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

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Chapters 6 and 7 were almost enough to give this book two stars. Six presented the problems associated with alcohol better than any other place I've seen, and did a really good job to succinctly make the case for why we should think about it differently than we do. 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. My only real negative is that the book does get somewhat repetitive near the end. While I'd still recommend reading the whole thing through, it does feel a bit like each chapter is it's own separate essay; i.e. if a point has been made in one chapter, it will still be made again, two chapters later. 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. 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.

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. I would have even accepted a book that taught me a lot about the history, or that gave me a lot of anecdotal accounts that weaved stories both from the regulatory and user side of things. But instead I got none of this. Perhaps I'm not the target audience, maybe it's for people who haven't though much about the issue before. But there are still major issues (see Chapter 12) and insufficient summaries (see Chapter 13) to contend with, leading me to think I probably wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Overall, I'd say about 5% of the book was new, useful material for me, another 5% a worthwhile read, and the rest either introductory or poor quality material that didn't help me grow at all. I'll proceed with a chapter by chapter breakdown (grouping similar ones together) to shine some further light. 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. Having enjoyed a Hay-Festival talk involving David Nutt among others, which discussed the current attitude towards drugs, and whether the "War on Drugs" had failed, I immediately bought and read this book. In that one hour's discussion, I'd found that my attitude towards drug laws had changed significantly from supporting the current emphasis of strong prosecution and imprisonment, to the recognition that if drug abuse was thought of as purely a health issue, the world could be a much better place. Reading this book helped me understand these concepts further, and taught me a great deal I hadn't known about drugs and the consequences of our approach to their use.

Reviews

Surveying the state of medical knowledge around various currently prohibited substances – from hard drugs to LSD, cannabis, ecstasy, magic mushrooms and poppers – Professor Nutt ranks their potential harms and benefits (e.g. in treating anxiety, depression or pain) leading him to challenge the distorted logic of a blanket ban on anything psychoactive except alcohol, tobacco and caffeine. For me, the real strength of this book is in the sharing of the author's depth of knowledge in the science and political history of the subject, along with his clinical perspective and a passionate desire to reduce the harm caused by all substances including alcohol and tobacco.

If you don't want to read it you might give it to your teenage children. A little knowledge (to misquote Pope) is a dangerous thing and most teenagers who try drugs are at best only partly informed. If they might be tempted by illicit drugs a little truth-telling from someone who knows and cares might help. Knowledge is empowering. Drugs with the Hot Air is the perfect book for anyone who wants to understand drugs, their risks and benefits. David avoids all the prejudices and misinformation, common in too many documents in this field. He writes simply. He is a pleasure to read. * Baroness Meacher, House of Lords * Disclaimer. I'm not a particular fan of drug use but I don't regard people who intentionally take things, whether beer, whisky or mephedrone, to make them feel better, are criminals. 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.Chapters 11 & 15 were the places I could have found policy Dos and Donts, and sure there were some shallow recommendations, and I think the generally push to remove triggers for people's addictions is a good one and worth following. 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. The amazing Professor David Nutt has done it again. The must-read second edition has even more drugs and even less hot air! * Prof Val Curran, Director UCL Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit * 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 *

The dangers of illegal drugs are well known and rarely disputed, but how harmful are alcohol and tobacco by comparison?

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David Nutt ήταν σύμβουλος της Βρετανικής κυβέρνησης μέχρι που δημοσίευσε ένα άρθρο σε επιστημονική δημοσίευση που -ω, βλασφήμια!- σύγκρινε ελαφρώς χιουμοριστικά τους κινδύνους της λήψης MDMA, γνωστού και ως Ecstasy, με αυτούς της ιππασίας. Όπως ήταν αναμενόμενο, έχασε την θέση του -- μια θέση σ' ένα συμβούλιο που υποτίθεται πως ήταν υπεύθυνο για να ενημερώνει την κυβέρνηση γι�� το ποιες ουσίες είναι επικίνδυνες σε ποιον βαθμό και να αλλάζει την κοινή γνώμη γι' αυτές σύμφωνα με νέα επιστημονικά δεδομένα που τις αφορούν. 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 The longest chapter, ‘The war on drugs, and the drugs in war’, offers cogent arguments that the continuing status quo is just not good enough, but Nutt does not stop there. He offers alternatives for the future, and with the prospect of a wide readership, and people informing themselves of the issues, our children (including those in producer nations) will live in a more informed and less hazardous future.