This Week in Psychedelics - 9.1.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Cannabis Shows Promise In Treating Schizophrenia And Tourette Syndrome (Forbes)
• Green gold: how China quietly grew into a cannabis superpower (South China Morning Post)
• Colorado's Governor Sets Jeff Sessions Straight on Marijuana Legalization (Reason)
• FDA Seeking Public Comments On CBD (NORML)
• Lagunitas Unleashes New IPA Made With Cannabis (Eater)
• American Legion Resolves In Support Of Expanding Veterans' Access to Medicinal Cannabis (NORML)
• Researcher Says V.A. Obstruction Jeopardizes Study of Marijuana As PTSD Treatment (Reason)
• 'Snoop & Martha' Earns the First-Ever Cannabis Industry Emmy Nomination (Leafly)
• AAA Is Doubling Down On Their Marijuana Distortions (NORML)
• Cannabis Industry Weekly Recap (Forbes)
• How budtenders help customers pick the right cannabis (The Seattle Times)
• Congressman O'Rourke Introduces Amendment To End Arbitrary License Suspensions (NORML)
• Man protests at court over pot, bong seizure (The Record)
• Is Cannabis a 'Gateway Drug'? (Leafly)
• American Cannabis Company, Inc. Announces 2017 Mid-Year Review and Shareholder Update (American Cannabis Company)
• Cannabis Entrepreneurs Offer Advice On Where To Jump In (Forbes)
• School Is In—Cannabis School, That Is (The Portland Mercury)
• Cannabis website Herb raises $4.1M (TechCrunch)
• Coolest Travel Jobs: What It's Like to Own a Cannabis Tour Company (AFAR)
• Time to Leave Las Vegas, Gaming Commish Tells Cannabis Trade Shows (Leafly)
• Clinical Cannabis Treatment for Trauma (Viceland)
• California Gets Into the Weeds of Pot Marketing (U.S. News & World Report)
• Baltimore City Council weighs concerns about cannabis dispensaries (The Baltimore Sun)
• Cannabis 101: SR 260 cultivation facility grows 60-plus strains of medical marijuana (Verde Independent)
• Cannabis medicines firm GW Pharma plans UK expansion (The Telegraph)
• Bianca Jagger To Receive Second Annual Michael J. Kennedy Social Justice Award (NORML)
• Last Week In Cannabis—Five Marijuana Stories You Might Have Missed (Psychedelic Times)

LSD

• First-Look Trailer: Errol Morris Explores CIA's Secret LSD Experiments in Netflix Doc (The Hollywood Reporter)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Will California Become The First State To Decriminalize Psychedelic Mushrooms? (HuffPost)
• The case to legalize magic mushrooms (IOL)
• Magic enzymes in 'magic' mushrooms analyzed (Science Daily)
• Magic Mushrooms Break on Through to Biosynthetic Reality (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News)
• I Tried Psychedelic Therapy to Help Get Over My Father's Death (VICE)
• My experience with mushrooms was an epiphany. There's never been a need to revisit that depth of consciousness. (Psymposia)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• FDA Designates MDMA As 'Breakthrough Therapy' For Post-Traumatic Stress (Forbes)
• Some Brave Soul Tried 26k Ecstasy Pills From Around The World (EDM Tunes)
• MDMA could help save your marriage (Metro)
• Final phase trials for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat PTSD (New Atlas)
• Trump-Branded Ecstasy Tablets Seized By Cops – Make Partying Great Again? (Inquisitr)
• Several hospitalised over 'potentially lethal' MDMA (Metro)
• Dad of daughter who died after taking single 'MDMA' pill says family released tear-jerking video to stop others making the same mistake (The Sun)
• New Westminster police make arrest after girl dies of MDMA overdose (Vancouver Sun)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca: what mental health professionals need to know (Archives of Clinical Psychiatry)
• Vision Quest: A Journey Within (The Costa Rica News)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Peyote Is A Hallucinogenic Astral Experience You Can Find In Your Backyard (Konbini)
• Uneasy alliance — Native Americans and the Summer of Love (Canton Daily Ledger)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• The Complexities of Medical Tourism (The Market Mogul)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Jail bosses own up over Spice 'zombie' drug epidemic as fumes land another SIX guards in hospital (Daily Record)
• AG Schneiderman announces legal action against local synthetic drug sellers (Watertown Daily Times)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine-depression paper retracted following investigation at Yale (Retraction Watch)
• Danbury man arrested for DUI and possession of PCP (Monroe Courier)
• Police: Man On PCP Attempted To Carjack Woman (Hartford Courant)

