Americans know about the war against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and they are at least vaguely familiar with the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, the continuing trouble in Northern Ireland and perhaps even the attempt by Russia to put down a rebellion in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. But relatively little attention has been paid to a civil war that has been going on for 38 years in Colombia, even though it is fueled by the drug trade and the United States has a billion-dollar investment in its outcome. [continues 875 words]
Three MCV professors hope to market marijuana and nicotine derivatives for new medicinal treatments. A better treatment for cigarette addiction. Quick, safe relief from severe pain. Slowing the progress of Alzheimer's disease. These are all treatments that a new company formed by three MCV professors is hoping to bring to market over the next decade using compounds and derivatives of two very controversial and politically charged drugs -- marijuana and nicotine -- in ground-breaking ways. Despite the stigma attached to both, "the science that we're learning from marijuana [and nicotine] can be very valuable in developing drugs that will be useful in treating a variety of conditions," says Louis S. Harris, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia. [continues 916 words]
What are we paying the police for? For one thing, picking seeds and stems out of marijuana so drug dealers and users might get lesser sentences. Does that tick you off? Well, the cops aren’t too happy about it, either. Under current Virginia law, marijuana seeds and stems don’t count toward the legal weight of the drug confiscated by police. That means that police have to sift through marijuana with heavy-gauge steel screens to purify it, a time-consuming process that can take hours. [continues 234 words]
