The Drug Science Podcast

After discovering that there was very little literature review regarding the impact of psychedelics on the philosophy of the mind, philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes started to research how these drugs have impacted western philosophy. On this episode of the podcast, Peter examines the cultural history of the philosophy of psychedelics and how they’ve shaped philosophers’ perceptions of consciousness and reality.

Dr Peter Sjöstedt-H is an Anglo-Scandinavian philosopher of mind who specializes in the thought of Whitehead, Nietzsche, and Spinoza, and in fields pertaining to panpsychism and altered states of mind. Following his degree in Continental Philosophy at the University of Warwick, he became a Philosophy lecturer in London for six years and after which he pursued his PhD (on ‘Pansentient Monism’, examined by Galen Strawson and Joel Krueger) at the University of Exeter – where he is now a research fellow and associate lecturer. Peter is the author of Noumenautics, the TEDx Talker on ‘psychedelics and consciousness‘.

Are altered states of consciousness mere hallucinations or indicative of fundamental truths of reality? 

William James

Philosophy of psychedelics conference

Exploring Frameworks for Exceptional Experience

Humphry Davy

Nitrous Oxide

Arthur Heffter

Thomas De Quincey

Outsight project

Epiphonemalism 

René Descartes

Psychedelics heightened appreciation of nature

Eliminative materialism

David Luke podcast

Andrew Gallimore - Alien Information Theory

Carl Hart – psychedelic exceptionalism

Albert Hoffman

Bertrand Russell - Mysticism and logic

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Psychologist Dr David Luke, is a Senior Lecturer studying states of transpersonal consciousness. It is well known that psychedelic drugs can induce altered states of consciousness but is this approach too heavy handed to derive benefit from a transpersonal experience? Activities such as yoga, meditation and sensory deprivation can induce this altered state of consciousness but how can we apply what we have learnt from psychedelic neuropsychopharmacology to evaluate these non-drug induced states? Can religious or spiritual experiences influence an individual’s perception of reality?

Dr David Luke is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich. His research focuses on transpersonal experiences, anomalous phenomena and altered states of consciousness, especially via psychedelics, having published more than 100 academic papers in this area, including ten books, most recently Psychedelic Mysteries of the Feminine (2019). When he is not running clinical drug trials with LSD, doing DMT field experiments or observing apparent weather control with Mexican shamans he directs the Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness salon and is a co-founder and director and the current chair of Breaking Convention: International Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness.

William James  

James Fadiman

Stanislav Grof

Anechoic chamber

Holotropic Breathwork

Carbogen Inhalation Therapy

Synesthesia

Breaking Convention

Extinction Rebellion

Global Drug Survey

Aphantasia

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In 1971, the war on drugs went international when the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed into international law. This Convention broadened the scope of previous UN drug legislation, facilitating the prohibition of almost any drug imaginable at the time.

However, in the past 50 years, various countries across the world have been rejecting this narrative and even the UN itself has agreed that the war on drugs has been a failure. Drugs are here to stay and it was foolish to think that they could be removed from society. An influential cog in this new approach to drug policy are a group called - Transform. Transform take a pragmatic and evidence-based approach to drug policy. Lobbying for harm reduction and alternatives to prohibition.

Steve Rolles is Senior Policy Analyst for Transform Drug Policy Foundation, a UK based think tank and charity focused on drug policy and law reform. Lead author on a range of Transform publications including 2009’s ‘After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation’, Steve has been a regular contributor to the public debate on drug policy and law for over 15 years; in the media, at UK and international events, and at various UN and Government forums around the world. Steve was recently an adviser for the Uruguayan Government in developing their new cannabis regulation model, and was also lead drafter and technical coordinator for the recent ‘Taking control: Pathways to Drug Polices that Work’ report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Previously Steve worked for Oxfam and the Medical Research Council, having studied for his Geography BSc at Bristol University and Development Studies MSc at Manchester University.

Transform

Danny Kushlick

Mexico Unido Contra Delincuencia

Portugal decriminalisation

Cannabis legalisation in Canada

Cannabis legalisation in Uruguay

Altered States report

William Hague advocating for cannabis reform

Global Commission on Drug Policy

Lib Dem cannabis report

UN common position on drugs

UN task team report on the past 10 years of drug policy

Latin America cocaine war

Luxembourg cannabis reform

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Mobeen Azhar has been a journalist for 17 years investigating the societal harms related to the ‘war on drugs’. Upon returning to his hometown of Huddersfield, Mobeen started to uncover grizzly story behind the roadside execution of Yassar Yaqub.

