Weird News

[jinx]

No scarves, dahling.

[xoxoxoBruce]

At least the ones running the prisons have.

Prisoners who have beaten their drug dependency while incarcerated are being given substances such as methadone – the highly addictive heroin substitute – before their release, according to reports.
The process, called "retoxification", is allegedly designed to boost the tolerance of former addicts who are deemed likely to start using drugs on their release, to minimise the risk of them taking an overdose.

This has been going on for five years in England and Scotland, even at young offenders' institutions.

link

[SamIam]

Well, that's nice. At least the Brits don't have to step over the bodies of all those o'ded junkies. I wonder if the program is limited to those who had an addiction before being arrested or if anyone can sign up to get a whole new addiction?

Methadone is so easy to get here that its ridiculous. I had an aquaitance a little while back who was taking massive doses of the stuff obtained quite legally thru her doctor. The catch was that she had never been a heroin addict - she just lied about it because she wanted to have a legal way of staying high on a pharma pure subtance.

IMO we might as well legalize heroin and forget about the methadone program.

[DanaC]

heroin's a damn sight safer.

[SamIam]

I know methadone is supposed to be safer, but after spending some time with a woman on massive amounts of the stuff, I have my doubts. When she drove under the influence of methadone (which meant every time she got in the car), she was a terrifying driver. She finally totaled her car, but fortunately no was injured in the accident. I could go on... and on.

I have read studies which conclude that most of heroin's bad effects come from the fact that it is illegal. So you get inconsistent dosages and/or heroin that was cut with lethal substances. Clean needles are hard to obtain legally, too.

Legalize the stuff, the price goes down, you know what your getting every time, so there's less chance of o.d.s, make clean needles legal, and the government could put up an excise tax on it and use that money to set up treatment centers.

Just saying.

[HungLikeJesus]

SYDNEY -- An Australian publisher is reprinting 7,000 cookbooks over a recipe for pasta with "salt and freshly ground black people."

Penguin Group Australia's head of publishing, Bob Sessions, acknowledged the proofreader for the Pasta Bible should have picked up the error, but called it nothing more than a "silly mistake." The "Pasta Bible" recipe for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto was supposed to call for black pepper.

"We're mortified that this has become an issue of any kind and why anyone would be offended, we don't know," he told The Sydney Morning Herald for a story printed Saturday. "We've said to bookstores that if anyone is small-minded enough to complain about this ... silly mistake, we will happily replace (the book) for them."

The reprint will cost Penguin 20,000 Australian dollars ($18,500), but books already in stores will not be recalled because doing so would be "extremely hard," Sessions said. There was no answer at Penguin's offices Sunday.

[DanaC]

Methadone isn't consideres to be 'safer' I don't think. If anything it seems to be well established that it is more dangerous unless taken in a highly controlled manner. It just doesn't give the 'high' that heroin does and is politically more palatable than giving pure heroin to addicts.

methadone is much easier to overdose on and far more deadly in the case of such an overdose. It's also more addictive ( iirc)

[jinx]

Originally Posted by SamIam

I have read studies which conclude that most of heroin's bad effects come from the fact that it is illegal. So you get inconsistent dosages and/or heroin that was cut with lethal substances. Clean needles are hard to obtain legally, too.

Legalize the stuff, the price goes down, you know what your getting every time, so there's less chance of o.d.s, make clean needles legal, and the government could put up an excise tax on it and use that money to set up treatment centers.

Do you think that the availability of opium in China during the 1830's was good for them, as a nation and/or as individuals?

[SamIam]

No. Absolutely not. But the current war on drugs in the U.S. is like trying to put the genie back in the bottle. Its just not happening. One of the most powerful drugs around - alcohol - is legal. Might as well legalize the rest and sell them from State operated stores. That would take much of the power away from drug lords and we could use taxes generated from sales to treat addicts instead of throwing them into over-crowed prisons, the way we do now. I realize my stand won't be shared by a lot of folks. Its just MHO.

[Shawnee123]

I share your stand. It only makes sense.

It will never happen though, too many bible thumpers and do-gooders who just refuse to get it.

[classicman]

Too many politicians on the take.

[jinx]

Originally Posted by SamIam

No. Absolutely not. But the current war on drugs in the U.S. is like trying to put the genie back in the bottle. Its just not happening. One of the most powerful drugs around - alcohol - is legal. Might as well legalize the rest and sell them from State operated stores. That would take much of the power away from drug lords and we could use taxes generated from sales to treat addicts instead of throwing them into over-crowed prisons, the way we do now. I realize my stand won't be shared by a lot of folks. Its just MHO.

Do you think the percentage of people who have a casual relationship with alcohol would correlate to opiates? I don't.
I'm all for alcohol being legal. Also cigarettes, caffeine and pot. I think opiates are a whole other can of worms. I don't think tax funded treatment centers would even begin to address the problems it would cause.
Just think about where the pharma co's would go with this idea... jfc...

[SamIam]

What I think is that the number of addicts would be about the same if drugs are legalized. I know where I could go right now to score meth or opiates if I wanted. And this is a small town. The police have got to know, too. When they do bother to bust a dealer, a new one just steps in. It all seems futile to me.

And about 10% of people who use alcohol become alcoholics. That's a big toll in human suffering, yet our society accepts it.

As for weed, the laws against that are just pathetic. Definately should just legalize pot. Its one of the more benign drugs around.

[classicman]

.

[Carruthers]

More a case of 'incredible but true' rather than weird news, but I offer it here for your perusal:

Peter Aspinall, 64, had been asked to prune a sycamore tree in the grounds of a hotel, but instead of leaning his ladder against the trunk he placed it against the branch he was hacking down.

When the branch fell it took Mr Aspinall with it, 14ft to the ground below. He broke his heel, damaged his ligaments and had to spend ten days in hospital recovering from surgery on his injuries.

Now Mr Aspinall, who had worked at the Egerton House Hotel near Bolton, Lancashire, for just two weeks, is suing them for compensation.

Essentially, he is suing them for not spotting that he was/is stupid.

Daily Telegraph