Drug-taking is less prevalent on campus than students think

Students believe their friends are all experimenting with drugs, but survey shows that's not true

Ben Goldacre: ‘It’s appalling … like phone hacking or MPs’ expenses’

Ben Goldacre's first book, Bad Science, shredded the claims of homeopaths and fake doctors. For his second he has his sights trained on the pharmaceutical industry. Ian Tucker puts your questions to him

Diet pills return to the US after long hiatus – people’s panel

For the first time in 13 years, the Food and Drug Administration has put diet pills back on the market. Will you take them?

Griffith Edwards obituary

Expert on alcohol and drug addiction who pioneered new forms of treatment

Headache cures: there’s always an alternative to painkillers

Nearly all of us suffer from headaches at some point, but the key is to identify and avoid the triggers, advises one GP

I was a painkiller addict

After being prescribed powerful opiate drugs to manage chronic pain, I gradually descended into full-blown dependency. Here is my story

Sleeping pills: Britain’s hidden addiction

One in 10 of us now regularly take a drug to help us sleep. But is it time we stopped popping zopiclone, temazepam and other tablets? And what are the alternatives?

The end of HIV/Aids may not be possible if the war on drugs continues

Douglas Haddow: The danger in ignoring rising HIV rates among drug users is it could reignite the virus when it enters manageable decline

Albion Dreaming by Andy Roberts – review

Phil Baker takes an eye-opening trip through Britain's relationship with acid

How medical advances are changing the fight against HIV and Aids

As the UN reports a decline in Aids deaths and HIV infection rates, here are some of the developments at the frontline

Incarceration: when HIV infection does discriminate

Sadhbh Walshe: Given US prisons' elevated HIV/Aids rates, especially among African Americans, it serves public health to provide treatment

Opium: Reality’s Dark Dream by Thomas Dormandy – review

A deft history of opium spans the personal and the political, writes John Gallagher

Why have student drug users become so reckless?

Recreational drugs have mutated from mood-enhancing to bladder-destroying. And no one seems to care

Dr Dillner’s health dilemmas: is it safe to take sleeping pills?

Even a few sleeping tablets may increase your risk of early death, according to new research. So what should insomniacs do now?

Louise lit up our lives. Let her tragic death be a beacon of hope on drugs

A year ago, 21-year-old Louise Cattell drowned in her bath after taking ketamine. Her mother, Vicky Unwin, says action is needed to stop other deaths