This Week in Psychedelics - 1.1.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• A Look Back at 2015; and Ahead to 2016 (NORML)
• Marijuana Legalization 2016: Which States Will Consider Cannabis This Year? (International Business Times)
• Best Marijuana Moments of 2015 (ATTN:)
• California Gets Ready for Legal Marijuana (Reason)
• FDA Weighs in on Rescheduling Cannabis (Leafly)
• The 10 States Where It's Easiest to Get Weed (ATTN:)
• Exchanging Pot Brownies for 'Donations' Is Still a Crime in D.C. (Reason)
• Parents find success treating kids' epilepsy, autism with cannabis oil (Vancouver Sun)
• Colorado Cannabis Credit Union Demands Access to the Federal Reserve System (Reason)
• Nonprofit gives out A THOUSAND free joints to homeless stoners for Christmas in Denver (Daily Mail)
• Kosher Marijuana: New York Company Says Medical Cannabis Conforms To Jewish Dietary Law (International Business Times)
• Congress Did Not Legalize Medical Marijuana (Reason)
• Should Grandma Smoke Pot? (Reset.me)
• 2015: The Year In Review – NORML's Top 10 Events That Shaped Marijuana Policy (NORML)
• Crossing the green line: The first cannabis company on Wall Street (The Telegraph)
• Colorado Settlement Suggests RICO Nuisance Suits Will Hinder Legal Pot Industry (Reason)
• Colleges Ease Athlete Punishments for Cannabis (Leafly)
• Now You Can Buy Kosher Marijuana (TIME)
• The Difference Between Indica and Sativa (ATTN:)
• 5 Ways Cannabis Creams Help You Chill (Civilized)
• After 6 months, stakeholders assess Minnesota medical cannabis program (Twin Cities)
• Indoor farming: Good for cannabis, not so good for food (Gigaom)
• Six Resolutions for the Cannabis Community in the New Year (Willamette Week)
• Cannabis Can Gives Free Pot to the Homeless on Christmas Eve (Westword)
• Mentor Capital Has Five Best Congressional Cannabis Resolutions (Business Wire)
• NORML's Weekly Legislative Round Up (NORML)
• World's first kosher cannabis will let Jewish people enjoy medical marijuana (Mirror)
• Doctors urge cannabis caution for children with chronic diseases (The Vancouver Sun)
• Summer sun prompts police warning about cannabis growers (Manawatu Standard)
• Latest: Trio charged for possession of over $10M worth of cannabis (Antigua Observer)
• ChocoHigh! Chocolate with cannabis goes on sale in Siberia for $3 a bar (RT)
• Boy, eight, 'kept locked in a tiny shed on illegal cannabis farm was left there forgotten for THREE WEEKS with just chips and a box of muesli bars' (Daily Mail)

LSD

• Animator dropped acid while creating 'Return of the Jedi' (New York Post)
• An Interview with the Author of Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD From Clinic to Campus (Slice Today)
• Oscar-winning Star Wars animator admits he took LSD while working on 'Return Of The Jedi' (Raw Story)
• Phil Tippet Took LSD While Animating 'Return of the Jedi' (Inverse)
• A 'Star Wars' Animator Admits He Took LSD While Working On 'Return Of The Jedi' (Maxim)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Ask the Lawyer: Drug penalties depend on what member knows about drug (Military Times)
• Five youths rushed to hospital after taking ecstasy at Aberdeenshire house party (Press and Journal)
• MDMA warning to Southport's clubbers (Southport Visiter)
• Nigerian Sentenced To Death For Drugs Smuggling In Malaysia (NAIJ)
• 16-year-old using a wheelchair after taking Ecstasy (The San Fransisco Globe)
• Teen accused of intending to supply ecstasy at Field Day music festival granted strict bail (Courier Mail)
• The new party drug threat you NEED to know about (LOOK)
• Police issue warning amid fears of dangerous batch of ecstasy (The Independent)
• Teenager charged over supplying ecstasy at Boxing Day races at Broadmeadow (Newcastle Herald)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca: a Possible Cure for Alcoholism and Depression (Motherboard)
• Effects of Long-Term Ayahuasca Administration on Memory and Anxiety in Rats (PLoS)
• Portland Fuckboy in Band Called 'Black Pussy' Says Psychedelic Drug DMT Will Cure 'PC Culture' (The Muse)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• 5-Br-DMT REPORTS? (Hamilton Morris)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine To Be Helpful in Depression And Overeating (Capitalberg)
• Rat Study IDs Brain Circuit Activated By Ketamine (PsychCentral)
• An Anthem for Ketamine (EMSWorld)
• Why overeating tends to make us depressed (Free Malaysia Today)
• Man on PCP gets on KCATA bus, says he's been shot (KMBC)
• Ketamine May Aid Antidepressant Development (Pharmacy Times)
• Ketamine worth Rs 2.5 crore seized in Bhiwadi factory raid (The Times of India)
• Vet office burglarized for second time in month (Daily Journal)
• Powerful anesthetic drugs stolen in Indiana animal hospital burglaries (WTTV)

Opiates/Opioids

• FDA Comments on Nasal Naloxone Dose Concerns (MedPage Today)
• Good and Bad News on the Heroin Front (Patch)
• Heroin for the Holidays (Reason)
• Portraits Of Those Killed By Heroin Bring Healing And Awareness (NPR)
• Law freeing drug antidote for public use has saved hundreds of lives (The News & Observer)
• Cape Cod: America's Heroin Hot Spot (The Daily Beast)
• 'I have been reborn': Recovering young addict offers hope to others (Today)
• HBO's 'Heroin' Is a Harrowing, Necessary Documentary About Addicted Teens (Flavorwire)
• Fentanyl suspected cause of dozens of overdoses in BC (The Globe and Mail)

