Using a novel method to measure the risk of mortality associated with the use of various legal and illegal drugs, scientists have confirmed what earlier studies have indicated: alcohol is the deadliest, while marijuana is the least risky.

According to the study, at the individual level, booze presents the highest risk of death, followed by nicotine, cocaine and heroin, suggesting the risks of alcohol consumption have likely been underestimated in the past. Marijuana was found to be significantly less deadly and sat at the other end of the spectrum, in agreement with previous research which has consistently ranked it as the safest recreational drug. While this may not be what governments want to hear, it highlights the need to use scientific evidence whilst creating policies regarding the use of licit and illicit drugs.

It seems that much of the world made up their mind a long time ago about the dangers of illegal substances. This, combined with the fact that it’s difficult to assess and classify the risk of drug abuse in people, means that few studies exist in which scientists have compared the dangers of different drugs. Furthermore, since illegal drug abuse is regarded as a bigger problem for society than using other known harmful substances, such as alcohol and even various prescription drugs, governments have tended to go for restrictive policies that are more often than not based on emotion and educated guesses.

Despite the difficulties, a few studies have attempted to assess the risks of various drugs, such as looking at how addictive and toxic they are in terms of acute and chronic use, but these have attracted criticism because some judgments may have been subjective rather than scientific. In an attempt to rectify these issues, scientists came up with a new risk assessment technique, called the “Margin of Exposure” (MOE) method. Put simply, this looks at the ratio between the dose which characterizes adverse effects and the amount that people typically use. The drugs they looked at were heroin, cannabis, nicotine, alcohol, methadone, amphetamine and MDMA.

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/new-study-suggests-risks-marijuana-use-have-been-overestimated

This guy is the Thug

Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for Doubtful Climate Researcher

For years, politicians wanting to block legislation on climate change have bolstered their arguments by pointing to the work of a handful of scientists who claim that greenhouse gases pose little risk to humanity.

One of the names they invoke most often is Wei-Hock Soon, known as Willie, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who claims that variations in the sun’s energy can largely explain recent global warming. He has often appeared on conservative news programs, testified before Congress and in state capitals, and starred at conferences of people who deny the risks of global warming.

But newly released documents show the extent to which Dr. Soon’s work has been tied to funding he received from corporate interests.

He has accepted more than $1.2 million in money from the fossil-fuel industry over the last decade while failing to disclose that conflict of interest in most of his scientific papers. At least 11 papers he has published since 2008 omitted such a disclosure, and in at least eight of those cases, he appears to have violated ethical guidelines of the journals that published his work.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcher-Wei-Hock-Soon.html?_r=0

This is what life is supposed to be about ...

If We Put an End to Corporate Welfare, College Tuition Could Be Free

Since 2008, 48 states have cut funding from public colleges--some by as much as 40%. State lawmakers couch their decisions as the unavoidable consequence of the Great Recession and budget deficits. What they fail to mention is that while they’re gutting higher education, they’re giving corporations tens of billions in tax breaks and incentives.

State, local, and county governments provide corporations with $80 billion in tax breaks annually, or $9 million/hour, according to an investigation by the New York Times. To put that number into perspective, total tuition at public colleges in 2012 was just under $60 billion, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.

Tuition at four-year public colleges--which educate about 76 percent of American undergrads--has been rising for the past 25 years. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), tuition has increased 28 percent since 2007. There are several factors why college tuition is soaring, but the main culprit is declining support from states, which translates into higher out-of-pocket costs for students.

http://www.attn.com/stories/952/corporate-tax-breaks-vs-higher-education-funding?

Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will determine within the next 90 days whether to charge individual Wall Street executives with crimes related to the 2008 financial crisis.

Holder said he’s asked the prosecutors who have been investigating the major banks and their executives to make recommendations whether to bring charges or close the probes.

“I’ve asked the U.S. attorneys … over the next 90 days to look at their cases and to try to develop cases against individuals and to report back in at 90 days with regard to whether or not they think they’re going to be able to successfully bring criminal and or civil cases against those individuals,” Holder said in a speech at the National Press Club Tuesday.

The announcement comes as the attorney general prepares to leave his post after more than six years on the job. President Barack Obama has appointed Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for Brooklyn, to succeed him.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/02/17/16786/holder-starts-90-day-clock-potential-prosecution-bankers