CLICKHEREx
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http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/730479-Study-Social-Media-May-Be-Just-As-Addicting-As-Other-Vices-Drugs-and-Alcohol
neversickanymore View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 10,528 Today 06:37 Study: Social Media May Be Just As Addicting As Other Vices, Drugs and Alcohol
July 26, 2014
(WWJ) — Many consider social media as a “serious hobby,” but a report from Harvard University explains that social media addiction can be just as problematic as any other addiction.
The study shows that disclosing information about yourself via social media can trigger the same sensations as eating or drinking. Dr. Gerald Shiener of Birmingham specializes in addiction psychiatry and said that social media can be as addicting as any drug.
“People gravitate to social media because it’s a way to seem like you’re contacting people while you take no risk,” Shiener said. “You sit at you computer, people can’t see how you look, people can’t see your tone of voice, whether you’re smiling or not and you can really control what you show — that’s very safe communication.”
When it comes to young people, Shiener said that parents should be aware of what’s going on with their children.
“They have to have rules in the house,” Shiener said. “No texting at the dinner table; a certain amount of time that has to be spent outside your room — I’m not very big on letting kids have their own computers in their own room. Let them us their computers in public areas — the house — so people can see what they’re doing.
“Kids at that age shouldn’t have anything to hide.”
Shiener pointed out that it isn’t just youngsters who get addicted to social media — adults also lose the ability to interact with people if exposed too much to social media.
The Harvard report indicated that a person may be addicted if they post to social media in the middle of a crisis before calling for help or if they ignore the person sitting right next to them in favor of sending a post
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/07/...-and-drinking/ -
21 Jul 2014
Source: Dayton Daily News (OH)
Website: http://www.daytondailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/120
MARIJUANA EDIBLES GROW
Cottage Industry Rises for Medical, Recreational Uses.
( AP ) - Move over, pot brownies.
The proliferation of marijuana edibles for both medical and recreational purposes is giving rise to a cottage industry of baked goods, candies, infused oils, cookbooks and classes that promises a slow burn as more states legalize the practice and awareness spreads about the best ways to deliver the drug.
Edibles and infused products such as snack bars, olive oils and tinctures popular with medical marijuana users have flourished into a gourmet market of chocolate truffles, whoopie pies and hard candies as Colorado and Washington legalized the recreational use of marijuana in the past year.
"You're seeing a lot of these types of products like cannabis cookbooks," said Erik Altieri, spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "They've always been popular among a subset of marijuana, but with the fact that more and more people from the mainstream are able to consume, there's a lot more interest."
Many pot users turn to edibles because they don't like to inhale or smell the smoke or just want variety. For many people who are sick or in pain, controlled doses of edibles or tinctures can deliver a longer-lasting therapeutic dose that doesn't give them the high.
And there's money to be made.
BlueKudu, in Denver, started producing marijuana chocolate bars for medicinal purposes three years ago. Since recreational use became legal this year in Colorado, owner Andrew Schrot said, the wholesale business has more than doubled its sales from several hundred chocolate bars sold a day through dispensaries to more than 1,000, at $9 to $17 a piece.
"There seems to be quite a bit of intrigue about the infused products from the general public and consumer, especially tourists," Schrot said.
Cooking classes have sprung up. One in Denver - led by a chef who has turned out chocolate-covered bacon and Swedish meatballs with a marijuana-infused glaze - has grown so popular that it will be offered every week in August. It's also part of a vacation package that provides pot tourists with a stay at a cannabis-friendly hotel ( vaporizer and private smoke deck included ), a visit to dispensaries and growing operations, and the cooking class.
Students are advised not to smoke before they come to class because there's a lot to learn about the dosing and they will be sampling foods along the way.
"By the end of the class, everybody's pretty stoned," said founder J.J. Walker.
Mountain High Suckers in Denver sells lollipops and lozenges for medical marijuana users and plans to release treats for recreational users at the end of August. The company hopes they will take off.
"People are turning the corner and making lots of money in the rec department, and we expect to almost double the business in a year," said Chad Tribble, co-owner of Mountain High Suckers in Denver.
High Times, a 40-year old monthly magazine based in New York, has always featured a cooking column with a recipe. At least 40,000 people attended its Cannabis Cup in Denver in April, a sort of trade show that includes judging of marijuana edibles, said editor-inchief Chris Simunek.
"Like everything else in marijuana at the moment, it's sort of experiencing a renaissance where the more people get interested, the more experiments they do with it," Simunek said.
The magazine said its "Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook" is the top-selling title of the five it offers.
It's not just a hobby or business; there's a science involved.
THC, marijuana's psychoactive chemical, must be smoked or heated - as in cooked - to be activated. When ingested rather than inhaled, it provides a longer-lasting and often more intense feeling.
Users of pot edibles, such as cookies, are often advised to eat only a portion so they don't get too high. Education about proper dosing has become a priority after at least one death and a handful of hospital visits were linked to consuming too much of an edible.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n608/a04.html?397 -
- LIA HARRIS
- The Sunday Telegraph
- July 26, 2014 7:21PM
Channel Seven news captured these dramatic images of the arrest in Neutral Bay. Picture: Courtesy Channel Seven
TWO suspected Mexican drug dealers have been charged after being dramatically arrested at gunpoint in front of stunned onlookers in Neutral Bay.
Police believe Federico Gonzalez Magana, 32, and Juan Vergara Rodriguez, 49, are part of a drug cartel targeting Australia.
The pair were pulled from a car in traffic by gun-wielding officers on Friday afternoon before being handcuffed in front of a nearby shop.
The incident was filmed by a passer-by on their mobile phone.
Police later revealed they had allegedly found $30 million worth of drugs during raids across Sydney — the equivalent of 300,000 street deals.
Police draw their weapons on two suspected drug dealers. Picture: Channel Seven
Police pull over the suspected drug dealers in Neutral Bay. Picture: Channel Seven
Following a tip-off, officers searched properties in Manly, Pennant Hills and Moore Park on Friday, seizing about 30kgs of a substance believed to be crystal meth.
Officers also seized two guns and about $2 million, suspected to be proceeds of crime.
AFP Serious and Organised Crime Commander Scott Lee said the arrests were the result of a joint operation with the Australian Crime Commission.
“This joint-agency operation is testament to our combined determination to stopping criminals from profiting from the importation of drugs into Australia”, Commander Lee said.
Both men were charged with possessing a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs suspected of having been imported and dealing in money suspected to be proceeds of crime.
They were refused bail after appearing in court via video link and will face Central Local Court on Wednesday.
If convicted, they could face life in prison.
Tests are still being carried out to determine the purity of the drugs seized.
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http://www.naturalnews.com/046163_cancer_is_curable_now_documentary_Gerson_Therapy.html *
July 25, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) We live in a world of outrageous lies fronted by corporate interests, but one of the fundamental undeniable truths of biology is that cancer is curable.
The cures have been known for decades, and they're readily within reach of people everywhere. But we are not allowed to have any knowledge of these cures for the simple reason that the cancer industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry that needs disease to stay in business.
Today, I invite you to watch a documentary called "Cancer is Curable NOW" by Marcus and Sabrina Freudenmann who now run the Truly Heal website.
Three years after its original release, the full documentary is available on Youtube as shown below.
A high-definition version is only offered on Programs.NaturalNews.com for sale, which helps support the filmmakers and Natural News.
The direct link on Youtube is:
Learn from the wisdom of over 30 holistic health experts
Cancer is Curable NOW pulls together wisdom from more than 30 international holistic professionals who have been working passionately in the field of cancer alternatives -- doctors, scientists, researchers and writers from around the world.
Most of us have probably heard about many of these experts in books and on television, but this documentary brings their knowledge together and condenses the most important elements into a 90-minute documentary that will forever enlighten you on the REAL cures for cancer.
To create this film, Marcus and Sabrina interviewed a vast array of experts from both the English-speaking world and foreign locales, such as doctors from cancer clinics in Mexico and Germany. The documentary allows viewers to experience the treatments used in the top clinics around the world such as ozone therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, insulin potentiated treatments and all the forms of hyperthermia -- AND hear the top doctors from these clinics explaining in depth how each treatment works.
Watch the FULL, free documentary here*
Learn more from the filmmakers at www.TrulyHeal.com
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/046163_cancer_is_curable_now_documentary_Gerson_Therapy.html#ixzz38eu4AwHs-
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http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/730414-School-children-as-young-as-eight-to-be-taught-about-the-dangers-of-illegal-drugs
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Posts 8,371 Today 08:33 School children as young as eight to be taught about the dangers of illegal drugs
CHILDREN as young as eight will be taught about the dangers of drugs under the new national school curriculum to be rolled out in classrooms across the country.
Students from Year 3 will learn how to respond to unsafe situations involving illegal drugs, tobacco, alcohol, performance-enhancing drugs, prescription drugs, bush and alternative medicines, energy drinks and caffeine.
Drug problems in NSW public schools soared last year with serious incidents increasing from 48 reports during the first two terms to 127 in the second half of the year.
The current NSW personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE) syllabus states that by the end of Year 4 students should discuss reasons why people use drugs for medical and non-medical purposes.
DO YOU THINK KIDS SHOULD BE TAUGHT ABOUT DRUGS? TELL US BELOW
But Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia spokesman Paul Dillon said this does not happen. He said primary schools currently gave lessons about medicines and smoking but did not broach illicit substances and alcohol.
“We live in a very different world to the one we lived in 20 years ago. We have young people through social and mass media who are exposed to so much more,” he said.
“I suppose the curriculum has to match that so if some thing pops up teachers can respond appropriately and are not overstepping what it says.”
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, which drafted the national curriculum earlier this year, has said it was now ready to roll out into schools.
It said it would be up to states and schools to “decide the appropriateness and timeliness of what to teach and when”.
General Manager Dr Phil Lambert said ACARA had consulted “rigorously” in developing the Australian curriculum including the education program on drugs and alcohol.
“ACARA is committed to ensuring students receive a holistic education encompassing a wide variety of subjects that help them develop into healthy, well-adjusted adults able to make informed decisions,” he said.
The Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards (BOTSES) will implement the curriculum through its own syllabuses which NSW public, independent and catholic schools follow.
Child Psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said drug education for primary school children should be age-appropriate.
