This Week in Psychedelics - 10.12.18

Cannabis

• U.K. to Allow Prescriptions for Medicinal Cannabis (The New York Times)

• Pew Poll: 62 Percent Of Americans Want Marijuana Legal (NORML)

• Pennsylvania Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Decriminalization Bill In Committee Vote (Marijuana Moment)

• Support For Marijuana Legalization Grew Again In 2018, Pew Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• 'Women have been saying it works for 10,000 years': 400 women will use marijuana-infused inserts in a groundbreaking study from a Harvard Medical School professor (Business Insider)

• U.S. Government Loosens Border Policy For Canadian Marijuana Industry Workers (Marijuana Moment)

• Trump Plans To Back Legal Medical Marijuana After Midterms, GOP Congressman Says (Marijuana Moment)

• High Schoolers Are Growing More Tolerant Of Peers Who Use Marijuana, Study Shows (Marijuana Moment)

• Survey: Cannabis Use Becoming Common Among Older Adults (NORML)

• Study Reveals How Older People Use And Obtain Marijuana In Colorado (Marijuana Moment)

• New California Law Bans Bars, Liquor Stores from Selling Marijuana-Infused Drinks (Reason)

• Fight To Legalize Medical Marijuana In Missouri Intensifies As Groups Battle Over Tax Rates (Marijuana Moment)

• Walmart Canada Explores Selling Cannabis-Infused Products (Forbes)

• Shopify 'confident' on pot e-commerce because 'cannabis isn't Kylie Cosmetics' (CBC)

• Trump Administration Seeks Public Comments On Marijuana Reclassification (Forbes)

• Toke Up, Eh? Canada Readies for Marijuana to Become Legal Nationwide (TIME)

• Canada’s Liquor Stores Will Heavily Outnumber Marijuana Stores On Legalization’s Launch (Marijuana Moment)

• Marijuana Stores Will Be Hard To Find For Most Canadians On Day One Of Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• The jury is in on cannabis legalization in North America: it’s been a success. (LSE USAPP)

• WestJet bans staff in 'safety-sensitive' jobs from off-duty cannabis use (CBC)

• THC amounts identical in most cannabis strains, study finds (Phys.org)

• Celebrity Endorsements and Cannabis (The Stranger)

• Cannabis In Space Is Just Around The Corner (Forbes)

• I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot (The New York Times)

• This Is Where Arizona’s US Senate Candidates Stand On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• The Marijuana Midterms are Heating Up in Nevada (NORML)

• Corporate America is investing in pot because people want to eat and drink it (CNN)

• Why retail is so important to the burgeoning cannabis beauty and wellness market (Glossy)

• Marijuana Licensing Bill Has ‘Negligible’ Fiscal Impacts, Congressional Budget Office Says (Marijuana Moment)

• Coral Cove Cannabis Retreat Is Jamaica's Best Kept Secret (Forbes)

• The Quest to Make California’s Weed the Champagne of Cannabis (WIRED)

LSD

• A Team of European Researchers Is Crowdsourcing the World’s First ‘Self-Blinded’ LSD Microdosing Study (Psychedelic Times)

• ‘The CIA introduced LSD into American society. They weaponised it’ (The Irish Times)

• Nick Kroll Saw The Pattern Of The Universe During An LSD Trip At Burning Man (Marijuana Moment)

• A Playwright's LSD Trip Becomes a Psychedelic Journey (The New York Times)

• That time a legendary Batman editor was dared to put LSD in Stan Lee’s coffee (Polygon)

• From ‘problem child’ to ‘prodigy’? LSD turns 75 (Arab News)

• People Are Microdosing LSD To 'Make Them More Productive' (LADbible)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Psilocybin Initiative Moves to Signature-Gathering Stage for May 2019 (Westword)

• Mushroom legalization effort polling at 39 percent (Rooster Magazine)

• A team of Johns Hopkins researchers is calling for magic mushrooms to be made legally available as medicine (Business Insider)

• “Magic Mushrooms” May Be an FDA-Approved Drug for Anxiety and Depression in the Near Future (Vogue)

• Iceland’s Richest Man Invests in Magic Mushrooms (Guide to Iceland Now)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• $57 million worth of MDMA discovered in sausage-making machines (Mixmag)

• Superstar DJ David Morales 'arrested at Japanese airport over MDMA smuggling claim' (Mirror)

