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http://motherboard.vice.com/en_uk/read/brazil-is-making-a-serious-play-to-decentralize-control-of-the-internet?trk_source=recommended [older] April 23, 2014 // 06:50 PM CET Image: Moreira Mariz/Agência Senado After the NSA's global surveillance programs were revealed last year, few countries have been as vocal about internet reform than Brazil. And today, the country took concrete steps to securing a more democratic web: At an event about the future of the internet held in São Paulo, Brazil President Dilma Rousseff signed into law the country's so-called Internet Constitution, which provides a legal guarantee for net neutrality within the country, among other free internet touchstones. "We all want to protect the internet as a democratic space that's a shared asset for all of humankind," Rousseff said during a speech at the Net Mundial conference, according to the official translator. "We also want it to remain a strong economic force, providing that it continues to become more inclusive." Among the many documents released by Edward Snowden was the revelation that Rousseff was personally being spied on by the NSA, along with the Brazilian government and citizens. That reveal led to some rather stunning proposals, including Rousseff's saber-rattling about building a non-US internet, which at one point was a proposed addition to the internet law, known locally as the Marco Civil da Internet. "These events are not acceptable, were not acceptable in the past, and remain unacceptable today in that they are an affront to the free nature of the internet as an open, democratic platform," Rousseff said today, in reference to government spying programs. President Rousseff, left, receives applause after signing the Marco Civil this morning. Image: Youtube/Net Mundial As Bruce Douglas explained for us last year, the non-US proposal, which included requiring that all of Brazilians' online data be stored in Brazil, would have smothered the Brazilian tech industry in new costs, and would have threatened Brazilians' access to foreign services. In March, Rousseff announced that the proposal would be dropped, leaving the rest of the country's internet bill ready for passage. And, to be clear, it's a groundbreaking piece of legislation that hits a trifecta of key points for open web activists. First, the law guarantees net neutrality provisions, which was approved despite a heavy push by Brazilian telecom groups to allow tiered pricing for different types of content. Tim Berners-Lee, who spoke before Rousseff, applauded the protection. "The web has now become an essential public utility, and we have to regard it as such," he said. "The explosive growth that happened across the web in the last 25 years only happened because of net neutrality." Brazil's law also limits metadata collection, and requires that foreign companies—think Google, Facebook, and Twitter—comply with Brazilian laws and, most importantly, court orders for user data, even if said data is stored abroad. (This may prove to be a contentious issue, but as transparency reports highlight, global internet companies already largely comply with local laws.) The same rights that people are entitled to in the offline world should exist on the online world. In addition, Reuters reported on a part of the law that hasn't been discussed much: It "protects freedom of expression and information, establishing that service providers will not be liable for content published by users, but they must comply with court orders to remove offensive or libellous material." "I should actually stress that the same rights that people are entitled to in the offline world should exist on the online world," Rousseff said. That follows a landmark NSA speech in January, in which President Barack Obama largely danced around the question of online privacy rights online. For example, when responding to the inability of large tech companies to reveal the scope of spying programs—a veil which has since been partially lifted—Obama said, "This secrecy will not be indefinite, and will terminate within a fixed time unless the government demonstrates a real need for further secrecy." At the same time, the US has seen support for net neutrality slowly crumble. "I think we’re also going to see a two-sided market where Netflix might say, ‘Well, I’ll pay in order to make sure that you might receive, my subscriber might receive, the best possible transmission of this movie.’ I think we want to let those kinds of things evolve,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in December, just a month into office. And while the Netflix-Comcast deal that came a couple months later didn't exactly kill net neutrality, it is a real-world example of the US's evolution towards pay-to-play network access that Wheeler predicted. FCC commissioners have said that the agency is committed to the open web, but the lack of comprehensive support for net neutrality on the part of the US government is a large reason why Rousseff and other world leaders want more control over internet governance. Along with the Brazilian internet law, Rousseff touted a piece of UN legislation she co-sponsored with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was also a target of the NSA, aimed at building more robust global privacy protections for internet users. The UN General Assembly's human rights committee unanimously adopted the resolution last November, which was a symbolic move to guarantee offline human rights in the online space. With that resolution backed by Brazil's new internet law, it appears that Rousseff has changed tack from trying to deliver direct blows to US internet dominance, and is instead making a heavy diplomatic play to increase equality in global internet governance. Rousseff spent much of her remarks today hitting on that point. "We all want to protect the internet as a democratic space that's a shared asset for all of humankind. We also want it to remain a strong economic force, providing that it continues to become more inclusive," the Brazilian leader said. "An open and decentralized network architecture favors more access to knowledge. It helps make network access more open and democratic." That sentiment is becoming increasingly popular in Europe as well, where leaders have pushed to wrest some control of the internet away from the US. Crucially, the European Union voted earlier this month to protect net neutrality, which remains one of the core drivers of internet growth and equality, one that is becoming an increasingly ethereal concept in the US. Berners-Lee, who created the Web Foundation specifically to promote global human rights protections online and the decentralization of internet governance, said that efforts such as Brazil's and the EU's are the best path to a stronger, freer web. The legislation from Brazil and the EU are "two data points that suggest we're making progress, but we have a huge way to go," he said. "60 percent of the global population can't use the web at all." "The web that we will have in another 25 years' time is by no means clear, but it is completely up to us to decide what we want to make that web, what we want to make that world," he continued. "Go define a global magna carta for the web. That's why I'm asking the world to follow Brazil's example, and Europe's example, to develop strong regulations to protect the free and open web."

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/725942-Gadget-That-Aims-to-End-the-Epidemic-of-Prescription-Overdoses avcpl View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email Bluelighter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join Date Feb 2009 Location So Cal; LA county Posts 1,007 Yesterday 23:07 http://www.wired.com/2014/06/naxolone/ Naloxone has been used since the 1970s by EMTs, community harm reduction advocates, and inside hospitals, but Evzio will be the first naloxone delivery method that is specifically intended for use in the home by prescription drug patients. Naloxone is a safe, proven method of reversing the effects of opiate overdose. It’s a chemical salt compound that attaches to the same receptors in your brain that absorb opiates–including heroin, morphine, vicodin, and oxycontin. If these receptors are flooded with opiate, naloxone pushes the opiate out of the way–almost immediately. If there’s no opioide in your system, you wouldn’t feel any effect. But administering the stuff is quite an undertaking. To get the full effect, you have to stick a syringe into a glass bottle, fill with it medicine, and plunge it into someone’s arm or thigh. This is how Evzio now works. It houses both the drug and the needle in a single, compact device that can administer a dose with the push of a button, and it verbally–yes, verbally–walks you through the process. According to Edwards, when the company tested the device in simulated overdose situations, almost all of them used it correctly–even though they had never seen the device before. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #2 ... View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Bluelighter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join Date Dec 2010 Posts 227 Today 00:24 It's a great thing to have, but it can't hope to "end" the epidemic. It does nothing for someone who overdoses alone. I would guess that only a small fraction of fatal overdoses take place in the company of others. Here's an idea: naloxone micro-pellets that are already in the bloodstream and release their payload when blood drops below a certain critical pH. If I'm not mistaken, suffocation turns blood acidic because all the un-exhaled carbon dioxide circulates as carbonic acid. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #3 Crankinit View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Bluelighter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join Date Sep 2007 Location I can make Opi-O's! Posts 5,131 Today 01:16 Seems a bit excessive, why not just make a naloxone epipen? But it's good none the less. I also imagine it's going to lead to a lot of people who are enjoying their nod quite comfortably being thrown into precipitated withdrawals by overzealous relatives walking into the room and assuming they're ODing. But better safe than sorry. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #4 neversickanymore View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Senior Moderator Recovery Support Science & Technology -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join Date Jan 2013 Location babysitting the argument in my head Posts 9,740 Today 02:02 ^ if people are not able to be awakened by stimulation, then they are at a dangerous level IMO. Originally Posted by ... Here's an idea: naloxone micro-pellets that are already in the bloodstream and release their payload when blood drops below a certain critical pH. If I'm not mistaken, suffocation turns blood acidic because all the un-exhaled carbon dioxide circulates as carbonic acid. That's an interesting idea and I hope they develop something that serves as a safety net for opiate overdose. RECOVERY FORUMS ~~~ADDICTION GUIDE~~~ CONTACT ME -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #5 Captain.Heroin View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact BL Ambassador -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join Date Nov 2008 Location I wished with all my heart that we could just...leave this world behind. Rise like two angels in the night and magically...disappear. Posts 42,113 Blog Entries24 Today 02:39 Wow as if learning how to perform an IM shot is that hard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #6 ro4eva View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email Bluelighter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join Date Nov 2004 Location Searching for a simpler context. Posts 2,623 Blog Entries5 Today 04:51 After reading the title of this thread, I was immediately picturing some fancy new type of hand cuffs I know, very stereotypical of me, but, good thing I was sorely mistaken. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #7 S.J.P. View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email Bluelighter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join Date Jan 2011 Location Montreal, Canada Posts 719 Today 12:11 Originally Posted by ... I would guess that only a small fraction of fatal overdoses take place in the company of others. This study in San Francisco shows that 32% of fatal overdoses occurred when the person who overdosed was reported as being in the company of others, and the real number may be higher, given that bystanders may not want to admit they were with the person who died while they were overdosing.

