alex berenson

This Week in Psychedelics - 9.3.21

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Cannabis

  • Appeals court rejects lawsuit seeking to force DEA to reschedule marijuana (Marijuana Business Daily)

  • Anti-Pot Author Alex Berenson Gets Permanent Twitter Ban (High Times)

  • How Much Legal Cannabis Is In California? It’s A State Secret. (Forbes)

  • Allowing Public Marijuana Smoking Leads To Bigger NYC Arrest Decline Than In Other Legalized Places (Marijuana Moment)

  • Fakkuappu: Japan Struggles with Cannabis Reform (High Times)

  • Senators Flooded With Input On Federal Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

  • Big Pharma Seizes Brazilian Market While Medical Cannabis Bill is Stalled (TalkingDrugs)

  • Alabama medical cannabis program might roll out slower than expected (Marijuana Business Daily)

  • Swiss Doctors to Prescribe Cannabis Without “Exceptional Authorization” (High Times)

  • Legalization Nation: The Dispensary Divide (The Nib)

  • New Group Files Another Missouri Marijuana Legalization Initiative For 2022 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

  • Ohio Marijuana Activists Cleared To Collect Signatures For 2022 Legalization Ballot Initiative (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

  • How Dock Ellis Made Baseball History on LSD (DoubleBlind)

Magic Mushrooms

  • Denver Psychedelics Activists Push To Expand Psilocybin Decriminalization To Allow Gifting And Communal Use (Marijuana Moment)

  • Yale researchers discover healing effects of psychedelic drug (Yale Daily News)

  • Heroic Hearts Project announces new study with Imperial College London into the physiological and psychological effects of psilocybin on veterans. (Volteface)

  • 'Psychedelic renaissance' sees first legal collection of Australia's medicinal magic mushrooms (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

  • The Tragic Story Of Magic Truffles: The Elusive Wild Psilocybe (DoubleBlind)

  • Red Light Holland Successfully Completes Canada’s Largest Legal Sale and Import of Psilocybe Truffles into Canada Under a Health Canada Approved Psilocybin Import Permit (Psilocybin Alpha)

DMT

  • Microdose Psychedelic Insights Presents the Upcoming DMT Conference, a Deep Dive Into the Dynamic Field of DMT Therapeutics (Benzinga)

Ayahuasca

  • A single dose of ayahuasca improves self-perception of speech performance in socially anxious people, study finds (PsyPost)

  • Wilma Mahua Campos, Shipibo Ayahuasquera (Chacruna)

  • The Importance of Traditional Ayahuasca Techniques with Carlos Tanner (EntheoNation)

5-MeO-DMT

  • Psychedelic Toads Emerge In Arizona During Monsoon Season (iHeartRadio)

San Pedro

Novel Psychoactive Substances

  • Mindset Pharma Announces its Next Generation Novel 5-MeO-DMT Psychedelic Analogs Demonstrate a Significantly Improved Safety Profile in Preclinical Results (Psilocybin Alpha)

Nitrous Oxide

  • Nitrous oxide: Patel orders Laughing gas review to decide on potential new law (BBC)

Ketamine

  • Cops and Paramedics Involved in Elijah McClain’s Death Charged With Homicide (VICE)

Miscellaneous

  • Drug Users Are Suing the Canadian Government Over the War on Drugs (VICE)

  • DEA Proposes Massive Increase In Marijuana And Psilocybin Production For Research To Develop FDA-Approved Medicines (Marijuana Moment)

  • 'QAnon Shaman' to plead guilty in US Capitol riot case (CNN)

  • What Is the ‘Collective Unconscious’ and How Can It Help Us Understand Psychedelic Experiences? (Psychedelics Today)

  • Can Psychedelics Promote Social Justice and Change the World? (Chacruna)

  • Seattle Should Decriminalize All Drugs, City Task Force On Overdose Crisis Recommends (Marijuana Moment)

  • Jon Hopkins Announces New Album Music for Psychedelic Therapy, Shares New Song: Listen (Pitchfork)

  • Meet the women who regularly microdose psychedelics (Cosmopolitan)

