Another potential approach to blocking cocaine addiction:

Within two years, cocaine addicts desperate to kick the habit could take part in a pioneering trial of a gene therapy that gives them extra copies of a gene primed to mop up the drug. The therapy will be combined with a new vaccine that stops cocaine affecting the brain. The idea is that if you get no kick from the drug, you'll be less likely to get hooked again if you relapse.

The gene in question makes a fast-acting version of butyrylcholinesterase, a natural human enzyme which destroys cocaine. Giving multiple copies of it to addicts would prevent them getting a high from the drug while they try to quit.

The therapy should work if experiments in rats are anything to go by – treated rats didn't indulge in cocaine-seeking activity for up to a year.

Scientists have discovered that the hormone oxytocin could help wallflowers overcome awkwardness in social situations

The chemical dubbed "the hormone of love" is known to increase empathy and bonding -- especially parents and their children.

But now researchers have found it improves the social skills of the shy -- but has little effect on those who are naturally confident.

The finding could have implications for those with severe social deficiencies, often apparent in conditions like autism.

Researchers at Israel's Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment and Columbia University were examining whether the hormone, which occurs naturally in the body could make us more understanding of others.

They conducted a test of 27 healthy adult men, giving them the hormone or a placebo via a nasal spray and then asking them to perform an 'empathic accuracy task' -- which measures their powers of reading the thoughts and feelings of others.

[Thanks Sam Hell!]

Identify the substance these kids have consumed and win a free pizza!

From the LA Times music blog, a serious, detailed exploration of the rise of Ecstasy use in the hip hop community, as portrayed via the lyrics of its superstars:

But things began to change when Eminem burst on the scene.

In a 1999 Rolling Stone interview, the hard-rhyming pill-popper consumed no fewer than three Ecstasy tablets in the presence of an interviewer and then bragged, “I wrote two songs for my next album on Ecstasy.”

Within two years, more and more references to the drug had spread across the mainstream. On Missy Elliott’s 2001 hit album “Miss E … So Addictive” (um, get it?), the rapper devotes the slow-burn chill-out cut “X-tasy” to articulate certain conditions associated with consumption. Such as feeling “so energized” and describing the artificial love vibes that accompany the drug. “Ecstasy, I’m willing to do all the things I said I wouldn’t do /On Ecstasy, the feelin’ makes me feel like I’m in love with you,” Elliott raps.

That same year, on “X,” his collaboration with Elliott, rapper Ja Rule framed the drug’s merits in a different way: “How we relieve that stress? X / You know, pop them thangs, get extra horny, girl.”....

But when it comes to laying bare the swirl of physical side effects, social ramifications and potential health ills associated with the drug, Tech N9ne’s chopped and screwed ode to Ecstasy, “T9X,” comes as close to an exegesis on the subject as any rap song has to date.

“10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, feelin’ butterflies /My eyes dilate another size /Overwhelming sense of love got this nut so sprung / Walk up to a stranger, ‘Can I suck your tongue?' ” N9ne raps over an ominous beat.

Originally published in 1970 'The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross' by John M. Allegro was recently republished in 2009, by the Allegro Estate and Gnostic Media. This edition contains all notes and indices and it is from this latest, 40th anniversary edition that this review has been written, with thanks to Gnostic Media for providing a review copy.

In 1970, sections of the The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross were serialised in the British newspaper The Sunday Mirror. A paper that leant to the left politically and had a wide, popular circulation. Subsequently, and no doubt caused by this marketing coup, the text came under intense and vitriolic attack. However, whilst the controversy, or rather the questions, perhaps lingered on, the furore quickly died away, alongside any attempt at scholarly scrutiny of the theory the text contained. But why the controversy?

The Vantix biosensor, designed by Cambridge-based Universal Sensors is a quick, accurate, and inexpensive technology
that can allegedly measure microscopic residue of marijuana and cocaine in saliva [mixture of water, protein, and salts that makes food easy to swallow; begins digestion] within a few minutes.