Opiates/Opioids

• A New Vaccine Could Make The Brain Immune to Heroin and Opioids, Scientists Say (Science Alert)
• Because Of The Drug War, There Is Virtually No Heroin Without Fentanyl In Many Places (HuffPost)
• Could a heroin vaccine cure the west's drug epidemic (The Guardian)
• U.S. Opioid Deaths Nearly Doubled Since 2009 (TIME)
• New Study Finds Heroin Users Less Likely to Overdose If They Know What Drugs They're Actually Taking (Reason)
• Heroin deaths skyrocket nationwide; prescription drugs are big problem in Oregon (The Oregonian)
• Seattle Ballot Initiative Would Block Safe Drug Injection Centers (Reason)
• For Trump, Opioids Are Still Not a Crisis (TIME)
• Afghanistan and the CIA Heroin Ratline (Sputnik International)
• Baltimore health clinic offers naloxone training to combat opioid epidemic (The Washington Times)
• How this Catholic saint might be the patron of opioid addicts (Catholic News Agency)
• The Heroin and Opioid Crisis Is Real (Urban Milwaukee)
• New Family Pharmacy Hosting Narcan Training Day (The Newtown Bee)

Absinthe

• Filming an Absinthe Haze (Reason)

Kratom

• Energy drink manufacturers behind kratom ban? (The Nation)
• How To Grow A Kratom Tree From Seeds? (Kratom Guides)
• The List of 5 Best Kratom Strains Available in the US Today (Kratom Guides)
• A Response to the Dean of Students Email on Kratom Abuse (The George-Anne)
• The 5 Natural and Legal Painkillers Similar to Kratom (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• The worlds [sic] most unique Kava bar... (HuffPost)
• Significance of kava (The Fiji Times)

Khat

• Yemeni left Switzerland to help addicts quit 'Khat' (Al Arabiya)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• MAPS Now Accepts Bitcoin—Plus, Other Ways You Can Support Psychedelic Research (Psychedelic Times)
• The Middle Age Trip: Musings on Midlife Psychedelic Use and Psychotherapy with Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. (Psychedelic Times)
• Depression Cure? Could Psychedelic Drugs Like Special K, LSD, And Psilocybin Mushrooms Be An Answer? (Inquisitr)
• Decoding the Tripping Brain (The Scientist)
• World's largest honey bee makes rare hallucinogenic honey (Mother Nature Network)
• 5 Common Beliefs About Psychedelics That Are Total Bullshit (High Existence)
• Sugar is as addictive as cocaine, study (Blasting News)
• Border Patrol Sets Up Immigration Checkpoint in New Hampshire; Makes Nearly Twice as Many Drug Arrests (Reason)
• The coming revolution in psychedelic medicine (Red Dirt Report)

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 - 8.26.17

Image by Denis De Mesmaeker, 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 manifesto arguing for technology fasting to combat Internet addictions was published this week on a website that can only be viewed offline. It's an intriguing use of a web browser feature that recognizes when the user has disconnected their Wi-Fi connection. After clicking the link, disconnect your Wi-Fi (or go into Airplane Mode, if you're on a mobile device) and give it a read. It's short—about two minutes—but it's a nice reminder that it can be beneficial to take a break from technology from time to time.

2. If you've ever avoiding composting or recycling an item because you weren't sure if it was recyclable or not, a new recycling system designed to recognize what you're throwing away may be just what you need. The company designing these smart bins envisions a future where you'll be rewarded via a phone app with points or a charitable donation when you use the bins. This really warms my heart, because it's a perfect example of how technology can be used to further environmentalist causes.

