Marijuana: America's most valuable crop (12/19/06)
According to a new report (compiled
by a pro-legalization group but based on the government's own numbers),
the total value of the marijuana crop in the US is about $35.8 billion
per year, far more than the next most valuable crop (corn, worth $23.3
billion.)
• ABC News story
What's NeXT? The mother of all Ecstasy studies begins
to bear fruit (12/1/06)
Recently there has been a small rash
of news stories to the effect of 'new research shows using ecstasy even
once unsafe'. They are referring
to some of the early results from the NeXT Study, a massive research
project by the government of the Netherlands to track potential 'ecstasy'
users over time, regularly and thoroughly poking and prodding them with
everything from psych evaluations to sophisticated brain scans to see
how 'ecstasy' affects them. This
study, the first of its kind, is expected to provide comprehensive, 'final
word' evidence on what sort of harm (if any) is occurring as a result
of 'ecstasy' use.
The initial findings
of the study (which focused on people who had only used 'ecstasy' once
or a few times) are rather interesting:
1. Symptoms of depression declined by
28% after they had used 'ecstasy'; their mental health appeared to be
better after use than before.
2. Every test to
look for the sort of brain injury that has been seen in lab animals failed to
find any sign of damage in the people who had used 'ecstasy'. In
the words of the researchers themselves, "we found no indications for
structural neuronal damage after a low dose of ecstasy use in first time
ecstasy users."
3. There were small differences in blood flow in
some parts of the brains of the people who had used 'ecstasy'; the largest
difference was 3.5% in one small region.
Surely this is good news, yes? Not
only did the (infrequent) 'ecstasy' users seem to be free of neurological
injury, they were happier for the experience! But of course,
that isn't how the pro-Prohibition press is spinning the story. Instead,
they've clung to that last point, the small changes in blood flow in
a few small areas of the brain, as proof that even a single use of MDMA
('ecstasy') causes brain damage.
The researchers themselves have
repeatedly said that the changes could simply be due to MDMA's disruptive
effect on the serotonin system (which strongly affects blood flow/blood
vessel constriction.) Indeed, past
studies have also found changes in
blood flow within the brain after MDMA use, but that the changes
were only temporary. This is consistent with findings that, after
exposure to MDMA, the number of available serotonin receptors temporarily
declines.
In the end, this early report seems
to confirm, rather than overturn, my long-standing position
that MDMA use has a temporary disruptive effect on the brain, but (at
least in moderation) is not causing the sort of brain injury that was
invoked as a justification for criminalizing it.
• View/download
the research report.
Marijuana Initiatives Defeated (11/08/06)
While most of the media attention for
Tuesday's elections focused on Congress, three state initiatives to
reduce legal restrictions on marijuana were defeated: In Colorado,
a law to completely legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana
for adults 21 and older was defeated by 60% against to 40% in favor.
(Colorado's current laws remain some of the most relaxed in the country;
simple possession usually results in a $100 fine.)
In Nevada, a truly revolutionary
law that would have not only legalized marijuana possession for adults,
but also set up legal production, sales, and taxation of the drug, was
defeated by 56% to 44%. A previous 2002 effort to legalize marijuana
had been defeated by 61% against to 39% in favor, showing substantial
gains for the pro-legalization movement in the state. If efforts
to legalize continue it seems very possible that they could succeed within
a decade.
In conservative South Dakota, a
law to legalize the medical use of marijuana was narrowly defeated by
52% against, 48% in favor. Currently, twelve states in the US provide
legal protections to medical marijuana users.
Many see seizing power as the sole point of
a political campaign; if you don't win, you've lost. With many
social and public policy issues, however, simply keeping the public debate
alive and incrementally moving public sentiment closer to your position
is in of itself an important victory. The advocates of these measures,
while understandably disappointed, should also be proud of and encouraged
by the impressive progress they've made towards reform.
• CNN Ballot Measure Votes
Swiss, Israeli MDMA ('ecstasy') Therapy Studies
Beginning (10/22/06)
With the groundbreaking government-approved
US study to test MDMA's ability to relieve Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder well under way (thirteen of twenty patients
treated), additional studies are beginning overseas. In Switzerland,
the first patient was treated with MDMA Oct. 19, while in Israel final
approval for a third study has been granted. Collectively, these
studies should provide the first scientifically rigorous evidence of
the effectiveness and safety (or lack thereof) of using MDMA ('ecstasy')
in psychotherapy.
Prior to being outlawed, MDMA
('ecstasy') had been used by thousands of therapists in the US as a way
to help patients 'break through' emotional traumas (such as from being
victims of violent crime, loss of a loved one, etc.) For more information,
visit MDMA:
Therapy.
