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Everything Americans Think They Know About Drugs Is Wrong: A Scientist Explodes the Myths

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Kristen Gwynne - Jun. 16 (Interview) - There are multiple false conclusions. There is a belief, for example, that crack cocaine is so addictive it only took one hit to get hooked, and that it is impossible to use heroin without becoming addicted. There was another belief that methamphetamine users are cognitively impaired. All of these are myths that have have been perpetuated primarily by law enforcement, and law enforcement deals with a limited, select group of people—people who are, in many cases, behaving badly. But to generalize that to all drug users is not only shortsighted and naive, it’s also irresponsible. The impact of that irresponsible behavior has been borne primarily by black communities.

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The Latest Cannabis Discoveries That the Federal Government Doesn’t Want You to Know About

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Paul Armentano - May. 25 (Special Report) - Despite issuing a highly publicized memorandum in 2009 stating, "Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration," it remains clear that federal lawmakers and the White House continue to willfully ignore science in regards to the cannabis plant and the federal policies which condemn it to the same prohibitive legal status as heroin.

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Greek addicts turn to deadly sisha drug as economic crisis deepens

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Helena Smith - May. 17 (News Analysis) - Growing popularity of 'cocaine of the poor' in Athens has overwhelmed public health authorities already under strain Nobody knows which came first: the economic crisis tearing Greece apart or shisha, the drug now known as the "cocaine of the poor".

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Feds Threaten Medical Pot Dispensaries with 40-Year Sentences

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Natasha Lennard - Apr. 30 (News Report) - The second term Obama administration was presented an aperture to push back against the ruinous war on drugs. The Department of Justice is choosing to continue to act against good reason and the general will.

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FDA Approved New Drug Despite Ongoing Investigation of Lab Misconduct

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Charles Seife, Rob Garver - Apr. 22 (Investigative Report) - The drug is a generic version of Tussionex, which combines a long-acting narcotic cough suppressant with an anti-allergy medication. Manufactured by TrisPharma, the drug has a tongue-twisting chemical name: hydrocodone polistirex/chlorpheniraminepolistir

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Shift in attitude finds Americans favor legalizing use of marijuana

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - By Scott Clement - Apr. 05 (News) - A majority of Americans now say marijuana should be made legal, with far fewer viewing it as a gateway to harder drugs or as morally wrong, according to a poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. By 52 percent to 45 percent, more say marijuana should be made legal than not, with support for legalization jumping 7 percentage points in two years and 20 points since the 2002 General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center.

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Where Does It Say the Supreme Court Has the Constitutional Power to Hike Medicine Prices to 5x Their Cost?

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Davi Dayen - Mar. 30 (News Report) - it’s another case heard this week that will affect even more people over the course of their lifetimes. And it could cost Americans millions in prescription drug bills. The case falls within a sadly predictable continuum for the Roberts Court, which virtually always sides with the corporate litigant over the government or individual. This time, the arguments in FTC v. Actavis revolve around an insidious tactic common to the nation’s largest drug companies, and known as “pay for delay.” As a result of the likely ruling in this case , drug companies will be able to charge consumers as much as five times the potential cost of their products. And both government regulators and consumers will watch helplessly as pharmaceutical companies bribe generic drug makers to retain their exclusive holds on the lifesaving medicines we all inevitably require.

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Follow the Money: How Former Anti-Drug Officials Ridiculously Still Say Pot Is Dangerous in Order to Make a Lot of Cash

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Kevin Gray - Mar. 27 (Investigative Report) - Two of the elder drug warriors, Peter Bensinger (DEA chief, 1976–1981) and Robert DuPont (White House drug chief, 1973–1977), run a corporate drug-testing business. Their employee-assistance company, Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, the sixth largest in the nation, holds the pee stick for some 10 million employees around the US. Their clients have included the biggest players in industry and government: Kraft Foods, American Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, the Federal Aviation Administration and even the Justice Department itself.

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Warren: Drug possession warrants jail time but laundering cartel money doesn’t?

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Raw Story - Mar. 08 (News) -

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Full-Body Pat-Downs in America's Schools: How the War on Drugs Is a War on Children

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Patricia J. Williams - Feb. 18 (Special Report) - Drugs are ubiquitous in this country, and yet we know that some people have the privilege of doctor-prescribed intoxication, while others are thrown into dungeons for seeking the same relief. We know that the war on drugs is heavily inflected with Jim Crow–ism, economic inequality, gun culture myths and political opportunism.

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Matt Taibbi: How One of the World's Largest Banks Got Away with Murder

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Natasha Lennard - Feb. 15 (News Report) - Taibbi notes why the eventual criminal investigation ended with a fine (of “$1.9 billion, or about five weeks’ profit”) and not any jail time or fines for individuals involved:

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How High Is Too High to Drive?

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Josh Harkinson - Feb. 11 (Comment) - On the evening of February 23, 2010, Rodney Koon was pulled over for doing 83 in a 55 zone outside Traverse City, Michigan. The deputy who stopped Koon noticed that the inside of his Toyota RAV4 smelled funny , and the middle-aged carpenter admitted that he'd taken a few hits of marijuana six hours earlier.

