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Sunday 2 November 2014

Drug Abuse

Sarpa salpa is a hallucinogenic fish that was used as a recreational drug during the Roman Empire.

The Great Binge is the period in history covering roughly 1870 to 1914. It is so known because of the widespread use and availability of narcotics such as absinthe, cocaine, heroin, morphine, and opium.

Until the 1914 Harrison Narcotics Act, there were no legal restrictions on the importation or use of opium in the United States. Medicines often contained opium without any warning label. This first federal attempt to deal with drug abuse also banned the use of heroin.

Corky retired from the U.S. Customs Service in Miami in 1991. The golden cocker spaniel, rescued from an Illinois animal shelter three years earlier, had sniffed out $18-million in drugs.

Until 1967 it wasn't illegal for Olympic athletes to use drugs to enhance their performance during competition.

Alexander Shulgin (June 17, 1925 – June 2, 2014), "the godfather of psychedelics", he had a license from the DEA to produce any schedule 1 substance. He is noted for the discovery, synthesis and personal bioassay of over 230 psychoactive compounds before the license was revoked.

Alexander Shulgin at book signing in Oakland, California in December 2011

MDMA ("ecstasy", "mandy" or "molly")  first appeared sporadically as a street drug in the early 1970s after its counterculture analogue, MDA, became criminalized in the United States in 1970. It began to be used therapeutically in the late-1970s after Shulgin tried it himself, in 1977 and subsequently introduced it to psychologists in the late 1970s for psychopharmaceutical use.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, MDMA as "ecstasy" was widely used in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, becoming an integral element of rave culture and other psychedelic/dancefloor-influenced music scenes, such as Madchester and Acid House.

Fleetwood Mac seriously considered thanking their drug dealer in their album credits for their 1977 LP Rumours. They ultimately decided against it after their drug dealer was murdered.

Pencils produced in the 1990s with the anti-drug slogan "Too Cool to Do Drugs" were recalled because, when sharpened, they read "Do Drugs" .

On January 1, 2023, Oregon became the first US state to allow adult use of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Molly, while defined as pure MDMA powder, is almost always mixed with unknown, dangerous chemicals.

For much of human history, people got their drugs from nature. Marijuana comes from the cannabis plant, cocaine from coca leaves, heroin from poppies and magic mushrooms from er, mushrooms.  In the 21st century, most damaging drugs do not come from plants. They are synthetic — manufactured in a lab, usually requiring no plants at all.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used as a pain medication, which is also used as a recreational drug, often mixed with heroin or cocaine. 100 times more potent than heroin, Fentanyl is measured in millionth of grams by doctors, and a dose the size of a grain of sand will kill you. 

Fentanyl and meth, which is also produced in labs, made 2021 the worst year for drug overdoses in US history: The full-year death toll topped 100,000 for the first time, Annual Drug overdose mortalities increased from 36,450 in 2008 to 107,000 in 2021.

The FBI and many other federal agencies have strict hiring criteria, which includes a ban on drug use. As per their policies, applicants cannot have used marijuana in the last three years and for harder drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, the ban is for 10 years. This requirement can be a challenge in hiring skilled cybersecurity professionals, as the use of these substances is widespread in the tech industry.

Singapore gives random drug tests to tourists and locals before they can enter the country. They must be negative of any illegal drugs before they can enter.

South Korea has strict laws regarding drug use, possession, and trafficking. South Korean citizens are subject to these laws regardless of whether they consumed drugs in South Korea or abroad. The extraterritorial application of drug laws means that if a South Korean citizen uses drugs in a country where they are legal, they can still face legal consequences upon their return to South Korea. These consequences can include criminal charges, fines, and imprisonment. 

Source New York Times

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