As well as explaining the history, benefits and negatives to a variety of drugs, this book spends most of its time evaluating our attitude towards them, in particular our inability to recognise that legal drugs like cigarettes and alcohol are among the most harmful, and questioning the government's approach in tackling these problems. A little knowledge (to misquote Pope) is a dangerous thing and most teenagers who try drugs are at best only partly informed. Don't get me wrong, the events are worth writing about, but Nutt doesn't give much substance here, he just gives you a sort of tabloid overview of the situation that felt like it was about 95% filler and 5% content.

When we appraise an intervention for the treatment of a disease we look to see its overall benefit in terms of increasing quality adjusted life years, not how many people can benefit from it (although the two may be related). But, if you've ever wondered why so many senior police officers and politicians have a complete change of heart once they are out of office, then you might find an explanation in these pages.Here he reviews in detail how a multitude of drugs work on the body and on the brain; what damages they do but also how they can help some conditions. He briefly mentions the studies on psychedelics and addiction (255), but fails to bring home how the results from the Canadian study indicate psychedelic treatment for alcohol addiction is far more effective than any of the alternatives he mentioned before. Given this situation, Nutt argues that the “drugs problem” needs radical rethinking as a public-health crisis rather than a moral crusade. But again they were just way to abstract and felt like a cursory glance at potential policy solutions rather than a thoughtful engagement with them. And although treating addiction to heroin and cocaine as a primarily medical problem could be seen as ‘soft on drugs’, he’s arguing for it on the basis that it is the best way to minimise harm.

The muppets in the present and future governments should read this book before wasting another day in the office.The science of what drugs are and how they work lets us quantify and compare the harms caused by different drugs. A clear and reasonable perspective on a complicated and controversial area from an expert unafraid of talking sense to power about addictive drugs, legal or illegal.

After all, even if you’ve not given it much thought before, it stands to reason that a prison sentence and criminal record will do more harm to an individual’s life and prospects than the physical effects of, say, cannabis. Where there is … doubt about the potential harm that will be caused, we must err on the side of caution and protect the public. I would have loved to have learned more about the traditional relationship between the ACMD and the government, he gives something like a paragraph on this topic that I think had to be far richer and would either paint a picture of a relationship that has grown fraught recently or one that has been flawed from the start, each suggesting different ways to remedy the problem. Very refreshing to read about the true effects (both positive and negative) of different substances without being skewed by politics or taboo - or by an overly enthusiastic drug-taker for that matter! A typical chapter uses its focus to discuss some related concept – for example, the chapter on cocaine looks at the kinetics of drug taking, or how the method of delivering a substance can vastly affect its harmful effects and addictiveness.

The rest of the chapter is about psychotropic medication (mostly anti-depressants) and he generally seems unable to see with clear eyes here. It was my deep knowledge of the harms of alcohol that eventually got me sacked by the UK government. The historical elements are inevitably of especial piquancy - did you know that the Pope Leo XIII endorsed cocaine-infused wine?