This Week in Psychoactives - 10.18.19

CANNABIS

• Study finds endocannabinoid system regulates sperm development (Leafly)

• Canada Sold $1.1 Billion of Legal Weed in the First Year of Adult-Use Sales (MERRY JANE)

• Mexican Senate Committees Will Introduce Marijuana Legalization Bill Next Week (Marijuana Moment)

• Heavy Metal Poisoning May Be Causing the Vaping Illness Epidemic, Lab Suggests (MERRY JANE)

• How mainstream media botched the vape lung story (Leafly)

• New California Law Legalizes Medical Marijuana Use at K-12 Public Schools (MERRY JANE)

• Two More Studies Show Patients Are Replacing Prescription Painkillers With Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Colorado Issues a Massive Statewide Recall for Moldy Weed (MERRY JANE)

• Grading cannabis strength ‘will improve mental health of users’ (The Guardian)

• Parkinson's patients to receive cannabis oil in 'pioneering' trial to test drug's effectiveness (iNews)

• Weed Edibles Are Finally Legal in Canada, But They’re Still Not for Sale (MERRY JANE)

• Cannabis extract may work as a treatment for cannabis addiction (New Scientist)

• Thailand Plans Inaugural “World Ganja Festival” for 2020 (MERRY JANE)

• CBD or THC? Common Drug Test Can't Tell the Difference (The New York Times)

• Recreational Marijuana Would Create More Than 100,000 Jobs in Florida, Study Says (Miami New Times)

• UK Government Approves the Country's First Legit Weed Grow for Medical Research (MERRY JANE)

• Presidential Candidate Wants To Let Americans Legalize Marijuana Through National Referendum (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• Kacey Musgraves reveals she penned two songs while tripping and praises LSD for 'opening your mind' (Daily Mail)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Scientists Want to Try Using Shrooms to Revive People in Vegetative States (VICE)

• DEA Tracks Down Alleged Denver Mushroom Dealer Using News Articles (Westword)

• Magic mushrooms are a powerful way to treat depression, addiction, and anxiety (GOOD Magazine)

• How Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick The Habit (NPR)

• Psilocybin: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know (Heavy.com)

MDMA

• When ecstasy was dealt openly on the Dublin rave scene (The Irish Times)

DMT

• Scientists Solve the Crystal Structure of the Fumarate Salts of DMT and Psilocin (Psychedelic Science Review)

AYAHUASCA

• Taking Ayahuasca When You’re a Senior Citizen (The New York Times)

• Is Ayahuasca Made in the Laboratory or with Foreign Plants Just as Good? Enter Pharmahuasca. (Kahpi)

• The Commodification of Ayahuasca: How Can we do Better? (Chacruna)

• What's all the buzz about? Montreal woman seeks to demystify ayahuasca (Montreal Gazette)

5-MEO-DMT

• Psychedelic Toad Venom Is the New Trendy Hallucinogen (Addiction Center)

MESCALINE

• Unveiling mescaline’s history: A conversation with Mike Jay (The Daily Californian)

PEYOTE

• Peyote Harvesting Guidelines (Chacruna)

KETAMINE

• Why You Need to be Careful About the Ketamine Clinic You Choose (DoubleBlind)

• Openness to Experience Predicts Response to Ketamine Treatment (Psychiatry Advisor)

• Ketamine use on the rise among festival-goers: NDARC survey (The New Daily)

• Ketamine and Future Depression Treatments (Psychiatry Advisor)

OPIOIDS

• Combat troops at higher risk for opioid, heroin addiction, study says (Military Times)

• The Opioid Crisis Cost the US Over $600 Billion in Just 4 Years (MERRY JANE)

• Mindfulness May Benefit People on Methadone (Futurity)

• The Democratic candidates are calling for locking up opioid executives (Vox)

• Narcan, a life-saving anti-overdose drug, is now sold online in Tennessee (The Tennessean)

• The US could learn from how Italy tackled its own opioid problem (Quartz)

• Philadelphia high school students receive training on how to administer Naloxone (6ABC)

COCAINE

• Revealed: How much cocaine Londoners are taking every day (Sky News)

• The treatment of cocaine use disorder (Science Advances)