Described in court as a 28-year-old office clerk, Yassar Yaqub was shot dead by police on an M62 slip road on a cold and wet January evening in 2017. Celebrated by his family as a loving son and beloved father, his death lead to protests on the streets of West Yorkshire and in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement a ‘Justice 4 Yassar’ campaign was born. But with rumours of drug empires, money laundering and high-performance cars, just days into his reporting of the case, Mobeen realises that there is a much bigger story in town. With violence on the streets and a town that is terrified to talk, Mobeen attempts to find out where the truth really lies in a journey that forces him to face some ugly truths about his community and hometown.

 Hometown

 Justice for Yassar

 Neil Woods

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A special treat this week as the two titans of psychopharmacology discuss the medicinal chemistry of psychedelics. Dr Nichols is the Founding President of the Heffter Research Institute, an organisation designed to promote research of the highest scientific quality with psychedelics in order to contribute to a greater understanding of the mind leading to the improvement of the human condition, and to alleviate suffering.

Professor Nutt and Dr Nichols answer some burning questions of psychedelic science such as:

What will come to market first, LSD, Psilocybin or MDMA?

Could microdosing be dangerous?

Is there such a thing as DMT tolerance?

David E. Nichols, is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Purdue University College of Pharmacy, and was the Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Chair in Pharmacology, where he carried out teaching and research for 38 years prior to his retirement in 2012. A major focus of his research was on substances known as hallucinogens, known more popularly as psychedelics. Widely published in the scientific literature and internationally recognized for his research on centrally active drugs, he has studied all of the major classes of psychedelic agents, including LSD and other lysergic acid derivatives, psilocybin and the tryptamines, and phenethylamines related to mescaline. Among scientists, he is recognized as one of the foremost international experts on the medicinal chemistry of psychedelics.

Shulgin

Mescaline

MDMA

LSD

Psilocybin

Entactogen vs Empathogen

Drugs Enforcement Agency

Salvia

Heffter Research Institute

Arthur Heffter

Psilocybin for depression trial

Psilocybin for OCD Yale study

Psilocybin-assisted Group Therapy for Demoralization in Long-term AIDS Survivors

N,N-dimethyltryptamine and the pineal gland: Separating fact from myth

A Model for the Application of Target-Controlled Intravenous Infusion for a Prolonged Immersive DMT Psychedelic Experience

Fen-phen Weightloss drug

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Tryptamines Found in Hallucinogenic Mushrooms: Norbaeocystin, Baeocystin, Norpsilocin, and Aeruginascin

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The US opioid crisis is a result of a fractured and fragmented healthcare service. Federal and state policy created a system whereby doctors were rewarded for prescribing highly addictive substances. This epidemic was compounded when the same federal and state government suddenly restrained these prescriptions, forcing people into the black market. Now underground drug dealers control this oversaturated demand, from Mexican smugglers to Chinese clandestine chemists…the harms of opiates are rising every day.

Bryce Pardo is an associate policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. His work focuses on drug policy with a particular interest in the areas of cannabis regulation, opioid control, and new psychoactive substance markets. Recently, he has provided Congressional testimony about his research on illicit supply of fentanyl to several subcommittees within the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to joining RAND, he served five years as a legislative and policy analyst at the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) within the Organization of American States (OAS) where he worked directly with policymakers and practitioners. He has independently consulted with multi-lateral institutions, including the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Pardo also served as lead analyst with BOTEC Analysis Corporation to support the Government of Jamaica in drafting medical cannabis regulations.

The Future of Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids

RAND Corporation

RAND Drug Policy Research Centre

Heroin

Oxycodone

Oxycontin  

2010 additive added to prescription opiates so they couldn’t be crushed or snorted

Golden triangle

Fentanyl

Buprenorphine

Methadone

Vivitrol

Heroin Assisted Treatment

Supervised consumption facility

Isotonitazene

Carfentanil

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Tobacco and alcohol are the largest sources of preventable death in the world. Our current treatments are only 15% effective at best. However, psilocybin-assisted therapy has achieved an astonishing 80% success rate in clinical trials. Professor Matthew Johnson is paving the way for this new an innovative treatment to address one of the most damaging social burdens of modern society, drug addiction. It is important to note that Professor Johnson’s research is not looking at casual habitual smokers, but instead, long-term, treatment resistant tobacco users.

Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor at Johns Hopkins, has worked with psychedelics since 2004. He published psychedelic safety guidelines in 2008, the first psychedelic treatment of tobacco addiction in 2014, and with colleagues published the largest study of psilocybin in cancer distress in 2016. His 2018 psilocybin review recommended Schedule IV upon medical approval. He is Principal Investigator on upcoming psilocybin studies treating opioid addiction and PTSD, and LSD research treating chronic pain.

Matt and the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Unit are examining the long-term behavioural changes resulting from a single psilocybin session and cognitive behavioural therapy.

Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Unit

Professor Matthew Johnson

Smoking cessation study

Smoking cessation research

Roland Griffiths Episode

Healthy normals research  

Smoking cessation behaviours three months following acute insular damage from stroke

Ibogaine

Breathwork for treating PTSD

Twitter - @Drug_Researcher 

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This week, Professor Nutt speaks to journalist Johann Hari @johannhari101 about the ‘war on drugs’. It is now widely accepted that the ‘war on drugs’ has failed, with many people believing it can never succeed. Despite this, politicians from around the world continue to follow this mantra as an effective strategy to reduce drug-related harms. The reason why… politics.

Currently, it is politically damaging to support the legalisation of drugs because public discourse has been led to believe that legalisation will cause anarchy and chaos. Contrarily, what we have now is a complete lack of control. Legally regulating the supply of drugs is the only way to bring order to this chaos.

Johann Hari is the author of two New York Times best-selling books. His first, ‘Chasing the Scream: the First and Last Days of the War on Drugs’, is currently being adapted into a major Hollywood film by Oscar-winning director Lee Daniels, and into a non-fiction documentary series. His first TED talk, ‘Everything You Think You Know About Addiction is Wrong’, has been viewed more than 40 million times across all platforms. He has written over the past decade for some of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, the Spectator, Le Monde Diplomatique, the Melbourne Age, and Politico. He is a regular panellist on HBO’s Realtime With Bill Maher.

Chasing the Scream

Lost Connections

Professor Nutt fired

Portugal decriminalisation

Bud Osborn

Safe injection facilities

Philip Owen – coffin

Billie Holiday

Strange Fruit

Ruth Dreifuss

Neil Woods episode

Swiss experiment

Crispin Blunt episode

Harry Anslinger

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The tables have been turned in this one-off special of the Drug Science podcast. In this episode, Professor David Nutt is interviewed by renowned singer-songwriter – Joss Stone. Professor Nutt is the Chair of the Drug Science Scientific Committee and currently the Edmund J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and Head of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit at Imperial College London. Professor Nutt has steered the psychedelic renaissance toward legitimate research in the UK enabling the next generation of researchers to expand our understanding of these substances.

In this week’s episode, Professor Nutt is interviewed by singer-songwriter Joss Stone. Joss became a friend of the show after appearing in our first season of the podcast to talk about Medical Cannabis. Now she’s back to ask the Professor some burning questions about cannabis, psychedelics, SSRI’s, Adderall, addiction and pain.

A Cuppa Happy podcast

United Patients Alliance

Medical cannabis slides  

Cannabis

Prescribed CBD could help people quit cannabis

Twenty21

NICE guideline

Harry Anslinger

Medical Psychedelics Working Group  

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On July 14th 2020, the UK’s leading independent scientific body on drugs has launched the Drug Science Medical Psychedelics Working Group. Building off the success of the Medical Cannabis Working Group, the Medical Psychedelics Working Group is a consortium of Drug Science experts, leading academics, researchers and policy specialists, supported by industry partners. The group’s aim is to create a rational and enlightened approach to psychedelic research and clinical treatment. The group will explore innovation within the psychedelic space with a specific focus on how psychedelics can be integrated into primary and secondary healthcare. Evidence-based science, sharing data, and strong partnerships are keys to success for the psychedelic community. The purpose of this group is to break down the barriers of 50 years of medical censorship by creating a rational and enlightened approach to psychedelic research and clinical treatment, ensuring the UK is a world leader in psychedelic medicine.

Jo Neill is Professor of Psychopharmacology at the University of Manchester (Division of Pharmacy & Optometry). She is Chair of the Medical Psychedelics Working Group for Drug Science and a committee member, a scientific advisor for Heroic Hearts UK and the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group. She is co-founder of b-neuro, a University based Contract Research Organisation developing new treatments for mental illness through animal models. Jo is past President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology (President 2016-2018). She served on the Research Excellence Framework panel for Unit of Assessment 3 (Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy) in 2014. Jo is working with Policy at Manchester to educate the public about the urgent need for drug law reform and suspension of Schedule 1 restrictions to enable research into the medicinal properties of currently illegal drugs.

