President Evo Morales said Saturday that he plans to make it legal for Bolivia's farmers to grow small parcels of coca plants.

Morales, who also heads a coca growers association, said he wants to permit individual farmers to cultivate coca plots of 40 meters by 40 meters (130 feet by 130 feet). Coca leaf is the key ingredient of cocaine.

The president predicted the measure will be enacted, noting he won re-election Dec. 6 with 64 percent of the vote and commands a strong majority in the national legislature.

Morales said Bolivia's anti-drug laws allow the cultivation of a total of 12,000 hectares (29,640 acres) of coca for traditional uses, but make no provision for what individual farmers can grow.

Thanks Luke!

Steve Martin & Paul Simon - Silver Bells

A ban on several drugs known as "legal highs" has come into force. The substances, including GBL and BZP, become Class C drugs, with a possible two-year jail sentence for possession...

Synthetic cannabis has also been banned and become a Class B drug. Possession of products such as "spice", a herbal mixture laced with psycho-active chemicals, now carries a maximum five-year jail term.

Fifteen anabolic steroids, associated with drug abuse in sport, have also been classified as Class C.

And what about pixie sticks full of sugar? Kids eat those things like drugs. Or what about coffee and tea? Practically the whole nation of England is addicted to caffeine. I think we should ban those next.

Thanks sd&m!

3) The Beckley Foundation/Imperial College Programme of Psychedelic Studies: Using Pharmacological fMRI to Measure the Effects of Psilocybin on Brain Activity and Blood Flow.

Researchers: Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, Amanda Feilding and Prof. David Nutt

The first project in our new programme: This recently completed pilot study is the first ever UK-based scientific study on the effects of psilocybin in human volunteers, and the first UK-based study on the effects of a classic hallucinogen or 'psychedelic' drug in recent times. It is a landmark project which we expect to deliver important new insights into the mechanisms of action of psychedelic drugs, the neurophysiology of the drug-induced state and the nature of this state in the wider context of human consciousness. The write-up of the pilot work will soon be submitted to the highly-regarded Journal of Psychopharmacology.

4) Two collaborations of the Beckley Foundation Psychedelic Programme are progressing well

Both the first scientific study in recent times with LSD in human participants at Berkeley, California, and the first study using psilocybin as an aid to psychotherapy in overcoming treatment-resistant addiction at Johns Hopkins, are progressing carefully and satisfactorily. The renaissance of psychedelic research is truly underway...

This is from their Christmas letter, which also touts their new new online magazine at brainwaving.com

Luke writes to tell us about this fascinating lecture on fractals and the fractal structures of African society.

Fox 11 news in Los Angeles profiles H2W, a posh pot lounge for upscale smokers.

"If every elected official who ever smoked marijuana voted to legalize it would probably be legalized in an instant. We recognize that, like alcohol, it's something that should be regulated not treated as a criminal activity and I think that's where the citizens of Seattle want us to go."

Bravo.

Researchers randomly assigned 240 participants with major depressive disorder, or MMD, to take a placebo for eight weeks, paroxetine for 16 weeks or receive cognitive therapy for 16 weeks. Their personalities and depressive symptoms were assessed before, during and after treatment. After treatment with paroxetine or with cognitive therapy, responders were followed for a year to assess depression relapse.

Patients taking paroxetine experienced moderately greater depression improvement than those receiving placebo. In contrast, changes in neuroticism and in extraversion were far greater for patients taking paroxetine, relative to those receiving placebo, with cognitive therapy in between. Patients taking paroxetine reported 6.8 times as much change on neuroticism and 3.5 times as much change on extraversion as placebo patients.

"Our findings lead us to propose a new model of antidepressant mechanism," said lead author Tony Z. Tang of Northwestern University. "Our data suggests that modern antidepressants work partly by correcting key personality risk factors of depression."

Not only is high neuroticism a key risk factor of depression, but studies also have found substantial overlap in the genes associated with high neuroticism and the genes associated with depression. Also, both neuroticism and extraversion are associated with the brain's serotonin system, which is targeted by these popular antidepressants.

To summarize: More serotonin is linked to less worrying and more socializing, people who worry less and socialize more are generally happier. If SSRIs make more serotonin available, then changes in personality drive changes in mood and behavior, not the other way around.

A multi-millionaire rabbi who admitted spending a 1,000 pounds a week "on the best cocaine in town" has been ordered to do 60 days of community work. Rabbi Baruch Chalomish, 54, of Salford, admitted one count of possessing cocaine and was found guilty of a further count of possession. The judge at Manchester Crown Court told Chalomish that his "secret life had been exposed".

The rabbi said he took the drugs to try to forget his wife's death. The rabbi also admitted he paid prostitutes to have sex with him.

But as well as spending thousands of pounds on cocaine, Chalomish also delivered money-stuffed envelopes to those less fortunate than himself, the court heard.

Police raided the city centre apartment he used for his drug and sex-fuelled parties on 5 January. They discovered cocaine in the bedroom, on a glass tray and in a bowl, along with rolled up banknotes used for snorting the drug and credit cards used for chopping it into lines.

The Mexican government is claiming an important victory against organised crime after killing a drug baron during a massive navy swoop on his hideout in the city of Cuernavaca, just south of the capital.

Arturo Beltran Leyva, who called himself the Boss of Bosses, died with six of his men inside an exclusive residential complex where he had holed up as hundreds of sailors closed in.

One sailor also died and three people were detained in the operation that began yesterday afternoon with special forces rappelling down from helicopters and carrying out door-to-door identity checks and weapons searches.

The gunfight started after dark when most residents had already been evacuated and lasted around two hours as Beltran Leyva and his bodyguards inside a second floor apartment tried to shoot their way out or fight to the death. Amid the automatic gunfire the gangsters reportedly threw at least a dozen grenades before succumbing to the navy operation.

I bet he even said, "Say hello to my little friend!" as he opened fire.