This Week in Psychedelics - 8.4.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Sen. Cory Booker just introduced a bill that could legalize marijuana nationwide (Vox)
• Yet Another Study Finds That Cannabis Use Is Not Independently Linked With IQ Decline (NORML)
• Study: Nearly Half Of People Who Use Cannabidiol Products Stop Taking Traditional Medicines (Forbes)
• NORML Chapters Hope to Bring Marijuana Discussion To Congressional Town Hall Meetings (NORML)
• Could a legal quirk bring cannabis tourism to Switzerland? (The Telegraph)
• A Beginner's Guide to Mindful Cannabis Consumption (Leafly)
• Colombia's Cannabis Scene Is Currently the Best in the World. Visit Before That Changes (Leafly)
• 2028 LA Olympics to Be First Ever With Legal Cannabis (Leafly)
• 80 Years Ago Today: President Signs First Federal Anti-Marijuana Law (NORML)
• Missouri: Marijuana Medicalization Effort Reaches Signature Milestone (NORML)
• 5 Best Practices for Using Cannabis Topicals (Leafly)
• Marijuana Is the New Moneymaker for Wedding Planners (TIME)
• Cannabis and Meditation: Best Practices for an Elevated Mind (Leafly)
• What every cannabis investor should be paranoid about (MarketWatch)
• How to Prepare for a Cannabis Tolerance Break (Leafly)
• Cannabis Grower Buys California Town to Build Pot-Friendly Outpost (Bloomberg)
• Washington's Top Cannabis Lab Hit with Suspension (Leafly)
• Inside a Nerve-Rattling Trip to Pay Cannabis Taxes in Los Angeles (Leafly)
• Which Types of Packing Are Best for Different Cannabis Products? (Leafly)
• Chuck Rifici: The Problem-Solving Cannabis Financier (Leafly)

LSD

• MTA officers punch man high on LSD repeatedly in the head (Daily Mail)
• Spokane Valley Deputies searching for naked man 'high on LSD' accused of stabbing woman in the neck (KHQ)
• LSD Overdose Blamed for Death of Music Festival Attendee (U.S. News & World Report)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• New scheme that allows festival-goers to test their drugs finds ecstasy pills containing CONCRETE (The Sun)
• Legal MDMA Therapy Could Be Just a Few Years Away (VICE)
• Drug Deaths In England And Wales Hit Record High As Heroin, Cocaine And MDMA Kill More Than Ever (The Huffington Post)
• LSO issues warning about dangerous ecstasy pills seen in Lubbock (KCBD)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• 'I assumed I'd died': What it's like taking the hallucinogenic DMT (The Tab)
• Hyderabad drug bust: Not LSD, Dutch national was smoking DMT (The New Indian Express)
• I wanted ayahuasca to teach me how to love the world despite its violence, destruction, and greed (Psymposia)
• Tour and cure: "The Last Shaman" (Santa Fe New Mexican)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Life After Death: Vilca and the Most Sacred Psychedelic Ritual in the World (High Existence)

Salvia Divinorum

• Salvia on the rise in Lebanon, experts sound the alarm (The Daily Star)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine May Aid in Prehospital Management of Severe Asthma (Journal of Emergency Medical Services)
• Scientists Have Positive New Results For Using Ketamine to Treat Severe Depression (ScienceAlert)
• Ketamine: miracle drug or latest fad? (Future Medicine)
• Safety questions remains [sic] over ketamine use for depression (The West Australian)

