Let’s Talk About Compass And Psychedelic Capitalism

Wesley Thoricatha, writing for Psychedelic Times:

Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. Gaining scientific legitimacy, ending stigmas, and seeking mainstream acceptance have long been goals in the psychedelic community, but now that all of these things are happening, this relatively small and close-knit community is experiencing some growing pains. […]

Much of this concern has landed on one of the rising stars of the for-profit psychedelic world, the US/UK based Compass Pathways. Compass made news recently for securing FDA breakthrough medication status for psilocybin in the treatment of depression- a major win for psilocybin research and psychedelic acceptance in general- yet their tactics over the years and their financial backers have ruffled a few feathers along the way.

To seek insight on Compass and their critics, and to address the larger debate around psychedelics and capitalism, we spoke with Rick Doblin, founder of MAPS, champion of working within the system to promote psychedelics, and perhaps the most successful and impactful psychedelic advocate in modern history.

After all the talk about this lately, it’s refreshing to hear from Rick himself.

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This Week in Psychedelics - 11.16.18

Cannabis

• Will 2019 be the Year of Federal Marijuana Law Reform? (The Marijuana Times)

• Thai lawmakers back legalizing medical marijuana (Associated Press)

• Study Finds CBD Alleviates Psychotic Disorder Symptoms (Psychedelic Times)

• Pot approved for research, medical use (Bangkok Post)

• Medical cannabis: Death sentence prompts Malaysia to re-think harsh laws (BBC)

• Why Women Support Legal Marijuana Less Than Men, According To A New Study (Marijuana Moment)

• The Complicated Relationship Between IP Law & Cannabis (IPWatchdog)

• Marijuana Use Doesn’t Affect Outcome Of Kidney Transplants, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Will Michigan law push Indiana toward cannabis? (South Bend Tribune)

• Mitch McConnell Guarantees Industrial Hemp Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Why people love CBD — the cannabis product that won't get you high (CNBC)

• If Chris Christie Becomes Attorney General, Pot Advocacy Could be Set Ablaze (Reason)

• VA Will Explore Medical Marijuana, But Only If Federal Law Changes, Secretary Says (Marijuana Moment)

• A cannabis Coke and a smile? Colorado companies hoping to tap infused beverage craze (The Denver Post)

• Here’s Where The Next House Speaker Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Canada: officials urge action to keep edible marijuana away from children (The Guardian)

• Legal Marijuana Would Generate Hundreds Of Millions For Illinois, New Analysis Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Congress: New House Rules Chairman Pledges To Allow Floor Votes On Marijuana-Related Amendments (NORML)

• The Feds Want Researchers To Study ‘Minor’ Cannabinoids And Terpenes In Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• If This Bill Passes, Possessing Pot in Texas Will Be Treated Less Harshly Than Distributing Straws in San Francisco (Reason)

• Bipartisan Lawmakers Introduce Three Medical Marijuana Bills For Veterans (Marijuana Moment)

• Local Officials From Across US Call For Federal Marijuana Rescheduling (Marijuana Moment)

• Police drugs lead 'impressed' by cannabis clubs (BBC)

• The DEA Just Got Scolded Over Its Marijuana Eradication Program (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis and the brain: Recent studies shed new light (Medical News Today)

• The Feds Are Hiring Professional Marijuana Joint Rollers…Kind Of (Marijuana Moment)

• For a Buck and Sometimes a Buzz, Brewers Are Putting Cannabis Into Cans (The New York Times)

• Feds Seek New Growers To Produce Thousands Of Kilograms Of Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Texas NORML: Midterm Elections and the 86th Texas Legislature (NORML)

• Indiana NORML: Midterm Elections Shakeup State Legislature (NORML)

• Here’s How Much Legal Marijuana Supporters And Opponents Spent Per Vote In Last Week’s Election (Marijuana Moment)

• Could Pot Help Solve The Opioid Crisis? (BuzzFeed News)

• Michelle Obama Talks Smoking Marijuana In New Memoir (Marijuana Moment)

• The UK's Biggest Legal Weed Producer Has Ignited Fresh Criticism (VICE)

• Cali judge protects right to grow cannabis (The Leaf Online)

• Holiday Gift Guide 2018: The Ultimate Luxury List For Cannabis Connoisseurs (Forbes)

