Free Republic

The Obama administration is strategizing how to fight legal pot in Colorado and Washington, reports Charlie Savage of The New York Times. While "no decision" is "imminent," Savage reports that senior level White House and Justice Department officials are considering "legal action against Colorado and Washington that could undermine voter-approved initiatives." A taskforce made up of Main Justice, the DEA, the State Department, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy is currently considering two courses of action, reports Savage: One option is for federal prosecutors to bring some cases against low-level marijuana users of the sort they until now...

Cigarettes could slash blood-alcohol levels, making smokers drink more. A new study helps to explain why smokers tend to have boozier nights out than non-smokers. The work, done in rats, shows that a heavy dose of nicotine can cut blood-alcohol levels in half. If cigarettes similarly lower intoxication in people, it could mean that smokers need to drink more than non-smokers to get the same buzz... To mimic more closely the effect in human drinkers, (Texas A&M researcher Wei-Jung) Chen and his colleagues studied the effects of binge drinking in adult rats. They injected rats' stomachs with a dose of...