Mattha Busby

Mattha is a journalist with a focus on health policy, drugs/psychedelics and (sub)culture. His work has appeared in the Guardian, VICE, Rolling Stone, WIRED, TIME and Men’s Health. Based in Lisbon, Portugal, and originally from the UK, he is the author of Should All Drugs Be Legalized? (Thames & Hudson, 2022) and is writing a new pocket book on psychedelics (Hoxton Mini Press). In 2024, he was a Ferris-UC Berkeley fellow in psychedelic journalism.

UK Govt. Publishes Report Indicating Drug Policing Boosts Violence

Drug-related law enforcement is more likely to increase violence than reduce it, indicates a report commissioned by the government of…

April 9, 2025

Saudi Arabia a Key Driver of 2024 Global Surge in Executions for Drugs

Saudi Arabia executed at least 122 people for drug-related convictions in 2024, its highest known total. At the end of…

March 12, 2025

Coca Summit in Peru Focuses Push to End Global Prohibition

The United Nations must “decolonize” global drug laws and deschedule the coca leaf, which is used daily by millions of…

February 20, 2025

Rooted in Colonialism, Coca Prohibition Could Be Nearing Its End

Calls to eradicate coca fields in the Peruvian Andes began a century ago as part of a mission civilisatrice led…

January 28, 2025

US Continues to Spend Billions on Drug War in Lower-Income Countries

United States taxpayers continue to fund a destructive and deadly drug war in low- and middle-income countries across the world,…

December 5, 2024

Festival Drug Checking Services Still Too Often Sidelined

It’s a scorching July day in British Columbia, at Bass Coast festival, and there is no line outside the drug…

September 5, 2024

Wrongful Death Verdict Puts Hard Questions to Psychedelic Community

“We understand you want healing, but you can’t lie to us,” said Christopher Young, founder and owner of the Soul…

June 5, 2024

Arrests at North Carolina Methadone Clinic Raise Ethical, Legal Alarms

On a pleasant summer’s morning in North Carolina, a law enforcement officer was searching for a woman who had missed…

May 21, 2024

Psychedelic Community Divided Over Upcoming Conference in Israel

At a psychedelics conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, this July, attendees are due to hear talks on topics including “Psychedelics,…

April 15, 2024

“Get on Your Knees”—Alberta Cops Raid Home Over Ayahuasca Delivery

On February 8, Chad Gillies, a specialty welder in Calgary, Alberta, opened his door to what appeared to be a…

March 20, 2024