It is yet to be seen whether the militant Islamists in Iraq will become radical jihadists, bent on carrying on a war against Western democracies, but if they gain control of the country, a new generation of indoctrinated / brainwashed youth will become fertile ground for recruiters from terrorist organisations.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-13/reformulated-oxy-online/5520460?&section=news Drug expert fears reformulated oxycodone will turn users to fentanyl, resulting in deaths By Melinda Hayter Posted June 13, 2014 07:07:05 Concerns OxyContin deaths could rise Photo: Dr Julaine Allan is concerned a reformulated version of oxycodone could see drug users turning to fentanyl. (Lateline) A leading drug expert from regional New South Wales says a new version of oxycodone, reformulated to limit its injectability, could do more harm than good. The new version of the drug was released onto the Australian market in April, but has only recently started to be stocked in pharmacies outside of metropolitan areas. The misuse of opiate based prescription painkillers, like oxycodone and fentanyl, has become a major problem in the Riverina in recent years. Doctor Julaine Allan is the Deputy CEO of the Lyndon Community, a drug and alcohol program provider operating across regional New South Wales. Doctor Allan says previously, oxycodone was melted down, diluted and then injected. "The new formulation doesn't dissolve," she said. It turns into a thick, sticky gel and leaves large particles," she said. "Those particles could kill somebody if injected, or get lodged in small veins in eyes and the brain. "So it's quite dangerous." What they'll probably do is use other opiates that are available on the market, and fentanyl, which is a long acting pain patch is also quite likely to be used more frequently. Dr Julaine Allan Doctor Allan fears the reformulated version of oxycodone, will lead to drugs users abusing fentanyl patches more frequently. "Heroin is probably not a real option for many people in regional areas, because it's just not available," she said. "What they'll probably do is use other opiates that are available on the market, and fentanyl, which is a long acting pain patch is also quite likely to be used more frequently. "There's been a lot of overdose deaths related to fentanyl use." Doctor Allan predicts there will be a rise in fentanyl related deaths across regional New South Wales, due to the release of the reformulated version of oxycodone. "I think we will, I think we will see more overdose deaths as the result of fentanyl use," she said. "We need to be prepared for that. "Hopefully we will also see an increase in the number of people coming into our treatment services because they can't use oxycontin in the way they once did and they'll seek some support to help to stop using opiates." A forum was held in Albury-Wodonga in 2012 to address the issue of fentanyl abuse in the Riverina and another is planned in the near future. Last year, the ABC's Lateline program reported there'd been three deaths in the state's west due to fentanyl abuse. While it is estimated there have been 18 fentanyl related deaths along the New South Wales - Victorian border since 2010. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Note that it is the abuse of synthetic opiods that have caused the death of many thousands of people in the USA, and beginning to, here. opiates - Morphine is a true opiate, which can be extracted from opium, or opium poppies, such as Papaver somniferum, by solvents and filters. Heroin is produced by reacting morphine with glacial acetic acid. Opiods may use the poppy as a base, but are produced by the pharmaceutical industry, and don't occur in the poppy itself. Oxycodone the Synthetic Opiate Oxycodone is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic with effective pain relief properties. The drug is widely prescribed for moderate and severe pain but has been found to be notoriously addictive. Sold under the band names Percocet, Percodan, Oxycontin, Roxicodone and Oxynorm, the drug has increased in recreational use over recent years. The drug can cause people to feel relaxed, sleepy, euphoric, have reduced anxiety and pain. The drug has high levels of psychological and physical addiction and tolerance to the drug is easily developed. Oxycodone is very similar to heroin in its effects, addiction risk and chemical composition. However, many people who use oxycodone do not understand the inherent risks and issues associated with using a powerful drug of this type. Young and inexperienced drug users may believe that their use of this drug is safer and not as negative as heroin is because of the ease of use and availability. They may believe that because it is a pharmaceutical medication that it isn’t as dangerous a drug. But after regular use of oxycodone, they may find themselves struggling with an addiction. Oxycodone Effects Oxycodone is a strong pain killer with effective analgesic properties. Used for its intended purpose, the drug can alleviate serious and chronic pain. This can significantly improve the quality of life for some, including people suffering from cancer or end of life issues. Oxycodone works by mimicking the action of endorphins on the opioid receptors in the body. This essentially blocks the transmission of pain to the brain which reduces the pain feelings and allows a person to relax. The condition that causes the pain is not treated but through the use of the drug, it can begin to be treated through other physical rehabilitation. Users can experience a large number of varied side effects from oxycodone. These include pupil constriction, slowed reaction times, impaired thinking and confusion, nausea, headaches, nervousness, fatigue, constipation and abdominal pain. In some cases, people may experience seizures, blackouts, and respiratory depression. The drug should always be taken with care and caution. Tolerance and Dependence The development of an addiction to oxycodone does not take long for some people. Some users begin taking the medication for a real pain condition, such as chronic back pain or for migraines. But tolerance can develop very quickly with this type of drug and a person may begin to use more and more to have the same effects. Taken properly, the drug is effective at reducing pain and effective when managed by a medical professional. But when taking the drug too often, or too much of the drug, it is apparent that dependence is developing. There are increasing reports of individuals taking oxycodone as a substitute for heroin. The drug can provide addicts with an effective, and constant high. It has been reported that the drug offers longer lasting and more intense highs than heroin, which is why some users are making the switch. Additionally, the drug is easier to access and cheaper than heroin. As with other opiates, many people will progress from smoking or swallowing the drug to injecting the drug. This is to increase the high and obtain a more effective and long lasting experience. This raises many concerns about the health impact of injection drug use which can include hepatitis and HIV along with serious infections at the injection site. Additionally, reports of combining this drug with other drugs and administering the drug in bizarre ways such as rectal administration raise some serious concerns. Withdrawals from Oxycodone Oxycodone users will often experience intense and painful withdrawals when they stop using the drug. These symptoms can occur for people who swallow or snort the pill, or for those who inject the drug. Individuals may experience long lasting pain and aches, tremors, sweating and chills, nausea, anxiety, paranoia and vomiting. These symptoms will persist for a number of days and cravings for the drug can continue for much longer. Many people who attempt to stop taking the drug will have to try a number of times before succeeding. Hillbilly Heroin Oxycodone is often referred to as hillbilly heroin or coal miners cocaine. This name is in reference to the high levels of abuse in poor regions of America. Users in these regions find the addiction can cause serious problems for their families and communities and crimes related to oxycodone use are at epidemic levels. However, the drug is not only or even primarily used by poor communities. Additionally, evidence is showing that individuals who are prescribed oxycodone for real conditions, such as the elderly, are being approached by people who are willing to buy, sell or steal their drugs to support their own habits. The nature of an addiction to any drug of this class is that the dependency can cause people to commit crimes and change their behavior and lifestyle to revolve around the use of the drug. The lure of money for people who may be struggling with health and economic problems may mean that some patients prescribed the drug are selling their medication. Taken unsupervised, the medication is highly addictive and can cause immense problems for the user and communities. http://alcoholrehab.com/drug-addiction/oxycodone/

http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/06/international-mood-drug-use-and-addiction-shifting-punishment-treatment by Ajit Niranjan Published 11 June, 2014 - 12:35 Memorial mural to recently-deceased actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Photo: Garrett Ziegler / Flickr The NHS estimates around 2 million Britons suffer from addiction. This is probably a gross underestimate - just take a look at nicotine. There are 6 million adults in the UK alone who say "they would find it hard to last a whole day without smoking". Cigarettes kill more than 100,000 people annually, but addiction means two-thirds of smokers say they're struggling to stop. Our society actively supports those trying to kick the habit, though, with things like e-cigarettes and nicotine patches, and it works. Evidence-based anti-smoking campaigns have been hugely successful, enabling almost half of all tobacco users to eventually quit. Unfortunately, this is not the case for most addictions. Where the substance being abused is illegal, a stigma exists that has repulsed efforts to effectively combat it. The police, rather than the NHS, are in charge - and addicts are criminals to be apprehended, not patients to be treated. That hypocrisy was the subject of a discussion featuring Nora Volkow, the director of America's National Institute on Drug Abuse and an expert on how drug addiction affects the brain, at the World Science Festival two weeks ago: Addiction is a disease of the brain... Unfortunately - even though the science has shown it's a disease of the brain - it has been very difficult to incorporate into the healthcare system. And as a result of that, many cases of drug addiction are never recognised. Or prevented. Or treated." Addiction is a contentious issue. Entire areas of our health and drugs policies are influenced by the way we view addicts, and our criminal justice system is inextricably linked with substance dependence. It informs our attitudes on every poverty-related subject from homelessness to welfare. Most damagingly, it has led us to participate in a bitterly destructive war. It follows that both policymakers and the public should be well-informed of the nature of addiction. Yet in a society where drug addicts are viewed as feckless criminals - lacking either the desire or the willpower to quit - there is a mounting body of evidence to suggest our perceptions are off, and as a result a growing number of nations are starting to put international pressure on changing the global war on drugs. A recent report by the United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has adopted resolutions recognising that: ubstance use disorders can result in chronic, relapsing conditions requiring, like other health conditions, treatment based on scientific evidence, support for those affected and, where indicated, governmental and community initiatives to promote recovery and facilitate reintegration” Essentially, addiction is a disease, which requires effective medical treatment and support from society - and historically neither of those facts have been popular with the public. Writing in The Spectator last year, Russell Brand - a recovered heroin addict - struck upon the source of our hostility towards substance abusers: It is difficult to feel sympathy for these people. Can there be any other disease that renders its victims so unappealing? Would Great Ormond Street be so attractive a cause if its beds were riddled with obnoxious little criminals who had ‘brought it on themselves’?” The notion that addiction is a choice - and the underlying insinuation that addicts are getting their dues - is incredibly pervasive. They are, as is often the case, a plausible scapegoat for all of society's troubles. This ‘othering’ of drug addicts is so common in government and media that the Society of Editors published ‘Dealing with the Stigma of Drugs - a Guide for Journalists’. Executive director Bob Satchwell described the negative effect using words like “junkie” can have: The award of a deviant social status to drug users may serve to discourage use but it does little to assist those most in need of help. Studies have consistently shown that perceived devaluation and worthlessness on behalf of the user does little to spur them towards recovery. The ‘shame’ of addiction is a reason why people with drug problems - and their families - often do not seek help.” This deep-rooted stigma also goes some way to understanding why there is such disparity between political decisions and the scientific advice. The UK Drug Policy Commission’s 2012 report recognised the UK's attitude towards drugs as a barrier in effective policy-making: The UK is unusual among EU countries in that the Home Office is the lead department for drug policy; most countries situate their leadership in the Ministry of Health. It has been suggested that the Home Office leadership encourages a view of drugs as a crime issue rather than a matter of health.” The reasons behind this are evident. The “tough on crime” line is a tried-and-tested vote winner, appeasing our fears with strong rhetoric and firm action. Yet it flies in the face of the scientific recommendations. Criminalising drug addicts only exacerbates the problem. Dr. Volkow (also chairperson of the working group advising the CND) discussed the dangers of this attitude at a Kavli Foundation-hosted teleconference last month. The three neuroscientists spoke of unanimous agreement amongst members that “substance use disorders are a disease ... and thus should be addressed within a public health framework". Unfortunately, the notion of the British government ignoring science in favour of politics is nothing new - particularly when it comes to drugs. Neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt was sacked from the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs after criticising the government’s failure to listen to its recommendations. In a post on his blog (aptly titled "Evidence not Exaggeration") he explains that turning a blind-eye to scientific advice is foolhardy: Approaches which explicitly reject an evidence-based public health approach, but instead focus on incarceration and criminalisation of addicts, continue to utterly fail, at enormous financial and human cost.” Instead, policy-makers must be prepared to accept the findings of its advisors - even when they disagree with convention. Nutt goes on to examine Switzerland’s successful strategy - a programme of providing supposedly-untreatable heroin addicts with a clean supply of the drug, which has flourished in the face of sharp political criticism: It has stabilised chaotic lives, allowing users to be socially reintegrated, getting homes and sometimes jobs, and as well as removing the health harms associated with polluted, inconsistent street drugs. Addicts in this treatment get fitter, they virtually never overdose, and very few die. Unlike those in other regimes, most stay in treatment, allowing some to progress later to abstinence. " The idea of providing free, clean drugs to addicts is steadily gaining momentum as further evidence emerges for its effectiveness. Chief Constable Mike Barnett echoed this sentiment when he declared "it is time to end the war on drugs" in an article in the Observer last year. "[Addicts] must be treated and cared for and encouraged to break the cycle of addiction. They do not need to be criminalised." In a blogpost after the 57th session of the CND in March, Dr. Volkow summarised what is now rapidly becoming scientific consensus: The recommendations of our committee crystalize a paradigm shift in how the problem of substance abuse and addiction are viewed by modern societies. Shifting the problem of drug abuse and addiction from the legal (or moral) sphere to that of science and medicine, where it properly belongs, is a crucial step toward successfully tackling the problem." So the call for a radical rethink of our approach to drug policy continues to grow. A large part of this is intrinsically defined by the way we view and treat those suffering from substance disorders. But it is perhaps inevitable - given the continual dehumanisation of drug addicts - that discussion about addiction would eventually lose focus on those suffering from substance dependency and switch to a more pressing issue for the government. On the Swiss clean-heroin policy, Nutt declared: It isn’t just the addicts who benefit; crime fell enormously once users could access heroin from the State rather than profiteering dealers. The State, and taxpayers don’t lose out in this arrangement, the expensive program more than pays for itself in healthcare and law enforcement savings.” An appeal to the economics of patient-centred treatment might be just what's needed to convince the Coalition to rethink their plans. Not only would a health-focussed approach save lives, it would save money as well. Surely that’s a language the Home Office can understand?

