http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/23/2473297.htm
'An extract from a flowering desert plant used as traditional medicine by Indigenous Australians could one day be used to coat hip transplants and other biomedical devices, researchers say.
Professor Hans Griesser and colleagues are presenting their work at a biomaterials conference at the University of New South Wales in Sydney this week.
"We can learn so much from nature and traditional knowledge," says Professor Griesser, a material
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article....via-on-schedule
"As the source of the most powerful natural hallucinogen known, salvia is drawing scrutiny from U.S. authorities who want to restrict this Mexican herb, now used recreationally by some. But neuroscientists worry that controlling it before studies have determined its safety profile is premature and could hamper research of the drug's medicinal value. Increasingly, evidence is piling up that it could lead to new and safer antidepress
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32778137
‘A Coatesville mother made her 6-year-old daughter drive a car because “[mom] was sleepy” after smoking “that stinky stuff,” according to police. [..]
Officer Robert Keetch said he had to do a double take after seeing the little girl driving. “There were two white knuckles and a little head popping over the stearing wheel,” he said.
The woman, Lakisha Hogue, was sitting in the passenger seat, laughing, when a patrol officer pulled her over, said police. Ho
http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3542&view=findpost&p=31225
http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=22932&view=findpost&p=237276
http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19199&view=findpost&p=191169
http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4902&view=findpost&p=44532
More to come
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society...s-200908252006/
'Government plans to ban so called 'herbal highs' will make the drugs as rare as a largely forgotten narcotic known as heroin, experts claimed last night.
Minsters are drawing up legislation to outlaw a range of legal drugs currently available through the internet including GBL, BFD, JML, KKK, and JJB Sports.
Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute for Studies said: "History teaches us time and time again that banning drugs is a c
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1763...ref=online-news
'Compounds similar to those found in cannabis have been shown to stop prostate cancer cells from multiplying. Two cannabinoid compounds, JWH-015 and MET, stopped prostate tumour growth in human prostate cells in Petri dishes and also in mice with the disease. They halted the cell-division cycle and killed the cancer cells, and had the greatest effect on aggressive prostate cancer cell types, which do not respond to hormone treatments
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article....erican-currency
'For cocaine users, a rolled up $20 bill may be the most convenient tool for snorting the powder form of the drug. Or so it would seem from a new analysis of 234 banknotes from 18 U.S. cities that found cocaine on 90 percent of the bills tested.
Perhaps that's not surprising given that the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that more than 2 million Americans used cocaine in 2007, which has been linked to ill effects
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-...inve-2009-08-12
'Two leaders at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have recently found themselves in hot water at the agency. The director of drug approval has been named in an ethics investigation and a head medical device regulator has resigned.
The agency's director of the medical device division, Daniel Schultz, resigned yesterday after 15 years with the group. He had been accused of siding with industry suppliers, against scientific re
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article....l-way-to-reduce
'Key Concepts
* A new drug discovery approach focuses on a property known as allosterism.
* Allosteric drugs attach to biological molecules at binding sites distinct from those usually targeted
by medications.
* Instead of activating or inhibiting the bound molecules, as classic drugs do, allosteric types can act more like dimmer switches and might, at times, cause fewer side effects.
* Such agents may be ab
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2032...ref=online-news
'CANNABIS smokers beware: stress or dieting might trigger "reintoxication", resulting in a positive drug test long after you last used the drug.
The main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and once in the body it is readily absorbed into fat cells. Over the next few days it slowly diffuses back into the blood. Since THC is taken up by fat more readily than it diffuses out, continual intake means some T
These links won't work for most people, sorry. Will post more info soon.
Alkaloids from Boophone disticha with affinity for the serotonin transporter
https://0-www.thieme-connect.com.library.newcastle.edu.au/ejournals/abstract/plantamedica/doi/10.1055/s-0028-1084063
A preliminary inventory of plants used for psychoactive purposes in southern African healing traditions
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a921267239
Review on plants with CNS-effects used in traditional S
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/...90803123240.htm
'Memory loss associated with marijuana use is caused by the drug’s interference with the brain’s natural protein synthesis machinery, according to a study published in Nature Neuroscience.
