Beckley Foundation

File:Beckley Foundation Logo.jpg

The Beckley Foundation http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/ http://reformdrugpolicy.com/

The Beckley Foundation is a charitable trust that promotes health orientated cost effective harm reductive drug policy reform. It also investigates consciousness and its modulation from a multidisciplinary perspective working in collaboration with world renowned scientists. The Foundation is based at Beckley Park near Oxford, United Kingdom. The Beckley Foundation was founded, and is directed, by Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss.

It supports research into the science, health, politics and history of practices used to alter consciousness, ranging from meditation to the use of psychoactive substances. Its activities include directing scientific research programmes, hosting high level international drug policy seminars, hosted at the House of Lords. It has produced over thirty-five much cited drug policy reports and is at the forefront of national and international drug policy reform. It is currently organizing the Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform in close association with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform. For this initiative it has commissioned the first ever Cost/Benefit analysis on a legal regulated cannabis market and a new Draft UN Convention for All Illegal Drugs. There will be a meeting at the House of Lords on November 17-18 at which Heads of State and ministers of countries interested in reform will participate. It is particularly interested in scientific research that has practical implications in improving health and wellbeing. Current research includes a collaboration with Prof Roland Griffiths at Johns Hopkins University studying the effects of psilocybin at combating addiction.

Policy

The Beckley Foundation's policy initiatives include:

• The commissioning, publication and distribution of reports and briefing papers on international drug policy issues.
• The hosting of policy-focused seminars that bring together policymakers, academics and practitioners to discuss international drug policy issues.
• The establishment of Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), consisting of a network of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and professional networks from around the world.
• The establishment of an International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP), a group of academic experts from around the world who have produced notable work on the subject of drug policy evaluation and other relevant issues.

Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform

The Global Initiative is a collaboration between the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy, the Global Commission on Drug Policy and the Beckley Foundation. It advocates the UK denouncing and re-affirming with reservations the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the UN Single Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

Science

The Beckley Foundation Science Programme aims to:

• explore the processes that underpin conscious states.
• characterise the attributes of 'normal' human consciousness and determine the changes that occur in pathologically, naturally or chemically altered states.
• evaluate the potential of techniques currently employed in the alteration of conscious states to provide therapeutic and medicinal benefits.

The research programmes initiated by the Beckley Foundation investigate changes in cerebral blood flow, electrical current and magnetic field variations underlying different states of consciousness. Other changes measured include neurotransmitter concentrations, neural immune function, cognition and mood ratings. Using sophisticated brain imaging technologies, new areas can be explored, enabling us to see further into the human brain and the workings of the mind than ever before.

The Foundation is involved in collaborative research projects with leading scientists in the fields of neurophysiology, biochemistry, psychiatry and psychology, at renowned scientific institutions in the United Kingdom and abroad. Current projects include

• The Unconscious Watershed - A neuroimaging study being carried out with University of Oxford in order to pinpoint the where and the when of conscious, as opposed to unconscious, processing in the brain.
• The Neurobiology of Meditative States - A neuroimaging study carried out with Aston University, Birmingham, using fMRI, MEG and MRS imaging techniques.
• The effects of LSD on consciousness - a study in healthy volunteers to understand how LSD affects perception and experience.
• Brain Blood Flow and Metabolic Changes Induced by Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - A neuroimaging study being carried out with Bristol University using MRI to map the cerebral blood flow and chemical neurotransmitter changes induced by different doses of orally administered THC in human volunteers.
• Physical Correlates of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness - A neuroimaging study, still under development, looking at the effects of psychoactive substances in experienced subjects on global and regional cerebral blood flow.
• Neural Responses in Depressed Individuals - A neuroimaging study being carried out with the Institute of Psychiatry examining neural responses to emotive stimuli in healthy and psychiatric populations.
• Individual Differences in Anandamide Metabolism - A set of studies being carried out with Oxford University will clarify the relationship between anandamide and essential fatty acids in relation to trait-measures of depression, anxiety and stress.
• Motivational Assessment of Why People Use Drugs - A questionnaire study being carried out with the Institute of Psychiatry comparing 'recreational' and 'problem' young drug users.
• Nutrition and Addiction Research - A controlled trial being carried out with the University of Oxford testing the efficacy of nutritional supplements in the rehabilitation of problem drug users.

Beckley Press Publications

The Beckley Foundation Press was created to allow the publication of Drug Policy and Scientific material that was not being picked up by mainstream publishing houses due to the controversial nature of the material. Since its establishment in 2008, the Beckley Press has made great strides in bringing this type of literature to a wider audience and has formed publishing collaborations with other larger publishers such as Oxford University Press.

