This Week in Psychedelics - 4.15.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• How Can Cannabis Help Transgender People? (Leafly)
• Do More Teenagers Smoke Pot When It's Legal? (Reason)
• Cannabis Extracts: The Science Behind Cannabinoid and Terpene Extraction Methods (Leafly)
• Half of Britain now backs legalising cannabis, poll finds (Metro)
• Call for legalisation reignites cannabis debate in France (FRANCE 24)
• The Word "Marijuana" Versus the Word "Cannabis" (The Stranger)
• DOJ Accepts Decision Saying It May Not Target State-Legal Medical Marijuana Suppliers (Reason)
• Cannabis Consumers: Debunking the 5 Biggest Stereotypes (Green Rush Daily)
• How Cannabis Affects Male Infertility (ATTN:)
• A Look Inside Mettrum, A Medical Cannabis Provider (The Huffington Post)
• MassRoots Files To Be NASDAQ's First Cannabis Stock (Forbes)
• Pennsylvania Poised to Become the 24th Medical Marijuana State (Reason)
• Disabled Man Sentenced to Life in Prison Over Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Pizza box unfolds into a weed pipe (Boing Boing)
• Wide World of Cannabis: The Women Behind Weed Legalization in Chile (Merry Jane)
• This Man's Letter to Justin Trudeau About Marijuana Is Going Viral (ATTN:)
• Dosing Homemade Cannabis Edibles: Why It's Nearly Impossible to Calculate Potency (Leafly)
• The Plight to End Stoner Culture and Make Cannabis Mainstream (Merry Jane)
• Waterstones defends selling 'how-to' guides on growing and dealing your own cannabis (Express)
• The Shake: The Feds Grow Brickweed and Cannabis Is a Staple in Spokane (Leafly)
• Father and son's cannabis growing operation in Nelson medically motivated (Stuff.co.nz)
• Ted Cruz Reiterates His Support for Marijuana Federalism (Reason)
• In Photos: These "Dragon Balls" Contain 3,000 Grams of Pure Cannabis Oil (Leafly)
• Judge Revives Maine's Marijuana Legalization Initiative (Reason)
• Pot shops in Pagosa Springs, Fort Collins subjects of cannabis recalls (The Cannabist)

LSD

• World's First LSD Imaging Study Shows How Psychedelics Reduce Brain-Rigidity & Restore a Child-Like State of Imagination (High Existence)
• The LSD study: you're being subtly deceived (again) (Bernardo Kastrup's Metaphysical Speculations)
• The LSD study: an author responds (Bernardo Kastrup's Metaphysical Speculations)
• America's Psychedelic Majority: How LSD Changed Culture Forever (Rolling Stone)
• Medical Marijuana is Legal; Time for Cocaine and LSD? (Clapway)
• Scientists Say Time Travel is Possible with LSD (Clapway)
• LSD As a Treatment for Mental Illnesses (KDRV)
• Feds bar Minnesota brewery from marketing LSD Ale (The Washington Times)
• LSD has improved my life, so why should the state decide whether I can take it or not? (The Guardian)
• Will LSD ever be accepted as mainstream treatment? (BBC News)
• LSD May Chip Away at the Brain's "Sense of Self"Network (Scientific American)
• Crime Files Reopened: How Machynlleth car crash led police to smash a world-wide drugs ring (Daily Post)
• Police: Cuba City man arrested with LSD-laced candies (Dubuque Telegraph Herald)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Girl, 16, Busted With Psilocybin, Cocaine in Lake Elsinore: Police (Patch)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• MDMA For PTSD And Anxiety: Molly, Ecstasy May Be Legal As Medical Drug In Five Years (Inquisitr)
• MAPS 30th Anniversary Fundraising Dinner to Raise Funds for MDMA PTSD Study (Psychedelic Times)
• Former police officer escapes serving jail time after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine and MDMA (Herald Sun)
• Club-drug trafficker eluded justice for 16 years, feds say (Orlando Sentinel)
• Hundreds of MDMA pills found in 'yoga and meditation' room (Mackay Daily Mercury)
• Middle schooler busted with ecstasy tries claiming pills were just Smarties (New York Daily News)
• IT worker who died after consuming lethal liquid ecstasy could not have been a better son, family tell inquest quest (Belfast Telegraph)
• Teenagers arrested after ecstasy tablets found in car (STV News)
• Police: Manchester 'Molly' dealer nabbed after chase (FOX 61)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca therapy boom: Risky or life-changing? (CNN)
• The new age of ayahuasca (ABC Online)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Church's Suit Over Cannabis Use Is Burned Out (Bloomberg)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Making Ibogaine Treatment Legal in Vermont: An Interview with Bonnie Scott (Psychedelic Times)

Dissociatives

• Everything You Need to Know About Ketamine (THUMP)
• My Story: A Ketamine Diary with a Forrest Gump Twist (National Pain Report)
• Man caught collecting package containing over €100,000 worth of ketamine sentenced to 10 years (Irish Independent)
• Police: Meriden man found with PCP was "screaming, foaming at the mouth, banging head on car" (Meriden Record-Journal)

