Leonard's Dope

I know a guy by the name of Leonard Dohr. I’ve know him a real long time actually, over a couple of decades. The first ten years or so that I knew him, it was just casual, a mutual friend. I didn’t know him well. About nine or so years ago, that mutual friend died. I ran into Leonard at the memorial, we smoked a reefer, exchanged numbers, and have kept in touch since.

Nowadays I know Leonard very well. He is a swell guy. Leonard would give the shirt off his back to a total stranger, as long as that stranger met his approval. I know that seems odd but Leonard has his own charities. I know that he takes in many strays at his home. If you know Leonard, if Leonard were your friend, you’ll never have to sleep outside, no matter what you did to get there.

Leonard’s parents have been deceased many years. Leonard was bequeathed a small fortune and was living a life with few struggles. I am not saying that Leonard is rich, he certainly is not. It is just that Leonard doesn’t need to work. Does not seem to concern himself with the little things in life that drive us all nuts, like paying bills, or creating a budget. I kid with Leonard, I tell him that he leads a life of leisure, the American dream. I tell him that if I had his choices, my own life would be considerably easier. That is not, in any way, suggesting I would live Leonard’s life. Hell no!

Leonard is fucking nuts.

Leonard has an unusual philosophy about life. If you didn’t really know him, it would be easy to dismiss his quirks as perhaps a form of dementia, or maybe you’d feel sorry for Leonard.

I know Leonard and I don’t really see it that way.

Leonard is about my age, maybe fifty or so. Like myself, he grew up in the decades following the Manson thing, after the Zodiac, right about the time when young folks started to take their drug experimentation a lot more seriously. Leonard did lots of acid. Leonard would ingest nearly anything that carried the promise of an eternal sense of happiness. I think he neglected to find exactly that, but he continues to try.

I have spent a bit more time lately with Leonard than is usual and I’m reminded how fucking crazy this cat can be. We’ve sat together lately several times, smoking grass and exchanging ideas on how to save humanity or some such thing. Sometimes it was just he and I, sometimes we were joined by others in our little peer group. I absolutely love to sit with other adults and exchange ideas and information, Leonard says it is the key to the evolution of man. Now that I know what he meant, I know he was right.

Leonard’s conversations are often centered around Leonard. I don’t think he’s especially narcissistic, I believe he’s only just discovering himself and is frequently amazed, or frightened, by what he finds. About the time I ran into Leonard at the memorial. He had just gotten his first computer and was planning to look into getting an internet provider and exploring this new technology.

The very next time I ran into Leonard, he was high as a kite and really excited about all the cool stuff he was finding through the magic of the world wide web.

See, Leonard is a strange kind of cat. Leonard is convinced that his drug use, yes street drugs, is not only, not killing him, it’s giving him a better, a more fulfilling life.

Granted, his financial situation is unique, perhaps enviable, and that does make a difference in his perception of the damage.

Anyway, now he kind of stays loaded, busy studying the new world he has found online, and he seems genuinely happy. He does not break the law in any other way. He pays his bills, eats good and shares his bounty with anyone in need. He is a great human being really.

I only find it odd that his choices would certainly raise eyebrows pretty much anywhere, any time, but his life seems quite manageable. In fact, he asked me point blank, the other day while we were discussing it, “Lloyd,” he says, “what would get better if I quit?” “What would be improved so much that I would be better off?”

I really had no clear honest answer.

[Via http://brachs.wordpress.com]

Customs officials seize $2.6 million worth of bongs

The Los Angeles Times brings us this story that seems appropriate on Black Friday…

Customs officials at the Los Angeles Harbor received a shipment from China listed as Christmas ornaments.

But when they opened the “presents” Tuesday, they found 316,000 bongs and pipes.

“They’re very colorful and big,” said Cristina Gamez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Some of them are like 2 feet tall.”

Gamez said glass bongs and pipes, contained in nearly 860 boxes of cargo, are worth about $2.6 million.

The package arrived a month ago but was seized Tuesday at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex. The manifest listing the cargo’s contents said Christmas ornaments were inside. They were addressed to someone in L.A. County.

Gamez said no arrests have been made, and an investigation is pending. She said that it is illegal to import, export or sell drug paraphernalia in the United States and that all the items would be destroyed.

[Via http://houstondwiattorney.wordpress.com]

Thanksgiving

I can say, without a doubt, that this has been the worst Thanksgiving of my life.

Now don’t get me wrong. Turkey Day 2009 was hardly my first Thanksgiving that didn’t resemble a Norman Rockwell painting. When I was in high school, we spent one festival of gluttony in Mexico as my cousin was getting married; for the rehearsal dinner, we had turkey tacos. Another Thanksgiving was spent in Montreal where my mother witnessed for the first time the full visceral horror of my step-brother’s eating binges. Then once as a child, my elderly jewish grandparents didn’t feel like having turkey for dinner so we had duck instead.

But this time things were different. No family. No turkey. No abundance of dirt cheap champagne. I didn’t even get to spend time with any friends.

Ok, well that last part is only half true, in that I saw a “friend”. The reason for these obnoxious quotation marks is such: this is a person with whom I initially established simply friendly relations, then somehow over the course of the last few months – and to my dismay – I’ve become his best friend and lifeline to sanity.

Now that last bit may sound a bit narcissistic on my part, but there have been signs that my conclusion is sound. For one, he often says that I’m the only person who actually understands his ideas. He’s even called me his translator at times. Second, I was the first person he called a few weeks back after a particularly scary hospital visit. Third, having a certain amount of expertise in the area (extensive personal therapy, family suicide, etc.) I can safely say that he’s displaying all of the signs of a person haunted with suicidal thoughts.

Today, he visited me for a few hours. Since he was doing me a favor anyway (delivering a tiny amount of drugs to me), I made him some french toast.

By the way, I have finally perfected the recipe. For those who want to know, it involves eggs, milk, honey, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.

The point is, I had work to do, and so I couldn’t hang out with him all day. So I kept encouraging him to see if anyone else was available, and of course he had little success. Then, all of a sudden, he left, with tears beading in his eyes. What bugs me, though, is that the tears came from an easily avoidable place. The problem is thus: while he may see me as the only person who actually listens to him, he has yet to listen to me or any voice of reason.

Yet sadly enough, he is probably the closest thing I have to family out here. Yes, the best facsimile of home that I can create involves the regular babysitting of an emotional succubus.

Happy Thanksgiving indeed.

[Via http://americanloon.wordpress.com]

What type of Drinker are You?

See what type of Drinker  you are and if your in Trouble!According to a recent UK Department of Health study, there are several reasons as to why people drink to excess on a regular basis.

