Amanda Feilding
Amanda Feilding has long advocated an evidence-based approach to drug policy that seeks to minimise the harms associated with drug use. She established the Beckley Foundation in 1998 to help reform drug policy by creating evidence-based; health-orientated; harm-reducing; cost-effective drug policies which recognise human rights.
The Foundation has been responsible for 8 successful international drug policy seminars hosted at the House of Lords to educate ‘thought leaders’ and has commissioned 35 Drug Policy Reports and Proceedings Documents, including the Global Cannabis Commission Report. This work was co-published with Oxford University Press as a book entitled: “Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate”. The book was disseminated worldwide and has been very influential, specifically directing President Cardoso’s thinking towards the decriminalisation and regulation of cannabis.
Following on from the success of the Cannabis Report the Foundation commissioned a New Draft UN Convention on All Illegal Drugs, prepared by Professor Robin Room and a team of international lawyers, which will allow signatory countries to decriminalise personal use and possession of all drugs, and put the domestic market for one or more controlled drugs under a regulatory rather than criminalising regime. This Convention, along with the first ever UK cost/benefit analyses of a fully regulated legal cannabis market, will be discussed and debated at a Meeting at the House of Lords on 17/18 November. Invitees include: former, and present, Presidents; current heads of state; and ministers of countries interested in reform. The meeting is being organised in close association with The All Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform and the Global Commission for Drug Policy. The Meeting will also provide a key platform for the Commission to present their findings from their recent Report.
The Beckley Foundation Scientific Program investigates the physiology and pharmacology of cannabis, psilocybin, LSD and ‘legal highs’ to better understand how these compounds work, and identify potential therapeutic applications. Working in collaboration with academic partners such as Imperial College; John Hopkins University; Berkeley University; The Institute of Psychiatry; and University College London investigating treatments for addiction, anxiety, pain relief and early warning monitoring systems to detect Alzheimer’s. Collaborating with the Institute of Psychiatry and University College London the Foundations work was among the first to identify the importance of cannabidiol (CBD) in cannabis as an anti-stress agent to balance THC. The Foundation is currently conducting the first ever research into the effect of psilocybin on the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results of which are providing exciting new information about the possible use of psilocybin as treatment for depression and cluster headaches, and as an aid in psychotherapy.
Report and Public Letter 2011-12
The Beckley Foundation published an open letter in The Time and Guardian calling for a new approach to drug policy. The letter opens by emphatically stating that the war on drugs has failed, and calls members of the public and parliament to recognise this by adding there signature. Signatories of the letter include former Presidents of the United States, Mexico, Colombia, and Switzerland as well as Nobel Peace Prize winners and leading Scientists in a variety of fields.
Scientific Publications Co-authored by Amanda Feilding
2012
Neural substrates of the psychedelic state: Functional MRI studies with psilocybin
PNAS 2012 109 (6) 2138-2143; published ahead of print January 23, 2012,
Robin L. Carhart-Harris, David Erritzoea, Tim Williams, James M. Stone, Laurence J. Reed, Alessandro Colasantia, Robin J. Tyackea, Robert Leech, Andrea L. Malizia, Kevin Murphy, Peter Hobden, John Evans, Amanda Feilding, Richard G. Wise, and David J. Nutta
Implications for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study
BJP bjp.bp.111.103309; published ahead of print January 26, 2012,
R. L. Carhart-Harris, R. Leech, T. M. Williams, D. Erritzoe, N. Abbasi, T. Bargiotas,
P. Hobden, D. J. Sharp, J. Evans, A. Feilding, R. G. Wise and D. J. Nutt
Investigating the Interaction between Schizotypy, Divergent Thinking and Cannabis Use
Conscious Cogn. 2012 Mar;21(1):292-8. Epub 2012 Jan 9. Corresponding Author: Ms Grainne Schafer
Amanda Feilding; Maria Agathangelou, BSc Psychology; Celia J A Morgan, PhD; Tom P Freeman, BSc; H. Valerie Curran, PhD
2011
Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality, 2011, Volume 1, 129-155, DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2079-4_10
Thilo Hinterberger, Niko Kohls, Tsutomu Kamei, Amanda Feilding, Harald Walach
Book chapter in “Spirituality, Health and Science”.
Communication breakdown: delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol effects on pre-speech neural coherence.
Mol Psychiatry. 2011 Nov 1. doi: 10.1038/mp.2011.141.
Stone JM, Morrison PD, Brugger S, Nottage J, Bhattacharyya S, Sumich A, Wilson D, Tunstall N, Feilding A, Brenneisen R, McGuire P, Murray RM, Ffytche DH.