Opiates/Opioids

• "Narco-State Afghanistan" Leads to Heroin Addiction in the USA (Global Research)
• Why Fentanyl Is So Much More Deadly Than Heroin (Forbes)
• The stunning spread of the opioid painkiller and heroin epidemic, in one map (Vox)
• US Anti-Opium Effort in Afghanistan Is Total Failure (High Times)
• Four Takeaways From The National Rx Drug Abuse And Heroin Summit (Forbes)
• Harvesting opium in Afghanistan's poppy fields (The Baltimore Sun)
• The Pendulum Swings for Opioid Prescribing (Journal of Palliative Medicine)
• Naloxone not enough to solve fentanyl problem (Medical Xpress)
• Amid Heroin Epidemic in US, Mexican Gov't Doesn't Know the Extent of Opium Cultivation at Home (CNS News)

Kratom

• Can Kratom Enhance Psychedelic Therapy for Addiction Treatment? (Psychedelic Times)
• Why Is Kratom Considered a "Drug" When it is Simply a Herb? (Kratom Project)
• Can kratom cause liver toxicity (cirrhosis) (Kratom Project)
• Suffolk County Considers Banning The Drug Kratom (CBS New York)
• How to Help Keep Kratom Legal – Sign a Petition and Write to Law-Makers (Kratom Project)
• Herbal 'Opioid Alternative' Lead to Addiction, Severe Withdrawal Symptoms (Monthly Prescribing Reference)

Kava

• With SquareRüt Kava Bar, local couple hopes kava takes root in Austin (My Statesman)
• Culture as a key to cutting NZ's Pacific crime rate (Radio New Zealand)
• Man pleads guilty to possessing commercial quantity of kava after he was caught with 33kg at Darwin Airport (NT News)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Over 1,000 Leaders Worldwide Call for End to "Disastrous" Drug War, Ahead of UN Special Session (Drug Policy Alliance)
• The Hopes and Fears of Psychedelic Science (VolteFace)
• TripSit releases V3.0 of its drug combination chart (TripSit)
• Airport Drug Sniffing Dogs Find Lots of Sausage But No Drugs (TIME)
• Finding Drugs On Social Media: Young People Turn To Tinder, Instagram To Buy Weed, MDMA And Others (International Business Times)
• Drink Cop Saves College Freshman From Rape (Digital Journal)
• Another Sexual Assault in Service of the War on Drugs (Reason)

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 - 4.8.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• DEA Plans To Decide Whether To Reschedule Marijuana By Mid-Year (The Huffington Post)
• Where Marijuana Legalization Is on the Ballot in 2016 (ATTN:)
• Pot Smokers at White House Protest Obama's Disinterest in Reclassifying Marijuana (Reason)
• How Marijuana Affects Your Pets (ATTN:)
• Anti-Pot Okla. Legislator Celebrates the Death of His State's Challenge to Legalization in Colo. (Reason)
• Run a Pot Ad, Go to Jail? (Reason)
• Leading US Senators Convene Anti-Marijuana Hearing (NORML)
• Cannabis arrests down 46% since 2010 - police figures (BBC)
• Free Cannabis Seeds At The White House This Weekend (Green Rush Daily)
• Research Report Reveals Leading Emerging International Cannabis Markets (New Cannabis Ventures)
• Senator Says 'Good People Don't Smoke Marijuana' (Reason)
• Why is the Cannabis Industry So Gosh Darned White? (Merry Jane)
• Thank You for Pot Smoking: Jeff Kundert of the American Cannabis Society Talks Marijuana Legalization (Psychedelic Times)
• It's Time to Treat Medical Cannabis Like Medicine (Leafly)
• The Current State of Cannabis Technology (Forbes)
• Sensual photos of teens smoking marijuana, taken for the U.S. government in 1973 (Boing Boing)
• Analysis: How Vermont could change the marijuana legalization game (Daily Herald)
• How to Customize Your Cannabis High with Temperature (Leafly)
• It Is Time To Deschedule, Not Reschedule, Cannabis (NORML)
• Just Don't Inhale: Newspaper Seeks Cannabis Reporter Who Can Pass Drug Test (TIME)
• Marijuana Startups Like Tokken Aim To Provide The Cannabis Industry With Banking Services, But Will Legal Shifts Put Them Out Of Business? (International Business Times)
• 5 Pesticides Wrongly Used in Cannabis Cultivation (Merry Jane)
• Jumping Ahead Of Evidence, Prohibitionists Claim Legalizing Pot Boosts Underage Consumption (Reason)
• Cannabis terpenes, 101 (Extract)
• Playing cards for marijuana enthusiasts (Boing Boing)
• Cannabis helps my epileptic son. If only we had known sooner (The Guardian)
• Scientists Successfully Breed Kale with Cannabis (High Times)
• Cannabis Use Threatens Antipsychotic Medication Adherence (Medscape)
• There is a hidden knife in this marijuana leaf pendant (Boing Boing)
• Former Tax Judge Indicted for Tax Evasion Wrote Cannabusiness Decision (Reason)

