MetaFilter posts tagged with drugs

kathmandu glue

nitsuj — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:40 -0800

KATHMANDU_GLUE^nsfw // Frankie Nazardo set out to capture the glue gangs of Kathmandu.

Fading Away

reenum — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:13:01 -0800

Mark McGwire was one of the most feared sluggers in the game during his career. In 1998, the home run chase between McGwire and Sammy Sosa helped baseball recover from the 1994 strike. But, when a reporter found a bottle containing andro in McGwire's locker, some chinks in his armor began to emerge. The andro story wasn't enough to overshadow McGwire and Sosa's record breaking seasons. McGwire received many accolades, from having a highway named after him to having cameos on TV shows. After it became well known that baseball players had engaged in widespread steroid abuse from 1990 on, a public outcry began to overshadow the sport. McGwire was not immune to these allegations. The saga culminated with Senate hearings in 2005, where McGwire refused to discuss his alleged steroid use. After his Senate testimony, McGwire retreated to his home in California and refused to speak to the media. Once thought to be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, McGwire received only 23 percent of the vote in his first year of eligibility in 2008. With his recent hire as the Cardinals' hitting coach, McGwire will attempt to repair some of his tarnished legacy.

More like David "NUT", am I right?

Taft — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:08:57 -0800

"Professor David Nutt, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, attacked the decision to make cannabis a class B drug, claiming ecstasy, LSD and cannabis are less dangerous than cigarettes and alcohol. Nutt believes all drugs should be ranked by a "harm index" (requires login).

High medication costs make baby Jesus cry

dances_with_sneetches — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:15:46 -0800

Why do my medications cost so much? Are there ways to save money on my pills? Are generic drugs equal to the brand name? Is a generic option available for the drug I'm taking? Or maybe my medications are causing my health problems? Can I just take the expired pills in that old bottle?

Sniffer Bees

contraption — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:58:15 -0800

Inscentinel uses trained bees to sniff out drugs, explosives, and spoiled food.

The abnormal has become the norm

tellurian — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:37:55 -0800

Brenda Kenneally documents the effects of illegal drugs in her Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. Money Power Respect and Big Trigg. NSFW [previous comment]

10 Drogen

hypersloth — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:45:37 -0800

Ten drugs you should never take when driving a car Meinte ich, lustig noch wieder, und dann nochmal.
They forgot peyote. My orbital wait they can't peppermint th

Placebos

homunculus — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:08:59 -0800

Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.

Mexico grows up

Cobalt — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 06:52:15 -0800

Just as quietly as when they first voted on this, the Mexican government has decriminalized the possession of drugs for personal use. Associated Press's take. The official decree. Despite the understated release of the information, this is a sea change in Mexican policy and could very well be the beginning of a change in U.S. policy as well.

Why We Say Yes to Drugs

empath — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:44:59 -0800

"It takes about seven years," Grim writes, "for folks to realize what's wrong with any given drug. It slips away, only to return again as if it were new."

Why We Say Yes To Drugs -- an interesting review of This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High In America. Previous article from the book's author: Who's Got the Acid?

We're All on Drugs

Orange Pamplemousse — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:02:23 -0800

The Top 200 Brand-Name Drugs in 2008 (via) The top brand-name and generic drugs for 2007 and 2006 are also listed, as separate posters.

A new scare?

borborygmi — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:26:11 -0800

You may know it as acetaminophen, paracetamol, APAP, or ... Tylenol. Today an FDA advisory panel recommended banning prescription drugs that contain acetaminophen, such as vicodin and percocet. The panel of experts also voted to give acetaminophen a black box warning, and reduce the maximum dosage of over-the-counter formulations. Acetaminophen is a popular painkiller by itself and, in combination with opiates, is the most commonly prescribed medication in the US. Acetaminophen has known for over a hundred years, though its use in the US began in 1955. The brand has survived scares and maintained its popularity for decades, thanks to some innov ative mark eting (last link is a pdf) and effective analgesia in many clinical settings. Acetaminophen is generally better tolerated than ibuprofen and other painkillers, but it's not without adverse effects -- acetaminophen is now the leading cause of liver failure in the US. The FDA panel hopes these measures will reduce overdoses leading to fulminant liver failure, but similar restrictions in the UK have had mixed results.

Butamatsuri!

geos — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:14:19 -0800

Honyanko bushi, Tsurumanzoku, Butamatsuri, and Nevaneva Land are music videos produced by Obakejaa. [NSS (Not Seizure Safe), MLYT]

Who did and who didn't inhale?

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:37:45 -0800

Nice people take drugs

A long, long way from a cheeky line at a dinner party in Notting Hill

jontyjago — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:45:34 -0800

In his autobiography, published in 2007, Blur bassist Alex James admitted to blowing a million pounds on champagne and cocaine. This confession led to an invitation from Colombia's President Uribe to visit the country and see the damage being caused by the drug trade. He went, and the BBC filmed it (one, two, three).

Weed, Booze, Cocaine and Other Old School "Medicine" Ads

empath — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:28:44 -0800

Dr. Batty's Asthma Cigarettes (not recommended for children under 6) -- and other ads from the era when heroin was an over the counter cough medicine.

