This Week in Psychedelics - 9.18.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• It's In The Air: Scientists Measure THC in The Atmosphere (High Times)
• Bernie Sanders: 'Not Acceptable' To Jail Young Pot Smokers And Let Big Bank CEOs Walk (The Huffington Post)
• Why is Cannabis Not Already on the Shelves for Treating Arthritis? (High Times)
• Who needs weed when we've got THC-producing yeast? (Engadget)
• Cannabis prescriptions are eligible medical expense, CRA confirms (CBC News)
• Defendant cites membership in First Church of Cannabis for pot use (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Cannabis Drug Shows Promise In Treating Schizophrenia (Medical Daily)
• A UFC Fighter Was Just Suspended on Dubious Marijuana Charges (ATTN:)
• Ronda Rousey Takes Stand Against Drug Testing For Marijuana (ATTN:)
• 11 Benefits of Marijuana That Make it Medicine For Humans Who Are Not "Sick" (High Existence)
• Colorado has Had Record Lows in Traffic Fatalities Since Marijuana was Legalized (ATTN:)
• Cannabis for kids seminar held for parents of kids with autism, epilepsy (The Vancouver Sun)
• California Marijuana Legalization 2015: New Medical Marijuana Law Rankles Top Cannabis Industry Investor (International Business Times)
• Walla Walla Cannabis Co. ready to watch grass grow (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• Colorado generates more tax revenue from pot than alcohol, marijuana proponents say (Mass Live)
• The Biochemist Who Cured His Cancer With Cannabis Oil (Reset.me)
• Medical cannabis advocates in Iowa take cause to presidential race (KCRG)
• This Incubator Is Helping Cannabis Businesses Blaze a Trail Forward in a Budding Industry (Entrepreneur)
• B.C. parents still hope to treat ill baby with cannabis oil (CTV News)
• Melissa Etheridge: Middle-aged women are leading the marijuana revolution (Fortune)
• Court Says Misleading Description of Ohio's Marijuana Initiative Must Be Corrected (Reason)
• Is Cannabis Tourism a Cause for Concern (The Huffington Post)
• Supposedly Neutral Federal Report Stacks the Deck Against Marijuana Legalization (Reason)
• Cannabis use in consumer products banned (The Philippine Star)
• Study: German youths increasingly consuming cannabis (Deutsche Welle)
• Cannabis use may affect diabetes risk in the middle-aged (National Health Service Choices)

LSD

• Toxicology report refutes police claims that hogtied suspect's death was from LSD (The Daily Dot)
• This 'peacenik deadhead' will die behind bars — unless Obama steps in to save him (SFGate)
• Trials find that LSD could cure alcoholics (West - Welfare Society Territory)
• See Susan Sarandon remember LSD pioneer Timothy Leary at Burning Man (Entertainment Weekly)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Watch: Psilocybin Made Me Grateful To Be Alive (Reset.me)
• Toronto event seeks to reduce stigma around magic mushrooms (Metro News)
• Are medical shrooms on the way? Activists hail comeback of psychedelic drugs (Toronto Star)
• Magic mushrooms for mental health? Shaky basis for story's proposed "paradigm shift" (Health News Review)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Meet the Iraq War Veteran Who Says Ecstasy-Assisted Psychotherapy Saved His Life (Mic)
• From Club To Clinic: How MDMA Could Help Some Cope With Trauma (National Public Radio)
• On a high: why Britain is back on ecstasy (The Guardian)
• This Is England '90: Thomas Turgoose recalls the first time he was offered MDMA (Metro)
• MDMA probably didn't put this Glasgow teenager into a coma (The Daily Dot)
• Family of Scottish teen who suffered brain damage after taking ecstasy posts video of daughter (Fox News)
• Teen Overdoses On 'Molly' Capsules (Blackburn News)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Integration: How To Get The Most Benefit From Your Ayahuasca Experience (Reset.me)
• One Hundred Academics for Ayahuasca Dignity in Colombia (Africa is a Country)
• A Scientist's Journey To The Soul: How Ayahuasca Opened The Door To My Heart (Reset.me)
• Robin Quivers Takes Ayahuasca — Which Howard Stern Thinks Is Crazy (2paragraphs)

