This Week in Psychedelics - 12.22.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Legal Pot: Mexico to Sell Space Cakes, Cannabis Drinks and Marijuana Lipsticks (Newsweek)
• World Health Organization clashes with DEA on marijuana compound CBD (Ars Technica)
• The Safety of Dabbing: An Honest Terpene Story (Psychedelic Times)
• Bitcoin offers the cannabis industry an alternative to banks (CNBC)
• Cannabis ingredient holds promise as antipsychotic medicine (Reuters)
• Move Over California -- Canada's Opening Its Own $5B Cannabis Market In 2018 (Forbes)
• DEA Releases Report Citing No Deaths From Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Study: CBD Effective As Adjunctive Therapy For Psychosis (NORML)
• Mass. Recreational Pot Industry Won't Just Line Pockets Of Big Businesses, Regulators Say (WBUR)
• Cannabis as a Tool to Fight the Opioid Epidemic (Reality Sandwich)
• New Policy Lets V.A. Docs Talk to Veterans About Medical Marijuana Use (Reason)
• An 11-Year-Old Is Suing the Government Over Medical Marijuana Legalization (ATTN:)
• A marijuana salve won best in show at a cannabis convention this weekend (Boston Globe)
• Portland Companies are Fighting a Secret Plot to Monopolize Cannabis (The Potlander)
• Massachusetts May Leap Ahead on Cannabis Cafes (CT Post)
• Even Without the Rider That Protects Medical Marijuana, a Pot Crackdown Is Unlikely (Reason)
• These Kids Prove Marijuana Is Medicine (ATTN:)
• Cannabis and Mental Health: Cause, Cure, or It's Complicated? (Yes) (Leafly)
• Here's how marijuana does, and doesn't, affect your health (The Mercury News)
• Universities Are Offering Marijuana Business Classes (ATTN:)
• This cannabis-infused wine promises to prevent hangovers (Moneyish)
• A Utah Grandma Explains Why She Gave Her Grandson Medical Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Part 1, Leafly's Faves 2017: Our Strain, Product, and Brand Picks (Leafly)
• EnviroGrow expands reach in cannabis industry (CT Post)
• Jury Rejects Damages for Victims of Pot Raid Based on Wet Tea Leaves (Reason)
• How to Make the Most of Cannabis Plant Count Grow Limits (Leafly)
• Cannabis Regulators Busy Rolling Out the Rules for Legal Pot (U.S. News & World Report)
• NORML "Rolls Out" New Rolling Papers (NORML)
• Cannabis Crunch – Arizona MMJ Battle Ends, Denver Closes 26 Legal Dispensaries And WHO Ok With CBD (Psychedelic Times)

LSD

• How Dock Ellis, Player Who Pitched a No-Hitter on LSD, Is Misremembered (Rolling Stone)
• Errol Morris talks about teaming up with Netflix to delve into the LSD-laced mystery of a CIA scientist's death (Business Insider)
• Government staffer's LSD work 'pick-me-up' (NT News)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Santa Is a Psychedelic Mushroom (The New York Times)
• Are Modern Religions All Modeled Off Amanita Mushroom Trips? (Disinfo)
• After Cannabis is Legal, Could Magic Mushrooms be Next? (Good Times)
• 7 mind-bending facts about magic mushrooms (Brinkwire)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Anonymous Bitcoin philanthropist donates $1m to prove health benefits of ecstasy (International Business Times)
• Can the use of MDMA to help treating alcohol addiction make an impact in psychiatric treatment methods? (MIMS)
• Flamefest raver Steven Graves 'took lethal MDMA dose' (BBC)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca Retreats Offers Magical Healing Sessions Based on Sacred Plant Medicine (MilTech)
• 5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT): Patterns of use, motives for consumption, and acute subjective effects (ResearchGate)
• 'HAMILTON'S PHARMACOPEIA' Digs into the Origins of DMT (VICE)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Huachuma: Healing Medicine For Modern Times (Reset.me)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 7: Former underground provider, Dimitri Mugianis, on the regulation of ibogaine (Psymposia)
• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 8: How Not to Do Ibogaine 101 with Juliana Mulligan (Psymposia)
• The Avante Institute Pioneers Ibogaine Plant-Based Therapy for Addiction in a Beautiful and Tropical Environment in the Bahamas (Digital Journal)
• Johnny Tabaie Explains How the Holistic Sanctuary Got a 90% Addiction Recovery Rate (Newswire)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine Relieved Suicidal Thoughts Within Hours in Hospital Study (Gizmodo)
• Who Laced The Titanic Cast's Chowder With The Hallucinogen, PCP? (Refinery29)
• Synthesis of methoxetamine, its metabolites and deuterium labelled analog as analytical standards and their HPLC and chiral capillary electrophoresis separation (Royal Society of Chemistry)
• Oklahoma City woman believed to have passed out on PCP arrested for child neglect (KFOR)