Absinthe

• Five things you thought you knew about absinthe (Los Angeles Times)
• Vom Fass sells absinthe, liqueurs and flavored oils on the Plaza (The Pitch)

Kratom

• Rapid Use of Kratom in Western Countries (Kratom Guides)
• Kratom Being an 'Organic' Opiate Withdrawal Solution – 100% Works (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• HGA Producers Coop raises kava market (Vanuatu Daily Post)

Khat

• Tanzania: Police Destroy Khat Farms in Operation (All Africa)
• Bids to smuggle khat, marijuana foiled; five persons arrested (Muscat Daily)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• The Year's Best Drug Scares (Reason)
• Music Fesivals, Drugs And Pill Testing (The Huffington Post)
• The best psychedelic videos of 2015 (The Daily Psychedelic Video)
• The Puzzling Persistence of Pee Tests (Reason)
• Beyond Zero and One: Machines, Psychedelics, and Consciousness by Andrew Smart review - inside the minds of computers (The Guardian)
• Toad venom on filmmaker's menu (Echo Net Daily)
• Skateboarders and Artists Totally Flipped an Abandoned Church Into a Psychedelic Skatepark (RYOT)
• Psychedelic Themed Nintendo is The New Trend (Clapway)
• Why NASA released this psychedelic, technicolor video of Pluto (The Washington Post)
• See: NASA's New Horizons paints Pluto in psychedelic Christmas colors (IBNLive)
• NASA releases psychedelic new footage of Pluto, capture by New Horizons (Blastr)

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 (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.25.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• DEA Eases Cannabis Study Requirements (Forbes)
• Australia anti-cannabis 'stoner sloth' campaign backfires (The Independent)
• Did the White House Just Save Colorado's Marijuana from the Supreme Court? (Reason)
• A Cannabis Tax Can Help Cities Pay For New Infrastructure (The Huffington Post)
• Pot and Senior Citizens: It's a Natural Fit (NORML)
• Colorado Marijuana Tourism: Cannabis Tours, Bud Hotels Popular with Visitors, But State Won't Market Legal Pot to Travelers (International Business Times)
• Illinois' medical cannabis pilot program in trouble because of low patient numbers (Belleville News-Democrat)
• Medical Marijuana 'Cease Fire' Begins (Disinformation)
• Canada Plans to Use Its Marijuana Revenue in the Best Possible Way (ATTN:)
• Colombia To License Medical Cannabis Use (NORML)
• NTRR: Demand for Cannabis Topicals Booms as Legalization Spreads Across North America (Business Wire)
• Kansas Couple Whose Tea Was Mistaken for Marijuana Loses Suit Over Fruitless Raid (Reason)
• Syrian refugees farm cannabis in Lebanon (Reuters)
• 5 Hot Cannabis Trends from 2015 (Leafly)
• One Common Anti-Marijuana Argument Just Took a Blow (ATTN:)
• Do Cannabis Entrepreneurs and Big Business Actually Need Each Other? (Inc.)
• Uttarakhand To Become First Indian State To Legalise Cannabis Cultivation (India Times)
• For the First Time, D.C. Residents Can (Legally) Give Cannabis for Christmas (Leafly)
• Anti-Pot Group Blames 'Big Marijuana' for Possibly Nonexistent Increase in Adolescent Cannabis Consumption (Reason)
• Why Does Cannabis Make You Laugh? (Leafly)
• Cannabis opponents take a hit as top ethicist calls for legalization (The Times of Israel)
• NORML's Weekly Legislative Round Up (NORML)
• Snoop Dogg Will Get a $5,000 Marijuana Gift From Oregon Pot Community (TIME)
• Police discover nearly 300 cannabis plants in Berri; man charged with trafficking (ABC News)
• Cannabis Craftsmanship: How to Make Hash with Funky Skunk Extracts (Leafly)
• The Top 5 Christmas Cannabis Gifts (Forbes)

LSD

• Star Wars animator Phil Tippet: 'I took LSD when I was working on Return of the Jedi' (The Telegraph)
• Meth Will Fry Your Brain, but LSD Could Make Your Steve Jobs (Clapway)
• Two Irishmen caught with €143k of LSD and cannabis plead guilty to global drug dealing on Dark Net (Irish Independent)
• Man Allegedly Sold LSD To Lansdale Cop (Patch)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Researchers Find the Active Ingredient in 'Magic Mushrooms' Can Help You Quit Smoking (GOOD)
• 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week (Newser)
• Cuyahoga Falls man busted for psychedelic mushroom grow (Fox 8 Cleveland)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Mind-Altering Drugs Could Cure PTSD (Popular Science)
• MDMA researchers testing how drug can be used to treat mental illness raise $22000 (The Independent)
• Police warn of dangerous MDMA tablets circulating in Warwickshire (Kenilworth Weekly News)
• Naked Toys R Us thug who abducted young boy and attacked grandmother after taking ecstasy to be jailed (Mirror)
• SA court suspends jail terms of Nicola Jay Vermey, Alexandra Rodriguez and Sarah Louise Mudge for ecstasy trafficking (The Advertiser)
• A New-Louvain ecstasy dealer arrested at a Brussels party (The Brussels Times)
• Teen caught with drugs twice at Dunsborough leavers (Busselton-Dunsborough Mail)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca may have fast-acting and sustained anti-depressive properties (Gran Fondo Online)
• Ayahuasca Murder Threatens to Set Back Critical Psychedelic Research (Inverse)
• The profound power of an Amazonian plant - and the respect it demands (The Globe and Mail)
• Cambridge University graduate killed in psychedelic ceremony in Peruvian Amazon (The Telegraph)
• Briton killed in Peru ayahuasca ceremony texted girlfriend about 'bad experience' in Amazon (The Telegraph)
• 'Spiritual tourist' killed during Peruvian ayahuasca ceremony (Latin Correspondent)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• ISIS Is Literally on Drugs (ATTN:)
• What Is MDA, or Sally, One of the Drugs Scott Weiland Overdosed On? (Rolling Stone)

