Launched in 2021, Psychoactive, a podcast on drug policy, drug use, and drugs research, features Nadelmann interviewing leading figures in current debates on drugs, including the head of the US National Institute of Drug Abuse, Nora Volkow, author Maia Szalavitz, Senator Chuck Schumer, and former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos. Commentators on other social movements–for example, American gay rights advocate Dan Savage–are also featured.

Some of the 61 intriguing podcast titles include:

•    Paul Stamets on the Magic of Mushrooms
•    Gita Vaid on Ketamine
•    Anya Sarang on Russia and Drugs
•    Sophia Korb on Microdosing

Each episode is approximately one hour in length. To access the episodes, visit:
Psychoactive on Apple Podcasts.

About the creator
Ethan Nadelmann is the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York City-based non-profit organization advocating for drug policies grounded in public health, applying harm reduction prinicples, rather than a criminal justice approach. He is known as a high-profile critic and commentator on U.S. and international drug control policies.

Ethan Nadelmann, the Drug Policy Alliance, and SALIS have had multiple and close connection for many years. The Drug Policy Alliance closed its print library in 2020, and its entire collection has been donated to the SALIS Collection. Digitization of the collection is currently underway. 

This post is based on an article by SALIS member Barbara Weiner from the current issue of SALIS News. Access to SALIS News is one of the many benefits of SALIS membership.

Libraries Week at the SSA (Society for the Study of Addiction) written by SALIS member Christine Goodair and a colleague promotes the the value of special addictions collections and libraries.

Read about why addictions libraries, and libraries in general, are still valuable during this age of an abundance of information at our fingertips through the Internet. The authors make these distinctions:

• The Internet is not a Library, and,
• A Library is not the Internet.

And point out how public libraries have been responding to the COVID pandemic and, in the US, have also been providing support during the ongoing opioid crisis.

Many specialist addiction libraries have been downsized or closed since the 2000s. In the UK, the specialist libraries of DrugScope and Alcohol Concern were well known and well used. This has also been the trend in Europe, the US and Canada. However, some still exist and many belong to SALIS, a valuable network that continues to be strong and is coordinating building The SALIS Collection to preserve and make available core literature in the field.

The authors compiled a list of libraries and collections that still exist. May they continue to thrive!

• Australian Alcohol and Drug Foundation Library
• Alcohol Research Group Library  California
• Belgium Vereniging voor Alcohol en andere Drug problemen (VAD)
• The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Library, Toronto
• Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA)
• Dublin’s HRB National Drugs Library 
• DrugScope’s old library– searchable online and you can visit with appointment
• European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
• French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
• Greater Manchester Mental Health Library and Knowledge Services (NHS)
• Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Addiction Research Library
• Rover – California’s Tobacco Control Library
• The SALIS collection