Opiates/Opioids

• Experimental Heroin Vaccine Triggers the Immune System So Mice Can't Get High (Gizmodo)
• Tech Alone Can't Solve the Opioid Crisis (Wired)
• Why is Big Pharma Raising Prices on Naloxone? (The Fix)
• What's the Difference Between Opiates and Opioids? (Pain News Network)
• Afghanistan has Reached a Record on the Production of Opium Poppy (Novinite)
• The Opium Wars still shape China's view of the west (The Economist)
• Vermont's U.S. Attorney Says Injection Sites Encourage Illegal Drug Use. The Research Shows She's Wrong. (Reason)

Kratom

• Findings suggest kratom's potential to treat opioid addiction (Medical Xpress)
• Kratom: An old plant sparks a new challenge (Capital Gazette)
• Why Banning Kratom May Make the Opioid Epidemic Even Worse (MSN)
• Polis asks FDA to lift public health warning on Kratom (Jared Polis)

Kava

• Stressed New Yorkers Take to Kava, 'Nature's Xanax' (The New York Times)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Gordon Wasson's Hidden Ties to the Vatican: Interview with Jerry Brown (Psychedelic Times)
• Ben Carson Admits War on Drugs Conflicts with War on Poverty (Reason)
• Microdosing LSD and Mushrooms: Guide To A Better Life (Psychedelics Daily)
• These Ten Foods Can Trigger Hallucinations if Over-Consumed (Netralnews)

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.15.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Federal Medical Marijuana Protections Temporarily Extended (NORML)
• 8 States Let You Smoke Weed, But Massachusetts Might Be the First to Make it Easy (Reason)
• Could Cannabis Be A Treatment For Dementia? (High Times)
• Ontario Passes Legislation to Ensure Safe Transition to Federal Cannabis Legalization (Government of Ontario News)
• WHO Report: No Public Health Problems Attributable To CBD (NORML)
• California Now Accepting Cannabis License Applications (Leafly)
• Following marijuana legalization, teen drug use is down in Colorado (The Washington Post)
• Coffee Shop Wants to Be Denver's First Legal Cannabis Club (Leafly)
• Broccoli, lifestyle magazine for women who love cannabis (Boing Boing)
• Cannabis Project Aims To Help Multiple Sclerosis Patients (High Times)
• With New Cannabis Cafes, You Can Smoke 'Em Where You Bought 'Em (New England Public Radio)
• Emerald Cup cannabis festival: Better plants, bigger businesses, new rules (The Cannifornian)
• Stoner Sterotypes Contradict the Truth (ATTN:)
• These Are the Fastest-Trending Cannabis Products in Every State in 2017 (Leafly)
• PharmaCann Challenges "Racial Quotas" for Ohio Medical Marijuana Licenses (Reason)
• Cannabis Crunch – How Alcohol And Opioids Are Falling To Cannabis, Plus Weed Nasal Sprays, Guns In Hawaii (Psychedelic Times)
• 'It Is Not a Major Public Health Hazard': The Week in Cannabis Quotes (Leafly)
• Indigent Marijuana Defendants Will Be Covered Under Amended Contract Between Kansas City and Legal Aid of Western Missouri (NORML)
• Cannabis cultivation may threaten mountain lions of Santa Cruz mountains, scientist says (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

