Last week saw the release of the UK Government’s 2010 drug strategy, and so far, this is all I’ve had time to say on the matter: Time to diversify.

While I may have spent the time since doing some hardcore diversification (more on that at a later date…), what the government actually proposes sounds more ridiculous as each day passes, so I’ve gone through all the new publications, pulled out everything related to legal highs and displayed them below for your convenience. I’ve also listed a few other choice quotes that stood out at the time (I’m sure there’s more to be found, but I’ve only skimmed it).

In what is believed to be the first controlled human study of the effects of salvinorin A, the active ingredient in Salvia divinorum, a controversial new hallucinogen featured widely on You Tube and other internet sites, Johns Hopkins researchers report that the effects are surprisingly strong, brief, and intensely disorienting, but without apparent short-term adverse effects in healthy people.

Since the NIH-funded research was done with four mentally and physically healthy hallucinogen-experienced volunteers in a safe medical environment, researchers say they are limited in their conclusions about the compound's safety, according to Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the study's lead author.

Johnson and the Hopkins team say they undertook the research to try and put some rigorous scientific information into current concerns over the growing recreational use of Salvia divinorum, which is an herb in mint family. The plant, which has been used for centuries by shamans in Mexico for spiritual healing, is the target of increased nationwide legal efforts to restrict its availability and use. Though little is known about the compound's effects in humans, some legislators have been spurred to action after watching one of thousands of online videos chronicling the uncontrolled behavior that sometimes follows its use. However, because animal studies show that salvinorin A has unique effects in the brain, some scientists believe that the drug or a modified version of it may lead to medical advances in the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, chronic pain and drug addiction...

The findings of the Hopkins study are published online in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

"Everything we knew up to this point about the effects of this drug in humans, other than a few surveys or anecdotal case reports, comes from accounts on websites or YouTube videos," Johnson says. "Those are hardly scientific sources enabling a rigorous understanding of the effects of the drug. Even though the sample size in this study is small, we used an extremely well-controlled methodology, which provided a clear picture of the drug's basic effects."

[Thanks Kyle!]

Pitchfork describes it as "a surreal, hallucinatory, narrative-free horror movie," while IFC notes, "This short film born from six of the tracks on [the new Röyksopp album] Senior is far from chillaxed though, featuring heavily disturbed images of broken children and zombie-like men tormenting three girls decked out like 1984 in an urban hellscape." On the one hand, I watched it on the edge of my seat, waiting for something to happen; on the other hand, I was relieved whenever something didn't happen. Dig it.

(On a related note, Senior is a great album. That is all.)

Miley Cyrus celebrated her 18th birthday by experimenting with a bong and catching a case of the giggles -- but sources say she was not smoking marijuana.

The video was shot during a party at Miley's L.A. area home 5 days after her 18th birthday.

According to a source connected with Miley... the smoke filling the bong is a natural herb called salvia which has psychedelic qualities. Possession of salvia is legal in California.

As for the video... the source tells us it was shot by one of Miley's friends -- and the theory is someone stole or copied the video from that friend's camera.

Video on the Colorado pot boom, where dispensaries outnumber Starbucks 2 to 1. From "Marijuana USA", reported by CNBC's Trish Regan and premiering on Wednesday, December 8th at 9PM ET/PT.

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, takes viewers back inside the flourishing pot industry--as the world’s most commonly used illicit drug comes out of the shadows and into mainstream. As more states pass laws permitting the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, the once vilified weed is being met with a newfound acceptance. Some hope--and others fear--the whole country may soon be going to pot.

CNBC’s Trish Regan travels the country and finds that in many places, marijuana has shed its back-alley stigma. In Colorado, this thriving industry is infusing much-needed capital and jobs into a weak economy. It’s attracting savvy, young entrepreneurs who are re-branding pot as a natural herbal remedy that can be sold openly at a dispensary near you. Astonishingly, it’s regulated, licensed and taxed, just like any other legitimate product.

But even in this bold new era of relaxed state laws, the drug remains in clear violation of federal laws. Law enforcement officers and federal officials vow they will not surrender. CNBC travels to the frontlines of America’s weed wars -- from the fierce political campaign to legalize the drug in California to the ambitious air and ground campaign to search for marijuana plots deep in the mountainous terrain of eastern Kentucky.

"Marijuana USA" goes inside the rapidly changing business of a drug whose popularity -- and profitability -- is spreading like never before.

Originally published in 2010, the autobiographical 'Fishers of Men: The Gospel of an Ayahuasca Vision Quest' by Adam Elenbaas tells the story the author’s journey of coming to terms with his self, against the backdrop of shamanic, ayahuasca exploration. Elenbaas has graduate training in creative writing and is a case manager and activity therapist for adult schizophrenics. He is also one of the founding writers/contributing editors of RealitySandwich.com.

The autobiographical drug story has well-established roots in the English writing tradition; beginning with Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1822) by Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859). However, whereas for de Quincey the advent of opium was framed in a pathological discourse, which is to say his life was ailed by opium as part of his "daily diet", for Elenbaas the very reverse is the case. This isn't to say that pathology has been discarded from the drug text but only that it has been reterriorialized; rather ayahuasca, in combination with the shaman, is a curative, purging agent unlike the opiate addiction models. It is everyday life, with both its mental stresses and repressive strata, that is today the pathology of the individual in the drug text.

A McKinleyville man was arrested Monday on suspicion of attempting to sell psilocybin mushrooms on an online classifieds site.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Office deputies saw a Craigslist.com ad offering "shrooms cyanescens" for sale. Three pictures of the illegal mushrooms were included, and the poster claimed in the ad to have eaten some of the mushrooms five hours prior and "they rocked me for that long."

When deputies called the number listed, a man identified himself as "Raymond" and confirmed he was selling mushrooms as well as concentrated cannabis, according to a Sheriff's Office press release. He agreed to meet them at the McKinleyville Shopping Center and described his car.

[Thanks Neil!]

Ministers will not be required to seek the advice of scientists when making drug classification policy in future, under new government proposals.

The police reform and social responsibility bill, published last week, contains an amendment to the constitution of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) that would remove the requirement on the home secretary to appoint at least six scientists to the committee.

A further amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 would allow the home secretary to place temporary controls on substances for a year by statutory instrument.

The proposals will be of concern to the many doctors and scientists who have criticised the government's treatment of scientific evidence in the wake of the sacking, last year, of ACMD chairman David Nutt. The then home secretary, Alan Johnson, removed Nutt from the post after the scientist criticised politicians for distorting research evidence and claiming alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than some illegal drugs, including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.

Description by YouTube poster Picklepuss:

Hold on to your hats. Here it comes. The most realistic depiction of what a brain on acid feels like. This wicked awesome tribute to one of the world's most overlooked entities, the polka dot, takes us on a journey to a star that we may never come back from. After the freak out look for Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, Phil Baker, Benny Goodman, Eugene Pallette, Charlotte Greenwood, Edward Everett Horton, James Ellison and Sheila Ryan in the "Attack of the 50 Foot Polka Dots" right at the end. 1943. Directed by Busby Berkeley.