Over September, October and November Salon will be taking a lateral look at Sex, and Drugs and Rock and Roll- starting with Drugs.

 Speakers include Professor David Nutt, voted by The Times as one of the hundred most important figures in British science and Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, and President of the British Neuroscience Association.

His advisory role in Tony Blair's government came to a sudden end over his proof that horse riding was more dangerous than ecstasy. Famed for forcing a fact based debate around drugs onto the agenda, Professor Nutt will be explaining the importance of understanding the role pleasure plays when examining our relationship with drugs.

Barbara Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology and President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology. Author of the book Bad Moves, Barbara will be explaining the brouhaha surrounding smart drugs. Just like smart phones, these are legally available and make us significantly more focused, clever and studies show - successful. Much loved by our friends across the pond they are now finding their way to the UK, but are they for you? Barbara's research has a lot to add in helping you make your mind up about them, which makes for fascinating hearing. 

And to feed you the drugs we love we have food historian Leonie Sooke. Leonie will be looking at the legal drugs we just can't live without, you know them as alcohol, sugar, and caffeine. When and why did we become so addicted to them, and can we actually handle them?

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COMPETITION: Win 1x Pair of tickets to Salon: DRUGS on 4th September. To enter the competition, send an email to katie@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ box. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: Which of these is NOT a term for marijuana?

A: 1) grass 2)hash 3)mandy 4)weed