This Week in Psychedelics - 11.16.18

Cannabis

• Will 2019 be the Year of Federal Marijuana Law Reform? (The Marijuana Times)

• Thai lawmakers back legalizing medical marijuana (Associated Press)

• Study Finds CBD Alleviates Psychotic Disorder Symptoms (Psychedelic Times)

• Pot approved for research, medical use (Bangkok Post)

• Medical cannabis: Death sentence prompts Malaysia to re-think harsh laws (BBC)

• Why Women Support Legal Marijuana Less Than Men, According To A New Study (Marijuana Moment)

• The Complicated Relationship Between IP Law & Cannabis (IPWatchdog)

• Marijuana Use Doesn’t Affect Outcome Of Kidney Transplants, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Will Michigan law push Indiana toward cannabis? (South Bend Tribune)

• Mitch McConnell Guarantees Industrial Hemp Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Why people love CBD — the cannabis product that won't get you high (CNBC)

• If Chris Christie Becomes Attorney General, Pot Advocacy Could be Set Ablaze (Reason)

• VA Will Explore Medical Marijuana, But Only If Federal Law Changes, Secretary Says (Marijuana Moment)

• A cannabis Coke and a smile? Colorado companies hoping to tap infused beverage craze (The Denver Post)

• Here’s Where The Next House Speaker Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Canada: officials urge action to keep edible marijuana away from children (The Guardian)

• Legal Marijuana Would Generate Hundreds Of Millions For Illinois, New Analysis Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Congress: New House Rules Chairman Pledges To Allow Floor Votes On Marijuana-Related Amendments (NORML)

• The Feds Want Researchers To Study ‘Minor’ Cannabinoids And Terpenes In Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• If This Bill Passes, Possessing Pot in Texas Will Be Treated Less Harshly Than Distributing Straws in San Francisco (Reason)

• Bipartisan Lawmakers Introduce Three Medical Marijuana Bills For Veterans (Marijuana Moment)

• Local Officials From Across US Call For Federal Marijuana Rescheduling (Marijuana Moment)

• Police drugs lead 'impressed' by cannabis clubs (BBC)

• The DEA Just Got Scolded Over Its Marijuana Eradication Program (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis and the brain: Recent studies shed new light (Medical News Today)

• The Feds Are Hiring Professional Marijuana Joint Rollers…Kind Of (Marijuana Moment)

• For a Buck and Sometimes a Buzz, Brewers Are Putting Cannabis Into Cans (The New York Times)

• Feds Seek New Growers To Produce Thousands Of Kilograms Of Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Texas NORML: Midterm Elections and the 86th Texas Legislature (NORML)

• Indiana NORML: Midterm Elections Shakeup State Legislature (NORML)

• Here’s How Much Legal Marijuana Supporters And Opponents Spent Per Vote In Last Week’s Election (Marijuana Moment)

• Could Pot Help Solve The Opioid Crisis? (BuzzFeed News)

• Michelle Obama Talks Smoking Marijuana In New Memoir (Marijuana Moment)

• The UK's Biggest Legal Weed Producer Has Ignited Fresh Criticism (VICE)

• Cali judge protects right to grow cannabis (The Leaf Online)

• Holiday Gift Guide 2018: The Ultimate Luxury List For Cannabis Connoisseurs (Forbes)

• American cannabis expert warns UK government ‘relax laws or be left behind’ (Metro)

• ‘Walking Dead’ Actor Raises Money For Kids Who Use Medical Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Alfie Dingley: Mum's fresh medicinal cannabis campaign (BBC)

• Texas Lawmaker Files Marijuana Decriminalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Is the stigma of cannabis preventing more seniors from using it? (WTVF)

• Mormon Church Faces Potential Lawsuit Over Medical Marijuana Opposition (Marijuana Moment)

• NORML Chapters Participate in Las Vegas’ First Business-to-Consumer Cannabis Conference (NORML)

• TV Stations Pulled Anti-Legalization Ads Ahead Of Midterm Marijuana Votes, Advocates Say (Marijuana Moment)

• Here's What Marijuana Stock Aurora Cannabis Is Saying About Its Future (The Motley Fool)

• Colorado Governor Touts Marijuana Legalization’s Benefits (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• Throwback Thursday: Understanding “South Pacific” With a Little Help from LSD (Dope Magazine)

• Man ‘gouged’ PCSO’s face while on LSD at Bexhill party (Bexhill-on-Sea Observer)