Dissociatives

• Scientists a Step Closer to Treating Depression with Ketamine (Psychiatry Advisor)
• Man arrested for driving under the influence after telling cops 'I lace my blunts with PCP' (New York Daily News)
• Depression Tied to Overeating can be Reduced by Ketamine, Study Reveals (Latinos Health)
• Lincolnshire drug dealer caught with more than £1400 worth of ketamine (Lincolnshire Echo)
• Ketamine Effects Include Antidepressant Properties, And Researchers Have Identified The Brain Circuit Involved (Medical Daily)
• Yale study: Ketamine may reverse depression in some patients (CT Post)
• Ketamine may reverse symptoms of depression (University Herald)

Opiates/Opioids

• One type of legal drug is killing far more people than heroin — and deaths just hit record numbers (Business Insider) 
• Here's What Might Explain Why Afghanistan's Opium Production Dropped by Half This Year (VICE News)
• Heroin trade continues to claim lives as UK drug gangs compete for power (The Guardian)
• New Hampshire heroin crisis leads presidential candidates to tackle drug abuse (Los Angeles Times)
• Bernie Sanders Calls Drug Addiction a 'Disease' Not a Crime (TIME)
• Florida pill mill crackdown also may have curbed heroin deaths, researchers find (The Washington Post)
• Naloxone for Opioid Overdoes: New Questions Arise in 2015 (MedPage Today)
• 'Not many people just aspire to become heroin addicts. It just happens.' (Chicago Tribune)
• Turkish labs turn Afghan opium into heroin for shipping to Europe-Russian anti-drug agency (RT)
• Afghanistan can't control the Taliban since the Taliban controls the drug trade (PRI)
• U.S. starts pilot program to prevent overdoses on Native American lands (American Pharmacists Association)

Kratom

• With Mounting Pressure From FDA, Vivazen Removes Kratom in Product Reformulation (Bevnet)

Kava

• Divisadero's Kava Lounge Set To Open Jan. 21st (Hoodline)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• There's a big problem with the way we study psychedelic drugs (Business Insider)
• We Are All Drug Users (Reset.me)
• The University of Alabama Has Begun "Quietly" Drug Testing Fraternity Members (Cosmopolitan)
• Psychedelics and Sacred Frequencies: Meet Lovelution, The Ontario Dance Party That's Better Than Therapy (Thump)
• There's A Hidden Network Of Psychedelic Temples Under The Alps (Collective Evolution)
• The Scary Reality Behind Sex Pills We Aren't Talking About (ATTN:)
• ACLU to appeal court ruling in Missouri drug testing case (SFGate)
• The Five Best Drug Scares of 2015 (Reason)
• NASA releases a colorful, psychedelic video of Pluto (The Verge)
• The Sacred and Psychedelic Multimedia Art of Lala Abaddon (The Creators Project)
• Psychedelic Artist Peter Max in Multi-Million Family Dispute Over Paintings (Artlyst)
• Finding a new perspective on psychedelics (OUPblog)

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 (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.18.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Year in Review: 2015's Biggest Moments in Cannabis (Leafly)
• Will Marijuana Prohibition Be Over In 5 Years? (Reset.me)
• Bureaucratic Hurdles & Spotty Access To Medicinal Cannabis Gives Rise To 'Cannabis Refugees' (MintPress News)
• Kentucky Lawmaker Submits Bill to Legalize Statewide Cannabis Industry (High Times)
• Feds Tell Supreme Court to Stay Out of State Marijuana Dispute (TIME)
• Jeb Bush Just Made a Series of False Comments on Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Study Explores Health Effects of High-THC Cannabis (Leafly)
• Meet the Weed Genius Designing the World's First Cannabis Ranch (Inverse)
• This Secret Document Reveals One Big Bank's Crazy Marijuana Plans (ATTN:)
• 6 Things YOU Can Do for Cannabis Prisoners (High Times)
• Congress Unveils 2016 Omnibus Spending Bill, Reauthorizes Marijuana Protections (NORML)
• 'Completely sober' drivers who smoked cannabis in last week could be prosecuted under new laws (Breaking News)
• Report: Criminal Justice Referrals Still Driving Marijuana 'Treatment' Admissions (NORML)
• Donald Trump and Harry J. Anslinger: Two Peas in a Pod (NORML)
• Intentional Cannabis Business Conference: What if California's Marijuana Regulations Suck? (Marijuana Politics)
• Research Says Cannabis Affects Intestinal Flora And May Prevent Obesity (High Times)
• Mum treats boy, 6, with cannabis oil for ADHD despite authorities threatening to take him away (The Daily Telegraph)
• How Pairing Yoga, Cannabis, and Music Creates Positive Vibrations (Leafly)
• Time to change cannabis laws (The Valdosta Daily Times)
• Marijuana Users Just Scored A Victory in Washington (ATTN:)
• High School Seniors Now Prefer Marijuana to Cigarettes (TIME)
• Here's Why You Get the Munchies (ATTN:)
• 10 Cannabis Strains That Ease Insomnia (Reset.me)
• Cannabis research task force begins work (Portland Tribune)
• How Do Vaporizers Preserve Cannabis "Fidelity"? (Leafly)
• Delaware Decriminalization Law Takes Effect (NORML)
• Solicitor General Says SCOTUS Shouldn't Hear Challenge to Marijuana Legalization (Reason)
• Cannabis dispensary initiative likely, petition has enough signatures (Appeal-Democrat)
• Renewed Riders Bar Medical Marijuana Meddling, Block Full Legalization in D.C. (Reason)
• The Beginner's Guide to Buying Dabs and Cannabis Extracts (Leafly)
• New Religion Claims 'Marijuana Cures Racism' (NewsBlaze)
• Marijuana Ads Are 'Nonmailable', but That Doesn't Mean You Can't Mail Them (Reason)
• NORML's Weekly Legislative Round Up (NORML)
• Justice Department urges Supreme Court to throw out Nebraska/Oklahoma lawsuit (Drug WarRant)
• KY Senator files "Cannabis Freedom Act" Rolling Medicinal And Recreational Use Together In One Hit (The State Journal)
• High-Potency Cannabis Linked to Brain Damage, Experts Warn (Medscape)
• KY senator pre-files Cannabis Freedom Act (WFIE)