• Man Who Was Sentenced to 15 Years for Cocaine Released After it Turned Out to Be Powdered Milk (People)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• While millions are spent to fight the opioid epidemic, a meth crisis quietly grows in Wisconsin (MinnPost)

CAFFEINE

• Study: Caffeine use may increase risk of miscarriage (KWWL)

• Is mixing caffeine and alcohol bad? (Mic)

• Could coffee byproducts fight inflammation? (Medical News Today)

TOBACCO

• Judge puts Michigan’s ban on flavored nicotine vaping on hold (Detroit Metro Times)

• Ohio “Tobacco 21” law goes into effect today (WHIO)

BENZODIAZEPINES

• Lil Peep’s Mom Alleges His Manager Pressured Him to Abuse Xanax; They Deny It (Vulture)

ALCOHOL

• National focus on overdose prevention should include alcohol too, study suggests (Medical Xpress)

• Alcohol industry 'puts pregnant women at risk', researchers say (The Guardian)

KRATOM

• What is kratom? The popular herbal supplement has caught flak from the FDA (NBC News)

• Kratom In Indiana – The Legality, Effort, & Recent Update (Kratom Guides)

KAVA

• Why Australia is turning to psychoactive drink kava to make friends in the Pacific (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

• Fijians to have double allowance of Kava to Australia (FBC News)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Scotland’s Ruling Party Unanimously Backs Drug Decriminalization Measure (Marijuana Moment)

• '60 Minutes' segment explores psychedelics research at Johns Hopkins (The Hub)

• Two Presidential Candidates Voice Support For Drug Decriminalization At Democratic Debate (Marijuana Moment)

• How Psychedelic Exceptionalism Harms Drug Users (Filter)

• Building the Infrastructure for Legal Psychedelic Therapy: Interview with Ronan Levy of Field Trip Psychedelics (Psychedelic Times)

• People of Color Making a Difference in Psychedelic Healing (Chacruna)

• Investors hope psychedelics are the new cannabis. Are they high? (The Economist)

• Portugal Mayor Supports Recriminalizing Public Drug Use (Filter)

• Stop teaching drug abstinence: Just say no to the era of ‘just say no’ (New York Daily News)

• How psychedelic drugs treat mental illness differently than traditional medicine (Mic)

• 10 Calls to Action: Toward an LGBTQ-Affirmative Psychedelic Therapy (Chacruna)

• My Years in the Florida Shuffle of Drug Addiction (The New Yorker)

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.

This Week in Psychoactives - 9.6.19

CANNABIS

• Vitamin E Suspected In Serious Lung Problems Among People Who Vaped Cannabis (NPR)

• The Mysterious Vaping-Induced Lung Illness Has Officially Killed Two People (MERRY JANE)

• Mexican Senator Files Marijuana Legalization Bill Ahead Of Supreme Court Deadline (Marijuana Moment)

• Vape Pen Lung Disease Has Insiders Eyeing Misuse of New Additives (Leafly)

• Thailand Includes Low Level Cannabis And Hemp Extracts On Its Approved Medical Marijuana list (Forbes)

• Three million Americans tried weed for the first time last year (Rooster Magazine)

• Hemp Farming Quadrupled In The U.S. This Year, New Report Shows (Forbes)

• Medical marijuana laws impact use among sexual minorities differently than heterosexuals (Science Daily)

• Body Cameras for Cannabis Delivery Raise Concerns About Privacy in Mass. (Leafly)

• Oakland says big pot grow in homeless encampment is illegal — but leaves it alone (San Francisco Chronicle)

• Cannabis may hold promise to treat PTSD but evidence lags behind use (Science Daily)

LSD

• Meet the doctor behind historic New Zealand LSD microdosing experiment (Newshub)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• A multi-million dollar donation just created a bonanza of magic mushroom research (Quartz)

• Oregon Psychedelics Activists Clash Over Changes To Psilocybin Mushroom Ballot Measure (Marijuana Moment)

• Why Do Magic Mushrooms Cause Nausea? (Psychedelic Science Review)

MDMA

• MDMA for Racial Trauma (DoubleBlind)

• Several Polk County high school students hospitalized after being exposed to MDMA (ABC Action News)