They have identified nine main groups or reasons why people drink heavily. Heavy drinking is defined as 35 units per week for women and 50 units per week for men. This is twice the recommended limit.

Although this is obviously just a general guide, where do you think you fit into this? It may be you fit across categories or even have other reasons outside of the nine presented below. However, it is a useful guide to start looking at the causes for your heavy drinking.

Depressed drinker Your life is in a state of crisis, e.g. recently bereaved, divorced or in a financial crisis. Alcohol is a comforter and a form of self-medication to help you cope Destress drinker You have a pressurised job or stressful home-life leading you to have feelings of being out of control and burdened with responsibility. You use alcohol to relax, unwind and calm down and to help with switching between your work and your personal life. Partners often support or reinforce this behaviour by preparing drinks for you. Re-bonding drinker You use alcohol as the ’shared connector’ that unifies your friends and your social circle. You often forget the time and the amount of alcohol you are consuming. Conformist drinker You use going to the pub or bar as what ‘men do’ and it is your second home and you have a sense of belonging and acceptance within this environment. Community drinker You drink in fairly large social friendship groups. You have a sense of community forged through the pub group. Drinking for you provide a sense of safety and security and gives your life meaning and also acts as a social network with your friends. Boredom drinker This is especially true if you are a single mother or recent divorcee with a restricted social life. Drinking is company, making for an absence of people. Drinking marks the end of the day perhaps following the completion of chores. Macho drinker You often feel undervalued, disempowered and frustrated in important areas of your life. You have actively cultivated a strong alpha male identity that revolves around your drinking prowess. Your drinking is driven by a constant need to assert your masculinity and status to yourself and others. Hedonistic drinker You are single, divorced and/or with grown-up children. Drinking excessively is a way for you to visibly express your independence, freedom and ‘youthfulness’ to yourself. You use alcohol to release your inhibitions.

Find Out More:

In order to start making changes with your relationship with alcohol please visit the Alcohol Free Social Life website where you will learn specific techniques and examples of how to make changes now: 

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS

 and How to Live A Better Life NOW

   

[Via http://sober4life.wordpress.com]

Depresia toamna-iarna!

“Lasa-ma domne-n pace!” momentan vegetez cufundata de ganduri idioate incercand sa termin de citit un capitol din enigma don’soarei Otilia, adica citesc pana ma plictisesc de tot, eventual pana mi se acreste de carte si o arunc cat colo in rafturile care bineinteles nu mai sunt sterse de praf de o caruta de timp, à propos de carti, azi cam trebuia sa ma duc pe la Gaumeadus dar am preferat sa stau acasa si sa ma “bucur” de timpul liber pe care-l am…zilele astea am o perioada mai emo asa pentru ca sunt un om semigripat, realmente mort, oricum nu ma vaccinam pentru nicio gripa canina, porcina, aviara, caprina etc.

Am ganduri mari sa-mi tai parul, daaa parul ala lung, saten si ondulat al meu care mi se pare mai mult lana, mi-ar placea sa nu mai fiu nevoita sa-l perii zilnic, sa plang dupa fiecare fir cazut…pur si simplu l-as purta valvoi sau ciufulit in cap, cred ca mi-ar fii mult mai bine…

Nu am mai avut timp sa aberez pe blog tocmai pentru ca am fost prea ocupata cu programul “scoala-teme-movies”. Acum sunt prea nervoasa sa mai scriu ceva frumos cum scriam odata…ma enerveaza sa vad cum se labarteaza falnic un ditamai cosu’ pe faţa mea si ma face sa ma simt mult mai jalnica decat sunt momentan…

Ma enerveaza lumea tocmai pentru ca nu mai e soare, vara si caldura. Acum va e frig si deveniti mai ursuzi, va inchideti intr-o carapace unde hibernati, adunati energie pentru o perioada care este mult prea departe…in fine, ma vindec de EMOnita curand…

[Via http://cosminastefania.wordpress.com]

"In Mexico it is dangerous to speak the truth. It is even dangerous to know the truth"

In his superb piece on the ‘The Fall of Mexico’, Philip Caputo does an excellent job of demonstrating both the complexity of the situation and the extent to which fear has banished trust, making it increasingly difficult to know the truth, speak the truth, and then to report that truth to others.

He was unable, for example, to determine the exact truth behind competing claims about the army’s motivations – some suspect a slow military coup is taking place, others suggest collusion with drug cartels or a wish to become a cartel themselves. But the absence of truth in one area can lead to truth in another, and what is clear from the accounts compiled by Caputo and human rights groups is that the Mexican military is ruthless, brutal, secretive and completely unaccountable to the people who pay their wages.

He reminds us, too, that it isn’t just the Mexican taxpayer which funds this motley crew; $1.4 billion of American money is funding the militarisation of the war on drugs, and it is going towards an army which has been accused of practicing torture, unlawful detention, enforced disappearance, theft, rape, and murder:

A good example is the case of Javier Rosales, a medical technician who died after he and a friend were captured and tortured by soldiers. Members of his family went to the state justice office and the federal attorney general’s office to file a complaint against the soldiers and demand an investigation. They were turned away because, the officials said, charges of army misconduct fall under military jurisdiction. However, Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the Joint Chihuahuan Operation, told me that the army looks into such allegations only through internal investigations or when formal charges have been filed by state or federal prosecutors. It’s pure catch-22: state or federal authorities will not receive complaints against soldiers, and the army will not investigate unless charges have been filed by state or federal authorities.

Nor was Rosales alone; of over 2,000 complaints made about the military’s conduct, there has been not one prosecution. By abdicating responsibility for conducting the war on drugs, the civilian government lost its ability to regulate the way it’s conducted, so the US is basically funding an institution which is a law unto itself.

Of course, Caputo is also right to ask if the army was suddenly so thoroughly reformed that it became the model of an ethical military, could it overcome the drug cartels? Probably not. “The drug gangs”, Caputo writes, “have acquired a “military capacity” that enables them to confront the army on an almost equal footing.” I don’t know the official definition of a civil war, but this has got to come close.

It’s worth noting that Caputo’s piece is one of a flurry of articles on the situation to have emerged in recent months, and I think there are a number of reasons for this. Obviously, the significant increase in death is highly newsworthy, and the country’s proximity to the United States has made it a growing concern for American media outlets. But I also think there’s a growing understanding that Mexico is reaching a sort of endgame in the war on drugs.

Everything the country has tried up until this point has failed: the responsible police and regional state officials have already been either undermined, corrupted or killed, the media is censoring itself for fear of assassination, and the political class has become discredited, distrusted and enfeebled. With this in mind, the only option Mexico had left if it wanted to sustain the war on drugs was to put everything in the hands of the military and cross their fingers.