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2014/06/jamaica-poised-decriminalize-marijuana-possession-approve-medical-and-religious-use-and Press Release | 06/13/2014 Jamaica Poised to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession, Approve Medical and Religious Use, and Expunge Past Offenses Marijuana Reform Gaining Unprecedented Global Momentum On Friday, Jamaican Minister of Justice Mark Golding released a statement announcing government support for a proposal to decriminalize the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and the decriminalization of marijuana use for religious, scientific and medical purposes. "The objective is to provide a more enlightened approach to dealing with possession of small quantities and smoking, while still meeting the ends of justice,” Minister Golding said. “The proposed changes represent an approach which will ensure to the benefit of the persons concerned and the society as a whole, and reduce the burdens on the court system.” The Jamaican Cabinet approved these amendments on June 2; Parliament is expected to approve the proposal in September. The measure approved by the Cabinet includes the following stipulations: possession of up to two ounces of marijuana becomes a non-arrestable, ticketable infraction, which does not give rise to a criminal record; minors in possession and those with appearance of dependency will be referred to treatment programs; smoking of marijuana will be allowed in private places and by Rastafarians in places designated for their religious worship; and the decriminalization of possession of marijuana for religious, therapeutic and scientific research purposes. Minister Golding also announced a separate marijuana-related bill to be presented to Parliament, which would expunge existing criminal records for the smoking or possession of small quantities of marijuana. Marijuana reform has recently gained unprecedented global momentum. Canada, Uruguay, Israel and Holland, as well as 22 states in the United States have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. Last year, Uruguay followed on the heels of Colorado and Washington State and became the first country to legally regulate marijuana for recreational purposes. On Thursday, the West Africa Commission on Drugs, initiated by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and chaired by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasango, called for drug decriminalization and for treating drug use as a health issue. In the Caribbean, Heads of State of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have mandated that a Regional Commission be set up to address issues related to marijuana use and to evaluate current marijuana policy. Statement by Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance: “The comprehensive cannabis law reform proposed by Jamaica’s government, with bipartisan support, represents a major breakthrough not just for Jamaica but for the Caribbean and the world at large,” said Ethan Nadelmann. “What made this possible was not just bold political leadership but also the dawning recognition that Jamaica and other Caribbean nations no longer need fear a harsh response from the U.S. government when they change their marijuana policies.”

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/what-happened-before-leeza-ormsby-was-arrested-dj-marco-mazzucco-tells-police/story-fni0xs61-1226952477362 By Cindy Wockner and Komang Erviani News Corp Australia June 12, 2014 9:35PM http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/external?url=http://content6.video.news.com.au/dxbWw5bjqJyjPty62EZ3uCzIO-pV4XbE/DLOokYc8UKM-fB9H4xMDoxOjBtO_wVGe&width=650&api_key=kq7wnrk4eun47vz9c5xuj3mc Leeza Ormsby appeared in a Bali court again today on drugs charges. Facing trial ... New Zealander Leeza Ormsby sits next to her lawyer Ary Soenardi in the Denpasar District Court in Bali. Source: News Corp Australia A SYDNEY DJ who was with Leeza Ormsby the night before her arrest in Bali on drugs charges told police the pair had dinner and then drank Vodka at a Russian woman’s home but he had no idea about any drugs. DJ Marco Mazzucco, a longtime friend of Ormsby, did not testify at her Denpasar District Court trial on Thursday, but his police statement was read to the court. Mazzucco was also detained with Ormsby on February 12 but was later released by police, who found no evidence against him. Ormsby and Mazzucco were detained at a North Kuta villa after police found MDMA and hashish inside a drawer at the villa. Ormsby faces court over possession of a half-smoked joint of hashish which was found in her handbag but not in relation to the drugs in the villa. The Villa Askara had been rented for three nights by Sydney musician Azaria Byrne of band The Art. Mr Byrne and his girlfriend had paid for three nights but they left early on the third night to fly back to Australia, leaving the key with their friends. Mr Byrne has denied any knowledge of the drugs later found at the villa. In his police statement, Mazzucco said that he had last seen Mr Byrne and his girlfriend Jessy, whom he knew in Australia, at the villa on February 11 at 5pm. Mazzucco, Ormsby and two others stayed at the villa until about 7pm that evening before going for dinner at a Spanish restaurant until 11pm. In court ... Leeza Ormsby listens towitnesses giving evidence for her case. Source: News Corp Australia Defending herself ... Leeza Ormsby escorted by the Prosecutor for her trial. “When the witness (Mazzucco) was at the restaurant, he met with three Russian women who invited them to go to their house in Umalas. Witness with all of them then drank vodka,” Mazzucco said in his statement, read to the court by the Prosecutor. He said the next morning he went to have lunch and exchange money before collecting Ormsby from Villa Askara, because she didn’t have a motorbike. But when he got there, police were waiting. “The witness (Maccuzzo), in Bali or outside Indonesia has never consumed narcotic,” the prosecutor read from the statement. “And he only saw the evidence (drugs) when showed by police in the police station. Witness didn’t know who had the drugs that was shown by police.” It is the first time that Mazzucco’s statement has been revealed. Behind bars ... New Zealander Leeza Ormsby in the cell at Denpasar District Court talking to Ary Soenardi, her lawyer. Source: News Corp Australia Ormsby faces three charges — of drug possession which carries a maximum 12 years jail and one charge of using drugs, which carries a lesser four-year maximum. Her lawyers hope the more serious charges will be dropped and that she will be dealt with under the drug user legislation. Under Indonesian law drug users are treated as victims and treated much more leniently. Evidence has been presented to the court that Ormsby has twice undergone drug therapy and rehabilitation and has often used drugs including hashish, marijuana and ketamine. Ormsby, a New Zealand citizen who was living in Sydney at the time of her arrest, has been in police jail and now in Kerobokan prison ever since. Waiting with nerves ... Leeza Ormsby at Denpasar District Court for her trial in Bali. Source: News Corp Australia She has not been charged in relation to the larger amount of drugs found at the villa on the day of her arrest, including 132.2 grams of MDMA and 26.06 grams of hashish. These were found in a drawer in the cupboard of the villa’s bedroom. A beat up old microwave, kitchen scales, tape and plastic bags were found in the villa’s kitchen. Prosecutors say that so far there is no evidence against Ormsby in relation to these drugs. The statement of another witness, Tiago Oudman Monteiro De Sousa, was also read to the court. In it De Sousa said he had been introduced to Ormsby by Mazzuco and had visited the Villa Askara three times — on February 9, 10 and 11. On the 11th he saw Ormsby, Mazzucco, Azaria Byrne and his girlfriend at the villa. He went there on the first two times to “drink beer” and the third occasion, on February 11, to pick up Mazzucco. “The witness (De Sousa) did not consume narcotic and did not see his friends consume narcotics,” the statement said. The trial was adjourned to June 19.

