This Week in Psychedelics - 9.7.18

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Cannabis

  • Psychosis: Cannabis extract normalizes brain function (Medical News Today)

  • A silent movement for the legalisation of cannabis is spreading across India (Scroll.in)

  • Using Cannabis to Treat the Effects of Trauma (Chacruna)

  • Senate Bill Would Legalize Medical Marijuana For Military Veterans (Forbes)

  • Elon Musk Smokes Marijuana in His First Appearance Since Tweet About Taking Tesla Public (TIME)

  • How dark market cannabis plugs are being taken advantage of. Again. (Rooster Magazine)

  • Senators Press Trump Cabinet Members To Expand Marijuana Research (Marijuana Moment)

  • Utah Medical Marijuana Campaign Exposes Opponents’ Misleading Push Poll (Marijuana Moment)

  • Stockton Offering Minor In Cannabis Studies (CBS Philly)

  • Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh On Marijuana Enforcement And Presidential Pardon Power (Marijuana Moment)

  • The Argument For Smoking Cannabis Flower (Forbes)

  • Major Pro-Legalization California Union Sides With Cops Against Marijuana Deliveries (Marijuana Moment)

  • Nerve Pain in the Legs? Medical Marijuana May Alter Brain Connections, Bring Relief (American Academy of Neurology)

  • Top Lawmakers Talk Hemp Legalization At First Bicameral Congressional Conference Committee Meeting (Marijuana Moment)

  • Individual and combined effects of acute delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol on psychotomimetic symptoms and memory function (Nature)

  • How Many Americans Can Hold A Joint Of Marijuana Without Fear Of Going To Jail? (Marijuana Moment)

  • Support for Prop. 2 dips following LDS Church opposition, but most Utahns still support medical cannabis ballot initiative (Utah Policy)

  • New Jersey Mayors Demand Social Equity In Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

  • Death Sentence for Malaysia Man Who Gave Patients Free Cannabis Oil (Talking Drugs)

  • Marijuana Consumption Booming Among Baby Boomers, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Pro-Legalization Trump Backers Cry ‘Fake News’ Over Report On Anti-Marijuana Committee (Marijuana Moment)

  • Tobacco Giant Altria Is ‘Exploring Options’ On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

  • Anti-Legalization Rep. Pete Sessions ‘Very Receptive’ To Medical Cannabis Group (Marijuana Moment)

  • Canadian Cannabis Corp Makes Historic Investment in Jamaica (Forbes)

  • A Top House Republican Questions Jeff Sessions’s Anti-Marijuana Moves (Marijuana Moment)

  • Cannabis on the Menu at Your Next Hotel Restaurant or Spa? (The New York Times)

  • XRAY's “This Is Cannabis” Discusses the Science of Weed In Terms Everyone Can Understand (Willamette Week)

LSD

  • First ever trials on the effects of microdosing LSD set to begin (The Guardian)

  • Does Microdosing LSD Stimulate Creativity And Productivity? (Science Trends)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • The Differences Between British and American MDMA Users (VICE)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

  • Paul McCartney 'saw God' after taking drugs during Beatles heyday (The Guardian)

  • This Incredible VR Film Takes You on an Ayahuasca Journey to the Amazon (VICE)

  • What Ayahuasca Is, and What You Should Know About It (Teen Vogue)

  • What Happens When You Die? Scientists Have Recreated a Near Death Experience to Find Out What It Feels Like (Newsweek)

  • Ayahuasca rituals can be profoundly beneficial – if they’re done properly (The Guardian)

  • Ayahuasca and the Global Marketplace (Psymposia)

  • I spent two days taking the spiritual psychoactive ‘Ayahuasca’ on a reclusive island (The Tab)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

  • DEA puts "Fake MDMA" in Schedule I (Orlando Sentinel)

  • Meet Dr. Zee, the Chemist Trying to Solve Life’s Problems With One Pill (MERRY JANE)

Dissociatives

  • First-Ever IV Ketamine Infusion Consensus Guidelines For Chronic Pain Released (Pain Medicine News)

  • Study: Ketamine acts like an opioid when used to help treat depression (Boston Herald)

  • Man high on PCP gets shot trying to carjack man in Cleveland pizzeria parking lot (Cleveland.com)

  • Officers, K9 exposed to drug while checking vehicle outside military site: police (PennLive.com)

  • Woman arrested on murder complaint tells police man found dead in motel smoked PCP and killed himself (Tulsa World)

Opiates/Opioids

  • Purdue Pharma L.P. to Fund Harm Reduction Therapeutics, Inc.’s Work to Develop Inexpensive, Over-the-Counter, Life-Saving Naloxone in the United States (Business Wire)

  • New Research Sheds Light on How Opium Poppies Evolved Their Powerful Painkillers (Gizmodo)

  • Sick River: Can These California Tribes Beat Heroin and History? (The New York Times)

  • I Would Have Started Heroin Recovery Earlier—and Healthier—If I Had Access to a Safe Injection Site (Tonic)

  • Officers in Sterling treated for opioid exposure after responding to overdose (The Boston Globe)

  • Supervised Injection Facilities Save Lives (Reason)

  • Man Who Kicked Heroin Addiction Now On Mission To Give Back To Local Kids (CBS Philly)

  • Naloxone: ‘It’s harm reduction’ (LaSalle News Tribune)

Kratom

  • Lawsuit says kratom tea caused teen’s brain damage (Tampa Bay Times)

  • Kratom Users Reveal Psychological Symptoms of Withdrawal From the Drug (Inverse)

  • Kratom: Clinical Implications for Nurse Practitioners (AdvanceWeb)

Kava

  • Vanuatu welcomes Polish move to re-legalise kava (Radio New Zealand)

  • Man arrested for stabbing employees at Te Mana Kava Bar in West Palm Beach (WPTV)

  • No Harm in Kava (Eugene Weekly)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • Misreporting and Confirmation Bias in Psychedelic Research (Scientific American)

  • Addiction Doesn’t Always Last a Lifetime (The New York Times)

  • An Introduction to Eroto-Psychedelic Art (The Oak Tree Review)

  • Psychedelics, Meditation, and Self-Consciousness (Frontiers in Psychology)

  • This Man Took 140 Drugs and Wrote a Harm Reduction Bible (VICE)

  • Abolishing the DEA Would be Good for Your Health (71Republic)

  • Do psychotropic drugs enhance, or diminish, human agency? (Aeon)

  • Sound-based liquid printing could lead to new designer drugs (Engadget)

  • People Say Microdosing Can Increase Cognitive Ability And Regulate Emotions. Here's What We Know About It (BuzzFeed News)

  • What is a Drug? (Medium)

  • The Psychedelic Film And Music Festival Embarks On Inaugural Event This October In NYC (Broadway World)

  • How to Prevent Overdose Deaths—and How Not To (Reason)

  • Thousands of people use drug-testing facilities at UK music festivals (BBC)

  • The Internet Is Acid, and America Is Having a Bad Trip (Medium)

  • Unlocking the Shamanic Perspective for a Profoundly Magical Existence (High Existence)

  • Psychedelics Improve Physical Performance (Andrew Joseph)

  • 4 Plant-Based Alternative Medicines That Show Promise in Treating Addiction (ZME Science)

  • How psychedelic drugs are tackling mental illness (news.com.au)

  • The Prohibition of Psychedelics Burdens the Most Fundamental Right in the Grossest Way Possible (Andrew Joseph)

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.