Ok, I’m up to date – I have graded all posts and your “comment” if I saw one

If you’re here, and you haven’t yet taken Test THREE, go DO it!

I’m placing points and comments into canvas as we speak.

Dr. P

Issue Conclusion: Lysergic Acid Amide

In the Issue background of the hallucinogenic chemical lysergic acid amide (LSA) with the health effects on human consumption is seen as a toxic drug if consumed. I did not know that plant seeds even had an ingredient that acted like LSD; but then again I am not into drugs so the information to get a trip on LSA would have been very difficult for me. The internet is an explosive place to find all kinds of information. If someone wanted to get information on chemicals to give them a high or a trip they would just have to type in what they are looking for which then becomes an easy access. “Since there has been a lack of research on pure LSA, the mass-per-average-dose is not available,” the kid from the issue background consumed morning glory plant seeds and became hospitalized where the toxic screen did not state how much was consumed. What is known about morning glory plant seeds (and all other hallucinogenic seeds) is that if the seeds are swallowed unbroken then the drug is ineffective; the way to get the trip is by chewing or grinding the seed that breaks up the chemical compound to cause hallucination (psychedelic).

There was a potential solution once the story broke the news about a kid being hospitalized from consuming LSA by removing plant seeds that contain LSA ingredients from stores that sold these seeds. This idea was good until the CEO of some departments like The Home Depot made a statement in regards to the seeds stating that the seeds will be kept in stores but not in the shelves because of the accident. We get requests for these seeds every year so we will have stricter rules when it comes to buying morning glory seeds.

“There is more than just one kind of plant seeds that contain LSA (roughly 40),” according to Natural Resources. It just happens that morning glory contains a higher dose of LSA which is why people wanted the seeds to be removed. Within the US there are only 3 states that ban the cultivation of these seeds—Arizona, Louisiana and Tennessee. Tennessee did not ban the cultivation of all the seeds, but just one type of seed in general– Salvia divinorum. For the rest of the 47 states it is legal to grow these plants which would make it very difficult for department stores to remove the seeds. It would create litigations and lawsuits.

The good solution to reduce kids from overdosing on LSA would be what they are doing now which is not selling hallucinogenic seeds to minors. It would be very hard to determine who would actually be planting the seeds rather than consume. As of this point, there are no activist groups working to eliminate plants but something needs to be done where kids today do not have easy access to these harmful chemicals. I would prefer a solution that the federal drug administration (FDA) does for those who buy Pseudoephedrine. The FDA regualtions state, “The amount of pseudoephedrine that an individual can purchase each month is limited and individuals are required to present photo identification to purchase products containing pseudoephedrine.” Pseudoephedrine is not a prescribed medication for a cold, but it contains one of the main drugs for methamphetamines which is the main drug for meth, Pseudoephedrine. FDA requires all pharmaceuticals to ask for identification (ID) where the information on the ID gets put into a system. Whenever someone buys Pseudoephedrine multiple times, their name comes up as a red flag where the pharmacist is required by law to not sell this drug to that person. This is what I would say is the best solution to resolving this matter of LSA induced seeds. Have the individual who is buying the seeds give their information where it can be put into a system for LSA and if their name comes up multiple times refuse to sale the seeds.

If the FDA where to acquire a system such as Pseudoephedrine, kids wouldn’t be hospitalized for getting a vacation: overdose trip that puts them to sleep. There wouldn’t be the scares of possible paranoia, dilated pupils that lead to blindness or hallucination persisting perception disorder. All of these scares can lead to a mental break down within the brain causing the individual to go crazy and end up in a psychiatric hospital.

Citation:

Erowid Morning Glory Vault : Legal Status. (n.d.). Retrieved August 07, 2016, from https://www.erowid.org/plants/morning_glory/morning_glory_law.shtml

Natural sources of LSA’s (plants and fungi) – Drugs Forum. (n.d.). Retrieved August 07, 2016, from https://drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28877

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved August 07, 2016, from http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/InformationbyDrugClass/ucm072423.htm

Issue Background: Lysergic Acid Amide

History is a lesson learned. We learn about history through an academic setting, but there is only certain criteria that is taught. We also learn about history through our grand-parents and or our parents. Our grand-parents lived through the generation known as Generation X (1960-80), where the kids of Generation X lived through their own generation known as Generation Y (1975-95) and the kids of Generation Y are lived through another generation known as Generation Z (1995-20015). Each generation has had their own counter-culture movement against society.

The counter cultural movement came in the 1960’s where it’s characterized by the rejection of the conventional social norms. There were social issues that brought rise to a movement, according to boundless, “The counterculture youth rejected the cultural standards of their parents, , specifically regarding racial segregation and initial widespread support for the Vietnam War.” This movement comprised of the youth who rejected the views of the political events occurring such as the Vietnam War and the cultural standards that were set by their parents. Great examples of this counter cultural movement were the hippies. The social group who defied the standards did what they wanted by disobeying the law and parents. The lifestyle of the countercultural groups consisted of many things, but the one thing I am going to talk about are the psychedelic drugs (LSD) that enabled this group to be at peace with oneself.

In today’s reality, generation Zs are complete opposites when it comes to political views, but this generation still has a counter cultural movement to reject parental standards and cultural views. Kids today (21’st century) are simply beating the drum to their likes rather than the drum of the mores. Government has banned a lot of past incidents that make it difficult for kids to enjoy life, but generation z are defiant beyond all means. Being defiant makes you lose your way instead of following cultural standards. LSD is not around as much because of DEA, but that does not mean there are other chemicals out there that will give the same side effects (high) just like LSD. The LSD problem has been around for almost a century, but the new go to drug that kids could buy freely giving the same effects as LSD has been around roughly a year which is lysergic acid amide (LSA).

Lysergic acid amide is a chemical that is found in Morning Glory seeds for plants and many others with hallucinogenic side effects. Seeds that are consumed by humans can create a psychedelic trip which in-turn alters the neurons within an individuals brain. According to WCVB, “When ingested, they can cause psychosis, auditory and visual hallucinations, spatial and temporal distortion and side effects such as nausea and vomiting.” Since this altered drug distorts the brain it can cause multiple health issues. The person can have extreme paranoia or anxiety. Paranoia is a huge problem for the individual who has fearful thoughts often related to persecution, threat or a conspiracy. I witnessed this a lot when I worked for the behavioral sciences at Memorial Hospital (AKA psyche ward). According to PsychonautWiki, “Although it is primarily sedating, it is accompanied by fast-paced bursts of thought.” These thoughts or feelings become fixed as to being true to where nothing can convince this person that what they think or feel is not true. The individual who consumes LSA can develop dilated pupils where the health issue here is light sensitivity and blurred vision. If the person has light sensitivity they live in the dark which is bad for the body as well as possibly going blind where this person will now need someone to supervise. Another major health issue is the developing a disorder known as hallucination persisting perception disorder (HPPD) that can produce auditory disturbances. Having auditory disturbances makes an individual believe there are voices within their head and act on these voices. I had a patient believe that their parents were spies spying on their every move where the voices told him to kill them for spying. They acted on the voices in their head and ended up within the unit at Memorial Hospital before being put into a mental hospital. This new drug (LSA) has major side effects that can be lethal to an individual. There has been one case on the east coast where a kid was hospitalized because of the drug.

When the toxic screen came back as LSA, it was not the FDA who tried to quash the seeds; it was actually local police (where the kid who was hospitalized) who tried to get the seeds taken off the shelves. Local police departments asked The Home Depot and other stores who sold Morning Glory seeds (a flower) to take them off the shelves because of the hallucination effects and the other health issues that come with it. Some stores agreed to take them off but would not ban them from being sold since these seeds are in demand with customers. The stores just have stricter rules when it comes to someone buying these seeds—have to be eighteen or older and are on high alert when selling them to adults with kids. As of now I could not find any news if the FDA were going to try and get rid of the seeds that contain LSA.

Glossary:

Counter cultural: opposing normal societal standards and or cultural views

Mores: social norms that are widely observed and considered to have greater moral significance than others.

Quash: To defeat forcibly

Lysergic Acid Amide (LSA): a naturally occurring hallucinogenic psychedelic alkaloid of the lysergamide family.

Hallucination Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD): A flashback of a drug that persists and those changes are more severe than the previous that causes the person either physical or emotion distress.

Cited

Boundless. “Counterculture.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 27 Jun. 2016. Retrieved 07 Aug. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-sixties-1960-1969-29/counterculture-221/counterculture-1232-9277/

Home improvement store asked to pull seeds with LSD-like effects off shelves. (n.d.). Retrieved August 07, 2016, from http://www.wcvb.com/health/home-improvement-store-asked-to-stop-selling-seeds-with-effects-resembling-lsd/39379184

LSA. (n.d.). Retrieved August 07, 2016, from https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/LSA

Commons Post

Although most of us may not realize the impact our actions have on the commons, I believe that we all make a contribution to sort of a “shift” in the way we see and treat our environment on a daily basis. We have forgotten about the purity of our surroundings and have begun to focus our interest on technology, travel, economics, and more. Personally, I don’t blame us, or the generations before us, for this essentially lost idea. We were more likely born into it and with each day we see more and more material items being added into our communities, supermarkets, schools, and households. On top of that, we see people using our fresh air, soil, and land to “create”. We are in an era of creators, and instead of seeing it as a potential threat we see it as progress. So even though we may have lost a sense of what the commons really are, we can’t blame ourselves or the people before us. This idea of using our resources for economic growth has been developing over many years and we can’t blame ourselves for that. All we can do now is understand the commons, understand what we do to effect them, and opt to make some sort of a change.

A good example that refers to the way we have disrupted the commons is our Earth’s oceans. The world is made up of about 71% ocean, and these oceans have the ability to produce water, food, and the oxygen that we breathe in every day. It is natural, and for so many years it has been incredibly sustainable. But, over time, we have neglected it’s good for the world because we assume it is a forever resource. We run thousands and thousands of boats and ships through it on a daily basis, litter into it, and let all sorts of oil runoff take over its pure state. I mean, we even see “dead spots” popping up all over the ocean, which are a low oxygen area in the water created by “excessive nutrient pollution from human activities” (wikipedia.org) along with other factors that make it impossible for life to survive, thus having the ability to kill fish and marine life within its radius. The ocean which was at some point untouched and beautiful is slowly being taken over by human consumption. That, being only one way of how we have affected our commons, was a good way of thinking of many other ways we have done so not only on a global scale, but on a personal scale. I will different look at my everyday actions a lot differently now and think twice before I buy something, use something,  etc…

Good News: Implications to change

Being homeless is nothing new to us. We see homeless people every day standing on corners begging for money, pushing a grocery cart with all their belongings or doing their business in alley ways. Here in Yakima, being homeless has been problem for the community. Yakima has been named All-American City of 2015, but our community has seen a rise in homelessness within our downtown. People are putting the blame on medical centers such as Neighborhood health for treating the homeless which in turn gives them a place to stay. The real issue is how an All-American city can be tainted with homelessness, disgusting streets filled with garbage that puts the community at risk for an unhealthy environment. The homeless people are not what you’d call the cleanest and when they leave their garbage (feces or urine) all over the streets the implications are kid’s health. Animals will sniff, eat or lick what these people leave behind and go back to their families leaving trails of infectious microbes lingering around the house. Yakima finally got tired of all the complaints and decided to create a homeless block where the homeless now have a home. This home is just an abandoned parking lot, but it allows for these people to set up tents, portable restrooms essentially a living environment minus a kitchen. Yes the city came up with a plan to move the homeless from loitering parks, residential areas, hotels and alleys to a safe complex such as the parking lot. There is one minor problem. The city may have cleaned up its “homeless act” but the problem will always be there, the incompetence to clean up after ones self will always be there, the opportunity for an infectious breakout will always be there. Just because the city made a change by getting the homeless a place to sleep does not mean Yakima is great again. The potential hazards will and always be lingering. The good thing that came from this, is allowing for kids to feel safe outside away from the so called bums who are scary and terrifying to kids, but mean no harm to people. They do not know the consequences they leave behind because of their status. I do like that our community is doing something about it because the people who represent Yakima are doing nothing.

The article can be found here, if anyone is interested in reading:

http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/yakima-homeless-camp-given-hours-to-move/article_eea8b764-43d5-11e6-8e2f-771c6dc0f414.html

The story of…!

One product that I cannot live without is milk. I use milk on a daily basis and it is an essential product for me to have. Although milk itself does not pose an environmental threat to the environment, milk production does. There are approximately 270 million dairy cows worldwide. Some of the primary concerns associated with dairy farming are greenhouse gas emissions from manure as well as the environmental impacts of feed production. The good news is that many dairy farmers are adopting sustainable practices to reduce their environmental impact. Another potential concern would be the waste created from plastic milk bottles if they were not recycled. Therefore, I make sure to recycle or re-use the milk bottles to reduce the environmental impact.

 

References

World Wildlife Fund (n.d). Sustainable agriculture-dairy. Retrieved from http://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/dairy