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.[2][3] 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.[2][4][5][6]
DrugScience initially focused on reviewing official risk estimates for
psychedelic drugs,
ecstasy and
cannabis, and increasing warnings of the dangers of
ketamine.[3] In 2013, DrugScience launched the peer-review academic journal Drug Science, Policy and Law[10] published by
SAGE. They currently have three working groups Medical Cannabis,[11] Medical Psychedelics,[12] and Enhanced Harm Reduction.[13]
Drug harm comparison
In 2010, DrugScience published a ranking of drug harms in the UK, the results of which garnered significant media attention.[14][15][16][17] Drugs were assessed on two metrics – harm to users and harms to society. The report found heroin, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine to be the most harmful drugs to individuals, with alcohol, heroin, and crack cocaine as the most harmful to others. Overall, alcohol was the most harmful drug, with heroin and crack cocaine in second and third place. Most notably, the report stated that the legal status of most drugs bears little relation to the harms associated with them – several
class A drugs including
ecstasy (MDMA),
LSD and
magic mushrooms featured at the very bottom of the list. Similar findings were found by a Europe-wide study conducted by 40 drug experts in 2015 [18] Since then drug ranking by total harm research has come to the same conclusion.[19][20]
Methods used in drug harm comparison
The results of the study were based on the opinions and judgment of 15 researchers, doctors, and a journalist. These opinions were exchanged and discussed during a 1-day workshop in accordance with a decision-making procedure called Multi-Criteria-Decision-Making-Analysis (MCDA).[6] This procedure attempts to structure the debate so as to eliminate biases, but given that it has no input other than the experience and knowledge of the participants involved, it is unlikely to be unbiased if the participants share a similar understanding of a subject, or if the science in the field is inadequate to make a good judgment.
E-cigarette analysis
Using a similar multi-criteria decision analysis process as the 2010 drug harm ranking, DrugScience looked to rank the harms of all nicotine-containing products, including cigarettes, cigars,
nicotine patches and
e-cigarettes. The report concluded that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than conventional cigarettes, advice which was subsequently used in a report[21] by
Public Health England on e-cigarettes and now forms part of the evidence-base for the positions of the UK Government[22] and the
National Health Service. This figure was widely reported on in the press,[23][24] but remains controversial as the long-term harms of e-cigarettes remain unknown. More recent systematic reviews suggest that e-cigarettes are considerably less harmful than cigarettes, but that the difference may be smaller than previously estimated.[citation needed]
Drugs Live
Drugs Live: the ecstasy trial is a two-part TV documentary aired on Channel 4 on the 26 and 27 September 2012. The program showed an
fMRI study on the effects of
MDMA (ecstasy) on the brain, which was funded by
Channel 4. The main researchers on the study were DrugScience's Val Curran and
David Nutt who also appeared as guests on the show. Curran and Nutt oversaw research at
Imperial College London, in which volunteers took part in a
double blind study, taking either 83 mg of
MDMA or a
placebo before going into the
fMRI scanner.
The documentary was presented by
Christian Jessen and
Jon Snow, and included debate on the harms of MDMA, as well as exhibiting the findings of the study. Some participants in the study also appeared on the show, including a vicar, an ex-soldier, writer
Lionel Shriver, actor
Keith Allen and former Liberal Democrat MP
Evan Harris.
Nutt and colleagues have said they are preparing to run the UK's first clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of
PTSD, based on the research from the study.[25]
Ragan, C. I.; Bard, I.; Sing, I; Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) (2013). "What should we do about student use of cognitive enhancers? An analysis of current evidence". Neuropharmacology. 64: 588–595.
doi:
10.1016/j.neuropharm.2012.06.016.
PMID22732441.
S2CID207227699.