David Nutt

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David Nutt
Prof. David Nutt Presenting 2020.jpg
Professor David Nutt, February 2020
Born (1951-04-16) 16 April 1951 (age 73)
Bristol, England, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Education Bristol Grammar School
Alma mater Downing College, Cambridge
Known forFounding Drug Science [1]
Controversial removal from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs [2]
Performing the first MRI of a human brain under the influence of LSD [3]
Ecstasy controversy [4]
Scientific career
Institutions Drug Science
Imperial College London
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
University of Bristol
Guy's Hospital
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)
Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD)
The European Brain Council
Thesis The effect of convulsions and drugs on seizure susceptibility in rats  (1982)
David Nutt's voice
from the BBC programme The Life Scientific (BBC Radio 4), 18 September 2012 [5]
Website drugscience.org.uk

David John Nutt (born 16 April 1951) is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. [6] He is the chairman of Drug Science, a non-profit which he founded in 2010 to provide independent, evidence-based information on drugs. [7] In 2019 he co-founded the company GABAlabs and its subsidiary SENTIA Spirits which research and market alternatives to alcohol. Until 2009, he was a professor at the University of Bristol heading their Psychopharmacology Unit. [8] Since then he has been the Edmond J Safra chair in Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences there. [9] Nutt was a member of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, and was President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. [10] [11] [12]

Contents

Career summary and research

Nutt completed his secondary education at Bristol Grammar School and then studied medicine at Downing College, Cambridge, graduating in 1972. In 1975, he completed his clinical training at Guy's Hospital. [13]

He worked as a clinical scientist at the Radcliffe Infirmary from 1978 to 1982 where he carried out basic research into the function of the benzodiazepine receptor/GABA ionophore complex, the long-term effects of BZ agonist treatment and kindling with BZ partial inverse agonists. This work culminated in a ground-breaking paper in Nature in 1982 [14] which described the concept of inverse agonism (using his preferred term, "contragonism") for the first time. From 1983 to 1985, he lectured in psychiatry at the University of Oxford. In 1986, he was the Fogarty visiting scientist at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, MD, outside Washington, D.C. Returning to the UK in 1988, he joined the University of Bristol as director of the Psychopharmacology Unit. In 2009, he then established the Department of Neuropsychopharmacology and Molecular Imaging at Imperial College, London, taking a new chair endowed by the Edmond J Safra Philanthropic Foundation. [13] He is an editor of the Journal of Psychopharmacology , [15] and in 2014 was elected president of the European Brain Council. [16]

In 2007 Nutt published a study on the harms of drug use in The Lancet . [17] Eventually, this led to his dismissal from his position in the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD); see government positions below. Subsequently, Nutt and a number of his colleagues who had resigned from the ACMD founded the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, which was later renamed Drug Science. [18]

Through Drug Science, Nutt has released a number of prominent drug policy reports while launching campaigns in support of evidence-based drug policy. These include Project Twenty21, the Medical Cannabis Working Group, and the Medical Psychedelics Working Group. [7] In 2013, Drug Science launched the peer-reviewed Journal of Drug Science, Policy and Law, with Nutt appointed as Editor. [19] Nutt also hosts the Drug Science Podcast, where he explores drugs and drug policy with drug policy experts, policy-makers, and scientists. [20]

Nutt is the deputy head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. [21] He and his team have published research into psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, as well as neuroimaging studies investigating psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, and DMT. [22]

A summary of the results from Nutt's 2010 paper in The Lancet HarmCausedByDrugsTable.svg
A summary of the results from Nutt's 2010 paper in The Lancet

In November 2010, Nutt published another study in The Lancet, co-authored with Les King and Lawrence Phillips on behalf of this independent Committee. This ranked the harm done to users and society by a range of drugs. [23] Owing in part to criticism over the arbitrary weighting of the factors in the 2007 study, [18] [24] the new study employed a multiple-criteria decision analysis procedure and found that alcohol is more harmful to society than both heroin and crack, while heroin, crack, and methamphetamine are the most harmful drugs to individuals. [23] Nutt has also written about this topic in newspapers for the general public, [25] sometimes leading to public disagreements with other researchers. [26]

