THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME?

PRESENTATION SUMMARY

The Internet - The future of drug trafficking? - Dr. Robert Forman from the University of Pennsylvania's Treatment Research Institute gave us a virtual tour of Internet drug trafficking and no prescription websites

Drugs on the web - 2005 to 2050 - Earth & Fire, creators of the hugely popular website, 'The Vaults of Erowid', which receives 40,000 hits a day, gave a talk on the positive and negative effects of drug information on the Internet, and suggested that one day information technology may supersede traditional drug use.

Dr. Alexander and Ann Shulgin in person - Dr. Alexander Shulgin, a pharmacologist and chemist who has devoted the last 45 years to creating new psychoactive chemicals and was also celebrating his 80th birthday, and his wife Ann, a lay therapist who treated people with MDMA in the 1960s, answered questions on their life and work.

Super athletes - Michelle Verroken from Sporting Integrity discussed the current and possible future impact of substance use on the creation of super athletes and the ethical considerations that accompany drug enhanced sporting success

Super soldiers - Dr David Neil, a philosopher from the University of Wollongong, gave a fascinating description of the recent activity of DARPA, the American Defence Sciences Office, and their attempts to create infallible, indestructible human fighting machines.

Super minds - The final talk of the day was given by Dr. John Marsden from the Institute of Psychiatry on the potential uses of drugs to increase intelligence, memory and learning, and to prevent physical and cognitive decline.