“It is very much dependent on what they teach, it is clearly not appropriate for kids in Grade 3 to know about the harm minimisation techniques to taking ice or heroin safely,” he said.
“What is appropriate is they learn the concept of illicit drugs and tobacco and alcohol and they learn the concept of medical drugs.”
DO YOU THINK KIDS SHOULD BE TAUGHT ABOUT DRUGS? TELL US BELOW
Bourke Street Public School mother Missy Lieser said she would be okay if the school taught her children Olivia, 5, and Joshua, 4, about drugs in Year 3 as long as it was not too intense.
“My first instinct is that it’s great, my other instinct is that it’s too young,” she said.
“Year 3 is pretty young to get into hardcore issues but to start talking about it is good.
“Families should discuss it first but for those families that don’t then it needs to be discussed and they’re the children who probably need it most.”
BOTSES spokesman Michael Charlton said the board would meet with experts, teachers and other education stakeholders before deciding when and how the NSW PDHPE would be reviewed for incorporation with the national curriculum.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...4467145828dfae
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#2 Cliffy78 View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Posts 438 Today 08:47 I remember when I was young and they had started D.A.R.E(drug abuse resistance education-I think) here in the states I was in 2nd grade I think, but they showed us coke and weed and asked us if we ever saw our parents use these drugs. They tried to get us to rat our parents out. It's real crazy now that I look back. Reminds me of nazi Germany a little with the rat out your neighbor type theme. If your gonna teach kids to "just say no " that's fine and dandy, but to try to get 7yr olds to unknowingly rat on they're parents is just wrong IMO.
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#3 poledriver View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 8,371 Today 08:52 ^ Yeah that's shit.
I can't recall any 'drug education' kind of stuff in my primary school yrs, but it might be that I've just partied too hard in later years and forgot it if we did do any. Last edited by poledriver; Today at 10:02.
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#4 neversickanymore View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 10,522 Today 09:38 Brain washing them early. RECOVERY FORUMS ~~~ADDICTION GUIDE~~~ CONTACT ME
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#5 Frydea View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 123 Today 11:17 What a joke. For some reason I don't remember the DARE program being as big a deal in my elementary school as others (I was that age in the late 90s/early 2000s in Los Angeles). I think a couple cops came in an gave us a lecture or two on how we shouldn't smoke or do drugs, but it was never an actual program like I've heard it described in other schools. What I remember most was that even at that young age a lot of the kids though it was a joke, and we would all say that DARE stood for dumb ass retarded education lolol
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#6 my3rdeye View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 934 Today 13:21 I remember the drug lecture back in the late 80's we got. A big heavy metal kid asked the cop if he ever drinks a nice cold beer after a long days work. The cop replied in the affirmative. The rocker then pointed out that the teachers all went out after work and were seen at the bar too. He asked how can they all be so hypocritical as they were all drug users as well. Cops and teachers really hate being called drug users.
You can't tell kids not to do drugs then go get shit faced yourself. You can't lecture them about using alcohol safely and not give the same lecture about safe drug use. That gives the impression one is okay and the other is not. For years there has been this unspoken alcohol is okay message we give kids. You can't just stand up there saying "bad bad bad" when you do it too. Kids see right thru that.
Anyway drugs have nothing to do with children I am sick of the debate always going that way. I am an adult and should be able to do what I want. If you cant keep your kids away from drugs that is not my problem it's yours.
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#7 toothpastedog View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Blog Entries21 Today 13:30 I'd be more concerned with what kids will be taught and will consequently learn about drugs and any other potentially high risk activity than the fact they are learning about them. If they were presented with, hopefully in appropriate ways given their age regarding explicit or developmentally sensitive material, the reality or "truth" as related to drugs that would be best. Then it's hard for kids to figure this stuff out for themselves at this age, and that's ultimately what's important.
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#8 Corazon View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 788 Today 13:55 Originally Posted by Frydea
What a joke. For some reason I don't remember the DARE program being as big a deal in my elementary school as others (I was that age in the late 90s/early 2000s in Los Angeles). I think a couple cops came in an gave us a lecture or two on how we shouldn't smoke or do drugs, but it was never an actual program like I've heard it described in other schools. What I remember most was that even at that young age a lot of the kids though it was a joke, and we would all say that DARE stood for dumb ass retarded education lolol
My parents had enough sense to lie about our address, so that I could go to the better public school.
My DARE program didn't try to trick us into ratting out our parent's drug use either. Just cops who gave us football cards, and had me convinced until I was older that marijuana would kill you.
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#9 szuko000 View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Blog Entries1 Today 16:25 We had dare when I was in 4th grade. To be honest it's way too bias and starts way to early. Telling kids drugs are bad is great I'm all for telling them to say no when they are 5-8. I think it's important children learn to not take random things, as far as why and the dangers associated no.
They should then revisit the topic years later 12-16 and give an In depth harm reduction-esk class (as this is school and they won't teach the best way to inject) fear mongering and creating couriosity through making a forbidden fruit is bad.
When I was in HS I was good enough friends with the health teacher to do 3 freshmen "intro to drugs" class and a week long advanced drug course for my senior class. He was only cool with it because of how it was conducted tried to be as non bias and come off as not at all glamorizing. It was great and if I even helped one mind it was worth all the extra work for no reason. That is how it should be tought
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#10 CLICKHEREx View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles
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Posts118Today 18:02
Why aren't they also informing them of the hazards of legal drugs at the same time?
And the "just say no" campaign worked really well, didn't it? (sarcasm).
Their peer group will have far more influence than any govt. indoctrination / propaganda program. -
By Josh BavasUpdated Sat 26 Jul 2014, 12:33pm AEST
Patrons of the popular Byron Bay music festival Splendour in the Grass say a NSW police operation targeting drugs may promote irresponsible behaviour.
Police say the operation targeting illicit drugs has been set up to prevent people smuggling contraband into the licensed festival venue.
However, some people attending the three-day festival said the police operation would simply prompt people to take their drugs quickly to avoid detection.
NSW police drug detection dogs have been screening revellers at the entrance gates since Wednesday.
By Friday afternoon, 113 people had been caught with drugs.
Police had seized more than one kilogram of cannabis, pills and powder.
The festival is expected to attract more than 27,000 people from across the country with headline acts such as Angus and Julia Stone, Outkast, Lily Allen and Hilltop Hoods.
Superintendent Stuart Wilkins said while most people partied responsibly, there were always some who thought they could get away with smuggling drugs inside.
There’s a lot of talk about [how] people see the dogs and they take four pills at once then freak out.
Lewis Tito, Splendour in the Grass patron"It's one of the largest music festivals in Australia ... and we seize more drugs here and detain more people for the possession of drugs than anywhere else in the state," he said.
"This is about harm minimisation, and it's about protecting the people who come here to make sure they don't take drugs.
"We see the after effects of people who do take drugs. We see the ice-addicts and those who suffer significantly through mental illness."
Drug dogs 'freak people out': Splendour patron
Festival-goer Lewis Tito said the dogs scared people.
"There's a lot of talk about [how] people see the dogs and they take four pills at once and then freak out," he said.
Fellow Splendour patron Chris Rainback agreed.
"Yeah it's definitely going to cause something like that to happen and that's dangerous you know," he said.
"That's going to create issues."
Several high-profile bands have spoken out against special drug detection operations like these, for fear people will swallow drugs to avoid being caught.
Earlier this week, Dan McNamee from the band Art vs Science spoke to Triple J's Hack program, urging authorities to remove the drug detection dogs from the event.
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Those people who take drugs along to festivals, and wearing freshly laundered clothing, donned after showering, washing their hands thoroughly in soapy water, and carrying such drugs well sealed and preferably at a considerably higher level, to minimise the stream of scent molecules that are constantly being emitted from reaching a sniffer dog's nose, which is low to the ground, would theoretically be much less liable to detection.
Someone in the pub suggested to me that if they followed in (but not too closely, and not seeming as though they were together) a "decoy", who had no drugs on them, but the scent of cannabis lightly rubbed on their lower legs / footwear, would attract suspicion to them, occupying the police while others passed by unnoticed.
Such a person could state that they had been to a party earlier, but couldn't remember where, as it was the first time they had been there, but some of the partygoers may have been using drugs, although they themselves did not.
That person would then be searched, but, having no drugs on them, would be released, free to attend that festival.
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http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/730415-Repeal-Prohibition-Again-(NY-Times)
poledriver View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 8,369 Today 08:38 By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished.
It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol.
The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.
We reached that conclusion after a great deal of discussion among the members of The Times’s Editorial Board, inspired by a rapidly growing movement among the states to reform marijuana laws.
There are no perfect answers to people’s legitimate concerns about marijuana use.
But neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol, and we believe that on every level — health effects, the impact on society and law-and-order issues — the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization.
That will put decisions on whether to allow recreational or medicinal production and use where it belongs — at the state level.
We considered whether it would be best for Washington to hold back while the states continued experimenting with legalizing medicinal uses of marijuana, reducing penalties, or even simply legalizing all use.
Nearly three-quarters of the states have done one of these.
But that would leave their citizens vulnerable to the whims of whoever happens to be in the White House and chooses to enforce or not enforce the federal law.
The social costs of the marijuana laws are vast. There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to F.B.I. figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives.
Even worse, the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.
There is honest debate among scientists about the health effects of marijuana, but we believe that the evidence is overwhelming that addiction and dependence are relatively minor problems, especially compared with alcohol and tobacco.
Moderate use of marijuana does not appear to pose a risk for otherwise healthy adults. Claims that marijuana is a gateway to more dangerous drugs are as fanciful as the “Reefer Madness” images of murder, rape and suicide.
There are legitimate concerns about marijuana on the development of adolescent brains. For that reason, we advocate the prohibition of sales to people under 21.
Creating systems for regulating manufacture, sale and marketing will be complex.
But those problems are solvable, and would have long been dealt with had we as a nation not clung to the decision to make marijuana production and use a federal crime.
In coming days, we will publish articles by members of the Editorial Board and supplementary material that will examine these questions.
We invite readers to offer their ideas, and we will report back on their responses, pro and con.