• American cannabis expert warns UK government ‘relax laws or be left behind’ (Metro)

• ‘Walking Dead’ Actor Raises Money For Kids Who Use Medical Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Alfie Dingley: Mum's fresh medicinal cannabis campaign (BBC)

• Texas Lawmaker Files Marijuana Decriminalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Is the stigma of cannabis preventing more seniors from using it? (WTVF)

• Mormon Church Faces Potential Lawsuit Over Medical Marijuana Opposition (Marijuana Moment)

• NORML Chapters Participate in Las Vegas’ First Business-to-Consumer Cannabis Conference (NORML)

• TV Stations Pulled Anti-Legalization Ads Ahead Of Midterm Marijuana Votes, Advocates Say (Marijuana Moment)

• Here's What Marijuana Stock Aurora Cannabis Is Saying About Its Future (The Motley Fool)

• Colorado Governor Touts Marijuana Legalization’s Benefits (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• Throwback Thursday: Understanding “South Pacific” With a Little Help from LSD (Dope Magazine)

• Man ‘gouged’ PCSO’s face while on LSD at Bexhill party (Bexhill-on-Sea Observer)

• Navy Sailors Dealing LSD in Nuclear Reactor Department of Aircraft Carrier (Citizen Truth)

• Drug with therapeutic effect: How LSD affects the brain (Infosurhoy)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Psilocybin Could Be Legal for Therapy by 2021 (Rolling Stone)

• FDA Gives Stamp of Approval for Clinical Psilocybin Trials (Psychedelic Times)

• Driver on psychedelic mushrooms crashed vehicle on Beltine, walked into traffic, police say (Channel 3000)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• How long will it be until we see the legalisation of MDMA? (The Student)

• Teenage boy with epilepsy died after secretly taking MDMA on night out (Metro)

• Girl, 18, died 'after taking "double-strength" ecstasy at Mutiny music festival' (Mirror)

• Woman, 29, died after taking heroin, ecstasy and cocaine in strip club (Metro)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Can Toad Venom Unlock The Mystery Of Neurogenesis? New Insights on 5-MeO-DMT (Psychedelic Times)

• How I drank my way from the Amazon to the Himalayas (Condé Nast Traveller)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• In The Only State Where Selling Peyote Is Legal, The Cactus Is Threatened And Still Controversial (Texas Public Radio)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Holy War – A Tale of Bwiti Iboga Initiation, Part 2 (Psychedelic Times)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• ‘Testing prisoners for cannabis led to the Spice epidemic,’ says former government adviser (talkRADIO)

Dissociatives

• Hospital Injected Intoxicated Woman with Ketamine, Enrolled Her in Clinical Trial Without Consent, Lawsuit Says (Newsweek)

• ‘It’s the PCP’: Man wearing only a towel arrested at shopping center (FOX2Now.com)

• Ketamine For Depression (Healthy Magazine)

• Man accused of causing deadly crash was high on PCP, officials say (KOCO)

• Judge rules woman accused of setting fatal Springfield fire was too high on PCP to confess (MassLive.com)

Opiates/Opioids

• As if heroin weren’t dangerous enough, it may come with lead poisoning (Ars Technica)

• 'Dozens' of underground heroin-injection sites operating now in King County (KIRO)

• Some pharmacies fail to offer easy access to naloxone, or to stock it, despite anti-opioid initiatives (STAT)

• The Hell of Getting Methadone When You’re Away from Home (Tonic)

• Philly may require all pharmacies to stock overdose-reversal drug naloxone (WHYY)

• Growing concern for 'pink death' drug and pure fentanyl (KMSP)

• Why Some Pharmacies Still Fail To Carry Naloxone (The Fix)

• Life After Heroin Is Beautiful and Boring (VICE)

• Find Out the Rate of Opioid-Related Overdoses in Your Town (NBC Chicago)

• Toronto man sounds alarm about 'drastic need' for naloxone training to battle opioid overdoses (CBC)

• Viewpoint: Big Pharma didn't drive up the cost of naloxone, 'opportunity has' (Becker's Hospital Review)

Kratom

• Kratom herbal supplement may cause withdrawal symptoms in newborns (MyNDNow.com)

• HHS recommended that the DEA make kratom a Schedule I drug, like LSD or heroin (STAT)

• The U.S. May Ban Kratom. But Are its Effects Deadly or Lifesaving? (Discover Magazine)

