Posts

Cannabis Causes Psychosis-Like Effects in Healthy People That’s Similar to Schizophrenia

/4 Comments/in , /by

Smoking cannabis can induce psychosis-like effects, similar to the symptoms people diagnosed with schizophrenia endure, scientists have said.

While past research as come this this conclusion in the past, the mechanisms underlying these effects are less clear.

Now, a team of scientists at Yale School of Medicine have found the active ingredient in marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-THC) increases random neural activity, known as neural noise, in the brains of healthy drug-users.

Researchers studied the effects of delta-9-THC on electrical brain activity in 24 human subjects, who took part in a three-day study.

During the experiments, they received two doses of intravenous delta-9-THC or a placebo in a double-blind, randomised, cross-over and counterbalanced design. (Read more from “Cannabis Causes Psychosis-Like Effects in Healthy People That’s Similar to Schizophrenia” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Scientists: High-Potency Marijuana Damages Brain

/5 Comments/in , /by

High-strength cannabis may damage nerve fibres that handle the flow of messages across the two halves of the brain, scientists claim. Brain scans of people who regularly smoked strong skunk-like cannabis revealed subtle differences in the white matter that connects the left and right hemispheres and carries signals from one side of the brain to the other.

The changes were not seen in those who never used cannabis or smoked only the less potent forms of the drug, the researchers found.

The study is thought to be the first to look at the effects of cannabis potency on brain structure, and suggests that greater use of skunk may cause more damage to the corpus callosum, making communications across the brain’s hemispheres less efficient.

Paola Dazzan, a neurobiologist at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, said the effects appeared to be linked to the level of active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in cannabis. While traditional forms of cannabis contain 2 to 4 % THC, the more potent varieties (of which there are about 100), can contain 10 to 14% THC, according to the DrugScope charity. (Read more from this story concluding that marijuana damages brain HERE)

DEA: Mexican Gangs ‘Remain Greatest Criminal Drug Threat to the United States’

/3 Comments/in , /by

“Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group can challenge them in the near term,” says the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment released on Wednesday by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana throughout the United States, using established transportation routes and distribution networks,” the report says.

The Mexican TCOs serve primarily as wholesale suppliers, and they work with thousands of local, U.S.-based gangs to distribute the drugs at the retail level.

And these Mexican criminal enterprises may be coming to a neighborhood near you:

“Law enforcement reporting indicates some Mexican trafficking organizations within the United States are relocating from major metropolitan areas to establish bases of operation in suburban or rural areas,” the DEA said. (Read more from “DEA: Mexican Gangs ‘Remain Greatest Criminal Drug Threat to the United States'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

NYC Police Commissioner: “Weaponized Weed” Triggering Nude, Psychotic Rampages With Superhuman Strength

/1 Comment/in , /by

Synthetic MarijuanaNYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton warned Tuesday about the rise of what he called “weaponized marijuana” — synthetic pot known as “K2″ or “Spice” on the streets — which makes users psychotic while giving them superhuman strength . . .

“A better term for it might be weaponized marijuana,” Bratton told reporters at a press conference at police headquarters.

“A number of individuals, when under the influence of this drug, are relatively impervious to pain and also have significant enhancement of their physical strength,” he said.

“So our officers encountering these individuals face more significant risk of having to subdue these individuals and potentially receiving injuries.”

Spice users are impervious to traditional takedown methods used by cops, such as tasers and mace, officials said. (Read more from “NYC Police Commissioner: “Weaponized Weed” Triggering Nude, Psychotic Rampages With Superhuman Strength” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

73% of British Youth Under 30 Using Drugs but 25% Want to Ban Alcohol

/0 Comments/in , /by

Student Money Saver (SMS) polled 1,000 people under the age of 30 to get their views on alcohol and drug use and found high numbers of people were saying substances currently against the law should be made legal.

Over half said they know someone with an alcohol addiction problem and a further 250 people said alcohol should be make illegal . . .

Almost 43 per cent of people said they drink alone, 73 per cent sometimes use drugs by themselves and 63 per cent say they have had a blackout in the past year because of drugs and alcohol.

One teen – who wished to remain anonymous – thinks making drugs legal would stop illegal drug trafficking and added: “The fact that alcohol and tobacco are legal is just hypocritical. They are bad if not worse.”

Another teen believes making drugs illegal is pointless, as “it won’t stop people using them”, and a third interviewee thought the taxpayer took too much responsibility for drug abusers: “They all most likely cause serious health problems which cost us millions to fix every year.” (Read more from “Cannabis Should Be Legal but This Product Should Be Illegal, Under-30s Tell New Survey” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Antipsychotic Use Rising Among Teens and Young Adults

/0 Comments/in , /by

A growing number of teens and young adults are being prescribed antipsychotics, a new study suggests.

In particular, it appears they’re being used to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – a condition for which the powerful drugs are not approved.

The percentage of teens using antipsychotics rose from 1.10 percent in 2006 to 1.19 percent in 2010. Use among young adults ages 19 to 24 rose from 0.69 percent to 0.84 percent, the study found.

Overall in 2010, approximately 270,000 antipsychotic prescriptions were dispensed to younger children, 2.14 million to older children, 2.80 million to adolescents, and 1.83 million to young adults, the authors write . . .

For younger children, antipsychotic use declined from 2006 to 2010, the researchers report in JAMA Psychiatry. Prescriptions fell from 0.14 percent to 0.11 percent for kids aged one to six, and from 0.85 percent to 0.80 percent for children aged seven to 12. (Read more from “Antipsychotic Use Rising Among Teens and Young Adults” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Police Make Arrest Related to Synthetic Stimulant Flakka: ‘I Am God, I Am Satan’ [+video]

/2 Comments/in , /by

bath-saltsA 17-year-old female was arrested at 2:30 in the morning Saturday after police said she jumped through the window of a home on the 1600 block of Sycamore Street in Melbourne, according to her arrest report.

The residents of the home say they were terrified after following the incident. The arrest report states that the girl, covered in broken glass and blood, slapped one of the residents of the home, and then ran outside. When police arrived, the report says she charged the officer while screaming, “I am God, I am Satan!” The officer wrote that he backed up at first, but then Tasered her and took her into custody.

Melbourne Police say this behavior is indicative of someone high on “flakka,” a relatively new synthetic designer drug that burst onto the scene in 2012 in South Florida . . .

Two weeks ago, Melbourne officers say they took down a suspected flakka drug dealer by the name of Tyler Reynolds Junior on Grant Street after he blew through a stop sign at Race and Horn streets. They say inside the 20-year-old’s vehicle they found 62 grams of flakka . . .

Last month, Melbourne police arrested 41-year-old Kenneth Crowder for running naked down a Melbourne street and then humping a tree, all while screaming that he was God. When Melbourne cops Tasered him, he allegedly pulled the leads out of his skin and attacked officers. He was eventually arrested and taken to jail. (Read more from “Police Make Arrest Related to Synthetic Stimulant Flakka: ‘I Am God, I Am Satan'[+video]” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Meet Flakka, the Dangerous New Drug Sweeping Florida

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Time

Photo Credit: Time

Its effects can be as potent as crystal meth, bath salts or cocaine. It causes people to act erratically, uncontrollably and dangerously. It’s called flakka, and it’s the new designer drug hitting the streets of Florida.

In recent weeks in Florida, this new drug has led to a man trying to break down the door to a police station, a man impaling himself while trying to scale a fence, and an armed and naked man shouting about hallucinations from a rooftop, CBS reports.

The health effects of taking flakka, which can be injected, snorted, smoked or swallowed, can be dire.

“We’re starting to see a rash of cases of a syndrome referred to as excited delirium,” Jim Hall, an epidemiologist at the Center for Applied Research on Substance Use and Health Disparities at Nova Southeastern University, told CBS. “This is where the body goes into hyperthermia, generally a temperature of 105 degrees. The individual becomes psychotic, they often rip off their clothes and run out into the street violently and have an adrenaline-like strength and police are called and it takes four or five officers to restrain them. Then once they are restrained, if they don’t receive immediate medical attention they can die.” (Read more from “Meet Flakka, the Dangerous New Drug Sweeping Florida” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Obama's New Civil Rights Division Head Wants to Decriminalize Possession of All Drugs

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: ACLU HeadshotSo who supports decriminalizing cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamine, ecstasy and all dangerous drugs, including marijuana?

No, it’s not your teenage nephew. It’s President Obama’s new acting head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Vanita Gupta. In 2012, Gupta wrote that “states should decriminalize simple possession of all drugs, particularly marijuana, and for small amounts of other drugs.” (Emphasis mine).

Last week, President Obama appointed Vanita Gupta to the position of acting head. According to the Washington Post, the administration plans to nominate her in the next few months to become the permanent assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. Her views on sentencing reform–a bi-partisan effort in recent years–have earned her qualified kudos from some conservatives.

But her radical views on drug policy–including her opinion that states should decriminalize possession of alldrugs (cocaine, heroin, LSD, ecstasy, marijuana etc.) should damper that support of those conservatives, and raise serious concerns on Capitol Hill.

As the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union and the director of its Center for Justice, Gupta’s legal and policy positions are well documented in her long paper trail, which, no doubt, will be closely scrutinized if and when she is nominated and gets a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Read more from this story HERE.

Alleged Drug Smuggler Tried to Use a U.S. National Guard Bag

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APA suspected drug smuggler trying to move four kilograms of cocaine from the Texas border to Connecticut drew the suspicion of authorities because he used a bag with the U.S. National Guard logo on it. The value of the seized cocaine ranged from $160,000 near the Texas border to $640,000 at its final destination.

The arrest came when a U.S. Border Patrol agent at the Falfurrias checkpoint got information about an upcoming drug load and stopped a passenger bus that was travelling north, according to court records obtained by Breitbart Texas.

One of the agents went into the bus and asked Hector Samuel Perez, a 26-year-old legal resident from Mexico, where he was headed. Perez said he was headed to Houston to see his sister; the agent’s suspicions had been peaked because he saw that the traveler had a shoulder bag with the National Guard logo on it.

Read more from this story HERE.