István Gábor Takács is a human rights activist, videographer and trainer. He ran the Video Advocacy Program of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union between 2007-2015. He worked as a needle exchange program counselor for 5 years. He is author of several articles on harm reduction and cameraman, editor, director and co-director of more than 700 online videos, among them longer documentaries, such as “Kostya Proletarsky” (2020), “Taking Back What’s Ours: An Oral History of the Movement of People who Use Drugs” (2020) ”A Day in the Life: The World of Humans Who Use Drugs” (2016), “Without Rights” (2009), “Without a Chance” (2014), “Room in the 8th District” (2014) and “The Invisible” (2011). Since 2016 he works at the Rights Reporter Foundation, where besides producing films, he is training activists in video advocacy.
At ICPR 2024, we talked to Wim van den Brink, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Addiction at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, about the potential of psychedelics to reduce compulsive thinking and support addiction treatment.
What actually makes psychedelic therapy work? Is it the drug, the therapeutic setting, or the human relationship between therapist and participant? At ICPR 2026, we spoke with psychiatrist and researcher Sandeep Nayak about clinical trials, common therapeutic factors, and how the field can better understand the mechanisms behind psychedelic-assisted treatment.
At ICPR 2024, we talked to anthropologist and author Nicolas Langlitz about the current hype around psychedelics, their place in medicine and culture, and why he sees them as holding the promise of moksha in the age of soma.
Women make up more than half of the population, yet they remain significantly underrepresented in psychedelic research. At ICPR 2026, we spoke with neuroscientist Grace Blest-Hopley about the gender gap in psychedelic science, the importance of studying menstrual cycles, pregnancy, menopause, and women’s mental health, and how the field can become more inclusive and scientifically rigorous.
On 7 May 2026, policymakers, researchers, clinicians, people with lived experience, and civil society organisations gathered in Brussels for the inaugural meeting of the European Forum of National Psychedelic Societies. The meeting marked an important milestone in building a coordinated European movement to expand safe, evidence-based access to psychedelic-assisted therapies.
Watch Drugreporter’s short documentary, filmed at the seventh Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research (ICPR) 2026 in Haarlem, the Netherlands, exploring how psychedelic science is evolving through conversations on Indigenous knowledge, therapy, consciousness, culture and the future of the field.
How can international human rights standards influence real-world drug policy reforms? From the abolition of the death penalty for drug offences in Pakistan to policy changes in Latin America and beyond, Drugreporter’s new short film explores how experts, activists, and policymakers have used the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy to advocate for more humane and evidence-based approaches around the world.
In April 2026, drug user organizations, human rights advocates, researchers, and policymakers from across the Nordic region gathered in Oslo for the conference Nordic Mobilization on Human Rights and Drug Policy. The event marked the launch of a new Nordic network committed to promoting drug policies based on human rights, democracy, public health, and social justice.
At ICPR 2024, we talked to psychologist and psychotherapist Marc B. Aixalà about how so-called “bad trips” can be reframed as difficult but potentially transformative experiences, and the importance of integration in psychedelic therapy.
On 7 May 2026, PAREA convened the first European Forum of National Psychedelic Societies in Brussels, bringing together representatives from organisations in 25 countries working on psychedelic research, policy, and access across Europe. Watch key presentations on the state of psychedelic access in Europe, filmed by Drugreporter.
