DoseNation

Disturbing developments in drug testing

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:56:08 -0600

Seriously chaps, isn't the cancer detection angle one you should be playing up more here?

With the support of a $2.7 million Recovery Act grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), an interdisciplinary team headed by Vanderbilt chemist John McLean and physicist John Wikswo will attempt to determine whether an individual's white blood cells retain chemical memories of exposure to drugs like cocaine and alcohol that can be read reliably and unambiguously.
The capability to characterize an individual's history of drug abuse should allow physicians to tailor treatment strategies on a case-by-case basis, and the technology could provide new insights into the biological pathways that control addictive behavior, which is a first step toward identifying effective new treatments.
If successful, it might also provide the basis for a new technology for drug testing that could be more difficult to beat or evade than current tests that detect the presence of specific drugs or their metabolites in the body. McLean, Wikswo and their collaborators at Vanderbilt, Cornell, Duke and NIDA will be using an experimental platform specifically designed to characterize millions of biomolecules and search them for various signatures. In this case, they will be analyzing a large suite of biological signaling and metabolic molecules in search of signatures that correspond to past exposures to cocaine, alcohol and other drugs of abuse.
The new platform has a number of other potential applications. The researchers have also received a $1.5 million grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to search for signatures of biological warfare agents that could be built into field detectors. In addition, the researchers propose using it to analyze biopsy material from cancer patients to identify the most effective chemotherapy agent for each individual.

From www.physorg.com. Posted by Psychotrophic.

TIME: Joel Stein on Legal Marijuana

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:41:43 -0600

Joel Stein weighs in on the shift of marijuana legalization in California, and how easy it is to switch to "legal pot" and make your poor dealer a casualty of history.

Some dude outside my supermarket just asked me to sign a petition to legalize marijuana. Apparently he was so high that he forgot he's in California, where pot is already more legal than budget-balancing. Last year I was granted a medical-marijuana license, even though I'm healthy and I don't smoke weed. I went to a doctor's office that consisted of a desk, a TV, two cans of air freshener and a man wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt. I told Dr. Magnum P.I. about my constant anxiety, insomnia and headaches -- two more conditions than any previous patient had bothered to mention. He freaked out and gave me a pot license for only six months until I saw a psychologist. My lovely wife Cassandra, however, got a full year's prescription by claiming she was afflicted with a condition called "menstruation." Looking back, I'm pretty sure I could have used that too.
There are more medical-marijuana dispensaries in L.A. than Starbucks. Most are like nice tea shops, where salespeople behind a counter open glass jars so you can smell the Sugar Kush, look at the Purple Urkel under a magnifying lens and ask about the effects of Hindu Skunk. At the Farmacy, I spun a wheel to determine my first-time-buyer gift and was handed a pot lollipop. If the pot-dispensary people ran General Motors, the recession would be over. Although GM cars would be engineered to just stare idly at the road for hours. Which is more than they're good for now.
The vast majority of that Sugar Kush is still in our house, mostly because Cassandra found an even more effective solution to menstruation called pregnancy. But also because shopping for pot in California is more fun than using it. So when Attorney General Eric Holder declared that the Federal Government would quit busting dispensaries, removing even the hint of consequences for medical-marijuana use, my heart ached for small-time American pot dealers. They can't compete on price, selection, customer service, quality control or not-getting-arrestedness, and they have no skills that translate into another industry. They're almost as bad off as journalists.

Thanks cigga!

From www.time.com. Posted by jamesk.

Entities: To Believe or Not to Believe

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:18:53 -0600

The Teafaeire asks, "Do you believe?"

