el chapo

This Week in Psychedelics - 8.6.21

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Cannabis

  • Louisiana: Marijuana Decriminalization Law Takes Effect (NORML)

  • Missouri Probation Officers Are Sending People Back to Prison for Legally Using Medical Cannabis (MERRY JANE)

  • Trial to test if cannabis-based mouth spray can treat brain tumours (The Guardian)

  • Wyoming Marijuana Decriminalization And Medical Cannabis Initiatives Clear First 2022 Ballot Hurdle (Marijuana Moment)

  • Puerto Rico: Law Signed Protecting Medical Cannabis Patients from Employment Discrimination (NORML)

  • Arkansas Marijuana Activists Push For Legalization Ballot Initiative In 2022 (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

  • How the CIA used LSD to fight communism (Big Think)

Magic Mushrooms

  • Canadians Overwhelmingly Support Legal Access to Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy, Poll Reveals (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • COMPASS Pathways’ Psilocybin Patent Questioned By UK Patent Examiner (Psymposia)

  • Does This Medieval Fresco Show A Hallucinogenic Mushroom in the Garden of Eden? (Atlas Obscura)

  • Filament Health Is the First Public Company to Be Issued a Patent for Extraction of Natural Psilocybin (Psilocybin Alpha)

DMT

  • Enzymes Responsible for DMT Synthesis Coexist in Mammalian Brain Cells (Psychedelic Science Review)

  • PharmaDrug Forms Research Collaboration with Terasaki Institute for Novel Ocular Drug Formulation Program to Deliver DMT and Other Tryptamines to Treat Eye Disease (Psilocybin Alpha)

Ayahuasca

  • Addiction Treatment: Ayahuasca May Help Addicts Stop Abusing Alcohol and Drugs (Gilmore Health News)

Mescaline

  • Could Synthetic Mescaline Protect Declining Peyote Populations? (Chacruna)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

  • Deadly drug 25B-NBOH sold as powdered LSD in Melbourne, spike in Victorian hospitalisations (News.com.au)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

  • Lawsuit Filed Over Massachusetts Prisons’ Use of Faulty Drug Tests (Ganjapreneur)

Ketamine

  • With a nudge from AI, ketamine emerges as a potential rare disease treatment (STAT)

  • Ketamine May Combat Depression in Teens (Lucid News)

Miscellaneous

  • Usona Institute Breaks Ground for Global Center in Psychedelic Science (The Joplin Globe)

  • Drug deaths in England and Wales highest since 1993 (BBC)

  • The Story of “El Chapo” and Why the Drug War Will Never End (The Nation)

  • First-ever research centre for psychedelic drug therapy is opening in Australia (Mixmag)

  • Fireside Project Releases App for Psychedelic Peer Support (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • Modernization of Sacred Plant Medicine Traditions: At What Cost? (Psychedelics Today)

  • The Wonderful and Absurd Adventures of Rosemary Woodruff Leary: Fashion Icon, Fugitive, and Psychedelic Pioneer (Part One) (Chacruna)

  • Researchers Concerned About Whitewashing of Psychedelic-Assisted Mental Health Research (Mad in America)

  • Awakn Life Sciences Announces Its Second Location in the UK for “Awakn Clinics London,” Providing Treatment to the Largest City in the UK (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • Two Years After Oakland’s Psychedelic Decrim, What’s Been the Impact? (Filter)

  • Improving Y/Our Relationship with Psychedelics (Maps of the Mind)

  • Advancing the Psychedelic Renaissance (Reality Sandwich)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalog how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Year in Psychoactives - 2019

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Happy New Years Eve! As has become a tradition here at Think Wilder, today I am publishing my fifth-consecutive yearly roundup of psychoactive drug news from 2019. Just like every other year so far, the way I track the news has continued to evolve and as a result this year’s roundup post is a little bit different than last year’s.

First off, I added new categories to my regular roundups throughout the year so I could bring even more comprehensive news coverage to my readers. These categories include: yopo, DXM, methamphetamine, caffeine, nicotine, benzodiazepines, GHB, nootropics, kanna, datura, and sananga. In addition, the absinthe category from years’ past was converted to a more general alcohol category to more effectively track news about all forms of alcohol, not just absinthe.

Coming off the heals of last year’s absolutely massive yearly roundup (seriously—it was more than 16k words!), I started off 2019 by trying to collect every single link possible for my “This Week in Psychoactives” column. However, I eventually found that relentless link-gathering approach to be completely unsustainable for both my work ethic and my mental health. There are just way too many news stories about drugs popping up nowadays, especially compared to when I first started doing this back in 2015! As a result, I’ve been trying to figure out the types of stories I want to include and which to toss aside, and I’ve landed on trying to include only the most newsworthy stories to reduce the amount of worthless noise in each roundup.