Peyote/Mescaline

• Native American Church members fight harassment by authorities (Boing Boing)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• End Your Methamphetamine Addiction With iBogaine Therapy (iBogaine Thailand)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Mystery surrounds hallucinatory chaos at German homeopathy conference (The Guardian)
• 60 Minutes investigation into synthetic drug trade in China (News.com.au)
• I used K2 to stay out of jail (New York Daily News)
• Europe's Scary, Legal Drug Boom (Yahoo! News)
• Australia: Father travels to China to expose his dead son's drug suppliers in TV show (Yahoo! News)
• Huge Synthetic Marijuana Bust Highlights Growing Threat (Time)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine could be used as anti-depressant (The Independent)
• Ketamine and More: What's the Status of Antidepressants? (The American Journal of Managed Care)
• Man high on PCP rescued from rooftop in Jersey City, cops say (NJ.com)

Opiates/Opioids

• China's drug habit fuels return of the Golden Triangle (BBC News)
• Obama Administration Makes Big Announcement Addressing Heroin Epidemic (The Huffington Post)
• Heroin epidemic puts pressure on schools to get antidote (The Washington Times)
• Bromley woman buys 'cookie jar' finds out it was probably for opium (Soo Today)
• Opium crops the right medicine for SA economy (In Daily)
• Naloxone-Equipped Kits Prevented Fentanyl Overdoses: Alberta Health Services (The Huffington Post)
• Naloxone Technologies Offer Options for Reducing Opioid Overdoses (Monthly Prescribing Reference)
• Youth heroin crisis prompts call for schools to keep antidote on hand (The Guardian)
• Building awareness of heroin addiction, Run for Recovery draws nearly 500 participants (Watertown Daily Times)
• Price Soars For Key Weapon Against Heroin Overdoses (KTOO)
• Man jailed by Dubai court for bringing opium poppies into UAE (The National)
• Heroin bill may give boost to providers treating substance abuse (Modern Medicine Network)

Absinthe

• Racy cabaret show Absinthe mixes circus, comedy, burlesque and vaudeville (ABC News)

Kratom

• Cracking the Code (Willamette Week)

Kava

• Kava: New Stress Remedy or Dangerous Drug? (The Seahawk)
• A kava bar and another brewery on the way: meet Ohana and Peaks N Pines (Colorado Springs Independent)
• Two new Fiji kava products to hit Aussie markets soon (Fiji Broadcasting Corporation)

Khat

• State Police arrest two men in possession of khat (Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Evidence Builds for Medicinal Use of Psychedelic Drugs (Brain Decoder)
• Psychedelics like LSD, Ayahuasca Ease Anxiety, PTSD — But Don't Self-Medicate (The Inquisitr)
• These Are the Two Forgotten Architects of Silk Road (Vice: Motherboard)
• Burning Man Ends, and an Event for Law Enforcement Begins (The New York Times)
• Operation Naked King: U.S. Secretly Targeted Bolivia's Evo Morales In Drug Sting (The Huffington Post)
• Interpol Built Its Own Dark Net Drug Marketplace With Cops Posing As Dealers (International Business Times)
• Bill Bennett: 'Bring Back the War on Drugs' (Reason)
• Using Psychedelics Shouldn't Be a Crime (Drug Policy Alliance)
• Yeah, DEA Agents Are Stalking You At Raves (Los Angeles Weekly)
• I Walked Around a Music Festival Asking to Test People's Drugs (Vice News)
• Do Adults Have a Privacy Right to Use Drugs? Brazil's Supreme Court Decides (The Intercept)
• A Passion For Powerful Plants And People (Reset.me)
• Psychedelic drug reform is not only about policy change — It's a social movement too (Psychedelic Press UK)
• Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche to hit the auction block (Reuters)
• Bridget Riley review — pounding psychedelic art that will make you see the world differently (The Guardian)
• The psychedelic world of Indian truck art (The Keene Sentinel)
• Psychedelic Drugs Could Be Used As Anxiety Cure (News Everyday)
• Horizons Conference Celebrates 'Visionary Substances' (The New School News)
• Psychedelic drugs may help in treating mental disorders (The Tribune Register)
• Psychedelic baby! Perth Fashion Festival brings back the swinging Sixties with technicolour prints and Go-go boots... but would anyone ACTUALLY wear them? (Daily Mail)
• Psychedelic science is making a comeback (The Week)
• Psychedelic Drug Research Re-Emerges (dailyRx News)
• Psychedelics Could Trigger A 'Paradigm Shift' In Mental Health Care (The Huffington Post)

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.

