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Study Explores Therapeutic Value of Ecstasy

The recreational drug known as ecstasy may have a medicinal role to play in helping people who have trouble connecting to others socially, new research suggests. In a study involving a small group of healthy people, investigators found that ecstasy prompted heightened feelings of friendliness, playfulness and love, and induced a lowering of the guard that might have therapeutic uses for improving social interactions. The researchers suggested that ecstasy might help people with post-traumatic stress disorder as well those with autism, schizophrenia or antisocial personality disorder cope with a variety of emotional difficulties.

One Toke Over the Line: The Assertion That Prop. 19 Is Contributing to a Rise in Teenage Marijuana Use is Unfounded (Editorial)

The Los Angeles Times editorial board says that Gil Kerlikowske should have checked such sources as the Congressional Research Service before jumping to conclusions. An April report, issued to advise Congress on whether to loosen federal restrictions on medical marijuana, examined studies comparing teen pot smoking in states with and without medical marijuana laws and found no connection between such laws and drug use. "Concerns that medical cannabis laws send the wrong message to vulnerable groups such as adolescents seem to be unfounded," it stated. They also note that there's little evidence that continued criminalization has discouraged teen drug use, but better education might.

Importing the Portuguese Model of Drug Policy Reform

After overseeing a comprehensive review of drug policy in Portugal, where possession of everything from marijuana to heroin has been decriminalized since 2001, Alex Stevens, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Kent in Britain, has a blunt rebuttal to the classic "Think of the children" line of thinking. "Criminalization of drugs is not protecting our children," he says. "In fact, it's harming our children." By any conceivable empirical metric, Portugal’s vastly liberalized drug policy has succeeded. And as Stevens argues, the most potent lesson to be learned is that the "decriminalization of drugs does not necessarily lead to increases in drug use."

Latin America Drug Laws 'Failure' ?

Drug laws in eight Latin American countries have exacerbated their prison overcrowding problems and failed to curb trafficking, a study says. The Transnational Institute and the Washington Office on Latin America say most of those convicted are not high or medium-level drug traffickers. Imprisoning minor offenders is "useless", as they are easily replaced by the bosses at the top, they warn.

Government Heads for Clash with Scientists Over Drug Advice: A Plan to Remove the Legal Minimum Number of Scientists from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Risks Further Harming Relationships with Scientists and with Evidence (Opinion)

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill has major implications for UK drug laws and the potential to damage the quality of scientific advice the government (and parliament) gets, and to further dent the scientific community's confidence in the government.

PA Medical Marijuana Bio-Ethics Panel at St. Joseph's University

St. Joseph’s University is hosting the discussion “Should it be legalized?” on medical marijuana by the Catholic Bio-Ethics Institute. The panel is open to the public.

Speakers include:

Representative Mark B. Cohen (PA) (Has proposed a bill to legalize Marijuana for Medical use in PA)
For seven years Mark Cohen served as chairman of the Pennsylvania House Labor Relations Committee.

Sr. Patricia Talone, RSM, Ph.D., Vice President, Mission Services, Catholic Health Association
Patricia Talone, RSM, PhD Sr. Patricia Talone is a Sister of Mercy of the Mid-Atlantic Community. She holds a BA from Gwynedd-Mercy College, an MA from St. Charles Seminary, Philadelphia and a PhD in theological ethics from Marquette University, Milwaukee

Dr. Marie Hasson, Chair,  Department of Psychiatry, AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center
Marie Elena has been Chairman of Atlantic Regional Medical Center for 2 years, as well as a Fellow in the APA.  Marie Elena is also the Medical Director, Atlantic Behavioral Health since 2008.

Advocate for Medical Marijuana – Chris Goldstein from PhillyNorml
Chris Goldstein is a writer and marijuana reform advocate based in New Jersey. He works on state legislation, municipal issues and national reform though local non-profits including PhillyNORML and PA4MMJ. He serves as a media spokesperson for marijuana related issues and publishes a popular blog at Examiner.com.

CONTACT: Chris Goldstein [email protected] or Theresa O’Doherty  [email protected]

Harvard’s Headache Cure: LSD?

Harvard researcher John Halpern has formed a company he hopes will bring to market a drug based on his research into the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide on cluster headaches, a rare but devastating condition that is as bad as it sounds. Halpern, a noted expert in the long-term effects of drug use, said research suggests chemicals present in LSD are an astonishingly effective cure for cluster headaches. Entheogen’s drug does not cause triptastic visions, Halpern said -- it is based on BOL-148, a non-hallucinogenic LSD derivative developed in the 1950s and 60s for research into the effects of LSD on the brain, when such was last in vogue.
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