This blog post does not even attempt to be as comprehensive as last year’s roundup. Therefore, there are several drug categories that you won’t find listed below, even though there may have been quite a bit of news surrounding them. Instead I have selected what I felt like were the most important stories of the year to share with you. I’ve learned that I can’t simply throw every single news story into a roundup and have it turn out well.

We’ve got a lot to cover this year, but before we do, here is a video version of this recap that is available for those who prefer an easier-to-digest option:

Without further ado, let’s get into this year’s news!

Cannabis

Vaping-Associated Lung Injury (VALI)

Undoubtedly one of the biggest stories this year involved a widespread negative reaction to vaping that seemed to spring up all across the U.S. virtually overnight. The phenomenon went by many names throughout the year—”e-cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury” (EVALI), “vaping-associated pulmonary injury” (VAPI), or sometimes simply “vaping lung disease.” However, the moniker that most accurately identified the issue at hand was “vaping-associated lung injury” (VALI).

VALI impacted thousands of people and even killed more than 50. After a couple smooth decades of e-cigarette usage and several unexceptional years with cannabis vape pens, this epidemic came out of nowhere, and fast. Interestingly, it seemed to nearly exclusively affect vapers in America, not the rest of the world.

Researchers found unexpected white blood cells in patients who had the disease, but no one could figure out exactly what was causing it. Tests found illicit THC vape cartridges tainted with hydrogen cyanide and heavy metals. One study found that the illness might have been caused by toxic fumes. Some THC vape pens were found to be contaminated with synthetic cannabinoids.

Shortly after the initial outbreak, one of the main culprits of concern was vitamin E acetate, an oil additive that was increasingly being used as a thickener during the manufacturing process of THC vape carts. Multiple studies linked the additive to the illness, but a poor understanding and inaccurate reporting of the issue on the behalf of the CDC and mainstream media attempted to shift the blame to e-cigarettes, rather than the real guilty party—the illicit THC vape pen black market.

Eventually the CDC admitted that THC vapes, not e-cigarettes, were the primary cause of VALI and finally labeled vitamin E acetate as the most likely offender. This prompted Ohio to ban the additive from its medical marijuana vape products.

And the fallout didn’t stop there. Massachusetts implemented an emergency ban on all cannabis and nicotine vapes but later lifted the ban on medical marijuana vapes. Apple removed all vaping-related apps from its app store. Since the blame was initially focused on nicotine-based e-cigarettes, reactionary bans unfortunately hit them as well.

Three companies were subpoenaed in an investigation and the California-based THC vape manufacturer Kushy Punch was caught making and selling illegal products on the side of its legal business and had its licensed revoked. A popular additive company named Honey Cut was found to be involved as well.

The legal THC vape cartridge market was also found selling some of these poisonous products as well—VALI cases were directly linked to legal cannabis vapes sold in Massachusetts and the products contained high levels of lead.

Although it seems like there may have been multiple possible causes for the illness and investigations are still underway, thankfully it seems like the VALI scandal may be coming to an end.

Cannabis Policy in 2019 and Beyond

There were several cannabis policy reform victories in 2019, and this is by no means a comprehensive list. Among the highlights, Guam and two Caribbean islands legalized cannabis for adult use while Israel decriminalized recreational cannabis and Canberra became the first city in Australia to legalize marijuana. In the United States, Illinois legalized weed while Hawaii and New Mexico decriminalized cannabis.

When it comes to consuming weed at the same place you purchase it, Alaska became the first state to legalize on-site marijuana consumption, but the country’s first cannabis cafe in the U.S. ended up in Los Angeles. And cannabis cafes will be coming to Colorado soon, now that a law has finally authorized them.

Meanwhile, public support for marijuana legalization is at an all-time high, with multiple polls reporting that two-thirds of Americans saying that cannabis should be made legal.

Once maligned, cannabis now has a bright outlook. Illinois cannabis dispensaries open tomorrow for adult-use sales, federal marijuana legalization efforts are moving forward, Mexico plans to legalize cannabis next year, and almost 20 states are considering whether to legalize or decriminalize weed in 2020.

Magic Mushrooms

Funky Fungi Spurred A Psychedelic Decriminalization Movement

Denver voters surprised the psychedelic community by narrowly voting to decriminalize the use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms in May. The race was so close that media outlets initially reported that the measure had failed to gain enough support and had to revise their reports the next morning when it was determined that the initiative had barely won with 50.6% of the vote. This win was a huge first for psychedelic policy reform in the country.

Shortly after that, the City Council in Oakland, CA unanimously approved a Decriminalize Nature resolution to decriminalize magic mushrooms along with several other psychedelic plants and cacti. And the movement to decriminalize natural psychedelics has continued to spread across the nation.

