In this episode, we speak with Dr Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatrist and professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He shares how losing a patient to suicide drove him towards community-based mental health care in Zimbabwe. Chibanda discusses the Friendship Bench, a model he built around grandmothers as custodians of local culture, and how listening and storytelling became its foundation. He explores how the approach was proven through research, its expansion across the world, and why he sees grandmothers, who also gain from the intergenerational connection, as the gold standard for this kind of care.

Links

Dr Dixon Chibanda

The Friendship Bench

Friendship Bench in a Box

The Friendship Bench Book

In this episode of the Drug Science Podcast, Dr Hannah Thurgur speaks with Dr Justin Garson, professor of philosophy at CUNY and the author of The Madness Pill, a history of Professor Solomon Snyder and the biological understanding of schizophrenia. He outlines the significant shift to biological paradigms of mental health treatment in the 80s and its ramifications for psychiatry decades later. He dives into the role of different drugs, including psychedelics and amphetamines, in crafting a more informed understanding of schizophrenia and psychosis, before explaining the faults he sees within the field of psychiatry.

Links

●      Justin Garson

●      The Madness Pill

●      Aeon Article

●      Amphetamine

●      LSD

Join us in this episode as Prof Nutt speaks with Dr Andy Barker, a senior psychiatrist, medical cannabis prescriber, and the co-founder of This Native Mind. Andy shares his journey into medical cannabis, detailing the regulatory process for prescribers entering the field. He goes on to discuss the outcomes he’s seen in his own patients, contrasted against backlash from GPs, non-patients, and the broader scientific community. He closes by talking about the psychedelic effects of high-dose cannabis, highlighting the role of set and setting in promoting positive cannabis experiences. 

Links 

• This Native Mind 
• Psilocybin 
• Cannabis 
• T21 
• Lancet Article on Cannabis 
• Critique of the Lancet Paper 
• Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society 

In this episode, we speak with Sarah Tilley, a couple’s therapy pioneer and the CEO and founder of Beautiful Space, a provider of psilocybin programmes for couples. She details how her own divorce led her to this work, emphasizing that issues between couples become emotionally taxing on their children, manifesting in poor mental health and wellbeing. Sarah discusses how she has seen psilocybin, in conjuction with mindfulness and intentional couples’ exercises, rekindle lost connection and intimacy. She goes on to explore the typical outcomes couples experience after her programmes and why she prefers psilocybin over MDMA for this work.

Links

●      Beautiful Space

●      Psilocybin

●      MDMA

●      Este Perel

In this episode of the Drug Science Podcast, Prof Nutt speaks with David Hillier, a journalist and the creator of the Substack WHAT ARE YOU ON. David  Hillier has been writing about drug culture and mental health for 12 years and shares his journey into the drugs and harm reduction space, describing how a feature he wrote on The Loop cemented the topic as a broader journalistic focus. The conversation largely revolves around cocoethylene, the metabolite produced by co-ingestion of cocaine and alcohol, and its potential role in a number of cocaine-related deaths that may have been misattributed. David explores his research and other organization’s work to raise awareness of cocaethylene and its harms, and to push for it to become a more substantive focus of scientific research.

Links

●      WHAT ARE YOU ON

●      Alcohol

●      Cocaine

●      Co-Alc Alliance

●      Co-Ingestion Mortality Study

●      Should Young People Drink More

●      Students, Alcohol and Drugs Survey 2024-25

In this episode, we speak to Prof Matthew Cobb, professor of zoology at the University of Manchester and author of Crick: A Mind in Motion, which profiles Francis Crick. Matthew shares insights into his own academic background in neurobiology and evolution, explaining the motivation behind his latest book. He delves into the collaborative approaches that fueled Crick's work and explains the complex dynamics between Crick, James Watson, and Rosalind Franklin during their pursuit of the double helix structure. Finally, Matthew touches on Crick’s cannabis and psychedelic use.

Links

●      Prof Matt Cob

●      Crick: A Mind in Motion

●      What and how do maggots smell?

●      The Double Helix

●      Beatles Letter

●      Mescaline Poem

Join us in this episode of the Drug Science Podcast as Prof Jo Neill speaks with David Orren, CEO of GABA Labs, which has pioneered functional drinks with SENTIA Spirits. David recounts his initial communication with David Nutt and emphasises their shared mission to speak to younger generations’ desires for less harmful alternatives to alcohol. He touches on the neurological underpinnings of the drink and explores the future for the company as it expands and partners with other drink producers.

• GABA Labs 
• SENTIA Spirits 
• Alcohol 
• Background on GABA 
• Scientific Overview of Functional Drinks 

In this episode, we speak to Dr Lauren Macdonald, a psychiatrist, psychedelic therapist, and group retreat facilitator. She details her path to psychedelics, in particular her cancer diagnosis that left her with existential dread that she felt fully dissipate only after a psychedelic experience. She goes on to discuss her interest in group retreats and treating existential distress. Before closing, she explains problems with the current medical model in the UK and where psychedelics fit.

LINK TO THE 2026 RETURNING TO WHOLENESS RETREAT

Links
Psilocybin
Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research
Essence Medicine
Psilocybin and Cancer-Related Distress 

Join us in this episode as Prof Nutt speaks to Prof Mark Solms, a leading expert on Freud and author of the new book The Only Cure. Mark details his early fascination with neuropsychology that led him to study the neurological underpinnings of sleep and dreams. He explains how some of his own research lent more credence to Freud’s claims and deepened his interest in psychoanalysis. Mark concludes by discussing what the only cure symbolizes: talking therapies that address the root causes of psychopathology, as opposed to treatments that mask the symptoms.

Links

●      Prof Mark Solms

●      The Only Cure

●      PET Sleep Scan

●      Dreaming Study

●      MDMA

Join us in this episode as we speak to Dr Harriet de Witt, professor of psychiatry and neuropharmacology at the University of Chicago. She shares how she fell in love with the field, studying the animal model of self-administration, and how that work fed into her later research with human participants. As a leading expert on the pharmacology of MDMA, she explores the subtle differences between amphetamine and MDMA, before talking about the results from both her MDMA and LSD studies.

Links

●      UChicago Profile

●      Amphetamine

●      MDMA

●      LSD

●      MDMA/Amphetamine/Alcohol Sociality Study

●      LSD Microdosing & Emotionality Study