Opiates/Opioids

• Opioid Addiction Report Uses Panic to Sell More Federal Spending (Reason)
• Most People Who Misuse Opioids Don't Have a Prescription (TIME)
• Drug-related deaths are at their highest level in 25 years – here's why (Medical Xpress)
• Donald Trump Called New Hampshire a 'Drug-Infested Den' in Call With Mexican President (TIME)
• Opium poppy head thefts spike in Tasmania, worrying industry and police (ABC)
• Police give naloxone to dog that got into owner's oxycodone (PoliceOne)
• U.S. Revives Anti-Heroin Efforts in Afghanistan: Opium Seizures, Eradication Up (Breitbart)
• Naloxone recommended for friends and family to prevent opioid overdose (NBC Right Now)
• 6 Facts About Naloxone, the Drug That Reverses Overdoses (Health.com)
• Homeless and on Heroin, but Turned Away From Treatment (U.S. News & World Report)
• Police Are Spreading a Dangerous Rumor About 'Narcan Parties' (ATTN:)
• How Profits From Opium Shaped 19th-Century Boston (WBUR)
• Opium threat from China: A new danger to India (The New Indian Express)
• Britain faces an 'apocalyptic' future if it does not tackle horror drug fentanyl that is FIFTY times stronger than heroin and has killed 60 people (The Sun)
• Inside the deadly 'badlands' heroin market on disused Philadelphia train tracks where junkies inject on mountains of used needles and where 900 died last year (The Sun)

Kratom

• Kratom: Legal and booming (The Daily Astorian)
• Kratom, Legal or Illegal Drug? (Juniper Publishers)

Kava

• Commission Approves Work On A Regional Standard For Kava (The Fiji Sun)
• Drink-driving kava study results hazy for Waikato University (Stuff.co.nz)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• The D.A.R.E. Jeff Sessions Wants Is Better Than The D.A.R.E. You Remember (TIME)
• Should Physicians Decide Who Gets to Use Psychedelics? (Reason)
• Why Oregon Is Right to Decriminalize Cocaine, Meth and Heroin (Psychedelic Times)
• UK festival offers to test partygoers' drugs for safe use (RT)
• How on-site drug testing at festivals can help save lives (FACT)
• Baltimore Drops Dozens of Criminal Cases over Allegations of Planted Drugs (Reason)
• Meditating on Psychedelics: What Camp Are You In? (Medium: Buddhist Geeks)
• We already know how to stop people dying from drugs – but the Government refuses to do it (The Independent)
• Another Philippine Mayor Accused of Drug Ties Has Been Killed in a Police Raid (TIME)
• Neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt on Alcohol, LSD, and Getting Sacked for His Findings (Reason)
• Modern psychedelic science is reviving lost research and finding new cures (The Plaid Zebra)
• The Benefits of Going to Rehab Abroad (Ocean Recovery Centre)
• A Victory Over Some Illegal "Drug Courier Profile" Traffic Stops in Illinois (NORML)
• NYPD Is Getting Dragged Over This 'Drug Bust' (ATTN:)
• An American History: On Drinking, Driving, and the Law (Disinfo)
• I had my first psychedelic experiences as a teenager. Now I'm a physician. (Psymposia)
• When lab tests fail to detect drug use (The Hindu)
• Drug racket appears to have Moscow connection (NYOOOZ)
• Doctors Caution Festival Goers About Drug Overdose (Middle East North Africa Financial Network)

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 - 7.29.17

Image by Greg Walters, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Going through airport security is already annoying, and soon the TSA will separately screen all devices larger than a mobile phone for those flying within the country. The program has already been piloted at 10 airports and is now being implemented nationwide. Devices like laptops, tablets, e-readers, and handhold game consoles will fall under this category, but the TSA has not defined what "larger than a cell phone" actually means. As mobile phones increase in size, what will the TSA consider to be the upper limit on size? Although the definition is still not clearly defined, you can still expect to see this extra security theater in your local airport within the next few weeks and months.

2. Imagine Nietzsche, Epictetus, Buddha, and Schopenhauer playing a game of Sorry!, and you may arrive at the same conclusion as this comic. Remember: the roll of the dice you receive is not what's important; it's how you choose to react to it. In your own approach to life, which character do you most closely resemble?