Though it has been documented that marijuana impairs memory, the precise mechanism for this memory impairment was previously unknown. Andrés Ozaita, of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain, along with colleagues in France and Germany, focused on T
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article....ugs-take-a-toll
'Research hints that hidden risks might accompany long-term use of the medicines that treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder'
[...]
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/...90713222216.htm
'A Baylor University researcher has found a set of genes that modulates stress responses that could cause some people to take drugs, specifically alcohol consumption.
The study by Dr. Doug Matthews,* professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor, appeared in the journal Behavior Genetics.
Matthews found a small section on chromosome one that is responsive to a particular type of stress in animal models. The researchers then ide
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/...90706090440.htm
'Injections of THC, the active principle of cannabis, eliminate dependence on opiates (morphine, heroin) in rats deprived of their mothers at birth. The findings could lead to therapeutic alternatives to existing substitution treatments.
In order to study psychiatric disorders, neurobiologists use animal models, especially maternal deprivation models. Depriving rats of their mothers for several hours a day after their birth leads to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8118257.stm
'Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around “as high as a kite”, a government official has said.
Lara Giddings, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania, said the kangaroo-like marsupials were getting into poppy fields grown for medicine.
She was reporting to a parliamentary hearing on security for poppy crops. [..]
Rick Rockliff, a spokesman for poppy producer Tasmanian Alkaloids
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/...90526094249.htm
'Michigan State University plant scientists have identified two new genes and two new enzymes in tomato plants. Those findings led them to discover that the plants were making monoterpenes, compounds that help give tomato leaves their distinctive smell, in a way that flies in the face of accepted thought.
Such research could help researchers find new ways to protect plants from pests.
Based on years of research, scientists thought t
"Effect of Triterpenoid Saponins from Bacopa monniera on Scopolamine-Induced Memory Impairment in Mice" Yun Zhou1, Ling Peng2, Wei-Dong Zhang3, De-Yun Kong4, Planta Medica, 2009; 75: 568-574
Given the mode of action this suggests, maybe brahmi can be utilised as a treatment or preventative when anticholinergic compounds are causing problems.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2022...ref=online-news
'ELEVEN years ago, the UN pledged to win the war on drugs within a decade. It has failed.
At this year's meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, held in Vienna in March, there was a two-day session to evaluate the progress since 1998. In his opening remarks, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, claimed "measurable progress". The drug problem has been "contained", he said, and drug use has "stabil
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/...90519134706.htm
'Cocaine is one of the oldest drugs known to humans, and its abuse has become widespread since the end of the 19th century. At the same time, we know rather little about its effects on the human brain or the mechanisms that lead to cocaine addiction. The latest article by Dr. Marco Leyton, of the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre, which was published in the journal Biologi
Evodia fruits (Evodia rutaecarpa, Rutaceae) "evodiamine shows the analgesic action by desensitizing sensory nerves" "The Nociceptive and Anti-Nociceptive Effects of Evodiamine from Fruits of Evodia rutaecarpa in Mice", Yoshinori Kobayashi, Planta Medica 2003; 69: 425-428
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-scienc...juan-2009-03-26
'Medical marijuana advocates are up in arms over yesterday's federal raid of a marijuana provider in northern California, claiming that the action is at odds with a policy change announced last week by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents arrived at Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic in San Francisco's South of Market district, confiscating marijuana plants, light
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/...90319102419.htm
'New evidence by researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and researchers in Germany shows that drinking alcohol is the greatest risk factor for acetaldehyde-related cancer. Heavy drinkers may be at increased risk due to exposure from multiple sources.
Acetaldehyde is ubiquitous in daily life in Ontario. Widely present in the environment, it is inhaled from the air and tobacco smoke, ingested from alcohol and
