CANNABIS
Two Tiny Caribbean Islands Legalized Cannabis for Private and Adult Use (MERRY JANE)
Arkansas: Licensed Medical Cannabis Sales Begin (NORML)
Washington: Governor Signs Marijuana Expungement Bill Into Law (NORML)
Alabama Senate Passes Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill (MERRY JANE)
Nebraska Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)
New Jersey Voters, Not Lawmakers, Will Decide On Marijuana Legalization In 2020 (Marijuana Moment)
Leafly Study Debunks Dispensary Myths Around Crime & Teen Use (Leafly)
Illegal Marijuana Grows In Pacific Northwest Declined After Legalization, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)
Can CBD Really Do All That? (The New York Times)
Legalized ‘Light Cannabis’ Linked With Drop In Pharmaceutical Sales, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)
Grandmother arrested for CBD at Magic Kingdom hires Ben Crump, threatens lawsuit against cops and Disney (Orlando Sentinel)
Gov. Cuomo Bails on New York Cannabis Legalization (Leafly)
Serious Injuries From Domestic Violence Dropped After Marijuana Decriminalization, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)
America’s Longest-Serving Marijuana Prisoner Released After 39 Years (MERRY JANE)
Joe Biden Endorses Marijuana Decriminalization And Rescheduling—But Not Legalization (Marijuana Moment)
Half A Million Canadians Are Getting High at Work, According to New Report (MERRY JANE)
Detroit Will Pay Out $60,000 to Woman Whose Dogs Were Shot on a Marijuana Raid (Reason)
Texas Senate Unanimously Approves Hemp Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)
No More Horsing Around: CBD Now Banned in Equestrian Competitions (MERRY JANE)
New Congressional Bill Aims To Resolve Marijuana Industry Border Issues (Marijuana Moment)
Cannabis Study of Expecting Mothers Causes Social Media Controversy (Forbes)
Canada Is Seeing Its Fair Share of Dab Lab Explosions, Too (MERRY JANE)
Cannabis kombucha, gluten-free edibles: weed companies jump on wellness trends (The Guardian)
Oregon Senate Votes To Legalize Interstate Marijuana Imports And Exports (Marijuana Moment)
Doctors and Teachers in Utah Can Now Smoke Medical Marijuana Without Fear (MERRY JANE)
Where Presidential Candidate Steve Bullock Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)
Illinois Survey That Supposedly Shows Support for Legalizing Marijuana Is 'Dwindling' Actually Shows It Is Rising (Reason)
Medicinal cannabis users focus of new research (Scoop)
LSD
Jeopardy Contestants Are Getting Tested On Their Marijuana And LSD Knowledge (Marijuana Moment)
Inside the first placebo-controlled studies testing if microdosing LSD actually works (WIRED)
The Sad Tale of Frank Olson, the US Government's Hallucinogen Fall Man (Pacific Standard)
How LSD May Facilitate Communing With Nature (Medium)
MAGIC MUSHROOMS
Michael Pollan: Not So Fast on Psychedelic Mushrooms (The New York Times)
Denver Psilocybin Decriminalization Activist Pushes Back Against Michael Pollan’s Criticism (Marijuana Moment)
MDMA
Yorkshire police issue MDMA warning after death of 15-year-old girl (The Guardian)
5-MEO-DMT
A statement regarding the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the study of 5-MeO-DMT (Psychedelics Today)
MESCALINE
The Fascinating History of Mescaline, the OG Psychedelic (VICE)
SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS
Canada Is Giving Prisoners Synthetic Weed, Not Real Medical Marijuana (MERRY JANE)
Synthetic cannabinoid alert system to be in place by end of year (Newsie)
OPIOIDS
Only One Major Ontario City Refuses to Let Police Carry Life-Saving Naloxone (VICE)
5 More States Sue Purdue Pharma and Other Drugmakers Over the Opioid Epidemic (TIME)
Heroin Overdose Parties Are a Dehumanizing Myth (VICE)
A new study backs up a lifesaving approach to the opioid epidemic (Vox)
COCAINE
Global Drug Survey: Large Majority of Cocaine Users Would Pay More for Safer, “Fair Trade” Supply (Filter)
Study may help prevent relapse in cocaine use disorder patients (EurekAlert!)
Canada ranks second in the world for cocaine use (but feels conflicted about it): Report (National Post)
'The cocaine trade is booming': 54% of Irish people who use cocaine want to cut down (TheJournal.ie)
Top health experts warn cocaine is ‘absolutely rampant’ in Ireland as Health Minster Simon Harris launches plans to tackle epidemic (The Sun)
METHAMPHETAMINE
The Many Health Benefits of Meth (Pacific Standard)
CAFFEINE
How Much Coffee Is Too Much? Drinking 6 Cups In A Day Is Bad For The Heart, Study Shows (Study Finds)
This Cup of Joe Costs $75 and Is Being Touted as the World's Most Expensive Coffee (TIME)
TOBACCO
Maryland raises legal tobacco purchasing age to 21 (The Hill)
Campaign to raise minimum smoking age to 21 finds unlikely supporter: Big Tobacco (CNBC)
ALCOHOL
Psychedelic Drugs Can Help Alcoholics Stop Drinking, According To New Study (IFLScience)
Britons get drunk more often than 35 other nations, survey finds (The Guardian)
Doctors turn to alcohol, food and drugs to cope with work stress (The Guardian)
OU approves alcohol sales at sporting events (KTUL)
NOOTROPICS
The Majority Of People Are Fine With Brain Doping, As Long As You Don't Call It That (Forbes)
KHAT
New study shows chewing miraa bad for mental health (Tuko.co.ke)
MISCELLANEOUS
Leading U.S. Prosecutors Visit Portugal To Learn About Drug Decriminalization (Marijuana Moment)
Joe Biden once said a fence was needed to stop 'tons' of drugs from Mexico (CNN)
Elizabeth Warren Knows What It Will Take to End the Drug War (The Slot)
The Ethics of Taking the Drugs You Study (VICE)
Bolsonaro Cuts Harm Reduction, Escalates Drug War (Filter)
Queering Psychedelics conference aims to expand definitions, minds (48 Hills)
Number of Women Arrested for Drugs Increases at Four Times the Rate of Men (Filter)
Seeking a safe place: Vancouver’s story (The Boston Globe)
Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelics and Chronic Pain (Pain News Network)
Booker Bill Would Protect Students With Drug Convictions From Losing Federal College Aid (Marijuana Moment)
How the War on Drugs Kept Black Men Out of College (The Atlantic)
Lawmakers Schedule Psychedelic Decriminalization Hearing In Oakland (Forbes)
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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.
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: