This Week in Psychoactives - 5.31.19

CANNABIS

• Illinois Senate Passes the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (NORML)

• TSA Updates Marijuana Rules To Allow Hemp-Derived CBD On Flights (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis Extracts Are Legal, Arizona High Court Rules (Leafly)

• Report Says 70% of CBD Products Are Contaminated with Heavy Metals or Pesticides (MERRY JANE)

• Early Presidential Primary State Voters Oppose Federal Intervention In Local Marijuana Laws, Poll Shows (Marijuana Moment)

• Marijuana Ban in Public Housing Lifted in NYC––And Nation May Be Next (Filter)

• Legal Medical Marijuana Tied To Lower Opioid Use, Another Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Colorado Springs dispensary pulls THC-free CBD products because of City Code (KOAA)

• CBD and THC May Help Treat Alzheimer's Disease, New Research Suggests (MERRY JANE)

• Alberta Lifts Ban on Licensing New Cannabis Stores (Leafly)

• States Can’t Block Legal Hemp Shipments Within Their Borders, USDA Says (Marijuana Moment)

• Workplace Deaths Fell 34% After Medical Cannabis Legalization (Leafly)

• Google won't allow marijuana delivery apps in the Play Store (Engadget)

• Nigerians Smoke the Most Weed on Earth, Spend Over $15 Billion on Pot Annually (MERRY JANE)

• Man Shoots Himself in Testicles Before Cops Found Weed Up His Ass (MERRY JANE)

• Israel is banking on cannabis as its next big industry (Los Angeles Times)

• Former NFL Pro Chris Long Admits to Smoking Weed His Entire Career (MERRY JANE)

• eBay Says It Will Continue To Ban People From Selling CBD Products (Marijuana Moment)

• Most people accept medical use of marijuana: Nida Poll (Bangkok Post)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Mushrooms: Today Denver, tomorrow all of Colorado? (GOPUSA)

• Psilocybin Could Open the Door to Legal Hallucinogens (Medium)

MDMA

• Mums of children killed by ecstasy explain why they want drug to be legalised (Mirror)

• Teacher is jailed for six years after he drugged woman's hot chocolate with MDMA then sexually assaulted her and held her captive in his car for five hours (Daily Mail)

• Unpredictable MDMA: Here’s why it’s ‘impossible’ to know how the drug affects you (Rave Jungle)

AYAHUASCA

• Can and Should Ayahuasca Become Part of Western Medicine? (Kahpi)

• Ayahuasca Community Guide for the Awareness of Sexual Abuse (Chacruna)

• The Shaman’s Treasure: The Many Plants Added to the Ayahuasca Brew (Kahpi)

• What It Takes to Hold an Ayahuasca Ceremony (Kahpi)

5-MEO-DMT

• Smoking the Toad (Chacruna)

IBOGA

• Biosynthesis of an Anti-Addiction Agent from the Iboga Plant (bioRxiv)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Researchers Find Synthetic CBD Effective in Treating Seizures in Rats (High Times)

• Get ready for a new wave of synthetic cannabinoids and derivatives (Greencamp)

• Man died after taking spice and suffering multiple seizures in prison (WalesOnline)

• Schoolboy rushed to hospital after eating sweet laced with zombie drug Spice (The Sun)

NITROUS OXIDE

• Bill Of The Month: $4,836 Charge For Laughing Gas During Childbirth Is No Joke (NPR)

OPIOIDS

• Opioid Maker Agrees to Pay Oklahoma $85 Million Over Claims Company Helped Create Addiction Crisis (TIME)

• More Drug Users Are Intentionally Using Fentanyl Amid Overdose Crisis, Study Finds (VICE)

• Murphy presents research on police views of addiction (BCTV)

• Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart apologises for smoking opium in Iran (Yahoo! Finance)

• That guy who made up a story about stealing a brick of heroin from an MS-13 gang member says he now regrets it (Boing Boing)

• Most Opioid Deaths in MA Involve Other Drugs (U.S. News & World Report)

• Colorado’s Opioid Crisis Slows, In Part Because Of A Drug That Reverses Overdoses (Colorado Public Radio)

• The chronic-pain quandary: Amid a reckoning over opioids, a doctor crusades for caution in cutting back (STAT)

CAFFEINE

• This is the Best Time of Day to Drink Coffee, According to Science (Civilized)

• Energy drink consumption rising in the U.S. (WHTC)

• Energy drinks: Here’s what they do to your heart (WAVE3)

• Here's the truth about whether you should drink coffee and tea while pregnant (INSIDER)

TOBACCO

• 90% of lung cancers can be avoided by eliminating tobacco use, new WHO report reveals (World Health Organization)

ALCOHOL

• Young people are drinking less alcohol; here’s why (Marin Independent Journal)

KRATOM

• Kratom's reputed pain-relief benefits could come from one of its metabolites (EurekAlert!)

