cocaine

Cocaine vaccine anyone?

Rumour has it that the first cocaine vaccine is currently under development. A clinical anti-cocaine vaccine trial study carried out by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the US National Institutes of Health, showed a reduction in cocaine use in 38 percent of vaccinated patients. The study was carried out using methadone-maintained patients who were users of smoked crack cocaine along with marijuana, alcohol and other non-prescription opioids. There were no serious adverse reactions and the vaccine was well tolerated among the patients.

Cocaine and the cost to me

There is a tendency when we debate the issue of the supply of drugs in society to focus on their effects at an individual or micro-level. We often focus on the financial and physical effect that drugs, such as cocaine, have on individual end-users and their families in our community. This often then becomes the basis for criminalisation.

The shifting cocaine trade

This year’s UNODC World Drug Report report produced some surprising figures concerning cocaine trafficking. According to the paper, cocaine seizures in Brazil had increased tenfold between the years 2005 to 2009, rising from 25 tons to 260 tons.

These figures are fairly significant and may signal that Brazil is becoming the new South American transit hub for cocaine bound for Europe. Why is this occurring though? And what does this revelation mean for the war of drugs?

Bolivia Traffickers double cocaine manufacturing

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) informed last week that Bolivia Traffickers have improved the cocaine manufacturing to double.

According to one of their representatives, the production of cocaine has become more sophisticated. Under the influence of Colombian cartels, Bolivian cocaine producers have introduced more efficient chemical technology applied in pharmaceutical and petrochemical industry. Also, according to Bolivian authorities, they have started using ground cocaine and cement in the fabrication of drugs.

Drug use in France

Drug use, smoking and alcohol: What is happening in France?
A recent survey on drug use, alcohol and smoking run in March of 2011 by the French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addiction revealed very interesting results regarding the addictions of French young people. The French Observatory interviewed 32.000 17 year olds, asking them about their levels of drug use, including levels of alcohol and smoke. The most important results of the survey were the following:
- Alcohol, cigarette and cannabis were by far the substances mostly preferred by the 17 year olds in 2011.

US cocaine production estimates are underestimates

So far this year 734 metric tons of cocaine has been intercepted on drug routes around the world (according to narcoleaks). This very statistic seems to indicate that again the US has underestimated the amount of cocaine which is produced worldwide considering that for 2011 the US estimated that world production would be 700 metric tons.

An Interview with Cocaine Unwrapped Director - Rachel Seifert.

Levent Akbulut from the Students for Sensible Drug Policy UK interviews Rachel Seifert the Director of Cocaine Unwrapped.

Rachel, can you tell TalkingDrugs readers what Cocaine Unwrapped is all about?

A review of Cocaine Unwrapped

Cocaine’s path from the fields of Bolivia to City desks is a long one with far more violence, destruction, and ruined lives than you’ve probably realised, according to the latest from documentary filmmaker Rachel Seifert, Cocaine Unwrapped.

In examining the devastation the cocaine trade—and more precisely, the international war against it—generates, Cocaine Unwrapped departs from the conventional drugs documentary approach by focusing on the impact on those at the beginning of supply chain: Latin American farmers, communities, and families.

World Premier of Cocaine Unwrapped at The Open City Festival

World Premier on17th June, at 8.50pm, at LONDON: AV Hill, South Junction, End of Malet Place,Off Torrington Place, UCL, Bloomsbury, London.

Followed by Panel Discussion with Director and Invited Guests.

2nd screening on 18th June, at 2.10pm, at LONDON: Screen 3, Medawar Building, Off Malet Place, Off Torrington Place, UCL, Bloomsbury, London

17th June - buy tickets here.

18th June - buy tickets here.

Out Loud: voices from Lebanon (part 1)

My experience with drugs started first while I was in Saudi Arabia. And even though alcohol was very expensive to buy, Hashish was rather common and cheap. Almost everyone that I knew smoked hashish or had at least tried it at some point. Being a foreigner, I used to live in a compound where there was no police present, making it much easier to get the hashish. So all that it took was some peer pressure from those around me and my desire and curiosity to live my life and try new things for me to start smoking Hashish.

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