Drugs without the hot air: Making Sense of Legal and Illegal Drugs

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From the Publisher: The dangers of illegal drugs are well known and rarely disputed, but how harmful are alcohol and tobacco by comparison? What are we missing by banning medical research into magic mushrooms, LSD and cannabis? Can they be sources of valuable treatments? Engaging, informed, contemporary and wise: David Nutt's new edition will inform anyone touched by the myriad psychoactive chemicals we call drugs. That's everyone. * Peter B Jones, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge * This book covers various aspects of drug use: how drugs work, how harmful they are, what addiction is, what treatments are available and so on. It covers alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs as well as the illegal ones.

Praise for the Book: I don’t think you could ask for a more sensible, clear-eyed, and useful book about drugs, from the ones your doctor prescribes to the ones your bartender serves you to the ones you can go to jail for possessing. Nutt is not just a great and principled campaigner, nor merely a talented and dedicated scientist – he’s also a superb communicator. – Cory Doctorow, Boing BoingDrugs without the hot air is a highly readable and informative survey of the current state of play on recreational drug use and abuse by one of our leading clinical psychopharmacologists. David Nutt confronts the many controversial issues concerning both legal and illegal drug use, including its political regulation, with a combination of common sense, evidence-based argument and passion. * Trevor Robbins, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Cambridge *

For half a century the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 has dominated ill-conceived approaches to the prohibition of drugs and the criminalisation of many offenders. Wilful blindness to scientific facts has distorted the dispensation of justice, prevented lifesaving investigation, sidelined critics and thwarted advocates of politically inconvenient drugs law reform. The dangers of illegal drugs are well known and rarely disputed, but how harmful are alcohol and tobacco by comparison? Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-10-11 22:06:24 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA40256905 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Start telling your kids about drugs from an early age and be prepared to discuss your drinking and smoking with them.

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A clear and reasonable perspective on a complicated and controversial area from an expert unafraid of talking sense to power about addictive drugs, legal or illegal. * Ed Bullmore, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and Author of The Inflamed Mind *

He was criticised and eventually fired for being rather too vocal about the fact that the government consistently ignored the advice of the ACMD and allowed political considerations to trump the evidence, and for pointing out some inconvenient truths about relative harms; that alcohol and tobacco are both more dangerous than many illegal drugs, and that horse-riding is considerably more dangerous than taking ecstasy. This once in an epoch review by experts from a range of disciplines, Drug Science and British Drug Policy shows how lawmakers and the media have ignored the scientific evidence to sustain badly founded rhetoric in favour of blanket bans, punishment and the marginalisation of opponents. Countless individuals (including the vulnerable, deprived, addicted and mentally ill) have therefore suffered unnecessarily.

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It’s interesting though, and very readable. It helps that, although the book takes a ‘liberal’ stance compared to the current law, it’s not derived from a naive libertarianism. Nutt is not arguing for loosening the drug laws on the basis of increased personal liberty; he wants the law to be better at managing harms and risks. So he supports the ban on smoking in public places and would tighten some of the rules on alcohol sales. And although treating addiction to heroin and cocaine as a primarily medical problem could be seen as ‘soft on drugs’, he’s arguing for it on the basis that it is the best way to minimise harm. About the Author: David Nutt is a psychiatrist, the Edmund J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology in Imperial College London and chair of DrugScience. The Times Eureka science magazine voted him one of the 100 most important figures in British Science.