We recognize that this Congress is as unlikely to take action on marijuana as it has been on other big issues. But it is long past time to repeal this version of Prohibition.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...tion.html?_r=1
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#2 neversickanymore View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 10,520 Today 14:32 The New York Times Editorial Board
Thank you for making this stand.. now please consider pushing further. RECOVERY FORUMS ~~~ADDICTION GUIDE~~~ CONTACT ME
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#3 poledriver View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 8,369 Today 15:28 New York Times writes editorial saying cost of Marijuana prohibition ‘vast’ compared to alcohol, tobacco impacts
ONE of the United States’ most prestigious newspapers has called for the legalisation of marijuana, comparing the federal ban on cannabis to Prohibition.
In an editorial on Saturday, the New York Times said marijuana laws disproportionately impacting young black men and that addiction and dependence are “relatively minor problems’’ especially compared with alcohol and tobacco.
“It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished,’’ the newspaper said.
“It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol. The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.’’
Noting that the editorial board reached its conclusion after much discussion, the New York Times described the social costs of marijuana laws as “vast.’’
Cont
http://www.news.com.au/world/new-yor...-1227003108628
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#4 CLICKHEREx View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles
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Posts 117 Today 15:32
When an influential newspaper like the New York Times publishes such editorial material, it's time that even conservative politicians realised that American public opinion has changed, so that the majority of the people support the decriminalisation of marijuana.
More people should be contacting their political representatives, and telling them that they will vote for candidates in favour of drug reform. Realistic threats concerning their potential loss of power through the ballot box are one of the few things that will influence politicians to change their position. -
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-26/synthetic-drugs-continue-to-evolve-amid-bans-regulation/5625890 *
By Elise Worthington
Sat 26 Jul 2014
Photo: Packets of synthetic drugs seized by police during raids in Canberra in May 2014. (ABC News)*
Map: Canberra 2600
An emergency room doctor and researcher says prohibition is driving the rate that new synthetic drugs are evolving in Australia.
Synthetic drugs or "legal highs" can be packaged as party pills, herbal highs, bath salts or even plant food, but often contain new and untested chemicals designed to mimic the effects of drugs like cannabis, LSD and amphetamines.
To help stop people using synthetic drugs, the Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australian governments have put a blanket ban on possessing or selling substances other than alcohol, tobacco and food that have a psychoactive effect.
In other states and territories, only specific substances have been banned and new ones were regularly added to the list.
A lot of the time we are ad-libbing our medical therapy just trying to get people over an acute medical intoxication and keep them alive.
Emergency doctor David Caldicott
Dr David Caldicott, a researcher and emergency physician at Canberra's Calvary Hospital, knows how deadly synthetic drugs can be.
He said he saw the impact of these new and increasingly unpredictable drugs on a regular basis.
"Young Australians who consume drugs don't seem to have any sort of conception of moderation so we see a wide variety of novel products used in bizarre ways," he said.
"A lot of the time we are ad-libbing our medical therapy - just trying to get people over an acute medical intoxication and keep them alive."
Dr Caldicott said prohibition was driving the rate at which these substances were evolving.
"When one substance in Australia is banned, the legal process means that there's plenty of time for another one to take its place," he said.
Banning synthetic drugs won't help, user says
The unknown substances are essentially a guinea pig market [but] people are inherently attracted to risk.
Nick Wallis
Nick Wallis, a candidate for the Australian Sex Party, said he had tried a variety of traditional and new psychoactive drugs.
"I've noticed a lot of them don't have as nice a high, so it's not always very pleasant - not the kind of thing that you are always looking for," he said.
"That said though, there are some that were kind of mildly pleasant."
Despite that mixed review, Mr Wallis argued banning synthetic drugs would not help.
"We have extensive research on things like MDMA, on a lot of the traditional amphetamines," he said.
"The unknown substances are essentially a guinea pig market [but] people are inherently attracted to risk."
Attempt made at regulating growing market
Dr Chris Wilkins, from Massey University in New Zealand, said politicians there had taken a different approach by attempting to regulate the growing synthetic drug market.
"The ambition was to make the industry itself more responsible so if you gave the industry the opportunity to get products approved ... they would become a more mature and responsible sector," he said.
But that approach had not worked out exactly as planned.
Last July, some substances were given interim approval to be sold while testing procedures were being finalised.
However, 10 months later the interim laws were scrapped after a growing backlash from the public and local mayors who argued the drugs were damaging communities.
Dr Wilkins said politicians soon discovered the newly legalised synthetic drugs were much more popular than had been anticipated.
"The Ministry of Health have estimated the market was $140 million over just 10 months," he said.
"Of course that industry is going to be interested in pursuing their perspective on how the market should be regulated, much like the alcohol and tobacco industry."
Dr Wilkins said it was a high stakes game and other countries were watching closely.
"If they can get a similar regime rolled out in some bigger markets like Australia or Europe and the UK, then there's going to be a lot of money to be made," he said.
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"To help stop people using synthetic drugs, the Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australian governments have put a blanket ban on possessing or selling substances other than alcohol, tobacco and food that have a psychoactive effect" - This is demonstrably untrue; natural herbal products are still available, and have psychoactive effects, even if generally milder than the synthetics, (with the possible exception of some of the plant & fungi based psychedelics) and there are others, such as nutmeg, and poppyseed which are also available. -
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/jul/25/rand_paul_files_asset_forfeiture
by Phillip Smith, July 25, 2014, 02:56pm, (Issue #845)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has filed a bill to reform federal asset forfeiture laws. Yesterday, he introduced the FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration) ACT, Senate Bill 2644, which would require the government to prove with clear and convincing evidence that the property it wishes to forfeit is connected with a crime.
A modern form of highway robbery?It also takes aim at state and local law enforcement agencies who evade state laws requiring that seized assets go into state general funds or other specified destinations by instead turning their seizures over to a federal agency, which delivers back 80% of the value of the seized goods to the local or state law enforcement agency involved.
The FAIR Act would require that state law enforcement agencies abide by state law when seizing property. It would also remove the profit incentive for forfeiture by redirecting forfeitures' assets from the Attorney General's Asset Forfeiture Fund to the Treasury's General Fund.
"The federal government has made it far too easy for government agencies to take and profit from the property of those who have not been convicted of a crime. The FAIR Act will ensure that government agencies no longer profit from taking the property of U.S. citizens without due process, while maintaining the ability of courts to order the surrender of proceeds of crime," Sen. Paul said.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. As of today, it has no cosponsors. -
http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/730165-Your-Money-Is-Covered-in-Drugs!-Feds-Can-Declare-a-Load-of-Cash-Forfeit-Without-Ever
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Posts 10,492 Yesterday 01:51 Your Money Is Covered in Drugs!: Feds Can Declare a Load of Cash Forfeit Without Ever Proving a Link to Drugs
By Chris Roberts
Wednesday, Jul 9 2014
The cross-country flight from Newark had just touched down at San Francisco International Airport, and Brice Barton was already in trouble.
It was late January, and the Seattle-area man was making his sixth coast-to-coast trip since September. SFO was his layover before a one-way flight to Arcata in Humboldt County. He never made it north.
Within minutes after stepping off the plane, Barton encountered his welcome crew: DEA agents. They'd been tipped off by the TSA back east — the diligent luggage-scanners — that they might find something interesting in Barton's luggage.
Adopting a friendly tone, the drug cops asked if they could search his backpack. He agreed. Nothing. Escorting him to baggage claim, they asked him if he had any drugs in his checked suitcase. He said no, and he was telling the truth. A search, though, turned up $100,000 in cash.
That meant trouble. Barton knew it. "One way it's with Vaseline, and the other without," he told the agents after they fished out the cash, according to their sworn testimony, "either way I'm fucked."
He may be, and so are other people with money in their pockets, technically. Big or small, legitimate or not, any cache of money can be seized and forfeited by the federal government at any time, attorneys and experts say, and for a simple reason.
It's covered in drugs.
Check your pockets. Do you have any bills on you? If so, congratulations: You're carrying drugs.
As much as 80 percent of U.S. currency in circulation has traces of drugs on it, mostly cocaine and methamphetamine. This is not disputed: Even the U.S. Supreme Court takes this as gospel.
After identifying an amount of money they want to take, drug cops have a simple procedure. They get a drug-sniffing dog to tell them if there are drugs on the money, then seize it.
"If they want your money, they get Fido to alert to it," says a defense attorney who works on these cases. "And Fido alerts to everything."
Barton's case is not unique. "This happens everywhere — everywhere there's a major airport," said Rory Little, a law professor at UC Hastings who spent much of the coke-crazed 1980s as a United States Attorney in San Francisco. In those days, the forfeiture unit in the office was a quiet bunch, doing its work in an unglamorous corner of the office.
But members were always a hit at the annual Christmas party: They raked in millions, essentially providing the cash to keep the office going.
Forfeitures also work in another unique way that's stacked against the cash-carrier. In all other areas of law, the burden of proof is on the accuser: The prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt someone is guilty of wrongdoing.
With seized cash or property, it's the other way around. The government doesn't need to prove you're a drug-dealer to take your money. You just need to prove that you aren't, and provide an honest accounting for every cent. "The burden of proof is on the contestant to prove an innocent source," says Little. "That's crazy, in my opinion."
He has his own shaggy drug-dog story: He and a judge friend were returning from a conference when they encountered a dog in the terminal. The dog alerted police to the judge's briefcase. Sheepishly, the cop asked to check the case. There was nothing in the briefcase — except for probable cause for the cops to seize it, should the urge have struck them.
Most honest people would say that a person carrying a huge amount of money while headed to the capital of California pot country was up to no good. They might be right. But there are innocent people carrying cash — and it's not a crime to carry money, until the feds decide otherwise.
Exactly how much money the feds are seizing in this way is hard to pin down. This is because public records tell only a small part of the story. Courts handle "judicial seizures," currency forfeitures that are contested.
Of late, these are increasing. In the Northern District, which comprises most of the Bay Area and coastal California up to the Oregon border, the feds moved to take about $1 million in currency last year. That's up from under $500,000 the year before, and $778,000 in 2011 — but only six months into 2014 and the feds have seized $797,880, according to records.
But these are a small fraction of the overall seizures, most of which are "administrative seizures." These never see the inside of a courtroom.
A DEA spokeswoman declined to say how much the local drug cops are seizing via this route and directed SF Weekly to file a Freedom of Information Act request in order to take a peek at the ledger. By the time the FOIA process takes its course, it will likely be 2015.
