This Week in Psychoactives - 6.14.19

CANNABIS

• Oldest evidence of cannabis smoking found in ancient Chinese cemetery (Ars Technica)

• Nevada bans employers from refusing to hire those who fail marijuana tests (CNN)

• Maryland Legalizes Medical Marijuana Edibles, With Caveats (Reason)

• Drivers With Common THC Limit Are Not More Likely To Cause Accidents, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Oregon: Governor Signs Law Prohibiting Landlords From Discriminating Against Medical Marijuana Patients (NORML)

• Texas governor signs law legalizing hemp, CBD products (The Hill)

• Court squashes Colombia’s ban on smoking pot and drinking beer in public (Colombia Reports)

• Coroner claims woman overdosed on cannabis, scientists call bullshit (The Next Web)

• Illinois Cancer Patient Sentenced to Four Years in Jail Over Cannabis Edibles (MERRY JANE)

• Study: Veterans Often Substitute Medical Cannabis for Alcohol, Prescription Drugs (NORML)

• U.S. Postal Services Unveils New Policy On Mailing Hemp-Derived CBD Products (Marijuana Moment)

• Recreational Weed Hurts Medical Cannabis Programs, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• Huge Cement Blocks Bar Access to Illicit Toronto Dispensaries (Leafly)

• Poll Reveals Top Reasons People Support Or Oppose Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Nearly All Hospice Professionals Support Medical Marijuana Access, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• Las Vegas OK’d Cannabis Lounges but Nevada Just Said No (Leafly)

• Marijuana arrests target mostly blacks and Hispanics in region (Times Union)

• Baby Boomers Are Consuming Pot at Ten Times the Rate of Past Senior Generations (MERRY JANE)

• Ohio board rejects adding insomnia, depression as conditions for medical pot; tables autism, anxiety (WBNS)

• California Appeals Court Rules Cannabis Possession in Prison Legal (Courthouse News)

• Legal Cannabis May Not Lower Opioid Overdose Deaths After All (Gizmodo)

• Ontario Law Now Prevents Pot Shops From Showing Vape Pens to Customers (MERRY JANE)

• Oregon Is About to OK Cannabis Exports. What’s Next? (Leafly)

• Alabama Bucks Its History of Prohibition, Plants First Hemp Crop Since 1937 (MERRY JANE)

• Federal Employment Protections Demanded In Appropriations Bill (NORML)

• Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Industry Sold $23 Million Worth of Weed in May (MERRY JANE)

LSD

• The U.S. Army Once Kept $1 Billion Worth of LSD in a Maryland Office for Some Reason (Gizmodo)

• The Highs and Lows of LSD Literature (The New York Times)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Magic mushrooms could replace antidepressants within five years, says new psychedelic research centre (The Independent)

• 'They broke my mental shackles': could magic mushrooms be the answer to depression? (The Guardian)

• I Took Magic Mushrooms To Treat The World’s Worst Headaches... And Got Arrested For It (HuffPost)

MDMA

• Ecstasy warning over high strength MDMA pills at Parklife (Daily Star)

• More than 2000 children need help to ditch ecstasy problem (Mirror)

DMT

• What’s DMT and why are techies and entrepreneurs secretly taking the drug? (The American Genius)

AYAHUASCA

• Psychedelics, dance steps and giant snakes: inside the ayahuasca show (The Guardian)

5-MEO-DMT

• Mike Tyson Says Smoking Toad Venom Cured His Addictions (Civilized)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Synthetic Marijuana Is Making People Bleed From Their Eyes and Ears (Cosmopolitan)

• Milton teens found in medical distress didn't overdose on opioids, police say (CBC)

KETAMINE

• FDA Overlooked Red Flags In Testing of New Depression Drug (Daily Beast)

PCP

• 'It's an evil drug': Authorities see increase in demand of PCP (KTUL)

OPIOIDS

• Naloxone nasal spray is more available in Philly neighborhoods with more white residents, study finds (Philly Voice)

• Drug Users Armed With Naloxone Double As Medics On Streets Of San Francisco (California Healthline)

• Free heroin? Unusual clinic offers 'chance at being human again' (CBC)

• Insys, the Opioid Drug Maker, Files for Bankruptcy (The New York Times)

• Former champion MMA fighter describes battle with heroin addiction (WKRC)

COCAINE

• Michael Gove: Cocaine 'mistake' a 'deep regret' (BBC)

• Plumbers, builders and cabbies are doing it in the local pub – stop calling cocaine a middle class drug (The Sun)

• Why Peruvian wellness and a 'cocaine massage' could change your life (The Independent)

