Happy New Year, or was it?
"New Year’s Eve celebrations this year were worse than any other as emergency services dealt with alcohol-related incidents and fights" Which begs the question; how did cannabis get mentioned in the article when there was absolutely no evidence to substantiate the fact cannabis was involved? Furthermore pretty much every Welsh cannabis user I know stayed in on New Years Eve, to AVOID the expected alcohol fueled trouble! Cannabis Experiences
"My personal experience from New Years Eve 07" said a spokesman for South Wales pro- cannabis reform website 'The Canna Zine', "as well as the experiences of a lot of cannabis users I associate with, was of a quiet night indoors with a group of close and trusted friends who were all of the opinion that going out anywhere in South Wales, on that night of all nights, was a recipe for trouble and strife. Trouble, at the hands of a generation hell-bent on drinking themselves into a blind raging stupor, then picking a fight with the nearest person who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." "Clearly Ms Mairs experiences of the South Wales drug scene are limited to reporting "her take" on stories relayed to her via the news wires, which is after-all her job. But obviously icWales and its staff has no real idea of whats actually happening on the streets of South Wales over and above that which it reads on its own website." As for whats going on in the illicit drug scene worldwide? They (icWales) are simply guessing. Rewriting the rhetoric and conjecture a succession of drug "tsars" have force fed generation after generation of young people throughout the "just say no" era, when in actual fact, people were "just saying yes", and in their millions. Whether you like it or not, Richard Brunstroms comments regarding drugs in general, and ecstasy specifically, make a lot of sense if you take the time to do some research into the subject. Something he has clearly done a lot of, and others clearly have not. Draconian America Supports Brunstroms claims
In an initiative which, for obvious reason, never received a lot of publicity on this side of the Atlantic the US administration under "G-dubya Bush" has been trialing ecstasy as a treatment for PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. A condition which is NOT limited to returning members of the armed forces who are mentally scarred; quite literally 'shell-shocked' as a result of fighting a war no-one can remember exactly why they are fighting. But before going any further let me clarify a point. The US administration is looking at using ecstasy in its purest form, unadulterated MDMA, in the treatment of people who are "battle scarred" from trauma's experienced in everyday life. Trauma's such as rape for instance. The human brain is a complex organism which has inbuilt, a number of self-defense mechanism's which it uses to help deal with high stress life-situations which can only be described as "out of the ordinary". One of these mechanism's is the ability to "close out" parts of the brain which hold memories of situations it would rather not have to deal with, a little like locking them in a filing cabinet which no-one can access once its locked shut. Not even the victim.
But in doing so, it (the brain) actually makes it difficult or impossible for the victim to achieve "closure". That point when a victim has come to terms with whats happened to them. Dealt with it. Drawn a line under it and is then able to move on in life. So scientists have recently started using pure MDMA to open up these locked areas of the brain in a bid to help people. Citizens just like you and I, in dealing with their own personal situations. Illicit drugs - a history
As has been proven time after time, any illicit drug which is said to cause social problems in society, has its roots firmly embedded in the global pharmaceutical industry. "Blue-chip" drug dealing is an industry worth multi-trillions of dollars annually, and the large pharma-corps can be held directly responsible for every single social drug issue which exists currently. Except cannabis of course, which in over 10,000 years in the service of mankind, has failed to be responsible for a single death as a result of "the cannabis" itself, and regardless of what the anti-cannabis lobby try to tell us. It happened with cocaine, which was heralded as a "wonder drug" when it was first synthesized, and it was sold over the counter in US drug-stores by the bucket-full, as a treatment for any number of disorders and ailments. One of its primary markets was in dealing with childrens tooth-ache, and American parents administered cocaine to their children with impunity, as a result of the marketing hype. 
"Instantaneous Cure"?