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 7.28.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Senate Committee Passes Amendment To Protect Medical Marijuana (NORML)
• Colorado: Tax Revenue From The Legal Cannabis Industry Surpasses Half-Billion Dollars (NORML)
• Vote on Veterans' Marijuana Access Is Shut Down (ATTN:)
• Trump's DOJ gears up for crackdown on marijuana (The Hill)
• Marijuana is NORML: 45% of Americans Have Tried Cannabis (NORML)
• The Federal Government is Being Sued Over Marijuana (ATTN:)
• House Committee Blocks Veterans Equal Access Amendments (NORML)
• Sessions Boosts Forfeiture and Mandatory Minimums but Lets Pot Prohibition Collapse (Reason)
• Will cannabis be legalised in the UK, who supports it and where is marijuana already legal? (The Sun)
• Reefer Madness at The New York Times (Reason)
• AAA Is Fighting to Stop Legal Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Cannabis and goggles — the latest in concussion treatments and research (Miami Herald)
• Calgary debates where and how to sell cannabis, eyes liquor store model as template (The Globe and Mail)
• California Wants to Stop Pot Dispensaries from Branding Merchandise (Reason)
• On a Boat? Cannabis Is Still Illegal, US Coast Guard Says (Leafly)
• How Jeff Sessions Could Crack Down on Legal Marijuana (And Why He Might Not) (TIME)
• Sen. Positive Nelson Wants to Bring Medical Cannabis to the Virgin Islands (Leafly)
• GANJASANA: An Authentic Relationship With Cannabis Blooms Through Yoga (Dope Magazine)
• Is microdosing the future of marijuana? (VICE)
• Medical cannabis grow sites are now almost legal in West Berkeley (Berkeleyside)
• Pennsylvania Cities Continue to Embrace Decriminalization of Marijuana (NORML)
• Cannabis Impairment in the Workplace: Easy to Discuss, Difficult to Detect (Leafly)
• In Vermont, Students And Lawmakers Are Getting The Facts On Cannabis (Forbes)
• Why Weed Improves Sex For Some But Not Others (ATTN:)
• Maine Panel Mulls Doubling 10% Tax on Cannabis (Leafly)
• State's Billboard Got Major Backlash For Trying Tone Deaf Tactic To Stop Teen Pot Use (ATTN:)
• How Cannabis Is Used for Nausea and Vomiting Relief (Leafly)
• Online Portals Guide Australian Doctors Through Medical Cannabis Maze (Leafly)
• Medical Cannabis Education Tour launches Thursday in Philly (Philly.com)
• Vancouver pot activist calls for open cultivation of cannabis plants (Vancouver Sun)
• Inside Colorado's psychedelic Church of CANNABIS where chilled-out worshippers smoke joints in the pews while listening to rock music (The Sun)
• How To Smoke Cannabis Wax Without A Rig (Green Rush Daily)
• Cannabis Charges Decline in Canada, But Montreal Bucks Hard (Leafly)
• 5 Keys To Forecasting Sales Of New Products: Cannabis And Other Examples (Forbes)
• How to Trim Your Cannabis Plants for Beautiful Buds (Leafly)
• Smoke and Mirrors: Cannabis, Fashion, and How It All Connects to Rihanna (Leafly)

