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An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Alcohol and Other Recreational Drugs

It is often assumed the term "drugs" refers only to illegal substances but this seminar focused on the comparison between alcohol, a legal and acceptable drug in modern society, and other social drugs, both legal and illegal. The rationale was that a balanced and encompassing view of illicit drugs can only be established if set in a context of their legal counterparts. This gathering was welcomed as an occasion to bring a rational debate to a subject that often elicits more emotion than understanding.

Biographies of the speakers and summaries of their talks can be downloaded:

Preface

Executive Summary

Prof. David Nutt - Alcohol and the Brain
Prof. Les Iversen - Comparing Cannabis and Alcohol
Prof. Ian Gilmore - Alcohol and Physical Health - A Complex Equation
Prof. Colin Drummond - The Dangers of Alcohol and the Costs to the NHS
Prof. Jonathan Chick - Treatment Strategies and Individual Differences
Prof. Christine Godfrey - Economics of Alcohol Compared with Other Drugs

History
Professor Virginia Berridge - Historical and Cultural Perspective: Why is Alcohol Legal and Other Drugs Not?

Policy
Hazel Blears MP - Towards a Pragmatic Policy
Mike Trace - Costs and Benefits of Alcohol and Drugs Policies
Professor Colin Blakemore - A Scientifically Based Scale of Harm for all Social Drugs

References

Appendices

I. Speaker Biographies
II. Participants Attending Seminar III
III. The Beckley Foundation

Chairs
Lord Wilson of Dinton & Sir Michael Rawlins