• Teens with prenatal cocaine exposure exhibit altered patterns of amygdala functional connectivity (PsyPost)

CAFFEINE

• Algorithm provides customized caffeine strategy for alertness (ScienceDaily)

• If We Wrote About Caffeine Like We Do Other Drugs… (Filter)

TOBACCO

• Texas Raises Age To Buy Tobacco To 21 (Inquisitr)

• A Flurry of States Have Raised Their Smoking Ages. But Big Tobacco's Involvement Has Some Health Groups Uneasy (TIME)

• E-cig companies use cartoon characters as logos, and new study shows it works (The Conversation)

• FDA finalizes guidance for premarket tobacco product applications for electronic nicotine delivery systems as part of commitment to continuing a strong oversight of e-cigarettes (FDA)

• Tobacco 21 to take effect June 24 in Mankato (Mankato Free Press)

ALCOHOL

• A Ten-Year Plan To Reduce Global Alcohol Consumption Is Showing Results (Forbes)

• Prohibition worked better than you think (Vox)

• Alcohol main cause of substance-related deaths in hospital (CBC)

• Drinking alcohol at conception shown to harm rats – new study (The Conversation)

• We Drink Basically The Same Wine As Ancient Romans — And That's Not So Great (NPR)

NOOTROPICS

• The Truth About Nootropics and What They Do to Our Brains, According to a Neuroscientist (Good Housekeeping)

• 10 Modafinil Myths You Can’t Afford To Believe (Dreamland Magazine)

KRATOM

• Kratom: A Legal Drug That’s Dangerously Addictive (Child Mind Institute)

KAVA

• Australia’s discussion of kava imports reflects lack of cultural understanding (The Conversation)

• Crackdown on health standards at Vanuatu kava bars (Radio New Zealand)

DATURA

• Dentist Arrested for slow poisoning her brother, niece (Medical Dialogues)

MISCELLANEOUS

• AOC Pushes To Make It Easier To Study Shrooms And Other Psychedelic Drugs (Forbes)

• Seven Tory leadership candidates admit they’ve dabbled in drugs after Gove shock coke revelation (The Sun)

• Say "High" to the World's First Venture Fund Exclusively for Psychedelics (MERRY JANE)

• Drugs expert barred from policy panel after criticising Home Office (The Guardian)

• Rhode Island Senate Approves Bill Allowing Supervised Consumption Sites For Illegal Drugs (Marijuana Moment)

• Fashion is having a seriously psychedelic moment (Los Angeles Times)

• I Think I Hated This Tech Conference on Psychedelics (WIRED)

• New Government Estimates Offer Early Hope That Drug Overdose Deaths Are Waning (TIME)

• Harm Production: Ontario’s Brutal Cuts Add Fuel to the Overdose Fire (Filter)

• El Chapo: what the rise and fall of the kingpin reveals about the war on drugs (The Guardian)

• Dark Web Drug Sellers Dodge Police Crackdowns (The New York Times)

• Palm Beach County wants to start Florida’s second needle exchange program (The Palm Beach Post)

• What to do when your friend gets too high (The Tab)

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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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This Week in Psychedelics - 9.14.18

Cannabis

• Canadian Military Reveals New Rules Regarding Cannabis Use (High Times)

• Marijuana Use Is on the Rise Among Baby Boomers According to a New Study (TIME)

• Legal Canadian Marijuana Workers, Investors Will Be Treated Like Illegal Traffickers, Official Confirms (Newsweek)

• Did Barack Obama Smoke Marijuana At Disneyland? (Marijuana Moment)

• NYC Prosecutors Drop 3,000 Weed Cases (Reason)

• New York: Brooklyn DA Intends To Vacate Thousands Of Past Marijuana Convictions (NORML)

• Tesla Shares Fall After CEO Elon Musk Smokes Cannabis on Joe Rogan's Live Web Show (News18)

• The Response To Elon Musk's Cannabis Use Shows That We Have A Giant Double Standard To Overcome (Forbes)

• Scientists Explore How Cannabis May Fight Psychosis (VOA)

• Congressional Leadership Strips Provisions Facilitating Medical Marijuana Access For Veterans (NORML)

• Marijuana Bill Approved By Congressional Committee, Despite Drug Conviction Restriction Dispute (Forbes)

• Legal Marijuana Access Disrupts The Illicit Market, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• European Parliament Working to Make Medical Marijuana Available on the Continent (Marijuana.com)

• Miami-Dade Police Give Most Pot Citations to White People, While Black People Are Jailed (Miami New Times)

