Whether it's LSD or magic mushrooms, psychedelic drugs have long been a point of contention. An upcoming event hopes to educate Saskatoon residents on their medical uses and their potentially research-rich future. Organized by Erika Dyck, a University of Saskatchewan history professor and the Canada Research Chair in the History of Medicine, the event is called An Evening of Psychedelics and takes place at the Underground Cafe on Nov. 23. "Over the last few years there's been some real interest in what people are starting to call a psychedelic renaissance, where we're looking at psychedelics for their therapeutic potential today," she said. [continues 366 words]
At one time in Canada, marijuana possession and or trafficking was punishable by a jail sentence or even deportation. But soon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will live up to his promise to legalize marijuana consumption and possession. However, Daniel Leblanc organized a poll through theglobeandmail.com, that states nearly half of Canadians still don't support the legalization of the drug. Despite the support, weed will become legal, so the last thing to do is address the last percentage of unsure Canadians that this is the right choice. [continues 646 words]
Re: UBC's naloxone stash unclaimed, Sept. 25 Brian Spencer, UBC's inter-fraternity council president, says it is unrealistic to assume that students are not going to take the odd line of cocaine or a tab of ecstasy when they party. Seriously? That's what's wrong with this society - the tacit acceptance of drug-taking, the excuses being made, the look-the-other-way mentality. People's lives do matter, but drug-taking is not cool, no matter what kind of spin they put on it. Jean Foote Humphreys, Kamloops [end]
Drug-use stigma cited, as not one student has picked up free opioid antidote Free kits of naloxone are going unclaimed at the University of B.C. because students don't want to identify as illicit drug users, experts believe. The complimentary kits of the potentially life-saving opioid antidote have been offered to students since the spring as part of a harm reduction program amid an ongoing fentanyl health crisis across the province - but as of Friday, none had been handed out. [continues 691 words]
Worried about their teenage daughter's drug use and signs of depression, a Vancouver area couple began to secretly monitor her life on social media. What they found propelled them into a desperate quest to find medical treatment: Their daughter, unwilling to talk with them, was openly discussing suicide, self-harm and an escalating dependence on hard drugs with her friends. "I'm alive because I'm too scared to kill myself," she text messaged one day. Other texts revealed that she was stealing to pay back debts to dealers and her casual embrace of dangerous party drugs. She wrote that on one day, she did a "ton of e [ecstasy] and the next a bit of mdma." The drugs may have numbed her depression in the short term, but only made things worse. "Why is it so impossible to be happy?" she posted to her network of peers. [continues 910 words]
Federal prison officers now have access to the life-saving opioid blocker naloxone, following a complaint that several front-line officers in B.C. were exposed to fentanyl. Jason Godin, president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, says members logged a complaint with the Correctional Service of Canada a few weeks ago after some guards at Mountain Institution in Agassiz fell ill. He said paramedics had to administer naloxone to some of the affected officers, indicating they had been exposed to fentanyl, an opioid that has led to a surge in overdose deaths in B.C. this year. [continues 347 words]
Opioid blocker made available to address guards' safety concerns Federal prison officers now have access to the life-saving opioid blocker naloxone, following a complaint that several front-line officers in B.C. were exposed to fentanyl. Jason Godin, president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, says members logged a complaint with the Correctional Service of Canada a few weeks ago after some guards at Mountain Institution in Agassiz fell ill. He said paramedics had to administer naloxone to some of the affected officers, indicating that they had been exposed to fentanyl, an opioid that has led to a surge in overdose deaths in B.C. this year. [continues 384 words]
Researchers seeking participants who suffer from disorder for study This is something we really need answers to, because patients have been ahead of researchers and clinicians on this one. B.C. researchers are launching the country's first large-scale clinical trial on marijuana as a treatment for a mental health condition, testing whether pot can ease the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Zach Walsh, a clinical psychologist at the University of B.C.'s Okanagan campus, is leading the study, which will put the anecdotal experiences of combat veterans to the test. [continues 536 words]
Officers' 'privacy interests' cited in failure to produce key documents After an Edmonton judge blamed federal Crown prosecutors and the Edmonton Police Service for an "extreme delay" that led to charges against an alleged drug dealer being set aside, Edmonton police argued Wednesday they need to balance their officers' privacy against their duty to disclose. "There's a balancing act that has to take place between the disclosure of police disciplinary records and the privacy interests of police officers in those employment records," Edmonton police spokesperson Patrycia Thenu said in a brief written statement, adding she couldn't comment on specific cases. [continues 217 words]
BALTIMORE - Gordon McGlothlin, who took his first puff at age 12 behind his family's garage, tried to quit smoking for years, but no cessation technique worked until he used a psychedelic drug. Researchers with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine gave the 69-year-old a derivative of psychedelic mushrooms similar to LSD and watched him "trip" in a therapy room during six-hour sessions. McGlothlin experienced wild hallucinations, including watching his body slowly unraveling until it disappeared into a puff of smoke. After researchers took his blood pressure, he imagined a red, bloodlike fluid covering him from head to toe. [continues 1364 words]