• Use of higher purity ecstasy on the rise among young Australians (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Breaking News: The first two ayahuasca convictions in the United States (Chacruna)

• Sexual Seduction in Ayahuasca Shaman and Participants Interactions (Chacruna)

• What ayahuasca — Silicon Valley's latest drug of choice — does to your brain and body (The Hour)

• The DMT drug is not a drug, its much stranger (Kahpi)

• In the mighty jungles (Deccan Herald)

• Multiple (and Subtle) Bodies: Entheogenic Incorporation in the Santo Daime Tradition (Part 1) (Reality Sandwich)

• Nathalie Huerta on Founding The Queer Gym and What Ayahuasca Taught Her (Bon Appetit)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• American Indians gather near El Reno to celebrate peyote traditions (Tulsa World)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Ibogaine Clinics and their Role in Addiction Treatment (The Urban Twist)

• The dangerous hallucinogen opioid addicts use to get clean (Big Think)

Dissociatives

• As ketamine clinics spread, so do start-your-own-business courses, sparking concern (STAT)

• Ketamine infusion for depression requires opioid receptors to be effective (Medical News Bulletin)

• Hope for Victims of Resistant Clinical Depression Now Comes in Pill Form (Breaking Israel News)

• My ketamine infusion for chronic pain (The Fix)

• Police: Naked man possibly on PCP arrested after throwing chairs off Dumfries balcony (WJLA)

• Expert: Teen 'whacked out' of his mind from PCP night of police shooting (Chicago City Wire)

Opiates/Opioids

• Addiction Treatment Gap Is Driving A Black Market For Suboxone (NPR)

• Surgeon General Talks About Need To 'Normalize' Naloxone At N.H. Opioids Forum (NHPR)

• Funeral Homes Stock Overdose Antidote Drug Naloxone Amid Opioid Epidemic (The Inquisitr)

• Mexico defense chief says legalizing opium 'way out' of violence (The Gazette)

• Opioid Bill Shows Congress Can Still Work Together (TIME)

• Prisons Crack Down On An Opioid Treatment Drug, Endangering Lives (The Appeal)

• Medicaid Expansion and the Opioid Epidemic (Penn LDI)

Absinthe

• A Czech Distiller Is Resurrecting Pre-Ban Absinthe, Returning the Green Fairy to Rightful Glory (VinePair)

Kambô

• Get holes burned into your body as sacred tree frog ceremony comes to Cornwall (Cornwall Live)

Kratom

• Ohio Pushes Kratom Ban With Disputed Claims About Deaths, Use Trends (HuffPost)

• Do Drug Addicts Really Shoot Kratom? (Pain News Network)

Kava

• Potential for increased kava exports (The Fiji Times)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• A Big Win – DOJ Affirms Free Water and Drug Education Not a Violation of the RAVE Act! (Amend the RAVE Act!)

• Fingerprint drug screen test works on the living and deceased (ScienceDaily)

• Hospital Data Shows How Britain's Drug Problem Is Getting Worse (VICE)

• Decriminalise drugs, Plaid Cymru says (BBC)

• Philadelphia Pushing Forward with Safe Injection Site Plans (Reason)

• 'Just say no' to drug legalisation: WHO chief (Yahoo!)

• The Psychedelic Film and Music Festival Announces Inaugural Award Winners (Broadway World)

• Can US overdose deaths be stopped? (Drug WarRant)

• Introducing Chacruna’s Psychedelic Therapy Music Forum (Chacruna)

• Reality Is Just a Bunch of Hallucinations We Collectively Agree On (Motherboard)

• Successful Constitutional Case Against Death Penalty Works For War on Drugs, Too (Marijuana Moment)

• Magic Medicine: A Trip Through the Intoxicating History and Modern-Day Use of Psychedelic Plants and Substances by Cody Johnson (Psychedelic Press UK)

• Treating mental disorders with psychedelic psychotherapy (Particle)

• The Business Of Addiction Treatment (INSCMagazine)

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.

What About the Future of the Psychedelic Industry?

Katie Stone, writing for Chacruna:

Medical-only and medical-first approaches might be palatable to prohibitionists, but there is no liberation from the Drug War until all drug users are free. Period. Psychonauts are not morally superior to people who use meth, or alcohol, or heroin. Anyone leading drug policy reform conversations from a platform that suggests otherwise needs to pass the talking stick to a drug policy reformer who leads with compassion. After the war is over, you’ll be free to exercise your superiority complex.

