A live episode! In front of a lovely crowd at the awesome Latitude Festival, back in July 2021. Suzi Gage headed to Suffolk and was joined by previous SWTD guest Fiona Spargo-Mabbs. Their discussion covered all aspects of how to talk with your family about drugs - what age should discussions happen? How do teens want these conversations to happen? How honest should parents be about their experience, or lack of it, with drugs? Fiona Spargo-Mabbs is the founder of the DSM Foundation, and has...

There have been many reports about drink spiking in recent weeks and months. Suzi is joined by Dr Lata Gautam from Anglia Ruskin University to talk about what we mean by drink spiking, what substances are thought to be used, and what a person might experience if their drink is spiked. Lata also describes some of her work exploring what people understand about spiking, and what can be done to try and prevent it from...

Say Why to Drugs is back, as Suzi emerges bleary eyed from the first year of being a mum, what better time to talk about alcohol use and motherhood? Well, it's even better than that as it's Baby Week AND alcohol awareness week from 15th November. Suzi is joined by Abi Rose and Leila Goodman to talk about alcohol use in mums, the evidence and our own experiences. Why it might be appealing, what the risks are, why it's hard to do research in this area. As mentioned in the podcast, on 18th Abi...

A live episode recorded earlier in the year in London at Vault Festival, in association with Child.org. Suzi speaks to Alex Aldridge. Alex is a Phd student at Royal Holloway, researching sex, drugs and sexual ethics. The conversation touches on various aspects around drug use during or around sex, including chemsex, issues of consent, and in particular around how women use drugs with sex, an often overlooked area of research.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode Suzi talks to James Nicholls, the CEO of an organisation called Transform, who are a think-tank working in drug policy reform. The conversation covers what is meant by various different types of drug policy, from regulation to decriminalisation to legalisation, as well as discussing what evidence-based drug policy might look like, both in terms of cannabis and stimulants, both of which have been the subject of publications by Transform. This is a new topic for Say Why to Drugs...

We're back (briefly)!! In the first episode of a new little run, Suzi speaks to epidemiologists Dr Kate Fleming and Dr Luisa Zuccolo about what we know about the evidence around the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. How do they compare to other things women are advised against doing, like smoking, or eating soft cheese? Why does alcohol seem to be so divisive an issue in pregnancy? We also talk about plans to keep better records about alcohol use in pregnancy, and how this got...

In this episode Suzi speaks to the Secret Drug Addict - a twitter and instagram user who VICE called 'twitter's most helpful anonymous account'. SDA is incredibly open in this conversation, talking about when he first started using drugs, how they impacted on his life, relationships and work, and what led him to seek help. He also talks about his work with footballer Neville Southall, promoting good causes and charities on twitter, and his own Secret Drug Addict account on twitter and...

In this episode Dr Suzi Gage is joined by Fiona Spargo-Mabbs and Sarah Birkett from the DSM Foundation. Fiona and her husband set up the foundation after their son Dan died after taking MDMA. Fiona talks a bit about this, but you can read more on the DSM Foundation's website here http://dsmfoundation.org.uk/dans-story/. Within this episode, Suzi chats with Fiona and Sarah about the foundation and the work that it does, as well as the evidence around what works, and what doesn't, in terms of...

This episode was recorded live at the Say Why to Drugs book launch at Foyles bookshop, in Bristol, on 24th January 2020. Suzi is in conversation with James Nicholls, the CEO of Transform. Some links: My website (for news and events info): https://suzigage.co.uk/events-and-talks/ Amazon link to buy the book (other bookshops are available): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Say-Why-Drugs-Everything-About/dp/1473686229 For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Happy book-day to me! Happy book-day to me! Happy birthday to Say Why To Drugs the booook, Happy book-day to me! Luckily for you I decided against singing that in the intro to this episode, but I'm VERY excited to say that today is the day that Say Why to Drugs the book launches in the UK, and online. It's taken me the last 2 years to write, and so it's such a weird and lovely feeling for it to be finally available for you to read. Or to listen to! I've recorded the audiobook, which is...

