Weekly Psychedelic Links

This Week in Psychedelics - 4.6.18

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Cannabis

  • Congress May Finally Be Ready to Legalize Hemp (Reason)
  • Albuquerque City Council Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession (Drug Policy Alliance)
  • This State Could Allow Non-Residents Access to Medical Marijuana (High Times)
  • CBD is cannabis that won't get you high. So why are so many people using it? (Chicago Tribune)
  • Marijuana Dispensaries Are Keeping Cannabis Out Of The Hands Of Minors In Oregon (Forbes)
  • Connecticut Legislative Committee Passes Recreational Marijuana Bill (Hartford Courant)
  • California Today: In Oakland, a Clash of Artists vs. Big Cannabis (The New York Times)
  • Terminal cancer patient claims cannabis has shrunk her brain tumours (Wales Online)
  • Cannabinoids 101: What is CBG? (Real Stoned Times)
  • Studies: Marijuana Legalization Associated With Reduced Opioid Prescribing Trends (NORML)
  • Is it worth investing in Israel’s medical cannabis industry in view of the regulatory fluctuations? (The Times of Israel)
  • Cannabis Investors Could Reap A Pot Of Gold, Says Analyst (Forbes)
  • New Jersey cops search a man's anus, genitals for weed during traffic stop. See for yourself. (APP)
  • Weedmaps: why 'Yelp for pot' is under fire for its Silicon Valley attitude (The Guardian)
  • Most support Girl Scout’s right to sell cookies outside of legal marijuana dispensary (YouGov)
  • Cheech and Chong get truthy about weed, LSD use 40 years after 'Up in Smoke' (Indianapolis Star)
  • Binge Drinking Rates Drop In States With Recreational Marijuana Laws (Forbes)
  • Australian cannabis companies are now allowed to export seeds, oil and raw material (Business Insider)
  • Paediatricians call for medical marijuana trials for kids with autism, ADHD (The Advertiser)
  • Hemp will save us from fire, cockroaches, heat, and microplastics (The Outline)
  • Trio taking $5m bet on medicinal cannabis industry that doesn't exist yet (NZ Herald)
  • Utah: Proponents Of 2018 Medical Cannabis Ballot Measure Achieve Signature Milestone (NORML)
  • Canada’s Proposed Cannabis Packaging Regulations Could Help Move Entire Industry Forward (Cannabis Business Times)
  • New Orleans: Marijuana Possession Arrests Plunge Following Enactment Of Decriminalization Ordinance (NORML)
  • The Bumpy Road to Becoming the Martha Stewart of Cannabis (Entrepreneur)
  • Plunging pot prices force black market growers into real jobs (Rooster)
  • How To Treat Psoriasis With Cannabis (High Times)
  • NORML Chapters Continue State-Level Push for Marijuana Law Reforms (NORML)
  • Six arrested after £1.3m in cannabis seized in Northern Ireland (The Guardian)
  • Lamar Odom Getting Into the Cannabis Business, Says Marijuana Helped With Rehab (The Blast)
  • Tinley Produces Initial Batch of Cannabis Margarita and Provides Operational Update (GlobeNewswire)
  • WeHo Rolls Out Licenses For Cannabis Consumption Lounges (Eater LA)
  • Canadian Cannabis Producer Stocks Rise 0.8% in March (New Cannabis Ventures)
  • State cannabis regulators to begin accepting commercial bids (WCVB)
  • Ancillary carriers shy away from cannabis industry for fear of federal regulatory violations (Employee Benefit Advisor)
  • State cannabis services to move into Times-Standard building (Eureka Times Standard)

LSD

  • What Happens When a Blind Person Takes LSD? (Discover)
  • Is LSD the new middle-class dinner party treat? (The Times)
  • Forthcoming Microdosing Study Will Investigate How LSD Affects Insight (Psychedelic Times)
  • Anxiety and Acid Flashbacks Made '2001: A Space Odyssey' the Masterpiece for Me (Thrillist)
  • LSD, Sade, and more: Kacey Musgraves on the inspirations behind Golden Hour (Entertainment Weekly)
  • Omaha Police: 12-year-old hospitalized after admitting to using LSD (KETV)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Are psychedelic mushrooms the next legalization frontier after cannabis? (Herb)
  • A Beaverton Couple Is About to Gather Signatures to Legalize the Therapeutic Use of Psychedelic Mushrooms in Oregon (Willamette Week)
  • Individual Experiences in Four Cancer Patients Following Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy (Frontiers)
  • Here’s How Magic Mushrooms Probably Became Psychedelic (Seeker)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • The Long Strange Trip to Turn 'Molly' Into a $100 Million Pharmaceutical Medicine (Inc.)
  • The 'war on drugs' is not working, says mum whose son died after taking ecstasy (ITV News)
  • Instagram model and ex-boyfriend busted over 'MDMA drug-trafficking ring' (Mirror)
  • Essex University student collapsed and died at uni party after taking MDMA (The Sun)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • Scientists seeking people with 'encounters' while taking DMT (Spectrum News)
  • Ayahuasca, Human Suffering and Our US veterans (Thrive Global)
  • Scary, hot new drug called 'spirit molecule' (WND)

Dissociatives

  • What Does It All Ketamine? (Discover)
  • Man allegedly bit deputy after running away while presumably high on PCP (KVUE)

Opiates/Opioids

  • Addiction Rehab is Broken. Can Technology Help? (WIRED)
  • The Surgeon General Urges More Americans to Carry Overdose Antidote to Prevent Opioid Deaths (TIME)
  • Tackling The Opioid Epidemic: Lessons From Portugal (NPR)
  • FDA wants Facebook and Twitter to crack down on opioid sales (Engadget)
  • People with Chronic Pain Will Protest the CDC’s Crackdown on Opioids (Tonic)
  • Patients in 6 States to Get Free Overdose Antidote (U.S. News & World Report)
  • Two Men Convicted in Multi-million Dollar Heroin Smuggling Ring Tied to the Taliban (Newsweek)
  • Battling Heroin With A Hearse And A Prayer (NPR)

Kratom

  • FDA Orders Mandatory Recall of Kratom-Based Herbal Supplements Over Salmonella Outbreak (TIME)
  • Top 10 Reasons Why Kratom Should Be Legalized (Kratom Guides)
  • Reader: Kratom Saved My Life From a Heroin Addiction (Westword)

Kava

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • Why the fuck is fentanyl showing up in LSD, meth and cocaine? (Rooster)
  • What It's Like for an American Drug Reformer to Go to a Country with a Compassionate System (AlterNet)
  • Author Michael Pollan Is Coming to Portland to Speak About Psychedelics (Willamette Week)
  • The Hairy Problem With Drug Testing (WIRED)
  • Public housing ban on people with drug records likely to do more harm than good, research tell us (The Conversation)
  • Former undercover officer on why police should 'declare peace' in war on drugs (ITV News)
  • Drug use can have social benefits, and acknowledging this could improve rehabilitation (The Conversation)
  • Drug checking: a harm reduction strategy (Alcohol and Drug Foundation)
  • Psychedelic Chaos by Rita Kočárová - Beyond Psychedelics (Psychedelic Press)
  • Does MoMA Downplay the Influence of Psychedelic Drugs on Adrian Piper’s Work? (Observer)
  • We now call ‘bad trips’ ‘challenging experiences’. Here’s why that’s misguided. (Psymposia)
  • ACT government, Groovin The Moo promoter in stalemate over pill testing (The Canberra 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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