Amen.

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Post Permalink

DOJ Affirms Free Water and Drug Education Not a Violation of the RAVE Act

Dede, writing for Amend the RAVE Act!:

Dear friends and other steadfast supporters,

I am thrilled to bring you two important updates about our work to amend the RAVE Act.

First, earlier this year, I received a letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) informing me that free water should absolutely be provided at dance music festivals and concerts!

Then, last week the Justice Department added that fact-based drug education material may be distributed at events! In fact, they said that both of these measures have been deemed to be ‘reasonable and appropriate safety measures.’

Free water at music festivals is an absolute no-brainer, and educating drug users about how to use drugs in the safest manner possible can have a huge impact. Lives will definitely be saved because of these changes. This is excellent news for the harm reduction movement.

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Post Permalink

This Week in Psychedelics - 10.5.18

Cannabis

• California: Governor Signs Legislation Expunging Past Marijuana Convictions (NORML)

• Some cannabis companies turning to temporary foreign worker program ahead of legalization (Financial Post)

• FDA Says Marijuana Ingredient CBD Doesn’t Meet Criteria For Federal Control (Marijuana Moment)

• Courts Are Beginning to Rule Against Employers Who Discriminate Against Medical Marijuana Users (TIME)

• Legalization Doesn’t Increase Problematic Marijuana Use, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• A Complete History of Marijuana, According To Scientists (Marijuana Moment)

• Canopy Withdraws ‘Chronic by Dre’ Marijuana Trademark Filed By Mistake (Marijuana Moment)

• Legalization: Is it Working? (NORML)

• PepsiCo just became the latest beverage company to say it's looking at the fast-growing cannabis market (CNBC)

• A Cannabis Lawyer in Portland Has an Ambitious Plan to Fund More Women in the Industry (Psychedelic Times)

• Where Missouri’s US Senate Candidates Stand On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Illinois sees sharp rise in medical cannabis applications as cancer patient requests 'explode' (Chicago Tribune)

• Uruguay Lawmakers Won’t Apply Strict Tobacco Packaging Rules On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Voters In Seven States Will See These Marijuana Questions On Election Day (Forbes)

• Win Or Lose At The Polls, Medical Marijuana Is Coming To Utah Under New Deal (Marijuana Moment)

• Boston inches forward with recreational marijuana permits (The Boston Globe)

• Marijuana Legalization and Workplace Safety: A Short-Lived Hysteria (NORML)

• Pot group: Michigan set to net $130M a year in new tax revenue (The Detroit News)

• Two pounds of weed for $20: this is Oregon's medical marijuana program (Rooster Magazine)

• This Lab Raised $10 Million To Expand Cannabis And Hemp Cloning Production (Forbes)

• Marketers Are Putting a New Face on Weed as They Navigate Regulations and Battle Stoner Stigma (Adweek)

• How to Combat Cold Symptoms With Cannabis (Reset.me)

• Nancy Pelosi Says Marijuana Reform Depends On Trump (Marijuana Moment)

• Teens aren’t just smoking cannabis, study says — they’re eating and vaping it, too (Fox 13)

• Cities Across Ohio Will Vote On Marijuana Decriminalization In November (Marijuana Moment)

• This New Cannabis Craze Has Made Early Investors Rich (The Motley Fool)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• The Health Benefits of Magic Mushrooms May Push Them to Legalization (Inverse)

• Why Doctors Want to Reclassify Psilocybin, the Drug That Puts the 'Magic' in Mushrooms (Fortune)

• Psilocybin Healed Me From Crippling Depression And Anxiety (Reset.me)

• The Not-So-Trippy Reason Mushrooms Are Psychedelic (Inside Science)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Weird Science: Octopuses Rolling on MDMA Become More Social (Psychedelic Times)

• University criticised for publishing advice on how to prepare MDMA (PinkNews)

• Coroner’s chilling warning after girl, 14, dies of MDMA poisoning from ‘The Punisher’ super-strength ecstasy pill (The Sun)

• Dad shares final picture of son who died after taking ecstasy for the first time (Metro)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Probation ordered for Tampa man who brought South American spiritual ‘tea’ to airport (Tampa Bay Times)

Dissociatives

• The anti-anxiety effects of ketamine are linked to changes in theta brainwaves (PsyPost)

• Ketamine may be used to ease uncontrollable movements in Parkinson’s patients (WCTV)