Medical Psychedelics Working Group

B-Neuro

Neil Woods episode

Psilocybin for depression episode

Veterans and psychedelics part 1

Veterans and psychedelics part 2

Veterans and psychedelics part 3

Psilocybin slides

MDMA slides

Judith Aldridge

Fiona Measham

James Morgan

DMT episode

Neil Woods MP letter

Denver decriminalisation

Oakland decriminalisation

Psilocybin in The Telegraph

Magic Medicine Film

US Expanded Access Programme

From Shock to Awe

Anorexia trial at Imperial College

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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 through the years. He has studied, the abuse potential of a number of different substances; caffeine dependence and withdrawal, and the relative prices people are willing to pay for access to common street drugs.

Roland Griffiths, is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Center on Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. His principal research focus in both clinical and preclinical laboratories has been on the behavioral and subjective effects of mood-altering drugs.

He has conducted extensive research with sedative-hypnotics, caffeine, and novel mood-altering drugs. In 1999 he initiated a research program investigating the effects of the classic psychedelic psilocybin that includes studies in healthy volunteers, in beginning and long-term meditators, and in religious leaders. Therapeutic studies with psilocybin include treatment of psychological distress in cancer patients, treatment of cigarette smoking cessation, and psilocybin treatment of major depression. Other studies have examined the effects of salvinorin A, dextromethorphan, and ketamine which produce altered states of consciousness having some similarities to psilocybin. Drug interaction studies and brain imaging studies (fMRI and PET) are examining pharmacological and neural mechanisms of action. The Hopkins laboratory has also conducted a series of internet survey studies characterizing various psychedelic experiences including those associated with acute and enduring adverse effects, mystical-type effects, entity and God-encounter experiences, and alleged positive changes in mental health, including decreases in depression and anxiety, decreases in substance abuse, and reductions in death anxiety.

Caffeine

Psilocybin

Benzodiazepines

Psilocybin occasioning mystical-type experiences

+14 month follow up

Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research

Journal of Psychopharmacology

William James Religious Experience

Psilocybin for religious clergy

Matt Johnson tobacco addiction study

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In this episode of the Drug Science podcast, Professor David Nutt is joined by two pharmacosexuality experts to discuss chemsex, drug fuelled sex parties and sexual psychonauts. From the peak sexual experience to sober sex, our relationship with sex and drugs is complicated but intrinsically personal. Find out who chooses to mix sex and drugs, the risks associated with doing so, and what pleasure this provides people who combine the two.

Dr Alex Dymock (@alexdymock) is Lecturer in Law at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research is concerned with the regulation of sexuality, sexual subcultures, pornography, criminal law, and the history of drugs and drug policy. She co-led the Wellcome Trust funded Pharmacosexuality project (@pharmacosex) from 2018-2019, which examined the relationship between drug use and sexuality.

Dr Leah Moyle (@leah_moyle) is Lecturer in Criminology at Royal Holloway, University of London. Leah’s research focuses primarily on understanding illicit drug markets, cultures of drug use, and ‘non-commercial’ supply. She co-led the Wellcome Trust funded Pharmacosexuality project (@pharmacosex) from 2018-2019, which examined the relationship between drug use and sexuality. 

Project website

Article for Wellcome Trust with Dr Ben Mechen

GBH/GBL

MDMA

Alcohol

Vice documentary on chemsex

BlueLight

Shulgin – MDMA for relationship work

Erowid

Stephen Port case

ACMD call for reclassification of GHB

Reynhard Sinaga case

Poppers

Testo-junkie

Vylessi  

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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 dreams and near-death experiences. 

Chris Timmerman recently completed his PhD in neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, investigating the effects of psychedelic drugs in the human brain with Robin Carhart-Harris and David Nutt. He is developing his research with a focus on the effects of psychedelics in consciousness and brain connectivity. Chris recently lead a study involving the effects of DMT in the human brain and experience, while also understanding its potential use for mental health conditions. 