• Federal Court Rules In Favor Of Worker Rejected For Medical Marijuana Use (Marijuana Moment)

• Republican Members of Congress Just Sent Jeff Sessions Yet Another Letter Asking Him To Stop Holding Up Marijuana Research (Reason)

• Cannabis for Chronic Nerve Pain: Mechanism Revealed? (Medscape)

• Neil deGrasse Tyson Warns People Not To Smoke Marijuana In Space (Marijuana Moment)

• Scottish ministers to hear arguments for medicinal use of cannabis (The National)

• Most Doctors, Nurses And Pharmacists Support Legalizing Marijuana, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Treat teenage cannabis dealers as potential victims, says thinktank (The Guardian)

• Marijuana In Texas: Where Ted Cruz And Beto O’Rourke Stand On Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Concerns raised over lack of guidelines for medics regarding use of substances like cannabis oil (Irish Examiner)

• Top Trump Health Official Signals Support For Marijuana Decriminalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Marijuana Censorship: A Byproduct of Prohibition (NORML)

• Colorado Ballot Measure Would Change Industrial Hemp Definition (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis and Crypto: Equal Beneficiaries in the Fight to Hit the Mainstream (Cointelegraph)

• New Book: Obama Considered Decriminalizing Marijuana, But Then Trump Won (Marijuana Moment)

• 5 Ways Creatives Are Fixing Cannabis’s Image Problem (Artsy)

• Here’s Where Indiana’s US Senate Candidates Stand On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Mat Zo Discusses Marijuana Dependence on Twitter (EDMTunes)

• Brett Kavanaugh Accepts Cory Booker’s Recommendation To Read Drug War Book (Marijuana Moment)

• Why The Adult Cannabis Market Could Kill Its Medical Counterpart (Forbes)

• Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard Talks Marijuana And Psychedelics With Joe Rogan (Marijuana Moment)

• Workers In These Industries Are Most Likely To Consume Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Pot Prohibition Makes Self-Defense Illegal (Reason)

• Google Execs Told Marijuana Jokes To Lighten The Mood After Trump’s Election, Leaked Video Shows (Marijuana Moment)

• Sen. Dianne Feinstein Signs Onto Marijuana Bill After Decades Of Drug War Advocacy (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis stocks are on fire after a $220 million M&A deal (Quartz)

• Criminal Justice Reformers Slam Marijuana Bill’s Drug Conviction Ban (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• After 26 years in prison for LSD, and clemency from Obama, Timothy Tyler is a free man (Psymposia)

• "I've seen my own DNA": Paul McCartney on his LSD experience with the Beatles in the 1960s (Meaww)

• ‘Acid’: A hallucinatory novel that overturns traditional ideas of family and motherhood (Scroll.in)

• When Aldous Huxley, Dying of Cancer, Left This World Tripping on LSD, Experiencing “the Most Serene, the Most Beautiful Death” (1963) (Open Culture)

• Salina woman pleads in LSD-fueled knife attack on a stranger (WIBW)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Psychedelic Mushroom Advocates Push Initiatives for May 2019 Citywide Ballot (Westword)

• “FDA approve ‘magic mushroom’ treatment” (Talon Marks)

• Police say York man took psychedelic mushrooms before killing cat (Press Herald)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• “Reduction in social anxiety after MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with autistic adults: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study” (ResearchGate)

• UW to test using MDMA to treat PTSD (School of Medicine and Public Health at University of Wisconsin-Madison)

• 'MDMA' Is The Drug-Fueled Thriller Showing You Another Side Of Asian America (NYLON)

• Pregnant teen ‘took ecstasy to try and kill her unborn son’ (Metro)

• Reminisce Festival: Overdoses lead to MDMA warning (BBC)

• Student Patrick Coakley died after taking MDMA 'bombs' at Canterbury’s Club Chemistry (Kent Online)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Should Ayahuasca Tourism in Peru Be Regulated? (Chacruna)

• Romancing the Toad (Reality Sandwich)

• Inside the Ayahuasca Experience (Psychotherapy Networker)

• Ayahuasca and the Global Marketplace (Reality Sandwich)

• A DMT trip 'feels like dying' - and scientists now agree (BBC)

• Ayahuasca: Tribal tradition or dangerous hallucinogenic brew? (The City Paper Bogota)

• Police discover DMT drug lab after neighbors report a burglary in Cottonwood Heights (KUTV)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Ibogaine Therapy Can Offer Addiction Relief During Opioid Withdrawal (Ladybud)

• Ibogaine: One Man's Journey To Mexico For Psychedelic Addiction Treatment (WBUR)

