This ketamine research study came out last month but it slipped my attention until now. Here is the summary from the press release.

The first ever large-scale, longitudinal study of ketamine users has been published online in the journal Addiction. With Ketamine (K, Special K) use increasing faster than any other drug in the UK (British Crime Survey, 2008) this research showing the consequences of repeated ketamine use provides valuable information for users and addiction professionals alike.

For the study, researchers from University College London followed 150 people over a year to see if changes in their ketamine use could predict changes in their psychological well-being, memory and concentration. Of these 150 people, 30 were taking large quantities of the drug nearly every day, 30 were taking it ‘recreationally’ (once or twice a month), 30 were former users, 30 used illicit drugs apart from ketamine and 30 did not use any illicit drugs.

The authors found that the heavy ketamine users were impaired on several measures, including verbal memory. Short term memory and visual memory in this group decreased over the year as ketamine use increased. These individuals also performed more poorly overall on verbal memory, displaying symptoms such as forgetfulness and experiencing difficulty recalling conversations and people’s names.

The amount of increase in ketamine use over the course of one year was also a source of concern. Hair analysis showed that ketamine levels among recreational users doubled at follow-up compared to initial testing, a pattern seen with other addictive drugs. Ketamine levels in the frequent using group did not change across the year, but this group was already using up to ten grams per day at initial testing.

Interestingly, the recreational ketamine users and ex ketamine users did not differ from non-drug-taking controls on memory, attention and measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that occasional ketamine use does not lead to prolonged harms to cognitive function and that any damage may be reversed when people quit using the drug. However, all groups of ketamine users showed evidence of unusual beliefs or mild ‘delusions’, with these being greatest in the frequent users and least in ex-users (i.e. it appeared dependent on the amount of the drug used). It is not clear to what extent this is a pre-existing difference in ketamine users, something that develops from using the drug or a mixture of both.

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George Michael has admitted smoking crack cocaine and that he still enjoys anonymous casual sex with other men in public toilets.

The former Wham singer has spoken out about his use of the Class A drug and claims he has smoked it "once or twice".

He said: "I've done different things at different times that I shouldn't have done, once or twice, you know. Of course, nobody wants to regularly smoke crack."

Last year, the 46-year-old pop star was found by police in public toilets in London's Hampstead Heath with crack cocaine on him.

When Michael was asked whether he had taken the substance at the time, he revealed: "Was I? On that occasion, yeah."

Michael also admitted he has been working hard to cut his drug use down from 25 spliffs - the term commonly used to describe cannabis-laced cigarettes - a day.

He explained to Britain's Guardian newspaper: "I probably do about seven or eight a day now."

If this story sounds familiar, that's because it was run two years ago and nothing has changed. You go George.

So what we think of as "electronic dance music" is roughly the convergence of a few different musical lineages. Of course there's the tribal rhythms found in many parts of the world; african drumming for example. There's Indian sitar music and the like, with the penetrating, trance-inducing harmonics. Chicago-style house music, at least, is heavily influenced by gospel singing. Those are probably pretty obvious. Another, less obvious but very central influence comes through the minimalist composer Steve Reich, who studied Balinese Gamelan music:

That is a pretty amazing band right there, if you ask me. Watch carefully what the player of the marimba-like instrument (actually a "metallophone") does with his other hand!

Anyway, there is a certain unique kind of rhythm to this music which you can still hear particularly in Detroit-style techno and its descendants. Reich was an explicit influence for a lot of the pioneers of electronic music. Wikipedia says:

In featuring a sample of Reich's Electric Counterpoint (1987) the British ambient techno act the Orb exposed a new generation of listeners to the composer's music with its 1990 production “Little Fluffy Clouds.” Further acknowledgment of Reich's influence on various electronic dance music producers came with the release in 1999 of the Reich Remixed tribute album which featured reinterpretations by artists such as DJ Spooky, Kurtis Mantronik, Ken Ishii, and Coldcut, among others.

I wasn't expecting to like this video, but then I realized that the little plastic pigs in the video aren't really a metaphor for drugs, but are, in fact, the actual drugs these people are snorting and smoking. And that just took me back to the good old days, you see.

You can get a free MP3 of this tune from the microsite listed here.

Behold the glitter fist! [Vid is NSFW.]

Ripped from the tabloids:

Rachel Uchitel, the first woman who was romantically linked in the Tiger Woods affair scandal was reportedley paid off to keep quiet about the situation. Now RadarOnline is reporting that Uchitel told friends that she and Tiger would do drugs before having sex. Whether it is a coincidence or not, Jamiee Grubbs, another of Tiger's alleged mistresses also worked for a medical marijuana facility.

Rachel Uchitel reportedley told one friend she liked to have sex with Tiger while on the drug Ambien. Saying, 'You know you have crazier sex on Ambien - you get into that Ambien haze. We have crazy Ambien sex.'"

Ambien is a sedative used to aid in sleep deprivation. Uchitel reportedly told many of her friends about her "ambien sex" with Tiger Woods claiming that Woods also took the ambien.

The Denver City Council is considering an ordinance that required medical marijuana dispensaries to obtain business licenses. It's part of a proposal to regulate the dispensaries in Denver.

As part of the ordinance, shops that sell marijuana-laced food products would have to follow health regulations. Owners would also have to undergo criminal background checks.

Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown said he believes it's important to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries because they are providing a medical service. "We're going to regulate their hours, their locations, in terms of schools. Not only in terms of schools, but also in terms of spacing. Do we really want five dispensaries on the same block?" said Brown.

Can you believe this discussion is even happening? And so marijuana becomes part of the regulatory machine.

Feels good, and then the next day...

Failures in British drug policy yet again delivers a boost to extremism, this time helping recruitment as well as finance and logistics.

Urfan Azad was a heroin dealer and an addict. He was introduced to me as a former gangster. He had been feared and respected on his home turf in Reading, Berkshire, UK. Ten years ago, Urfan reached rock bottom. He was almost killed in a knife attack by rival dealers and he was desperate to change his life. He felt unable to get the help he needed from British drug services. So Urfan decided to seek alternative therapy in Pakistan, at a madrassa, an Islamic religious school.

Urfan recalled how each day began long before dawn with a roll call, then prayer. "Two o'clock in the morning was not a good time for drug dealers to get up in the UK," he said with a wry smile. "To get spiritually started in the morning, we used to chant so loud. It was as if we were releasing our illness from ourselves. It sounded like horses galloping."

As a punishment for sleeping in, he was once forced to strip down to his waist in the pouring rain, run up to the top of the mountain and sit there for eight hours. "That soon broke my 'gangster' drug dealer attitude," he said.

Urfan said not everyone managed to kick the habit. But for him the important thing was the combination of discipline, religious learning and prayer. "You are continuously practising your religion. All day, all night. Sooner or later God helps you."

Then Urfan revealed another side to the madrassa. He pointed to a flat surface the size of a football pitch along the mountain slope. It was here that the addicts and criminals were given military training, he says. "We were taught to crawl on the ground with guns. They made me strip an AK-47 and put it back together again."

You knew it had to happen eventually.