CANNABIS
Vermont Senate Passes Marijuana Sales Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)
San Francisco will remove more than 9,300 marijuana-related crimes from people’s records (Los Angeles Times)
THC found more important for therapeutic effects in cannabis than originally thought (Science Daily)
Portugal Rejects Recreational Cannabis, as Medical Becomes Legal (Talking Drugs)
Cory Booker just reintroduced a bill that would legalize weed (Roll Call)
Yeast produce low-cost, high-quality cannabinoids (Science Daily)
New Hampshire House Passes Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)
Multistate Cannabis Operators Facing Unique Challenges (Forbes)
Uh-Oh, California Could Run Out of Legal Cannabis by Summer (Leafly)
Denver just made a big change on social-use cannabis: It will be permanent (The Denver Post)
Marijuana Decriminalization Approved By Hawaii House Committee (Marijuana Moment)
Studies: Cannabis Exposure Not Associated With Significant Changes In Brain Morphology (NORML)
This ER doctor is about to launch the first marijuana breathalyzer, and it could completely upend how we do drug testing (Business Insider)
Maryland Sets Sights on Cannabis Bills—18 of Them (Leafly)
Florida Senator Wants To Let Voters Decide On Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)
Delaware: Attorney General Calls For Expanding Use Of Civil Penalties For Marijuana Violations (NORML)
This Anti-Vaping Bill Bans Everything But Edibles Indoors and Outdoors (Civilized)
GOP Congressman Files Bill To Protect Native American Tribes That Legalize Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)
Weston-super-Mare cannabis centre to show 'safe use' (BBC)
Federal Reserve Head Calls For Clarity On Marijuana Banking Issues (Marijuana Moment)
As Expected The UN Delays Voting On Cannabis (Forbes)
USDA Gives Farmers A Status Update On Hemp Legalization Plans (Marijuana Moment)
Rhode Island: Gov. Raimondo’s Proposed Marijuana Legalization Budget Plan (NORML)
Elizabeth Warren Talks Marijuana In New Hampshire Presidential Campaign Stop (Marijuana Moment)
Don't Expect A Big, National Cannabis Brand Anytime Soon (Forbes)
Oregon Lawmakers Weigh Bill Allowing Marijuana Lounges And Cannabis Business Tours (Marijuana Moment)
Legalized Cannabis Remains a Burning Topic for Employers (Workforce Management)
FDA Head Reveals New Details About Agency’s CBD Regulation Plans (Marijuana Moment)
Behind The Scenes With Cannabis Charities (Forbes)
Marijuana Tax Revenue Should Fund Subway Improvement, New York’s Cuomo And De Blasio Say (Marijuana Moment)
LSD
Bootsy Collins Explains How LSD Played A Role In His Split With James Brown’s Band (Live for Live Music)
Life inside notorious cult The Family where children were starved, tortured and given LSD is revealed by former member (The Scottish Sun)
A trip with the acid countess: Amanda Feilding and the medical case for drugs reform (New Statesmen)
MAGIC MUSHROOMS
Sub-Acute Effects of Psilocybin on Empathy, Creative Thinking, and Subjective Well-Being (Taylor and Francis Online)
Denver Voters Could Decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms in May (Psychedelic Times)
Psychedelic revolution: Initiative to legalize psilocybin in 2020 sprouts in Oregon (Daily Emerald)
Australia’s psychedelic drug trial (The Saturday Paper)
MDMA
Capsule v zip lock bag: How the law views the way party drugs are carried (The Sydney Morning Herald)
What It’s Like to Treat a Psychopath with MDMA Therapy: Interview with Luna (Psychedelic Times)
Wedded Ecstasy: The Couples Using MDMA to Fix Their Marriages (Fatherly)
Brit died plunging into Amsterdam canal after taking MDMA and 'behaving strangely' (Daily Star)
Teen placed in juvenile facility for providing fatal dose of MDMA (The Intelligencer)
Homicide rap filed against boyfriend of Cebu teen who died of ecstasy overdose (ABS-CBN News)
NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
What is 2-CP, what does it do and where does it come from? (Mixmag)
Remembering the Great British Mephedrone Craze (VICE)
SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS
Milton bans synthetic marijuana, opiates after teen incidents (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Is Synthetic CBD the Future of Cannabis Pharma? (Cannabis Investing News)
KETAMINE
Ketamine Seems to Ease Depression. We’ll Soon See What Else It Does. (Bloomberg)
Psychedelic Afterlife? Researchers Determine Which Hallucinogenic 'Trip' is Most Similar to the Near-Death Experience (Daily Grail)
Ketamine is becoming increasingly popular under clubbers in the Netherlands (Rave Jungle)
Ontario clinic treating depression with ketamine (CTV News)
Old drug with racy history is a new suicide prevention weapon (Standard-Examiner)
PCP
PCP smoker gets prison time for assaulting ex-girlfriend and trying to set her apartment door on fire (Hartford Courant)
OPIATES/OPIOIDS
Opium-Addicted Parrots Keep Raiding Poppy Farms in India (VICE)
Allegations Against the Maker of OxyContin Are Piling Up. Here’s What They Could Mean for the Billionaire Family Behind Purdue Pharma (TIME)
US Quietly Ends Anti-Opium Airstrikes Amid Taliban Peace Talks (Breitbart)
The Opioid Crisis Isn’t White (The New York Times)
“Mom, When They Look at Me, They See Dollar Signs” (Mother Jones)
Bus Driver Overdosing on Heroin Crashes Bus With 12 Students Aboard, Police Say (TIME)
FDA May Recommend Naloxone Be Co-Prescribed With Opioids (The Fix)
Carfentanil found in heroin siezed in Uxbridge (Worcester Telegram)
Naloxone in Maryland schools (WMDT)
Pain patients on opioids also are getting rescue drug naloxone to prevent overdose (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
COCAINE
Woman calls police, complains drug dealer sold her sugar instead of cocaine (Newshub)
METHAMPHETAMINE
KTLA Anchor Chris Burrous Dies After Putting Crystal Meth In Anus (Hip-Hop Wired)
North Koreans reportedly use crystal meth as casually as cigarettes and are shipping the drug to China (INSIDER)
ALCOHOL
The Alcohol Crisis In America Has Been Overshadowed By Opioids, But Can No Longer Be Ignored (Forbes)
Mothers return to pre-pregnancy drinking within five years: study (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Arkansas county sells alcohol after 70-year ban (KLFY)
New bill would lower blood alcohol content limit for some drivers (ABC 13)
Smoking and alcohol: Double trouble for the brain? (Science Daily)
Online poll finds Chinese university students favour alcohol ban on campus (The Drinks Business)
India toxic alcohol: At least 130 tea workers dead from bootleg drink (BBC)
Liver transplants tied to alcohol use in the US doubled since 2002 (Health24)
Is alcohol consumption more helpful than harmful? It depends on your age (EurekAlert!)
Increasing alcohol limits in Utah beer gets Senate support (AP News)
NOOTROPICS
Nootropics Found to be Useful Memory Aid (The Avion)
KRATOM
Can You Drive on Kratom? Is It Safe To Drive After Taking Kratom? (Kratom Guides)
Poison reports related to herbal drug kratom soar, new study says (USA Today)
Is kratom nature’s answer to opioids? (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
Some patients use Kratom to fight opioid addiction (WESH)
MISCELLANEOUS
Home Office gives green light to first drug testing clinic (The Guardian)
Is Scanning Inmates' Mail To Stop the Spread Of Drugs Legal? (The Fix)
Has the decade-old war on drugs in Asia succeeded? (Al Jazeera)
Psychedelic therapy — the metamorphosis of mental health care (Medium)
Legal Weed Did More to Stop Drug Smuggling Than Any Wall (Reason)
To Fight Addiction, Neronha Calls For Reclassifying Simple Drug Possession From Felony To A Misdemeanor (The Public's Radio)
Pharma execs offer Senate ideas to lower drug costs – except actually cutting prices (CNBC)
Joe Biden’s Drug War Record Is So Much Worse Than You Think (Leafly)
Peganum Harmala, the “Ayahuasca” of North Africa and Eurasia (Kahpi)
Climax Is The Scariest Movie About Drugs You Will Ever See (Refinery29)
Magic in the Margins: Interview with an Underground Psychedelic Therapist (Psychedelic Times)
New study claims microdosing improves focus and fights depression (Mixmag)
Psychedelics: A Historical Account of Use and Rejection (71 Republic)
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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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.