This Week in Psychedelics - 3.30.18

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

  • Here’s how much marijuana you’d need to be eligible for the death penalty under federal law (The Washington Post)
  • New Jersey Just Approved Medical Marijuana Program Expansion (High Times)
  • Arizona Legislature Poised to Approve Using Medical Marijuana to Treat Opioid Abuse (Phoenix New Times)
  • Marijuana could soon be LEGAL in parts of Australia - with lawmakers saying legalising the drug is 'better than prohibition' (Daily Mail)
  • French Biotech Targets the Brain to Treat Cannabis Abuse (Labiotech)
  • Does Cannabis Affect Hormone Levels? (High Times)
  • A Stunning Small Home Made From Hemp (Living Big in a Tiny House)
  • Does Cannabis Affect Cardiovascular Health? (High Times)
  • A Dying Southern Town Needed a Miracle. Marijuana Came Calling. (The New York Times)
  • Colombia Strives to Lead Global Pot Market, Pushing Out Peasant Growers (Cannabis Now)
  • Mitch McConnell Wants Hemp Removed From Controlled Substances List (TIME)
  • NOPD marijuana arrests plunged to 1 percent after ordinance change (The Times-Picayune)
  • Alzheimer’s Patients in Puerto Rico May Get Cannabis-Based Treatment (High Times)
  • Could cannabis help cure lung cancer? This man thinks so – and he's already spent £1.5m on research (Metro)
  • Pennsylvania Medical Schools May Start to Study Cannabis (High Times)
  • How Cannabis Tech Can Help Build a Better Cup of Coffee (Wired)
  • Prospective analysis of safety and efficacy of medical cannabis in large unselected population of patients with cancer (European Journal of Internal Medicine)
  • How Cannabis and Other “Drugs” Can be Gateways to a Better Life (Chacruna)
  • Reader: Denver Doesn't Even Pretend to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (Westword)
  • How to Brew Cannabis Kombucha (High Times)
  • Review cannabis laws for potential recreational use in Victoria, report say (Cannabis Club Australia)
  • CBD and the Psychedelic Receptor (Reality Sandwich)
  • 'He's enjoying life more' – Mum of boy on medicinal cannabis scheme speaks about results (Tasmania Talks)
  • Escape from the Underground: Lessons to the cannabis industry from craft beer (The Growler)
  • Cannabis-infused beer is coming to Colorado (The Cannabist)
  • Another view of traffic deaths blamed on cannabis in CDOT study (The Denver Post)
  • Don't Call It Pot: My Dinner With San Francisco's Cannabis Gourmets (Mother Jones)
  • Is Cannabis Allowed in Nursing Homes? (Leafly)
  • Marijuana-Friendly States Want to Meet with Jeff Sessions to Resolve Cannabis' Legal Limbo (TIME)
  • Gene Simmons Says He Was 'Wrong', 'Not Informed', About Cannabis (Ultimate Classic Rock)
  • House committee approves, advances medical cannabis legislation (The Tennessean)
  • Cannabis Activists Give Joints To Washington Lawmakers During Rally (High Times)
  • Rush for Cannabis Business Permits Overwhelms Oakland (East Bay Express)
  • London Group Launches Scare Tactic Campaign Against Cannabis (High Times)
  • How to Correctly Use Marijuana Edibles (Cannabis Now)
  • Cannabis Farmer-CEO Raising Capital, Navigating Complex New Market (Forbes)
  • Medical-cannabis producer again locked up (Echo Net Daily)
  • Cannabis Business Convention Comes to Boston (U.S. News & World Report)

LSD

  • What LSD Taught Researchers About Mental Health Treatment (The Fix)
  • LSD Might Save The World (But Microdosing Won't) (Tech Open Air)
  • LSD at Princeton: New book blows minds (The Daily Princetonian)
  • Boy, 15, stabbed his best friend during 'bad' LSD trip (Metro)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Scientists who want to study psychedelic mushrooms have to pay $7,000 per gram (Quartz)
  • Oregon couple working on ballot initiative to legalize 'magic' mushrooms for therapeutic use (KVAL)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • The Most Popular Ecstasy Pills In the World — Ranked by Name & Color (Digital Music News)
  • 'Is Psychiatry Ready for MDMA?' (ABC)
  • Father's heartbreak at death of sons who died on same night from ecstasy and cocaine (Metro)
  • Police warning to parents over pink ecstasy tablets (ITV)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • If You’ve Met Aliens While on DMT, These Scientists Would Like to Hear From You (Motherboard)
  • A Doctor's Initiation into the Powerful Shamanic Brew Ayahuasca (Kahpi)
  • A little-known hallucinogenic drug called DMT takes people to a place that feels 'more real than real' — here's what researchers know about it (Business Insider)
  • Lawyers and venture capitalists do yoga and meditate in a new type of New York City coworking space that was created after its founder took a psychedelic drug in Peru – see inside (Business Insider)

Iboga/Ibogaine

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

  • Clare taxi driver, 25, dies hours after snorting what he thought was MDMA but was actually a synthetic drug called ‘Dr Death’, inquest hears (The Irish Sun)

Dissociatives

  • Side Effects Stop Small Study of Repeated Intranasal Ketamine (Psych Congress Network)
  • Mom says she gave daughters PCP after confusing bottle with vanilla extract (FOX59)

