Topic: DRUGS - on July 15, 2016 at 10:58:00 AM CEST
Shedding light on the dark web
The drug trade is moving from the street to online cryptomarkets. Forced to compete on price and quality, sellers are upping their game LEAVING vacuum-sealed bags, digital scales and stashes of marijuana lying around was a mistake. So was getting T-shirts and hoodies emblazoned with “Cali Connect”, under which name drugs were dealt online. Selling pot to an undercover officer was a further slip-up. All this is part of the prosecution evidence in an ongoing case against David Burchard in California. But the crucial piece of evidence, according to the police who arrested him in March, was that he had trademarked Cali Connect to protect his brand.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 13, 2016 at 11:38:00 AM CEST
State-Space of Drug Effects: Results
It is hard to keep up with all of the new research chemicals (RCs). When a substance comes onto the scene, it is hard to predict whether first adopters will experience fascinating, terrifying or just plain weird effects from the drug. Largely, one thing is certain: Most psychonauts agree that describing subjective effects is brutally difficult. Without a principled framework for pinning down the nature of a drug experience, we will continue to misunderstand and misjudge the states of consciousness disclosed by brains on RCs. What should we know about the subjective effects of a drug? In what way are drugs different? And in what way do they produce similar effects? This post will present a general conceptual framework for discussing drug effects in a principled fashion. This will be done by analyzing the responses of a recent survey on drug effects. The major axes of variance are obtained using factor analysis, and the dimensions are interpreted and discussed.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 13, 2016 at 11:36:00 AM CEST
Making meth: how New Zealand's knack for 'P' turned into a homebaked disaster
The five men were always going to stand out in the isolated New Zealand surfing village of Ahipara. Their inept attempts to launch a nine-metre boat with multiple mechanical problems provided one clue. The fact they were also offering locals large amounts of cash for help was another. “I knew something dodgy was up,” says Peter Furze, a surfer who watched the men try and fail to get their boat into the rough seas off Ninety Mile Beach. Related: New Zealand police seize record haul of meth in drug bust When a new boat was purchased for NZ$98,000 (£55,000) in cash and then abandoned on the shore, locals demanded police investigate. Their instincts were right.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 13, 2016 at 11:35:00 AM CEST
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte urges people to kill drug addicts
Authoritarian firebrand Rodrigo Duterte was sworn in as the Philippines’ president on Thursday, extending an olive branch to the country’s elites in his official speech, only to later vow to wipe out drug traffickers and urge the population to kill addicts. Duterte, 71, won last month’s election in a landslide after a campaign dominated by threats to kill tens of thousands of criminals in a relentless war on crime, and tirades against the nation’s elite that cast him as an incendiary, anti-establishment hero.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 12, 2016 at 4:49:00 PM CEST
UK's biggest ever haul of class A drugs as £512m of cocaine found in North Sea boat
Three tonnes of cocaine worth £512million, the UK’s biggest class A drugs haul , were found on a boat seized in the North Sea. The captain and first officer of tugboat MV Hamal were yesterday found guilty of drug trafficking. It had left Turkey for Guyana in South America where drugs were loaded. In April 2015, after a tip by French authorities, Royal Navy and Border Force vessels boarded the Hamal 100 miles off Aberdeen.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 9, 2016 at 5:54:00 PM CEST
Cannabisforscher Rudolf Brenneisen: "Die Natur ist nicht immer besser"
Der Schweizer Pharmakologe über Apotheken statt Schwarzmarkt, Leberzirrhosen im Weinland und die Legalisierungsdebatte an sich Wien – Rudolf Brenneisen sitzt in einem gepolsterten Rattansofa im Park vor dem Festsaal des niederösterreichischen Landesklinikums Mauer-Öhling. Er trägt ein dunkles Hemd, auf das kleine, bunte Kakteen gedruckt sind, und die Socken unter der senfgelben Hose sind mit großen Hanfblättern bestickt. Der 67-jährige Schweizer hielt bei der Fachtagung Sucht in Mauer-Öhling einen Vortrag mit dem Titel "Cannabis: Was die Pflanze kann, und was wir daraus machen". Der nunmehr emeritierte Professor für Pharmazie an der Universität Bern forschte seit den 1970er-Jahren an der Wirkung der Staude, arbeitete unter anderem für das Internationale Drogenkontrollprogramm der Vereinten Nationen (UNDCP) und die US-Drogenbehörde DEA. Als Mitglied einer Expertengruppe wurde er heuer vom Schweizer Bundesrat beauftragt, im Rahmen eines wissenschaftlichen Pilotprojektes die praktischen Möglichkeiten im medizinischen Bereich auszuloten.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 8, 2016 at 4:54:00 PM CEST