By then, hundreds more people and millions more dollars will likely land in the feds' hands. Barton wasn't so special: His was the fifth case that day, agents told him. And his flight landed before noon.
http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco...nt?oid=2988711
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Once again we see that the very people creating the violent causing, life ruining, greed filled black market.. are also the ones reaping significant financial and professional rewards from there creation. Legalize it and tax it so the public can benefit from it instead of a bunch of thieving law enforcement, useless attorneys, slave profiting prison owners and workers. All of which have done nothing positive to curtail it. Why would they, they are on easy street.. billions from the taxpayers and millions from the black market. Last edited by neversickanymore; Yesterday at 03:45. RECOVERY FORUMS ~~~ADDICTION GUIDE~~~ CONTACT ME
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#2 iamthesuck View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 247 Yesterday 02:32 This kind of shit is expanding as cops abuse their authority more and more. Someone needs to write a petition
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#3 MyDoorsAreOpen View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 8,510 Yesterday 03:37 Why is no one doing anything about this? I keep a close eye on major media sources, and it seems to me the asset forfeiture racket is getting a lot of press and entering the public consciousness in the US. Seems to me we ought to be at a tipping point where there's widespread public outrage and a passing of new legislation. This shit is Supreme Court material, for chrissakes: there's an interpretation of a constitutional right at stake here: the right to property! Instead, it seems the problem is only getting worse the more press it gets!
This issue gets under my skin because I deeply respect, and plan to someday join, the ranks of people who use only cash, for reasons I've elaborated on elsewhere. I'm thinking about opening a solo physician practice, and offer some non-insurance-covered services for which I'll take only cash as payment. Believe you me, a chunk of that cash is getting hidden in a location only I know about and that no one would ever stumble upon. That fund will be for the day I get stopped on my bike by a law enforcement officer and have a chunk of cash in my pocket seized, to hire a good lawyer who'll be willing to help me take my case to the highest court in the land. If this ever happens to me -- which it sounds like if I go cash-only is a very real possibility -- I won't be satisfied to account for every penny on paper and get it reimbursed (never mind the large amount of time and additional money that takes!). No, I won't declare victory until an unjust law is struck down.
Be interesting to see whose wrath I incur if I end up being that guy. Betcha the DEA and IRS would be paying my doctor's office very frequent visits looking for dirt, and I wouldn't be surprised if the medical licensing board took the first opportunity to pull my license and wash their hands of me, even if no one found any dirt on me.
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Blog Entries8 Yesterday 03:49 I find this article to be rather disturbing.
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#5 rickolasnice View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 6,160 Yesterday 03:50 Should ask the cops to politely present the dogs with their own money..
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Blog Entries21 Yesterday 07:42 wow, a new pathetic disgusting low... warriors my ass
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#7 TheLostBoys View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Posts 3,632 Today 16:22 What's the difference between the dea extorting money from.these people & the mob doing it? There is none except for the corrupt dea has the backing of the corrupt federal govt......
Its a complete joke of a system & its like the wild west where they make rules up as they go.
These people that are being extorted/robbed by these agencies don't all have money for good lawyers but any good lawyer can get this case won if there are no drugs involved.
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#8 CLICKHEREx View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles
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Posts116Today 18:46And not before time, too, view: "Rand Paul Files Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill", at http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/...set_forfeiture
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24 Jul 2014
Source: Cairns Post (Australia)
Website: http://www.cairns.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/617
PREMIER OPEN TO POT PLAN
THE Queensland Premier says he has an open mind about legalising marijuana for medical purposes but will rely on the advice of national health experts.
Medical cannabis could soon be legalised in NSW with senior politicians indicating support, as long as concerns about how it would be regulated are dealt with.
Campbell Newman says any change in Queensland should be made on the basis of advice from the National Health and Medical Research Council ( NHMRC ), not NSW.
"I have an open mind on these things," he told reporters yesterday.
"There are so many of our life-saving and pain-alleviating drugs that come from nature, and I see it in that context.
"But I'd be interested in what the NHMRC are saying."
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n606/a09.html?397 -
'Operation Majority' should read 'William' Not Milton. Every time I try to edit posts they disappear.
Kent.
This used to happen to me, until I changed web browsers. If using Internet Explorer, try Chrome, Firefox, or Opera http://www.download.cnet.com
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What if the extraterrestrials have the one true religion, and those of Earth are all shown to be false?
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23-07-2014
Bottoms up: the non-crisis of Australia’s alcohol consumption
Bernard Keane | Feb 08, 2013 12:19PM | EMAIL | PRINT
The constant claims about the dangers of rising alcohol use in Australia don’t match reality. Crikey fact checks some of the statements made by the wowser lobby.
Another day, another report on the evils of alcohol. In a Fairfax article, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre yesterday declared ”young women are now abusing alcohol at levels similar to men”.
Michael Thorn of FARE — an organisation about which Crikey will have more to say in coming weeks — was asked to weigh in, and condemned the “increase in drinking levels among women”. He then, at least in his quoted remarks, complained about “the way alcohol is promoted as a social norm” (not that it is a social norm, and has been so for millennia, but is promoted as such), which sent a bad message to young people — “parents drinking, the actions of their peers and the messages they’re getting about alcohol through advertising”.
The preventive health agenda for alcohol has been clear for some time: it’s the remorseless demonisation of the product, with the intent of doing to alcohol what was so successfully done to tobacco — to so discredit it that the community eventually supports draconian regulation to limit its use.
The signal difference — that the mere use of tobacco is harmful whereas the vast majority of alcohol consumers consume it safely and, indeed, obtain health benefits from it — is deliberately overlooked.
Part of the demonisation is to persistently claim that alcohol consumption is increasing (indeed, is “out of control” or an “epidemic”), that new threats are constantly being discovered, that there is “an urgent need for action to challenge Australia’s harmful drinking” as the National Alliance for Action on Alcohol puts it. So, let’s check some of the “facts” about alcohol in Australia …
Statement: drinking more than two standard drinks a day is “risky drinking” and you should avoid alcohol altogether
Herein lies a tale. Most people will recall the National Health and Medical Research Council 2009 revision of its alcohol guidelines, when it rather spectacularly jumped the shark by deciding to amend its recommendation of four standard drinks a day for men and two for women to two a day for everyone.
What’s less understood is exactly what the basis for the NHMRC’s recommendation is. It’s based on lifetime risk assessment: how likely are you to die from anything alcohol-related at a certain level of consumption. Anything — dying while driving drunk, getting into a drunken fight, or eventually dying from an alcohol-related disease. And the basis for the two drink a day recommendation is 0.9% for men — as in, less than 1% of people consuming two drinks a day will die from an alcohol-related cause at some point.
And if you don’t drink-drive, and you don’t get into fights when you drink, then the risk is halved. The risk is 0.4% for alcohol-related diseases for men and women at two standard drinks a day. The risk increases the more you drink, obviously — thus the phrase “risky drinking”. But how “risky”? You have to drink eight drinks a day in order to get over 5% risk of alcohol-related disease if you’re a male, and over five drinks a day if you’re a woman.
To put that into context, as the NHMRC itself notes, “the lifetime risk of dying in a traffic accident associated with driving 10,000 miles a year in the US has been calculated to be about one in 60,” or about 1.7%.
But, say you wanted to live a risk-free life. Say four people in 1000 wasn’t good enough odds for you. Why not just not drink? That’s what bodies like the Cancer Council recommend.
Well, if you don’t drink, you miss out on the health benefits of alcohol, particularly if you’re older: as the NHMRC explains in its guidelines, light to moderate drinking (up to two standard drinks) has been shown to reduce cardiovascular risk, improve bone density and, perhaps, protect against dementia.
Some preventive health industry figures claim these benefits are “contested” but currently there are no substantiated, up-to-date studies that have disputed the long history of studies demonstrating health benefits from moderate alcohol consumption.
Statement: alcohol consumption is growing
Look closely and you’ll always see some careful phrasing around the issue of how much we’re drinking: the preventive health industry won’t come out and say that alcohol consumption is growing, but they’ll claim alcohol consumption among young people is on the rise, or binge drinking is on the rise, or that Australia has a high rate of consumption compared to other countries, or as we saw above, alcohol consumption by women is rising. But the general tenor is that the alcohol problem is getting worse.
Wrong. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in fact shows daily drinking fell from 2004 to 2007 and fell again from 2007 to 2010. Indeed, the government’s own Preventative Health Taskforce published the following table, which shows daily alcohol consumers falling and non-drinkers rising:
But, curiously, the accompanying text in the report makes no mention at all of that. ABS data similarly shows per capita consumption of alcohol in Australia falling significantly — by nearly a quarter — since the 1970s.
Nor is drinking by young people on the rise. Remember the moral panic Kevin Rudd and Nicola Roxon tried to whip up early in Labor’s first term about what they claimed was an “epidemic” of binge drinking? It was rubbish. The same Preventative Health Taskforce report showed short-term risky drinking by 14-19 year olds, both male and female, falling significantly between 2001 and 2007.
And what about young women? Well, they were binge drinking less too, according to the taskforce report. And the 2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found female drinking down for daily, weekly and less than weekly, and found a rise in ex-drinkers and non-drinkers.
Statement: the damage from alcohol consumption is growing
All of which means the most recent tack tried by the preventive health industry, to claim that alcohol is causing massive economic damage (as part of its campaign to lift alcohol taxation), comes heavily caveated. Even accepting the industry’s assumption-laden calculations about the damage caused by alcohol (putting it at $36 billion a year) and “harm to others” at $15 billion, the claim that “alcohol-related harms in Australia are increasing“ made by FARE plainly doesn’t stand up: alcohol consumption is falling; the only way for the preventive health industry to somehow claim that harms are increasing is to again alter their assumptions to produce still-higher outcomes from their commissioned modelling.
Bear all this in mind next time you see yet another media report about the alcohol crisis apparently besetting Australia.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/02/08/...witcher=mobile
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http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2014-07-16/legal-highs-the-term-legal-does-not-equate-to-safe/
2:30pm, Wed 16 Jul 2014 Legal highs on the rise in Cumbria
Legal highs: The term "legal" 'does not equate to safe'
One of the UK’s biggest drug and alcohol charities, CRI, has warned that the UK is ‘only scratching the surface’ and underestimating the serious public health challenge posed by ‘legal high’ misuse.