It may yet be possible that this approach will work, that the drug cartels will lose a degree of their influence over society and that civic institutions can regain some measure of independence from the forces of coercion & corruption.

But if that approach doesn’t work – and it certainly hasn’t worked yet – that will leave the country with only two options: legalise drugs and let these cartels battle it out in the boardroom rather than in bloody street battles, or adopt a posture of denial, swallow another billion in American aid and watch in dismay as the state loses, with each passing year, more and more of its legitimacy.

Whichever path is chosen will really depend on how much more heartbreak and bloodshed the country’s public can stomach to sustain a war without end.

[Via http://bleedingheartshow.wordpress.com]

Venomous Animals (Deadly Animals With Amazing Cures)

When most people think of venomous animals, their first reaction is to think of snakes.  This is an accurate thought process as snakes are indeed venomous animals, infamous for killing individuals in a terrible way.  However, snakes are not the only creatures that have evolved a chemical defense like venom.  There are venomous birds, frogs, fish, even mollusks!  The duck billed platypus contains a venomous barb on its hind paws that it can use for defense.    Todays post will deal with one of these venomus animals that should be coming into fame soon.  The Geographic Cone Snail. 

A handfull of various types of Conidae shells

Conus geographus belongs to a family of snails known as the Conidae.  Snails belonging to this family are distinguished by having a cone shaped shell.  We often see these for sale on hawaiian necklaces or at shell stores.  The geographic cone snail  is an amazing beautiful creature but has a deadly venom.  This small snail is packed with a potent venom known as Conotoxin.  This venom is a classic nicotenic acetylcholinesterase inhibitor.  It blocks the reuptake of acetylcholine into the nervous system.  Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter often responsible for muscle movement.  When the inhibitor for acetylcholine is blocked, tons of it builds up in the neuro synapses.  This causes the body to convluse and go rigid due to over signaling.  Eventually you cannot exhale and you suffocate and die. 

A Cone Snail with its harpoon excised

Conotoxin, therefore, is a wonderful weapon for Conus geographus to use to capture prey.  This tiny snail can actually eat a fish whole!  It has a proboscis which it uses like a nose.  It searchers around for food and when it smells it, it injects a harpoon like structure into the skin of the prey.  This harpoon pumps the deadly conotoxin into the prey causing it to become paralized.  It then devours the food alive. 

A molecule of Conotoxin

What is amazing about this compound is that it has pharmaceutical applications.  A novel drug has been developed from it.  The drug, known as conotropin, is a powerful analgesic, pain killer.   Said to be 1,000 times more powerful than morphine with no known side effects, Conotropin, has the potential to help thousands of sufferers of pain wordwide.  People with debilitating ailments such as sciatica can now rely on this drug to finally give them relief without destroying their bodies.  This drug is still in clinical trials however so look for it in the near future.

Rock & Roll & Rap Videos - Don't Stop Spreading Them

Do NOT Stop Spreading these Videos!

The Salvation of 3 Generations could depend on it!

1. Go to GoodFight Theater! http://www.theater.goodfight.org

 Check out the AWESOME exposes and eye-opening clarity of the surprising spiritual motivations of entertainers! You will want to spread the news and the link, and order the dvds… then go to these youtube videos and spread them like a virus! The salvation of your generation depends partly on the LABORERS. We are going to wear satan out with God’s Grace & Truth just like he tries to wear us out with his sin & lies!

2
ICP think they sold their soul to the devil… But Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-_3-YB2XMo

3
MTV and Madonna and Eminem and Method Man and Jimi Hendrix and Garth Brooks and Kid Rock think they sold their soul to the devil… But Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.

The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKfGNEuGWMo

4
Dr. Dre, Eminem and others think they sold their soul to the devil… But Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oify6AtKkFs

5
Korn and Ozzy Osbourne and Frank Zappa and Limp Bizkit and Red Hot Chili Peppers think they sold their soul to the devil… But Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRPxkkP-ZGM

6
Do you realize the satanic plan in secular music and in the United Nations is the same plan that God foiled in Genesis 11. Why are these people doing it again? They will fail again!
Pick your team! Kingdom or Babylon!
Go hard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDF4_zekbM

7
Carlos Santana, David Koresh, Jim Jones, Hitler, have a lot in common… But Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.
The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wv9ldtDGds

8
This clip tells the story of Robert Johnson, a Black man who is called ‘THE FATHER OF ROCK & ROLL’ admitted that he sold his soul to satan in the 1950s. The roots of rock in satanism…  But Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.
The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Aml1RZsxqw

9
Robert Johnston blues star and founder of Rock, actually sold his soul to satan. This is the root of the secular music you listen to. That’s why it does what it does to your soul. satanism…  But Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.
The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvMfM_87tec

10
Eazy E, Bone Thugs & Harmony, Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Master P, DMX, Three 6 Mafia, and others think they think they sold their soul to the devil… But Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.
The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC0WRXRrp2w

11
Wow… this guys testimony is amazing. He actually was writing music for satan when God delivered him! From Elvis to today… Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.
The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p0MruAg8wM

12
More mind-blowing footage about Elvis, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, and other stars that masked themselves as harmless. Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.
The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yusiv3JDng

13
Singers like Spice Girls and Brittney Spears teach children to reject God’s laws and their parents laws like “Keep your mouth shut Keep your legs shut” Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.
The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJCWydWB9tY

15
The Truth about Elvis Presley… he was not a Christian. His bodyguards, the “Memphis Mafia” reveal his demonic forces and deception.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX7FJgtOti8

16
The Truth about Elvis Presley… he was not a Christian. He was deep into occult and actually thought he was a false christ and read from satanist Madame Blavatsky at his concerts! Also notice how SIMILAR Michael Jackson’s life ended the same way Elvis did – with PILLS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8AOzOvXwu4

17
More on Elvis… and Jerry Lewis actually condemns himself to Hell, he thought he sold his soul to satan. I wish he had repented before he died. Same thing with Little Richard. They don’t know how merciful Jesus Christ is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0wHc10VGMw
19
Most rock & roll artists have been influenced by Aliester Crowley… he taught drugs, sex, and “Imma Do Me.” In order to promote satanism and the Anti-Christ. How Timothy Leary and the Beatles helped spread satanism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6vLnAYjK2A

20
How Aliester Crowley sowed seeds of satanic discipleship (Harry Hayes and Dr. Alfred Kinsey) for the sexual revolution and how promotion of homosexuality and the rape of little boys is related to the Anti-Christ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnNkmNPptk0