Cocaine
Andean Indians have chewed leaves of the coca plant for thousands of years, to decrease hunger and increase their stamina for work although chewing the leaves actually produces no “high" as we would know it. The coca leaf in its raw form is an inherently safe stimulant, safer in fact than coffee. It initially offered no danger to its user, until that is, the chemists got hold of it. To create cocaine as we know it today requires the use of "pre-cursor" chemicals, introduced into the equation by the pharmaceutical industry.
Cocaine was first extracted from coca in the 19th century and as mentioned earlier, was at first hailed as a miracle drug.
By the 1880s in the United States it was freely prescribed by physicians for such maladies as exhaustion, depression and morphine addiction and was available in many patent medicines, over the counter. After users and physicians began to realise its dangers, various regulations were enacted and its use decreased. By the 1920s the epidemic had all but 'abated'. Today however, in 2008, there are many family's suffering the tragedy of the loss of a loved one who died as a result of cocaine, who would take issue with this. But in actual fact it wasn't the cocaine itself which caused death, but the adulterants used by the drug distributors to "cut" the cocaine. Dilute it, adding weight, and monetary value to the deal. In the Republic of Ireland recently we heard tell of three young Irish citizens who, in unrelated incidents, were exposed to a bad batch of cocaine, cut with who knows what chemicals, and who dropped into coma's not long after ingesting the drug. None of the three, including beautiful young model Katy French, who had the world at her feet, ever woke from their slumber, and all three died not long after. More recently TV presenter Natasha Collins was found dead by her fiancee and fellow TV presenter Mark Speight, again, after ingesting cocaine cut with who knows what chemical agents and its a story not restricted to cocaine users. Heroin
Heroin, the hydrochloride of diacetylmorphine, was discovered by acetylation of morphine. 
The Bayer Company started the production of heroin in 1898 on a commercial scale. The first clinical results were so promising that heroin was considered a wonder drug by the scientists who were creating a market for the drug (can you see a "wonder drug" pattern forming here?). Indeed, heroin was more effective than current favourite-of-the-time codeine, in dealing with respiratory diseases amongst others. In the early 1910s morphine addicts "discovered" the euphorising properties of heroin and also the fact this effect was enhanced by intravenous administration. Soon after heroin became a narcotic drug and its abuse began to spread quickly.
Restrictions on its production, use and distribution were regulated by international treaties and the total ban on heroin production was also proposed, and implented.
As a result of the strict regulations the production and cosumption of heroin showed a significant decrease after 1931. At the same time, 'organised crime' recognized a world shortage of heroin and, recognising a demand which needed fulfilling, started the illicit production and trafficking of the substance and the rest as they say, is history. Not long after and the quantity of heroin seized by law enforcement agencies over the following decades rose sharply. As an indicator of the worldwide heroin market, the quantity of confiscated heroin has shown a tenfold increase since 1970. Heroin, prepared in clandestine ("kitchen" or "jungle") laboratories, is diluted ("cut") by every member of the illegal heroin distributing chain, i.e. smugglers, traffickers, dealers and vendors, using a cocktail of lethal chemicals which the end user has no idea of, until a bad reaction occurs. Yet back when heroin was in the hands of doctors, who were able to guarantee both the amounts prescribed as well as the purity of the drug, heroin was a relatively "safe" substance. Ecstasy
Back at the start of the year as well as at the start of this article, Richard Brunstrom made some comments regarding ecstasy, which had people with only a small (read:dangerous) amount of actual knowledge of the topic up in arms, as he was quoted as saying "ecstasy is safer than aspirin". But if you look the statistics of people who have been harmed as a result of aspirin, and the same as a result of ecstasy, you will see he is actually quite correct. Sorry Ms Mair, but you are the "plonker" in this equation! Or should that read "plonkette" in the best traditions of political correctness? N-methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyphenylisopropylamine
"The holders of the original patent for MDMA, were the German pharmaceutical giant, Merck. The same company who were fined $4.5 Billion dollars recently, for lying about "wonder drug" Vioxx . $4.5 Billion which got paid straight into G-dubya's war fund. The popular myth that it (MDMA) was marketed as an appetite suppressant is almost certainly untrue - the original purpose of the compound was as an intermediate in the manufacture of other products. A by-product.
