Sunday, 8 August 2010
JPBarlow TorrentReactor Buys and Renames Russian Town
TorrentReactor, listed among the five most popular torrent sites on the Internet, has surprised friends and foes by acquiring a small town in central Russia. The town formerly known as Gar has reportedly been bought for the equivalent of $148,000 and was quickly renamed after the Russian-based torrent site.
The last time a torrent site attempted to buy some land, the plan miserably failed. Early 2007 The Pirate Bay launched its ‘Buy Sealand” campaign. The plan was to raise enough money so they could buy the micronation of Sealand and offer “high-speed Internet access, no copyright laws and VIP accounts to The Pirate Bay.”
Within a few weeks the campaign raised some $20,000 from potential citizens, but this wasn’t enough. Sealand turned out not to be an option as it was prized at 750 million euros, which equals to nearly one billion US dollars. Other alternatives were considered but most islands lacked a proper Internet connection.
Now, three years later the Russian based torrent site Torrentreactor has reportedly bought some land of their own, without any help or funding from the outside. TorrentReactor founder Alex informed TorrentFreak about the peculiar move which puts the torrent site on the map in rural Russia.
The town of Gar, founded in 1958 by a religious group connected to the Russian Orthodox Church, was bought for 4.5 million rubles ($148,000 or 115,000Eur). Gar is located in the center of Russia and has only 214 inhabitants who make a living from selling home-grown vegetables in a nearby town.
With the financial injection from TorrentReactor the people of Gar (now the people of TorrentReactor) will be able to get connected to the Internet. Right now, there are only three computers available in the entire town, and just one is connected to the Internet via a dial-up connection.
“Most of it will be split among villagers and the rest will be used to re-equip the local school, repair roads, purchase agricultural equipment and machinery. Also torrentreactor.net company decided to pay for broadband Internet connection in the settlement which will result in about 900,000 rubles ($30,000) because there are no networks nearby,” TorrentReactor says.
Although some might see it as a vanity buy, or an overly expensive marketing campaign, the TorrentReactor team stresses that the humanitarian motive came first.
“We realize it’s just a drop in the ocean comparing to the amount of money needed to help thousands of other villages. But we at least do something to support complete strangers. We are proud that we are able to do so and hope we will be proud of this in the future,” the TorrentReactor team said.
According to TorrentReactor the local authorities were skeptical about the deal at first, but they went ahead with it after the right price was negotiated. TorrentFreak contacted the Tomsk authorities for a comment on the unusual deal, but thus far they are yet to respond.
Because we were unable to verify the deal from both ends, we have to inform our readers that TorrentReactor is known to carry out pranks and ludicrous actions. Earlier this year their partner site shipped condoms to the RIAA, MPAA and various other anti-piracy outfits, informing them that their bullying tactics are not appreciated.
Although the condom action was verified and legit, TorrentReactor’s latest announcement has not yet been officially confirmed by Russian authorities. TorrentFreak readers who live in the area or have more information are encouraged to get in touch with us to provide additional details.
via torrentfreak
for details see the TorrentReactor site:
The majority of villagers found it hard to define what a website is and none could describe what torrentreactor.net Internet portal might do. But some of them tried to make assumptions. Two leading theories were heard:
* Torrentreactor.net is a large american nuclear station. (Villagers thought it was located on the outskirts of Toronto. But after they were explained that Toronto is the largest city in Canada some of them change their views.)
* Torrentreactor.net is an environmental organization fighting against building new nuclear reactors around the globe which is clearly stated by «net» suffix (in russian «net» means «no»).
The last time a torrent site attempted to buy some land, the plan miserably failed. Early 2007 The Pirate Bay launched its ‘Buy Sealand” campaign. The plan was to raise enough money so they could buy the micronation of Sealand and offer “high-speed Internet access, no copyright laws and VIP accounts to The Pirate Bay.”
Within a few weeks the campaign raised some $20,000 from potential citizens, but this wasn’t enough. Sealand turned out not to be an option as it was prized at 750 million euros, which equals to nearly one billion US dollars. Other alternatives were considered but most islands lacked a proper Internet connection.
Now, three years later the Russian based torrent site Torrentreactor has reportedly bought some land of their own, without any help or funding from the outside. TorrentReactor founder Alex informed TorrentFreak about the peculiar move which puts the torrent site on the map in rural Russia.
The town of Gar, founded in 1958 by a religious group connected to the Russian Orthodox Church, was bought for 4.5 million rubles ($148,000 or 115,000Eur). Gar is located in the center of Russia and has only 214 inhabitants who make a living from selling home-grown vegetables in a nearby town.