21
HOw the Beatles promoted satanism under the influence of Aliester Crowley… they brought yoga (yoking yourself to a demon) to America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGy0Sk80amQ

22
“Making Movies is casting spells…” how the Rolling Stones and the Beatle helped promote satanism in 1967…. the end of this is DEEP!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgOzb_1wjig

23
Let’s look at the FRUIT of satanism, idolatry, and rebellion against God, from 1967. NOT Freedom- addictions, broken lives, sexual diseases, suicides, abortions, and broken families
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRcHT14oQr8

25
How drugs are related to witchcraft. Jimi Hendrix testifies to his servanthood to satan. Whoever is taken captive to this, there is still time. Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die.
The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDH9j_f0YPk

26
Demon worship and Jim Morrison of The Doors – the connection.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6duGqjEFoVQ

27
satan is a lie. Even thru the greatest entertainers (false prophets) in the world. How the Beach Boys created the culture of southern California and created witchcraft music. Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die. The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKmh1mmjHV0

29
Michael Jackson spread sexual perversion and contacted demon spirits for his music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRf7wM6vLuI

31
Kurt Cobain… 90s grunge satanist, (I think he may have gotten saved before he died… Hallelujah!). Also NIN and U2 are covered in here! Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die. The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdWHjFhIvcs

32
U2 and CREED still has time to repent from their sins and trying to decieve Christians into the New World order. U2 is more blasphemous than Marilyn Manson. CREED signed their record deal in blood. Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die. The Mercy of the Lord endures forever, and His Truth endures to every Generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp26vedLKDM

33
Charles Manson, rock musician and mass murderer, a satanist who worked with the Beatles and Beach Boys and taught his family to kill. Jesus Blood is powerful and can still redeem their soul into life, before they die. The Mercy of the Lord endures forever,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqt2DLXDE7c

34
Anton Lavey and the satan worshippers who love Hitler and the soon coming antichrist, and national socialism. This is CRAZY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXs7Xd4JBXA

35
How the music is leading to anti-christ. Son of Sam was a satanist murderer as well, but I heard that he got saved in prison thanks to the mercy of the Lord. He sold himself to the devil but Jesus brought him back!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd3v4tR0sM8

Innovation For All

Dateline: Havana

Havana? Yes, I’m blogging from Havana, where I am attending the Global Forum for Health Research Annual Conference. This year’s theme—“Innovating for the Health of All”—is perfectly in line with our goals at BVGH to bring capable innovators and technological know-how to global health research and development. Even more exciting, the Forum’s location in Cuba is drawing attention to Latin America at exactly the right moment.

Why does Latin America deserve all eyes and ears right now?

First, a number of diseases endemic to Latin America and the Caribbean are, at long last, gaining important publicity. The poster child example of this is Chagas disease, which was discovered in 1909 by Carlos Chagas, a medical doctor in Brazil. The disease now affects more than 8 million in Latin America and approximately 300,000 in the United States. For decades, the disease was systematically ignored by researchers and patients were offered little in the way of effective treatment. The only drugs that exist today, nifurtimox and benznidazole, both have high toxicities and long treatment times. There is no point of care diagnostic and no test of cure. However, this neglect is beginning to change. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) have embarked on an advocacy campaign around the issue. DNDi is also building a pipeline of drugs to test against the parasite that causes Chagas disease and to help identify clinical trials capacity for drug trials. BVGH is working behind the scenes to make sure that important compounds make it to the relevant players in drug development. The synergy in the global health community around the need to find new and better drugs and diagnostics for Chagas disease—and to treat those patients already affected—makes now an important time for the global health community to gather in Latin America to focus on the need for innovation.

More importantly, Latin America now has a thriving biopharmaceutical sector. Brazil’s well-known generics industry has a long history of success, and public sector research institutions, such as Fiocruz, have strong vaccine capabilities. Fiocruz is building a new translational research facility, and already has an alliance with Genzyme on Chagas disease. In addition, Brazilian President Lula has made innovation a pillar of public policy during his term as president. While Brazil has long been recognized for its growing technological capabilities, other countries in Latin America stand out as well. Mexico is among one of the top ten drug producers in the world, and remains the largest drug exporter in Latin America ($1.5 billion in exports in 2007). In both Brazil and Mexico, there is a growing interesting in innovative pharmaceuticals.

Sadly, less than USD 1 million was spent last year on research and development (R&D) for new drugs for Chagas. But there is a real opportunity here for capable innovators with compounds that could be tested for activity against Chagas to join in the movement that will only grow. These large, mid-size, or small companies could, in partnership, reduce their risks of development. An R&D incentive would also certainly help to fill up the pipeline quickly with a newer generation of drugs. The innovation process that creates novel compounds from good research ideas is still largely not found in the developing world, as was discussed in a very interesting forum held Monday by the Pan American Health Organization. The space is open for drug hunting companies and diagnostic companies to step into. Our Board chair Carl Feldbaum, our VP of Business Development David Cook, former BVGH CEO Chris Earl, and I spent a fair amount of time discussing the value that BVGH could add to solving the problem of Chagas, which causes so much suffering in Latin America. Fueled by cigar smoke (Yes—I did!) we see the opportunity. If you want to see it too—please be in touch with us.

–Melinda Moree is the interim CEO of BVGH
You can contact BVGH by emailing info@bvgh.org, or by calling 202-312-9260.

The De-evolution of Man

 

The goal of a horror film is to strike fear in the heart of the watcher. Audiences react in horror to a grotesque scene or a surprise jump in a dark hallway. These fears only last as long as it takes for you to get your scream out. (or jump or whatever you do) However, there is something about zombie movies that comment on the human existence. The zombie is man stripped of whatever makes him human. All that was of value is lost and only the drive to eat remains. While this is make believe, in real life people are afraid of losing themselves. Certain proclivities that a man allows have the potential to overtake him. Man becomes a slave to addiction. (drugs, alcohol, porn, etc.) In pursuit of that one thing families are destroyed, futures are destroyed, children are hurt, and jobs are lost. Everything that was once loved and cared for is gone. The man himself loses who he is. After a while he might come to his senses, but the pieces of his life that formed a coherent whole are lost. He must now pick up what is left and form a new whole.

 

A good example of this is Jack Torrance in the movie The Shining. His addiction was alcohol. When he drank he became a different person and his anger poured out of him destroying everything around him. He tried as hard as he could to control himself. He stopped drinking and got help. But after taking a job as a caretaker for a huge hotel in the off season, Jack withdraws into his own world in which his family turns against him. In reality they love him, but he sees them as if looking through a tainted window full of betrayal and deceit. Soon he turns against them. Somehow he finds alcohol in the abandoned hotel and acts on every fear within him. His wife and child barely escape with their lives. As they leave, he comes to himself just for a moment, enough to see that any vestige of life that remained within him is hopelessly lost, and he dies in the fruition of his addictions.

The potential of this degeneration lives inside of every man. Like fighting an enemy, we try to keep the evil at bay. Time goes by and weary we give up the fight. Evil then takes what we care for the most and dashes it upon the jagged edges of addictive behavior. Broken, we look at all we lost wishing to God we had kept up the fight when we had the chance.

 

crank & glass.

every once in awhile you get a ’sick day’ that is actually pleasurable.
i had one of those days today.
i have lost my voice completely… i can whisper and make weird trumpeter swan noises – but that is about it.
an annoyance – yes.
an excuse to say in bed and read all day – definitely.

i started reading ellen hopkin’s series backwards.
i bought her latest novel ‘tricks’ well on a trip with my roommates to the pharmacy.
i was instantly drawn to ‘tricks’ because of it’s unique cover art.
after reading the book in two nights i suggested it to my sister who already had the previous five books in the series.
tricks is about five different people in five different situations and the trials and tribulations that they go through in their life. the commonality between the characters and their stories is child prostitution.
this book really opened up my eyes to the detrimental situations that teenagers find themselves in and the lengths they will go to survive.
in the author’s note at the end of the book ellen writes; “i am often asked how i decide to write about a certain topic. this one was inspired by a statistic i came across. did you know that the average age of a female prostitute in the united states is twelve years old?”
this statistic floored me, but it didn’t surprise me – especially after reading her book.

i then proceeded onto reading crank & glass (her first two books, glass being the continuation of crank). on various occasions ellen has admitted that these two books are based loosely on her daughter’s experience with the monster (crystal meth). the draw to someone my age may not be there, as the main character is in her mid-teens. the content; however, focuses on the trials and tribulations of a young girl and the horrific encounters she has while doing drugs (rape, pregnancy, being kicked out, withdrawl etc.)
it’s almost fascinating, for someone who has never done the drug, to read about the lifestyles that meth addicts lead. it is by no means glamorous.
not only does ellen draw on the drug issue, she also writes about the insecurities taking place within the main character kristina.
kristina merely wants to be loved, whether that’s love from her degenerate father (who is also a meth addict), or love from the guys she encounters during her drug renegades. it’s easy for the reader to see that she is looking for love in all the wrong places.

after visiting her father and falling in love with adam her second personality develops and the reader meets ‘bree’. bree is the complete opposite of kristina in various ways; she’s a bad ass that kristina finds extremely difficult to ignore. bree becomes kristina’s alter ego when she’s using.. it’s unfortunately because the majority of the issues that kristina encounters are a direct result of bree and ‘the monster’. she ends up getting pregnant (she gets raped while doing meth) and decides to keep the baby; even though it means having to look her rapist in the face every time she looks at her beloved baby. at the end of crank kristina is pulling her life together and off of drugs.. or so it seems.

at the beginning of glass kristina seems to be pulling her life around.. she’s been clean (mostly for the sake of her baby, not so much for personal benefit) for awhile and studying to get her GED. when life starts to get tough she begins using again, but this time she thinks she can control it.
wrong.
the monster takes over her life and kristina’s parents put their foot down and kick her out of the house. with no-one else left to go she takes up residence at her ‘boyfriends’ cousins house (who also happens to be a dealer). she becomes his live in nanny (because his wife left him) and takes care of his two beautiful daughters. she begins using heavily and her life takes a spin for the worse. she ditches her car, loses her son, and eventually gets kicked out of her surrogate home. ‘glass’ follows kristina’s ascent back into hell and demonstrates to readers how truly brutal and detrimental drugs are to ones life.

like i said before the books are an extreme eye-opener, especially to those readers (like myself) who have never ventured into the world of hard drugs.
i’ve started reading ‘impulse’ the next book in ellen’s series.. in total there are six books in the series: crank, glass, burned, impulse, identical and tricks. i suggest these books to anyone who enjoys reading series and love stories that’re extremely unpredictable, dramatic and even somewhat relateable.

check out the books and ellen at www.ellenhopkins.com

Changing Behavior Helps Patients Take Medication as Prescribed

Taking medication as the doctor prescribes is crucial to improving health. However, 26 to 59 percent of older adults do not adhere to instructions, according to a 2003 study published in Drugs and Aging.

 

“It is very important for physicians and nurses to move past educating patients about the need for medication and focus on teaching behavior strategies,” said Vicki Conn, associate dean of research and Potter-Brinton professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. “Implementing these strategies can help older adults take their medications, resulting in better health and well-being.”

 

The University of Missouri researchers found that behavior-changing strategies have a greater impact on medication adherence than reinforcing the importance of taking medication to patients. Effective strategies include reducing the number of doses taken daily, prescribing medications so they can be taken at the same time as other medications and encouraging the use of pill boxes. Giving patients clear, easy-to-read instructions for the medications also proved to be effective.

 

There are many reasons older adults have difficulties with medications, Conn said. Vision changes can interfere with reading medication bottles, and arthritis can make it difficult to handle pills and containers. However, the majority of adherence problems are not related to physical health. For example, many people simply forget to take their medications.

 

“There are approaches to overcome almost all problems,” said David Mehr, co-author of the study. “It makes a huge difference in patients’ adherence and health if they have some type of organized system for taking medication.”

 

Failure to take prescribed medications can result in costly health interventions, including expensive tests and unnecessary additional prescriptions, Conn said.

 

Home Instead Senior Care’s medication reminder service can play an important role in helping clients organize their medications.
Home Instead Senior Care will provide outstanding caregivers to help your loved one with personal care, incidental travel, companionship, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and even meal preparation. To learn more, call 248-203-2273 or visit www.homeinstead.com. Home Instead Senior Care is the world’s trusted source of in-home non-commercial personal care and companionship for seniors. Each franchise is independently owned and operated. And remember, to us, it’s personal.

Virtually legal

Drugs

In many countries, full jails, stretched budgets and a general weariness with the war on drugs have made prohibition harder to enforce

THE Green Relief “natural health clinic” in a bohemian part of San Francisco doesn’t sound like an ordinary doctor’s surgery. For those who wonder about the sort of relief provided, its logo—a cannabis leaf—is a clue. Inside, in under an hour and for $99, patients can get a doctor’s letter allowing them to smoke marijuana in California with no fear of prosecution. In a state that pioneered bans on smoking tobacco, smoking cannabis is now easier than almost anywhere in the world.

