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Brain Science Addiction and Drugs

The Government has asked the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) to look at the implications of future advances in the areas of brain science, addiction and drugs.  Such developments may have wide-reaching implications for society over the next 20 years and we need to begin to address the issues now, both within and beyond Government. 

The AMS is an independent body which promotes advances in medical science and campaigns to ensure these are translated as quickly as possible into healthcare benefits for society. The Academy’s 849  Fellows are the United Kingdom’s leading medical scientists from hospitals, academia, industry and the public service.

The AMS has convened a multidisciplinary working group that, in consultation with experts and the public, will consider the issues raised by the uses to which the new science and treatments may be put.  As well as questions about the health and safety of individuals, there are wider ethical questions relating to the impact on wider society. 

The deliberations of the AMS working group will be informed by a programme of public  engagement that will be fully integrated with the process of expert consultation. This will ensure that the recommendations of the working group are supported and informed by both scientific evidence and public concerns and aspirations. Details of the working group and consultation can be found on the AMS web site.

The AMS will provide independent advice  to Government and will publish a final report, to include recommendations for future public policy and research needs, by the end of 2007. The Government is expected to give a written response to the AMS report within 12-18 months of the report’s publication

The work of AMS will build on the findings of a Foresight report, ‘Drugs Futures 2025?’, which found that future advances were likely to affect the following key areas -

• knowledge about the vulnerability of children and adolescents to addiction, and consideration of the implications of this;
• understanding of mental ill-health and of addiction, and the development of new treatments for these problems;
• the effects of legal and illegal substances on different groups, how the risks of such use are assessed, and the consideration of how use should be regulated; and
• understanding of mental processes and the potential for substances ("cognition enhancers”) to enhance the performance of the brain in specific ways, such as improving short-term memory and increasing speed of thought.