In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth speaks to Professor Owen Bowden-Jones from Central North-West London NHS Foundation and Mr Arun Sahai from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Trust, both in the UK. The interview covers an editorial they wrote with Professor Paul Dargan on responses to non-medical and medical ketamine use, including concerns about the increasing harms from illicit ketamine and excitement about the potential therapeutic value of ketamine.

We apologise for the sound quality at points during this episode, but we promise its worth the listen!

· Ketamine and its uses [01:15]

· Why ketamine is listed as an essential medicine by the World Health Organisation [01:59]

· The differing uses of ketamine: an essential medicine, a novel therapeutic drug, and a recreational drug [3:00]

· Ketamine’s damage to the urinary tract and the liver [04:30]

· Available treatments for the physical harms of ketamine [07:45]

· Whether substance use treatment services in the UK are fit-for-purpose when it comes to ketamine [11:06]

· Some of the reasons why is ketamine a popular drug now [15:38]

· The potential therapeutic value of ketamine for many disorders [17:29]

· The importance of communicating information to people who use ketamine [19:19]

About Arun Sahai: Mr Arun Sahai, PhD, FRCS (Urol), BSc (Hons.), is a Consultant Urological Surgeon in Functional urology (bladder dysfunction, incontinence, uro-neurology and urinary tract reconstruction) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Trust and an Honorary Reader within King’s College London. He is the current chair of the section of functional and reconstructive urology at the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS). He is the lead for undergraduate education in surgery for King's College London. His research interests include various aspects of benign bladder dysfunction and prostate cancer survivorship. He is active in both commercial and non-commercial clinical trials and has published more than 100 peer reviewed international papers and more than 15 book chapters.

About Owen Bowden-Jones: Professor Owen Bowden-Jones CBE is a Consultant in Addiction Psychiatry at the CNWL Club Drug Clinic, London and an Honorary Professor at University College London. In 2010, Owen founded the CNWL Club Drug Clinic, an innovative service offering treatment for emerging drug problems, including novel psychoactive substances and club drugs. National roles include President of the Society for the Study of Addiction, Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge, trustee at the charity Student Minds and Registrar at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Owen is the past-Chair of the Faculty of Addictions at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and was previously a national clinical adviser to Public Health England.

Original editorial: Responding to medicinal and non-medicinal ketamine use https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70075

The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Katie East, an Associate Professor in Public Health within the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Brighton and Sussex Medical School in the UK. The interview covers her and her co-authors research report on a randomised online experiment evaluating the impact of vaping fact films on vaping harm perceptions among UK young adults, as well as discussing the broader misconceptions around vaping and the importance of expert-led health messaging.

· How vapes differ from conventional tobacco smoking [1:31]

· Some misconceptions around vaping [02:07]

· What do people know about nicotine? [03:20]

· The vaping fact films and addressing the common myths around vaping [04:20]

· The key findings of the study [06:06]

· The importance of expert messaging in correcting perceptions on vaping [07:27]

· Where can we find the vaping fact films? [08:22]

· How can we combat misconceptions in vaping? [09:30]

· Whether governments have a role in addressing vaping misconceptions [10:52]

· The strategies to help people quit smoking that include vapes [12:13]

· The evidence on these strategies [13:10]

· How the collaborators found the experience in creating the videos [14:14]

About Tsen Vei Lim: Tsen Vei is an academic fellow supported by the Society for the Study of Addiction, currently based at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. His research integrates computational modelling, experimental psychology, and neuroimaging to understand the neuropsychological basis of addictive behaviours. He holds a PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Cambridge (UK) and a BSc in Psychology from the University of Bath (UK).

About Katie East: Katie is an Associate Professor in Public Health within the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. She also has a visiting appointment at King's College London (KCL), where she recently completed her SSA Fellowship on the topic of vaping harm perceptions. In 2024, she was awarded the SSA's Fred Yates Prize for significant contributions to work in the field of addiction. Her research focuses on nicotine and tobacco product use, perceptions, and policies.

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Original article: Evaluating the impact of vaping facts films on vaping harm perceptions among young adults in the UK: A randomized on-line experiment - https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70119

The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal.

The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Dr Zoe Swithenbank speaks to Dr June Leung, a senior researcher at the SHORE and Whariki Research Centre at Massey University in New Zealand. The interview covers June’s systematic review and meta-analysis on the association of parental or caregiver alcohol use with child maltreatment.

· An overview of the review and the definition and forms of child maltreatment [01:00]

· Why it is important to look at all forms of child maltreatment [03:48]

· Quantifying the harms of alcohol and identifying preventable risk factors [05:00]

· The take home messages of the study [06:23]

· What June’s findings do and do not suggest for the wider alcohol literature [07:28]

· What the implications of the findings are for policy and practice [08:29]

· The challenges in conducting the review [11:02]

· The limitations of the study [13:08]

· The surprising aspects of conducting this review [15:12]

About June Leung: Dr Leung is Senior Research Officer at SHORE & Whariki Research Centre, Massey University, based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her research focuses on global alcohol policy, alcohol industry influence, and the epidemiology of chronic diseases. She is also a public health physician by training and a fellow of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine and the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine. She completed her undergraduate medical degree (MBBS), Master of Public Health (MPH) and Doctor of Medicine (MD) at The University of Hong Kong. Dr Leung has no conflicts of interest to declare.

About Zoe Swithenbank: Dr Zoe Swithenbank is a senior research associate at Lancaster University, currently working on a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded research project exploring treatment pathways for co-occurring alcohol and mental health problems. She recently completed her SSA funded PhD at Liverpool John Moores University on behavioural interventions for smoking cessation in substance use treatment services. Prior to starting her academic career, Zoe worked in health services including substance use, mental health, and homeless services, and these experiences shaped her research interests, as well as her commitment to the inclusion of people with lived experience in research.

Original review: The association of parental or caregiver alcohol use with child maltreatment: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70055

The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal.

The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.