Weekend Thoughts - 7.30.16

Image by Matt, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. From beanies to capes, man shorts to leggings, hipster clothing carries with it a bit of nostalgia. Why is that? Well, it turns out that the origins of today's hipster clothing trends has its roots in colonial times. For a brief history of the influence that colonialism had over today's hipster fashion sense, take a look at the linked article.

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 7.29.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Can You Get Away with Mailing Cannabis Through the USPS? (Leafly)
• The Average Legal Marijuana User Spends $645 A Year On The Green Stuff (Consumerist)
• German, Italian Lawmakers Debate Bills to Expand Cannabis Access (Leafly)
• Hillary Clinton Evolving on Cannabis? Maybe. Slowly. A Little. (Leafly)
• Survey: Military Vets Strongly Support Medical Cannabis Access (NORML)
• Poll: A Plurality of Republicans Now Want to Legalize Marijuana (Reason)
• Massachusetts: Adult Use Marijuana Measure Qualifies For November Ballot (NORML)
• Bhutan Emerges as Contraband Cannabis Hub (High Times)
• Could therapeutic cannabis help slow opioid abuse? (New Hampshire Union Leader)
• Cannabis startups and the ghost of Nancy Reagan (Recode)
• Oregon's Counties Still Living Under Cannabis Prohibition, Mapped (The Potlander)
• Cannabis fair gives away free pot samples (KOIN)
• The Problem Plaguing Marijuana Legalization (ATTN:)
• After Legalization in Colorado, Reports of Kids Who Accidentally Ate Marijuana Rose (Reason)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Psychedelic May Help with Smoking Cessation, Says Study (Monthly Prescribing Reference)
• It's magic mushroom time for Kerala drug users (The News Minute)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• We Asked an Optometrist Why Molly Makes Your Eyeballs Shake (VICE)
• Why You Get 'Brain Zaps' After Taking MDMA, and How You Can Stop Them (VICE)
• Woman, 19, dies after taking ecstasy on Leeds night out (The Guardian)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• DMT is becoming more popular in Australia (News.com.au)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• A Psychedelic Can Cure Heroin Withdrawal (The Atlantic)
• The Cost : Why is iBogaine Treatment Expensive? (iBogaine Thailand)

Dissociatives

• How Nitrous Oxide Inspired Early Psychedelic Literature (VICE)
• New trials use ketamine to treat alcohol addiction (The Drinks Business)
• From ketamine to cupboard therapy: the future of mental health treatment (The Guardian)

Opiates/Opioids

• Naloxone Eases Pain of Heroin Epidemic, but Not Without Consequences (The New York Times)
• Overdose-reversal drug naloxone now available in Florida without an individual prescription (Tampa Bay Times)
• Macedonian Experts See Opium Poppy as a Possible Solution to Economic Woes (Latin American Herald Tribune)
• Calm Down About the 'Opioid Epidemic' (Reason)

Absinthe

• Cannabis Absinthe is Real and Here's Where to get it (Green Rush Daily)
• In Prague, Better Alcohol Means Better Absinthe (Munchies)

Kratom

• Kratom Vs SSRI Antidepressants – Which is the Best? (Kratom Guides)
• Poison control centers are getting a surge of calls about 'natural' painkiller kratom (STAT)

Kava

• This Tea Will Get You High (Gizmodo)

Khat

• Oman crime: Man arrested for smuggling drugs (Times of Oman)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• How LSD and shrooms could help treat anxiety, addiction, and depression (Vox)
• America's "Psychedelic Spring"—Why Are These Drugs Growing in Cultural Importance Again? (AlterNet)
• First ever festival to test users' drugs (BBC News)
• Did Psychedelics Create the Search for Meaning in Western Civilization? (Psychedelic Times)
• Olympic Drug Cops Will Scan for Genetically Modified Athletes (Wired)
• The Drug War and the Crime of Drive (or Walking) While Black (Reason)
• The Worst Drugs to Get Caught With in America (ATTN:)
• Yahoo must explain how it got a drug trafficker's deleted email (Engadget)
• Anti-Drug War Philly DNC Protesters March Giant Joint (Reason)
• Drugs and the Divine: Where Psychedelics Overlap with Spiritual Practices (Publishers Weekly)

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 - 7.23.16

Image by Eddie Yu, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy (belated) Saturday y'all! (Last week's posts are coming out late due to some issues on my end. My apologies!) Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. I thought this video depicting how tennis balls are made was pretty interesting, and you might too. It's a typical assembly line factory job, and it looks pretty terrible for the people working there, but the actual process of making the balls is visually compelling.

2. A 3.7 magnitude "earthquake" that was reported 168 miles off of Daytona Beach, Florida, turns out to not have been a natural event at all. In fact, it was a military test. The U.S. Navy performed a "shock trial" for a new combat ship, the USS Jackson, which was interpreted as an earthquake. Interestingly, seismographs as far away as Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, and North Carolina registered the event.

