Showing posts with label Drugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drugs. Show all posts
Friday, 19 July 2019
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Antibiotics Found in Some of the World's Rivers Exceed 'Safe' Levels, Global Study Finds
Global Research
Concentrations of antibiotics found in some of the world’s rivers exceed ‘safe’ levels by up to 300 times, the first ever global study has discovered.
Researchers looked for 14 commonly used antibiotics in rivers in 72 countries across six continents and found antibiotics at 65% of the sites monitored.
Metronidazole, which is used to treat bacterial infections including skin and mouth infections, exceeded safe levels by the biggest margin, with concentrations at one site in Bangladesh 300 times greater than the ‘safe’ level.
In the River Thames and one of its tributaries in London, the researchers detected a maximum total antibiotic concentration of 233 nanograms per litre (ng/l), whereas in Bangladesh the concentration was 170 times higher.
The most prevalent antibiotic was trimethoprim, which was detected at 307 of the 711 sites tested and is primarily used to treat urinary tract infections.
The research team compared the monitoring data with ‘safe’ levels recently established by the AMR Industry Alliance which, depending on the antibiotic, range from 20-32,000 ng/l.
Ciproflaxacin, which is used to treat a number of bacterial infections, was the compound that most frequently exceeded safe levels, surpassing the safety threshold in 51 places.
The team said that the ‘safe’ limits were most frequently exceeded in Asia and Africa, but sites in Europe, North America and South America also had levels of concern showing that antibiotic contamination was a “global problem.”
Read more
Concentrations of antibiotics found in some of the world’s rivers exceed ‘safe’ levels by up to 300 times, the first ever global study has discovered.
Researchers looked for 14 commonly used antibiotics in rivers in 72 countries across six continents and found antibiotics at 65% of the sites monitored.
Metronidazole, which is used to treat bacterial infections including skin and mouth infections, exceeded safe levels by the biggest margin, with concentrations at one site in Bangladesh 300 times greater than the ‘safe’ level.
In the River Thames and one of its tributaries in London, the researchers detected a maximum total antibiotic concentration of 233 nanograms per litre (ng/l), whereas in Bangladesh the concentration was 170 times higher.
The most prevalent antibiotic was trimethoprim, which was detected at 307 of the 711 sites tested and is primarily used to treat urinary tract infections.
The research team compared the monitoring data with ‘safe’ levels recently established by the AMR Industry Alliance which, depending on the antibiotic, range from 20-32,000 ng/l.
Ciproflaxacin, which is used to treat a number of bacterial infections, was the compound that most frequently exceeded safe levels, surpassing the safety threshold in 51 places.
The team said that the ‘safe’ limits were most frequently exceeded in Asia and Africa, but sites in Europe, North America and South America also had levels of concern showing that antibiotic contamination was a “global problem.”
Read more
Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Lawsuit by 44 States Accuses Pharma Giants of 'Multi-Year Conspiracy' to Hike Drug Prices by Over 1,000%
"Teva and its co-conspirators embarked on one of
the most egregious and damaging price-fixing conspiracies in the history
of the United States." —Lawsuit
Jake Johnson Common Dreams
A far-reaching lawsuit filed Friday by the attorneys general of more than 40 states accused some of the nation's largest generic drug manufacturers of conspiring to inflate prices, in some cases by over 1,000 percent.
"We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion dollar fraud on the American people," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, whose state led the probe into the companies' practices, said in a statement.
"We have emails, text messages, telephone records, and former company insiders that we believe will prove a multi-year conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs," said Tong.
The suit names 20 major drug manufacturers—including Pfizer, Teva, Novartis, and Mylan—as well as more than a dozen senior executives, who the complaint accuses of deleting evidence after the states began their investigation in 2014.
"The industrywide scheme affected the prices of more than 100 generic drugs," the New York Times reported Saturday, "including lamivudine-zidovudine, which treats H.I.V.; budesonide, an asthma medication; fenofibrate, which treats high cholesterol; amphetamine-dextroamphetamine for ADHD.; oral antibiotics; blood thinners; cancer drugs; contraceptives; and antidepressants."
Americans pay far more for prescription drugs than the people of any other industrialized nation.
Alluding to this fact, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser—who joined the multi-state lawsuit—tweeted on Saturday: "If you are angry about rising drug prices, you should be. Particularly because a major cause of price increases is illegal collusion by generic drug companies."
Read more
Thursday, 4 April 2019
Drugmakers Pay $123 Million to Resolve U.S. Charity Kickback Probe
Reuters
Three drugmakers will pay $122.6 million to resolve claims they used charities that help cover Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket drug costs as a way to pay kickbacks aimed at encouraging the use of their medications, including some expensive ones.
The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday said Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc, Lundbeck and Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc had become the latest companies to settle claims stemming from an industry-wide probe of drugmakers’ financial support of patient assistance charities.
The government has alleged in earlier settlements that drugmakers used such charities as a means to improperly pay the copay obligations of Medicare patients using their drugs in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
The investigation came amid growing attention to skyrocketing U.S. drug prices. Copays are meant to serve in part as a check on healthcare expenses by exposing patients to some of a drug’s cost and make them price-sensitive.
