The struggles and triumphs of an addict

At least 33 people were hospitalized on Tuesday from an apparent mass drug overdose of synthetic marijuana, in an area of New York City where the drug is said to be used at “epidemic” levels. Authorities said they began receiving calls at around 9.30am of people collapsing near an intersection in Brooklyn that the news website DNAinfo said was known as the “ epicenter ” for synthetic marijuana – or K2 – use. Brooklyn resident Brian Arthur broadcast live on Facebook from the scene, saying it looked like “zombieland” as he panned to images of incapacitated and agitated people being attended to by emergency responders. “I just came home from work and I’m seeing this, like, what the hell?” Arthur said. “Every freaking step they laid out.” One man who was barely able to stand up wandered into the street as emergency medical staff attempted to help him. Close by, another man was frozen like a statue until he started falling slowly forward, only upright because he was leaning into a f...

At respected research centers in the United States and other countries, scientists have spent much of their professional lives in drug rehabilitation. It is not because they themselves struggle with addiction. What they are trying to rehabilitate are the drugs. Their focus is on mind-altering compounds that fell far from grace nearly half a century ago, LSD prominent among them. Along with other psychedelics, it was outlawed by the federal government, damned as bearing a high potential for abuse and offering no accepted medical benefit. But in recent years, researchers have sought to rescue hallucinogens from exile by examining their efficacy in treating certain disorders of the mind, and perhaps even in understanding the nature of consciousness and spirituality. The work of these scientists now draws the attention of Retro Report , a series of video documentaries that examine major news stories of the past and their enduring significance. Psychoactive substances, often derive...