  • Glow Time: PsychLight Brings a Powerful Tool to Psychedelic Research (Psychedelic Science Review)

  • New Psychedelic Therapy Clinic Opens in Charleston (Johnson City Press)

  • Psychedelics Co. Synthesis Institute Closes $7.25M Series A Funding Through Non-Traditional VC Path (Benzinga)

  • Psychedelics—The New Psychiatric Craze (Mad in America)

  • Field Trip Health Ltd. Announces Launch Of “Kap Co-Operative” Program, Enabling Independent Psychedelic Therapists To Practice At Its Field Trip Health Centers; Also Launches Training Programs To Educate A New Generation Of Psychedelic Clinicians (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • Psychedelics in Recovery: 12-Step Peer Support Program (Truffle Report)

  • Legal Psychedelic Retreats – What They Are & Where to Find Them (EntheoNation)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalog how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychoactives - 4.12.19

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CANNABIS

  • Israel Decriminalizes Adult Use Cannabis During CannaTech Conference In Tel Aviv (Forbes)

  • FDA Is Taking Public Comments On CBD. Here’s How To Make Your Voice Heard (Marijuana Moment)

  • Police across the UK are given green light to let cannabis users off scot-free and suggest they get treatment instead of punishment (Daily Mail)

  • Alex Berenson and the Last Anti-Cannabis Crusade (The New Republic)

  • Georgia: Lawmakers Advance Bill To Regulate Low-THC Oil Production (NORML)

  • Mother of girl with epilepsy has supply of medical cannabis confiscated (The Guardian)

  • New York City: Lawmakers Advance Bills Limiting Drug Testing for Cannabis as a Condition of Employment, Probation (NORML)

  • Nova Scotia Woman Plans Constitutional Challenge of Roadside Cannabis Test (Leafly)

  • Hawaii Senate Committee Approves Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

  • Senate Bill Would Let Marijuana Businesses Store Profits In Banks (Forbes)

  • California bill to block home delivery of cannabis sidelined for year (Los Angeles Times)

  • Another Connecticut Committee Approves Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

  • Will the European legal cannabis industry prosper? (Health Europa)

  • GOP Congressman’s Bill Would Let Medical Marijuana Patients Possess Guns (Marijuana Moment)

  • Mergers And Acquisitions Light Up The Cannabis Sector (Forbes)

  • Indiana Lawmakers Amend Hemp Bill To Allow Smokeable Flower (Marijuana Moment)

  • People of Color Were Targeted by the War on Drugs. They Must Benefit from Marijuana Legalization (Newsweek)

  • Can Cannabis Help You Get Off Adderall? (Civilized)

  • Where Presidential Candidate Tim Ryan Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

  • Cannabis stocks lower as investors await the fate of the States Act (MarketWatch)

LSD

  • ‘SNL’ Introduces a Hilarious Film Critic Who Sees Movies on Acid So You Don’t Have To (IndieWire)

  • T.C. Boyle’s new novel takes a trip with LSD evangelist Timothy Leary (Los Angeles Times)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

  • China Enters Magic Mushroom Industry – Wuhan, MJMedTech, and M2BIO (Psilocybin Technology)

  • Psilocybin-assisted mindfulness training modulates self-consciousness and brain default mode network connectivity with lasting effects (ScienceDirect)

  • Presidential Candidate Jay Inslee Is Open To Decriminalizing Psychedelic Mushrooms (Marijuana Moment)

  • Seth Rogen Talks About Taking Magic Mushrooms At Cirque du Soleil (Marijuana Moment)

  • I went to a chic fundraiser for Denver's psilocybin mushroom vote (Rooster Magazine)

  • The return of the 'stoned ape' theory (Big Think)

  • Sacred Mushrooms of the Mazatec Tradition: Transforming the Inner Landscape of the Human Psyche (Chacruna)

  • How Psilocybin Reset My Suicidal Thoughts And Taught Me To Love Myself (Reset.me)

MDMA

  • Inside an Innovative Study of MDMA Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder (Filter)

  • MDMA helps adult mice socialize like their adolescent selves (Quartz)