Read More
Wednesday, 3 April 2019
A Birth Control Pill for Men Is One Step Closer
Comment: What could possibly go wrong?
------------------
Singularity Hub
Women have long borne the brunt of contraception responsibilities, but this may be shifting in coming years. A new trial published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism details strides made by researchers in developing a male version of the birth control pill, bringing it within reach of the long-sought-after FDA approval.
Like the female equivalent, a male oral contraceptive works by tweaking the body’s hormones to temporarily suppress fertility. In women, this involves introducing synthetic estrogen and/or progestin, which mimics progesterone, a hormone released in large amounts during pregnancy. When introduced into the female body, the pill stops ovulation, prevents sperm from entering the cervix, and thins the uterine lining, making implantation of a fertilized egg far less likely.
In men, the idea is to stop the production of sperm, which relies on both progesterone and androgens like testosterone.
The researchers developed 11-beta-MNTDC, a chemical cocktail that can mimic specific androgens and progesterone. These synthetic versions are agonists, meaning they can bind to the same receptors as natural chemicals, but they produce a different response from the body.
When introduced into men, 11-beta-MNTDC fills cells’ androgen and progesterone receptors, blocking the natural versions from being used and suppressing production of hormones necessary for sperm production, while allowing for the rest of the body to function normally.
In March the researchers presented the results of a 28-day trial during which they tested 11-beta-MNTDC on 40 healthy men. 10 of these men were given a placebo, while the other 30 were given varying doses of the drug. They found that the participants’ androgen levels fell more the higher the dose, with the average non-placebo participant levels falling below the limits of fertility.
Read more
------------------
Singularity Hub
Women have long borne the brunt of contraception responsibilities, but this may be shifting in coming years. A new trial published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism details strides made by researchers in developing a male version of the birth control pill, bringing it within reach of the long-sought-after FDA approval.
Like the female equivalent, a male oral contraceptive works by tweaking the body’s hormones to temporarily suppress fertility. In women, this involves introducing synthetic estrogen and/or progestin, which mimics progesterone, a hormone released in large amounts during pregnancy. When introduced into the female body, the pill stops ovulation, prevents sperm from entering the cervix, and thins the uterine lining, making implantation of a fertilized egg far less likely.
In men, the idea is to stop the production of sperm, which relies on both progesterone and androgens like testosterone.
The researchers developed 11-beta-MNTDC, a chemical cocktail that can mimic specific androgens and progesterone. These synthetic versions are agonists, meaning they can bind to the same receptors as natural chemicals, but they produce a different response from the body.
When introduced into men, 11-beta-MNTDC fills cells’ androgen and progesterone receptors, blocking the natural versions from being used and suppressing production of hormones necessary for sperm production, while allowing for the rest of the body to function normally.
In March the researchers presented the results of a 28-day trial during which they tested 11-beta-MNTDC on 40 healthy men. 10 of these men were given a placebo, while the other 30 were given varying doses of the drug. They found that the participants’ androgen levels fell more the higher the dose, with the average non-placebo participant levels falling below the limits of fertility.
Read more
Sunday, 15 July 2018
The War on Consciousness - Graham Hancock
After Skool
"What is death? Our materialist science reduces everything to matter,
materialist science in the West says that we are just meat, we’re just
our bodies. So when the brain is dead, that’s the end of consciousness,
there is no life after death, there is no soul; we just rot and are
gone. Actually, many honest scientists should admit that consciousness
is the greatest mystery of science and that we don’t know exactly how it
works. The brain is involved in it some way but we’re not sure how. It
could be that the brain generates consciousness the way a generator
makes electricity, if you hold to that paradigm, then of course you
can’t believe in life after death, when the generator’s broken,
consciousness is gone. But it’s equally possible that the relationship —
and nothing in neuroscience rules it out – that the relationship is
more like the relationship of the TV signal to the TV set, and in that
case, when the TV set is broken, of course the TV signal continues.
And
this is the paradigm of all spiritual traditions, that we are immortal
souls temporarily incarnated in these physical forms.
If we want to understand consciousness, the last people we should ask
are materialist scientists. Instead, we should look at ancient cultures,
like the Egyptians, who highly valued dream states. Many ancient
cultures around the world used hallucinogenic plants to understand
consciousness and expand their minds.
However in today's society, visionary plants are highly illegal because
they promote a state of consciousness that does not agree with the
agenda of profit.
Substances, like coffee, alcohol, sugar and
pharmaceuticals, are forced upon the population, but possession of even
small quantities of cannabis, Ayahuasca or psilocybin will land you in
jail. If we do not recognize the right of adult sovereignty over
consciousness, then we can NOT claim to be free.
Look at what our moderns state of consciousness has done. We have
destroyed the natural gifts of earth in pursuit of short-term, selfish
gain. We must reconnect with spirit immediately or else we will
encounter disaster. Visionary plants could be the remedy for our current
sickness."