However, not everyone supports the idea of decriminalizing, medicalizing, or legalizing psychedelic drugs at this time. Author Michael Pollan, a well-known writer who is new to the psychedelic beat, argued against rushing to change laws involving psychedelics without proper forethought lest there be a public backlash against them like there was in the 1960s due to Timothy Leary and the hippie movement. His ideas faced quite a bit of criticism from the psychedelic community, which is for the most part sick and tired of waiting for change, itching to usher in saner drug laws as soon as possible.

Regardless of what naysayers like Pollan think, efforts to create a legal market for psychedelic mushrooms in California and legalize them for medical use in Oregon are underway. And Denver’s psilocybin mushroom policy review panel is expected to launch next month.

A Mushrooming Industry

Although magic mushrooms are not legal in most countries, that hasn’t stopped businesses from wanting to get in on what is expected to be a ripe financial opportunity, in a new form of opportunistic psychedelic corporatism. Three Chinese companies entered the field, a Canadian online dispensary opened up to sell microdoses by mail order, a company is developing psilocybin mushroom tea and coffee in Denver, and the world’s first magic mushroom nasal spray for PTSD and depression is being developed in Oregon. None of these products will be available for legal purchase unless magic mushrooms are legalized for medical or recreational use, but assuming that eventually happens, it looks like we will need to strap in for a world of fresh innovation coming out of the emerging magic mushroom industry.

MDMA

MDMA Close to Getting FDA Approval

There was a ton of valuable MDMA research that came out in 2019, including a study that found MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to be effective at treating alcohol use disorder and another paper that reported ecstasy users to be more empathetic than people who take other drugs.

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD will be entering its round of Phase 3 trials soon, which may mean that it could be legal for medical use as soon as 2021—just as Rick Doblin (the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) has previously predicted.

DMT

Endogenous DMT Was Discovered in the Brain

A debate about whether DMT is created in the human brain has gone on for decades, and although it wasn’t exactly resolved this year, there is at least one new argument to consider. That’s because a natural source of the drug was found in the brains of rats, indicating that same thing might be happening in humans.

5-MeO-DMT

5-MeO-DMT Splashes Onto the Scene With Plenty of Controversy

While it was once a relatively obscure psychedelic drug only known to the most hardened psychonauts, 5-MeO-DMT became far more popular in 2019, although not without a ton of internal debate from its users. Professional boxer Mike Tyson made waves after announcing that he was a big fan of the drug because it helped him cure his addictions. And studies found that the psychedelic toad venom is capable of relieving depression, anxiety, and stress.

One of the main controversies surrounding 5-MeO-DMT involves widespread malpractice among some of the traveling practitioners who administer it to adventurous psychonauts around the world. A discussion has opened up about how to hold these dangerous practitioners accountable in a world where legal recourse cannot be taken against underground shamans.

Another debate involves whether users should work with the venom, which is collected from the Sonoran Desert Toad, or if they should switch to using the synthesized form of 5-MeO-DMT, which is made in a laboratory. There are several factors to consider, including the entourage effect that comes with using the natural material and the endangerment of the toads, a species in rapid decline.

Nitrous Oxide

Laughing Gas For Childbirth & Problems in Europe

More women are choosing nitrous oxide to help them through labor and childbirth, but it can be at a high cost. An administration of laughing gas can be quite expensive, costing up to $5000. And while nitrous oxide can be helpful for labor pain, the epidural is still the top choice.

Recreational laughing gas use has been exploding in Britain and the Netherlands, with users sometimes even consuming the dissociative drug while driving. In response, the Dutch government has decided to officially classify nitrous oxide under its Opium Act in the “Schedule II” category, along with other so-called “soft drugs” like cannabis, hashish, sleep medications, and sedatives like Valium and Seresta.

Ketamine

Esketamine Earns “Breakthrough Therapy” Designation

After many years without approving a new antidepressant, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the “Breakthrough Therapy” designation to a nasal spray named Spravato for treatment-resistant depression. Also known as “esketamine,” this medicine is simply the left-handed subtype of ketamine, not a brand-new drug.

This was a huge step forward, but not everyone was happy about the news. That’s because there are restrictions on where, when, how, and why patients are able to receive treatment, and it will be prohibitively expensive for many. In a world where ketamine clinics already exist—although you do have to be careful about which one you choose—is a more exclusive drug really needed?

Opioids

Touching Fentanyl Won’t Kill You & The Sackler Family Saga

Opioids are a family of incredibly powerful painkillers. They can be used to anesthetize patients prior to surgeries or help people recover from injuries, but they are often stigmatized as drugs of abuse that can also be used to kill people when in the wrong hands.

The police and media kept spreading the myth that merely touching fentanyl will kill you, but that has been thoroughly debunked and the record needs to be set straight because spreading this lie any further is outright dangerous.

The family behind the pharmaceutical opioid known as OxyContin received a large portion of the blame for causing America’s modern “opioid epidemic.” A lawsuit exposed several offenses that the Sackler family committed, including pushing to keep patients on OxyContin longer, concealing the drug’s strength from doctors, and taking larger payments from Purdue Pharma after it was fined for misleading marketing of the prescription painkiller.

