This Week in Psychedelics - 12.30.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Cops Seize Cannabis Plant Decorated As A Christmas Tree (The Huffington Post)
• Will German Insurance Companies Start Covering Cannabis in 2017? (Weed News)
• Nevada accidentally leaks thousands of medical marijuana dispensary applications (ZDNet)
• 16 cannabis lifestyle trends that helped define 2016 (The Cannabist)
• Officials warn of medical cannabis scammers (The Baltimore Sun)
• Can The Cannabis Industry Deliver An Organic, Environmentally Sensitive High (OPB News)
• Dog treats laced with cannabis a growing business (The Times-Picayune)
• Doctors For Cannabis Regulation Has A Powerful Message (Weed News)
• 'I smoked 25 cannabis joints every day': George Michael turned to drugs in grief over lover (Mirror)
• Thailand Approves Hemp Cultivation as Part of Drug Reforms (Ganjapreneur)
• Massachusetts: Lawmakers Amend Voter-Initiated Marijuana Legalization Measure (NORML)
• Cannabis Industry Gets Image Boost from Celebrities in 2016 (Leafly)
• This Officer's Response to a Teen's Marijuana Offense Is Going Viral (ATTN:)
• Cannabis And Your Metabolism (Weed News)
• Bill Maher Just Issued a Dire Warning to Marijuana Advocates (ATTN:)
• What are Terpenes in Cannabis? (The Weed Blog)
• Cannabis Wellness And Hormone Levels (Weed News)

LSD

• LSD Makes Adult Brains Childlike (Inverse)
• The 2016 Experiment of the Year (Inverse)
• This is what it's like to be on LSD (The indy100)
• Sheriff's Office warns parents about violence sparked by LSD (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Here's what magic mushrooms do to your body and brain (ScienceAlert)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• People Have Been Using MDMA to Treat PTSD for Decades (Broadly)
• The Truth About MDMA & Mental Health (Yahoo! Sports)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca and the Geometry of Sound: An Interview with Artist Tanya Harris (Psychedelic Times)
• Hallucinogenic plant ayahuasca gains foothold in US (Daily Mail)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Designer drugs still a problem on mines (MiningNews.net)

Dissociatives

• New Florida therapy center treats depression with ketamine (NEWS10 ABC)
• Stamford woman allegedly struggled with Darien police while high on PCP (The Advocate)

Opiates/Opioids

• George Michael's boyfriend reveals he died alone at home and 'battled a secret heroin addiction' (The Telegraph)
• B.C. veterinarian saves puppy with opioid-reversing naloxone (Vancouver Sun)
• Heroin Cut With Elephant Tranquilizer Hits Another State As Overdoses Surge (The Daily Caller)
• Fentanyl deadlier than heroin (Inquirer)
• Maryland jail inmates to be trained to administer overdose drug (The Baltimore Sun)

Kratom

• Kratom And Opiates Cross-Tolerance (Kratom Guides)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Psychedelic Drugs Research And Therapy Have Reached A 'Turning Point', Campaigners Say (The Huffington Post)
• America Is Finally Ready to Change the Way It Talks About Drugs (WIRED)
• Three Reasons Advocates Should Understand the Limitations of Psychedelic Therapy (Psychedelic Times)
• How drugs can lead to an early death (CNN)
• Have a Hardcore Holiday with a Psychedelic Cyber-Santa (The Creators Project)
• This Is How Animals Get High (Merry Jane)
• Federal Appeals Court Nixes Blanket Drug Screening of State College Students (Reason)
• Psychedelic drugs enlighten $2.5 trillion problem (Breakingviews)
• The Year's Best Drug Scares (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 - 12.24.16

Image by Dan Spencer, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Although the Technology Industry is well-known for providing free alcoholic beverages to its employees year-round, the practice may be doing more harm than good by alienating non-drinkers. As a recent teetotaler myself (I have been doing the One Year No Beer challenge since the beginning of November), I definitely sympathize with this sentiment. When one (or more) of the major perks that a company is offering don't apply or appeal to you, you feel a bit left out. It leads to feeling under-appreciated and and encourages unhealthy behavior. So while Silicon Valley may not want to completely stop offering booze to its employees, it may be helpful to reassess its relationship with alcohol and consider providing healthier alternatives for those who choose to abstain.

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.23.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• DEA CBD Oil Schedule 1 Memo, Kratom Ban Ignore Potential Medical Benefits (Inquisitr)
• Study: Medical Marijuana Laws Associated With Fewer Traffic Fatalities (NORML)
• 13 Great Gifts for Your Favorite (Legal) Cannabis Enthusiast (Vogue)
• Why Does Cannabis Produce THC? (Leafly)
• Survey Indicates Adolescent Marijuana Use Fell After Colorado Pot Shops Opened (Reason)
• 10 Awesome Cannabis-Inspired Holiday Gifts for your Pets (Merry Jane)
• Montreal police raid illegal cannabis shops and arrest 'Prince of Pot' (The Guardian)
• NORML Releases Open Letter to Vice President-Elect Mike Pence on Marijuana Policy (NORML)
• We Need To Stop Infantilizing Young Adults Over Cannabis Access (The Huffington Post)
• Maine: Recount Effort Halted, Question 1 Victory Stands (NORML)
• Portland, Oregon, May Allow Delivery-Only Cannabis Retailers (Leafly)
• DEA Says New Cannabis Extract Code Does Only Good Things (U.S. News & World Report)
• Lacing dog treats with cannabis is big business (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Boston Could Become 'Cannabis Capital of the World,' Say Industry Analysts (Boston Magazine)
• Hemp Producer Ecofibre Ditches Australia's Medical Cannabis Rules for the US (Leafly)
• What We Learned at the "Innovation in the Cannabis Industry" Conference (Merry Jane)
• Parents Beware, Study Shows That Children Absorb Chemicals From Secondhand Cannabis Smoke (Merry Jane)

LSD

• How Dropping Acid Helped Ayelet Waldman Overcome Depression (Publishers Weekly)
• Hamster named Mr Chow force fed cannabis and LSD by cruel owner (Newsline)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Santa Claus Is the Product of Magic Mushrooms? (Merry Jane)
• Psilocybin Can Have "Profound" Impact on Managing Anxiety and Depression in Mesothelioma Patients (MesotheliomaHelp.org)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• A medicine hunter explains the origins of Ecstasy and how it could become legal by 2021 (Business Insider)
• Girl, 16, left in coma 'with wires and tubes everywhere' after taking single 'Red Skull' ecstasy pill (Mirror)
• Teen Dies of MDMA Overdose at Toronto's Rebel Nightclub (Exclaim!)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• 8 of the Most Fascinating Videos About the Powerful Psychedelic Ayahuasca (AlterNet)
• Ayahuasca church granted religious-use rights by County (Bungalower)
• 10 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Drinking Ayahuasca (High Existence)
• How Feminine is Ayahuasca? (Reality Sandwich)
• True Life Update: What's Life Like For Jessica And Kyle Since They Tripped On Ayahuasca? (MTV)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Homeless have become target for synthetic marijuana sellers (Digital Journal)

Opiates/Opioids

• Even In Heroin Crisis, Drug-Testing High School Students Is A Waste Of Time And Money (Forbes)
• Why the Opioid Epidemic Could Get a Lot Worse (ATTN:)
• Pharma giants are being blamed for deaths after hiking the price of an opioid overdose drug (Insider)
• How Ohio Became the Center of the Opioid Crisis (ATTN:)
• Nearly 20 tons of drugs found in Afghanistan, possibly the largest heroin seizure in history (New York Daily News)
• When Naloxone Isn't Enough: Could Chest Compressions Save More Lives? (EMS World)
• Did Justin Trudeau Really Say He's Not "Philosophically Opposed" To Legalizing Heroin? (Refinery29)
• Heroin Is Now The Leading Cause Of Overdose Deaths In The U.S. (Forbes)
• Rodrigo Duterte Says His Admission of Opioid Abuse Was a Joke but Concerns Remain (TIME)
• Heroin deaths soar compared to other opioids, new study shows (PBS NewsHour)

Kambô

• How Kambo's Physical and Spiritual Properties Reduce Pain and Treat Addiction (Psychedelic Times)
• Catharsis After Tragedy: How Kambo Can Help Process Difficult Events (Psychedelic Times)

Kratom

• Kratom And Hydrocodone- A Powerful Combination Or Myth? (Kratom Guides)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Why 2016 was a positive year for psychedelic drugs being used as medicine (The Independent)
• These Are the 10 Most Deadly Drugs (TIME)
• Virtual Reality Acid Trips? Microsoft Developing Hallucination Experiences In 2017 (International Business Times)
• We three kings of Orient are... drug runners. And not kings (Psychedelic Press UK)
• What drugs were the Nazis on, anyway? (CNN)
• This Rare, Hallucinogenic Honey Is Sold For $166 Per Pound (UPROXX)
• Dismantling the Stigma: How Psychedelic Therapy Can Decrease Suicidal Tendencies (Psychedelic Times)
• James Taylor Cancels His Manila Concert Because of Rodrigo Duterte's War on Drugs (TIME)
• Are Psychedelics the New Prozac? (Outside Magazine)
• Wisconsin Native Shane Mauss Demystifies Psychedelics On His Comedy Tour (WUWM)
• Stephen Kessler: The deadly seriousness of psychedelic drugs (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

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 - 12.17.16

Image by Mydhili Bayyapunedi, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Disinfo dedicated an article to 2016 as the "year of disinformation". From England voting to leave the European Union to Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. 2016 Presidential Election, myriad global events were affected by "fake news". Influential companies like Google and Facebook are planning to develop filtering systems that will reduce or eliminate "fake news" stories, but that brings to mind many questions. Who will assess whether a story is legitimate or not? Will non-mainstream news sources be at a disadvantage? And ultimately, these companies may be more focused on making money than accurately identifying a true journalistic attempt versus clickbait. Although "fake news" has been around for a long time, it may be more prevalent than ever. That means that we must be personally accountable and stay vigilant—don't believe everything you read, see, or hear, and don't share any news without verifying its veracity first.

2. Along a similar vein, Edward Snowden was interviewed by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Periscope. Their conversation covered the proliferation of "fake news", the issues with metadata surveillance, an imbalance in privacy (private citizens increasingly have no privacy while public officials have maintained their levels of privacy), and some feature suggestions for Twitter to consider implementing. It's an excellent interview and definitely worth viewing.

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.16.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• New DEA Rule Says CBD Oil is Really, Truly, No-Joke Illegal (Leafly)
• Federal Marijuana Protections Extended Through April, But Face an Uncertain Future (NORML)
• Marijuana Is Harder Than Ever for Younger Teens to Find (U.S. News and World Report)
• Six States That Could Legalize Marijuana Next (ATTN:)
• The Major Way Israel Is Putting America to Shame on Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Mexico's Senate Passes Medical Cannabis Bill in Landslide Vote (Leafly)
• Cannabis museum celebrates legal weed in Uruguay (AZ Central)
• Massachusetts: Over a Century Of Cannabis Criminalization Comes to an End (NORML)
• Do Animals Benefit From Medical Cannabis? (Weed News)
• How The Medical Cannabis Program Helps My PTSD (Weed News)
• What Happens When You Stop Smoking Weed (ATTN:)
• Seattle cannabis shop sells pet-friendly pot products (KOMO News)
• How Cannabis Incubators Help Budding Marijuana Startups Grow Into Booming Businesses (Los Angeles Weekly)
• Canadian Government's Legal Marijuana Task Force Releases Recommendations (NORML)
• Portland tries to make life easier for cannabis businesses (Portland Business Journal)
• Colorado Cannabis Shops Hit $1-Billion In Sales (Civilized)
• Pot task force recommends legal cannabis sales be limited to users 18 and over (CBC)
• The end of an era in cannabis prosecutions? (Arutz Sheva)
• Marijuana Side Effects: Regular Cannabis Use Affects Vision And Eye's Retina, Study Finds (Medical Daily)
• Cannabis used to alleviate pain (Isle of Man Today)

LSD

• A Productive Person's Guide to a Little Bit of LSD (Bloomberg)
• JOHN WILCOCK: The History of East Coast Academic Acid (Boing Boing)
• Listen To John Lennon Tell The Story Of His First Acid Trip (Live for Live Music)
• CIA controlling minds through drugs (DunyaNews Pakistan)
• A Naked Man on LSD Got Mauled by K-9 After Ignoring Police Orders. Now He's a Rich, Naked Man... (Independent Journal Review)
• Ranchi students run drug biz through 'acid stamps' (Times of India)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Renowned Clinical Pharmacologist Talks Magic Mushrooms & Their Therapeutic Value (Collective Evolution)
• Psilocybin Mushrooms Shown to Alleviate Both Depression & Anxiety in Cancer Patients (Dr. Axe)
• How Magic Mushrooms Affect Depression (ATTN:)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• The Altered State of Medicine: Pros and Cons of Treating PTSD With MDMA Psychotherapy (Psychedelic Times)
• FDA Approves Stage 3 Medical Trials For MDMA (Dance Music Northwest)
• Ecstasy sold in US is less pure and more dangerous than in Europe, experts warn (The Guardian)
• Nearly 60% of All Ecstasy Sold in the US is Not Pure (THUMP)
• MDMA criminalization delayed research on drug's benefits: Sal Rodriguez (Los Angeles Daily News)
• Number Of Ecstasy-Related Deaths In The UK At Highest Level In Ten Years (Your EDM)
• Ecstasy 'teddy bear' pills: Cops' DEADLY warning as teen dies after Warehouse Project (Daily Star)
• 'I woke up with wires and tubes everywhere' Ecstasy pill teen talks of drug hell which left her in coma (Scottish Daily Record)
• 'The world has lost one amazing girl': Rugby club boss' agony as his beautician daughter, 19, dies after taking 'teddy bear' Ecstasy pills at an all-night rave (Daily Mail)
• Teenager dies after taking ecstasy (The Independent)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Why Ayahuasca Is a New Age Spiritual Scam (Highsnobiety)
• Sting takes powerful psychedelic to rehearse for death (New Magazine)