LSD

• LSD Is Making a Comeback in Very Small Doses (HowStuffWorks)
• Micro-dosing LSD and Psilocybin Guide (Psychedelics Daily)
• Wormwood Trailer Investigates the CIA's Secret LSD Experiments (Screen Rant)
• LSD Stamps- the new scourge (Daijiworld.com)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Peter Thiel's Unusual Bet on Magic Mushrooms For Treating Depression Is About to Be Tested (Fortune)
• Counselor Couple Pushes to Legalize 'Magic Mushrooms' in Oregon (Legal Reader)
• The Secret Psychedelic Mushroom Initiations of Early Christianity: Interview with Jerry Brown (Psychedelic Times)
• Psychedelic Scientists Put Together the Squarest Psilocybin Playlist Imaginable, On Purpose (Disinfo)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Defending MDMA as a Treatment for PTSD (Medscape)
• How clubbing drug MDMA has left a trail of tragedies in the South West (Plymouth Herald)
• Two teenagers die tragically thought to have taken MDMA (Devon Live)
• Warning over ecstasy pills with Ikea and Rolls Royce logos after girl, 16, is left seriously ill (The Sun)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca Retreats Gains Phenomenal Popularity Among Spiritual Seekers In USA (MENAFN)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Peyote's Complicated History (Digg)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Dying to get clean: is ibogaine the answer to heroin addiction? (The Guardian)
• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 4: We are Bwitists and healers in Gabon. Here's what we think of the global interest in iboga. (Psymposia)
• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 5: Talking ibogaine research for opioid addiction with Thomas Kingsley Brown (Psymposia)
• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 6: Patrick Kroupa, hacker and ex-heroin 'junkie', on microdosing and the medicalization of ibogaine (Psymposia)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine Rapidly Reduces Suicidal Ideation (Medscape)
• Ketamine provides short term relief from chronic migraine (The Pharmaceutical Journal)
• My Life as an International Ketamine Smuggler (VICE)
• Thinking of doing ketamine? Here's what you need to know about the drug that wrecks your bladder (Somerset Live)

Opiates/Opioids

• Watch : U.S. Military Pulverizes $4 Million-Worth of Taliban Opium in Afghanistan (Breitbart)
• Myanmar sees a 'significant' decrease in opium cultivation (Newstalk)
• If police use naloxone and someone dies, will they be in trouble? (CBC)

Absinthe

• From Wormwood Tinctures to Absinthe Mixtures: The Instability of Absinthe in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture (eScholarship)

Kambô

• Brooklyn's Kambo Shamans Have the Frog Venom You Crave (Bedford + Bowery)

Kratom

• Inside Kratom, the Gas Station Drug That Could End the Opioid Crisis (VICE)
• FDA Head Tweets New Warning About Kratom (Pain News Network)
• Despite DEA and FDA warnings over kratom use, substance remains legal for now (The Columbus Dispatch)
• Getting High on a Thai Tree with Psychoactive Leaves (VICE)

Kava

• Kava craze hits the USA (Loop PNG)
• Kava drinkers urged not to "wash-down" with alcohol (Radio New Zealand)
• Tongan MP wants ban on foreigners growing kava (Radio New Zealand)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Important Psychedelic Organizations You Should Check Out (Psychedelic Times)
• States Spent $1.3 Million Drug Testing People on Welfare Last Year, Only 369 Tested Positive (ATTN:)
• The Government Has Analysed Our Poo To Find Out What Drugs We're All Taking (Junkee)
• How a Drug-Free School Zone Sent a Tennessee College Student to Prison For 17 Years (Reason)
• Gnosis Journey: Knowledge of Spiritual Mysteries (The Costa Rica News)
• Andrew Garfield only takes hallucinogens in 'safe' place (The Gonzaga Bulletin)