LSD

• You're not tripping: LSD is making a comeback (USA Today)
• How microdosing psychedelics like LSD could boost your leadership skills (Quartz)
• Albert Hoffman [sic]: Looking Back At LSD Inventor's First Strange Trip (Worldcrunch)
• Officer Used 'Reasonable Force' When Shooting Man On LSD: State's Attorney (Grayslake Patch)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• At Johns Hopkins, clergy try mind-altering drugs for scientific research (The Washington Post)
• Hallucinogenic mushroom blooms in the Nilgiris (The Hindu)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Could MDMA Save Your Relationship? (Elle)
• What are the dangers, effects, and laws when it comes to Molly (or MDMA)? (Metro)
• The six-month search for a $10-20 million ecstasy lab in Canberra (Newcastle Herald)
• Charlize Theron admits to taking cocaine and ecstasy in her 20s – but now goes to bed at 8:45pm (The Sun)
• 'Five friends go out and take ecstasy, one doesn't come home': the rise of super-strength pills (The Guardian)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Study Shows Psychedelic Plant Medicine Ayahuasca Stimulates The Birth Of New Brain Cells (Collective Evolution)
• Ayahuasca: The Dark Side and Dangers (The Recovery Village)
• Peruvian Ayahuasca Retreat Creates Annual Cash Scholarship Award to Bring Awareness to Amazonian Plant Medicine (Press Release Rocket)
• Global Ayahuasca Project: how nothing is the same after taking 'The Tea' (ABC)
• My night on ayahuasca: the Amazonian hallucinogen known as the 'rope of death' (The Times)
• Incredible pictures show an Amazonian witch doctor introducing his new apprentice, 13 to a sacred and hallucinogenic brew and teaching him the secrets of the forest (Daily Mail)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• What is Peyote? (The Recovery Village)
• Watch: Rare Event: Psychoactive San Pedro Cactus Flower Blooming (Awesome Time-lapse) (EnviroNews)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Tips for success: Ibogaine therapy success rate for substance dependency and addiction. (iBogaine-Thailand)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Synthetic cannabis: New Zealand police issue warning after spate of deaths (The Guardian)
• Friends of teen who died from synthetic cannabis warn others (Newshub)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine proven to treat depression among older Australians in 'revolutionary' pilot program (ABC)
• Govt. bans abuse of nitrous oxide (The Korea Herald)
• Bismarck Clinic Treats Pain, Depression With Ketamine (U.S. News & World Report)
• Ketamine as an adjunct to opioids for acute pain in the ED (American Pharmacists Association)
• Ketamine for depression encouraging, but questions remain around long-term use (Medical Xpress)
• What is Wet Weed? (Green Rush Daily)
• Oklahoma Vice: Woman tossed baby into stranger's car after smoking PCP (NewsOK)
• Man Accused of Fleeing, Ramming Cop Cars While High on PCP (U.S. News & World Report)

Opiates/Opioids

• How Much More Vicious Will the War on Painkillers Get? (Reason)
• Another record year for opioid and fentanyl-related deaths (Indianapolis Star)
• Yes, Poppy Seeds Contain Opiates, And Here's What You Need To Know (The Huffington Post)
• The Female Warlord Who Had C.I.A. Connections and Opium Routes (The New York Times)
• Take a Trip Into the Absurd at This Anti-Drug Museum in the Land of Opium (OZY)
• Heroin highs: Afghani, Pak smugglers use Punjab route (The Times of India)
• The answer to opioid overdose: Naloxone (The Richmond Register)
• What it's like to spend 14 years undercover as a heroin addict (Metro)
• Six overdose deaths linked to two heroin brands, officials say (The News Journal)

Absinthe

• A One-Stop Explainer For Drinking Absinthe (Essence)

Kava

• Kava study unearths new take on reaction times (Radio New Zealand)
• What is Kava? (The Recovery Village)
• Across the Pacific Islands, the price of kava is surging (Newshub)
• One strong mix; kava and prayers (The Fiji Times)
• Cultural clash over medicinal kava (Newshub)

Khat

• Once a Killer Drug, Qat Is Now a Dropout Drug, If You Believe The New York Times (Reason)
• Remove miraa from harmful drugs list, Munya tells Bett (Citizen TV)
• For Ethiopia's Underemployed Youth, Life Can Center on a Leaf (Nazret)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Police Body Camera Appears to Catch Baltimore Officer Planting Drugs for a Search (Reason)
• Psychedelic medicines can help heal the trauma of mass incarceration (Psymposia)
• When Do Prescription Drugs Really Expire? (ATTN:)
• Meeting McKenna in His Jungle (The Huffington Post)
• An Introduction to Shamans of the Global Village (Psychedelic Times)
• How technology can help government fight the war on drugs (The Hill)
• We Are All On Drugs... (Collective Evolution)
• Vigilante Psychopharmacology: An Interview with Psychedelic Comedian Adam Strauss (Reality Sandwich)
• If Jared Kushner Wants to Reform Federal Drug Sentences, Here's What He Should Keep in Mind (Reason)
• England's new psychedelic renaissance (PRI)
• Psychedelics and Normality (The Huffington Post)
• Reasons to Consider Trying Psychedelics (Fox Weekly)
• Healing the Hurt at the Center of Addiction (Reality Sandwich)
• Another Day, Another Article About Psychedelics in an Incredibly Mainstream Publication (Disinfo)

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.