The Teafaerie does not believe in discarnate entities. This is my official stance. It's the stance that I absolutely have to take at this point in order to maintain what I'm still pleased to call my sanity. The last thing I need, insofar as my tenuous and tempestuous romance with consensus reality is concerned, is to think I'm some kind of god damned Faerie Ambassador. I get the irony of my name (Teafaerie is actually a title, like Doctor or Professor, rather than a proper name) but in fact I don't believe in faeries, demons, lizard people, or self-transforming machine elves. Clap all you want, it won't do a lick of good. Or rather, I should say I don't Believe in them, with an emphasis on the capital "B". I've taken enough ayahuasca that I can't deny the compelling intensity of some of these experiences, nor dismiss their relevance, but I don't think I know what they are anymore than I think that I know what I am, myself. To label such a phenomenon as "entity contact" is to attempt to box it into a metaphor that is perhaps not large enough to contain it...
People are of many minds about the entity thing. It's difficult to gauge what the general consensus is, if there even is any. Religions seem to prefer having an immunity to ontological analysis. Some of this stuff is maybe a little bit embarrassing for them, but it's too central to their basic mythologies to just sweep it under the rug, so they kind of have to go with it. It's perfectly normal to believe that (pick your favorite religious superhero) had all kinds of weird-ass entity contacts. You know, they cast out devils, and they talked to the Creative Principle as a personified entity, and they were harassed and helped by angels or devas or whatever. Not only that, but the followers of most of the popular religions are asked to believe, nay, commanded to believe, that they are players or pawns in some sort of a spiritual war or game between a number of disincarnate entities, and that they must guard themselves scrupulously against supernatural attack, and that they must perform rituals to please or appease certain deities and demigods who might come to their aid or intervene for their salvation. Really stop and think about this: it has been absolutely impossible to get elected president of the United States without at least professing to believe that intelligent demons are out to corrupt your soul. Variations on this theme hold true all over. Millions of people believe in ghosts, too, and most believe that their consciousness continues on in some manner after death. Don't tell folks that you hear voices in your head, though, or they'll lock you up!

From www.erowid.org. Posted by jamesk.

Yes, I am the resurrection

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:25:35 -0600

Which side effects of recreational drugs have you personally experienced?

Survey fail. From Failblog.org.

From failblog.org. Posted by jamesk.

Warning of extra heart dangers from mixing cocaine and alcohol

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:26:51 -0600

There is a growing suspicion that the drug (cocaine) may be at least partially responsible for the perceived increase in the number of people in their 30s suffering heart problems. According to US Drug Abuse Warning System, "cocaine/ethanol abuse is a major cause of emergency medical admissions" and "the cause of increases in cocaine-related mortality".
Steven Cox, deputy head of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young, said around 12 fit young people are recorded as dying each week in the UK from a cardiac-related illness, compared with about four a week in 1995.
But Cox said this increase might be down to a better analysis of postmortem data, which has raised awareness of cardiac-related illnesses, rather than any external factor.
However, he said that an estimated one in 300 people who have been tested by the charity is found to have an underlying heart condition. "We do know that if you have an underlying cardiac condition certain drugs can trigger an effect," Cox said. But until someone proves the link, it seems unlikely that the trend for people to mix alcohol and cocaine will show any sign of abating.

From www.guardian.co.uk. Posted by Psychotrophic.

A Different Sort of Blowback

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:09:37 -0600

Cocaine is a central commodity of the neoliberal age; so, too, its re-processed form ("crack") for the desperately poor in de-industrialized cities of the North and South Atlantic. First announced by Richard Nixon in 1971, the "War on Drugs" predates the rise of cocaine and crack by nearly a decade, but in the 1980s and 90s the "War on Drugs" was redoubled in response to the explosion of the cocaine business. It now ranks as the U.S.'s longest-running military-police campaign. Thus if we look at cocaine as a social hieroglyph--not as a thing, but as a complex relation between networks and organizations of people, as well as between states and bureaucracies--we may glimpse some of the distinguishing features of the contemporary world.

A semi-review of The Candy Machine (which sounds well worth a read), this is one of the most insightful policy articles I've come across.

From www.brooklynrail.org. Posted by Psychotrophic.

Britain is 'designer drugs' capital of Europe

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:26:03 -0600

Britain has become the online "designer drugs" capital of Europe with more than a third of all internet retailers that sell "legal highs" based in the UK, according to a report from the European Union's drug agency.
This new generation of online "head shops" is at the centre of a rapidly growing market in highly potent synthetic drugs, such as Spice, that mimic the effects of illegal substances such as cannabis and ecstasy.
European drug agency officials are also alarmed by the way the online retailers are reacting to moves to ban individual "legal highs" by rapidly marketing alternatives. Officials say it is like trying to hit a moving target.
Britain is poised to ban Spice, a cannabis substitute that can be more potent than skunk, which is sold as a "herbal smoking mixture" , but already the online head shops are selling 27 alternative "herbal smoking blends" based on the active ingredient in cannabis synthesised by chemists in Asia.
Wolfgang Gotz, the director of the European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction, said the use of the legal highs market to circumvent controls on illicit drugs was the most challenging development over the past year.
"While this practice itself is not new, what is new is the wide range of substances now on offer, the growing use of the internet, the aggressive and sophisticated marketing of products and the very speed with which the market reacts to controls."