• Man who took MDMA had 300 mini-seizures and parents twice told to say goodbye (Mirror)

AYAHUASCA

• The 21 Best Scientific Papers About Ayahuasca (Chacruna)

• Ayahuasca and the Problems of the World (Kahpi)

• Woman, 34, dies after taking psychedelic drug during ‘spiritual cleansing’ ceremony in Cyprus (ItzaGoal365)

5-MEO-DMT

• Inhaling Powdered Toad Secretions Just Once Is Linked to Feeling Happier For a Month (ScienceAlert)

KETAMINE

• Ketamine Use in New York Skyrockets (Leader Bulletin)

• Mum's heartbreaking plea to families after son, 25, found dead in bath (Birmingham Live)

PCP

• Casper PD: Man on PCP Left Teeth Marks in Patrol Car Door (K2 Radio)

OPIOIDS

• OxyContin maker prepares 'free-fall' bankruptcy as settlement talks stall (Reuters)

• Man Charged By Federal Prosecutors In Connection With Mac Miller's Death (NPR)

• DC is offering the overdose reversing drug Naloxone for free at these select pharmacies (WJLA)

• Researchers find alarming risk for people coming off opioids (UW Medicine)

• Treat the fentanyl crisis like a poisoning outbreak (Los Angeles Times)

• Liverpool's 40-year battle with heroin is reaching terrifying new levels (Liverpool Echo)

• Hidden History: Humans Have Been Using Opium For Millennia (WGBH)

• How Britain's opium trade impoverished Indians (BBC)

• Ben Westhoff's 'Fentanyl, Inc.' confronts horrible truths about America's opioid epidemic (USA Today)

• Law enforcement seizes enough fentanyl to kill 14 million people (WCVB)

COCAINE

• Chronic cocaine use modifies gene expression (Medical Xpress)

• Exercise can help beat cocaine addiction: Study (Times Now)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• NYC Meth Deaths Up Sharply in Recent Years (GayCityNews.com)

CAFFEINE

• Drinking This Much Coffee Could Protect Against Gallstones (Newsweek)

• Caffeine Headaches: Telltale Signs And Symptoms (Medical Daily)

TOBACCO

• Michigan becomes first state to ban flavored e-cigarettes (The Washington Post)

• Walgreens raises minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21 (WILX)

ALCOHOL

• A Rat Study Finds that Acupuncture Can Treat Alcohol Addiction... in Rats (Gizmodo)

• In Europe, people continue to consume more alcohol than in any other place in the world (World Health Organization)

• Daybreak app more than halves alcohol use in three months (Medical Xpress)

KRATOM

• Franklin becomes first municipality in state to ban sale of kratom (WMUR)

• Legislation filed that would regulate sale of kratom and CBD products in Pa. (The Indiana Gazette)

• Can Kratom be beneficial for MMA fighters and athletes? (Pro MMA Now)

• Organic Kratom can Improve Mental and Physical Health for an Active Lifestyle (Big Time Daily)

KAVA

• World's first kava tissue lab opens in Fiji (Radio New Zealand)

• Is kava legal in Australia? (Better Homes and Gardens)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Johns Hopkins Opens New Center for Psychedelic Research (The New York Times)

• Psychedelic Drugs Draw Some Investor Attention—and Much Skepticism (The Wall Street Journal)

• 'Treatment Facilities' Aren't What You Think They Are (The New York Times)

• And a million of us tried psychedelics last year, too (Rooster Magazine)

• Vaping May Hamper the Lungs' Ability to Fend off Infections (WIRED)

• Mexico’s new drug war may be worse than old one (Associated Press)

• How I Infiltrated a Chinese Drug Lab (VICE)

• U of M Medical School to host first Psychedelic Symposium (Detroit Metro Times)

• She spent more than $110,000 on drug rehab. Her son still died. (Vox)

• Tim Ferriss, the Man Who Put His Money Behind Psychedelic Medicine (The New York Times)

• The Science and Healing Benefits of Psychedelics (Chronogram)

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.