Dissociatives

• Party Drug/Cat Tranquilizer Ketamine Is a Great Antidepressant (Motherboard)
• Ketamine trial led by Melbourne doctors key to cut lingering pain (Herald Sun)
• PCP's powerful cousin: 3 things cops need to know about TCP (PoliceOne.com)
• Down the K-hole: How Ketamine Became Tel Aviv's Drug of Choice (Harretz)
• My Ketamine Journeys, or Ketamine and the Enchantment of Other Worlds (Reality Sandwich)
• Dr. Steven Reichbach Opens Only Ketamine Infusion Therapy Center In Sarasota-Manatee Area (Sarasota Post)
• Philadelphia Ketamine Clinic Offers New Depression Treatment That Works in Hours! (Digital Journal)
• Bridgeport man on PCP who shouted 'I love ISIS' gets prison for injuring others in crashes (The Times Herald)
• Man high on PCP punches cop: Police (PennLive)

Opiates/Opioids

• America risks losing the war on terror in Afghanistan unless it legalizes the opium trade (Quartz)
• Heroin Overdoses Now Kill More in US Than Gun Homicides, CDC Says (Voice of America)
• Heroin-Related Deaths Rise As Heroin Use Falls (Reason)
• Make heroin available on prescription, official UK drug advisers say (The Guardian)
• Fentanyl is not a problem. Drug laws are the problem. (American Thinker)
• Mexican army faces uphill battle against opium poppies (MSN)
• Naloxone is now mandatory in all B.C. rehab centres (CBC News)
• DEA: Heroin Haul Largest Ever in Afghanistan, 'if Not the World' (ABC News)
• Drug in the times of demonetisation: Chocolate spiked opium is cashless city's new high (India Today)
• Problems Associated with the Rising Costs of Naloxone and Plausible Solutions (Pharmacy Times)
• Lethal synthetic 'super heroin' triggers 1st Cook County overdose death (Chicago Tribune)
• Digging Deeper Into North Carolina's Statewide Standing Order Of Naloxone (WFMY)
• Utah pharmacists can now dispense naloxone without a prescription (Gephardt Daily)
• The rising price of naloxone -- risks to efforts to stem overdose deaths (American Pharmacists Association)
• Sharp Rise in Drug Withdrawal Symptoms in Rural-Born Babies (TIME)

Kambô

• How the Social Aspect of Traditional Kambo Ceremonies Creates Bonding and Helps Treat Addiction (Psychedelic Times)
• Kambo In the West: Balancing Western Applications With Tribal Knowledge (Psychedelic Times)

Kratom

• DEA Looks to Ban Kratom, a Drug that Could Lessen Addiction (Interesting Engineering)
• Is Kratom a Deadly Drug or a Life-Saving Medicine? (Bloomberg)

Kava

• Kava could help in cancer fight (Radio New Zealand)
• Kava maker (The Fiji Times)

Khat

• Oman crime: ROP personnel foil bid to smuggle khat (Times of Oman)
• Norwegian drug mule caught at Dublin Airport with suitcases of khat (Sunday World)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• What Are The Medical Benefits of Psychedelics? (VICE)
• For the Health Seeker, Micro-Dosing Psychedelics May be the Secret (EcoSalon)
• Cliff Roth's OG viral video: The Reagans Speak Out on Drugs (Boing Boing)
• These Harmless-Looking Patches Reveal a Problem With Our Police Culture (ATTN:)
• Colombia's President Urges Drug Peace While Accepting Nobel Peace Prize (Reason)
• This Hallucinogenic Honey from Nepal Costs Hundreds of Dollars per Pound (The Daily Meal)
• Mexico quietly marks 10 years of drug war (Inquirer.net)
• White Americans Are Twice as Likely to Take Psychiatric Drugs as Other Racial Groups (TIME)
• Ending journalism's bad trip – why it's important to communicate responsibly about the health effects of psychedelic drugs (Health News Review)
• How to Get High on the Nutmeg You Bought for Eggnog (Inverse)
• These are the European cities that use the most drugs (based on their toilet water) (TheJournal.ie)
• The psychedelic era goes modern (The Daily Aztec)
• The Fighter: How Leila de Lima Ended Up Leading the Opposition to Rodrigo Duterte's Drug War (TIME)
• Tripping the comedy fantastic this weekend (The Daily Iowan)

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.