• Ketamine drug trial to treat alcoholism at Exeter University is recruiting (Devon Live)

• Ketamine for Acute Pain: Highlights from the New Guidelines (Anesthesiology News)

Opiates/Opioids

• Cost of lifesaving heroin withdrawal drug soars by 700% (The Guardian)

• Punjab CM Amarinder backs Sidhu for legalising opium cultivation (The Economic Times)

• Ancient Mediterranean 'Juglet' Contained Traces of Opium (Live Science)

• The $1 Tool That Might Curb the Overdose Epidemic (The Atlantic)

• How the US Stopped a Possible Solution to the Heroin Epidemic (VICE)

Kratom

• Ohio Banning Sales of Kratom and CBD (Pain News Network)

• NLA 'likely' to pass pot and kratom bill (Bangkok Post)

• What is Kratom High and How to Come Down from High Effects? (Kratom Guides)

Khat

• DNC appeals to govt to ban khat (Dhaka Tribune)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Activists Accuse Bangladesh Government of Killing the Innocent in its Drug War (VICE News)

• Organizer of nude psychedelic parades defends nude psychedelic parades (Rooster Magazine)

• Gov. Brown Vetoes Bill To Open Safe Injection Sites In San Francisco (CBS San Francisco)

• Why is Islamic Art and Architecture So Psychedelic? (Sam Woolfe)

• High Kingdom: Why Animals Take Psychedelic Substances (Kahpi)

• Black Americans Are Being Left Out of Psychedelics Research (Tonic)

• Philippines President Duterte Playfully 'Jokes' About All His Drug War Murders (Reason)

• Exploring Consciousness with Psychedelics (Technology Networks)

• Awe: a putative mechanism underlying the effects of classic psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (Taylor & Francis Online)

• Opening up the future of psychedelic science (The Conversation)

• Ordinary Doses (Real Life)

• Was John Lennon a Better Musician After Taking Psychedelics? (Ultimate Guitar)

• ASU's psychedelic explorers: the Ecstasis Club (The State Press)

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.

This Week in Psychedelics - 9.28.18

Cannabis

• Canadians Involved In Marijuana Industry Not Welcome In US, Feds Confirm (Marijuana Moment)

• DEA Reclassifies Plant-Derived Marijuana Medicine To Schedule V (NORML)

• FBI: Marijuana Arrests Spike For Second Straight Year, Far Outpace Arrests For All Violent Crimes (NORML)

• Youth Marijuana Use Isn’t Increasing After States Legalize, Meta-Analysis Of 55 Studies Concludes (Marijuana Moment)

• Marijuana Looks Like An Alien World Under An Electron Microscope (Marijuana Moment)

• Maine Officials Investigating Restaurant That Calmed Lobsters With Marijuana (TIME)

• Lawmaker Pushes For Marijuana Legalization In Kenya (Marijuana Moment)

• Coca-Cola Is Eyeing a Possible Entry Into the Cannabis Market (TIME)

• Brooklyn DA erases 56 marijuana convictions, vacates over 3,000 pot warrants (New York Daily News)

• Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions (BBC)

• Amsterdam’s Marijuana Strategy Means Cops Don’t Have Much To Do, Comedy Central Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Molson Coors Plans To Sell Marijuana-Infused Teas, Seltzers And Beer (Marijuana Moment)

• Wall Street’s Marijuana Madness: ‘It’s Like the Internet in 1997’ (The Wall Street Journal)

• Republicans in a US territory just legalized marijuana (Vox)

• Cannabis Stocks Had A Roller Coaster Of A Week (NPR)

• Are Police Breaking The Law To Campaign Against Marijuana Legalization? (Marijuana Moment)

• How EMTs and Doctors Treat Cannabis Overconsumption (Leafly)

• House GOP Blocks Marijuana Tax Fairness Vote (Marijuana Moment)

• TSA Will Report Weed at LAX to Cops, Who Can't Do Anything About It (Reason)

• Researchers Injected People With THC To Test Their Motor Skills (Marijuana Moment)

• It's Not Just Cannabis Stocks -- Salaries And Jobs In Legal Weed Are Climbing Too (Forbes)

• Why millennials prefer cannabis to booze: ‘Zero enjoyment out of drinking’ (and it’s cheaper) (MarketWatch)

• Willie Nelson Wants To Smoke Marijuana With Trump And Putin (Marijuana Moment)

