This Week in Psychedelics - 7.10.20

Cannabis

• The Marijuana Superweapon Biden Refuses to Use (The Atlantic)

• Is the Netherlands Finally Heading for Legalisation? (Volteface)

• Kansas City Lawmakers Vote To Remove All Local Penalties For Marijuana Possession (Marijuana Moment)

• Arkansas’ 2020 Cannabis Legalization Push Is Over (Cannabis Wire)

• Colorado’s Marijuana Legalization Law Decreases Crime In Neighboring States, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Does the cannabis industry have a monopoly problem? (Quartz)

• ‘Lazy Stoner’ Stereotype Smashed By Study Finding Marijuana Consumers Exercise More (Marijuana Moment)

• Black market cannabis seizures plummet as legalisation progresses in North America (Prohibition Partners)

• CBD and CBG Mouthwashes Are More Effective Than Traditional Oral Hygiene Products (MERRY JANE)

• The Endocannabinoid System: How Cannabis Interacts With The Body (Benzinga)

Magic Mushrooms

• Oregon Voters Will Decide On Legalizing Psilocybin Therapy In November, State Announces (Marijuana Moment)

• Congressman Hopes To Block D.C. Psilocybin Decriminalization Bid (High Times)

• Magic mushrooms could help ex-soldiers to overcome trauma (The Guardian)

• Study Finds Aeruginascin Metabolite 4-HO-TMT is Active at the Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Magic mushrooms and microdosing: The psychedelic trend helping women cope with lockdown anxiety (Metro)

• IntelGenx and Cybin Corp. Enter Into Feasibility Agreement for Fast-Acting, Orally-Dissolving Psilocybin Film (Psilocybin Alpha)

• The ‘Godfather Of Canadian Cannabis’ Is Launching A Psilocybin Startup (Forbes)

DMT

• Faerie Entities and DMT (deadbutdreaming)

Ayahuasca

• Owner of east Orange County church seeks federal exemption to legally dispense controlled substance (WFTV)

• Ayahuasca is Helping the Global North to Discover the Sacredness of Tobacco (Chacruna)

• Ayahuasca Benefits: The Health and Healing Powers of This Plant Medicine (DoubleBlind)

5-MeO-DMT

• Benefit Enhancement Strategies Correlated With Positive 5-MeO-DMT Experiences (Psychedelic Times)

• Toad Rage: Is 5-MeO-DMT Taken from Toad Venom Better than a Synthetic Version? (DoubleBlind)

Peyote

• Can Indigenous and Decrim Perspectives Align on Peyote? (Lucid News)

Iboga

• Bwiti Ritual Use of National Treasure Iboga (Reality Sandwich)

Nitrous Oxide

• VA Studying Laughing Gas as Treatment for Veterans With PTSD (Pain News Network)

• Belgium wants to ban selling laughing gas to minors (The Brussels Times)

Ketamine

• SoCal Brain Health Clinic Introduces Mindfulness-Based Ketamine Program (PRUnderground)

• Ketamine And Nitrous Oxide Are Being Used To Treat Depression In Australian Clinical Trial (LADbible)

• Why are people turning to cocaine and ketamine to self-medicate their mental illness? (Metro)

Miscellaneous

• DC Activists Submit Signatures To Put Psychedelics Decriminalization On November Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Canadian doctors are applying for psychedelic drug exemptions to dose themselves (The GrowthOp)

• MindMed Announces New Technology that Optimizes Psychedelic Dosing (Lucid News)

• The Revolution Will Not Be Psychologized: Psychedelics’ Potential for Systemic Change (Chacruna)

• Top Integration Tips for Psychedelic First Timers (Maps of the Mind)

• Eleusis Draws on Research Into Psychedelics To Develop New Medicines for Inflammation (Lucid News)

• CannaGlobal, Sansero Life Sciences and Rise Wellness Merge to Create a New International Psychedelics Company (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Considerations for Psychedelic Therapists when Working with Native American People and Communities (Chacruna)

• MagicMed Industries Files First Psychedelic Derivative Patent (PR Newswire)

• Researcher Charles Nichols Studies the Impact of Psychedelic Substances on Inflammation (Lucid News)

• Professor David Nutt Joins AWAKN Life Sciences (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Synthesis Raises US$2.75M to Develop End-to-End Professional Platform for Psychedelic Wellness & Therapy (WebWire)

• Numinus Enters into Debt Settlement Agreement (Psilocybin Alpha)

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 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.

Oregon Will Vote on Legalizing Psilocybin Therapy in November

Tom Angell, writing for Marijuana Moment:

Oregon officials announced on Wednesday that the state’s voters will get a chance to decide whether to pass a first-of-its kind measure to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use in November.

It’s official—just one week after activists announced that they had secured enough signatures to get this measure on the ballot, the state has confirmed that voters will decide whether or not to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use later this year. If successful, Oregon will become the first state in the nation to offer medical psilocybin options for its residents.

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DC Activists Submit Signatures to Put Psychedelics Decriminalization on November Ballot

Ben Adlin, writing for Marijuana Moment:

An ambitious campaign to decriminalize psychedelics in Washington, D.C., is one step closer to placing their measure on the November ballot with the formal submission of tens of thousands of voter signatures.

Organizers have been scrambling for weeks to collect enough signatures from D.C. voters by Monday’s deadline amid historically difficult circumstances: a global pandemic, months of stay-at-home orders and protests over racism and police violence that filled the streets of the nation’s capital. But with the help of innovative signature-gathering techniques and allies flown in from across the country, advocates said they had successfully submitted upwards of 35,000 signatures—more than enough to qualify the initiative.