Although maintaining its innocence, the family reached a $270 million settlement in the lawsuit, which is merely a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money that they pocketed.

Methamphetamine

It Turns Out Meth is a Medicine

Methamphetamine use increased dramatically all across the U.S., but especially in the midwest. South Dakota even ran a controversial anti-meth campaign that got people talking about the problems that many people were aware of but few were openly talking about. Crystal meth even became popular in North Korea, when the drug became a trendy lunar New Year’s gift. But the story that interested me the most this year was about the many health benefits of methamphetamine. That’s right, it turns out the drug can actually be a medicine capable of healing the brain, but stigma surrounding problematic use of street meth is harming patients and holding back research.

Nicotine

Legal Age to Buy Tobacco Raised to 21

The movement to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco gained steam, with several states and cities opting to limit access to those younger than 21. With e-cigarette usage increasing among teens to the point where schools started installing vape detectors to sniff out students, it certainly seemed to many that reducing access would greatly reduce harms. (Although if underage nicotine users wanted a fix they could’ve probably just gone to Walmart or Kroger to buy their goods before the FDA threatened to fine the stores for selling tobacco to minors.)

This left many people calling for action at the federal level, which happened just earlier this month. Although the FDA technically had until this summer to update its regulations, the agency went ahead and announced that the new legal age is now in effect, so as of now it is a violation of federal law to sell tobacco products (including e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and cigars) to anyone under the age of 21.

While this is arguably a win from a public health perspective, it will put 18-20 year-olds in a situation where their country says it’s okay for them to literally go die in a war to protect our freedoms but they aren’t allowed to buy a pack of cigarettes. And to make matters worse, there’s no grandfather clause, so anyone who is deemed underage will be expected to magically quit one of the most addictive substances on the planet.

I expect a black market for underage tobacco and nicotine users to open up, further increasing the harms that they are exposed to. But on the bright side, this will make it difficult for those who haven’t already started using these products to get started with them, and that’s something worth celebrating.

Unwarranted Bans and the Backlash

The vaping-associated lung injury (VALI) epidemic mentioned earlier in this blog post also greatly affected nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, not because they were really at fault but because the mainstream media and U.S. government mistakenly placed the blame on them.

Even before vaping fell under intense scrutiny, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to pass a ban on e-cigarettes. And once the VALI story had made its rounds, Michigan attempted to ban flavored e-cigarettes, although a judge later put the ban on hold. Massachusetts banned tobacco and vaping products but that ban was also struck down. Washington also joined in. Walmart decided to stop selling e-cigarettes in its stores. These bans were essentially knee-jerk reactions to misreporting from media outlets and the CDC, which claimed that VALI was caused by e-cigarettes when the main culprit was clearly black market THC vape cartridges.

Vapers around the country didn’t buy the official story, and with good reason. When President Trump announced a plan to ban flavored vapes across the U.S., the threat of a crackdown mobilized vapers to protest the proposed ban, which eventually prompted him to back down.

Shortly after the fight, vapers were armed with new research when a long-term study found that although vaping does cause damage to the lungs, it is still safer than smoking.

A New Alternative to Smoking or Vaping with E-Cigarettes

Nicotine fans have other options when it comes to satisfying their cravings. A new device called IQOS, which heats tobacco without burning it, was granted approval in the U.S. and the manufacturer launched the product at quite an optimal time—right on the heels of the VALI epidemic.

Alcohol

The Alcohol Industry is Drowning

While alcohol use seems to be soaring worldwide, another narrative is simultaneously emerging. The powerful alcohol industry, once thought to be undefeatable, has met its match in the form of several new phenomena—the legal cannabis industry, a generation of young people that are sick of drinking, and a forthcoming synthesized alcohol alternative that promises to provide all the joys of drinking without any of the dangers or annoyances that come with traditional alcohol.

Kratom

Kratom is Still Under Attack

Ever since the DEA recommended that kratom be banned at the national level back in 2016, a feverish debate has raged on between federal authorities and kratom supporters. The FDA denied involvement when Indonesia announced its future plans to crack down on kratom in 2024. This year kratom was banned in two Mississippi cities (Columbus and Caledonia) and Castle Rock, CO banned underage sales but the attempt to ban kratom at the federal level has thankfully failed.

Miscellaneous

The Drug War Rages On

Even though the war on drugs has been deemed wildly ineffective and a flagrant violation of human rights by researchers and NGOs, and while the majority of Americans support decriminalizing all drugs, the drug war is showing no signs of packing its bags and heading home anytime soon. But that hasn’t stopped drug policy reform groups from proposing various models for how we could legalize every drug in the future.