Having gained a BSc in neuroscience, Dr Chloe Sakal went on to study medicine and gain membership with the Royal College of Psychiatrist. She has a keen interest in the psychopharmacology and the potential for the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs in treating a wide range of psychiatric disorders. She is a study doctor for the UKs first MDMA-assisted psychotherapy trial looking at the safety and tolerability of its use in the treatment of alcoholism. She is an assistant-therapist on a phase two study looking at the treatment of psilocybin-assisted therapy for the treatment of depression. Alongside this, Chloe was a study participant in Chris Timmerman’s DMT research. 

DMT Brain imaging study (Coming soon) 

DMT

Augusto Pinochet

MDMA alcoholism

Rick Strassman 

LSD brain imaging studies 

Life After Life – Raymond Moody

5-MeO-DMT

Psychiachix

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Crispin was elected MP for Reigate in 1997 having formerly served as an army officer. In Parliament, Crispin has served in the Shadow Cabinet with briefs including trade and energy and security and counter-terrorism. He has served as both Minister for Prisons and as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He is currently the co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform. In January 2019, Crispin set up and launched the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group (CDPRG) whose objective is to promote evidence-based drug policy reform on the centre right. He is currently the Group’s unremunerated Chair and Chief Executive Officer.

Crispin takes a conservative look at the lack of regulation in the drugs market, questioning why the UK fails to tackle criminal gangs through prohibition, how the UK economy is damaged by turning a blind eye to the billions made in the cannabis industry and what can be done to win this war. Furthermore, Crispin Blunt and Professor Nutt discuss the racist beginnings of the ‘War on Drugs’ and how those sentiments have continued until present day. The killing of George Floyd antithesis’s the need to challenge this racist war through the Black Lives Matter movement. 

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***Free Drug Science event***

Medical Psychedelic Working Group Event <<< register here <<<

***From the best & brightest minds working in psychedelics***

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Jeff Smith

Good Cop Bad War

Drug Wars

Transform

CDPRG

CDPRG report on the cannabis market

Mike Barton

PSA 2016

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From an early age, Mitch Schultz's curiosity of the unknown universe forged his path in storytelling. His work as a transmedia producer, UX designer, and educator explores the inherent connections among consciousness, nature, culture, and the evolving human mythology.

The Documentary ‘From Shock to Awe’ asks, “how do we heal our deepest wounds?”. This film offers an intimate and raw look at the transformational journey of two combat veterans suffering from severe trauma as they abandon pharmaceuticals to seek relief through the mind-expanding world of psychedelics. Recent scientific research coupled with a psychedelic renaissance reveals that these substances can be used to heal PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) for individuals and their families. Beyond the personal stories, From Shock to Awe also raises fundamental questions about war, the pharmaceutical industry, and the US legal system.

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***From the best & brightest minds working in psychedelics***

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Rick Strassman  

DMT: The Spirit Molecule

From Shock to Awe

Florida Church using Ayahuasca

Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal

Ayahuasca/DMT

What is PTSD?

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War continues to hurt people long after the fighting has stopped. Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress often self-medicate with alcohol or they are prescribed a cocktail of anti-depressants and opioids. This story is far too common for Nathan Pohl, A US veteran who served 2000 days of deployment in multiple combat zones. Nathan was not given the support he needed when he returned home, but luckily, he was introduced to the healing power of plant-based medicines before it was too late. 

Dr. Kate Pate is a neurophysiologist from a military family and has always been passionate about finding ways to help military service members and veterans. This passion, coupled with her interest in plant-based medicines and her journey to find ways to heal from her own traumas, led her to cross paths with Heroic Hearts Project. Kate joined HHP as the Director of Research in early 2019 and has been working closely with the team to investigate the ways in which ayahuasca can benefit veterans suffering from PTSD and other mental health issues, and how changes in the gut microbiome following ayahuasca consumption may be correlated with long-term behavioural changes. Dr. Pate has been conducting research for nearly 15 years in a variety of different areas.

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***From the best & brightest minds working in psychedelics***

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Heroic Hearts

Ayahuasca

Entheogen

Psychedelic integration

MAPS MDMA trials

Ketamine Clinics

Dr Christopher Lowry

Colorado Decriminalisation

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This episode of the Drug Science podcast offers a unique insight into the personal accounts of veterans Jesse Gould and Keith Abrahams. From the Afghan war zone to the Peruvian Jungle, these two have dedicated themselves to helping support their fellow brothers and sisters in arms.

After being deployed in Afghanistan three times, Jesse Gould founded the Heroic Hearts Project in 2017 to spearhead the acceptance and use of ayahuasca therapy as a means of addressing the current mental health crisis among veterans. This project offers veterans who are interested in pursuing psychedelic treatment options, a chance to treat their PTSD.

