international
Magic mushrooms may ease anxiety of cancer: Study
By Julie Steenhuysen, ReutersCHICAGO - The hallucinogen psilocybin — known by the street name magic mushrooms — may help ease the anxiety that often accompanies late-stage cancer, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Cancer patients given a moderate dose of psilocybin — a hallucinogen with effects similar to LSD — were measurably less depressed six months after a single dose compared with a placebo. Patients seemed somewhat less anxious, they reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
The pilot study of 12 cancer patients was designed to prove that hallucinogenic drugs could be studied safely as a way to relieve the distress of advanced cancer.
Not just junkies: the stigmatising of drug addicts
By. Diane Taylor, GuardianDrug addicts have a lot in common with other marginalised groups, such as sex workers, people with disabilities and asylum seekers in that many people have never met them and know very little about the realities of their lives. Where there is a void of factual information, stigma and prejudice often rush in to fill the space. This week's report from the UK drugs policy commission, Sinning and Sinned Against: the Stigmatisation of Problem Drug Users, confirms this. The report finds that many people don't like drug users and that this dislike hinders the prospects of social integration and future employment for this group.
Decriminalize heroin and cocaine, says top U.K. doctor
By: Debra Black, The StarA debate over the decriminalization of heroin and cocaine has erupted again in Great Britain after a private statement by the one-time head of the Royal College of Physicians was leaked to a drug-reform campaign group and the media.
Sir Ian Gilmore, the former president of the Royal College of Physicians, made the statement about his feelings on the country’s drug policies in a private bulletin to the members of the college.
In it he called for a change in tactics, decriminalizing illicit drug use and treating addiction as a health problem not a criminal problem.
Legalizing drugs the only answer
By: Jonathan Power, Toronto StarDuring the difficult years that preceded the British handover of Hong Kong to China, the Chinese government's intense antipathy to opium and the still fresh memories of the evil that 18th century buccaneering Britain had inflicted on China and Hong Kong added an extra emotional charge to what, anyway, was a most complicated transition. Without opium there would have been no Hong Kong. The British only acquired it because of the Opium Wars, and the city's early economic success was built on the opium trade.
It was the British who fed the Chinese propensity for opium. Historians point out that the Chinese would have found it elsewhere, even grown some of it themselves. But the truth is the Indian-grown opium was the brand the Chinese smokers savoured and the British East India Company marketed it with commercial élan.
Mexico drug cartels thrive despite Calderon's offensive
Nearly four years after President Felipe Calderon launched a military-led crackdown against drug traffickers, the cartels are smuggling more narcotics into the United States, amassing bigger fortunes and extending their dominion at home with such savagery that swaths of Mexico are now in effect without authority.
The groups also are expanding their ambitions far beyond the drug trade, transforming themselves into broad criminal empires deeply involved in migrant smuggling, extortion, kidnapping and trafficking in contraband such as pirated DVDs.
Undeterred by the 80,000 troops and federal police officers arrayed against them, gunmen frequently take on Mexican forces in the open. Operatives of one group, the Zetas, did so in northern Mexico this spring when they blockaded army garrisons. In June a group believed to be linked to another organization, La Familia, ambushed federal police in the western state of Michoacan, killing 12 officers in early morning light.
Ex-Mexican president's proposal to legalize drugs stokes debate and meets resistance
By: Mark Stevenson, Winnipeg Free PressMEXICO CITY - A former Mexican president's proposal to legalize drugs as a way of breaking the economic power of drug cartels is stoking debate inside his country and bringing opposition in Washington.
One thing most experts agreed on is that the idea is unlikely to prosper without similar moves to legalize or regulate the sale of drugs in the United States, the main consumer of drugs from Mexico.
When former President Vicente Fox wrote in a blog Sunday that "we should consider legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs," it was the most far-reaching and high-ranking stand for legalization yet in Mexico, where more than 28,000 people have died during the current administration's war against drug cartels. Read more »
Former Mexican president urges successor to legalize drugs, saying it will undercut cartels
By: E. Eduardo Castillo, Winnipeg Free PressMEXICO CITY - Former President Vicente Fox is joining with those urging his successor to legalize drugs in Mexico, saying that could break the economic power of the country's brutal drug cartels.
Fox's comments, posted Sunday on his blog, came less than a week after President Felipe Calderon agreed to open the door to discussions about the legalization of drugs, even though he stressed that he remained opposed to the idea.
Fox said places that have implemented the legalization strategy have not seen significant increases in drug use.
Small 'c' conservatives should end the war on drugs
By: Charles W. Moore, Telegraph JournalScanning coverage of Conrad Black's release from prison on bail, I was amused (sort of) by a reporter's describing Mr. Black as a "one-time conservative." This assessment was based on Mr. Black's taking up the cause of prison and drug-law reform during his incarceration, and says more about the writer's superficial, stereotyped perceptions of "conservatism" than about Mr. Black's politics.
'HIV Policy Rubbish': Expert Slams Canada's 'Backwards' Approach
By Niamh Scallan, TheTyee.caCondoms and clean needles. Two basic remedies that could help stop the HIV/AIDS epidemic dead in its tracks.
It's that simple, says Maxine Davis, executive director of the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation and Canada's leading voice when it comes to AIDS treatment.
If only the government would listen.
At the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna last month, Davis and Canadian colleagues watched as their government, refusing to stand behind the Vienna Declaration, slipped from its respected leadership role in the global fight against the disease.
Marc Emery wonders what's happening with his mail
By Charlie Smith, Georgia StraightThe Prince of Pot's U.S. Federal Prison blog # 8 cites a "disturbing series of occurrences" with his mail.
In the blog, Marc Emery wrote that a number of items he has sent and that he should have received have gone missing.
He mentioned that he decorated an envelope in colour with hand-done calligraphy for a letter to his wife Jodie. Emery wrote that he sent it on July 14 so it would arrive in time for their fourth wedding anniversary on July 23.
"But alas, the letter never arrived, and I don't know if you or I will ever know where it went," Emery noted.
He also stated that two photographs of him, which he paid for in jail, were sent three weeks ago, but did not make it to their destination.