LSD

• LSD Can Alter Consciousness by Reorganizing Brain Networks (Counsel & Heal)
• LSD and Spiritual Awakening (Reality Sandwich)
• Founder Of Alcoholics Anonymous Said LSD Experience Could Help Addicts Stay Clean (AlterNet)
• LSD is Way Healthier Than Medical Marijuana (Clapway)
• Researchers use fMRI to map effects of LSD on brain activity (DOTmed.com)
• LSD Effects Are Similar To The First Stage of Psychosis, Could Provide Model For Research (Medical Daily)
• Boy Scout Leader Accused of Giving Teen Member LSD, Pot (ABC News)
• Miley Cyrus Continues Odd Behavior, Swears She's Not On LSD (The Inquisitr)
• Why LSD causes hallucinations, scientists may have an answer (International Business Times)
• A Brain On LSD Looks Like A Psychotic Brain, Says New Study (Tech Times)
• Police: Man sold LSD three times in Kane County (Chicago Daily Herald)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Is Christmas All About a Magic Mushroom? (AlterNet)
• 'Magic Mushrooms' May Permanently Alter Personality (Live Science)
• Are Santa's Reindeer Tripping Shrooms? (High Times)
• Cancer: Magic mushrooms fight off depression and anxiety — with a side of 'mystical experiences' (International Business Times)
• The Gates of Hell: MKULTRA, Robert Graves, William Sargant, & Wasson's Magic Mushroom (Occult Yorkshire 10) (Auticulture)
• Miley Cyrus Is A Half-Naked Psychedelic Mushroom In Paper Magazine Shoot (The Huffington Post)
• Man arrested for possessing 70 magic mushrooms has happiest mugshot EVER (The Sun)
• How magic mushrooms can HELP cancer patients: Active ingredient 'reduces anxiety and depression' (Daily Mail)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Watch: MDMA-Assisted Therapy Frees Patients From Trauma And PTSD (Reset.me)
• Could a party drug help cure veterans' PTSD? (Al Jazeera America)
• Why Are People Still Dying at Australian Music Festivals? (VICE News)
• Robot that bought MDMA and passport with Bitcoin arrives in London (Belfast Telegraph)
• Rivers Island officers lose 50 ecstasy pills believed to be stolen from safe (New York Daily News)
• Man sentenced to prison, boot camp (Laramie Boomerang)
• Drugs worth £1,500 including ecstasy seized and two arrested (Belfast Telegraph)
• 21 Times TV and Movies Convinced Us MDMA Was a Good Idea (Thrillist)
• Woman had almost 900 MDMA capsules at Sydney music festival, police allege (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Southampton blotter: Flanders man caught with ecstasy during traffic stop (Riverhead News-Review)
• Knockout Circuz: Several drug-related arrests made at Sydney dance party (The Daily Telegraph)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• America Is Getting Its First Legal Ayahuasca Church (VICE's Munchies)
• A British Tourist Has Been Killed at a Peruvian Ayahuasca Ceremony (TIME)
• My Interview on Ayahuasca And The Importance of Psychedelics (The Daily Banter)
• The Visionary Activist Show — Caroline hosts Dr. Rick Strassman (KPFA)
• Canadian man kills Brit in psychedelic ceremony in Peru's Amazon (The Jerusalem Post)
• America's First Legal Ayahuasca 'Church' Lets You Trip on Hallucinogenic Tea (Complex)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• PMA is toxic drug making its way onto Australia's drug scene (News.com.au)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine for Refractory Status Epilepticus? (Medscape)
• Ketamine and depression: too much too soon? (Medical News Today)
• Police: Man tried to hide PCP in mouthwash bottle (Bryan-College Station Eagle)
• Possible PCP lab explosion burns 3 in South LA (Los Angeles Daily News)
• Warning over ketamine use for depression (Yahoo! News)
• Is ketamine ready to be used clinically for the treatment of depression? (The Medical Journal of Australia)
• Warning over ketamine use for depression (The Daily Telegraph)

