A study published in JAMA Psychiatry looks at cannabis use disorder and subsequent risk of depression and bipolar disorder. … read more
The UK government has announced* that possession of nitrous oxide for human consumption will be made a criminal offence. … read more
The government has launched a new 10-year drugs strategy for England and Wales. Prof Liz Hughes, Professor of Nursing, … read more
There have been several media reports suggesting that the Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked the Advisory Council on the … read more
A study, published in BMJ Evidence Based Medicin, looked at caffeine use and pregnancy. Dr Daghni Rajasingham, Consultant Obstetrician … read more
The dangers of illegal drugs are well known and rarely disputed, but how harmful are alcohol and tobacco by comparison? … read more
A report, published by the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, calls for radical changes to the UK’s … read more
Prof Alex Stevens has resigned from the Home Office’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), citing political interference in … read more
NHS Digital has published a new report: ‘Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among young people in England – 2016’.
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A new study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, examines the association between lower meat consumption by women during pregnancy and increased risk of substance misuse by their children during adolescence. read more
Publishing in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology, researchers looked at the effect of marijuana on cardiovascular
and cerebrovascular mortality and reported that longer duration of marijuana use is associated with an increased risk of death from hypotension. read more
Publishing in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health scientists report that cannabis use in adolescence is associated with an increased risk of harmful substance use in early adulthood. read more
Publishing in Nature Medicine researchers report low-dose administration of the cannabinoid delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can improve age-related learning and memory deficits in mice. read more
Researchers have published a review of the ethical considerations in off-label ketamine use for severe, treatment-resistant depression, in the Lancet Psychiatry. read more
Severe depression is the number one psychological disorder in the UK and yet 30% of patients do not respond to … read more
In a Personal View article to be published in the Lancet Psychiatry, the authors explain that increasingly liberal cannabis laws in some countries and the increasing potency of cannabis worldwide mean that we need to think about whether and how cannabis can be made safer.
The extent of marijuana use in the USA is explored in a paper published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal with the authors reporting an increase in prevalence and frequency of use in adults since 2007 alongside a decreased perception of harm from the drug. read more
The Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health have released a report which discusses the current and possible strategies for dealing with legal and illegal drugs and calls for decriminalisation. read more
Cannabis is a class B drug in the UK but is in use for therapeutic purposes in a number of countries for various diseases, and a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports has reported that e-cigarette devices could be effective in administering therapeutic doses of the drug. read more
Psilocybin, the active component of magic mushrooms, is being seriously considered as a therapy for people with treatment-resistant depression. One in five people suffer from depression at some point in their lives – a significant proportion of whom cannot be helped with any current psychotherapy or drugs. In 2012 researchers published a paper which used fMRI scans to show the effects of psilocybin on the brain. A related paper, published at the same time, suggested that psilocybin could be a useful tool in psychotherapy. The researchers have now gone on to test the safety of psilocybin in a small group of patients with treatment-resistant depression. They are publishing their new findings, funded by the Medical Research Council, in The Lancet Psychiatry. read more
