drugs work (eg by blocking receptors in the brain), what the real-life effects are and how they evolved.It is intended for people who take drugs, and those dealing with the harms drugs cause: parents, teachers, doctors, politicians, social workers and law enforcement agencies. Where there is … doubt about the potential harm that will be caused, we must err on the side of caution and protect the public. If you've ever wondered why Nixon's war on drugs, carried on by each president and British prime minister ever since has resulted in more drugs on the streets, more convictions leading to yet more drugs on the streets and yet more convictions and so on infinitum, suggested answers may be in these pages. It was an entirely defensible thing to say, as it was based on my own scientific work, and backed up by a similar study from Holland which had agreed that alcohol deserved to be ranked among the most harmful of drugs.

Policies regarding recreational drug use should aim to minimise harm but they currently focus on reducing prevalence. He was Chair of the ACMD's Technical Committee for seven years, and became chairman of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs in 2010. The worst part about this book is that I came out feeling only marginally more informed about what we can do to minimize the harms going forward, what policies I should support and what practices I should adopt. Our conclusion was that, although there probably was a causal link between smoking cannabis and some cases of schizophrenia, this link was weak and didn’t justify moving the drug up to the next Class. The UK introduced the Psychoactive Substances Act in 2016, which makes all substances that affect the brain illegal – unless they are alcohol, tobacco or caffeine.

Anyway, the point is that we need to adopt a rational approach to policy making when it comes to controversial topics such as these. The book is highly recommended for everyone, particularly parents who are worried how their children may be affected by drugs. Do not read this book if you have convinced yourself that drugs are completely bad, prohibition is the only answer and discussion is for wimps, do-gooders and left-leaning trendies.

The rest of the chapter is about psychotropic medication (mostly anti-depressants) and he generally seems unable to see with clear eyes here. The dangers of illegal drugs are well known and rarely disputed, but how harmful are alcohol and tobacco by comparison?In many ways my departure from the UK government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was my reason for writing this book, so it makes sense to start the story there. Insgesamt ist "Drugs Without the Hot Air" ein empfehlenswertes Buch für jeden, der ein besseres Verständnis für das komplexe Thema Drogen gewinnen möchte. From health to family to society, this informative exploration takes an evidence-based view of all the factors involved in drug use.