Sports & doping – its not just Armstrong
Performance-enhancing drugs – used by amateurs as well as professional athletes, crosses many fields of competition, and includes use of anabolic steroids, EPO, blood transfusions, etc. Also, designer drugs in sports and the evolution of testing, which as the Armstrong controversies have shown, can now be done years after the fact.
Designer Drugs – interview with Dr Lisa Marzilli
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.
Trends in Drug Use, Harm Reductions & Psychiatry
NIDA’s Monitoring the Future study shows increases in use of marijuana, heroin and pharmaceuticals by adolescents; a study in Europe shows that programs like DARE are not effective; government regulators grapple to keep up with street chemists creating new designer drugs, and a discussion of psychiatry’s increasing dependence on drug therapy to the exclusion of talk therapy.
Designer drugs & Salvia Divinorum
Salvia divinorum has been in the news lately, with teen pop star Miley Cyrus, and then the alleged shooter in Tucson. We also discuss designer drugs which can have dangerous side effects.