With the financial injection from TorrentReactor the people of Gar (now the people of TorrentReactor) will be able to get connected to the Internet. Right now, there are only three computers available in the entire town, and just one is connected to the Internet via a dial-up connection.“Most of it will be split among villagers and the rest will be used to re-equip the local school, repair roads, purchase agricultural equipment and machinery. Also torrentreactor.net company decided to pay for broadband Internet connection in the settlement which will result in about 900,000 rubles ($30,000) because there are no networks nearby,” TorrentReactor says.
Although some might see it as a vanity buy, or an overly expensive marketing campaign, the TorrentReactor team stresses that the humanitarian motive came first.
“We realize it’s just a drop in the ocean comparing to the amount of money needed to help thousands of other villages. But we at least do something to support complete strangers. We are proud that we are able to do so and hope we will be proud of this in the future,” the TorrentReactor team said.
According to TorrentReactor the local authorities were skeptical about the deal at first, but they went ahead with it after the right price was negotiated. TorrentFreak contacted the Tomsk authorities for a comment on the unusual deal, but thus far they are yet to respond.
Because we were unable to verify the deal from both ends, we have to inform our readers that TorrentReactor is known to carry out pranks and ludicrous actions. Earlier this year their partner site shipped condoms to the RIAA, MPAA and various other anti-piracy outfits, informing them that their bullying tactics are not appreciated.
Although the condom action was verified and legit, TorrentReactor’s latest announcement has not yet been officially confirmed by Russian authorities. TorrentFreak readers who live in the area or have more information are encouraged to get in touch with us to provide additional details.
via torrentfreak
for details see the TorrentReactor site:
The majority of villagers found it hard to define what a website is and none could describe what torrentreactor.net Internet portal might do. But some of them tried to make assumptions. Two leading theories were heard:
* Torrentreactor.net is a large american nuclear station. (Villagers thought it was located on the outskirts of Toronto. But after they were explained that Toronto is the largest city in Canada some of them change their views.)
* Torrentreactor.net is an environmental organization fighting against building new nuclear reactors around the globe which is clearly stated by «net» suffix (in russian «net» means «no»).
Saturday, 7 August 2010
The Poetry of William S. Burroughs
And what of the cut-up? Is it poetry, prose, or something else altogether? Oliver Harris has broached the question in his essay “‘Burroughs Is a Poet Too, Really’: The Poetics of Minutes to Go.” Harris writes that, in Minutes to Go, poetry “is not understood in terms of words on the page but as the ‘place’ reached by a particular use of chance operations on pre-existing words.” It is a method “to be grasped by doing,” not a “content to be understood by interpretation.” This insightful analysis could serve as an introduction to this somewhat quixotic attempt to collect the poetry of William Burroughs, and Oliver Harris has very graciously allowed RealityStudio to republish it.
Poems by William S. Burroughs
- Cut-Up Poems from Minutes to Go (1960)
- Dead Whistle Stop Already End (Floating Bear 24, 1962)
- Spain & 42 St. (Floating Bear 24, 1962)
- Where Flesh Circulates (Floating Bear 24, 1962)
- Fear and the Monkey (Pearl 6, 1978)
- Pistol Poem 2 (A William Burroughs Birthday Book, 1994)
- Pistol Poem 3 (A William Burroughs Birthday Book, 1994)
@'Reality Studio'
New York Governor Signs Needle Exchange Bill
New York Gov. David Paterson (D) Saturday signed into law a bill, A08396A, that will protect needle exchange participants. Although needle exchanges are permitted in New York, some participants in such programs have been arrested for possession of needles and syringes, while others have been charged with drug possession for residues left in syringes. The new law is designed to address that conflict between public health law and penal law.
The law, also known as the Governor's Program Bill No. 23, will:
Clarify in the Penal Law that a person does not act unlawfully by possessing a hypodermic needle or syringe if he or she participates in a needle exchange or syringe access program authorized under the Public Health Law;
Provide that possession of a residual amount of a controlled substance on a needle or syringe does not constitute a criminal act if the individual is permitted to possess such needle or syringe under the Public Health Law; and
Require the Division of Criminal Justice Services to periodically notify law enforcement agencies and prosecutors about the right of individuals to possess syringes under a qualifying public health program and how to verify that a person is participating in such a program.
"The success of needle exchange and syringe access programs has been repeatedly verified to be instrumental in reducing the transmission of blood-borne diseases," Gov. Paterson said. "I proposed this legislation to prevent people from being arrested unnecessarily, thus ensuring that syringe users are not deterred from participating in these important programs."
"I want to commend Governor Paterson for signing this landmark legislation," said Sen. Thomas Duane. "By signing the syringe access legislation, Governor Paterson has once again put New York at the vanguard of a good public health policy that has proven to reduce transmission of HIV and other blood-borne diseases. Furthermore, New York's Penal law now finally conforms with its rational and compassionate health policy." "Throwing an infected syringe into the gutter, out of fear of prosecution for possession of a trace of substance, is bad for public health and safety," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried. "Stopping the arrest of drug users for possessing a used needle is a common sense way to protect public health and safety."
"It's important that we encourage drug injectors to utilize our public health programs without fear of arrest," said State Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines. "Syringe exchange programs help reduce transmission of HIV and offer access to drug treatment and other services to those most in need. We encourage injectors to return all used syringes so they are not disposed of in a way that would put others at risk." It is a good day when, in some small way, the imperatives of public health are not sacrificed on the altar of the drug war. Saturday was a good day for New York.
"It's important that we encourage drug injectors to utilize our public health programs without fear of arrest," said State Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines. "Syringe exchange programs help reduce transmission of HIV and offer access to drug treatment and other services to those most in need. We encourage injectors to return all used syringes so they are not disposed of in a way that would put others at risk." It is a good day when, in some small way, the imperatives of public health are not sacrificed on the altar of the drug war. Saturday was a good day for New York.
Location:
Albany, NY
United States
See map: Google Maps
Little Feat's Richie Hayward - not good news...
From his wife...
UPDATE NO. 1, yesterday...
Really rough night.....
Fever up, chills, fever down....tepid baths,.fluids, more fluids..cold
cloths,....lots of toilet time....confusion....then calm around 3:30
am.....normal body temp....and a few hours sleep x
However this am....
Off to the hospital.
UPDATE NO. 2, this morning...
Richie is in ICU now.
Within one hour in emerg....he had a chest xray, blood work done, saw
the specialist and doc on call, was on IV antiobiotics, and liquid ventilin.
He will be there for three days....four if needed....then another few on
the ward on IV antibiotic.
Richie has pneumonia on both sides of his lungs. fear is liver failure,
and kidney function is being kept close.
His Oxygen levels were very frightening...which is why he is in ICU.
They want to have him on 24 hour Oxygen, as well as seven days worth of
IV antibiotic.
It is the "liver friendly" antibiotic so as to not cause failure....and
his physio is coming in tomorrow to help loosen the chest area.
He is confused....and tired....and scared,...he was sad to see me leave
tonight.....but I promised him I will be back by 8:30.
UPDATE NO. 3, this afternoon...
I was called in this am at 6:00 to be with him, as the decision was made
to put him on life support systems.
His Oxygen levels were 45-55 thru out the night, and he needs to be
above the 90 zone. He was just not able to do it on his own.
The pneumonia on both sides is so pronounced, that he fought a good
fight,....and now the machines need to take over for him, and make
rainbows happen.
They have him on Liver Friendly med's,...but a couple of them are
necessary to fight the infections, and they may hurt his liver. He is
being monitered 24 hours a day,...with a private nurse taking stats at a
desk right beside him.
His Liver is the main concern.
They will keep him on Life support as long as it is needed until his
lungs can take over and do the work themselves.
<http://www.nojazzfest.com/
UPDATE NO. 1, yesterday...
Really rough night.....
Fever up, chills, fever down....tepid baths,.fluids, more fluids..cold
cloths,....lots of toilet time....confusion....then calm around 3:30
am.....normal body temp....and a few hours sleep x
However this am....
Off to the hospital.
UPDATE NO. 2, this morning...
Richie is in ICU now.
Within one hour in emerg....he had a chest xray, blood work done, saw
the specialist and doc on call, was on IV antiobiotics, and liquid ventilin.
He will be there for three days....four if needed....then another few on
the ward on IV antibiotic.
Richie has pneumonia on both sides of his lungs. fear is liver failure,
and kidney function is being kept close.
His Oxygen levels were very frightening...which is why he is in ICU.
They want to have him on 24 hour Oxygen, as well as seven days worth of
IV antibiotic.
It is the "liver friendly" antibiotic so as to not cause failure....and
his physio is coming in tomorrow to help loosen the chest area.
He is confused....and tired....and scared,...he was sad to see me leave
tonight.....but I promised him I will be back by 8:30.