• Fibromyalgia Stole My Life, Kratom Gave It Back (Pain News Network)

• Kratom is called a mood enhancer, but three deaths in St. Louis region are causing concern (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

• St. Charles County pausing decision to ban Kratom, instead of looking at new regulations (KMOV)

• Herbal supplement kratom could face regulations in Monument (Colorado Springs Gazette)

KHAT

• Nyandarua to ban sale of miraa (The Standard)

• Turning a blind eye to khat use in the west does vulnerable communities in which it is consumed few favours (Illicit Trade)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Oakland Lawmakers Advance Psychedelic Decriminalization Measure (Marijuana Moment)

• Colorado Just Passed a Slew of Groundbreaking Drug Reform Laws (MERRY JANE)

• Philly’s supervised injection site nonprofit gets tax-exempt status from IRS (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• The Drug War's Hidden Foster Care Crisis (Reason)

• Nancy Pelosi's Drug Price Compromise Is Bad Policy and Worse Politics (Splinter)

• DanceSafe Announces Return To Virginia (DanceSafe)

• The Case for Taking Psychedelics Seriously (National Review)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychoactives" 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 Psychedelic Astronaut.

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On the Monday following each edition of “This Week in Psychoactives,” I post a “Last Week in Psychoactives” video recap to my YouTube channel. After that is done, I retroactively add the video to the corresponding blog post. Here is this week’s video recap:

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Oakland Lawmakers Advance Psychedelic Decriminalization Measure

Chris Roberts, writing for Marijuana Moment:

The City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted—with three ayes and one abstention—to advance to the full Council a measure that would declare enforcement of laws prohibiting the possession of “entheogenic plants” among adults the “lowest priority” for police.

The measure would also seek to block officials from using “any city funds or resources to assist” in enforcing bans on naturally derived psychedelics.

If the resolution sponsored by City Councilmember Noel Gallo is enacted, Oakland would follow Denver—where voters narrowly approved a psilocybin decriminalization measure earlier this month—in declaring its support for allowing adults to possess certain psychedelics without fear of arrest, fines and imprisonment.

With last night’s victory, Oakland is now one step closer to decriminalizing multiple natural psychedelics in one fell swoop. The resolution will go in front of the full city council next Tuesday. If approved, the city will join the small list of other places in America (New Mexico, Louisiana, and Denver) that have decriminalized natural psychedelics in some shape or form.

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TSA Updates Marijuana Rules to Allow Hemp-Derived CBD on Flights

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) updated its policy on cannabis over the Memorial Day weekend, changing the medical marijuana section of its “What Can I Bring?” webpage from reading “no” to “yes” (with “special instructions”).

Specifically, the agency is clarifying that hemp-derived CBD products may now be carried on planes under certain circumstances.

Hemp-derived CBD is now allowed on flights “as long as it is produced within the regulations defined by the law under the Agriculture Improvement Act 2018.”

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Oakland Council May Board Magic Bus by Decriminalizing Natural Psychedelics

Erin Allday and Sarah Ravani, writing for San Francisco Chronicle:

Oakland could become the second city in the country to decriminalize certain natural psychedelics — including “magic mushrooms” — if elected leaders approve a resolution that would instruct law enforcement to stop investigating and prosecuting people using the drugs.

The resolution is scheduled for its first public hearing before the City Council’s public safety committee Tuesday night and could go before the full council as early as June 4. It applies only to psychedelics that come from plants or fungi, not synthetic drugs like LSD or MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

Less than a month after Denver voted to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms, another U.S. city is on the verge of decriminalizing natural psychedelics. Decriminalize Nature Oakland is the education campaign leading the charge to decriminalize several entheogenic plants, fungi, and natural sources in Oakland, CA:

• Mushrooms

• Cacti

• Iboga-containing plants

• Extracted combinations of plants similar to Ayahuasca

The definition of “natural psychedelics” will be limited to those containing either indole amines, tryptamines, or phenethlamines.

