Drug intelligence based on MDMA tablets data: 2. Physical characteristics profiling

One of the tasks of the European project entitled “Collaborative Harmonisation of Methods for Profiling of Amphetamine Type Stimulants” (CHAMP) funded by the sixth framework programme of the European Commission was to develop a harmonised methodology for MDMA profiling and the creation of a common database in a drug intelligence perspective. Part I was dedicated to the analysis of organic impurities formed during synthesis in order to investigate traffic tendencies and highlight potential links between samples, whereas this part focuses on physical characteristics of the MDMA tablets. Diameter, thickness, weight and score were demonstrated to be reliable and relevant features in this drug intelligence perspective. Distributions of samples coming from the same post-tabletting batch (post-TB) and samples coming from different post-TB were very well discriminated by using the squared Euclidean or the Manhattan distance on standardised data. Our findings demonstrated the possibility to discriminate between MDMA samples issued from different post-TB and to find out links between samples coming from a same post-TB. Furthermore, the hypothesis that most of the MDMA samples found on the international market come from the same countries was supported.     

Let's stick together: Understanding Africa's secessionist deficit

Over the last 40 years, Africa has experienced relatively fewersecessionist conflicts than most other regions of the world,even though it is otherwise plagued with political violenceand its countries tend to display a higher prevalence of manyof the factors usually associated with separatism. After empiricallyestablishing Africa’s secessionist deficit, this articlereviews the few existing explanations for it before articulatinga theory which singles out the benefits to African regionalelites (and those who depend on them) of weak sovereign states.In Africa as elsewhere, the article argues, regional leaderscan be expected to capitalize on local grievances and promotesecessions if the potential rewards of a separatist state, inthe absence of international recognition, outweigh the potentialrewards associated with control or partial control of institutionsof the sovereign national state. What distinguishes Africanelites is the relatively greater material returns to sovereigntythat they face. Given the continent’s poverty, the undiversifiednature and commodity dependence of its economies, and the relativelack of accountability of state power, Africa offers a significantmaterial premium to internationally recognized sovereignty,tilting the odds for elites in favour of staying within thestate, even if they do not immediately benefit from power atthe centre. The article then tests the argument against actualAfrican cases of secession, showing that they are usually afunction of variations in the relative rewards of sovereignty.In conclusion, it argues that Africa’s weak sovereigntyequilibrium has contributed to its failure to develop.     

Evaluation of the IDS One-Step™ ELISA kits for the detection of illicit drugs in hair

This work presents the validation of a new immunological assay, the One-Step™ enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests from International Diagnostic Systems Corp. for the screening of drugs of abuse (cannabis, amphetamines, opiates, and cocaine) in human hair, with subsequent GC–MS confirmation. After decontamination and segmentation into small pieces, 50 mg of hair sample were incubated in 1 ml of methanol during 16 h at 40 °C. A 100 μL aliquot was collected and evaporated to dryness in presence of 100 μL of methanol/hydrochloric acid (99:1, v/v) to avoid amphetamines loss. The dried extract was dissolved in 100 μL of the “sample and standard diluent” solution included in the kit. This solution was submitted to analysis according to the recommended instructions of the manufacturer. During the validation phase, GC–MS confirmations were conducted according to our fully validated and published methods for opiates, cocaine, cannabis, and amphetamines determinations in hair. In a last development step, these procedures were slightly modified to directly confirm ELISA results by GC–MS using the methanolic extract. Ninety-three specimens were simultaneously screened by the ELISA tests (103 for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) and confirmed by GC–MS. Twenty were found positive for cannabis (THC: 0.10–6.50 ng/mg), 21 for cocaine (0.50–55.20 ng/mg), 24 for opiates (6-acetylmorphine (6-AM): 0.20–11.60 ng/mg, MOR: 0.20–8.90 ng/mg, codeine (COD): 0.20–5.90 ng/mg), and 13 for amphetamines (AP: 0.20 and 0.27 ng/mg, methamphetamine (MAP): 0.30 and 1.10 ng/mg, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA): 0.22–17.80 ng/mg). No false negative results were observed according to the Society of Hair Testing's (SoHT) cutoffs (0.5 ng/mg for cocaine, 0.2 ng/mg for opiates and amphetamines, and 0.1 ng/mg for THC). The One-Step™ ELISA kits appear suitable due to their sensitivity and specificity for drug of abuse screening in hair. This technology should find interest in workplace drug testing or driving license regranting, especially when many samples have to be tested with a high rate of negative samples, as ELISA is an easy and high-throughput method.     

‘I Like Your Colour!’ skin bleaching and geographies of race in urban Ghana

This article explores chemical skin bleaching practices in urban Ghana to demonstrate the ways that particular racialized understandings of meaning are deployed in a contemporary postcolonial African society. I argue that the processes of racialization indexed by skin bleaching in Ghana must be contextualized within global racial formations; specifically, they can only be understood by examining the interlinked local and global ideologies and practices of race. In elaborating this argument, the essay also engages with contemporary African diaspora theorization that tends to foreground diasporic identity and experience at the expense of contemporary continental processes. By bringing a postcolonial African society into a dialogue about race, processes of racialization, and the interlinked transnational construction of black identities, this essay offers one way out of the ambivalent relationship that I believe diaspora theorization has with Africa.     

德国大选尘埃落定默克尔连任总理——德国联邦议院大选初析

2009年9月27日,德国举行第十七届联邦议院选举。大选初步结果显示,以现任总理默克尔为首的联盟党（基民盟／基社盟）得票率为33．8％（-1．4％）,保持议会第一大党地位,副总理兼外长施泰因迈尔率领的社民党惨败,得票率仅为23．0％（-11．2％）,自民党、左翼党和绿党三个在野党的得票率分别为14．6％（＋4．8％）、11．9％（＋3．2％）和10．7％（＋2．6％）,其他小党共获得6％的选票,均未进入议会。在联邦议院622个席位中,联盟党占239席、社民党146席、自民党93席、左翼党76席、绿党68席。     

The Sociology of Law in France: Trends and Paradigms

To suggest that French legal sociology is a field in which a dominant theoretical tendency is identifiable is misleading; equally, attempts to provide insight into the work achieved in French socio-legal studies which presuppose that a complete inventory of the field must be undertaken are misguided. In this article, an exposition of French legal sociology is attempted using different means: following a brief history of the evolution of socio-legal studies in France, the authors suggest different paradigms around which French researchers appear to converge. Eight paradigms are identified, covering the majority of French sociologists and jurists. The article concludes with an analysis of some characteristics of socio-legal studies in general, within the framework of French intellectual and academic life.     

On penal metrics

This paper presents the results of a public survey on the perceived severity of different kinds and levels of penalties gathered using magnitude estimation techniques. Three topics are dealt with. Individual scales of sentence severity are shown to be internally consistent. Then the structural properties of the severity scales of fine, imprisonment, community work, and probation are analyzed. Finally, what a given penalty is worth in relation to other types of punishment from the public's point of view is established and compared to existing exchange rates prescribed in legal statutues or practiced by criminal courts.