Politics

How can scientists in the U.S. file for patents on agricultural and medicinal products with minor innovations from what is traditional knowledge?

The problem lies with the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) systen, under the World Trade Organization (WTO). At the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations in 1994, IPRs were regulated world-wide under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The system was designed…

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Politics

Legalization is… [a] viable drug policy

The market for illicit drugs represents [a massive] commodity business. With an estimated annual turnover of $426-652 billion, it is approximately one-third the size of the global oil market. By calling for legalization, we are not surrendering to the problem posed by drugs. Rather, we are advocating a more effective, lasting, and humane solution. It…

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Biography/Memoir

Guggenheim Museum will no longer accept gifts from makers of OxyContin

The group’s mission statement asks that “museums, universities, and educational institutions worldwide remove Sackler signage and publicly refuse future funding from the Sacklers.”  Purdue Pharma started producing OxyContin, generic name oxycodone, in 1995. The drug became a billion-dollar blockbuster for the company. The Sackler family is listed as the 19th-richest in the world by Forbes…

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Biography/Memoir

Hundreds of cities, counties and Native American tribes file federal lawsuit against Sackler family over opioid crisis

A spokesperson for the families of Drs. Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, the late founders of the company, issued this statement: “These baseless allegations place blame where it does not belong for a complex public health crisis, and we deny them. The company our fathers and grandfathers founded manufactures an FDA-approved medicine … “While we have…

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Biography/Memoir

Ibogaine activist Dana Beal on his arrest for pot trafficking: ‘I’m just trying to complete my mission’

For decades, Beal has been a proponent of ibogaine, a substance, derived from an African shrub, that’s been illegal in the U.S. since 1969 because of its hallucinogenic properties. Beal considers it a superior cure for addiction to heroin and other hard drugs. He said he has received “donations in the form of marijuana” to…

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