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.8.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Study: Alcohol Sales Fall Following Cannabis Legalization (NORML)
• Maryland Begins Sales of Medical Marijuana After Delays (TIME)
• L.A. Just Legalized Recreational Marijuana. Here's When You Can Buy It (TIME)
• Florida Judge Admits He Made a Mistake Locking up Marijuana Users (ATTN:)
• U.S. States Tried Decriminalizing Pot Before. Here's Why It Didn't Work (TIME)
• California's cannabis festivals face uncertain future under new state rules (The Mercury-News)
• Cannabis linked to bipolar symptoms in young adults (Science Daily)
• Regenerative Organic Cannabis Farming (High Times)
• Colorado's Marijuana Profits Continue to Deprive Cartels (ATTN:)
• An Overview of Cannabis Legalization Driving Politicians Insane (Leafly)
• 'Cannabis Clubs' Considered By Massachusetts Lawmakers (CBS)
• Cannabis Crunch – DEA THC Favoritism, California Expunging Pot Offenses, And Italy's Army Weed (Psychedelic Times)
• Lawyers Walk Fine Line to Navigate State, Federal Cannabis Laws (Leafly)
• Dallas Marijuana 'Cite & Release' a Half-Assed Measure (Reason)
• Albania Under Pressure To Catch 'Big Fish' of Cannabis (High Times)
• Lawlessness on cannabis attracts more tourists in Morocco (Africa News)
• Delaware Officials Eye Gun Ban for Cannabis Consumers (Leafly)
• 5 Top Cannabis Stocks to Consider Buying Now (The Motley Fool)
• High Design: Q&A With a Cannabis Packaging Designer (Leafly)
• Meet The Herbal Chef, The Man Turning Weed-Infused Food Gourmet (Forbes)
• 'The Leafly Guide to Cannabis' Is Now Available for Purchase (Leafly)
• Historic Vapor and Communal Spirit: 5 Takeaways From the Canadian Cannabis Awards (Leafly)

LSD

• New Netflix Documentary Will Explore the CIA's Attempt to Control Minds with LSD (Motherboard)
• Microdosing LSD: Smart Drug or Placebo? (Sapiensoup Blog)
• Some Use LSD As Brain Boost, But Dangers Remain (WebMD)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Two Magic Mushroom Studies Suggest Psychedelics Increase Spirituality, Decrease Criminal Behavior (Psychedelic Times)
• Amanita Muscaria and Psilocybin in Early Christian Art: Interview with Jerry Brown (Psychedelic Times)
• Group pushes for legal psychedelic mushrooms in Oregon (KATU)
• This playlist is scientifically curated for your magic mushroom trip (The Daily Dot)
• COMPASS Pathways Partners With Worldwide Clinical Trials To Conduct World's First Large-Scale Clinical Trials In Psilocybin Therapy For Treatment-Resistant Depression (Clinical Leader) 
• FDA Confirms Psilocybin Reduces Risk Of Mindlessly Following Society's Rules Like Fucking Lemming (The Onion)
• Dude running for mayor in Cali is trying to legalize... magic mushrooms? (Kulture Hub)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Linkin Park's Chester Bennington Did Not Take Ecstasy Before He Died (Radio.com)
• 23-Year-Old Arrested with $40 Million In Pure MDMA (Your EDM)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Can Giving Ayahuasca to Prisoners Reduce Recidivism? (Big Think)
• Yagé: On the Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment in Colombia (The Bogotá Post)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 1: Ibogaine presents unique challenges in how we approach harm reduction and treat addiction (Psymposia)
• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 2: Taking Iboga with the People of Gabon (Psymposia)
• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 3: How has Western influence changed the traditional use of iboga in Gabon? We talked to a French guy living there. (Psymposia)

