This Week in Psychedelics - 8.14.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

  • Texas cops smell weed in black woman's car so they stick hand up her vagina in public (Boing Boing)
  • Was William Shakespeare high when he penned his plays? (The Independent)
  • Scientists Detect Traces of Cannabis on Pipes Found in Shakespeare's Garden (Time)
  • To inhale or not to inhale: Was Shakespeare a cannabis user? (Alaska Dispatch News)
  • Sheriffs are asking for armored trucks to wage war on marijuana. Yes, really. (The Washington Post)
  • Scientists speak out against false cannabis claims (International Centre for Science in Drug Policy)
  • Berlin's Hanfparade: For pot, against harsh drug laws (Deutsche Welle)
  • ResponsibleOhio Initiative Qualifies For The 2015 November Ballot (NORML)
  • Phily420: Marijuana arrests down 73 percent (Philly.com)
  • Unionizing cannabis workers (Glens Falls Post-Star)
  • Study shows medical cannabis not linked to rise in illegal recreational use (The Jerusalem Post)
  • Coming, a weight-loss pill from cannabis (The Times of India)
  • Renewed calls for Tasmanian medical cannabis trials to include larger scope of patients (ABC Online)
  • Eight courses high and rising: Amsterdam's gourmet marijuana dining experience (The Guardian)
  • We Must Separate Fact From Fiction in the Cannabis Debate (The Huffington Post)
  • 17% drop in police raids on cannabis farms (BBC)
  • Panelists discuss medical cannabis at forum in Ellwood City (Times Online)
  • Dutch company E-Njoint develops cannabis e-cigarette (International Business Times)
  • Gourmet Marijuana, Anyone? (Health Aim)
  • Tacoma Armory to host marijuana trade show and seminars — and a cannabis competition (The News Tribune)
  • 2nd search warrant served on Charlo Greene's Alaska Cannabis Club (Alaska Dispatch News)
  • Senate committee backs medical cannabis (9news.com.au)
  • Marijuana Lifer Jeff Mizanskey Will Be Free Soon (Reason Magazine)
  • Can a Tolerance Break Rejuvenate the Effects of Cannabis? (Leafly)
  • Lt. Gov. Newsom: California will legalize cannabis in 2016 (SF Gate)

LSD

  • LSD Enhances Emotional Responses to Music (The Beckley Foundation)
  • Jersey Cops Are Seriously Angry About Trey Brasher's LSD-Laced Gummy Bears (Westword)
  • Terence Blacker: How an LSD trip changed my life for good when I was lost (The Independent)
  • LSD enhances the emotional response to music (Springer)
  • Miley Cyrus Talks Double Standards In Music: 'Kendrick Lamar Sings About LSD And He's Cool' (Design & Trend)
  • A New Pair Of Mood Glasses Was Designed By An Artist; LSD Hallucinations Are Simulated Once Worn — Would You Wear It? (iSchoolGuide)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Russia bans all of Reddit over a single 'shroom thread (Engadget)
  • 920 Coalition for Psilocybin Research Awareness Announces First Dates (Reality Sandwich)
  • It's A Crime Against Society That Psilocybin Is Not More Accessible And Accepted (Reset.me)
  • Can magic mushrooms cure schizophrenia? (New Zealand Herald)
  • Fired drugs tsar Professor David Nutt to lead £250k study on effects of mushrooms (Daily Mail)
  • Healing trip: therapeutic effect of magic mushrooms (Sentinel Republic)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • Anti-MDMA Campaign Warns Teens About Dangers Of Feeling More Connected To Others (The Onion)
  • Ravers Rally to Fight Proposed Party Ban (Los Angeles Weekly)
  • The Man Who Took 40000 Ecstasy Tablets in His 20s (New York Magazine)
  • Teen who nearly died taking drugs at music festival releases coma photo as warning (The Telegraph)
  • MDMA, Cocaine Sales Help Dark Net Drug Sites Make Over $100 Million Annually, Without Shuttered Silk Road (International Business Times)
  • 'Rolls Royce ecstasy': Police warning to clubbers over dangerous batch of pills linked to death of reveller (Mirror)
  • Molly drug usage increases throughout Florida (WWSB ABC 7)
  • Calgary EMS takes 17 to hospital for substance abuse at Chasing Summer music festival (Calgary Sun)
  • Whiting: 'Party drugs', summer heat and secrets are a deadly mix (The Orange County Register)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • An Introduction to 'Ayahuasca: An Executive's Enlightenment' by Michael Sanders (Evolve and Ascend)
  • Interview With A Former Opium Addict Who Found Salvation Through Ayahuasca (Reset.me)

Peyote/Mescaline

  • "Religious Freedom" as a Shield and a Sword: Tensions Between Conflicting Rights (Jurist)

Iboga/Ibogaine

Salvia Divinorum

  • Order Amending Schedule IV to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (Gazette du Canada)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

  • How this chemist unwittingly helped spawn the synthetic drug industry (Washington Post)
  • NYC Sees Surge in Synthetic Pot Use, With Dire Consequences (Time)
  • NYPD Stop Lying! Here's How to Handle "Synthetic Marijuana" (Drug Policy Alliance)
  • NYPD uses PCP as poster child for synthetic marijuana (Watchdog)
  • Tackling the synthetic marijuana crisis (Pix 11)

Dissociatives

Opiates

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • Meet the People Who Want to Make It Safer to Take Drugs at Festivals (Rolling Stone)
  • Narcotic drugs for 'magic brews' found at Turkish archaeological site (International Business Times)
  • The Ban On Kava And The Bogus Liver Damage Scare (Reset.me)
  • A Guide to Synesthesia 2015: Denver's Premier Psychedelic Showcase (Westword)
  • World's Most Precious Gemstone Looks Like a Psychedelic Dildo (Cosmopolitan)
  • FunBITS: Do Computers Dream of Psychedelic Bears? (TidBITS)
  • Risking Your Life On Psychedelics: How Injury-Prone Will You Be? (Newswire)
  • A psychedelic horror game inspired by the great masters of art (VG 24/7)

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.