Aside from nightclubs and bars, authorities are setting their sights on condominium dwellers and call center agents in Metro Manila in the next phase of the war on drugs. National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde said they are investigating reports that drug pushers are using condominium dwellers and call center agents in their illegal transactions. Albayalde noted that the two groups could evade police detection because many call center agents work at night while condominiums are usually well secured against unwanted visitors. "I've ordered the five district directors to step up the implementation of Oplan Tokhang and Project Double Barrel in condominium units, business process outsourcing ( BPO) offices in Metro Manila," Albayalde said. [continues 279 words]
Fraser Health has recently opened 50 new substance-use recovery beds - - including a dozen for pregnant women - and will launch a pair of new posters today in a bid to reach specific users at risk in B.C.'s ongoing overdose crisis. The new treatment and prevention measures were designed after looking closely at overdose data and finding support gaps, said Victoria Lee, chief medical health officer and vice-president for population health at Fraser Health. Lee said that while data shows men aged 30-49 tend to overdose at greater numbers than other groups, teens, seniors and women can be counted among the hundreds dead so far this year. [continues 399 words]
Re: "Drug scourge devastating our city and nothing is being done," Chris Nelson, Opinion, Aug. 25. Thanks for Chris Nelson's excellent column, which raises important issues. Firstly, it is outrageous that it has taken 17 months for ASIRT to release its findings in the shooting death of Anthony Heffernan. I do understand why prosecutors declined a criminal prosecution of the policeman involved, as success would require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. On the other hand, no such requirement is necessary for city police to immediately fire the officer. If CPS wants to "protect and serve," this should happen immediately. [continues 121 words]
Fraser Health has recently opened 50 new substance use recovery beds - - including a dozen for pregnant women - and will today launch a pair of new posters in a bid to reach specific users at risk in B.C.'s ongoing overdose crisis. The new treatment and prevention measures were designed after looking closely at overdose data and finding support gaps, said Victoria Lee, the chief medical health officer and vice-president for population health at Fraser Health. Lee said that while the data shows men aged 30-49 tend to overdose at greater numbers than do other groups, teens, seniors and women can be counted among the hundreds dead so far this year. [continues 289 words]
THE narcotics trade provides the financial basis for almost every other form of organised criminality in this country and abroad. The scale is staggering: the global drugs market is worth UKP375 billion every year, and an estimated UKP7 billion a year in Britain alone. Britain spends a further UKP7 billion policing the drugs problem - and that's without the associated costs of imprisonment and public health and everything else. It might not seem visible to the majority of ordinary, law abiding citizens, yet drugs and the gangsters who deal in them blight our towns and cities and dominate our criminal system. More than half the inmates in British prisons are there for drug-related offences. [continues 1605 words]
Hallucinogenics May Ease Addictions, Mental Disorders Gordon McGlothlin, who took his first puff at age 12 behind his family's garage, tried to quit smoking for years, but no cessation technique worked until he used a psychedelic drug. Researchers with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine gave the 69year-old a derivative of psychedelic mushrooms similar to LSD, or acid, and watched him "trip" in a therapy room during six-hour sessions. McGlothlin experienced wild hallucinations, including watching his body slowly unraveling until it disappeared into a puff of smoke. After researchers took his blood pressure, he imagined a red blood-like fluid covering him from head to toe. [continues 1353 words]
A Plea for Descheduling Cannabis NOT LONG AGO, I wrote about the slight, slim chance that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II [Cannabuzz, July 6]. You remember what Schedule I is-it's the list of drugs defined as having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Along with cannabis, some of the other drugs listed as Schedule I are heroin, LSD, ecstasy, peyote, and Quaaludes. Not exactly respectable company. [continues 689 words]
The DEA announces it will keep marijuana on the list of most dangerous drugs. In the eyes of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, marijuana is still considered dangerous enough to remain among the likes of heroin, LSD, and ecstasy as a Schedule I drug. Ever since The Controlled Substances Act became law in 1970, marijuana has been deemed to have no medicinal benefits and a high likelihood of abuse. And despite over half the states in the U.S. legalizing medical or recreational marijuana in some form, the DEA announced this month that marijuana wouldn't be declassified. [continues 693 words]
State among several to allow treatment not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Pennsylvania and the federal government disagree about the usefulness of marijuana as medicine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana as safe and effective for treating any illness, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as recently as Aug. 11 kept marijuana in the same drug category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. But Pennsylvania enacted a law in April that lists 17 conditions for which doctors can prescribe marijuana, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, posttraumatic stress disorder, autism, epilepsy and Parkinson's, Crohn's and Huntington's diseases. [continues 1090 words]
Health-care specialists in Pennsylvania prescribe the drug despite the federal government's reluctance to approve it as safe and effective for treating illness. Pennsylvania and the federal government disagree about the usefulness of marijuana as medicine. ELLEN F. O'CONNELL/Staff Photographer The van Hoekelen Greenhouses Inc. facility is located on Lofty Road in Kline Township. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana as safe and effective for treating any illness, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as recently as Aug. 11 kept marijuana in the same drug category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. [continues 1378 words]