Opiates/Opioids

• Washington Could 'Cut a Deal With Daesh in Afghanistan to Counter Russia' (Sputnik International)
• Painkillers, heroin drive increase in US overdose deaths (Live 5 News)
• A Mother Tries to Restart, but Heroin's Sway Will Not Relent (The New York Times)
• Afghan opium cultivation drops for first time in six years (The Express Tribune)
• Narcan use expanding as overdoses soar (The Bristol Press)
• Thailand Opium Eradication Effort Still a Model for Other Nations (Voice of America)
• Myanmar's high opium output a huge test for Suu Kyi government: UN (Reuters)
• 'Heroin' documentary hard to watch, but necessary (Sentinel & Enterprise)
• That time Ted Cruz quoted an opium dealer at a Republican presidential debate (The Washington Post)
• Myanmar Opium Farmers' Forum report published today (Transnational Institute)
• Naloxone: Heroin overdose cure to be available over the counter as drug makes a comeback (ABC)
• Myanmar Opium Farmers' Forum report published (Mizzima News)

Absinthe

• Absinthe makes a comeback, thanks to one man's perseverance (The Orange County Register)
• Garageland proprietor hopes to start a local absinthe craze (The Spokesman Review)
• This New Year's Eve, Party Like You're Not Supposed To (The New York Times)

Kava

• Study underway to examine kava's link to drink-driving (Radio New Zealand)

Khat

• Kenya: Varsity Researchers Involved in Miraa Study Insist Crop Is Harmful to Users (All Africa)
• Royal Oman Police arrests three for smuggling Khat into Dhofar (Times of Oman)
• Video: Eastern Oromia Rocked by Oromo Protests as Awaday Fights Back (Gadaa)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• The People Are Rising Up Against the Destructive Drug War: 8 Key Developments (AlterNet)
• Top White House Drug Official: War on Drugs is a Failure (ATTN:)
• Drug Czar Wants More Money to Spend on Taking Your Stuff (Reason)
• Jury Acquits the Only Cop Who Faced Charges After a Drug Raid Maimed a Toddler (Reason)
• Demand rises for drug information at dance music events (The Age)
• Still in a Crib, Yet Being Given Antipsychotics (The New York Times)
• DEA ignored prosecutor's warning about illegal wiretap warrants, now it's losing big (Boing Boing)
• The psychedelic underground temples of Damanhur (Boing Boing)
• Miley Cyrus Says She's Never Tripped On Psychedelics, Eyes Roll (Refinery29)
• Finding Guidance on the Hero's Journey: A Story of My Apprenticeship With "The Cacao Shaman" (High Existence)
• Robert Moog: The True Genius Behind Psychedelic Music (Energy and Capital)
• Psychedelic Press Journal Volume VI is out now! (Psychedelic Press UK)
• "Alcohol and the Human Body," a cautionary film from 1949 (Boing Boing)
• After illegal wiretap, suspects go free and want a refund (USA Today)
• EFF and Human Rights Watch force DEA to destroy its mass surveillance database (Boing Boing)
• A Victory for Privacy and Transparency: HRW v. DEA (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
• EFF confirms that the DEA has deleted its phone call database (Engadget)
• Drug War Draftees (Reason)
• These Psychedelic Rainbow Bagels Are Blowing Up on Instagram (Yahoo! Food)
• Justice officials fear nation's biggest wiretap operation may not be legal (USA Today)
• Psychedelics can't be tested using conventional clinical trials (Aeon)
• Dead Informants Highlight the Drug War's Cruel Chain of Betrayal (Reason)
• Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche sells for $1.76 million at auction (WCMH)
• New Study: How to Get High Without LSD or Magic Mushrooms (Clapway)

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 (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.11.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Canada to become first G7 nation to legalize marijuana: government (Yahoo! News)
• Pot Prohibition Is Over (Reason)
• Chile Removes Cannabis from Its Schedule of Hard Drugs: The Leafly Legalization Roundup (Leafly)
• Man finds a bunch of marijuana stashed in Arizona Iced Tea can bought at Walmart (Boing Boing)
• Concern About the Industry Influence In the Legalization Movement (NORML)
• Legal hurdles block this Connecticut firm from providing cannabis meds to terminally ill New Yorkers (Crain's New York Business)
• NORML And Reset Partner To Publish New Easy-To-Use Guide To US Marijuana Laws (Reset.me)
• Post Office Says Marijuana Ads Make Periodicals 'Nonmailable' (Reason)
• Survey: Marijuana Access Motivates Colorado Tourism (NORML)
• 6 Tips For New Cannabis Users (Reset.me)
• When Pot Becomes Legal Next Year, Thank Glenn Beck - & Reason! (Reason)
• First Medical Cannabis Oils Now Legally Available for Sale in Canada Through Peace Naturals Project Inc. (Market Wired)
• Cannabis research task force appointed (East Oregonian)
• Kevin Sabet Is The Marijuana Movement's Biggest Threat, But Can He Really Stop 'Big Pot'? (International Business Times)
• Transportation, education and cannabis oil likely big topics again next legislative session (Gainesville Times)
• Chicago chef to make marijuana-infused edibles for medical pot patients (Chicago Tribune)
• California Pot Initiative Backed by Gavin Newsom and Sean Parker Gains Support (Reason)
• A 'Budding' Industry: Asian Americans for Cannabis Education (NBC News)
• Doesn't America Deserve a Marijuana Rights Movement That Just Wants to Eliminate Legal Penalties Surrounding Marijuana? (Reason)
• UVM professors craft first course on medical cannabis (WPTZ)
• DU students travel to Uruguay to learn about the cannabis culture (FOX31 Denver)
• Two pensioners caught smuggling £250k of cannabis in chicken after neighbors thought rotting meat smell was corpse (Mirror)
• Green Medicine: New Documentary Highlights Chile's Medical Cannabis Revolution (Medical Jane)
• Police turned up to investigate Coventry burglary but found cannabis factory instead (Coventry Telegraph)
• Man allowed cellar to be a cannabis factory to provide daughter with mobility scooter (Express & Star)

