A review of Don Lattin's new book, 'The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America'.

Reams have been written about LSD guru Timothy Leary and his sidekick Richard Alpert (later Ram Dass) and the role they played in shaping the phenomenon that was the Sixties. But by expanding the circle to include two additional members of what he calls "The Harvard Psychedelic Club," Bay Area journalist and author Don Lattin deepens the context of what actually took place during those wild times and argues successfully for its lasting significance.

Huston Smith, now a genteel nonagenarian living in Berkeley, was an early experimenter with psychotropic substances and a respected scholar whose influence on Americans' understanding of world religions can be compared to that of Julia Child on French cooking. Andrew Weil was a generation behind the other three, an undergraduate whose disappointment in being excluded from the early LSD experiments inspired him to set the wheels in motion that eventually got Leary and Alpert kicked out of Harvard. Weil followed Leary's admonition to "Turn on and Tune in," but not to drop out. Instead, he graduated from Harvard Medical School and went on to become a founder of the alternative medicine and holistic health movements.

You can change the law in one election, but it is much harder to change people's attitudes towards pot. Michigan, you are fighting a losing battle.

Medical marijuana is legal in Michigan, but communities across the state are putting up barriers to block entrepreneurs from setting up shop in what critics say is a clear attempt to subvert the law.

Cities are taking vastly different approaches to regulating how medical pot is dispensed -- from bans in Livonia to months-long moratoriums on marijuana businesses in Grand Rapids and Saginaw, to an environment of open mindedness in Hazel Park, where city leaders see pot dispensaries as a potential revenue source.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says it is keeping an eye on the dizzying array of laws popping up across the state as local leaders from big cities to rural enclaves try to interpret Michigan's Medical Marijuana Act, which passed in 2008 by 63 percent and establishes the right of certified patients and caregivers to possess pot. Patients can legally use it.

For those of you following the story on a potential cocaine vaccine, we have another contender entering the ring:

The naturally-occurring bacterial enzyme Cocaine esterase, CocE, breaks down cocaine which reduced its addictive properties.

The discovery has been hailed as possible method of helping addicts get off the drug and could prevent deaths from overdose.

Scientists found the bacteria was only active in the body for a short while but a more stable version double mutant bacterial version known as DM CocE was more effective.

In the scientific trials on the ensyme, rats were trained to self-administer cocaine by pressing a button in their cage, mimicking the need for regular doses of the drug during addiction.

Rats treated with the double mutant form of CocE pressed the button to receive cocaine less often, suggesting that DM-CocE broke down the drug and dampened addiction.

Professor Friedbert Weiss, of The Scripps Research Institute which conducted the study, said: "These therapeutic approaches may therefore not be 'fail-safe' for reducing cocaine intake by determined users but long-acting forms of CocE represent potentially valuable treatment approaches not only for the prevention of cocaine-induced toxicity but also for ongoing cocaine abuse in humans."

The findings were published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Oh Hangover, where art thy sting, thy oppressive weight? What Brave New Alcohol is this where in Man suffers not?

An alcohol substitute that mimics its pleasant buzz without leading to drunkenness and hangovers is being developed by scientists.

But unlike alcohol its does not affect other parts of the brain that control mood swings and lead to addiction. It is also much easier to flush out of the body.

Finally because it is much more focused in its effects, it can also be switched off with an antidote, leaving the drinker immediately sober.

The new alcohol is being developed by a team at Imperial College London, led by Professor David Nutt, Britain's top drugs expert who was recently sacked as a government adviser for his comments about cannabis and ecstasy.

He envisions a world in which people could drink without getting drunk, he said.

No matter how many glasses they had, they would remain in that pleasant state of mild inebriation and at the end of an evening out, revellers could pop a sober-up pill that would let them drive home.

Prof Nutt and his team are concentrating their efforts on benzodiazepines, of which diazepam, the chief ingredient of Valium is one.

There goes AA's biz....

This affects zero percent of you I'm sure, but in case you hadn't heard, a ketamine recall that began earlier this summer was recently expanded:

The reported death of five cats prompted Teva Animal Health to widen its recall to include all vials of ketamine hydrochloride injection last week, yet the company’s technical services department insists that the action was caused merely by “increased medical events that were kind of unfounded.”

That statement, offered by a Teva technical services representative who did not give her name, has confused some veterinarians. On Dec. 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recall alert, instructing practitioners to stop using all 27 lots of Teva’s ketamine hydrochloride injection, USP CIII 100 mg/ml in 10 ml vials due to “serious adverse events.”....

According to the FDA, reported problems with Teva’s ketamine include lack of effect, prolonged effect and death.

A comic about a down-and-out high school algebra teacher on LSD who decides to quit and become a boat shop owner instead.

StopTheDrugWar.org weighs in with its top ten drug stories of the year, including mainstreaming marijuana, Sally D, the Mexican drug war, and more.

As 2009 prepares to become history, we look back at the past year's domestic drug policy developments. With the arrival of a highly popular (at least at first) new president, Barack Obama, and Democratic Party control of the levers of power in Congress, the drug reform gridlock that characterized the Bush years is giving way to real change in Washington, albeit not nearly quickly enough. A number of this year's Top 10 domestic drug stories have to do with the new atmospherics in Washington, where they have led, and where they might lead.

Thanks Jonathan!

This video from the BBC was sent to us by James.

More than 200m pounds British sterling worth of illegal drugs were seized at British ports and airports this year.

It means that tonnes of cocaine, cannabis and other smuggled drugs have to be kept under high security until they are used as evidence in court.

The BBC's Andy Tighe has been given unprecedented access to one of the secret warehouses used by the UK Border Agency.

More minor comic entertainment; click the link to see the full comic. The next one is pretty good too.

This is a 2005 short film by Chris Cunningham with music by Aphex Twin. It is not OK.

Cunningham has directed music videos for Autechre, Bjork, Squarepusher, and Madonna, as well as Aphex Twin, including the awesome and famous "Windowlicker" video. But this experimental film, which apparently started as a music video but took on a life of its own, is, uh, weirder than any of the others I've seen.