• Visit MAPS, the main sponsors of this research.
Researchers: Smokers are Stupid (9/15/06)
It's been known for some time
that smokers tend to be less educated and make less money than non-smokers. Now,
Canadian scientists report that not only is lower IQ a predictor of smoking,
but smoking itself may reduce intelligence.
To gather their data, the researchers
followed 112 children from infancy to early adulthood, testing
their IQ and mental performance at 9-12 years old and again at 17-21
years old. They found that on average, the people who had not become
smokers had IQs 10% higher than their smoking (9 cigarettes or more a
day) peers. At
first glance, this could simply be the result of smarter people being
less likely to take up a dangerous and expensive addiction. To try
to answer the question of cause and effect, the researchers examined
their early test results, taken when the people being studied were likely
too young to have started smoking yet.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the
children that grew up to be smokers really were a little less intelligent
(on average) even before their first cigarette. But, pre-existing
differences didn't explain all of the gap in adult IQ. Instead, they
found that the adult smoker's IQs had declined since
childhood (by about 4%), even after adjusting for other known confounds such
a marijuana use. (The non-smokers IQs had not gone down over time.)
Whether this decline in IQ was due just
to smoking cannot be definitively determined from this research; it's
possible that there is some other factor that both increases the risk
of smoking and reduced intellectual performance. There is some
supporting evidence that's also good news for smokers, though; those
that had been smokers but quit returned to their pre-use IQs.
That smoking could alter cognitive performance
isn't really a surprising idea: Most (perhaps all) psychoactive
drugs, if used chronically, subtly alter the brain. IQ (and even
brain density) goes down in heavy long-term drinkers. Heavy
MDMA ('ecstasy') use is associated with increased anxiety and depression,
etc. When you keep kicking your brain with a drug, your brain will
eventually kick you back.
• Read/Discuss the full journal article.
US Government: Anti-Drug Ads Ineffective (8/27/06)
The US Government Accountability Office
(GAO) has reported that there is no evidence that the $1.4
billion dollars spent by the Federal government on anti-drug advertising
over the past eight years had any beneficial impact on youth drug use.
Undetered by this news, the Bush administration is asking for funding
to be increased for the '07 fiscal year.
• The GAO web site
• The
report itself
Merck Pharmaceuticals
digs the lost history of MDMA (Ecstasy) out of their archives (8/23/06)
It's become conventional wisdom among
a lot of people that MDMA was originally developed as an appetite suppressant. There
was never any evidence to support such claims, but that hasn't stopped
them from popping up in even respectable research journals. Perhaps
taking a new interest in what may become a commercially valuable drug,
Merck, the company that first created MDMA in 1912, has gone through
their own records to find out what exactly they did create the substance
for.
Nobody
knew MDMA was a psychoactive drug at first. Instead,
they created what would eventually become 'ecstasy' as an insignificant
intermediate chemical used to manufacture other, potentially useful medications
to control bleeding.
In 1927, a Merck researcher rediscovered
MDMA, noting that it had a structural similarity to adrenaline. Animal
experiments were performed, but the details
have been lost beyond some notes that MDMA was somewhat toxic and
promoted muscle contraction, etc. His investigation was apparently
brief, noting that the chemicals needed to produce MDMA were expensive
and it's potential use as a stimulant was intriguing but unproven.
In 1952 MDMA appeared again
at Merck in the form of a brief note that flies exposed to the substance
became unconscious, then died.
In 1959, an investigation into
MDMA's potential use as a stimulant was again undertaken, but the details
have been lost. The first human tests may have occurred in 1959 or shortly
thereafter. Thirteen years later, MDMA was discovered being sold as a
drug in Chicago.
• Read the full report/comment on this story
• Read more about the history of MDMA ('ecstasy').
• Police Intimidation! South
Florida investigative reporters took hidden cameras to dozens of police
stations and asked to file a complaint about police misconduct. See how
they were bullied and and abused in this
CBS News Report (with full-length video, click the 'play' button.)
Mexico: America's Bitch (5/4/06)
Mexico's President Fox has decided to
bend over and grab his ankles for the US, indicating that he will not
sign into law a bill he had previously championed which would have made
simple possession of very small amounts of drugs legal.
• CNN story
Germany May Give Away Heroin to Addicts (5/206)
Inspired by the success of similar
programs in the Netherlands and Canada, the German government may soon
launch a program to provide up to 1,500 known addicts with free maintenance
doses of pharmaceutical-grade heroin. In the Netherlands, a similar
program improved addict health and cut property crimes by more than half
in the test region (many thefts and burglaries are committed by addicts
in order to support their habit.)