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 8.25.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• A Cannabis Industry PR Exec Explains Why the Future of Pot is Old People and Office Workers (Reason)
• HUD Secretary Ben Carson Spreads Marijuana Myths (NORML)
• Cannabis Potency: How Does Lab Testing for THC and CBD Work? (Leafly)
• Cannabis congeniality: A handful of bed and breakfasts are just fine with their guests lighting up (The Register-Guard)
• California Is Still Arresting Too Many People of Color for Cannabis (Leafly)
• Denver to Start Licensing First Cannabis Clubs, but Few May Apply (Leafly)
• Trump Comments Spark Boycott of LA Cannabis Expo (Leafly)
• Cannabis conference in Arcata celebrates women industry leaders (KIEM)
• Oakland's Marijuana Equity Permit Program (NORML)
• Gavin Newsom Racking Up Cannabis $$$ in California Governors Race (Leafly)
• Lagunitas Unleashes New IPA Made With Cannabis (Eater)
• Australian States Split on Medical Cannabis (Leafly)
• Medical Marijuana Protections Offered Again, But Will They Receive A Vote? (NORML)
• Hispanic caucus: Criminalization of cannabis rooted in bias (Wisconsin Gazette)
• Clearing the Haze Around Cannabis Delivery Services (Voice of San Diego)
• Does Cannabis Make You Walk Funny? (Leafly)
• Cannabis companies eager to take growing biz to the bank (CBS News)
• The latest cannabis-related news from the pages of the Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles Times)
• I Became a Pot Felon at 18. I'm Owed More Than an Apology. (Reason)
• 4 Ways to Make Use of Male Cannabis Plants (Leafly)
• Philly-area law firms bullish on cannabis despite grave legal risks (Philly.com)
• A Professional Dominatrix Walks Into a Cannabis Investor Conference... (Leafly)
• Corte Madera prepares moratorium on cannabis business (Marin Independent Journal)

LSD

• No way woman died from LSD overdose at local music fest, experts say—'It's not possible' (The Tribune)
• Microdosing with LSD and its Research Potential (Heffter Research Institute)
• Watch Jamila Woods' new video for "LSD" featuring Chance The Rapper (HUH.)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Magic mushroom chemical may be a hallucinogenic insect repellent (New Scientist)
• Scientists Unlock Magic Mushrooms' Mysterious Chemical Compound (Smithsonian)
• How Mushrooms Became Magic (The Atlantic)
• Is Psilocybin Is [sic] The World's Safest Recreational Drug? (Collective Evolution)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Police Seize Thousands of Donald Trump-Inspired Ecstasy Tablets (TIME)
• Report: Only 34.7% of Pills Marketed as MDMA Are Pure (Noiseporn)
• Illegal schemes in India offer "rave packages" with MDMA and hashish (Mixmag)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca Stimulates the Birth of New Brain Cells (Beckley Foundation)
• Life Coaching and Death Coaching: Comedian Myq Kaplan on the Benefits of Ayahuasca (Psychedelic Times)
• Assessing the Psychedelic "After-Glow" in Ayahuasca Users: Post-Acute Neurometabolic and Functional Connectivity Changes Are Associated with Enhanced Mindfulness Capacities (Beckley Foundation)
• Can Ayahuasca Alleviate Depression and Poverty? (Indian CountryToday)
• DMT showed me how my ego influenced my emotions (Psymposia)
• It's Time To Reflect On WTF Happened In That 'Rick And Morty' Trip Scene (Movie Pilot)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• How Ibogaine has Saved the Lives of Countless Addicts (The London Economic)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• V Festival organisers warn about 'extremely dangerous' Pentylone drug being sold as MDMA on site... and urge revellers to seek IMMEDIATE help if they think they've taken it (The Sun)
• Family of 20-year-old Amy Vigus who died after taking what she thought was MDMA release heart-breaking video (East Anglian Daily Times)

Dissociatives

• That Time David Letterman Accidentally Smoked Animal Tranquilizer (Cinema Blend)
• Ketamine alone is best sedative for children's emergencies (American Pharmacists Association)
• An old medication used in new ways spells relief for chronic pain and other ailments (WZZM)
• To prevent more needless deaths like Ellie's, we need an open conversation about drugs (Left Foot Forward)
• Ketamine suspected as factor in death of care worker Hannah Bennett in Great Ellingham crash (Norwich Evening News)
• Lufkin PD: Woman who passed out on stranger's back porch was high on PCP (KTRE)

