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Welcome to the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs
Drugscience.org.uk offers impartial objective information on drugs and drug harms to the public, to educators and to academics.

The Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs receives no government funding so is able to provide scientific findings free from the constraints of policy making and politics.

All information given is based on the best available evidence especially scientific studies and peer-reviewed papers. Each page is designed to be easy to understand for everyone with links given to the evidence that it’s based upon.

The website is currently in a beta version and is constantly developing with more content added all the time.

Use the links to the right to be guided to the information most relevant to you.
 
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What's new

Paper launch and summit
Yesterday, we launched the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs’ first piece of research – Drug harms in the UK: a multi-criteria decision analysis – at a summit held in association with the Lancet, Drug science and drug policy: Building a consensus.The event was held under Chatham House Rule to enable participants to speak their minds freely, however, we will be publishing outputs from the e...
David Nutt's blog
Professor David Nutt's new blog can be found at http://profdavidnutt.wordpress.com. The first post is available to read now, looking at cannabis policy in New Zealand. Take a look and leave your comments.
Drug science and drug policy: Building a consensus
UPDATE:Yesterday, we launched the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs’ first piece of research – Drug harms in the UK: a multi-criteria decision analysis at the summit.The event was held under Chatham House Rule to enable participants to speak their minds freely, however, we will be publishing outputs from the event as soon as possible. In the meantime, the full paper is available to read fo...
Lessons from the mephedrone ban
Mephedrone was banned on the basis of limited evidence and media hysteria. We need a new approach to drug classificationDavid Nutt, www.guardian.co.uk, Friday 28 May 2010On 17 March I was giving a lecture in Barcelona when I received a call from CNN. They wanted my reactions to the international press conference that the Lincolnshire police were holding on the deaths of two young men that they cla...
Teenagers' deaths said not to have been caused by ...
Statement by David Nutt:"It has been reported today that Louis Wainwright and Nicholas Smith, two young men whose deaths had been linked by the police to use of mephedrone, in fact had no trace of the drug in their system. Their deaths helped to spark considerable media attention on mephedrone, leading to a rushed classification ahead of the publication of the EMCDDA's findings in July. If these r...
Mephedrone survey
We are currently undertaking a survey to measure the popularity and perceived effects of mephedrone as well as people's understanding of relative harms of drugs. If you have ever taken mephedrone, please complete the survey. It is completely anonymous and no personal data will be collected about you.
Trashing evidence-based drugs policy
Alan Johnson got his way on mephedrone, but good drug policy depends on looking beyond the media-driven demand for actionDavid Nutt, 1 April 2010           We have learned a number of things during recent days from the manoeuvrings over the classification of mephedrone. The home secretary, Alan Johnson, has proved that he can browbeat the Advisory Counc...
The Sun 23 March 2010
David Nutt in the Sun 23 March 2010The Government failed to act on warnings six years ago about deadly legal high meow meow, a leading drugs expert claimed last night. Professor David Nutt, a former Government narcotics adviser, warned Labour in 2004 that new types of man-made substances would soon be available and sold over the internet. Last week meow meow was blamed for the deaths of Louis Wain...
The Guardian 29 March 2010
Richard Garside in the Guardian 29 March 2010Rushing mephedrone ban is wrongThe Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has been put in an impossible position on the classification of mephedroneThe home secretary might try to brazen out Polly Taylor's resignation from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). If so, the government's claim that it values independent scientific advice will...
Evening Standard 25 March 2010
Interview of David Nutt in the Evening Standard 25 March 2010When two teenage boys and a 24-year-old woman die and a new - and, at present, legal - drug called mephedrone is the prime suspect in their deaths, parents inevitably panic.So the last thing they want to hear is that, in fact, alcohol is probably more dangerous than meow meow, as mephedrone is nicknamed, and is certainly more harmful tha...