Dope Fiend Politics and Strange Bedfellows
By DAVID C. MORRISON

hen I stopped shooting heroin in 1994, one of the benefits I looked forward to was finally having the freedom openly to join in the debate over this country's harshly punitive anti-drug crusade. Now "clean" for six years, thanks largely to active involvement in a 12-step fellowship, I do relish writing openly about my drug experiences and what’s wrong with prohibition. But I've also found myself weirdly isolated and too often engaged in bitter arguments with presumptive allies.

Some of the issues dividing users, ex-users and reformers are inevitable, some are gratuitous. Either way, they are a very real obstacle to necessary social change. The argument with the narco-warriors is the most predictable. That this punitive drug war is vicious and unfair likely comes as no news to readers here.
Continue... Less predictable

Suggested Reading

Uppers, Downers, All Arounders

By D. Inaba

A non- judgmental, current, and highly visual, textbook /reference book on the physical and mental effects of psychoactive drugs. The 500-page book covers all aspects of drug use and abuse including current theories of addiction, neurochemistry, treatment, dual diagnosis, and prevention.

Magnetic Therapy
is it for real?
by Robert Krawetz

If you've glanced at the health equipment shelves in the drug store lately, you may have been surprised to see an assortment of wraps, inner soles, necklaces, bracelets, etc., lined with permanent magnets. A trip to your favorite golf shop would show a similar line of products offered for sale.

Magnetic golf gloves designed to relieve stiffness and promote circulation are a good example. If you're like me, you've wondered when magnets made the move from the realm of sideshow quackery to scientific respectability. The wide recent acceptance of magnets as being therapeutically beneficial is owed, at least in part, to a study on post-polio patients conducted by the Baylor College of Medicine published in 1997 in the Archives of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. Continue... The article...