Neurobiological models of drug abuse propose that drug use is initiated and maintained by rewarding feedback mechanisms. However, the most commonly used drugs are plant neurotoxins that evolved to punish, not reward, consumption by animal herbivores. Reward models therefore implicitly assume an evolutionary mismatch between recent drug-profligate environments and a relatively drug-free past in which a reward centre, incidentally vulnerable to neurotoxins, could evolve... We sketch some potential resolutions of the paradox, including the possibility that humans may have evolved to counter-exploit plant neurotoxins.

This is an interesting paper, although I suspect that most readers will find its addiction-pathology paradigm a little grating. Starting from the premise that human neurophysiology evolved in a drug-free Eden (irony entirely intentional), the researchers run into the inevitable roadblocks that this view presents: humans clearly did not evolve in a psychoactive-free environment, and are remarkably well adapted to metabolizing these 'toxins.'

The paradigm of drugs mimicking true [evolutionary] fitness rewards by hijacking the brain's reward centre deserves to be more thoroughly dismissed than it is here; I wonder if the researchers are aware of the visual acuity benefits of psilocybin, for instance? All in all, a shame that the writers did not have the courage to admit that the only way to resolve their 'paradox' is to conclude that humans have continued to incorporate psychoactive plants in their diet precisely because they confer genuine fitness.

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Designed in March, 2002 by Waldemar (as DJ Lp3)
at Mycelia Studios, Greenville, Mississippi Delta
Dedicated to Vincent Mann
(M.C. for Natives of the New Dawn, live hip hop act)
given to him in Detroit, Michigan in early Summer '02

This mix is chock full of mashups and cut-ups galore! It was fun to mash all this rhythmic goodness together, and I hope you feel the love. :-)

1.) Bill Hicks - 'God's Creation' (from his 'Relentless' album)
Terre Thaemlitz - 'Meditation of the Mountain Oyster'
'Ride of the Valkyries'
'Superman' motion picture theme
2.) Cannibal Ox - 'Real Earth'
3.) Funkstorung - 'Multiple Grammy Winners' (Powerfunk Beat Attack version)
4.) Natural Born Chillers - 'Rock the Funky Beat' (Urban Takeover remix)
+ Natural Born Chillers - 'Rock the Funky Beat' (original version)
+ Jungle Brothers - 'Jungle Brother (True Blue)' (Urban Takeover remix)
5.) Rakim - 'The Mystery (Who Is God?)'
+ Hidden Agenda - 'The Flute Tune'
6.) New Jazz Movement - 'Bus #217'
7.) Amon Tobin - 'Reanimator'
8.) East Flatbush Project - 'Tried by 12' (Autechre mix)
9.) Reg E. Gaines - 'Please Don't Take My Air Jordans'
+ Beatsystem - 'Endlessly Downward'
+ Rob Swift - 'Re-Animator'
10.) Deltron 3030 (Del the Funky Homosapien with Kid Koala) - 'Virus'
11.) MIng + FS - 'Numb'
+ Guru - 'Watch What You Say'
12.) X-Ecutioners featuring DJ Premier - 'Primo's Execution'
13.) Ming + FS featuring Mack & Youngblood - 'U NI SON'
14.) Mystikal - 'Bouncin' Back'
15.) KRS-ONE - 'Higher Love'
+ Prefuse 73 - 'Point To B'
16.) Ming + FS featuring TC Izlam - 'Hijack the Disco'
17.) Groove Shop - 'Spin'
18.) Coco, Steel & Lovebomb - 'Harlem'
+ Jazzy Jay & Afrika Bambaataa speak their mind
19.) Sublime - 'Doin' Time'
+ DJ Trace - 'Final Chapta'
20.) Dido - 'Thank You'
21.) DJ Rap + Aston - 'Vertigo'
22.) Tipper featuring Deborah Anderson - 'Dissolve (out)'
+ Slowdive - 'In Mind' (Reload remix - The 147 Take)'
+ Bill Hicks - 'Recommendation' (from his 'Rant in E Minor' album)

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran is installing vending machines in Tehran to sell cheap condoms and syringes to drug addicts to prevent the spread of AIDS and hepatitis, an official said on Wednesday.

"Five of these machines which have been made will be installed in five of Tehran city's welfare shelters for addicts," the deputy head of Iran's anti-narcotics organisation, Mohammad Reza Jahani, said.

"Condoms, syringes, bandages and plasters will be easily accessible just by inserting a coin. This protects addicts from acquiring AIDS and hepatitis," he added, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

He said that a single 500 rial (five cents) coin is required to purchase the items.

"The machines will be used for a three month trial period and if the scheme is successful then we will upgrade them and increase their distribution to other shelters," he added.

That's certainly not something that one would expect to see from a fundamentalist Islamic state such as Iran, known for public hangings of accused homosexuals. Hell, there are still many states in the US where needle exchange is still illegal, and providing condoms for free is controversial (Condoms have been free in Iranian pharmacies for years in an effort to combat population growth). Here's the money shot:

Iran has tried to change its approach to drug addicts by treating users as "people who need help" rather than throwing them into already overcrowded jails.

Nevertheless, in the spring of 1943, I repeated the synthesis of LSD-25. As in the first synthesis, this involved the production of only a few centigrams of the compound. In the final step of the synthesis, during the purification and crystallization of lysergic acid diethylamide in the form of a tartrate (tartaric acid salt), I was interrupted in my work by unusual sensations. The following description of this incident comes from the report that I sent at the time to Professor Stoll:

Last Friday, April 16,1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.

This was, altogether, a remarkable experience—both in its sudden onset and its extraordinary course. It seemed to have resulted from some external toxic influence; I surmised a connection with the substance I had been working with at the time, lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate.

So. Golden Vibes 3. It is an extremely stupid title. It makes me think of a Wall-Mart "techno" section in their CD aisle. However, the disk is right. It is perfect. It is old Total Eclipse and Shakta lead lines and melodies, but it is not. It has the energy and the love and drive from long ago, but with the wisdom of today. It is old, but new. It is the tummy ache from eating too much ice cream before bed. It is what we need today.

You can download the album for free as mp3 or WAV here.

Via Ectoplasmosis, which ought to be on your daily reading list, by gum.

By the way, if you're wondering why I've been absent so much lately, please be kind: I'm rehearsing 10 hours a week with my new alt.acappella band, I'm designing sound for a sci-fi play called S2 about how a super concentrated form of sugar takes over the world, and I'm workshopping my own play that I've written and will be directing this summer called interlace [falling star], about a woman who wakes up with amnesia in the lobby of an infinitely tall building in the center of reality and has to, uh, figure out what to do and stuff. Details to come, dammit.

According to an AP report, x-rays showed John Paul Jones, 51, had 60 condoms filled with hashish in his stomach, weighing 800 grams. Three of the condoms burst leaving him in a critical condition.

One can't help feeling that there must be more to this story - would eating 40 grams of hashish really leave someone in a critical condition? This link suggests that "The non-fatal consumption of 3000 mg/kg A THC by the dog and monkey would be comparable to a 154-pound human eating approximately...10 pounds [4.5kg] of 5% hashish at one time." Not even close - which leaves me thinking that either the seriousness of his condition is being over-stated by the authorities, or that his condition is related to gut obstruction, not cannabis 'poisoning.' A salutary tale, nonetheless...