This Week in Psychedelics - 7.21.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Uruguay pharmacies start selling cannabis straight to consumers (The Guardian)
• Cops Conducting Fewer Traffic Searches Following Marijuana Legalization (Freedom Leaf)
• Smoking Marijuana While Black (The New York Times)
• Analysis: Criminal Justice Referrals Driving Youth Marijuana Treatment Admissions (NORML)
• How Weed Interacts With Popular Prescription Drugs (ATTN:)
• New Hampshire: Marijuana Decriminalization Measure Signed Into Law (NORML)
• Colorado Hits Another Cannabis Milestone With Half A Billion In Tax Revenue (Forbes)
• Psychiatrists Say Cannabis Medicine Has Psychedelic Properties (The Marijuana Times)
• Should We Reclassify Marijuana as a Hallucinogen? (Big Think)
• Cannabis cigarettes are being sold legally at this supermarket chain (USA Today)
• 5 Differences Between the United States' and Canada's Medical Cannabis Programs (Leafly)
• Massachusetts: Medical Marijuana Patients' Afforded Workplace Protections, High Court Rules (NORML)
• Could Cannabis Be A Tourist Attraction For Nevada? Officials Want To Find Out (Civilized)
• San Francisco Creates Centralized 'Office of Cannabis' (Leafly)
• WATCH: Marijuana in the Halls of Congress! (NORML)
• Nonmedical Marijuana Use Is (Mainly) Recreational, So Why Not Call It That? (Reason)
• What Jeff Sessions is getting wrong about legal weed (CNBC)
• When To Use Cannabis as a Substitute for Pharmaceuticals (ATTN:)
• Marijuana Legalization Is Another Reason Dogs Should Not Issue Search Warrants (Reason)
• Tell AAA To Stop Lying About Legalization (NORML)
• Nearly Half of All Americans Have Tried Cannabis, Poll Finds (Leafly)
• The High Cost of Being a Medical Marijuana Patient (ATTN:)
• The Stages of Cannabis Plant Growth (Leafly)
• Activists Plan Marijuana Ceremony Inside D.C. Basilica During Eclipse (U.S. News & World Report)
• Ohio's Aspiring Cannabis Growers: A Closer Look (Leafly)
• Video Footage Offers Glimpse of Australia's Secret Medical Cannabis Crops (Leafly)
• Spot-On Memes Highlight Undeniable Facts About Weed Everyone Should Know (ATTN:)
• The Future of California Cannabis Depends on Rain (Leafly)
• What Is 'Larf' Cannabis and What Is It Good For? (Leafly)
• Watch This: The Guy Who Won't Shut Up About Cannabis (Leafly)
• Oregon Town Cracks Down on Pot-Selling Robotic Blonde Mannequins (Reason)

LSD

• Young woman left screaming, fitting and gasping for breath after drink spiked with LSD on night out (Mirror)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Religious leaders rebuked for taking psychedelics to be more 'effective' (WND)
• The 'Stoned Ape' Theory Might Explain Our Extraordinary Evolution (Inverse)
• Two dose investigation of the 5-HT-agonist psilocybin on relative and global cerebral blood flow (ResearchGate)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• New UK Study Treats Alcoholism with MDMA Therapy (Psychedelic Times)
• Medical Researchers Are Steps From Legalizing Ecstasy. Here's How They Did It. (Reason)
• Ecstasy Tablets Shaped Like Donald Trump's Head With High MDMA Floods UK Streets (India.com)
• Friend blames ecstasy for woman's death after night out in Fife (BBC)
• Boy (16) in State care died due to MDMA toxicity, inquest hears (The Irish Times)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• How Our Santo Daime Church Received Religious Exemption to Use Ayahuasca in Canada (Chacruna)
• The alkaloids of Banisteriopsis caapi, the plant source of the Amazonian hallucinogen Ayahuasca, stimulate adult neurogenesis in vitro (Beckley Foundation)
• Avicii Takes Part In Ayahuasca Ceremony And Continues To Tease New Music (EDM Sauce)
• DMT: Living in an alien world and we don't even know it (Boulder Weekly)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Bill in congress would rein in abuse of religious freedom act (Gay Star News)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Ibogaine for Opiate Addiction Treatment: Miracle Cure or Illegal and Dangerous? (iBogaine Thailand)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• New psychoactive substances: How to know if someone is taking the new trend of drugs (Devon Live)

