Psychotropic drugs

UK developer of medical cannabis products raises $345m through share sale

The UK biopharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals, a leading global developer of medicinal cannabis products, has released 2.1 million shares on the US stock exchange raising US$345m.…

Benzodiazepines linked to risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Although data showed benzodiazepine and Z drug use was linked to only a 6% increase in the odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease, researchers say their prescribing should be avoided if possible.…

Health anxiety: currently trending

Do pharmacists have a role in reducing the side effects of ‘Dr Google’?…

The importance of the British Army’s slick drug-testing operations

When the UK was engaged in military operation in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007, the UK press reported a fivefold increase in the cocaine-positive rate of British soldiers, which was followed by a switch from cocaine to mephedrone. What can we learn from this, in the light of a current …

Better needle provision required for people who inject drugs, PHE says

Needle-sharing remains a problem, with more than one in six people who inject drugs saying they have shared a needle within the past month, according to figures from Public Health England…

Competing drugs to treat opioid addiction equally safe, according to study

Two of the main medicines used for treating opioid addiction are equally safe and effective, according to a new study in The Lancet.…

Medicinal cannabis made legal in Poland

Pharmacists in Poland have been given the go-ahead to make and distribute pharmaceutical products using cannabis after the Polish government made the drug legal for medicinal use…

Dutch tapering kits website has not broken law, MHRA concludes

Public health inspectors in the Netherlands and the UK’s drugs safety watchdog have both concluded that the English-language version of a Dutch-based website selling tapering kits to patients to help wean them off antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs, does not break the law.…

Dutch tapering kits website investigated by Dutch Health Care Inspectorate

Public health inspectors are investigating the recently launched English-language version of a Netherlands-based website selling tapering kits to patients, which help to wean them off antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs.…

Comprehensive reference on psychotropic medicines

Clinical handbook of psychotropic drugs, edited by Ric M Procyshyn, Kalyna Z Bezchlibnyk-Butler and J Joel Jeffries.…