Culture

I found this series of articles in a small local publication known as the Ganja Gazette. It is really about the local I.E. Northern Colorado cannabis scene, but this particular article caught my eye. It is a funny, tongue-in-cheek account of a guy named Kyle Pogue, who is new to the area and the staff of this publication. He is introducing himself and explaining his "descent into reefer madness". Hello, friends. I'm new here, so I will introduce myself. My name is Kyle Pogue. If a man is to...

New Drug Testing Technology Makes Urine Samples a Thing of the Past Addiction in the News, Addiction Research, Drug Abuse, Drugs and Society, Drugs and the Law Forget about urine samples or breathalyzers; the future of drug testing is in fingerprints. Breathe on this. Spit on that. Provide a urine sample. You know the drill. The methods of drug testing are relatively common and well-known. From breathalyzers to blood tests, most people are familiar with the process…but all that’s about to...

Will Denver reverse the laws around psilocybin? In February, the Denver Elections Division officially announced that Decriminalize Denver, a group dedicated to putting together a state-level framework for legalizing psilocybin mushrooms, gathered just enough signatures to get their initiative on the ballot for this year’s municipal election. Although the campaign is just about to launch, the city is currently forging the path of the psychedelic movement. The state required 4726 signatures...

photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters Laila Haidari is considered a criminal, despite never committing a crime. The 40-year-old works with drug addicts in Kabul. “The addicts I work with are considered criminal and dangerous and by extension I am considered criminal,” she says. Despite opposition and death threats, eight years ago, Haidari opened the city’s only private drug rehabilitation centre, which so far has helped nearly 4,800 Afghans who would otherwise have ended up on the streets, or...

Many studies have found that gay men are disproportionately affected by drug and alcohol problems. In recent years, drugs such as crystal meth and GHB have seen a rise in use on the gay scene – first in clubs but more lately more often in sex settings such as private ‘chemsex’ parties. That some porn stars should indulge in drugs is nothing new, but now one Australian adult entertainer has spoken out in an exclusive interview with Star Observer. Skippy Baxter used to be a nurse before he...

Adult film producers and crew use actresses’ drug dependencies as a method of control and manipulation Every day there are 1.5 billion pornographic internet downloads and 68 million pornography-related internet search engine requests. With pornography in such a high demand, the revenue, time and resources for its production are at an all time high. In the United States, the pornography industry revenue is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined. To its audience,...

Millions of Australians use, or have used, illicit substances at some point in their life, while millions more are regular users of legal drugs such as alcohol, tobacco or sleeping pills.While some people become heavy users of alcohol or other drugs as a way of coping with past trauma or mental illness, this is not the story for millions of others. Young (and older) people use drugs and alcohol for fun, enjoyment and socialisation. NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann summed it up well when she...

Kratom stimulates the same brain receptors as morphine although it produces much milder effects Pontianak, Indonesia - The sweltering backwaters of Indonesian Borneo have become the unlikely ground zero for the global production and export of Kratom, a tree leaf hailed by some as a miracle cure for everything from opioid addiction to anxiety. Part of the coffee family, the leaf has been used for centuries in South-east Asia and Papua New Guinea for its pain-relieving and mildly stimulating...

When historians trace back the roots of today’s opioid epidemic, they often find themselves returning to the wave of addiction that swept the U.S. in the late 19th century. That was when physicians first got their hands on morphine: a truly effective treatment for pain, delivered first by tablet and then by the newly invented hypodermic syringe. With no criminal regulations on morphine, opium or heroin, many of these drugs became the "secret ingredient" in readily available, dubiously...

Three dozen drugmakers are raising prices on more than 250 prescription drugs, according to an analysis by RX Savings Solutions. The average price increase will be around 6.3%, although some drugs will see prices increase by 10% or more. By contrast, the inflation rate in the U.S. for the 12 months through November is 2.2%. The analysis, first reported by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, also showed that the number of drugs seeing price increases as well as the average rate of increase...

Report proposes legalising billion-dollar cannabis industry to rescue ailing economy. The town of Brital, in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, is a jarring contrast of poverty and ostentatious wealth. Busted-up old vans drive on potholed roads next to gleaming Bentleys and Range Rovers with no number plates and blacked-out windows. Unemployment is rife, and yet the landscape is dotted by large gated mansions. The town is home to some of Lebanon’s most powerful cannabis-growing families, who...

Take part at the Global Drug Survey. Watch the video above with Prof. David Nutt.

'The old perception of students as hard-boozing party animals may now be a dated one' Students are worried that their peers might be alcoholics, survey finds ( Getty ) One in four students know someone at university who they believe is an alcoholic, according to a new poll. Despite concerns that their classmates are dependent on alcohol, the majority (52 per cent) of students said they did not get drunk on a typical week, according to the YouGov research. The survey, of more than 1,000...

Over the last year, at lunches with various Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, I have been offered: Several chances to microdose on LSD (pass!); at least four suggestions that magic mushrooms will help me become a better reporter (maybe); three declarations that Ecstasy will make me a nicer person (doubt it); and now that it is legal in California, weed, weed and more weed in every conceivable delivery method (yum, gummy bears!). And, of course, ayahuasca, a brew made from plants that includes...

America's drug problem may be even worse than officials realize. And illicit drugs are consumed at a higher rate during celebratory events. Those are just two of the conclusions scientists have drawn from recent studies of drug residues in sewage. America's drug problem may be even worse than officials realize. And illicit drugs are consumed at a higher rate during celebratory events. Those are just two of the conclusions scientists have drawn from recent studies of drug residues in sewage....

Class A drug use is rising among young middle-class professionals. Yes, we're hypocrites, they tell David Bates as British authorities blame them for fuelling gang wars. Among Britons aged 16 to 24, 4.1 per cent use drugs more than once a month, statistics say. But young Londoners reckon the figure is closer to 90 per cent. The evening had followed a familiar trajectory: a few beers, raucous laughter, the customary decompression after five days of work for four twenty-something men with...

The Home Office “would not stand in the way” of drug testing at clubs and festivals, it said. It follows calls from experts and campaigners for music events to provide the service after two people died and 13 others were hospitalised at Hampshire’s Mutiny festival. Eleven people have died at festivals in the last two years even though drug use is not increasing, suggesting that illegal substances now have higher levels of toxicity. Currently, drug testing facilities are offered at an...

J.G. is a lawyer in his early 30s. He’s a fast talker and has the lean, sinewy build of a distance runner. His choice of profession seems preordained, as he speaks in fully formed paragraphs, his thoughts organized by topic sentences. He’s also a worrier—a big one—who for years used alcohol to soothe his anxiety. J.G. started drinking at 15, when he and a friend experimented in his parents’ liquor cabinet. He favored gin and whiskey but drank whatever he thought his parents would miss the...

Opioid overdose deaths in the United States were five times higher in 2016 than in 2000. – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention In the winter of 2014, Chris Abert and a few friends began riding their bikes around Bloomington, Indiana, offering jackets, hot coffee and friendship to people who were homeless. Their outreach focused on building relationships and sought to give a voice to underserved members of the community. Almost immediately, people said they needed clean syringes and...

The US government secured a criminal conviction against Purdue Pharma in the mid-2000s but failed to curb sales of the drug after Giuliani reached a deal to avoid a bar on Purdue doing business Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma is facing a wave of civil lawsuits as New York, Texas and five other states have joined a growing number actions against the company. Photograph: Douglas Healey/AP The US government missed the opportunity to curb sales of the drug that kickstarted the opioid epidemic...