• Reuters article
Mexico About to Legalize
Drug Use? (4/28/06)
By a large majority, the Mexican
legislature has passed a bill that will legalize possession and use of
small quantities of many illegal drugs. President Fox's office
has indicated that the president will sign the bill into law. The
limits the bill places on the quantities of drugs people can possess
are generally quite low (5 grams of marijuana, half a gram of cocaine,
'about two' tablets of 'ecstasy', etc.) Some of the limits are
more generous: Under
the new law, people will be able to possess up to a kilogram (2.2 pounds)
of peyote cactus.
The US government has not
yet responded, but no doubt their reaction will be hysterical and menacing
(they have constantly threatened to crush Canadian exports to the US
with punitive intensive border searches if Canada dares to legalize marijuana.) It's
likely that they will try to convince President Fox not to sign the bill.
• Story
at CNN
• Discuss this development
MDMA ('Ecstasy') Therapy Study for Terminal Cancer
Patients Ready to Go (4/5/06)
A proposed study to give MDMA ('ecstasy')
to terminal cancer patients to help them resolve anxiety and other emotional
issues has received full funding ($250,000) from a private donor. The
study already had approval from the FDA, DEA and several state and institutional
regulatory boards, making funding the last barrier to moving forward
with the study. During the
planning phase the study had received some
direct financial support from MAPS (the
driving force behind the MDMA
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder study, already half completed), but
MAPS withdrew from formal involvement out of a desire to distance the
research from their organization, which the DEA in particular has
actively tried to thwart, seeing MAPS' work as a possible opening for
drug law reform.
Growing Support for Marijuana Legalization? (4/4/06)
In a poll conducted by Zogby
International on behalf of NORML, 46% of Americans say that they support changing
Federal laws to allows states to legalize marijuana if they wish to. While
encouraging, this isn't necessarily the same thing as 46% support for
legalization itself; some voters may simply see it as a state's rights
issue (supporting the authority of the states to set their own laws within
their borders.)
• NORML Press Release
• Discuss/view the survey breakdown by demographic groups.
Depressed, Anxious Children More Likely To Try 'Ecstasy'
(1/1/06)
Reporting on the results of a study
of 1580 Dutch children over a 14 year period, researchers have found
that depression or anxiety problems during childhood doubled the likelihood
that a child would eventually try 'ecstasy'. This result is consistent
with earlier findings that psychological problems in general increased
the likelihood of 'ecstasy' use later in life.
This correlation between childhood
emotional problems and drug use is not in of itself new, although detailed
data of the connection between specific problems and 'ecstasy' use is. Given
that emotionally troubled people are also at greater risk of drug addiction,
childhood mental health intervention may prove to be an invaluable tool
for combating drug abuse and addiction later in life.
• Read/Download the journal article (.pdf)
Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Use of Psychedelic
Tea (Ayahuasca) (2/21/06)
In an 8-0 ruling led by
the conservative new Chief Justice Roberts, the US Supreme Court has
struck down government efforts to prevent the religious group O
Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal (UDV) from importing
and using ayahuasca ('huasca'),
a hallucinogenic tea containing N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT,
a Schedule 1 drug.)
The use of ayahuasca for
shamanic practices and healing rituals dates back thousands of years
in South America. The
UDV church was founded in Brazil, combining Christian teachings
with the shamanic traditions of the rain forest's native peoples. There
are about 130 members in the US (although the church has a far larger
presence in Brazil.)
The group came under fire when
customs intercepted a shipment of the sacramental tea (apparently 14
previous shipments of the drug-laced liquid had gone unnoticed.) Faced
with the loss of their central religious sacrament and threats of arrest,
the Church sued the US government, claiming that the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (a law passed in 1993 primarily to protect
the rights of peyote using Native American tribes) exempted them from
the Controlled Substances Act (which outlaws DMT.) The government
countered that there was a compelling interest (as required by the RFR
Act) to stop the use of ayahuasca to 1. Protect the health of Church
members; 2. Prevent diversion of the tea to the black market; and 3.
To uphold international (UN) drug control treaties. The court ruled
that the government had failed to make a convincing argument
on any of these grounds, upholding the decision of a lower court that
the Church had the right to practice their religion by using ayahuasca.
While certainly a triumph for
the UDV, this ruling may also pave the way for other religious groups
who use psychoactive drugs as part of their practices (such as the Rastafarians,
who use marijuana, albeit in a less ritualized manner than the
UDV uses ayahuasca.)
