Drug Studies: Alcohol most harmful and Pot Soda

From Discovery News

Alcohol More Harmful Than Heroin, Cocaine: Report

Alcohol is more dangerous than heroin, cocaine and other “hard” drugs, claims a new study published in The Lancet.

Researchers scored a variety of legal and illegal drugs on 16 criteria of harm, nine related to the harms the drug produces in the individual taking them and seven related to the harm to society. They studied substances such as alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, LSD and tobacco.

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Marijuana Soda Provides a High Without the Smoke

One Colorado soda company has developed a line of sodas that have an unusual ingredient: marijuana. Dixie Elixirs has made their drinks available to anyone with a prescription for medical marijuana.

The drinks come in eight different flavors, including pink lemonade, root beer and grape. But if the company really wants to get their drinks into the hands of marijuana lovers, they may want to start working on pizza and nachos flavors.  full article

 

DN: Animals & Spiritual Experiences

Discovery News:
Animals Said to Have Spiritual Experiences

Ever have an out-of-body experience? Your dog may have too.

By Jennifer Viegas
Fri Oct 8, 2010 07:00 AM ET

Animals (not just people) likely have spiritual experiences, according to a prominent neurologist who has analyzed the processes of spiritual sensation for over three decades.

Research suggests that spiritual experiences originate deep within primitive areas of the human brain — areas shared by other animals with brain structures like our own.

The trick, of course, lies in proving animals’ experiences.

“Since only humans are capable of language that can communicate the richness of spiritual experience, it is unlikely we will ever know with certainty what an animal subjectively experiences,” Kevin Nelson, a professor of neurology at the University of Kentucky, told Discovery News.

“Despite this limitation, it is still reasonable to conclude that since the most primitive areas of our brain happen to be the spiritual, then we can expect that animals are also capable of spiritual experiences,” added Nelson, author of the book “The Spiritual Doorway in the Brain,” which will be published in January 2011.

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