El Chapo Goes Down

The notorious drug kingpin known as El Chapo was found guilty in his U.S. trial of all charges involving his role in trafficking billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs into the United States while he was a top boss in the Sinaloa cartel. He was given a life sentence, but even top-security prisons don’t exactly have the best record when it comes to keeping him behind bars, so this story may not be over quite yet.

Three Psychedelic Luminaries Passed Away

The psychedelic community lost three amazing contributors this year. Ralph Metzner, an LSD and consciousness researcher who contributed a lot to the body of psychedelic research died at the age of 82. Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert), who teamed up with Timothy Leary and Aldous Huxley in the 1960s to work with psychedelics at Harvard University—and later went on to promote Hinduism and Eastern philosophy to the West—passed away earlier this month at the age of 88. And James Ketchum, an army psychiatrist who assisted with conducting LSD experiments on U.S. soldiers died at the age of 87. All three of these men left the world in a much better place than it would have been without them, and they will be greatly missed.

The Dark Web Can’t Be Defeated

The dark web hosts many black marketplaces for illicit products, including drugs. One of the biggest markets, known as Dream Market, shut down in April, and another named Wall Street Market followed suit shortly thereafter. The founder of Silk Road 2 was finally sentenced to more than five years in prison nearly five years after the site was shut down by the feds. But no matter what, when one black market site on the dark web goes down, another quickly springs up to fill the void again. How long will this game of cat and mouse continue?

The World’s First Psychedelic Research Centers

More and more psychedelic research has come every year since the early 2000s, increasing our understanding of these powerful and life-transforming plants and chemicals. This year the world’s first psychedelic research centers were opened. The first, the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research, based in London, is expected to focus on the use of psychedelics in mental health care and how they affect the brain.

Not to be outdone, the U.S. also opened the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins, which will also study the safety and efficacy of using psychedelics to treat a range of mental health issues. And the mainstream is taking notice—60 Minutes devoted a segment to the center’s opening.

And Jamaica opened up the world’s first magic mushroom research center, which will conduct its research with actual psilocybin mushrooms rather than the synthesized compound.

Trip-Free Psychedelics

The psychedelic experience is often credited for the healing that can take place when people consume psychedelic drugs. But scientists, therapists, and the always money-hungry pharmaceutical industry are all looking at the possibility of removing the trip from psychedelics to treat patients without requiring them to undergo a potentially overwhelming—or even traumatizing—psychedelic experience.

Companies have begun work on developing trip-free psychedelics that will still be helpful for issues like depression and addiction. Whether their quest will be successful is yet to be determined, but the news has left many psychonauts stunned and afraid that this is the first sign of a psychedelic-free world. However, as long as psychedelic plants and fungi continue to grow and underground chemists forge on, the psychedelic experience is most likely here to stay.

A Few More Highlights

And that barely scratches the surface of what happened in psychoactive drug news this year. Psychedelics were featured as a topic on the main TED Talk stage for the first time, drug education has come a long way since D.A.R.E., and more people are going “Cali Sober,” which means they are consciously choosing to abstain from drugs other than cannabis and psychedelics.

Conclusion

It’s been quite an exciting year for drug nerds. Tons of new psychoactive research studies came out, drug policy reform efforts inched forward one by one, and several companies showed an interest in capitalizing on markets that have yet to even fully materialize. I am sure 2020 will be yet another fun one to watch, and encourage you to keep your eyes open for the weekly roundups that are published on this blog as well as the monthly recaps that go up on my YouTube channel so you can stay up-to-date with everything that is happening in this space.

Previous Years In Psychoactives

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Banner image by Psychedelic Astronaut.

This Week in Psychoactives - 7.19.19

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CANNABIS

  • California Claims the Crown for the Nation’s First Recreational Pot Cafes (MERRY JANE)

  • Australian Researchers Say You Can Treat Cannabis Dependency with... Cannabis? (MERRY JANE)

  • Senate Schedules Hearing On Marijuana Business Banking Access (Forbes)

  • That Alarming CBD Liver Damage Study Is Bunk—And the Media Should Know Better (Leafly)

  • Were Vikings POTHEADS? Archaeologists uncover evidence of cannabis at 1,000-year-old settlement (The Sun)

  • Legalizing Marijuana Leads To Fewer Illegal Grow Sites In National Forests, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Pennsylvania Adds Anxiety as Medical Marijuana Qualifying Condition (MERRY JANE)

  • New Roadside Cannabis Test Approved for Use in Canada (Leafly)

  • Marijuana Legalization Associated With Decreased Interest In Alcohol, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • New Hampshire: Governor Signs Marijuana Annulment Measure (NORML)

  • As More States Legalize, DEA Chops Down Fewer Marijuana Plants, Federal Data Shows (Marijuana Moment)

  • Pot-smoking parents are harsher with discipline: study (New York Post)

  • Marijuana Legalization Could Be On The Horizon For British Virgin Islands (Marijuana Moment)

  • Recent cannabis use tied to memory deficits, slowed mental processing (Reuters)