Dissociatives

• Study confirms rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine extends to Taiwanese patients (PsyPost)
• Down With Depression: Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles Is Saving Lives Using IV Ketamine Infusion Therapy (Digital Journal)
• Intranasal ketamine or fentanyl for children (American Pharmacists Association)
• Man found lying in street faces PCP charges (NJ.com)

Opiates/Opioids

• Heroin in Soups and Lollipops: How Drug Cartels Evade Border Security (The New York Times)
• US General: $50 Million Worth of Taliban Narcotics Destroyed in Afghanistan (Voice of America)
• Naloxone Safely Reverses Opioid Overdoses in the Field (American Academy of Family Physicians)
• The Opioid Commission Almost Got Something Right with Their Naloxone Recommendation (Human Rights Watch)
• It Doesn't Take a Genius to Solve the Opioid Crisis (VICE)
• Legislators Dust Off Medieval Methods to Address the Opioid Crisis (Reason)
• Information Gaps Exist about Opioid Antidote Naloxone, Study Says (National Pain Report)
• Doctors studying psychiatry helped soldiers in Vietnam hooked on heroin (The Buffalo News)
• Afghan farmers revert to growing opium, sending yields soaring (The National)
• Drug Users In D.C. Can Now Legally Test Their Dope for Fentanyl. Now How About Over-the-Counter Naloxone? (Reason)
• Ohio State sells Naloxone kits at student pharmacy (Dayton Daily News)

Kratom

• Does Kratom Really Kill? Officials Aren't Telling Us The Whole Story. (HuffPost)
• What is kratom (mitragyna speciosa)? (Sun Sentinel)
• Kratom beginning to rival cannabis in controversy over risks, benefits (Standard-Examiner)
• FDA moves to restrict kratom shipments (WMUR)
• Push to ban kratom sale to minors in NY (MPNnow.com)
• What's Kratom, and Why Are States Banning It? (Governing)
• Kratom Not the Cause of Yelm Woman's Death (Nisqually Valley News)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Fear of Death? Psychedelics Can Help! (Bedford + Bowery)
• 'HAMILTON'S PHARMACOPEIA' Traces Peyote's Psychedelic History (VICE)

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.1.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Canada: House Members Overwhelmingly Pass Adult Use Regulation Bill (NORML)
• The Swiss cannabis farm aiming to supply 'legal weed' across Europe (The Guardian)
• How Does Cannabis Help PTSD Patients? (High Times)
• New Mexico Study Suggests Medical Cannabis Helps Chronic Pain Patients Reduce Opioid Use (Reason)
• Bipartisan Letter To Congressional Leadership Urges Continued Protections For Medical Marijuana Programs (NORML)
• Inside Paraguay's illegal cannabis plantations (Al Jazeera)
• NIDA Study Finds Underage Cannabis Use Alters Brain Connectivity (Leafly)
• Study Explores Chemical Links Of Cannabis, Exercise, And Sexual Bliss (Forbes)
• Marijuana Can Replace Sleeping Pills (ATTN:)
• Supporters Turn in Petition to Legalize Cannabis in North Dakota (Leafly)
• Cannabis Crunch – Marijuana Tops Conflict Minerals, Florida Ignoring MMJ Law, And We Need More Weed Scientists (Psychedelic Times)
• State Courts Say Early-Morning Pot Raids Were Gratuitous and Illegal (Reason)
• If You Fear Having a Panic Attack From Smoking Weed, Read This Before Lighting Up (POPSUGAR)
• Cannabis could be a boost for state farmers (The Virginia Gazette)
• Sacramento to Consider Greenlighting Jan. 1 Cannabis Sales (Leafly)
• Octavia Wellness Launches "Healing without the High" Cannabis Starter Kit Tailored for Seniors (GlobeNewsWire)
• PBS Travel Host Urges Illinois to Legalize Cannabis (Leafly)
• Rick Steves Testifies In Illinois In Support Of Legalization (NORML)
• Two New Import Deals Hurry Medical Cannabis Into Australia (Leafly)
• Setting The Record Straight (NORML)
• Proposed Tax Amendments Would Benefit Cannabis Industry (Leafly)
• Hawaii, Which Registers Guns and Medical Marijuana Users, Starts Disarming Patients (Reason)
• Here's Why VR and Cannabis Are a Match Made in Heaven (Leafly)
• Medicinal cannabis: Health Minister signs licence for Ava Barry (BBC)
• Cannabis plants destroyed (The Hindu)