• Navy Sailors Dealing LSD in Nuclear Reactor Department of Aircraft Carrier (Citizen Truth)

• Drug with therapeutic effect: How LSD affects the brain (Infosurhoy)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Psilocybin Could Be Legal for Therapy by 2021 (Rolling Stone)

• FDA Gives Stamp of Approval for Clinical Psilocybin Trials (Psychedelic Times)

• Driver on psychedelic mushrooms crashed vehicle on Beltine, walked into traffic, police say (Channel 3000)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• How long will it be until we see the legalisation of MDMA? (The Student)

• Teenage boy with epilepsy died after secretly taking MDMA on night out (Metro)

• Girl, 18, died 'after taking "double-strength" ecstasy at Mutiny music festival' (Mirror)

• Woman, 29, died after taking heroin, ecstasy and cocaine in strip club (Metro)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Can Toad Venom Unlock The Mystery Of Neurogenesis? New Insights on 5-MeO-DMT (Psychedelic Times)

• How I drank my way from the Amazon to the Himalayas (Condé Nast Traveller)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• In The Only State Where Selling Peyote Is Legal, The Cactus Is Threatened And Still Controversial (Texas Public Radio)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Holy War – A Tale of Bwiti Iboga Initiation, Part 2 (Psychedelic Times)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• ‘Testing prisoners for cannabis led to the Spice epidemic,’ says former government adviser (talkRADIO)

Dissociatives

• Hospital Injected Intoxicated Woman with Ketamine, Enrolled Her in Clinical Trial Without Consent, Lawsuit Says (Newsweek)

• ‘It’s the PCP’: Man wearing only a towel arrested at shopping center (FOX2Now.com)

• Ketamine For Depression (Healthy Magazine)

• Man accused of causing deadly crash was high on PCP, officials say (KOCO)

• Judge rules woman accused of setting fatal Springfield fire was too high on PCP to confess (MassLive.com)

Opiates/Opioids

• As if heroin weren’t dangerous enough, it may come with lead poisoning (Ars Technica)

• 'Dozens' of underground heroin-injection sites operating now in King County (KIRO)

• Some pharmacies fail to offer easy access to naloxone, or to stock it, despite anti-opioid initiatives (STAT)

• The Hell of Getting Methadone When You’re Away from Home (Tonic)

• Philly may require all pharmacies to stock overdose-reversal drug naloxone (WHYY)

• Growing concern for 'pink death' drug and pure fentanyl (KMSP)

• Why Some Pharmacies Still Fail To Carry Naloxone (The Fix)

• Life After Heroin Is Beautiful and Boring (VICE)

• Find Out the Rate of Opioid-Related Overdoses in Your Town (NBC Chicago)

• Toronto man sounds alarm about 'drastic need' for naloxone training to battle opioid overdoses (CBC)

• Viewpoint: Big Pharma didn't drive up the cost of naloxone, 'opportunity has' (Becker's Hospital Review)

Kratom

• Kratom herbal supplement may cause withdrawal symptoms in newborns (MyNDNow.com)

• HHS recommended that the DEA make kratom a Schedule I drug, like LSD or heroin (STAT)

• The U.S. May Ban Kratom. But Are its Effects Deadly or Lifesaving? (Discover Magazine)

• A ruling is imminent on the legality of a controversial drug that's used to treat addiction — but some have called it a 'dangerous opioid' (Business Insider)

• Kratom for Fitness, Pre-Workout & Bodybuilding (Kratom Guides)

• Kratom Plants & Kratom Seeds for Sale Online (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Vanuatu continues push for quality standard for kava (Radio New Zealand)

• The New Criterion: say 'bula' to the world's first listed kava producer (Livewire Markets)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• The DEA and ICE are hiding surveillance cameras in streetlights (Quartz)

• Egypt MP Proposes Law to Decriminalise All Drug Use (Talking Drugs)

• Teenagers boil sanitary pads to get high (The Jakarta Post)

• My Relationships With Drugs Vary Wildly: We Must Recognize Spectrums (Filter)

• Drug-Law Violations Account for Over a Quarter of Women Incarcerated in the US (Filter)

• Greece Health Ministry Plans Drug Consumption Rooms (Talking Drugs)

• Secret CIA Document Shows Plan to Test Drugs on Prisoners (ACLU)

• Psychedelic Ethics: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Psymposia)

• Is Psychedelic Science Reaching A Breaking Point? (The Third Wave)

• Microdosers Are More Creative With Happier Emotions, Study Finds (VICE)