• A ruling is imminent on the legality of a controversial drug that's used to treat addiction — but some have called it a 'dangerous opioid' (Business Insider)

• Kratom for Fitness, Pre-Workout & Bodybuilding (Kratom Guides)

• Kratom Plants & Kratom Seeds for Sale Online (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Vanuatu continues push for quality standard for kava (Radio New Zealand)

• The New Criterion: say 'bula' to the world's first listed kava producer (Livewire Markets)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• The DEA and ICE are hiding surveillance cameras in streetlights (Quartz)

• Egypt MP Proposes Law to Decriminalise All Drug Use (Talking Drugs)

• Teenagers boil sanitary pads to get high (The Jakarta Post)

• My Relationships With Drugs Vary Wildly: We Must Recognize Spectrums (Filter)

• Drug-Law Violations Account for Over a Quarter of Women Incarcerated in the US (Filter)

• Greece Health Ministry Plans Drug Consumption Rooms (Talking Drugs)

• Secret CIA Document Shows Plan to Test Drugs on Prisoners (ACLU)

• Psychedelic Ethics: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Psymposia)

• Is Psychedelic Science Reaching A Breaking Point? (The Third Wave)

• Microdosers Are More Creative With Happier Emotions, Study Finds (VICE)

• The Psychedelic Renaissance Will Be Decided By Access (Chacruna)

• Get Up, Stand Up, Speak Up (Psymposia)

• What It's Like to Run the Biggest Drug Encyclopedia in the World (VICE)

• A New Documentary Shows How Vets Are Using Weed and Ayahuasca to Treat PTSD (Tonic)

• Ayahuasca for PTSD: Interview with "From Shock to Awe" Producer Janine Sagert (Reality Sandwich)

• This comedian tried to explain what drugs feel like and it went strangely (Rooster Magazine)

• Competitive Psychedelic Users Are Chasing 'Ego Death' and Losing Their Sense of Self (VICE)

• The Global Drug Survey wants to have an honest conversation about your drug habits (Time Out)

• Can Psychedelics “Cure” Gay People? (Chacruna)

• The Life and High Times of Psychedelic Bard, Terence McKenna (Kahpi)

• Oiling the Hinges of the Doors of Perception – Microdosing with Psychedelics (Beckley Foundation)

• Service workers say supervised injection facilities could cut restroom overdoses (Business Insider)

• The Island: Recovering Self, Culture and Place through Plant Medicine (Chacruna)

• Personal drug use should be decriminalized, addictions expert says (CBC)

• Chris Selley: On safe injection sites, why can't conservatives just let people not die? (National Post)

• Confirmation Bias And Misreporting Plague Psychedelic Research (The Ticker)

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 - 11.9.18

Cannabis

• Marijuana Won The Midterm Elections (Forbes)

• Mexico introduces bill to to legalise medical and recreational cannabis use (The Independent)

• Michigan Becomes the 10th State to Legalize Recreational Marijuana (Reason)

• Missouri Becomes the 32nd Medical Marijuana State (Reason)

• Utah Becomes the 33rd State to Legalize Medical Marijuana (Reason)

• Key Mexican Senator Introduces Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales (Marijuana Moment)

• Weed woes: Canada struggles to meet huge demand for legal cannabis (The Guardian)

• Five Ohio Cities Decriminalize Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Florida: Voters Pass Amendment Restoring Voting Rights To Marijuana Felons (NORML)

• Wisconsin Voters Widely Embrace Marijuana Legalization In the Midterms (Marijuana Moment)

• Lesser-Known Marijuana Votes You Might Have Missed On Election Day (Marijuana Moment)

• Marijuana Legalization Measure Defeated in North Dakota (Reason)

• Where Jeff Sessions’s Temporary Replacement Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• The Growing Consensus for Legalizing Marijuana (Reason)

• Trump Will Legalize Marijuana After Midterms, Anthony Scaramucci Predicts (Marijuana Moment)

• New insights into the neural risks and benefits of marijuana use (ScienceDaily)

• The Midwest May Be the Next Frontier In Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Washington, D.C. Mayor Plans Legal Marijuana Sales As Congress Shifts (Marijuana Moment)

• What The Loss of Marijuana-Friendly Republicans Means For Federal Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• ‘Godfather’ Director Francis Ford Coppola Launches Luxury Marijuana Brand (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis convictions: the push to clear the records that ruin lives (The Guardian)

• Washington Needs to Legalize Cannabis (The Wall Street Journal)

• The Entourage Effect: How THC and Other Weed Compounds Mix (WIRED)

• GPs to prescribe medical cannabis in Jersey (BBC)

• Does Canada's Cannabis Industry Have Mafia Ties? (Forbes)

• More Women Are Using Marijuana During Pregnancy, Report Says (TIME)

• Private Patients to Get Easier Access to Medical Cannabis Than NHS Patients (VICE)

• Verdict for Marijuana Grower May Reduce Threat of Ruinous RICO Liability (Reason)

• Judge: California City That Banned Home Growing “Has Gone Too Far” (Cannabis Wire)

• Unseen Women of Color Who Use Weed Know Why Legalization Is Only a Start (Filter)

• Medicinal cannabis legalisation could well open the door to allowing recreational use, whatever Sajid Javid says (The Independent)

• Disgraced at Olympics Over Marijuana, Snowboarder Hopes to Ride to Cannabis Success (The New York Times)

• The world's largest cannabis dispensary just opened in Vegas—and it has an entertainment complex attached (CNBC)

• Michael Moore Votes For Marijuana Legalization During Late Night TV Appearance (Marijuana Moment)

• Cops Showed Up To Stop This Sacramento Restaurant From Selling CBD-Infused Cocktails (Reason)

• How The Cannabis Landscape Could Change Post Election (Forbes)

LSD

• Why Are So Many Service Members Responsible For Safeguarding America’s Nukes Reportedly Tripping Balls? (Task & Purpose)

• Student who took LSD found naked at shopping centre (Herald.ie)

• These are the up- and downsides of my one-month experience microdosing LSD (Medium)

• Two USS Ronald Reagan sailors accused of distributing LSD, other drug charges (Stars and Stripes)

• Yale, Zurich scientists find why LSD makes people trip (Yale Daily News)

• How You Can Be in the World’s First LSD Microdosing Study (71 Republic)

• Using MDMA and LSD helped save Ayelet Waldman’s marriage (news.com.au)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• A millionaire couple is threatening to create a magic mushroom monopoly (Quartz)

• FDA Recognizes Psychedelic Mushrooms As An Effective Treatment For Depression (TheThings.com)

• ‘Microdosing’ Psychedelics Might Impact Creativity, Study Says (Geek.com)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Intentionally-diverse MDMA research at University of Connecticut Cut Short (Psymposia)

• MDMA Therapy Eliminated PTSD Symptoms In 76 Percent of Patients (Futurism)

• Largest MDMA drug lab in NSW history uncovered by police (9NEWS.com)

• Trick-or-treat girl aged 5 ‘was handed Ecstasy pills’ (The Times)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Mimosa Hostilis: Benefits, Side-effects, Dosage & Legality (Kratom Guides)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Holy War – A Tale of Bwiti Iboga Initiation, Part 1 (Psychedelic Times)

Morning Glory Seeds

• Plant seeds with hallucinogenic effects could mean trouble for children (WPLG)

Dissociatives

• Woman Injected With Ketamine Sues Hennepin County, Medical Personnel and Others (KSTP)

• Minneapolis police oversight official honored for ketamine investigation (Star Tribune)

Opiates/Opioids

• Naloxone still stable months after expiration date, research says (CNN)

• Mac Miller Toxicology Report Confirms Rapper Died Of Mixed Drug Toxicity From Fentanyl, Cocaine (Live for Live Music)

• Harsher Federal Penalties for Selling Fentanyl-Laced Drugs Have Taken Effect—Expect Unintended Consequences (Filter)

• How to Taper Off Suboxone: A Survival Guide (The Fix)

• Heroin, fentanyl remain among nation’s greatest drug threats, federal report says (PBS NewsHour)

• The costs of heroin and naloxone: a tragic snapshot of the opioid crisis (STAT)

Kratom

• Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Due to Maternal Kratom Use (AAP News & Journals)

• Kratom Missing From DEA Report on Drug Threats (Pain News Network)

• Kratom Wholesale Buying Guide: List of 4 Top Wholesale Kratom Sellers (Kratom Guides)

• Kratom: Could it help or hurt the opioid addiction crisis? (WVUE)

• Best Yellow Kratom Strains Explained (Kratom Guides)

Khat

• Khat; a silent narcotic that is destroying lives (The New Times)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• People who ‘microdose’ LSD and magic mushrooms score higher on measures of wisdom, open-mindedness and creativity (PsyPost)

• Drug Policy Reform Inched Forward in the Midterms: Here Are the Details (Filter)

• Jeff Sessions Out as Attorney General, Leaving Behind Disastrous Record on Drug Policy (Drug Policy Alliance)

• The Varieties of the Psychedelic Experience: A Preliminary Study of the Association Between the Reported Subjective Effects and the Binding Affinity Profiles of Substituted Phenethylamines and Tryptamines (Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience)

• Predicting Responses to Psychedelics: A Prospective Study (Frontiers in Pharmacology)

• Global Drug Survey set to cover Indians (The Hindu)

• Police warned that a trick-or-treater may have been given meth. Then they searched his father’s home. (The Washington Post)

• Supervised injection sites face new roadblocks in Toronto with provincial guidelines (The Star)

• Why We Long to Dissolve Our Ego in the Psychedelic Ocean (Kahpi)

• Cannabis first, hallucinogens next? New medical treatments on the NHS (Business Leader)

• Coroner compares drug prohibition laws to racism (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• New Documentary Shows Veterans Treating PTSD with Psychedelics (Kahpi)

• Getting My Club Drugs Tested Transformed My Partying Habits (Medium)

• First Trip in a While. Last Trip for a While. (Rachael Madori)

• A Whole New High Offers Information about Entheogens, Psychedelics, and Microdosing (Digital Journal)

• Free Your Mind, and Your Nonprofit Will Follow: Racial Equity in Psychedelic Research (Nonprofit Quarterly)

• Toronto’s drug-use sites could shut down under new provincial rules, activists say (The Globe and Mail)

• Time for a truce in Asia’s war on drugs (Asia Times)

• Psychedelics Have Returned to the Research Mainstream, Potential for a Groundbreaking Change in the Ways We Treat Mental Illness and Addiction (PRWeb)

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.

Mexico Introduces Bill to Legalize Medical and Recreational Cannabis Use

Kristin Hugo, writing for The Independent:

A Mexico senator has introduced a bill that would legalise recreational marijuana. 

Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the president-elect of Mexico, and his soon-to-be interior interior minister Olga Sanchez Cordero proposed a bill to legalise marijuana.

If it passes, each person will be allowed to have up to 20 plants at a time for personal consumption. The bill would also include regulating and monitoring production, sales, and consumption.

In five separate court cases, Mexico’s supreme court has ruled in favour of private citizens suing for their rights to consume recreational marijuana. If this law passes, it would no longer require a lawsuit for each citizen to smoke. 

Great to see that Mexico is moving forward with its plan to legalize cannabis. Pretty soon, America is going to be in the middle of a Legal Cannabis Sandwich.

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This Week in Psychedelics - 11.2.18

Cannabis

• Mexican Supreme Court Strikes Down Marijuana Prohibition (Marijuana Moment)

• Thailand Mulling Becoming the First Country in Asia to Legalize Medical Marijuana (TIME)

• NORML Submits 10,000+ Written Comments to the FDA for the Reconsideration of International Marijuana Prohibition (NORML)

• Blood-Sucking Flies Love Marijuana, New Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Legal Marijuana Helps Reduce Opioid Harms, Two More New Studies Reveal (Marijuana Moment)

• 4 More States Could Legalize Medical or Recreational Marijuana Next Week (Reason)

• Marijuana In The Governor's Mansion: Record Number Of Candidates Say Legalize It (Forbes)

• Coca-Cola CEO says company has no plans for cannabis drinks (CNN)

• Vancouver, Canada’s Marijuana Capital, Struggles to Tame the Black Market (The New York Times)

• Medical cannabis products available on prescription (BBC)

• New Study Shows How Opinions On Marijuana Shift Based On Who Endorses It (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis oil: Why it could really be the miracle sleep saver (The Telegraph)

• Australia’s cannabis industry set to boom: report (news.com.au)

• Kansas Finally Admits It's Okay to Put Hemp in Beer (Reason)

• Young Advocates Launch Marijuana Legalization Phone Bank To Get Out The Vote (Marijuana Moment)