Weekend Thoughts - 9.12.15

Image by William, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. A brief summary of how being vegan tremendously helps the environment. Aside from the scientifically-proven health benefits and demonstrating compassion toward animals, this article details how vegans are actively combatting the largest source of carbon emissions (meat), how climate change creates and exacerbates human and animal health issues, the plunging cost of vegan diets compared to omnivorous diets, and how vegans have a drastically-reduced carbon footprint. Studies have shown that vegans save 1,100 gallons of water, 20 pounds of CO2 equivalent, 30 square feet of forested land, 45 pounds of grain, and one animal's life each day. To me, going vegan was a no-brainer decision, although it can require a bit more planning and acceptance of increased responsibility than the standard American diet. Having been a vegetarian for two years and a vegan for 1.5 years, I don't see myself ever going back to my prior omnivorous ways and greatly enjoy my current lifestyle and diet. I do understand that it is not for everyone, but I believe that everyone can take steps, no matter how big or small, toward a more sustainable diet.

2. An article on the "dark side" of coffee explores the harms that the drink can cause and suggests healthier alternatives for readers to try. Although many people have no doubt seen studies showing that coffee is beneficial to health, there is enough contradictory evidence showing that it is actually damaging instead. I imagine that we may be in an era that believes coffee is beneficial to one's health, similar to how previous generations believed cigarettes were healthy. The article is definitely worth a read, and it's worth considering whether drinking coffee is actually helping you or not. I would suggest doing what I have done before: cut out coffee for several days, weeks, months, or years, and then return to it and see how you feel.

3. Is American car culture being replaced by technology and social media? An article explores the emerging trend of age-eligible teenagers who opt-out of obtaining their driver's licenses at 16. Back in the day, teenagers were more-than-excited to earn their licenses as soon as they hit the required age mark, but nowadays they are opting to wait longer. The article proposes the idea that maybe the ability to reach more people and explore more of the world via a mobile phone has replaced the desire to get behind the wheel. 

4. I enjoyed this light-hearted piece about the science behind why we kiss. It turns out that it is a combination of nature and nurture—kissing most likely originated from a missed attempt to smell another human up-close-and-personal style, and the act is a learned behavior that most hunter-gather societies don't share.

5. Former federal prisoner Michael Santos explains how he learned about the Internet and published a website from inside prison. His story is full of great tidbits, like how he realized a lot had changed in society when he got online and saw that the average attention span was drastically shorter due to the short formats that social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Vine have popularized. I was especially enchanted by the way that he used the Internet to help him achieve success in the real world, which is generally a very difficult for ex-prisoners to do.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

This Week in Psychedelics - 9.11.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Here's Why We Hear So Many False Claims About Cannabis (Independent Scientific Committee On Drugs)
• Study: Young People Are Smoking Less Tobacco, More Marijuana (ATTN:)
• I Went to a Cannabis Salon to Taste Farm-to-Table Weed (Munchies)
• Israel Could Grow Into A Global Cannabis Startup Superpower (TechCrunch)
• We Have No Idea What Kind Of Cannabis We're Buying (Discovery News)
• How Marijuana Affects Your Workout (ATTN:)
• Parliament to debate cannabis legalization next month (The Independent)
• Marijuana Will Be Tax-Free for a Day in Colorado (Time)
• Vaping: The latest scourge in drug abuse (CNN)
• Deer Devour Hemp Crops At Southern Oregon Farm (The Associated Press)
• Southwest Cannabis Conference Coming to Phoenix Next Month (Phoenix New Times)
• Proponents want Pa. to legalize medical cannabis, farmed hemp (The Standard Speaker)
• High School Kids Use E-Cigarettes to Smoke Cannabis: Study (NBC)
• Cannabis farms in Reading drop by half in the last year (Get Reading)
• Middle School And High School Students Use E-Cigarettes To Vaporize Cannabis: Study (Medical Daily)
• Cannabis compliance: Why good books, solid security and great tech are key (Upstart)
• N. Texas cafe will sell cannabis drinks and snacks (Chron)
• Could Cannabis Be Decriminalized in the UK? (Vice News)
• Twisted Sister Leads a Yoga and Cannabis Retreat (Westword)