Salvia Divinorum

• Nightmare drug Salvia could help end the hellish opioid crisis (Rooster Magazine)

Dissociatives

• Rapid Depression Remission and the “Therapeutic Bends” with Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (Psychedelics Today)

• Ketamine Works as a Fast-Acting Antidepressant, But the Full Effects Are Still Unknown (Smithsonian)

• Ketamine: Mechanisms of Action, Uses in Pain Medicine, and Side Effects (Clinical Pain Advisor)

• Local ketamine clinic sees high success rate in ketamine treatment (KTRE)

• Grade-A student, 22, gave birth in prison after ‘going off the rails’ and attacking two women while experimenting with Ketamine (The Sun)

Opiates/Opioids

• Opioid billionaire granted patent for addiction treatment (Financial Times)

• Naloxone nasal spray works best to stop opioid OD: Study (UPI)

• Overdose is a policy issue, not an individual one. (Sheila Vakharia)

• FDA Approves New Dosage Strength of Buprenorphine and Naloxone Sublingual Film for Opioid Dependence Treatment (Pharmacy Times)

• Experts Call Bullshit On Backstreet Boy AJ McLean’s Opioid Detox Kits (VICE)

• I’m So Sick of Opioid Disaster Porn (Slate)

• Minnesota health officials offer free Naloxone training to public (Chron)

• Naloxone can reverse opioid overdoses, but does the drug belong in elementary schools? (USA Today)

• Opium production breaks records again (Daily Times)

• Police save little girl from hot car after mother overdoses on heroin (Fox 8)

Kratom

• Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on new warning letters FDA is issuing to companies marketing kratom with unproven medical claims; and the agency’s ongoing concerns about kratom (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

• Could the Opioid Crisis Be Solved With Kratom? “A Leaf of Faith” Says Yes (MERRY JANE)

• Shoplifters snagging liquid kratom from Martin County stores (TCPalm)

Khat

• New 'legal high' creeping into Bangladesh (Dhaka Tribune)

• Over 4,800 packs of khat seized in Oman (Times of Oman)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Study Explores Religious and Spiritual Roots of Psychedelically-Induced Mystical Experience (Psychedelic Times)

• Treating Addiction With Psychedelics – Part 1: Overview (The Third Wave)

• Treating Addiction With Psychedelics – Part 2: Preparation (The Third Wave)

• Treating Addiction With Psychedelics – Part 3: The Experience (The Third Wave)

• Treating Addiction With Psychedelics – Part 4: Integration (The Third Wave)

• Psychedelic Justice: Disrupting the Cultural Default Mode Network (Chacruna)

• Renaissance or Dead End? The New Debate on Psychedelic Drug Use by North American Buddhists (Buddhistdoor Global)

• The Psychological Violence of Mexico’s War on Drugs (The Crime Report)

• Accurately Weigh Your Dose: A Guide on How To Properly and Safely Measure Substances (Psychedelic Times)

• A Psychedelic Film and Music Festival is set to mellow out NYC (Metro US)

• Gender and Critical Drug Studies: Reproducing Female Vulnerability in Gendered Drug Discourse (Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society)

• Camden council OKs return of needle exchange; mayor hopes it's only short-term solution (Courier-Post)

• Children say cannabis easier to get than alcohol: 'The war on drugs has failed' (The Independent)

• Gendered violence & overdose prevention sites: A rapid ethnographic study during an overdose epidemic in Vancouver, Canada (Wiley Online Library)

• Drugs and Creativity: Fact or Fiction? (Neurology Times)

• Why Did Dallas Police Search a Man's Home for 'Narcotics' After One of Their Own Killed Him? (Reason)

• New Study Challenges Hallucinogenic Stereotypes (Washington Square News)

• 'Microdosing' growing in popularity among tech workers, but is it safe? (WRAL)

• Drug danger chart shows which drugs you should never mix, and which you totally should (Rooster Magazine)

• The forgotten history of psychedelics and their use in addiction therapy (NOTED)

