Culture

Last Monday the White House commission examining the nation’s opioid epidemic, headed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, released its interim report that says President Donald Trump should declare an emergency because “our citizens are dying.” The recommendation that Trump declare a national public health emergency over the growing opioid crisis is long overdue and a welcome relief, according to medical professionals and those battling the epidemic on the front lines. But some worry the...

(CNN) -- Don't be surprised if there is a sign one day on a small California town that reads "Welcome to Nipton: A Place to Get Stoned." The entire town of 120 acres was purchased Thursday by American Green Inc., a marijuana focused technology and growing firm based in Arizona. The reported price tag: about $ 5 million The company plans to make Nipton the country's "first energy-independent, cannabis-friendly hospitality destination," American Green said in a statement. Nipton is near the...

According to deeply-rooted cultural tropes, iatrogenic addiction is usually perceived to be a legitimate way become a drug addict, the “right” or justifiable path to addiction, while other routes to addiction create the “wrong” kind of addict. The right kind of addict deserves sympathy and medical help, while the wrong kind of addict should be left to face the consequences of their own choices, according to common sentiment.3 Traditionally, historians have believed that this delineation of...

The U.S. Department of State is alerting travelers to Mexico about possible tainted or counterfeit alcohol that could cause sickness and blacking out. The department on Wednesday updated its information page specific to Mexico, cautioning vacationers who chose to drink alcohol to “do so in moderation and to stop and seek medical attention if you begin to feel ill.” The warning noted: “The safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities." The updated warning...

Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington has died at the age of 41, according to The Los Angeles County Coroner. Bennington hanged himself inside a private home in Palos Verdes Estates in Los Angeles County, TMZ reports. According to the gossip site, the singer struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and had previously talked about suicide as the result of childhood trauma and abuse. For years, he acted as the frontman to the rock group, whose hits include “Faint,” “In the End” and...

What if the media covered alcohol like it does other drugs? This was a question that came up in my coverage of flakka, a synthetic drug that made headlines after law enforcement blamed it for people running in the streets naked in delusional paranoia. What follows is a satirical attempt at capturing that same type of alarmist reporting, but for a substance that really causes widespread and severe problems. NEW ORLEANS — An ongoing drug epidemic has swept the US, killing hundreds and...

Things have been changing fast here in France since David Cohen (20I3) and Conrad and Bergey (2014) looked at French approaches to ADHD treatment. It now looks as if the U.S. approach to mental health is fast gaining purchase in a country that formerly boasted a great, perhaps too sophisticated (Lacan et al.) psychoanalytic tradition, but also a holistic psychosocial tradition when dealing with psychological disturbance in children. As Conrad and Bergey put it, U.S. behavioural norms are...

Several controversial psychedelic drugs now show promise as powerful therapeutic treatments for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. New data from YouGov suggests that public support for these therapies may have something to do with education level. A study by researchers from New York University and Johns Hopkins University showed that a single treatment with psilocybin (the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms) reduced anxiety and depression in 80% of cancer patients. Another...

32% of Albertans have talked to their physician about alcohol use in the last two years, which is the highest of any province. $14B The cost of alcohol-related harm in Canada, according to Jean Harvey with the Canadian Population Health Initiative.

Two addiction counselors at a suburban Philadelphia halfway house died of opioid overdoses inside the facility on the same day, authorities said Wednesday. "If anybody is wondering how bad the opioid epidemic has become, this case is a frightening example," said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. "Opioids are a monster that is slowly consuming our population." Emergency responders were called to Freedom Ridge Recovery Lodge on Sunday afternoon after residents found the counselors...

Anti-drugs campaigners have expressed dismay after the police backed plans to allow festival goers to test substances such as cocaine and ecstasy for purity before taking them. The service, which will be offered at a string of live music events this summer, including the Reading and Leeds festivals, is intended to identify potentially dangerous drugs, so that users can make an informed choice. Festival goers will be able to take illegal drugs to a testing tent, where analysts from an...

Last week, a photo of a pigeon’s nest in a filthy sink of a Vancouver single-room occupancy hotel became international news, picked up by Buzzfeed, the Independent and the South China Morning News. The nest, three eggs included, was made entirely of discarded drug needles. It was a potent image, for sure, since it evoked ideas of nature corrupted within a dystopian urban hellscape where the building blocks of nature had been replaced with old hypodermics. It was also more than a little...

Former Black Flag frontman on Trump, punks and why marijuana prohibition in America is a scam In the 30 years since former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins intentionally smoked weed, he says he has never grown curious to try pot again. There was a secondhand smoke incident a few years ago in Colorado, when he was filming the cannabis episode of 10 Things You Don't Know About for the History Channel – and while that made his sandwich taste very good, his indifference to personal use didn't...

OAKLAND, Calif.— In a packed, cavernous space one weekend late in April, a crowd of thousands was becoming increasingly amped up. Rainbow hair was commonplace, purple silk pants were sighted, and the smell of marijuana drifted in from a designated smoking area nearby. Audience members watched the stage with avid interest, leaping to occasionally shoeless feet to applaud and cheer. This wasn’t Coachella, taking place the same weekend some 500 miles south, or any other music festival, but a...

But will doctors and patients normalize alternative therapies involving MDMA, LSD, ketamine, and other ‘unlawful’ drugs? Will we see prescription psychedelics in our lifetime There’s a bit by comedian Bill Hicks from 1989, where he asks, “Wouldn’t you like to see a positive drug story in the news?” Then, he does an impression of a newscaster, reporting about a young man on LSD who doesn’t try to fly by doing something stupid, like jumping off a building — as most news stories reported back...