Six presented the problems associated with alcohol better than any other place I've seen, and did a really good job to succinctly make the case for why we should think about it differently than we do. From Mexico to Uruguay, governments are debating liberalizing drug laws and even setting up regulated, legal markets.

There are multiple factors to keep in mind, this includes the harm done to the user, others in the community, others around the world, nature (in total he identifies 16 sorts of harm). So he supports the ban on smoking in public places and would tighten some of the rules on alcohol sales. A typical chapter uses its focus to discuss some related concept – for example, the chapter on cocaine looks at the kinetics of drug taking, or how the method of delivering a substance can vastly affect its harmful effects and addictiveness. Nutt devotes a chapter to each of the major classes of drugs, and weighs the possible benefits of each drug against its risks. The Times Eureka science magazine voted him one of the 100 most important figures in British Science.A condition from which (from the paper) “ The harmful consequences are well established – about 10 people a year die of it and many more suffer permanent neurological damage as had my patient. The chapter evaluating the success or failure of the War on Drugs is particularly damning – no prizes for guessing which way the evidence would seem to point.

Drug Policy should be aimed at reducing harm (which is David Nutt’s perspective too), but more often is driven by headlines whilst the effects of alcohol and tobacco are much larger (in most ways you can measure it) than ‘hard’ drugs. Drugs Without the Hot Air by David Nutt is an eye-opening book that delights with statistics and rational information about drugs and their effects.Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages.

David Nutt is the government scientist who was sacked for comparing the harms of horse-riding and taking ecstasy. No prior knowledge of the subject is assumed, and a well motivated teenager should be able to read it without difficulty.And this was especially interesting given David Nutt’s past relationship with the British government, and how a lot of the examples and policies mentioned are from the UK, most of which I didn't know much about before, so it was great to be able to put things into context, being British. Nutt's definition of “harm” is based on sixteen variables that range from drug-specific mortality (“death from poisoning,” i. After the downgrading of cannabis, however, the media, along with some politicians and medical professionals, became concerned that stronger forms of the drug (known as “skunk”) were causing serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

I include alcohol and tobacco in this; Nutt certainly makes a powerful case against both of them, which I appreciated. I am a fast reader and this book took me longer than expected to finish as the information provided does require some digesting! Similarly, illegal drugs drugs don’t all deserve the aura of danger that media depictions surround them with. Alcohol, for example, receives the same sort of examination as amphetamine, and in every case, he considers a drug's possible medicinal uses, as well as its cultural and social context.Nutt had had numerous clashes with Johnson and his predecessor Jacqui Smith over his comments comparing the risks associated with recreational drug use. Written by one of the most distinctive voices in the field, Drugs Without the Hot Air offers the basis for a pragmatic, science-based drugs policy.