Opiates/Opioids

  • Medicare Is Cracking Down on Opioids. Doctors Fear Pain Patients Will Suffer. (The New York Times)
  • Senate Passes Bill to Make Increase Availability of Naloxone (U.S. News & World Report)
  • In withdrawal: Treating the babies of Illinois' opioid crisis (Crain's)
  • Prince toxicology report shows very high drug level, experts say (NBC News)
  • Federal Ban On Methadone Vans Seen As Barrier To Treatment (HuffPost)
  • Quitting Heroin in the Sunshine State (The New York Times)
  • Frequent opioid users might be the best candidates for naloxone training, study finds (The Hub)

Kratom

Kava

  • Kava consumption helps cut down alcohol consumption and gang affiliations in male Pacifika youth in New Zealand claims a researcher says. (TVNZ)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • Will the Spirit of Burning Man Art Survive in Museums? (The New York Times)
  • High Society: The Universal Impulse to Alter Consciousness (Kahpi)
  • A trip to dreamland (The Boston Globe)
  • The War on Drugs Breeds Crafty Traffickers (The New York Times)
  • Why police boss thinks drug users should get to test their substances at clubs and festivals (Daily Post)
  • The Mystery of the Terrifying Xanax Resurgence in America (VICE)
  • Doing the Plant's Bidding: Reflections on the Congreso de Plantas Sagradas en Las Américas (Reality Sandwich)
  • DREAMing about Drug Reform: An Interview with Arturo Lua Castillo (Psymposia)
  • 'Mad Honey' and 4 Other Naturally Occurring Psychedelics (Inverse)
  • Drug Overdose Death Rates in the U.S. Are Rising Everywhere, CDC Says (TIME)
  • The solution to Australia's drug epidemic starts with a conversation (The Guardian)
  • How China Is Using the Death Penalty for Drug Dealers: An Approach that Works (ExpertClick)
  • What The Hell Is Happening With Pill Testing At Groovin' The Moo? (BuzzFeed 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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 3.23.18

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

  • Congress Protects Medical Marijuana From Jeff Sessions In New Federal Spending Bill (Forbes)
  • Study: Traffic Fatalities Have Not Increased As A Consequence Of Legalization (NORML)
  • The Governor of Utah Just Signed A Medical Marijuana Bill (High Times)
  • Canadians Who Smoke Weed Could Be Banned From Entering US (High Times)
  • Should Medical Schools Start Teaching About Cannabis? (High Times)
  • Research Reveals Link Between Coffee, Cannabis and Brain Function (High Times)
  • Is home delivery for medical marijuana coming to Kentucky? (WCPO)
  • In California, Learning How Marijuana Is an Unlikely Divider (The New York Times)
  • This State Just Shut Down 40 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (High Times)
  • Colorado Lawmakers Form Nation's First Statewide Cannabis Caucus (NORML)
  • Big Pharma has officially entered the Canadian cannabis industry (VICE)
  • Shatter, Batter, Wax: How Cannabis Extracts Came to Be (Wired)
  • Oklahoma: Lawmakers Move Forward To Preemptively Quash Medical Marijuana Vote (NORML)
  • Mexico is going to have to build a wall to keep out American weed (Herb)
  • Why won't the VA recognize the value of medical marijuana? (Here & There)
  • The law keeping vets from marijuana might not actually exist (Herb)
  • How pot-smoking became illegal in Canada (National Post)
  • Avoid Most Cannabis Investment Funds For Now (Forbes)
  • Dana Rohrabacher's Last Stand: California Conservative's Fate Could Hinge on Cannabis Vote (Leafly)
  • Marijuana Is the New Gold for Mining Companies Going to Pot (Bloomberg)
  • Is Walmart Doing Business With The Cannabis Industry? (Forbes)
  • Racial Disparities Persist Among NYC Cannabis Possession Arrests (Uncle Cliffy)
  • Voters In Illinois' Cook County Approve Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure (Forbes)
  • Chicago Voters Embrace Cannabis Legalization in a Big Way (Leafly)
  • Majority of American Studies Focus on Confirming Negative Myths About Cannabis, Instead of Testing Benefits (Disinfo)
  • Blast From the Past: Ten Funniest Anti-Marijuana Commercials (Westword)
  • Washington's Most Powerful Anti-Pot Official Is Named Sessions. It's Not Who You Think. (Politico)
  • New podcast humorously highlights the heroes and hidden history of cannabis (Los Angeles Times)
  • Major Risk To Cannabis Stocks On Verge Of Lifting (Forbes)
  • Can Employers Rely on Federal Ban on Cannabis? (Workforce)
  • Part 1, The Latest in Cannabis Research: Spring 2018 (Leafly)
  • Iowa State's Marijuana Shirt Ban Case Costs School $1 Mln (U.S. News & World Report)
  • Cannabis crackdown uncovers 10,000 marijuana plants, 30 guns and $50,000 cash (Stuff.co.nz)
  • The Cannabis Industry Needs To Support Advocacy. Here's Why. (Forbes)
  • Green Space Lounge Wants to Be the Upscale, Cannabis-Friendly Social Club Portland Never Knew it Needed (Willamette Week)
  • A Dad Who Was Arrested For Growing Cannabis For His Sick Daughters Has Pleaded Not Guilty (BuzzFeed)
  • Donors to medical marijuana effort are being kept under wraps. A Missouri man thinks that's wrong (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  • Cannabis Farmer Gets $1 Million Insurance Payout (Santa Barbara Independent)
  • How Grass Roots Made It Through California's Changing Cannabis Climate (Leafly)
  • O Cannabis: Pot and Pets, THC a No-No but CBD Shows Promise (Valley Advocate)
  • Time for cannabis rethink? (Isle of Man)
  • Part 2, How to Top Dress Cannabis Nutrients (Leafly)
  • Better Marijuana Stock: Aphria vs. Aurora Cannabis (The Motley Fool)
  • True Leaf Announces Cannabis Cultivation Team (Cannabis Business Times)
  • Cannabis Collab Seeking New Members (The Source Weekly)

LSD

  • New LSD Research May Help Explain the Brain Chemistry of Depression and Schizophrenia (Gizmodo)
  • 'Microdosing' LSD is not just a Silicon Valley trend – it is spreading to other workplaces (The Independent)
  • LSD: A wonder drug once again? (CBS News)
  • Acid Drops: An Interview with Andy Roberts (Psychedelic Frontier)
  • LSD blurs boundaries between the experience of self and other (EurekAlert!)
  • South Lyon boy found naked and tripping on LSD (Oakland Press)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Are Mind-Altering Magic Mushroom Retreats the Future of Wellness Travel? (Well + Good)
  • Denver to Vote This November on Whether to Decriminalize Magic Mushrooms (Psychedelic Times)
  • 'Magic' mushroom research could lead to help for addicts (The Columbus Dispatch)
  • Scientists trace why magic mushrooms evolved to be "magic" (Herb)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • The UK ecstasy guru from the 90s who influenced MDMA research forever (Dazed)
  • MDMA-assisted Therapy (Sapiensoup)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • New Ayahuasca Study Reveals Its Psychological Benefits (Medium)
  • 5 Common Misunderstandings about Ayahuasca Demystified (Kahpi)
  • I Didn't Need to Drop Ayahuasca to Learn Something Deep About Community From This Coworking Space (Entrepreneur)
  • Johns Hopkins University seeks DMT psychonauts who have met machine elves! (Boing Boing)

Iboga/Ibogaine

  • Exploring the power of ibogaine treatment with The Avante Institute (PR Newswire)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

Dissociatives

  • Column: Are Ketamine Clinics Profiteering or Leading Innovation? (MD Magazine)
  • Study questions efficacy, safety of intranasal ketamine for depression (News-Medical)
  • The Case for Ketamine in Treating Suicidal Ideation (Psychology Today)
  • Snorting Ketamine May Not Be The Best Way to Treat Depression, Study Shows (Science Alert)
  • Florida Woman High on PCP Gouges Mother's Eyes Out, Placed Them on Cardboard Box (Eurweb)

Opiates/Opioids

  • President Trump's New Opioid Plan Includes the Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers (TIME)
  • Sessions 'Strongly Encourages' Federal Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Some Drug Dealers (Reason)
  • Opium production in Afghanistan reaches record high (Al Jazeera)
  • Opioid Overdoses May Be Seriously Undercounted (KBIA)
  • The Pain Refugees: The forgotten victims of America's opioid crisis (Harpers)
  • Naloxone, Yes, But 3 Other Drugs Are Essential to Fight the Opioid Epidemic (Forbes)
  • You May Have Traces of Cocaine or Heroin on Your Fingertips Right Now (Fortune)
  • As libraries grapple with overdose crisis, Vancouver tells staff not to intervene (The Globe and Mail)
  • Naloxone: What you need to know about this lifesaving drug (ABC News)
  • US journalism students should undergo anti-overdose training (Al Jazeera)