Had it not been for the intervention of World War I, the world might have discovered Ecstasy sooner, but as it was, the substance was shelved and forgotten about. The American military showed a fleeting interest in it during the Fifties, when they were experimenting with psychedelic chemicals in search of a "truth serum". But they were all so off their heads on LSD that they failed to pay it any real attention. It was not until the Sixties that it was rediscovered by the legendary latter-day alchemist Alexander Shulgin. Alexander Shulgin
The son of Russian emigres, Shulgin first became interested in the power of mind-altering chemicals when he was given morphine for an injured hand.
Later, as a young biochemist, he experimented with mescaline and became fascinated by psychedelic drugs. While working for Dow Chemicals, he invented a profitable insecticide, and was rewarded with the opportunity to research anything he wanted. He set about synthesising and testing psychedelic chemicals on the most reliable guinea-pig he could find - himself. A bit like Mr Brunstrom and his "Tazar" experiment I guess. Although Dow eventually became uncomfortable with Shulgin's work and withdrew their support, he was able to continue, with the blessing of the US Government, thanks to his discrete approach and scientifically valuable results. However, his license was withdrawn in 1994, soon after the publication of the landmark classic PIHKAL (Phenethylamines I Have Known And Loved), which contains detailed information of some 179 compounds he synthesised and sampled, number 109 being Ecstasy. Shulgin didn't so much "rediscover" the compound, rather he picked up the ball and ran with it. In 1967, one of his graduate students brought it to his attention, having experimented with it herself. After witnessing uniformly positive results in himself and his associates, in 1977 Shulgin introduced it to Leo Zoff, a psychologist friend nearing retirement. When he tried the drug for himself, Zoff was so impressed that he deferred his retirement, and instead went around the country distributing MDMA to other psychologists. It is estimated that some 4,000 professionals were introduced to the drug in this way. The psychiatric profession greeted MDMA with quiet enthusiasm. Following the hi-jacking of LSD by the hippie counter-culture and its subsequent criminalisation, everyone involved was keen that this new "wonder-drug" (there's that term again....canna zine) should be kept under wraps. That didn't stop a large number of practitioners experimenting on themselves and their patients, with some very striking results. However, few formal papers were ever written on the work of these pioneering therapists because of the drug's potential for controversy. Needless to say, MDMA didn't stay secret for long. A member of The Boston Group, the company that manufactured the then-legal drug for therapeutic purposes, spotted a whole new, untapped market for it, and enlisted a bunch of cocaine dealers to help him set up shop. Pretty soon, the spin-off company was selling XTC in bars and clubs, and on credit card hot-lines. By the time it was finally made illegal in the States in 1985, it had become a mainstay of New York's hedonistic gay clubs"
verbatim: ephidrina.org Seldom if ever, will the compound MDMA be found responsible for the deaths of people ingesting it when the quantity and the purity of the drug are carefully controlled, and a recent cover story published by respected US publication the Washington Post , broke the story that the US government were actually using MDMA as Alexander Shulgin meant it to be used; as a treatment for psychological disorders. But as a result of the prohibition of the substance in 1985, the only MDMA available on the street has been created in dirty, unhygienic council estate kitchens by drop out chemists who recognised a far more lucrative means to earning a living, synthesizing MDMA using a cockatil of illicit and licit chemicals. DIY alchemy, which started, as history proves has always been the case, as a result of the pharmaceutical industry looking at more ways to capture and control the minds of the public at large. Prescription Pain-Killers
The United States and Canada are currently waging a war with the next generation of industry produced and highly addictive drugs. Prescription pain killers such as hydrocodone (OxyContin, Vicodin etc) are now more widespread as an abused substance, than cocaine, heroin and cannabis put together. In the United States, and according to Dr Christopher Kent, D.C., J.D. , "Recreational drugs, including cocaine and heroin, are responsible for an estimated 10,000-20,000 American deaths per year. While this represents a serious public health problem, it is a "smokescreen" for America's real drug problem. America's "war on drugs" is directed at the wrong enemy. It is obvious that interdiction, stiff mandatory sentences, and more vigorous enforcement of drug laws have failed.
