Kate Elliott from Transform writes ahead of the 7th annual Lobby of Parliament as part of the Anyone’s Child campaign. The event will be held outside Parliament at 12pm on Tuesday 27th June. The UK’s drug policy can be better. That’s why campaigners from across the UK are descending on Parliament on the 27th of June to ask their MPs to support reform. Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control is a campaign by Transform Drug Policy Foundation to achieve drug laws that will better protect our children. The campaign is made up of an international network of families who have had their live ..read more

Breaking the law pales in comparison to getting rid of the pain, 161 cluster headache sufferers from ClusterBusters UK tell Home Office ministers Sajid Javid and Kit Malthouse in an open letter asking politicians to reschedule psilocybin, backed by three top psychiatrists Flying in the face of psilocybin’s Class A, Schedule 1 status in order to fight for symptom relief, the letter signed by 161 UK citizens has gone to Government ministers Sajid Javid (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) and Kit Malthouse (Minister of State for Crime and Policing). “Sadly, there are very few medicati ..read more

The Psilocybin Access Rights (#PAR) campaign’s government petition for the rescheduling of psilocybin went live on the 3rd of August 2022 and reached 10,000 signatures in under 2 months, leading the government to respond. Below, in italics, is the government response reproduced in full along with our comments on their response.  There are no plans to reschedule psilocybin to Schedule 2 of the 2001 Regulations. There is an established process for the development of medicines, including those containing Schedule 1 drugs. The fact that psilocybin current sits in Schedule 1 is the reason th ..read more

The third Monday in January has been nicknamed ‘Blue Monday’ in reference to the prevalence of depression and low mood at this time of year. Though the original term ‘Blue Monday’ itself was coined by a travel ad, the concept has grown into an annual moment of recognition of the severity of mental health conditions, with factors including the colder weather, debt from the festive season and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) creating a climate in which the visibility of unmet mental health needs and possible treatment options are more important than ever. The CDPRG is grateful to our collaborat ..read more

Poverty Trapped (2021), is an independent report by John Penrose MP, which draws on consultations with academics, thinktanks and topic experts to investigate the root causes of poverty, identifying the glass ceilings that must be dismantled to achieve its abolition. Locating addiction as a key impediment to financial security, Penrose joins a growing number of MPs evincing cross-party support for revising the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. “[O]ne type of addiction – to drugs - is different from all the others because of the political obstacles which stand in the way of finding answers. By any measu ..read more

With huge thanks to our collaborators, supporters and everybody who has followed our projects, we look back on our advances in drug policy reform in 2021. 2021 draws to a close marked by the publication of our latest report Making UK Drug Policy a Success: Reforming the Policymaking Process Launched by our unremunerated chairman Crispin Blunt on BBC Politics and publicly released on Friday 17 December 2021, the report and accompanying infographic revealing cross-party support (even among Conservative MPs) for giving drug policy an evidence-based update was sent to the Prime Minister and minist ..read more

Some fantastic news to start the year: our Managing Director Tarsilo Onuluk has been awarded a fellowship from the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). RSA Fellows are committed to inspiring better ways of thinking, acting and delivering change. An integral part of the RSA in creating a better future, Fellows champion new ideas, drive social change, deliver practical solutions and support the RSA mission. Nominated by a friend as a surprise, the Fellowship recognises Tars’ commitment to tackling complex societal issues, and builds on his continued advances in bringing clarity to the UK’s drug policy d ..read more

Recent YouGov poll data shows that across all demographics a majority (55%) of the UK public supports a change in the law to facilitate research into psilocybin for treatment development, with the don’t knows excluded, this is a 4-1 view. In line with this majority view, the chairman of the CDPRG, Crispin Blunt MP, has revealed that in an office meeting on 26th of May 2021 the Prime Minister confirmed that he has signed approval for the rescheduling of psilocybin and other psychedelics in a move that would unlock the science that could save millions of lives - yet months later the UK Home Offi ..read more

Bad practice in drug policymaking is the hidden driver of the UK’s current crisis, finds the CDPRG’s new report — with polling data showing the majority of MPs from all parties believe it needs an evidence-based update. Three-quarters or more MPs (even within the Conservative party) believe it is time to update UK drug laws based on evidence, new polling data commissioned by the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group (CDPRG) shows. The political climate is overwhelmingly ready for drug policy reform as demonstrated by this survey of 105 MPs which was commissioned by the independent think t ..read more

Heroin-Assisted treatment (HAT) involves offering prescribed synthetic heroin (diacetylmorphine) twice a day in a controlled environment, under the supervision of medical staff. HAT is a medical intervention for patients who are experiencing long-term heroin addiction and who have not responded to traditional treatment options, such as methadone or abstinence-based programs. The supervised nature of this treatment ensures none of the prescribed substances can enter the illicit market.  Since the first supervised injectable heroin study was conducted in Switzerland, this treatment option h ..read more