Topic: DRUGS - on July 4, 2016 at 11:01:00 AM CEST
These maps show how dangerous illegal drugs flow around the globe
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime released its annual World Drug Report this month, detailing the prevailing trends in global drug cultivation, trafficking, and use. Relying on surveys and other data, the UN estimated that one in 20 adults — a quarter-billion people ages 15 to 64 around the world — used at least one drug in 2014.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 2, 2016 at 4:58:00 PM CEST
Kurdish fighters earn $1.7 billion in drug trade
A narcoterrorism report prepared by Turkey’s Interior Ministry suggests that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) earns nearly $1.7 billion each year through its involvement in the production and trading of cannabis, in addition to drug smuggling. The PKK earns some 500 million Turkish Liras (around $170 million) per year via the production and trading of cannabis, said the report, which sheds light on narcoterrorism operations, adding that $1.5 billion was raised annually through drug smuggling.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 2, 2016 at 4:54:00 PM CEST
War, on drugs
All of Gaul is divided into three parts,’ wrote Julius Caesar at the start of his Gallic Wars. ‘No, four,’ corrected one author writing slightly later, ‘for one small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the Roman invaders.’ It was, of course, the French comic-book hero Asterix’s unnamed Breton village. The secret of the success of Asterix and his fellow villagers was their superhuman strength – that is, when their druid was willing to make them some of his secret potion. One gulp made Asterix’s Gauls invincible, irresistible in attack and extraordinary in defence. The only thing the potion could not cure was the village bard, Cacophonix, whose terrible voice alone was immune to the magic drug of Getafix, the village’s druid and superchemist.
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 30, 2016 at 11:05:00 AM CEST
Marijuana compound removes toxic Alzheimer's protein from the brain
An active compound in marijuana called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been found to promote the removal of toxic clumps of amyloid beta protein in the brain, which are thought to kickstart the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The finding supports the results of previous studies that found evidence of the protective effects of cannabinoids, including THC, on patients with neurodegenerative disease.
sciencealert.com medicalxpress.com Amyloid proteotoxicity initiates an inflammatory response blocked by cannabinoids Cannabinoids remove plaque-forming Alzheimer’s proteins from brain cells
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 30, 2016 at 11:02:00 AM CEST
Initiative to Legalize Recreational Use of Pot in California Qualifies for November Ballot
An initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California officially took its place on the Nov. 8 ballot on Tuesday as its campaign took a commanding lead in fundraising to battle the measure’s opponents. The Secretary of State’s Office certified that a random sample showed sufficient signatures among the 600,000 turned in to qualify the measure. The initiative is backed by a coalition that includes former Facebook President Sean Parker and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 29, 2016 at 11:54:00 AM CEST
After Legalizing Recreational Weed, Colorado Has Lowest Teen Use in the Country
Cannabis prohibitionists have long cautioned that legalizing the plant will inevitably lead to increased use among teens, couching their restrictive beliefs in concern for the youth. While some of these concerns may be genuine, a recent survey from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment demonstrates — for the second year in a row — that youth in Colorado do not use cannabis any more than teens in other parts of the country. In fact, by at least one measure, they use less. The Healthy Kids Colorado survey is a “voluntary survey that collects anonymous, self-reported health information from middle and high school students across Colorado,” according to the initiative’s website. Over 17,000 middle- and high-schoolers throughout the state were randomly selected to participate. The survey is conducted every other year, and the 2015 version, released this week, confirmed the 2013 findings that marijuana use among teens in Colorado had fallen flat.
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 29, 2016 at 11:52:00 AM CEST
The fascinating, strange medical potential of psychedelic drugs, explained in 50+ studies
After years of struggling with treatments for his worsening cancer, Roy was miserable — anxious, depressed, hopeless. Traditional cancer treatments had left him debilitated, and it was unclear whether they would save his life. But then Roy secured a spot in a clinical trial to test an exotic drug. The drug was not meant to cure his cancer; it was meant to cure his terror. And it worked. A few hours after taking a little pill, Roy declared to researchers, "Cancer is not important, the important stuff is love." His concerns about his imminent death had suddenly vanished — and the effects lasted for at least months, according to researchers.
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 29, 2016 at 11:31:00 AM CEST
Michael Pollan Explains Why Psychedelic Drugs Are the Ultimate Meal for Your Mind
You know Michael Pollan from his blockbuster book The Omnivore's Dilemma, an entertaining exploration of the thorny decisions surrounding what we eat. Or maybe you read his most recent title, Cooked, which was adapted by Netflix as a four-part documentary series. But the celebrity author hasn't always been so obsessed with what people put on their plates. "Before I started writing about food, my focus was really on the human relationship to plants," Pollan explained on the most recent episode of Bite, Mother Jones' new food politics podcast. "Not only do plants nourish us bodily—they nourish us psychologically."
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 28, 2016 at 2:44:00 PM CEST
Scientists claim the US government is still limiting cannabis research
A group of scientists just published an article claiming the US government is holding back proper research into marijuana, due to its overzealous regulation of the substance. While millions of patients are already using medical marijuana - and more and more states are decriminalising the drug - scientists are still denied access to high-quality weed, which makes it hard to properly investigate the risks and benefits of consuming the plant.
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 22, 2016 at 11:41:00 AM CEST
How 'Deleted' Yahoo Emails Led to a 20-Year Drug Trafficking Conviction
In 2009, Russell Knaggs, from Yorkshire, England, orchestrated a plan to import five tonnes of cocaine from South America hidden in boxes of fruit. Somehow, he did this all from the cell of a UK prison, while serving a 16-year sentence for another drug crime. As part of the plan, a collaborator in Colombia would log into a Yahoo email account and write a message as a draft. Another accomplice in Europe would read the message, delete it, and then write his own. The point of this was to avoid creating any emails that could be found by law enforcement.
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 22, 2016 at 11:39:00 AM CEST
On Legalizing Medical Cannabis: The DEA Responds
The DEA wants to remove the barriers to cannabis research, a spokesman told aNewDomain in a lengthy interview today. But how and when will it reschedule cannabis as a Schedule II drug? [Exclusive]
A DEA official responded at length today to a widely-circulated report that the DEA plans to effectively legalize medical cannabis this August. In an interview with aNewDomain today, DEA staff coordinator Russ Baer wouldn’t confirm the Santa Monica Observer report that the DEA will reschedule cannabis as a prescription-only Schedule II drug on Aug. 1, 2016. But he did comment at length about the agency’s thoughts around legalizing medical cannabis and how rescheduling cannabis from its current Schedule I status would have to work.
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 21, 2016 at 6:40:00 PM CEST
ACID BODHISATTVA: THE HISTORY OF THE TIMOTHY LEARY ARCHIVES DURING HIS PRISON AND EXILE YEARS, 1970-1976
How a scholarly hippie got pulled into the orbit of the psychedelic revolutionary whom then-President Nixon labeled “the most dangerous man in America” Lisa Rein conducts the first in-depth interview of Timothy Leary’s longtime archivist, Michael Horowitz Interview 1: December 1969 – November 1970 LR: How did you become Timothy Leary’s personal archivist? MH: I was uniquely suited for the role with my background working with rare books and manuscripts, and my immersion in the psychedelic counterculture, first in New York City and later in San Francisco. The immediate catalyst was meeting Robert Barker in San Francisco at the tail end of the ‘60s. Bob was a fellow consciousness explorer and an art book collector. He’s a Gemini from San Antonio, I’m a Sagittarius from Brooklyn. We clicked.
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