If approved by voters, Initiative 81 would make enforcement of laws against plant- and fungus-based psychedelics among the “lowest law enforcement priorities” for the Metropolitan Police Department. It would not, however, legalize or reduce penalties for the substances.

The measure would apply to all natural entheogenic substances, including psilocybin, ayahuasca, ibogaine and DMT.

Drug policy reform efforts have been having a great couple of weeks, even despite the global COVID-19 pandemic.

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This Week in Psychedelics - 7.3.20

Cannabis

• Virginia’s Marijuana Decriminalization Law Officially Takes Effect (Marijuana Moment)

• As Signature Deadlines Approach, Here’s Where Marijuana And Drug Policy Reform Campaigns Stand (Marijuana Moment)

• Arizona Marijuana Activists Turn In 420,000 Signatures To Qualify Legalization Measure For Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Nebraska Medical Marijuana Campaign Submits 182,000 Signatures To Qualify For Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Colorado Governor Signs Marijuana Social Equity Bill Letting Him Expedite Possession Pardons (Marijuana Moment)

• Researchers Are Looking At Cannabis As A Potential Way To Prevent COVID-19 (Forbes)

• Pennsylvania and California Both Move to Expunge Thousands of Minor Pot Charges (MERRY JANE)

• Virginia Lawmakers Announce Plans To Legalize Marijuana, One Day After Decriminalization Takes Effect (Marijuana Moment)

• Texas: Austin Police to Cease Making Arrests, Issuing Citations for Minor Marijuana Offenses (NORML)

• Treasury Department Issues Updated Guidance On Hemp Banking Rules (Marijuana Moment)

• 56% of New Zealanders Say They'll Vote "Yes" on Weed Legalization This Fall (MERRY JANE)

• Ohio Senate Votes To Expand Marijuana Decriminalization To Cover 200 Grams (Marijuana Moment)

• 90% of College Students in New York Want Weed Legalization Now, New Poll Shows (MERRY JANE)

• Cannabis pandemic sales uptick not enough to save struggling sector (Medical Xpress)

• Congress Votes To Let Researchers Study Marijuana From Dispensaries (Marijuana Moment)

• What’s the best minimum legal age for cannabis? (Leafly)

• Nashville DA to Stop Prosecuting Minor Pot Possession, Effective Immediately (MERRY JANE)

• California cities begin embracing cannabis in desperate search for cash (Politico)

• CBD Helps Treat Osteoarthritis and Increase Mobility in Dogs, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• Military Members Who Used Marijuana Could Reenlist Under Measure Approved By Congressional Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• Consuming Pharmaceutical THC May Help Treat Alzheimer's Symptoms, Study Says (MERRY JANE)

• Cannabis research stalled by federal inaction (Chemical and Engineering News)

LSD

• NCIS warns sailors to stop buying LSD on the dark web (Connecting Vets)

Magic Mushrooms

• Oregon Psilocybin Measure Has Enough Signatures For November Ballot, Activists Say (Marijuana Moment)

• Invading Cicadas May Turn Into Sex-Crazed Zombies This Summer (VICE)

• There's A Case For Non-Medical Psilocybin (Green Market Report)

• What I Learned While Working to Decriminalize Psilocybin in California (Chacruna)

• New Psilocybin Company Enters The Market (Green Market Report)

MDMA

• Study finds impulsivity and psychological distress predict problematic ecstasy use (PsyPost)

Ayahuasca

• Bringing Indigenous Healing and Psychoactive Plants to Global Mental Health (Mad in America)

Nitrous Oxide

• Nitrous oxide may bring relief to veterans suffering from PTSD, new study suggests (EurekAlert!)

Ketamine

• Proposed Patent for Ketamine Treatment Challenged by Clinicians (Lucid News)

• Elijah McClain was injected with ketamine before he died. Is that legal? (USA Today)

• Trying Something New in Isolation (The Cut)

Miscellaneous

• Oregon Drug Decriminalization And Treatment Measure Qualifies For November Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• DC Psychedelics Campaign Gets Boost From Denver Psilocybin Activists As Signature Deadline Looms (Marijuana Moment)

• Beckley Psytech raises £3m Series A (UK Tech News)

• How COVID-19 will Affect the Psychedelic Renaissance (Volteface)

• Using Zebrafish as an Experimental Model in Psychedelic Research (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Are psychedelic drugs headed for the mainstream? (Sifted)

• The Foster System Is a Battleground for the Racist War on Drugs (Truthout)

• The Technodelic Experience: Achieving a Psychedelic State Without Psychedelics (Sam Woolfe)

• Field Trip Psychedelics Launches Therapeutic Program For Vets, First Responders (Benzinga)

• The DEA’s Most Recent Abuse of Power Should Renew Calls for Divestment (Common Dreams)

• Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out: A Previously Unpublished Interview with Timothy Leary (DoubleBlind)

• From Hippies to Modern Psychotherapy, A Psychedelics Handbook for the Willful Skeptics (Interesting Engineering)

• South African Network of People Who Use Drugs Welcomes the Announcement of the National Drug Master Plan by the Department of Social Development on 2020 Global Day of Action (AllAfrica)

• MindMed Building Diverse Pipeline and Leadership Position in Psychedelic Inspired Medicines Industry (PR Newswire)

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 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.

Virginia Lawmakers Announce Plans to Legalize Marijuana

Ben Adlin, writing for Marijuana Moment:

Only a day after a new marijuana decriminalization law took effect in Virginia, top state lawmakers are announcing that they’re already looking ahead to full legalization.

Wow, that was fast.

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