Club drugs, illegal highs and Novel Psycho-active Substances with Owen Bowden Jones

This is a wide ranging conversation on club drugs, illegal highs and Novel Psycho-active Substances (NPS) with Dr Owen Bowden Jones. Owen is a Consultant Psychiatrist with over 20 years' experience in general and substance misuse psychiatry in both the NHS and private practice. In 2010 he founded the Club Drug Clinic, offering treatment specifically for those using 'club' drugs such as cocaine, ketamine, MDMA, GHB/GBL and novel psychoactive substances.

In the conversation we discuss:

• The definition of Club drugs and illegal highs/Novel Psychoactive substances
• Define the problem by age and top 5 commonly seen drug presentations (differentiate between prevalence and problem – i.e. seeking help)
• Examine traditional vs emergent drug trends
• Look at groupings of drugs – Sedatives/dissociates, stimulants, synthetic cannabinoids, hallucinogens
• Examples of each and on common presentations & adjunctive use (concomitant use of these drugs)
• Ask about sourcing & trends in where people acquire drugs presently
• Look at first line staff engagement – who sees these groups of patients first (not always acute presentations)
• Examine new harms & clinical challenges
• Reference project Neptune – Novel Psycho-active Treatment Uk Network

There is free e-learning on club drugs, illegal highs and NPS that Owen has put together, please find it at:

http://neptune-clinical-guidance.co.uk/e-learning/

Feel free to reach out to Dr Bowden-Jones here:

Owen.bowdenjones@nhs.net

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Clubdrugclinic.cnwl@nhs.net

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www.clubdrugclinic.com

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@ClubDrugClinic

@OwenBowdenJones

www.neptune-clinical-guidance.co.uk