Nutt is also campaigning for a change in UK drug laws to allow for more research opportunities. [27] [28] [29] [30]

Alcarelle and GABA Labs

Starting in around 2014, Nutt began talking about bringing to market a compound that could mimic some of the effects of alcohol (ethanol) –primarily "conviviality" –in humans (impacting the GABA receptor) [31] while avoiding the negative health impacts of alcohol; a safer replacement. He calls it "Alcarelle", but does not disclose the exact chemical(s). Early tests used a benzodiazepine derivative, with later adaptations targeting improved efficacy and reduced abuse potential.

In 2018 Nutt's company GABALabs (previously called "Alcarelle") applied for patents for a series of new compounds, branded as Alcarelle, [32] that more closely mimic the "conviviality" effects of alcohol. [33] [34] As of October 2019, none of these compounds were available to consumers, their long-term health impacts were not known and there has been no published research about them.

The science team at GABA Labs has produced a plant based functional alcohol alternative which was released to the market in the form of the drink Brand "Sentia" [35] in January 2021 as a "botanical spirit" aimed at produced the relaxed and social effects normally associated with alcoholic drinks. [36]

Psychedelics

Simplified visualization of the persistence homological brain function scaffolds from placebo on the left and that induced through psilocybin on the right Simplified visualization of the persistence homological scaffolds.jpg
Simplified visualization of the persistence homological brain function scaffolds from placebo on the left and that induced through psilocybin on the right

In collaboration with Amanda Feilding and the Beckley Foundation, David Nutt is working on the effects of psychedelics on cerebral blood flow. [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]

Government positions

Nutt worked as an advisor to the Ministry of Defence, Department of Health, and the Home Office. [13]

He served on the Committee on Safety of Medicines where he participated in an enquiry into the use of SSRI anti-depressants in 2003. His participation was criticised as, owing to his financial interest in GlaxoSmithKline, he had to withdraw from discussions of the drug paroxetine. [43] In January 2008 he was appointed as the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), having previously been Chair of the Technical Committee of the ACMD for seven years. [6]

"Equasy"

Comparison of the perceived harm for various psychoactive drugs from a poll among medical psychiatrists specialized in addiction treatment. The associated paper was written by Nutt and included in his controversial lecture. Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse (physical harm and dependence, NA free means).svg
Comparison of the perceived harm for various psychoactive drugs from a poll among medical psychiatrists specialized in addiction treatment. The associated paper was written by Nutt and included in his controversial lecture.

With Nutt in the position of ACMD chairman, government ministers repeatedly clashed with him over issues of drug harm and classification. In January 2009 he published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology an editorial ("Equasy – An overlooked addiction with implications for the current debate on drug harms") in which the risks associated with horse riding (1 serious adverse event every ~350 exposures) were compared to those of taking ecstasy (1 serious adverse event every ~10,000 exposures). [4]

The word equasy is a portmanteau of ecstasy and equestrianism (based on Latin equus, 'horse'). Nutt told The Daily Telegraph that his intention was "to get people to understand that drug harm can be equal to harms in other parts of life". [45] In 2012, he explained to the UK Home Affairs Committee that he chose riding as the "pseudo-drug" in his comparison after being consulted by a patient with irreversible brain damage caused by a fall from a horse. He discovered that riding was "considerably more dangerous than [he] had thought ... popular but dangerous" and "something ... that young people do". [46]

Equasy has been frequently referred to in later discussions of drug harmfulness and drug policies. [47] [48] [49] [50] [51]

