Recreational Drugs Blog

Witney Houston dead. Sad end for a talented performer blighted by self abuse

2012-02-12T07:02:00.002Z

Sadly the troubled, undoubtedly talented, singer and some time actor Witney Houston has died in the US aged 48. The cause of her death is not yet known but her troubles with drink and drug abuse are widely known and it is a sadly premature end to a glittering career. Illegal drugs like alcohol and prescription drugs in the hands of an unhappy person can be unfortunately used to blot out life's troubles. Witney is reported to have in the past used Crack cocaine and this can have a devastating impact on health and functionality far greater than club drugs like Ecstasy generally do and there is no doubt in my mind they should not be both classed criminally Cat A. A sad loss. The world will mourn a little today. Bye Witney
Crack information...
Drugs information...

Scientist announce Ketamine could be good for some people...

2012-02-03T12:16:00.001Z

Scientist are now claiming that the horse tranquilliser Ketamine (a favourite with clubbers) could actually be good for some people. Used on people suffering depression it could provide almost an instant cure. More testing has to be undertaken but it does show that just blanket banning drugs because people taken recreationally means we could be missing some real benefits. Science needs to be the decider not conservative politics telling people not to do things.

Read more on Ketamine: http://www.fantazia.org.uk/drugs/ketamine.htm
Read the original article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2094250/Ketamine-Club-drug-offer-instant-remedy-severe-depression.html

Famous people quotes about drugs: Mayor Boris Johnston

2012-01-30T21:16:00.000Z

We hope to bring you quote from famous people about their drug taking pasts. Here's a topical person to start us off. Old Etonian millionaire and one time member of notorious high society hooligan society Billington Club Mayor Boris Johnston's said about his drink and drug taking past whilst appearing on British comedy show "Have I Got News For You" he joked about using class A drugs, bizarrely quipping ‘I think I was once given cocaine, but I sneezed and so it did not go up my nose’.

He was equally ambivalent about binge drinking, in a newspaper column he wrote for the Daily Telegraph in 2005 in with he admitted finding it ‘rather admirable to get bladdered, leathered, rat-arsed and otherwise hogwhimpering drunk.”

"‘We drink the Russians off the balcony; we drink the Ukrainians under the table. Of our teenagers, 40 per cent have been dead drunk more than 10 times in the past 12 months, compared with a piffling 7% of French teenagers,” he chortled.

“It was as I was skimming through these statistics that I suddenly had an insight. I realised to my horror that I was reading the figures with pride," he said.

Richard Branson says don't lock up drug takers

2012-01-24T16:13:00.000Z

Richard Branson, the millionaire Virgin group owner told MP's today to change the law and stop locking up drug takers. He said the policy had failed the country and the people and not stopped drug taking (which includes many harmless clubbers). The businessman said Britain was spending more money than any other country in Europe on fighting drug taking but still had the highest use. Previously Richard Branson had admitted to taking cannabis himself and he certainly has his finger more on the pulse than the average politician. Good on you Richard for standing up for something you believe in. Maybe parliament will listen to you, as they certainly don't listen to otherwise law abiding ravers.

In other news today Professional Nut the ex head of the drug advisory council said that rules on the use of magic mushrooms and ecstasy should be relaxed so it was not a criminal offence to take as both drugs had many possible beneficial properties and could be used successfully to treat people with depression.

Ecstasy is back as MDMA content rise and clubbers learn to love it again

2011-11-24T19:30:00.001Z

The ravers favourite drug ecstasy is back. After years of declining use brought about by the drugs dropping level of the active ingredient MDMA that made it so good to use and relatively safe compared to the alternatives its use as a club drug is growing once again. As MDMA concentration has grown the price has for the purer pill is increasing to. Gone are the £1 pill that did little...in are MDMA power/crystals and a new experience apparently where groups share their powder making it a more social experience like cocaine use.

If its the start of the fading of the legal highs and other replacements I think its a good thing. They have always been more dangerous than the real thing and less people will die. We say make Ecstasy legal and tax it to pay of the national debt. Whats your experience and thoughts?

You can read the full story by clicking the heading.

Play Virtual Drug Dealer and beat my score of $1.7 billion

2011-11-01T21:21:00.000Z

We have added to the Fantazia website today the Virtual Drug Dealer script. While a way a few minutes and see if you can beat our first game high score of $1,7 billion. Not bad months worth of goes if I do say so my self. Not sure if the real world is so easy....!

Play Virtual Drug Dealer Game

This game is a cut down script of the original game call Drug Wars - A version of which we have also made available to download for people using Windows. Post below your high scores...happy dealing

Ecstasy, the banned drug, to be trialed to treat trauma

2011-10-01T07:48:00.002+01:00

Once vilified in the press the rave recreational drug of choice Ecstasy is increasingly being examined as the benefits of taking it are recognised. Though I don't need to tell ravers how good it is. The wider perception of it being a dangerous drug is gradually being eroded. A USA trial claims that Ecstasy is the perfect treatment for PTSD suffers. That Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to you and me.