LSD

• Meet the Man Who Did LSD With Steve Jobs in College (Nextshark)
• These stories about taking LSD in a high security prison will put you off tripping forever (Metro)
• A tech worker told us how taking weekly 'microdoses' of LSD increases his productivity (Tech Insider)
• LSD changes consciousness by reorganizing human brain networks (EurekAlert!)
• Book Nook: Acid Hype - American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience, by Stephen Siff (WYSO)
• Ex-student pleads to LSD charges, likely headed to prison (The Athens News)
• Report: Silicon Valley Programmers Turning To LSD For Performance Boost (CBS News)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Active ingredient in magic mushrooms reduces anxiety and depression in cancer patients (EurekAlert!)
• Why I Take Psychedelic Mushrooms For My Health (Refinery29)
• Personal Story: Profound, Life Changing Insights From Psilocybin Mushrooms (Reset.me)
• Cops: Psychedelic mushrooms grown in public housing unit in Hempfield Township (WTAE)
• Teen claims trio did 'shrooms before fatal homeless beatings (KOAT)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Is ecstasy really that dangerous? All your questions answered (The Guardian)
• Mother of Deceased Festival Attendee Leads Pill Testing Campaign in Australia (VICE's Thump)
• A new approach to ecstasy is needed (The Age)
• Bob Carr offers cautious backing for ecstasy 'pill testing' trial (The Australian)
• Mollywood: how blockbusters got loved up (The Guardian)
• Two Australian Experts on Drug Use and Policy Share the Real Facts About Ecstasy (VICE's Thump)
• Second Death Hits Stereosonic Fest, Calls For Pill Testing Intensifies (Billboard)
• Ravers switching from tablets to crystal rock form of psychoactive drug MDMA in their quest for a high (The Daily Telegraph)
• British DJ Ben Rees dies of multiple organ failure after taking ecstasy (Metro)
• Columnist: Ecstasy or just killer sex? (LaGrange Daily News)
• Fake ambulance drug smugglers to be sentenced (Daily Mail)
• Ecstasy tablets seized from boat on New South Wales Central Coast (ABC News)
• Over 200,000 MDMA Tablets Smuggled (Iceland Review)
• Minnesota Man Sentenced to Prison for MDMA Possession (KOWB)
• Police seize 1700 MDMA tablets after man falls from boat (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• America's First Legal Ayahuasca 'Church' (The Daily Beast)
• Don't believe the hype about the "Legal Ayahuasca Church" going around Facebook—it's not legal, it's dangerous, and here's why (Bia Labate)
• Ayahuasca, the sacred jungle vine that lures Westerners to the Amazon (The Tico Times)
• North Atlantic Books releases "Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT" (Press Release Rocket)
• Tourists warned about risks of 'spiritual cleansing' retreats in Peru (TravelMole)
• Nun Sense: The Loft screen's [sic] a documentary about a Tucson nun's experience with a hallucinogenic in the Amazon (Tucson Weekly)
• American 'psychedelic church' to offer tea laced with hallucinogen DMT (Metro)
• Drink Hallucinogenic 'Tea' Inside A Teepee At America's First Ayahuasca Church (Medical Daily)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Peyote, pot result in family bust (Eastern Arizona Courier)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• A Window Of Opportunity: Reflections On Ibogaine Treatment For Opiate Addiction (Reset.me)
• Anarchast: Barry Rossinoff: Iboga For Personal Healing, Peace And Freedom (The Dollar Vigilante)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Why College Kids Are Overdosing on the Hallucinogen 25I-NBOMe, 'N-Bombs' (Inverse)
• Q+A: "N-bomb" synthetic LSD (Stuff.co.nz)
• Angleton High School student arrested after officials find synthetic LSD (The Facts)

Dissociatives

• WHO Recommends against International Control of Ketamine (World Health Organization)
• New Data on Ketamine for Depression (Medscape)
• Ketamine: We Speak to Top Relief Agency Pharmacists About the Effects of International Control (The Huffington Post)
• Physician, pharmacist indicted in $17 million painkilling cream scheme (Chron)
• Topical Ketamine: Potential for Serious Abuse? (Medpage Today)
• Studies target new approaches for treatment-resistant depression (The Mix)
• Ketamine Works for Refractory Status Epilepticus (MD Magazine)
• Police say mouthwash bottle in suspect's jacket contained PCP (The Eagle)
• Jersey City man could face up to 10 years for PCP charges (NJ.com)
• Status Epilepticus: Shifts in Thinking on Treatment (MD Magazine)

Opiates/Opioids

• More Than 75% Of High School Heroin Users Started With Prescription Opioids (Forbes)
• The Year Heroin Went Mainstream (The Daily Beast)
• Heroin-related deaths outnumbering 2014 (Hamilton Journal-News)
• The Need for Naloxone (University of Utah Health Care)
• Heroin users shooting up while driving, police say (The Columbus Dispatch)
• National Sheriffs' Association And Purdue Pharma Lead Law Enforcement Training On Naloxone (PR Newswire)
• Painkillers, heroin drive surge in US overdose deaths (KOIN)
• Calgary man caught at airport faces drug charges over suspected opium (Global News)

