Free Republic

REPORT OF ECSTASY DRUG'S GREAT RISKS IS RETRACTED A leading scientific journal yesterday retracted a paper it published last year saying that one night's typical dose of the drug Ecstasy might cause permanent brain damage. The monkeys and baboons in the study were not injected with Ecstasy but with a powerful amphetamine, said the journal, Science magazine. The retraction was submitted by the team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine that did the study. A medical school spokesman called the mistake "unfortunate" but said that Dr. George A. Ricaurte, the researcher who made it, was "still a faculty member...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A redesigned survey of who uses and abuses drugs in the United States has found millions of "missed" users and addicts, with an estimated 22 million Americans suffering from alcohol or drug abuse. The study, released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on Friday, finds that 19.5 million Americans used illicit drugs in 2002. This works out to 8.3 percent of the population age 12 or older. Last year's survey found that 15.9 million Americans used an illegal drug in 2001 -- but SAMHSA stressed that the latest survey used new methods and turned...

Canada today moved one step closer to decriminalizing marijuana and that could be a hassle for U.S. Customs. President Bush's drug czar John Walter met with the media today at the Peace Bridge to talk about security issues in the event that pot becomes legal. John Walter says any form of legalizing or downplaying the use of marijuana in Canada could become a nightmare for the United States. He says pot is crossing the US-Canadian border at an alarming rate now and drug dealers in Canada already focus their attention on business here. If Canada decriminalizes marijuana you could see...