Doctors are planning the first clinical trial of ecstasy in the UK, to see whether the drug can be beneficial to the traumatised survivors of child abuse, rape and war.

Ecstasy and other illegal drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms are potentially useful in treating people with serious psychological disturbance who cannot begin to face up to their distress, some psychiatrists and therapists believe. But because of public fear and tabloid anger about illegal drugs, scientists say they find it almost impossible to explore their potential.

Professor David Nutt, the psychopharmacologist who used to head the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs until he fell out with the Labour home secretary and was sacked, said: "I feel quite strongly that many drugs with therapeutic potential have been denied to patients and researchers because of the drugs regulation. The drugs have been made illegal in a vain attempt to stop kids using them, but people haven't thought about the negative consequences."

Nutt and the Taunton-based psychiatrist Dr Ben Sessa are two of the British scientists who hope to repeat an experiment on patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) undertaken in the US which, although small, was successful and has caused some in the scientific community to think what was until recently unthinkable. It involved 20 people who had been in therapy and on pills for an average of 19 years. Twelve were given MDMA – or 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, the chemical compound found, often adulterated, in ecstasy tablets. The rest had placebo pills but were later also given the chance to take MDMA. Each one had a therapy session, lying back in a reclining chair in a pleasant flower-decorated room in South Carolina, wearing an eyemask.

Sometimes they listened to music on headphones and sometimes they talked to the therapist, all the while thinking about the events that had caused such profound distress that they had been unable to revisit it in past psychotherapy sessions.

The response rate was a remarkable 83% – 10 out of the 12 showed significant improvement two months after the second of two MDMA therapy sessions. That compared with 25% of those on the placebo. There were no serious side-effects and no long-term problems.

"I expected it was going to be effective," said Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist who ran the US study and carried out the psychotherapy with his wife, Ann. "I suppose we wouldn't have done it otherwise. But I didn't necessarily expect we'd find such statistical significance in that number [of people]. That was the icing on the cake."

The high number of troops returning with PTSD from Afghanistan and Iraq is attracting special attention to the study in the US. Only one of the 20 was a veteran, while the rest had suffered childhood sexual abuse, rape or other kinds of assault. Mithoefer's next study will be on veterans alone.

Nutt said PTSD is "an extraordinarily disabling condition and we don't have any really effective treatments. In order to deal with trauma, you have to be able to re-engage with the memory and then deal with it. For many people, as soon as the memory comes into consciousness, so does the fear and disgust".

Mithoefer said the participants did not appear to have joined the trial in hopes of some sort of high. "I don't think that was much of a factor at all. Some people were referred by their therapist and had never taken any drugs and were quite anxious about the whole thing and for them it was a last resort.

" Interestingly, several people said after their session: 'I don't know why they call this ecstasy' – because it was not an ecstatic experience. They were revisiting the trauma. It was very difficult and painful work, but the ecstasy gave them the feeling they could do it."

People spoke of getting past a barrier. One said: "I feel like I'm walking in a place I've needed to go for so long and just didn't know how to get there.

"I feel like I know myself better than I ever have before. Now I know I'm a normal person. I've been through some bad stuff, but … those are things have happened to me, not who I am … This is me. The medicine helps, but this is in me."

Another said: "I have respect for my emotions now (rather than fear of them). What's most comforting is knowing now I can handle difficult feelings without being overwhelmed. I realise feeling the fear and anger is not nearly as big a deal as I thought it would be."

Ben Sessa said he hoped to recreate the study in the UK but "with an added twist – lots of neuroimaging". The only brain scans that have been done are of recreational ecstasy users, whose drugs may be contaminated and who have probably taken other substances, too.The death in 1995 of Leah Betts after taking ecstasy, from drinking too much water in response to a campaign warning ravers of the danger of dehydration, had prevented rational debate or scientific advance.

MDMA, he said, "is not about dancing around nightclubs – it's a really useful psychiatric drug".

Nutt said it made him angry that MDMA and LSD had been banned before any doctor could establish their potential benefit. LSD was being tried among terminal cancer patients.

"When I started in medicine in 1969 they were starting to see some interesting data in the use of LSD to help people make sense of dying. I don't think it is fair that because a drug is misused it should be banned from use in medicine," he said Heroin has been around for a hundred years so although it is illegal for street use, at least we have got that..

Leading the movement to get MDMA licensed for medical use is Rick Doblin, the founder in 1986 in the US of Maps, the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which backed Mithoefer's trial. "I think the chances of getting a licence are excellent. We have demonstrated an excellent level of safety. It's worked. It's necessary," he said. "It is probably going to take 10 years and $10m to do it."