  • Kamala Harris Evolved Slowly on Legalization, but She’s All About It Now (Leafly)

  • Thousands Of Comments Urge FDA To Allow CBD In Foods And Supplements (Marijuana Moment)

  • Three Republicans Stand in the Way of Federal Weed Legalization (Rolling Stone)

  • Medical cannabis is gaining momentum in Asia (CNBC)

  • THC Testing is Bullshit and You're Getting Screwed (Beard Bros Pharms)

  • Sound Garden owners plan Maryland’s first medical cannabis lounge in Fells Point (The Baltimore Sun)

LSD

  • Kid Cudi reveals iconic Coachella jam was the result of an LSD trip (Dancing Astronaut)

  • Everything We Know About The YouTube Engineer Who Injured 8 People On LSD Rampage (YourTango)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

MDMA

  • REPORT: First MDMA/Psychotherapy Trial Successful In Combatting Alcoholism (Your EDM)

  • Breakthrough PTSD treatment using party drug MDMA coming soon to Philly region (PhillyVoice)

  • Hamilton schoolboy dies after ‘ecstasy’ horror as three more teens rushed to hospital (The Scottish Sun)

  • Will MDMA Show Up On a Drug Test? (VICE)

  • Mum's unusual pledge after daughter dies from MDMA overdose at festival (Yahoo! News)

AYAHUASCA

  • Olivia Newton-John proposed to boyfriend after taking hallucinogen drug! (All4Women)

Yopo

  • An Introduction to Yopo in the Venezuelan Piaroan Tradition (DMT Times)

5-MEO-DMT

  • Upcoming World Bufo Alvarius Congress Looks to Nurture Global 5-MeO-DMT Community (Psychedelic Times)

SAN PEDRO

  • Man selling giant hallucinogenic cactus says he's not a drug dealer (Newshub)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

  • Kids thought this was 'natural cannabis' vape juice... it was Spice. Nine people who ended up in hospital could have died (Manchester Evening News)

KETAMINE

  • Ketamine-like drug for depression could get UK licence within the year (The Guardian)

  • Ketamine for Depression: Clinical Evidence and Concerns (Psychiatry Advisor)

OPIOIDS

  • "We Didn't Cause the Crisis": David Sackler Pleads His Case on the Opioid Epidemic (Vanity Fair)

  • Delta to carry Narcan on planes after passenger ‘carried out in body bag’ following overdose (The Independent)

  • Media Frame: Fentanyl Panic is Worsening the Overdose Crisis (The Appeal)

  • The Louvre Removed the Name of OxyContin-Linked Sackler Family From Its Walls (TIME)

  • States Are Making Progress on Opioids. Now the Money That's Helping Them May Dry Up (The New York Times)

  • Opioid Shipments Increased by Over 50% as Addiction Crisis Grew, Federal Data Shows (TIME)

  • What to call someone who uses heroin? (ScienceDaily)

COCAINE

  • Passenger from Colombia fails to fool Spanish police with his cocaine-under-the-toupee trick (CBS News)

  • What Does Cocaine Do to the Heart? (VICE)

METHAMPHETAMINE

  • Asia's meth trade is worth an estimated $61B as region becomes 'playground' for drug gangs (CNN)

  • How Myanmar Became A Global Center For Meth & Other Synthetic Drugs (The Fix)

  • Police Warn Flushing Drugs Could Create Terrifying 'Meth Gators' (People)

CAFFEINE

  • Under 16s set to be 'banned' from buying caffeine-filled energy drinks (Edinburgh Live)

  • Hot coffee or iced? Study says higher temp provides more health benefits (KABC)

  • Daily coffee doesn't affect cancer risk (Medical Xpress)

TOBACCO

  • New York Raises Statewide Smoking Age to 21 (TIME)

  • Raising tobacco sales age to 21: Ohio becomes latest state in national trend (Cincinnati.com)

  • Tobacco Plants Made to Produce Useful Compounds (Scientific American)

ALCOHOL

KRATOM

  • Drug Researchers Raise Concern Over "Misleading" Evidence in Kratom Studies (Inverse)

  • What to know about kratom for depression (Medical News Today)

  • Kratom Ban Back on the Table in Oxford (Hotty Toddy)

KHAT

  • Miraa farmers mull tough sanitary laws with eyes fixed on new export markets (The Star)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Berkeley City Council Considers Decriminalizing Psychedelics This Week (Marijuana Moment)

  • Science of microdosing psychedelics 'remains patchy and anecdotal', says review (Imperial College London)

  • El Chapo, the Notorious Drug Kingpin, Has Been Sentenced to Life in Prison in the U.S. (TIME)

  • New data shows drug overdose deaths fell in 2018. But there’s a big catch. (Vox)

  • Scotland drug deaths – 1,200 deaths recorded in 2018 as worst ever figures released (The Sun)

