Forty-five years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his hippie followers to "turn on, tune in and drop out", researchers have found that magic mushrooms do change a user's personality – for the better. The fungi have long been known for their psychedelic effects, but far from damaging the brain, the hallucinogenic drug they contain...
Following wins for marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado on Tuesday night, a former Seattle police chief and a former Denver police officer sat down with Raw Story to discuss what the laws will actually do and how they think things will change. “Today is a great day for America!” exclaimed Tony Ryan , a 36-year veteran of the Denver police force. “It’s...
Since President Nixon began America’s War on Drugs in 1970, it has cost the U.S. $1 trillion. Sure, it has cost a lot, but has it stemmed Americans’ use of illicit drugs? Not really. Despite spending nearly $800 per second in an attempt to stymie the drug trade, many drugs, including cocaine, have actually become less expensive. And among high school seniors, drug use has increased...
We're still waiting on the new Kony 2012 video, supposedly slated to go live later today, that will answer all of our concerns about Invisible Children's finances and goals, but we have some idea of what we can expect: earnest proclamations about how \"uncomplicated\" it is to bring Joseph Kony down and reassurances that Invisible Children does spend some of their money (37%) on-the-ground in...
In the midst of the students and conservative stalwarts in business attire at CPAC, Howard Wooldridge stands out like a sore thumb — but not because of his cowboy hat and big belt buckle. It’s his T-shirt, which loudly proclaims “COPS SAY LEGALIZE POT ASK ME WHY.” And people do, one and two at a time, in the convention hall and the hotel lobby at the Marriott Wardman...
As I’ve written about before , America’s election season degrades mainstream political discourse even beyond its usual lowly state. The worst attributes of our political culture — obsession with trivialities, the dominance of horserace “reporting,” and mindless partisan loyalties — become more pronounced than ever. Meanwhile, the actually consequential acts...
I represent LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) an international nonprofit educational organization that was created to give voice to all the current and former members of law enforcement who believe the war on drugs is a failed policy and who wish to support alternative policies that will lower the incidence of death, disease, crime and addiction - four categories of harm that were...