This Week in Psychoactives - 3.1.19

CANNABIS

• Vermont Senate Passes Marijuana Sales Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• San Francisco will remove more than 9,300 marijuana-related crimes from people’s records (Los Angeles Times)

• THC found more important for therapeutic effects in cannabis than originally thought (Science Daily)

• Portugal Rejects Recreational Cannabis, as Medical Becomes Legal (Talking Drugs)

• Cory Booker just reintroduced a bill that would legalize weed (Roll Call)

• Yeast produce low-cost, high-quality cannabinoids (Science Daily)

• New Hampshire House Passes Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Multistate Cannabis Operators Facing Unique Challenges (Forbes)

• Uh-Oh, California Could Run Out of Legal Cannabis by Summer (Leafly)

• Denver just made a big change on social-use cannabis: It will be permanent (The Denver Post)

• Marijuana Decriminalization Approved By Hawaii House Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• Studies: Cannabis Exposure Not Associated With Significant Changes In Brain Morphology (NORML)

• This ER doctor is about to launch the first marijuana breathalyzer, and it could completely upend how we do drug testing (Business Insider)

• Maryland Sets Sights on Cannabis Bills—18 of Them (Leafly)

• Florida Senator Wants To Let Voters Decide On Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Delaware: Attorney General Calls For Expanding Use Of Civil Penalties For Marijuana Violations (NORML)

• This Anti-Vaping Bill Bans Everything But Edibles Indoors and Outdoors (Civilized)

• GOP Congressman Files Bill To Protect Native American Tribes That Legalize Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Weston-super-Mare cannabis centre to show 'safe use' (BBC)

• Federal Reserve Head Calls For Clarity On Marijuana Banking Issues (Marijuana Moment)

• As Expected The UN Delays Voting On Cannabis (Forbes)

• USDA Gives Farmers A Status Update On Hemp Legalization Plans (Marijuana Moment)

• Rhode Island: Gov. Raimondo’s Proposed Marijuana Legalization Budget Plan (NORML)

• Elizabeth Warren Talks Marijuana In New Hampshire Presidential Campaign Stop (Marijuana Moment)

• Don't Expect A Big, National Cannabis Brand Anytime Soon (Forbes)

• Oregon Lawmakers Weigh Bill Allowing Marijuana Lounges And Cannabis Business Tours (Marijuana Moment)

• Legalized Cannabis Remains a Burning Topic for Employers (Workforce Management)

• FDA Head Reveals New Details About Agency’s CBD Regulation Plans (Marijuana Moment)

• Behind The Scenes With Cannabis Charities (Forbes)

• Marijuana Tax Revenue Should Fund Subway Improvement, New York’s Cuomo And De Blasio Say (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• Bootsy Collins Explains How LSD Played A Role In His Split With James Brown’s Band (Live for Live Music)

• Life inside notorious cult The Family where children were starved, tortured and given LSD is revealed by former member (The Scottish Sun)

• A trip with the acid countess: Amanda Feilding and the medical case for drugs reform (New Statesmen)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Sub-Acute Effects of Psilocybin on Empathy, Creative Thinking, and Subjective Well-Being (Taylor and Francis Online)

• Denver Voters Could Decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms in May (Psychedelic Times)

• Psychedelic revolution: Initiative to legalize psilocybin in 2020 sprouts in Oregon (Daily Emerald)

• Australia’s psychedelic drug trial (The Saturday Paper)

MDMA

• Capsule v zip lock bag: How the law views the way party drugs are carried (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• What It’s Like to Treat a Psychopath with MDMA Therapy: Interview with Luna (Psychedelic Times)

• Wedded Ecstasy: The Couples Using MDMA to Fix Their Marriages (Fatherly)

• Brit died plunging into Amsterdam canal after taking MDMA and 'behaving strangely' (Daily Star)

• Teen placed in juvenile facility for providing fatal dose of MDMA (The Intelligencer)

• Homicide rap filed against boyfriend of Cebu teen who died of ecstasy overdose (ABS-CBN News)

NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

• What is 2-CP, what does it do and where does it come from? (Mixmag)

• Remembering the Great British Mephedrone Craze (VICE)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Milton bans synthetic marijuana, opiates after teen incidents (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

• Is Synthetic CBD the Future of Cannabis Pharma? (Cannabis Investing News)

KETAMINE

• Ketamine Seems to Ease Depression. We’ll Soon See What Else It Does. (Bloomberg)

