Cannabis may protect brain from binge drinking damage

Cannabis may protect the brain from some of the damage caused by binge drinking, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego performed brain scans on 16- to 19-year-olds in three groups: binge drinkers, binge drinkers who also smoke cannabis, and those with very little drug or drinking experience. Binge drinkers showed damage in their white matter. But those who drink and smoke cannabis showed more damage than the control group in only three of eight areas of the brain. In seven of the areas, their brains were in better shape than the binge drinkers. (Science Direct)

Cannabis protects the brain against binge drinking damage.....

New Meth manufacturing formula - simpler, harder to detect

The new formula for methamphetamine: a two-liter bottle, a few handfuls of cold pills and some noxious chemicals. Shake the bottle and the volatile reaction produces one of the world's most addictive drugs. (from CNBC)

Drug users (in America) are making their own meth in small batches using a faster, cheaper and much simpler method with ingredients that can be carried in a knapsack and mixed on the run. The "shake-and-bake" approach has become popular because it requires a relatively small number of pills of the decongestant pseudoephedrine — an amount easily obtained under even the toughest anti-meth laws that have been adopted across the nation to restrict large purchases of some cold medication.

The new formula does away with the clutter of typical meth labs, and it can turn the back seat of a car or a bathroom stall into a makeshift drug factory. Some addicts have even made the drug while driving.

The pills are crushed, combined with some common household chemicals and then shaken in the soda bottle. No flame is required.

Using the new formula, batches of meth are much smaller but just as dangerous as the old system, which sometimes produces powerful explosions, touches off intense fires and releases drug ingredients that must be handled as toxic waste.

"If there is any oxygen at all in the bottle, it has a propensity to make a giant fireball," said Sgt. Jason Clark of the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control. "You're not dealing with rocket scientists here anyway. If they get unlucky at all, it can have a very devastating reaction."

After the chemical reaction, what's left is a crystalline powder that users smoke, snort or inject. They often discard the bottle, which now contains a poisonous brown and white sludge. Dozens of reports describe toxic bottles strewn along highways and rural roads in states with the worst meth problems.

(The reduction in the processing of meth is a direct unintended consequence of the policies of the US government)

Mexico drug law may lead the way - TIME

Quietly and with little ado, Mexico last week enacted a law to decriminalize possession of small amounts of all major narcotics, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and crystal meth. Anyone caught in Mexico with two or three joints or about four lines of cocaine can no longer be arrested, fined or imprisoned. However, police will give them the address of the nearest rehab clinic and advise them to get clean. (from TIME)

"The maximum amount of marijuana for "personal use" under the new law is 5 grams-the equivalent of about four joints. The limit is a half gram for cocaine, the equivalent of about 4 "lines." For other drugs, the limits are 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams for LSD" (Shown in picture)

Shebeens home to criminals

Veteran police sergeant Charles Komba had pulled over a taxi near the corner of Eisleben and Lansdowne roads in Nyanga on Saturday and was issuing a fine when unknown men fatally shot him from behind and stole his service pistol. (from IOL)

Determined to hunt down his killers, police followed several leads through the night. By early Sunday it led them to a shebeen in the area where they came across three suspects.

The three wouldn't allow police to arrest them and fired on the officers.

"We fired back, wounding two of them, but the two still managed to escape"... they have since been arrested.

Cops use "drug raid" excuse to abduct and rob shop owner

Two Flying Squad policemen have been arrested, suspected of assaulting, abducting and robbing a Salt River shop owner and his assistant under the guise of a drug raid. (from IOL)

And investigators are trying to track a further two suspect police officers.

The two officers nabbed on Wednesday, stationed at the 10111 call centre in Pinelands, were traced because they had been uniformed during the alleged abduction and robbery and they had also used their official, marked police vans.

Book Bomb

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Marijuana is Safer has something for everyone. For those unfamiliar with marijuana, it provides an introduction to the plant and its effect on the user, and reveals the truth behind some of the government’s most frequently cited marijuana myths. For current or future professional marijuana advocates and individuals interested in what is likely to become a major political battle in the not-to-distant future, the book explains why the “marijuana is safer than alcohol” message must be a prominent part of the public debate over legalization.

