This Week in Psychoactives - 11.15.19

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Cannabis

  • CDC Identifies Vitamin E Oil Additive as a “Very Strong Culprit of Concern” in Vaping-Related Lung Injuries (NORML)

  • First cannabis-based medicines approved for use on NHS (The Guardian)

  • The Media Is Spinning the Latest Weed and Birth Defects Study All Wrong (MERRY JANE)

  • Michigan Teen Receives Double Lung Transplant After 'Enormous' Damage From Vaping (TIME)

  • Ohio bans vitamin E acetate from medical marijuana vapes after CDC links it to lung illnesses (Cincinnati Enquirer)

  • Pew Poll: Two-Thirds of Americans Say “Marijuana Should Be Made Legal” (NORML)

  • Bernie Sanders Wants To Legalize Medical Marijuana For Military Veterans (Marijuana Moment)

  • Apple Removing Vaping-Related Apps From App Store Today Amid Public Health Concerns (MacRumors)

  • From ‘Veronica Mars’ to toxic vapes: The rise and fall of Honey Cut (Leafly)

  • You Can Get A Master's In Medical Cannabis In Maryland (NPR)

  • Mass Lifts Ban on Medical Cannabis Flower Vapes, But Oil Carts Still Restricted (MERRY JANE)

  • Marijuana Prohibition Is Delaying Federal Response To Vaping Crisis, CDC Says (Marijuana Moment)

  • Surprise! Michigan adult-use cannabis sales begin Dec. 1 (Leafly)

  • Young Americans Are Smoking More Weed and Less Tobacco, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

  • Millions of Brits using street cannabis to treat chronic health conditions (Health Europa)

  • How Vietnam veterans expanded America’s cannabis strains (Leafly)

  • Cannabis Is the Most Effective Treatment for Endometriosis, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

  • Neil Young says his US citizenship application is being held up because he uses marijuana (CNN)

  • Illegal Pot Grows Are Poisoning Animals and the Environment in National Parks (MERRY JANE)

  • Where Presidential Candidate Deval Patrick Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

Magic Mushrooms

  • What’s Lost When Psychedelic Mushrooms Become Synthetic Psilocybin (DoubleBlind)

  • Taking a Deep Look at Psilocybin for Depression Research (Psychedelics Today)

  • Explorer’s Guide: Microdosing Magic Psilocybin Truffles (Maps of the Mind)

MDMA

  • DJ fell from cliff in Cornwall and died while on MDMA (Cornwall Live)

  • ‘Beautiful’ girl, 15, died after taking MDMA that cost just £2.50 (The Sun)

  • A Guide to Taking Ecstasy as Safely as Possible (VICE)

Ayahuasca

5-MeO-DMT

  • Meet 5-MeO-DMT, the 'powerful' psychedelic that improves depression in one hour (Big Think)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

  • Project CBD releases special report on synthetic cannabinoids and vaping-related lung injuries (Project CBD)

  • ‘Synthetic Marijuana’ Is A Dangerous Misnomer That People Need To Stop Using (The Fresh Toast)

Nitrous Oxide

  • Amazon and eBay 'must block illicit nitrous oxide sales' (BBC)

Ketamine

  • Why ketamine is so good against depression (ZME Science)

Opioids

  • New fingerprinting technology will reveal whether someone has recently used heroin – even if they have washed their hands afterwards (Daily Mail)

  • At-home naloxone kits have reversed over 50K opioid overdoses in B.C.: health authority (Global News)

  • Vancouver pilots new fentanyl-patch program to combat opioid crisis (The Globe and Mail)

  • Mass. Has The First Jail In The Country That's Also A Licensed Methadone Treatment Provider (WBUR)

  • Bill Would Require Ohio Pharmacists Be Educated About Naloxone Law (Statehouse News Bureau)

  • Pa. is treating more opioid overdoses as homicides. Defense lawyers are learning to fight back. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Bill would let Florida schools keep, administer OD antidote naloxone (WPTV)

  • Narcan carries heavy costs (The Salem News)

Cocaine

  • A Pack of Feral Hogs Sniffed Out a Cocaine Stash in Italy (Rolling Stone)

  • Startling number of senior citizens abusing cocaine in the UK (New York Post)

Methamphetamine

  • Why Meth Is Making a Big Comeback (VICE)

  • Meth Has Many Medical Benefits. Stigma Holds Them Back. (Filter)

  • Her baby was stillborn because of meth, police say. Now she’s charged with murder (Los Angeles Times)

Caffeine

Tobacco

  • The Vaping Industry Is Furious at President Trump — Could it Cost Him the Election? (Rolling Stone)

  • Pending Ban on Flavored E-Cigarettes in Massachusetts Authorizes Forfeiture of Vapers' Cars (Reason)

  • Vaping May Be Worse for Heart Health Than Tobacco Cigarettes, New Study Finds (TIME)

  • New York will raise the age to purchase tobacco starting Wednesday (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

  • House votes to ban flavored tobacco, heavily tax vaping products (Boston Herald)

  • Cardiologists warn vaping is so dangerous and addictive it should be banned (Sky News)

  • With vape curbs pending, White House questions FDA tobacco role (Chicago Tribune)

  • More vapers are making their own juice, but not without risks (CNN)

  • What The U.S.-China Trade War Has Meant For North Carolina Tobacco Farmers (WUNC)

  • Minnesota was winning the war on teen tobacco use. Then vaping became popular. (TwinCities.com)

Alcohol

  • Denver Wants to Test Out Public Drinking Zones in 2020 (MERRY JANE)

  • Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: The 'heartbreaking' reality (BBC)

Kratom

Khat

  • Experts Now Warn Chewing Khat Increases Chronic Liver Disease Risk (Newswire)

Miscellaneous

  • Paul Stamets Announces the Launch of First-Ever Microdosing App (The Third Wave)

  • Santa Cruz Will Consider Decriminalizing Psychedelics This Week (Marijuana Moment)

  • Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram are the newest dark alleyways dealers use to sell drugs (Rooster Magazine)

  • Psychedelics as Anti-Inflammatory Agents (Psychedelic Science Review)

  • Festival-goers in Victoria could be subject to pill testing in 2020 under new bill (The New Daily)

  • Study: How Punitive Policies Harm Pregnant Drug Users (Filter)

  • Cincinnati-area high school announces mandatory drug tests for all students beginning in 2020 (WIS TV)

  • Postal Service Unveils ‘Drug Free USA Forever’ Stamp Commemorating 1980s Anti-Drug Program (Marijuana Moment)

  • The Drug Policy Reform Movement Debates Its Next Moves (Filter)

  • The Sydney students synthesising psychedelics for health research (The University of Sydney)

  • CSSDP to provide free drug-testing kits to students (The McGill Tribune)

  • Drug policies used to criminalise the LGBTQIA+ community in Uganda (Talking Drugs)

  • How psychedelics could reduce existential distress for end-of-life patients (The Varsity)

  • What is Psychedelic Microdosing? (News-Medical.net)

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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.