California, with its network of pot-friendly physicians, offers the most visible evidence of a tentative worldwide shift towards a more liberal policy on drugs. Although most countries remain bound by a trio of United Nations conventions that prohibit the sale and possession of narcotics, laws are increasingly being bent or ignored. That is true even in the United States, where the Obama administration has announced that registered cannabis dispensaries will no longer be raided by federal authorities.

From heroin “shooting galleries” in Vancouver to Mexico’s decriminalisation of personal possession of drugs, the Americas are suddenly looking more permissive. Meanwhile in Europe, where drugs policy is generally less stringent, seven countries have decriminalised drug possession, and the rest are increasingly ignoring their supposedly harsh regimes. Is the “war on drugs” becoming a fiction?

Reformers are in a bold mood. Earlier this year a report by ex-presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico called for alternatives to prohibition. On November 12th a British think-tank, Transform, launched a report* setting out ideas on how drugs could be legally regulated. For every substance from cannabis to crack, it suggests a form of regulation, via doctors’ prescriptions, pharmacy sales or consumption on licensed premises.

That world is still some way off. But a debate about regulation is increasingly drowning out the one about enforcement. Take America, where 13 states let people smoke marijuana for medical reasons. Most set somewhat stricter terms than California—where insomnia, migraines and post-traumatic stress can all be reasons for a spliff, if you see the right doctor. “There’s never been a person born who couldn’t qualify,” says Keith Stroup, the founder of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a lobby group that has been around since 1970. “In California, the system of medical use they have adopted is in fact a version of legalisation.”

Elsewhere in the United States, there are many signs of prohibition ebbing away. Some 14 states have decriminalised the possession of marijuana for personal use (medical or otherwise), though most keep the option of a $100 civil penalty. Three states—New Mexico, Rhode Island and Massachusetts—license non-profit corporations to grow medical marijuana. Most radically, some states are considering legalising the drug completely. California and Massachusetts are holding committee hearings on bills to legalise pot outright; Oregon is expected to introduce such a bill within the next couple of weeks.

One reason for the sudden popularity of cannabis is financial. Tom Ammiano, the California assemblyman who introduced the bill to legalise marijuana earlier this year, points out that were it taxed it could raise some $1.3 billion a year for state coffers, based on a $50 per ounce levy on sales. As an added benefit to the public purse, lots of police time and prison space would be freed up. California’s jails heave with 170,000 inmates, almost a fifth of them inside for drug-related crimes, albeit mostly worse than just possessing a spliff.

In Europe, the authorities face similar pressures: the difficulty of enforcement, and bursting courts and prisons. So the tough sentences recommended in the laws of many European countries are seldom handed out. London’s police chief said last week that law-breakers of all kinds were escaping with cautions or on-the-spot fines, because of pressure on the courts.

Though many European countries still have prison as an option for convicted drug users, in reality only a fraction end up in jail, according to new research from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the EU’s drug agency (see chart). What is more, the sentences are shorter in reality than politicians like to pretend. In Denmark the top sentence for a standard drug offence was recently raised from six to ten years, but the average time actually served is 20 months. More startling is Britain, where possession of cannabis can, in theory, result in a five-year prison term. In fact just 0.2% of people found in possession of pot go to jail; most of the rest get off with a warning. The few who go behind bars—usually serial offenders, or suspected dealers—do an average of three months.

Europe’s lenient lands

Elsewhere in Europe, the law itself is softer. Personal possession of any drug—even the hardest—is not a crime in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic or the Baltic states. Some German states and Swiss cantons take the same line. Portugal is especially liberal: rather than fining users or punishing them in other ways (such as removing their driving licences), it usually just impounds their stash and sends them on a course of treatment and dissuasion. Since it began in 2001, the policy has led to a rise in the number of people seeking treatment but no apparent increase in use.

Experiments like these seem to have been noted in the White House. Barack Obama’s drug tsar, Gil Kerlikowske, has been at pains to distance himself from talk of legalisation of cannabis, or any other drug. (Legalising pot is a “non-starter”, he said on October 23rd.) But it is clear that the election of Mr Obama, who in the past has called the war on drugs an “utter failure”, has affected policy both in the United States and elsewhere in the Americas.

Under the Bush administration, cannabis dispensaries were shut down, regardless of the laws of the state in which they operated. The new political climate in Washington, DC, has made it easier for Canada to take a more liberal line on cannabis. In British Columbia, harder drugs are treated in innovative ways too: heroin addicts can get their doses on prescription, and take them in supervised conditions.

Farther south, the results of Mr Obama’s election seem dramatic. In August, Mexico decriminalised the possession of small amounts of any drug—from cannabis to crack—in a bid to free its federal agents to focus on bringing traffickers to justice. It had tried to do so in 2006, but howls of protest from the Bush administration halted the move at the eleventh hour. In August, Argentina’s supreme court said it was unconstitutional to prosecute people for drug possession. The following month, Colombia’s supreme court issued a similar ruling. Now, Brazil and Ecuador are said to be mulling decriminalisation.

It remains to be seen whether these moves will help stem the bloodshed that has engulfed the region. In Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican border town ravaged by trafficking wars, some 2,000 people have been murdered this year, making it one of the riskiest places on earth.

Decriminalising personal possession, though helpful in other ways, won’t do much to tackle organised crime, which retains its grip on the market. But America’s tentative moves in the direction of legalising the supply of drugs, rather than just going easy on users, could start to change things. Sanho Tree, of the Institute for Policy Studies, an American think-tank, notes that Mexico’s cartels are thought to get about 70% of their income from sending marijuana north. The higher the legal production, the harder that will be.

If California’s hippies long for legalisation, the bullet-weary citizens of Mexico’s poorest barrios are even keener.

* “After The War On Drugs: Blueprint For Regulation”, from Transform Drugs Policy Foundation.

___________

Full article and photos: http://www.economist.com/world/international/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14845095&source=hptextfeature

whoa

I’m pretty impressed with the depth that this article goes into regarding prostate and breast cancer prevention. I’m particularly impressed with the part about the drug industry seeing that it was not economically profitable to work on prevention drugs as opposed to treatment drugs.

I liked the quoting at the end of the 2nd page and beginning of the 3rd page. Mr. Schardt made a few comments about how Bayer was engaging in false advertising of it’s vitamins. Then the reporter gave Tricia McKernan, a Bayer spokeswoman, the chance to respond with a comment defending/explaining Bayer’s position on the subject. This stacking of quotes is very important because with such a charged subject it is necessary to allow all parties to speak. Otherwise, the article is too one-sided.

