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Opioids are among the most effective medicines for treating pain, but they also carry significant risks, including dependence and overdose. This guide explains what opioids are, how opioid dependence is treated, why synthetic opioids like fentanyls and nitazenes are especially dangerous, and what steps can help reduce harm and save lives.

Over the past decade, psychedelics have moved from the margins of psychiatry into some of the world's leading academic centres, where they are being investigated for conditions ranging from treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to addiction, anorexia nervosa and end-of-life anxiety. The results have generated real excitement, particularly for psilocybin, where several large studies have shown rapid and sometimes sustained benefits after only

We're proud to release updated MDMA and psilocybin educational modules, developed with Norrsken Mind and Mind Medicine Australia, bringing pharmacology, history, and law fully up to date.

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss scientist who discovered LSD, lived to the remarkable age of 102. Was that simply the result of good genes, a good diet or a healthy lifestyle, or is there more to the story? No one knows the answer. But researchers are beginning to ask an intriguing question: Could psychedelics help people live longer and stay healthier as they age?

In the coming months, Drug Science will be taking a more active role in lobbying for scientifically backed drug policy. To achieve this, we are teaming up with Liam Hackett of the HALI Foundation to give the public the tools they need to become politically engaged and take the conversation to their local MPs.

A recent meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, published in Lancet Psychiatry, concluded there was little evidence that cannabinoids help treat mental health conditions (Wilson et al, 2026). It got plenty of media coverage, much of which made the classic mistake of treating 'lack of evidence of benefit' as 'evidence of lack of benefit'. They're not the same thing.

RCTs of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) for anxiety consistently show little evidence of efficacy, yet patient use continues to grow. This editorial argues the discrepancy is largely artefactual, reflecting flawed trial methodology rather than a genuine lack of benefit.

Almost three years ago, Australia made history when the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved access to MDMA for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, making it the first country in the world to formally recognise these substances as medicines.

In June 2026, a committee of house members in the Irish Parliament published more than 150 recommendations for moving the country towards a health-led approach to drug possession. At the top of the list was the recommendation to decriminalise the possession of all drugs for personal use, to be achieved by repealing Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 criminalising possession.

New framework will establish rigorous clinical and ethical baselines for non-clinical practitioner assessment.

Harm reduction specialists, Mat Southwell and Alexei Lakhov draw on their lived experience as people who use drugs to reflect on new guidance on drug decriminalisation. They share hope that creating a legal enabling environment for the HIV response will help end AIDS among people who use drugs.

The publication of UNAIDS’ Decriminalization of Drug Use to Reduce HIV and Harm guidance marks a decisive moment at the intersection of drug policy, global health and human rights.

In May 2026, the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics published findings from its second UC Berkeley Psychedelics Survey, which tracks changes in U.S. voter perceptions of psychedelics. To explore what these findings reveal about changing public attitudes in the United States, Drug Science Head of Communications Hannah Barnett spoke with report co-author Tyrone J. Sgambati.

The University of Exeter's newly launched Psychedelic Interdisciplinary Centre (EPIC) is asking a question the field has largely avoided: what if psychedelics are not only medical tools, but cultural, philosophical, and ecological phenomena?

Jurisdictions that have implemented formalised regulatory pathways integrating psilocybin into supervised clinical practice include...

In 2022, she took part in a clinical trial investigating psilocybin as a potential treatment. For the first time, something helped. Then the trial ended, and she was left with no means of lawfully accessing the treatment.

Many of you will have seen the media reports of the recent Lancet Psychiatry paper by Wilson et al 2026 claiming that there is little or no evidence of clinical utility for medical cannabis in mental illnesses (other than possibly for cannabis dependence).

By Hannah Barnett A popular metaphor for futile and repetitive labour comes from Greek mythology, in which Zeus condemns King Sisyphus to eternally roll a massive boulder up a hill, only for it to tumble back down just before reaching the summit. In a new editorial published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, David Nutt considers whether modern psychopharmacology has fallen into its own Sisyphean cycle through the relentless pursuit of highly specific psychiatric drugs. Th

The Czech Republic has quietly produced one of the most practical and credible frameworks for therapeutic psilocybin to date. This article walks through its key provisions and asks what a comparable NHS programme might actually look like.

In the year 2000, psychiatry experienced one of the most important breakthroughs in decades: researchers showed that ketamine, a widely used anesthetic, could produce a powerful antidepressant effect within hours.

We consider the validity and accuracy of information in medical science as it relates to legal liability. We argue that fundamental changes have occurred concerning knowledge dissemination to doctors (and patients) that have profound implications for the ethical and legal responsibility for accuracy. Such considerations are important for legal professionals at all stages of legal processes and tribunal proceedings.

A year ago, Tadeusz Hawrot wrote about the beginnings of a promising development in drug policy; the potential rescheduling of psychedelics in Ukraine.

The Department of Health and Social Care is correct that smoking is a uniquely harmful way of consuming nicotine and remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the UK. It is estimated that two in three long-term smokers will die as a result of their smoking (NHS, 2023).

Whilst substance dependence is well-documented as a risk factor for suicide, less is understood about individuals who die by suicide following recreational polydrug use. Cocaethylene, a psychoactive metabolite produced by the co-ingestion of alcohol and cocaine, may be a cumulative risk factor for suicidality.