Author: Patrick Maravelias
[ad_1] In early 2022 Dutch health authorities issued a warning about MDMA-laced champagne circulating throughout parts of Europe that hospitalized several people and killed one. An arrest has been made in connection with the case almost two years later, but authorities said there’s no way to know if additional bottles are still in circulation. According to Dutch media outlet RTL Nieuws, police arrested a 35-year-old man last week in the German town of Weiden on drug trafficking and manslaughter charges in relation to MDMA-laced champagne bottles, the consumption of which reportedly hospitalized just under a dozen people and led to…
[ad_1] Kentucky will be hosting a summit in La Grange on November 30 to offer state residents the chance to learn about ibogaine, a psychedelic substance suspected to have potential in helping patients with treatment-resistant substance abuse disorder. Kentucky has a big problem with opiate abuse. A 2019 study predicted that 5.9% of the state’s population was afflicted with opiate use disorder. Settlement money from lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies responsible for exacerbating the opiate crisis has used to create the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, a regulatory body responsible for distributing over $842 million from opiate lawsuits. Forty-two million dollars…
[ad_1] The owner of a cannabis dispensary in Mississippi has filed a lawsuit alleging that state laws which prevent him from advertising his business violate his First Amendment rights. Clarence Cocroft II of Olive Branch, Mississippi is the owner of Tru Source Medical Cannabis. According to the Associated Press, Cocroft filed a lawsuit Tuesday because he says regulations put in place by the Mississippi Department of Health have made it inordinately difficult for him to run his business. Mississippi legalized cannabis for medicinal purposes in 2022 but the laws only allow for people with certain “debilitating conditions” to obtain a…
[ad_1] The owner of a racehorse that won a race last month in Malta has been fined after the horse tested positive for several different drugs. According to the Times of Malta, The Malta Racing Club has fined the owner of a six-year-old mare named Halina Jibay €350 after the horse tested positive for cocaine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and stanozolol which is a synthetic steroid. The owner, whose identity was not released, was also barred from entering any other races for at least two years. Halina Jibay reportedly outran nine other horses at the Marsa racetrack on October 1. A urine…
[ad_1] A prestigious science award has been given to a man who created a new generative AI language model capable of identifying the exact chemical structure of designer drugs, even drugs that have not been tested on humans yet. The winning entry for the 2023 NOMIS & Science Young Explorer competition was a new AI language model trained by Princeton biologist Michael Skinnider. This new AI model can reportedly identify the chemical structure of research chemicals or “legal highs,” terms which refer to any number of chemical compounds which produce psychoactive effects but have not yet been scheduled by the…
[ad_1] NASA is taking steps to prepare for future long-term occupation on the Moon by seeking input from the lunar and scientific communities on ways to convert lunar soil and other naturally-occurring compounds into oxygen. The nation’s leading space organization made an announcement Monday asking for input on In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technologies, which in this case means using materials found on the moon, the vast majority of which are moon dust, to produce fuel, oxygen, water and other resources human beings might use or consume. These processes may one day make it possible for human beings to enjoy a sustainable…
[ad_1] Afghani poppy farmers are estimated to have lost over $1 billion in value or 95% of their opium supply since the Taliban outlawed opium production in April 2022, according to a new report from the United Nations. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued a press release Sunday noting that the drastic drop in opium production could have devastating and far-reaching consequences for the rural communities of Afghanistan and on the international supply of opium derivatives such as heroin that come from opium produced in the area. Since the time of the ban, the U.N. estimated that…
[ad_1] Pablo Escobar died of a gunshot wound during a 1993 shootout at his hideout in Medellin, but Pablo did not go down without leaving a very strange parting gift to his homeland: a bunch of hippos that escaped his private zoo, became feral and started terrorizing Colombian fishing towns. Colombia is planning a ”cull,” a word which means the selective slaughter of certain animals, of a portion of the 166 hippos descended from four hippos which escaped from Escobar’s compound after his death. The animals have taken over a large swath of territory in the Magdalena River where they’ve…
[ad_1] The White House is urging American public schools to carry Naloxone, commonly known as NARCAN, to help combat sky-high overdose rates from fentanyl. A letter was sent regarding fentanyl awareness from United States Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Rahul Gupta to all U.S. schools. The letter called on school administrators and educators to take conscious efforts towards harm reduction in the face of a drug they said was having a “disproportionate impact on our children.” The letter emphasized how effective naloxone, which is an opioid antagonist medication, can…
[ad_1] The University of Mississippi, commonly known as Ole Miss, will begin offering a masters degree program for medical cannabis research. According to the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger, Ole Miss will begin offering the program in late 2024. The online-only program through the Ole Miss School of Pharmacy will focus on the development of medical cannabis products as well as dietary supplements, both of which have experienced an increased pool of users in recent years both in Mississippi and across the country. Director of online graduate programs in the biomedical sciences department, David Colby, told the Clarion-Ledger that the program will be…
[ad_1] A variety of hemp plant genetically modified to produce little-to-no THC has been approved by the United States Department of Agriculture as safe to grow and breed on U.S. soil. The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) released a notice about the plants last week, created and submitted by Indiana-based Growing Together Research, a biotechnology company specializing in cannabis, hemp, psychedelics and agriculture. APHIS regulates the “movement of organisms modified or produced through genetic engineering.” “APHIS found this modified hemp is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated hemp,” the USDA notice…
[ad_1] Large banners have appeared throughout the narco-controlled Mexican state of Sinaloa appearing to ban fentanyl production and sales at the behest of “Los Chapitos,” the sons of the notorious cocaine kingpin “El Chapo.” According to Reuters, it is unknown who put the banners up, known as “necromantas,” despite what the banners themselves may read as the Chapitos signature could be a disinformation tactic by another criminal group. “Attention. Due to the incessant disinformation of some media and the obvious omission of the government in not investigating and prosecuting the true culprits of this epidemic,” the banners said (in Spanish).…