This Week in Psychedelics - 7.17.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Note: This week's edition of This Week in Psychedelics includes some "makeup" links to articles that were published toward the end of last week. This is because I was on vacation during that time, and wanted to present the links, albeit one week late.

Cannabis

  • Teenagers using less marijuana in age of legalization (Philly)
  • Italy takes step toward legalizing pot (Politico)
  • How medical marijuana could literally save lives (Washington Post)
  • Man Cures Colon Cancer With Cannabis Oil (Reset.me)
  • Church of Cannabis suit raises religious liberty issues (The Indianapolis Star)
  • The New Green Building Trend is Bricks of Cannabis. Really. (Time)
  • Sexxpot: Low THC Strain is Natural Viagra for Women (The Stoners Cookbook)
  • Cannabis treatment teen Alex Renton 'sparked national debate' (Nelson Mail)
  • Cannabis oil offers local mom, son, a new life (Gainesville Times)
  • Cannabis Found To Heal Broken Bones, But Schedule 1 Status Makes Further Research Into Medical Marijuana Difficult (Medical Daily)
  • The World's Largest Medical Marijuana Dispensary vs. One Rogue Prosecutor (Reason)
  • On 'The Marijuana Show' It's Cannabis Companies Meet 'Shark Tank' With $10 Million At Stake (Forbes)
  • Cannabis is Now a Full-Fledged Industry (Wall Street Daily)
  • Legislator who pushed medical marijuana bill hired by cannabis firm (Star Tribune)
  • Canadian company is developing a 'breathalyzer' for pot (Engadget)
  • Cannabis conference hosted in Tampa Saturday (My Fox Tampa Bay)
  • Cannabis picnic move to Portsmouth family event branded 'socially irresponsible' (Portsmouth.co.uk)

LSD

  • Everyone is talking about medical marijuana, but what about LSD? (The Daily Texan)
  • For Some, Tiny LSD Hits Are Like Cup Of Coffee (Newser)
  • Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience (Pop Matters)
  • Court documents: Teens took LSD before drowning (WISHTV)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Watch: Psilocybin Helps Terminal Cancer Patients Find New Ways Of Coping (Reset.me)
  • Who Needs Google's Dreaming Robot? Just Eat Some Shrooms Instead (Gizmodo)

MDMA

  • Could ecstasy be a potential treatment for PTSD? (Maclean's)
  • Experts in Australia are calling for MDMA legalization (Dancing Astronaut)
  • Utilizing MDMA to treat Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (RYOT)
  • Party drug 'molly' blamed for death of Colorado Springs teen (KDVR)
  • Director Of Poison Center Warns Against Drug Molly, Causes 'Total Body Breakdown' (CBS Denver)
  • Molly will mess up your brain (WALB)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • Meet the Man Trying to Use Ayahuasca to Treat PTSD (attn:)
  • I've found a drug so amazing I'm quitting NYC and sex to do it full time (New York Post)

Iboga

  • Old Age, New Age, and the Age to come... From religious fervour to an addict's saviour, iBogaine Thailand charts the uses of iBoga and iBogaine (iBogaine Thailand)

Peyote/Mescaline

  • No links this week

Salvia Divinorum

  • Hallucinogenic salvia set to be banned in Canada (Global News)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

  • Spike Nation: Cheap, unpredictable and hard to regulate, synthetic marijuana has emergency responders scrambling to save lives (NY Times)
  • Lawmakers take aim at designer drugs (WRAL)

Dissociatives

  • The Ketamine Connection (BBC)
  • Aura Medical Corporation: Clinics offering ketamine injections to treat depression blame negative publicity for closures (ABC)
  • Patient death after ketamine overdose spurs changes at UVMMC (VT Digger)

Opiates

  • US Reports Surge In Heroin Use: Bumper Opium Crop In Afghanistan To Spurt Supply (International Business Times)
  • Heroin Use Surges, Especially Among Women And Whites (NPR)
  • Heroin use skyrockets, especially among young white men (San Francisco Chronicle)
  • Researchers discover how opium poppies synthesize morphine (EurekAlert!)
  • For Families Of Heroin Addicts, Comfort Comes In Sharing Their Stories (NPR)
  • More deadly doses of heroin laced with fentanyl flood drug market (Capital Gazette)
  • A war against opium (The Hindu)
  • Obituaries Shed Euphemisms to Chronicle Toll of Heroin (NY Times)
  • New CDC Report Shows Large Spikes In Heroin Abuse And Deaths (Huffington Post)
  • N.J. heroin overdose death rate is triple the soaring U.S. rate (NJ.com)
  • Officials warn of new flesh-eating form of heroin (WTAE)
  • Heroin Deaths Jump In Connecticut; Push Past 300 In 2014 (Hartford Courant)
  • Sister raises awareness at vigil for twin who died of heroin (York Daily Record)
  • Investigators Warn New Additive to Heroin is Lethal (WBAY)
  • Sarasota seeing sharp spike in heroin overdoses (WFLA)

General Psychedelics

  • Is the ban on psychedelic drugs an infringement of human rights? (Tyler Daniel Black's Blog)
  • How Ecstasy, Aspirin, and LSD Look Under the Microscope (Wired)
  • 'Smiles': the history of the 2C designer drug class (The Verge)
  • The Bunk Police Are Risking Prison to Bring Drug Testing Kits to Music Festivals (Thump)
  • Abstinence-only drug education kills young people (The Branding Iron)
  • "Trust" in Therapeutic Relationship Key to Moderating Psychedelic Risks (Mad in America)

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 (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.