The story of a guy being imprisoned for 4 years because a piece of cannabis less the size of single grain of sugar was found beneath his shoe has gained international attention. And rightly so. Because not only can you get imprisoned for craziness like that, but the UAE also reserves the right to test [...]

It wouldn’t surprise me, and if it’s the case, something needs to be done. From Science Daily: A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim. The researchers’ estimate is based on [...]

The 20/20 journo talks with RP about his stances on drugs and prostitution: “I think the government’s role should not be involved in personal habits. When you defend freedom, you defend freedom of choice, and you can’t be picking and choosing how people use those freedoms… whether it’s personal behavior or economic behavior, I want [...]

Just. Plain. Stupid. New mint packets being sold by The Hershey Co. look nearly identical to the tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell illegal powdered drugs like crack, heroin and cocaine and glorify the drug trade, a Philadelphia police official said. Ice Breakers Pacs, nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside, hit store shelves [...]

About a year ago, I wrote about the case of a motorist who was found carrying a large sum of money. The police seized it, arguing that it just had to be drug money. They were allowed to keep it without ever bothering to prove an underlying crime, thus establishing the cherished legal principle that [...]

We owe our soldiers nothing less than the best health care in the world, but sadly that’s not the reality. So how to combat PTSD? Well, 60 Minutes had an interesting story on last night about a pill that loosens people’s memories of particularly traumatic events… (CBS) Pitman figured he could block that cycle by [...]

We’ve written about dichloroacetate before, but I thought I’d point it out again because it’s a wonder why we’re not hearing about it the media at large. From the University of Alberta: DCA is an odourless, colourless, inexpensive, relatively non-toxic, small molecule. And researchers at the University of Alberta believe it may soon be used [...]

Cheese, in this case, is a potent combination of heroin and over the counter pain medication like Tylenol PM. But seriously…6th to 8th graders are the main users of this stuff? Jeezus. Reuters has the video.

Yet another sign that we need some new ideas about how to address the issue of drugs in America. From the AP: (AP) Cocaine prices in the United States have dropped and the drug’s purity increased, despite years of effort and nearly $5 billion spent by the U.S. government to combat Colombia’s drug industry, the [...]

It’s not as simple as that, but the math is pretty stark. GlaxoSmithKline, which spent decades and more than $400 million developing a meningitis vaccine, expects to sell it only in Africa, and at a price that will never cover the cost of development. As the story notes, this is not an entirely selfless act. [...]

sleipner, one of our more frequent commenters on Donklephant had this to say on my recent post about drug toxicity… Obviously, direct toxicity is obviously not the only measure of danger for a drug. In addition to that, some drugs have an additional psychological or environmental risk of death or injury, either to the user [...]

(h/t: Sully)

Pretty interesting, no? I bet we can trace these numbers directly back to our failed, prejudiced “war” on drugs. And maybe you’re saying right now, “Prejudiced? Prove it!” Well, you need look no further than the vast disparity between the prisons sentences for people who do crack and people who do cocaine… Pharmacologically the same [...]

The New Mexico governor and presidential hopeful is doing something that about 99.999% of other viable presidential hopefuls wouldn’t even think of. And maybe that’ll set him apart. MSNBC has more: SANTA FE, N.M. – Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, poised to sign a bill making New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana, said [...]

It sounds too good to be true. But everything I can find says this could be legitimate. A molecule used for decades to combat metabolic diseases in children, may soon be available as an effective treatment for many forms of cancer, University of Alberta researchers are reporting. In results that “astounded� school scientists, the molecule, [...]

I certainly don’t use the term “junky” lightly, but we’re talking about more than a decade long, hardcore addiction to incredibly strong painkillers. It certainly makes mild drug use by former and current Presidents (and any hopefuls) seemingly irrelevant. From Law.com… The FBI’s 1986 report on Rehnquist’s drug dependence was not released at the time [...]

So not only is marijuana a $35 billion cash crop, it’s reportedly our country’s largest. From LA Times: A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion â€â€? far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, [...]

in incarcerations. From Reuters: “A U.S. Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a record 7 million people — or one in every 32 American adults — were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year. Of the total, 2.2 million were in prison or jail. According to [...]

Afghanistan’s opium poppy crop is the largest on record. Junkies breath a collective sigh of relief. From Wash Post: Opium production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the world’s heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday. In addition to [...]

Acoording to his contemporaries, Haggard didn’t just buy meth… The Rev. Ted Haggard agreed to resign as leader of the New Life Church after its independent investigative board recommended removal, saying he was guilty “of sexually immoral conduct.” “We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of [...]