Ecstasy/ MDMA & club drugs

President Obama's plans for mapping the brain -- much like the human genome project of the 90s. Also more on opioids addiction, in Canada and the US - how it relates to treating pain. And the logic, fairness, or lack thereof of tying drug testing to welfare assistance.

Recent news includes the opioid Opana, Federal laws outlawing synthetic marijuana and "bath salts" as well as smuggling tunnels, new nicotine vaccination, and a discussion of true gateway drugs: alcohol and cigarettes.

Bath salt - stimulants similar to ecstasy, are street-chemist versions of the middle eastern Khat plant, and are being associated with a new wave of extremely violent behavior, and fatal overdoses. The recent zombie-like attack in Miami, where a homeless man had literally 3/4 of his face chewed off by someone high on bath salts, has galvanized public attention to the dangers of these fairly new designer drugs.

The New Face of Drugs & Addiction is the name of an ongoing lecture series by Dr Lisa Marzilli, ... she and Darryl discuss the rapid evolution of designer drugs over the last few years, particularly the pseudo-cannabinoids, and the stimulant "bath salts" which have become widspread because they are often not illegal, and hard to test for; unfortunately, they can also be much strong then the marijuana and cocaine they mimic, sending a significant numbers of users to the ER.

The continuing medical marijuana controversies appears to be increasing the public's frustration with government of the people, but not by or for the people ... Tobacco as the real gateway drug, and the hip-hop drug Purple Drank.

New "bath salts" are appearing as a new abuse and health problem. The latest version is an upper - like meth or ecstasy - based on the African Khat plant - mephedrone and MDPF just a few of the names for the several derivatives.