Doblin, whose organisation relies on philanthropic donors, has no idea where that money will come from. Nutt and Sessa, whose proposed trial in the UK would boost the chances of MDMA entering the (locked) psychiatric drug cabinet are waiting for a response to their modest grant application from one of the UK's leading medical research funders. Sessa is optimistic; battle-scarred Nutt less so. Ecstasy will for ever be controversial. "If we get the study funded and into the public domain," said Nutt, "the Daily Mail will try to have it banned."

Can a single dose of magic mushrooms change your personality for ever?

2011-09-30T06:36:00.001+01:00

A report out today says that a single does of magic mushrooms can change your personality not for 1 night but for over a year. But is not the bad news that the headlines might make you think. The change makes you more open and are in our opinion likely to make you more receptive to the world, more creative and generally more happy. Now just need to find someone who knows which mushrooms are the right ones in my local wood then as knowing my fungi identification skills, I am likely to poison myself with the wrong type, be careful kids!

Perhaps a new academic study might help explain some of the weirder outfits worn at raves and rock festivals. A single (high) dose of so-called 'magic' mushrooms was found to change people's personalities, not for a few hours, but for at least a year - making people more 'open', said researchers. The personality disruptions were so intense they were equivalent to the slow changes that occur in people over entire decades - and the researchers found that even after terrifying drug trips, the changes were the same.

Researchers in the field say that after the age of 30, personality doesn't usually change significantly. 'Normally, if anything, openness tends to decrease as people get older,' says study leader Roland R. Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The research, approved by Johns Hopkins' Institutional Review Board, was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Griffiths says he believes the personality changes found in this study are likely permanent since they were sustained for over a year by many - and speculated that controlled use of the substance could lead to treatments for the depression suffered by cancer patients. He also speculated that the drug could help people give up smoking.

Nearly all of the participants in the new study considered themselves spiritually active (participating regularly in religious services, prayer or meditation). More than half had postgraduate degrees. Volunteers were considered to be psychologically healthy.
'We don't know whether the findings can be generalized to the larger population,' Griffiths says. Griffiths also notes that some of the study participants reported strong fear or anxiety. He cautions, however, that if hallucinogens are used in less well supervised settings, the possible fear or anxiety responses could lead to harmful behaviors.

NHS opens specialist clubbing drugs clinic in treatment

2011-09-27T19:25:00.002+01:00

To help baffled GP's who lack the knowledge to help their patients the NHS in London has opened a new clinic specialising in the treatment of the former legal high clubbing drugs like mephedrone, GHB and Ketamine which are believed to become ever more popular at the expensive of traditional recreational drugs like Cocaine and Heroin which traditional centres have been used to treating.

"Bowden-Jones said those who take club drugs tend to be younger, employed and sometimes affluent. They are often in relationships and don't necessarily identify themselves as addicts.".

Apparently there have been over 70 referrals to the new "Legal Highs" Centre before it had even opened its doors.

In our opinion spending money on treatment certainly makes much more sense than spending vast amounts catching people and locking them up. A good progress move.

Global "experts" disagree on whether recreational drugs use is up or down

2011-09-21T05:16:00.000+01:00

It seems the UN and the Global Commission on Drug policy disagree on whether drug use is up or down and therefore whether the global war on drugs should end. Perhaps they could save all the money being spent on useless reports and do something more useful instead with the cash? Drug addiction help for the minority of drug users who need it perhaps... the story is below

Celebrity campaign backing drug legalisation was based on 'flawed' figures, says UN

It won the support of celebrities and dignitaries with its call for drugs to be decriminalised.
But a highly influential report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy used incorrect figures, it was revealed yesterday. The group, headed by major names including former UN chief Kofi Annan and Sir Richard Branson, published a study claiming that drug use around the world has soared over the past decade.

Its call for an end to the war on drugs was taken up by celebrities including Dame Judi Dench, Julie Christie and Sting. Last weekend, Liberal Democrat leaders also cited it as their conference demanded measures to make drug possession legal in Britain.

However, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said yesterday that the claims were based on ‘flawed methodology’ and were ‘not correct’. Far from increasing at a rapid rate, worldwide use of heroin and cocaine has remained stable and cannabis use is likely to have dropped, it argued.

The Global Commission said that between 1998 and 2008, worldwide use of heroin and other opiates went up by a third, cocaine use by more than a quarter, and cannabis use by 8.5 per cent.
The Commission is a self-appointed body whose members include Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, former presidents of Colombia and Mexico, and several once highly-placed U.S. politicians such as former Secretary of State George Shultz.
Its report, published in June, said the war on drugs should be abandoned and illegal drugs should be decriminalised and regulated.

But errors behind it were exposed by researcher Kathy Gyngell of the centre-right Centre for Policy Studies think-tank. Mrs Gyngell asked UNODC to analyse the figures the Commission provided.

It found that the Commission’s figures – unsourced in its report – had been based on a misreading of statistics published by the UN agency.
Mrs Gyngell said: ‘Our worst fears as to the provenance and reliability of the Global Commission’s figures have been confirmed. The Commission’s figures are not just overblown, they are contrived and misleading.’

Banned drugs deaths fall in the last years according to government figures.

2011-08-26T13:54:00.000+01:00

The number of drug-related deaths in England and Wales has fallen slightly, according to the latest government figures. Those who had died specifically from the misuse of banned drugs, with 1,876 in 2009 compared with 1,784 in 2010.

The statistics show opiates were the substances most commonly associated with drug deaths last year with 791 people dying from heroin or morphine poisoning.

Although men made up 70% of drug-related deaths, the 2010 figures show a 10% decrease in male fatalities and a corresponding rise of 10% in female deaths.

Deadly batch of Ecstasy warning

2011-08-03T07:06:00.001+01:00

It seems there is another batch of potential deadly ecstasy around. Following a batch last month that caused harm by being far stronger than is now normal for MDMA based drugs causing people to overdose when combining taking large numbers of ecstasy and other drugs and alcohol. This month Police have warned of a potentially fatal batch of MDMA in circulation in the UK after two clubbers in London were taken ill.

The problem with these warnings is that act as an attempt to blanket say, don't take drugs. They don't really help people who do want to use them and will use them. They do not protect you unless you abstain completely which is unlikely in many cases. If authorities really did care about peoples safety then legalisation and government prescribed sale and taxation is the way to go.

But here is the story.....

According to police in Islington, London, two clubbers were taken ill this weekend after taking the drug and are currently in a critical condition in hospital.

Detective Superintendent Adrian Usher from Islington Borough said, “All drug taking involves an element of risk. Users need to be aware that a potentially fatal batch of ecstasy is out there and understand the devastating effect it can have on their health.”

The batch is expected to have spread throughout London and police are warning clubbers to take extra care. Call Islington CID on 020 7421 0196 if you have any useful information

Off topic but we love D/R/U/G/S and I think you may to?

2011-06-28T09:25:00.002+01:00

No not the illegal substance but a fresh and up and coming live dance music performer D/R/U/G/S is from Manchester and fuses performance, punk and rave and a lot of playing with buttons on stage.

We think you will like him, we do...

Drug treatment policy doomed to failure in the UK

2011-06-19T05:54:00.000+01:00

Its reported on the BBC today that the way we treat drug addicts is doomed to failure. We apparently spend an amazing £3.6 billion on handing out methadone and giving benefits to drug users instead of spending the money on rehabilitation. Its clear as drug use and imprisonment of drug users continues the policy is not working.

"The state is subsidising people to be any number of years on methadone, which has turned out not to be a cheap option and will only subsidise the tiniest proportion - 2% - to go into a rehabilitation unit that would actually free them from dependency and allow them to live their life."

Apparently there is a new policy coming that will give bribes to organisation who get people back to work but I don't see how this will work. Will these people be fit to work? Its clear focusing effort away from all drugs including recreational use of say ecstacy and onto rehabiliation of people using heroin would massively benefit the country. Let alone free up huge amount of Police time and resources.

The War on Drugs, Is it as Pointless as The majority think?

2011-06-08T11:30:00.002+01:00

The War on drugs is No nearer sorting out the issues that Politicians contiune to tell us exists in our country, yet it is still argued that this pointless, money wasting, battle against the consumption of recreational drugs is the only way to control their use.

This article seems to disagree with this view, and its not just the hippies that are arguing for the legalization of drugs any more.

What do we think guys? is this a pointless war or the right way our country should be heading in the future? i know what i think :)

Doherty locked up for drug use and death of friend. Whats the point?

2011-05-23T08:20:00.000+01:00

Pete Doherty has been locked up after footage taken by a friend who died of taking drugs was found of him also using crack. Does it makes sense to lock up an addict? As far as I can tell he hurts no one but himself and prison does not seem to cure him. He surely can't be held responsible for the death of his friend, an adult, who presumable was free to decide for herself whether or not to take the drug that killed her...

If the reason for locking someone up was to try to break their habit then that will clearly fail as anyone who watched the recent documentary series following female prisoners in Scotland will know. They seemed to have almost free access to heroin on the inside as they do on the outside. In the mean time the nations tax payers pay to fill our prisons at considerable cost and rapists and murders get released early so that we can accommodate then. Shameful

Apparently all you need to get high now is your mobile phone??

2011-05-17T10:19:00.002+01:00

A new Application has been released for smart phones claiming that it is the new drug for the rave scene.

A British hypnotherapist has claimed to have created an App that causes you to experience a high due to Hypnosis.

“Get "High" without drugs - hypnosis session App helps former drug users,” the marketing blurb for Hypno High™ declared, “No more drugs needed - just the memory of a "high" is enough to revive it.”

I am Sceptical about this one what do you guys think? love to hear your comments

Drinking Red Bull type drink with alcohol more dangerous

2011-04-18T19:46:00.000+01:00

Interesting research published stating the obvious really....

Researchers found that while physical and mental impairment were no different with the combination, the feeling of intoxication was higher. This heady mix could lead to greater risk taking and more chance of causing injury or embarrassment.

Professor Cecille Marczinski and her colleagues randomly assigned 56 college student participants between the ages of 21 and 33, to one of four groups. One received alcohol, the other energy drinks while a third group was given both together and a final group a non-stimulating soft beverage.

"The findings from this study provide concrete laboratory evidence that the mixture of energy drinks with alcohol is riskier than alcohol alone," said Prof Marczinski. "College students need to be aware of the risks of these beverages. Moreover, clinicians who are working with risky drinkers will need to try and steer their clients away from these beverages."The results were published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Cocaine’s Early Death Stroke

2011-04-16T07:53:00.000+01:00

Upper middle class young professionals who use cocaine recreationally are responsible for a massive increase in emergency admissions for strokes and heart attacks in Australia, Sydney specialist Dr Gordian Fulde told reporters this week.

The head of emergency services at St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst said high achieving types ‘who think nothing of doing a few lines on a weekend’ were driving the trend which the Sydney Morning Herald said matched the 45% increase in cocaine possession busts between September 2008 and September 2010.

''We have seen young girls - pretty young things aged 17, 18, 19 - who have had strokes because the blood vessels in their heads constrict,'' Dr Fulde told the Herald.

''We see patients with angina, chest pains which radiate up and down the left arm. It makes people feel awful. That's the most common thing we get from cocaine. Often when we test them for heart muscle damage we find they have had a heart attack,” he added. (Sydney Morning Herald:http://www.mailermailer.com/rd?http://bit.ly/fY9pAM )

The Australian doctor’s latest warnings came just as British authorities pledged to take steps to counter ‘the "increasingly common" idea that cocaine is a relatively safe drug’, according to the Guardian. The paper also noted that Britain remains at the top of the European charts for usage, following a 400% increase in 16 to 24 year old users in the last decade.

Discussing drug policy in the same newspaper two days later, however (in an article about boosting happiness), leading columnist Simon Jenkins called again for legalization.

“My advice for the happiness lobby? Start with drugs,” the former Times editor pleaded.

“The greatest misery caused by the state to the greatest number of people in Britain is, I have no doubt, by the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. It takes a random selection of variably harmful substances and fails to regulate or curb their use, merely criminalising, imprisoning and wrecking the lives of tens of thousands of users, at an enormous personal and public cost,” he explained.

“Every sane politician who deals with this law knows it to be bad. Yet it is not reformed because that would take a degree of political courage, which is another way of saying that the happiness of the many is not allowed to interfere with the contentment of the few – in this case politicians.” (Guardian:http://www.mailermailer.com/rd?http://bit.ly/dYi1zN )

War on drugs failed say heads of MI5, BBC, CPS....you can say that again

2011-03-22T09:54:00.000Z

According to a new piece in the Telegraph The "war on drugs" has failed and should be abandoned in favour of evidence-based policies that treat addiction as a health problem, according to prominent public figures including former heads of MI5 and the Crown Prosecution Service..... (click the title to read the full story)

Look at the devastation that is caused to whole families by sending so many to prison. Crime is increased. Billions are spent, and now entire countries are destroyed by it (Mexico, Columbian etc). When are we going to wake up and take a more progressive view? Drugs have many downsides as does alcohol but a crime? Surely it should be a personal choice... take away the profit for the criminals and use it to raise taxes and cut prison populations. Okay you may need to build more rehab clinics but my bet is it will work out much cheaper and you will have a happier population around the world...

Young peoples drug use drops 30% over the last 15 years

2011-02-24T10:26:00.000Z

Apparently drug use amongst young people has dropped by over 30% over the last 15 years.

In the largest ever survey of drug use among British clubbers, published in this month's edition of Mixmag, there were found to be large year-on-year falls in the number of people taking cannabis (by five percentage points), ketamine (10), ecstasy (five) and cocaine (20). The British Crime Survey tends to underestimate drug use (because it does not include people who are homeless, in prison, or living in student accommodation), and these falls are not the first, but they do cement a trend that is now too solid to ignore. In this country at least, for reasons that remain mysterious, drugs seem to be going out of fashion....

Is this due to the decline of electronic music scene/raves/super clubs from the mainstream population? It can't be a coincidence. Generation ecstasy have all grown up and got kids now and the party days are over for most.

Plus lets be honest how many times have you heard people say that they (cocaine/ecstasy)just aren't as good as they used to be. If dealers sell rubbish drugs for lots of money, people eventually wont bother to buy them, they will find something else....The new generation of kids have found legal highs and super weed which is more available and reliable.

Click the title to read the full story or buy a copy of Mixmag this month

Watch our for your heart if you are a cocaine user

2011-02-24T09:28:00.000Z

Its always been talked about, the risk of taking cocaine causing a heart attack. Now it official. 0.9% of all heart attacks were caused by cocaine use. On an individual basis, taking cocaine was shown to raise a person’s risk of having a heart attack 23-fold, according to the study, led by Dr Tim Nawrot, from Hasselt University in Belgium.

In comparison, air pollution led to a 5 per cent extra risk, but since far more people are exposed to traffic fumes and factory emissions than cocaine, the danger posed by Cocaine use is in reality much higher.

Traffic exposure was blamed for 7.4 per cent of heart attacks, followed by physical exertion with 6.2 per cent.

Overall air pollution triggered between 5 per cent and 7 per cent of heart attacks, while drinking alcohol or coffee accounted for 5 per cent.

Other risk factors included negative emotions (3.9 per cent), anger (3.1 per cent), eating a heavy meal (2.7 per cent), positive emotions (2.4 per cent) and sexual activity (2.2 per cent). Cocaine was to blame for 0.9 per cent of heart attacks, but this was because of limited exposure to the drug among the population.

MDMA ‘Doesn’t Cause Brain Damage'

2011-02-23T14:13:00.001Z

A new huge US study of the effects of MDMA ‘specifically designed to minimize the methodological flaws in earlier studies . . . found no ominous, concerning risks to cognitive performance’, US scientists announced this week.

Study chief Doctor John Halpern MD said ‘ecstasy users in the new study showed no signs of cognitive impairment attributable to drug use’ adding ‘ecstasy use did not decrease mental ability.’

The drug expert carried out the research for America’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and ‘eliminated several sources of potential error in previous studies’ they explained in a report published in medical journal Addiction.

“As well as the actual pill-poppers, the non-using control group were also apparently "members of the 'rave' subculture,’ the statement said, “And thus repeatedly exposed to sleep and fluid deprivation from all-night dancing - factors that themselves can produce long-lasting cognitive effects".

Instead Doctor Halpern blamed the dangers associated with ecstasy on its illegality and warned that using it currently remains potentially risky.

“Illegally-made pills can contain harmful contaminants,” the Dr pointed out, “There are no warning labels, there is no medical supervision, and in rare cases people are physically harmed and even die from overdosing. It is important for drug-abuse information to be accurate.”

The most notorious inaccurate ecstasy research was published by US ‘scientist’ George Ricaurte in 2002, when he announced that ecstasy users risked developing Parkinson’s Disease from one night of E-fueled raving, as well as a one in five change of death.

His findings were immediately leapt on by ‘Just say no’ zero tolerance campaigners who were far less vocal when six months later he was forced to admit he’d tested the wrong drug- ultra-strong methamphetamine- by mistake.

"I'm surprised that senior researchers could make an error like that," British drug expert Dr John Henry told New Scientist following Ricaurte’s retraction.

"They should have known from the general background of their work that this was extremely unusual,” the Doctor noted.

Every Drug Should be Legal - Stand up comedy fun

2011-01-27T06:52:00.000Z

Great fun on drugs from this American comic

lol piss take piece on Bob Ainsworth ex Labour Defense ministry

2011-01-27T06:50:00.001Z

Ainsworth a 'world class LSD fiend'

FORMER defence secretary Bob Ainsworth was today accused of backing the legalisation of drugs so that he can feed his insatiable desire for psychedelic freak-outs.

Ainsworth became defence secretary just so he could get his hands on cheap Afghan smack

Ainsworth, who oversaw drugs policy under Tony Blair, said the war on drugs was unwinnable because, you know, it was his job to think about that kind of stuff.

Sighing heavily, he added: "Do I really have to explain this?

"Okay. I used to work in a big building in London where there were lots of people who knew about drugs and I would have meetings with them and actually listen to all the different things they were saying to me. And that's pretty much it."

But Ainsworth was immediately dismissed by his Tory successors at the Home Office who claimed he was a typical LSD fiend, hungry for his next freaky trip.

Crime prevention minister, James Brokenshire, said: "Look at his moustache and his Woolworths spectacles. He loves drugs.

"In fact I would go so far as to say that his choice of tie demonstrates that he is clearly mashed off his big hippy tits. Probably on funky mushrooms."

He added: "Keep well away from him as he will try and coax you into his camper van and offer to paint swirly patterns on your belly."

Mr Brokenshire then described decriminalisation as a 'simplistic solution that fails to recognise the complexity of the problem' before drifting off the subject and staring at his feet until he suddenly pointed towards the window and screamed 'OH MY GOD, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?' and ran out of the room.

This is in response to the following article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12005824

God squad come to the Drugs advisory council...?

2011-01-27T06:46:00.000Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/jan/25/gp-drugs-advisory-council

Not sure these are the sort of enlightened open minded people that should be getting positions of responsibility advicing others on drugs policy. Apparently the new GP members is a right wing Christian off anti drugs and anti guy leaning.

He also seems to have no pass history of doing research on drugs or there effects.... so what makes him an expert capable of advising others.

Interesting article on legal highs explaining their origin

2011-01-07T08:14:00.000Z

Just read an interesting article in Nature about legal highs and their origin. Well worth taking 5minutes out to give it a look.

Legal High article

Synthetic chemist David Nichols describes how his research on psychedelic compounds has been abused

Fantazia Legal High information

More experts call for legalisation of Cannabis

2010-10-11T20:53:00.000+01:00

A leading doctors journal it is reported today in the Telegraph has called for Cannabis to be sold openly in shops along side Tobacco and Alcohol. The British Medical Journal says that banning the drug is just not working. It quotes stats that an 18 fold increase in budget for enforcement between 81 and 2002 in the USA had failed to close the market for the drug. There is no reason to think that the UK is any different.

With tax revenues desperately needed in the UK and cost cutting a must the new government could get a double hit with a cut in policing costs and increase in taxation. Tempting? I doubt if they would be brave enough, there are to many over 50 voters and not enough under to make it worth the political risk. However give us another 10 years and another new voting generation.....

Governments make things worse as always

2010-09-21T18:38:00.000+01:00

Talking of legal highs, now Methadrone has been banned by the previous government it is being announced by hospitals that one of its replacement drugs is now much worse, with symptoms being more adverse and with more hospital casualties. Ivory Wave create feelings of hallucinations and agitation and sometimes aggression which doesn't sound very specific.

History is littered with these stories of meddling leading to worse creations and more deaths and destruction. Heroin was invented as a substitute to Opium only to discover it was in fact more addictive not less. Lea Betts died due to misunderstanding advice about the consumption of water whilst taking ecstasy.

Isn't it time the government stopped making the youth into lab rats and started offering them an alternative that was tested, graded and safer than stuff labelled as plant food? Products with government warning labels and heavy taxation are the way forward.

Read full story

If you invented a new legal high what would you call it? What legal use would it have?

2010-09-21T18:23:00.000+01:00

If you were a mad bad scientist and had just invented a new legal high what name would you give it? What would you legally describe it to be used for (to stop it being banned)?

Can you be a good Drug dealer? Try this game

2010-09-18T14:26:00.001+01:00

Just for fun see if you can be the best drug dealer. Will kill a few minutes of your day!

Drug Dealer Game

Post your score. I didnt get anywhere near the high scores

Will California vote to legalise Cannabis?

2010-09-18T12:40:00.000+01:00

California already has fairly lax rules on Cannabis and it is available by prescription already, been in a forthcoming public vote people will be given the chance to vote to make the drug legal. The war on drugs in America has been lost and the huge waste in resources locking people up can't reasonably been continued indefinitely can it? Turning otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals makes no sense to me for a drug that is generally accept to be less harmful than alcohol. Its not clear event if the vote is a yes where the Federal Government (President Obama) will over rule it.

Scientists are not happy!

2010-09-17T07:05:00.002+01:00

It looks like the governments new anti drug campaign has made the scientist community none to happy. The stereo typing on them as mad evil types is not one they like.....

Crazy Chemist Campaign warning students against legal highs

2010-09-15T23:17:00.000+01:00

The government have this week launched a campaign warning students about the dangers of legal highs. Whilst all eduction is good and helps to give an informed choice to people, in the past these campaigns have often be seen by the young adult target audience as making drugs cool. Also if the message is too strong and does not match the reality when people actually experiment with them, then the cry wolf effect could actually damaged any future drug advice the government might want to give on drugs that are actually dangerous. I am sure that this was the case with Ecstasy in the early 90's.

Do drugs make you ugly? Dramatic change in some...

2010-09-15T23:03:00.000+01:00

Bit of a shocker but is this typical and do they have the same effect on all or are these people just not looking after themselves? Well I won't be doing Meth so not sure I will ever know thank god, but for the people in the video I hope it can be reversed!

George Michael goes to prison for Cannabis crash

2010-09-14T22:18:00.000+01:00

Oh dear poor George Michael sentenced today to 8 weeks in prison for a drug fuelled car crash. Now I could not care less what the once Wham front man gets upto in his home but there is not excuse for driving whilst so drugged to the eyeballs that you crash into a building! Not only is that bad, but this was his second charge offence. George has widely made it know that he like a toke but he really is not helping the legalise cannabis campaign with his stupid activities. Thank god there was no one on the pavement. Could have set back legalising the drug by a decade (heaven forbid if a child had been walking by).

Shame on your George. With the money he has why hasnt he a driver!

Another expert calls for Cannabis legalisation

2010-09-14T21:14:00.000+01:00

Cannabis for recreational use should be available in shops under similar restrictions to those used to control the sale of alcohol and tobacco, according to Britain's leading expert on the drug.

Under one scenario, people would be able to apply for a licence to buy cannabis products once they reach the age of 21, provided they have the approval of a doctor, he said.

The drug would be regulated by a body that ensures the quality and safety of the products before they go on sale.

A rethink of the laws surrounding cannabis and related products was necessary to take cannabis out of the hands of criminals, said Roger Pertwee, professor of neuropharmacology at Aberdeen University.

In the 1970s, Pertwee co-discovered THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

See the rest of the story and video by clickign the titles link above

The Great Cannabis Conspiracy

2010-09-14T21:03:00.001+01:00

Not one for the kids, lol, Hemp Pants

2010-09-14T21:01:00.001+01:00

Introduction to Cannabis / Hemp

2010-09-14T21:00:00.000+01:00

The A-Z Guide to recreational drugs from Fantazia

2010-04-01T08:10:00.000+01:00

If you are new to drugs then an interesting place to start some research would be to look at the Fantazia A-Z Guide to recreational drugs. With over 60 pages of information on various drugs from the commonly used ones in the UK to some more bizarre ones (like one where you lick a toad). We have recently updated the section with a page on Mephedrone.

The Drugs Guide also includes some more fun things, like links to our Recreational Drugs Top Trumps style game and other drugs games from the internet. There is also links to our design your own drugs t-shirts and the Fantazia Drugs forum for a lively discussion on the latest news stories.

A-Z Recreational Drugs Guide

Its confirmed Mephedrone is to be banned in weeks

2010-04-01T08:02:00.000+01:00

True to form in a knee jerk reaction the government has banned the "legal high" Mephedrone. Once the tabloids sensed a story the government inevitably caved in to media pressure. The lurried headlines claiming more and more deaths linked to the drug seem reminiscent to the old rave days reactionary headlines towards Ecstasy. Many of those later turn out to be false and in the case of Leah Betts the misinformation actually lead to deaths.

I wonder how many of the Mephedrone deaths will turn out to have been caused by other factors......will this make people safer? I doubt it, it will just mean people will end up buying less pure versions illegally or move to the next legal plant food.

Mephedrone to be banned after deaths

2010-03-18T07:01:00.000Z

After two teenagers die after taking the "Legal High" Mephedrone it looks likely that the latest designer drug is likely to be banned soon by the government. Whether it was the drug on its own, a contaminated batch or a cocktail of the substance the users had taken there is a backlash against the drug. Openly sold as a plant fertilizer with warnings not for human consumption Mephedrone is being used by it seems hundreds of thousands of people each week around the UK. Including many young children.

When are we going to learn our lesson on these drugs? If it is banned the profit from Legal Highs will mean a chemist will create another similar cocktail within a short space of time. The next one could be even more dangerous. It is a known fact that some already illegal substances are safe for human consumption than many other human activities (Ecstasy is safer to take than to go horse riding). Instead of using human guinea pigs on these new substances, raise revenue and protect the public by selling state manufactured Ecstasy, we do with Alcohol. Yes this is not without problems but at least people will be able to make an informed choice in the knowledge that the substance is pure. With warnings not to take it in certain conditions.

We need to act on recreational drugs in an enlightened way, not the current reactionary way that criminalises law abiding people.

Click the title to read the original story.

Recreational Drugs news and discussion forum

2010-03-09T12:57:00.000Z

The Fantazia forum now has its own section for anyone to discuss Recreational Drugs. The Fantazia forum is a friendly place with open discussions. We hope to open up the debate and ensure people are able to consider all opinions before making an informed choce on whether they are going to take any drug. Don't be bullied or pressured into anything you are not comfortable with, just be informed so that you can't give an answer you are happy with.

Recreational Drugs forum

Recreational Drugs Trumps Game

2010-03-04T08:25:00.000Z

To make learning about all the different Recreational Drugs easier, Fantazia have created a great Top Trumps styles game featuring 42 of the most and common and some very rare drugs. We have looked at 5 characteristics of those drugs which you use to see which is more potent as you play to win.

Play the Recreation Drugs Trump Game

Beware though its addictive and the computer is fairly good!

If you disagree with any of the stats do let us know and we will consider the stats.

Welcome to the recreational drugs Blog

2010-03-04T08:20:00.000Z

Welcome to my new blog all about recreational drugs which will also focus on club drugs. I aim to post new stories from the media and open discussions on my opinions and thoughts. Certain recreational drugs like alcohol (and it is a drug) are widely accept in society and sold legally and taxed etc. They have many health issues, do cause crime in various ways many of which are the reasons why the illegal drugs were banned in the first place. We aim to discuss this. If you are new to the world of recreational drugs or are a teenager just coming of age then a good starting point for learning more about drugs is the Fantazia site Recreational Drugs Section. We feature articles, games and more on some of the more popular drugs and some far rarers one. Click the link below to get started.

Fantazia Recreational Drugs Information

Do only use this as a starting point to any research as research changes all the time and what was true perhaps about drugs when something is written does not mean it will always be.

I don't condone the taking of drugs btw but I do think adults should be given choices over their own lives. Pushing people to buy drugs illegally is not senseable in a progressive society and certainly did not help America during the prohibition era. But lets discuss...