Mike Jay writes to share his latest essay on turn of the century views on cocaine.At one point in time cocaine was all the rage, being used in patent medicines and soda fountains, and creeping into the literary mind of the world's most famous sleuth.

Cocaine was the great pharmaceutical success story of the last decades of the nineteenth century. In a few short years, it went from a minor item in specialist catalogues to a major seller in a huge range of preparations in high-street chemists, grocers and general stores. It was hailed as a miracle of modern medical science, a panacea for all manner of minor ailments -- but also, increasingly, as a dangerous and addictive novelty, a social menace and even a new ‘scourge of humanity’. During this period of the cocaine boom -- in retrospect, the euphoric high before the crash -- its impact on the public consciousness is vividly illuminated by the enduring literary character who emerged from its golden age: Sherlock Holmes.

HighDeas lets you post all the wacky ideas you get while stoned. Some of them are useful, and others are just plain wishful thinking:

So townships could build stations that do nothing but pump weed smoke through some sort of plumbing to individual houses and there could be a faucet with a hose that you could just toke out of, and you'll pay for it on your utility bill.

What's your high idea?

I haven't been following Harry Potter mania, but a recent article about the latest Potter flick caught my attention. Apparently in the newest film (and presumably the book it's based on), the Potter crowd are growing up - and turning to alcohol to calm their nerves. This very serious NYTimes piece examines the possible impact such depictions might have on the film's young audience:

In one scene, Harry, Ron and Hermione order butterbeers at the pub, and Hermione ends up with a frothy mustache. While it’s never been entirely clear whether butterbeer is alcoholic, it seems to have an effect on the normally uptight Hermione, who acts tipsy walking home as she throws her arms around the boys.
As the mother of a 10-year-old Harry Potter fan, I was taken aback by the reaction of the young people in the theater. They snickered at Hermione’s goofy grin and, later, guffawed when an inebriated Hagrid passed out. While I don’t think my daughter fully understood what was going on, I wondered how other parents, educators and addiction experts would react.

Liz Perle, a mother of two teenage boys and the editor in chief of Common Sense Media, which reviews books, movies and Web content aimed at children, said she was bothered by so many scenes showing alcohol as a coping mechanism.

“Hermione is such a tightly wound young lady, but she’s liberated by some butterbeer,” she said. “The message is that it gives you liquid courage to put your arms around the guy you really like but are afraid to.”

Naturally not everyone shares a worried perspective:

Other parents were less concerned. Daniel Isaacs, a New York advertising copywriter, said his 9-year-old daughter didn’t notice the drinking scenes. “The Harry Potter universe is not our own,” he said. “Trying to put 2009 American norms into play seems kind of silly.

“Plus, in a world where dark wizards are kidnapping or killing people on a regular basis, a little under-age drinking is the least of their problems.”

But for me, of course, the most priceless quote in the article comes from the movie studio responsible for this madness:

Warner Brothers, which released the movie, said the drinking scenes were “open to different interpretations.”

“One of our main objectives in bringing the Harry Potter films to the screen has been to remain as faithful to their original source material as created by J. K Rowling,” the company wrote in an e-mail message, adding that the wizarding world “should not be held to the same standards as the real world.”

From the moment Harvard professor Timothy Leary ate magic mushrooms in 1960, his life would never be the same. Advocating the use of LSD and other mind altering drugs to expand consciousness, Leary transformed himself from an eccentric Harvard professor into the leader of the 1960s psychedelic counter-culture movement. Leary's influence helped shape the music, fashion and politics of a new generation. He defied authority and fought the government at every turn, earning the title, in President Nixon's words, as "the most dangerous man in America."

To commemorate the release of the new G.I. Joe movie, here's a piece I wrote back in 1999 for the old Resonance Project magazine (the precursor to Trip magazine, dearly departed) describing the creation of Team Altered State:

* * * * *

I was doing a lot of freelance consulting in those days, offering my particular brand of so-called "insight" to whoever was paying the most. I'd spent most of my career working for high-powered entertainment conglomerates, getting their stupid clients out of trouble, finding ever more creative ways to publicize and promote movies that offered absolutely no value to the human race, and feeling pretty good about the fat paychecks I promptly wasted on horrible weekends full of taxing debauchery. So imagine my surprise when an InfiniTek representative called me out of the blue, requesting I fly to London and meet with their Board of Directors for a project that would ultimately change my life.

InfiniTek was at the time the leading global pharmaceuticals and advanced weaponry conglomerate. By then, however, the pharmaceuticals industry was in a deep recession. No new diseases had come along in at least eight months, and all the old ones were well in hand. It had become extremely apparent to InfiniTek's upper management that a change would have to take place in the political climate of the world if profit margins were to return to previous heights and if growth was to return to previous astonishing rates. It was no longer enough to be the leading supplier of every kind of medicinal pharmaceutical you could imagine; no, it was now obvious that so-called "recreational pharmaceuticals" were the key to answering all of the company's serious cash flow problems. But how to get around the ridiculous War on Drugs still being waged by the United States government? How to circumvent the absurd propaganda machine that the United States had set in motion decades earlier?

"What we need," said InfiniTek's chairman of the board, [name deleted for security reasons], "is a counter-campaign, a public relations campaign that will target the next generation of recreational pharmaceutical users and open the ballgame wide up for competitive, aggressive marketing of psychedelic substances to the world. Mind you, I have no interest in the 'hard' drugs; no one wants to compete with the CIA that directly, after all. But the fact remains: it's time to open the floodgates, introduce significant and powerful alternatives to the goddamn monopoly that alcohol has on the public consciousness. There are other ways to alter human consciousness for fun and profit, dammit, and InfiniTek needs to be at the forefront!"

Stephen Colbert reviews the dangers of birth control (a controlled substance, natch!) in this edition of "Nailed 'Em":

[Via Feministing.]

And in the music department, a couple tracks crossed our path recently that seemed worth calling to your attention. The first is a track called "Datura" by the band Or, The Whale. I might call this an overly romanticized view of the deliriant experience, but then I've never tried the stuff, so YMMV:

Or, The Whale - Datura

And this delightful story by Keller Williams should ring true for any of you who have your own stories of inadvertently smuggling contraband through airport security (thanks Richard!):

Keller Williams - Doobie In My Pocket

Finally, here's a nice fan-made video that wound up getting promoted by the band, which caps things off with some nice old school footage that some of you will probably recognize. It's for a song called "Drugs" by The Black Lips:

NORML took an old photo of cool-dude college freshman Obama puffing away -- on a regular cigarette, mind you -- and tweaked it just ever so slightly to fit their message: "Yes We Cannabis."

Holy Shit Storm Batman! NORML has whipped up the dawgs at the Admin!

Oops... wrong headline... Druggies Target Children... With strawberry flavored cocaine? Another Wing Nut Loose in Amerika. Don't miss the slideshow of drugs disguised as candy. And the comments from this article are GOLDEN.

There's a new drink being sold in Arizona -- but why are people comparing it to pot?