Hemolyzed blood and serum levels of delta 9-THC: effects on the performance of roadside sobriety tests

A pilot study was conducted to ascertain the range of induced hemolyzed blood/serum delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta 9-THC) concentrations in 58 human subjects. Subjects were tested within 5 min of smoking a delta 9-THC cigarette and then at half-hour intervals to 150 min. The subjects initially demonstrated a broad range of delta 9-THC hemolyzed blood levels, which settled within an hour to levels comparable to those measured in California drivers who had been stopped for impaired driving, arrested, and tested for delta 9-THC. Serum levels, when correlated with performance or roadside sobriety tests, demonstrated a broad range (5 to 183 ng/mL) of delta 9-THC levels and an "adaptation" effect in the subjects' perception of their own impairment. Although this preliminary study was not a double-blind placebo experiment, the overall performance of human subjects demonstrated the "adaptation" effect, which may be a significant factor in making judgments while performing such complex tasks as driving. Also, the effects of the drug extended beyond the period of elevated delta 9-THC blood levels, perhaps because of THC metabolites that may contribute to impairment or the persistence of THC in the central nervous system. This pilot study will lay the groundwork for a program designed to determine the epidemiology and behavior correlates of marijuana use in motorists.     

A Letter Sent,Waiting to be Received: Queer Correspondence,Feminism and Black British Art

Abstract

This article examines what the published letter does as a form that is both intimate and public, and how it is particularly resonant when dealing with the silences and absences around queer and feminist artist of colour histories. Connections are made between three letters published in feminist and queer journals and books, written for readers who may include the writers’ loved ones, friends, contemporaries, and future readers. These three letters are contained within the following publications: Surviving Art School (2016) by the group Collective Creativity, a QTIPOC artist group who made the publication as part of a wider project examining the history of Black British Art (members are: Evan Ifekoya, Raisa Kabur, Rudy Lowe and Raju Rage); a special issue of FAN (Feminist Arts News) edited by Lubaina Himid and Maud Sulter in 1988, the precursor to the more well-known collection Passion, edited by Sulter in 1990; ending with Himid's recent reflections on her curation in the 1980s through a series of ‘Letters to Susan’ published in the 2011 catalogue for the exhibition Thin Black Line(s) at Tate Britain. Through close examination of these examples, this article explores the particularities of the letter form, asking if it allows feminist and queer artists of colour to present their experiences in a manner that encourages all their readers to take part in the conversation, whilst prioritizing calls for other people of colour to respond. The article proposes that the published letter form keeps feminist histories alive and creates a counterpublic that speaks to and for a community that is imagined as both geographically and temporally diffuse.     

The decline in sexual assaults in men's prisons in New South Wales: a "systems" approach

Male prison rape and sexual assaults remains a serious and sensitive issue in many countries. Human rights groups claim that sexual assaults among male prisoners have reached pandemic proportions and need to be stopped. Researchers for many years have studied the causes of male sexual assault in prison and offered numerous recommendations on its prevention. Few, however, have presented evidence for a decline in male prisoner sexual assaults and investigated the reasons for the decline. This article provides evidence from population-based surveys of a steady decrease in male prisoner sexual assaults in New South Wales (NSW) between 1996 and 2009. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with former and current inmates, and using a "systems" approach they discuss the complexity of sexual assaults in prison, incorporating a multiplicity of perspectives. In particular, they bring together different sources of data and discuss this in relation to changes in power structures and control in a modern prison, the attitudes of older and younger prisoners, the concept of "duty of care," introduction of prison drug programs, and prisoner attitudes toward gender and sexuality. In anthropology, the term "system" is used widely for describing sociocultural phenomena of a given society in a holistic manner without reducing the complexity of a given community.     

The evolution of informed consent

Informed consent and the changes in what is expected over the 21st century provide an instructive case study of the mutual influence on one another of medical law and medical ethics. Over the years we have moved from a doctor-centred standard to a patient-centred standard and from a one-size-fits-all patient-centred standard to a more individual requirement that engages with the needs of a particular patient It is unreasonable to expect those changes to be reflected in anything less than an extended conversation in which the health care professional gives out some version of what a reasonable patient would expect to hear from an informed health care professional and then responds to the patient's questions as informatively and helpfully as he or she can. It is therefore convenient to refer to spontaneous and responsive disclosure as a very concrete implementation of the health care professional-patient partnership that is contemporary health care and at the heart of health care ethics.     

Regulation of cognitive enhancement devices: commentary

Maslen et al. (2013) have provided us with a comprehensive overview of the current legislation regulating non-clinical cognitive enhancement devices (CEDs) in the European Union and have proposed a specific model whereby CEDs would be regulated in the same way as medical devices. An alternative model would be to require manufacturers to quantify risks only. Irrespective of the purported ‘benefits’ of a product, this would allow the consumer freedom of choice to use the product at their will and allow the periodic review of worthwhile indications and unexpected adverse events. Although this departs from the standard Cochrane-type assessment, it takes into account the facts that (i) the evaluation of clinically used cognitive enhancement techniques may not be as rigorous as one might expect, (ii) variations and case-by-case use might be widespread, and (iii) independent variables of significance and useful endpoints may not be obvious ab initio. We consider cerebrospinal fluid diversion techniques which are widely used clinically to enhance cognition in patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus despite any large-scale clinical studies demonstrating substantial benefit, and the real risks of paralysis and death from these invasive procedures. The risks of CEDs which have been available for some time need to be kept in perspective: are the risks really more than using conventional cognitive enhancement techniques such as imbibing too caffeinated drinks? Furthermore, the loss of Europe as a market for CEDs which do not comply with the proposed regulatory model implies a potential gain in the market for other parts of the world. This could impact on the ability of companies in Europe being able to compete in an evolving market demand for CEDs. Legislation to regulate CEDs should be guided by the principle of ‘do no harm’ and allow for innovation and competition.