Noted Publications:

• Cannabis Policy: Moving beyond a stalemate

• The Pharmacology of LSD

• Hoffmann’s Elixir: LSD and the new Eleusis

• Moskalenko Monograph

• Proceedings Documents

• BF REPORTS

Major Seminars

• "Drugs and the Brain", Magdalen College, Oxford (2002).
• "The Role of Drugs in Society", Royal Society, (2003).
• "An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Alcohol and other Recreational Drugs", Cabinet Office, Admiralty Arch (2003).
• "Global Drug Policy - Future Directions", Westminster Palace, (2004)
• International Drug Policy Seminar 2005), House of Lords, Westminster Palace. A three day seminar including the Beckley/Foresight Seminar, reviewing the Foresight Report; the meeting of the International Consortium of NGOs, and the meeting of the International Network of Drug Policy Analysis, renamed International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP).

Scientific Advisers

• Professor Colin Blakemore
• Professor Gustav Born
• Professor Mark Geyer
• Professor Lester Grinspoon
• Professor Albert Hofmann (deceased)
• Professor Leslie L. Iversen
• Professor Yuri E. Moskalenko
• Professor Dave E. Nichols
• Professor David Nutt
• Professor Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
• Professor Trevor Robbins
• Dr Ronald A. Sandison (deceased)
• Dr Alexander Shulgin
• Professor André Tylee

Articles

• Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate

by Amanda Feilding - Posted February 23rd, 2010

• Amanda Feilding's Talk at the Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century Conference in San Jose, by Amanda Feilding - Posted April 21st, 2010

Sacrifice of the Innocents: Drugs, Money and Murder in Mexico by Amanda Feilding - Posted August 6th 2010

• Time for Change

by Amanda Feilding - Posted March 22nd 2011

• Legal Highs Demonstrate Antiquated Drug Policy Legislation

by Amanda Feilding - Posted May 19th 2011

• Mexico’s Voices Unite

by Amanda Feilding - Posted May 19th 2011

• NEW SCIENTIST

Psychoactive drugs: From recreation to medication Catherine de Lange 1 September 2010. From magazine issue 2776

• The skull doctors

Stephanie Pain 16 September 2000. From magazine issue 2256

• It's lack of balance that makes skunk cannabis do harm

By Amanda Feilding and Paul Morrison 26 January 2010. From magazine issue 2744

• Radical alternatives proposed for cannabis controls

Andy Coghlan 30 December 2008. From magazine issue 2689

• Like a Hole in the Head

17 June 2009 by Arran Frood Magazine issue 2712. (Mentions the Beckley Foundation)

• FINANCIAL TIMES

Charity Pushes for LSD use in medicine, by Andrew Jack, February 12, 2010

• THE TIMES

The Lady of the Manor is out to bend the nation’s mind Rosie Millard, October 19th 2008

• Body & Soul

Doctor Feelgood by Neil Boorman, March 22, 2011 THE GUARDIAN

• Psychiatrist calls for end to 30-year taboo over use of LSD as a medical treatment

Sarah Boseley, Health editor January 11th, 2006

• Scientists study possible health benefits of LSD and ecstasy

Denis Campbell, 23rd October 2009

• Who are the hardest, bravest men and women in the history of science?

Ian Sample November 12th, 2010

• DRUGS AND ALCOHOL TODAY

• Interview with Amanda Feilding, Lady Neidpath, Founder and Director of the Beckley Foundation

Drugs and Alcohol Today • Volume 8 Issue 4 • December 2008

• THE TELEGRAPH

High Society exhibition: can dope give us hope? By Jake Wallis Simons, 9th November 2010 LE MONDE Faut-il legaliser le cannabis? By Nicolas Bourcier. Friday 4th June 2010 MISCELLANEOUS

• Has the medical profession become caught In the crossfire of the War on Drugs?

Beckley Foundation Online Library August 2005. Dr. Ben Sessa, Amanda Feilding

• Beckley Foundation Issues Global Cannabis Commission’s Report

By Amanda Feilding and Jonny Hazell West Coast Leaf, Summer 2009

• Testing the Acid: The Unlikely Birth of LSD

Karger Gazette, October 2010, volume No.71 Swiss pioneers in Science and Medicine

• Return Trip Second Opinion about “A Trip to Therapy”

Proto Magazine, Fall 2010

• If I was Queen for a Day...by Amanda Feilding

The Big Issue, November 17 2008

External links

• The Beckley Foundation
• "The Beckley Foundation, Registered Charity no. SC033546". Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
• Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme
• International Drug Policy Consortium
• International Society for the Study of Drug Policy
• The Beckley Foundation online library, featuring full-text works on research in drugs.
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