Professor David Nutt chaired the UK government advisory committee on drug policy until he was fired for “speaking truth to power”, for which he has been awarded the 2013 John Maddox Award for Standing up for Science. Prof Nutt is now the chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. He will be speaking in New Zealand in early December:
Christchurch – Tuesday 3 December 2013, 2-3:30pm @ Beavan Lecture Theatre, University of Otago, Christchurch, 2 Riccarton Avenue.
Wellington – Thursday 5 December, 12:30-1:30pm @ Te Raukura Function Centre http://nzdf.org.nz/media/drug-foundation-david-nutt
RSVP to catherine.mccullough@drugfoundation.org.nz
Auckland – Friday 6 December 6-7pm @ Rm 503-028, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences Building, 85 Park Road, Grafton. http://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/faculty/cfar/news-events/events.aspx#DN
Christchurch
Public Lecture – The Future of Recreational Drugs – Professor David Nutt
Tuesday 3 December 2013
2:00-3:30pm
Beavan Lecture Theatre
7th Floor
University of Otago, Christchurch
2 Riccarton Avenue
Professor David Nutt is currently the Edmond J. Safra professor of neuropsychopharmacology and director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Centre for Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Imperial College London. He chaired the UK government advisory committee on drug policy until he was fired for “speaking truth to power”, for which he has been awarded the 2013 John Maddox Award for Standing up for Science. Prof Nutt is now the chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. He is a dynamic speaker and has published and lectured on relative drug harms, the intersection of policy, politics and science, and the emergence of new drugs, including those with the potential for low risk use.
Prof Nutt is hosted by the National Addiction Centre (NAC) and the lecture will be chaired by Assoc Prof Simon Adamson
Associate Professor Simon Adamson
National Addiction Centre
Department of Psychological Medicine
University of Otago at Christchurch
4 Oxford Terrace, PO Box 4345
Christchurch New Zealand
Ph: 64-3-364-0480 Fax: 64-3-364-1225
Mobile: 021 1141332
http://www.addiction.org.nz
In response to requests Prof David Nutt’s Christchurch public lecture will also be telecast to the University of Otago’s Wellington and Dunedin campuses. Videoconferencing connections available at:
Room G30 , Hunter Centre Small Lecture Theatre, Level D
University of Otago , Dunedin University of Otago , Wellington
281 Great King Street 23A Mein St , Newtown
Wellington
Monday, November 11, 2013
The New Zealand Drug Foundation is hosting Professor David Nutt for a lunchtime presentation on ‘Drugs without the hot air: minimising the harms of legal and illegal drugs’ in Wellington on Thursday 5 December.
Professor Nutt is an internationally recognised expert on the effects of drugs on the brain and is currently the Edmond J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London. He was named chairman of the UK Government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in May 2008. His role was to make scientific recommendations to government ministers on the classification of illegal drugs. He was dismissed from this role in 2009 after challenging the evidence base of the government’s drug policies.
Professor Nutt has long been an outspoken champion of evidence-based drug policy, despite facing public and political criticism for doing so. His continuing commitment to rational debate and robust policy making saw him recently awarded the John Maddox Prize for courage in promoting science and evidence on a matter of public interest, even when it has not been the most popular thing to do.
The New Zealand Drug Foundation is delighted to be hosting such a courageous and committed speaker and we hope you will join us at Professor Nutt’s presentation. Doors will open at 12 and a light lunch will be served. Professor Nutt’s presentation will run from 12:30 until 1:30pm.
This is a free event but places are extremely limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Catherine with any dietary requirements.
Who: Professor David Nutt and the New Zealand Drug Foundation
When: 12 PM, Thursday 5 December, Light lunch from 12 – 12:30, Presentation (including Q and A) from 12:30 – 1:30
Where: Mokopuna Room, Te Raukura Function Centre, Odlins Square, Taranaki St Wharf, Wellington Waterfront.
Auckland
Professor David Nutt – Public lecture, Friday 6 December 2013
Topic: Drugs without the hot air: A proper assessment of drug harms and their relative dangers
Professor David Nutt, Imperial College London, UK
Date: Friday 6 December, 2013
Time: 6-7pm
Venue: Rm 503-028, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences Building, 85 Park Road, Grafton
Presentation abstract:
Drugs, including alcohol and tobacco products, are a major cause of harms to individuals and society.
In 2010, Professor David Nutt convened a panel of experts with specialist knowledge on the pharmacological, psychological, social and legal aspects of drug harms to rate each of the 20 most commonly used drugs in the UK today, in terms of harm to self and harm to others.
In this presentation, Professor Nutt will share findings from this assessment, as well as from his recent book Drugs without the hot air: minimising the harms of legal and illegal drugs (2012). He will also present new analyses that compare the relative physical, psychological and social harms of cannabis and alcohol, the two most widely used intoxicant drugs.
He will discuss the increasing need for a coherent, evidence-based drugs policy that enables individuals to make informed decisions about the consequences of their drug use.
Profile:
A psychiatrist and neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain, David Nutt is the Edmond J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and Head of the Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology in the Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London.
He is currently Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and Past-President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), Vice-President of the European Brain Council and President of the British Neuroscience Association. He has published over 400 original research papers, a similar number of reviews and books chapters, eight government reports on drugs and 27 books, including most recently Drugs Without the Hot Air: Minimising the Harms of Legal and Illegal Drugs (2012).
In 2010 The Times Eureka science magazine included him in the 100 most important figures in British Science, and the only psychiatrist.
On 4 November 2013, Professor David Nutt was announced as the winner of the 2013 John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science, an international prize for courage in promoting science and evidence on a matter of public interest, despite facing difficulty and hostility in doing so. The judges awarded the prize to Professor Nutt in recognition of the impact his thinking and actions have had in influencing evidence-based classification of drugs, in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world, and his continued courage and commitment to rational debate, despite opposition and public criticism.