The charity has taken a leading role in treating and educating young people on the dangers of taking these substances, which it calls ‘strange molecules’.
It offers support to people via its services across the UK.
Its drop-in clinics are seeing a rise of people using synthetic cannabinoids like ‘Spice’, Mephedrone, MDMA, ketamine, Poke and Euphoria. Many of these substances are freely available in shops located on the high street, as well as online.
“We believe that the common term of ‘legal high’ is incredibly misleading; legal does not equate to safe, and some substances which were legal have now been classified.
"Some of these substances are highly potent and can be very risky, possibly up to 10,000 times stronger than the street drugs they emulate, with tiny amounts able to trigger extreme psychoactive responses."
– David Biddle, Chief Executive of CRI
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The writer is obviously ignorant of the fact that Mephedrone, MDMA, and Ketamine are not synthetic cannabinoids, but it's interesting to note that the experience at the cutting edge of increases contradicts what the UK govt.'s so called "think tank" (read "propaganda machine") has recently stated about young people turning their back on drugs. -
http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/730199-History-of-Heroin-Ten-Facts
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Blog Entries21 Yesterday 08:16 Ten Startling Facts About the History of Heroin
Whatever you hear about the drug now, remember that it has been used and perceived in lots of different ways throughout its illustrious past.
Originally Posted by Keri Blakinger | 7/21/14
Today, we think of it as the highly illegal brown (and sometimes white) powder you score from some shady dude on the corner. But heroin wasn’t always viewed that way. After its discovery in the latter half of the 19th century, it was hailed as something of a wonder drug. Heroin’s fall in status to scourge of society didn’t happen overnight, though, and the drug’s history—and our dramatically evolving views of it—took some surprising twists. What got me into this? Before my arrest in 2010 during my last semester in college, I was addicted to heroin—and oddly, I enjoyed researching it while high. Let’s just say I got a lot of research done.
1. Heroin possession and use were not always criminal. In fact, it was perfectly legal for the first 50 years of its existence, after its discovery in 1874. In 1914, the Harrison Narcotics Act made the recreational use of opiates and coca leaf derivatives illegal in the US—one of the first federal efforts to regulate nonmedical drug use. But in practice the act just meant that users now had to get the drug from a doctor. Ten years later, the 1924 Heroin Act made the drug completely illegal, even for medical purposes.
Other countries soon followed suit. Mexico prohibited heroin in 1924, Costa Rica in 1928, Poland in 1931, Spain in 1933 and Bulgaria in 1934. Although the UK made the drug illegal in 1926, doctors could—and still can—prescribe it for withdrawal. Denmark and Switzerland also allow the prescription use of heroin for addiction treatment, while in Portugal the drug is illegal but the possession of less than a 10-day supply is not considered a criminal offense.
2. Heroin was originally called tetra acetyl morphine. Although that’s quite a mouthful, the chemical name used today—diacetylmorphine—is still pretty ungainly. Why the change? Basically, the original name was the result of a slight scientific misunderstanding.
In 1805, an uneducated pharmacist’s assistant named Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner isolated opium’s active organic alkaloid compound by dissolving the opium in acid and neutralizing it with ammonia. He named his new compound morphine, in homage to Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. Serturner published his work in 1806, but initially his findings were largely ignored. Once people finally paid attention, however, the drug caught on in a big way. Merck began manufacturing morphine commercially in 1827, and within three years Britain was importing 22,000 pounds of opium per year in order to make it.
Despite the morphine’s popularity, scientists didn’t accurately understand its structure. In fact, in 1874, when a British chemist named C.R. Alder Wright first synthesized what we now call heroin, it was still believed that morphine had a double empirical structure. Thus, when Wright was actually adding two acetyl groups per molecule, he thought he was adding four per molecule—and so he named it tetra acetyl morphine to indicate that it required the addition of four acetyl groups onto morphine.
Then, in 1890, the German scientist W. Dankwortt tried making heroin using a different method. When he heated anhydrous morphine with excess acetyl chloride, Dankwortt discovered that morphine actually had a single empirical structure and thus only required two acetyl group (di) instead of four (tetra). That’s why today the chemical name is diacetylmorphine.
3. Bayer started selling the wonder drug under the brand name “Heroin” in 1898. Yep, that’s right, Bayer, the company that first brought us Alka-Seltzer and aspirin. For the first two decades after its first synthesis, heroin had been neglected. Then, Bayer scientist Heinrich Dreser seized on the drug’s potential. After testing it on humans, animals and himself, Dreser had it ready for widespread distribution by 1898. One year later Bayer was already producing a full ton of heroin. The company stopped making heroin in 1913, the year before the government started regulating it.
4. The narcotic’s name comes from the German word for heroic. When Bayer began testing the drug on its workers in the late 1890s, they loved it (no surprise) and said it made them feel heroic—”heroisch.” At the time, the term was used to refer to any particularly strong drug, and even before its effects were well understood, heroin’s strength was readily apparent. Hence, Bayer trademarked “Heroin” and began marketing it worldwide.
5. Heroin was once marketed to—or at least for—kids. At a time when tuberculosis was one of the top three causes of death and 30% of deaths occurred in children under age five, any substance that appeared to improve respiratory health by cutting coughing and easing breathing was bound to be popular. Thus, Bayer launched a child-focused marketing campaign. In 2011, a watchdog group called Coalition Against Bayer Dangers dug up ads from a 1912 Bayer campaign in Spain. One, which shows two unattended children reaching for a bottle of heroin, makes it pretty clear who the intended consumer is.
6. In the late 1800s, most opiate addicts were upper- and middle-class women. One of the main ways that heroin and other opiates were sold was as an active ingredient in cough syrup, which women bought for their medicine cabinets and used for almost any ailment; as a result, they ended up comprising a large portion of the addicted population. Surveys conducted between 1878 and 1885 showed that well over half of US opiate addicts were affluent women. The rate of addiction was almost triple what it would become a century later, during the so-called heroin epidemic of the mid-1990s.
7. Heroin was believed to be less addictive than morphine. In fact, at one point heroin was even used to treat morphine addiction. When Wright first synthesized heroin, he was looking for a non-addictive version of morphine. Later, when Dreser began testing the substance, he concluded that it was not habit-forming. (This error may help explain why, by the end of his life, Dreser was reportedly addicted to it himself.) In 1900, the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal wrote, “It possesses many advantages over morphine…. It’s not hypnotic, and there’s no danger of acquiring a habit.” Whoops!
8. The term “junkies” was first applied to heroin users in the 1920s. As heroin’s legal status began changing in the previous decade, addicts in New York City began collecting and selling scrap metal to support themselves and their habit. They spent their days scavenging junk and thus were called junkies. (Before they were called junkies, they were often referred to instead as “heroinists” in medical literature.)
9. Heroin was once massive in Egypt. Now, Egypt isn’t a place particularly associated with the drug, but in the 1920s, out of a total population of 14 million, an estimated 500,000 people—3.5% of all Egyptians—were addicted to heroin. By contrast, in 2011 only about 1.6% of Americans said they had even tried it.
It all started in 1916 when cocaine and then heroin were first sold for nonmedical consumption in Egypt. Heroin was sold at rock-bottom prices and caught on like wildfire. Contractors were even paying their workers in heroin. Heroin use spread through all classes of society, peaked in 1929 and then declined due to a combination of new international regulations and the closure of three Turkish heroin-producing factories.
10. It’s widely known that heroin use was huge among American soldiers in Vietnam—but not everyone learned the right lessons from this.
In 1971, two congressman reported that 15% of US serviceman in Vietnam were addicted to heroin. As a result, President Nixon created the Special Action Office of Drug Abuse Prevention to address the problem. The head of that office, Jerome Jaffe, contacted psychiatric researcher Lee Robbins to conduct a study. Robbins found even more dramatic results: 20% of soldiers self-identified as addicts. All were kept in Vietnam to dry out before coming home. When Robbins followed up with them after they had been back in the US for a year, she found that only 5% had become addicted again. By contrast, Americans addicted to heroin who dried out in the US had a relapse rate of 95%.
One lesson of this study is that changing the physical, or at least social, environment in which addiction occurs can greatly improve treatment outcomes. Another is that the vast majority of people who have problematic use of a substance, even one as powerful as heroin, can resolve it without relapse.
http://www.substance.com/ten-startli...f-heroin/9292/
I would hope most of this is not so new or startling anymore, and as much as I hate "10 blablabla fact that will blablabla you" articles for some reason I enjoyed this one. God only knows...
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#2 S.J.P. View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Posts 777 Yesterday 08:27 Neat, I didn't know that it was originally called tetra acetyl morphine.
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#3 toothpastedog View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Blog Entries21 Yesterday 08:28 That was news to me too! Cool bit of dope trivia huh
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#4 Trying2Iso View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 207 Yesterday 08:35 if i was in Nam i would have shot up too...
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#5 Waffle Sock View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Posts 1,753 Today 01:31 Great read. Thanks for posting.
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#6 ro4eva View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Blog Entries8 Today 09:23 Originally Posted by toothpastedog
One lesson of this study is that changing the physical, or at least social, environment in which addiction occurs can greatly improve treatment outcomes. Another is that the vast majority of people who have problematic use of a substance, even one as powerful as heroin, can resolve it without relapse.
It's mind-boggling to me how and why this appears to work, however, I can testify from personal experience that it does in fact work when it comes to habitual use of µ-opioid agonist substances/drugs, and when the person is physically dependent on it. Although I should note, my opinion is based solely on my personal, first-hand experience. Therefore, I can't say for certain that it'll help everyone.
Also, it's definitely not a magic bullet, so to speak. More specifically, while I did notice that it was easier to stop, it still wasn't easy overall, just noticeably easier when compared to attempting to stop while at home for example.
So yeah...
P.S. - Cool article, didn't know about a couple of those facts. I learn something new everyday on BL-
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http://www.voanews.com/content/after-decades-of-silence-drug-users-gain-seat-at-aids-conference/1964892.html
Anita Powell
Last updated on: July 25, 2014 2:27 AM
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA —
Intravenous drug users at the International AIDS Conference say their particular needs have been overlooked in broad efforts to stem the spread of the virus.