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/11-ways-our-society-treats-us-caged-rats-do-our-addictions-stem-trapped-feeling Instead of a moral failing or physiological malfunction, is addiction an adaptive response to circumstances? Photo Credit: Amanda Tromley / Shutterstock.com June 12, 2014 | The following article first appeared in The Fix. You've probably heard about those addiction studies with caged lab rats, in which the rats compulsively press the heroin dispensing lever again and again, even to the point of choosing it over food and starving themselves to death. These studies seemed to imply some pretty disheartening things about human nature. Our basic biology is not to be trusted; the seeking of pleasure leads to disaster; one must therefore overcome biological desires through reason, education, and the inculcation of morals; those whose willpower or morals are weak must be controlled and corrected. The rat addiction studies also seem to validate the main features of the War on Drugs. First is interdiction: prevent the rats from getting a taste of drugs to begin with. Second is “education” – conditioning the rats into not pressing the lever in the first place. Third is punishment: make the consequences of taking drugs so scary and unpleasant that the rats will overcome their desire to press the lever. You see, some rats just have a stronger moral fiber than others. For those with a strong moral fiber, education suffices. The weak ones need to be deterred with punishments. Alexander found that when you take rats out of tiny separate cages and put them in a spacious “rat park” with ample exercise, food, and social interaction, they no longer choose drugs; indeed, already-addicted rats will wean themselves off drugs after they are transferred from cages to the rat park.All of these features of the drug war are forms of control, and therefore sit comfortably within the broader narrative of technological civilization: the domination of nature, the rising above the primitive state, conquering animal desire with the mind and the base impulses with morality, and so forth. That is, perhaps, why Bruce Alexander's devastating challenge to the caged rat experiments was ignored and suppressed for so many years. It wasn't only the drug war that his studies called into question, but also deeper paradigms about human nature and our relationship to the world. The implication is that drug addiction is not a moral failing or physiological malfunction, but an adaptive response to circumstances. It would be the height of cruelty to put rats in cages and then, when they start using drugs, to punish them for it. That would be like suppressing the symptoms of a disease while maintaining the necessary conditions for the disease itself. Alexander's studies, if not a contributing factor in the drug war's slow unraveling, are certainly aligned with it in metaphor. Are we like rats in cages? Are we putting human beings into intolerable conditions and then punishing them for their efforts to alleviate the anguish? If so, then the War on Drugs is based on false premises and can never succeed. And if we are like caged rats, then what is the nature of these cages, and what would a society look like that was a “rat park” for human beings? Here are some ways to put a human being in a cage: —Remove as much as possible all opportunities for meaningful self-expression and service. Instead, coerce people into dead-end labor just to pay the bills and service the debts. Seduce others into living off such labor of others. —Cut people off from nature and from place. At most let nature be a spectacle or venue for recreation, but remove any real intimacy with the land. Source food and medicine from thousands of miles away. —Move life – especially children's lives – indoors. Let as many sounds as possible be manufactured sounds, and as many sights be virtual sights. —Destroy community bonds by casting people into a society of strangers, in which you don't rely on and needn't even know by name the people living around you. —Create constant survival anxiety by making survival depend on money, and then making money artificially scarce. Administer a money system in which there is always more debt than there is money. —Divide the world up into property, and confine people to spaces that they own or pay to occupy. —Replace the infinite variety of the natural and artisanal world, where every object is unique, with the sameness of commodity goods. —Reduce the intimate realm of social interaction to the nuclear family and put that family in a box. Destroy the tribe, the village, the clan, and the extended family as a functioning social unit. —Make children stay indoors in age-segregated classrooms in a competitive environment where they are conditioned to perform tasks that they don't really care about or want to do, for the sake of external rewards. —Destroy the local stories and relationships that build identity, and replace them with celebrity news, sports team identification, brand identification, and world views imposed by authority. —Delegitimize or illegalize folk knowledge of how to heal and care for one another, and replace it with the paradigm of the “patient” dependent on medical authorities for health. It is no wonder that people in our society compulsively press the lever, be it the drug lever or the consumerism lever or the pornography lever or the gambling lever or the overeating lever. We respond with a million palliatives to circumstances in which real human needs for intimacy, connection, community, beauty, fulfillment, and meaning go mostly unmet. Granted, these cages depend in large part on our own individual acquiescence, but this doesn't mean that a single moment of illumination or a lifetime of effort can liberate us fully. The habits of confinement are deeply programmed. Nor can we escape by destroying our jailers: unlike in the rat experiments, and contrary to conspiracy theories, our elites are just as much prisoner as the rest of us. Empty and addictive compensations for their unmet needs seduce them into doing their part to maintain the status quo. The cages suffer no easy escape. Confinement is not incidental to modern society, but woven deeply into its systems, its ideologies, and our own selves. At bottom are the deep narratives of separation, domination, and control. And now, as we approach a great turning, a shift in consciousness, we sense that these narratives are unraveling, even as their outward expressions – the surveillance state, the walls and the fences, the ecological devastation – reach unprecedented extremes. Yet their ideological core is beginning to hollow out; their foundation is cracking. I think that the lifting (still by no means assured) of the War on Drugs is an early signal that these superstructures are beginning to crack too. A cynic might say that the end of the drug war would signal no such thing: that drugs make life in a cage more tolerable and absorb energy that might otherwise go toward social change. The opiate of the masses, in other words, is opiates! The cynic dismisses cannabis legalization in particular as a small, barely significant counter-eddy in an onrushing tide of imperialism and ecocide, an innocuous victory that does nothing to slow the onward march of capitalism. This view is mistaken. Generally speaking, drugs do not make us into more effective cage-dwellers: better workers and consumers. The most notable exception is caffeine – significantly, virtually unregulated – which helps people wake up to a schedule they don't want to live and focus on tasks they don't care about. (I'm not saying that's all caffeine does, and in no way do I want to demean sacred plants like tea and coffee, which are among the only herbal infusions or decoctions still taken in modern society.) Another partial exception is alcohol, which as a stress reliever indeed makes life in our society more bearable. Certain other drugs – stimulants and opiates – also may serve these functions, but are ultimately so debilitating that the guardians of capitalism recognize them as a threat. Yet other drugs, such as cannabis and the psychedelics, can directly induce nonconformity, weaken consumer values, and make the prescribed normal life seem less tolerable, not more. Consider for example the kind of behavior associated with marijuana smoking. The stoner is not on time for work. He sits around in the grass playing his guitar. He is not competitive. This is not to say that pot smokers don't contribute to society; some of the wealthiest Information Age entrepreneurs are reputedly smokers. In general though, the reputation of cannabis and the psychedelics to be disruptive of the established order is not without foundation. The halting but substantial steps in several states and countries toward cannabis legalization is significant for several reasons beyond the well-known benefits regarding crime, imprisonment, medicine, and industrial hemp. First, it implies a release of the mentality of control: interdiction, punishment, and psychological conditioning. Second, as I just discussed, the object of control – cannabis – is corrosive to the cages we have lived in. Third, it is part of a deep shift in consciousness away from separation and toward compassion. The mentality of control is predicated on the question of whom or what is to be controlled. Drug War thinking blamed the individual drug user for making poor moral choices, a view grounded in the theory that social psychologists call dispositionism – that human beings make free-willed choices based on a stable character and preferences. While dispositionism acknowledges the influence of environment, it says essentially that people make good choices because they are good people, bad choices because they are bad people. Deterrence, education, and interdiction spring naturally from that philosophy, as does our criminal justice system at large. Judgment and paternalism, inherent in the whole concept of “corrections,” are built into it, because it says, “If I were in your situation, I would have done differently than you.” In other words, it is an assertion of separation: I am different from (and if you are a drug addict, better than) you. Note as well that the same belief motivates the War on Terror and, well, the war on pretty much anything. But there is a competing philosophy called situationism that says that people make choices from the totality of their situation, internal and external. In other words, if I were in your situation, including your entire life history, I would do as you do. It is a statement of nonseparation, of compassion. It understands, as Bruce Alexander shows us, that self-destructive or antisocial behavior is a response to circumstances and not a dispositional weakness or moral failing. Situationism motivates healing rather than war, because it seeks to understand and redress the circumstances that give rise to terrorism, drug addiction, germs, weeds, greed, evil, or any other symptom we go to war against. Instead of punishing drug use, it asks, From what circumstances does it spring? Instead of eradicating weeds with pesticides, it asks, What conditions of soil or agronomy are causing them to grow? Instead of applying extreme antiseptic hygiene and broad-spectrum antibiotics, it asks, What “climate of the body” has made it a salubrious environment for germs? That is not to say we never should use antibiotics or lock up a violent criminal who is harming others. But we cannot then say, “Problem solved! Evil has been conquered.” Here we see how drug legalization is consistent with the reversal of a millennia-long paradigm I call the War on Evil. As old as civilization itself, it was originally associated with the conquest of chaos and the taming of the wild. Through history, it came to incinerate whole populations and nearly the planet itself. Now, perhaps, we are entering a gentler era. It is fitting that something from nature, a plant, should be a hinge for such a turning. The growing movement to end the drug war might reflect a paradigm shift away from judgment, blame, war, and control towards compassion and healing. Cannabis is a natural starting point, because its widespread use makes the caricature of the morally weak abuser insupportable. “If I were in the totality of your circumstances, I would smoke too – in fact I have!” Marijuana has long been vilified as a “gateway drug,” the argument being that even if it isn't so dangerous itself, it ushers a person into the culture and habits of drug use. That canard is easily debunked, but perhaps marijuana is a gateway of another sort – a gateway to broader drug decriminalization, and beyond that, toward a compassionate and humble justice system not based on punishment. More broadly still, it may offer us a gateway away from machine values toward organic values, a symbiotic world, an ecological world, and not an arena of separate and competing others against whom one must protect oneself, conquer, and control. Perhaps the conservatives were right. Perhaps drug legalization would mean the end of society as we have known it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/dea-blocks-marijuana-science_n_5482367.html Posted: 06/11/2014 The Drug Enforcement Administration has been impeding and ignoring the science on marijuana and other drugs for more than four decades, according to a report released this week by the Drug Policy Alliance, a drug policy reform group, and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a marijuana research organization. “The DEA is a police and propaganda agency," Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said Wednesday. “It makes no sense for it to be in charge of federal decisions involving scientific research and medical practice." The report alleges that the DEA has repeatedly failed to act in a timely fashion when faced with petitions to reschedule marijuana. The drug is currently classified as Schedule I, which the DEA reserves for the "most dangerous" drugs with "no currently accepted medical use." Schedule I drugs, which include substances like heroin and LSD, cannot receive federal funding for research. On three separate occasions -- in 1973, 1995 and again in 2002 -- the DEA took years to make a final decision about a rescheduling petition, and in two of the cases the DEA was sued multiple times to force a decision. The report criticizes the DEA for overruling its own officials charged with determining how illicit substances should be scheduled. It also criticizes the agency for creating a "regulatory Catch-22" by arguing there is not enough scientific evidence to support rescheduling marijuana while simultaneously impeding the research that would produce such evidence. A spokesperson at the DEA declined to comment on the report. The feds have long been accused of only funding marijuana research that focuses on the potential negative effects of the substance, but that trend appears to be changing. According to The Hill, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has conducted about 30 studies to date on the potential benefits of marijuana. NIDA oversees the cultivation, production and distribution of marijuana grown for research purposes at the University of Mississippi in the only federally legal marijuana garden in the U.S. -- a process through which the only federally sanctioned marijuana studies are approved. The joint report comes less than two weeks after the House approved three amendments taking aim at the DEA and its ability to enforce federal marijuana and hemp laws in states which have legal marijuana operations and industrial hemp programs. The medical marijuana amendment was sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). "Nobody should be afraid of the truth," Rohrabacher said Wednesday. "There's a lot of other drugs that have harmful side effects. Is the downside of marijuana a harmful side effect? Or is there a positive side that actually does help? That needs to be proven." The federal government's interest in marijuana certainly appears to be growing. Since 2003, it has approved more than 500 grants for marijuana-related studies, with a marked upswing in recent years, according to McClatchy. In 2003, 22 grants totaling $6 million were approved for cannabis research. In 2012, that number had risen to 69 approved grants totaling more than $30 million. "The DEA has obstructed research into the medical use of marijuana for over 40 years and in the process has caused immeasurably suffering that would otherwise have been treated by low-cost, low-risk generic marijuana," Rick Doblin, executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, said in a statement. "The DEA’s obstruction of the FDA approval process for marijuana has -- to the DEA’s dismay -- unintentionally catalyzed state-level medical marijuana reforms.” Currently, 22 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use. Eight other states -- Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin -- have legalized CBD oils, made from a non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana frequently used to treat epilepsy, for limited medical use or for research purposes. A number of recent studies have shown the medical potential of cannabis. Purified forms may attack some forms of aggressive cancer. Marijuana use also has been tied to better blood sugar control and may help slow the spread of HIV. One study found that legalization of the plant for medical purposes may even lead to lower suicide rates. Nadelmann said the DEA has "demonstrated a regular pattern of abusing its discretionary powers." "We believe this authority would be better handled by another government agency in the health realm, or even better still, by an organization that is truly independent, perhaps something that involves the National Academy of Sciences," he said. "We will be working to encourage greater congressional oversight and also to call for reforms of federal law."

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/govt-needs-prepare-new-substance-after-synthetic-cannabis-ban-5996765 June 10, 2014 Source: One News Synthetic drugs shortly before they are banned from sale. - Source: ONE News The demand for synthetic cannabis has moved to the black market a month after they were taken off shelves, an expert says. The National Poisons centre has only received 14 withdrawal related calls since then and the New Zealand Drug Foundation says it's because people are continuing to use them despite the ban, or have turned to the real thing. Foundation Executive Director, Ross Bell told TVNZ's Breakfast that while the products are off the shelves they are certainly available on the black market and people can still access them illegally or they are buying illegal cannabis. "The demand has been shifted to the black market so it is hard to get a sense of what exacting is going on," he says. He says there are still a lot of regulations to be worked through to make sure the new legislation works so the Government needs to work with councils around some of their local policies. "At some point in time the industry will cook up a substance and they will get it through the testing regime and we need to be ready for that."

Tue, Jun 10, 2014 at 10:53 AM Obama to Abbott: get out of the way Created by Emily M. Australia Why this is important to me Seriously? Tony Abbott has just taken climate change OFF the agenda at the G20, as if scrapping The Climate Department, The Climate Commission and yes, soon, the carbon price wasn’t enough. Now he’s literally getting in the way of OTHER countries taking action. Our PM is meeting with Barack Obama next week in Washington and the President has just put his legacy on the line for climate, cleaning up America’s energy production even in the face of huge opposition. Obama will be busy selling his climate policies, so let’s ask him to give Abbott a copy of Congress’ climate report when they exchange gifts at the White House. Climate tipping points are threatening to change the very world we live in irreversibly. There’s never been a more important time to act -- if President Obama’s subtle present doesn’t convince Abbott, then he can force him out of the way of other countries and put climate change back on the G20 agenda. Sign now! Click below to sign the petition and forward to everyone: To be delivered to: President Barack Obama http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/President_Barack_Obama_Obama_to_Abbott_out_of_the_way/?bArLMdb&v=40806 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With hope, Emily, Oli, David, Mais and the whole Avaaz team PS: This petition was started on Avaaz's new Community Petitions Site. It's quick and easy to start a petition on any issue you care about, click here: http://avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?40634

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/10/old-sick-poor-stop-taking-vital-drugs Criticism of Health Department's idea to save money by making people pay more for subsidised medical services and drugs Melissa Davey theguardian.com, Tuesday 10 June 2014 17.24 AEST Budget 2014: pensioners There is concern people will stop taking important and potentially life-saving medications. Photograph: Melanie Foster/AAP Many of Australia’s oldest, sickest and poorest patients will stop taking important and potentially life-saving medications if expenditure advice provided by the Department of Health to the Commission of Audit is adopted by the government, leading health economists say. The department recommended people be made to pay more for government-subsidised medical services and drugs, the Australian reported on Monday, because it would lead them to cut spending on unproven and discretionary treatments. Forcing consumers to cut their discretionary spending could reduce pressure on the federal health budget, the department’s recommendations said. But an assistant professor from the Centre for Health Services at the University of Western Australia, Anna Kemp, said there was no evidence for the relationship between spending on prescription medicines and on unproven drugs. “The department is assuming that those people using prescription medicines are the same people using unproven treatments, but there isn’t any evidence to support that and we don’t know how much overlap there is between the two groups,” she told Guardian Australia. “But what we do know is that when there is an increase in the cost of subsidised medicines, there are big decreases in the amount people spend on those medicines." It was true that making drugs more expensive led to some waste reduction, Kemp said. But this did not tell the full story because the use of important prescription drugs went down too. This was particularly the case for people with more than one condition who took multiple medicines, she said. They often stopped taking some when the price of drugs increased. “The recommendations are based on the assumption that people know enough about what their drugs do to make good, informed decisions about which drugs they can do without, but we know that’s not the case,” Kemp said. In the federal budget the government proposed to increase existing drug co-payments and introduce a $7 co-payment for GP visits. Kemp’s own research revealed that changes to the prescription drugs co-payment in 2005 had a significant effect on the ability of patients to afford essential medications. Concession card holders were worst affected, Kemp found, because they often took the most medications. An increase of about 90 cents per script became too much of a cost burden over time. Dispensing volumes fell in 12 out of 17 medicine categories, with anti-epileptics, anti-Parkinson’s treatments, combination asthma medicines, eye-drops and glaucoma treatments among those falling in use. The drugs people were most likely to stop taking were those they didn’t immediately feel benefit from, Kemp said. “So they might stop taking their osteoporosis medication for strengthening their bones, because they won’t notice any difference – until they fall and get a broken hip. “You can either have a waste-proof system that is unaffordable [for patients], or an affordable system that is prone to waste, and our research found the government was heading too far towards the former." A more sensible approach would be to increase the cost to the patient of newer medicines for which cheaper, sometimes only slightly less effective substitutes existed, said Professor Philip Clarke, a leading health economist at the University of Melbourne’s school of population and global health. “The department hasn’t made any differentiation between subsidised expensive drugs and cheaper drugs,” he said. “Why not introduce differential co-payments, where people pay more for drugs with less benefit, or for less proven, newer drugs? This whole issue of co-payments needs a more rational debate." The chief executive of the Consumer Health Forum, Adam Stankevicius, said it would be “very concerning” if advice from the department suggested that out-of-pocket health costs by individuals were discretionary. “It would be very surprising if the government were suggesting that wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, dental services and prescribed medications are discretionary,” he said. “For health consumers, they are considered essential to their daily lives.” A Health Department spokeswoman, Kay McNeice, told Guardian Australia that contrary to the report in the Australian, the information the department had provided to the Committee of Audit was not a submission. "Instead, on request, the department provided information on a range of issues,” she said. The department did not immediately respond to specific questions on its recommendations from Guardian Australia.

