Drew Schwartz, writing for VICE:
After sundown on Friday night, a band of thieves allegedly snuck into a conservation area in the Arizona desert with flashlights and grocery bags, and started hunting. According to the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, they'd come there to steal Sonoran Desert toads—innocent-looking little hoppers that produce one of the most potent natural psychedelics on Earth.
Almost seems like it's from a scene in a movie.
Sarah DiGiulio, writing for BETTER:
Whether you’re the reader who rips through a new book each week or the one still slogging through that bestseller your friend recommended months ago, psychologists (and their research) say your time is being well spent.
And if it’s been a while since your last date with a good book, the experts have a few reasons that might convince you to give it another go.
As science has shown, the act of reading comes with a ton of benefits. Books can provide a sense of human connection, the strengthening of social skills, and a healthy form of escape from real life. And if for some reason that's not enough to convince you to pluck a book off your shelf and give it a go, how about the fact that reading is very engaging for the brain and may actually even help us live longer? Be sure to check out this article and find out about why you should be reading more.
Cannabis
LSD
Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms
MDMA/Ecstasy
Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT
Iboga/Ibogaine
Dissociatives
Opiates/Opioids
Kambô
Kratom
Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy
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.
Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.
Russell Hausfeld, writing for Psymposia:
In the midst of the the February 2018 [Palm Court Party], a friend approached Hannah Procell — a club leader of the school’s Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) chapter — and alerted her:
“Hey, I think the cops just locked up the room.”
The room in question was an under-the-radar “chill-out” room, operating out of New College’s Prayer and Meditation room. Here, students could have a safe, meditative space if they were having too intense of an experience at the party. And, SSDP volunteers provide people with water and call medical help if needed. [...]
Just the year before, a large chill-out room was set up near the Prayer and Meditation room, without any issue from the school. The school paper reported in a recap of that party that “the chill out rooms were also an important feature of [the party]. One in the X lounge called the heart room was centered around a large heart structure and adorned with red lights and snacks.”
Procell believes that the crack-down on harm-reduction efforts this year was a response to a case at Florida State University, where students from a fraternity were charged with involuntary manslaughter because of a drug-related hazing incident. She says that school administrations view harm-reduction services as a liability rather than an asset.
It's a shame that universities are jumping on the anti-harm reduction bandwagon. A college should place the safety of its students at the top of their priority list.
Ann Marie Awad, writing for Colorado Public Radio:
Denver voters won’t have a chance to “free the spores,” at least not during the 2018 midterms.
The grassroots campaign behind a proposed ballot initiative that would decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms — known by their scientific name psilocybin — ran into a series of hurdles when it came to getting approval from the Denver elections division.
As of this moment ballot language still hasn’t been approved. Kevin Matthews, one of the people behind the Denver Psychoactive Mushroom Decriminalization Initiative said he’s not worried. The group hardly has time to collect the required 5,000 signatures before the city’s mid-August deadline. Instead, now they’re aiming for Denver’s May 2019 ballot.
Earlier this month, I was hopeful that Denver would get its initiative on the November 2018 ballot. Now we know that the earliest it's going to happen is May 2019, which would still be amazing.