LSD

• Oliver Sacks Used LSD Legally. Is the Drug War Preventing Great Discoveries? (The Huffington Post)
• Treatment For Anxiety May Be Found Using Mood Enhancing Drug LSD, According To A New Report (Inquisitr)
• Other Colours: Rob Chapman On Psychedelia And LSD (The Quietus)
• Music sounds better on LSD, study finds (ZME Science)
• This YouTuber Taken on Acid (LSD) vs. Alcohol Challenge - Find Out What Happened! (Food World News)
• The era of love-ins, light shows and LSD (Halifax Courier)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• This Is What It Feels Like to Treat Depression with Magic Mushrooms (Vice)
• Terence McKenna Had a Bad Trip in the Late 80's and Never Took Mushrooms Again (Disinformation)
• Doctor enjoyed 'shrooms and ecstasy' (San Diego Reader)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• The "Amend The RAVE Act" Petition is Going to Congress (Dance Music Northwest)
• MDMA (Ecstasy) Can Accelerate Personal Growth (Reset.me)
• DEA Approves Ecstasy For Anxiety, MDMA Trials Begin In California (Practically Viral!)
• MDMA 'could be used to treat mental illness', scientists say (Metro)
• What Exactly is MDMA (Ecstasy)? (Press Rocket Release)
• A Little 'Molly' and then 'She Was Gone' (CBN News)
• Nearly 200 People Arrested On First Two Days Of Nocturnal, Mostly For Trespassing (Your EDM)
• 'This is what one tiny pill can do to you': Teen who was left in a wheelchair with slurred speech after taking ecstasy releases video of how her life has changed (Daily Mail)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca IN the USA UPDATE! Ayahuasca church opening soon! (YouTube)
• Personal Story: How Ayahuasca Helped Me Defeat A Demon Called Fear (Reset.me)
• Ayahuasca & Relationships (Jayson Gaddis)

Peyote/Mescaline

• Kim Davis and the Freedom of Religion (The Huffington Post)
• Orentlicher: RFRA poses little threat (Indy Star)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• How iBogaine Fights Stubborn Prescription Painkiller Addictions (iBogaine-Thailand)

Salvia Divinorum

• 5 Drug Scares vs. Reality (Reason)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Psychedelic drug emergency at seminar near Hamburg (Deutsche Welle)
• Homeopathy conference ends in chaos after delegates take hallucinogenic drug (The Independent)
• Synthetic cannabis dealing 'an issue throughout the community' (The Timaru Herald)
• Editorial: NBOMe — a nasty designer drug that parents know too little about (The Dallas Morning News)
• Drug in teen's system rarely seen by DFW law officers (Star-Telegram)

Dissociatives

• Baltimore drug startup Cerecor launches new study of antidepressant as it plans stock sale (The Baltimore Sun)
• Bring Me The Horizon's Oil Sykes on drug addiction: 'Ketamine made me want to die' (NME)

Opiates/Opioids

• The stigma against people who use heroin makes it harder for them to get help (The Conversation)
• The Fantasy of Stopping the 'Heroin Epidemic' by Stopping the Heroin (Reason)
• Pill crackdown may boost heroin sales (El Paso Times)
• Thailand's Northern 3rd Army Destroys Thousands of Opium Poppy Fields (Chiangrai Times)
• Price Soars For Key Weapon Against Heroin Overdoses (National Public Radio)
• KPD officers now have Naloxone to help overdose victims (WBIR-TV)
• With rising heroin use, Peninsula doctor lobbies for an antidote (Alaska Public Media)
• Naloxone prescriptions creating hurdles (Victoria News)
• As Heroin Epidemic Grows, So Does Rehab Wait (NBC)
• A new practice (The Times-News)
• Scituate officials call for action in wake of opiate crisis (Scituate Mariner)
• Ohio Couple Calls Out Heroin Overdose in Teen Daughter's Obituary (NBC)
• Naloxone Hydrochloride: An Antidote to Drug Overdose (The Science Times)
• Tatamy police receive life-saving atomizers for overdose victims (Lehigh Valley Live)
• In Myanmar's Opium-Rich Shan State, Addicts Without Options (Voice of America)
• 'Reopening of opium vends in Rajasthan unfortunate' (Times of India)
• Naloxone reverses effects of drug overdose, experts say (Fox 13 Salt Lake City)
• As Overdose Deaths Climb, So Does Demand For Their Antidote (Bloomberg)
• The new war on heroin has only just begun (Business Insider)
• Families open up about the changing face of heroin addiction (CBS News)
• Littlest victims of America's heroin epidemic (CBS News)
• All-Time High: The Narcan/Heroin Complex (Delaware County News Network)
• Heroin epidemic hits Vermont community hard (CBS News)
• Illinois Senate rejects Rauner's veto of anti-heroin bill (The Hawk Eye)
• Heroin Fatalities in Hartford County: 'These Are Not Just Numbers' (Bel Air Patch)
• Cumberland County police officers to begin carrying Naloxone (The Sentinel)