The reason is simple. Cause and effect have been reversed. The desire to solve problems by taking drugs is a product of our culture.
When a child is taught by loving parents that the appropriate response to pain or discomfort is taking a pill, it is obvious that such a child, when faced with the challenges of adolescence, will seek comfort by taking drugs. Which brings us firmly into the "now"! United Kingdom "swamped" with drugs
While the United Kingdom struggles to get to grips with a new outbreak of Class A drug abuse, the prescription drug epidemic is only just taking hold, and when it hits our shores, propogated by the social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, which facilitate the movement of information across the globe in nano-seconds, how are the politicians and law enforcement agencies going to deal with it? The fact is our children no longer need to leave home to score a "high". They can find everything they need in the medicine cabinet at home, put there by the pharmaceutical industry. Pocket Money
Out on the street the likes of Tramadol, Vicodin and OxyContin are currently priced at a premium. And when the drug user can no longer find the money (or the pills) to feed the highly addictive pill habit, there are now bags of heroin on sale in South Wales for only £10 per bag. Heroin which has been "cut" with who knows what, which replaces the pain-killers with a product which sits conveniently in the "pocket money" price bracket. Prohibiting the sale and regulation of drugs - all drugs, is the primary driving force behind this drug boom and no matter how many journalists such as Angharad Mair write "knee-jerk" reactions to visionary statements (in years to come, when the next generation of politicians leaves university they will be seen as visionary) like those made by Chief Constable Brunstrom and others of his ilk, (he is not alone in his thoughts) , the fact remains as long as drugs stay in the hands of organised criminals who have absolutely no issue with how many die as a result of illicit drugs in 2008, the numbers will continue to rise sharply. People will continue to take drugs and regardless of what they are told regarding the risks. We already know this, and telling people to say no, or risk being locked up in prison, has absolutely no effect in the big picture. European Union not such a "union" where drug policy concerned
Across Europe, our close neighbours are already dealing with the drug issue in a number of different ways and as a result of the Netherlands' gutsy approach to the social issues surrounding drugs, they are about to be nominated for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize as a result of their liberal drug policies, which puts Holland firmly at the "bottom of the league " when it comes to numbers of drug addicts per capita of population, and regardless of how the United Nations tries to disguise the fact . Portugal, Germany, Czech Republic and Belgium have recently followed suit, decriminalising a small amout of cannabis for personal consumption or for medical applications, which has meant a saving in quite literally billions of Euro's in enforcement costs, which can now be re-deployed in the fight against opioid derived drugs such as heroin, cocaine and pills. The longer the United Kingdom ignores these proven policies for success in the fight against drugs the more of our young people will continue to die year on year. But its a trend Prime Minister Gordon Brown could change almost over night, with the help of Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom and his revolutionary comments concerning taking drugs out of the hands of criminals. These liberal policies really work. But any delay in implementing such a plan, and every resulting new death which comes along as a result of drug prohibition, will stain the Labour party's hands with blood, at the behest of the the tobacco, the alcohol, and the pharmaceutical industries, and their all-powerful, big spending political lobbying organisations. The real reason the United Kingdom won't remove cannabis from the drug war theatre. Canna Zine - Daily zine for the global cannabis scene - Join us! http://cannazine.co.uk - Bookmark the Canna Zine and check back daily. Set up in February 2007, the Canna Zine is the first-in-the-world news agency dedicated to the global issues surrounding cannabis and hemp. To post your free cannabis or hemp press release, sign up for a free account on http://pr.cannazine.co.uk , post your news release, and the Canna Zine will do the rest. Canna Zine - more 'evolution' than revolution! A new era in postitive response communications. http://cannazine.co.uk | 
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