Sunday, 1 July 2018
Millions in Cryptocurrencies Seized in Biggest LSD Bust in European History
Gizmodo
With the price boom of 2017 and the constant chatter about the blockchain revolution, it feels like people have forgotten the one thing bitcoin is proven to be good for: buying drugs. On Thursday, law enforcement gave everyone a reminder of cryptocurrencies roots when it took down an LSD ring and seized millions of dollars worth of digital cash.
A statement by Europol claims that it recently worked alongside the Spanish Guardia Civil and the Austrian Federal Police to dismantle a criminal group that has been trafficking in the sale of synthetic drugs on the dark web since 2012. The operation had quite a haul—shuttering two drug labs, nabbing eight individuals, and impounding what Europol claims is a record-setting 800,000 doses of LSD.
The full statement is a bit confusing when it comes to the cryptocurrency seizure. It lists bitcoin, IOTA, and lumen tokens that were impounded, pegging their combined value at €5,675,000 ($6,623,366). But elsewhere in the report, it lists the total value of the digital currencies as €4.5 million ($5.25 million). At first, it seemed that the confusion might have come from the ever-volatile crypto exchange rates, but its impossible to say because only the number of bitcoins seized (510) is listed.
Read more
Thursday, 24 May 2018
'All results were negative': FIFA anti-doping probe exonerates Russian football players
Frank Sellers
The Duran
The same party line that excluded Russia from participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics was again used to dampen Russia's credibility and its team's eligibility to compete in the tournament, which Russia will be hosting.
That line is that Russia cheats by doping up its players to give them an unfair edge over that of other nation's teams in order to score victory for Russia, which would then be used as a part of Russia's propaganda to show the world how great it is.
That's the party line, anyhow. But this time it hasn't worked. This time there's no 'whistleblower', but a report that led to a probe that, like the Mueller probe which investigates alleged Russian 'collusion' with the Trump campaign, failed to turn up any evidence.
The probe didn't find any evidence of doping, and the players, who were likely to participate in the World Cup competition, were exonerated.
Read more
The Duran
The same party line that excluded Russia from participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics was again used to dampen Russia's credibility and its team's eligibility to compete in the tournament, which Russia will be hosting.
That line is that Russia cheats by doping up its players to give them an unfair edge over that of other nation's teams in order to score victory for Russia, which would then be used as a part of Russia's propaganda to show the world how great it is.
That's the party line, anyhow. But this time it hasn't worked. This time there's no 'whistleblower', but a report that led to a probe that, like the Mueller probe which investigates alleged Russian 'collusion' with the Trump campaign, failed to turn up any evidence.
The probe didn't find any evidence of doping, and the players, who were likely to participate in the World Cup competition, were exonerated.
Read more
Tuesday, 8 May 2018
CPS Tries to Kidnap Toddler After Mom Stopped Her Seizures with CBD Oil, Instead of Drugs
Truther's World
When a mother told doctors that she was using CBD oil to treat her daughter’s seizures, and it was working wonders, they responded by reporting her to CPS.
When a mother tried cannabidiol as a treatment for her young daughter, who was having nearly 40 seizures per day, she was amazed by the effects and thought she had finally found a solution after pharmaceutical drugs failed to work. However, after her prayers were answered, the state stepped in and threatened to take her daughter away.
Lelah Jerger’s daughter, Jaelah, began having spasms when she was only 6 months old. Quickly, those spasms turned into seizures and Jaelah was given antiepileptics, pharmaceutical medications designed to control seizures. Not only was the medication not effective, but Jerger said it produced harmful side effects that created even more problems.
After finding CBD oil (cannabidiol, derived from hemp), the concerned mother was amazed by how effective it was at controlling Jaelah’s seizures. Unfortunately for the Jerger family, Child Protective Services (CPS) got involved and threatened to take Jaelah away from the family, all because Lelah chose to treat her daughter’s condition with CBD instead of pills.
In an interview with People magazine, Jerger explained her daughter’s diagnosis, how CPS got involved, and how scary the situation was at the thought of losing her children. She said Jaelah’s epileptic condition was very rare but she was relieved to finally have an answer as to why her daughter was having spasms.
Jerger said she began to look for a safer, natural alternative to drugs. She found cannabidiol, purchased it online from a Colorado retailer, and began to give Jaelah CBD drops, twice per day. She said the results were amazing.
Read more
When a mother told doctors that she was using CBD oil to treat her daughter’s seizures, and it was working wonders, they responded by reporting her to CPS.
When a mother tried cannabidiol as a treatment for her young daughter, who was having nearly 40 seizures per day, she was amazed by the effects and thought she had finally found a solution after pharmaceutical drugs failed to work. However, after her prayers were answered, the state stepped in and threatened to take her daughter away.
Lelah Jerger’s daughter, Jaelah, began having spasms when she was only 6 months old. Quickly, those spasms turned into seizures and Jaelah was given antiepileptics, pharmaceutical medications designed to control seizures. Not only was the medication not effective, but Jerger said it produced harmful side effects that created even more problems.