The issue of the mismatch between lawmakers' classification of recreational drugs, in particular that of cannabis, and scientific measures of their harmfulness surfaced again in October 2009, after the publication of a pamphlet [52] containing a lecture Nutt had given to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London in July 2009. In this, Nutt repeated his view that illicit drugs should be classified according to the actual evidence of the harm they cause, and presented an analysis in which nine 'parameters of harm' (grouped as 'physical harm', 'dependence', and 'social harms') revealed that alcohol or tobacco were more harmful than LSD, ecstasy or cannabis. In this ranking, alcohol came fifth behind heroin, cocaine, barbiturates and methadone, and tobacco ranked ninth, ahead of cannabis, LSD and ecstasy, he said. In this classification, alcohol and tobacco appeared as Class B drugs, and cannabis was placed at the top of Class C. Nutt also argued that taking cannabis created only a "relatively small risk" of psychotic illness, [53] and that "the obscenity of hunting down low-level cannabis users to protect them is beyond absurd". [54] Nutt objected to the recent re-upgrading (after 5 years) of cannabis from a Class C drug back to a Class B drug (and thus again on a par with amphetamines), considering it politically motivated rather than scientifically justified. [44] In October 2009 Nutt had a public disagreement with psychiatrist Robin Murray in the pages of The Guardian about the dangers of cannabis in triggering psychosis. [26]

Dismissal

Following the release of this pamphlet, Nutt was dismissed from his ACMD position by the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson. Explaining his dismissal of Nutt, Johnson wrote in a letter to The Guardian that "[Nutt] was asked to go because he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy. [...] As for his comments about horse riding being more dangerous than ecstasy, which you quote with such reverence, it is of course a political rather than a scientific point." [55] Responding in The Times , Professor Nutt said: "I gave a lecture on the assessment of drug harms and how these relate to the legislation controlling drugs. According to Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, some contents of this lecture meant I had crossed the line from science to policy and so he sacked me. I do not know which comments were beyond the line or, indeed, where the line was [...]". [56] He maintains that "the ACMD was supposed to give advice on policy". [57]

In the wake of Nutt's dismissal, Dr Les King, a part-time advisor to the Department of Health, and the senior chemist on the ACMD, resigned from the body. [58] His resignation was soon followed by that of Marion Walker, Clinical Director of Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust's substance misuse service, and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's representative on the ACMD. [59]

The Guardian revealed that Alan Johnson ordered what was described as a 'snap review' of the 40-strong ACMD in October 2009. This, it was said, would assess whether the body is "discharging the functions" that it was set up to deliver and decide if it still represented value for money for the public. The review was to be conducted by David Omand. [60] Within hours of that announcement, an article was published online by The Times arguing that Nutt's controversial lecture actually conformed to government guidelines throughout. [61] This issue was further publicised a week later when Liberal Democrat science spokesman Dr Evan Harris, MP, attacked the Home Secretary for apparently having misled Parliament and the country in his original statement about Nutt's dismissal. [62]

John Beddington, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government stated that he agreed with the views of Professor Nutt on cannabis. When asked if he agreed whether cannabis was less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol, he replied: "I think the scientific evidence is absolutely clear cut. I would agree with it." [63] A few days later, it was revealed that a leaked email from the government's Science Minister Lord Drayson was quoted as saying Mr Johnson's decision to dismiss Nutt without consulting him was a "big mistake" that left him "pretty appalled". [64]

On 4 November, the BBC reported that Nutt had financial backing to create a new independent drug research body if the ACMD was disbanded or proved incapable of functioning. [65] This new body, the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (later renamed DrugScience), was launched in January 2010 (later on to establish, in 2013, the journal Drug Science, Policy and Law). On 10 November 2009, after a meeting between ACMD and Alan Johnson, three other scientists tendered their resignations, Dr Simon Campbell, a chemist, psychologist Dr John Marsden and scientific consultant Ian Ragan. [66]