From www.guardian.co.uk. Posted by Psychotrophic.

Inside the Army's Far-Out Acid Tests

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:03:16 -0600

Dropping acid to boost the Pentagon's psychic powers was just the start. The Men Who Stare At Goats, the upcoming movie based on Jon Ronson's non-fiction book of the same name, has George Clooney and Jeff Bridges in a bizarre military research project involving astral projection, remote viewing, and LSD. But for the real dope on the Army's narcotics and psychedelics tests, you have to turn to Dr. James S. Ketchum, who wrote a firsthand account of the military's trials with these "incapacitating chemical agents."...
But Ketchum's report shows that the Army's operation was a model of scientific experimentation compared to the CIA's. In 1953, the Agency attempted to purchase ten kilograms of LSD, supposedly for testing purposes. This was enough for over a hundred million doses. They were informed that the total amount manufactured was only ten grams.
However, on a Monday morning, a rather curious incident occurred. Ketchum found that his office had acquired a new piece of furniture, a steel barrel like an oil drum in one corner of the room. At first he ignored it, but eventually curiosity got the better of him, and one evening when he was along Ketchum undid the fastenings. The barrel was packed with jars:
Neatly labeled, tightly sealed glass canisters, looking like cookie jars, filled the entire drum. I cautiously took one out and examined it. According to the label, it contained approximately three pounds of pure EA 1729 (LSD).
Ketchum estimated that the barrel contained at thirty to forty pounds of the drug, a few hundred million doses and with a street value of something like a billion dollars. The sort of amount the CIA had been after.
Ketchum was not given any explanation for the giant stash, and on the Friday morning it had disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived. It seemed like something out of fiction, and Ketchum got as far as starting a novel with the billion-dollar-barrel in the opening scene before giving up. But the barrel stuck in his mind, a disturbing presence which he likens to the black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey
"The similarity struck me as quite spooky, and remains somewhat spooky as I think about it today."

From www.wired.com. Posted by PsycadelicEyes.

Sen. Grassley: 'The point is for them to do what we tell them to do'

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:53:18 -0600

LEAP forwarded us an interesting tidbit recently. Apparently, Senator Charles Grassley would prefer everyone on the legalization side of the fence just keep their mouths shut on the subject. As LEAP puts it on their blog:

Sen. Charles Grassley, author of the censorship amendment to the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, was asked about his anti-speech tendencies by a reporter on a conference call today. The full transcript is below, but here's the most interesting part of what Sen. Grassley said: "[T]he point is, for them to do what we tell them to do. And one of the things that I was anticipating telling them not to do is to -- to recommend or study the legalization of drugs."
Also of note,the reporter then follows up to ask if his amendment would also ban discussion of medical marijuana by the commission, and the senator says "yes."
The best part just might be where Sen. Grassley tells the reporter that, "you want everything on the table." Yeah, except for sensible policy options like legalization, right?

See, I kind of prefer it when the people attempting to run the country just stop pretending that they have any interest in democracy and just get down to admitting that they want to shut these fucking plebeians up already. It's that real sense of honesty that I appreciate.

From copssaylegalize.blogspot.com. Posted by Scotto.

Harvest time in Mendocino

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:47:33 -0600

Photographer Mathieu Young captures some beautiful images of marijuana harvest in Mendocino. (h/t to Mat)

From www.mathieuyoung.com. Posted by tonx.

Kentucky company to develop THC patch

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:46:10 -0600

Kentucky pharmaceutical maker AllTranz isn't quite done with their first product - a painkillling gel containing a propietary synthetic cannabinoid aimed at osteoathritis treatment. But they aren't resting on their laurels or slouching on their couches. They're busting ahead with another transcendent transdermal - a THC patch for potheads who are trying to cut down. They just got $2+ million from the gummint and almost that much from investors. YOU GUYS ARE WORKING TOO HARD. If you want your products to be taken seriously by serious potheads, you're going to have to start showing signs of using them. So take a pill, or a puff, or a patch, or a gel. Do whatever you gotta do, but I want to see some hardcore abulia by Saturday.

From www.courier-journal.com. Posted by avicenna.

