First Test of 'Psychedelic Psychotherapy' Since 70s Researchers Hope Effects Will Improve Quality of Life Scientists are exploring the use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD to treat a range of ailments from depression to cluster headaches and obsessive compulsive disorder. The first clinical trial using LSD since the 1970s began in Switzerland in June. It aims to use "psychedelic psychotherapy" to help patients with terminal illnesses come to terms with their imminent mortality and so improve their quality of life. [continues 1183 words]
One of the active chemicals in cannabis inhibits psychotic symptoms in people with schizophrenia, according to a study which compared it with a leading anti-psychotic drug. Although the finding could lead to new treatments for schizophrenia, scientists think it may also explain why cases of cannabis-induced psychosis are apparently on the rise. Most cannabis research focuses on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient that produces the high. Recent studies have shown THC makes symptoms of schizophrenia worse and triggers the condition in a small proportion of users. [continues 367 words]
Some of Britain's leading drug experts demand today that the government's classification regime be scrapped and replaced by one that more honestly reflects the harm caused by alcohol and tobacco. They say the current ABC system is "arbitrary" and not based on evidence. The scientists, including members of the government's top advisory committee on drug classification, have produced a rigorous assessment of the social and individual harm caused by 20 substances, and believe this should form the basis of any future ranking. [continues 727 words]
More Addicts Than Ever Before, Says Chairman. Dereliction of Duty by Advisory Council Alleged MPs have mounted a savage attack on the government's drugs policy, denouncing it as "based on ad hockery", "riddled with anomalies" and "not fit for purpose". They have also challenged the basis for the ABC classification system, saying that the harm caused by drugs should be separated from criminal penalties. The criticisms come in a report from the parliamentary science and technology select committee published today as part of an inquiry into how the government uses scientific evidence in policy making. It describes as "dereliction of duty" the failure of the government's expert committee, the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), to alert the Home Office to serious doubts about the effectiveness of the system. "If the government wants to hand out messages through the criminal justice system then let it do so, but let's not pretend to do it on the back of scientific levels of harm from drugs because clearly that isn't the case," said Phil Willis, chair of the science and technology committee. "The only way to get an accurate and up-to-date classification system is to remove the link with penalties and just focus on harm." [continues 557 words]
"Use more psychedelic drugs," is not advice you would expect from your GP, but that is the call from an influential US medical journal to researchers. An editorial in the Lancet says that the "demonisation of psychedelic drugs as a social evil" has stifled vital medical research that would lead to a better understanding of the brain and better treatments for conditions such as depression. The journal's editor Richard Horton said he was not advocating recreational drug use, but championed the benefits of researchers studying the effects of drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy by using them themselves in the lab. [continues 414 words]
Reclassification 'Would Be Playing to Gallery' Authors of Secret Report Threaten Resignation Members of a top drug advisory panel who wrote a secret report to the home secretary on cannabis may resign if the government reclassifies the drug to class B, the Guardian has learned. They are concerned that Charles Clarke is considering upgrading cannabis and say this would be in direct contradiction to the findings of their unpublished report. They say such a move would set a "damaging precedent", and that their report - which the Guardian has seen - explicitly rules out reclassification. [continues 442 words]
New scientific evidence suggests a causal link between cannabis use and long-term psychotic symptoms, according to the government's top drug advisory committee. But in a draft report to the home secretary, Charles Clarke, seen by the Guardian, the committee says that the risks are not high enough to support reclassification as class B. The report says: "The [committee] considers that cannabis products should remain class C. At worst, the risk to an individual of developing a schizophreniform illness as a result of using cannabis is very small. The harmfulness of cannabis, to the individual, remains substantially less than the harmfulness caused by substances currently controlled under the act as class B." A source close to the committee said only one member out of 36 voted to shift cannabis back to class B. [continues 559 words]
A technique for inferring how much of a drug a patient has taken may be putting innocent people behind bars. The problem seems to be that doctors are incorrectly applying the method to corpses, in a bid to establish how much of a drug a deceased person took, or was given, before their death. That error can result in vastly inflated readings. "There is no relationship between what you find in a living person and what you find in a dead person," Bruce Goldberger, vice-president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and editor of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology told New Scientist. [continues 480 words]
Doctors prescribing methadone for pain relief may inadvertently be the cause of an alarming rise in deaths related to the drug in the US. Forensic science experts fear that a huge increase in methadone prescriptions is feeding the black market and encouraging abuse. In 2001, the Food and Drug Administration's MedWatch programme recorded 61 methadone-related deaths in the US. That is more than occurred in the whole of the 1990s, and by 2002 the number had doubled to 123. [continues 376 words]
Into A Drug Dealer's Worst Enemy IT'S BECOME an essential tool for drug dealers, but the mobile phone could also prove their downfall. And wiping incriminating calls from the phone's memory won't help. It's the gunk between the buttons the police are after. The many tiny crevices on a cellphone can harbour drug particles if the user has been in regular contact with them. But until recently, no one knew if a cellphone could be innocently contaminated with drugs. Since cocaine traces are present on 99 per cent of British bank notes, it's possible that phones are easily tainted. [continues 247 words]
