See attached study

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/06/russell-brand-philip-seymour-hoffman-drug-laws?CMP=fb_ot

 

 

 

 

 

 

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MAPS Email Newsletter: DEA Approves License for New MDMA Study; Medical Marijuana Research Still Blocked February 6, 2014 Dear Thomas, Watch the Principles of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy Workshop from Psychedelic Science 2013. Whether you've been a supporter since our founding in 1986 or just learned about our work, the psychedelic and medical marijuana research community is always growing, so you'll always have a lot to learn. The February 2014 edition of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Email Newsletter is no exception. We've cleared the final regulatory hurdle for our upcoming study of MDMA-assisted therapy for autistic adults with social anxiety. On January 13, we received the Schedule I pharmacy license from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the official study initiation is happening this weekend at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center/Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute. It's been three and a half months since we resubmitted the protocol for our study of marijuana for symptoms of PTSD in U.S. veterans to the Public Health Service, and we're still waiting for their response. The protocol has all other required approvals, and the PHS is standing in the way. "We remain eager to engage in a dialogue with the PHS reviewers," MAPS Founder Rick Doblin reminded the agency. "This delay is itself an obstruction of medical marijuana drug development research." There's much more in this edition, including: More subjects are enrolled in our ongoing U.S. studies of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Colorado and South Carolina. The Chicago Tribune publishes an editorial calling on President Obama to end the obstructive Public Health Service review process for medical marijuana research. The MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD workshop with Dr. Michael and Annie Mithoefer from Psychedelic Science 2013 is now available online. A supporter explains why he donates bitcoins to MAPS. Since our last newsletter, over 4,000 people have joined us on Facebook. I also encourage you to stay connected to psychedelic and medical marijuana research on Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and reddit. Please enjoy this newsletter and share it with anyone who may want to learn about our mission and support our work.   For balance and growth, Brad Burge MAPS Director of Communications and Marketing MDMA-Assisted Therapy for Social Anxiety in Autistic Adults 1.     DEA Approves Schedule I License for Study Pharmacy; Initiation Scheduled Treating PTSD with MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy 2.     Boulder: Fifth Subject Enrolled; MDMA Encapsulated for New Dose Group 3.     U.S. Veterans: 15th Subject Enrolled; Brain Imaging and Heart Rate Sub-Study Starts 4.     Israel: Site Monitoring Visit Completed Medical Marijuana Research 5.     Over Three Months Later, Still Waiting for Public Health Service Response Support MAPS 6.     The New Year Brings New Gifts 7.     This Is Your Brain on Bitcoin Media 8.     International Business Times, Medline Plus, The Chicago Tribune, and more... MAPS Store 9.     Manifesting Minds edited by Rick Doblin and Brad Burge (SALE: 25% OFF) 10.   Actual Contact Artwork by Jason Tucker Events 11.   Aya Awakenings Film Screening and Q&A: February 8, Santa Cruz, CA 12.   Global Transpersonal Symposium: Unity within Diversity: February 8, Palo Alto, CA 13.   Cannabinoid Medical Science and Political Ecology: March 4, New York, NY 14.   Pathway to Reform: March 20, Auckland, New Zealand More News 15.   Johns Hopkins Survey: Psychedelics and Smoking Cessation 16.   Ayahuasca Dialogues Webinar Now Online   Dr. Richard Rockefeller speaks with Dr. Larry Brilliant about healing trauma with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy at the Commonwealth Club of California. Clearing the final hurdle: Dr. Charles Grob receives the DEA Schedule I pharmacy license for our upcoming study MDMA-ASSISTED THERAPY FOR SOCIAL ANXIETY IN AUTISTIC ADULTS 1. DEA Approves Schedule I License for Study Pharmacy; Initiation Scheduled On January 13, 2014, Principal Investigator Charles Grob, M.D., received from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration the Schedule I pharmacy license for our new study of MDMA-assisted therapy for social anxiety in autistic adults. The license was issued on December 27, 2013. With this final regulatory permission in hand, Dr. Grob and co-investigator Alicia Danforth, Ph.D., are now creating the initial waiting list. The official study initiation is scheduled to take place from February 7-10, and the MDMA for the study will be encapsulated in mid-February. Learn more... $311,000 estimated study cost • $1,000 raised + $15,000 donated by the Betsy Gordon Foundation • $295,000 still needed TREATING PTSD WITH MDMA-ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY 2. Boulder: Fifth Subject Enrolled; MDMA Encapsulated for New Dose Group On January 22, the fifth subject was enrolled in our ongoing study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD taking place in Boulder, Colorado. (Note: We are now