This Week in Psychoactives - 7.26.19

CANNABIS

• Scientists unlock the secrets of marijuana’s pain-relief potential, study says (Miami Herald)

• Study Explores How Different Marijuana Extracts Kill Types Of Cancer Cells (Marijuana Moment)

• Senate Banking Committee Holds Hearing On Cannabis Banking (NORML)

• Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Give Marijuana Businesses Access To Insurance Coverage (Marijuana Moment)

• Miami Cops Can No Longer Use Just “Weed Odor” as Excuse to Search Cars (MERRY JANE)

• Marijuana Compound CBD Shows Promise For Treating Cocaine And Meth Addiction, Study Suggests (Marijuana Moment)

• Top Congressional Chairman And Presidential Candidate File Marijuana Legalization Bills (Forbes)

• Federal Officials Give Hemp Legalization Update At Senate Hearing (Marijuana Moment)

• How legal weed companies are starting to address driving while high (Fast Company)

• Michigan Cuts Cannabis Fees in 19 Cities Impacted by Drug War (Leafly)

• Presidential Candidate Proposes Medical Marijuana Waivers For Military Veterans (Marijuana Moment)

• California seizes $30 million in black market cannabis from illegal pot shops (Los Angeles Times)

• Record number of states considered marijuana legalization in 2019 (The Hill)

• New York City Council Passes Two Marijuana Reform Resolutions (Marijuana Moment)

• Former Drug Warrior Biden Unveils Cannabis Decriminalization Plan (Leafly)

• Enslaved on a British cannabis farm: ‘The plants were more valuable than my life’ (The Guardian)

• Marijuana Legalization More Popular Than Free College And $15 Minimum Wage, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• UK hemp farm could lose £200,000 in crop destruction (BBC)

• Why marijuana’s illegal classification is based on politics, not science (The GrowthOp)

• Entrance to illegal pot dispensary blocked again as cat-and-mouse game continues (The Toronto Star)

• Pot-smoking teen caused Maui brushfire, police say (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

• FDA (Again) Rejects Petition To Further Restrict Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Mystery Solved: Icelandic Horses Probably Ate Cannabis (The Reykjavík Grapevine)

• It’s Getting Harder to Fire People for Using Pot (Bloomberg)

• Were Vikings Growing Cannabis in Newfoundland 1,000 Years Ago? (Leafly)

• Young Americans Are More Likely To Smoke Marijuana Than Cigarettes, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Testing CBD: Defenders test finds huge unreported range in THC levels (WCNC)

• Here's How Much Legal Marijuana Canada Has Sold Since Legalizing Adult-Use Cannabis (Yahoo! Finance)

• UFC teams with Aurora Cannabis on CBD study in fighters (CNN)

• Hundreds Of Pet Owners Tell FDA That CBD Is Helping Their Furry Companions (Marijuana Moment)

• Did Indigenous Canadians use Cannabis Before Europeans Arrived? (Leafly)

• The Real Difference Between Smoking and Eating Marijuana (The Atlantic)

• Medical marijuana or your guns: Missourians may have to choose (KSHB)

• The New, Cool Term For Cannabis? It's Still Up For Grabs. (Green Entrepreneur)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Psilocybin Initiative Leader Starting National Decriminalization Group (Westword)

• Both CBD and Psilocybin show potential in fighting alcohol use disorder (Regina Leader-Post)

MDMA

• 3-year-old fights for her life after mistaking ecstasy for candy in Ibiza (New York Post)

• Girls hospitalised after taking MDMA at Victorian school camp (Geelong Advertiser)

AYAHUASCA

• Ayahuasca and Dreaming (Chacruna)

• A Clinical Psychologist’s First Experience with Ayahuasca (Chacruna)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Silicon Valley Is Spending Millions Trying to Synthesize THC From Yeast (VICE)

• Alabama Corrections K-9 dies after allergic reaction inside prison (Montgomery Advertiser)

KETAMINE

• Mindfulness-Based Prevention Outcomes for Cocaine Dependence Improved by Ketamine Injection (Psychiatry Advisor)

• Spring Center of Hope discusses possible effects of ketamine on mood (Chron)

PCP

• PCP Is ‘No Worse’ Than Other Drugs When Used Properly, Says Hamilton Morris (Inquisitr)

OPIOIDS

• Summit County concert promotes free app to connect naloxone carriers to people overdosing (Cleveland.com)

• The biggest civil trial in U.S. history will start with these Ohio counties (The Washington Post)

• Five drug companies stop making fentanyl for Canadian market (The London Free Press)

• Former narcotics officer sues sheriff’s office following fentanyl exposure (WREG)

• An editorial board of user-activists takes on the opioid crisis (Columbia Journalism Review)

COCAINE

• Internal Probe Reveals SEAL Team 10 Operators’ Cocaine Use (The Daily Beast)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• Police Admit They Were Totally Just Joking About Those 'Meth-Gators' (TIME)

• Rising Meth-Involved Deaths of Major Concern Amid Estimated 2018 Overdose Fall (Filter)

CAFFEINE

• Too much caffeine during pregnancy may damage baby's liver (EurekAlert!)

• The latest on caffeine limits (Medical Xpress)

• Is Caffeine Fueling Your Anxieties? (HealthDay)

• Young Man Dies from an Accidental Caffeine Overdose, Coroner Rules (Legal Reader)

TOBACCO

• Daily E-Cigarette Use Can Help Smokers Quit, According to One of the Most Comprehensive Studies Yet (TIME)

• Nicotine Testing for High Schoolers Is a Drug War-Style Disaster (Filter)

• Facebook, Instagram is age-restricting alcohol, tobacco content (WITN)

• FDA targets teens with e-cigarette prevention ads (Engadget)

ALCOHOL

• Costa Rica: Tainted alcohol death toll rises to 20; 41 people affected overall (USA Today)

• Leaked draft of the National Alcohol Strategy shows why Australia can't stop drinking (Australia Broadcasting Corporation)

• Is it safe to drink alcohol while breastfeeding? (Medical Xpress)

• Why Some People Have A Higher Alcohol Tolerance Than Others (HuffPost)

• Pabst Blue Ribbon Seeks Buzz With Hard Coffee (NPR)

• Playboy model’s skin left rotting from alcohol addiction (New York Post)

KAMBÔ

• Kambo: A Powerful Amazonian Frog Secretion That Offers Healing! (MenaFN)

KRATOM

• Kratom for excessive weight loss (The Bona Venture)

• Can you use Kratom for Performance-Enhancing? (Chart Attack)

• Nebraska Regional Poison Center warns of dangers of using Kratom (KPTM)

KHAT

• The Role of Khat in Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis (Small Wars Journal)

• Kenyan khat farmers receive a lifeline as they start exporting the potent twigs to Israel joining rival Ethiopia (Business Insider)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Psychedelics Decriminalization Moves Forward In Cities Around The U.S. (Marijuana Moment)

• More people try drugs for the first time in the summer, study says (CNN)

• President Duterte’s War on Drugs Is a Pretense (The New York Times)

• Mark Kleiman, who changed the way we think about crime and drugs, has died at 68 (Vox)

• Football, basketball and drug testing: Texas school district to randomly test extracurricular students (USA Today)

• Military police called in to help tackle county lines drug dealers at train stations (Mirror)

• Vancouver’s overdose task force calls for safer supply of drugs (The Globe and Mail)

• India Persecutes Leading Legal Advocate for People Who Use Drugs (Filter)

• When Drug Addiction Is Criminalized We All Lose (The National Interest)

• Ethical and Sustainable Access to Entheogenic Plants (Chacruna)

• Will Oakland Lead the Psychedelic Revolution? (The Bold Italic)

• The complex forces at work behind drug deaths at music festivals (The New Daily)

• Psychonaut Hamilton Morris on Drugs After Prohibition (Reason)

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.

