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

One year on, why I want young people to learn from my daughter’s death

Vicky Unwin, whose daughter died after taking ketamine, is helping to launch a petition calling for compulsory drug education

Death by denial: The campaigners who continue to deny HIV causes Aids

Brian Deer: As each of their followers dies, those who campaign against HIV treatments simply move on to the next level of denial

Mayo Clinic plans to sequence patients’ genomes to personalise care

Project will give doctors the genetic information they need to choose drugs that work best and minimise side effects

Should we put lithium in the water?

A psychiatrist in Ireland has suggested that putting psychiatric medicine in drinking water could cut the suicide rate