Ibogaine List Archives - 2002-03

From: “preston peet” <ptpeet@nyc.rr.com>
Subject: [ibogaine] news links for march 30-31, 2002 @ drugwar.com
Date: March 31, 2002 at 4:16:28 PM EST
To: “spynews” <spynews@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: “rootsofteror” <rootsofterror@yahoogroups.com>, <ibogaine@mindvox.com>, <FreedomNewsNet@aol.com>, “CRRH” <restore@crrh.org>, “cia-drugs” <cia-drugs@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Greetings all,
Happy Easter, joyous Passover, good Spring Solstice, and to all who
practice either no religion or those frowned upon by normal types, Happy
Day.
Here is the list of links for March 30-31, 2002, at
http://www.drugwar.com/index.shtm
If anyone has anything they’d care to submit for publishing, or has
press notices dealing with any aspect of the War on Drugs and it’s
repercussions, please feel free to contact me at either ptpeet@nyc.rr.com,
or ptpeet@drugwar.com
Thanks for your time, and as always, may you find some interesting
information you may have been unaware of.
Peace,
Preston Peet
ptpeet@nyc.rr.com
editor www.drugwar.com
cont. High Times mag/.com

Peru Clears Aero Continente Founder of Drug Links (March 31, 2002)
”’The court concluded there was insufficient proof on the charges that
(Aero Continente founder Fernando Zevallos) laundered drug money,’ a court
official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters,” fop this report, but the
prosecutor is going to appeal. Prohibition of drugs leads to exactly the
problems of creating criminal cartels as did alcohol prohibition but drugs
are so astronomically great in profit potential that cartels are not only
buying up politicians at local levels, they are buy corporations and entire
national governments. It is not mystery why prohibition continues, and why
the War on Drugs is a “failure,” because it is an extremely lucrative policy
for Drug Warriors and their criminal drug trafficking compatriots,

Probe Into Cuba’s Possible “Sunken city” Advances (March 31, 2002)
Most mainstream researchers and scientists scoff at any suggestion that
there could be a basis in reality for the Atlantis myth, but strange
underwater formations resembling pyramids, roads, and buildings off the
coast of Cuba are leading many serious researchers to at least entertain the
idea that there lies a previously unknown civilization of undetermined age
lying in the shallow waters of the Caribbean. History isle full of romantic
unsolved mysteries that await only the intrepid explorers and dreamers to
bring them to light.

Colombia- The Paramilitary Effect (March 31, 2002)
Despite being a wanted man and recently convicted in absentia for organizing
illegal vigilante groups, and sentenced to 11 years in prison, Salvatore
Mancusio continues to operate with impunity, as an untouchable warlord no
one dares cross. Read more about how these right-wing murderous paramilitary
groups rampage through the Colombian countryside, adding yet more terror to
an already terrorized civilian population.

US Drugged Policy (March 31, 2002)
It is the precursor chemicals that enable the cocaine trade to flourish, and
it is a powerful, rich, American-beloved Colombian candidate that controls
that trade.

Meeting with Akha, Heroin Production (March 31, 2002)
Although Meth production is and will remain a factor in the region, it
appears to Matt McDaniel that heroin production is taking the front seat,
and that the Americans have no interest in trying to help curb this Akha
culture killing trade.

Enron and Bush- The Mystery Deepens (March 31, 2002)
“While 11,000 pages of documents were released on court orders this week,
most were heavily edited to blank out any useful information, particularly
e-mails. The government continues to hold back an additional 15,000
documents, citing privacy and security concerns, as well as the mysterious
Cheney logs,” notes this CBSMarket Watch article. Government by the people
seems a foreign idea to the Bush crew.

Texas- Snow Job (March 30, 2002)
The outstanding arrest records of these cops seemed too good to be true, and
sure enough, they were. Prohibition engenders corruption and flat out evil,
even on the part of the so-called Drug Warriors, hell, for that matter,
especially amongst the Drug Warriors

Forced Drugging OK’d By Federal Court (March 30, 2002)
The Federal Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in the case of United
States vs. Charles Thomas Sell ruled March 27, 2002, that “defendants can be
forcibly drugged even though they haven’t been convicted of any charges and
pose no danger to themselves or others.” Somehow this just seems sort of
un-American. Isn’t this what the US accused the Soviets and Chinese
‘commies’ of doing to dissidents, whether they actually were or not? How can
we Americans really stand for this, and judges honestly justify this kind of
behavior?

Germany Begins Heroin Research Maintenance Research (March 30, 2002)
With an estimated 120,000 heroin addicts, German is ready to try what to US
prohibitionists is a radical approach- supply the addicts with their drugs,
thereby removing all incentives to commit crimes to supply their habits.
Gee, such common sense. When will the US populace begin to force their
prohibitionist politicians to come to their senses in similar manner?

Mexico Nabs Suspected Drug Kingpin (March 30, 2002)
Mexico gets ahold of yet another suspected drug kingpin, opening up yet
another slot for ambitious up-and-coming cutthroat entrepreneurs to move in
and take over the arrested boss’s little bit of the trade. Pick ’em off one
by one, and one by one, more step into to fill their shoes. Each arrest of
these kingpins usually leads to a spate of more extreme violence as
differing factions vie for control of the now headless cartel, knocking off
their competitors in flashy and bloody assassinations. Meanwhile there’s
never a diminishment in the flow of drugs into the US, ever.

FDA Urged To Ban Arthritis Drug (March 30, 2002)
Ah, here’s yet another legally produced, advertised, and mass marketed
killer pharmaceutical drug, this one billed as a cure for arthritis. Again,
the editor of drugwar.com feels it imperative to note the pot, which can
land a person in jail merely for possessing, much less producing, has never
killed even one person ever in thousands of years of human use both
medicinally and recreationally, but this company will get away with
marketing their killer drug, most probably suffering no more sanctions than
possibly a fine that would be hefty were it not for the astronomical prices
these companies charge US citizens and others around the world for their
drugs, ensuring mass profits a fine won’t even dent.

CIA’s Death Squad Body Count Continues to Pile Up (March 30, 2002)
Here’s more on those defenders of the American way, CIA death squads and
cold blooded killers.

J’Accuse- Bush’s Death Squads (March 30, 2002)
Remember, US death squads, these officially sanctioned assassins and
murders, these are not terrorists, they are defenders of freedom, liberty,
and the American way.

From: Carrie Rollins <carrierollins@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [ibogaine] M Is For Methadone- (methadone, withdrawls, and ibogaine…)
Date: March 30, 2002 at 10:25:22 PM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

You write a really thoughtful and intelligent message and then apoligize for how long it was? 😉
I wanted to say that this is one of the most interesting collection of strange people who are articulate that I’ve ever found on the same list before!
The ibogaine information isn’t bad either 😉
A lot of you are probably gone for the holiday but I hope everyone has a great easter!
-carrie

preston peet <ptpeet@nyc.rr.com> wrote:

Please be sure to click the URL at top of this note to see and read the
numerous links to this topic.
Thanks for your time, and again, please excuse the length of this, my first
post to the Ibogaine list.
Peace,
Preston

Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Greetings – send greetings for Easter, Passover

From: Dana Beal <dana@cures-not-wars.org>
Subject: Re: [ibogaine] M Is For Methadone- (methadone, withdrawls, and ibogaine…)
Date: March 31, 2002 at 12:34:08 AM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Yeah, but if you’d done the Ibogaine, you could have written it up
for High Times (they’re not supportive of Ibogaine;…<

O no. They woulda done it if it was you.

Gabe says it’s personal animus.

Dana/cnw

From: “preston peet” <ptpeet@nyc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [ibogaine] M Is For Methadone- (methadone, withdrawls, and ibogaine…)
Date: March 30, 2002 at 7:13:34 PM EST
To: <ibogaine@mindvox.com>
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Yeah, but if you’d done the Ibogaine, you could have written it up
for High Times (they’re not supportive of Ibogaine;…<

LOL, well Dana, you’ve answered that point pretty conclusively: I, even had
I pitched the darn thing, probably couldn’t have gotten it into HT, eh?
From an interestingly outoffocusedshroomland,
Peace,
Preston
—– Original Message —–
From: “Dana Beal” <dana@cures-not-wars.org>
To: <ibogaine@mindvox.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2002 8:00 PM
Subject: Re: [ibogaine] M Is For Methadone- (methadone, withdrawls, and
ibogaine…)

That would be me.

to which I
replied, I didn’t feel I need ibogaine to quit, (and as it turned out I
was
right), as I’d already made the decision to quit, (after COUNTLESS
TIMES),
first dope, by utilizing methadone, then kicking methadoneby suffering,
videogames, lots of pot, and hot baths listening to my favorite music.

Hot bath results can be improved by taking melatonin to stop spasming.

The
pretty horrid withrawls were bad, but I treated them as my trial by fire,
to
use an old, tired cliche. To me, though I personally haven’t tried
ibogaine,
(thought I’m tempted to help me kick my horrendous tobacco habit),
ibogaine
seems to be A catalyst, a tool for those who’ve already made the decision
they want to quit dope, but most certainly is NOT a magic postion that
works
with everyone.

Yeah, but if you’d done the Ibogaine, you could have written it up
for High Times (they’re not supportive of Ibogaine; in fact, Steve
Bloom demanded that we remove Ibogaine lit from the packages we send
out for Million Marijuana March supporters as the condition of any
grant to help with the postage, knowing I’d refuse and they wouldn’t
have to cough up.

To me, I feel the key is having a genuine desire to kick,
then finding the tool most conducisve to each individual’s individual
case.

High Times does give money to NORML, who spend it badmouthing the MMM
(“They only have ten people at most of them,” according to Keith
Stroup) and saying the Ibogaine advocacy proves I’m crazy.

Dana/cnw

From: Dana Beal <dana@cures-not-wars.org>
Subject: [ibogaine] Re: [LSRmail] Fw: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self
Date: March 30, 2002 at 8:02:54 PM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Good to see there’s enough people on this list that some good old fashioned flaming is going on.

Dana/cnw

Hi Richard:

I quote from your post on January 06, 2002, “…One thing I welcome about LSR is that we don’t have to check our brains at the door”; however, on March 28, 2002, you mention “in a jail in Whitefish… smuggling in 5 OZ tubes of pure chap inside a tampon… it’s normal to have trouble with speech your first ninety days, while your lips are still drying out”. Now I know what Kierkegaard meant when he described The Concept of Irony (1841).

Regards,

Les

—– Original Message —–
From: <mailto:RichCBT@aol.com>RichCBT@aol.com
To: <mailto:leesmithjr@prodigy.net>leesmithjr@prodigy.net
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 2:47 PM
Subject: Re: [LSRmail] Fw: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self

Les,

Isn’t it bad enough that you’ve invaded our list for the purpose of promoting your “holistic” recovery center? Now you have to let us in on your pseudo-philosophical posturings? Were we bad in some other life? Didn’t you read Kant’s Critique of Pure Bullshit? Is there a Hegelian antithesis that will come along to negate you, or at least synthesize you into something different? Now I know what Kierkegaard meant when he described The Sickness Unto Death. I am sick to death of you.

Regards,

Richard

From: Dana Beal <dana@cures-not-wars.org>
Subject: Re: [ibogaine] M Is For Methadone- (methadone, withdrawls, and ibogaine…)
Date: March 30, 2002 at 8:00:53 PM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

That would be me.

to which I
replied, I didn’t feel I need ibogaine to quit, (and as it turned out I was
right), as I’d already made the decision to quit, (after COUNTLESS TIMES),
first dope, by utilizing methadone, then kicking methadoneby suffering,
videogames, lots of pot, and hot baths listening to my favorite music.

Hot bath results can be improved by taking melatonin to stop spasming.

The
pretty horrid withrawls were bad, but I treated them as my trial by fire, to
use an old, tired cliche. To me, though I personally haven’t tried ibogaine,
(thought I’m tempted to help me kick my horrendous tobacco habit), ibogaine
seems to be A catalyst, a tool for those who’ve already made the decision
they want to quit dope, but most certainly is NOT a magic postion that works
with everyone.

To me, I feel the key is having a genuine desire to kick,
then finding the tool most conducisve to each individual’s individual case.

High Times does give money to NORML, who spend it badmouthing the MMM
(“They only have ten people at most of them,” according to Keith
Stroup) and saying the Ibogaine advocacy proves I’m crazy.

Dana/cnw

From: “preston peet” <ptpeet@nyc.rr.com>
Subject: [ibogaine] M Is For Methadone- (methadone, withdrawls, and ibogaine…)
Date: March 30, 2002 at 10:50:52 AM EST
To: <ibogaine@mindvox.com>
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Hello all,
This is my first posting to the ibogaine list, so please excuse the
length of this post.
Patrick Kroupa invited me to subscribe, and I must say I’m glad I did.
What interesting exchanges I’ve already read in the last week or two. Great
list folks.
Anyway, Patrick Kroupa made a point last week, which I unfortunately
can’t find the email of, in which he pointed out that he wasn’t sure what
folks meant by clean or getting clean, (sorry, I’m paraphrasing), as he
himself did dope until it didn’t do anymore what he wanted it to, he tried,
through various trials and efforts, to quite, and finally did. (I guess he
used ibogaine to kick off the kicking, but I’m not really sure of that.). I
tend to agree with him in that we all use our own methods to “kick,” and to
me, as unexperienced as I am on the use of ibogaine, it just seems yet one
more tool among countless tools, and still, as powerful as it may be, needs
to have that inner drive to quit already in place to work. If anyone has
another/more than one view on this, please give me counterarguments/points
please
When I wrote the following article last year, (just about this time,
about 13 months or so ago, someone else on this list, (though I wasn’t
subscribed, I do know some of the participants here outside of this list)
suggested to me, “why force yourself to go through the pain of withdrawls,
you are only giving in to the god of dope, try ibogaine,” to which I
replied, I didn’t feel I need ibogaine to quit, (and as it turned out I was
right), as I’d already made the decision to quit, (after COUNTLESS TIMES),
first dope, by utilizing methadone, then kicking methadoneby suffering,
videogames, lots of pot, and hot baths listening to my favorite music. The
pretty horrid withrawls were bad, but I treated them as my trial by fire, to
use an old, tired cliche. To me, though I personally haven’t tried ibogaine,
(thought I’m tempted to help me kick my horrendous tobacco habit), ibogaine
seems to be A catalyst, a tool for those who’ve already made the decision
they want to quit dope, but most certainly is NOT a magic postion that works
with everyone. To me, I feel the key is having a genuine desire to kick,
then finding the tool most conducisve to each individual’s individual case.
Anyway, I’d love feedback on this.
After this article, at the above URl, there are TONS of links to
methadone and treatment. (after the technical stuff in the beginning page, I
turn to my own personal experiences and thoughts on the matter) (and by the
way, I’ve been off opiates for over a year now, and stick to the more
natural herbal type stress relieving medication, such as, uh, herb, and for
more religious communing with the natural world as a whole, fungus.;-))
Peace, and thanks for including me in this list, and Patrick, thanks again
for the invite to subscribe.
Preston Peet
editor www.drugwar.com
cont. High Times Mag/.com
(also, for your entertainment, here are some illustrated chapters from my
book Something in the Way, misadventure stories of a junky punkrockers
living in the streets of NYC, previously published in slightly different
form in other places, like the New York Waste in NYC- (the M is for
Methadone follow below)

Central Park Schizo- http://www.drugwar.com/pcentral_park_schizo.shtm

Haircut- http://www.drugwar.com/phaircut.shtm

Winterhold- http://www.drugwar.com/pwinterhole.shtm

http://www.disinfo.com/pages/dossier/id838/pg1/

m is for methadone
by Preston Peet (ptpeet@nyc.rr.com) – January 14, 2001

Temperature’s rising, fever is high, can’t see no future, can’t see no sky.
My feet are so heavy, so is my head. I wish I was a baby. I wish I was dead.
Cold turkey has got me on the run. Body is aching, goose-pimple bone. Can’t
see nobody. Leave me alone. My eyes are wide open, I can’t get to sleep.
One thing I’m sure of, I’m in at the deep freeze.
Cold Turkey has got me on the run. 36 hours rolling in pain, praying to
someone, free me again. Oh, I’ll be a good boy, so please make me well. I’ll
promise you anything, get me out of this hell!
Cold turkey has got me, oh, oh, oh, Cold turkey has got me on the run.
~ ~Cold Turkey, John Lennon/Yoko Ono (October 20, 1969)

Methadone (meth’e don’)-n.[< it’s chemical name] a synthetic drug, less
habit-forming than morphine, used in treating morphine addicts.
~ ~ Webster’s New World Compact School and Office Dictionary, 1982 [revised
edition]

This is pure unadulterated bullshit. Ask any methadone patient which drug is
easier to kick – Heroin, or Methadone – and they will tell you, quite
rightly, that Methadone is the more hellish “drug” of the two.

While Methadone has no discernible high, and affects the body for longer
(keeping withdrawals at bay for longer than heroin), once a person is
feeling the lack of Methadone, the difference is clear. Detoxing from
Methadone takes more time, a month or more at minimum, as compared to the
week or two maximum for Heroin.

Patients in Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) must take their medication
every single day, or they get sick. Clearly, Methadone is habit-forming,
although admittedly in every case, heroin habits are already formed, or a
person cannot (or will not) be placed into MMT. So, ‘less habit-forming’ is
semantic in the above definition, and blatantly untrue.

In 1939 two scientists working for I.G. Farben, Otto Eisleb, and O.
Schaumann, at Hoechst-Am-Main, Germany, discovered an opioid analgesic which
after numbering compound 8909, they named Dolantin (Pethidine). Hopes that
it would be a new, non-addictive pain reliever, to take the place of
Morphine, just like Diamorphine (heroin), before it, came to naught.
However, because it was an extremely effective analgesic, the Germans used
the drug extensively throughout War World II.

(Unless otherwise noted, facts are taken from The Methadone Briefing, edited
by Andrew Preston, London: Waterbridge House, 1996).

From 1937 through the Spring and Summer of 1938, two other scientists
working for I.G. Farben, Max Bockmuhl, and Gustav Ehrart, were working with
similar compounds to Dolantin. Bockmuhl and Ehrart were searching for drugs
with certain characteristics, such as “water soluble hypnotics (sleep
inducing) substances, effective drugs to slow the gastrointestinal tract to
make surgery easier, effective analgesics that were structurally dissimilar
to Morphine-in the hopes that they would be non-addictive, and escape the
strict controls on opiates.”

On September 11, 1941, Bockmuhl and Ehrhart filed a patent application for,
and were formally credited with, the discovery of Hoechst 10820 (Polamidon),
which eventually became known as Methadone.

In the Autumn of 1942, I.G. Farben handed over the drug, codenamed “Amidon”,
to the German military for further testing.

The Nazis did not make any attempt to mass produce the drug, unlike
Pethidine, which by 1944 was being produced at an annual rate of 1600 kg.
One reason for this was given by Dr. K K Chen, an early American researcher,
after the war. He said that a former employee of the I. G. Farben factory
had written him, saying that the Germans had discontinued Polamidon use due
to its side effects. Chen decided that the Nazis had been giving their test
subject doses that were too high, causing nausea, overdose, etc.

After the war ended, the Allies divided up the spoils. I. G. Farben was in
an US-occupied zone so all its “intellectual capital” (patent, trade names,
and the like) came under US management. Along with the formula for Zyklon B,
a nerve gas that the Nazis used in some of their extermination programs,
Methadone was now an American possession.

One very common misconception is that Dolophine, one of the very first trade
names given to the drug, was derived from “Adolph”, in honor of the dictator
himself by the Nazis, and that in Germany it was called “Adolophine.” The
fact of the matter seems to be this name was not given the drug until after
the war, by the Eli-Lilly pharmaceutical company in America, which was given
control of the drug.

If there was any honoring of Hitler going on, it was by the Americans who
invented this urban legend. Dolophine most likely derives from the French
words “dolor” (pain), and “fin” (end).

Eli-Lilly, along with other companies in the US and Great Britain, began
clinical trials of Dolophine, marketing the drug as a pain killer and cough
suppressant. In 1947, Isabel et al, published their findings after
experimenting on both animals and humans. After giving doses of up to
200mg., four times a day, they found that there was rapid tolerance, and
euphoria. They also discovered that there were a bevy of adverse side
effects, such as, “signs of toxicity . . . inflammation of the skin . . .
deep narcosis and . . . a general clinical appearance of illness.” Once
again, just like the Nazis, the scientists were giving doses that were far
too high.

Morphine addicts responded well to Dolophine, but authorities decided that
it was potentially highly addictive. As reports of Dolophine addicts started
coming in, thedrug was taken of the market, only to resurface in the 1960s,
now known as Methadone.

Promoted by Drs. Marie Nyswynder, and Vincent Dole in the mid-1960s as the
most promising method of treating heroin addiction, MMT began to receive
more attention from the medical community, and gradually limited tests were
begun to gauge MMT’s efficacy in treating hardcore heroin addicts. Reading
through the National Institute of Health’s Consensus Development Statement,
titled “Effective Medical Treatment Of Opiate Addiction”, not much, it
seems, has changed. US scientists and doctors still have a lack of
compassion for their “test subjects” that echoes the Nazi doctors. In the
Diagnosis of Opioid Addiction section, the report states that if an addict
has failed after all tests to convince the doctor he/she is really a heroin
addict, the doctor can obtain further evidence by administering a “Naloxone
(Narcan) challenge test to induce withdrawal symptoms.” This instantly
induces withdrawals, and is what paramedics give overdose victims when
trying to resuscitate them dead on the sidewalk. I’ve seen it given to a
friend, and he was definitely not happy when jerking awake, sick as a dog.
It is sadistic torture giving Naloxone to someone simply, to prove that
they’re are an addict.
(end pg1)

There have also been allegations of pharmaceutical companies using mentally
ill patients in drug experiments, as reported in the New York Post (January
19, 1998). Alexander Cockburn made a comparison between Methadone and Prozac
in the New York Press (January 27-February 2, 1998), where he likened
Methadone patients to “compliant slaves.” He contended that Methadone is one
long running experiment at the sake of the addict, and his/her freedoms.

If there is one thing that I am not, it’s a compliant slave. But what I am
is someone who was always at risk of going out and banging a bag or three of
heroin (maybe, somewhere deep inside even still am, but I don’t buy that
“I’ve got a disease” 12-step rap, no offense to 12-steppers. Whatever it
takes).

Every time I would quit, eventually the urge to score would be overwhelming
and irresistible. I have seen reports, heard anecdotal evidence, and
personally experienced the incessant relapsing, the days of sickness, pain,
and cold, utter hell of having been clean and doing well, to only on a whim
go out and throw it all away. Again and again I had seen it and done it. I
know that it can be impossible for some people to stop and objectively look
at what they are doing, to have that be enough to arrest their habit. Like
the idea or not, Methadone can and has saved a lot of lives.

Of course, one has to already have the “high motivation for change” that has
been recently reported to be associated with successful MMT. Otherwise the
patient can and often does continue to use anything and everything else,
including dope, and I see it all the time. Some may take this to mean that
after all is said and done, it’s a person’s will power keeping them in line,
so why should they need the Methadone, except as a crutch?

Take a look at TV some time, at all the ads being run for new allergy pills,
new diet pills, new hair-grow pills, new all kinds of pills. Most, if not
all come with long drawn out warnings of adverse side effects, such as head
aches, nausea, stomach cramping, and fetal deformity in unborn children. Yet
these are all for medications that are most certainly not needed by anyone,
for any reason, except to make life a little easier, if one can believe that
from the purported side-effects the ads warn of.

Methadone is pushed the same way: “Why suffer kicking dope and getting
arrested when you can have our drug, cheap, supplied you, that will allow
you a ‘normal’ life? Never mind the awful kicking you may someday face, but
why quit? Stay on it for life if need be, you are an addict!” This is the
message.

It should be obvious that if Methadone does what it is advertised, then of
course folks should actively support it’s dissemination. But to me, a person
currently dealing with the realization that methadone only put off the hell
of kicking, with a much harder kick awaiting me when the decision to end its
use was recently reached, it isn’t obvious. Who is making the money from the
production and sales of Methadone? Why is Methadone more preferable than
simple Heroin maintenance?

(Other than for the blatant advantage of no longer taking the drug,
(herion), made illegal by the same folks who made MMT legal, that initiated
the addiction in the first place.)

There is also the fact that people who do drugs, illegal drugs, are by
definition, law-breakers. Law-breakers are in turn potential subversives, as
they are not inclined to toe the official line. What better way to get
control of a whole block of possible terrorists, rabble-rousers and
plain-old troublemakers than to arrange to supply their highly-addictive
drugs to them directly, through established clinics where they must come to
get their “fix”, where it is easy to keep records of all kinds, medical,
psychological, and otherwise on them all? Eli-Lilly is renowned for their
concentrating on the psycho-active drug market, like Prozac, so mightn’t
that be a worrying sign in regards to the control factors inherent in giving
out their addictive Methadone to addicts?

These are valid points, and they indeed worry me, giving me much pause for
thought. Especially in light of all the evidence of CIA, and other
intelligence agencies being involved with the smuggling of drugs over the
last thirty or forty years into the US, thereby contributing to the cause
and effect cycle that is evident in the whole War Against Some Drug
scenario, including the drug treatment industry. Methadone can and does
improve the “quality of life” of both the addict and those around him/her.
Yet it is a synthetic creation, and certainly not as clean as heroin could
be were it legal and under regulative control like alcohol, rather than in
the hands of hoodlums on street corners cutting it with poison and shit,
creating fodder for the private-prison/law enforcement/military-industrial
complex.

I spent a good number of years strung out. I make no bones about it, and
accept the responsibility. I swore many times that when I was ready to quit,
there would be no way I’d allow myself to go on MMT. But in 1996, after
years of hell, going cold turkey over and over only to use again,
consistently failing to quit on my own, MMT seemed the only way out, to get
away from the authorities butting into my life, and to avoid the sickness I’
d have to face kicking yet again. Now I’m finding that I’ve only put off the
kicking, and what I’m now going through is only the beginning.

The only good thing I can personally say about Methadone is that I was able
to use it to break old habits and change my perspective, and stop getting
arrested by asshole cops who made the stupidest jokes I’ve ever heard, and
who locked me up in filthier, more dangerous places than even I’d imagined
existed.

I certainly never, ever got ‘high’ nor dopey from Methadone, regardless of
how it affects some folk. There was no fun to it at all, it just helped me
keep away from heroin. But for the War Against Some Drugs and modern
prohibition, maybe it wouldn’t have had to be. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone
using it in the same fashion that I did, and it can do what it is supposed
to if the user wishes it to. I certainly wouldn’t advise it except that for
now, there are not all that many alternatives, except abstinence, which is
not for everyone.

I was a model patient, only going to the clinic once a week to pick up a
week’s supply. But I refuse to be a statistic for the system, nor their
fodder any longer.
(end pg 2)

From: “Les Smith” <leesmithjr@prodigy.net>
Subject: [ibogaine] Re: [LSRmail] Fw: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self
Date: March 29, 2002 at 11:30:46 PM EST
To: <RichCBT@aol.com>
Cc: <ibogaine@mindvox.com>, <ADDICT-L@listserv.kent.edu>, <12-Step_Coercion_Watch@yahoogroups.com>, <12-step-free@yahoogroups.com>, <apadiv50-forum@csd.uwm.edu>, <LISTSERV@listserv.kent.edu>, <lsrmail@yahoogroups.com>, <SRMail1@aol.com>, <sossaveourselves@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Hi Richard:

Regards,

Les

—– Original Message —–
From: RichCBT@aol.com
To: leesmithjr@prodigy.net
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 2:47 PM
Subject: Re: [LSRmail] Fw: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self

Les,
Isn’t it bad enough that you’ve invaded our list for the purpose of promoting your “holistic” recovery center? Now you have to let us in on your pseudo-philosophical posturings? Were we bad in some other life? Didn’t you read Kant’s Critique of Pure Bullshit? Is there a Hegelian antithesis that will come along to negate you, or at least synthesize you into something different? Now I know what Kierkegaard meant when he described The Sickness Unto Death. I am sick to death of you.

Regards,

Richard

From: Carla Barnes <carlambarnes@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [ibogaine] Re: [LSRmail] Fw: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self
Date: March 29, 2002 at 6:59:20 PM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com, RichCBT@aol.com, leesmithjr@prodigy.net
Cc: ibogaine@mindvox.com, addict-l@listserv.kent.edu, 12-step_coercion_watch@yahoogroups.com, 12-step-free@yahoogroups.com, apadiv50-forum@csd.uwm.edu, listserv@listserv.kent.edu, lsrmail@yahoogroups.com, srmail1@aol.com, sossaveourselves@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Hi, why am I receiving all this junk? I signed on to the ibogaine list at mindvox, who is Lee Smith and what does any of this have to do with ibogaine?
I know some of the conversations drift all over the place but at least they’re written by people who did ibogaine and are at worst interesting, even when they are a little crazy.
But this is the third message full of junk from 10 other lists being sent to me. I don’t want to keep getting this please.
Carla B
MonaHolland1@aol.com wrote:
>>>Were we bad in some other life? Didn’t you read Kant’s Critique of Pure
Bullshit? Is there a Hegelian antithesis that will come along to negate you,
or at least synthesize you into something different? Now I know what
Kierkegaard meant when he described The Sickness Unto Death. I am sick to
death of you.<<

We were very bad…and we looked into the Abyss, and looking back at us, was Lee Smith, Jr.

–Mona–
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Greetings – send greetings for Easter, Passover

From: “Patrick K. Kroupa” <digital@phantom.com>
Subject: [ibogaine] . . .
Date: March 29, 2002 at 6:18:01 PM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Hello, to the people sending me all the personal mail, I can’t answer all
of it. Yeah, vitamin C may do something for you, you can go look it up:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ascorbic+acid+opiate+opioid
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ascorbic+acid+opiate
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ascorbic+acid+heroin
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ascorbic+acid+methadone

You can also go buy some and TRY IT.

Patrick

From: MonaHolland1@aol.com
Subject: [ibogaine] Re: [LSRmail] Fw: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self
Date: March 29, 2002 at 3:08:13 PM EST
To: <RichCBT@aol.com>, <leesmithjr@prodigy.net>
Cc: <ibogaine@mindvox.com>, <addict-l@listserv.kent.edu>, <12-step_coercion_watch@yahoogroups.com>, <12-step-free@yahoogroups.com>, <apadiv50-forum@csd.uwm.edu>, <listserv@listserv.kent.edu>, <lsrmail@yahoogroups.com>, <srmail1@aol.com>, <sossaveourselves@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Were we bad in some other life? Didn’t you read Kant’s Critique of Pure
Bullshit? Is there a Hegelian antithesis that will come along to negate you,
or at least synthesize you into something different? Now I know what
Kierkegaard meant when he described The Sickness Unto Death. I am sick to
death of you.<<

We were very bad…and we looked into the Abyss, and looking back at us, was Lee Smith, Jr.

–Mona–

From: RichCBT@aol.com
Subject: [ibogaine] Re: [LSRmail] Fw: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self
Date: March 29, 2002 at 2:47:14 PM EST
To: leesmithjr@prodigy.net
Cc: ibogaine@mindvox.com, ADDICT-L@listserv.kent.edu, 12-Step_Coercion_Watch@yahoogroups.com, 12-step-free@yahoogroups.com, apadiv50-forum@csd.uwm.edu, LISTSERV@listserv.kent.edu, lsrmail@yahoogroups.com, SRMail1@aol.com, sossaveourselves@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

In a message dated 3/29/2002 2:33:37 AM Pacific Standard Time, leesmithjr@prodigy.net writes:

His recent book hypothesizes the theory of a presumed “emergence” as a neurological basis with respect to the premise of a Cartesian duality and supports this with case histories of asomatognosia, capgras syndrome, Fregoli syndrome, confabulation, and other severe mental conditions. He eventually contrasts an ephemeral “nested hierarchy of meaning” vs. simply a “purpose for existence” as a sort of higher consciousness, and then later deduces that the brain creates the self as a “sum greater than the parts”.

This concept seems to have some valuable merit; however, from a philosophical perspective, this viewpoint may simply be another attempt to translate the Kantian “I” to the Hegelian dialectical synthesis that was dispelled by Kierkegaard in the 1800s (and again much later by the existentialists, some post-modernists, de-constructionists, and the “process thought” psychologists). I look forward to your comments.

Les Smith, CFO
“OM” / WNCREF

Les,
Isn’t it bad enough that you’ve invaded our list for the purpose of promoting your “holistic” recovery center? Now you have to let us in on your pseudo-philosophical posturings?
Were we bad in some other life? Didn’t you read Kant’s Critique of Pure Bullshit? Is there a Hegelian antithesis that will come along to negate you, or at least synthesize you into something different? Now I know what Kierkegaard meant when he described The Sickness Unto Death. I am sick to death of you.

Regards,

Richard

From: fuak <fuak@nirvanet.net>
Subject: [ibogaine] no need for a big budget film aronofsky
Date: March 29, 2002 at 2:40:31 PM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

requiem must understand the powers of iboga

– colton

From: “Patrick K. Kroupa” <digital@phantom.com>
Subject: Re: [ibogaine] ascorbate
Date: March 29, 2002 at 1:57:30 PM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

On [Fri, Mar 29, 2002 at 01:27:33PM -0500], [Rop Halvor] wrote:

<etc…>

Dude, whatcha got there appears to be an abstract, followed by pieces of
monographs which are much older and not related to the abstract wedged
into the start-part of your post type thing…

It’s interesting … but, subjectively, it doesn’t work. I’ve been
interested in life extension stuff for about as long as I’ve been
interested in drugs — which is to say, forever n ever… Among all the
detoxes I ever tried, I tried that one too. They had some study going in
the 70’s, I read it, I was already on 25gms a day of oral ascorbic acid,
plus ascorbyl palmitate (fat soluble C) plus… and obtained injectible
C. Went up to 100gms or so of IV’ing it…

My habit was not that insane yet, I was on, lessee, roughly 4grams a day
of heroin — stepped on, but one step before what landed in the glassine
bags on street corners, and 6mg Xanax, and couldn’t sleep anymore …
possibly ‘cuz I was IV’ing way too much cocaine as well.

It helped me sleep. That was about it. There are various other papers
linking C’s positive effects on people doing MMTP and shit like that, and
a warehouse full, linking C’s positive effects on just being alive and
stuff…

All of this IS very interesting, and it appears in a variety of places
aside from scientific literature. Scott Frank mentions this in his war
stories book, “Tales from the Geronimo” (which I think is outta print, and
sold maybe 5,000 copies… Though he’s now a screenwriter, selling
presumably many more copies of his movieZ), John Rechy also mentions it
someplace in his works… (It’s not Cities of Night… sumplace else…)

For what it’s worth, I’m on roughly 10-50,000 times the RDA of all water
solubale vitamins, lower doses of fat sol, 2-3 times the RDA of minerals,
and along with Dana, believe in that whole entire melatonin thing…
Roughly 20 warehouses full of literature demonstrate why this is positive;
and for all the stupid shit I’ve ever done to myself — and still do, I
smoke 2 packs a day, eat basically salt, grease, red meat and coffee …
all my readings are somewhere between excellent and super-good.

On the flipside, my mother is hitting 65 or so, has chain smoked since 17,
takes absolutely no care of herself, and is doing Just Fine. So perhaps
it’s just genetics. Everyone in my family appears to beat the shit out of
themselves physically, and all have lived long, miserable lives, dying in
their 70’s to 90’s, or committed suicide.

Whatever the case, swallowing 50 pills a day makes me Feel Happy Inside,
and if I think it’s doin’ sumthin’ positive, then I make it so.

However… It ain’t gonna unspring you. Or, it certainly didn’t do it
for me. Try it and lemme know.

Patrick

From: “Rop Halvor” <rophalvor@alloymail.com>
Subject: [ibogaine] ascorbate
Date: March 29, 2002 at 1:27:33 PM EST
To: ibogaine@mindvox.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) effects on withdrawal
syndrome of heroin abusers
by
Evangelou A, Kalfakakou V, Georgakas P, Koutras V,
Vezyraki P, Iliopoulou L, Vadalouka A Laboratory of Experimental
Physiology,

Faculty of Medicine,
University of Ioannina, Greece.
aevaggel@uoi.gr
In Vivo 2000 Mar-Apr; 14(2):363-6
ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), administered orally in high doses
has been observed to relieve pain and reduce opioid use in cancer
patients. In vitro studies have also shown that antioxidants, such as
vitamin C, may, at high concentrations, inhibit the endogenous opioid
degrading metalloenzyme and increase endorphin levels. In the present
study the effects of oral administration of high doses of vitamin C on
withdrawal syndrome of heroin abusers were investigated. MATERIALS AND
PATIENTS: Ascorbic acid at doses of 300 mg/kg b.w/day, supplemented with
vitamin E (5 mg/kg b.w/day), was orally administered in two groups of
heroin addict subjects consisting of in-patients (Group A, 30 males) and
one of out-patients (Group B, 10 males), for a minimum of 4 weeks. The
group A in-patients were also administered the conventional (diazepam +
analgesic) medication. The results on the intensity of withdrawal
syndrome (WS), estimated according to DMS-III criteria, were compared to a
third group of heroin addict in-patients (group C, 30 males-control group),
treated only by conventional medication. RESULTS: The patients of the
vitamin C-treated groups (in-patients and out-patients) experienced mild
WS (in 46.6% to 50% of the subjects) in contrast to the control group
patients, who experienced mild WS in 6.6% of the cases.

The vitamin C-treated subjects expressed major WS ranging from 10% to
16.6%, in contrast to the untreated subjects (control group), who
expressed a major WS in 56.6% of the cases.

CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that high doses of ascorbic acid
administered orally, may ameliorate the withdrawal syndrome of
heroin addicts. Further studies are needed in order to estimate the dose-
and time-dependent effects of ascorbic acid treatment, and to clarify its
mechanisms of action in the withdrawal syndrome.

Ascorbate injected into
rats at the rate of 100 mg per kg body weight attenuated and abolished
the narcotic effects of morphine (Ghione, 1958). Ascorbate’s
detoxification of a wide variety of inorganic and organic poisons was
reviewed (Stone, 1972) and included Klenner’s study on the successful
megascorbic treatment of barbiturate poisoning, snakebite, and Black
Widow spider bites. It was also suggested in this review that
megasdoses of ascorbate be used in drug addiction (Stone, pp. 157-158,
l972). Two interesting papers appeared in 1976, one from Thailand which
showed that the sleeping time induced in rabbits by 15 mg of
pentobarbital could be progressively reduced by increasing amounts of
ascorbate injected five minutes prior to the pentobarbital. The sleeping
times in minutes for ascorbate dosages of 0, 250 mg, 500 mg, 750 mg were
50, 29 27, 23, and at 1,000 mg ascorbate the rabbits did not fall asleep
at all (Bejrablaya and Laumjansook, 1976). The other paper (Scher et
al., 1976) was originally presented in 1974 to the North American
Congress on Alcohol and Drug Problems, by these authors from the National
Council on Drug Abuse and the Methadone Maintenance Institute, and was
entitled, “Massive Vitamin C as an Adjunct in Methadone Maintenance and
Detoxification.” These authors realized that scurvy played a large part
in the drug abuse problem, but they only saw ascorbate as a means to
reduce some of the side effects of methadone administration like
constipation, loss of libido, and restless sleep. For this they used
about 5 g of ascorbic acid a day. It apparently never occurred to them
that by switching to sodium ascorbate and increasing their dosage by a
factor of 10, they could completely eliminate the ill-conceived Methadone
Program with all its problems and at the same time have a simple,
nontoxic, and elegant solution to the drug abuse problem.
The total amount of
ascorbate given a day will vary with the extent of the drug addiction.
It is never less than 25 g a day in spaced doses and can go to 85 g or
more per day. As a rough rule-of-thumb means of judging dosage:
a $50/day habit needs 25 to 40 g sodium ascorbate, $150 to $200/day about
60 to 75 grams. Judging dosage comes with experience, and any errors
should be on the high-dosage side because of ascorbate’s extremely low
toxicity and lack of side effects. The megadoses are continued for four
to six days. During this time no withdrawl symptoms should be encountered
(if any appear, increase the soldium ascorbate intake.) Generally, in two
or three days appetite returns and most patients begin to eat well and have
restful sleep for the first time since the chronic addiction began. One
of the first observations to be made of the patient on this
orthomolecular therapy is the rapid change in well-being: they feel
good. The mega doses are then gradually reduced to holding dose levels
of about 10 g per day of sodium ascorbate
The research of S.H. Snyder et al on the binding of morphine-like
substances to brain opiate receptor sites was recently reviewed (Snyder,
1977). They have shown that the largest amount of binding occurs in
cells from the very primitive limbic system deep within the brain. They
also showed that the very primitive hagfishes and sharks have as much
opiate receptor binding sites as the most advanced of the mammals,
monkeys, and man. They found that the properties of these receptor sites
in these early and most recent vertebrates were similar, indicating that
few changes have been made during the course of about 400 million years
of evolution. It is states that, “This suggested that the opiate
receptor is normally concerned with receiving some molecule that has
remained the same throughout evolution….possibly a neurotransmitter
which acts at these sites.” Also the presence of high levels of sodium
helps dislodge the narcotic from the receptor sites.
We speculate that these binding sites were evolved in the early
vertebrates to concentrate and localize, from the very low concentrations
existing in these animals, the electronically labile ascorbate molecules,
which aid in neurotransmission. The fact that these sites bind narcotics
is purely happenstance, because of a possible similarity in molecular
shape. There does not seem to be any obvious physiological evolutionary
reason for concentrating narcotics in the nerve endings of this newly
developing control system, whereas there may have been a great need to
concentrate and obtain high levels of ascorbate at synpases to aid is
efficient nerve impulse transmission. Ascorbate is a molecule that
appears to have changed little in the last 400 million years and was
present on the evolutionary scene long before the fishes appeared (Sone,
1977a). If this hypothesis is valid, then the receptor sites should be
renamed “ascorbate receptors” instead of “opiate receptors.” It should
not be difficult to experimentally test the validity of these theoretical
considerations.

—

_______________________________________________
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From: Dana Beal <dana@cures-not-wars.org>
Subject: [ibogaine] Should have read: effects of chronic fatigue/REM depletion on cannabis users
Date: March 29, 2002 at 11:29:15 AM EST
To: Kenneth Alper <kra1@nyu.edu>
Cc: ibogaine@mindvox.com, chrischmoo@yahoo.co.uk, biuro_69@csk.pl, Hattie <epoptica@freeuk.com>, “tony conte” <contetony@hotmail.com>, Andria Efthimiou-Mordaunt <AndriaEM@drugscope.org.uk>, “Gregory Lake” <lakeg@hotmail.com>, actupny@panix.com, “Allan clear” <clear@harmreduction.org>, GroveDS@aol.com
Reply-To: ibogaine@mindvox.com

How do we know the effect is not just damage from chronic fatigue?
that it might not just be erased by regular use of melatonin?

Dana/cnw

Below is a critique by Harrison Pope in the Journal of the American
Medical Association of a recent high profile article (attached here as a
PDF) on cannabis and cognitive functioning.

Vol. 287 No. 9,
March 6, 2002

Editorial
Cannabis, Cognition, and Residual Confounding

Harrison G. Pope, Jr, MD

In this issue of THE JOURNAL, Solowij and colleagues1 report a variety of
neuropsychological deficits in long-term cannabis users who were
tested a median of
17 hours after their last reported cannabis intake. Their findings of
impairments in
memory and attention are not surprising since several large and
well-controlled studies
have found similar deficits on neuropsychological tests administered
to long-term
cannabis users after 12 to 72 hours of abstinence.2-5 If these
deficits are brief and
reversible (ie, due to a residue of cannabinoids lingering in the
brain or to withdrawal
effects from abruptly stopping the drug), they might not be a serious
threat. However, if
these deficits are prolonged or irreversible (ie, due to
neurotoxicity from years of
cumulative cannabis exposure), they become a matter of grave concern.
The findings
of Solowij and colleagues favor the latter possibility in that
longer-term cannabis users
in the study often showed significantly greater deficits than
shorter-term users, and
neuropsychological performance measures were often negatively correlated with
lifetime duration of use. Furthermore, these correlations could not
be explained by
greater withdrawal symptoms or heavier recent cannabis consumption among the
longer-term users. Solowij and colleagues1 conclude that “our results
confirm that
cognitive impairments develop as a result of prolonged cannabis use .
. . and [that]
they worsen with increasing years of use.”

The findings reported by these leading researchers must be evaluated
carefully. First,
Solowij et al report only an association between lifetime duration of
cannabis use and
impairment at 17 hours since last cannabis use and therefore cannot
extrapolate from
this finding to infer whether impairment persists for longer periods.
Second, the
strength of the evidence for an association, even at the 17-hour mark, must be
evaluated in context with other reports. Previous data from Solowij
favor the possibility
of persistent deficits associated with lifetime duration of cannabis
exposure.6 However,
the weight of evidence from other studies seems tilted in the
opposite direction. For
example, a recent meta-analysis of neuropsychological studies of
long-term marijuana
users found no significant evidence for deficits in 7 of 8
neuropsychological ability
areas and only a small effect size (ie, 0.23 SD units; 99% confidence interval,
0.03-0.43) for the remaining area of learning.7 Another recent study5 from our
laboratory, published subsequent to this meta-analysis, found
virtually no significant
differences between 108 heavy cannabis users and 72 controlsscreened to
exclude those with current psychiatric disorders, medication use, or
any history of
significant use of other drugs or alcoholon a battery of 10
neuropsychological tests
after 28 days of supervised abstinence from the drug. In addition, no
significant
associations were found between the number of episodes of lifetime
cannabis use and
any of the test scores at day 28 even though the heavy users had
smoked a median
of about 15 000 times over periods ranging from 10 to 33 years.5
Further analysis of
these data for associations between lifetime use and performance at
day 0 and day 1
of abstinence revealed trends that were almost always in the same
direction as those
reported by Solowij et al,1 but the effect sizes were much smaller
(unpublished data).

We also analyzed the possible reasons for the difference between our
study5 and that
of Solowij et al in the strength of association between duration of
use and performance
after 1 day of abstinence. The participants in the 2 studies reported
very similar
degrees of cannabis exposure, and the neuropsychological tests
administered were
generally similar or even identical. Both studies had similar sample
sizes and thus
similar statistical power. Therefore, the most likely remaining
explanation would seem to
be lack of comparability between the exposed and nonexposed groups
within one or
both studies with respect to factors associated with the outcomes of
interest (ie,
residual confounding).

For example, cannabis users in the study by Solowij et al were
seeking treatment for
cannabis dependence, whereas controls were recruited from the general
population by
advertisement. Individuals seeking clinical treatment for cannabis
dependence might
exhibit higher levels of depression, anxiety, or
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
than other cannabis users, and all of these psychiatric syndromes
produce deficits on
neuropsychological testing.8-10 Some cannabis users seek treatment because they
have gotten into trouble with the law and so might have higher levels
of antisocial
behavior than other users. Antisocial behavior is also linked to
neuropsychological
deficits.11

Although Solowij and colleagues excluded subjects with psychotic
disorders or current
drug or alcohol dependence (other than cannabis), subjects with
depression, anxiety
disorders, or other psychiatric conditions were not excluded. Also,
subjects receiving
prescription psychiatric medications, such as benzodiazepines or
antidepressants, that
can impair cognitive function were also not excluded.12, 13 In our
study,5 subjects
exhibiting any current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fourth
Edition Axis I disorder (other than simple phobia or social phobia)
or taking any
psychoactive prescription medication were excluded. Thus, confounding factors
associated with treatment seeking are possible explanations for the
larger effect sizes
in the study by Solowij et al. However, for this to be correct,
cannabis users in the study
by Solowij et al would have to have had more psychopathology or
medication use than
the controls, and the longer-term users, in turn must have had a
higher prevalence of
these features than the shorter-term users.

However, confounding can bias results in both directions. For
instance, one might
argue that excluding cannabis users with current psychiatric
disorders or currently using
medications would select in favor of unusually healthy long-term
users who performed
better on testing than the average of the overall population from
which they were
drawn. Moreover, cannabis use might cause or exacerbate anxiety or depressive
disorders and hence be indirectly to blame for any neuropsychological
impairment that
these disorders create. This is a slightly different assertion,
however, from the claim that
cannabis impairs cognitive function directly.

Confounders associated with treatment seeking represent only 1 of the
many problems
that threaten naturalistic studies of substance abusers. Another is
the problem of
adjustment for premorbid differences between groups. Lacking a
historical measure of
cognitive function, which is based on testing subjects before they
were first exposed to
cannabis, leads to the question of whether current differences observed between
groups are due to cannabis use or to some difference in premorbid
cognitive ability for
which adjustment was not made. By matching groups on measures of intellectual
functioning that are relatively resilient to brain injury, Solowij
and colleagues have done
their best to equalize the groups on premorbid cognitive abilities.
But since the 33
controls were recruited at 1 site and the 102 cannabis users at 3
sites in different
geographic settings, the possibility of residual confounding due to subtle
sociodemographic differences between groups cannot be entirely dismissed.

Two of these sociodemographic differences in the group of longer-term
cannabis users,
namely the larger proportion of men and the significantly greater age
of these subjects,
are particularly important. Yet comparisons between the groups were
performed without
adjustment for sex, and some comparisons were also performed without
adjustment for
age, except in specific cases in which age correlated significantly
with a particular
outcome variable. However, it is hazardous to use significance
testing instead of
change-in-estimate criteria to exclude a potential confounding variable from
adjustment. Such variables may still change the estimate of the
effect considerably,
even if they are not statistically significant, yielding residual
confounding once again.14,
15 This is particularly worrisome with the age variable, because age
differed to a
significant degree between study groups and is also highly associated
with cognitive
function. For example, on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test,
where Solowij et al
demonstrated the largest cannabis-associated deficits, both increased
age and male
sex have been shown to be associated with poorer performance,16 but
the effect sizes
shown in Table 3 of the study were not adjusted for either age or sex.

Solowij and colleagues are aware of these limitations, and show (in
Table 4 of their
article) that even after adjusting for age (but not for sex), longer
duration of cannabis
use is associated with deficits on several key performance measures,
although at a
more modest level of significance. However, 47% of the long-term
cannabis users also
had a history of regular use of, dependence on, or treatment for
alcohol or other drugs
besides cannabis, introducing another possible confounder.

Given the minefield of possible confounding, should naturalistic
studies of drug users
be presumed untrustworthy or be abandoned entirely? As Solowij and
colleagues point
out, retrospective designs are the most efficient way to assess the
long-term cognitive
effects of cannabis consumption. Prospective designs would be
extremely expensive,
time-consuming, and in some cases unethical. Thus, despite all of
their limitations,
retrospective studies remain an important tool for answering these
important questions.

In conclusion, currently available scientific evidence shows that
almost certainly, some
cognitive deficits persist for hours or days after acute intoxication
with cannabis has
subsided. The consensus across studies is strong enough to discount
the likelihood
that this finding can be explained by any combination of confounders.
But whether
these deficits increase with increasing years of cannabis exposure
remains uncertain.
On this question, the numerous potential confounding variables make
it difficult to
determine whether cognitive impairments are attributable to cannabis
use or due to
other factors. Even if lifetime duration of cannabis use is
associated with greater
impairment after 17 hours of abstinence, the data are insufficient to
know whether
greater impairment would be present a week or a month later. Despite
the important
contributions of this new study, we must still live with uncertainty.

Author/Article Information

Author Affiliation: Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean
Hospital, Harvard Medical
School, Belmont, Mass.

Corresponding Author and Reprints: Harrison G. Pope, Jr, MD,
Biological Psychiatry
Laboratory, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill St, Belmont, MA 02478 (e-mail:
pope@mclean.harvard.edu).

Editorials represent the opinions of the authors and THE JOURNAL and
not those of
the American Medical Association.

Financial Disclosure: This work was supported in part by grant DA10346 from the
National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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From: Dana Beal <dana@cures-not-wars.org>
Subject: [ibogaine] Brazilian Ibogaine Treatments
Date: March 29, 2002 at 1:03:05 AM EST
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