This Week in Psychoactives - 1.31.20

Cannabis

• New Mexico Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• New Hampshire Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Illinois Is Already Getting a Weed Lounge, Just Weeks After Legalizing (MERRY JANE)

• Berkeley Council Votes To Allow Cannabis Consumption In Lounges (CBS San Francisco)

• First Alaska retail pot shops get approval for on-site consumption (Anchorage Daily News)

• Local Australian Marijuana Legalization Law Takes Effect This Week (Marijuana Moment)

• Cleveland City Council approves eliminating fines, jail time and criminal records for low level marijuana possession (Cleveland.com)

• Key Virginia Senate Committee Approves Marijuana Decriminalization Bill, While Broader Legalization Study Advances (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis Helps Protect HIV Patients’ Brains From Deteriorating, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• President Trump: Marijuana Makes You “Lose IQ Points” (NORML)

• Abnormal imaging findings key to EVALI diagnosis in vapers (Medical Xpress)

• Find That CBG and CGC Can Kill Gastrointestinal Cancer Cells (MERRY JANE)

• Missouri Activists Launch Signature Drive To Put Marijuana Legalization On 2020 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis vaping devices reimbursement approval for Canadian veterans (Health Europa)

• American Cannabis Stocks Are Working Their Way To Wall Street (Forbes)

• Legalization may mean more cannabis and less alcohol in colleges (Medical News Today)

• U.S. Military Reiterates That CBD Is Off Limits To Service Members (Marijuana Moment)

• Across Utah more students are reporting using marijuana (KUTV)

• Weed-Sniffing K-9s in New York Are Getting Hounded into Early Retirement (MERRY JANE)

• Pennsylvania: Marijuana possession arrests decline statewide (NORML)

Magic Mushrooms

• Andrew Yang Wants To Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms For Military Veterans (Marijuana Moment)

Iboga

• 'I cannot claim to have prevailed': Miami University professor reinstated after iboga tree suspension (Cincinnati.com)

• Special Forces: How Ibogaine is Helping Former Special Operations Soldiers with Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD (Psychedelic Times)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Chicago Shop Owner Gets Prison Sentence For Selling K2 Laced With Rat Poison (High Times)

• Synthetic cannabinoids on the rise in Toledo, costing taxpayers thousands for EMS (WNWO)

Opioids

• Tom Steyer Calls For Marijuana Legalization And Opioid Decriminalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Could a Naloxone Implant Have a Major Impact on the Overdose Crisis? (Filter)

• Federal Crackdown On Fentanyl Analogues Repeats the Mistakes of the Drug War, Advocates Say (The Appeal)

Caffeine

• Everyone is making coffee wrong, study suggests (Fox News)

Nicotine

• WHO Report: Tobacco Use is Declining Worldwide (Vaping Post)

• International Experts Slam World Health Organization’s Deceptive Vaping Release (Filter)

• Wisconsin can’t enforce tobacco age at 21 because of state law, causing confusion at stores (WQOW)

• Study: Teens with ADHD Face Increased Risk for Nicotine Addiction (ADDitude)

Kratom

• Reasons why kratom is getting more popular in the past decade (Augusta Free Press)

Miscellaneous

• Santa Cruz City Council Approves Psychedelics Decriminalization Measure (Marijuana Moment)

• Goop on psychedelics isn’t bad, it’s just boring (WIRED)

• Psychedelic drugs may reduce depression and anxiety by increasing psychological flexibility (PsyPost)

• Heroin and cocaine can be injected safely in UK's first 'mock drugs room' (Sky News)

• Oakland Activists Unveil Plan To Legalize Sale Of Psychedelics This Year (Marijuana Moment)

• Music festivals responsible for minuscule percentage of drug deaths (The Age)

• Are Investors Ready To Change Their Minds About Psychedelic Drugs? (Forbes)

• Drug deaths summit to take place in Glasgow (BBC)

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.

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.

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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This Week in Psychoactives - 6.28.19

CANNABIS

• Illinois just legalized marijuana (Vox)

• Oregon Is Now the First State That Can Export Weed (MERRY JANE)

• Oregon: Governor Signs Marijuana Expungement Measure Into Law (NORML)

• House Resoundingly Approves Broad Marijuana Federalism (Reason)

• Hungry at the Pot Shop? Anchorage Just Legalized Edibles Consumption in Dispensaries (MERRY JANE)

• Hawaii: Governor to Let Marijuana Decriminalization Become Law (NORML)

• Access to cannabis for medical reasons is now allowed in Ireland under new law (TheJournal.ie)

• New Mexico: New Marijuana Decriminalization Law Goes Into Effect Next Week (NORML)

• N.Y. Lawmakers Pass Bill to Decriminalize Marijuana and Expunge 900,000 Arrests (TIME)

• Where Presidential Candidate Joe Sestak Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis Ingredient CBD Could One Day Become an Antibiotic (Newsweek)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Hallucinogenic Fungi Turn Cicadas Into Sex-Crazed Zombies (VICE)