In an 11 November 2009 editorial in The Lancet, Nutt explicitly attributed his dismissal to a conflict between government and science, and reiterated that "I have repeatedly stated [cannabis] is not safe, but that the idea that you can reduce use through raising the classification in the Misuse of Drugs Act from class C to class B—where it had previously been placed, but thus now increasing the maximum penalty for possession for personal use to 5 years in prison—is implausible." [67] In a rejoinder, William Cullerne Bown of Research Fortnight pointed out that the framing of science vs. government was misleading because the weighting of the factors in Nutt's 2007 Lancet paper was arbitrary, and consequently that there was no scientific answer to ranking drugs. [68] In reply, Nutt admitted the limitations of the original study, and wrote that ACMD was in the process of devising a multicriteria decision-making approach when he was dismissed. Nutt reiterated that "The repeated claims by Gordon Brown's government that it had scientific evidence that trumped that of the ACMD and the acknowledgment that it was only interested in scientific evidence that supported its political aims was a cynical misuse of scientific evidence that breached the principles of the 1971 Act and was insulting to Council." Nutt announced that he and number of colleagues that had resigned from the ACMD had set up an Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. [18]

A subsequent review of policy drafted by Lord Drayson [18] essentially reaffirmed that the scientific advisers to the government can be dismissed under similar circumstances: "Government and its scientific advisers should not act to undermine mutual trust." [69] This clause was kept despite protest from Sense about Science, Campaign for Science and Engineering, and Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris; according to Lord Drayson, the clause was requested by John Beddington, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government. [70] Leslie Iversen was announced as the successor of Nutt as the chair of the ACMD in January 2010. [71]

Honours

David Nutt is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He holds visiting professorships in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. He is a past president of the British Association of Psychopharmacology and of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. [13] He was the recipient of the 2013 John Maddox Prize for promoting sound science and evidence on a matter of public interest, whilst facing difficulty or hostility in doing so. [72] He is past president of the British Neuroscience Association and past president of the European Brain Council. [73]

His book Drugs Without the Hot Air (UIT press) won the Salon London Transmission Prize in 2014. [74]

Personal life

David Nutt lives in Bristol, with his wife Dianne. He has four children. [75]

Nutt is a Patron of My Death My Decision, an organisation which seeks a more compassionate approach to dying in the UK, including the legal right to a medically assisted death, if that is a person's persistent wish. [76]

Publications

Articles

Books

Medical and science

Pharmacotherapy

Brain science

  • David J. Nutt; Martin Sarter; Richard G. Lister (1995). Benzodiazepine receptor inverse agonists. New York: Wiley-Liss. ISBN   978-0-471-56173-6.

Addiction and associated disorder

Anxiety disorders

  • David J. Nutt; James C. Ballenger (2003). Anxiety disorders. Oxford: Blackwell Science. ISBN   978-0-632-05938-6.
  • David J. Nutt; Eric J.L. Griez; Carlo Faravelli; Joseph Zohar (2001). Anxiety disorders: an introduction to clinical management and research. New York: Wiley. doi:10.1002/0470846437. ISBN   978-0-471-97873-2.
  • David J. Nutt; Spilios Argyropoulos; Adrian Feeney (2002). Anxiety Disorders Comorbid with Depression: Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia. London: Martin Dunitz. ISBN   978-1-84184-049-9.
  • David J. Nutt; Karl Rickels; Dan J. Stein (2002). Generalised Anxiety Disorder: Symptomatology, Pathogenesis and Management. London: Martin Dunitz. ISBN   978-1-84184-131-1.
  • David J. Nutt; Spilios Argyropoulos; Sam Forshall (2001). Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Diagnosis, Treatment and Its Relationship to Other Anxiety Disorders, 3rd edition. London: Martin Dunitz. ISBN   978-1-84184-135-9. 1st ed(1998): ISBN   1-85317-659-1
  • David J. Nutt; Spilios Argyropoulos; Sean Hood (2000). Clinician's manual on anxiety disorders and comorbid depression. London: Science Press. ISBN   978-1-85873-397-5.