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 - 8.10.18

Cannabis

• Congress Finally Can Tell Hemp From Pot (The Atlantic)
• Neighborhood Marijuana Dispensaries Don’t Increase Teen Use, Study Shows (Marijuana Moment)
• Colorado secretly created a way to police medical marijuana doctors, a lawsuit suppressed for years alleges (The Denver Post)
• New Source of Cannabidiol Not Derived From Cannabis or Hemp (24/7 Wall St.)
• Congressional Ban On D.C. Marijuana Sales Drives Arrests, New Police Data Suggests (Marijuana Moment)
• New Federal Employment Protections Bill Introduced For Marijuana Consumers (NORML)
• FBI, DEA orchestrate massive raid of suspected illegal marijuana grow operations across Denver metro area (The Denver Post)
• Michigan Cop Forced an 80-Year-Old Great Grandmother To Spend a Night in Jail Over an Expired Medical Marijuana Card (Reason)
• Lawmakers In U.S. Territory Vote To Legalize Marijuana (Forbes)
• North Dakota Likely To Vote On Marijuana Legalization In November (Marijuana Moment)
• Already 91 per cent of Aussies support medicinal cannabis and over the counter purchases may soon become a reality (News.com.au)
• Oklahoma Governor Approves Less Restrictive Medical Marijuana Regulations (Marijuana Moment)
• Nevada And Alaska Marijuana Sales Far Exceed Projections (Marijuana Moment)
• Oak Park company designs oral, quick absorbing cannabis (Chicago Daily Herald)
• Almost One-Fifth Of California Consumers Still Buying Illegal-Market Marijuana, Report Finds (Marijuana Moment)
• Ohio Is Having Trouble Finding Producers for Cannabis Edibles Market (Forbes)
• Study Finds Teens Who Vape More Likely to Consume Cannabis Later (High Times)
• California Marijuana Products Delayed by Backlogs in Testing Labs (NBC San Diego)
• New York Inches Towards Legalizing Recreational Marijuana (Reason)
• Kevin Smith’s ‘Hollyweed’ TV Show Isn’t Top-Shelf Marijuana Content (Marijuana Moment)
• Climate change is turning the Middle East's breadbasket into a cannabis farm (CNN)
• Police chief gives green light to cannabis users to grow and sell drug in their own home (The Telegraph)
• Cannabis Goes Universal in This Campaign Showing Pot Users From All Walks of Life (Adweek)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Which U.S. state will be the first to legalize shrooms? (Big Think)
• Psychedelic mushrooms may help smokers kick the habit (Earth.com)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Man Arrested After Filling Hotel Bathtub With Potatoes High On MDMA, "It Felt Like The Right Thing To Do" (Comic Sands)
• A prescription for MDMA? We're getting closer (Big Think)
• 'Donald Trump' MDMA pills tested at Bestival have double the dose (Bournemouth Echo)
• When I Knew it Was Time to End My Relationship With MDMA (Tonic)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Synthetic vs Toad and Finding a 5-MeO-DMT Ceremony: A Conversation with James Oroc (Psychedelic Times)
• Ayahuasca is the new frontier for 'psychedelic feminism' (ABC.net.au)
• San Jose man shot in remote jungles of Peru during spiritual retreat (The Mercury News)
• Oakland company accused of smuggling hallucinogenic toad venom from Hong Kong (East Bay Times)

Salvia Divinorum

• What is Salvia Divinorum? (Psychedelics Daily)

Dissociatives

• Everything You Should Know About Taking Ketamine (Tonic)
• Ketamine offers lifeline for people with severe depression, suicidal thoughts (CNN)
• Ketamine infusion well-tolerated in small sample with mood disorders (Healio)
• KC teen’s PCP-laced shotgun spree kills Chinese missionary, a father of 4, police say (The Kansas City Star)

Opiates/Opioids

• Touching Fentanyl Is Not Dangerous. Will This Video Finally Prove That? (Slate)
• Police to use heroin antidote naloxone in cells as drugs death rise (Chronicle Live)
• Officials Are Trying to Block a Needle Exchange Program From Operating in Orange County (TIME)
• Months of U.S. Strikes Have Failed to Curtail Taliban Opium Trade (The Wall Street Journal)
• Dr. Robert Newman, Apostle of Methadone Treatment, Dies at 80 (The New York Times)
• Oregon K-9 saved by Narcan after exposure to contraband heroin in jail (KIRO)
• Naloxone Saved Demi Lovato and Thousands More. Why is it Controversial? (RealClearLife)

Kratom

• Kratom – Can it benefit MMA fighters and combat athletes? (My MMA News)
• How Kratom Relieves Different Types of Pain? “Kratom for Pain” (Kratom Guides)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• A push for drug decriminalization surges in countries around the world — could the US be next? (The Hill)
• Indian State Moves To Decriminalize Drugs (Marijuana Moment)
• Tories pile pressure on Theresa May to allow safe injection room for drug users (The Independent)
• How and why people 'microdose' tiny hits of psychedelic drugs (CBC)
• How the US drug war fuels migration, violence and trauma (Salon)
• LGBQ teens more likely to use illegal street drugs (KFGO)
• Why GDP includes the illegal drugs trade (BBC)
• Britain has more drug deaths per head than any other country in Europe, research claims (The Sun)
• Eating this fish could give you three days of nasty, LSD-like hallucinations (ZME Science)
• The Detroit Psychedelic Conference brings the international science of consciousness home (Detroit Metro Times)

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 - 6.29.18

Cannabis

• Oklahoma voters approve medical marijuana measure (CNN)
• FDA Approves First Marijuana-Based Prescription Drug (TIME)
• U.S. Senate Votes To Legalize Hemp After Decades-Long Ban Under Marijuana Prohibition (Forbes)
• Schumer introduces bill to federally decriminalize marijuana (CNN)
• Cannabis oil: what is it and does it really work as medicine? (New Scientist)
• Legalising cannabis 'would raise £1bn in tax for the UK' (BBC)
• Get Too High? 'Undoo' Inventor Wants to Take Cannabis Consumers Down (Phoenix New Times)
• Mexico opium poppy growers see price drop, turn to marijuana (Tampa Bay Times)
• Durham police chief calls for legalisation of cannabis in UK (The Guardian)
• Meet Colorado’s New Single-Issue Voters: The Cannabis Community (The New York Times)
• For Medical Marijuana, Is it the Whole Plant That Matters? (Undark Magazine)
• Rite Aid poised to sell its first cannabis-derived drug (CNN)
• Medical-Cannabis Extracts Like Vape Pen Oil Are Illegal, Arizona Appeals Court Rules (Phoenix New Times)
• My 10-Year-Old Daughter Takes the First FDA-Approved Marijuana Drug. It's Changed Our Lives (TIME)
• Cannabis growth is killing one of the cutest (and fiercest) creatures in the US (The Guardian)
• Cannabis Businesses Hope To Shed Stoner Stereotype By 'Professionalizing Industry' (WBUR)
• Oklahoma's hypocrites legalize cannabis after suing Colorado for the same (Rooster)
• #PermitPatty Episode Blows Up on California Cannabis Company (Leafly)
• What Recreational Cannabis In Mass. Means For Medical Marijuana (WBUR)
• Cheap cannabis products available before new California rules kick in (San Francisco Chronicle)
• I Want My Weed Coffeehouses (Seattle Weekly)

LSD

• Microdosing with LSD vs. Psilocybin Mushrooms (The Third Wave)
• Johnny Depp Wanted To Take Out Osama Bin Laden By Spraying LSD Over His Compound (Esquire)
• LSD And 'Magic Mushrooms' Can 'Help People Deal With Serious Problems,' According to UC Berkeley Prof (Civilized)
• Rampant LSD Use Sweeps US Colleges (Liberty Nation)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Psychedelic therapy for smoking cessation: Qualitative analysis of participant accounts (SAGE Journals)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• ‘Storm Chasers’ Star Joel Taylor Died from MDMA, Ketamine Poisoning (The Blast)
• MDMA strengths surge to 'potentially fatal' levels (BBC)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• New N-bomb hallucinogenic drug that can bring on ‘extreme paranoia’ sparks cop probe after death links (The Scottish Sun)

Dissociatives

• Rat Study Shows How Ketamine Combats Depression (Psych Central)
• Revisiting the Hallucinogenic Potential of Ketamine (Psychiatric Times)
• Minneapolis Police Order EMS Workers To Sedate Suspected Criminals With Ketamine (Herb)
• Man kills himself in Williamsport apartment after smoking PCP: police (PennLive)

Opiates/Opioids

• Why SITSA Act Will Actually Move the Needle Backward on the Opioid Crisis (Inverse)
• Needle exchanges have been proved to work against opioid addiction. They’re banned in 15 states. (Vox)
• A Gallery Owner Was Arrested After Leaving a 10-Foot Heroin Spoon Sculpture Outside OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma (TIME)
• Ontario Promotes Free Use of Opioid Antidote (The Wall Street Journal)
• Mexican heroin cannot escape the law of supply and demand (New York Post)
• Tech Companies Deflect Blame for Opioid Crisis Ahead of FDA Summit (WIRED)
• Legal uncertainty surrounds overdose-fighting drug (The Gazette)
• What we know about the crack-fentanyl outbreak in Philly (Philadelphia Weekly)
• When an Iowa Family Doctor Takes On the Opioid Epidemic (The New York Times)

Absinthe

• Booze 101: Absinthe (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Kratom