• Canadians Can Now Order Shrooms From This Dispensary (VICE)

• Zero Psilocybin Arrests in Denver First Month After Decriminalization (Westword)

MDMA

• Inside the multi-million dollar drug labs where your MDMA is made (SBS)

• Australians who use drugs like ecstasy are killing fish... in Holland (SBS)

• Preston teenager dies after taking MDMA and cannabis (BBC)

DMT

• A Natural Source of DMT Has Been Discovered in Mammal Brains (Inverse)

AYAHUASCA

• A Tribute to the Mother of Ayahuasca Research, Marlene Dobkin de Rios (1939-2012) (Kahpi)

IBOGA

• The Iboga Plant (The Third Wave)

NITROUS OXIDE

• Rotterdam to ban laughing gas at festivals, mayor says (DutchNews.nl)

KETAMINE

• Intranasal Ketamine for the Relief of Cluster Headache (Practical Pain Management)

• Ketamine Infusion Improves Abstinence in Cocaine-Dependent Patients (MD Magazine)

• Ketamine and dexmedetomidine combo requires close watch in surgical patients (Medical Dialogues)

• VA Imposes Strict Limits on Controversial Ketamine-Based Depression Treatment (Military.com)

• Lamar Odom Discusses How Ketamine Saved His Mental Health (The Fix)

• Ketamine Against Depression: Does the New Drug Work? (Interesting Engineering)

PCP

• Hartford Man Set House On Fire After Confrontation About PCP Use (Patch)

OPIOIDS

• Naloxone coprescription laws may lead to more than 7-fold increase in dispensing (Healio)

• How judges added to the grim toll of opioids (Reuters)

• Get "Dosed": New Doc Explores Psychedelics as an Antidote to the Opioid Crisis (MERRY JANE)

• Mexico is world’s No. 2 opium producer with 5.6% of production: UN (Mexico News Daily)

• New Jersey’s naloxone giveaway distributes 32,000 doses of opioid-reversing drug (WHYY)

• The Opioid Crisis: How the candidates would solve it (Big Think)

• They Mentioned 'Narcan' on HBO's Euphoria—What Is That? (Men's Health)

• In the midst of opioid crisis, Harrisburg dismisses evidence on treatment (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

COCAINE

• ONDCP Reports Cocaine Production in Colombia is Leveling Off (The White House)

• Kerry Katona admits ‘cocaine was my best friend’ at lowest point (The Sun)

CAFFEINE

• Coffee can help you lose weight, study finds (The Independent)

TOBACCO

• San Francisco Becomes First U.S. City to Pass a Ban on E-Cigarettes (TIME)

• Half of tobacco and vape shops don’t ID teens, undercover research finds (Fox 8)

• Scientists engineer low-nicotine tobacco to help combat nicotine addiction (Earth.com)

• Six months in, Philly assesses its smoking ban in inpatient rehabs (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Low rates of recommended treatment for tobacco dependence in patients hospitalized with SUDs (News-Medical.Net)

• Banning e-cigarettes, not tobacco products, is 'ludicrous,' some public health experts say (NBC News)

• Bryon follows other southern MN locations by raising tobacco age to 21 (KIMT)

ALCOHOL

• Alcohol is third leading preventable cause of death in US (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

• Alcohol ranked most harmful drug in Australia, says report (SBS)

• Breaking The Booze Habit, Even Briefly, Has Its Benefits (NPR)

• Sam’s Club launches alcohol delivery through Instacart (TechCrunch)

• Alcohol-Free Bars Caught on in the U.S. and U.K. But Can They Go Global? (Yahoo! Finance)

KAMBÔ

• The Kambo Ceremony (The Third Wave)

KRATOM

• FDA issues warnings to companies selling kratom products for opioid addiction (NBC News)

MISCELLANEOUS

• How Previous Drug Use Can Stop You Getting Into America (VICE)

• Illegal drug classifications are based on politics not science – report (The Guardian)

• Dzulkefly: Govt to decriminalise drug possession for personal use (The Star)

• Psychedelics research at Imperial College enters a new phase (Felix)

• Drug dogs set to be used in schools and colleges (Daily Echo)

• Campaigners accuse Tory politicians of drugs hypocrisy (The Guardian)

• Attempts to Build a Safe Injection Site for San Francisco Drug Users Pushed to 2020 (Reason)

• If Everyone Tripped on Psychedelics, We’d Do More About Climate Change (VICE)

• What can we learn from studying psychedelics in special populations? (Chacruna)

• The science of roadside drug testing (stuff.co.nz)

• Dopey: ‘We needed somewhere to tell wild drug stories’ (BBC)

• Why is psychedelic culture dominated by privileged white men? (Aeon)

• What it’s like to test drugs for a living: inside the specialist unit that’s especially busy during festival season (inews.co.uk)

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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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)

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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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