The device could also aid the police around the country to perform roadside tests on drivers suspected of driving while under the influence of drugs.

The company's Commercial Director, Kevin Auton stated, "In America, parents are taking samples of their children's saliva and hair and sending them off to labs to see if their children are taking drugs. If there is demand for it here, it would be an interesting market."

"It is controversial but the test can be used in the home for worried parents to test if their children are taking drugs. We are very focused on getting the test out of the laboratory and on to other platforms. It is as simple to use as a pregnancy test."

[Thanks Wouldpkr!]

Via Dangerous Minds. [Thanks Barnaby!]

Interesting news on the Prop 19 front in California:

The state council of the Service Employees International Union, the largest labor union in California, has endorsed Proposition 19, the initiative on the November ballot that seeks to legalize marijuana.

The endorsement, announced Tuesday, could boost the campaign, which has not been able to raise enough money for television advertisements and is relying on grass-roots outreach.

The SEIU, which says it has more than 700,000 members in California, is a significant political force in state politics, although it is not clear how much money or muscle it will put toward passage of the measure....

The pro-legalization campaign has made labor a key component of its election strategy. Besides Rush's local, the initiative also has won support from the council that oversees political activities for the UFCW in California, the Northern California council of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Communications Workers of America Local 9415 and Sign Displays and Allied Crafts Local 510.

One of our readers, Richard, hips us to an article from a 1964 edition of Sports Illustrated which describes one scientist's exploration into the use of LSD to catch fish:

The laboratory animal that Dr. Abramson chose was the Siamese fighting fish. It was plentiful, cheap, almost as sensitive to LSD as humans, and could, of course, be closely confined. When Dr. Abramson released the drug into tank water, the Siamese fighting fish surfaced and appeared as if in a stupor. Depending on the dosage, the fish stayed this way for hours, sometimes days, before resuming normal behavior.

For Loeb, who has far more ample lab facilities for testing fish than Dr. Abramson does, these initial tests were exciting. The poison baits used on carp had proved to be only partly successful, but if LSD could work on carp and other fish, the opportunities were unlimited for conservation authorities and sportsmen. For example, a pond loaded with carp poses problems. If any of the standard chemicals, such as rotenone, are used, all the fish, both carp and game fish, usually die, aquatic insects suffer and the poison sometimes lingers for months, preventing the restocking of game fish. But if a chemical could cause all the fish to surface for several hours without killing them, then the undesirable fish could be picked out and the game fish left to prosper.

In a long, entertaining rumination on whether culinary institutes are worth the money, Anthony Bourdain takes time to ruminate on drugs in professional kitchens:

At no point in Kitchen Confidential, that I can find, does it say that cocaine or heroin were good ideas. In fact, given the book’s many episodes of pain, humiliation, and being constantly broke-ass, one would think it almost a cautionary tale. Yet, at readings and signings, I am frequently the inadvertent recipient of small packets of mysterious white powder; bindles of cocaine; fat, carefully rolled joints of local hydro, pressed into my palm or slipped into my pocket. These inevitably end up in the garbage—or handed over to a media escort. The white powders because I’m a recovered fucking addict—and the weed ’cause all I need is one joint, angel dust–laced by some psycho, to put me on TMZ, running buck-naked down some Milwaukee street with a helmet made from the stretched skin of a butchered terrier pulled down over my ears. Smoking weed at the end of the day is nearly always a good idea—but I’d advise ambitious young cooks against sneaking a few drags mid-shift at Daniel. If you think smoking dope makes you more responsive to the urgent calls for food from your expeditor, then God bless you, you freak of nature you. If you’re anything like me, though, you’re probably only good for a bowl of Crunchberries and a Simpsons rerun.

On the other hand, if you’re stuck heating up breakfast burritos at Chili’s—or dunking deep-fried macaroni at TGI McFuckwad’s? Maybe you need that joint.

[Thanks, Sam!]