By Mike Power 06 June 2014Music The Blog Alexander Shulgin was the Godfather of Ecstasy, playing an instrumental part in introducing the drug to the wider world and, in turn, helping shape club culture as we know it today. He passed away last week, leaving behind a lifetime's worth of research. A cult hero, here are the 12 most important drugs that passed through his famous Californian laboratory. MDMA The daddy of them all. You now read Mixmag and go clubbing, and perhaps take Ecstasy. There is a direct and traceable lineage between this, and this moment, which Shulgin documented in his book PIHKAL: (With 120mg) “The woodpile is so beautiful, about all the joy and beauty that I can stand. I am afraid to turn around and face the mountains, for fear they will overpower me. But I did look, and I am astounded. Everyone must get to experience a profound state like this. I feel totally peaceful. I have lived all my life to get here, and I feel I have come home. I am complete.” MDA The parent compound to which MDMA is related, this drug appeared in the UK in 1992 in the guise of Snowballs, German-commissioned pills made in Latvia. They were dosed at double the standard dose for MDA, and led to many confusing scenes on dancefloors nationwide as users, baffled by the sudden proliferation of ravers in 1950s spectacles, attempted to sit down on wholly imaginary sofas on the dancefloor, or tried to put money into a fag machine that was, in fact, a friend’s head. ALEPH 1 Shulgin wrote in his notebook: “Tell NO ONE about this drug so that it can never be identified and there can be no moves made to destroy it… Persisting in scientific publication in all peripheral areas as subterfuge, diversion. Keep all progressive work in my appendices. Code them ‘SH’—too informative.” It was “too informative” because Shulgin believes ALEPH-1 is the “essence of power”, he told journalist Hamilton Morris in his last interview. He published anyway. It sounds awful: “It gives an interesting example of some thought processes associated with psychedelic intoxication, ego-inflation, and what might be thought of as bits of mania,” he wrote in PIHKAL. DIPT The campanologist’s friend – or foe. This tryptamine – a mushroom-like drug – makes all sounds appear to drop by an octave or so, and makes many instruments sound like a clanging bell. But it offers a fascinating insight into the way humans process sound, and may one day help in the study of tinnitus, which it can temporarily cause. 5-MEO-DIPT Known as Foxy Methoxy, this drug was renowned in the late 90s psychonaut scene as an early Viagra, with massive stimulation and explosive orgasms for both men and women (and sometimes a little sexy projectile vomiting). MMDA MDMA-like drug that gave users ‘eyelid movies’ – completely realistic innervisions. A PIHKAL recipient noted: “Upon closing eyes hallucinations appear to be quite real in 3D, like watching a movie. First these dreams appear in black and white, but later colors start appearing. Chartreuse and magenta first appear, then blue and finally red. First I had visions of large numbers on gaming tables, then people." The Magical Half Dozen These were the drugs that Shulgin said, out of the thousands he designed and took, were the most important Mescaline Usually found in cacti in Latin America, Shulgin made it in his garden shed laboratory. “I experienced the desire to laugh hysterically at what I could only describe as the completely ridiculous state of the entire world,” he noted. DOM DOM was popularised following the outlawing of LSD in the US. It is said to have sent Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd insane. It filled the emergency wards of Haight-Ashbury in the late 60s with hippy burn-outs who’d overdone it, as it lasts for many hours. It was also known as STP (Serenity, Tranquility, Peace) – and the famously debauched 1972 Stones tour of the US was, some say, named after the drug. 2C-E Known by Shulgin as ‘the teacher’, it could produce introspective and transformative experiences that helped people face their own demons – and change for the better, he said. 2C-T-2 Another tool for introspection that Shulgin took and pondered on the nature of war, ego, and attention-seeking, seeing them as the same thing. 2C-T-7 Sold in Japanese headshops in the late 1990s as Blue Mystic Powder, the drug was responsible for three deaths on 2000 – when the research chemical scene first hit the headlines. Users snorted it, or took it at the same time as MDMA, or took five times the standard dose. 2C-B The most erotic compound Shulgin ever made, he said he was convinced it would one day be modified by Big Pharma and made into an aphrodisiac. The drug has also been used by shamen in South Africa, where it was sold legally as Nexus in the 90s. Was around a lot in the 90s in the UK and is seen by some as a gentle psychedelic, with cartoonish visuals and much musical oddness.

http://www.vocativ.com/underworld/drugs/can-ketamine-cure-clinical-depression/ The results of a two-year study show the powerful tranquilizer-turned-party-drug could be a secret weapon Author: Luke Malone Posted: 06/10/14 The word ketamine is normally synonymous with clubbing or prepping horses for surgery, but a new study highlights its potential to combat hard-to-treat depression. First developed as a powerful dissociative anesthetic for humans and animals in 1970, the drug’s euphoric and hallucinatory side-effects saw it co-opted as a party favor. Now the focus is back on the tranquilizer’s medicinal capabilities as a potentially revolutionary, fast-acting antidepressant. This week, researchers from Australia’s University of New South Wales’ School of Psychiatry released the results of a two-year pilot study that looks at the dosage required to balance maximum efficacy and tolerability. It builds upon earlier research that shows a correlation between ketamine and antidepressant effects—with participants reporting an elevated mood within 24 hours of taking a single dose—but these new findings on the most effective methods of administration bring it closer to becoming a viable, publicly accessible treatment option. “For many drugs, how well it works and side effects are related to dosage. Thus finding the right dose for each person is important,” says study author Colleen Loo. “Our study is the first to systematically examine each person’s response to a range of doses. This is important for the individual patient because we have demonstrated a method to individualize the dose for each person, thus optimizing therapeutic effects and minimizing side effects.” Ketamine Cure Depression_01 Using ketamine to treat clinical depression may soon be a reality. AFP/Getty Images For the study, Loo and her colleagues recruited four individuals whose clinical depression had not responded to traditional antidepressants or more invasive methods such as electroconvulsive therapy. Using double blind conditions they administered a range of ketamine doses both intravenously and via a small needle under the skin, a similar technique used by diabetics to inject insulin. Three of the four participants “achieved antidepressant response” within 72 hours, though these responses subsided within one week. Side effects including hallucinations and altered perception of reality were experienced at higher doses, though they subsided within 30 minutes and didn’t require intervention. Loo says researchers aren’t sure how ketamine works to improve depressive symptoms. They do know that it interacts with an individual’s neurotransmitter system and that animal studies suggests it reverses the shrinkage of brain cells that occur with depression, but are still trying to figure out exactly how. Regardless, it’s good news for people living with clinical depression. Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac and Paxil can take between two and four weeks to take effect, if they work at all. Loo says that ketamine, administered in a hospital setting under strict controls, may be useful to initiate a rapid response given together with other treatments which take longer to work, or it may be an effective treatment on its own. One of her subjects met the criteria for remission after receiving the highest dose, and she believes that repeat treatments have the potential to result in full remission—which would effectively cure depression in some patients. “From what I have seen so far, it will definitely have clinical benefits for some depressed patients. The speed and magnitude of antidepressant response are impressive, side effects are transient and, under medical supervision, it’s safe,” she says, adding that there is still more work to be done. “We are still working out which patients will benefit from ketamine, why it leads to a lasting remission in some and not others, and how to give the drug to optimize effects and gain a lasting response.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Cure is an inappropriate term, at least at this stage, but it should be regarded as a valid treatment, particularly in cases of clinical / major depression involving suicidal intent / attempts, (as opposed to suicidal ideation) where SSRI antidepressants take too long to become effective, but during that process it is thought that the ability to plan, and the motivation to carry out such attempts, which was previously lacking, then becomes a capability, but the antidepressant effect takes longer to kick in, with people who had survived for some time finally succeeding soon after beginning antidepressants. "Side effects including hallucinations and altered perception of reality were experienced at higher doses, though they subsided within 30 minutes and didn’t require intervention" - From Bluelight, via http://www.tripme.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?11786-Ketamine-Nasal-Spray-(finally) "Investigators found that among the 18 patients completing two treatment days with ketamine or saline, eight met response criteria to ketamine within 24 hours versus one on saline. Ketamine proved safe with minimal dissociative effects or changes in blood pressure. The study randomized 20 patients with major depressive disorder to ketamine (a single 50 mg dose) or saline in a double-blind, crossover study. Change in depression severity was measured using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale. Secondary outcomes included the durability of response, changes in self-reports of depression, anxiety, and the proportion of responders. “One of the primary effects of ketamine in the brain is to block the NMDA [N-methyl-d-aspartate] glutamate receptor,” said James W. Murrough, M.D. “There is an urgent clinical need for new treatments for depression with novel mechanisms of action. With further research and development, this could lay the groundwork for using NMDA targeted treatments for major depressive disorder.” “We found intranasal ketamine to be well-tolerated with few side effects,” said psychiatrist and researcher Kyle Lapidus, M.D., Ph.D. One of the most common NMDA receptor antagonists, ketamine is an FDA-approved anesthetic. It has been used in animals and humans for years. However, ketamine has also been a drug of abuse and can lead to untoward psychiatric or cognitive problems when misused. Nevertheless, in low doses, ketamine shows promise in providing rapid relief of depression, with tolerable side effects". It's now time for a larger scale, randomised double blind study using low dosage, nasally administered ketamine, or saline, to achieve statistically significant results. Ideally, such a study would subdivide into those people suffering from depression, dysthymia (a more moderate, longer lasting form of the disorder) and those with clinical / major depression.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/drug-tests-if-youre-on-the-dole/story-e6frg6n6-1226938400218 Samantha Maiden The Sunday Telegraph June 01, 2014 12:00AM Bernardi: People need to be more self-reliant http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/external?url=http://content6.video.news.com.au/cweDZ3bTp3W1qkVRNAJ6pjiZlLu8drsb/promo224316867&width=650&api_key=kq7wnrk4eun47vz9c5xuj3mc Liberal senator Cory Bernardi defends the Federal Budget's cuts to welfare when he goes head to head with Political Editor Tory Shepherd. DRUG testing for the unemployed and the suspension of payments to people with outstanding arrest warrants are two options to be debated in a major overhaul of welfare. The Abbott Government has confirmed it is looking closely at New Zealand’s welfare system, which includes a hardline approach to drug use. The New Zealand model strips welfare recipients of half their payments if they fail a job-required drug test or refuse to submit to one. They are then given 30 days to get clean. Those who continue to use drugs or refuse to take a job that requires testing are required to pay back their welfare payments. Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews last night said: “We won’t rule this in or out.” But the testing has been attacked as a waste of money by critics in New Zealand with low rates of positive results. Of the 8001 jobseekers sent for drug testing, only 22 had tested positive to drug use or had refused to take tests. Mr Andrews yesterday cautioned it would be more difficult to introduce in Australia because it would require the support of the states. “While Australia’s welfare system is different from New Zealand, its reforms provide a guide as to the government’s thinking on simplifying our welfare system,” he said. The Abbott government has confirmed it is also looking closely at New Zealand’s “simpler, more coherent” system of streamlining payments. “Australia’s welfare system is complex and expensive,” Mr Andrews said. “This review will look at welfare reforms overseas, including New Zealand where they have simplified their welfare system by introducing five new payments that replaced eleven old payments.” Welfare groups angry about budget cuts 1:14 http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/external?url=http://content6.video.news.com.au/0xeXJ2bTp_Mg_gu8LP9gm1EZMQ6Mc9ct/promo224274825&width=650&api_key=kq7wnrk4eun47vz9c5xuj3mc Welfare groups are upset that families, pensioners and youth are doing the work to repair the federal budget The streamlined New Zealand payment system now includes a new Jobseeker Support payment for those actively seeking work, Sole Parent Support for single parents with children aged under 14 years, and Supported Living Payments for people significantly restricted by sickness, injury or disability. A report by Patrick McClure into options for reforms to Australia’s welfare system will be released shortly. “There are around 20 different payments (in Australia) that are topped up with around 50 different supplements, including Family Tax Benefits and Carer Allowance, costing taxpayers around $100 billion annually,” Mr Andrews said. “To make this work requires more than 3500 pages of legislation and more than 640 pages of endnotes to administer the social security system.” Labor’s Jenny Macklin said welfare simplification was code for more cuts. “Tony Abbott needs to explain to low-income Australians — already reeling from the Budget — exactly what his next round of cuts will mean for them,” she said. “This year’s Budget has already ripped billions of dollars out of the pockets of low-income Australians. “It will leave millions of vulnerable people worse off. “Yet the government is already looking to its next round of cuts.”