• Kindergartner can take cannabis drug to school, judge says (Los Angeles Times)

• O’Rourke And Cruz Clash On Marijuana And Drugs At Senate Debate (Marijuana Moment)

• Pot Faux Pas: A Cannabis Club Owner Weighs In On Marijuana Etiquette (WBUR)

• Here’s Where Maine’s US Senate Candidates Stand On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Legal marijuana: Vote for it, even if you aren't going to smoke it (Detroit Free Press)

• Leading Congressional Marijuana Opponent In Danger Of Losing Seat, Polls Find (Marijuana Moment)

• Idaho Gubernatorial Candidates Disagree On Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• What Happens When You Give L.S.D. to an Elephant? (The New York Times)

• Silicon Valley figures remember Steve Jobs's death — and debate the rumor that he was 'tripping' when he died (Business Insider)

• Could LSD Microdosing Be Beneficial? (Labmate Online)

• Sofia Boutella on Playing a Character Spiked with LSD in Gaspar Noé’s ‘Climax’ (Collider)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Reclassification recommendations for drug in 'magic mushrooms' (ScienceDaily)

• Could "Magic Mushrooms" Help You Stop Smoking? (The Fix)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Pilot Study Finds MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy Significantly Reduces Social Anxiety in Autistic Adults (Psychedelic Times)

• Scientists Dosed an Octopus With MDMA and It Engaged In Some Serious Heavy Petting (The Inertia)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• 'Psychedelic Indiana Jones' claims he can 'predict FUTURE' with shamanic drug (Daily Star)

Morning Glory Seeds

• Children eating flower seeds to get high (Click 2 Houston)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine gives hope to patients with severe depression. But some clinics stray from the science and hype its benefits (STAT)

• Party drug used for depression at UW Health amid research on psychedelics (Wisconsin State Journal)

Opiates/Opioids

• A major study questioned the evidence for safe injection sites. It’s now been retracted. (Vox)

• Fentanyl crisis: Is China a major source of illegal drugs? (BBC)

• The Health 202: Congress reaches deal on major opioids' package (The Washington Post)

• Solving America’s painkiller paradox (Vox)

• DEA launches '360 Strategy' to combat heroin and prescription drug abuse epidemic in Baltimore (Baltimore Sun)

• Pulitzer Prize winner Terry DeMio on life as a heroin beat reporter (Psymposia)

Kratom

• FDA Death Data On Kratom Linked To Adulterated Products, Not The Kratom Plant Itself (Benzinga)

• Kratom Dosage In Powder And Capsules (Kratom Guides)

• Kratom In Missouri: Legality And Where To Find Locally (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Price of kava fluctuates (The Fiji Times)

Khat

• New drug ‘khat’ finds way into Bangladesh (The Independent)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Capitalism on Psychedelics: The Mainstreaming of an Underground (Chacruna)

• For $1000, These ‘Sitters’ Will Save You from a Bad Acid Trip (VICE)

• The Risks of Long-Term Microdosing (The Third Wave)

• Why I regret my war on drugs (UnHerd)

• When supplies of drugs run low, drug prices mysteriously rise, data shows (Ars Technica)

• Psychedelic Film and Music Festival to feature trippy entertainment ‘for healing’ (AM New York)

• Get Ready for Your Psychedelic Voyage by Reading Experience Reports (Psychedelic Times)

• ‘Without drug traffickers, we’d have peace’: Colombian villagers flee new killings (The Guardian)

• Some 129 countries sign up to Trump's pledge at U.N. to fight drugs (Reuters)

• Making amyl nitrite an illegal drug would be ineffective, warns former AFP chief (The Guardian)

• The Invisible Majority: People Whose Drug Use Is Not Problematic (Filter)

• It's time we walked the talk on treating drugs as a health issue (Stuff.co.nz)

• $18 Million Worth of Cocaine Found in Bananas Donated to Texas Prison, Authorities Say (TIME)

• Does Donald Trump Want To Ban Chocolate, Or Is He Just Confused? (Marijuana Moment)

• Integrating Huichol and Mazatec Wisdom Without Doing Harm: Interview with Mario Gómez Mayorga (Psychedelic Times)

• Sheffield University criticised over 'never inject alone' drug advice (The Telegraph)

• Why doctors should support regulated markets in illicit drugs (The BMJ)

• Drug Tolerance Explained (Psychedelic Heaven)

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.