‘Psychedelics are as crucial as the Covid vaccine’

Neuropsychopharmacologist and ex-government drug czar Professor David Nutt has become one of the leading scientists in the fight for psychedelic mental healthcare. He tells Alexandra Jones why the time to legalise is now

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AT THE end of our photoshoot, the photographer asks Professor David Nutt — esteemed neuropsychopharmacologist and one-time chief drug adviser to the Government — if he’d record a voice note. “It’s for my brother, he’s a big fan of your work.” Professor Nutt obliges with a smile. Since being fired from his role in 2009 for claiming that LSD and ecstasy were less dangerous than alcohol, Professor Nutt has become a cult figure among the young and disenfranchised — most recently that status has been a by-product of his research into psychedelic-assisted mental healthcare.

“I was sacked by the Government for telling the truth about these drugs,” says the 72-year-old. “Of course the world went mad, because no one was allowed to say that. Everyone had been taught to say that LSD was a very dangerous drug and blah, blah, blah — bollocks!” Still, it had to smart a little? “Oh, it did — but oh well. Now I’m sort of used to being out there in the public eye.”