The Drug Conversation

Dr Owen Bowden-Jones MSc FRCPsych MB ChBLead Clinician for the Club Drug Clinic Addictions Directorate, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. Consultant Psychiatrist and Honorary Senior Lecturer atImperial College, London. Clinical Adviser at the Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco Divisionof Public Health England. Owen says: "As a psychiatrist, I am interested in both the brain systems underpinning drug misuse and the psychological reasons for these problems. I believe my patients and their families deserve clear and up to date information to help them make decisions. This book will give you plenty of information to help you understand how drugs affect the brain, what problems they cause and possible solutions.The second reason for writing this book is that I am a parent. Like many parents, I worry about how I can best look after and support my children. Other parents clearly feel this too, and all ask me the same questions.How do I talk to my child about drugs? What should I look out for? Can I stop them from trying drugs? What should I do if I think they are using drugs?" More about Dr Bowden-JonesDr Bowden-Jones is an addictions psychiatrist and researcher with over 20 years’ experience of helping people with drug and alcohol problems, working at Imperial College, London.He founded and leads the Club Drug Clinic, a specialist service for users of so-called `legal highs’ and drugs such as MDMA, ketamine and mephedrone.He has pioneered approaches, co-designed with patients, to engage vulnerable groups using new technologies.Owen passionately believes in engaging the public in conversations about drug use and speaks frequently about his work to schools, universities, nightclubs, music festivals and conferences.He has contributed to articles for The Guardian, Independent, Observer, Times, andThe Economist as well as appearing on BBC, Channel 4 and ITV. He has also addressedthe United Nations.He has contributed widely to the media as Clinical Adviser to Public Health England and Associate Registrar for Policy at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.As a parent, he believes passionately in the power of communicating clear, accessible messages that all parents can convey using the best information to support an informed conversation about drugs.

'I would recommend this book to parents, GP colleagues and to doctors in training. This is a very good book - comprehensive, sensible and written with authority. It also has a strong person focus and very good production values. The book is up to date and covers a number of new areas such as legal highs. It does also acknowledge the changing issues and points to current, validated web sources of information. The case histories are strong, illustrate the text and key principles but do not moralise or frighten. Literature articles are used in context and statistical sources are used to show key demographic points. The writing style is excellent: this is a book that is actually difficult to put down!' British Medical Association Programme and Award Winners 2017

• Acknowledgements; Foreword; Introduction; 1. What are psychoactive drugs, who uses them and why?; 2. Drug use and adolescence; 3. Having the drug conversation with your child; 4. Drugs and the brain; 5. Types of drugs; 6. Rise of the synthetics; 7. Detecting drug use and what to do about it; 8. Treatment and recovery; 9. Final thoughts; Appendix; References; Index.