'Not much between despair and ecstasy'

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:28:24 -0600

The scenario: someone tries smuggling "more than two pounds of hashish and more than half an ounce of marijuana" inside a big ol' wooden chessboard into the United States. But alert Philadelphia port & border authorities "noticed a chessboard weighing heavier than usual," although to be fair, "a Border Control narcotics K-9 also helped find the illegal package." We're talking THIRTY FREAKING THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of contraband, people, shipped from FREAKING TANZANIA - all this effort across continents with so much at stake, SOLELY so that we can experience the majesty of this rejoinder:

"Combating narcotics smugglers is akin to a high-stakes chess match, and protecting our nation's citizens is the prize," said Allan Martocci, CBP Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia.

OH MY FREAKING GOD THAT IS GOOD!

In other news:

A U.S. warship has seized about four tons of hashish being transported aboard a boat off the Horn of Africa.... The Navy says the seizure occurred October 15, while the Anzio was leading a multinational anti-pirate task force in the region. It says the drugs have a street value of $28 million, and could have helped fund insurgents in Afghanistan.

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion to the "CBP Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia," I might suggest that you SUCK ON AWESOME UNITED STATES NAVY HAWTNESS when it comes to protecting our nation's citizens, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Sincerely,
Scotto

From cbs3.com. Posted by Scotto.

Breckenridge, CO legalizes pot & paraphernalia

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:02:30 -0600

Meanwhile, in Breckenridge, Colorado:

Voters in the ski resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado legalized marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia by a nearly three-to-one margin on Tuesday.
It is the first municipality in the United States to allow paraphernalia, such as pipes, bongs and bubblers.
"[The measure] passed 73 percent to 27 percent," ABC 7 News in Denver reported.

Take that, people who... uh... don't like bubblers!

(Thanks for the tip, John.)

From rawstory.com. Posted by Scotto.

Another drug comic: Achewood

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:33:09 -0600

I've been reading this one lately. Occasional drug references...

"The next morning I went to look over all the code I thought I had written while high..." Boy there's something I'm sure we all can sympathize with!

From www.achewood.com. Posted by omgoleus.

The narc who got high: What in the heck is the big deal?

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:32:54 -0600

Richard Mack's story is taken from his chapter, "Prohibition: The Enemy of Freedom," in the book, The New Prohibition: Voices of Dissent Challenge the Drug War (2004).

From suburra.com. Posted by oldpigeon.

David Nutt's sacking provokes revolt

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:00:33 -0600

The home secretary faces mass resignations from the government's drug advisory body over his decision to force out its chairman, who accused ministers of distorting scientific evidence on cannabis.
Two members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs resigned todayin protest at Alan Johnson's treatment of Professor David Nutt. Another member told the Guardian that the experts were "planning collective action" against Johnson, adding: "Everybody is devastated. We're all considering our positions."
Nutt said today that there was "no future" for the council in its present form and it is thought the group's members may use a meeting next Monday to announce a mass resignation.

From www.guardian.co.uk. Posted by Psychotrophic.

'A Nightmare On Drug Street'

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:52:26 -0500

This is exactly how my childhood went down:

In his adulthood, Eddie was going to fix the economic downturn, solve the energy crisis, and end world hunger. But then Eddie tried crack.

[Via Everything Is Terrible]

From www.everythingisterrible.com. Posted by Scotto.

UK: Professor Nutt sacked

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:14:38 -0500

Professor David Nutt, the government's chief drug adviser, has been sacked a day after claiming that ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol.
Nutt incurred the wrath of the government when he claimed in a paper that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "The home secretary has asked Professor Nutt to resign as chair of the ACMD [Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs].
"In a letter he [Alan Johnson] expressed surprise and disappointment over Professor Nutt's comments which damage efforts to give the public clear messages about the dangers of drugs.
"We remain determined to crack down on all illegal substances and minimise their harm to health and society as a whole."
Nutt had criticised politicians for "distorting" and "devaluing" the research evidence in the debate over illicit drugs.

From www.guardian.co.uk. Posted by jamesk.

Judge James P. Gray testifies for marijuana legalization in California

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:15:39 -0500

Retired Superior Court Judge James P. Gray testifies in favor of a marijuana legalization bill in the California Assembly on October 28, 2009. Judge Gray is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

From www.youtube.com. Posted by PsycadelicEyes.

The Psychedelic Review Archives 1963-1971

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:08:01 -0500

Via the MAPS discussion list, we learn that MAPS has posted PDF scans of The Psychedelic Review Archives 1963-1971. I'm pretty sure you could track down highlights from these issues in print collections and such, but hey, PDF means never having to go to the library. "Programmed Communication During Experiences with DMT" by Timothy Leary would be a perfect place to start!

From www.maps.org. Posted by Scotto.