This Week in Psychedelics - 6.2.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• France to quash prison terms for cannabis users (RFI)
• Will Cannabis Businesses Find It Easier To Put Money In The Bank? (East Bay Express)
• Why People Are 'Microdosing' Marijuana (ATTN:)
• DOJ Turns Attention to Cannabis Enforcement (Leafly)
• New Hampshire Cannabis Decriminalization Bill Heads to Governor (Leafly)
• Veterans Affairs Head 'Interested' in Medical Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Say What? Why 'Cannabis' Is Rising and 'Marijuana' Is Fading (Leafly)
• Here Are The Top 5 Financial Leaders In The Cannabis Industry (Forbes)
• The Holidays People Smoke the Most Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Nevada Cannabis License Applications Stream in as Deadline Approaches (Leafly)
• Why More Seniors Are Using Cannabis to Sleep (Leafly)
• The Ultimate Stoned Staycation: Take a Virtual Cannabis-Fueled Train Ride (Leafly)
• Smoking pure cannabis is better for your health than smoking it with tobacco, new research reveals (The Sun)
• Melissa Etheridge: 'Anybody Who Smokes Cannabis Is Using it Medicinally' (Leafly)
• Cannabis Is A Gateway Drug (Disinfo)
• Medical Cannabis Is The Next Boom, but When Will It Bust? (Delaware Law)
• San Diego Cannabis Festival Will Keep Trying After Venue Loss (Leafly)
• Medical Journal slams Cannabis Act for failing to protect youth (KamloopsBCNow)
• Court to Grandma: You Shouldn't Lose Your House Just Because Your Dumb Son Sold Some Weed There (Reason)
• 6 of the Best Cannabis Bath Products on the Market (Leafly)
• Cannabis growers overcome the powerful scent (North Day Business Journal)

LSD

• 'A voice told me to turn on the world': Hippy chemist who made purest LSD in the 1960s (Mirror)
• Bill Ward on the early days of Sabbath and drumming on LSD (TeamRock.com)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Measure To Legalize Psilocybin Proposed At Oregon Psychedelics Conference (OPB News)
• Global Survey Says Magic Mushrooms Are The Safest Recreational Drug (Forbes)
• Death and Family Healing with Psilocybin: A Conversation with Dennis McKenna (Psychedelic Times)
• Woman will share results of her year of psilocybin microdosing (Boing Boing)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Ireland takes MDMA more than any other country in the world (Mixmag)
• The dude who makes Ecstasy artwork is having his own exhibition (Stoney Roads)
• Justin Bieber's Been Searching For 'MDMA' On YouTube And There's Receipts To Prove It (We The Unicorns)
• Drug users warn 'bad batch' of MDMA drug called Gold Bars is on streets following tragic death of teenager (Mirror)
• 21-year-old remains in 'serious condition' after taking MDMA at Plymouth house party (Plymouth Herald)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Path of the Shaman doc goes deep with B.C. ayahuasca healer (MetroNews Canada)
• Holy Shit, People are Finally Building a DMT/Alien Contact Device! (Disinfo)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Treatment of opioid use disorders with ibogaine: detoxification and drug use outcomes (Taylor Francis Online)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• N-bomb alert in Mumbai: Cheapter LSD-like drug has cops on their toes (NYOOOZ)
• One New West teen dead, one critical after taking what they thought was MDMA (CTV News)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine may not reduce post-surgery pain, delirium (Medical News Today)

Opiates/Opioids

• In Mexico, The Price of America's Hunger for Heroin (The Washington Post)
• Overdose mapping system could be used in fight against heroin (WHAS)
• Baltimore makes overdose-reversing drug naloxone available over the counter (The Washington Times)
• North Carolina Police Found 2,000 Pounds of Opium While Looking for a Cannabis Grow-Op (Merry Jane)
• What you need to know about naloxone (Vancouver Sun)
• Dad overdoses on heroin to teach his addict son a lesson (New York Post)
• Opium Dens Are a Terrible Theme for Bars (CityLab)

Kratom

• Susan Ash Steps Down As American Kratom Association Chair (Inquisitr)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Ross Ulbricht Loses His Appeal Over Conviction and Sentencing in Silk Road Case (Reason)
• Mind-altering drugs lower suicide risks; study suggests (Business Recorder)
• Why you can't blame mass incarceration on the war on drugs (Vox)
• GLOBAL DRUG SURVEY 2017: 40% of the Novel Psychoactive Substances taken in Ireland are bought on the internet (Hot Press)
• The Long, Hard Road to a Science of Bad Drug Trips (Motherboard)
• Federal Prosecutors Say They Never See Low-Level Drug Offenders (Reason)
• Study: 'Donald Trump' Tops List of New Meth Nicknames (Rolling Stone)
• The World's Safest and Most Dangerous Recreational Drugs (ATTN:)
• Trump's Repeal of a Welfare Drug-Testing Regulation Backfires (Thankfully) (Reason)
• Psychedelics touted as solution for society (Ashland Daily Tidings)
• Magick & Psychedelic Novelty With Maja D'Aoust (Disinfo)
• Convicted Drug Trafficker Schapelle Corby Has Been Deported to Australia After 12 Years in Indonesia (TIME)
• This Pigeon Exposes a Hole in President Trump's Plan to Stop Drug Trafficking (ATTN:)

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.

Weekend Thoughts - 5.27.17

Image by Andy Kaye, 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 couple months ago I wrote a bit about how Border Agents have been requesting U.S. citizens to turn over passwords for their devices and social media accounts. As a response to Maciej Cegłowski's demand for software developers to create a "travel mode" that would prevent account access during the period that a traveller is expecting to be outside of the country, the password manager application 1Password has announced that a "travel mode" feature has in fact been created and will be included to everyone with a 1Password membership. Although this is the first company (that I am aware of, anyways) that has developed this type of functionality, hopefully we will begin to see it become more frequently offered by all types of software manufacturers. In the long run, our privacy and security concerns may be further protected against the prying eyes of the government with this type of feature.

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 5.26.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Michigan Cannabis Legalization Marches Toward 2018 Ballot (Leafly)
• Vermont Governor Phil Scott Vetoes Marijuana Legalization (NORML)
• Cannabis could help treat epilepsy in children (The Telegraph)
• The Pot Startups Prepping for Jeff Sessions' New War on Drugs (WIRED)
• Sign Us Up: WSU Needs Volunteers to Consume Cannabis (Leafly)
• That Time Joe Cocker Get Kicked Out of Australia for Cannabis (Leafly)
• The Government's Best Weapon Against Heroin Might Be Marijuana (Benzinga)
• Veterans Group Calls on Trump To Reschedule Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Epileptic high school athlete at center of cannabis oil debate (WSB-TV)
• Microdosing With Cannabis: Benefits Without the Buzz (Leafly)
• Are Cannabis Clubs Coming to Oregon? The Proposed Bill Sounds Promising (Leafly)
• DIY Cannabis Cultivation App 'WeGrow' Wants To Bring Flower To The People (Forbes)
• Malcolm X: From Cannabis Peddler to Iconic Civil Rights Activist (Leafly)
• South Dakota Jury Acquits Tribal Cannabis Consultant of All Charges (Reason)
• Cannabis Convictions Go up in Smoke With California Legalization (Leafly)
• Wine and Cannabis? Oregon Vineyards Give Marijuana Farming a Try (Leafly)
• Growing Cannabis At Home Requires More Than Green Thumb (KUNR)
• 5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Growing Your Own Cannabis (Leafly)
• San Diego D.A. Files Charges Against Marijuana Entrepreneur 16 Months After Seizing His Money (Reason)
• Your Guide to Pruning Cannabis Plants for Maximum Yield (Leafly)

LSD

• 100 Therapeutic LSD Trips Helped Cary Grant Prepare for the Future (Inverse)
• Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' at 50: John Lennon's Accidental 'Getting Better' Acid Trip (Rolling Stone)
• Chance the Rapper Seeking Chicago Students to Help Direct His 'LSD' Video (Billboard)
• A Really Good Day, one woman's chronicle of microdosing with LSD to control her moods (South China Morning Post)
• Nicholas Sand: Outlaw LSD producer fled to British Columbia (The Globe and Mail)
• LSD, drugs led to man's death in Snowmass Base Village parking garage (The Aspen Times)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Study finds mushrooms are the safest recreational drug (The Guardian)
• Research continues on psilocybin's effects on anxiety disorders (Auburn Citizen)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• MDMA Users Are Still Rolling Wrong, Says Massive New Drug Survey (Inverse)
• Student-Run Initiative Rolls Out Free MDMA Test Kits (The Bottom Line)
• Dutch Drug Labs Flooding U.S With Crystal Meth, Ecstasy via the Dark Web: Officials (Newsweek)
• A Pigeon Can Carry $10K in Street-Value MDMA (Inverse)
• Why father whose two sons died of an MDMA overdose wants drugs to be decriminalised (The Independent)
• GLOBAL DRUG SURVEY 2017: Ireland takes MDMA more regularly than any other country in the world (Hot Press)
• Scots among 'most prolific ecstasy users in the world' (The Scotsman)
• Schoolboy, 14, is left in a wheelchair after downing brandy then taking ecstasy and anxiety medication he bought from a teenage classmate before plunging 30ft out of a window (Daily Mail)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca and Artificial Intelligence: A Conversation with Dennis McKenna (Psychedelic Times)
• The Quest to Cure One Man's Depression with Ayahuasca (VICE)
• 'Icaros: A Vision' Review (The Hollywood Reporter)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Crazed druggie high on Black Mamba synthetic cannabis hacked his own hooter off with kitchen knife (The Sun)
• Psychoactive substances, including synthetic cannabis, are still in NZ (Stuff.co.nz)

Dissociatives

• Pain patients treated with ketamine less likely to experience depression (The Pharmaceutical Journal)
• Stanford researcher explores use of ketamine to treat severe mental illness (Scope)
• Times Square deadly accident - the driver wanted to 'kill them all' (Blasting News)
• Watch Texas Officer Shoot PCP Suspect Trying To Cut Man's Head Off (Law Officer)
• PCP, Meth And Heroin Found When Wildomar Man Blows Stop Sign: Police (Lake Elsinore Patch)

Opiates/Opioids

• An Accidental Confession Led Police to a $500 Million Opium Poppy Field in North Carolina (TIME)
• Website unites families of heroin overdose victims (WREG)
• Jane Philpott says pharmaceutical heroin a potential lifesaver in opioid epidemic (CBC News)
• CVS To Sell Opiate Overdose Drug Naloxone Without Prescription In Arizona (KJZZ)
• Heroin Disguised as Candy Becomes Latest Attempt to Hook Kids (WAER)

Kratom

• How Long Does It Take Kratom Tea To Kick In? (Kratom Guides)
• New York: Harness Trainer Suspended Indefinitely After Four Horses Test Positive For Kratom (Paulick Report)
• Advisory - Unauthorized "High By Nature" kratom products recalled by Garnoff Botanicals as they may pose serious health risks (Canada NewsWire)
• Is Red Kratom Good For Opiate Withdrawal? (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Kava In Our Markets Not Of Good Quality, Says Uraia Waibuta (Fiji Sun)
• Kava's risks outweigh any potential benefits (Auburn Citizen)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• President Trump Compliments Leader Who Executes His Citizens for Drug Charges (NORML)
• Help Support MAPS Initiative To Legalize Psychedelic Medicine For Those In Need (Collective Evolution)
• WATCH: Psychedelics Could Impact the Future of Humanity (AlterNet)
• We're Starting to Understand How Psychedelic Flashbacks Work (Tonic)
• The Silk Road Creator's Life Sentence Actually Boosted Dark Web Drug Sales (WIRED)
• Do Psychedelic Trips Change Your Political Views? (Motherboard)
• Use of psychedelic drugs may reduce the risk of suicide in female sex workers (Aidsmap)
• What is Psychedelic Group Coaching? Interview with Deanne Adamson of Being True to You (Psychedelic Times)
• Mobile drug testing under fire: are the NSW police and policymakers targeting the young and the poor? (Happy) 
• Will psychedelics go mainstream for psych treatment? One NYU researcher hopes so (Modern Healthcare)
• Becoming Certified in Recovery & Psycho-Spiritual Coaching: Interview with Deanne Adamson (Psychedelic Times)
• This Florida Prosecutor Campaigned on Reform and Fairness. Now She's Ratcheting Up the Drug War (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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Weekend Thoughts - 5.20.17

Image by Binder.donedat, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Well this is a first (for me at least): an argument in favor of electing an artificially-intelligent President instead of a biologically human. It's worth a read—maybe we'll eventually get to the point in our society where this wouldn't seem so crazy.

2. As a child, I was fascinated by dinosaurs. I even wanted to grow up to be a paleontologist, and always responded that way whenever asked "What to you want to be when you grow up?" If I had actually pursued that goal, perhaps I would have ended up taking over after miners in Canada accidentally stumbled across the best preserved fossil of its kind ever found, a 110 million-year old armored plant-eater called a nodosaur. The condition of this fossil is impressive, especially considering its large size and old age.

3. Glowing bike paths are a big hit in the Netherlands and Poland, and America could be next. Texas A&M is adding neon bike lanes to its campus, a true innovation because it is the first of its kind. Increased visibility is always helpful for drivers to see cyclists, so this seems like a win-win for everybody!

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 5.19.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Israel Decriminalizes Pot Possession (Reason)
• Social Consumption of Marijuana off to a Slow Start in Colorado (NORML)
• One million hours of police time a year 'wasted enforcing cannabis prohibition' (The Independent)
• Iowa Expands Medical Marijuana Access; Looks to Strike Deal With Minnesota for Quicker Access (Reason)
• PayPal Executive Ditches Mainstream Life For The Cannabis Industry (Forbes)
• New Jersey Looks Towards Recreational Marijuana Legalization (Psychedelic Times)
• Study: Racial Disparity in Marijuana Arrest Rates Increasing (NORML)
• Portland backs cannabis lounge bill, envisions 'craft' tourism boost (Portland Business Journal)
• Rick Doblin of MAPS Talks Medical Cannabis Trials and a Possible Legalization Timeline (Leafly)
• Cannabis Experts on Medical Marijuana in Arkansas (ArkansasMatters.com)
• Study: Inhaled Cannabis Controls Tics In Patients With Tourette's Syndrome (NORML)
• Why Cannabis Reform Crashed in Texas (Leafly)
• 5 Things to Know Before Using Medical Cannabis for Your Pets (Leafly)
• Cannabis yoga retreat now allowed in California (Blasting News)
• Florida Halts Sales of New Cannabis Product (Leafly)
• California's Cannabis Rules Are Here, Reminding That Legalization Was Never Going To Be Easy (East Bay Express)
• 10-year-old boy overdoses on cannabis-infused sour candy (KTRK-TV)
• Cannabis Flower Crowns: The Perfect DIY Smokeable Accessory (Leafly)
• Recipe: Cannabis-Infused Simple Syrup (Leafly)
• Lib Dems pledge to legalise cannabis so it can be sold in high street shops (The Telegraph)

LSD

• Designers on acid: the tripping Californians who paved the way to our touchscreen world (The Guardian)
• Nicholas Sand, Chemist Who Sought to Bring LSD to the World, Dies at 75 (The New York Times)
• 'Everyone should try this': Cary Grant's relationship with controversial LSD therapy doctor and the '100 acid trips that changed his life' are explored in new documentary to be screened at Cannes (Daily Mail)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Magic Mushrooms Are Shaping the Future of Psychiatric Treatment (Inverse)
• Clinical review: Psilocybin therapy could be significantly better than current psychiatric treatments (PsyPost)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Can This Drug Cure MDMA Overdoses? (Everfest)
• A neuroscientist explains why we need ecstasy and ketamine in place of Prozac and Xanax (Raw Story)
• Could new, natural MDMA change the rave scene? (Techno Moves)
• MDMA Moves One Step Closer to Phase 3 Clinical Trial (Reason)
• Could MDMA cure PTSD? Scientists believe ecstasy could be the key to helping war veterans battling mental health issues (Daily Mail)
• Medical examiner: Ecstasy, pre-existing condition killed University of Iowa student Sean Wu (The Gazette)
• Robert Spencer Apparently "Spiked" With Ecstasy While In Iceland (The Reykjavík Grapevine)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• The Medicine is the Teacher: A Conversation with Dennis McKenna about Ayahuasca, Shamanism, and Psychotherapy (Psychedelic Times)
• Ayahuasca: A Cautionary Tale For Tourists Eager To Try This Shamanic Brew (Collective Evolution)
• What is ayahuasca, the shaman's brew? (Mother Nature Network)
• 'The Last Shaman' follows a young man's Peruvian journey in search of mental health (Los Angeles Times)
• James Freeman's journey to find cure for depression (News.com.au)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• The Hallucinogenic Tree That Cures Addiction in One Dose (Inverse)
• Psychedelic Drug Banned In The U.S. May Help Battle Addiction (CBS San Francisco Bay Area)
• Diego Novella experienced eight-hour 'dream-like state' after taking ibogaine (The Citizen)

