Sunday, August 31, 2014
Pain Medication:
Matt Ferner: Fewer Pain Pill Overdoses In States With Legal Medical Marijuana
"States that have legalized marijuana for medical use have lower rates of prescription painkiller overdose deaths than states that have not, new research suggests. In a study published Monday in the latest issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that although overdose deaths from opioid painkillers -- like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin -- have increased in the U.S. over the course of the last decade, they were 25 percent lower in states that implemented medical marijuana laws than other states. The reason for the association was unclear. The study was led by researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. 'Prescription drug abuse and deaths due to overdose have emerged as national public health crises,' Colleen L. Barry, senior author of the study and associate professor in the health policy and management department at the Bloomberg School, said in a statement. 'As our awareness of the addiction and overdose risks associated with use of opioid painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin grows, individuals with chronic pain and their medical providers may be opting to treat pain entirely or in part with medical marijuana, in states where this is legal,'... ...About 60 percent of all opioid overdose deaths occur in patients who have legitimate prescriptions for the drugs, according to the CDC. In 2009, overdoses from prescription pain relievers resulted in the deaths of more than 15,000 people in the U.S. 'The proportion of people receiving prescription opioids to treat pain has almost doubled in the past 10 years,' Bachhuber said. 'Chronic or severe pain is the main reason for which people report taking medical marijuana in states that make this information public,'..."
The NSA:
WIRED: The Most Wanted Man In The World
"...By the time he went to work for Booz Allen in the spring of 2013, Snowden was thoroughly disillusioned, yet he had not lost his capacity for shock. One day an intelligence officer told him that TAO—a division of NSA hackers—had attempted in 2012 to remotely install an exploit in one of the core routers at a major Internet service provider in Syria, which was in the midst of a prolonged civil war. This would have given the NSA access to email and other Internet traffic from much of the country. But something went wrong, and the router was bricked instead—rendered totally inoperable. The failure of this router caused Syria to suddenly lose all connection to the Internet—although the public didn’t know that the US government was responsible. (This is the first time the claim has been revealed.) Inside the TAO operations center, the panicked government hackers had what Snowden calls an 'oh shit' moment. They raced to remotely repair the router, desperate to cover their tracks and prevent the Syrians from discovering the sophisticated infiltration software used to access the network. But because the router was bricked, they were powerless to fix the problem. Fortunately for the NSA, the Syrians were apparently more focused on restoring the nation’s Internet than on tracking down the cause of the outage. Back at TAO’s operations center, the tension was broken with a joke that contained more than a little truth: 'If we get caught, we can always point the finger at Israel.'"
Matt Ferner: Fewer Pain Pill Overdoses In States With Legal Medical Marijuana
"States that have legalized marijuana for medical use have lower rates of prescription painkiller overdose deaths than states that have not, new research suggests. In a study published Monday in the latest issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that although overdose deaths from opioid painkillers -- like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin -- have increased in the U.S. over the course of the last decade, they were 25 percent lower in states that implemented medical marijuana laws than other states. The reason for the association was unclear. The study was led by researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. 'Prescription drug abuse and deaths due to overdose have emerged as national public health crises,' Colleen L. Barry, senior author of the study and associate professor in the health policy and management department at the Bloomberg School, said in a statement. 'As our awareness of the addiction and overdose risks associated with use of opioid painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin grows, individuals with chronic pain and their medical providers may be opting to treat pain entirely or in part with medical marijuana, in states where this is legal,'... ...About 60 percent of all opioid overdose deaths occur in patients who have legitimate prescriptions for the drugs, according to the CDC. In 2009, overdoses from prescription pain relievers resulted in the deaths of more than 15,000 people in the U.S. 'The proportion of people receiving prescription opioids to treat pain has almost doubled in the past 10 years,' Bachhuber said. 'Chronic or severe pain is the main reason for which people report taking medical marijuana in states that make this information public,'..."
The NSA:
WIRED: The Most Wanted Man In The World
"...By the time he went to work for Booz Allen in the spring of 2013, Snowden was thoroughly disillusioned, yet he had not lost his capacity for shock. One day an intelligence officer told him that TAO—a division of NSA hackers—had attempted in 2012 to remotely install an exploit in one of the core routers at a major Internet service provider in Syria, which was in the midst of a prolonged civil war. This would have given the NSA access to email and other Internet traffic from much of the country. But something went wrong, and the router was bricked instead—rendered totally inoperable. The failure of this router caused Syria to suddenly lose all connection to the Internet—although the public didn’t know that the US government was responsible. (This is the first time the claim has been revealed.) Inside the TAO operations center, the panicked government hackers had what Snowden calls an 'oh shit' moment. They raced to remotely repair the router, desperate to cover their tracks and prevent the Syrians from discovering the sophisticated infiltration software used to access the network. But because the router was bricked, they were powerless to fix the problem. Fortunately for the NSA, the Syrians were apparently more focused on restoring the nation’s Internet than on tracking down the cause of the outage. Back at TAO’s operations center, the tension was broken with a joke that contained more than a little truth: 'If we get caught, we can always point the finger at Israel.'"
Monday, August 18, 2014
Cybersecurity:
Thoughtful commentary (54 min. video, or text of the speech here) on the future of cybersecurity.
Dan Geer: Cybersecurity as Realpolitik by Dan Geer presented at Black Hat USA 2014
"Power exists to be used. Some wish for cyber safety, which they will not get. Others wish for cyber order, which they will not get. Some have the eye to discern cyber policies that are 'the least worst thing;' may they fill the vacuum of wishful thinking."
The Environment:
Environmental Science & Technology: Large Accumulation of Micro-sized Synthetic Polymer Particles in the Sea Surface Microlayer
"The abundance of microplastics in the [sea surface microlayer] was evaluated off the southern coast of Korea..."
CBC: Mount Polley mine tailings spill: Imperial Metals could face $1M fine
"Bill Bennett, B.C's minister of energy and mines, says Imperial Metals will have to acknowledge and pay for any mistakes that led to the massive breach earlier this week of the tailings pond at its mine in central B.C. The breach of the tailings pond dam at the copper and gold mine near Likely, B.C., released 10 billion litres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden fine sand, contaminating several lakes, creeks and rivers in the Cariboo region on Monday..."
Thoughtful commentary (54 min. video, or text of the speech here) on the future of cybersecurity.
Dan Geer: Cybersecurity as Realpolitik by Dan Geer presented at Black Hat USA 2014
"Power exists to be used. Some wish for cyber safety, which they will not get. Others wish for cyber order, which they will not get. Some have the eye to discern cyber policies that are 'the least worst thing;' may they fill the vacuum of wishful thinking."
The Environment:
Environmental Science & Technology: Large Accumulation of Micro-sized Synthetic Polymer Particles in the Sea Surface Microlayer
"The abundance of microplastics in the [sea surface microlayer] was evaluated off the southern coast of Korea..."
CBC: Mount Polley mine tailings spill: Imperial Metals could face $1M fine
"Bill Bennett, B.C's minister of energy and mines, says Imperial Metals will have to acknowledge and pay for any mistakes that led to the massive breach earlier this week of the tailings pond at its mine in central B.C. The breach of the tailings pond dam at the copper and gold mine near Likely, B.C., released 10 billion litres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden fine sand, contaminating several lakes, creeks and rivers in the Cariboo region on Monday..."
Sunday, August 03, 2014
Prohibition:
Cannabis prohibition for adults is as backwards and mean-spirited today as it was in 1937. Schedule I for cannabis makes zero scientific sense. The medicinal cannabis laws in the States highlight the absurdity of the Feds continuing to claim 'no currently accepted medical use.' An NIH that is only willing to fund studies of cannabis as a drug of abuse is spectacularly unhelpful. Just like other substances, some adults will learn they shouldn't use it, but throwing adults in jail for doing so is a waste of societal resources on a massive scale.
Mitch Earleywine - Debunking the White House’s Reefer Mad Reaction to the NYT
"The New York Times has joined the majority of US citizens in the call for a more rational marijuana policy. The White House responded with an attempt to explain why a taxed and regulated market is no 'silver bullet solution.' Alluding to The Lone Ranger probably wasn’t a great idea, but I think they mean that this isn’t a panacea for every problem related to cannabis. Of course, all our other legislation is perfect, so we shouldn’t change this policy until we have a solution with all advantages and no disadvantages. Our government says that this use of law enforcement and court time targets marijuana users because the plant alters brain development, impedes academic achievement, impairs driving, and creates addiction. The tacit assumption, that prohibition is going to prevent all of these problems, is tenable at best. (We’ve had police officers whip out the handcuffs over 18 million times since 1981. From 1995 until now, we’ve had at least one marijuana arrest per minute. The plant is more available than ever.) But let’s forget about how prohibition isn’t going to help and address the White House’s Furious Four Factors. The first two (brain development and academic achievement) fall under the 'what about the children' category. When all else fails, it’s great to play the baby card. NORML has condemned juvenile consumption for decades now. Of course, the underground market is notoriously bad at carding purchasers. When was the last time a dealer asked for ID? Licensed distributors who could lose their livelihood for underage sales would be markedly more motivated to keep the plant from children. But let’s address the claims..."
Israel - Palestine:
Democracy Now! - U.S. Jewish Leader Henry Siegman to Israel: Stop Killing Palestinians and End the Occupation
"...Commenting on Israeli justifications for killing Palestinians in the name of self-defense from 1948 through today, Siegman responds: 'If you don’t want to kill Palestinians, if that’s what pains you so much, you don’t have to kill them. You can give them their rights, and you can end the occupation. And to put the blame for the occupation and for the killing of innocents that we are seeing in Gaza now on the Palestinians — why? Because they want a state of their own? They want what Jews wanted and achieved? This is a great moral insult,'..."
Cannabis prohibition for adults is as backwards and mean-spirited today as it was in 1937. Schedule I for cannabis makes zero scientific sense. The medicinal cannabis laws in the States highlight the absurdity of the Feds continuing to claim 'no currently accepted medical use.' An NIH that is only willing to fund studies of cannabis as a drug of abuse is spectacularly unhelpful. Just like other substances, some adults will learn they shouldn't use it, but throwing adults in jail for doing so is a waste of societal resources on a massive scale.
Mitch Earleywine - Debunking the White House’s Reefer Mad Reaction to the NYT
"The New York Times has joined the majority of US citizens in the call for a more rational marijuana policy. The White House responded with an attempt to explain why a taxed and regulated market is no 'silver bullet solution.' Alluding to The Lone Ranger probably wasn’t a great idea, but I think they mean that this isn’t a panacea for every problem related to cannabis. Of course, all our other legislation is perfect, so we shouldn’t change this policy until we have a solution with all advantages and no disadvantages. Our government says that this use of law enforcement and court time targets marijuana users because the plant alters brain development, impedes academic achievement, impairs driving, and creates addiction. The tacit assumption, that prohibition is going to prevent all of these problems, is tenable at best. (We’ve had police officers whip out the handcuffs over 18 million times since 1981. From 1995 until now, we’ve had at least one marijuana arrest per minute. The plant is more available than ever.) But let’s forget about how prohibition isn’t going to help and address the White House’s Furious Four Factors. The first two (brain development and academic achievement) fall under the 'what about the children' category. When all else fails, it’s great to play the baby card. NORML has condemned juvenile consumption for decades now. Of course, the underground market is notoriously bad at carding purchasers. When was the last time a dealer asked for ID? Licensed distributors who could lose their livelihood for underage sales would be markedly more motivated to keep the plant from children. But let’s address the claims..."
Israel - Palestine:
Democracy Now! - U.S. Jewish Leader Henry Siegman to Israel: Stop Killing Palestinians and End the Occupation
"...Commenting on Israeli justifications for killing Palestinians in the name of self-defense from 1948 through today, Siegman responds: 'If you don’t want to kill Palestinians, if that’s what pains you so much, you don’t have to kill them. You can give them their rights, and you can end the occupation. And to put the blame for the occupation and for the killing of innocents that we are seeing in Gaza now on the Palestinians — why? Because they want a state of their own? They want what Jews wanted and achieved? This is a great moral insult,'..."