Book Review - The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide

I have absorbed a lot of information concerning psychedelic substances during the past 13 years. Some sources took a scientific approach, full of statistics, surveys, and other assorted data. Others have focused on the spiritual use of these substances, which include direction for practices like meditation, yoga, and breathwork. There are also accounts of recreational use, which clearly illustrate the possibilities of both positive and negative outcomes of using and abusing these substances. I ate up as many books, movies, podcasts, YouTube clips, and audio lectures as I possibly could.

I also have my own experiences with several of these substances, and had already come to my personal opinion that they have the potential to awaken in me unexpected paths in my life, greater self-understanding, an ability to engage in self-healing, and a stronger connection with the Universe and the inhabitants of our planet that we call Earth.

Over the years, I learned a lot about psychedelics and often come noticed myself thinking to myself, "Oh, I've learned that already" while reading a book or watching a documentary. However, when I read James Fadiman's The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys back in 2012 I found it to be the first work in quite a while that had so many new things to teach me. This book covers many aspects concerning psychedelic use that I was previously unaware of, such as the concept of sub-perceptual dosing and the importance of listening to non-vocal music such as Classical during the beginning of a psychedelic experience.

I first heard of this book from Lorenzo Hagerty's "Psychedelic Salon," a podcast that I have listened to since 2006. Fadiman is the guest on episode 302, during which Lorenzo interviews him about the book and his experience in the psychedelic research field. After hearing Fadiman speak about these things, I put the book on my "To-Read" list and purchased it a few months later. My intention when reading this book was to learn how to become a guide for others undergoing psychedelic experiences. I was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of information contained in the book afforded to those of us who wish to better integrate our psychedelic journeys into ordinary reality as well as learn to be a better guide to others. Following my reading of this book, I identified some aspects of my own psychedelic practice that I ended up changing in an effort to focus more on the therapeutic and spiritual uses of these substances, rather than my previous goal of just having a good time. While I still believe that the recreational use of these substances can have a positive outcome, this is the book that sold on the concept of using them in a more intelligent manner.

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide does a great job of dispelling some of the myths about psychedelics, offers a practical and positive itinerary for a successful experience, introduces several important people in this field, and does so in a way that is unbiased and helpful. It is important for the psychedelic community to have truth on its side, and Fadiman does an excellent job of collecting both scientific and anecdotal evidence and arranging it in a way that is easily understood. I commend him on his work and look forward to more coming from him in the near future.

5/5 stars. 352 pages.

Click here to buy the book.

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More People Try Drugs for the First Time in the Summer

Arman Azad, writing for CNN:

Summer brings heat waves, trips to the beach and sometimes painful sunburns. But according to a new study, the season may also usher in the use of cocaine, ecstasy and molly.

People are more likely to try those three party drugs and marijuana during the summer, researchers found, with over a third of LSD use and around 30% of ecstasy and marijuana use starting in the season. Around 28% of cocaine use also began in the summer.

The findings, published Tuesday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, suggest a slight but consistent increase in people's willingness to try drugs as the weather warms and young people take a break from school.

Be safe out there this summer.

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Psychedelics Decriminalization Moves Forward in Cities Around the U.S.

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

Activists in Berkeley, California and Port Townsend, Washington took steps this week to get psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelics decriminalized, following in the footsteps of successful similar efforts in Denver and Oakland.

In Berkeley, a decriminalization resolution advanced in a City Council committee on Wednesday, and organizers in Port Townsend spoke about their proposal at a county public health board meeting on Thursday, with plans to formally present it to the City and County Council.

The Berkeley measure would prohibit city departments and law enforcement from using any funds to enforce laws against possession, propagation and consumption of psychedelics by individuals 21 or older. Members of the City Council Public Safety committee unanimously voted to send the resolution to the body’s Public Health Committee for further consideration.