After finding CBD oil (cannabidiol, derived from hemp), the concerned mother was amazed by how effective it was at controlling Jaelah’s seizures. Unfortunately for the Jerger family, Child Protective Services (CPS) got involved and threatened to take Jaelah away from the family, all because Lelah chose to treat her daughter’s condition with CBD instead of pills.
In an interview with People magazine, Jerger explained her daughter’s diagnosis, how CPS got involved, and how scary the situation was at the thought of losing her children. She said Jaelah’s epileptic condition was very rare but she was relieved to finally have an answer as to why her daughter was having spasms.
“She has a rare type of epilepsy called benign myoclonic epilepsy in infancy … Finally we knew what we were dealing with, but we were scared because we didn’t know anything about epilepsy at all.”Doctors, who are only trained in most cases to diagnose and prescribe pharmaceuticals for illnesses, ordered Keppra—the brand name for Levetiracetam. But doing her due diligence and reading the harmful side effects of the drug, Jerger said she became worried when she learned Keppra, like antidepressants, can cause people to become suicidal. Worse still, the pharmaceuticals were not working. Jaelah was still having 40 seizures daily.
Jerger said she began to look for a safer, natural alternative to drugs. She found cannabidiol, purchased it online from a Colorado retailer, and began to give Jaelah CBD drops, twice per day. She said the results were amazing.
Read more
Friday, 4 August 2017
Whatever you know about how bad Big Pharma is, what they're wanting to do with revolutionary gene therapy is worse
Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer
A literal cure for cancer has been funded by charity, stolen by big-pharma, to be dangled over the head of the dying for profit.
Impropriety among big-pharmaceutical corporations has ranged from multi-billion dollar bribery rackets, to marketing drugs to patients for uses they were never approved for by regulators, to covering up known dangerous side-effects of medications they produce and sell.
More recently, big-pharma has been embroiled in a series of price-gouging controversies over equipment and treatments. This includes the hijacking of and profiteering from a revolutionary new treatment called gene therapy.
Gene therapy, the process of re-engineering human cells to either include missing DNA to cure genetic conditions or to arm the immune system to seek and destroy disease, has been the latest hopeful technology scooped up and plundered by big-pharma.
Gene therapy promises a single shot cure to many of the diseases that have confounded humanity the most - everything from diabetes to cancer, to blindness, deafness, and even various effects of aging.
At least two treatments using gene therapy have been approved for European markets.
A third that has proven in clinical trials to provide permanent remission for leukemia patients who were unresponsive to chemotherapy, appears to be close to FDA approval.
The Literal Cure for Cancer, Dangled Over the Dying
While the treatment - even under experimental conditions - costs approximately $20,000 to produce, pharmaceutical giant Novartis has swooped in and industry experts anticipate a markup leaving the price tag between $300,000-600,000.
Read more
Land Destroyer
A literal cure for cancer has been funded by charity, stolen by big-pharma, to be dangled over the head of the dying for profit.
Impropriety among big-pharmaceutical corporations has ranged from multi-billion dollar bribery rackets, to marketing drugs to patients for uses they were never approved for by regulators, to covering up known dangerous side-effects of medications they produce and sell.
More recently, big-pharma has been embroiled in a series of price-gouging controversies over equipment and treatments. This includes the hijacking of and profiteering from a revolutionary new treatment called gene therapy.
Gene therapy, the process of re-engineering human cells to either include missing DNA to cure genetic conditions or to arm the immune system to seek and destroy disease, has been the latest hopeful technology scooped up and plundered by big-pharma.
Gene therapy promises a single shot cure to many of the diseases that have confounded humanity the most - everything from diabetes to cancer, to blindness, deafness, and even various effects of aging.
At least two treatments using gene therapy have been approved for European markets.
A third that has proven in clinical trials to provide permanent remission for leukemia patients who were unresponsive to chemotherapy, appears to be close to FDA approval.
The Literal Cure for Cancer, Dangled Over the Dying
While the treatment - even under experimental conditions - costs approximately $20,000 to produce, pharmaceutical giant Novartis has swooped in and industry experts anticipate a markup leaving the price tag between $300,000-600,000.
Read more
Thursday, 11 May 2017
29 defendants charged with scores of historical sex offences appear in court
Comment: The political correctness disease which contributed to Councillors and social workers not reporting these crimes due to fear of "racism" is thankfully not so in this case. Long may it continue.
-------------------
RT
Twenty-nine people charged with dozens of historical sexual abuse offences against children and women in Huddersfield have been met by protesters outside Leeds Crown Court. One man alone is facing 21 charges of rape.
The alleged offences took place in the town between 2004 and 2011, and involved girls aged between 11 and 17, the BBC reports. Most of the defendants are from Huddersfield, but others came from Bradford, Dewsbury, Dudley, Manchester and Sheffield.
Twenty-seven men and two women are appearing before the court on Thursday.
The men are accused of offences against 18 people, including rape, trafficking, supply of Class A drugs, possession and making indecent images of children, child abduction and sexual assault on children. Two women are charged with child neglect.
In total, the defendants face more than 170 charges.
Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 34, is charged 21 counts of rape, 14 counts of trafficking, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual assault, sexual touching, possession of indecent images of a child, racially aggravated assault and inciting a child into prostitution.