It’s been amazing watching the psychedelic legalization movement winning recently. Now the million dollar question is, “Will Oakland be able to keep the streak going?”

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This Week in Psychoactives - 5.24.19

CANNABIS

• Cannabis Compound Eases Anxiety and Cravings of Heroin Addiction (Scientific American)

• Racial Arrest Disparities Got Worse After Legalization, Study Finds (Leafly)

• Scientists Now Believe That Cannabis Evolved in Tibet Over 28 Million Years Ago (MERRY JANE)

• Presidential Candidates Are Cosponsoring A New Marijuana Descheduling Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Gun-Related Suicides Fell In California After Medical Marijuana Became Legal, Study Shows (Marijuana Moment)

• NJ Lawmakers Advance Medical Cannabis, Expungement Bills (Leafly)

• Luxembourg Unveils Proposals for Cannabis Legalisation Law (Talking Drugs)

• NFL Teams Up with Players’ Union to Study Weed for Pain Management (MERRY JANE)

• Legalization Gave Police Time to Fight Real Crime (Leafly)

• ‘I Can’t Breathe’: Video Shows Grandmother With Arthritis Arrested For CBD At Disney World (Marijuana Moment)

• As a Deadline for Legalizing Marijuana in Illinois Approaches, a New Poll Finds Strong Public Support (Reason)

• Texas expansion of medical cannabis nears finish line after Senate approval (The Texas Tribune)

• Seven-In-Ten Americans Want Federal Marijuana Convictions Automatically Sealed, Survey Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Colorado Cops Can No Longer Use Drug-Sniffing Dogs Without Probable Cause (MERRY JANE)

• Study: Presence Of THC In Blood Not Associated With Crash Culpability (NORML)

• CBD Might Help You Cut Back On Drinking Alcohol And Reduce Its Damaging Effects, Study Says (Marijuana Moment)

• Kansas Set to Allow Low-THC Cannabis Oil Beginning July 1 (Leafly)

• Dogs Keep Getting Accidentally High by Eating Human Feces with Residual THC (MERRY JANE)

• A Sniff by a Pot-Detecting Dog Requires Probable Cause and Does Not Justify a Search, Says Colorado Supreme Court (Reason)

• Facebook Is Finally Getting Sued for Its Anti-Weed Policies (MERRY JANE)

• In a World of Legal Weed, Michael Thompson Languishes in Prison for Selling It in 1994 (The Intercept)

• Study: Seniors Report That Cannabis Positively Impacts Their Quality of Life (NORML)

• Thailand Will Now Turn Confiscated Weed into Cannabis Medicine (MERRY JANE)

• Portland’s Cannabis Taxes Were Mostly Used to Backfill Police Budgets (Willamette Week)

• House Committee Approves Immigration Bill With Marijuana Protections (Marijuana Moment)

• UFC Inks Multi-Million Dollar Deal with Canadian Pot Company to Study CBD (MERRY JANE)

• Overpoliced, Underrepresented: Racial Inequality and Cannabis Capitalism (Harvard Political Review)

• Where Presidential Candidate Bill de Blasio Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Congress Wants To Offer Protections To Universities That Study Cannabis (Big Buds Magazine)

• Nevada County Directs Nearly $2 Million in Pot Revenue to Help the Homeless (MERRY JANE)

LSD

• Repair Of Iconic ’60s Era Synthesizer Turns Into Long, Strange Trip For Engineer (KPIX)

• LSD could help people overcome alcohol dependency (Mixmag)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• 'A grand experiment': how 'shrooms made Denver America's most drug-friendly city (The Guardian)

MDMA

• MDMA heads to Phase 3 trials for helping PTSD (Big Think)

• Australian Politician Outs Herself as “Occasional” MDMA User (MERRY JANE)

• Embracing Ecstasy: Can efforts to bottle MDMA’s magic transform psychiatry? (The Verge)

• Losing Religion and Finding Ecstasy in Houston (The New Yorker)

