Hmm, now why didn't I think of this? The makers of an herbal supplement called Vigor-25, marketed as an all-natural alternative to Viagra, claimed their product contained a "rare combination of natural ingredients.... such as rhodiola rhizome, chinese yam, cnidium fruit or cassia." Turns out, however, the secret sauce in their treatment for erectile dysfunction was actually... Viagra! Or more specifically, "the generic version of the chemical in Viagra -- sildenafil citrate -- or similar chemicals which had been illegally smuggled in from China."

Mmm... similar chemicals which had been illegally smuggled in from China...

Needless to say, that's not particularly safe:

In court documents, FDA criminal investigator Thomas Nasiatka said the agency was concerned that people who take common drugs containing nitrates to control diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease might be seriously harmed if they took Vigor-25 without being aware that it contains generic versions of Viagra and related chemicals.

"A consumer who uses Vigor-25 would not know that these undeclared ingredients may interact with prescription drugs that contain nitrates, such as nitroglycerin, and would lower blood pressure to dangerous levels," Nasiatka said in the court papers. There have been no reports so far of anyone harmed by taking Vigor-25, officials said.

When the manufacturers got caught, their initial response? Switching to "chemicals similar to those in another erectile dysfunction drug, Levitra." Rock! It's nice to know that this kind of Yankee ingenuity is... well, is getting busted by the FDA, frankly. We can't have Viagra getting snuck into our herbal remedies at a time when we can't even guarantee that the drugs we order off the intertubes won't have poison in them. It's just not right!

This neat little graph of UNODC (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime) numbers for 2005 shows that pot is priciest in Japan, and is nearly given away in South Africa. The Economist points out that prices are higher where enforcement of drug laws is more strict. Interestingly and not part of that trend, German pot - where it's illegal - is more expensive than in The Netherlands, where it's famously legal.

Do you ever listen to drug debates in other countries and wonder what is going on? In New Zealand there's a current row over banning BZP and piperizine party pills sold over the counter. Coming to the defense of these party pills is none other than the Green party, which claims there's not enough evidence to regulate these substances as harmful, which has in turn brought the wrath of government flack Jim Anderton. From a recent Jim Anderton press release carried at Scoop:

“The Greens and others say they believe all drug policy should be based on evidence, well hello, we’ve got the evidence to ban BZP.

“But now they say – it’s not enough evidence, even though New Zealand now has probably one of the most substantial bodies of research on BZP in the world. Not only that, but the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs found there was enough to support a ban.

“They said there was clear evidence that regulation was not adequate to deal with the threat posed by party pills, and there was an opportunity to reduce that risk by banning them.

“We must take a precautionary approach. We have enough harmful legal drugs to control by regulation already. Alcohol and tobacco cause far more harm than any other drugs in New Zealand… why add another?”

“BZP was first introduced into this country as a dietary supplement (or complementary medicine by another name) and we all know where the Greens stand on complementary medicines – no or very little regulation and have opposed this government’s legislation to clean up this area all the way. This is probably their real position on BZP party pills as well -I say the Greens should come clean.”

Yeah Greens, come clean. You all want government deregulation of recreational drugs and complimentary medicines, don't you!? Oh wait, that's right, you do (don't you?). I get confused sometimes. Party pill politics hurts my head.

You may remember the case of Andrew Feldmar, the Canadian psychotherapist who was denied entry to the United States due to the fact that he had taken LSD - back when it was legal - and then had the audacity to write about it. Well, recently the Colbert Report got hold of the story, providing a much more entertaining (if no less infuriating) introduction to the situation:

Via MilkandCookies.

This edition of Slappy Pinchbottom's Odd Preoccupation appeared on the actual airwaves in Austin a while back, but only recently hit the intertubes:

we here present a special memorial episode of the Odd Preoccupation, honoring the work of novelist, philosopher, and cosmic prankster Robert Anton Wilson, who died this past January. Wilson was a tremendous influence on yours truly, and his books have saved my brain from implosion on numerous occasions. also, he was funny as hell. LITERALLY.

see you there, Bob!

The episode kicks off with an appearance by Ivan Stang, and swirls into a psychedelic mania from there. Dig it!

And on the topic of "zombies," apparently Pfizer's network has been hacked, and whoever did the hacking is controlling an indeterminate number of zombie machines to send out spam - including spam advertising for one of Pfizer's own products, Viagra.

[Rick] Wesson [CEO of Support Intelligence] says Pfizer computers have been spamming inboxes for the last six months and that he's kept 600 spam messages sent from company computers. He says 138 different Pfizer IP addresses have been blacklisted by various groups, but adds that he can't estimate the number of infected machines without more information or installing monitoring equipment on the edge of Pfizer's networks.

There's a lot of hand-wringing about Pfizer's inaction, but really, why is anyone surprised? Free advertising is free advertising.

I know, I know, there's little that's funny about kids dying of some lethal new drug combo, in this case "cheese" heroin - "a mixture of black tar heroin and powdered headache tablets" that kids are snorting without realizing how concentrated it is. But one thing that is funny is seeing headlines like this one:

Cheese-like heroin killing Texan teens

Maybe it's just my morbid sense of humor, but frankly, it cracks me way up to see heroin described as "cheese-like." Oh sure, there's a logical explanation: they call it "cheese-like" because "it resembles crumbled Parmesan." But still - marijuana resembles a weed, sure, but they don't call it "weed-like marijuana." Cocaine resembles salt, but you don't see "Salt-like cocaine turning people into jerks" in the headlines. But cheese, on the other hand... well, everyone loves cheese, and that means "cheese-like heroin" must be the best heroin evar!

OK, so it is just my morbid sense of humor. Fine.

Just saw some interesting stuff in clinical seminar today on autism (among other things.) Check out this amazing video by a young autistic woman. She describes it thus: "The first part is in my 'native language,' and then the second part provides a translation, or at least an explanation. This is not a look-at-the-autie gawking freakshow as much as it is a statement about what gets considered thought, intelligence, personhood, language, and communication, and what does not."

This is an amazing and eerily beautiful glimpse into a shockingly different way of perceiving and thinking:

Also, here's a video of an autistic basketball prodigy.

and an autistic video game prodigy.

and an autistic art prodigy.

That last one is particularly impressive: They gave him a ride over Rome in a helicopter for 45 minutes, then he had 3 days to draw a panorama of the whole city...

According to Reuters, Diego "Lord of War" Montoya was captured by Columbian special forces while cowering in his underpants in a shallow hole hidden by a pile of leaves. From the report:

"I lost," Montoya told his captors after special forces troops swept in to nab him at the farm where he was staying with his mother and relatives after months of cat-and-mouse with authorities, government officials said.

His arrest was a precipitous fall for one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives. Colombia said it was the biggest blow to the drug trade in years, perhaps since police shot dead Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar in 1993 and later imprisoned leaders of the Cali cartel.

This is quite a fall from grace for someone who was touted as a real-life Scarface. But if I had to choose between "caught cowering in your underpants" or "shot dead," I guess I'd still go with the underpants. Brings new meaning to the phrase, "Say hello to my little friend..."

Headline:
Depression, Alcoholism, & STDs: Which One Is Right For You?

also, "Report: School Shootings Help Prepare Students For Being Shot In Real World"

That is all.