• More Kratom Products Recalled Owing to Salmonella Risk (Medscape)
• Kratom Users In States That Ban It Discuss How Prohibition Has Made Life Worse (HuffPo)
• This Bill Could Give Jeff Sessions the Power to Ban Kratom (Tonic)
• FDA Seeks to Curb Kratom Sales (Blue Virginia)
• How To Get Kratom Out Of Your System Fast? (Kratom Guides)
• Meet The “Kratom Warriors” Who Say This Plant Will End The Opioid Epidemic (BuzzFeed News)
• Which Kratom Strains For Sleep You Can Try in 2018? (Kratom Guides)
• What you need to know about Green Thai Kratom before Use (The Bona Venture)
• Can You Buy Kratom On Local GNC, Walmart, Walgreens, And CVS? (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• What Is Kava And Is It Good For You? (Women's Health)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• A Microguide to Microdosing Psychedelic Drugs (WIRED)
• The Dangers and Risks of Microdosing (The Third Wave)
• It may take hallucinogens to get us through the Trump years (Raw Story)
• If America wants to stop the migrant crisis, it should decriminalize drugs (The Week)
• Psychedelics Are Going Mainstream, Because the Mainstream Needs Them (VICE)
• Can Psychedelics Induce Flow States? (The Third Wave)
• Groovy, baby! The renaissance in psychedelic science is here (The Globe and Mail)
• Treating PTSD with a Psychedelic (ThirdAge)
• Information Update - Drug Use During Festival Season (Markets Insider)
• Paul Stamets’ Psilocybin Stories on Joe Rogan Podcast Will Blow Your Mind (Psychedelic Times)
• Taking Psychedelic Drugs to Ease Anxiety Over a Terminal Diagnosis: It’s a Real Option (ThirdAge)
• Study: Can taking a hallucinogen curb cocaine use? (UAB News)
• Different Ways Of Using Drugs (Psychedelic Heaven)

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 - 10.27.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• A Record High 64% of Americans Say Cannabis Should be Legal (Leafly)
• Legal Marijuana Is Becoming the Norm (Reason)
• Study: Cannabis Use Inversely Associated With Fatty Liver Disease (NORML)
• Israel Decriminalized Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Digital Currency Looks to Solve Cannabis Industry's Cash Problem (The CoinTelegraph)
• Washington Tops $1.1 Billion in Cannabis Sales at 9-Month Mark (Leafly)
• Arizona Judge Rules Medical Cannabis Extracts Are Illegal (High Times)
• People Who Smoke Pot Have More Sex, Study Says (TIME)
• #ACT: Medical Marijuana Could Be On The Line (NORML)
• Five Things Canada's Cannabis Act Will Legalize Besides Possession (Leafly)
• Eventbrite Is Pulling Some Cannabis Events From Its Site, Leaving Organizers Frustrated (Forbes)
• Can Cannabis Treat Asthma? (High Times)
• Marijuana Can Replace Deadly Prescription Drugs (ATTN:)
• South Carolina Congressman Co-Sponsors Cannabis Business Bill (Leafly)
• Former NFL Players Say League Should Allow Players to Use Marijuana to Treat Pain, Injuries (Reason)
• Ex-policewoman's cannabis use to relieve pain from MS (BBC)
• Sessions Continues to Push 'Gateway Drug' Myth About Marijuana (Reason)
• Companies That Drug Test for Marijuana Are Losing out on Good Employees (ATTN:)
• Jeff Sessions: We Will Do Our Best To Enforce The Laws As We're Required To Do (NORML)
• Colorado's Top Doc Debunks Legalization Fears (NORML)
• Legal Cannabis Grow and Retail Operations Enjoying Continued Growth and Increasing Revenue Opportunities (MarketWatch)
• Are Stoned Motorists Driving Amok in Post-Legalization Colorado? (Reason)
• Non-Antagonistic Medication with Cannabis Oils from Craft 1861 (Forbes)
• N.J. Cops Say Someone Might Distribute Marijuana Edibles on Halloween (Reason)
• Police investigate after 65 pounds of weed included with Orlando couple's Amazon order (WFTV)
• Cannabis Crunch – Texas Medical Marijuana, Weed Delivery Driver Sting And New Zealand Considering Cannabis Legalization (Psychedelic Times)
• Take Control of Mites in Cannabis Crops (Greenhouse Grower)
• Facebook is slammed after cannabis seeds including 'lemon haze' and 'double bubble' were brazenly sold on its site (Daily Mail)