Keith Abraham served 9 years as a member of The Parachute Regiment, fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Throughout the latter years of his military service and during this time working for an investment bank, Keith began experiencing severe symptoms of anxiety and depression. After exhausting the majority of services and options offered by the NHS and military charities without much success, Keith realised a new approach was needed.

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***From the best & brightest minds working in psychedelics***

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Heroic Hearts

Heroic Hearts UK

Ayahuasca

Psilocybin

Iquitos Peru

PTSD

Depression

Veterans Affairs recommendations for treating PTSD

Psilocybin retreats in the Netherlands

Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research

Crispin Blunt

Ollie Ollerton

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Mescaline is one of the lesser used psychedelics of the 21st century, however, its use may be older than any other psychedelic drug we know of. In this episode of the Drug Science podcast, Mike Jay recounts the definitive history of mescaline, exploring its mind-altering effects across cultures, from ancient America to western modernity.

Mike Jay is a writer and curator who has written widely on the history of drugs. He is the author of High Society: mind-altering drugs in history and culture, which accompanied the exhibition he curated at Welcome Collection in London on 2010, and most recently of Mescaline: a global history of the first psychedelic.

Professor Nutt and Mike Jay also discuss:

The stigmatisation of people who use drugs

The lexicology of the word ‘drug’

The cultural revolution of the 1960s

Mescaline tourism

High Society

Mescaline

Wellcome Collection exhibition

Mike Jay

Humphry Davy

Psychoactive Substances Act 2016

Ayahuasca

Peyote ceremonies

Ghost Dance

Wounded Knee

San Pedro ancient art

Alexander Shulgin

A Different Medicine

From Shock to Awe  

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The emergence of vaping and e-cigarettes is a relatively new and novel form of harm reduction. The UK has taken a scientific approach to the regulation of vaporisers and has been rewarded with great reductions of new and existing tobacco smokers. However, internationally vaporisers have been met with great distain and in some cases prohibition. In the past few years, we have seen a deliberate attempt to mislead the public over the harms of vaping nicotine and other cigarette substitute products.

Professor Gerry Stimson is a sociologist who has been promoting a harm reduction approach to public health since 1987. This began with harm reduction messaging for drug use to minimise HIV infection rates. This later expanded to other harm reduction tactics such as alcohol and tobacco control. In 2004, Gerry was appointed Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London. In 2017, he was appointed Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Together, Professor Nutt and Professor Stimson will unravel facts from fiction and answer:

Why are UK regulations so effective?

Should we fear ‘big tobacco’ involvement with vaporisers?

Abstinence vs harm reduction

Why is vaping stigmatised?

How does vaping change user’s relationship with nicotine?

Should we ban flavours?

Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction

Tobacco harm reduction and the right to health

GSHR twitter 

Needle exchange

What is harm reduction?

Snus

Nicotine replacement therapy

Nicotine

Drug Harm analysis

Nicotine MCDA

Public Health England e-cigarette report

US flavour ban

WHO stance on vaping

COVID and vaping

Vaping by Clive Bates

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Over the last few years, Dr Simon Ruffell has worked closely with indigenous communities in the Amazon basin. He is particularly interested in the tradition surrounding the use of plant medicine in the Shipibo tribe. Simon has been looking at the psychological effects of plant medicine and the role that ceremony and spirit play in healing.

In this episode, Simon talks about his research into ayahuasca, the dangers of drug tourism and the ayahuasca diet. Dr Ruffell also explores the cultural history of DMT from a shaman’s pocket to Vogue magazine.

Simon graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Sheffield before specialising in psychiatry. He has an interest in transcultural psychiatry, working overseas in Northern Uganda. He has a special interest in psychedelic research, namely ayahuasca and has spent the last four years conducting research into the use of ayahuasca in an adapted traditional setting in the Peruvian Amazon. Simon is currently based at The Maudsley Hospital in South London, as well as working as a Senior Research Associate at King's College London looking at the use of psilocybin in treatment resistant depression. 

Santo Daime church

Ayahuasca tourism

Ayahuasca foundation

Ayahuasca diet

Shaman’s pouch containing DMT

Kings college

Imperial college psychedelic research group

Brazil Ayahuasca RCT

Barcelona brain imaging trials  

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Twitter: @ProfDavidNutt @Drug_Science

A Fascinate Productions podcast for Drug Science

★ Support this podcast ★