  • People who microdose psychedelic substances report improved mood and focus (Medical Xpress)

  • New Bill Ensures Some Retroactive Drug War Justice for New Hampshire (High Times)

  • Future of drug-sniffing dogs uncertain after Colorado Supreme Court ruling (The Coloradoan)

  • Microdosing has a critic — one of its pioneers (Rooster Magazine)

  • Police Thought They Beat the Darknet Drug Markets – They Didn't (VICE)

  • Nutrition Is an Overlooked Aspect of Harm Reduction (Filter)

  • Framing addiction as a disease: Research shows that message might backfire (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Survey reveals extent of music festival drug use (The Australian)

  • The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Problematic Process for Religious Exemption for Use of Prohibited Psychoactive Substances (Chacruna)

  • The Risky Business of Psychedelic Therapy (Medium)

  • How Congress can expand access to addiction treatment — immediately (The Hill)

  • Inside the Philippines Prison That Sparked Duterte’s Murderous Drug War (Filter)

  • Mother of festival drug death victim says Gladys Berejiklian needs to show courage (The Guardian)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

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:


This Week in Psychoactives - 7.12.19

ThisWeekInPsychoactives.jpeg

CANNABIS

  • Hawaii has decriminalized marijuana (Vox)

  • Congressional Committee Discusses How to Legalize Cannabis (Leafly)

  • Youth Cannabis Use Drops 8% in Legal States, Study Finds (Leafly)

  • In states where marijuana is legal, licensed dispensaries are pushing out drug dealers (MarketWatch)

  • New research indicates that cannabinoids could be efficacious pain management options (PsyPost)

  • Marijuana Gives Men And Women More Sexual Desire And Better Orgasms, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Congress Votes To Allow Home Loans For Veterans Working In Marijuana Industry (Forbes)

  • Israeli college to offer degree specializing in medical cannabis (The Jerusalem Post)

  • Cannabis cake gift eaten by unwitting Warrington nurse (BBC)

  • Over Half of CBD Products Sold in UK Are Inaccurately Labeled, New Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

  • New Evidence on Pot During Pregnancy (The Atlantic)

  • Too high? ‘Parachute’ down with a new pill created by Michigan scientist (mlive.com)

  • Illegal cannabis seeds may be used to make legal medicinal cannabis products (New Zealand Herald)

  • Tulsi Gabbard Files Bill To Study Hemp’s Uses For Just About Everything (Marijuana Moment)

  • FDA Issues CBD Warnings, But No New Regulations – Yet (MERRY JANE)

  • Can cannabis treat anxiety? It's complicated (The Guardian)

  • Most Addiction Specialists Support Legalizing Medical Marijuana, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • West Virginia Is Years Away From Medical Cannabis, Officials Say (Leafly)

  • Colorado grows annual cannabis sales to $1 billion as other states struggle (CNBC)

  • Pete Buttigieg’s Racial Justice Plan Would Legalize Marijuana And Decriminalize Drug Possession (Marijuana Moment)

  • A beloved cafeteria worker nicked his finger on a knife – and got fired for using marijuana at home (The Boston Globe)

  • Illegal cannabis getting even cheaper, as legal gets costlier, StatsCan says (CBC)

  • AOC And Kamala Harris File Bill Protecting Drug Offenders From Losing Public Housing (Marijuana Moment)

  • Cannabis: Misinformation about CBD can be life-threatening (The Conversation)

  • You Can Legally Smoke Weed Naked on the Patio of a Southeast Portland Sex Club (Willamette Week)

  • People in states where marijuana is legal are eating more salty snacks and ice cream (MarketWatch)

  • Jay-Z joins cannabis company Caliva as chief brand strategist (CNN)

  • How Psychedelic Surf Smugglers Invented Dabs (With Help From the CIA?) (Leafly)

LSD

  • A Guy Allegedly Took LSD, Stabbed People With A Pencil And Lawn Light, And Hit Two Women With A Truck (BuzzFeed News)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

MDMA

  • STUDY: Use of MDMA & Similar Drugs May Increase Risk of Valvular Heart Disease (YourEDM)

  • Sydney teen swallowed MDMA pills 'to avoid detection' at a music festival (news.com.au)

  • 'The drug of the moment': five per cent of year 10 students have tried ecstasy (The Sydney Morning Herald)

  • Music festival MDMA overdose patient waited an hour for an ambulance (7NEWS.com.au)

  • Haunting texts reveal how young woman was scared to take MDMA which killed her at a Sydney music festival (New Zealand Herald)

  • Family devastated after schoolgirl, 16, dies after ‘taking ecstasy’ at party (Metro)

  • MDMA can make 'mild mannered people' aggressive, inquest hears (The Sydney Morning Herald)

  • Teen took up to nine MDMA capsules before dying at festival, inquest hears (ABC News)

