My name is Toby Seddon and this is a site about drugs, drug policy and drug law reform. It covers my own writing, books and projects, my podcast, and other things of interest.
I am a Professor of Social Science at University College London, based in the UCL Social Research Institute. My institutional profile page at UCL is here. I am also Chair of the Board of Trustees at Release, a drugs law and human rights NGO. I previously held academic positions in the Law Schools at the University of Manchester and the University of Leeds. I am a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
I am an interdisciplinary scholar, working at the intersections of law, history and sociology. My overarching intellectual project is the exploration of the ‘drug question’: the modern phenomenon of labelling certain intoxicating substances as ‘drugs’ and criminalising their production, distribution and consumption. My distinctive contribution has been to frame this as a question of market regulation and to draw on regulation and socio-legal scholarship on how we regulate markets in diverse sectors.
My most recent book, Rethinking Drug Laws (OUP 2023), brings together much of my thinking and research on this and is a good place to start if you are interested in my work. I have also recently edited a major Research Handbook on Drugs & Society (Edward Elgar 2026) which is intended to be a resource for researchers and university-level teachers. I am currently writing a book on the regulation of psychedelics for publication by UCL Press. Other current interests include the connections between the climate crisis, environmental law and drug control, and historical lessons for cannabis law and regulation.
Toby Seddon 