Abdul Rehman, 29, is charged with rape, trafficking, supplying drugs, supply of a controlled substance with intent to engage in sexual activity and sexual touching.
Irfan Ahmed, 32, is charged with six counts of trafficking, sexual assault, making indecent images of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
See also: The Rochdale sex abuse ring - a case of authorities ignoring the rape and trafficking of minors for years
-------------------
RT
Twenty-nine people charged with dozens of historical sexual abuse offences against children and women in Huddersfield have been met by protesters outside Leeds Crown Court. One man alone is facing 21 charges of rape.
The alleged offences took place in the town between 2004 and 2011, and involved girls aged between 11 and 17, the BBC reports. Most of the defendants are from Huddersfield, but others came from Bradford, Dewsbury, Dudley, Manchester and Sheffield.
Twenty-seven men and two women are appearing before the court on Thursday.
The men are accused of offences against 18 people, including rape, trafficking, supply of Class A drugs, possession and making indecent images of children, child abduction and sexual assault on children. Two women are charged with child neglect.
In total, the defendants face more than 170 charges.
Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 34, is charged 21 counts of rape, 14 counts of trafficking, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual assault, sexual touching, possession of indecent images of a child, racially aggravated assault and inciting a child into prostitution.
Abdul Rehman, 29, is charged with rape, trafficking, supplying drugs, supply of a controlled substance with intent to engage in sexual activity and sexual touching.
Irfan Ahmed, 32, is charged with six counts of trafficking, sexual assault, making indecent images of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
See also: The Rochdale sex abuse ring - a case of authorities ignoring the rape and trafficking of minors for years
Monday, 8 May 2017
Macron emails lead to allegations of homosexual adventurism, drug use and Rothschild money
The Duran
The information in leaked emails which Wikileaks now claims are authentic, is damning.
French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron may not be the boring ex-Rothschild banker turned aspiring war criminal that he's lead us to believe he is. New information gathered by online researchers and published by Milo Yiannopoulos has shown that Macron may be addicted to a dangerous drug, may be engaged in secret homosexual relationships and may have had private alcohol fuelled parties paid for by the Rothschild bank.
1. Drugs
Leaked emails have shown an alleged conspiracy to cover-up drug deals procured by senior Macron campaign manager Alain Tourret.
Tourret ordered 3-Methylmethcathinone also known as MMC-3, a drug France classes in the same category as heroin.
The drugs were paid for in the Bitcoin crypto-currency and shipped to government addresses. The emails explain that this was done so that if busted, Macron's people could always claim there were the victims of an expensive prank.
[...]
But damning allegations of hard-core drug use go beyond this.
An email from a man called Raphael Colhoun who works closely with Macron sent an email to an associate containing the single phrase, ""don't forget to buy c. for the boss". 'c.' is considered to be an aphorism to the dangerous drug cocaine.
Read more
The information in leaked emails which Wikileaks now claims are authentic, is damning.
French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron may not be the boring ex-Rothschild banker turned aspiring war criminal that he's lead us to believe he is. New information gathered by online researchers and published by Milo Yiannopoulos has shown that Macron may be addicted to a dangerous drug, may be engaged in secret homosexual relationships and may have had private alcohol fuelled parties paid for by the Rothschild bank.
1. Drugs
Leaked emails have shown an alleged conspiracy to cover-up drug deals procured by senior Macron campaign manager Alain Tourret.
Tourret ordered 3-Methylmethcathinone also known as MMC-3, a drug France classes in the same category as heroin.
The drugs were paid for in the Bitcoin crypto-currency and shipped to government addresses. The emails explain that this was done so that if busted, Macron's people could always claim there were the victims of an expensive prank.
[...]
But damning allegations of hard-core drug use go beyond this.
An email from a man called Raphael Colhoun who works closely with Macron sent an email to an associate containing the single phrase, ""don't forget to buy c. for the boss". 'c.' is considered to be an aphorism to the dangerous drug cocaine.
Read more
Thursday, 23 February 2017
The Criminalization of Financial Independence
Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds Blog
Independent enterprises are a source of political and financial independence--and any independent class is dangerous to the ruling elites.
Just as the "war on drugs" criminalized and destroyed large swaths of African-American and Latino communities, the "war on cash" will further criminalize the few remaining avenues to financial independence and freedom. The introduction of "entitlement" welfare in the 1960s generated a toxic dependency on the state that institutionalized worklessness, a one-two punch that undermined marriage and family in America's working class of all ethnicities.
The "war on drugs" launched in the 1970s turned millions of American males into felons with severely restricted rights and opportunities in mainstream America.
Now we see the same destructive pattern repeating with "disability" being the new "welfare" and "legal" synthetic heroin (oxycotin etc.) being the new street-smack that lays waste to entire communities. Once you're dependent on the state for disability and synthetic smack, you are owned by the government, lock, stock and barrel.
When the temptation to sell your $3 Medicaid prescription for synthetic smack for a quick $1000 becomes too much to resist, bang, you've got a one-way ticket into the Hell of America's criminal "justice" system. Do you see the pattern? Offer the blandishments of "free money" and nearly free synthetic smack, and the vulnerable populace is quickly reduced to a dependent state of worklessness and addiction.