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 7.22.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• DEA Opens the Door to Cannabis Research with Clinical PTSD Trials (Psychedelic Times)
• Big Pharma's Concerned About These Marijuana Stats (ATTN:)
• Colorado town finds THC in water, warns residents not to drink or bathe in it (The Denver Post)
• Montana: Medical Cannabis Restoration Initiative Qualifies For November Ballot (NORML)
• Poll: Two-Thirds Of Americans Say 'Efforts To Enforce Marijuana Laws Cost More Than They Are Worth' (NORML)
• Pennsylvania Legalizes Industrial Hemp (Reason)
• This Former Prison Was Purchased by a Marijuana Company (ATTN:)
• Cannabis: Bronze Age Yamna culture may have introduced cannabis to Europe and Asia 5,000 years ago (International Business Times)
• Dabado Helps Cannabis Concentrate Users Put Down The Blow Torch (Forbes)
• Cannabis industry bolstering retail, manufacturing job growth in Colorado (The Denver Post)
• People Using This Health Remedy Are Often Denied Organ Transplants (ATTN:)
• HelloMD looks to its 'Quora for cannabis' as a source of growth (TechCrunch)
• Why Does Cannabis Get You "High" and Make You Feel Good? (Leafly)
• Government could make $150 million annually from taxing cannabis (Stuff.co.nz)
• First medical cannabis dispensary in Florida receives Authorization to Dispense (WPTV)
• A Strange Blend: Why Are Europeans Mixing Cannabis and Tobacco? (Leafly)
• Fund-raising in Cannabis, Initially Slow, Is Going Higher and Higher (Yahoo! Finance)
• "Why do Republicans Respect Marijuana Prohibition Like it Came From Moses?" (Reason)

LSD

• Doors of Perception: How Aldous Huxley Brought LSD Therapy to His Readers (Psychedelic Times)
• How LSD Went From Research to Religion (JSTOR Daily)
• Watch: Kristen Wiig is sorry for that time she slipped Seth Myers LSD (Vox)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• UAB professor wants to fight dependence with psychedelics (Weld for Birmingham)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Studying ecstasy or MDMA's effects may lead to autism or PTSD drug development (International Business Times)
• A New Documentary Explores Whether or Not MDMA Use Can Solve Your Relationship Problems (Thump)
• This Ecstasy Review Site Is a Hotbed of Perfect Pill-Related Prose (Thump)
• Scientists say MDMA needs to be studied, not demonised (ScienceAlert)
• Drug dealers selling Pokemon ecstasy pills to target youngsters and cash in on computer game craze (Mirror)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Visionaries (The California Sunday Magazine)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Hallucinogenic African bark could be the answer to heroin addiction, and addiction in general (Colorado Springs Independent)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• What Is Fake LSD And How Can You Avoid It (High Times)

Dissociatives

• New Trials Are Using Ketamine to Treat Alcohol Addiction (Motherboard)
• Woman High on PCP Steals Car from North Haven Gas Station: Police (Patch)
• Police rescue woman who climbed crane after taking PCP (Bristol Herald Courier)

Opiates/Opioids

• Congress Is Doing Something About the Opioid Epidemic (ATTN:)
• Our Opioid Crisis Reveals Deep Racial Bias In Addiction Treatment (TIME)
• This Judge Wants Drug Dealers to Pay for Naloxone (ATTN:)
• As Prescription Painkiller Addiction Soars, Drug Companies Raise Overdose Treatment Price By 1000% (Mintpress News)
• To End the Opioid Epidemic, We Need Way More Than OD Treatments (Wired)
• US War In Afghanistan Is Fueling Global Heroin Epidemic & Enabling The Drug Trade (Mintpress News)

Absinthe

• Photo Gallery: A Touch of Absinthe (Loudoun Now)

Kratom

• What to Know About Kratom and Dehydration (Kratom Project)
• How to Get Rid of Kratom Tolerance? (Kratom Guides)
• Making a Kratom Quid – A Guide to Chewing Kratom Leaves (Kratom Project)
• Is Your Kratom Causing Itchy Skin? (Kratom Project)
• How Is Kratom Metabolized? (Kratom Project)
• Kratom Irritability from Use & Withdrawal (Kratom Project)

Kava

• No Khat For You (Economy Watch)
• Growers want Kava Bill passed (The Fiji Times)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Why People Are Drinking Tobacco in the Amazon (Munchies)
• How to Become an Addiction Recovery Coach Who Incorporates Psychedelic Integration (Psychedelic Times)
• Drugs, Dissociatives and Displacement: The Festival Drug Report - Part 1 (VolteFace)
• The Reason Saliva Drug Testing Hasn't Caught On (ATTN:)
• What if all drugs were totally legal? (Boing Boing)
• Mississippi's prison town are in danger of collapse, thanks to tiny reforms in the War on Drugs (Boing Boing)
• The True Cost of This $2 Drug Test (ATTN:)
• Emulating Nixon, Trump Sounds Softer Than Dukakis on Drugs (Reason)

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

Weekend Thoughts - 7.16.16

Image by David, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Ah, physics. Prepare to be mesmerized: here is a video of 32 out-of-sync metronomes that become in-sync due to the transfer of force.

2. New research shows that half of all food produce in the United States is thrown away. In fact, discarded food is the largest component of landfills and incinerators in the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This is a terrible tragedy—there are plenty of people that could be eating that food, and we could be giving back to the Earth by composting food waste rather than throwing it in the garbage.

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