Veteran's Day 11/11/09

Veteran’s Day is a day when we honor our fellow citizens that served to
protect our country. Many have died and for those we lay wreaths and
fly flags. Remembering our service-members that gave their lives makes
us shed a tear. I have known families who plant trees in honor of a
beloved soldier. The air force will fly in a missing formation. Troops
in full dress will fire 21 gun salute. The military will pay homage, in
all branches.

As those who have been served, we tell a vet “Thank you”. However; this
year consider how to say those words. Say it with wisdom and knowledge,
arm yourself to really mean what you say.

Most vets are just normal Americans that did their part to give back
and after serving tried returning to normal life, so most don’t even get the
day off, if they have a job.

There are 529,000 and 840,000 veterans who are homeless at some point
during the year. Less than 4% of the veterans in this country eat 3
nourishing meals a day. Researchers say divorce rates are 14% higher
among vets.
The national unemployment rate is 10.2% for
vets it is over 11.2%. A vast many veterans, hundreds of thousands,
live a life of poverty.
89% of all who served self medicate with drugs and alcohol; and the
most recent data says suicide is an epidemic among veterans.

Our veterans are the best of us, they have to be or they could not
serve. They are the intelligent, caring, strong innovative leaders of our
society.

Now that you know some facts, maybe we should tell our veterans “thank
you” in a better way. Maybe we should learn what it is to truly honor
those that served. “Thank you” is something but it is just not enough,
when we consider all they have given. It is time we stood up so they
can stand down.

Premiums for Medicare Stand-Alone Drug Plans

Premiums in Medicare Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plans with Highest 2009 Enrollment, 2006-2010

 

Name of PDP 2009 Enrollment (of 16.5 million)* Weight Average Monthly Premium** % Change Number % of Total 2006 2009 2010 2009-2010 2006-2010 AARP MedicareRx Preferred 2,947,804 17.8% $26.31 $37.03 $39.39 6% 50% Humana PDP Enhanced 1,588,037 9.6% $14.73 $38.21 $41.53 9% 182% AARP MedicareRx Saver*** 1,162,808 7.0% $14.43 $28.69 $30.68 7% 113% CCRx Basic 1,111,392 6.7% $30.94 $30.18 $29.17 -3% -6% Silverscript Value 896,128 5.4% $28.32 $27.86 $33.91 22% 20%

 

Data Source: Georgetown/NORC analysis of CMS PDP Landscape Source Files, 2006-2010, for the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Note: *2009 enrollment estimates combine actual enrollment in 2009 with expected gains due to plan consolidations and renewals for 2010. **Average premiums are weighted by enrollment in each region for each year (2009 enrollment used for 2010 weighting). ***Plan not offered in 2006; premium amount shown in 2006 column is for 2007, change is from 2007-2010.

 

Publication: Kaiser Family Foundation. “Medicare Part D Spotlight: Part D Plan Availability in 2010 and Key Changes Since 2006.” November  2009. http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/7986.pdf

Tallahassee and Grabbag - D. Puckis Reporting

Grabbag returns to Tallahassee this weekend for an afternoon backyard party with the FAKE LIFE crew. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been to Tallahassee and it’s been even more years since Scooter and I lived there for a year. I wonder if the memories of Leon County Jail still reverberate in Scooter’s mind. After the cops drove him away, I called the jail all night until they finally told me they set bail at $500. I had that shit raised up by 8 AM, thanks to Rico and DJ Blaze. The three of us hopped in the DDT car (1980s Chevy Celebrity with big gangster letters in the rear window, a total cop magnet) and rode on down to the lock-up. I started waiving the money in the cops’ face and demanding Scooter’s release. They balked. They disappeared. Then they just let old Scooter out without bail. He looked pretty rough. We got home and he slept for the rest of the day.

I’m glad we’re coming back to Tallahassee. Maybe for old time’s sake we’ll pack Black & Milds with bud and smoke while walking down Tennessee Street between the Winn Dixie and TCC. One time I was doing just that when I saw a homeless dude run out of the Winn Dixie with a shopping cart full of pilfered booze. He was already across the street and around a corner by the time a manager and a teenage bag boy ran out after him. They got to the end of the parking lot, where I was standing, then they stopped. I heard the manager say to the bag boy, “He did the same thing yesterday.”

Do we still have friends in Tallahassee? If so, I’d love to see them at the FAKE LIFE party on Saturday. There is a certain ex-Grabbag member that still calls Tallahassee home, I believe. I doubt he’ll show, unless someone tells him there will be teenage girls there. Then he will fill an empty bottle of Dom with Boone’s Farm and sport a giant Donald Duck shirt and show up for the let out.

D. Puckis

Slam! by Walter Dean Myers

Genre:  Sports/Realistic Fiction

# of Pages:  266

RAC:  Yes

Slam is called Slam for a reason.  He can dunk a basketball right in the face of stiff competition.  When he is moved to a new school he has some trouble adjusting.  First, he is now separated from his friends, including his best friend, Ice.  He also has to focus on his grades because if they slip too much he won’t be eligible to play basketball, which is his favorite thing in the world to do.  His new school is much more difficult, so he is having trouble keeping up.  Plus, his coach and some of his teachers think he has an attitude problem, which does not help matters.  As Slam tries to deal with the many aspects of his life there always seems to be a new distraction to get in the way.  Friends from his old school try to convince him that Ice may be into something bad since he has a lot of money to burn all of a sudden.  Slam doesn’t want to see that Ice may be dealing drugs because he knows it could be the end of their friendship.  At the same time all of this is going on, Slam is fighting to get a place on the school basketball team.  Will he ever feel like he has some control over his life?

Fans of Walter Dean Myers will like this book as well.  Slam is a likable character with a lot of difficult, yet believable things going on in his life.  Many teenagers will be able to relate to dealing with friends, school, sports, and family at the same time.  Myers also weaves exciting sports action throughout the story which will make sports fans happy.  Most readers will wish that the story was longer just so they can follow Slam as he navigates through all the different people in his life for longer.  Teenage boys will be reaching for this one.

Realization

I remember feeling happy, and I remember the day I felt the corporeal happiness in me leave my body. I looked at the world on a whole, and it’s not that anyone deserves to be happy, and it’s not that anyone deserves to feel pain, it’s just a fact some of us do, and some of us don’t. There is no such thing as karma.I feel like the older you get, the less ignorance you hold(in which case if you’re just a fucking idiot, your happiness is accounted for), and the world can seem really bleak without that candy coat. I also think that just means you have to be really creative to capture moments of happiness.

Once you stop trying to cling to finding old feelings again, it’s really liberating. I hope that in the loss of old happiness, new happiness might grow. I don’t know what it would feel like, and I don’t like new things, but recapturing a moment, sometimes ruins it entirely.