LSD

• Could LSD Be the Right Prescription for the Terminally Ill? (The Daily Beast)
• Why It Feels Like You Can Communicate with Nature on LSD (VICE)
• LSD modulates effective connectivity and neural adaptation mechanisms in an auditory oddball paradigm (ScienceDirect)
• Applying to Law School on LSD (Psymposia)
• 'It isn't for everyone and I respect that': Byron Bay hipster Mitch Gobel triggers drug debate on social media after comparing 'freedom' to 'LSD' (Daily Mail)
• NEW: Judge approves hiring expert to determine LSD's role in stabbing death of Leah Marie Adams (The Winchester Star)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Could These Magic Mushrooms Help Improve Our Political Climate? (The Alternative Daily)
• After marijuana, are magic mushrooms next to be decriminalised in California? (The Guardian)
• US Mayoral Runner-Up Says Magic Mushrooms Can Help Deal With 'Trump, Brexit' (Sputnik News)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• New figures show steadily increasing use of cocaine in Auckland, spike in MDMA usage (New Zealand Herald)
• Killer ecstasy pill warning: These car-themed 'turbo' drugs contain DEADLY MDMA levels (Daily Star)
• Son of former Chilworth council leader dies of ecstasy overdose (Daily Echo)
• Lad, 24, found dead in bed by his mum after taking two MDMA tablets at party (The Scottish Sun)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Brazil is giving prisoners ayahuasca as part of their rehab (Salon)
• What Is Ayahuasca? Psychedelic Drug Used by Ancient Religions Is Trendy but Could Have Serious Benefits (Newsweek)
• Ayahuasca Helped Me Get Over My Divorce (Tonic)
• Amazon Jungle Drug Could Be Potential Treatment for Depression (Healthline)
• The day I drank ayahuasca, the illegal brew (The Times)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• 'Legal highs' posing a big challenge to Bengaluru's NCB sleuths (Deccan Chronicle)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine effective as migraine treatment (Healio)
• Intranasal Ketamine or Fentanyl for Children: Similar Analgesia, Disproportionate Side Effects (Anesthesiology News)
• Entertainment Outlets Busted For Serving Ketamine-Drug Flavoured Ice Tea Drinks (Malaysian Digest)
• 'Party drug' may be a lifesaver to many (Boston Herald)
• Suspect in fatal Springfield fire was naked, high on PCP and claimed 'she was god', arrest report says (MassLive)

Opiates/Opioids

• This Country Could Soon Legalize Cannabis And Opium (High Times)
• U.S. strikes on Taliban opium labs won't work, say Afghan farmers (Reuters)
• Bring Back the Opium Den, Say Drug Campaigners (Gizmodo)
• The Justice Department's New Opioid 'Tools' Are All About Escalating the Drug War (Reason)
• Management of Suspected Opioid Overdose With Naloxone in Out-of-Hospital Settings: A Systematic Review (Annals of Internal Medicine)

Kratom

• Reader: Big Pharma Would Lose Billions If People Knew the Truth About Kratom (Westword)
• National Expert: No Cases Show Deaths Solely From Coffee-Like Herb Kratom, Which Should Be Handled No Differently Than Other Substances (PR Newswire)
• Can Kratom Be Patented? (Pain News Network)
• Oregon's Public Health Officer Says Kratom Buyers Beware (OPB News)
• If Kratom Sales Are Banned, Advocate Says, Users May Go Back to Heroin (Westword)
• Locals react to FDA advisory citing kratom dangers (WTSP)
• Kratom sales continue despite FDA report on dangers (KOIN)