Needless to say, an addicted, ill, workless populace that is herded into the grinder of the criminal justice system isn't going to create any political resistance. They have their hands full just trying to stay alive and avoid being sucked into the voracious maw of the criminalization meat grinder.
Just as the "war on drugs" criminalized and destroyed large swaths of African-American and Latino communities, the "war on cash" will further criminalize the few remaining avenues to financial independence and freedom. The introduction of "entitlement" welfare in the 1960s generated a toxic dependency on the state that institutionalized worklessness, a one-two punch that undermined marriage and family in America's working class of all ethnicities.
The "war on drugs" launched in the 1970s turned millions of American males into felons with severely restricted rights and opportunities in mainstream America.
Now we see the same destructive pattern repeating with "disability" being the new "welfare" and "legal" synthetic heroin (oxycotin etc.) being the new street-smack that lays waste to entire communities. Once you're dependent on the state for disability and synthetic smack, you are owned by the government, lock, stock and barrel.
When the temptation to sell your $3 Medicaid prescription for synthetic smack for a quick $1000 becomes too much to resist, bang, you've got a one-way ticket into the Hell of America's criminal "justice" system. Do you see the pattern? Offer the blandishments of "free money" and nearly free synthetic smack, and the vulnerable populace is quickly reduced to a dependent state of worklessness and addiction.
Needless to say, an addicted, ill, workless populace that is herded into the grinder of the criminal justice system isn't going to create any political resistance. They have their hands full just trying to stay alive and avoid being sucked into the voracious maw of the criminalization meat grinder.
Read more
Monday, 1 August 2016
The root of healing from addiction is connection
Jonathan Davis
Sott.net viaUplift
Do Stronger Human Connections Immunise Us Against Emotional Distress?
Right now an exciting new perspective on addiction is emerging. Johann Harri, author of Chasing The Scream, recently captured widespread public interest with his Ted talk Everything You Know About Addiction Is Wrong, where he concluded with this powerful statement:
These sentiments are augmented by a growing number of experts, including addiction specialist Dr Gabor Maté, who cites 'emotional loss and trauma' as the core of addiction. Compare this 'emotional loss' to Johan Harri's idea about lack of connection and it is clear they're talking about a similar emotional condition.
Limbic Resonance
If connection is the opposite of addiction, then an examination of the neuroscience of human connection is in order. Published in 2000, A General Theory Of Love is a collaboration between three professors of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco. A General Theory Of Love reveals that humans require social connection for optimal brain development, and that babies cared for in a loving environment are psychological and neurologically 'immunised' by love. When things get difficult in adult life, the neural wiring developed from a love-filled childhood leads to increased emotional resilience in adult life. Conversely, those who grow up in an environment where loving care is unstable or absent are less likely to be resilient in the face of emotional distress.
How does this relate to addiction? Gabor Maté observes an extremely high rate of childhood trauma in the addicts he works with and trauma is the extreme opposite of growing up in a consistently safe and loving environment. He asserts that it is extremely common for people with addictions to have a reduced capacity for dealing with emotional distress, hence an increased risk of drug-dependence.
Trauma is well-known to cause interruption to healthy neural wiring, in both the developing and mature brain. A deeper issue here is that people who have suffered trauma, particularly children, can be left with an underlying sense that the world is no longer safe, or that people can no longer be trusted. This erosion (or complete destruction) of a sense of trust, that our family, community and society will keep us safe, results in isolation - leading to the very lack of connection Johann Harri suggests is the opposite of addiction. People who use drugs compulsively do so to avoid the pain of past trauma and to replace the absence of connection in their life.
Social Solutions To Addiction
The solution to the problem of addiction on a societal level is both simple and fairly easy to implement. If a person is born into a life that is lacking in love and support on a family level, or if due to some other trauma they have become isolated and suffer from addiction, there must be a cultural response to make sure that person knows that they are valued by their society (even if they don't feel valued by their family). Portugal has demonstrated this with a 50% drop in addiction thanks to programs that are specifically designed to re-create connection between the addict and their community.
Read more
See also: The Rise of Narcissism and the Loss of Meaning III
Sott.net viaUplift
Do Stronger Human Connections Immunise Us Against Emotional Distress?
Right now an exciting new perspective on addiction is emerging. Johann Harri, author of Chasing The Scream, recently captured widespread public interest with his Ted talk Everything You Know About Addiction Is Wrong, where he concluded with this powerful statement:
"The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection."
- Johann Harri
These sentiments are augmented by a growing number of experts, including addiction specialist Dr Gabor Maté, who cites 'emotional loss and trauma' as the core of addiction. Compare this 'emotional loss' to Johan Harri's idea about lack of connection and it is clear they're talking about a similar emotional condition.