  • Cate Faehrmann: Why a lawmaker admitted to taking MDMA (BBC)

  • Teenager dies after taking six times the 'safe' level of Ecstasy (Your EDM)

  • 'She didn't get the chance to learn from her mistake': Father's anguish after his daughter, 18, died from her first hit of liquid ecstasy - as he reveals the tragic final words she spoke to him (Daily Mail)

  • Illinois man dies after taking ecstasy; parents now educate others on dangers of drug (WTKR)

  • Psychedelic Drug MDMA May Help Treat PTSD (Tech Times)

AYAHUASCA

  • Translating Ayahuasca Shamanism and Western Medicine (Kahpi)

  • Global Ayahuasca Community Joins Together to Defend Ceremony Leader (Talking Drugs)

5-MEO-DMT

  • Study: 5-MeO-DMT May Rapidly Improve Anxiety and Depression (Reset.me)

PEYOTE

IBOGA

  • Dutch natural healer gets 8 years for death of Swedish woman (NL Times)

NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

  • Ireland: Controversial ban on new psychoactive substances succeeds in reducing health problems (Scottish Legal News)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

  • State forensics lab identifying new synthetic cannabinoids (WLOX)

  • A Bunch of Dutch People Smoked Fake Weed for Science (Civilized)

  • Leeds outreach workers devise revolutionary treatment for Spice addiction (Leeds Live)

NITROUS OXIDE

KETAMINE

  • Ketamine May Relieve Depression By Repairing Damaged Brain Circuits (NPR)

  • Thai boys trapped in cave were sedated with ketamine (The Independent)

  • Ketamine vs. Esketamine for Depression (Psychology Today)

  • Emily Atack reveals she was offered ketamine in a nightclub toilet...as she recalls losing her knickers after an all night romp after the BRIT Awards (Daily Mail)

OPIATES/OPIOIDS

  • DOJ Charges UK Firm With Conspiracy, Fraud Over Opioid Withdrawal Drug Suboxone Film (Gizmodo)

  • After three years of controversy, CDC clarifies its opioid prescribing guidelines (STAT)

  • More than 10,300 Canadians lost their lives to opioids in less than 3 years (CBC)

  • Poppy Cultivation and Potential Opium Production in Afghanistan (The White House)

  • In poll season, Punjab debates legalising poppy seed and opium farming (Down To Earth Magazine)

  • Public urged to keep free naloxone overdose kits on hand (The London Free Press)

  • Family Dog Survives Eating Five Bags of Heroin (The Epoch Times)

  • Naloxone available at UNT pharmacy without a prescription (North Texas Daily)

  • Alabama school staff trains to administer naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses (CBS News)

  • Forcing treatment and tying the hands of physicians won’t solve the opioid crisis (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Big Pharma’s Millions Won’t Solve the Opioid Crisis (Tonic)

  • Rajasthan farmers caught in ‘opium crisis’ (The Times of India)

  • How eating four slices of multigrain bread at a airport lounge led a fly-in-fly-out miner to failing a drugs test - and him stood down from his job (Daily Mail)

  • Hanover deputy released from hospital following possible fentanyl exposure (WWBT)

COCAINE

  • The United States' 'War on Drugs' Really Did Make Things Worse, New Research Finds (ScienceAlert)

  • Heather Yakin: Cocaine making comeback with new, lethal forms (Times Herald-Record)

METHAMPHETAMINE

  • Meth Mania: From Biker Gangs to the Psych Ward, How Speed Came of Age in California (KQED)

  • Family's dog tests positive for meth, molly after walk in park (WKRG)

CAFFEINE

TOBACCO

  • Illinois Becomes First State in Midwest to Adopt 'Tobacco 21' (NBC Chicago)

  • Delaware House approves raising age to buy tobacco products (Delaware Online)

  • Iowa Senate bill would increase age to buy all tobacco, vape products from 18 to 21 (KGAN TV)

  • Temple University takes major step in becoming tobacco-free: 'It's incredibly important' (KYW Newsradio 1060)

  • Texas could soon increase the legal age to buy tobacco, though active military members might be exempt (The Texas Tribune)