http://www.livescience.com/36148-talk-kids-drugs-alcohol-tips.html [older] Lauren Cox, MyHealthNewsDaily Contributor February 13, 2012 Parents looking to talk to their children about drugs may recall the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Reinforcement Education) programs taught in schools. But after a generation of D.A.R.E. graduates, studies found that "just saying no" didn't stop enough teens from doing drugs. A National Institute of Justice Research Brief in 1998 filed the D.A.R.E. program under drug prevention that "doesn't work." Yet children still need a drug talk, so researchers and experts in drug abuse prevention and rehabilitation gave MyHealthNewsDaily some helpful tips for parents to help children avoid drugs, or stop using them. Here are seven tips: The Old Drug Talk If a teen is caught with drugs, or even suspected of using them, addiction experts recommend parents don't wait to act. Some people quit using drugs after their teen years, but research shows the younger people are when they try drugs, the more likely they are to end up as addicts. "Anyone who has concern about an addiction should get help early," said Roxanne Kibben, vice president of the Phoenix House Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides drug abuse treatment services in 10 states. "If a teen starts smoking or drinking, they are at much higher risk to becoming addicted than if they wait until they're 20." Research from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 12.8 percent of people who first tried marijuana at age 14 or younger developed "illicit drug dependence or abuse," but only 2.6 percent of people who tried marijuana at age 18 or older developed the same level of dependence. And while initial drug use may be a voluntary decision, it becomes less and less of a choice as addiction is etched into the brain, according to the Phoenix House Foundation. Confront problems quickly Intervening earlier battles addiction better, and may even prevent it. The Phoenix House recommends parents talk with children before they have the opportunity to use drugs or alcohol. Studies show that could be long before a teen reaches high school. The 2011 annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study found that 62 percent of teens who reported drinking alcohol said they had their first full drink by age 15 not including tasting or sipping alcohol. Tammy Granger, regional director of student assistance programs at Caron Treatment Centers, recommends parents start conversations about drugs with children around age 8 to 10, to get ahead of misinformation spread by their peers. "My philosophy is, you want to do that early. With a lot of prevention programming they parents and teachers wait too long and intervene in high school," Granger said. She pointed out that, statistically, 11-year-olds on a middle school bus encounter others, or their older siblings, who are experimenting with drugs. "I think it's important that they do have some factual information," Granger said. Start talking to kids when they're young Most teens generally know their parents don't want them to use drugs. In 2010, 89.6 percent of teens ages 12 to 17 reported that their parents would strongly disapprove of their trying marijuana once or twice, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Still, experts say many parents feel hesitant to start talking about drugs in detail if their child hasn't yet been exposed. But don't be vague: a clear and consistent message can help deter drug use. "Be clear what the rules are, and what's going to happen if they break the rule," Kibben said. If a teen lives in two different households, Kibben recommends all parents agree to the same rules about drugs, and make it official. "If you need to, with a tween or a teen, you may have those [rules] be written, and you have a pledge statement," Kibben said. Parents may also unwittingly send confusing messages about prescription drugs by doling out medicine at home. "Some parents tend to freely give out medications. They may say, 'Oh, you have a toothache, I have some Vicodin, here, use this,'" said Jennifer Fan, with the center for substance abuse prevention at the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. "It contributes to the perception that the prescription is safe," Fan said. Parents who want to avoid prescription drug abuse should themselves take medicine only as it is prescribed, and discard any leftover medicine. "Communication is not the only role that parents can play," Fan said. "Parents, they act as role models." Be positive Preventing drug use doesn't always have to come in the form of dire warnings or consequences for kids. Granger said using a tween's motivation to fit in can actually encourage against trying drugs. In fact, the majority of their peers aren't doing drugs or using alcohol, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study, which surveys approximately 50,000 students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades. In 2011, 12.5 percent of eighth-grade students reported using marijuana in the past year, and 7.2 percent reported using marijuana in the previous month. A little over 10 percent of eighth-grade students reported using any illicit drugs, including inhalants, in the past 30 days. "Rather than focus on the negative, focus on the positive," Granger said. "About 93 percent of eighth-grade students don't smoke marijuana." Build emotional ties and resiliency first Drug abuse prevention can start without even mentioning drugs. Granger runs programs aimed at the roots of drug abuse: coping with stress. "We have prevention programs that we start in the second and third grade. It's not talking about drugs and alcohol, but it's about building resiliency and personal resolve," Granger said. "Some kids may turn to drugs as a self-medication, or self-soothing." Granger said children with mental health issues, or who have a difficult time managing their emotions, have higher rates of drug and alcohol use. Building emotional and family support early can stem problems with drug abuse in adolescence. Indeed, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found kids who have dinner with their families are less likely to use drugs or drink. A decade of research involving 1,000 teens and 452 of their parents found that, compared with teens who have family dinners five to seven nights per week, teens who have infrequent family dinners (fewer than three per week) were twice as likely to use tobacco or marijuana. Point out real-life examples of problems While parents try to set a good example, experts say don't be afraid to point out the real-world consequences of addiction. "You talk about who they might know who might have had a problem, or who currently has a problem," Kibben said. Depending on the child's maturity level, Kibben said, the example may even be a family member. Families with a history of mental issues or addiction problems should communicate to children that they are at a higher risk of developing a substance abuse problem if they try drugs. "Explain it in a neutral way, you can say, 'When a person does this, then they are at risk,'" Kibben said. No shame. Frame talks as a health issue Tone matters when communicating with children, and experts say despite the tough language used to discourage drug use in the past, broaching addiction as a health issue may ultimately be more effective. "The important thing is to talk about it without shame or strong interrogation, in the same way you'd talk about the importance of exercise or diabetes. It is a health issue," Kibben said. Granger said many parents try to connect avoiding drugs to protecting the child's future. "But I'm not sure that teens can connect that future life, of college and beyond, to using drugs today," she said. "It's very hard to do drug prevention. This whole 'scared-straight mentality', I don't think kids buy it," Granger said. "I try to talk to parents about not making it a moral issue, but by saying, 'We want you to be the best that you can be, we want you to live to your full potential.'"

Point taken about the difference between cactus cultivation and use / experience. ......................... represents the time allowed for people to shift their awareness from one area to another and focus on it for a matter of seconds.

