That's a cool law. Laws are fun. Lets all make laws!!

By Executive Order in New Jersey:

The Order, announced today bans ten entire classes of synthetic compounds that imitate the effects of marijuana, and all known or unknown variants of the drug that would fall within each class. The Order also expressly includes “any other synthetic chemical compound that is a cannabinoid receptor agonist and mimics the pharmacological effect of naturally occurring cannabinoids” – in other words, any synthetic chemical that mimics the effects on the brain of marijuana’s active ingredient

—–

Citizens SHALL NOT stimulate their Cannibinoid Receptors with ANY SUBSTANCE
They SHALL NOT protest this either.

I'll just add some nuance to your assertion below. The issue is not so much that depression is "misdiagnosed." The issue is that depression doesn't have a known physiological cause. That is, there is no anatomical or physiological marker for depression. It's a behaviorally defined disorder. That means it is entirely possible (even likely) that multiple patients all suffering from "depression" (i.e. exhibiting the behavioral symptoms of depression, thus being properly diagnosed) could be suffering as a result of differing physiological problems.

Almost all psychiatric disorders (other than maybe Parkinson's and some other known neurological malfunctions) have this issue. The problem I have with this is our readiness to prescribe physiological interventions for conditions that can't be diagnosed physiologically. While many of these substances are relatively benign, some have the potential to cause extremely problematic side effects (e.g. acute suicidal urges). The real work is going to be in finding better mechanistic level diagnostics.

In the mean time, I think more conservative treatment protocols are warranted. If sugar pills show some efficacy, why not start with those? You could still ramp up to an SSRI or the like when the sugar pill is shown to be ineffective in that patient. Better still are behavioral therapies, e.g. exercise or sleeping schedule changes. At the very least, I think they should be prescribed along with and emphasized just as much as the pills and counseling.

Longterm, I think pharmacological interventions into the brain are somewhat misguided. Serotonin receptors, for instance, are expressed all over your brain. I think more promising are the newer treatments like deep brain stimulation. It has been shown to be extremely effective in disorders like Parkinson's, and trials are already underway in the treatment of depression. Not only do I think the treatment will ultimately be more effective, I also think research into that sort of treatment is more likely to bear fruit in understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of these disorders. Hopefully that will lead to better sub classifications of people exhibiting depressive behavior.

>> ^DuoJet:

I'm inclined to believe that, as is often suggested, depression is very commonly misdiagnosed. This would surely introduce "extraneous variables" into placebo studies as well.

I realized I forgot to point out I may be doing real damage to parts of my brain by using these chemicals designed to be permanent receptor ligands, which in turn could be hazardous to my health.

but the safe version is illegal.

the boy in that story above died from his injuries despite a lung transplant . rip
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11302/1186001-59.stm


cannabis would have done the same thing, smoked out of a pez.

Here's the scoop:

JWH-018 makes you feel more stoned than the first time you got stoned. If you don't know what that means, well... no wonder people were freaking out.

JWH-122 which i use now daily, is a LOT more mellow. I can smoke it once and be stoned all day but relaxed, more CBD like. 75$ for 5 grams that lasts months. I'm talking pure powder that i mix into my own smokable. I don't smoke blends of rose hips and bay bean sprayed with acetone dissolved JWH, like vendors sell.

These are synthetic cannabinoids, they are full agonists and bind very tightly to the CB receptors. THC and CBD are partial agonists and mitigate each others effects. These chemicals are no joke and have been available for a long time, proving that if cannabis was legal that NOTHING bad would happen. These drugs are far more potent and the world has had access to them for years by mail-order, and the results are in.

You WILL freak out if you are not a cannabis user or someone with experience smoking. I've smoked for over a decade before trying these compounds and it was like i was 16 all over again. The strange thing is the intense effects last only up to an hour, then you're ok again. The effects seem additive, whereas you can smoke cannabis non-stop, you actually reach a point of intoxication that can be nauseating (happened two times on JWH-018, I was sweating, throwing up, couldn't come down... but then I did... and it happened from using too much 018 too quick).