Other disorders

Sleep and connected disorder

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recreational drug use</span> Use of drugs with the primary intention to alter the state of consciousness

Recreational drug use is the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness, either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an intoxicating effect. Recreational drugs are commonly divided into three categories: depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychopharmacology</span> Study of the effects of psychoactive drugs

Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, behavior, judgment and evaluation, and memory. It is distinguished from neuropsychopharmacology, which emphasizes the correlation between drug-induced changes in the functioning of cells in the nervous system and changes in consciousness and behavior.

A psychiatric or psychotropic medication is a psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the chemical makeup of the brain and nervous system. Thus, these medications are used to treat mental illnesses. These medications are typically made of synthetic chemical compounds and are usually prescribed in psychiatric settings, potentially involuntarily during commitment. Since the mid-20th century, such medications have been leading treatments for a broad range of mental disorders and have decreased the need for long-term hospitalization, thereby lowering the cost of mental health care. The recidivism or rehospitalization of the mentally ill is at a high rate in many countries, and the reasons for the relapses are under research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Substance abuse</span> Harmful use of drugs

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, medical, and criminal justice contexts. In some cases, criminal or anti-social behavior occurs when the person is under the influence of a drug, and long-term personality changes in individuals may also occur. In addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm, the use of some drugs may also lead to criminal penalties, although these vary widely depending on the local jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychedelic experience</span> Altered state of consciousness brought upon by the consumption of psychoactive substances

A psychedelic experience is a temporary altered state of consciousness induced by the consumption of a psychedelic substance. For example, an acid trip is a psychedelic experience brought on by the use of LSD, while a mushroom trip is a psychedelic experience brought on by the use of psilocybin. Psychedelic experiences feature alterations in normal perception such as visual distortions and a subjective loss of self-identity, sometimes interpreted as mystical experiences. Psychedelic experiences lack predictability, as they can range from being highly pleasurable to frightening. The outcome of a psychedelic experience is heavily influenced by the person's mood, personality, expectations, and environment.

Commonly-cited arguments for and against the prohibition of drugs include the following:

The gateway drug effect is a comprehensive catchphrase for the often observed effect that the use of a psychoactive substance is coupled to an increased probability of the use of further substances. Possible reasons for the connection include environmental influence, impulsive people seeking both soft and hard drugs, alterations in the brain due to earlier substance exposure, as well as similar attitudes of people who use different substances, and therefore experience a "common liability to addiction". In 2020, the National Institute on Drug Abuse released a research report which supported allegations that marijuana is a "gateway" to more dangerous substance use; one of the peer-reviewed papers cited in the report claims that while "some studies have found that use of legal drugs or cannabis are not a requirement for the progression to other illicit drugs [...] most studies have supported the "gateway sequence"." However, a 2018 literature review conducted by the National Institute of Justice, which analyzed 23 peer-reviewed research studies, concluded "that existing statistical research and analysis relevant to the "gateway" hypothesis has produced mixed results", and that "no causal link between cannabis use and the use of other illicit drugs can be claimed at this time."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannabis (drug)</span> Psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant

Cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, weed, and pot, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various traditional medicines for centuries. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive component of cannabis, which is one of the 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD). Cannabis can be used by smoking, vaporizing, within food, or as an extract.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder</span> Medical condition

Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) is a non-psychotic disorder in which a person experiences apparent lasting or persistent visual hallucinations or perceptual distortions after using drugs, including but not limited to psychedelics, dissociatives, entactogens, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and SSRIs. Despite being designated as a hallucinogen-specific disorder, the specific contributory role of psychedelic drugs is unknown.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is a British statutory advisory non-departmental public body, which was established under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