subtracting dropouts from the total number of subjects treated to more accurately reflect study progress.) The fourth subject received their second experimental treatment on January 17. The second subject, who dropped out after one treatment session due to scheduling difficulties despite feeling improved, has agreed to return for her one-year follow-up. On January 21, the MDMA was encapsulated for the new 100 mg dose group and for Stage 2 of the study protocol. Led by Principal Investigator Marcela Ot'alora, this study will treat 17 subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD resulting from sexual assault, military service, violent crime, or other causes. As of January 31, we have received 214 inquiries for participation in this study. Learn more... $592,000 estimated study cost • $193,000 raised • $399,000 still needed Watch the Principles of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Workshop with Michael Mithoefer, MD, and Annie Mithoefer, BSN, from Psychedelic Science 2013. 100+ more videos available at psychedelicscience.org. 3. U.S. Veterans: 15th Subject Enrolled; Brain Imaging and Heart Rate Sub-Study Starts On January 29, the 15th subject was enrolled in our ongoing study in 24 U.S. veterans, fire fighters, and police officers with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD. This will also be the first subject enrolled in our new brain imaging and heart rate sub-study, which will use heart rate variability (HRV) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the physiological effects of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and explore correlations between those effects and clinical outcomes. Nine subjects have now completed the study following their one-year follow-up. The regularly scheduled site monitoring visit was completed from January 17-20. As of January 31, the site had received 496 participation inquiries. Learn more.... $1,376,000 estimated study cost • $1,027,000 raised • $349,000 still needed Help us make psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medicines—donate today! 4. Israel: Site Monitoring Visit Completed On January 7, 2014, MAPS Clinical Research Associate Mimi Peleg completed the regularly scheduled site monitoring visit for our ongoing Israeli study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. The study is taking place at Beer Ya'akov Mental Hospital in Israel, and is led by Principal Investigator Moshe Kotler, M.D. Learn more... $492,000 estimated study cost • $39,000 raised • $453,000 still needed Learn more about MDMA-assisted psychotherapy on or at mdmaptsd.org. MEDICAL MARIJUANA RESEARCH 5. Over Three Months Later, Still Waiting for Public Health Service Response On January 24, 2013, MAPS Executive Director Rick Doblin, Ph.D., sent an email to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reminding the agency that three full months had passed since we resubmitted the protocol for our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved study of marijuana for symptoms of PTSD in 50 U.S. veterans with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD. "We remain eager to engage in a dialogue with the PHS reviewers regarding methodological issues," Doblin writes "This delay is itself an obstruction of medical marijuana drug development research." Read Rick Doblin's email to HHS | Learn more... $10,000 needed for protocol development and approval • $10,000 raised The Winter 2013 MAPS Bulletin includes the MAPS Sustainability Plan, in-depth research updates, and much more. SUPPORT MAPS 6. The New Year Brings New Gifts In January 2014, 210 people gave $39,382 to support MAPS' research and education programs. Many thanks to Ian Brown for his gift of $10,000, and to James Evens and Chris Rico who each gave 10 bitcoins worth over $8,000. We are very grateful to Board Member David Bronner, who gave $2,500 to support Richard Rockefeller's and Larry Brilliant's talk at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco; to Neil Boyer, who gave $850 in general support, and to an anonymous donor for 1 bitcoin worth $803. We also processed $50,085 for fiscally sponsored projects that share our mission and vision, including the Ayahuasca Association, Bluelight.org, and the Ethnobotanical Stewardship Council. A special thank you goes to Max and Elena Talan for giving $450 each month through our Sustainers Program, and to the other 123 people who maintain their support by giving between $5 and $100 a month. These consistent monthly gifts give us a reliable income stream and make it easier to plan for the future. To sign up for our Sustainers Program, visit maps.org/donate and choose the "Monthly" option. Thank you to each and every donor for helping realize the potential of psychedelics and marijuana for healing and spiritual growth. 7. This Is Your Brain on Bitcoin Since we began accepting bitcoins (BTC) on December 3, 2013, 65 donors have donated a total of 41.12253776 BTC, which we immediately exchanged for $30,220.77 USD. On January 10, an anonymous supporter offered to match the next 10 BTC donated to MAPS; within a week 22 donors responded and met the entire match. "Bitcoin is revolutionizing digital payments, and it will do the same for online philanthropy. The ability to quickly, securely transfer value without the fees associated with traditional banking can radically change the way donations are collected. In January, I decided to donate 10 BTC to MAPS because of their important work in bringing new treatments to those who cannot be cared for through currently available medications." —James Evans, bitcoin donor Check out the January 28 Motherboard article about supporting psychedelic and medical marijuana research with bitcoins: "This Is Your Brain on Bitcoin." Learn more.... MEDIA 8. International Business Times, Medline Plus, The Chicago Tribune, and more... The Chicago Tribune: Obama Retreats from the Drug War | view Steve Chapman | January 23, 2014 Motherboard: This Is Your Brain on Bitcoin | view Steven Melendez | January 28, 2014 The Daily Beast: Longtime Sufferers of Cluster Headaches Find Relief in Psychedelics | view Valerie Vande Panne | February 5, 2014 International Business Times: MDMA a Potential Treatment for Anxiety and PTSD | view Hannah Osborne | January 17, 2014 Medline Plus: Could Ecstasy Help People With Anxiety, PTSD? | view Robert Preidt | January 17, 2014 Psychotherapy Networker: Ecstasy in the Consulting Room | view Kathleen Smith | January 28, 2014 Good Men Project: What Your Doctor Never Taught You About PTSD | view Jed Diamond, Ph.D. | January 27, 2014 Motherboard: In a World of Opiate Addicts, the Internet Plays Doctor and Therapist | view Steven Melendez | January 15, 2014 Examiner.com: Brad Burge on "Manifesting Minds" | view Jeffery Pritchett | January 27, 2014 The Libertarian: Ibogaine Still Illegal in US, Despite Medical Potential | view Brendan Ferreri-Hanberry | January 23, 2014 Explore MAPS in the Media for more psychedelic and medical marijuana research news. MAPS STORE 9. Manifesting Minds edited by Rick Doblin and Brad Burge Manifesting Minds: A Review of Psychedelics in Science, Medicine, Sex, and Spirituality edited by Rick Doblin, PhD, and Brad Burge 304 pages | Evolver Editions | Released January 7, 2014 "What an excellent book to courageously transmit psychedelic research into tomorrow." —Ben Sessa, MD, psychiatrist and author of The Psychedelic Renaissance Now 25% off the retail price! $19.95 $14.95 | Now available 10. Actual Contact Artwork by Jason Tucker Actual Contact Artwork series by Jason Tucker These signed, matted, limited edition, 12" x 9" art prints were donated to MAPS by artist Jason Tucker. All proceeds directly support our research and education projects. "My drawings are never pre-planned. I focus only on the line, not knowing what the entire image will look like when finished. The experience is one of total control, but with no control at all." —Jason Tucker $60 | Prints Now Available All purchases from the MAPS Store support our research and education projects. EVENTS 11. Aya: Awakenings Film Screening and Q&A: February 8, Santa Cruz, CA Join Aya: Awakenings director Rak Razam and MAPS on Saturday, February 8, from 7:00 to 10:00 PM at the Pacific Cultural Center in Santa Cruz, CA, for a screening and Q&A. Aya: Awakenings is a narrative documentary into the world and visions of ayahuasca shamanism. Buy tickets now | RSVP on Facebook. 12. Global Transpersonal Symposium: Unity within Diversity: February 8, Palo Alto, CA Sofia University and the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) will co-host a one day Global Transpersonal Symposium on Saturday, February 8. The symposium will bring together three international transpersonal associations—the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP), the European Transpersonal Association (EUROTAS), and the International Transpersonal Association (ITA) around the theme "Unity Within Diversity." Includes keynote speeches by Stanislav Grof, MD, PhD, and James Fadiman, PhD. Learn more... 13. Cannabinoid Medical Science and Political Ecology: March 4, New York, NY Sunil Kumar Aggarwal, MD, PhD, will give a free presentation on March 4 at the New School for Social Research on chronic pain management and health-related quality of life in medical cannabis patients. Register... 14. Pathway to Reform: March 20, Auckland, New Zealand Pathway to Reform is a unique opportunity to hear how New Zealand became the first country in the world to regulate the "legal highs" industry and where it is going from here. International speakers include Amanda Feilding of the Beckley Foundation, Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, and Rick Doblin of MAPS. Buy tickets... View our Event Calendar for more. Can ayahuasca help treat addiction? MORE NEWS 15. Johns Hopkins Survey: Psychedelics and Smoking Cessation Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are currently recruiting individuals who have quit smoking cigarettes or reduced their smoking (even temporarily) after an experience with a psychedelic, for participation in an online survey. Learn more... 16. Ayahuasca Dialogues Webinar Now Online The Ethnobotanical Stewardship Council's inaugural Ayahuasca Dialogues Webinar provides an overview of the ESC's international work to build consensus around the sustainability and safe use of ayahuasca. The webinar includes a brief introduction from the ESC's Chief Advisor, followed by comments from Ben De Loenen, Rick Doblin, and Dennis McKenna, and an audience Q&A. Watch now... Learn about our current Funding Priorities. MAPS 1215 Mission Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060-9989 USA tel: +1 831 429 MDMA (6362) fax: +1 831 429 6370 SHARE UNSUBSCRIBE ABOUT MAPS DONATE

 

 

 

 

 

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Religion as a Product of Psychotropic Drug Use - Atlantic Mobile
http://feedly.com/k/1kMgNRy

shared via http://feedly.com

 

 

 

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/05/longtime-sufferers-of-cluster-headaches-find-relief-in-psychedelics.html   Longtime Sufferers of Cluster Headaches Find Relief in Psychedelics Daily Beast Psilocybin—aka “magic”—mushrooms and LSD are Schedule I drugs, the same Federal class marijuana sits in having no recognized medicinal value ...

 

Vice
6 February, 2014

NOPE, STILL NO SUCH THING AS A FATAL MARIJUANA OVERDOSE

By David Bienenstock

By all accounts, 31-year-old mother of three Gemma Moss recently smoked half
a joint to help her sleep, and then she never woke up. It's a tragic passing
that quickly yielded giddy tabloid headlines touting her as "the first woman
in Britain to be poisoned to death by cannabis", as though some incredible
sports record had just been achieved.

And really, the headlines could have gone even further, proclaiming poor Ms
Moss "the first person in recorded history to die of a marijuana overdose!"
Which, given the fact that humans have been ingesting the plant in one form
or another for more than 10,000 years, certainly sounds like a scoop.
Especially when science had previously pegged the dose you'd need to ingest
in order to suffer a fatal overdose at considerably higher than half a
joint.

According to a 1988 ruling from US Drug Enforcement Agency administrative
law judge Francis Young:

Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The
LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals
receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of
researchers have attempted to determine marijuana's LD-50 rating in test
animals, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to
give animals enough marijuana to induce death.

At present it is estimated that marijuana's LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or
1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a
marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much
marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette.... A smoker would
theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about
15 minutes to induce a lethal response.

So if the rather notably anti-marijuana DEA considers fatally overdosing on
chronic nigh well impossible, and if even the world's most rabid drug
warriors can't point to a single previous medically confirmed OD, how the
heck did we end up with last week's definitive headlines? Is it possible
that Gemma Ross rolled up a 3,000-pound joint and then consumed half of it
in one sitting?

The press didn't report on the exact size of her spliff, but it's hard to
imagine they make rolling papers that large. No, instead these breathlessly
reported stories all relied on the wisdom of one small-town coroner and a
local pathologist who share a perhaps less than fully evolved understanding
of how marijuana effects the human body.

"The postmortem could find no natural cause for her death" - Sheriff Payne,
Bournemouth coroner, wrote in his postmortem - "with the balance of
probability that it is more likely than not that she died from the effects
of cannabis."

To which attending pathologist Dr Kudair Hussein added: "The physical
examination and the examination of various organs, including the heart and
the liver, showed no abnormality that could account for her death.
The level of canabinoids in the blood were 0.1 to 0.15 miligrams per litre;
this is considered as moderate to heavy cannabis use. I looked through
literature, and it's well known that cannabis is of very low toxicity. But
there are reports that say cannabis can be considered as a cause of death
because it can induce a cardiac arrest."

So did they list the cause of death as "cardiac arrest"?

No, because as clearly stated, there's absolutely no evidence to demonstrate
that.

Did they list the cause of death as "cannabis poisoning", as widely reported
in newspaper stories that quickly went viral?

No, because as they clearly stated, there's absolutely no evidence to
demonstrate that. And there's much evidence showing such "poisoning" to be
scientifically impossible.

Instead, they concluded the cause of death to be "cannabis abuse".
Again, absolutely no evidence to prove this, but since the authorities
couldn't come up with anything else to explain a seemingly healthy woman
dying in her sleep, why not blame the reefer?

Of course, needless to say, not all of the experts agreed.

"There's been no history of any verified reports of a death from cannabis
ever," Dr Alan Shackelford, a Harvard-trained physician and leading medical
marijuana advocate in Colorado told the Denver Post.
"Cannabis can cause an increased heart rate, and there's a possibility that
it could cause a problem with someone with a pre-existing heart disease -
for example, somebody with an elevated heart rate. But there's no known dose
of cannabis that could kill a human... We see unexplained deaths not
infrequently. [In this case], the cannabis is a red herring and an
incidental finding... I have no idea what caused her death, but I can say
with near 100 percent certainty that it wasn't the cannabis that killed
her."

Meanwhile, David Nutt, former chairman of the British government's Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs, doesn't entirely discount the chance that
cannabis had some small role in Ms Moss's untimely expiration, but he says
that such a "freak fatality" shouldn't change the way we think about the
plant's incredible safety record.

"I cannot begin to understand the pathologist's certainty that cannabis
killed Gemma Moss, but neither do I wish to contradict him outright,"
Nutt wrote on the blog of his Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs.
"Taking any amount of cannabis, like all drugs, like so many activities,
puts some stresses on the body. Cannabis usually makes the heart work a
little harder and subtly affects its rate and rhythm. Any minor stress on
the body can be the straw that breaks the camel's back, the butterfly's
wingbeat that triggers the storm. Ms. Moss had suffered with depression,
which itself increases the risk of sudden cardiac death. It is quite
plausible that the additional small stress caused by that cannabis joint
triggered a one-in-a-million cardiac event, just as has been more frequently
recorded from sport, sex, saunas and even straining on the toilet."

Yesterday it was reported that 31-year-old Bournemouth man Paul Kenyon
"overdosed on cannabis" before dying of carbon monoxide poisioning.
Let's see how The Metro handle that one.


--
Drugs & Democracy <drugs@tni.org>
Transnational Institute (TNI)
De Wittenstraat 25 1052 AK
P.O.Box 14656 1001 LD
Amsterdam - The Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 662 6608 / Fax: +31 20 675 7176
http://www.tni.org/drugs
http://www.undrugs.info
http://www.druglawreform.info
www.facebook.com/drugsanddemocracy
_______________________________________________
Dd-world mailing list
https://lists.tni.org/mailman/listinfo/dd-world

 

 

Kupferschmidt, K. (2014). The dangerous professor. Science, 343(6170), 478-481.

David Nutt wants to make drug policies science-based and give the world a safe alternative to alcohol. If only politicians would listen, he says.

 

 

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Ralph Metzner invited you to his event:

Workshop, C. G. Jung, Albert Hofmann and the Philosophers' Stone

Saturday, March 8, 2014, 10:00am - 3:00pm in PST at Good Shepherd Center, Room 202, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. North, Seattle 98103

March 7-8, 2014
Lecture & Workshop at the C.G. Jung Society in Seattle
C.G. Jung, Albert Hofmann and The Philosophers' Stone

Lecture on Friday the 7th at 7 PM. Workshop Saturday the 8th 10 to 4

 

 

Le Monde Diplomatique
February 2014

Legal pot challenges the endless drug war

Uruguay surrenders to win
http://mondediplo.com/2014/02/12uruguay

José Mujica has attempted to change the premises and conditions of the drugs
wars through the legalisation of marijuana. Although even the people of
Uruguay don't really back their president's initial reform, at least it's a
start.

by Johann Hari

When I travelled across Mexico, pictures of the missing were everywhere in
the streets, like dystopian corporate advertising. Human Rights Watch says
that more than 60,000 people have died in the drug war launched in 2006 by
former president Felipe Calderón; the US pours money and arms into Mexico to
suppress the drug trade, while rival drug gangs battle for control of supply
routes (1). As Charles Bowden wrote, there is a war on drugs, and there is a
war for drugs. Both are deadly.

Until recently, there was a despairing sense that the violence could not be
stopped, only moved on. But over the past two years, Latin American leaders
such as Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos have begun to demand a
different course, which they claim will end this violence. José Mujica of
Uruguay has taken the first step, and in 2013 became the first leader
anywhere to legalise the production and sale of a banned drug.

Mujica was already unusual. He was a Tupamaro guerrilla in the 1980s,
imprisoned at the bottom of a well for two and a half years. After being
elected president in 2009, he refused to live in the presidential palace,
preferring his tiny shack in a downmarket area of Montevideo, and going to
many meetings by bus. He gives away 87% of his income to the poor.

In July 2013 the coalition he heads passed a law permitting the growing of
marijuana within the country and its sale to adults. They will be allowed to
purchase up to 40g a month from a pharmacy or grow six marijuana plants per
household. This is the first definitive break from UN treaties prohibiting
cannabis.

Mujica told me that there had been repressive policies on drugs for more
than a hundred years, but their failure had finally become apparent.
Uruguay's defence secretary, Eleutorio Huidobro — another ex-Tupamaro (who
also survived imprisonment in a well) — explained why his country took this
step. The administration realised that "if we don't do this now, in a matter
of time what happened in Mexico [will happen here]. We're going to be in big
trouble." Uruguay is on a drug supply route, with cocaine from Bolivia and
marijuana from Paraguay being smuggled through to western Europe. A deputy
from Mujica's Movement of Popular Participation (MPP), Sebastián Sabini,
says a third of the country's homicides are related to the drug trade.

The remedy is worse than the illness

Huidobro explained that drug prohibition created narcotrafficking, and the
violence that followed: "By not legalising marijuana, what you do is
transfer all that money to criminals, and make the drug dealers into a big
institution with power." In a criminalised economy, disputes cannot be
settled through the courts, only by violence and terror. As the economist
Milton Friedman pointed out, this is why alcohol prohibition gave the world
Al Capone and the St Valentine's Day massacre (2), and drug prohibition
produced the Zetas gang and the massacres in northern Mexico.
Huidobro said: "The US drug war causes more harm than marijuana itself.
Many more deaths. Much more destabilisation. This is worse for the world in
general than any drug. The remedy is worse than the illness."

The Mujica administration believes the eradication of the drug trade is a
utopian fantasy. It regards the UN slogan — "A Drug-Free World — We Can Do
It!" — as absurd. The desire to get intoxicated is a human instinct.
Mujica's chief of staff, Diego Cánepa, says there has never been a society
that didn't seek out chemical alteration.

The only effect of massive military suppression is to move the trade a few
hundred miles: "the balloon effect" (push down on the air in a balloon, it
pops up elsewhere). Colombian production moves to Bolivia; Caribbean supply
lines flow through northern Mexico. Given this reality, Mujica concluded
that the only sensible solution was to take this enormous market back from
armed gangsters, and regulate it. Legalising alcohol in the US ended
speakeasies and alcohol dealers; drug reformers point out Budweiser does not
try to murder people who work for Guinness. Legalising marijuana — and
marketing it in licensed outlets — will mostly end the participation of
criminals. The sales can be taxed, with the proceeds building drug treatment
facilities and high quality drug education programmes.

The new Latin American legalisers are not arguing that marijuana use is
positive, or should be encouraged — Mujica has called drug users nabos,
"dickheads". They say that it is no worse than drinking alcohol and that we
have to find a sensible way to live with it.
Beneficial for teenagers

The Uruguayan reformers were not aware that they were challenging the
prohibitionists. For years, people have been told legalisation means a
free-for-all, where anyone, including children, can get drugs anywhere.
But the Uruguayans argue we have anarchy now — unknown gangsters sell drugs
of unknown quality to unknown customers. The reform is a way of regaining
control of the market and regulating it for the first time.

They argue this will have a good effect on teenagers. There is substantial
evidence that cannabis use among teens can permanently lower their IQ, and
all sides agree ending teen use is a priority. Yet many American teens find
it easier to get hold of marijuana than alcohol (3) because no drug dealer
asks for an ID. Legal, licensed drug retailers will have to see an ID, or
lose their licenses.

Worldwide, legislators and police privately recognise the advantages of
legalisation. What was different in Uruguay, and why didn't fear of the US
(See A globalised business), or fear of public opinion, stop reform?
Several factors came together. There was an especially vigorous marijuana
reform movement, spurred by injustices. In April 2011 a teacher from the
military academy, Alicia Garcia, 66, was arrested for growing a few
marijuana plants, and faced a potential prison sentence of 20 months for
commercial production. A movement rose around her, and the younger
parliamentarians in Mujica's party began to champion reform. A major factor
in their success was the popularity and determination of the president,
whose long incarceration had no doubt equipped him to resist pressures both
internal and external.

Meanwhile, the ability of the US to lecture the world on this policy was
collapsing from within as, in 2013, the states of Colorado and Washington
adopted a bill approved by referendum to fully legalise the use, commercial
production and sale of marijuana.
Ordinary Uruguayans unconvinced

Mujica and his allies have not yet succeeded in persuading the wider
population of their case. Although there has been a small shift in opinion,
some 60% of Uruguayans still oppose the moves. Opposition deputy Veronica
Alonzo said: "As soon as you legalise ... people will be using more."
Evidence suggests this is not correct. Since 1976 the Netherlands has
allowed marijuana-selling coffee shops. (To remain within the UN treaties,
the Dutch didn't technically legalise: they just announced the police would
not prosecute the shops.) About 5% of Dutch citizens smoked cannabis over
the past month, against 6.3% in the US and 7% on average in the EU (4). This
suggests that the fears are wrong.

The second worry is the gateway effect, that more people will go on from
marijuana to harder drugs, especially "pasta base", a crack-like derivative
of cocaine used by a very small but visible minority in Uruguay. Dr Raquel
Peyraube, the leading drug treatment specialist in Uruguay, says marijuana
users are, under prohibition, subject to the opposite process, which she
calls the gondola effect: illegal marijuana is sold by a dealer who will
almost always sell other drugs. "You know how at the supermarket you buy
things you don't even need." Dealers offer marijuana users cocaine and other
drugs cheaply. Recent research from George Soros's Open Society Foundations
backs this up: the Netherlands have the fewest problem drug users in Europe,
in part because they have separated out marijuana (5).

Dr Peyraube debunks the claim that legalisation will lead to a rise in
schizophrenia, saying that if marijuana caused schizophrenia, the rate of
the illness would have risen across society over the past few decades, since
marijuana use has grown. Yet the rate has held steady. It is more likely
that people developing schizophrenia are drawn to cannabis, to try to calm
down.