Absinthe

• Enjoy Some Insane Cocktails at Asado the Cocktail Street In Mumbai! (Hungry Forever)
• New Orleans and its food museums: a foodie pilgrimage (San Diego Reader)

Kratom

• War on Drugs Ensnares Coffee Relative (Reason)
• The Psychoactive Opioid Kratom Can Force a Broader Drug Legalization Debate (Inverse)
• Time for a Natural Alternative to Prescription Drugs: Safe and Effective Herbal Supplements (Business Wire)
• Phuket riot arrest warrants hit 80, still only 3 arrests (The Phuket News)
• Couple arrested in Phuket in possession of over 100 kilos of kratom (The Phuket News)
• Phuket couple busted with 741 bundles of kratom (Phuket Gazette)

Kava

• New study to examine the effects of drinking kava and driving (New Zealand Herald)
• Expect a boom in kava exports: Govt (Fiji Broadcasting Corporation)
• Employer to pay out after accusing Fijian man of having too much kava (The Aucklander)
• Study to examine kava's link to drink-driving (Scoop)
• Effects of kava and driving investigated (The Aucklander)

Khat

• Munya slams report on miraa's negative sexual effects (The Star)
• Snapshots: Miraa is the best thing that ever happened to Nairobi men (SDE)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Daughter Of DEA Head Busted As A Drug Lord (The Stoner's Cookbook)
• Tripping Down the Erowid Rabbithole (Inverse)
• Sacred Knowledge: how psychedelics shaped an academic's life (The Guardian)
• Two college drug busts, two different fates (60 Minutes)
• 7 Ways To Help Someone Who's Having A Bad Trip (Refinery29)
• Stereosonic death: Drug testing at festivals would be just 'guesswork' (The Advertiser)
• Revelation, Psychedelics, and Everyday Living (Powell's Books)
• Shane Mauss Talks About Psychedelics, Comedy And Life On The Road (Westword) 
• San Jose seeks respect with psychedelic underpasses (SFGate)
• You Don't Need Psychedelics, Just Play Thumper Instead (Game Revolution)
• 3D Printed Jigs Connect LEDs in Psychedelic NeoPixel Cube Prototype (3DPrint.com)
• Janis Joplin's Psychedelic Porsche Up For Sale (Sky News)

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 (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.4.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Recreational Pot Will Be Legal Just About Everywhere Soon (Reason)
• Lawmakers Question Postal Service About Marijuana Ad Threats to Newspapers (Marijuana.com)
• The Quantified Stoner (VICE's Motherboard)
• PTSD And Cannabis Study Seeks Veteran Participants (Reset.me)
• Why the Mexican Supreme Court Is Only Allowing 4 People to Grow Weed (ATTN:)
• No, The Feds Won't Pay You $3,000 Per Week to Smoke Marijuana (Marijuana.com)
• Study: Medical Marijuana Laws Associated With Decreased Obesity (NORML)
• A Modern Cannabis Retail Store Experience (PSFK)
• Clinical study at CAMH tests how cannabis affects volunteers' driving skills (The Hamilton Spectator)
• Colorado cannabis: As pot grows up, design enters the scene (The Denver Post)
• 7 Celebrities With Their Own Line of Cannabis Products (Leafly)
• Nebraska Sen. Tommy Garrett speaks about medical cannabis legalization (Siouxland News)
• HARDIN: On Cannabis Consciousness (Lost Coast Outpost)
• "This decision will save lives": Minnesota expand cannabis use to pain patients (Post-Bulletin)
• Cannabis crop larger than a football field set on fire by Aussie police (Mashable)
• Cannabis farms fuel human trafficking, report says (The Guardian)
• Cannabis cafes face first-of-the year shutdown or fine (KATU)
• 'Skunk-Like' Cannabis Associated With Brain Damage, Study Finds (Headlines & Global News)
• Trafficking victims forced to grow high-priced UK cannabis: police (Yahoo! News)

LSD

• LSD Microdosing: The New Job Enhancer In Silicon Valley And Beyond? (Forbes)
• Silicon Valley tech workers take microdoses of LSD drug to improve problem-solving (International Business Times)
• Acid Tests Turn 50: Wavy Gravy, Merry Prankster Ken Babbs Looks Back (Rolling Stone)
• When LSD Was Mainstream (Reason)
• Authorities Say LSD Killed A Man Cops Left Facedown And Hogtied (The Huffington Post)
• Small Doses of LSD Can Assuage Depression and Anxiety, Say Researcher (Counsel & Heal)
• LSD caused Goode's death, state autopsy says (The Commercial Appeal)
• Microdosing LSD: what is it? (The Age)
• Silicon Valley Has a Surprising New Source of Inspiration (Maxim)
• LSD Microdosing Deserves More Serious Research (Forbes)
• Man died of LSD toxicity after leaving Widespread Panic concert (FOX10 News)
• Just hit tab: why Silicon Valley techies are dropping LSD at work (The Guardian)
• John McAfee on the return of psychedelics, LSD in the work place (Yahoo! News)
• Silicon Valley Workers Take 'Microdoses' Of LSD To Boost Productivity (Tech Times)
• Why LSD is being used in workplaces in Silicon Valley (News.com.au)
• Silicon Valley Executives Microdosing LSD To Improve Productivity (Breitbart News)
• Speaking in Tech: Is the whole of Silicon Valley on LSD? (The Register)
• Autopsy finds man died of 'LSD toxicity' in police custody (Local 8 Now)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Could Psilocybin Be Used To Treat Terminally Ill Cancer Patients? (Collective Evolution)
• What Psilocybin Mushrooms Taught Me About Death And Rebirth (Reset.me)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• A Clinical Trial Is Exploring How MDMA Could Help People With Autism (VICE's Motherboard)
• British Media Outlets Are Trying to Blame a Student's Suicide on an MDMA Comedown (VICE's Thump)
• Deep Web Bot Is Buying Ecstasy Online for Art (Food World News)
• MDMA Used in Clinical Trial To Help People With Autism (Tech Times)
• Chris Robinson Loves Jerry Garcia, Hates MDMA, Doesn't Believe in Voice Lessons (Los Angeles Weekly)
• Rainbow Serpent Festival wants to test ecstasy pills (The Age)
• Teen use of ecstasy troubles OPP (Sault Star)
• Stereosonic 2015: Woman dies after music festival at Sydney Olympic Park (The Daily Telegraph)
• Ex-Wesleyan student Eric Lonergan pleads guilty in MDMA overdose case (New Haven Register)
• Side Effects of Ecstasy Pill Led One Man To Experience Uncontrollable Shaking, Twitching, And Stuttering (Medical Daily)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• First legal ayahuasca retreat to open in the U.S. (Death and Taxes)
• New study from Beckley collaboration supports therapeutic potential of Ayahuasca by showing increased mindfulness (The Beckley Foundation)
• Watch a Freelance Journalist Writhe Through a Powerful DMT Trip for Research (VICE's Motherboard)
• The Mystery of DMT: A Talk with Graham St John (Reality Sandwich)
• I Went to an Ayahuasca Divorce Ceremony (VICE's Motherboard)
• For me, ayahuasca was as good as therapy. Here's what the science says (Global Post)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• How Peyote Inspired Vanessa Carlton's New Album, 'Liberman' (The Huffington Post)

Salvia Divinorum

• WATCH: The Horrifying Effects of Smoking Salvia Is a Great Reason to Say No to Drugs (First to Know)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Five soldiers discharged from army after taking psychedelic drug 'N-Bomb' (Stuff.co.nz)
• Rise in Use of Hallucinogenic Drugs Spurs Authorities, UCSB to Warn of Risks and Ready Response (Noozhawk)
• Five soldiers booted from army after synthetic hallucinogen binge (TVNZ)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine, global health, and why China's push to pass international legislation will endanger millions of patients (The Huffington Post)
• Ketamine drug abuse detected earlier with new test (Bel Marra Health)
• Join the campaign to protect ketamine access (European Society of Anesthesiology)
• Police arrest one for suspected PCP; officer sniffs out "wet" cigarette (The Examiner)
• Man admits assaulting police officer while drunk and carrying ketamine at Gatwick (Crawley News)
• Springfield man on PCP admits brandishing gun with baby in apartment, violating restraining order (MassLive)
• Anesthesiologists Take Lead As Ketamine Clinics Proliferate (Anesthesiology News)

Opiates/Opioids

• Study: Cannabis Improves Outcomes In Opioid-Dependent Subjects Undergoing Treatment (NORML)
• Heroin Is Deadlier Than It Used To Be, Thanks To The War On Drugs (Forbes)
• Heroin epidemic seizes bipartisan attention in 2016 race (Fox News)
• Price drop for Narcan increases availability (Examiner)
• Opium poppy farmers seek help to end dependence (Myanmar Times)
• Memories Of A Heroin Head: "Heroin Has Given Me More Life Than It Has Taken Away" (Disinformation)
• Country Mulls Plan for Heroin Epidemic: Give Them Heroin (Yahoo! Health)
• From 'Mighty Opium' To Moral Crisis: Addiction As Cultural Cachet And Cautionary Tale (Cognoscenti)
• Norway mulls medical heroin, as it grapples with Western Europe's highest overdose rate (U.S. News & World Report)
• Naloxone to be distributed at event (York Daily Record)

Absinthe

• Wiggle gets in the holiday spirits with its first grappa and absinthe (Pittsburgh City Paper)

Kratom

• A Step in the Right Direction in Wisconsin (Satellite PR News)
• I did Kratom so you don't have to (Montana Kaimin)
• 'There's no scientific basis for it': Wisconsin may stop treating kratom like a dangerous drug (Wisconsin Watchdog)

Kava

• 5 O'Clock Somewhere: The Mouth-Numbing Chill-Out Elixir that's Better than Booze (The Huffington Post)
• Only noble kava, guard the market: Ambassador (Vanuatu Daily Post)

Khat

• From Qat to Captagon (Reason)
• High miraa intake lowers men's sexual performance, sperm quality - study (The Star)
• Miraa crusader dismisses research warning on men's sexual performance (The Star)
• Miraa consumers in Kibera refute claims of side effects (Hivisasa)
• Khat worth €26,000 seized at Dublin airport (UTV Ireland)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Big Think: Rick Doblin on Making Psychedelics Legal and Mainstream (KQED)
• People Are Taking Microdoses of Psychedelics to Perform Better At Work (NOISEPRN)
• Psychedelic 'Antibiotic' Therapy for Mental-Micro-Organisms (Psychedelic Press UK)
• Can testing make drugs safer for those who ignore calls not to take them? (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Small really is beautiful: Psychedelic images show the inner workings of cells in stunning detail (Daily Mail)
• Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche 356SC up for sale (The Australian)

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 (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.