Morning Glory Seeds

• These Radiation-Proof Flower Seeds Could Help Spark Life on Exoplanets (Science Alert)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Sources: Times Square driver was apparently high on synthetic marijuana (K2) at time of pedestrian crash (WABC-TV)

Dissociatives

• FDA Data Support Ketamine as Depression Therapy (MedPage Today)
• Remembering When the 'Titanic' Crew Ate PCP-Spiked Clam Chowder (VICE)
• New Jersey Minivan Driver Stops Rush Hour Traffic To Masturbate While On PCP (Jalopnik)
• Dude has a hilarious reaction to a strong painkiller (Mashable)

Opiates/Opioids

• Heroin epidemic pushing up hepatitis C infections in US (WBRC)
• What You Need to Know About 'Gray Death' (ATTN:)
• Inside Myanmar's Surprisingly Harsh Heroin Rehab Centers (VICE)
• Pet Rat In Vancouver Overdoses On Heroin, Saved By Narcan (NPR)
• An Experiment Helps Heroin Users Test Their Street Drugs For Fentanyl (KUNC)
• Seattle heroin injection site plan faces new problems from voters (KVI)
• The Best and Worst States For Naloxone Access (The Fix)
• The US and Mexico may be teaming up to fight heroin, but the enemy is tougher than it appears (Stamford Advocate)
• The way we talk about opioid addiction hasn't really changed (Macleans)
• The Scary Reason Some Are Calling This Drug a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' (ATTN:)
• Party drugs increasingly being laced with fentanyl (CTV News)
• Heroin Deaths Spike as Pills Harder to Find (NBC6 Miami)
• Why Jeff Sessions' Memo Won't Fix the Opioid Epidemic (ATTN:)

Kratom

• Police worried about herbal product that can be used to achieve opiate-like high (CTV News)
• WKRN Nashville Kratom Scare Story Sourced From Scientology Propaganda (Inquisitr)
• Man Arrested For Selling Herb Some Opioid Addicts Call A Lifesaver (Vocativ)

Khat

• Man charged after illegal khat, tobacco seized at Edmonton business (CBC News)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Jeff Sessions Re-Escalates the Drug War By Ordering Prosecutors to Seek Maximum Sentences (Reason)
• Georgia PD: Our Drug Recognition Experts Are More Accurate Than Drug Tests (Reason)
• Trained "Drug Recognition Expert" Cop Wrongly Arrested Innocent Woman for Weed (ATTN:)
• These Women Are Fighting Sexism in Psychedelic Research (VICE)
• More Workers Are Testing Positive for Drugs Than in the Last 12 Years (TIME)
• What if the Other Part of Immersive VR is Psychedelic Drugs? (Edgy Labs)
• Sex workers who use psychedelic drugs have lower suicide risk, study finds (The Globe and Mail)
• The Legendary Psychedelic Symposium Returns at ESPD50: Interview with Dennis McKenna (Psychedelic Times)
• President Donald Trump and Colombia's President Just Clashed on Drug Policy (ATTN:)
• Could psychedelics become an accepted treatment for mental health problems? (The Telegraph)
• Neural changes after taking psychedelic drugs may reflect "heightened consciousness" (The British Psychological Society)
• Kids Urged to Watch Our for Sugary Candies That Have Been Laced with Drugs (TIME)
• Rand Paul: Sessions Misled Me on Drug Sentencing (Reason)
• Psychedelics in The Lab and Clinic – Making Up For Lost Time (Neuroscience News)
• California Senate Passes Bill Easing Up on Some Drug Sentencing (Reason)
• Chris Christie Has Zero Credibility on Drug Policy (NORML)

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.