UPDATE NO. 3, this afternoon...
I was called in this am at 6:00 to be with him, as the decision was made
to put him on life support systems.
His Oxygen levels were 45-55 thru out the night, and he needs to be
above the 90 zone. He was just not able to do it on his own.
The pneumonia on both sides is so pronounced, that he fought a good
fight,....and now the machines need to take over for him, and make
rainbows happen.
They have him on Liver Friendly med's,...but a couple of them are
necessary to fight the infections, and they may hurt his liver. He is
being monitered 24 hours a day,...with a private nurse taking stats at a
desk right beside him.
His Liver is the main concern.
They will keep him on Life support as long as it is needed until his
lungs can take over and do the work themselves.
<http://www.nojazzfest.com/
(Thanx Robbie!)
Net neutrality is foremost free speech issue of our time
If we learned that the government was planning to limit our First Amendment rights, we'd be outraged. After all, our right to be heard is fundamental to our democracy.
Well, our free speech rights are under assault -- not from the government but from corporations seeking to control the flow of information in America.
If that scares you as much as it scares me, then you need to care about net neutrality.
"Net neutrality" sounds arcane, but it's fundamental to free speech. The internet today is an open marketplace. If you have a product, you can sell it. If you have an opinion, you can blog about it. If you have an idea, you can share it with the world.
And no matter who you are -- a corporation selling a new widget, a senator making a political argument or just a Minnesotan sharing a funny cat video -- you have equal access to that marketplace.
An e-mail from your mom comes in just as fast as a bill notification from your bank. You're reading this op-ed online; it'll load just as fast as a blog post criticizing it. That's what we mean by net neutrality.
But telecommunications companies want to be able to set up a special high-speed lane just for the corporations that can pay for it. You won't know why the internet retail behemoth loads faster than the mom-and-pop shop, but after a while you may get frustrated and do all of your shopping at the faster site. Maybe the gatekeepers will discriminate based on who pays them more. Maybe they will discriminate based on whose political point of view conforms to their bottom line.
We don't have to speculate. We can look to the history of the media gatekeepers for examples.
Back in the 1990s, Congress rescinded rules that prevented television networks from owning their own programming. Network executives swore in congressional hearings that they wouldn't give their own programming preferred access to the airwaves. They vowed access to the airwaves would be determined only by the quality of the shows.
I was working at NBC back then, and I didn't buy that line one bit. Sure enough, within a couple of years, NBC was the largest supplier of its own prime-time programming. To take advantage of this new paradigm, Disney bought ABC, Viacom (the parent company of Paramount) bought CBS and NBC merged with Universal.
And since these conglomerates owned both the pipes through which Americans received information (in this case, TV networks) and the information itself (in this case, TV shows), they developed a monopoly over what you could watch.
Today, if you're an independent producer, it's nearly impossible to get a show on the air unless the network owns at least a piece of it.
Now Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, and NBC/Universal want to merge. This new behemoth would be able to charge other cable carriers more for NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo and the 35 other cable networks it will own in whole or in part. This means that other carriers won't be able to afford as many choices -- and it means that your cable bill will go up.
Comcast is also the nation's largest home internet service provider. And as more and more of our television is provided through the internet, other internet giants such as Verizon and AT&T will have to look toward merging with CBS/Viacom or ABC/Disney.
We'll end up with a few megacorporations in control of the flow of information -- not just on TV, but now online as well.
From my seat on the Judiciary Committee, I plan to do everything I can to stop these mergers or at least put rigorous restrictions on them. But if this trend toward media consolidation continues, the free and open internet will be a thing of the past unless we write the principle of net neutrality into law right now.
This isn't a liberal or conservative issue. Everyone has a stake in protecting the First Amendment.
And it isn't even strictly a political issue. The internet's freedom and openness has made it a hotbed for innovations that change our lives. It's been an incredible engine of job creation.
The internet was developed at taxpayer expense to benefit the public interest. If we let corporations prioritize some content over others, we'll lose what makes it so valuable to our economy, our democracy and our daily lives.
Net neutrality may sound like a technical issue, but it's the key to preserving the internet as we know it -- and it's the most important First Amendment issue of our time.
Al Franken @'CNN'
Thank you...
To Hannah and Zoe for making me forget the pain last night and to everyone who sent best wishes.
You are all so kind...
XXX
Friday, 6 August 2010
Last night on Earth...(sad)
We have had (Nervous) Rex for 18 of his 19 years and he is going to be sadly missed...
the best dog ever!
X
X
X
Does kicking someone in the balls improve viral advertising?
The use of comedic violence in viral advertising is becoming widespread, but as yet no examination of what influence it may have on consumer response has been undertaken. Two experimental studies using a commercial panel sample investigate the effects of this executional cue on ad message involvement, brand memorability, likelihood of being passed on to third parties, and attitude formation. Results suggest that humorous ads that combine higher levels of violence intensity with more severe consequences appear to elicit greater involvement with the ad message, better retention of brand information, higher pass-along probability, and greater ad likability. Attitudes toward the brand remain unaffected. Furthermore, justification for the violence and relatedness to the product brand appear to be important considerations when using high intensity-severe consequence comedic violence. The paper specifies conditions under which advertisers can expect to gain maximum impact when using violent humor in viral advertising campaigns.
Source: "The Impact of Comedic Violence on Viral Advertising Effectiveness" from Journal of Advertising, Volume 39, Number 1 / Spring 2010, Pages: 49 - 66
MMFlint
Verizon & Google on Monday plan 2 announce the end of the Internet as we know it. "Free" & "fair" are the two dirtiest words in capitalism.
The End of The Internet as We Know It?
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Harold Chapman's best shot
Beat generation … Peter Orlovsky and Allen Ginsberg in Paris's Place St Germain-des-Prés in 1956 Photograph: Harold Chapman
It was 1956, and I was working in a crummy nightclub in London, waiting on tables, collecting dishes, trying to take photographs. I overheard all these conversations about how fantastic Paris was – "That's where it's at, man," everybody said.
So I hitchhiked there, planning to photograph everything in Paris for a book; a ridiculous ambition – it would have been the size of four telephone directories. At a bookshop called the Mistral, I found the address of the Beat Hotel – though it wasn't called that then. It was just a 13th-class hotel, absolutely rock-bottom quality, at 9 Rue Git-Le Coeur that everybody told me was full of crazy people: poets, artists, writers.
I lived there until 1963, taking photographs with my ancient Compax camera, which I'd picked up in a junkshop. I would pile a load of coats on top of my bed, and dive under them with my developing tank. Then I developed the photographs in the wash basin, and hung the films out to dry with coat-pegs on a piece of string. It was a very haphazard method, and I lost a lot of great photographs to it; but my philosophy has always been to save what is good, and forget what is lost.
Among the many writers I photographed were Allen Ginsberg and his partner Peter Orlovsky. One winter day in 1957, they took me for a walk: Ginsberg translated the French street names for me and pointed out the beauty of the architecture. In the Place St-Germain-des-Prés, they decided to sit down on this double-sided bench. I took this picture, just one frame. (I was very economical – film was very expensive.)
Ginsberg and Orlovsky had just moved to Paris, after all the aggravation surrounding the obscenity trial of Ginsberg's Howl. He has this smile of wonderment on his face, as if he's looking into the future, thinking of the voyages around the world he's going to make, the poems he's going to write. Orlovsky has a look of angst. Pessimism and optimism make the perfect balance for a couple to live together – which they did, on and off, for many years.
From the Beat generation, I learned that I could just do anything: they had broken all the rules. I didn't need to worry about composition or anything like that. I based the rest of my life on that understanding. People used to say: "You're crazy – you'll never sell those photographs." But The Beat Hotel has become a cult book. One copy sold several years ago for almost $2,000. So I had the last laugh.
CV
Born: Deal, Kent; 1927.
Studied: "I've had no education whatsoever: I successfully ran away from every school I ever went to. I studied photography just by doing it."
Influences: "The French street photographers – Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, Willy Ronis. And Bill Brandt, for his fantastic contrasts."
Top tip: "I can only repeat the advice that Cartier-Bresson once gave me, 'Be honest to your subjectivity.'"
empireofthekop Liverpool Echo : News: Liverpool FC owner Tom Hicks wants out of owning sports clubs http://bit.ly/9Zok74 #lfcfollowback #fb
exilestreet @empireofthekop Shouldn't that read that sporting clubs want Tom Hicks out of owning them?
Chris Carter - Tip Top Boss
This is basically just a TipTop Z8000 sequencer controlling a Z-DSP module, a Z2040 VCF & a Z5000 VCDSP module. The audio source is a Boss DR-220E Dr.Rhythm, which is also triggering the Z8000 sequencer from its programmable Trig output. Other modules used were a MFB Dual LFO- to change the direction of the sequencer and a Doepfer Dual VCA modulated by two Doepfer VCOs to add a little ring-mod'ish timbre.