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/725444-True-secrets-of-psychedelics-Are-they-everything-theyre-cracked-up-to-be?p=12400053#post12400053 slimvictor Moderator Drugs in the Media Today 11:03 Mind-altering drugs can open us up to the amazing possibilities of the universe — but true self-discovery is harder The cactus skin arrived in the mail in a packet marked “for botanical examination only.” We whizzed it up in a blender. Two truant teenagers in an empty kitchen. We tried mixing the resulting green powder with water and drinking it. The taste was so foul it was all we could do to stop ourselves vomiting. In the end we mixed it with Cherry Coke to ameliorate the flavor and then we drank it all up. The skin contained a naturally occurring psychedelic drug called mescaline. Soon, everything seemed to vibrate. It was as if the walls, windows, even the chairs were humming a low, beautiful melody. Then I noticed that we were speaking in colors. My friend’s words were blue swirls and mine were green. Our conversation curled and twisted in front of my eyes like smoke in a vacuum chamber. Later I held a glass of water, gazing at it for what seemed like an immensely long time, its utility swallowed up in its beauty and it seemed that the whole Earth existed within that glass and the thought occurred to me: “I’m in the presence of God.” Ten years later I was staying in a tiny monastery deep in a Thai forest. I had been living and meditating there for close to a month. My mind was still — still in the way a tuning fork rests after being struck for a long time. I sat outside watching the fading light graze the trees, feeling egoless and empty of thought. Butterflies erupted from the green foliage in a movement that seemed so excessively beautiful I was thunderstruck and as I looked, I thought: “Damn, this is exactly like mescaline.” It’s not just me who has made the link between psychedelic drugs and meditation. Indeed, the link between psychedelics and spiritual experience was the first line of inquiry Timothy Leary and his cohorts pursued in their 1960s Harvard experiments. In the 1990s, Dr. Rick Strassman ran a series of experiments using a powerful psychedelic known as DMT, and he too noticed the similarity: “[The effect of] DMT has a similarity with experiences that are possible with a lot of meditation,” he said. Scientists are currently conducting separate studies on psychedelics and meditation — both are being trialed to treat the same conditions. A review study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, released in March this year, found that meditation may be as effective as medication in treating conditions such as depression and anxiety. Hot on the heels of this study was the Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Study at NYU’s Bluestone Center for Clinical Research, which found that Psilocybin (the active drug in “magic mushrooms”) was effective in treating anxiety and depression in terminal cancer patients. There are now dozens of studies that document how both meditation and psychedelics can treat depression, addiction, anxiety and PTSD. So if psychedelics produce similar effects to long periods of meditation and other austere religious practices, could we have stumbled upon what Strassman calls “the spirit molecule”? Are psychedelics an alternative to spiritual practices? Hardly, say the Buddhists. The second noble truth of the Buddha is that “the origin of suffering is the attachment to desire.” Psychedelics are by their nature an experience, a strange and beautiful one but often elusive. This creates a craving to have the experience again. It is this craving that is the Buddhist definition of discontent. Rather than freeing the mind from attachment, psychedelics create more. cont at http://www.salon.com/2014/06/08/true...cked_up_to_be/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clocktower Bluelighter Today 11:59 It's very cool to see psychedelics being discussed in the context of medicine and spirituality like this. On the other hand I think the article's premise is a bit straw-manish, AFAIK nobody has argued that a psychedelic experience is equivalent to meditation. It seems a bit pretentious of the author to claim that there is one true path to self-discovery and it happens to be the one he took. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crankinit Bluelighter Today 12:04 Excellent article, and I agree with his conclusions. I would love to see more scientific exploration of both psychedelics and meditation, but the former isn't a subtitute for the latter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLICKHEREx Bluelighter Today 12:26 I have tripped many times on LSD and magic mushrooms ("Goldtops", in Darwin, Australia) and never experienced any craving for them, nor do I now, but I do/did for cannabis, alcohol, amphetamines, synthetic cannabis and tobacco. I think it's because the former don't engender any actual euphoria in me, and aren't physiologically addictive. It's true, though, at least in my experience, that meditation is an excellent treatment for anxiety (as is EFT - Google it, and there is a YouTube video) and with depression it keeps activity out of undesired locations in the brain, and provides a welcome break, in which there is no depression, although not everyone is capable of meditating in the usual manner, but nearly everyone who can follow simple instructions from their own voice recording can use Yoga Nidra, (actually a meditative form - no physical flexibility, or asanas/special bodily positions is involved) so I include it for others to try: "The mind can be like a naughty child: what we tell it to do; it won't! So sit, or recline comfortably in a room, which is neither cold nor too warm, in dim light, but not in pitch darkness, with fingertips pointed upwards, not touching anything. Take plenty of time with each section: to hurry in this exercise is to completely miss the point. If others are involved, take even longer (ask later whether they felt hurried, and adjust). You may prefer to make a voice recording with the following instructions: Focus all your awareness on your right big toe .... .... then the other toes of the right foot ... .... then that foot ... .... the ankle............. the calf.............. the knee... .... the thigh ... .... Then left big toe...........then other left toes..........then that foot...........the ankle.............the calf.............the knee............the thigh........... Then the right thumb...........then other fingers of the right hand............then the right wrist............the forearm...........the elbow............the upper arm............the right shoulder. Then the left thumb..............then the other fingers of the left hand............then the wrist..............the forearm..............the elbow..............the upper arm................then the left shoulder................then the head................then the chest.................then the abdomen.... ....Then, focus your attention on any sounds you can hear; aeroplanes, traffic noise, children, or dogs barking in the distance................. Then refocus your awareness on your right big toe....................the other toes, and repeat that sequence exactly as before. Next, focus your awareness on the thoughts which come into your mind. Now is not the time to follow those thoughts; just be aware of, and note them. Then refocus your attention on your right big toe, and go through that sequence again..................... Next, refocus on anything you can hear.................. Then, once again, on your right big toe, and repeat that sequence. Then refocus on the thoughts coming into your mind..................... Keep repeating this process for around 20 minutes, at least. Eventually, the mind will tire of this, and reach a state of calm. If you are tired, or physically fatigued, you may find yourself falling asleep. You may then go through the process again. If it occurs regularly, however, ensure you are getting adequate sleep, and not running a "sleep deficit", like so many people in modern Western society, who are materially rich, but time poor. Try practising it earlier in the day, when you are alert, and rested. Otherwise, it should be regarded as an attempt by the negative part of your mind to resist change, which it regards as moving into unknown territory: a frightening prospect, for some people. Exercise determination, and persevere with the process". Last edited by CLICKHEREx; Today at 13:02. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ herbavore Moderator Today 12:48 I like to think of psychedelic drugs as opening perception, erasing the usual borders and limitations so that we are able to experience, if briefly, the true nature of being; being part of this gloriously complex web of all life. Trips do end and hopefully there is time to sit with the depth of what you experienced for a good long time before the responsibility of daily living knocks at your door. But is that an attachment? That has not been my experience. The author, like so many other seekers I read, fails to see that he is attached to his practice, to a set of beliefs and traditions (in this case Buddhism), to the idea (and it is after all only an idea) that attachment is the cause of suffering. The author's experience with psychedelics was during his adolescence; so was mine, and I can relate to what he said about craving more and more experiences like that at that time in my life. But eventually I did not crave most of what I craved (and was attached to) back then. I haven't done a psychedelic drug in over 40 years. I certainly don't think of it anywhere near as much as I think about my meditation practice. Using words like crave and attachment amp up the conversation unnecessarily. I don't crave meditation, but I do want to do it every day. Why do people feel the need to quantify and qualify everything so much? When I heard John Coltrane for the first time, my world expanded. I carry that experience, appreciate what it gave me and have continued to listen to his music, along with all the other music that touches me, throughout my life. I have an attachment to music. I don't crave it every moment of my life I simply love the places it takes me. The same way the author loved sitting in the forest and seeing those butterflies--through his stillness he was able to perceive the beauty around him and to open deeply to it. I think his article would have made more sense to me if it was comparing the addiction some people develop to having to constantly be in an altered state using psychedelics, but to simply compare their use to a spiritual practice and then to come to the conclusion that they are simply another "need" or desire is way off the mark. If a person chooses to trip once a month with the intention of exploration into their creativity or their spirituality, how is that different from fasting once a month or taking part in a sweat lodge? It never ceases to amaze me how people can become so blinded by dogma that is purportedly aimed at transcending judgment. I once heard a (western) friend that is Buddhist say, "Buddhists hate all drugs". I told her that was like saying "Buddhists hate flowers." And just one last point, although it is a minor one:terminally ill cancer patients experiencing anxiety don't have a lot of time to become accustomed to a "practice". While mindfulness techniques and guided meditations are no doubt profoundly helpful, why in the world would anyone want to deny them the immediate benefits demonstrated by the NYU study?

http://motherboard.vice.com/en_uk/blog/the-fbi-is-using-its-stash-of-secure-tor-emails-to-hunt-criminals?trk_source=recommended [older] January 27, 2014 Photo via flickr/Carsten Lorentzen When the FBI seized the Tor network's top web host, Freedom Hosting, in August, it took down the largest child pornography ring online—quite the feather in the agency's cap. But it also gave the feds access to every record of every anonymous site hosted by Freedom Hosting, including TorMail, the secure email provider used by criminals, journalists, and dissidents alike. The breach left users of the now-defunct TorMail wringing their hands, wondering who was trolling through their secret emails. How would the government use this new data bonanza? Could the FBI mine the information in the deanonymized emails to track cybercriminals? Unnervingly, it looks like the answer is yes. Newly released court documents show that the FBI has access to entire TorMail inboxes and has used the information to make arrests in crimes unrelated to the Freedom Hosting bust. Last week the agency announced it made a series of arrests around the counterfeit credit card marketplace Fakeplastic, including the website's administer Sean Roberson, Brian Krebs first reported. The cops tracked down Roberson through thousands of web orders that had been sent to his Tor email account, one of many the agency’s been sitting on. Notably, the FBI did obtain a search warrant before looking through the suspect's emails—unlike the NSA's unfettered access to Americans' online communications. But it's still a huge blow for email users who relied on the onion network to evade law enforcement or the government's prying eyes. As a rule, TorMail refused to hand over information to the feds, even when subpoenaed or presented with a court order. Experts suspect the FBI hacked Freedom Hosting this summer by infecting the Tor browser, a souped-up version of Firefox, with malicious code. (The Tor Project pointed out at the time that compromising the software behind a hosting company was not the same as infiltrating the onion network itself.) TorMail was seized in the malware attack. The court documents explain: In connection with an unrelated criminal investigation, the FBI obtained a copy of a computer server located in France via a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request to France, which contained data and information from the Tormail email server, including the content of Tormail e-mail accounts. On or about September 24, 2013, law enforcement obtained a search warrant to search the contents of the Platplus Tormail Account, which resided on the seized Tormail server. Should we expect to see more of this? Well, savvy denizens of the Deep Web know that no encryption service is 100 percent safe, and you still have to take smart precautions to protect your ass. TorMail messages were sent in plain text unless users also encrypted them through PCP or similar services. However, cybercriminals trading on the black market can't force their customers to also encrypt every message. Any sloppy mistakes or laziness can theoretically now be exploited by law enforcement. Indeed, when Freedom Hosting was seized this summer, the "Dread Pirate Roberts" posted a warning on the Silk Road website to TorMail users (H/T Wired): "You must think back through your tormail usage and assume everything you wrote there and didn't encrypt can be read by law enforcement at this point and take action accordingly. I personally did not use the service for anything important, and hopefully neither did any of you." (Many people assumed the feds would get DPR next, and sure enough Ross Ulbricht was arrested about two months later.) The TorMail-aided arrest comes on the heels of a bruising week for the privacy network. Last week scientists discovered 25 exit nodes were being hosted by “bad actors” deliberately trying to sabotage the onion router’s encryption. The research paper called them "spoiled onions.” A couple days after that, a separate research team revealed the increasing popularity of "Sniper Attacks" used against Tor to de-anonymize the network without revealing the identity of the attacker. In response to that "devastating" news, the Tor Project published a blog post describing how to protect against an attack.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-29/scientists-urge-who-to-resist-e-cigarette-crackdown/5487654 By Lindy Kerin Updated Fri 30 May 2014, 7:36am AEST An e-cigarette sits next to a vial of nicotine Photo: E-cigarettes deliver nicotine without the smoke. (Public Health Department) Related Story: E-cigarettes with illegal nicotine spark health warning Map: Russian Federation A group of scientists and researchers is calling on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to resist the urge to crack down on e-cigarettes. The vapour cigarettes do deliver nicotine and a leaked document suggests that the WHO is looking to put them in the same category as regular cigarettes and declare them a threat to public health. The smokeless e-cigarettes are expected to be high on the agenda when the health organisation's tobacco control meeting is held in Moscow, Russia in October. Professor Gerry Stimson from Imperial College in London says he is concerned WHO may be dismissing the positive effects of the vapour cigarettes. "They want to include them [e-cigarettes] in this big international convention on tobacco products, so it's kind of sending the message that e-cigarettes are like every other tobacco product and are therefore risky and dangerous," he said. "We think that's sending a wrong message, but also, we think that WHO should be looking at the potential for the positive health effects of e-cigarettes." Professor Stimson has joined forces with more than 50 scientists and researchers from around the globe working in the field of tobacco control and public health policy to put forward their case to the director-general of WHO. "Many people are not really happy with nicotine patches and gums and at long last we have something which allows people to use nicotine, but not to die from the smoke," he said. "That's the problem, people smoke for the nicotine, but they die from the smoke." Professor Stimson is calling on WHO to show "courageous leadership" when considering their stance on e-cigarettes. "There's a big chance to do something really good, really powerful which will help to bring an end to smoking." Too many questions remain: Australian scientist Five Australians were among the signatories, but missing was Professor Simon Chapman from Sydney University's School of Public Health. At long last we have something which allows people to use nicotine, but not to die from the smoke. Professor Gerry Stimson He says he does not support the push because there are too many unanswered questions about e-cigarettes. "The main question that seems to be out there is whether they genuinely do help people quit smoking and the evidence which is in so far suggests that, by far and away, the most likely outcome for somebody who is a cigarette smoker and who starts using e-cigarettes is that they use both, they continue smoking, they reduce their smoking a little bit," he said. While it may appear that cutting back is a good thing, Professor Chapman says smoking less does little to reduce the risk. "The evidence that's around from quite a large number of studies now shows that in fact, reducing smoking if you've been smoking for a long time is actually not going to reduce your risk. It's only cessation of smoking which actually reduces risk," he said. While Western Australia has already banned e-cigarettes, Professor Chapman says the decision of WHO has the potential to drive change around the world. "[WHO] can't ... of course order any country to do anything," he said. "But there are now 174 countries around the world who have signed up to the WHO's framework convention on tobacco control, so 174 countries seem to think that what the WHO says on tobacco control at large is worth following. "So if they were to arrive at a position on e-cigarettes and of course, they haven't got a position at the moment, I think that that would probably be quite influential."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/zoo-shoots-worker-gorilla-suit-tranquilizer-loro-parque_n_5452715.html The Huffington Post | By Sara Gates Posted: 06/05/2014 [onsite links*] If it looks like a gorilla and walks like a gorilla, it's a gorilla -- right? Not always, as one zoo worker in the Canary Islands learned this week. According to local Spanish reports, a veterinarian at Tenerife's Loro Parque zoo mistakenly shot a tranquilizer dart into an employee dressed in a gorilla suit. The disguised worker fell to the ground and was soon transported to a local hospital. He arrived in serious condition, reportedly from an allergic reaction to the dart, which contained a powerful sedative capable of putting down a gorilla. La Opinión de Tenerife reports that the man had donned a gorilla suit and was running around the park in a drill to prepare employees for an actual animal escape. The tranquilizer-wielding veterinarian apparently did not know the exercise was in progress and shot the zoo worker in the leg from a distance. Local police arrived at the zoo following reports that a gorilla was loose. The incident was reportedly deemed an accident. It's not the first time Loro Parque has made headlines for safety-related incidents. Orca whales at the zoo's marine park have attacked trainers in the past*, culminating in the death of 29-year-old trainer Alex Martinez in 2009. The Spanish zoo has also been the subject of multiple animal welfare violations*.