Also, my anxiety and depression seemed very well managed on a combination of JWH-122 and Sertraline HCl (gen Zoloft). I no longer get angry and sad, and want to just throw it all away because the world is big and scary.


Cannabis prohibition is very strange. I like being told as an American that i can't be tortured, held without cause, executed in street... but the can'ts should all be bad things. I can't smoke cannabis BECAUSE I'm American. Even the Israeli govt is legalizing medical marijuana for its citizens, yet my country who gives them money to exist, says I cannot. I can't because I'm American. Wierd. So I'll pay less to get more stoned.

http://bit.ly/gNSnlb
says fluoride can act as an neurotransmitter in general, triggering neurotransmitter receptors, apparently all kinds of them.

in presence of aluminum fluoride (alf4-), a receptor-independent activator of g-protiens in cells.

Cannabinoids Curb Brain Tumor Growth, First-Ever Patient Trial Shows
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6947

Pot Compound May Offer Non-Toxic Alternative To Chemotherapy
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7433

Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits lung cancer as well as metastasis
http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v27/n3/abs/1210641a.html

Inhibition of skin tumor growth by activation of cannabinoid receptors
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/16116/version/1

Cannabinoid receptors as novel targets for the treatment of melanoma research paper:

Abstract:
http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/14/2633.short

Full paper:
http://www.fasebj.org/content/early/2006/10/25/fj.06-6638fje.full.pdf

>> ^Stu:
Alive or dead a vast majority of animals don't have the same pain receptors we contain for the simple fact of being eaten alive. They have touch receptors in the extremities for movement and awareness of surroundings. You can look that up in any science textbook about animal nervous systems.


You might be technically correct considering the amount of insects in the world, but I doubt that's true for the larger animals we usually eat.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Pain_in_animals1

The mirror test huh? Besides humans the only ones who pass the mirror test are the great apes, which thankfully are the same order as humans so we know you aren't a cannibal. That leaves the other 18 orders of animals in the class of mammalia free to eat including veal, lamb, dogs, cats and every other pet you can conceive of. Well, except monkeys and I knew a guy with a pet monkey but it's rare so we won't put them in the pet category. So the mirror test is a pretty shitty test of what someone will or won't eat.

You just sound like another PETA member trying to convince billions of people that we aren't the top of the food chain and we should care about what we eat. Alive or dead a vast majority of animals don't have the same pain receptors we contain for the simple fact of being eaten alive. They have touch receptors in the extremities for movement and awareness of surroundings. You can look that up in any science textbook about animal nervous systems. You can believe and preach what you want about cruelness to animals. Either way it is still going to be eaten.

Even still, crushing an animal to death and having it die in seconds in your mouth as compared to being boiled alive over minutes is still less cruel. You should think of the alternatives of how the animal might die before you say eating it alive is cruel.
>> ^Gallowflak:

>> ^kronosposeidon:
It's a mixed bag for me. I'm completely inconsistent. This makes me squeamish and therefore seems cruel to me, but then I remember that I eat lobster from time to time, and lobster is prepared by boiling it alive. Cockles and mussels are also cooked while they're alive. A lot of the world includes insect protein in their diet, and insects are rarely dispatched humanely before preparation. Some are roasted alive before consumption. (I'm not even sure if there is a way to humanely kill an insect anyway. Decapitation?) And how about the way we treat animals before they're killed? How about veal? And has anyone seen film of modern chicken houses? Meat consumption is littered with ethical issues. I think about it often while stuffing Big Macs in my face.>> ^Fusionaut:
I don't know if biting into something that is still alive is all that wrong under the right circumstances. It happens in the wild all of the time. Dunking it in a hot, pepper sauce before the first bite seems cruel to me though. However, I did eat a live mayfly once. Grabbed it out of the air and then CHOMP! The wings got stuck in my teeth. Now you know a weird fact about me.


