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New psychoactive substances: Pharmacology influencing UK practice, policy and the law
Author(s) -
Nutt David
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
british journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.216
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1365-2125
pISSN - 0306-5251
DOI - 10.1111/bcp.14209
Subject(s) - mephedrone , legislation , mdma , drug , psychoactive drug , pharmacology , designer drug , psychoactive substance , medicine , cannabis , psychiatry , political science , law
This review covers the last 20 years of UK drug control policy leading up to the recent Psychoactive Substances Act. It explores policy decision made in relation to MDMA and mephedrone that not only were associated with increased drug harms overall but also had a significant detrimental effect on the UK research base. The new UK legislation on synthetic cannabinoids and other novel psychoactive substances threatens to do the same, showing that there is still much to learn from the decisions of the past. In future input from academic societies such as the BPS could help improve policy evaluation and policy development and so help avoid such problems in the future.