LSD

• LSD could make you smarter, happier and healthier. Should we all try it? (The Washington Post)
• Medical LSD to be More Useful Than Medical Marijuana (Clapway)
• This is what it's like to take LSD and go into virtual reality (Metro)
• Tripping on LSD Makes Mental Time Travel Possible, but Only to the Future (Inverse)
• That Time the CIA Secretly Dosed Americans With LSD (OZY)
• Walmsley trial: Girl allegedly woke from LSD stupor to find caregiver raping her (Stuff.co.nz)
• Maidstone man arrested after $13m LSD seized (The Age)
• Jailed Byron LSD dealer gets chance for appeal (Byron Shire News)
• Woman arrested on LSD possession, other charges (Terre Haute Tribune Star)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Did Psychedelic Mushrooms and Group Sex Play a Role in Human Evolution? (Big Think)
• Magic Mushroom Guru Terence McKenna Talks Science and UFOs (AlterNet)
• Psilocybe Cubensis: A Worth Candidate For The Philosopher's Stone (Disinfo)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• MDMA Is A Step Closer To Legal Medicinal Use In USA (Deep House Amsterdam)
• Weekly Dose: ecstasy, the party drug that could be used to treat PTSD (The Conversation)
• 6 Terrifying Things You Didn't Know Molly Could Do to Your Body (Mic)
• MDMA could be available over the counter in the chemist in five years (Metro)
• Molly Love: Resorting to Ecstasy for Intimacy (OZY)
• Man seen "taking a substance" in the gents of a night club was found with wraps of MDMA, court told (Bristol Post)
• Man caught bagging up 36,000 ecstasy pills during garda raid jailed (Sunday World)
• Ecstasy and booze killed young woman at Boonstock festival in Penticton (Global News)
• Mother heartbroken as second teenage son collapses and dies 'from ecstasy pill' just a year after his brother died the same way (Daily Mail)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Michelle Rodriguez Reveals A Psychedelic Brew Made Her Jealous Of Paul Walker's Death (Inquisitr)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Court: Native American church not excused from cannabis laws (FOX News)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Dr. Deborah Mash Talks About the Unique Power of Ibogaine Therapy for Drug Addiction (Psychedelic Times)
• Personal Story: How I Freed Myself From Anxiety With Iboga (Reset.me)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Street Drug Flakka Ravaged Florida and Then Disappeared (TIME)
• Psychedelic art collector, 70, becomes UK's 'oldest person to die' after taking legal highs (The Telegraph)

Dissociatives

• This Could Be Big: Intravenous Ketamine for Fibromyalgia (National Pain Report)
• Ketamine for Excited Delirium Syndrome: Results of a 3-year case series (EMS1)
• A Pain Patient's Experience with Ketamine (National Pain Report)
• Ketamine: Party Drug and Essential Anaesthetic in Africa (BBC)
• Special K: "The Next Big Thing" in Psychiatry? (Law Street)
• Center PD: Man on PCP stabs woman over can of beer (KTRE)
• KC postal carrier charged with conspiracy to distribute PCP through mail (KSHB)
• Paterson man arrested with two glass jars of PCP (Paterson Times)

Opiates/Opioids

• Heroin 'Safe Zones': Coming to the United States? (NBC News)
• Life-saving overdose treatment naloxone gets user-friendly 3D printed redesign (3ders.org)
• Rajasthan: Opium users gear up for life post its ban (The Indian Express)
• Mexican Army Finds Opium Poppies Growing Near US Border (ABC News)
• Street Heroin Use Could Be Curbed with Morphine-Like Drug (Live Science)
• Give regulated supply of bhukki to addicts: Patiala MP to Punjab govt (Hindustan Times)
• Chinese woman who grew opium plants in her backyard held by police (South China Morning Post)

Absinthe

• All about absinthe, the most mysterious of spirits, and how best to drink it (South China Morning Post)

Kratom

• How to Deal With Kratom Withdrawal – Is it Really That Bad? (Kratom Project)
• Where Can You Buy Kratom Legally (Kratom Project)
• Suffolk legislator looks to ban plant becoming gateway drug (News 12 Long Island)
• How to Buy and Grow Kratom Plant (Kratom Project)
• Chumphon-Phuket bus driver, 69, attendant, 26, booked for kratom coach smuggling attempt (Thai Visa News)
• Tips for buying Kratom Online (Kratom Project)
• KRATOM DANGERS: WHAT IS THE REAL RISK OF THIS PLANT? HARMING YOU? (Kratom Project)

Kava

• Waikato study examines kava's effects on driving (Stuff.co.nz)
• Krave kava bar celebrates first anniversary (The Daily Tar Heel)
• Kava Lounge Sets Grand Opening For Booze-Free Relaxation On Divis (SFist)