Kambô

• Kambô: Nature's Vaccine For The Mind And Body (Reset.me)

Kratom

• Experts Speak Out on Benefits of Kratom: Why it Would be a Mistake to Ban It (Business Wire)
• Kratom leaves: Are they really a dangerous drug? (Bangkok Post)
• Man Claims His Wife's Odd Addiction Is Destroying Their Marriage (The Huffington Post)

Kava

• I drank kava -- the trendy, non-alcoholic beverage that's supposed to make you feel high -- but it just made me sick (Business Insider)
• Kava ruling (The Fiji Times)

Khat

• Mo Farah admits he did take drug Khat - but says he only wanted to try it and used it before it was banned by the authorities (Daily Mail)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Psychedelics Promise a 'Paradigm Shift' in Treating Mental Illness (Newsweek)
• Susan Sarandon carried LSD guru Timothy Leary's ashes in a Burning Man ceremony (USA Today)
• Psychedelic drugs could treat several mental conditions (Pulse Headlines)
• Use of LSD, MDMA and magic mushrooms aid treatment of anxiety, addiction and PTSD (International Business Times)
• Experts call for study of possible therapeutic uses of psychedelic drugs (The Globe and Mail)
• Could these psychedelic drugs be making the trip to a B.C. doctor's office near you? (The Province)
• Psychedelic drugs as treatment for anxiety, addiction (CBS News)
• Psychedelics Promising for Anxiety, Depression, Addiction, and PTSD (Psychiatry Advisor)
• LSD, magic mushrooms and ecstasy could be used to treat mental health disorders (Northern Californian)
• Attend LA's Psychedelic Conference And Learn From The Leading Healers And Experts (Reset.me)
• How to Change the World review - the psychedelic birth of Greenpeace (The Guardian)
• 'Ingenious' dark web drug network run from Irish bedroom (Independent.ie)

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.

Book Review - Ishmael

Ishmael is a philosophical novel written by Daniel Quinn that was published in 1992. The story begins with a newspaper ad: "Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person." The unnamed narrator decides to check it out and finds himself in a room with a telepathically-communicating gorilla named Ishmael. The basic plot of the book involves a Socratic dialogue between Ishmael and the narrator focusing on "how things came to be this way" for humankind.

The concepts covered during their conversation include an exploration of the mythological thinking that forms the underpinning of our modern civilization's consciousness and consequential actions, that humans are not the pinnacle of evolution (nor exempt from the laws of nature or the rule of the Gods), and how the story we have chosen to enact has contributed to our ethical understanding of the world and a potential societal and environmental collapse that lurks just beyond today's horizon. There is also a story woven throughout the main Socratic dialogue that features Ishmael's history as a member of a menagerie and adoption by a wealthy benefactor.

Some of the major themes in the book include the idea that the Book of Genesis from the Bible truly refers to the decimation of nomadic hunter-gatherer societies by agricultural societies, that eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil convinced modern humans that they have the right to decide which species live and die, and that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with people—rather it is the story told for the last ten thousand years by Mother Culture that has been enacted that is harmful. This last aspect of the book really reminded me of Charles Eisentein's The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible, which echoes and expands upon a lot of the points Quinn makes about that story.

Following Ishmael are two books penned by Quinn that form a loose trilogy: The Story of B, a 1996 spiritual sequel, and My Ishmael, a 1997 followup. So far I have only read the first book in this trilogy, but hope to make my way through the rest of it in due time.

I greatly enjoyed this novel. Early on, it reminded me of Sophie's World, a novel by Jostein Gaarder that was the center of discussion during an International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge course in high school. I suppose I drew that comparison due to the format of the book—a wise teacher with an understanding of philosophy uses the Socratic dialogue method to teach philosophical concepts to a pupil. The method involves the pupil working through the concepts "out loud" throughout the book's pages, which allows the reader to absorb them in a different manner than if they had been presented directly from the teacher. Another book I have read that uses the same style is Plato's The Republic. Although it isn't my favorite format, I think it may be growing on me because I really enjoyed Ishmael, and a major reason for that was the way the book allowed me to work through the concepts alongside the pupil. There is quite a bit to absorb from this novel, and it definitely warrants a re-read at some point.

