"An open society must be
prepared to listen to those who offer a critique of its conventional wisdom—and our conventional wisdom about drugs and addiction should be no exception."
posted by daksya
on Sep 22, 2007 -
50 comments
"In 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
distributed a 38-question survey to 5,918 FDA scientists to examine the state of science at the FDA. The
results paint a picture of a troubled agency: hundreds of scientists reported significant interference with the FDA’s scientific work, compromising the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission of protecting public health and safety."
posted by daksya
on Jul 20, 2006 -
25 comments
So how's the War on Drugs proceeding in Afghanistan? Barry McCaffrey, former drug czar,
trumpets, "
Opium production has been dramatically slashed by 48% just in the past year[2005].". Oops, actually that's the acreage of opium cultivation; production went down by
only 10%, due to increased yields. In any case, that's so
last year. Instead of the socially detrimental
policy of poppy eradication, wouldn't it be
preferable to allow
licensing of poppies for legitimate medical needs? The Afghan farmers
agree, but some think the idea is
flawed.
posted by daksya
on Jun 16, 2006 -
17 comments
Economist Steven Levitt, author of
Freakonomics, has long
posited a controversial thesis that legalized abortion help reduced crime, by reducing unwanted children, prone to crime. However, a new paper
argues that Levitt (& Donohue) made serious errors in their research. Properly analysed, abortion has no significant effect on crime. Levitt
disagrees, of course.
posted by daksya
on Dec 4, 2005 -
46 comments
Did the discovery of evolution lead to Darwin's agnosticism, as
claimed? Carl Zimmer
wonders. More importantly, can evolution be
reconciled with Christianity?
posted by daksya
on Aug 11, 2005 -
90 comments
