Why science, not politics, should define UK drug and alcohol policy

Professor David Nutt launches the Institute's Grand Challenges Lecture Series with his lecture, "Why science, not politics, should define UK drug and alcohol policy".

The regulation of drugs and the health care costs associated with their use is of pressing concern, as are the limitations imposed by the impact of the law on researchers and patient treatment. Professor Nutt will reflect on these issues in the light of his long experience on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs; he will challenge many of the current misconceptions about drugs, including alcohol, tobacco and the new synthetic agents being developed and sold over the internet , their harms, and how to deal with them.

Professor David Nutt is currently the Edmund J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and Head of the Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology, at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College, London. He is also visiting professor at the Open University in the UK and Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He served as a government scientific advisor on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for 10 years until 2009.

2 February 2016