Right, but I'm not sure that typical meat consumption is comparable to consuming an animal alive for no purpose other than... whatever the purpose is. It's grotesque, it's excessive and it shows casual disregard - and perhaps even contempt - for the suffering of species that don't have our gawking faces. The fact that animals are eaten alive in the wild just isn't relevant, either. We're able to make the choice. Maybe I'm just a bitch. One of my overarching directives is to minimize the amount of suffering that I'm responsible for. This is just fucking awful.
It's not relevant but I don't eat veal or lamb, nor lobster or crab and certainly not octopus. I won't consume the flesh of any animal order that contains creatures which pass the mirror test.

I've always thought that the drugs we use to treat ADD and ADHD are some of the main factors in the increasing number of ADD and ADHD patients. As it turns out the parents of these children really don't want anything other than their children, who are simply acting like children, to calm down. Those parents think that ADD/ADHD medicat...ions do that, so they demand those medications from their physicians.

The problem is, as most of the comments so far seem to understand, that ADD/ADHD medications are stimulants. Children who actually have sensation receptor problems seem hyperactive because they must speak loudly, and slap things instead of touching them, just to receive the same sensation that a child without ADD/ADHD does. Stimulate the child that actually has ADD/ADHD and the treatment is successful in a high percentage of cases, but stimulate the child who actually does not have ADD/ADHD then you have only increased the supposed hyperactivity of that child.

>> ^Simple_Man:

I can't say for certain, but I'm think this video will change my life. I've been trying to lose weight for ages, not drinking any coke, doing exercise etc., but I've never realized the prevalence of high fructose corn syrup in all foods. I wrote down those 4 tips that he suggested to losing weight, and I'll repeat them here for those who missed it. I'll certainly stick to it and see if it works.
1. Get rid of all sugared liquids: only water and milk. Fruits are fine, because it contains all the fibers.
2. Eat carbs with fiber, because fibers are awesome. Fibers: Lowers total and LDL cholesterol, reduces risk of heart disease
regulates blood sugar, and speeds the passage of foods through the digestive system
3. Wait 20 mins for second portions, so your satiety response can kick in.
4. Buy your screen time minute-for-minute with physical activity.
Some other points:
-a calorie is not a calorie: you don't do exercise to burn calories, but to increase metabolism
-fructose IS NOT glucose. A large amount of glucose is used by the rest of the body, meaning it burns much quicker. Fructose can only be metabolized in the liver, and it's a volume issue. It means a lot gets turned into fat, and in that process, blocks receptors to generate certain chemicals which tell your body to stop eating, causing a vicious cycle.
-be a fattie or fart a lot (from the fiber). Make your choice.


So, it's been a couple of months. I'm wondering how the changes went?

Quorum sensing seems like a more mechanical version of smell. Smell doesn't cause anything to directly occur (though it has very potent indirect triggers like nausea). Though, they could be exactly the same if the bacteria are counting the presence of communications. I want to know if the receptors are unable to take in signals unless the volume of communications cause a pressure that forces the receptor in the slot. In that case, it would be kind of like smell, but more like a trigger. If, however, the cell is just keeping track of how many communications is receives (keeping track of the volume of communications), then it is a programed response that resembles our own feelings of illness when a foul smell is in the air. In other words, from what I got out of that video, I think you are right; quorum sensing is nearly identical to smell.

What they pointed out rightfully in that other video, current antibacterials actually bread for stronger bacteria. If you could dumb down, bread out, or otherwise interfere with their order you wouldn't encourage such evolutions. That was a very great video there flech, I thank you for it.

And everyone take it easy on Yogi. I think a healthy dose of skepticism keeps us from making bad assumptions. Look at all the people that took radium as a cure all then later died. Vaccinations came in and took over without a real study to show if they had negative long term or unexpected consequences. They were adopted rapidly because the results of less kids dead from polio was viable. And, because of the recent speculations, we have real data now that shows they are indeed, mostly benign. If it wasn't for people being skeptical, we wouldn't have put the science forward to finding the answer to a question we should of asked a long time ago. Since then, we have about 3 different good studies that show vaccines are a non-factor in cancer, and other more neurological disorders.

