Working group to consider barriers to controlled drug research

The newly formed Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) working group has sent out a call for written evidence from researchers about barriers to legitimate research with controlled drugs.

The ACMD working group to consider barriers to legitimate research with controlled drugs to help in their formulation of advice to government.

The deadline to submit written feedback has been extended to 3 May 2020 because of COVID-19.

In the letter from Prof Owen Bowden-Jones Chair of the ACMD and Prof Roger Knaggs ACMD Barriers to Research working group Chair commented:

“The ACMD is collecting written evidence from researchers regarding barriers to legitimate research with controlled drugs. We would be grateful for your written feedback in the attached questionnaire as part of this call for evidence by Thursday 9^th April 2020.

“Further to productive conversations between the ACMD and research community representatives, the ACMD has established a dedicated working group to gather further evidence to consider the barriers to legitimate research with controlled drugs.

“We would welcome submissions of evidence from as broad a spectrum of research institutions as possible – and would, therefore, be grateful if you could circulate as widely as possible this call for evidence to other colleagues and relevant stakeholders where possible. We will be using your feedback to assist in formulating advice to Government.

“The working group will be focussing initially on research which may have been impeded by legal controls intended to cover synthetic cannabinoids. We will also take any opportunities which present themselves to evaluate the scale of issues for research involving other controlled drugs and barriers to research, more generally.”