Drugs without the hot air: Making Sense of Legal and Illegal Drugs

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This is a book aimed at the general public. Reviewing a book on drugs as an addiction specialist had the prospect of being an unrewarding experience. Simplistic, reductionist arguments presented in a journalistic style leaving you angry and despondent. However, having David Nutt as the author offered the prospect of something different and as the title suggests, ‘without the hot air’. Disclaimer. I'm not a particular fan of drug use but I don't regard people who intentionally take things, whether beer, whisky or mephedrone, to make them feel better, are criminals. From the Publisher: The dangers of illegal drugs are well known and rarely disputed, but how harmful are alcohol and tobacco by comparison? What are we missing by banning medical research into magic mushrooms, LSD and cannabis? Can they be sources of valuable treatments? The dangers of illegal drugs are well known and rarely disputed, but how harmful are alcohol and tobacco by comparison? It’s interesting to read because it simultaneously seems radical and rather obvious. Radical because if all the evidence in the book was taken seriously it would involve a top-to-bottom rewriting of UK drug laws; and obvious because actually not much of this stuff should come as a surprise.

This was first published in 2012 and has been on my “to read” list ever since. I think, but can’t be certain, that I’ve sat through a tall by the author at some point in that period—though it may have been someone talking about him! It’s interesting though, and very readable. It helps that, although the book takes a ‘liberal’ stance compared to the current law, it’s not derived from a naive libertarianism. Nutt is not arguing for loosening the drug laws on the basis of increased personal liberty; he wants the law to be better at managing harms and risks. So he supports the ban on smoking in public places and would tighten some of the rules on alcohol sales. And although treating addiction to heroin and cocaine as a primarily medical problem could be seen as ‘soft on drugs’, he’s arguing for it on the basis that it is the best way to minimise harm.

If you don't want to read it you might give it to your teenage children. A little knowledge (to misquote Pope) is a dangerous thing and most teenagers who try drugs are at best only partly informed. If they might be tempted by illicit drugs a little truth-telling from someone who knows and cares might help. Knowledge is empowering. urn:lcp:drugswithouthota0000nutt:epub:17a9ae39-0965-4e63-88f9-bde811cb128c Foldoutcount 0 Identifier drugswithouthota0000nutt Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t6r04tb1p Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781906860165 Praise for the Book: I don’t think you could ask for a more sensible, clear-eyed, and useful book about drugs, from the ones your doctor prescribes to the ones your bartender serves you to the ones you can go to jail for possessing. Nutt is not just a great and principled campaigner, nor merely a talented and dedicated scientist – he’s also a superb communicator. – Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing Drugs with the Hot Air is the perfect book for anyone who wants to understand drugs, their risks and benefits. David avoids all the prejudices and misinformation, common in too many documents in this field. He writes simply. He is a pleasure to read. – Baroness Meacher, House of Lords Chapters 11 & 15 were the places I could have found policy Dos and Donts, and sure there were some shallow recommendations, and I think the generally push to remove triggers for people's addictions is a good one and worth following. But again they were just way to abstract and felt like a cursory glance at potential policy solutions rather than a thoughtful engagement with them.

Chapters 3, 4, 5 & 16 all felt incredibly introductory, so if you have even a basic familiarity I recommend to skip them entirely. Note: the chronicling of how perception of cannibas changed from medicine to drug in chapter 5 was a notable exception here that was something new for me. A clear and reasonable perspective on a complicated and controversial area from an expert unafraid of talking sense to power about addictive drugs, legal or illegal. * Ed Bullmore, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and Author of The Inflamed Mind *

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Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-beta-20210815 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 1.0000 Ocr_module_version 0.0.13 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-WL-1200055 Openlibrary_edition For half a century the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 has dominated ill-conceived approaches to the prohibition of drugs and the criminalisation of many offenders. Wilful blindness to scientific facts has distorted the dispensation of justice, prevented lifesaving investigation, sidelined critics and thwarted advocates of politically inconvenient drugs law reform. Start telling your kids about drugs from an early age and be prepared to discuss your drinking and smoking with them. Do not read this book if you have convinced yourself that drugs are completely bad, prohibition is the only answer and discussion is for wimps, do-gooders and left-leaning trendies.