This is part of my CCCL project.
aka: Chis Carter's Chemistry Lessons
http://chriscarterchemistrylessons.blogspot.com
aka: Chis Carter's Chemistry Lessons
http://chriscarterchemistrylessons.blogspot.com
Chris playing around with his Boss DR-220E Dr.Rhythm that he scored for 30 quid on eBay the other day - jammy bugger!
Clever graphic
With a sly inversion of the traditional AIDS red ribbon, Dana Arnett created an immediately recognizable, yet distinctly bunny-like identity for the Playboy AIDS Foundation.
Does Saudi have world's biggest amphetamine habit?
Captagon pills and a cup of cocaine displayed by Lebanese anti-narcotics forces in June 2010.
The Middle East leads the world in amphetamine seizures but governments in the region have been slow to admit there is a drug abuse problem, hindering efforts to fight it.
All intoxicants, including alcohol, are forbidden by Islam, yet "immense volumes" of illegal amphetamines are being seized in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, according to Matthew Nice, a drugs expert with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The World Drug Report 2010, published by the UNODC, shows Saudi authorities confiscated 12.8 metric tons of amphetamine in 2008. A total of 24.3 metric tons of amphetamine were seized worldwide that year, with 15.3 metric tons seized in the wider Middle East.
"I can't emphasize enough the size of this," said Nice, whose specialist area is amphetamine-type-stimulants. "Fifteen metric tons is absolutely huge, it's absolutely phenomenal.
"We're really struggling because the information base is so limited. It's definitely just the tip of the iceberg," he told CNN.
Experts working in the region say abuse of all kinds of drugs is a growing problem.
Professor Jallal Toufiq, founder of the Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association told CNN: "There is a worsening of the drug situation in the whole region, with no exceptions.
"We have to be very careful about this because there are no trend studies, but if you collect indirect indicators, I can tell you with certainty there's an increase in drug abuse in the region.
"We can show it in terms of treatment demand, social expression, related crime, HIV and Hepatitis C increasing in these countries -- all these kinds of indirect indicators."
But he added that a lack of research and data collection on the ground make it hard to identify the scale of the problem.
"In the Middle East and North Africa region there's a huge void in terms of data and information," he said. "For many countries there's a lack of political willingness because people just don't want to deal with this."
The kinds of drugs being abused varies across the region.
Use of Cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, is widespread, while Libya and Bahrain in particular have large numbers of heroin users, according to Toufiq.
Lebanon, with its lively nightlife and clubbing scene, has a higher incidence of designer-drug use, for example ecstasy, he said.
But the Middle East particularly stands out when it comes to seizures of amphetamine.
"We've been watching [the seizures] increase, but it started exploding around 2006 when we started seeing huge jumps in the drug that's uniquely known in [the Middle East] as Captagon."
According to the UNODC, Captagon is the brand name for a pharmaceutical drug developed in the 1960s to treat Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Production was discontinued in the 1980s.
Pharmaceutical Captagon contained a synthetic stimulant called fenetylline. These days, narcotic manufacturers in south-eastern Europe are taking advantage of Captagon's reputation as a stimulant and producing counterfeit Captagon tablets, stamped with the Captagon logo, but containing amphetamine -- a controlled substance -- as well as other chemicals, including caffeine.
Although there is little data on drug use in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Ali Al-Haqwi of King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences, in Riyadh, has researched attitudes to drugs in the country.
"When I ask people the most commonly abused drug in our community they say alcohol, followed by amphetamines," he told CNN. "Peer pressure is a very significant factor encouraging people to get involved."
Toufiq said governments in the region were now waking up to the extent of the drug problem. "They were in denial for years, but things are changing because of social expression," he said.
"There's no more censorship of what's going on in the societies in the region. It's coming out that there's a problem and it's perceived and seen now, so you can't hide it anymore."
But Toufiq told CNN that although there is a new political willingness to tackle the drug problem, years of neglect means a huge lack of trained personnel in the field, and a focus on targeting traffickers rather than reducing demand.
"You have very highly qualified people in supply reduction, in military and customs, but not in demand reduction or the medical approach side," he said.
"There's a very poor response in the field of treatment. There are some initiatives, but there is nothing at all in the field of prevention. Prevention in the Middle East and North Africa region is a catastrophe."
Mark Tutton @'CNN'
Fugn hilarious...
(Click to enlarge)
A visual diary documenting a flight from New York to Berlin (with a layover in London) by
A visual diary documenting a flight from New York to Berlin (with a layover in London) by
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