But most importantly, for the millions of Americans who want to help advance the cause of marijuana policy reform -- or simply want to defend their own personal “safer” choice -- the book supplies the talking points and detailed information needed to make persuasive arguments to friends, family, co-workers, and elected officials. Written in a reader-friendly style, but loaded with facts and insightful analysis about the “war on marijuana” and the drive to end it, Marijuana is Safer is the perfect book for anyone who has – or has not – ever wondered, “Why are we driving people to drink?”

Visit the Great Marijuana Book Bomb website to find out more about Marijuana is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink? by Paul Armentano, Steve Fox, and Mason Tvert.

World's first cocaine bar opens in Bolivia

Though cocaine is illegal in Bolivia, Route 36 is fast becoming an essential stop for thousands of tourists who come here every year and happily sample the country's cocaine, which is famous for both its availability, price (around €15 a gram) and purity. (from the Guardian)

If it weren't for the heads bobbing down like birds scouring the seashore for food, you would never know that huge amounts of cocaine were being casually ingested.

Travellers' blogs also give the place a good writeup. "I travelled the world for nine months, and for sure La Paz was the craziest city and Route 36 the best bar of my entire trip," writes one, while another says, "Like to burn the candle at both ends? Well, here you can bloody well torch the whole candle."

Bad Alcohol Kills 15 year old child and two others.

On Tuesday night, the youngest of the three latest victims, 15-year-old Bambolwethu Mbangatha a Grade 10 pupil at Matthew Goniwe High School in Site B, Khayelitsha, also died at Groote Schuur Hospital. (from IOL)

According to his mother, Bambolwethu had been drinking with friends on Friday after school.

"On Sunday he couldn't get up, he kept falling over his feet. He vomited a black substance along with blood," says Nokuzola Mbangatha.

The teenager was rushed to the nearby Site B Hospital and from there transferred to Groote Schuur.

"On Tuesday night he died, doctors told me that he had an infrequent heart beat," said Mbangatha in the family's small shack as neighbours stood close by to support her.

"What he was drinking could not have been alcohol, it was poison. He was just experimenting with his friends, some of whom have also been admitted to hospital," said Mbangatha.

Some of Bambolwethu's friends have subsequently been discharged from hospital.

"They told me that they had bought it for R2 a pint using their lunch money," said Mbangatha.

Yesterday a prayer service was held at the home of security guard Thobani Jonas, 38, who died on Sunday.

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Bad Alcohol Kills Three

Three men are dead after a weekend drinking session went horribly wrong. (from IOL)

Two of the men went blind after sharing what they thought was a container of brandy, but is now suspected of being industrial alcohol or poison.

Security guard "Cardo" Langa, 32, Phalizile Msolo, 57, and Thandilizwe Sigwinta, 32, died in quick succession after having drunk the concoction on Saturday.

Both Msolo and Sigwinta complained that they had gone blind before their eventual deaths.

Thobeka Daniel, an aunt of Sigwinti, said he had complained on Sunday morning that he had a high temperature and had asked to be "cooled down" by having water splashed over him.

"He was later carried out of his shack, complaining that he could not see a thing, and taken to a waiting car. When he arrived at Site B Day Hospital, he was declared dead," said Daniel.

The men are believed to have consumed what they thought to be brandy throughout Saturday, and had turned away many of their drinking buddies who wanted a share of the tipple.

Daniel said: "As he was carried out of the door and into the waiting car, some of his friends, who were standing around, joked that fate had intervened after they were chased away by the three men."

The ward councillor for the area, Ryder Mkutswana, who visited the families of the three men yesterday, said he had heard that it was Langa who supplied the deadly liquid. "He was a security guard at a liquor factory, and on Saturday he came back with a 5-litre container of what he thought was alcohol," Mkutswana said.

Smart kids choose cannabis before booze

A 17-year-old pupil was found in possession of dagga at John Ramsay High School in Bishop Lavis, Cape Town police said. (from IOL)

Inspector November Filander said police were doing random searches at nearby schools when they found dagga.

"A dagga pipe was also found hidden inside the school bag of another learner at Bishop Lavis High School."

However, the teenagers were not arrested but were handed over to their school principals who called in their parents and the governing body to deal with the matter, Filander said.