Khat

• Bulgarian authorities bust 28 kg of narcotic substance khat, nearly 5 kg of heroin (Focus News)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Meet Rick Doblin, Psychedelic Pioneer Who Has Expanded the Boundaries of Medicine (AlterNet)
• This Norweigian Man's UN Speech About People Who Use Drugs Is Extraordinary (The Influence)
• Psychedelics Could Hold the Key to Mental Health, But Most Research is Illegal (News in Brief)
• These Trippy Portraits Reveal the Diversity of Drug Users (ATTN:)
• Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research 2016 (Psychedelic Press UK)
• TripSit Wiki is now open for editing (TripSit.me)
• NEW BOOK> Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America (H-Net)
• Coming Out of the Drug War Haze? (Reason)
• Is Bernie Sanders a Fan of Psychedelic Trance Pioneer Shpongle? (THUMP)
• Niche market for high-end drugs (The Hindu)

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 - 4.1.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• US-Made Cannabis Oil That Canadian Kids Rely On Is Stuck at the Border (VICE News)
• Money Grows on Cannabis Plants (Merry Jane)
• Use of Medical cannabis makes profound difference in Air Force veteran's life (Belleville News-Democrat)
• The continuing saga of stoned driving (Drug WarRant)
• A Cannabis Advocate's Case for Bernie Sanders (Leafly)
• During Washington State Easter Egg Hunt, Cops Find Huge Pot Operation (TIME)
• Our Recent Supreme Court Victory and What It Means (NORML)
• Is Cannabis The Secret To The Cure For HIV? (Reset.me)
• Gary Johnson Has High Hopes President Obama Will Reclassify Marijuana (Reason)
• Mississippi Dog Brings 1-Lb Bag of Marijuana Home to Family (TIME)
• The Brits are Modeling Their Cannabis Legislation After the US (Merry Jane)
• The Genes for Pot Addiction Have Been Identified (TIME)
• U.S. firms target investment in Israeli cannabis R&D (Yahoo! News)
• These 15 Smoke Spot Photos Defy Stoner Stereotypes (ATTN:)
• Live Well: Why a cannabis oil-infused massage is better than a traditional rubdown (Colorado Springs Gazette)
• Vermont Governor on Marijuana Legalization: It's What 'Enlightened States' Do (TIME)
• Women Grabbing Picks and Shovels in the Cannabis Gold Rush - Jane West (Forbes)
• Cannabis vs. alcohol: economic and social impacts (Medical News Today)
• A Crowdfunded Cannabis Company That The Crowd Should Avoid (Forbes)
• Can Marijuana Save Your Skin—And Your Sex Life? Inside the New Topical Cannabis Phenomenon (Vogue)
• On Marijuana Legalization, Chris Matthews Sounds Dumber Than Donald Trump (Reason)
• The March Towards Normalization Continues (NORML)
• From Porn to Pot: Hustler's Larry Flynt Invests in Legal Cannabis Industry (High Times)
• Whoopi Goldberg Gets Into the Medical Marijuana Business (TIME)
• Majority of businesses in Massachusetts are against legalizing cannabis (Mashable)
• 5 Fun Date Ideas for Cannabis-Friendly Couples (Leafly)
• Colorado Springs ban on cannabis clubs sparks action (Colorado Springs Gazette)
• Medicinal cannabis 'loophole' may be applied at border, says Customs (Stuff.co.nz)
• Swede who 'put cannabis in coffee' on trial for drug abuse (The Local)

LSD

• Researchers Are Using LSD to Help in the Fight Against Depression (GOOD Magazine)
• SXSW Film Review: 'Orange Sunshine' (Blogcritics)
• Naked man, on LSD, approaches woman on Noland Trail (Daily Press)
• 2 Teens Charged After 8 Chicago Students Sickened by Suspected LSD (5NBC Chicago)
• Washington Student Charged in Alleged LSD-Fueled Murder (WDJT)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• What's the Right Psychedelic Mushrooms Dosage? Deciding the Best Dose for Psychedelic Treatment (Psychedelic Times)
• Cops seize 1.5 kilos of pot and 180 grams of magic mushrooms in raid (Thompson Citizen)
• Men accused of trespassing to search for psychedelic mushrooms (WKMG)
• Anchorage man found with large stash of heroin, psilocybin, and other drugs (KTUU)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• A new injectable drug is being trialled to combat MDMA-induced hyperthermia (Mixmag)
• The USA could legalize medical MDMA – should the UK follow suit? (Metro)
• An effort to get Ecstasy FDA-approved is moving right along (Tech Insider)
• 6 UC Santa Cruz Students Face MDMA Felonies, but Throwing Them In Prison Won't Help Anyone (AlterNet)
• Raleigh police: Wake man, Detroit resident had hundreds of MDMA doses (The News & Observer)
• Lethal 'Dr Death' ecstasy pills using Chupa Chups sweets logo flood Britain (Daily Star)
• Father speaks of his anguish as daughter, 16, dies of ecstasy overdose (Sunday Express)
• Charity Talk To Frank pulls back the curtain on taking ecstasy (Daily Mail)
• Cops hunt source of deadly ecstasy (Independent Online)
• Mail Order Ecstasy Pills Lead to Arrest (AviationPros)
• Young dad caught dealing Ecstasy in Yarm nightclub fell into world of drugs and violence (Gazette Live)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• The All-Star Shaman Ayahuasca Massacree (Reality Sandwich)
• Ayahuasca Helped Me Overcome Trauma And Gave Me A New Purpose In Life (Reset.me)
• 'The Path', Ayahuasca, and South America's Very Real Cults (Inverse)
• EXCLUSIVE "Peruvian Ayahuasca Ceremony" Clip from HULU's THE PATH (Nuke the Fridge)
• Ayahuasca-fueled vision sends Aaron Paul down a dark 'Path' (Zap2It)
• SLO County Sheriff's deputies uncover evidence of psychedelic drug lab (KSBY)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Religious Freedom Acts Born Out Of ... Peyote (HowStuffWorks)
• How a Seventh-Day Adventist and peyote led to Supreme Court fights over contraception (Daily Kos)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Mason teen indicted in LSD, designer drug trafficking case (WLWT)