Limbic Resonance
If connection is the opposite of addiction, then an examination of the neuroscience of human connection is in order. Published in 2000, A General Theory Of Love is a collaboration between three professors of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco. A General Theory Of Love reveals that humans require social connection for optimal brain development, and that babies cared for in a loving environment are psychological and neurologically 'immunised' by love. When things get difficult in adult life, the neural wiring developed from a love-filled childhood leads to increased emotional resilience in adult life. Conversely, those who grow up in an environment where loving care is unstable or absent are less likely to be resilient in the face of emotional distress.
How does this relate to addiction? Gabor Maté observes an extremely high rate of childhood trauma in the addicts he works with and trauma is the extreme opposite of growing up in a consistently safe and loving environment. He asserts that it is extremely common for people with addictions to have a reduced capacity for dealing with emotional distress, hence an increased risk of drug-dependence.
Trauma is well-known to cause interruption to healthy neural wiring, in both the developing and mature brain. A deeper issue here is that people who have suffered trauma, particularly children, can be left with an underlying sense that the world is no longer safe, or that people can no longer be trusted. This erosion (or complete destruction) of a sense of trust, that our family, community and society will keep us safe, results in isolation - leading to the very lack of connection Johann Harri suggests is the opposite of addiction. People who use drugs compulsively do so to avoid the pain of past trauma and to replace the absence of connection in their life.
Social Solutions To Addiction
The solution to the problem of addiction on a societal level is both simple and fairly easy to implement. If a person is born into a life that is lacking in love and support on a family level, or if due to some other trauma they have become isolated and suffer from addiction, there must be a cultural response to make sure that person knows that they are valued by their society (even if they don't feel valued by their family). Portugal has demonstrated this with a 50% drop in addiction thanks to programs that are specifically designed to re-create connection between the addict and their community.
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See also: The Rise of Narcissism and the Loss of Meaning III
Sunday, 24 July 2016
Thursday, 21 July 2016
The government ignores the truth: Opioid use plummets in states with legal cannabis
Justin Gardner
The Free Thought Project
Yesterday we reported how Congress' "opioid bill," or Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act (CARA), was a hollow achievement, as it ignored medical cannabis alternatives and said nothing about the role of Big Pharma in the opioid abuse epidemic.
Among the information missing from the conversation was an eye-opening study done last year. A JAMA Internal Medicine study looked at ten years of data in all 50 states, concluding that states with medical cannabis laws had significantly lower rates of opioid overdose mortality.
There is no indication this important fact was heard when a federal "pain panel" advised Congress. The FDA, one of several agencies on the panel, had already been exposed as being stacked with members linked to drugmakers, including one caught up in an OxyContin scandal.
The JAMA study was presented in a recent Congressional panel on pain management. Despite the clear evidence of real-world results, prohibitionists rejected an amendment to study the "potential for marijuana to serve as an alternative to opioids for pain management."
Now, a second study has confirmed the powerful effect that medical cannabis has on reducing opioid abuse.
In 17 states with medical cannabis laws in place by 2013, the researchers "found that the use of prescription drugs for which marijuana could serve as a clinical alternative fell significantly, once a medical marijuana law was implemented."
Prescriptions fell dramatically for opioid painkillers, with 1,826 fewer doses being prescribed per year by the typical physician in a medical cannabis state. Amazingly, the trend also applied to prescriptions for depression, seizure, nausea and anxiety.
Read more
The Free Thought Project
Yesterday we reported how Congress' "opioid bill," or Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act (CARA), was a hollow achievement, as it ignored medical cannabis alternatives and said nothing about the role of Big Pharma in the opioid abuse epidemic.
Among the information missing from the conversation was an eye-opening study done last year. A JAMA Internal Medicine study looked at ten years of data in all 50 states, concluding that states with medical cannabis laws had significantly lower rates of opioid overdose mortality.
There is no indication this important fact was heard when a federal "pain panel" advised Congress. The FDA, one of several agencies on the panel, had already been exposed as being stacked with members linked to drugmakers, including one caught up in an OxyContin scandal.
The JAMA study was presented in a recent Congressional panel on pain management. Despite the clear evidence of real-world results, prohibitionists rejected an amendment to study the "potential for marijuana to serve as an alternative to opioids for pain management."
Now, a second study has confirmed the powerful effect that medical cannabis has on reducing opioid abuse.
In 17 states with medical cannabis laws in place by 2013, the researchers "found that the use of prescription drugs for which marijuana could serve as a clinical alternative fell significantly, once a medical marijuana law was implemented."
Prescriptions fell dramatically for opioid painkillers, with 1,826 fewer doses being prescribed per year by the typical physician in a medical cannabis state. Amazingly, the trend also applied to prescriptions for depression, seizure, nausea and anxiety.
Read more
2016 election decides who controls the drug trade
Daniel Hopsicker
Mad Cow Productions
In the Presidential Election of 2016, Republican and Democratic insiders are wrestling like two dogs over a bone over who controls the illegal drug trade.
To the victor go the spoils. Who wins the election wins control of America’s vast drug bazaar, largest in the world, whose proceeds prop up lucky bankers and politicians lapping at the trough of the biggest richest slush fund in the history of the world.