But that has changed this year, as a group of drug users has been allowed space in the venue. They hope their presence and their voices will lead to greater progress in the fight against AIDS.
Ruth says she has heard every argument against her longtime heroin use.
“People who use drugs aren’t aliens. They aren’t bent on self-destruction or interested in punching your grandmother for her TV,” Ruth said. “We’re just all making our way in this world as best we can, and some people find that drugs help them do that, and some people don’t. And I really don’t think it should be the business of those who don’t to mess with the business of those who do.”
Ruth asked us to leave her surname out of this story because heroin is illegal in her native Australia.
IV drug users
Most people view so-called recreational drugs as potentially deadly addictions. But, Ruth argues, that does not mean that regular IV drug users like her deserve to be marginalized in discussions about their elevated risk of acquiring HIV.
And so, for the first time, after years of lobbying, a small booth in the corner at this year’s conference hall proclaims: People Who Use Drugs. A member of the community also addressed the conference during the closing ceremony.
The drug users’ stand is adorned with eye-searing paintings of the five-pointed cannabis leaf, the rounded coca leaf and a splotch of bright pink something that Ruth says is a type of opium poppy.
The booth, she is quick to point out, does not dispense any illegal drugs.
But, she says, it provides visibility for a large segment of the HIV-positive community - one that was among the epidemic’s first victims, but which remains nearly silent in discussions about the illness.
Ruth says that the medical community should consider the particular circumstances of drug users, instead of flatly condemning drugs. She says the AIDS community is slowly coming around to this idea.
“I think it’s becoming more and more difficult for the international HIV and AIDS community to exclude drug users. It’s just becoming silly to do so if we’re going to tackle this epidemic, we need to be looking at the environments that allow HIV to flourish, and certainly criminalization of both sex work and drug use are the best friends of HIV,” she says.
New infections
Susie McLean, a senior adviser on HIV and drug use at the International HIV/AIDS Alliances, agrees, noting that if you exclude data from sub-Saharan Africa, 30 percent of all new HIV infections worldwide are among drug users.
“They’re not a marginal group in terms of the HIV dynamics,” McLean says. “They’re a primary group. But one of the issues that concerns us that we have tried to get across at this conference, certainly the amount of funding that those populations receive and that the organizations that are serving those populations.”
That may change following a new recommendation from the World Health Organization on the use of Naloxone, a lifesaving drug that can reverse overdoses of drugs like heroin and methadone. But the drug is controversial: some critics argue that drug users will view the antidote as an insurance policy of sorts, and become more reckless.
McLean says her group supports Naloxone, and also wants people to change the way they see drug users.
“Drug users are people like us. They’re our brothers and our sisters, our mothers and our fathers, our sons and our daughters. And we think that a lot of the problem that goes on in public policy is what I tend to call “othering” -- in which we say that people who use drugs are other people over there, and that they’re bad,” McLean says.
“And so what we try to stress is that people who use drugs are people like us. Sometimes they need help and support, always they need human rights. And the more we respond in that kind of way that’s about health and rights, the more possible it is to end HIV,” she adds.
Ruth says she wants, as her ultimate goal, the decriminalization of some illegal drugs - she argues that the criminalization of drugs is driven by politics. And like many other drug decriminalization advocates, she says oversight and regulation will make drugs safer to use and decrease the impact of illegal drug syndicates.
That is a fight that she may or may not win - but for the first time ever at a major AIDS conference, she has been welcomed into the fight against AIDS. -
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/07/24/placebo-rivals-paracetamol-study
AAP
24 Jul 2014
Paracetamol, the first-choice lower-back pain killer, worked no better than dummy drugs administered in a trial of more than 1600 people suffering from the condition, researchers say.
In fact, the median recovery time for those on placebo was a day shorter than that for trial subjects given real medicine, they wrote in The Lancet medical journal.
"Our findings suggest that ... paracetamol does not affect recovery time compared with placebo in low-back pain, and question the universal endorsement of paracetamol in this patient group," the Australian team concluded.
"Paracetamol also had no effect on pain, disability, function, global symptom change, sleep or quality of life."
Lower-back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world, and paracetamol is "universally" recommended as the treatment of first choice, said a statement carried by The Lancet on Wednesday.
The Paracetamol for Low-Back Pain Study (PACE) divided 1652 individuals with acute pain from 235 clinics in Sydney into three trial groups.
One received regular paracetamol doses, the other used the drug as needed, and the third was given placebo pills.
Recovery was defined as seven consecutive days of 0 or 1 pain intensity on a 0-10 scale.
"Median time to recovery was 17 days in the regular paracetamol group, 17 days in the as-needed paracetamol group, and 16 days in the placebo group," said the statement.
All patients were given high-quality advice and reassurance, and the findings suggest these may be more important in lower-back pain management than drug therapy, said the authors.
"Our results convey the need to reconsider the universal endorsement of paracetamol in clinical practice guidelines as first-line care for low-back pain."
A potential limitation of the study was that some participants used other treatments.
In a comment also carried by The Lancet, Bart Koes and Wendy Enthoven from the Universal Medical Center in Rotterdam applauded the team "for tackling this research question on a topic that has been without debate and evidence for such a long time".
But they cautioned that guidelines should not be changed on the basis of a single trial.
__________________________________________________________________________
Called acetaminophen in the US, it's overuse / abuse is thought to be the main cause of people needing liver transplants.
Interestingly, antidepressants also only perform slightly better than placebos in double blind studies, yet Big Pharma can use that fact to justify a $ multibillion industry, despite their high incidence of side effects such as sexual dysfunction, which can sometimes (admittedly rarely) be permanent. http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110921032742AAZn9qX https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20140615011107AAPCuGt & https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20140514083426AARwQqC refer. -
http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/730170-A-Buddhist-pathway-to-freedom-from-addiction?p=12493237#post12493237
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Posts 10,465 Today 02:37 A Buddhist pathway to freedom from addiction
By Wallace Baine
07/22/2014
Addiction is one of the most bedeviling and ruinous torments of the human experience. And for millions of those trapped in this cycle of suffering, the famed 12-step program established by Alcoholics Anonymous and its affiliated organizations has been an effective way out.
But, for many people, the heavily religious, specifically Christian cast of 12-step programs can get in the way of treatment.
Writer and teacher Noah Levine points to another option: Buddhism.
For the past decade, since the publication of his revelatory memoir "Dharma Punx," Levine has been one of the country's most prominent Buddhist writers. His latest book, "Refuge Recovery" (HarperOne, $16.99, 288 pages) takes on the topic of addiction, as a kind of guidebook for an effective addiction-treatment program based on fundamental Buddhist practices and precepts.
Levine offers the "Refuge Recovery" path, he says, without casting any negative light toward Al-Anon and 12-step. "I have a lot of gratitude (for 12-step)," he says.
ADAPTING BUDDHIST TEACHINGS
As outlined in "Dharma Punx," Levine experienced a youth rife with drugs, alcohol and incarceration. "I have nothing bad to say about that (12-step) approach," he says. "But it is a theistic spiritual system that depends on an external higher power. Now, that resonates to the core of a lot of people. A God-based philosophy is particularly great for Christian-minded people. But what about the people who don't believe in God?"
Levine, 43, grew up in Santa Cruz, the son of well-known poet and Buddhist teacher Stephen Levine. He later studied with well-known Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield. He moved away from Santa Cruz in the late 1990s, and since settling in Los Angeles, he's been working to establish a Buddhist path to the treatment of addiction. The book adapts the Four Noble Truths of Buddhist teaching to dealing with addiction. Given that transcending suffering is at the center of Buddhist philosophy, Levine says that Buddhism is a natural way to address the problem. The "Refuge Recovery" way, like 12-step, emphasizes self-honesty, abstinence and community.
"There is an educational component to it," says Levine. "People want to know what Buddhism has to offer, and ... this is a clear and detailed map out of addiction."
SPREADING ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The book also tells the stories of others who have escaped addiction through meditation and other Buddhist practices. The Buddhist approach outlined in "Refuge Recovery" came from Levine's own struggles with addiction. "The seeds were germinating even back in 1988," he says, "when I was in Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall trying to figure out a way out."
Levine says that, for the most part, he left out his own story of addiction in the new book because "I didn't want this to be about me" and because his story has been told in many of his other books, which include "Against the Stream" and "The Heart of the Revolution."
The program is beginning to spread in communities across the country. "It's growing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Seattle -- up and down the West Coast. But we're also seeing it take hold in unlikely places, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Richmond.
"I have no intention to control this in any way," he says. "It's a peer-led process. People change the format to fit their own communities. People are taking ownership of it, and it's led to quite a bit of excitement."
http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci...from-addiction
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I use many principals and from budaism as well as many other gems from other schools of ancient wisdom in my recovery. Changing the way I think and the thus the way I look at perceive the world has been one of the strongest cornerstones to my recovery. Im glad this aproach is catching on as I think its spot on. RECOVERY FORUMS ~~~ADDICTION GUIDE~~~ CONTACT ME
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Blog Entries21 Today 07:32 ^Mindfulness (any of it's forms, whatever you want to call it - clarity, understanding, acceptance, self awareness, etc. etc.) is really necessary to succeed long term in recovery and to live a happy, fulfilling life. It's like the part that is missing from most confrontational or motivation therapies, especially abstinence based, 12-step or CBT oriented programs. At some point one has to focus not on avoidance or denial, but simply recognizing whatever the issue at hand might be, and moving on (to something better).
I respect 12-step groups and whatnot, as well as what they have to offer and the fact they're widespread and free. However, I have a lot of issues with how they're prioritized over other (for many more effective) forms of treatment as some gold standard of treatment that everyone can or should be able to benefit from. Bullshit.
AA, for instance, if like any therapist or doctor (or other form of treatment) - it can sometimes take a long time to find a good one, a good group and/or sponsor that you work well with. For some it never happens, for a few it happens rather quickly, but it's no different from trying a good therapist. Finding what one's own path can be the most challenging part of the picture. And, frankly, I will say that most groups don't necessarily support even that (as they generally are centered on the confrontational interview approach to therapy that requires rule following and conformity at their core, which again dose benefit some, but certainly, again, not all. Sorry I'm repeating myself now...
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Posts114Today 17:38
Many people are constitutionally unable to meditate. Most people who are able to follow instructions recorded in their own voice are able to use Yoga Nidra, however.