ALCOHOL

  • Alcohol use disorder: Brain damage may progress despite sobriety (Medical News Today)

  • No, moderate drinking can't protect against stroke. It actually increases risk, study says (USA Today)

  • There's new evidence for why we get the 'drunchies' after a night of heavy drinking (INSIDER)

  • Penn study finds genetic differences between heavy drinkers and alcoholics (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

  • A gene linked to alcohol habits may influence who you choose to marry (New Scientist)

  • Ethiopia passes tough law regulating alcohol sales, adverts (Africanews)

  • Proposed Federal Alcohol Labeling Revisions Retain Constitutionally Suspect Review Standards (Forbes)

  • The Big Number: 17.6 million Americans suffer from alcoholism (The Washington Post)

  • Australian Instagram personalities found to be under influence of alcohol industry (The Guardian)

  • First-Ever Female Libido Pill Gets Relief on Alcohol Warning (Bloomberg)

  • Lawmaker aims to lower blood alcohol limit (WIVB)

  • Does Red Wine Help You Live Longer? Here's What the Science Says (TIME)

  • April is National Alcohol Awareness Month (Marietta Daily Journal)

KRATOM

  • An Herbal Drug Called Kratom Has Been Linked to Almost 100 Overdose Deaths, the CDC Reports (TIME)

  • Castle Rock steps out front on regulating kratom, the popular but controversial herbal extract (The Denver Post)

  • Oregon Lawmakers Could Pass a Law Regulating Kratom (The Portland Mercury)

  • Kratom ban pushed by Pa. parents of son who fatally OD’d on ‘herbal heroin’ (PennLive.com)

  • FDA Report Finds Heavy Metals in Kratom – Is It Really That Bad? (Kratom Guides)

  • Northeast Mississippi counties continue conversation on Kratom (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal)

  • 'Kratom literally saved my life' (WGRZ)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • The World’s Biggest Dark Net Market Has Shut – What Next? (VICE)

  • Sciencing the mystical: the trickery of the psychedelic trip report (Taylor and Francis)

  • California tests if addiction treatment can be incorporated into primary care (Politico)

  • Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Walks Back Pledge To Pardon All Non-Violent Drug Offenders (Marijuana Moment)

  • Rejected Depression Drug Could Provide Relief For Opioid Withdrawal (The Fix)

  • Inside the Legal Struggle Over Safe Consumption Spaces (Filter)

  • The new science of psychedelics: How hallucinogens provide a tool for changing our minds (AlterNet)

  • Psychedelic Plants in a Time of Ecological Crisis (Adventures Through The Mind)

  • How drugs got on the metric system (Rooster Magazine)

  • To Address Addiction, Confront Racism in Our Health and Justice Systems (Filter)

  • Proposal to allow needle exchanges statewide heads to House floor (Tampa Bay Times)

  • How Helpful—Or Harmful—Are Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs? (Filter)

  • Overdose prevention sites can help cities like Philadelphia save lives (STAT)

  • Psychedelic Research and You. Well, Maybe, not You (Chacruna)

  • Vindictive Drug-Induced Homicide Charges Are Set to Surge in Chicago (Filter)

  • LSD, shrooms, and psychiatry: Penn summit highlights clinical applications of psychedelics (The Daily Pennsylvanian)

  • Law enforcement are not drug experts (AOD Media Watch)

  • Playlist for Psychedelic Restoration (Tam Integration)

  • How Open Relationships and Psychedelics Have Shaped This Entrepreneur's Mindset (Entrepreneur)

  • Acetaminophen crisis bigger than opioid epidemic? (Drug WarRant)

  • There’s a way to stem the increase in HIV infections (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Microdosing psychedelics may improve mood and productivity (ZME Science)

  • Psychedelic club emphasizes benefits of shrooms (Rocky Mountain Collegian)


Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychoactives" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Image by Psychedelic Astronaut.


On the Monday following each edition of “This Week in Psychoactives,” I post a “Last Week in Psychoactives” video recap to my YouTube channel. After that is done, I retroactively add the video to the corresponding blog post. Here is this week’s video recap: