This Week in Psychedelics 7.21.17—Delayed

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Hello readers! I am out of town this weekend with extremely limited access to the Internet, so today's "This Week in Psychedelics" column will be published within the next few days. Thank you for your patience!

Weekend Thoughts - 7.15.17

Image by J Aaron Farr, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Microsoft must be on an environmentalist bent of some sort lately, as the company has recently announced an "AI for Earth" initiative. The program will attempt to use artificial intelligence to solve the major environmental issues that we are currently facing. Ultimately, Microsoft's President Brad Smith said, "Our goal is to empower others in new and more impactful ways to help create a more sustainable future. This program expands our commitments to democratizing AI and advancing sustainability around the globe." So far, the company has focused on creating more detailed land maps to aid conservation, improving agriculture with smart technology, and using drones to collect mosquitos to track and prevent potential emerging infectious diseases. Considering the state of affairs that our world is in, Microsoft deserves a big round of applause.

2. Elsewhere in the technosphere, Amazon has been considering allowing third-party developers to access the private transcripts of Alexa-powered devices so they can build better voice apps for the device. This is something that Google Home already allows. If Amazon moves forward with this decision, it would raise privacy concerns for its customers. At this point, Alexa developers can only see non-identifying information, like the number of times you use a specific command, how many times you talk to your Amazon Echo, and your location data. This change would potentially allow third-party developers access to actual transcripts, although we do not know the method that would be used and how much data would be divulged.

3. Audi is concerned that millenials will be bored in self-driving cars, so the company has developed a research product called The 25th hour, which is designed around the issue of what people will do to avoid boredom while riding in their fully-automated vehicles. The idea is that people will have extra time in their busy days to spend doing something other than focusing on the road. My initial reaction was, "Why wouldn't people use that time to read books?!" But while it's probably more likely that people will be watching television or scrolling through Facebook than reading, this project's existence means that automobile manufacturers are already thinking of ways to keep their customers entertained (and probably market to them, as well). In my opinion, the riders' recovered time would be best spent producing content rather than consuming it, but that's a whole other conversation altogether.

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 7.14.17

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Cannabis

• DEA Reaffirms Stance That CBD Meets Schedule I Criteria – Reality Says Otherwise (NORML)
• Nevada's Half-Hearted Marijuana Legalization Guarantees a Healthy Black Market (Reason)
• Study: Alcohol Use, But Not Cannabis, Associated With Changes In Brain Structure (NORML)
• Senate Committee Overwhelmingly Passes Veterans Equal Access Amendment (NORML)
• Study: No Increase In Problematic Cannabis Use By Young People Following Changes In Marijuana's Legal Status (NORML)
• Rand Paul Presses Jeff Sessions on Industrial Hemp Policy (Reason)
• Billy Caldwell: Medical cannabis oil named after 11-year-old boy with severe epilepsy (The Independent)
• Could legal cannabis transform provincial New Zealand? (Stuff.co.nz)
• Michigan: Legalization Coalition Effort Reaches Signature Milestone (NORML)
• Carl Sagan Was a Lifelong Cannabis User and Advocate (Merry Jane)
• Three New Marijuana Myth-Busting Studies That the Mainstream Media Isn't Picking up On (AlterNet)
• High-CBD Cannabis Cigarettes Coming to Swiss Supermarkets (Leafly)
• Congressional Cannabis Caucus Ready to 'Bump Heads' With Trump's Anti-Pot Attorney General (AlterNet)
• Infographic: Know Your Rights When Driving With Cannabis (Leafly)
• Register for the 2017 NORML Conference (NORML)
• Hemp-growing: first step to medicinal cannabis in Utah? (The Salt Lake Tribune)
• Cannabis: Can low doses of tetrahydrocannabinol help restore memory? (ABC)
• This Women's Weed Network Is Empowering Cannabis Entrepreneurs (LA Weekly)
• Police Destroy Art Installation, Mistaking It for Cannabis Farm (Hyperallergic)
• Feds Authorized Montana Woman's Hemp Farm, but Now They're Killing It (Reason)
• How does cannabis actually affect the human body? (Stuff.co.nz)
• Help, and hope: Could cannabis possibly help fight cancer? (The Denver Post)
• A New Site Selling Luxury Cannabis Cigars Bills Itself as "420 for the 1 Percent"—So We Tried It (The Potlander)
• Video: Lord Jones Throws Cannabis-Infused Sound Bath Events and They're Incredible (Leafly)
• Police Leave Homeowner Hilarious Note After Discovering Marijuana Field (TIME)
• Leafly Staff Picks: Cannabis Strains and Products Perfect for Summer Days (Leafly)
• Fresno needs a cannabis plan, not a ban (Fresno Bee)
• Fancy Truffles Filled With Ganache ... And Cannabis? Yes, Please. (East Bay Express)