If that panel approves the measure, the full Council will schedule a hearing and vote on final passage. Decriminalize Nature, the group behind this resolution as well as the successful passage of neighboring Oakland’s psychedelics decriminalization effort last month, said they hope the Council will act on the measure by early November.

Separately, activists in Port Townsend announced that they delivered a speech about their psychedelics decriminalization proposal during a meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health.

Now Berkeley and Port Townsend are making tangible moves to decriminalize psychedelics. And that’s not all:

Individuals from nearly 100 cities have reached out to the organization for assistance advancing their own decriminalization efforts.

With any luck, by this time next year at least a handful of other locales will have achieved psychedelic decriminalization as well.

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This Week in Psychoactives - 7.19.19

CANNABIS

• California Claims the Crown for the Nation’s First Recreational Pot Cafes (MERRY JANE)

• Australian Researchers Say You Can Treat Cannabis Dependency with... Cannabis? (MERRY JANE)

• Senate Schedules Hearing On Marijuana Business Banking Access (Forbes)

• That Alarming CBD Liver Damage Study Is Bunk—And the Media Should Know Better (Leafly)

• Were Vikings POTHEADS? Archaeologists uncover evidence of cannabis at 1,000-year-old settlement (The Sun)

• Legalizing Marijuana Leads To Fewer Illegal Grow Sites In National Forests, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Pennsylvania Adds Anxiety as Medical Marijuana Qualifying Condition (MERRY JANE)

• New Roadside Cannabis Test Approved for Use in Canada (Leafly)

• Marijuana Legalization Associated With Decreased Interest In Alcohol, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• New Hampshire: Governor Signs Marijuana Annulment Measure (NORML)

• As More States Legalize, DEA Chops Down Fewer Marijuana Plants, Federal Data Shows (Marijuana Moment)

• Pot-smoking parents are harsher with discipline: study (New York Post)

• Marijuana Legalization Could Be On The Horizon For British Virgin Islands (Marijuana Moment)

• Recent cannabis use tied to memory deficits, slowed mental processing (Reuters)

• Kamala Harris Evolved Slowly on Legalization, but She’s All About It Now (Leafly)

• Thousands Of Comments Urge FDA To Allow CBD In Foods And Supplements (Marijuana Moment)

• Three Republicans Stand in the Way of Federal Weed Legalization (Rolling Stone)

• Medical cannabis is gaining momentum in Asia (CNBC)

• THC Testing is Bullshit and You're Getting Screwed (Beard Bros Pharms)

• Sound Garden owners plan Maryland’s first medical cannabis lounge in Fells Point (The Baltimore Sun)

LSD

• Kid Cudi reveals iconic Coachella jam was the result of an LSD trip (Dancing Astronaut)

• Everything We Know About The YouTube Engineer Who Injured 8 People On LSD Rampage (YourTango)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• What Psilocybin Could Mean for End-of-Life Care (Psychology Today)

MDMA

• REPORT: First MDMA/Psychotherapy Trial Successful In Combatting Alcoholism (Your EDM)

• Breakthrough PTSD treatment using party drug MDMA coming soon to Philly region (PhillyVoice)

• Hamilton schoolboy dies after ‘ecstasy’ horror as three more teens rushed to hospital (The Scottish Sun)

• Will MDMA Show Up On a Drug Test? (VICE)

• Mum's unusual pledge after daughter dies from MDMA overdose at festival (Yahoo! News)

AYAHUASCA

• Olivia Newton-John proposed to boyfriend after taking hallucinogen drug! (All4Women)

Yopo

• An Introduction to Yopo in the Venezuelan Piaroan Tradition (DMT Times)

5-MEO-DMT

• Upcoming World Bufo Alvarius Congress Looks to Nurture Global 5-MeO-DMT Community (Psychedelic Times)

SAN PEDRO

• Man selling giant hallucinogenic cactus says he's not a drug dealer (Newshub)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Kids thought this was 'natural cannabis' vape juice... it was Spice. Nine people who ended up in hospital could have died (Manchester Evening News)