• Mum of teenager who died after taking ecstasy ‘overwhelmed’ by support (Hambleton Today)

AYAHUASCA

• The Church Where It’s Legal to Use Ayahuasca (VICE)

• These Ontario police officers are using ayahuasca to treat their PTSD (Global News)

• Healing Sexual Trauma with Ayahuasca (Chacruna)

• James English set to spend four days taking mind-bending drugs in Costa Rican jungle for new documentary (The Scottish Sun)

NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

• Emerging threats in addiction: will novel psychoactive substance contribute to exacerbating the ongoing drug overdose epidemic? (Springer Link)

NITROUS OXIDE

• Nitrous oxide users unaware of health risks, nurses warn (The Guardian)

• Vietnam considers adding laughing gas to banned narcotic list (VnExpress International)

KETAMINE

• Study Finds Ketamine Nasal Spray Effective For Treating Depression: What You Should Know (Forbes)

• First Sublingual Ketamine Drug for Treatment of Acute Pain to be Evaluated in End-of-Phase 2 Meeting with FDA (Yahoo! Finance)

OPIOIDS

• How Joe Biden’s Drug Policies Supercharged the Opioid Crisis (Politico)

• Amid opioid crisis, Texas becomes first state where life-saving drug is sold online (Dallas News)

• Fighting Fentanyl (The Washington Post)

• In Cities Where It Once Reigned, Heroin Is Disappearing (The New York Times)

• State Trooper Said Man Took Bag From Fentanyl Supplier, But Video Demonstrated That the Deal Never Went Down (The Appeal)

• Improving the use of methadone for drug users with tuberculosis to prevent withdrawal (Medical Xpress)

• Epic twitter thread from a guy who became an accidental heroin smuggler (Boing Boing)

• State Senate passes amendment to finance Naloxone bulk purchase program (WWLP)

• Drug addicts fear arrest if they are caught with kits of lifesaving naloxone (Evening Telegraph)

COCAINE

• Cocaine use doubles in Britain in five years and purity levels at record high (The Independent)

• How Your Casual Cocaine Habit Is Affecting Your Health (Refinery29)

• ‘Cocaine Mitch’ McConnell’s campaign rakes in $70K by selling ‘cartel member’ shirts (Washington Examiner)

CAFFEINE

• Researchers document impact of coffee on bowels (Science Daily)

• Mom Is Heartbroken After Son Dies From Guzzling 4 Energy Drinks Per Day, Sounds Warning (The Epoch Times)

• Barista causes controversy by trying to refuse a pregnant woman caffeine (Her)

TOBACCO

• Veterans speak out against raising the age of tobacco use to 21 (Washington Examiner)

• Proposed California ban on flavored tobacco products shelved by lawmakers (Los Angeles Times)

KRATOM

• Spreading Awareness About Kratom Risks in Pregnancy (University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences)

KHAT

• Starving Yemen's drug problem (CNN)

MISCELLANEOUS

• How to Legalize Every Drug (VICE)

• The Scientist’s Drug Dealer: How Researchers Get Illicit Drugs (Discover Magazine)

• Indonesia Sentences Frenchman to Death for Drug Smuggling (TIME)

• Getting High Is Damaging the Planet – But Mostly Because of Prohibition (VICE)

• With Denver’s vote on magic mushrooms, will Colorado anchor a psychedelic medicine revolution? (The Colorado Sun)

• Activists plan to set up permanent overdose prevention site (Kitchener Today)

• Drinking Water Should Be Free At All Clubs and Festivals, Here's Why (DJMag.com)

• Joe Biden Killed Rave Culture (The Slot)

• 'Sad, Disgusting and Disappointing.' New Mexico Little League Field Littered With Discarded Syringes (TIME)

• Psychedelics, Sex, and Consent: A Brief History (Chacruna)

• How to Tell Your Doctor You're Using Drugs (VICE)

• What's the next step for hallucinogens as a health cure? (Dazed)

• Dr Richard Evans Schultes’ Explorations with Amazonian Shamans and Medicines (Kahpi)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychoactives" 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 Psychedelic Astronaut.

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On the Monday following each edition of “This Week in Psychoactives,” I post a “Last Week in Psychoactives” video recap to my YouTube channel. After that is done, I retroactively add the video to the corresponding blog post. Here is this week’s video recap:

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