I know this is an old story, the NYTimes covered it last August I think, but NPR has a multimedia slide-show of Afghan farmers turning cannabis into hashish. Fun and educational.

I have posted on e-sheep comix before. A few months ago it went offline because the author, Patrick Farley, is busy with some secret Hollywood project and forgot to renew his domain, and the evil domain vultures swooped in, which ought to be illegal, but what can you do. Anyway, much (but not all) of it is archived on the wayback machine, and every now and then I wrestle my way through. Often frames are missing. This one, "Overheard at the rave", is very charming, and topical, and lovely, and only missing frame 11, which means when you get to the missing one you have to manually increment the counter in the URL bar of your browser. Think you drug fiends can handle that? :)

Update: Sorry, it's missing 11 and 12, but it doesn't impact the story.

Short and sweet. Haven't seen all the lit yet, but don't look good.

Kava -- a South Pacific beverage used medicinally worldwide -- has been confirmed to harm the liver, researchers in Australia say.

The study, published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, used an electron microscope to determine how one key ingredient in kava -- kavain -- affected liver cells.

The study found the liver tissue displayed an overall change in structure, including the narrowing of blood vessels, the constriction of vessel passages and retraction of the cellular lining following kavain treatment. Kavain also adversely affected the liver as part of the body's immune system.

Bottom line: The kavain treatment disturbed the basic structure of the liver, which may seriously impact normal liver function, the researchers said in a statement released by the University of Sydney.

The study supports "earlier literature observations on kava's adverse affects on the functioning of the liver in general."

The research team was led by Iqbal Ramzan of the University of Sydney, who is originally from Fiji, where drinking kava is common.

Kava, as a beverage, is primarily consumed to relax, but in some parts of the world, kava extract is marketed as herbal medicine against stress, insomnia and anxiety.

Of course, doesn't alcohol hurt the liver too?

At an international gathering to shore up New Zealand's drug classification laws some jokers decided to throw a monkey-wrench into the debate: What about re-classifying tobacco and alcohol as scheduled drugs?

"In this research we found that alcohol...that's ethanol has around about the same dangerousness to public health as fantasy," says Dr Doug Sellman, a drugs researcher.

The forum says its irrational for the government to toughen up drug laws without considering New Zealand's biggest killers, which are cigarettes and liquor.

"If someone was to invent alcohol today and we didn't have it, we would be very concerned about its dangers and would probably classify it as a class B drug," says Professor David Nutt, an international drug expert.

Ex heroin junkie and now head of the Drugs Foundation says the booze peddlers have big bucks and power.

You mean to say that if the cocaine and pot lobbies were as chummy with the politicos as the big-booze lobby we'd start seeing some more lax drug regulations around here? Or am I missing the point?

Ah, such a world of promise, from a Parke-Davis print ad circa 1955. Via Bedazzled.

As a follow-up to an earler post on the Cottonwood Research Foundation, I give you a recent note from RIck Doblin of MAPS:

---
James,

On Saturday, February 23, 2008, after more than a decade of hard work, Dr. John Halpern conducted the first experimental session in his study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in twelve subjects with treatment-resistant anxiety associated with advanced-stage cancer (or PDF). Dr. Halpern is also conducting a major five-year NIDA-funded study into the neurocognitive risks of heavy use of Ecstasy, enhancing his ability to balance the risks and benefits of MDMA. This historic start of the MDMA/cancer anxiety study would not have been possible without the contributions of many people, including his co-investigators, the members of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) at both the Lahey Clinic Medical Center and McLean Hospital, both institutions' administrators and staff, and federal regulatory officials at FDA and even DEA. The study's $250,000 budget is funded by Mr. Peter Lewis through a direct grant to McLean Hospital. MAPS assisted Dr. Halpern in the protocol design and approval process.

This experimental session was the first time in 42 years that a psychedelic was administered to a research subject at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Walter Pahnke, who conducted the classic Good Friday experiment in 1962, reported on the conclusion of his psilocybin research at Harvard in an unpublished paper written in 1966 (PDF).

The renaissance in psychedelic research has begun. It is now time to prove what we have been claiming for decades, that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can be beneficial to some patients in carefully controlled clinical settings. The promising results from MAPS' US MDMA/PTSD research, and the start of Dr. Halpern's MDMA/cancer anxiety study, suggest that the eventual approval of psychedelic psychotherapy is becoming more than a dream.

All the best,

Rick Doblin,
MAPS
---

Apparently, I was "hanging out with the wrong crowd" down there, as I saw no evidence of the $6 a gram coke that is allegedly making US hipster kids flock to Buenos Aires. Of course, I don't like strangers who are more belligerent and talkative than I am, so my spidey sense probably just steered me around them. However, in the comments is more mention of Paco. Can anybody explain what makes it different from crack?

As long as we're examining psychedelic ads, take a look at this insane television commercial for 7-Up:

This ad was described as being "modeled on the Peter Max artwork that was literally every-freakin'-where during the early '70s, including the NYC phone books, which all featured covers by PM." Via MilkandCookies.

I received this note from Rick Strassman this week. Sounds like an interesting new project...

---
Dear Friends:

Consciousness is a subject of increasing scientific inquiry in the West. One particular aspect of this research involves how psychoactive medicines affect consciousness. We at the Cottonwood Research Foundation will begin to address some of the most perplexing mysteries of the human mind with the aid of plant-based psychoactive compounds. For example, What are the varieties of human consciousness, and their genetic, biochemical and physiological bases? What are the medical, social, and spiritual implications of these different states, and how can we best apply these states towards healing, creativity, and greater wisdom?

For thousands of years, historical and indigenous cultures have used plant medicines to reliably induce extraordinarily compelling non-ordinary and mystical states of consciousness. Western science has only begun to tap the vast resources of traditional knowledge regarding these plants and their effects. By bringing to bear multiple scientific, anthropological, and spiritual perspectives, we will pursue several important goals: 1) develop a more thorough understanding of these plants’ psychological and physical healing properties; 2) explore the states they elicit, in order to gain a deeper and broader understanding of the range of human consciousness; 3) determine how plant-based psychoactive medicines affect consciousness; and 4) clarify the role these compounds, found in our own bodies, play in dreams, mystical and near-death states, creativity, and mental illness.

The work I performed during the early-1990’s at the University of New Mexico with DMT, a naturally occurring psychoactive, was the first new clinical research with these compounds in the US in two decades. Our founding of Cottonwood is intended to help revitalize the lagging pace of American research with this and other classical psychoactive compounds since my studies were interrupted in 1995.

We have already started our first research project. Our vice-president Dr. Steven Barker at Louisiana State University is developing a new ultra-sensitive method of measuring naturally occurring DMT and related compounds in the body. By doing so, we will be able to compare normal levels with those found in naturally occurring highly altered states and clinical conditions. We also held our inaugural fund-raiser in Taos, in which Beatriz Labate, a noted Brazilian anthropologist, presented her field research concerning the burgeoning Brazilian ayahuasca religions movement.

What kind of a world is it when a black man with a prescription for medical marijuana can't stand outside a NYC nightclub smoking a blunt without getting hassled by the cops. Oh wait, it was Snoop Dogg smoking that joint. Arrest that gangsta!

Poor Snoop. In trouble with the po po again for lighting up in public. His lawyer says they'll fight the charge in court. Hells yeah.