LSD

• 'Stranger Things 2' Will Pull From The CIA's Infamous Mind Control Program (UPROXX)
• Carlos Santana Says 'More People Taking LSD' Would Make The World A Better Place (Civilized)
• The Promise of LSD Microdoses and Other Psychedelic "Medicines" (Scientific American)
• WATCH: The British Military Doses Some Marines With LSD (AlterNet)
• Flying higher than Mighty Mouse! Top schools in Hyderabad discover LSD being smuggled in as kids' stickers (Daily Mail)
• LSD & The Search For God At The Ritz (Silicon Valley's Metro)
• LSD: educate, Don't get agitated (The New Indian Express)
• Man Pleads No Contest To LSD-Fueled Assault Of Police Officer (CBS)
• Milwaukee authorities: Man jumped to death after taking LSD (WSAW

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Religious leaders get high on magic mushrooms ingredient – for science (The Guardian)
• Shrooms Could Be Legalized Sooner Than You Think (VICE)
• Research Shows Magic Mushrooms Can Offer Real Benefits in Depression Therapy (Science Alert)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Bad Drugs: Ecstasy Often Doesn't Contain Any MDMA, Study Shows (Newsweek)
• Testing Ecstasy pills at concerts and raves could reduce risks for users (The Hub)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• What Went Wrong When a Psychiatrist Self-Medicated With DMT (Inverse)
• Burning Man and Ayahuasca: Interview with Random Rab (Psychedelic Times)
• CONVERSING WITH THE MOTHER VINE: Life, Death and the Living Universe (Dope Magazine)
• Powerful hallucinogen can help drug addicts, PTSD veterans conquer their demons (WTSP)
• 'Icaros: A Vision' is an assured, trippy brew of sound and vision (Los Angeles Times)

Dissociatives

• The Growing Integration of Ketamine into the Major Depressive Disorder Treatment Paradigm and the Implication for Future Fast-Acting Antidepressants: Reflections After the American Psychiatric Association's Annual Meeting (Decision Resources Group)
• Driver of vehicle that struck woman in D.C. was high on PCP, police say (The Washington Post)

Opiates/Opioids

• Capitol Watch: NY Weighs Next Steps in Fight Against Heroin (U.S. News & World Report)
• Meet the Doctor Who Refuses to Stop Prescribing Opioids to Pain Patients (Reason)
• Homeland Security Head to Mexico: US Drug Use Fuels Violence (U.S. News & World Report)
• Let Them Die: A Radical Proposal To Deal With The Opioid Epidemic (Reason)
• A sheriff in an opioid county won't have cops carry a $37.50 dose of life-saving naloxone (Quartz)
• Naloxone: A miracle medication for the opioid epidemic (The Daily Texan)
• Facts about the opioid abuse crisis (WTSP)

Khat

• Miraa chewing culture and the stereotype as a cheap twig for truck drivers (Mediamax)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Jeff Sessions Wants to Revive D.A.R.E. (Reason)
• The Psychedelic Renaissance owes its life to an open internet (Psymposia)
• It's Time for the U.S. to Decriminalize Drug Use and Possession (Drug Policy Alliance)
• Oregon Decriminalizes Cocaine, Meth, Heroin And More (MintPress News)
• House Advances Bill That Would Expand the DEA's Power to Make Legal Highs Illegal (Reason)
• Senator Schumer Calls On FDA To Regulate 'Snortable Chocolate' (CBS New York)
• It's Not Just Chocolate Powder. You Shouldn't Be Snorting Anything, Doctors Say (TIME)
• Did Police Just Take Down the Biggest Dark Web Drug Market in History? (Reason)
• Trump explains why he wants to be able to 'see through' his border wall (CNBC)
• Hunting Hallucinogenic Honey In The Himalayas (Teton Gravity Research)
• Alameda author's new book examines psychedelic drugs' medical use (East Bay Times)
• WATCH: Microdosing Comes To Silicon Valley: Produces Workplace Productivity (Trill Magazine)
• Illegal drug market is booming, says UN watchdog (The Guardian)
• This 'True Blood' Actor's Death Reveals a Hidden Danger of Addiction We Don't Talk About (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 - 7.8.17

Image by maddalena monge, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Volvo has not only announced that all of its cars will be hybrid or fully-electric by 2019, but also that kangaroos have been throwing off the self-driving detection system that is being used for their autonomous vehicles. Definitely didn't see that one coming.