AYAHUASCA

IBOGA

  • Opinion: Miami University must reverse unjust decision to terminate professors (Cincinnati.com)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

  • Study: Seizures, coma more common with synthetic cannabinoids than cannabis (AAP News)

KETAMINE

  • How the approval of esketamine has helped shift the perception of ketamine and other psychedelics (Tahoe Daily Tribune)

  • The Woodlands gets first ketamine infusion center to treat depression (Chron)

OPIOIDS

  • Teens abusing painkillers are more likely to later use heroin (Medical Xpress)

  • Generic Naloxone Approved for Opioid Overdose (Physician's Weekly)

  • Naloxone Dispensing Found Higher at Facilities with Opioid Workflow (Pharmacy Times)

  • The Global Opioid Supply Chain Begins in Tasmania (Pacific Standard)

  • With opium prices down, Mexican poppy planters are packing their bags (The Hustle)

  • Minnesota’s largest naloxone distributor won’t get grant funds (INFORUM)

  • If Cops Don't Die From Incidental Fentanyl Exposure, a Drug Treatment Specialist Warns, They 'Could Become Addicted to It Instantly' (Reason)

  • Portsmouth doctor reprimanded for treatment of chronic pain patient (New Hampshire Union Leader)

  • To fight opioid epidemic, treat drug use with compassion, not judgment (USA Today)

COCAINE

  • People are giving their greyhounds cocaine to make them run faster (GQ)

  • Teen violin prodigy dies of apparent drug overdose in London mansion (New York Post)

CAFFEINE

  • Scientists create ‘molecular coffee' that doesn't require beans (Fox 35 Orlando)

  • Caffeine powder in protein shake led to man's death, family says (Fox News)

  • Research shows that drinking Matcha tea can reduce anxiety (Medical Xpress)

  • World’s Coffee Growers Seek to Set Minimum Price to Help Poor Farmers (The Wall Street Journal)

  • One teaspoon of legal, popular but deadly caffeine powder is like drinking 60 cans of Red Bull (news.com.au)

TOBACCO

  • Netflix Promises to Reduce Depictions of Tobacco in Future Projects (Teen Vogue)

  • Children from deprived areas exposed to six times more tobacco retailing (Medical Xpress)

  • Will e-cigarettes usher in a new tobacco epidemic? Some researchers say yes. (Houston Chronicle)

  • Hennepin County Votes To Raise Tobacco Age To 21 In More Communities (WCCO)

  • Livermore votes to ban the sale of flavored tobacco, e-cigarettes (KGO)

  • Big tobacco shifting to smokeless as smoking becomes ‘less and less’ popular (Fox Business)

  • Maine Law To Prevent Tobacco Use, Streamline Tobacco Taxes (Maine Public)

BENZODIAZEPINES

  • B.C. harm-reduction sites, doctors struggling with new type of overdose (Vancouver Sun)

  • Psychedelic Healing & Benzodiazepines: Are Chill Pills Cool to Combine? (Spirit Pharmacist)

ALCOHOL

NOOTROPICS

  • These Clinically-Proven Nootropics Are Specially Formulated to Improve Cognition and Focus (Futurism)

  • Nootropics is the Fyre Festival of the Supplement Industry (Equities)

  • What’s Phenibut and When Should You Consider Using It? (Prague Post)

KRATOM

  • Kratom Linked to Serious Side Effects and Deaths in New Study (Gizmodo)

  • As some states ban kratom, Michigan considers regulating it (Detroit Metro Times)

  • Local doctor, CDC warn of potential dangers of kratom (WAVY.com)

  • Kratom supporters respond to recent FDA warning (WMBF)

KAVA

  • Kava for Anxiety- Separating Fact from Fiction (MedShadow)

KHAT

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Psychedelics Take the TED Talk Stage for the First Time (Filter)

  • Amnesty International Is Calling for a U.N. Probe Into the Philippine Drug War (TIME)

  • Why Malaysia’s New Proposal Could Change Southeast Asia’s Drugs Debate (The Diplomat)

  • New law allows NC drug dealers to be charged with murder (WTVD)

  • Psychedelic mental health treatment expected to be approved in Australia within five years (The Guardian)

  • Philadelphia supervised injection site plan gets backing from attorneys general in 7 states (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • U.S. Prosecutors Say Drug Lord El Chapo Should Get Life in Prison (TIME)

  • Testing festival goers’ pills isn’t the only way to reduce overdoses. Here’s what else works (The Conversation)

  • Social Factors Are an Essential—And Changeable—Element of Addiction (Filter)

  • I hate drugs, but teenagers are dying while we maintain a supposed moral veneer (The Guardian)

  • Florida Sheriff Deputy Arrested After Planting Drugs on Innocent People (Reason)

  • A man I found guilty of dealing drugs died in prison. I wish I could take that verdict back. (The Washington Post)

  • How Can Harm Reduction Do Better for Transgender People? (Filter)

  • