Dont reclassify

“Prof Murray said: “Individuals who – perhaps with some mild predisposition – would not otherwise have developed schizophrenia will do so because of taking cannabis. It’s a bit like how people with only a minimal predisposition to diabetes will develop it if they eat too much.”

Dr Iddon, the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on drugs misuse, said the study did not convince him it was time to return cannabis to class B.

“I don’t think the causal link has been proved. I think cannabis might – possibly for genetic reasons – trigger psychosis at an earlier age.”

The MP, who is also a member of the science and technology select committee, said there was a danger of criminalising “hundreds of thousands of young people” if the status of the drug was changed.

If Gordon Brown changes the class of the drug, it won’t be evidence-based but for political reasons,” he said.

“Since we reduced the classification of cannabis from B to C the usage is going down, so what’s the point of muddying the debate again by this yo-yo political policy?”

more

quitting

“one of the main reasons it’s so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away. Well, here’s a little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

* In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
* In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
* In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
* In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
* In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
* In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
* In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
* In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
* In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
* In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke.”

magnetise the baby

Interesting theory about babies, sucrose and dopamine

Opps, is this true?

Supposedly THC kills aging cells and keeps them from becoming cancerous…

“The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.

The new findings “were against our expectations,” said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years.

“We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use,” he said. “What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect.”

from Washington Post

Drugs dont work…

Maybe they should legalise it and let the consumers decide what strength they want…

“In recent years, the average THC content of marijuana sold in Britain has doubled to 12 percent from around 6 percent, while in the Netherlands it is about 18 percent, Murray said.

Most users of cannabis still do not have a problem with the drug but a minority, possibly because of genetic factors, are vulnerable to long-term damage from modern skunk — which Murray says is to old-fashioned dope what whisky is to lager.

The rise in THC content is linked with a decline in another active ingredient called cannabidiol (CBD), since the two products compete biochemically inside the cannabis plant.

CBD, which reduces anxiety but does not produce the euphoric high of THC, may help offset some of the paranoid feelings.

Markus Leweke of Cologne University said a clinical trial involving 42 patients showed CBD was as effective as the established medicine amisulpride, sold as Solian by Sanofi-Aventis, in treating patients with psychosis.

“It seems there are good guys and bad guys within cannabis,” Leweke said.”

more

Why do we fall in love: anthropologist names magic

her name is helen fisher from rutgers

Oh so that’s what MDMA looks like

From an intelligent website on ‘entheogenics’ and documenting the complex relationship between humans and psychoactives

love you guys man

Smuggling

“A former public schoolboy who masterminded a £3m plot to smuggle wooden doors impregnated with liquid cocaine into Britain was jailed yesterday for 18 years. Paul Sneath, 24, of Guildford, Surrey, came up with a “unique” plot using sheets of plywood, liquid cocaine, industrial solvent, and cheese graters.

In 2005, after inheriting £250,000, the Bristol University dropout travelled to Panama where he arranged for plywood to be soaked in liquid cocaine and sealed inside doors elaborately patterned with parrots. The doors were then shipped from Panama to his family home, where his unknowing mother signed for them and paid £798 for the shipping costs.

Sneath then transferred the doors to a lock-up in Dalston, east London, where members of a Colombian gang removed the plywood, shaved it with cheese graters and mixed the shavings with heated solvent. Police caught the gang red-handed before they had a chance to dry the precipitate and chop it into powder. The doors were found to have been impregnated with 17.3kg of pure cocaine, with a street value in excess of £3.2m.

Sneath, who had no previous criminal record, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine at Inner London crown court.”

more