• CNN Story
•
Full Supreme Court ruling (.pdf)
'Ecstasy' Addict consumed ~40,000 Pills
Over Nine Years (1/26/06)
Doctors in the UK have reported a case
of astonishing 'ecstasy' abuse in a 37 year-old man, who's use had eventually
escalated to an estimated 25 pills a day. After quitting use of
the drug, the patient reported still feeling 'high' for several months,
followed by a crash that included panic attacks, hallucinations, and
paranoia. He continues to suffer from severe problems with memory
and mental focus, which may be permanent.
A structural MRI (brain
scan) didn't reveal any brain damage, but given that amphetamine
neurotoxicity would be expected to produce subtle, widely distributed
damage the 'normal' MRI result does not mean that serious
brain injury hasn't occurred. (MDMA is part of the amphetamine
family, although quite different from common amphetamine or methamphetamine
in its subjective effects.)
•
Read and discuss
the full report
Government Statistics: People Who Don't
Use 'Ecstasy' More Likely To Become Violent Criminals! (1/12/06)
...because you can't stab somebody
if you're holding a glowstick? Reporting in the journal Substance
Use and Misuse, researchers discovered that young men who didn't
use 'ecstasy' in the past year were 36% more likely to have been arrested
for a crime than those who had used the drug. Among those who
had been arrested, those without a history of 'ecstasy' use were 42%
more likely to have committed assault, 58% more likely to have committed
robbery, and 67% more likely to have committed burglary.
On the other hand, those with
a past-year history of 'ecstasy' use were more likely to have supplied
drugs to other people. So, if your next door
neighbor is a raver, they're less likely to kill you in your sleep, less
likely to steal your stereo, and more likely to hook you up.
The cause of this difference is
unclear. It's possible that MDMA, with its capacity to produce introspection
and emotional growth, actually reduces an individual's inclination to
commit violent crimes. On the other hand, it's also possible that the
use of 'ecstasy' simply hasn't spread as far within the demographic groups
that are at the greatest risk of committing violent crimes. The full
story probably involves both factors.
• Read the journal article
• Discuss this research in the Forums
Rhode Island Legalizes Medical Marijuana, Denverites
Ready State-Wide Challenge (1/3/06)
Over-riding a veto, the legislature
of Rhode Island has legalized medical marijuana by a margin of 59-13.
Under the new law, patients with a permit will be allowed to grow a dozen
plants or buy up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana at once. Showing their
usual respect for the states, the US Office for Drug Control Policy described
the legislation as a symptom of "misguided
and out-of-touch" ideas.
• CNN Story
Meanwhile in the Mile High city,
police have continued to cheerfully arrest people for marijuana possession
under Colorado state laws, in spite of a city ordinance legalizing small
amounts of marijuana for adults. Understandingly frustrated (if not entirely
surprised), the group that spearheaded the Denver city initiative is
now moving to legalize marijuana state-wide through a 2006 ballot measure.
The measure seems unlikely to pass, but that the question is even being
asked is progress.
• News
Story
• Visit
PubMed (for research)
Archives:
Drug Enforcement Agency
Sets New Record For Efficacy: 1% (1/2/06)
City of Denver Legalizes Marijuana
(11/3/05)
The curious case of the missing
'date rape drug' victims (9/15/05)
Could marijuana be bad for bones?
(6/6/05)
The Genetics of an Ecstasy Hangover (5/4/05)
Canada to test giving away heroin
to addicts (2/16/05)
Blowing 'Vicks' in eyes associated
with eye injury (1/19/05)
Two batches of cocaine pills
found (12/29/04)
A troubling case of 'ecstasy'
induced heatstroke (10/19/04)
"Research Chemical" trade
attacked by DEA (7/25/04)
Evidence of MDMA-induced damage
to brain cells (5/22/04)
Monkeys allowed to self-administer
'Ecstasy' do not show brain damage (4/3/04)
Western
Australia Decriminalizes Marijuana (3/26/04)
Russia
Decriminalizes Drug Possession (3/13/04)
Netherlands
to Expand Free Heroin Program (3/13/04)
PMA, PMMA spotted in US (2/23/04)
Strange Days
at Monitoring the Future (1/02/04)
Well, That Explains
the Soft Spots (12/11/03)
Heavy Users of 'Ecstasy' May
Be At Greater Risk of Heart Disease (11/09/03)
Ricaurte Confesses: Infamous 'Ecstasy Causes Parkinson's'
Research Was A Fake! (9/10/03)
'Ecstasy' Pills Getting Weaker (8/6/03)
RAVE Act
II Surfaces (8/04/03)
"Constitutional Right to Marijuana" Alaskan
Judge Rules (7/7/03)
Researchers Looking
for Memory Problems in "Ecstasy" Users Come Up Dry (6/01/03)
Researchers
fail to find signs of any lasting harm to heavy "Ecstasy" (MDMA)
user's brains. (3/12/03)