Absinthe

  • Elon Musk quietly went to 'technological superpower' Israel to drink absinthe and discuss the future of Tesla in the Middle East (Business Insider)

Kratom

  • Kratom linked to Salmonella infections, CDC says (WSPA)
  • Ask the doctors: Not enough is known about kratom to support its use (The Spokesman-Review)

Kava

  • Kava: Inside the All-Natural High That's Sweeping America (Rolling Stone)
  • Kava circles keeping young males away from alcohol and gangs, researcher says (Stuff.co.nz)
  • Tudei issue revists reputational risk for Vanuatu kava industry (Radio New Zealand)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy During Prohibition (Chacruna)
  • Two movements converge in Mexico at CryptoPsychedelic (Psymposia)
  • Psychedelics Panel Invited to Mainstream Healthcare Conference (Chacruna)
  • Norway's drug policies 'could set example for rest of the world' (The Independent)
  • John F. Kennedy. President. Visionary. Meth head. (Rooster)
  • The Art of Burning Man, Without the Burn (The Wall Street Journal)
  • We have a drug that's effective against depression – now the government needs to let us use it (Spectator)
  • Helen Clark backs festival drug-testing and injecting rooms (NZ Herald)
  • Night Lives: Reducing Drug-Related Harm in the Night Time Economy (VolteFace)
  • Into the psyche of Psychedelic Art (Media India Group)
  • Psychedelics in the Age After Aquarius (Harvard Political Review)
  • Nootropedia Teams Up with MAPS to Make Psychedelics Legal (Business Wire)
  • It's time to integrate psychedelics into therapy (Big Think)
  • Breaking the Cycle of Addiction, With Hallucinogens (HowStuffWorks)
  • Clubbers need 'access to drug safety testing' (BBC)
  • It's Not In Your Head - Psychedelics Are Making A Scientific Comeback (KTNV)
  • Psychedelics and the Full-Fluency Phenomenon (Psymposia)

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 - 3.16.18

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

  • Ongoing Study Looks at the Efficacy of Cannabis-Based Treatments for PTSD (Psychedelic Times)
  • Study: Marijuana Decriminalization Leads To Decreased Arrests, No Increase In Youth Use (NORML)
  • Jamaica Welcomes Its First Legal Cannabis Retailer (Leafly)
  • Is cannabis the answer to older people's booze problems? (The Guardian)
  • 5 Ways New York City Can Reform Its Outrageous Cannabis Policy (Leafly)
  • First Nations of Canada Petitioning For Cut of Cannabis Tax Revenue (High Times)
  • Why Coffee Could Be the Opposite of Cannabis (Live Science)
  • Could Cannabis Replace Traditional Labor Medications? (High Times)
  • Legal Marijuana Is A Boon To The Economy, Finds Study (Forbes)
  • United Nations Report Scolds Countries for Cannabis Legalization (Leafly)
  • New Jersey Governor Doubles Down on Marijuana Legalization (NORML)
  • Exercise and cannabis combine at Colorado gym (WREG)
  • Iowa gets 21 applications for medical cannabis dispensaries (San Francisco Chronicle)
  • This Woman Created A Cannabis Marketplace For The Design-Minded Stoner (HuffPost)
  • Hollyweed: fledgling cannabis industry struggles to woo the stars (The Guardian)
  • TV Personality Montel Williams to Speak About Medical Cannabis at New York Event (Multiple Sclerosis News Today)
  • New Oakland ordinance blocks cannabis businesses from evicting residents (East Bay Times)
  • Puff: Cannabis sample boxes are perfect for newbies and connoisseurs alike (48 Hills)
  • Part 1, Choosing a Cannabis Plant Container (Leafly)

LSD

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Mushrooms May Have Developed Psilocybin to Ward Off Insects (Psychedelic Times)
  • Will Psychedelic Mushrooms Be on Denver's Ballot in November? (5280)
  • Are magic mushrooms the next medical marijuana? (Yahoo!)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • MDMA dampens the encoding and retrieval of emotional memories, study finds (PsyPost)
  • Report: Lethal MDMA Substitute Found In 25% Of Ecstasy Pills In New Zealand (Your EDM)
  • Ecstasy bid for post-traumatic stress disorder study (PerthNow)
  • Family of teenager who died after taking MDMA save drug dealers from jail (Cornwall Live)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

