Горизонт N6/835

RUSSIAN DENVER / HORIZON
8
Fancy a trip to Russia?
Better not. It’s the «11th most dangerous» country in the world.
DANIELLE RYAN
If you’re perusing the holiday
brochures any time soon, be
sure not to book a trip to Russia,
for according to the Institute
for Economics and Peace’s
2015 Global Peace Index, it is the
11th most dangerous country in
the world. Yes, that’s right.
Forget taking advantage of the
great ruble rate and planning the
trip of a lifetime. Pack your bags
and head somewhere else, folks.
It just ain’t worth the risk.
Still, you might prefer some
of the safer places for your summer
hols– and indeed there are
plenty of great options. Fresh
off the NATO regime change
carousel, Libya appears to look
more inviting. Or perhaps war
torn Yemen? Even a summer sojourn
in Eastern Ukraine would
seemingly be safer than a trip to
Moscow.
Okay, let’s be serious. This
ranking is incredibly misleading.
Regardless of the methodology
used, there is no way Russia ends
up the 11th most dangerous country
on earth, one notch above
North Korea, more dangerous
than war-torn Middle Eastern
countries and some of the most
by Agata Blaszczak-Boxe
Pot is becoming more potent,
a new study suggests.
In the study, the researchers
looked at more than 38,600 samples
of illegal marijuana seized
by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration over 20 years.
They found that the level of
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol–
marijuana’s main psychoactive
ingredient– in the marijuana
samples rose from about 4 percent
in 1995 to about 12 percent
in 2014.
Conversely, the level of CBD,
or cannabidiol– an ingredient
sometimes touted for its potential
health benefits– fell from
about 0.28 percent in 2001 to less
than 0.15 percent in 2014.
by Stephanie Pappas, Live
Science Contributor
Marijuana, the most commonly
used illegal drug in
America, is going mainstream.
Now legal for recreational use
in Colorado and Washington,
pot seems poised for wider use,
too: 21 states allow the possession
and use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes, according
to the National Institute on Drug
Abuse. And legalization campaigns
are underway in Oregon,
California and even Alaska.
But just how much do you
know about the wacky weed
poverty-stricken regions of Africa.
Even if the indicators were
all accurately measured (which
is highly unlikely as these things
often rely on perception), the
combined result is still highly
misleading.
I can understand how, based
on some of the indicators measured,
Russia could score highly.
Incarceration, nuclear weapons,
weapons exports. Fine. But then
you look at the «combined major
factors» and find Russia scores
2.7 out of 5 on «Domestic and International
Conflict» whereas the
US scores 1.7 out of 5. That just
doesn’t tally, if you’re making any
fair assessment of where the US
stands in terms of «international
conflict».
ВНИМАНИЮ ВЛАДЕЛЬЦЕВ КРУПНЫХ,
СРЕДНИХ И МАЛЫХ БИЗНЕСОВ!
On «violent crime» Russia
scores 3/5 while US scores 1/5.
On «militarization»and «access case,
Интернет
the historical
сайты
factors
ВСЕХ
affecting
that indicator are incredibly seriously strange results.
русских
ons» you are
бизнесов
going to get some
to weapons» Russia also scores
significantly higher than the US. different и частных (and not предпринимателей
even comparable
на одном to) the US’s гигантском relationship портале. not going to read the report in
Your regular Joe or Jane is
Ask a different «analyst» on a
different day and the US would with Canada, for example. detail and come away with a nuanced
understanding в проекте of all the
be dripping blood red on any Все of бизнесы Then there могут are принять factors like участие
these indicators.
«violent demonstrations» (Russia’s
combined factors. They’re going
to see the headline and the
Then there are indicators like
СОВЕРШЕННО
3.5/5 to the US’s 2/5) which
БЕСПЛАТНО
«political terror» where независимо again, are measured, от особенностей not on the actual других map, видов their eyes рекламы. will be drawn to
Russia obviously scores higher number of violent demonstrations,
but the «likelihood» of Russia must be a God-awful
the red, and they’ll go holy sh*t,
than the US (which I would agree
with). But, look a little closer Это and them. Новогодний Again, all completely подарок
subjective
and ultimately lacking in You therefore can’t just fling
place.
you’ll see how they actually measured
it: using information from much real meaning.
all this information down onto
от газеты "Горизонт"
Amnesty International and, you
Для
Now,
этого
look
надо
at the map.
занести
The top
информацию
a list of «most dangerous» countries
and think you won’t be mis-
guessed it, US State Department 12 countries are marked in red.
Country reports. A lot of the actual
ranking process is then done look, Russia’s at 11, so we bet-
Unless misleading people is
о своем
Why
бизнесе
not just the
ДО
top
НОВОГО
10? But oh
ГОДА
leading
по
people.
адресу
by EIU analysts. That is, Econoter
www.gorizont.com/letmein
make the top 12 red, so we not a major concern?
mist Intelligence Unit analysts,
of the Economist Group– not ex-
Закаленный в победах доблестный отряд
actly known for its fairness and
славных accuracy вебмастеров in reporting on Russia. газеты soon! "Горизонт"
объявляет о «Perceptions начале грандиозного of criminality» строительства...