I can't say for certain, but I'm think this video will change my life. I've been trying to lose weight for ages, not drinking any coke, doing exercise etc., but I've never realized the prevalence of high fructose corn syrup in all foods. I wrote down those 4 tips that he suggested to losing weight, and I'll repeat them here for those who missed it. I'll certainly stick to it and see if it works.

1. Get rid of all sugared liquids: only water and milk. Fruits are fine, because it contains all the fibers.

2. Eat carbs with fiber, because fibers are awesome. Fibers: Lowers total and LDL cholesterol, reduces risk of heart disease
regulates blood sugar, and speeds the passage of foods through the digestive system

3. Wait 20 mins for second portions, so your satiety response can kick in.

4. Buy your screen time minute-for-minute with physical activity.

Some other points:

-a calorie is not a calorie: you don't do exercise to burn calories, but to increase metabolism

-fructose IS NOT glucose. A large amount of glucose is used by the rest of the body, meaning it burns much quicker. Fructose can only be metabolized in the liver, and it's a volume issue. It means a lot gets turned into fat, and in that process, blocks receptors to generate certain chemicals which tell your body to stop eating, causing a vicious cycle.

-be a fattie or fart a lot (from the fiber). Make your choice.

MY PLEASURE!

I like the onion, I really liked the Onion Movie. It was well done, so much better then that drek stupid bullshit parodies you see of popular movies all rolled into one 90 minute story, encompassing so many different movies. The onions breaths funny relief into the nostrils of the weary comedy receptor.

Okay..since my sarcasm didn't quite drive the point home, I'll explain why this is a misguided idea:

Tanning Salons
-Vitamin D is synthesized in the body after exposure to sunlight. Anyone living far enough from the equator is bound to be deficient in Vitamin D. In fact, go ahead and plot cancer incidence by latitude and you'll see what I mean. Vitamin D prevents cancer and heart disease.

Beef
- Read about Vilhjalmur_Stefansson. In the early 1900s he underwent a scientific study where he ate nothing but meat for a year...and came out healthier than when he went in. Also read about all-meat diets and ketosis. Prolonged ketosis is a cure for diabetes, heart disease and cancer - not to mention periodontal disease. In scientific studies, terminally ill patients who were so far gone they were beyond "medical science" had their tumors go into remission and even clear up completely on a ketosis diet. Cancer cells have a lot of insulin receptors - they respond to glucose, take away the glucose and the cancer starves. Read about it.

Pork
- Same as beef.

Alcohol
- In many countries, 1 in 3 people have some form of mental illness sometime in their lives. Alcohol helps a lot of people cope with society. How the hell do you think I cope with all the (50% of the population) sub-100 IQ zombies walking around?

Oil used for deep-frying
- Fat is not unhealthy. Cholesterol does not cause heart disease, nor is it a good predictor of those who will get heart disease. Only ~3% of arterial plague is cholesterol by composition - the vast majority is calcium. Vitamin D helps regulate calcium...this goes back to the tanning salons.

Gasoline -- especially because it gives people an incentive to WALK when they're going less than 2 miles to a store, instead of driving.
- I don't think the cost of gasoline has ever factored into a lazy persons decision of whether to walk. The burning of fossil fuels and the creation of air pollution is a national health hazard (akin to me walking up and dumping toxic waste on you) and so YES this should be taxed because pollution is a hidden cost of industry; but the funds shouldn't go to Medicare they should go to giant air-scrubbers which help de-pollute the air.

Coal
- Same as gas

Natural Gas
- Same as coal.

Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup, Junk Food in general, & Cigarettes
- Okay, maybe you have some kind of argument here because these are legitimately detrimental to your health, but only used in excess. So unless you find a way to tax "excess" or define "excess" I can't see an argument for taxing the stray cigarette or potatoe chip.