Police, Prosecutors and Judges Rely on a Flawed $2 Drug Test That Puts Innocent People Behind Bars
Amy Albritton can’t remember if her boyfriend signaled when he changed lanes late that August afternoon in 2010. But suddenly the lights on the Houston Police patrol car were flashing behind them, and Anthony Wilson was navigating Albritton’s white Chrysler Concorde to a stop in a strip-mall parking lot. It was an especially unwelcome hassle. Wilson was in Houston to see about an oil-rig job; Albritton, volunteering her car, had come along for what she imagined would be a vacation of sorts. She managed an apartment complex back in Monroe, La., and the younger of her two sons — Landon, 16, who had been disabled from birth by cerebral palsy — was with his father for the week. After five hours of driving through the monotony of flat woodland, the couple had checked into a motel, carted their luggage to the room and returned to the car, too hungry to rest but too drained to seek out anything more than fast food. Now two officers stepped out of their patrol car and approached.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 8, 2016 at 4:53:00 PM CEST
Silicon Valley Investors Are Finally Getting Marijuana Religion
When three Colorado marijuana entrepreneurs made a presentation to 40 Silicon Valley investors last year, it was as though they were discussing something dirty. “There was an uncomfortable chuckle in the room, kind of like you’re talking about porn,” says Fulton Connor, the Sand Hill Angels Inc. member who arranged the meeting. His fellow venture capitalists just couldn’t get past the fact that marijuana remains prohibited under federal law. They’re way more chill now, he says. In May, Connor’s firm, which typically invests in mainstream startups like the taxi-hailing app Flywheel, steered $200,000 to Tradiv, an online marketplace for wholesale cannabis. “They understand it more as a business and the direction of the market,” Connor says. “And they see where it’s becoming more acceptable.”
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 7, 2016 at 3:57:00 PM CEST
After Medical Marijuana Legalized, Medicare Prescriptions Drop For Many Drugs
Prescription drug prices continue to climb, putting the pinch on consumers. Some older Americans appear to be seeking an alternative to mainstream medicines that has become easier to get legally in many parts of the country. Just ask Cheech and Chong. Research published Wednesday found that states that legalized medical marijuana — which is sometimes recommended for symptoms like chronic pain, anxiety or depression — saw declines in the number of Medicare prescriptions for drugs used to treat those conditions and a dip in spending by Medicare Part D, which covers the cost on prescription medications.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 6, 2016 at 2:02:00 PM CEST
What Are the Most Popular Marijuana Products?
This post is adapted from Headset Inc. Cannabis Intelligence, a Priceonomics Data Studio customer. Does your company have interesting data? Become a Priceonomics customer.
There are a lot more ways to get high than there used to be. Due to the legalization movement and proliferation of cannabis dispensaries, if marijuana users don’t feel like rolling themselves, they can pick up something pre-rolled. And if they don’t feel like smoking at all, they can get their high by eating a cookie or drinking a soda. So which products are most popular? And will Edibles or drinks ever become the primary way users get high?
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 6, 2016 at 2:00:00 PM CEST
Wir müssen den Krieg gegen Drogen beenden
Drogen lassen sich nicht vernichten. Der Versuch hat tausendfach Menschenleben zerstört. Es ist Zeit, umzudenken: Die Welt kann mit Drogen leben und sie kontrollieren. Ein Gastbeitrag von Richard Branson, London
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 4, 2016 at 11:03:00 AM CEST
Jamaica to install weed vending machines at airports
Instead of landing and having to ask strangers where “the plug” is, you’ll find it conveniently plugged into the wall nearby. The Jamaican government is looking over a proposal to install cannabis kiosks in Jamaican airports. Only one year ago, the Jamaican House of Representatives passed a law that made possession of 2 ounces of marijuana legal. Now the proposal being looked over by the Cannabis Licensing Authority would allow a tourist to obtain 2 ounces from a kiosk before they even check into their hotel.
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