• Pot never should have been illegal in the first place (USA Today)

• Paul Ryan Touts The Benefits Of A Marijuana Ingredient And Industrial Hemp (Marijuana Moment)

• Quitting cannabis could lead to better memory and cognition (The Guardian)

• Utah Medical Marijuana Campaign Funding Mainly Slows Down Following Compromise Deal (Marijuana Moment)

• Everything you need to know about CBD, the cannabis elixir that doesn’t get you high (MarketWatch)

• Mother says cannabis oil has been saviour for epileptic son Alfie (The Guardian)

• Advocacy Groups Push Colorado To Make Legal Marijuana Market More Equitable (Marijuana Moment)

• With pot legalized, job openings surge in Canada’s cannabis industry (The Washington Post)

• Marijuana Campaign Ads Are Flooding Airwaves Ahead Of The Election (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• Yale scientists have new insight on how LSD works in the brain (Quartz)

• U of A student who stabbed 19-year-old to death while on LSD wins shorter sentence on appeal (Edmonton Journal)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Psilocybin Study Shows Beneficial Effects of Microdosing "Trip Truffles" (Inverse)

• Is Medicalization the Only Way to Legalize Psilocybin and Ibogaine? (Chacruna)

• Shroom for improvement: FDA lists psychedelic drugs as ‘breakthrough therapy’ for depression (RT)

• These folks used to raise money for the planet, now psychedelic mushrooms (Rooster Magazine)

• A handful of psychedelic "Atlantis" mushrooms in Amsterdam (Boing Boing)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• MDMA-Assisted Therapy For PTSD Edges Closer To FDA Approval After Largest-Ever Trial (IFLScience)

• DJ David Morales released without charge after ecstasy arrest at Japanese airport (The Sun)

• Mum recalls heartbreaking moment daughter, 15, died after taking ‘dark web’ MDMA pill (The Sun)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• DMT Is the Drug for Our Collective Crisis of Meaning (Medium)

• Ayahuasca For the First Time at 64 Years Old: Interview with Rhea Consalvo (Psychedelic Times)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine trial suspended following concerns around informed consent (Outsourcing-Pharma.com)

Opiates/Opioids

• Opioid Antidote Can Save Lives, But Deciding When To Use It Can Be Challenging (NPR)

• Poppy farmers seek comprehensive solution to illicit drug problem (Myanmar Times)

• Can you grow opium poppies in New Zealand? (Stuff.co.nz)

• Giant heroin spoon left outside Massachusetts Statehouse (StarTribune)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• What Psychedelic Research Can and Cannot Tell Us about Consciousness (Scientific American)

• The fix is worse than the problem: A reply to psychedelic researchers (Metaphysical Speculations)

• Why did shamanism evolve in societies all around the globe? (Aeon)

• Portugal’s drug policy shows what common-sense approach looks like (San Francisco Chronicle)

• psychedelic.support creates a network for psychedelic therapists (Psymposia)

• The Ideal Society In Terms Of Psychoactive Substances (Maps Of The Mind)

• Psychedelics and Witchcraft — The Truth About Hallucinogenic “Hexing Herbs” (Psychedelic Frontier)

• “Zombies” and Rotting Flesh: The Media Just Loves Halloween-y Depictions of People Who Use Drugs (Filter)

• DEA Says Meth Use Has Never Been Higher; Survey Data Say Otherwise (Reason)

• Horizons: The Psychedelic Conference Where Old Meets New (The Third Wave)

• It’s Time for the Psychedelic Renaissance to Join the Harm Reduction Movement (Chacruna)

• Global Drug Survey 2019: Kiwis urged to get frank about their drug use (Stuff.co.nz)

• Wave of Burning Man-Related Drug Arrests Won't Go to Trial (Reason)

• 5-Year-Old Has Meth Poisoning After Trick-or-Treating. It Probably Wasn't the Halloween Candy. (Reason)

• Evidence is mounting that psychedelic drugs can help treat diseases. Here are the most promising uses (Pulse)

• Drugs: Perspectives in Social Sciences (Chacruna)

• Setting the record straight with Robin Carhart-Harris and Enzo Tagliazucchi (Metaphysical Speculations)

• Further Response to the Psychedelic Neuroimaging Researchers (Metaphysical Speculations)

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.