Opiates/Opioids

• The federal government is systematically undercounting heroin users (The Washington Post)
• Golden retriever digs up heroin in Oregon backyard (Albany Times Union)
• Initiative to ban heroin safe-injection sites in King County qualifies for ballot (The Seattle Times)
• New law requires naloxone to be placed in all Maryland schools (WUSA)
• NYC councilman wants naloxone kits in schools to prevent overdoses (EMS1.com)
• How to save a life: Officials push Naloxone trainings into the community (The Baltimore Sun)
• Kaleo Pharmaceuticals Donates Naloxone to Fight Opioid Epidemic (Community Idea Stations)
• How Medicaid Rescued This Man From Opioid Addiction (ATTN:)

Kambô

• Healing with the Frog: Interview with Joe Mattia about IAKP Kambo Training (Psychedelic Times)

Kratom

• Call To Legalise Kratom And Allow Its Use For Medicinal Purposes (Buriram Times)
• Families allowed to grow kratom trees for cultural reasons (The Nation)
• Best Tips on How to Take Kratom (TG Daily)
• The newest energy drink? 'Kratom' (Phuket Gazette)

Kava

• Kava is hardly dangerous drug (Sun Sentinel)
• Kiribati people 'cursed' by kava (Radio New Zealand)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• AI Is Edging Into the Art World in Psychedelic Ways (Smithsonian)
• Feds Bust 'Dark Web' Drug Ring Operating Out Of Altadena Gated Community (CBS Los Angeles)
• People Are Getting High on Drugs for the Eclipse (Newsweek)
• 2001: A Psychedelic Odyssey (Psymposia)
• You've had a life changing experience with psychedelics. Do you tell your kids? (Psymposia)
• How to help young people minimise drug harm (The Age)

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 - 8.19.17

Image by neonow, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Earlier this year I wrote about the discovery of seven Earth-sized planets that were found orbiting an ultra-cool star. At the time, three of the planets were thought to live in a habitable zone, which meant that they might have oceans of their own that could have harbored life. However, new evidence shows that the TRAPPIST-1 star-system may be too old to have life, after all. The age isn't necessarily a problem in and of itself, but it increases the chance that any habitable planets would have lost their atmospheres and water to high-energy radiation that would've pummeled them for billions of years. As I wrote back in February, the search for life outside our own solar system continues...

2. Creative people face a unique set of toxic habits that can harm their creative process. This article is a good reminder of how to deal with these habits and keep being creative!

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

This Week in Psychedelics - 8.18.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Marijuana politics emerge as 2020 flash point (Politico)
• Medical Marijuana Research Act of 2017 (NORML)
• The Federal Government Is Finally Exploring Marijuana As a Medical Alternative to Opioids (Reason)
• Does Anti-Pot Prejudice Explain NRA's Reluctance to Condemn Philando Castile Shooting? (Reason)
• Medical cannabis giants eye UK for next 'green rush' ahead of the industry's first conference in London (The Telegraph)
• SMART Bill Reintroduced in Congress (NORML)
• Three men jailed for turning nuclear bunker into £2m-a-year cannabis factory (The Independent)
• How Liquor Companies Screwed Up Pot Legalization in Nevada (Reason)
• Washington State Responds To Attorney General Sessions' Veiled Threats (NORML)
• Arkansas Has Received Zero Applications to Grow or Dispense Medical Cannabis (Leafly)
• What Every Cannabis Entrepreneur Needs to Understand About the Cole Memo (Entrepreneur)
• This Cannabis-Infused Meal Box Wants to Be the New Blue Apron (Leafly)
• Governors Challenge Jeff Sessions' Tendentious Questions About Legal Pot (Reason)
• Nevada Judge Clears Way for More Cannabis Licenses (Leafly)
• L.A. City Council approves new Cannabis Department Head (Los Angeles Times)
• Cleansing With Cannabis: 4 Ways to Treat Tension With THC (Leafly)
• Holy smoke! The church of cannabis (The Guardian)
• At This LA Rehab Center, Cannabis Is an 'Exit' Drug (Leafly)
• California finds 'pot of gold' in wine and weed (CNBC)
• Utah Launches Medical Cannabis Drive (Leafly)
• Peachtree NORML Challenges the Faith and Freedom Coalition (NORML)
• Smoking Versus Edibles (The Atlantic)
• How to Corner Your Bowl of Cannabis (Leafly)
• Why marijuana isn't just 'cannabis' (The Oregonian)
• How and When to Flush Cannabis Plants (Leafly)
• Little evidence shows cannabis helps chronic pain or PTSD (Fox News)