  • 13 hospitalised in Christchurch after taking drugs they thought were MDMA (Newshub)
  • Police concerned by emergence of new drug n-ethylpentylone sold as ecstasy (Newshub)

Dissociatives

  • Ketamine Clinics Are Helping to Treat Depression (Chicago Magazine)
  • Chelmsford schoolgirl took ketamine before stepping in front of a train at Shenfield station, inquest hears (Essex Live)

Opiates/Opioids

Kratom

  • 47 more cases of salmonella linked to kratom (CNN)
  • Specific kratom brands recalled amid nationwide outbreak (Food Safety News)
  • Is Concern Around Kratom 'Drug Hysteria'? (Medscape)
  • People Are Worried That the FDA Is Trying to Ban Kratom (Tonic)
  • The Various Medicinal Uses and Effects of Kratom (Times Square Chronicles)

Kava

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • Which Black People Are Allowed To Trip? (HuffPost)
  • DEA twitter account promotes Anslinger (Drug WarRant)
  • Kansas Registers Drug Offenders as Well as Sex Offenders (Reason)
  • ACLU Says Nebraska May Have Illegally Imported Execution Drugs (Reason)
  • Humans of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (Psymposia)

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 - 3.9.18

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

  • Marijuana for Moms (The Atlantic)
  • Study: Cannabis Effective At Treating Symptoms Of Fibromyalgia (NORML)
  • Cannabis Activism Group Selling 'Jeff Sessions' Rolling Papers (High Times)
  • Former Congressional Aide Convicted of Taking Cannabis Bribe (Leafly)
  • New studies show that legal cannabis access reduces opioid abuse (The Hill)
  • The Beginner's Guide to Cannabis Lingo (Lifehacker)
  • Home Pot Delivery Is Cool, but California's Taxes and Regulations Are Still Onerous (Reason)
  • Cannabis and Schizophrenia: Do THC and CBD Affect It Differently? (Leafly)
  • How Cannabis Entrepreneurs Feel About Sessions' Reversal Of The Cole Memo (Forbes)
  • This Country Bans Cannabis While Exporting The Most In The World (High Times)
  • California: Sonoma County District Attorney To Vacate Thousands Of Past Marijuana Convictions (NORML)
  • Israeli medical cannabis company announces record $110 million deal (The Times of Israel)
  • Michigan: Voter Support Grows For Proposed Adult Use Initiative (NORML)
  • How does resolving cannabis problems differ from problems with alcohol or other drugs? (Science Daily)
  • Part 2, Is Cannabis Legal in New York City? Well... it's Complicated (Leafly)
  • Female Cannabis Users Fear Judgement From Others (Green Market Report)
  • UK world's largest producer of legal cannabis, finds UN body (The Independent)
  • Raid at 'Cannabis Church' Prompts Lawsuit (NBC)
  • Cannabis Producer Canopy Bids for Spain's Alcaliber (Bloomberg)
  • When It Comes to Pot, Pain, and Cancer, Jeff Sessions Is An Idiot (Reason)
  • Better Marijuana Stock: Aurora Cannabis vs. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The Motley Fool)
  • Driving and Cannabis Hit the Skids (SF Weekly)
  • 10 Things You Should Know About Aurora Cannabis (The Motley Fool)

LSD

  • LSD Can Treat Mental Disorders By 'Harmonizing' The Brain (Newsweek)
  • LSD alters the neural response to music in a number of brain regions, study finds (PsyPost)
  • Tripping on LSD Really Is Like Lucid Dreaming (Live Science)
  • Deepak Chopra has tried LSD and pot (Page Six)
  • Politics and LSD On the Brain (The Georgetown Voice)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Denver May Get To Vote On Whether To Make Magic Mushrooms Legal (Colorado Public Radio)
  • Advocacy groups fight for your right to do magic mushrooms (Salon)
  • Stand-Up Comedy on Shrooms (OZY)
  • Scientists have uncovered an amazing mystery of hallucinogenic mushrooms (The Bobr Times)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • MAPS Researchers Explore the Potential for Psychedelic Drugs to Treat PTSD (The Runner)
  • MDMDA Research Group Now Accepts Monero (XMR) Donations (The Market Mogul)
  • Study says Amsterdam's wastewater has highest ecstasy concentration in Europe (Dancing Astronaut)
  • Warnings have been made about blue 'Punisher' ecstasy pills (Mixmag)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • Scientists Gave Monkeys Ayahuasca and It Helped Their Depression (Discover Magazine)
  • Four weekly ayahuasca sessions lead to increases in "acceptance" capacities: a comparison study with a standard 8-week mindfulness training program (Frontiers)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