Some people in the Uruguayan administration are privately receptive to a
more substantial critique of these reforms: marijuana is only a part of the
trade in prohibited drugs, and not the largest. Legalising it will shrink
the black market significantly, but leave the most profitable parts intact.
To cripple the cartels, the market in other drugs will have to be legally
controlled, by regulated sale for ecstasy or cocaine, and by medical
prescription for heroin, as has been successfully piloted in Switzerland.

Sabini, the main champion of the current legalisation, agrees: "It may take
some time — it's not going to happen now," but "we'll be able to bring this
same cause to the public when it comes to other drugs."
Mujica's most likely successor as president has already publicly proposed to
legalise cocaine.

The alternative is fighting a war everybody knows, as Huidobro put it, is
"lost already. Totally lost." While they wait for the politicians to admit
this, people such as Emma Veleta from Mexico, who lost eight family members,
pay the price. David Simon, creator of the television series The Wire, in
which drugs are an alternative economy and society in the US, has warned
that the US seems willing to fight the drug war "to the last Mexican" (6).


--
Drugs & Democracy Info <drugs@tni.org>
Transnational Institute (TNI)
De Wittenstraat 25 1052 AK
P.O.Box 14656 1001 LD
Amsterdam - The Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 662 6608 / Fax: +31 20 675 7176 http://www.tni.org/drugs


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Subject: Fwd: Join us at Historic 2nd Intl Congress: Sacred Plants, Culture & Human Rights, 2014

 

 