LSD

• Mind-blowing secret of Italy's 'LSD Island' where locals were once so high 24/7 they saw flying witches (The Sun)
• Could LSD Lessen Lawlessness? (Pacific Standard)
• Why Colorado Tokers Love LSD (Westword)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Magic Mushrooms Show Promise As Depression Remedy By 'Resetting' The Brain (Forbes)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Ecstasy users are increasingly young adults with higher education, study finds (PsyPost)
• The FDA says this recreational drug is 'breakthrough' treatment for PTSD (Metro)
• Partiers Confuse Ecstasy and Molly Confound Rates of U.S. Drug Use (Inverse)
• Law Student Dies En Route to BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend After Consuming 2.3 Grams of Molly (YourEDM)
• Girl, 14, hospitalised after taking 'ecstasy' at Dorset nightclub party as boy, 15, is arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs (The Sun)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Sacred jungle medicine tested for hard-to-treat depression (Scienceline)
• Petroglyphs of Polish (Atlas Obscura)
• Ayahuasca for the masses (Thrive Global)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine may help treat migraine pain unresponsive to other therapies (EurekAlert)
• PCP-addled woman hits pedestrian at Lazarre Park: WMPD (The News Star)

Opiates/Opioids

• Narcan Opioid Overdose Spray Is Now Stocked By All Walgreens Pharmacies (NPR)
• How the DEA Changed the Overdose Numbers (Pain News Network)
• FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Goes to Bat For Evidence-Based Opioid Policies (Reason)
• President Trump Revealed His Plan to Deal With the Opioid Crisis. Here's What Experts Think (TIME)
• Heroin: A Clear And Present Danger (HuffPost)
• The Hidden Tragedy of the Opioid Crisis (TIME)
• Why Are Local Officials Shutting Down Needle Exchange Programs During an Crisis? (Reason)
• Puppy That Collapsed From Opioid Overdose Is Saved by Reversal Drug (TIME)
• U.S. urges Mexico to tackle "increase" in heroin trafficking (CBS)
• IACP Quick Take: Why the fight against the opioid crisis can't stop with naloxone (PoliceOne)

Kratom

• American Kratom Association Questions DEA on Kratom Concerns (KNWA)
• Turning to Kratom For Opioid Withdrawal (WebMD)
• Critics slam reports linking controversial supplement Kratom to recent deaths (WRIC)
• Can the kratom plant help fix the opioid crisis? (CNN)
• Kratom For Pain Relief In Pets: Is That Good Or Bad? (Kratom Guides)
• "Fake News" Of Kratom Deaths Spurs Demands For Tennessee TV Station Retraction, Reprimands By Georgia County And State Coroners Group (PR Newswire)

Kava

• No Kava For New Chief (Fiji Sun)
• Increasing theft of kava plants in Vava'u (Matangi Tonga)
• Traditional ceremony to be held during the installation of Roko Tui Bau (Fijivillage)

Khat

• Khat consumer population reaches 16 percent in Ethiopia : Study (Borkena)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Neuroscientists improve human memory by electrically stimulating brain (Medical Xpress)
• New study suggests psychedelic drugs may reduce criminal behavior (EurekAlert!)
• An Oxford professor explains what it feels like to take a "true" smart drug (Quartz)
• The Shadow of Underground Entheogenic Use: Interview With Eleonora Molnar (Psychedelic Times)
• Massachusetts Mulls Whether to Classify Drug Dealers as Murderers (Reason)
• Overcoming the trauma through the psychedelic in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (Journal of Advances in Humanities and Social Sciences)
• Thailand Drug Decriminalization Edges Forward - With Little Fanfare (Khaosod English)
• Senator Elizabeth Warren Discusses Jailing Low-Level Drug Offenders (ATTN:)
• James Fadiman Discusses the Many Benefits of Microdosing (Psychedelic Frontier)
• Donald Trump Wants to Spend Big on Anti-Drug Ads. Here's Why They Don't Work (TIME)
• 'Stranger Things' Actor Charlie Heaton Denied U.S. Entry Over Drugs, Official Says (TIME)
• Jeff Sessions Says MS-13 Is a Major Player in the Narcotics Trade. The DEA Disagrees. (Reason)
• Misguided Mainstreaming of Psychedelic Drugs: Challenging Experiences (Rick Strassman MD)
• Scientists have developed "mini-brains" to test the way psychedelic drugs affect the brain (Addiction Now)
• Psychedelics and Mental Health (Psymposia)
• Misplaced Ecstasy? Questioning the Role of Psychedelics as Therapy (Medscape)
• The necessity of legalizing ecstasy and LSD (The Massachusetts Daily Collegian)
• Shane Mauss – A Good Trip (Alt Media)
• This british conservative thinks drug prohibition is about as intelligent as alcohol prohibition in US (Psymposia)

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.