The Beckley Foundation is a UK-based think tank and UN-accredited NGO, dedicated to activating global drug policy reform and initiating scientific research into psychoactive substances. The foundation is a charitable trust which collaborates with leading scientific and political institutions worldwide to design and develop research and global policy initiatives. It also investigates consciousness and its modulation from a multidisciplinary perspective, working in collaboration with scientists. The foundation is based at Beckley Park near Oxford, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1998, and is directed by Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan J. Stein</span> South African psychiatrist

Dan Joseph Stein is a South African psychiatrist who is a professor and Chair of the Dept of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town, and Director of the South African MRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders. Stein was the Director of UCT's early Brain and Behaviour Initiative, and was the inaugural Scientific Director of UCT's later Neuroscience Institute. He has also been a visiting professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the United States, and at Aarhus University in Denmark.

Amanda Claire Marian Charteris, Countess of Wemyss and March, also known as Amanda Feilding, is an English drug policy reformer, lobbyist, and research coordinator. In 1998, she founded the Foundation to Further Consciousness, later renamed to the Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust which initiates, directs, and supports neuroscientific and clinical research into the effects of psychoactive substances on the brain and cognition. She has also co-authored over 50 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, according to the Foundation. The central aim of her research is to investigate new avenues of treatment for such mental illnesses as depression, anxiety, and addiction, as well as to explore methods of enhancing well-being and creativity.

Drug classification: making a hash of it? is a 2006 report written by the UK Science and Technology Select Committee and submitted to the British House of Commons. The report suggested that the current system of recreational drug classification in the UK was arbitrary and unscientific, suggesting a more scientific measure of harm be used for classifying drugs. The report also strongly criticised the decision to place fresh psychedelic mushrooms in Class A, the same category as cocaine and heroin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MEAI</span> Chemical compound

MEAI, also known as 5-methoxy-2-aminoindane (5-MeO-AI), is a monoamine releasing agent of the 2-aminoindane group. It specifically acts as a selective serotonin releasing agent (SSRA). The drug is under development for the treatment of alcoholism, cocaine use disorder, metabolic syndrome, and obesity under the developmental code name CMND-100.

DrugScience

DrugScience or Drug Science (originally called the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD)) is a UK-based drugs advisory committee proposed and initially funded by hedge fund manager Toby Jackson. It is chaired by Professor David Nutt and was officially launched on 15 January 2010 with the help of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. The primary aim of the committee is to review and investigate the scientific evidence of drug harms without the political interference that could result from government affiliation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long-term effects of cannabis</span>

The long-term effects of cannabis have been the subject of ongoing debate. Given that the use of cannabis is illegal in most countries, clinical research presents a challenge and there is limited evidence from which to draw conclusions. In 2017, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued a report summarizing much of the published literature on health effects of cannabis, into categories regarded as conclusive, substantial, moderate, limited and of no or insufficient evidence to support an association with a particular outcome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannabis use disorder</span> Continued use of cannabis despite clinically significant impairment

Cannabis use disorder (CUD), also known as cannabis addiction or marijuana addiction, is a psychiatric disorder defined in the fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and ICD-10 as the continued use of cannabis despite clinically significant impairment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychoactive drug</span> Chemical substance that alters brain function

A psychoactive drug, mind-altering drug, or consciousness-altering drug is a chemical substance that changes brain function and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior. The term psychotropic drug is often used interchangeably, while some sources present narrower definitions. These substances may be used medically; recreationally; to purposefully improve performance or alter consciousness; as entheogens for ritual, spiritual, or shamanic purposes; or for research, including psychedelic therapy. Physicians and other healthcare practitioners prescribe psychoactive drugs from several categories for therapeutic purposes. These include anesthetics, analgesics, anticonvulsant and antiparkinsonian drugs as well as medications used to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, such as antidepressants, anxiolytics, antipsychotics, and stimulants. Some psychoactive substances may be used in detoxification and rehabilitation programs for persons dependent on or addicted to other psychoactive drugs.