Dissociatives

  • Getting the Inside Dope on Ketamine's Mysterious Ability to Rapidly Relieve Depression (Scientific American)
  • Ketamine Infusion May Be Effective for the Short-Term Relief of CRPS-Associated Pain (Clinical Pain Advisor)

Opiates/Opioids

  • FDA Chief Wants to Increase Package Inspection to Combat Opioid Crisis (TIME)
  • Medical Examiner Exchanged Opioids for Sexual Favors, Prosecutors Say (TIME)
  • Trump wants to end the opioid crisis. But what if he is himself its prime symptom? (Spectator)
  • The 'moral hazard' of naloxone in the opioid crisis (The Washington Post)
  • A New Study Says Naloxone Might Cause More Opioid Deaths. I'm Skeptical. (Mother Jones)
  • Are We Reviving Too Many Opioid Overdoses? Is This Really a Question? (Slate)
  • Childhood Opioid Overdoses Nearly Doubled in Last 10 Years (TIME)
  • The New Opium War (The Signal)
  • 'Heroin(e)': The Women Fighting Addiction In Appalachia (NPR)
  • Opioid addicts are turning to a clinic in Mexico to break their addiction, but there's a catch. The treatment is illegal in the US. (PRI)
  • Record Afghan Opium Crop Signals Violent Year for U.S. Forces (Consortium News)
  • Florida Lobbyist Says There's No Data on Opioid Trafficking Laws. There Is. Reason Published It. (Reason)
  • Are We Finally Doing Something About the Opioid Crisis? (Disinfo)

Absinthe

  • It's National Absinthe Day! Here's How to Enjoy the Potent Green Drink (Parade)
  • Absinthe is having a moment in Baltimore. Here's what to know about the mythical green spirit (The Baltimore Sun)
  • Dancing With the Green Fairy: 4 Absinthes to Try Right Now (The Manual)

Kratom

  • Salmonella Found In Kratom Samples As Multi-State Outbreak Expands (Forbes)
  • Kratom: Why Did the FDA Declare the Herbal Supplement an Opiate? (Rolling Stone)
  • Nine Leading Scientists Support The Safe Use Of Kratom In The US (Kratom Guides)
  • Four Leading Kratom Researchers Urge FDA To Focus On Science Rather Than Rhetoric (PR Newswire)
  • Wash. State Health Dept. Says Do NOT Consume Kratom (Sky Valley Chronicle)
  • Kratom For Stress Relief (Reports Healthcare)
  • Why the Asian Herb Kratom is all over the news? (Kratom Guides)

Kava

Khat

  • Khat consumption induced chronic liver disease; is it all autoimmune? (MedCrave)
  • Kwale bans sale and consumption of miraa (Citizen TV)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • Just One Psychedelic Drug Trip Can Cause Changes In Personality That Could Last Years (Newsweek)
  • The Eleusinian Psychedelic Psychedelic Rebirth Rites of Ancient Greece are Making a Comeback (Ancient Origins)
  • Mother Nurture: Female Shaman Defines Girl Power in Male-Dominated Culture (Pulitzer Center)
  • Report: Imprisoning Drug Users Doesn't Stop Drug Use or Prevent Overdoses (Reason)
  • The changing political realities of drug policy (Drug WarRant)
  • Benzo Conversion Tool Updates and Discussion (TripSit)
  • Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects (Frontiers)
  • Have a Safe Trip: The Zendo Project Guides Festivalgoers Through Bad Drug Experiences (Dope Magazine)
  • Hundreds of drug-fuelled soldiers facing the boot after testing positive for cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine in just four months (Mirror)
  • Zig Zag Zen: An Interview with Author Allan Badiner (Psychedelic Frontier)
  • Oslo is among Europe's worst for drug use (The Nordic Page)

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.