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Picking Addiction Help

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Jane E. Brody - Feb. 11 (Opinion) - There are many factors to consider before starting a treatment program for addiction. In a helpful new book called "Now What? An Insider's Guide to Addiction and Recovery," William Cope Moyers explains that "there's no one-size-fits-all approach" to addiction treatment.

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The TPP, IP and the Australasian healthcare industry - what's at stake?

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

mondaq.com - By Chharles Tansey, Gareth Dixon - Jan. 27 (Special Report) - there are fears that the TPP may reduce access to affordable medicines throughout the region party to the agreement. Additionally, many worry that the TPP may not be flexible enough to accommodate existing non-discriminatory drug reimbursement programs and the diverse health systems of the member countries.

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5 Senior Citizens Serving Life Without Parole for Pot

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Kristen Gwynne - Dec. 23 (Special Report) - They are all more than 60 years old; they have all spent at least 15 years locked up for selling pot; and they are all what one might call model prisoners, serving life without parole.

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Ethan Nadelmann: Parsing Obama's Words on Legalizing Marijuana

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Ethan Nadelmann - Dec. 14 (News Analysis) - Anytime the president answers a question about marijuana and federal marijuana policy, as he did in a recent interview with ABC's Barbara Walters that airs tonight, it makes sense to parse his words. Four things stand out in ABC's press release about the

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Matt Taibbi: After Laundering $800 Million in Drug Money, How Did HSBC Executives Avoid Jail?

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Matt Taibbi, Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez - Dec. 13 (News Report) - "Here we have a bank that laundered $800 million of drug money, and they can’t find a way to put anybody in jail for that. That sends an incredible message, not just to the financial sector but to everybody. It’s an obvious, clear double standard, where one set of people gets to break the rules as much as they want and another set of people can’t break any rules at all without going to jail."

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Jimmy Carter: 'I think it's OK' to legalize marijuana

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Hill - Dec. 11 (News) -

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Obama's Pot Problem

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Rolling Stone - Dec. 07 (Opinion) - When voters in Colorado and Washington state legalized recreational marijuana in November, they thought they were declaring a cease-fire in the War on Drugs. Thanks to ballot initiatives that passed by wide margins on Election Day, adults 21 or older in

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Yuck: Our Seafood Is Loaded with Unspeakably Gross Pollutants

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Jill Richardson - Dec. 02 (Special Report) - 91 percent of U.S. seafood is imported, and half of that is farmed (the other half is wild-caught). Our top suppliers include China, Thailand, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Vietnam. And the production systems some of these countries use would make your stomach turn.

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Washington set to legalize marijuana use without Justice Department guidance

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Sari Horwitz - Dec. 02 (News) - Adults in Washington state will be able to smoke marijuana legally when it is officially decriminalized Thursday, even though the Justice Department has offered no guidance on the conflict with federal drug laws. Read full article >>

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Editorial Board: Marijuana’s foot in the door

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Editorial Board - Nov. 26 (Opinion) - SMALL-TIME MARIJUANA use will soon be legal in Colorado and Washington state. Sort of. This month voters in those states approved ballot measures permitting possession of up to an ounce of pot. But the federal government has not changed its policy, which labels the drug an illegal substance. Members of Congress introduced legislation Nov. 16 that would allow state marijuana rules to preempt federal ones. But that, in effect, would resemble federal legalization, and it’s unlikely to pass anytime ...

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Won Direction

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Bill Maher - Nov. 21 (Comedy News) - New Rule: Now that he's been reelected, President Obama must get back at all those right wing hacks who tried to paint him as an angry black man pushing a liberal agenda by becoming an angry black man who's pushing a liberal agenda.

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Corporate Lobbyists Manage Our Presidential Debates

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Lee Fang - Oct. 22 (Investigative Report) - Three debates have gone by, and to this date, neither a candidate for president or vice president has been asked about some of the biggest issues facing voters this cycle. Which candidate will prosecute the financial crimes that led to the disaster in 2008? Who has the best plan to deal with the climate crisis? Poll after poll shows Americans are frustrated with the corrosive levels of corruption and big money in DC, but the moderators have refused to bring it up ethics reform. America’s War on Drugs—which has contributed to tens of thousands of deaths in Mexico, racist stop-and-frisk policies in New York, and crackdowns on medical marijuana users across the country—is apparently too taboo of a topic as well. Why are our debate moderators so reluctant to bring up controversial topics that affect the future of our country? What’s behind this wall of silence?

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Protecting U.S. jobs in trade pact could hurt global AIDS fight, critics say

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

thenewstribune.com - By Rob Hotakainen - Oct. 15 (Special Report) - If drug companies working in North Carolina and elsewhere get their way in protecting brand-name drugs in a new international trade deal, critics fear that millions of people with AIDS in poor countries will go untreated, losing access to cheaper generics that could keep them alive.

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