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The Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico, Facultad de Anthropology & Nierika A.C. Invite you to the   2nd International Congress on Traditional Medicine & Public Health:   "Sacred Plants, Culture, and Human Rights"     TOLUCA, MEXICO  APRIL 3-5 2014 REGISTER TODAY     [Versión en Español sigue abajo...] THE FUTURE USE OF SACRED PLANTS  FOR THERAPEUTIC & CULTURAL PURPOSES   JOIN US!   A historic event will take place on April 3rd - 5th, 2014 at the Autonomous University of Toluca, Mexico that will unite prominent scientists, academics, and leaders from dozens of indigenous nations to present recent breakthrough research and public policy briefings concerning the use of "Sacred Plants" for therapeutic purposes.   SACRED PLANTS, CULTURE, & HUMAN RIGHTS   What is the future for indigenous healing traditions in Mexico and the American continent? How can they contribute to public health? Could we ever hope to see the application of these empirical healing approaches applied within a legitimized framework that provides both safety and accessibility for people seeking the sacred plants for their therapeutic and psycho-spiritual effects?    The Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico (UAEM) and the Department of Anthropology, in collaboration with the Multidisciplinary Association for the Preservation of Indigenous Traditions of Sacred Plants, Nierika A.C, are bringing this dialogue to the forefront of public opinion in Mexico. The intended outcomes of the congress are as follows:   1) To present comprehensive scientific research on the therapeutic use of sacred plants that can serve as a foundation for policy review and as a basis for proposing the regulated medical and cultural use of these medicines in Mexico;   2)  To increase multidisciplinary dialogue between scientists and traditional indigenous doctors and promote the integration of Western science and traditional indigenous medicine;    AN ALLIANCE TO PRESERVE A SPIRITUAL & CULTURAL PATRIMONY OF HUMANITY    An international group of scientific researchers from multiple disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, medicine, and psychiatry, along with other Mexican authorities will play a key role in this year's congress alongside a growing council of representatives from indigenous nations. Representation from indigenous nations from North and South America at this year's congress  will include; the Matlazinca, Tlahuica, Wixarika (Huichol), Yoeme-Yaqui, Otomi, Purrepecha, Chichimeca, Mazatec, Cametsa (Colombia), Lakota (US), Diné (US), Ho-chunk, Cree (Canada)  and many others, as well as the Native American Church of North America and Canada.    This year's congress will cover a range of topics including; Ethnohistory of Sacred Plants, Legal Aspects of Sacred Plants, Health and Sacred Plants, and Art and Artistic Expressions related to Sacred Plants. The framework for this year's congress will be to discuss how national and international policies may consider the use of sacred plants as a human right to health and to access the best available treatments for certain health conditions.    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TODAY!   We invite you to join us for this historic event and to consider supporting us with a generous donation to sponsor our delegation of indigenous leaders at this year's congress. Contact us today for more info at cimedicinatradicionalsp@gmail.com and cc. us at nierikaac@gmail.com.   For more info on the 2nd International Congress for Traditional Medicine & Public Health, including information on our CALL FOR CONFERENCE PAPERS,  please visit our website: www.nierika.info/english  or email: cimedicinatradicionalsp@gmail.com.   To make a  donation to support travel & lodging expenses for our indigenous delegation please visit our Indiegogo campaign page or click HERE.          REGISTRATE HOY!       Un acontecimiento histórico tomará lugar del 3 al 5 de abril, 2014 en la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEM) Facultad de Antropologia que convoca a prominentes científicos, académicos y líderes de decenas de médicos tradicionales y representantes  indígenas para presentar investigaciones recientes sobre el potencial terapéutico de estas plantas y sesiones informativas sobre normativa y regulación en relación al uso de las "plantas sagradas" con fines terapéuticos, culturales y espirituales.   PLANTAS SAGRADAS, CULTURA, Y DERECHOS HUMANOS   ¿Cuál es el futuro de las tradiciones indígenas de uso de plantas sagradas en México y en el continente americano? ¿Cómo puede el uso terapéutico de las plantas sagradas contribuir a la salud pública? ¿Existe la esperanza de ver estos sistemas empíricos de curación aplicadas dentro de un marco legitimado por la ciencia moderna, tal como es el caso con los sistemas orientales de medicina tradicional?   La Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico y la Facultad de Antropología junto con Nierika AC, llevaran este diálogo a la vanguardia de la opinión pública en México. Los objetivos previstos del congreso son los siguientes:   1) Presentar investigación científica sobre el uso terapéutico de las plantas sagradas que puede servir como base para la revisión de las políticas que prohíben el uso de plantas psicoactivas y una base para proponer la regulacion de su uso médico y cultural en México;   2) Incrementar el diálogo multidisciplinario entre los científicos y los médicos tradicionales indígenas y fomentar la integración de la ciencia occidental y las tradiciones indígenas;   UNIDOS PARA PRESERVAR UN PATRIMONIO ESPIRITUAL Y CULTURAL DE LA HUMANIDAD   Los investigadores científicos de múltiples disciplinas como la antropología, sociología, psicología, la medicina y psiquiatría, junto con otras autoridades mexicanas tendrán un papel clave en el congreso de este año junto a un consejo de representantes de múltiples naciones indígenas. Representación de las naciones indígenas de Norte y Sur América incluye: las culturas Matlazinca, Tlahuica, Wixarika (Huichol), Yoeme-Yaqui, Otomí , Purépecha, Chichimeca , Mazatecos , Cametsa ( Colombia ) , Lakota ( EE.UU.) ,Diné (EE.UU.), Cree (Canada) y Ho-Chunk (EEUU) así como la Iglesia Nativa Americana de Norteamérica y Canadá.   El congreso de este año cubrirá una variedad de temas incluyendo: Etnohistoria de Plantas Sagradas , Aspectos Legales de Plantas Sagradas , Salud y Plantas Sagradas y arte y las expresiones artísticas relacionadas con Plantas Sagradas . El marco para el congreso de este año es discutir cómo las políticas nacionales e internacionales pueden incluir el uso de plantas sagradas como nuestro derecho humano a la salud y al acceso a los mejores tratamientos disponibles para ciertas condiciones de salud y desarrollo del mas alto nivel de bienestar.   HAZ CLIC PARA REGISTRARTE HOY!    Te invitamos a unirte con nosotros para este evento histórico y considerar apoyarrnos con una donación para patrocinar nuestra delegación de líderes indígenas. Para obtener más información escríbenos a cimedicinatradicionalsp@gmail.com con copia a  nierikaac@gmail.com.   Para obtener más información sobre el 2 º Congreso Internacional de Medicina Tradicional y Salud Pública, visita nuestro sitio web: www.nierika.info /castellano o haz clic AQUI.   Para hacer una donación para apoyar los gastos del viaje y alojamiento de nuestra delegación indígena por favor visita nuestra página de Indiegogo o haz clic AQUI .       DONATE TO SUPPORT DELEGATION OF INDIGENOUS LEADERS!!                                                                                                                                       POR FAVOR  APOYA NUESTRO CONSEJO DE LIDERES INDEGENAS CON TU DONACION!       "Mesoamerican peoples sought to prevent disease through attaining an energetic balance, and they found that balance in the energetic substances that were the sacred plants." - (Prof. Mauricio Garcia, Dept of Anthropology, UAEM, 1st International Congress, 2010)   "Los pueblos MesoAmericanos buscaban prevenir atravez del equilibrio energetico, y ese equilibrio energetico lo encontraban en las substancias que tenían las plantas sagradas."   - (Prof. Mauricio Garcia, Facultad de Anthropologia, UAEM, Congreso Internacional 2010)       STAY CONNECTED   Chalmita, Mexico - 52-1-714-191-0832

 

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