YOGA NIDRA:
(actually a meditative practice; no bodily flexibility is needed, and no asanas / special positions are involved)
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 (this minimises tactile input). 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, next time).
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. ~~~
................. indicates where pauses should be used, to give people plenty of time to perform the recorded instruction.-
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http://www.businessinsider.com.au/there-are-huge-hidden-costs-of-alcohol-and-drug-problems-in-australian-workplaces-2014-7
James A. Pitts, Odyssey House Yesterday at 4:27 PM
Flickr/ Zach Klein
As an employer or a work colleague, would you know if someone in your workplace was struggling with an alcohol or other drug problem, or a mental illness, or both?
In severe instances the warning signs might be obvious. However, people often don’t reach out for help at work, meaning addiction may not be identified as the cause of their lower productivity, sick days or erratic behaviour. Yet 62 per cent of people who misuse alcohol and other drugs at harmful levels are in full-time employment, which accounts for approximately 300,000 workers in Australia. In addition, the incidence of co-existing mental illness among people with drug problems is rising at an alarming pace. At Odyssey House, one of Australia’s largest alcohol and other drug rehabilitation services, more than half of clients also have a mental health problem, a ten-fold increase in ten years.
Given the economic and personal burden of substance misuse and associated mental illness, it is vital that workplaces give top priority to identifying and/or supporting workers suffering with addiction-related problems, or at the very least to promoting a safe workplace culture.
The figures alone are compelling.
The annual economic cost of alcohol and illicit drug misuse to Australian society is estimated at $23.7 billion. Leading researchers Collins and Lapsley found that alcohol misuse cost society $15.3 billion and illicit drugs cost $8.2 billion, while alcohol and illicit drugs acting together accounted for a further $1.1 billion in the in the 2004/05 financial year.
The International Labour Organisation estimates 20 to 25 per cent of all occupational injuries are a result of alcohol and other drug use. Collins and Lapsley (2002) estimate a $5.5 billion loss of national productive capacity in the paid workforce as a result of drug-attributable death and sickness. Other studies cite alcohol use as responsible for 5 per cent of all workplace deaths and up to 11 per cent of non-fatal injuries (Pidd and Roche, 2013). The Australian Drug Foundation says the annual cost of absenteeism alone due to alcohol is estimated at up to $1.2billion!
So what factors contribute to alcohol, other drug misuse and mental health problems in the workplace, and what can employers do to reduce the likelihood of these problems?
Harmful use of alcohol (and other drugs) occurs at all levels in organisations and is more prevalent in some industries than others. The focus on alcohol is because illicit drug use is not a major factor in Australian workplaces, although it is increasing (the exception is the transport industry where the use of amphetamine type stimulants has been reported by some drivers). There are differing explanations for the way workforce factors impact on the consumption patterns of workers, but a unifying and consistent explanation is workforce culture. Additional factors include:
Workplace stressors including shift work
The work environment
Poorly designed equipment
Fear of losing one’s job
Conflict with a supervisor
Peer pressure
Discrimination and/or prejudice
Personal stressors including marital or personal relationship problems and financial problems
Various adverse consequences in the workplace occur due to the use/misuse of alcohol and other drugs. Alcohol affects depth perception, estimation of speed, reaction time and eye/motor coordination and concentration. Consequently, the use of alcohol can increase the probability of people injuring them themselves or others because of compromised reflexes and judgement. It can affect productivity because it causes an individual to work at minimal capacity which increases the workload for others, lowering productivity and compromising product and service quality. Even low blood alcohol levels can introduce added risk into situations that would already be considered hazardous.
Personal consequences and costs to employees of drug misuse may include: loss of job; loss in wages; diminished physical and mental health; medical expenses; difficulty meeting financial commitments; demotion at work; interpersonal problems with family, friends and work mates; and loss of self-esteem. This can set up a vicious cycle where the consequences of a person’s drug misuse and/or mental illness add to their burden.
Work mates can suffer too, such as from: an unsafe work environment caused by a drinking or drug-using colleague; the need to cover for a colleague’s poor work performance; the embarrassment if forced to “dob in” a mate; and disputes.
The responsibility of employers regarding alcohol, other drug use and mental health problems can be difficult to determine. In most cases employers and HR departments don’t have enough information to attribute staff absenteeism to alcohol and other drug misuse. Also, most alcohol and other drug misuse occurs outside of work hours. And, although we are making headway in encouraging people to seek help for alcohol and other drug dependence and mental illness, affected people still feel significant shame, guilt and fear in disclosing their problems to loved ones, let alone employers or work mates.
However, employers can play a significant part in addressing the role their workplace plays in people’s harmful use of alcohol (and other drugs). A helpful stance is to adopt a failsafe duty-of-care approach whereby employers create a positive workforce culture and foster an environment where employees feel they can speak up and seek support for their problems without retribution. Many larger organisations offer a confidential Employee Assistance Program for staff and their family members to seek employer-funded professional help.
Guidance is also available from government. For example, the Workplace Health and Safety Act of NSW, 2011, describes what is “reasonably practical” in relation to an employer’s duty of care to ensure health and safety. Work Cover NSW’s booklet “Alcohol and other Drugs In the Workplace” outlines how to identify alcohol and other drug-related users and how to develop an alcohol and other drug policy.
By the time people come to us at Odyssey House seeking professional help, most have been struggling with alcohol or other drug dependence for many years and have reached rock bottom, having perhaps lost jobs, income, homes and family connections. The challenge for Australian employers is to take responsibility for the workplace they create and promote employees’ welfare to reduce the likelihood of problems occurring… and to support those brave enough to step up and admit they need help.
With billions of workplace dollars and thousands of lives on the line, the stakes are high and the potential benefits are enormous.
People seeking help for alcohol and other drug dependence, including those with a co-existing mental illness, can contact Odyssey House on 02 9281 5144 (no referral is necessary) or www.odysseyhouse.com.au, or the Australian Drug Information Network www.adin.org.au.
Photo: supplied.
James A. Pitts is the CEO of leading rehabilitation service provider Odyssey House. James has worked in the field of alcohol and other drugs since 1978 and has headed Odyssey House NSW since 1984. Highly respected in the Australian and international treatment sectors and the wider community, James is a founding member and board director of the Australasian Therapeutic Communities Association. He has contributed to state and national drug policy through various boards, working parties and expert committees and was a delegate to the Australia 2020 Summit. He is often called upon to speak publicly and in the media about alcohol and other drug issues. -
Although the fact that its more often found in males suggests it has at least in part a genetic basis.
Dr. John Cannell, of http://vitaminDcouncil.org believes that low levels of cholecalciferol / vitamin D3 in pregnant, and nursing women is a major factor, which appears to be supported by the fact that there has been a huge increase in the rate of autistic spectrum disorders diagnosed, following public health campaigns about the hazards of sun exposure causing skin cancer*, and advice to cover up, and use sunscreens, which block not only the harmful UVA, but also the healthy (in reasonable amounts) UVB. He theorises that oestrogen & progesterone in females may be exerting a protective effect on those deficient in the vital hormonal substrate vitamin D, which is necessary for hundreds of biochemical reactions in the body.
View http://your-mental-health.weebly.com/w.html for some of his posts, as well as info on the Gluten Free/Casein Free diet, low in oxalates, which reportedly helps autistic children.
* Dr. Mercola states that sensible sun exposure actually decreases the risk of skin cancer.
- Increase in Melanoma Skin Cancer NOT Caused by Sun Exposure articles.mercola.com/.../deadly-melanoma-not-due-vitamin-d-deficiency.aspx20 Nov 2011 ... Melanoma skin cancer rates are increasing but it is NOT because of sun ...
Vitamin D's protective effect against cancer works in multiple ways, including: .....
Dr. Mercola cautions that people living and working in caves might ...
- Can Sunshine Decrease Your Risk of Melanoma Skin Cancer?
- Sun can Actually Protect You Against Skin Cancer 16 Jun 2011 ... Sunlight causes your skin to produce vitamin D -- a fact that, ironically, ... Vitamin
D's protective effect against cancer works in multiple ways, including: ..... As Dr.
Mercola mentioned, sunscreen is necessary for some people in ...
- Sunshine Helps Protect Your Health | Vitamin D Benefits 1 Jul 2013 ... Mercola.com .... Melanoma is more likely than other types of skin cancer to
spread to other ... is protective against melanoma—or rather, the vitamin D your
body ... that chronic sunlight exposure can have a protective effect.".
- Vitamin D from Sun Exposure May Help Protect Against Cancer articles.mercola.com/.../research-from-100-countries-proves-vitamin-d-protects-against-cancer.aspx28 Jan 2012 ... Mercola.com .... Vitamin D's protective effect against cancer appears to work in
multiple ways, including: ... It's important to understand, however, that the risk of
skin cancer from the sun comes only from excessive exposure.
- Vitamin D May Help Prevent Your Risk of Cancer By 77 Percent articles.mercola.com/sites/.../vitamin-d-may-prevent-breast-cancer.aspx12 May 2013 ... Vitamin D has powerful effects when it comes to breast cancer, to the ... If you're
pregnant and have good D3 levels, you are passing on important health
protection to .... My wife took Dr. Mercola's Multivitamin/Mineral formula
throughout .... Not only are they companies selling skin-cancer remedies but they
...
- Is Vitamin D the Silver Bullet for Cancer - Natural Health Articles 11 Mar 2010 ... Follow Dr. Mercola on Twitter Follow Dr. Mercola on Facebook ... Vitamin D's
protective effect against cancer works in multiple ways, ... The ideal way to
optimize your vitamin D level is by exposing your skin to appropriate ...
- Sun Exposure: Benefits Beyond Vitamin D Production articles.mercola.com/.../sun-exposure-vitamin-d-production-benefits.aspx29 Sep 2012 ... Aside from vitamin D production, sun exposure offers a lot more benefits, due to
its UVB rays. ... is actually protective against melanoma (the most lethal form of
skin cancer). ... that chronic sunlight exposure can have a protective effect." ..... up
is when UVB is available not 50 degrees that Dr.Mercola states.
- Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Depression - Natural Health Articles articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/.../vitamin-d-deficiency-depression.aspx2 Jan 2014 ... In short, it shows that vitamin D can affect genetic expression ... D has
tremendous protective effects against a variety of different cancers, including
pancreatic, lung, ovarian, breast, prostate, and skin cancers. ..... Dr. Mercola is
right that we should be doing all we can to take on companies like Monsanto.
- New Model Of Cancer Development Vitamin D is the Key 11 Jun 2009 ... Mercola.com ... Researchers studying the preventive effects of vitamin D on
cancer have ... certain hormonal activity, or it could have a protective effect on
brain ... of cancer including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, prostate, and skin ...
- Increase in Melanoma Skin Cancer NOT Caused by Sun Exposure
-
http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/730163-Number-of-drug-users-in-England-and-Wales-rises-to-2-7m
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Posts 2,404 Today 01:19 Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Thursday 24 July 2014 12.08 BST
With reader comments
Figure up 230,000 on last crime survey, with 8.8% of adults saying they have used illicit drugs in past year.
The number of adults using illicit drugs in England and Wales rose by an estimated 230,000 to 2.7 million over the last year, crime survey figures show. The increase was driven by more people saying they had used cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and ketamine. Nearly one million people – or 3% of adults – used class A drugs including powder cocaine, heroin and ecstasy in 2013/14. The Home Office statistics from the crime survey of England and Wales show that cannabis use remained stable, with about two million people aged 16 to 59 smoking or otherwise consuming it over the past year.
Most of the increase – 180,000 of the 230,000 extra illicit drugs users – comprised teenagers and young adults aged 16 to 24, who make up 1.1 million of the total number of drug users. The survey does not capture the popularity of legal highs, as it asks only about illicit drug use, but it does show a growing use of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, which has been sold by the balloonful at festivals in particular in recent years. There was a small rise in users of mephedrone, banned in 2010, from 98,000 to 115,000 young adults.
Overall, 8.8% of adults said they had used illicit drugs, up from 8.1% in 2012/13 and flat on 2011/12. The rise follows a decade in which illicit drug use appeared to be becoming less fashionable, declining from a peak of 3.48 million – 12% of all adults – in 2002/03.
The detailed results show that 3% of adults regard themselves as frequent drug users, meaning they take an illicit substance more than once a month. Frequent drug use is much more likely among men than women, among those who go often to pubs and nightclubs, and among those who live in deprived areas.
Gay or bisexual men are much more likely than straight men to take illicit drugs. A third of gay or bisexual men said they had used illicit drugs over the previous year, compared with 23% of gay or bisexual women, 11% of heterosexual men and 5% of heterosexual women. Among ethnic groups, adults from Asian or British Asian backgrounds had the lowest levels of drug use last year.
The survey found that 57% of adult drug users bought their drugs from someone well-known to them, such as a friend, work colleague or neighbour. Just under a quarter said they had gone to a dealer, and 4% to a relative. Most said they used them at home or at somebody else's house, while a quarter said they took them in the pub, at a club or at a party.
Norman Baker, the crime prevention minister, said drug-related deaths in England and Wales had continued to fall over the past three years and people going into treatment were more likely to free themselves from dependency than ever before.
"The National Crime Agency and Border Force are involved in targeted operations across the world and at our borders to disrupt organised crime and stop drugs reaching the UK. We will continue to monitor our response to established drugs and I have commissioned a review to see if we can better tackle the challenge of new psychoactive substances, which will report shortly," Baker said.
The crime survey involves interviews with 36,000 people about their experience of crime in the past 12 months.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...s-crime-survey -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-2703722/Alleged-heroin-mule-denied-bail-NSW.html
By Australian Associated Press
Published: 15:12 AEST, 24 July 2014 | Updated: 15:12 AEST, 24 July 2014
A man who allegedly stashed about five kilograms of heroin in chocolates and tried to smuggle it through Sydney airport has been denied bail.
Mohammad Reza Kaveh, 41, applied for bail at Sydney's Central Local Court on Thursday but it was denied by Magistrate Les Mabbutt.
The court found there was an unacceptable risk Kaveh would "fail to appear at any proceedings for the offence" and might "commit a serious offence" if released from custody.
The Australian citizen was arrested and charged on Wednesday at Sydney airport.
After arriving on a flight from Singapore, his bag was scanned and "multiple bags of chocolate ... displayed inconsistencies," NSW Customs boss Tim Fitzgerald said.
"Initial testing of the chocolates returned positive results for heroin. The exact weight and purity of the heroin will be determined at a later date."
Kaveh will spend more than a month in custody before he faces Central Local Court on September 17.
He's due to appear via audio visual link, on one charge of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
If convicted, the maximum penalty Kaveh faces is life imprisonment, Customs and the AFP said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-2703722/Alleged-heroin-mule-denied-bail-NSW.html#ixzz38SV2sKcS
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Customs look for inconsistencies, or any other indications that the goods are not as they are stated to be. Then they will test (they also have psychologists, trained in observing the body language of nervousness, scanning the passengers). I'm wondering if it was varied weights, X ray scans, or sniffer dogs that gave the poor fool away, or a combination of the above factors. -
http://psychcentral.com/news/2014/06/04/ssris-during-pregnancy-tied-to-uptick-in-autism/70800.html
By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on June 3, 2014
SSRIs During Pregnancy Tied to Uptick in Autism
A new study suggests using common antidepressant medications during pregnancy may contribute to a higher risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children, although this risk is still very small.
Experts say results from past studies of prenatal use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and ASD risk have not been consistent. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter whose use by the brain is altered during depression and modified by SSRI use, and has been shown to play an important role in brain development.
An ongoing challenge in this line of research is trying to differentiate the potential risk of the medication on the fetus, as compared to the risk on the mother and the fetus from the effects associated with the condition for which the medication was prescribed (most commonly depression).
Based on past studies, both SSRIs and genetic factors associated with depression are likely associated with greater risk of ASD.
This new study, published online ahead of print last month in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, suggests that under-reporting of maternal depression — if not properly considered in analyses — may influence results of studies trying to address this question.
In the study, researchers from Drexel University analyzed large population-based registers of nearly 750,000 births in Denmark from 1997 through 2006.
They found that about 1.5 percent of children born to women who had taken an SSRI during pregnancy were diagnosed with ASD, compared to about 0.7 percent of children born to an otherwise similar group of women not taking the medication.
“We found a twofold increased risk for ASD associated with in utero exposure to SSRIs compared to the unexposed reference group,” said lead author Nicole Gidaya, Ph.D.
“More importantly, in our analysis we accounted for under-reporting of maternal depression in the register. This suggests that under-reporting of maternal depression may be a limitation in approaches previously used in the other studies.”
Gidaya, who performed this study while a doctoral student in the Drexel University School of Public Health, noted that “if the increased ASD risk we saw here is real, it is important to realize that the number of ASD cases that could be prevented by reducing SSRI exposure in pregnancy still represents only a small fraction of overall cases of ASD.”
The researchers further advised caution in interpreting the results in practice.
Because of the challenges of distinguishing effects of medications from those of the condition indicating their use, more research in larger study populations will be needed to confirm the findings.
In addition, the decision whether or not to use an SSRI in pregnancy is a complex one; pregnant women and their doctors need to consider women’s physical and mental health needs as well as other pregnancy-associated risks. That includes risks associated with untreated depression both during and after pregnancy.
However, the research team believes that the greater value of this finding is to direct further attention on understanding the mechanisms by which in utero SSRI exposure might influence the developing brain.
The authors of the current study point out that there is still a need for more population studies of possible associations between maternal SSRI use and autism, in light of the limitations of the present study and the conflicting results within the field’s previous studies of the question.
They say future studies should use a large population sample where there is good quality data about exposure to medication, mental health diagnoses as well as ASD diagnoses.
“As we complete research in our attempts to understand autism’s causes we continue to realize that there are likely many genetic and non-genetic contributors,” said Craig Newschaffer, Ph.D., director of the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute and the study’s senior author.
“We must begin trying to map these multiple risk factors on to common pathways, so that these pathways can be a focus in our effort to prevent the impairment associated with ASD. Pathways involving the brain’s serotonin system are still one viable candidate.”
Source: Drexel University
Australia: Hemp Trial On Radar
in News & Notices
Posted
24 Jul 2014
Source: Mercury, The (Australia)
Website: http://www.themercury.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/193
Author: David Beniuk
HEMP TRIAL ON RADAR
Libs Soften Stance on Medicinal Cannabis
THE State Government has signalled it could step back from its ban on a medicinal cannabis trial under pressure to grow the hemp industry in Tasmania.
Treasurer and Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein has told councils pushing for the trial that the Government will seriously consider the recommendations of an Upper House committee.
"We're supporting that process and obviously we'll be guided by the response that comes out of that process," Mr Gutwein told the Local Government Association state conference in Hobart.
"Are we prepared to look at and support the committee process and then look at the outcome? Absolutely, yes."
Mr Gutwein's comments were in response to a question from Legislative Councillor and Latrobe Mayor Mike Gaffney.
Several councils were disappointed by Health Minister Michael Ferguson's decision earlier this month to disallow a trial proposed by Tasman Health Cannabinoids.
Huon Valley council says a trial could create 40 jobs in the region.
The 13-strong Regional Councils Group has thrown its support behind the industry as a possible antidote to the downturn in forestry.
"We shouldn't shut the door to anything," spokesman Barry Jarvis said.
"Too much in the past we've had groups that say no to things.
"Let's investigate it and get the data, and have a logical conversation."
Mr Jarvis said his group would be watching the recommendation of the Legislative Council committee.
"If there's value for our communities in it, we will lobby hard for the State Government to implement those changes," he said.
The debate was reignited as NSW's Liberal Premier, Mike Baird, reportedly backed a trial of medicinal cannabis in his state.
"The intransigence of Will Hodgman and his minister in blocking the proposed Tasmanian medical cannabis trial is holding Tasmania back when we could, and should, be leading the nation," Greens MP Cassy O'Connor said.
Councillors also expressed concerns about red tape constraining the growth of the industrial hemp industry.
However, Mr Gutwein said the Government fully supported the production of industrial hemp.
"We're looking at the red tape and regulation that surrounds that to ensure that an appropriate level of necessary regulation exists, not an unnecessary one," Mr Gutwein said.
The state conference continues until tomorrow.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n606/a06.html?1080