• Psychedelic Afterlife? Researchers Determine Which Hallucinogenic 'Trip' is Most Similar to the Near-Death Experience (Daily Grail)

• Ketamine is becoming increasingly popular under clubbers in the Netherlands (Rave Jungle)

• Ontario clinic treating depression with ketamine (CTV News)

• Old drug with racy history is a new suicide prevention weapon (Standard-Examiner)

PCP

• PCP smoker gets prison time for assaulting ex-girlfriend and trying to set her apartment door on fire (Hartford Courant)

OPIATES/OPIOIDS

• Opium-Addicted Parrots Keep Raiding Poppy Farms in India (VICE)

• Allegations Against the Maker of OxyContin Are Piling Up. Here’s What They Could Mean for the Billionaire Family Behind Purdue Pharma (TIME)

• US Quietly Ends Anti-Opium Airstrikes Amid Taliban Peace Talks (Breitbart)

• The Opioid Crisis Isn’t White (The New York Times)

• “Mom, When They Look at Me, They See Dollar Signs” (Mother Jones)

• Bus Driver Overdosing on Heroin Crashes Bus With 12 Students Aboard, Police Say (TIME)

• FDA May Recommend Naloxone Be Co-Prescribed With Opioids (The Fix)

• Carfentanil found in heroin siezed in Uxbridge (Worcester Telegram)

• Naloxone in Maryland schools (WMDT)

• Pain patients on opioids also are getting rescue drug naloxone to prevent overdose (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

COCAINE

• Woman calls police, complains drug dealer sold her sugar instead of cocaine (Newshub)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• KTLA Anchor Chris Burrous Dies After Putting Crystal Meth In Anus (Hip-Hop Wired)

• North Koreans reportedly use crystal meth as casually as cigarettes and are shipping the drug to China (INSIDER)

ALCOHOL

• The Alcohol Crisis In America Has Been Overshadowed By Opioids, But Can No Longer Be Ignored (Forbes)

• Mothers return to pre-pregnancy drinking within five years: study (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• Arkansas county sells alcohol after 70-year ban (KLFY)

• New bill would lower blood alcohol content limit for some drivers (ABC 13)

• Smoking and alcohol: Double trouble for the brain? (Science Daily)

• Online poll finds Chinese university students favour alcohol ban on campus (The Drinks Business)

• India toxic alcohol: At least 130 tea workers dead from bootleg drink (BBC)

• Liver transplants tied to alcohol use in the US doubled since 2002 (Health24)

• Is alcohol consumption more helpful than harmful? It depends on your age (EurekAlert!)

• Increasing alcohol limits in Utah beer gets Senate support (AP News)

NOOTROPICS

• Nootropics Found to be Useful Memory Aid (The Avion)

KRATOM

• Can You Drive on Kratom? Is It Safe To Drive After Taking Kratom? (Kratom Guides)

• Poison reports related to herbal drug kratom soar, new study says (USA Today)

• Is kratom nature’s answer to opioids? (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

• Some patients use Kratom to fight opioid addiction (WESH)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Home Office gives green light to first drug testing clinic (The Guardian)

• Is Scanning Inmates' Mail To Stop the Spread Of Drugs Legal? (The Fix)

• Has the decade-old war on drugs in Asia succeeded? (Al Jazeera)

• Psychedelic therapy — the metamorphosis of mental health care (Medium)

• Legal Weed Did More to Stop Drug Smuggling Than Any Wall (Reason)

• To Fight Addiction, Neronha Calls For Reclassifying Simple Drug Possession From Felony To A Misdemeanor (The Public's Radio)

• Pharma execs offer Senate ideas to lower drug costs – except actually cutting prices (CNBC)

• Joe Biden’s Drug War Record Is So Much Worse Than You Think (Leafly)

• Peganum Harmala, the “Ayahuasca” of North Africa and Eurasia (Kahpi)

• Climax Is The Scariest Movie About Drugs You Will Ever See (Refinery29)

• Magic in the Margins: Interview with an Underground Psychedelic Therapist (Psychedelic Times)

• New study claims microdosing improves focus and fights depression (Mixmag)

• Psychedelics: A Historical Account of Use and Rejection (71 Republic)

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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:

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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.