Kava

• Kraving Kava? Carrboro's first kava bar provides a relaxing experience (The Daily Tar Heel)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• What It's Like to Smoke the World's Strongest Psychedelic Toad Venom (VICE)
• Drug Checking – How People Use It And What Do They Learn (VolteFace)
• Scientists Have Built a 'Hallucination Machine' For a Drug-Free Brain Trip (ScienceAlert)
• How Should Plant Medicines Be Regulated? (Chacruna)
• Transformational Tripping (High Times)
• The Psychedelic Gospels: Interview with Jerry Brown, Ph.D. (Psychedelic Times)
• Science Says: Psychedelic Users Less Likely To Commit Violent Crimes (Dance Music Northwest)
• Can psychedelics help cancer survivors shake death anxiety? (Salon)
• How Zendo Training Taught Me To Calm Freaked-Out Festival Fans (Leafly)
• How a little bit of drugs can make your boss a better boss (TNW)
• Drug Overdoses Claimed More American Lives Than the Vietnam War (ATTN:)
• Can Psychedelics Make Us More Content? (Big Think)

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 11.24.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Study Finds Alcohol 10 Times More Deadly Than Cannabis on the Road (Leafly)
• Michigan: Legalization Coalition Turns in 360,000 Signatures to Place Issue on 2018 Ballot (NORML)
• California Weed Club Caught Pretending to Be a Church (TIME)
• Study: Medical Cannabis Registrants More Likely To Cease Using Opioids Compared To Non-Participants (NORML)
• California releases cannabis regulations, with no limit on farm size (Sonoma Index-Tribune)
• Good News: Congo Is Ditching Conflict Metals For Cannabis (High Times)
• Pennsylvania Couple Sues Drug Warriors Who Thought Hibiscus Was Marijuana (Reason)
• Is The TSA More Chill About Weed Than San Francisco? (Reason)
• Caffeine Is More Dangerous Than Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Pennsylvania Town Used Confidential Informant and Undercover Cops to Arrest a Man For Selling Bongs (Reason)
• Bush-Era Attorney General Cautions Against Cannabis Crackdown (Leafly)
• Cannabis Crunch – Ex-Cops Selling Weed, Dubious Marijuana 'Overdose' And Don't Trust Sessions (Psychedelic Times)
• Don't Blame Wildfires for Rising California Cannabis Prices (Leafly)
• Last stop for cannabis advertising on Muni buses, trains, stations and stops (SFGate)
• Can The Standard Hotel Really Open a Cannabis Shop in Its Lobby? (Leafly)
• Does medical marijuana really work? The truth behind the buzz. (HuffPost)
• Massachusetts Towns Reject Cannabis Bans, Bucking Early Trend (Leafly)
• RightSciences raises cash to develop cannabis and hemp-based medicinal patches (GeekWire)
• Across State Lines: One Medical Cannabis Refugee's Journey to Colorado and Back (Leafly)
• Talk About Marijuana At Thanksgiving This Year (NORML)
• How One Painting Class Is Bringing Art, Cannabis, and People Together (Leafly)
• Oakland reviewing 255 permit applications to cultivate, deliver cannabis (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Medical cannabis clinic, possible pot shop coming to Old Strathcona (Edmonton Journal)
• Italian toddler hospitalized after mistaking cannabis for chocolate (The Local)