It’s the biggest business in the world, and the No. 1 industry on the face of the planet, in terms of foreign trade. And if you didn’t know that about the illegal drug trade, then the vast amounts spent on propaganda and disinformation every year in the so-called “War on Drugs” is working.
The first industry to globalize vertically was the illegal drug business. It’s an open question whether drug trafficking drove globalization, or the other way around.
Negotiated by Bill Clinton, the chief beneficiary of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)—by dollar volume and impact on the economy—was the drug trade.
Read more
Mad Cow Productions
In the Presidential Election of 2016, Republican and Democratic insiders are wrestling like two dogs over a bone over who controls the illegal drug trade.
To the victor go the spoils. Who wins the election wins control of America’s vast drug bazaar, largest in the world, whose proceeds prop up lucky bankers and politicians lapping at the trough of the biggest richest slush fund in the history of the world.
It’s the biggest business in the world, and the No. 1 industry on the face of the planet, in terms of foreign trade. And if you didn’t know that about the illegal drug trade, then the vast amounts spent on propaganda and disinformation every year in the so-called “War on Drugs” is working.
The first industry to globalize vertically was the illegal drug business. It’s an open question whether drug trafficking drove globalization, or the other way around.
Negotiated by Bill Clinton, the chief beneficiary of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)—by dollar volume and impact on the economy—was the drug trade.
Read more
Monday, 4 July 2016
Study: One Quarter of All Americans Take a Drug Every Week that Kills their Empathy
The Free Thought Project
Touted as a risk-free pain reliever, Tylenol sends as many as 78,000 people to the emergency room annually and results in 33,000 hospitalizations a year, according to federal data. The active ingredient in Tylenol, acetaminophen is also the leading cause of acute liver failure, according to data from an ongoing study funded by the National Institutes for Health.
In spite of most experts noting that Tylenol can be taken daily virtually free from danger, studies show that ingesting just a little bit more than the daily recommended dose of 4 grams of Tylenol over the course of a few days can result in severe illness and even death.
Aside from liver damage, overdose, severe illness, and death — a new study shows acetaminophen to effective kill human empathy.
The study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (Mischkowski et al., 2016) found that Tylenol, or one of the other 600 different medications reduces people’s empathy for the pain and suffering of others.
Dr. Dominik Mischkowski, the study’s first author, explains:
In spite of most experts noting that Tylenol can be taken daily virtually free from danger, studies show that ingesting just a little bit more than the daily recommended dose of 4 grams of Tylenol over the course of a few days can result in severe illness and even death.
Aside from liver damage, overdose, severe illness, and death — a new study shows acetaminophen to effective kill human empathy.
The study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (Mischkowski et al., 2016) found that Tylenol, or one of the other 600 different medications reduces people’s empathy for the pain and suffering of others.
Dr. Dominik Mischkowski, the study’s first author, explains:
“These findings suggest other people’s pain doesn’t seem as big of a deal to you when you’ve taken acetaminophen. Acetaminophen can reduce empathy as well as serve as a painkiller.”The ability to understand and share the feelings with other humans is a crucial part of peace. The golden rule itself is a function derived from empathy. Remove human empathy and you remove a driving force behind humans treating each other with respect and dignity.
Read more
Saturday, 4 June 2016
Orange-Flavored, Dissolvable Amphetamine for Children Approved by FDA
Motherboard
Adzenys XR-ODT™ is the newest ADHD medication to be approved by the FDA. Chemically similar to Adderall, the drug is now available by prescription for children over the age of six throughout the United States. But Adzenys differs from previous generations of ADHD drugs in one major way—it is the first orange-flavored, orally dissolvable iteration of an amphetamine-based stimulant.
It’s especially ironic given the scrutiny over THC-medicated edibles in places like Colorado, Oregon, and Vancouver, where lawmakers see their ease of use as problematic for children.
Some in the medical community insist that creating an ODT (orally disintegrating tablet) version of an ADHD drug is a natural course of action for a group of medications with such a widespread use as stimulants; Dr. Ben Biermann of the University of Michigan told STAT that “it’s simply another delivery mechanism.” ODTs have many benefits for those who suffer from difficulty swallowing or have compliance issues, and notably can be taken without liquid.
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Thursday, 26 November 2015
Drone Whistleblower Claim – Pilots Often High on Drugs; Refer to Children as “Fun Size Terrorists”
Michael Krieger
The killings, part of the Obama
administration’s targeted assassination program, are aiding
terrorist recruitment and thus undermining the program’s goal of
eliminating such fighters, the veterans added. Drone operators refer to
children as “fun-size terrorists” and liken killing them to “cutting the
grass before it grows too long,” said one of the operators, Michael
Haas, a former senior airman in the Air Force. Haas also described
widespread drug and alcohol abuse, further stating that some operators
had flown missions while impaired.
Haas also described widespread alcohol and
drug abuse among drone pilots. Drone operators, he said, would
frequently get intoxicated using bath salts and synthetic marijuana to
avoid possible drug testing and in an effort to “bend that reality and
try to picture yourself not being there.” Haas said that he knew at
least a half-dozen people in his unit who were using bath salts and that
drug use had “impaired” them during missions.
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