• The Psychedelic Renaissance Will Be Decided By Access (Chacruna)

• Get Up, Stand Up, Speak Up (Psymposia)

• What It's Like to Run the Biggest Drug Encyclopedia in the World (VICE)

• A New Documentary Shows How Vets Are Using Weed and Ayahuasca to Treat PTSD (Tonic)

• Ayahuasca for PTSD: Interview with "From Shock to Awe" Producer Janine Sagert (Reality Sandwich)

• This comedian tried to explain what drugs feel like and it went strangely (Rooster Magazine)

• Competitive Psychedelic Users Are Chasing 'Ego Death' and Losing Their Sense of Self (VICE)

• The Global Drug Survey wants to have an honest conversation about your drug habits (Time Out)

• Can Psychedelics “Cure” Gay People? (Chacruna)

• The Life and High Times of Psychedelic Bard, Terence McKenna (Kahpi)

• Oiling the Hinges of the Doors of Perception – Microdosing with Psychedelics (Beckley Foundation)

• Service workers say supervised injection facilities could cut restroom overdoses (Business Insider)

• The Island: Recovering Self, Culture and Place through Plant Medicine (Chacruna)

• Personal drug use should be decriminalized, addictions expert says (CBC)

• Chris Selley: On safe injection sites, why can't conservatives just let people not die? (National Post)

• Confirmation Bias And Misreporting Plague Psychedelic Research (The Ticker)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" 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 Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

This Week in Psychedelics - 5.19.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Israel Decriminalizes Pot Possession (Reason)
• Social Consumption of Marijuana off to a Slow Start in Colorado (NORML)
• One million hours of police time a year 'wasted enforcing cannabis prohibition' (The Independent)
• Iowa Expands Medical Marijuana Access; Looks to Strike Deal With Minnesota for Quicker Access (Reason)
• PayPal Executive Ditches Mainstream Life For The Cannabis Industry (Forbes)
• New Jersey Looks Towards Recreational Marijuana Legalization (Psychedelic Times)
• Study: Racial Disparity in Marijuana Arrest Rates Increasing (NORML)
• Portland backs cannabis lounge bill, envisions 'craft' tourism boost (Portland Business Journal)
• Rick Doblin of MAPS Talks Medical Cannabis Trials and a Possible Legalization Timeline (Leafly)
• Cannabis Experts on Medical Marijuana in Arkansas (ArkansasMatters.com)
• Study: Inhaled Cannabis Controls Tics In Patients With Tourette's Syndrome (NORML)
• Why Cannabis Reform Crashed in Texas (Leafly)
• 5 Things to Know Before Using Medical Cannabis for Your Pets (Leafly)
• Cannabis yoga retreat now allowed in California (Blasting News)
• Florida Halts Sales of New Cannabis Product (Leafly)
• California's Cannabis Rules Are Here, Reminding That Legalization Was Never Going To Be Easy (East Bay Express)
• 10-year-old boy overdoses on cannabis-infused sour candy (KTRK-TV)
• Cannabis Flower Crowns: The Perfect DIY Smokeable Accessory (Leafly)
• Recipe: Cannabis-Infused Simple Syrup (Leafly)
• Lib Dems pledge to legalise cannabis so it can be sold in high street shops (The Telegraph)

LSD

• Designers on acid: the tripping Californians who paved the way to our touchscreen world (The Guardian)
• Nicholas Sand, Chemist Who Sought to Bring LSD to the World, Dies at 75 (The New York Times)
• 'Everyone should try this': Cary Grant's relationship with controversial LSD therapy doctor and the '100 acid trips that changed his life' are explored in new documentary to be screened at Cannes (Daily Mail)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Magic Mushrooms Are Shaping the Future of Psychiatric Treatment (Inverse)
• Clinical review: Psilocybin therapy could be significantly better than current psychiatric treatments (PsyPost)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Can This Drug Cure MDMA Overdoses? (Everfest)
• A neuroscientist explains why we need ecstasy and ketamine in place of Prozac and Xanax (Raw Story)
• Could new, natural MDMA change the rave scene? (Techno Moves)
• MDMA Moves One Step Closer to Phase 3 Clinical Trial (Reason)
• Could MDMA cure PTSD? Scientists believe ecstasy could be the key to helping war veterans battling mental health issues (Daily Mail)
• Medical examiner: Ecstasy, pre-existing condition killed University of Iowa student Sean Wu (The Gazette)
• Robert Spencer Apparently "Spiked" With Ecstasy While In Iceland (The Reykjavík Grapevine)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• The Medicine is the Teacher: A Conversation with Dennis McKenna about Ayahuasca, Shamanism, and Psychotherapy (Psychedelic Times)
• Ayahuasca: A Cautionary Tale For Tourists Eager To Try This Shamanic Brew (Collective Evolution)
• What is ayahuasca, the shaman's brew? (Mother Nature Network)
• 'The Last Shaman' follows a young man's Peruvian journey in search of mental health (Los Angeles Times)
• James Freeman's journey to find cure for depression (News.com.au)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• The Hallucinogenic Tree That Cures Addiction in One Dose (Inverse)
• Psychedelic Drug Banned In The U.S. May Help Battle Addiction (CBS San Francisco Bay Area)
• Diego Novella experienced eight-hour 'dream-like state' after taking ibogaine (The Citizen)