Eric Doeringer's Smoke Filtration Systems

Joe Beese — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:44:10 -0800

The Smoke Filtration Systems are a series of sculptures that are also working marijuana water pipes. The mechanics of each pipe are thoroughly tested, but the actual sculptures are presented in clean, unused condition.

Drug war

caddis — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:35:21 -0800

The Portugal experiment. On July 1, 2001, a nationwide law in Portugal took effect that decriminalized all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Under the new legal framework, all drugs were “decriminalized,” not “legalized.” Thus, drug possession for personal use and drug usage itself are still legally prohibited, but violations of those prohibitions are deemed to be exclusively administrative violations and are removed completely from the criminal realm.... The data show that, judged by virtually every metric, the Portuguese decriminalization framework has been a resounding success. Within this success lie self-evident lessons that should guide drug policy debates around the world. (pdf of complete paper) Winds of change are blowing and a primary driver appears to be that very American value - money.

You're paralyzed by adrenochrome. Lose a turn.

Joe Beese — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:13:51 -0800

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: The Board Game

Be all that you can be

Joe Beese — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:52:11 -0800

The Department of Veterans Affairs has reported that military scientists tested hundreds of chemical and biological substances on them, including VX, tabun, soman, sarin, cyanide, LSD, PCP, and World War I-era blister agents like phosgene and mustard. The full scope of the tests, however, may never be known. As a CIA official explained to the GAO, referring to the agency's infamous MKULTRA mind-control experiments, "The names of those involved in the tests are not available because names were not recorded or the records were subsequently destroyed." Besides, said the official, some of the tests involving LSD and other psychochemical drugs "were administered to an undetermined number of people without their knowledge."

Illicit Air

CaptKyle — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:18:30 -0800

Go to Spain, breathe, get high Scientists have recently discovered that there is a small amount of cocaine and LSD in the air of the Spanish cities Madrid and Barcelona.

United States surrenders, terror, drugs win.

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:10:21 -0800

Without much fanfare, the Global War on Terror has ended. The new name for these military interventions is the Overseas Contingency Operation. Press Q&A. Some Republican representatives discuss. (SPOILER: They are not pleased.) Military blogs discuss. Similarly, the War on Drugs also looks to be on the way out, though no new name for the project has been announced at this time.

A Literary Response to a Son's Drug Addiction

andoatnp — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:49:46 -0800

What is the best way to respond to your son's drug addiction?
Write a book? No!
Write two books? Yes?

Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines Addiction - a father-son story

One of the unsettling themes in David Sheff's memoir, "Beautiful Boy," a wrenching tale about his son's drug addiction, is that even though Sheff was among what he calls the "first wave" of self-conscious parents who were hip enough to forge honest relationships with their kids, he was woefully unprepared for the vagaries of methamphetamine. ... But David's then-teenage son Nic took a detour. Despite his cultured, well-to-do Marin County upbringing, during which he shared dinners with writers like Armistead Maupin, Nic developed a meth addiction that led to heroin use. By 22, he was emaciated and roaming the Tenderloin in search of a fix. ... The latest unexpected turn: Last week, Sheff embarked on a national book tour with Nic, now 25, who's been sober for two years and lives in Savannah, Ga. The younger Sheff has his own memoir to promote, "Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines." After the father wrote about his son's slide in a November 2005 New York Times Magazine article, an editor from Simon & Schuster contacted Nic, who was then freelancing for the online magazine Nerve.

This NPR article has an audio interview with father and son and an extended excerpt from the father's book.

Minimums No Longer Mandatory?

Law Talkin' Guy — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:03:22 -0800

Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress to repeal mandatory minimum sentences associated with drug offenses. If passed, the federal government would join eighteen other states in abandoning the "tough on crime" stance of the 1980's when it comes to drug offenders. State reforms include including New York's legislative repeal of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, Michigan's repeal of 650 lifer sentencing, North Dakota's repeal of one-year mandatory minimum sentences for first-time drug offenders, Arizona's Proposition 200, which required probation and treatment for nonviolent drug offenders, Louisiana's decision to restore eligibility for parole and probation to nonviolent offenders, and the Kansas Sentencing Commission's recommendation for mandatory treatment for nonviolent offenders. These reforms follow a shift in public opinion that overwhelmingly favors rolling back mandatory minimum sentences. Such sentences have been criticized by judges from the trial level to the Supreme Court of the United States, including Justice Stephen Breyer, former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and Justice Anthony Kennedy, who branded mandatory minimums unwise and unjust. Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses are sometimes longer than violent crimes such as manslaughter. Mandatory sentencing is only rarely visited on in its intended target; only 11% of federal drug defendants are classified as high-level dealers, leaving street-level defendants and other peripheral figures to bear the brunt of 5, 10, or 20 year sentences. Mandatory minimum sentences interfere with access to treatment, contribute to higher rates of recidivism, have not been shown to be cost effective.

Neuroenhancing Drugs

homunculus — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:15:14 -0800

Brain Gain: The underground world of “neuroenhancing” drugs. [Via]