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McDeadly Ecstasy pills on the scene
Deadly ecstasy pills sporting the Golden Arches MacDonald’s logo have been seized in Scotland, all containing para-methoxy-amphetamine (PMA) – a strong psychedelic and killer ecstasy substitute.
The price of ecstasy pills is on the rise and there is increasing belief that the quantity of MDMA in pills is increasing, but this deadly seizure reminds us that pills vary widely in composition – and there are pills out there you do not want to try.
If only ecstasy pills were as consistent as a Big Mac!
PMA closely related to PMMA, has been connected to a number of deaths over the last decade in Canada, the US, Europe and Australia. While PMA was initially thought to be a by-product created in the production of MDMA, this is unlikely given the different precursors that each requires for their production.
A delayed onset of effect (often more than 2 hours) can lead to inadvertent overdosing – thinking ‘these pills are crap, better take another one of two and see if we get something’. However it can lead to muscle spasms, burred vision, overheating (hyperthermia), and increases in pulse and blood pressure.
Nausea and vomiting can lead to loss of potassium leading to hypokalemia (low potassium levels) which combined with hyperthermia can lead to irregular heart rhythms, seizures and death – see more on taking new pills here.
So if someone offers you a pill with the Macca’s logo on it – believe use you won’t be ‘lovin it’.
Spliff Styles- How do you roll? by Will Coldwell
If there’s one thing about smoking cannabis that is guaranteed not come with unwanted side effects, then it has to be rolling. Satisfying, engaging and much more creative than ordering a 50/50 pizza instead of a margherita or the inevitable all day cartoon-fest, the art of rolling has almost as much potential to get someone hooked as the drug itself.
Interestingly, smokers from around the world seem to adopt different styles of rolling. While spending time working for Time Out Amsterdam, engaging in the privileged task of writing Coffee shop reviews courtesy of the expense account, I had a chance to observe these various techniques, as demonstrated by pot-smoking tourists burning time in the ‘global-village’. I wouldn’t like to comment on what it says about the various cultural identities, but it’s interesting all the same.
The Dutch
Lets start with the Dutch style, well planned, serious, and big. Using the whole roach card to make a sturdy filter, notable for the folded Z-shape in the middle, these spliffs are chunky and coned. They are also filled with twice as much weed as you need, mixed with cigarette tobacco to help it burn longer.
Any pre-rolled joint you will find in a Dutch coffeeshop is rolled like this and if you do get lucky and spot a Dutch person actually in one, then you’ll find them rolling theirs the very same way. You could say it’s a design classic.
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Presenting our new Cannabis App
Welcome to #CannabisWeek!
Today we are launching our unique and exclusive ‘cannabis app’ for all smart phones and with cannabis being the most common illicit drug used around the world- what better way to begin?
drugs meter was launched last month and since then over 3,000 people have taken the drugs meter, bringing our comparison database to over 15,000 people! Like all drugs meters, the cannabis app provides you with immediate, objective and personalised feedback and lets you compare your cannabis use with thousands of other current cannabis users. So far around 5,000 cannabis users have examined their use against others on drugs meter….and wouldn’t it be interesting for you to anonymously compare your cannabis use to others within the community- well now you can. Read more
Are Students Really Britain’s Biggest Binge Drinkers?
Global Drug Survey conducted the largest ever drug survey with over 15,000 people taking part. From Angola to Australia and Sweden to South Africa, the most comprehensive and contextual information on worldwide drug use was outlined. Drug users told us about the ‘k-hole’, about the cost of luxury cocaine and the quality of mephedrone. 39.5 % of those who filled out the survey were students and they told us something very interesting- students are in fact quite sensible drinkers! Read more
Driving while under the influence of cannabis
This is a short letter written by Adam and published in the BMJ in response to an editorial piece written by Professor Wayne Hall. Professor Halls editorial is available here- Driving while under the influence of cannabis and addresses the topic of whether roadside drug testing reduces cannabis impaired driving. Below is Adams response using findings from the 2012 Global Drug Survey.
Driving while under the influence of cannabis
Dear Editor
I read with interest the editorial by Wayne Hall and the systematic review by Abridge et al in the BMJ, highlighting the increased risk of fatal road collision while driving under the influence of cannabis. As part of a wider survey on drug use patterns and harms conducted at the end of 2011 by Global Drug Survey (www.globaldrugsurvey.com) in partnership with Mixmag and the Guardian newspaper, we asked current cannabis smokers about the risk of being identified as intoxicated with cannabis (without alcohol) whilst driving, if they got pulled over by the police within 2 hours of smoking a joint.
Data from over 10,000 last year cannabis users from around the world was obtained. The results from the UK, USA and Australia are outlined in table 1. The findings tend to support the cautious view put forward by Wayne Hall regarding the likely impact that roadside drug testing would have upon drug driving. For any drug driving policy to be an effective deterrent, drugged drivers must consider the risk of being stopped and subsequently detected as being under the influence as a real possibility.
Our results suggest that only a minority of current cannabis users think they would be detected as driving stoned using the present detection approaches utilised in their countries. The full results of the 2012 Global drug Survey are published exclusively in the Guardian and Mixmag on March 15 2012.
Table 1- BMJ- UK, US and Australia sample
Adam R Wintock, Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist
Get some feed back on your drug use
Want some feedback on your drug use ? Want to know how much you spend? If your use is average? or even how much you use in a year ? Head over to http://drugsmeter.com/ to find out !
Read all about it! Global Drug Survey is front page news
The first Global Drug Survey hit the Guardian front page this morning and is set to lead two days of drug coverage – from ‘hidden’ drug users to synthetic cannabis to prescription drugs and our very own drugs meter app. dominating the society most read and Guardian Zietgeist, we had over 300 comments by 10am! Check out the animation, video, data and editorial here.
Mixmag has launched their coverage of the Global Drug Survey data today with a massive 10 pages of coverage on all things drugs! Mixmag have been at the forefront of making drugs a media issue for the last decade and Global Drug Survey is proud to be working with them. Check out their beautiful coverage here.
Global Drug Survey will be releasing our own exclusive coverage later today – want to see what drugs are the most popular? Watch this space!
Successful interventions with new psychoactive substances- by Katy McCleod
While conducting training on new psychoactive substances throughout Scotland, I often get asked which interventions are the most effective for users of these substances. I recently came across the paper by the fabulous Dr Adam Winstock: New recreational drugs and the primary care approach to patients who use them (Winstock and Mitcheson, 2012) which provides insightful guidance on working with users. The paper can be downloaded for free at- Global Drug Survey Academic Articles.
Dr Adam Winstock is involved in some rather exciting projects connected to new psychoactive substances, namely the Global Drugs Survey published in Mixmag in March of every year and the brand new drugs meter app, more info can be found at http://globaldrugsurvey.com/ You can even catch him speaking at Crew’s national event CREWSUS in Perth later this month! Read more
Ketamine & the bladder- by Dr. Angela Cottrell
It has only been apparent in recent years that the recreational use of ketamine can lead to problems with the urinary tract. Reports first emerged in 2007 from Canada and Hong Kong that the use of ketamine can lead to symptoms such as needing to pass urine frequently, passing blood, burning when passing urine, incontinence and bladder pain.
Up to a quarter of users may experience such problems and it appears that this is related to both the quantity used and the duration that it is taken for. Read more