2010
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol disruption of time perception and of self-timed actions.
Pharmacopsychiatry. 2010 Aug;43(6):236-7.
Stone JM, Morrison PD, Nottage J, Bhattacharyya S, Feilding A, McGuire PK.
Journal of Psychopharmacology. April 15, 2010, doi: 10.1177/0269881110367445
Carhart-Harris RL¹², Williams TM², Sessa B², Tyacke RJ¹², Rich AS², Feilding A³, Nutt DJ¹² ¹ Imperial College London, Dept of Neuropsychopharmacology. ²University of Bristol, Psychopharmacology Unit. ³ The Beckley Foundation.
Interhemispheric asymmetry of liquorodynamics and biomechanical properties of the skull
Russian Journal of Physiology v.95. No. 10. 2010.
Moskalenko Yu.E., Weinstein G.B., Ryabchikova N.A., Halvorson P., Feilding A., Kravchenko T.I., Vardy T., Samus N.L., Semernia V.N., Panov A.A.
Daniel Wilson, Alexander Sumich, Sagnik Bhattacharyya, James Stone, Dominic Ffytche, Nigel Tunstall, Shitij Kapur, Philip McGuire, Robin Murray, Amanda Feilding, Paul Morrison.
2009
Slow-wave oscillations in the craniosacral space: a hemolisquorodynamic concept of origination.
Neuroscience and Behavioural Physiology. v.39. No.4. p.377-381. 2009.
Moskalenko Yu.E., Kravchenko T.I., Weinstein G.B., Halvorson P., Feilding A., Mandara A., Panov A.A., Semernia V.N.
Slow-Wave Oscillations in the Craniosacral Space: A Hemoliquorodynamic Concept of Origination.
Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology 2009, No. 4:Vol. 39
Yu. E. Moskalenko, T. I. Kravchenko, G. B. Vainshtein, P. Halvorson, A. Feilding, A. Mandara, A. A. Panov, and V. N. Semernya
The Effect of Craniotomy on the Intracranial Hemodynamics and Cerebrospinal Fluid Dynamics in Humans
Yu. E. Moskalenko a, G. B. Weinstein a, T. I. Kravchenko a , S. V. Mozhaev b , V. N. Semernya a , A. Feilding a , P. Halvorson a, and S. V. Medvedev
Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 194223 Russia. b Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 197022 Russia
2008
Biomechanical Properties of Human Cranium: Age Related Aspects
Journal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology, 2008, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 605—614.
Yu. E. Moskalenko, G. B. Weinstein, P. Halvorson, T. I. Kravchenko, N. A. Ryabchikova, A. Feilding, V. N. Semernya, and A. A. Panov
Non-Invasive Evaluation of Human Brain Fluid Dynamics and Skull Biomechanics in Relation to Cognitive Functioning - Human Physiology, 2008, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 299–305.
Prof. Yuri Moskalenko, Amanda Feilding and Peter Halvorson. Published by Beckley Foundation Press (2009)
Older
Russian Journal of Physiology.. v.93. No.7. p.788-798. 2007.
Moskalenko Yu.E., Weinstein G.B., Halvorson P., Kravchenko T.I., Feilding A., Ryabchikova N.A., Semernia V.N., Panov A.A.
Age-Related Peculiarities of Ratio of Parameters of Functioning of Hemo and Liquorodynamics Systems
Journal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology, 2006, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 759—768.
Yu. E. Moskalenko, G. B. Weinstein, P. Halvorson, N. A. Ryabchikova, T. I. Kravchenko, A. Feiding, A. A. Panov, V. N. Semernya, and S. P. Markovets
Books
Cannabis Policy: Moving beyond a stalemate
Authors: Robin Room, Benedikt Fischer, Wayne Hall, Simon Lenton and Peter Reuter Convened by Amanda Feilding Oxford University Press (2010). ISBN 978–0–19–958148–1, 2010
Annelie Hintzen M.D. and Torsten Passie M.D., M.A. Paperback: App 200 pages Publisher: The Beckley Foundation Press and Oxford University Press (June 2010) ISBN 978-0199589821
Hoffmann’s Elixir: LSD and the new Eleusis
Edited by Amanda Feilding Talks & Essays by Albert Hofmann and others Beckley Foundation Press 2010 ISBN 978-0-9548054-9-4 ©2008 The Beckley Foundation
Non-Invasive Evaluation of Human Brain Fluid Dynamics and Skull Biomechanics in Relation to Cognitive Functioning
Yuri Moskalenko, Amanda Feilding and Peter Halvorson Beckley Foundation Press ISBN 978-1-907072-01-7