Recorded earlier this year at Smithdown Road Festival, a free music festival in South Liverpool, this episode sees Suzi chat to a panel of guests about the links between drug use and music. Dr Sally Adams joins the podcast again, Professor Harry Sumnall from Liverpool John Moores University guests, as well as Chris Torpey, the editor of local magazine Bido Lito and an organiser of Liverpool Psych Fest, and Guy McKnight, the singer in 00's band 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, and now in band the...

Adam Ficek is probably best known as the drummer in Pete Docherty's post-Libertines band Babyshambles. But as well as a very successful music career, he's also a trained psychotherapist, and about to embark on a PhD. Adam and Suzi have a wide-ranging discussion in this episode of Say Why to Drugs, that takes in why Adam wanted to become first a musician, then a psychotherapist, whether musicians might be particularly prone to poor mental health or substance use problems, and why that might...

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a compound found in cannabis. In recent times it's began to be found on our high streets, available in everything from coffee to ice-cream to vape liquid. It's also been touted as a medication to treat a variety of health ailments, from childhood epilepsy to insomnia. In this episode Suzi is joined by researcher Dr Amir Englund from Kings College London to separate myth from evidence around what CBD is, and what it can, and can't do. For information regarding your...

Suzi Gage is joined by researcher Dr Oliver Grundmann, from the University of Florida, to talk about kratom - a leaf from the plant Mitragyna speciosa that grows in SE Asia. Is it an opioid? Or could it be useful in harm reduction? And what do we currently know about it? Find out within. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Say Why to Drugs returns! In this episode Suzi chats to author Mike Jay about mescaline, arguably the first psychedelic.Jay details the dual history of the substance - found in two types of cacti in central and south America, as well as being extracted and used in psychiatry in the USA and Europe. Jay has just written a book called Mescaline, and tells us about his research and findings that went in to the book.

Researcher Suzi Gage answers a second set of questions that listeners have sent in - topics covered range from discussion of legislation - and how scientists can get involved, favourite research findings (and over-egged ones), and expectation effects.

Researcher Suzi Gage answers questions that listeners have sent in - topics covered range from whether the podcasts are aimed at teenagers to whether legislation impacts on the ability for scientists to carry out research in to illicit drugs, and from psychedelic therapy to the mushroom Fly Agaric.

Suzi chats to Professor Linda Bauld from the University of Edinburgh about e-cigarettes and vaping. Linda provides an update on what's changed in the last 2 years since the first E-Cigarettes episode - in terms of who's using them, whether they are helping in smoking quit attempts, and what some of the new products on the market are like. Suzi and Linda also discuss nicotine itself, and the evidence as to whether or not it's harmful. They also touch on some of the reasons why the USA and the...

Dr Suzi Gage chats to journalist and author Jenny Valentish about her book Woman of Substances. The conversation covers Jenny's own experiences, and how she tackled the scientific literature while researching her book.

After quite a hiatus, SWTD returns. This live episode was recorded in front of an audience of University of Liverpool Psychology students. Suzi is joined by Dr Carl Roberts to discuss all things about how drugs affect the brain, and how we as researchers investigate this.

Suzi Gage speaks to her colleague Professor Matt Field about the phenomenon of Dry January, where people give up alcohol for a month. They talk about whether there may be short- or long-term health benefits around it, and discuss their personal experiences of taking part (or not).

Here's the third and final installment of interviews recorded at the Society for the Study of Addiction conference in Newcastle earlier this year. In this episode I interview Professor Celia Morgan from Exeter University. We talk about Celia's work investigating the use of ketamine within therapy for alcohol dependence.

The second of three podcasts recorded at the Society of the Study of Addiction conference, all on the theme of psychedelic medicine. In this episode Suzi speaks to Dr Albert Garcia-Romeu of Johns Hopkins University about his work using psilocybin, from magic mushrooms, in therapies for substance dependence and mood disorders.

The first of three special episodes recorded at the Society for the Study of Addiction conference. All have a psychedelic theme - and particularly the use of psychedelics in medicine. In this episode Dr Suzi Gage chats to Dr Ben Sessa, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with an interest in psychedelic medicine. In particular, he talks about using MDMA during psychotherapy.