KETAMINE

• Ketamine-like drug for depression could get UK licence within the year (The Guardian)

• Ketamine for Depression: Clinical Evidence and Concerns (Psychiatry Advisor)

OPIOIDS

• "We Didn't Cause the Crisis": David Sackler Pleads His Case on the Opioid Epidemic (Vanity Fair)

• Delta to carry Narcan on planes after passenger ‘carried out in body bag’ following overdose (The Independent)

• Media Frame: Fentanyl Panic is Worsening the Overdose Crisis (The Appeal)

• The Louvre Removed the Name of OxyContin-Linked Sackler Family From Its Walls (TIME)

• States Are Making Progress on Opioids. Now the Money That's Helping Them May Dry Up (The New York Times)

• Opioid Shipments Increased by Over 50% as Addiction Crisis Grew, Federal Data Shows (TIME)

• What to call someone who uses heroin? (ScienceDaily)

COCAINE

• Passenger from Colombia fails to fool Spanish police with his cocaine-under-the-toupee trick (CBS News)

• What Does Cocaine Do to the Heart? (VICE)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• Asia's meth trade is worth an estimated $61B as region becomes 'playground' for drug gangs (CNN)

• How Myanmar Became A Global Center For Meth & Other Synthetic Drugs (The Fix)

• Police Warn Flushing Drugs Could Create Terrifying 'Meth Gators' (People)

CAFFEINE

• Under 16s set to be 'banned' from buying caffeine-filled energy drinks (Edinburgh Live)

• Hot coffee or iced? Study says higher temp provides more health benefits (KABC)

• Daily coffee doesn't affect cancer risk (Medical Xpress)

TOBACCO

• New York Raises Statewide Smoking Age to 21 (TIME)

• Raising tobacco sales age to 21: Ohio becomes latest state in national trend (Cincinnati.com)

• Tobacco Plants Made to Produce Useful Compounds (Scientific American)

ALCOHOL

• Study Suggests Alcohol Causes Skin to Sunburn Faster (Paste Magazine)

KRATOM

• Drug Researchers Raise Concern Over "Misleading" Evidence in Kratom Studies (Inverse)

• What to know about kratom for depression (Medical News Today)

• Kratom Ban Back on the Table in Oxford (Hotty Toddy)

KHAT

• Miraa farmers mull tough sanitary laws with eyes fixed on new export markets (The Star)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Berkeley City Council Considers Decriminalizing Psychedelics This Week (Marijuana Moment)

• Science of microdosing psychedelics 'remains patchy and anecdotal', says review (Imperial College London)

• El Chapo, the Notorious Drug Kingpin, Has Been Sentenced to Life in Prison in the U.S. (TIME)

• New data shows drug overdose deaths fell in 2018. But there’s a big catch. (Vox)

• Scotland drug deaths – 1,200 deaths recorded in 2018 as worst ever figures released (The Sun)

• People who microdose psychedelic substances report improved mood and focus (Medical Xpress)

• New Bill Ensures Some Retroactive Drug War Justice for New Hampshire (High Times)

• Future of drug-sniffing dogs uncertain after Colorado Supreme Court ruling (The Coloradoan)

• Microdosing has a critic — one of its pioneers (Rooster Magazine)

• Police Thought They Beat the Darknet Drug Markets – They Didn't (VICE)

• Nutrition Is an Overlooked Aspect of Harm Reduction (Filter)

• Framing addiction as a disease: Research shows that message might backfire (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Survey reveals extent of music festival drug use (The Australian)

• The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Problematic Process for Religious Exemption for Use of Prohibited Psychoactive Substances (Chacruna)

• The Risky Business of Psychedelic Therapy (Medium)

• How Congress can expand access to addiction treatment — immediately (The Hill)

• Inside the Philippines Prison That Sparked Duterte’s Murderous Drug War (Filter)

• Mother of festival drug death victim says Gladys Berejiklian needs to show courage (The Guardian)

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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