My psych teacher brought up a fleeting point that people with IBS/and or cutting may also suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder. However I’ve met many other people who have IBS and they deal with it a lot better than I do, and it is an extremely small association to BPD, but it seems to fit for me. I think knowing that helps me stop myself from being desperate.

I’ve started meditating. It’s done little thus far, but I see room for improvement, it’s hard because I am very jittery. I’m also painting again. All this said, I have never been more sure, happiness is something that happens to some people, and sadness is something that happens to all people.

Speeding Cars by Imogean Heap reminds me of when I lost feeling happy. I think I’ll be ok with this next chapter though. I’m saving up my money to go India over the summer, which my parent’s said they would pay for it(bc it’s with a volunteer group) but I kind of want to pay for it myself. I feel inspired painting-wise, and the ideas I’m having are less like my other ones and they seem worth exploring. I’m excited to see how this will fuel my paintings.

Wasted

Of all the moronic things this government have done about drugs this seems to take the cake.  They hire a committee to investigate the “relative harm” of drugs, the committee promptly does as it is told and when it makes its report, the government does the complete opposite of what the committee recommends, i.e. upgrading cannabis to a class B drug (the committee said it should stay class C) and leaving ecstasy and MDMA as class A (the committee recommended downgrading them).  This must be pretty insulting to a group of scientists who spent months researching for the government, only to have their research thrown back in their face.  Then, when their chair Prof. Nutt stands up for their research, the Home Secretary sacks him.

True, Prof. Nut has been rather outspoken in his criticism of the current classification of drugs.  He said alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than cannabis.  In terms of damage done to society his is absolutely right.  You don’t have to be a scientist to see our hospitals are crammed full of people with injuries picked up in drunken fights or comatose from alcohol poisoning.  To say otherwise makes you a god-damn liar, but I guess the words “politician” and “liar” are pretty interchangeable.

Alan Johnson is no question an arrogant idiot – it is the prerequisit of holding the position of Home Secretary these days (David Go-Back-Where-They-Came-From Blunkett, Charles I’m-Sorry-I-Havn’t-A-Clue Clarke, Jacqui Porno Smith) but it seems to me this whole idea of arguing over which drugs are worse is, in itself, pretty stupid.  To borrow that word again, it’s all “relative.”

Consider these cases: Somebody who has a hit on a bong at a party is harming themself and society less than a raging alcoholic, yet the cannabis user is committing the crime.  However, a person who enjoys an occasional glass of wine with a meal is doing much less harm to themselves than somebody who sits at home every single night smoking weed – which, incidentally, nearly everybody mixes with tobacco (don’t tell me THAT’S a harmless drug).

Our entire system of classifying drugs according to relative harm is pointless since no two people abuse substances in the same way.  Of course, nobody will point this out to the government now as telling anything verging on the truth about drugs appears to get you sacked.

I Don't Like the Drug (Laws) But the Drug (Laws) Like Me...

 

“Drugs are less about getting high, and more about making huge pots of money. As for risk, it is possible to fit enough heroin to supply this country for a year in the back of a cube van; a year’s supply of cocaine will fit in a shipping container.

…

[Eugene] Oscapella said, “If you’re a mom-and-pop producer of marijuana, mandatory minimums will scare you out of business.” Yeah, so? “Organized crime will step in; the government has moved the competition out of the way.”

This is an unintended consequence of the worst kind: Banning a substance makes it wildly lucrative; punishing the small fry makes it easier for the bad guys to do business.”

- Joe Fiorito discussing why potential new ‘tougher’ drug laws won’t work in Canada (or anywhere else for that matter).

Drugs | The Nutty Professor vs The Govt.

So let’s consider the facts. Dude, aka Professor Nutt (yes the universe has a sense of irony), thinks that the government are not being as honest as they should be on drugs policy. In steps Alan Johnson the Home Secretary who sacks Nutty Professor (sorry couldn’t help it) for stepping over the line when he more or less stated that science should not be ignored when defining policy.  To be fair he did make some crass comparison between deaths from ecstasy compared to horse riding.

My Opinion
I think before I take this further I should state my claim. I am concerned about the legalisation of drugs like cocaine, heroin or marijuana. I am also concerned about the harm done by any kinds of drugs to people. However if it reduces criminality and the harm done to people then I am all for legalisation. I think if more harmful, and this is my opinion, drugs and tobacco are legal and taxable then there is no reason why the same shouldn’t be done for marijuana. This is purely on a harm prevention and non moral basis. The horse has already bolted so there is no point pretending like it will go away.

Intellect vs Emotion
The thing is this, as with any sensitive subject often emotion comes to the fore. As a trained Drug Prevention Educator I have seen first hand the effects both in schools and the community the affects of psychosis from drug use. I have read stories and heard first hand accounts of people who have vigorously opposed the use of drugs classed A to C. Families who have lost loved ones mentally or physically because of tainted or modified drugs such as skunk or ‘high grade’ to use the street vernacular.

In light of this however these deaths and injuries pale in comparison to the damage being done by the legal alcohol and tobacco use. The science suggests, depending on which research you buy into, that more harm is done through tobacco than marijuana and thus this should influence policy.

Now without delving deeply into this argument (for another post) if you do have research that can influence classification of a drug and thus reduce harm surely this should trump emotion. Unfortunately such is the nature of politics that this issue will be clouded. Given that the Nutty Professor (a gentle title for this blog, no offence intended) should come of his high horse and not think he has all the answers I do think he has a real point that we miss the bigger picture if it’s just about votes.

Public school nurses give swine flu vaccine to kids without parents' OK, sends child to hospital

Here’s an expample of government run health care:

The Daily News Reports:

School nurses mistakenly gave the swine flu vaccine to two students who didn’t sign up for it – including a Brooklyn girl with epilepsy who wound up in the hospital.

“I was outraged,” Naomi Troy, 26, told the Daily News after her 6-year-old daughter, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, had a possible allergic reaction to the shot.

Officials at Public School 335 in Crown Heights called an ambulance to take Nikiyah to SUNY Downstate Medical Center when she fell ill following the arm jab.

Read more here

The Nurses Union blames the city for this bungle:

Officials admitted on Friday that a third student was mistakenly given the swine flu vaccine – an error the school nurses union blamed on the city.

“Nurses are not getting the support they need,” said Judith Arroyo, president of Local 436, District Council 37, adding that the union had warned of problems.

“We don’t like it when we’re right, because usually when we’re right someone does get hurt somewhere along the way.”

City officials countered that nurses have received “excellent support.”

More here