InSite, Vancouver's safe injection center has formed an alliance with residents in a retirement home to lobby for exemptions from the non-smoking policy of a shared funding source. Ironies abound.
Category: Controversies
This is your culture on pot
Keith Humphreys and Mark Kleiman offer some great commentary on marijuana legalization and what a legal marijuana market might look like. First, Humphreys: About eighty percent of the market is “commercial grade” cannabis, which has a THC content of about 5% and sells for $70 to $230 per ounce, depending on how far a buyer … Continue reading This is your culture on pot
Gateway Theory Revisited
Keith Humphreys on findings that link marijuana, tobacco and alcohol use with opiate use: The researchers used data from 2006 to 2008 from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual study representative of the U.S. population, to study 18- to 25-year-olds’ drug use behavior. They found that 12 percent … Continue reading Gateway Theory Revisited
More on methadone
Points is publishing a series on methadone and offers a case for methadone without resorting to describing it as "the most effective treatment for opiate addiction." It's a pretty fair piece. I had only one quibble with the facts of the story. This is unusual and very welcome. However, the author and I disagree starkly … Continue reading More on methadone
Two stories on methadone
First, DEATHS among drug users have hit a record high in Scotland, increasing by a fifth in 2011, the latest government figures reveal. Last year 584 people died from drug use, which means that drugs now account for one in every 100 deaths in Scotland. The heroin substitute, methadone, was at the heart of the … Continue reading Two stories on methadone
Methadone’s cognitive effects
Another study on methadone's cognitive effects: In one study, on the day after the last exposure to methadone, there was a significant reduction (around 70 per cent) in the level of a signal molecule which is important in learning and memory, in both the hippocampus and in the frontal area of the brain. This … Continue reading Methadone’s cognitive effects
The adjacent possible and hope
I heard a radio show this morning about where ideas come from. They interviewed a guy who wrote a book and gave a TED talk on the topic. During the interview he discussed the concept of the adjacent possible and it's importance in forming new ideas. During the interview, he described it as the building … Continue reading The adjacent possible and hope
Rights Group says U.S.-backed study exploited China prisoners
Not sure what to make of this: A Chinese research team's study of drug addiction treatments published inScience on 13 April is coming under fire from Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York City-based advocacy group. This week's issue of Science contains a letter from the group accusing the Chinese team of not making it clear whether their … Continue reading Rights Group says U.S.-backed study exploited China prisoners
“a life beyond imagination, but it was fleeting”
So sad. Thoughts from someone who went to treatment with a British heiress who recently died of addiction. They both stayed sober for more than 10 years and both relapsed. (Warning: I don't like the writer's use of the 'r' word.) So I got lucky, and Eva didn’t. I’m sure her parents and her people … Continue reading “a life beyond imagination, but it was fleeting”
Following the evidence
Ouch: Abstract: This paper raises the question about whether the data on the medications we call antidepressants justify the label of antidepressant. The authors argue that a true antidepressant should be clearly superior to placebo, should offer a risk/benefit balance that exceeds that of alternative treatments, should not increase suicidality, should not increase anxiety and … Continue reading Following the evidence
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