Trauma contributed to promoting the use and potential abuse of cannabis. Conversely, cannabis use has been associated with the intensity of trauma and PTSD symptoms. While evidence of efficacious use of cannabis is growing in novelty, it is not currently recommended.

References

  1. ↑ "Drug Science founded". drugscience.org.uk.
  2. ↑ "Johnson 'misled MPs over adviser'". BBC News. 8 November 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  3. ↑ Sample, Ian (11 April 2016). "LSD's impact on the brain revealed in groundbreaking images". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  4. 1 2 Nutt, David (21 January 2009). "Equasy -- an overlooked addiction with implications for the current debate on drug harms". Journal of Psychopharmacology. 23 (1): 3–5. doi: 10.1177/0269881108099672 . PMID   19158127. S2CID   32034780.
  5. ↑ "David Nutt". The Life Scientific . 18 September 2012. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  6. 1 2 Science and Technology Select Committee (18 July 2006). Drug classification: making a hash of it? (PDF) (Report). House of Commons. p. Ev 1. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  7. 1 2 "The Truth About Drugs". drugscience.org.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  8. ↑ "Professor David Nutt". University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  9. ↑ "Home - Professor David Nutt DM, FRCP, FRCPsych, FSB, FMedSci". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  10. ↑ "David J Nutt". The Royal Institution. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
  11. ↑ David Nutt publications indexed by Microsoft Academic
  12. ↑ http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/tls/tls_20120918-0930a.mp3 David Nutt on The Life Scientific with Jim Al-Khalili, September 2012, BBC Radio 4
  13. 1 2 3 4 Lucy Goodchild (8 January 2009). "Addiction, anxiety and Alzheimer's disease tackled by new Chair at Imperial College" (Press release). Imperial College, London.
  14. ↑ Nutt, D. J.; Cowen, P. J.; Little, H. J. (1982). "Unusual interactions of benzodiazepine receptor antagonists". Nature. 295 (5848): 436–438. Bibcode:1982Natur.295..436N. doi:10.1038/295436a0. PMID   6276771. S2CID   779441.
  15. ↑ "SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals". SAGE Journals.
  16. ↑ "David Nutt elected president of the European Brain Council | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. 22 January 2014.
  17. 1 2 Nutt, D.; King, L. A.; Saulsbury, W.; Blakemore, C. (2007). "Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse" (PDF). The Lancet. 369 (9566): 1047–1053. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60464-4. PMID   17382831. S2CID   5903121.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Nutt, D. (2010). "Nutt damage – Author's reply". The Lancet. 375 (9716): 724. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60302-9 . S2CID   54387485.
  19. ↑ "SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals". SAGE Journals. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  20. ↑ "The Drug Science Podcast". drugscience.org.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  21. ↑ "People". Imperial College London. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  22. ↑ "Research". Imperial College London. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  23. 1 2 Nutt, D. J.; King, L. A.; Phillips, L. D. (2010). "Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis" (PDF). The Lancet. 376 (9752): 1558–1565. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.690.1283 . doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6. PMID   21036393. S2CID   5667719.
  24. ↑ Tim Locke (1 November 2010) Alcohol more harmful than crack or heroin: Study. Former government drugs advisor Professor David Nutt produces new measures on the way drugs and alcohol cause harm Archived 10 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine , WebMD Health News
  25. ↑ "The best scientific advice on drugs (written by David Nutt)". The Guardian. London. 15 January 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  26. 1 2 Robin Murray, A clear danger from cannabis, The Guardian , 29 October 2009 replying to David Nutt The cannabis conundrum, The Guardian, 29 October 2009
  27. ↑ "Medicinal cannabis: time for a comeback?" . Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  28. ↑ Nutt, David (1 March 2014). "Mind-altering drugs and research: from presumptive prejudice to a Neuroscientific Enlightenment?: Science & Society series on "Drugs and Science"". EMBO Reports. 15 (3): 208–211. doi:10.1002/embr.201338282. PMC   3989684 . PMID   24531723.
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