Thanks Michael!

An undercover Dakota County Drug Task Force officer met Banks Dec. 22 in Apple Valley. Banks agreed to sell the undercover officer 21 ecstasy pills.

The St. Paul Police Department Crime Laboratory later identified two of the pills as ecstasy containing MDMA, a Schedule I controlled substance.

The undercover officer met Banks again on Dec. 30 in Apple Valley to purchase more ecstasy. Banks gave the officer 200 pills he claimed were ecstasy in exchange for $1,500. The 200 pills were later identified as Skittles candies.

Taste the rainbow.

But here we would like to discuss some of the pharmacology associated with the Sedona tragedy. Lynne LaMaster in the Prescott News notes that according to the search warrant documents, investigators were originally looking for:

"A saleable/useable quantity of unlawful drugs including but not limited to marijuana, methamphetamine and peyote, paraphernalia for packaging, manicuring, weighing, distributing, including but not limited to scales, baggies, grinders, bindles, envelopes, seals paraphernalia used to administer the drug, i.e., syringes, cotton swabs, alcohol swabs, spoons, razor blades, tubes."

While investigators did not appear to find any overtly psychoactive substances, they did find a veritable cornucopia of prescription drugs, dietary supplements, and syringes, with prescriptions in the name of Mr. Ray. In fact, the amount of products found wouldn't even fit in a typical cornucopia - a more accurate descriptor might be "suitcase full of supplements."

But it wasn't the supplements that caught my eye. It was... Testosterone cypionate, hGH, hCG, Arimidex (anastrozole) and finasteride (sold previously as Propecia or Proscar, but now available generically). OK, that's starting to make sense. Testosterone and human growth hormone (hGH) are anabolic agents. That is, they enhance the development of lean, skeletal muscle mass. The larger cocktail is a typical bodybuilding/anti-aging regimen that is also purported to enhance sex drive. But you might have some questions at first glance.

(For pharmacology students and professors, dissecting the endocrine pharmacology of this combination would make a great comprehensive qualifying examination question for graduate candidacy.)

There is a great deal of information on this case that just came out last week. Check following links for details.

Senior Jessica Ackermann, 17, said that her face, altered to simulate three years of meth abuse, resembled a zombie from Michael Jackson's music video for "Thriller." In the six-month simulation, her fair skin faded to an even lighter pallor. After one year of meth use, her forehead had pronounced wrinkles. Dark circles formed under her eyes. After three years, her eyes bulged, lesions covered her face, and her cheeks sunk and sagged.

But these reactions should not be taken as proof that the program will change anyone's behavior.

Research has found that fear-based tactics, such as the Montana Meth Project, don't prevent high-risk teens from deviant behavior, said Dennis Embry, a leading prevention scientist and advocate. [S]uch tactics can reinforce the thrill such teenagers are seeking through risky behavior. Those most likely to respond to programs like Face2Face are not prone to use drugs anyway, he said.

The city [of New York] spent $32,000 on 70,000 fliers that tell you how to shoot heroin, complete with detailed tips on prepping the dope and injecting it into your arm...

The 16-page pamphlet features seven comics-like illustrations and offers dope fiends such useful advice as "Warm your body (jump up and down) to show your veins," and "Find the vein before you try to inject."

It even encourages addicts to keep jabbing if their needles miss the mark.

"If you don't 'register,' pull out and try again," it says.

Denver now appears to have more marijuana dispensaries than liquor stores, Starbucks coffee shops or public schools, according to city and corporate records.

A push by City Council members to regulate the medical marijuana industry and restrict where dispensaries can locate appears to have prompted a surge in sales-tax license applications, city officials say.

As of last week, Denver had issued more than 300 sales-tax licenses for dispensaries. That number slightly exceeds the number of Starbucks coffee shops in Denver and surrounding areas, calculated within a 50-mile radius. It is roughly twice the number of the city's public schools. It exceeds the number of retail liquor stores in Denver by about a third.

Mile high city indeed!

As an excellent article on Erowid notes, the fact that cocaine is cut with only small amounts of levamisole (only 6% of the deal in one study) suggests that it is not being used just as a handy powder to thin out the coke - more likely, it is being added for a specific effect.

Levamisole is, in some respects, similar to nicotine and the drug binds to specific nicotine-triggered receptors for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and causes the nerve cell to respond. It turns out that this is most likely to increase activity in the body's 'fight-or-flight' system - the sympathetic nervous system...

As cocaine also stimulates the body, the two drugs could combine to cause additional arousal...

In the brain, levamisole likely also enhances the release of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that is known to encourage or excite the function of neurons.

Medical marijuana patients have a constitutional right to buy pot, not just use it.

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Christopher Cross sided with the CannaMart dispensary, which sued the city of Centennial after it was shut down in October.

Cross granted the dispensary's request for an injunction, which will prevent the city from keeping the dispensary closed while CannaMart challenges the city's argument that it can ban pot shops because they violated federal drug laws.

Southern California has become the best-selling market for Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda, a sugary drink laced with Kava, a South Pacific root purported to have sedative properties.

Matt Moody, a Denver nutritional supplement developer who created the beverage, said the name is an unabashed reference to weed, though the relaxant compounds in Kava are chemically unrelated to those in marijuana.

Along with new drinks like Slow Cow and Ex Chill, Mary Jane’s is part of a new group of so-called slow-down or anti-energy drinks, and are expected to be one of the top food trends of 2010, according to advertising agency J. Walter Thompson.