Dissociatives

• Professor to share depression study findings at Aware event (Village Living)
• Ketamine Linked to Bladder Toxicity (Medscape)
• Officer: Man yelling on MLK emanated the smell of PCP (The Lufkin News)
• HPD: Man high on PCP taken into custody, ending SWAT standoff in southeast Houston (KPRC)

Opiates/Opioids

• Heroin Epidemic Is Yielding to a Deadlier Cousin: Fentanyl (The New York Times)
• Can an Implant Stop Heroin Addiction? (The Daily Beast)
• How Switzerland Could Teach the U.S. To Deal With Its Heroin Problem (ATTN:)
• Controversial Drug Naloxone Reverses Overdoses – But Here's What It Does To Your Brain (Mic)
• Coroner Says Selling Heroin Is Murder--He's Wrong (Forbes)
• Chiefs: Fentanyl outpacing heroin (Gloucester Daily Times)
• There's a Way to Treat Opiate Addiction, So Why Isn't It Being Used? (TIME)
• 'Drug Users Need Treatment,' Says President Obama. Not So Fast, Says Dr. Carl Hart (Reason)
• TBT: In the 1800s, One Opium-Laced Drug Helped Moms Soothe the Pains of Teething Children (Hospitals & Health Networks)
• President Obama Talks Drug Abuse With Doctors and Addicts (TIME)
• America's opium war in Afghanistan (ABC Online)

Kratom

• Substance abuse counselors say "pain killer" ingredient should be banned (WAAY)
• Two Phuket women arrested with kratom, bullets and gun (The Phuket News)

Kava

• Luau Time! Krave Celebrates One Year in Carrboro (Chapelboro.com)
• Going under kava (Radio New Zealand)