Overall, I found Ishmael to be an excellent book and would recommend it to anyone frustrated with the current state of the world, an interest in human and evolutionary history and/or philosophy, and environmental activists that would like to see positive global changes come to fruition. With knowledge like this in our toolbox, I firmly believe humanity could rethink its position in nature's hierarchy, construct a new story for modern culture to enact, and reverse its course for the betterment of all life on Earth and beyond.

5/5 stars. 263 pages

Weekend Thoughts - 9.5.15

Image by mark6mauno, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. An interesting take on AI in an article titled Will Artificial Intelligence get high? This is something I had never considered before, but it is an interesting concept to explore. I like this quote at the end: "So if there ever is an epic battle between the sentient machine and humanity, AI has already won; because we are starting to depend on it—and only because we designed it that way."

2. ATTN: 5 Charts That Prove the War on Drugs Is a Nightmare. Here are the main points:

1. More federal prisoners are being given longer sentences than before the 1980s—average prison sentence for federal drug offenders rose 36% while sentences for all other offenders declined 3%.

2. Sentences have become increasingly harsh for federal drug offenders—probation has virtually disappeared as a sanction for them.

3. The war on drugs hasn't stopped people from using illicit substances—in fact, illegal drug use has increased.

4. Federal law enforcement agencies have been targeting mostly low-level drug offenders—nearly half of those sentenced for drug crimes in 2009 were street-level dealers or below while suppliers and importers represented just 11%.

5. Reduced sentences does not translate into higher recidivism rates.

I definitely suggest taking a look at the article and sharing it with your family, friends and open-minded colleagues.

3. In commemoration of today's holiday, Jury Rights Day, I wanted to share an article about how Denver is unconstitutionally harassing citizens that inform the public about the process of jury nullification. For those of you not in the know, jury nullification is a legal practice that gives the jury in a trial the right to acquit a defendant (even if the members of the jury may believe the defendant performed an illegal act), because they don't believe the defendant should be punished for it. This has proved to be a very powerful tactic in drug war reform, as juries can decide to simply not punish a defendant for a law that may have been broken, on the collective opinion that the law itself is unjust. The fact that Denver is attempting to prevent people from spreading information about jury nullification is upsetting and wrong. More people ought to know that they can have a huge impact when serving on juries, so please share the knowledge about this practice with your friends and family.

4. In a news story that reminded me of the stoner comedy Biodome, it seems that NASA has initiated a Mars isolation experiment on Earth by securing six people for one year inside a dome in Hawaii. The idea behind the experiment is to maintain a Mars-like environment with no animals and limited vegetation and keep the team in isolation to prepare them for living on Mars. The structure they are living in is 36 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall, and the crew is expected to eat foods like powdered cheese and canned tuna, only go outside if fully dressed in a space suit, and have extremely limited access to the Internet. I'm sure they won't be laughing nearly as much as Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin did in the movie.

5. A new study shows that long exposure to minute amounts (below the level permissible in U.S. water) of Monsanto's Roundup can lead to liver and kidney damage. The research looked at prolonged exposure to the herbicide and one of its key ingredients—glyphosate. Do these findings constitute more evidence that we should let our wildlife grow wilder?

6. This article on why drug tests are a massive scam really nails it. I've long been a ferocious opponent of the drug testing industry, and this article points out many of the reasons that I have come to that conclusion. Among some of the best tidbits from the article: the tests are easily beaten, they discriminate against drugs that are actually less harmful, they waste money for employers and provide a constant revenue stream for private corporations that administer them, and they don't deter drug use. In many cases employers end up losing their most qualified employees due to drug testing. Gifted and talented students are prevented from participating in extracurricular activities due to drug testing, and/or lose their access to federal aid for university. Did you know that 90% of positive drug tests are attributed to cannabis use, and that if you smoked a joint three Friday nights ago and remained completely sober since then, you would likely still test positive for cannabis use? Why is it acceptable for alcohol users to get completely blitzed in their free time with a drug that is far more harmful than cannabis, yet smokers are discriminated against through the unconstitutional practice of drug testing? If you have any doubts about the lack of merit concerning drug testing, I beg you to read this article.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.