Dissociatives

• The Ketamine Breakthrough for Suicidal Children (Scientific American)
• Ketamine clinic opens in Bismarck (The Bismarck Tribune)
• Researchers dispute the therapeutic mode of action of a ketamine metabolite (The Pharmaceutical Journal)
• Spanaway man high on PCP rams deputies twice during wild chase, prosecutors say (The News Tribune)

Opiates/Opioids

• Violence over opium crops plagues Mexico's Guerrero state (TRT World)
• Discarded Syringes from Heroin Crisis Create Health, Environmental Problems (NBC)
• Woman Shares Graphic Photos to Show What Addiction Really Looks Like (ATTN:)
• Afghanistan's Opium Trade: A Free Market of Racketeers (The Diplomat)
• Study Finds Opium Cultivation On The Rise In Balkh (TOLONews)
• How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US (The Guardian)

Absinthe

• Absinthe and Jazz Party Dispels the Green Fairy's 'Strange, Outlandish Reputation' (Bedford + Bowery)

Kratom

• Congress Wants More Power To Ban Drugs—Kratom Could Be Next (Psychedelic Times)
• Christopher Miller Sets Legal Precedent In Tennessee Kratom Case (Inquisitr)

Kava

• Regional kava standard proposed (The Fiji Times)
• Fiji youth group hopes to take farming to the next level (Radio New Zealand)

Khat

• Confusion as Health ministry lists miraa as dangerous drug (Standard Digital)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Can Psychedelics Be Therapy? Allow Research to Find Out (The New York Times)
• Oregon Set to Make Psychedelics a Misdemeanor (Disinfo)
• No, Oregon Isn't Decriminalizing Heroin & Cocaine – But It Should (Refinery29)
• Cop Suspended After Body Camera Video Shows Him Planting Drugs (TIME)
• This magical drug mansion in Upstate New York is where the psychedelic '60s took off (Timeline)
• Donald Trump Admits Border Wall Won't Stop Drugs From Mexico (Reason)
• Teenagers are using a secret emoji code to buy drugs online (Metro)
• What Happens When You Eat Psychedelic 'Mad Honey'? (Inverse)
• Downtown Atlanta's Lost Psychedelic Theme Park (Atlas Obscura)
• Psychedelic drugs could tackle depression in a way that antidepressants can't (Business Insider)
• Selling the Silk Road Soap Opera (Reason)
• Exactly How Addictive Are Party Drugs? (The Debrief)
• How a techie turned into the 'drug king' of Hyderabad (Asianet Newsable)
• Police make first major drug bust using app popular with dealers (The Jerusalem Post)
• Should drug dealers face murder charges for overdoses? State Attorney Melissa Nelson thinks so (The Florida Times-Union)
• Book review: Examination of psychedelic drug therapy a timely read (Vancouver Sun)
• Quitting alcohol cold turkey could be deadlier than kicking heroin (New York 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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Weekend Thoughts - 7.22.17

Image by ShyViolet09, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. "The first global analysis of the production, use, and fate of all the plastics our species has ever produced" has been completed, and the results are grim indeed. Since plastic production began in the 1950s, 8.3 billion tons have been created—76% of which has already gone to waste! And unfortunately, plastic production is still growing—roughly half of the plastic ever created was produced in the last 13 years. The article argues that our civilization should refocus its efforts on creating alternative materials, methods that can convert plastics to liquid fuel, and options for responsible disposal. Changing our approach to those topics would benefit all life on Earth.

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