Khat

• Wuhan customs seizes 25 kilograms of khat from Africa (News Ghana)
• China customs find khat, cannabis in foreign mail (Shanghai Daily)
• Don't give miraa or its proceeds to church, priest tells Catholics (Standard Digital News)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Lancet Commission Recommends Drug Legalization (Reason)
• Medical Marijuana, Decriminalization, and Opium: 2016 Looks Big for Drugs in Mexico (VICE News)
• Tracing Drug Use Patterns Through Nightclub Toilets (CityLab)
• Could Hallucinogenic Drugs Treat Mental Illness (The Alternative Daily)
• Why Making the Music Festival Scene Safer Is So Hard (Cosmopolitan)
• Obama Shortens Sentences of 61 Drug Offenders (TIME)
• 22 Top Medical Experts Call For A Shift In "Drug" Policies (Reset.me)
• Mind-altering drugs could treat mental disorders (EurekAlert!)
• Better Living Through Psychedelics with Comedian Duncan Trussell (Indy Week)
• Unthinkable: Could we make a computer trip on acid? (The Irish Times)
• Psychedelics and the Evolution of Festival Culture: David Starfire Talks Psychedelic Music (Psychedelic Times)
• Public Awareness Campaign on Generosity introduces Drink Cop test cards that arms people with the power to test their drinks for illicit drugs (Digital Journal)
• How Decades-Old Drug Offenses Kept Two Elected Officials Out of Office (Reason)
• The Many Lives of Mongolian Shamanism (Reality Sandwich)
• Idiot Falls for Joke Facebook Post, Gets Arrested (Disinfo)
• Mexico Detains Top Money Launderer to Drug Lord 'El Chapo' (TIME)
• Psychedelic compounds like ecstasy may be good for more than just a high (Chemical & Engineering 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 - 3.25.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Supreme Court Won't Take Case Challenging Colorado Marijuana Laws (TIME)
• Peek Into Uruguay's Legal Marijuana Scene (NORML)
• Marijuana Legalization and the Presidential Election (NORML)
• Blockbuster Report Backs U.N. Cannabis Regulation, End to Prohibition (Leafly)
• Tampa City Council Votes to Decriminalize Possession of Small Amounts of Marijuana (Reason)
• Here's Why A Cardiologist Took A Second Look At Cannabis (Reset.me)
• The Hidden Hypocrisy of the Marijuana Industry (ATTN:)
• Texas gentleman explains why he led police on a 100 mile chase (Boing Boing)
• Families swear by cannabis oil's effect, but legislation to expand it in Georgia stalls (Gainesville Times)
• What You Should Know Before Taking Marijuana Edibles (ATTN:)
• Why Sports Leagues And Owners Should Allow Players To Consume Medical Cannabis (The Weed Blog)
• Drugs gang smuggled £24 million worth of cannabis in carpets (Evening Standard)
• Over €500,000 worth of cannabis seized in Belfast (Newstalk)
• The Real but Exaggerated Danger of Stoned Driving (Reason)
• Medical Cannabis Access Associated With Decreased Opioid Use In Chronic Pain Patients (NORML)
• Hillary Clinton Talks About Emails, Apples and Pot on Jimmy Kimmel (TIME)
• Kansas Seized Disabled Vet's Children While He Was Moving to Colorado to Use Medical Marijuana Legally (Reason)
• Marijuana Startup Accelerator CanopyBoulder Is Leading A Cannabis Industry Boom, But Some Grads Say The Program Isn't Worth The Hype (International Business Times)
• Pesticides 101: Question and Answers for Cannabis Patients and Consumers (Leafly)
• Cannabis smokers end up in worse jobs and have less money than average, study finds (Mirror)
• The National Cannabis Festival is coming to D.C. in April (The Washington Post)
• Cannabis Testing: The Importance of Independent Third Party Analyses of Cannabis Products (Leafly)
• Queensland father who gave cancer-stricken daughter cannabis oil avoids jail (ABC Online)
• The Secrets of Colorful Cannabis Revealed: Here's Why Some Strains Turn Purple (Leafly)
• Cannabis clubs lead community clean-up (KOAA)
• Thousands of cannabis plants wiped out in summer raids (Stuff.co.nz)
• UCD study finds cannabis 'not safe' for long-term users (KCRA)
• Three due in court following cannabis seizures (The Irish Times)
• Fire leads to alleged cannabis 'house' (The Courier Mail)

LSD

• Man Claims to Have Successfully Used LSD to Break His Facebook Addiction (NextShark)
• India's Temporary Acid Tattoos Revive the Dallas Cowboys LSD Hoax (Inverse)
• Police: Man, woman had 499 doses of LSD (The News & Observer)
• Ohio man, allegedly high on LSD, accused of biting chunk of father's ear off (WKRC)
• Police: Suspect was high on LSD when he brutally attacked woman in U District (KOMO News)
• Man sold almost $2K worth of LSD to police informant, cops say (Sun Sentinel)
• Washington student charged in alleged LSD-fueled murder (CBS News)
• Fife man sentenced to do unpaid work after 'bad trip' on LSD (The Courier)
• Biggs Sentenced for LSD Possession (KOWB)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• MDMA Steps Closer to FDA Approval as a Drug, but Now it Needs to Leap (Inverse)
• Legal MDMA Could Happen By 2021 (As Long As You've Got A Prescription) (UPROXX)
• Patients in ecstasy clinical trial find drug beneficial (San Francisco Chronicle)
• MDMA moves a step closer to becoming legal medicine (JOE.co.uk)
• I Took A Pill In Ibiza: Controversial Mike Posner song about ecstasy hits UK No 1 (The Independent)
• UC Santa Cruz students face potential felony charges in Ecstasy case (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
• Wellington student at Otago University dealt ecstasy to friends to fund own drug use (Stuff.co.nz)
• Crest Hill man who had ecstasy in his system pleads guilty in fatal crash (The Herald-News)
• KZN govt confirms 'mystery drug' was a bad batch of ecstasy (Eyewitness News)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Jan Kounen on Visionary Ayahuasca (Reality Sandwich)
• DMT psychedelic trip a neuroscientist tells all to end fear (Examiner)
• Resident says South Davis drug-lab allegations are false (The Davis Enterprise)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Huachuma (San Pedro Cactus) And Ayahuasca Taught Me The Meaning Of Enlightenment (Reset.me)
• The abuelita who dealt peyote: Amada Sanchez Cardenas (Santa Fe New Mexican)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Chor Boogie Shines Love Into Macaya Gallery (Miami New Times)

Dissociatives

• New study strengthens ketamine's use as an antidepressant (Mixmag)
• Ketamine abuse can permanently damage your bladder (Zee News)
• Ketamine May Provide Lasting Relief From Depression (Psychiatry Advisor)
• Ketamine Gaining Traction as a Treatment Option for Depression (Healthline)
• News release makes claim about ketamine for depression based on thin evidence (HealthNewsReview)

Opiates/Opioids

• Mexico mayor: To beat opium farming, legalize it (CBS News)
• MOH gives greenlight for Buprenorphine-Naloxone as heroine addict treatment (The Sun Daily)

Kratom

• Using Kratom to Quit Using Alcohol (Kratom Project)
• Does Kratom Work for RLS? (Kratom Project)
• Attorney urging parents to beware of legal drug (WBRC)
• Phuket cops search home for kratom, find unregistered gun (Thai Visa News)
• Kratom use can be devastating (Newton Daily News)

Kava

• Exotic kava bar takes over old Flipnotics space on Barton Springs Road (Austin Business Journal)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Legalize It All (Harpers Magazine)
• Myths, Moralism, and Hypocrisy Drive the International Drug Control System (StoptheDrugWar.com)
• Common Antidepressant Side Effects: Why You Might Want to Use Psychedelics Instead of SSRIs (Psychedelic Times)
• From cannabis cafes to death row: drugs laws around the world (The Guardian)
• In Florida Rehabs, Addicts Are Bought And Sold (BuzzFeed)
• Physicians Face Moral Dilemma In Conscription on War on Drugs (Reason)
• Can Club Drugs Revolutionize the Psychiatric Industry? (Verge Campus)
• The Psychedelic Re-Evolution (Reset.me)
• Assault Charges for Pregnant Drug Users to Stop in Tennessee (Reason)
• What Do Your Hallucinations Mean? What Psychedelics Teach Us About Human Consciousness (Psychedelic Times)
• 5 Ways Over-The-Counter Drugs Are Misused (ATTN:)
• The Dangerous Side Effects of Benzodiazepine: Using Psychedelics as an Alternative Anxiety Treatment (Psychedelic Times)

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 - 3.18.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Legal Cannabis Outsold Girl Scout Cookies Last Year (Forbes)
• Where the Presidential Candidates Stand on Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Merrick Garland Helped Uphold the DEA's Refusal to Reclassify Marijuana (Reason)
• New Study Suggests Marijuana's Impact on Crash Risk Has Been Exaggerated (Reason)
• Proposed Massachusetts Stoned Driving Rule Is Better Than Washington's but Worse Than Current Law (Forbes)
• Lee Harris, the moral crusader turned cannabis activist vying to be London mayor (The Guardian)
• Israel wants to be the tech hub for the world cannabis industry (Quartz)
• America's First Cannabis Resort Opens in Colorado (Business Wire)
• Lib Dems vote to legalise cannabis (Mirror)
• Marijuana Legalization 2016: Many Women Working In Cannabis Industry Are Smoking The Competition (International Business Times)
• Cops Caught on Camera Eating Dispensary's Snack Bars Charged With Theft (Reason)
• Marijuana Industry Will Add $44 Billion to Nation's Economy by 2020 (Disinfo)
• GW Pharmaceuticals Gets Positive Result for Cannabis-based Epilepsy Drug (The Wall Street Journal)
• New Zealand's 'cannabis crisis': smokers confirm chronic shortage (The Guardian)
• High Times Moves Cannabis Cup to California After Troubles in Denver (Inc)
• Poll: Voters Back Rescheduling And Legalizing Marijuana (NORML)
• French tops teen cannabis use survey: WHO (France 24)
• Cannabis Consumer Products Company Launches First Equity Crowdfunding Campaign (Black Enterprise)
• More Municipalities Embrace Marijuana Decriminalization (NORML)
• Legalized Cannabis and the Brain: NIDA Sounds the Alarm (Medscape)
• New Guide Shows How To Get A Piece Of The Multi-Billion Dollar Cannabis Industry (Reset.me)
• Forget the Startup Nation, Welcome to the Cannabis Nation (Haaretz)
• Vox poll: the only drug Americans want to legalize is marijuana (Vox)
• Palestinian Police in West Bank Cannabis Raid (High Times)
• Purveyors of pot work to reverse stigma, rebrand cannabis (CP24 Toronto's Breaking News)
• Leading California Anti-Pot Activist Says Marijuana Causes 'Almost All' Mass Murders (Reason)

LSD

• Share this: LSD for breakfast may kick Facebook addiction (RT)
• Remember That Time Dock Ellis Threw a No-Hitter on LSD? (Relix)
• Villanova Student Charged With Dealing LSD From Dorm Room (CBS)
• Naked teenager James McAllister-Barnard high on LSD accidentally sets fire to flat, tells officer 'Help me, I'm dead' (Metro)
• Sterrett man nabbed in LSD trafficking bust (Shelby County Reporter)
• Possibly LSD-influenced Man Tased Four Times After Attempting to Attack Deputies in McKinleyville, Says HCSO (Lost Coast Outpost)
• Boy accused of having LSD at Roosevelt High School (Sioux Falls Argus Leader)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Psychedelics and the CIA: The university's influence on magic mushrooms (University of Delaware Review)
• Akron man accused of growing psychedelic mushrooms around child (Cleveland.com)
• Dennis Port man faces charges for LSD, mushrooms (Cape Cod Times)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Truth Behind the Push to Legalize a Street Drug (LifeZette)
• Can You Really Die from an MDMA Allergy? (VICE)
• Off-duty officer arrested over ecstasy tablets (U.TV)
• Melbourne's gangland: Mafia link to worlds biggest ecstasy bust (Herald Sun)
• 'Molly' and 'LSD' manufacturing operation uncovered inside storage facility (WPEC)
• Legalization, MDMA, and Aggressive Behavior (American Thinker)
• Six college students busted in $100K drug ring (HLNtv.com)
• Russell County sheriff: Man found with ecstasy in form of lollipops (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
• Dealer tried to smuggle ecstasy in Police Lego box (Edinburgh Evening News)
• Ecstasy death: Man linked to Colorado Springs teen's overdose pleads guilty (The Denver Channel)
• Long Branch cops find MDMA stash in traffic stop (Asbury Park Press)
• Malaysian arrested for smuggling ecstasy pills into N.Sumatra (The Jakarta Post)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• U.S. Consultant Tells Fortunes after Trying Ayahuasca in Cambodia (Latin American Herald Tribute)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Voacanga: An Alternative, Sustainable Source of Ibogaine Treatment (Psychedelic Times)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• 'Legal LSD': Dangerous Party Drug Sold Online (Medscape)

Dissociatives

• U.K. man jailed 5 days in St. John's after friend's ashes mistaken for ketamine (CBC.ca)
• New Study Shows Ketamine May Regenerate Brain Cells, Relieving Depression with Lasting Benefit (PR Newswire)
• Man who was seen handing €130000 of ketamine to another man during surveillance operation is given bail to 'prove himself' (Irish Independent)
• $100K bail for Jersey City man facing PCP charges while on probation (NJ.com)
• Prosecutor: Driver in crash that killed teens was on PCP (Fox News)
• Wallingford PD: Local man grabbed employee by throat, in possession of PCP (Meriden Record-Journal)

Opiates/Opioids

• The Right Chemistry: A history of morphine (Montreal Gazette)
• What to Do About Heroin Addiction (The New York Times)
• Mexico governor floats idea of medical opium growing to reduce drug violence (Yahoo! News)
• CDC Prescription Guidelines Will Leave More Patients in Pain and Drive More Addicts to Heroin (Reason)
• Roots of opioid epidemic can be traced back to two key changes in pain management (Disinfo)
• The strange history of opiates in America: from morphine for kids to heroin for soldiers (The Guardian)
• Americans Have Been Addicted to Prescription Opiates Forever (WIRED)
• Opium crop failure: No high for these farmers in times of drought (The Indian Express)
• The Devastating Effects Heroin Has on the Body and Mind (ABC News)
• A Small Town Wanders What To Do When Heroin Is 'Everywhere' (NPR)
• EpiPen For Heroin Overdose – Start-Up Solved Naloxone Administration (HealthAim)

Absinthe

• Absinthe makes a comeback (The Orange County Register)

Kratom

• N.H. Senate Passes Bill to Ban Kratom Use by Minors (NHPR)
• The battle over Kratom in Shelby County (WIAT)
• Bill to regulate kratom to go before committee (WBRC)
• Kratom dealers busted in Krabi raid (Phuket Gazette)

Kava

• Non-alcoholic Drinks With a Buzz (My Fox Zone)
• Kava export markets hit hard by TC Winston (Fiji Broadcasting Corporation)
• Expect Kava shortage in local markets next month (Fiji Broadcasting Corporation)
• Mystic Joint gives Miami a new sensation of fun (Examiner)

Khat

• Chinese Customs Confiscate 700 Kilos of Banned Plant Khat (China Topix)
• 70-year-old arrested for 46kg of drugs (iAfrica.com)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Will UNGASS 2016 Be the Beginning of the End for the War on Drugs? (StoptheDrugWar.org)
• The U.S. May Support Revolutionary Reform to International Drug Policy (ATTN:)
• How Psychedelics Can Help You Meditate, and Why Meditation Makes Your Psychedelic Experience Easier (Psychedelic Times)
• Ross Ulbricht's Sentencing Indecent, Based on Procedural and Substantive Errors, New Amicus Brief Argues (Reason)
• This Trafficking Gang Posed as a Fake Flower Business to Smuggle Drugs into the UK (VICE)
• The Darker Side of 'Just Say No' (Reason)
• How Sex and Drugs Saved My Life (and Could Save the World) (AlterNet)
• Why the War on Drugs Failed and How It Affects Psychedelic Addiction Treatment (Psychedelic Times)
• Missouri State Patrol shows you how to make meth (Boing Boing)
• Thomas Massie: War on Drugs in Afghanistan Has Been a Failure (Reason)
• Watch How the Drug Overdose Epidemic Spread in America (TIME)
• Miley Cyrus' Wedding Dreams: Marijuana, Aging Rock Stars & Psychedelia (Inquisitr)
• Man high on psychedelic drug trashed Haworth school, cops say (NJ.com)

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.