Morning Glory Seeds

• These Radiation-Proof Flower Seeds Could Help Spark Life on Exoplanets (Science Alert)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Sources: Times Square driver was apparently high on synthetic marijuana (K2) at time of pedestrian crash (WABC-TV)

Dissociatives

• FDA Data Support Ketamine as Depression Therapy (MedPage Today)
• Remembering When the 'Titanic' Crew Ate PCP-Spiked Clam Chowder (VICE)
• New Jersey Minivan Driver Stops Rush Hour Traffic To Masturbate While On PCP (Jalopnik)
• Dude has a hilarious reaction to a strong painkiller (Mashable)

Opiates/Opioids

• Heroin epidemic pushing up hepatitis C infections in US (WBRC)
• What You Need to Know About 'Gray Death' (ATTN:)
• Inside Myanmar's Surprisingly Harsh Heroin Rehab Centers (VICE)
• Pet Rat In Vancouver Overdoses On Heroin, Saved By Narcan (NPR)
• An Experiment Helps Heroin Users Test Their Street Drugs For Fentanyl (KUNC)
• Seattle heroin injection site plan faces new problems from voters (KVI)
• The Best and Worst States For Naloxone Access (The Fix)
• The US and Mexico may be teaming up to fight heroin, but the enemy is tougher than it appears (Stamford Advocate)
• The way we talk about opioid addiction hasn't really changed (Macleans)
• The Scary Reason Some Are Calling This Drug a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' (ATTN:)
• Party drugs increasingly being laced with fentanyl (CTV News)
• Heroin Deaths Spike as Pills Harder to Find (NBC6 Miami)
• Why Jeff Sessions' Memo Won't Fix the Opioid Epidemic (ATTN:)

Kratom

• Police worried about herbal product that can be used to achieve opiate-like high (CTV News)
• WKRN Nashville Kratom Scare Story Sourced From Scientology Propaganda (Inquisitr)
• Man Arrested For Selling Herb Some Opioid Addicts Call A Lifesaver (Vocativ)

Khat

• Man charged after illegal khat, tobacco seized at Edmonton business (CBC News)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Jeff Sessions Re-Escalates the Drug War By Ordering Prosecutors to Seek Maximum Sentences (Reason)
• Georgia PD: Our Drug Recognition Experts Are More Accurate Than Drug Tests (Reason)
• Trained "Drug Recognition Expert" Cop Wrongly Arrested Innocent Woman for Weed (ATTN:)
• These Women Are Fighting Sexism in Psychedelic Research (VICE)
• More Workers Are Testing Positive for Drugs Than in the Last 12 Years (TIME)
• What if the Other Part of Immersive VR is Psychedelic Drugs? (Edgy Labs)
• Sex workers who use psychedelic drugs have lower suicide risk, study finds (The Globe and Mail)
• The Legendary Psychedelic Symposium Returns at ESPD50: Interview with Dennis McKenna (Psychedelic Times)
• President Donald Trump and Colombia's President Just Clashed on Drug Policy (ATTN:)
• Could psychedelics become an accepted treatment for mental health problems? (The Telegraph)
• Neural changes after taking psychedelic drugs may reflect "heightened consciousness" (The British Psychological Society)
• Kids Urged to Watch Our for Sugary Candies That Have Been Laced with Drugs (TIME)
• Rand Paul: Sessions Misled Me on Drug Sentencing (Reason)
• Psychedelics in The Lab and Clinic – Making Up For Lost Time (Neuroscience News)
• California Senate Passes Bill Easing Up on Some Drug Sentencing (Reason)
• Chris Christie Has Zero Credibility on Drug Policy (NORML)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" 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.