Flawed Science, Bad Media & Fear-based Government
Driving while intoxicated with marijuana is NOT likely to be be safer that driving with alcohol – as reported by a recent study — and alerting us to flaws in the way scientific studies are crafted, and report by the media. Meanwhile, Congress is making moves that in effect again escalate the War of Drugs by making the Spice and bath salt compounds into Schedule 1 drugs.
Medical marijuana busts increasing
The emerging medical marijuana industry is seeing increased prosecutions of growers, with the Federal Government downplaying its role, saying the push is coming from the states, based on profiteering, in violation of the various state laws prohibiting making money from providing medical marijuana for those who cannot grow their own.
More Bath Salts aka Designer Drugs
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.
From Highballs to Eyeballing
Eyeballing is the latest campus craze – taking in straight vodka by holding a bottle up to your eye. Having started in England, it is reportedly moving onto US campuses and to Las Vegas. Devotees say it is faster than drinking and more potent because it passes easily through the mucous membrane and enters the bloodstream directly through veins at the back of the eye. Also more on new designer drugs like K9 and Spice and their rapid increases.
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.