LSD

• Observations from 4000 LSD Sessions: A Dialogue with Stanislav Grof (Reality Sandwich)
• LSD is making a comeback, but not in the way you'd expect (My Fox Boston)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• The California Psilocybin Legalization Initiative Looks to put Magic Mushrooms on the Ballot (The Weed Blog)
• Johns Hopkins studying effects of psilocybin on brains of long-term meditators (Psymposia)
• Posttreatment Brain Effects of Psilocybin in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression (Psychiatry Advisor)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Psychedelics and Psychotherapy: Is There a Role for MDMA in the Treatment of PTSD? (Medical News Bulletin)
• 'A Void No One Can Fill': Mum's heartbreaking tribute to daughter, 18, who died after 'taking MDMA at Newcastle nightclub' (The Sun)
• 3 charged after cat allegedly abused and drugged with MDMA, with videos sent to family (CBC News)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Criminalization Makes It Harder to Study Ayahuasca, Scientists Say (VICE)
• How Tripping on Ayahuasca Could Help People with Eating Disorders (Broadly)
• What is DMT and why you should care. (Psychedelics Daily)
• NM veterans vouch for ayahuasca therapy (Albuquerque Journal)
• Wook Describes His Wild Method of Transporting DMT Crosscountry (Your EDM)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Cambridge student 'confused' after taking legal high, inquest hears (The Guardian)
• German therapist convicted of botched psychedelic experiment (San Francisco Chronicle)

Dissociatives

• Your Healthy Family: Ketamine being used to treat PTSD and severe depression (KOAA)
• The Effect of a Single Dose of Intravenous Ketamine on Suicidal Ideation: A Systematic Review and Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis (The American Journal of Psychiatry)
• OKC grandmother arrested after child swallows PCP (KSWO)
• Police: Driver arrested after crashing into vehicle while on PCP (The Herald-News)

Opiates/Opioids

• Afghan opium production at all time high (Daily Times)
• NJ pharmacies can now dispense naloxone without prescription (American Pharmacists Association)
• DEA puts synthetic opioid fentanyl on par with heroin and meth (Washington Examiner)
• US conducts airstrikes on Afghan opium labs (NewsPatrolling)
• America's Opioid Epidemic Is Costing Hundreds of Billions of Dollars (TIME)
• U.S. Strikes on Taliban Opium Labs Won't Work, Say Afghan Farmers (U.S. News & World Report)
• New York asks residents to carry naloxone to reverse drug overdoses (The Journal News)

Absinthe

• Absinthe Was Once Banned for Being Evil—Now It's Just Meh (The Wall Street Journal)

Kratom

• Can Kratom Help With Withdrawal From Methadone? (Kratom Guides)
• Using Kratom For Suboxone Withdrawal (Kratom Guides)
• Seeking Alternative Addiction Treatment, Mainers Experiment With Kratom (Maine Public)
• FDA finally rules on kratom: It's a potential killer (New York Post)
• Where FDA Sees Deadly Drug, South Florida Advocates See Natural Alternative To Prescription Drugs (WUSF)
• Denver bans sale of Kratom, drug often used as painkiller (9NEWS)
• Mom of man killed by kratom calls for research, not ban (WTSP)

Kava

• Vanuatu pushes standardisation of kava industry (Radio New Zealand)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Hunting for the Most Potent Psychedelic Toad Venom on Earth (VICE)
• Psychedelic Treatments for Cluster Headaches (Psychedelic Times)
• What The Women's Rights Movement Shares With The Drug War (High Times)
• Could Oregon Be the First State to Legalize Psychedelic Therapy? (Psymposia)
• Psychedelic society launches in Glasgow to try to change the law on mind-altering drugs (The Herald Scotland)
• Mainstreaming psychedelics. Are we there yet? (Rick Strassman MD)
• Hallucination machine lets you blow your mind without taking psychedelic drugs (RT)
• LAPD Officer Gaxiola Caught Allegedly Planting Cocaine on Suspect by Own Body Cam Footage (ATTN:)
• Mind menders: how psychedelic drugs rebuild broken brains (New Scientist)
• WATCH: Fox News host wants you to have a psychedelic experience before you die (Raw Story)

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