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 7.7.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• You Can Now Buy Recreational Marijuana Legally in Nevada (TIME)
• Study: Cannabinoids Reduce Migraine Frequency (NORML)
• Legalised cannabis: How free access could impact vulnerable Kiwis (Stuff.co.nz)
• Study: Crimes Spike Following Closing of Dispensaries (NORML)
• Nevada Cannabis Sales Exceed Stores' Expectations (Leafly)
• 6 Things to Watch as the Countdown to Legal Canadian Cannabis Commences (Leafly)
• Residents Demand Diversity in Cannabis Industry at LA Town Hall (Leafly)
• How to Spot the Differences Between These Three Types of Marijuana (ATTN:)
• New Guidelines for Decreasing Health Risks of Cannabis Use (Good Therapy)
• Two New Virginia Laws Foreshadow Larger Cannabis Policy Changes (NORML)
• Some psychiatrists think cannabis can be considered a psychedelic drug like shrooms – here's why (Business Insider)
• The history of cannabis: 8 things you didn't know (Stuff.co.nz)
• Florida: Lawsuit Filed Challenging Medical Cannabis Smoking Ban (NORML)
• Cannabis regulations contribute to thriving market in Washington (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• In Seattle US old-timers rediscover the high life on cannabis tours (The Guardian)
• Cannabis vs. marijuana: WHAT IT MEANS TO THE INDUSTRY (Northern Nevada Business Weekly)
• 7 Must-Try Cannabis Topicals for Those Scorching Summer Days (Leafly)

LSD

• In Hyderabad, Dealers Working At Top Companies Deal LSD To Students As Young As Thirteen (India Times)
• Police patrol Welsh village after story of huge LSD stash buried since the 70s (Metro)
• Meet Dock Ellis: the baseball star who pitched best on LSD (The National Student)
• Is LSD the new coffee? (Factor Daily)
• Operation Julie: The house that was once an LSD factory (BBC)
• Salem man ingests LSD before jumping to his death at downtown Milwaukee apartment building (Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Mushrooms Are the Safest Drug (Men's Journal)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• World's first trials of MDMA to treat alcohol addiction set to begin (The Guardian)
• New warning issued for "stronger than average" ecstasy pills (Mixmag)
• Student (22) dies after taking MDMA on 'final fling' night out (Independent)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Is Ayahuasca Tourism Doing More Harm Than Good? (The Third Wave)
• The brain on DMT: mapping the psychedelic drug's effects (Wired)
• Ex-MMA fighter seeks religious exemption to use hallucinogen in N.S. ceremonies (Local Xpress)
• 'Master of natural healing' who raped tourist after giving her Rohypnol-laced drink gets 12 years (South China Morning Post)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Tripping on Peyote in Navajo Nation (Scientific American)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Potentially lethal form of spice being mistaken for MDMA, police say (The Guardian)

Dissociatives

• Could Ketamine Cure Addiction? (VICE)
• Ketamine Clinics Show Promise For Treatment-Resistant Depression (Inquisitr)
• Waterbury Man On PCP Crashes Car In North Haven, Injuring Two (Hartford Courant)

Opiates/Opioids

• Did Pop Culture Help Cause the Opioid Epidemic? (ATTN:)
• As the Drug That Reverses Opioid Overdoses Gets More Expensive, Can Cities Afford It? (Governing)
• The Heroin Crisis in Trump's Backyard (Politico)
• These Counties Have the Most Opioid Prescriptions in the U.S. (TIME)

Kratom

• Kratom: Antidote or adversary in Canada's opioid crisis? (CBC News)
• American Kratom Association Announces New Chairman (Inquisitr)
• Kratom Gaining Popularity As Opioid Alternative In Southern Arizona (KJZZ)
• The Kratom Controversy: What should be done about it? (WALB)

Kava

• Kava Root Extract Market Driven by Increasing Demand in Cosmetic & Pharmaceutical Industry (Digital Journal)
• Kava bar banned over designer-drug rule in Lighthouse Point (Sun Sentinel)
• Green kava ban warning (The Fiji Times)

Khat

• LPD conducted a controlled delivery of 18 pounds of Khat (Lexington Clipper Herald)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Watch This Nepalese Man Harvest Hallucinogenic Honey Hundreds of Feet Off the Ground (The Inertia)
• Psychedelics Could Help Asia's Mental Health Care, But Stigma Remains Roadblock (The Fix)
• Rethinking Substance Use: 5 Truths that Will Blow Your Mind (Psychedelic Times)
• What Ritalin Does To Kids' Brains (ATTN:)
• Test kits can help prevent drug use tragedies (The Register-Guard)
• What Trump's Plan To Stop Illegal Drugs Misses (ATTN:)
• Exploring the Formless Edge: A Conversation with Random Rab (Psychedelic Times)
• The Summer of Love was more than hippies and LSD – it was the start of modern individualism (The Conversation)
• Dogs Are Testing Positive for Cocaine in Florida. Here's Why. (ATTN:)
• My grandfather was a death row doctor. He tested psychedelic drugs on Texas inmates. (The Texas Tribune)
• Cannabist Show: He's psychedelic comedian Shane Mauss (The Cannabist)

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.