Science

Three reasons why scientific advice on drugs is ignored

During alcohol prohibition in the US in the 1920s, the government made an exception for whisky, a more expensive alcoholic drink, which you could buy with a doctor’s prescription. This ensured that those who were poor could be locked up for drinking alcohol, while the elites could legally obtain the drug if they wanted to.…

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Medicine/Healing

Let cities open safe injection sites

Neighbors and city officials sometimes challenge sites like these because they fear they will promote drug use and increase crime. Research instead suggests that they lead to increases in public order, with fewer discarded needles on the street and less drug use on the sidewalk, and have no impact on drug-related crimes. ​ States and…

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Science

Government weighs in on debate over kratom

On Tuesday, Feb. 13th, 2018 the agency said the new computer model [which has been disparaged by some prominent scientists] it developed shows that kratom contains opioid compounds with potentially deadly side effects such as seizures and depressed breathing. The Drug Enforcement Administration is weighing whether to place kratom, which comes from a leafy Southeast Asian tree, in…

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Science

Alcohol more damaging to brain health than marijuana

Study leader Rachel Thayer, of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder, and colleagues recently reported their results in the journal Addiction … The team notes that any reduction in the size of white or gray matter or a loss in their integrity can lead to impairments in brain functioning. Scientists at the University…

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Science

FDA weaponizes ‘opioid’ label against kratom consumers

My take? If Dr. Gottlieb’s statement were a pharmacology graduate student’s written qualifying exam answer to a question seeking an objective assessment of kratom pharmacology and toxicology, I’d have no choice but to issue a failing grade … I say this all with great respect for Dr. Gottlieb, a physician and former Forbes contributor, 1. You failed…

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Biography/Memoir

Kratom and the FDA

So as an industrial medicinal chemist, I have some problems with the way the FDA is making its case here. It’s true that computational models of drug function have become more common, but “reliable” is a tricky word. If these things were truly reliable, to the point that you’d be comfortable setting government policy according…

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Science

Two leading psychedelic researchers—Heffter President Dave Nichols and board member Charles Grob—report on the toxicity of LSD

From a physiological perspective, however, LSD is known to be non-toxic and medically safe when taken at standard dosages (50–200 μg). The scientific literature, along with recent media reports, have unfortunately implicated “LSD toxicity” in five cases of sudden death. On close examination, however, two of these fatalities were associated with ingestion of massive overdoses,…

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Science

Life-saving spray being issued to EPD patrol officers

*molecule of naloxone [Eugene] police are increasingly coming into contact with illicit drugs on patrol, including fentanyl…a synthetic opioid. Eugene Police have a new tool in their efforts to help addicts in crisis: the drug naloxone, which can reverse opioid overdoses. Besides using naloxone sprayers on [people who use drugs], officers can use them on…

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Science

Magic mushrooms could treat depression without the emotional numbing caused by traditional antidepressants

…a substance called psilocybin. This is the principal psychedelic component in shrooms, responsible for their mind-bending, mood-altering properties. This study builds on an earlier experiment, which found that psilocybin can reduce blood flow in the amygdala, as well as symptoms of depression. At the time, researchers explained that the drug had produced an “after-glow” that…

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