http://theconversation.com/how-close-are-we-to-the-fat-fighting-drugs-we-need-27377 6 June 2014, 2.48pm AEST How close are we to the fat-fighting drugs we need? There will always be people extolling the virtues of eating less and moving more for weight loss. But while this may work for overweight people or the newly obese, it’s woefully inadequate for most people… Author Amanda Salis NHMRC Senior Research Fellow in the Boden Insitute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders at University of Sydney Disclosure Statement Amanda Salis receives funding from the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, in the form of research project grants and a Senior Research Fellowship. She is the author of The Don’t Go Hungry Diet (Bantam, Australia and New Zealand, 2007) and Don’t Go Hungry for Life (Bantam, Australia and New Zealand, 2011) and owns shares in a company (Zuman International Pty Ltd) that sells these books. More Events Eating less and exercising works for people who need to lose a little weight but not necessarily for people who’ve carried a lot of excess weight for a long time. Ed Yourdon/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA There will always be people extolling the virtues of eating less and moving more for weight loss. But while this may work for overweight people or the newly obese, it’s woefully inadequate for most people who’ve carried excess weight for decades. While prevention is undoubtedly the best cure for obesity, better treatments – including anti-obesity drugs – are desperately needed for the 671 million people worldwide who are already obese. Weight loss through dietary modification, exercise, or diet and exercise combined, results in powerful adaptive responses that leave people feeling significantly hungrier, as well as with reduced energy expenditure (the number of kilojoules the body burns through processes such as heart muscle contraction, keeping warm and physical activities). This “famine reaction” is part of the reason for the weight regain that so many people experience after weight-loss programs. Drugs that either reduce appetite or increase energy expenditure – or both – could help people overcome this reaction, increasing their chances of keeping the weight off after weight-loss interventions. A glimmer of hope But medications for weight loss have a frightfully chequered past. Almost all the pharmaceutical products that broke through to the market place are no longer legally available anywhere in the world due to safety concerns. These drugs often act on the brain to affect appetite and energy expenditure. And because the brain controls so many vital functions, including the heart, digestive and reproductive functions as well as emotions, the drugs often have undesirable side-effects such as increasing cardiovascular events or elevating the risk of suicide. In Australia, only two of five drugs still have approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration for use as weight-loss agents (phentermine, which is sold as Duromine, and orlistat, which is sold as Xenical). In the United States, topiramate (an anticonvulsant medication sold as Topamax) is also legally available when used in low doses, in combination with phentermine. While these drugs offer some help to people who have been obese and are struggling to keep weight off, they’re not the perfect solution. All have side effects, and phentermine is only effective for around 12 weeks, after which the body develops tolerance. But two papers published recently in the journal Cell offer hope. Scientists have discovered a pathway that could lead to new medications to help people to lose excess weight and keep it off. The work is especially promising because pharmaceutical agents based on manipulating the newly-discovered pathway wouldn’t need to reach the central nervous system to be effective. It’s the impact of past weight-loss drugs on the central nervous system that have led to unaccepted side-effects. A certain type of fat cell is transformed into ‘furnaces’ that burn fat when young bodies are exposed to cold temperatures. Patricio Maldonado/Flickr, CC BY-NC The science of this new discovery This is what you need to know to understand why this new research is a breakthrough in the field. Young adult humans have a type of fat cell (adipocyte) within their fat depots (white adipose tissue) that are capable of transforming from energy-storing cells that stockpile fat into “furnaces” that burn fat. This generates heat, increases energy expenditure and reduces body fat levels. The transformation is triggered when a young human or animal is exposed to cold temperatures (during winter, for instance), or in response to strength-building resistance training. The transformed cells turn beige from the colour of the large number of energy-burning mitochondria they contain. Since the discovery of beige fat in adult humans, scientists have been trying to work out what it is about the response to cold or strength training that makes white fat turn beige. That mechanism could become the target for drugs to help people lose excess weight and keep it off. Using different strategies, two teams of scientists who have published research in Cell discovered that a type of white blood cell known as eosinophils migrates into white fat after cold exposure or resistance training. These eosinophils release hormones that cause a type of immune cell within white fat to produce another hormone, which entices neighbouring white fat cells to turn into beige fat cells. By mimicking this pathway experimentally, both teams were able to increase the overall energy expenditure of obese animals with diabetes or pre-diabetes, resulting in significant losses of body fat despite no decrease in food intake and no increase in physical activity. They also observed marked reductions in the severity of diabetes or pre-diabetes. It was previously thought that obesity treatments based on stimulating beige fat might require agents that act on the brain because it’s a regulator of processes that influence energy expenditure. Now it seems we could circumvent the brain to stimulate beige fat. Medications based on this newly discovered pathway may have fewer side effects. But a note of caution, discoveries take years – often decades – to pass from bench to bedside, costing millions of dollars in research and increasingly rigorous safety testing to get there. It will require years of research to determine the best way to intervene in this pathway. And ultimately, it’s likely that more than one such pathway will need to be manipulated in order to achieve clinically significant weight loss. There will be better pharmaceutical agents to help treat obesity in the future, but it won’t be tomorrow.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/the-secret-to-the-perfect-cup-of-coffee-revealed-9501365.html 6 June 2014 Scientists have cracked the secret behind what most cafés have been claiming to have for years – the perfect cup of coffee. And the secret ingredient is surprisingly simple. As it turns out, the key to good cup depends on the hardness of the water used. Experts used compositional chemistry methods to examine the impact of different kinds of water on the flavour of coffee to find that reasonably hard water had the best results. Findings in a new paper show that it made a “dramatic difference” to the quality of coffee. And while high bicarbonate levels were bad for flavour, high magnesium ion levels were found to increase the extraction of coffee into water. According to Christopher Hendon, chemist at the University of Bath, sodium-rich water – such as that produced from water softeners - didn’t release the flavour’s full potential. Hendon, who along with UK Barista Champion Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood is preparing to represent the UK in the World Barista Championships in Italy, said: “Coffee beans contain hundreds of chemicals; the precise composition depends on the type of bean and how it is roasted. ”The flavour of the resulting coffee is determined by how much of these chemicals are extracted by the water, which is influenced by roast profile, grind, temperature, pressure and brew time. “We've found that the water composition is key to the proportions of sugars, starches, bases and acids extracted from a particular roast.” Mr Colonna-Dashwood, who owns Colonna and Small's coffee shop in Bath and is a co-author on the paper, said starting with a “reasonably hard” tap water achieved the best results. But taste perfection might not be top of everyone’s agenda, he added: “Traditionally the coffee-making industry is most concerned about using water that doesn't scale up their machines.”

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/federal-government-announces-tough-new-penalties-in-synthetic-drugs-blitz/story-fnhocxo3-1226862129370 EXCLUSIVE YASMINE PHILLIPS PerthNow March 22, 2014 6:00PM Preston Bridge, who died died in a fall from a Scarborough hotel balcony after taking synthetic LSD. Source: Supplied AUSTRALIANS caught importing synthetic LSD will face at least two years in jail under tough new penalties aimed at stemming the deadly drug of choice for many teenagers. Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan will today announce four substances marketed as synthetic LSD will be added to the list of drugs that attract serious penalties up to life imprisonment Currently, the penalty for importing the substances often sold as Smiles, N-Bomb and Pandora, and usually bought over the internet is just a fine three times the value of the product. The development comes a week after four students at the City Beach Residential College were taken to hospital after taking a substance believed to be synthetic LSD. It has also been just over a year since 16-year-old Preston Bridge died in a fall from a Scarborough hotel balcony after taking synthetic LSD, understood to have been bought by another person from an international website that has since been shut down. WA Police Minister Liza Harvey, who has been in discussions with Mr Keenan, said: Parents and families across WA want these drugs out of the community and out of our kids hands. Prestons dad Rod Bridge welcomed the tougher penalties, saying synthetic drugs were more dangerous than illicit drugs because they were cheap and accessible to teens. A tab of this stuff is $1.50 or $2 teenagers will buy it for $2 but they wont go and buy an ecstasy tablet for $50, he said. I think the penalty for synthetic drugs should be more than your illicit drugs like ecstasy and heroin to be honest with you. Its readily available, you can make it or you can go on the internet and buy it and do what you like with it. This is a killer. The hallucinogenic drugs, called NBOMes, are intended to mimic the effects of LSD and can cause hallucinations, paranoia, cardiovascular complications, seizures, hyperthermia, organ failure and death. Mr Keenan, a West Australian, said federal regulations will be amended within weeks to add four synthetic LSD substances to the list of substances that attract the same penalties as serious drug offences. Synthetic drugs are deadly, and anyone bringing these types of drugs into the country are on notice; they face serious importation penalties, he said. Theres nothing synthetic about the damage these drugs cause. Ms Harvey said: Stopping these drugs at our borders means WA Police dont have to stop them on our streets. I welcome the decision by the Federal Government to introduce tough new laws to help us combat this scourge.

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/06/colorado-sells-19-million-cannabis-march-1-9-million-goes-schools-crime-10.html 2 June, 2014 at 08:02 http://themindunleashed.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/coloradoo.jpg All the naysayers who were against marijuana legalization are eating crow about now. Colorado’s weed sales just keep trending up, and with the sales of legal weed, they are improving their schools and reducing overall crime rates. Not counting medicinal weed sales, Colorado sold nearly $19 million in their recreational weed market in the month of March, and $1.9 million of that goes straight into government coffers and towards building schools. At this pace, according to PolicyMic, Colorado will make $30 million this year in pot taxes alone. What’s even more promising is that these numbers are still low estimates, as the recreational and medicinal marijuana markets (coinciding just fine, take note Washington) are likely to keep trending upward. Many say that a figure closer to $60 million in weed tax revenue is a more likely assumption. Medical marijuana is also not as heavily taxes as recreational marijuana, and hopefully it will stay that way. The cherry on top of this tax-generating cake? Crime rates are also down in Colorado, so while kids are hopefully going to get a better education, the government (idealistically) will spend more money improving infrastructure and other business opportunities for Colorado citizens, and unemployment rates are plummeting. The Colorado police can take a little rest from their duties. Crime rates in Colorado have dropped by 10.6% while Dunkin Donuts has begun expanding its brand in the state (really). It looks like a really good future for people living in Colorado, or any state that legalizes both medical and recreational marijuana – though it is admittedly too early to tell. Read: Colorado Crime Rates Down 14.6% Since Marijuana Legalization Is it ludicrous to conclude that perhaps happy, smokers of marijuana have no time for violence and expend their energy elsewhere? Probably, but it’s looking more and more like a reality. When you legalize this plant, people have less to be angry about–and less angry people means less crime. The only draw-back of legalization in Colorado? It’s snowing in May. But only Nancy Grace would attribute that to ganja and not global warming. And whether Nancy and the haters like it or not, more recreational dispensaries are coming to Denver, Boulder, and beyond. According to Weedmaps, there are currently 97 recreational dispensaries in Colorado, and that number should hit 100 in the next few weeks – likely climbing higher. And higher. And higher.