LSD

• Acid redux: My long, strange, cancer-fighting trip back to tripping (Salon)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Scientific Discovery Could Lead to Mass-Produced Magic Mushroom Drug (Daily Beast)
• Magic mushrooms and the roots of witchcraft (The Spectator)
• Spores in Space: These Mushroom Trips Last Light-Years (Dope Magazine)
• Psilocybin mushrooms got rid of my anxiety and depression (Psymposia)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Studies Show Only 40.5% Of Pills Sold In UK Contain MDMA, 34.7% Of MDMA Pure In US (Your EDM)
• Father who lost two sons to MDMA says drug should be legalised (Metro)
• Police say blue Tesla 'ecstasy' pills could contain meth and cocaine (Mixmag)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Of Molecules and Minds: The Science of Ayahuasca (Psymposia)
• Soldiers of the Vine: Healing PTSD with Ayahuasca (Psychedelic Times)
• What Does It Actually Feel Like To Take DMT? (The Debrief)
• Dutch addiction experts warn of dangers of 'trippy tea' (The Irish Times)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Experts warn of fairly new drug that mimics LSD (KSBY)

Dissociatives

• Fast forward to pain free: Ketamine Infusion Therapy changes lives in the community (WOODTV)
• Springfield murder defendant testifies he was too high on PCP-laced pot to understand his rights (MassLive.com)
• Man high on PCP crashes van, shoots at random cars in Cleveland, police say (Cleveland.com)

Opiates/Opioids

• The Justice Department Wants to Put Small-Time Fentanyl Dealers in Federal Prison (Reason)
• The New Alcohol Epidemic Kills More Than Two and a Half Times as Many People as The Opioid Epidemic (Disinfo)
• New York becomes first state to cover co-pays for Naloxone (WHAM)
• Heroin Death Rate Among Teenagers Rises As Heroin Use Falls (Reason)
• Trump's Opioid Emergency Response (Reason)
• China-US Cooperation and the New Opium War (The Diplomat)

Kratom

• What Is The Difference Between Slow, Moderate, And Fast Kratom (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Fijians consumed $140M worth of kava last year (Fiji Village)
• Kava bar ban in Lighthouse Point faces new legal challenge (Sun Sentinel)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• The foundation of Western philosophy is probably rooted in psychedelics (Quartz)
• A Researcher Wants to Test the Effects of Microdosing on Cognitive Ability and Productivity (Futurism)
• Woman Banned from US After Border Agent Finds Proof of Drug Use on Phone (VICE)
• Police Can Hurt Dark Net Drug Rings by Leaving Dealers Bad Reviews, Study Suggests (Motherboard)
• Most Drug Expiration Dates Are Bogus, and the FDA Knows It (Reason)
• Philippines Sees the Bloodiest Night of Duterte's Drug War With 32 Killed in Raids (TIME)
• Illinois Democrat Says Elect Him Governor and He'll Commute All Low-Level Drug Sentences (The Intercept)
• Shane Mauss Brings Psychedelic-Comedy Show A GOOD TRIP to Australia this October (Broadway World)
• From Blackhawk Pilot to Plant Medicine Activist: A Conversation with Ian Benouis (Psychedelic Times)
• Music For Mystery: A Discussion with Psychedelic Futurist Michael Garfield (Reality Sandwich)
• Why Shamanic Practices Are Making a Comeback in Contemporary Art (Artsy)
• How Heartbreak and Psychedelic Drugs Brought Shakey Graves to the World (Riverfront Times)
• Texas Cops Spent 11 Minutes Searching a Woman's Vagina, Found No Drugs (Reason)
• This Philosopher Thinks Psychedelic Drugs Lead to the Truth of Experience (Big Think)
• Could religions have originated under the influence? (Los Angeles Times)
• Iran Parliament Edges Towards Softening Drug Laws to Curb Executions (U.S. News & World Report)
• Could psychedelic drugs be the ticket to improved mental health? (Cosmos)

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.