Free Republic

Imagine this: A pesky mosquito sips some of your blood. Hours later, the blood-sucker drops dead, poisoned by the very blood it just slurped down. That may sound too good to be true, but it's a tantalizing possibility, according to research published this week in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study points to a potential new tool to fight malaria: the medication ivermectin. Studies conducted in the 2000s, including one in 2010, show that malaria-carrying mosquitoes die after feeding on individuals who have ingested the drug. ......... In their study, the researchers demonstrate that three high doses of...

A Traverse City judge who admitted smoking marijuana at a Rolling Stones concert is scheduled to begin hearing cases Monday. District Judge Thomas Gilbert has been on voluntary leave since November sixth. He was in a 28 day alcohol rehabilitation program. Gilbert will hear only civil cases such as small claims and landlord-tenant disputes in his first week back. After a two week vacation, he'll begin hearing criminal cases but not those involving drunken driving or marijuana. Gilbert has called the incident at the October 12th concert in Detroit the stupidest thing he's ever done. Both the local bar association...

Premier Roger Grimes not only favours decriminalizing marijuana use, he thinks it should be legalized, produced in factories and taxed like tobacco to pay for services like health care. Grimes, who admitted to experimenting with pot in his youth, said it’s a federal matter to decide. “I’m saying if I ever were to run federally, I’d probably put in my plank that we should not only decriminalize it, we should legalize it — have it produced in factories and plants, raise some revenues from it and treat it the same as alcohol. Put an age limit on it and recognize...