единой русской (4/5 to the электронной US’s 2/5) also has an общины Колорадо.
effect on where Russia lands in
the ranking, as does «neighboring
countries relations» (5/5 to
the US’s 2/5). These are extremely
subjective and I can’t see any
accurate way of measuring them
fairly. Despite the common perception,
Russia has good relations
with a number of its neighbors–
and where that is not the
can splash red across that huge
swathe of the earth. Scary stuff.
Better not go there any time
It’s difficult to tell what the
authors of these reports actually
mean when they refer
to countries based on their
level of «danger». Is it that
the country is dangerous to
visit, or that it is a danger to
the world? Or both? And how
can you fairly combine the two
anyway? When you combine
factors like «perceptions of
crime» with «nuclear weap-
Potent Pot: Marijuana Is Stronger Now Than It Was 20 Years Ago
When the researchers looked
at the ratio of THC to CBD, they
found that marijuana in 1995 had
a THC level that was 14 times its
CBD level. But in 2014, the THC
level was 80 times the CBD level.
«We can see that the ratio of
THC to CBD has really, really
increased and climbed so much
higher,» said lead study author
Mahmoud A. ElSohly, a professor
of pharmaceutics at the University
of Mississippi
In the study, the researchers
looked at nearly 39,000 samples
of illegal cannabis. The vast
majority of these were samples
of cannabis plant material, but
there were also samples of hashish,
which is the resinous parts
of cannabis plants mixed with
some plant particles, and some
and its odd effects? How exactly
does marijuana provide its high,
and who discovered the effects
of smoking the plant in the first
place? Read on for some of the
stranger facts about cannabis
consumption.
1. Mythical origins
The hippie generation did not
discover pot. But the drug’s true
origins remain a bit murky.
For example, one source, the
Drug Enforcement Administration
Museum in Arlington,
Virginia, states that the oldest
written references to cannabis
date back to 2727 B.C., when the
Chinese Emperor Shen Nung
N05/834 от 02.05.2016 e-mail: info@gorizont.com Simply the best
samples of hash oil, which is a
concentrated extract of cannabis
in oil form.
The researchers also found
that, among the cannabis plant
material seized over the last four
years of the study, there had
been an increase in the samples
of sinsemilla, which is a type of
cannabis that is much more potent
than other types of the drug,
according to the study, published
Jan. 19 in the journal Biological
Psychiatry.
The increase in marijuana’s
potency may have some negative
health consequences for marijuana
users, especially young
ones, ElSohly said.
When a person smokes marijuana
with lower doses of THC,
«it is a pleasant feeling; it is
11 Odd Facts About Marijuana
supposedly discovered the substance
and used it medicinally.
But there’s one problem with
this putative fact: Shen Nung, if
he existed, was not the emperor
of China. The first emperor of
a unified China was Qin Shi
Huang, who was born around
260 B.C.– significantly later than
Все вопросы по тел. 720-436-7613
the munchies, the happiness,»
ElSohly told Live Science. But
smoking marijuana with high
doses of THC may involve a
higher risk of negative health effects,
such as psychosis or panic
attacks, he said.
There are several likely factors
behind the increase in marijuana
potency in the illicit market,
ElSohly said. For one, «the
higher the THC content is, the
more expensive the product,»
he said. Therefore, the ability to
charge more for marijuana with
high THC content is an incentive
for cannabis growers to select
for and grow those varieties
of plants that have a high THC
content.
Moreover, pot smokers often
develop a tolerance for THC,
the supposed Shen Nung. Nor is
it entirely clear where or how this
Shen Nung recorded his medicinal
marijuana experiments. The
earliest examples of written Chinese
characters date to the Shang
dynasty, between 1200 B.C. and
1050 B.C., when oracles carved
symbols on bones and turtle
shells. Though the story of Shen
Nung permeates pot histories
online, his existence seems to be
more marijuana myth than fact.
Still, the Chinese deserve
some credit. The ancient Taiwanese
were using hemp fibers
to decorate pottery about
10,000 years ago, according to
which means that, over time,
they need increasingly higher
doses of THC to get high,
ElSohly said. These people create
a demand for more and more
potent varieties of pot.
Previous research has also
shown that the potency of marijuana,
including the marijuana
sold in states where its recreational
use is now legal, has increased
over the years. For example,
in a study presented in March
2015 at a meeting of the American
Chemical Society, researchers
said they found that samples of
marijuana in Colorado contained
as much as 30 percent THC. In
comparison, the levels of THC
in marijuana 30 years ago were
generally below 10 percent, the
researchers said.
«The Archaeology of Ancient
China» (Yale University Press,
1968).
But the identity of the first
person to discover pot’s intoxicating
effects is lost to prehistory.
2. Weird ways to use hemp
The marijuana plant isn’t used
only for smoking; its fibers can
also be made into rope or fabric.
Perhaps the oddest use of hemp
rope on record is as a method for
transporting giant stone statues.
In 2012, archaeologists created
reproductions of Easter Island’s
statues, trying to figure out how
ancient people may have moved
the iconic 9,600-lb. (4.35 metric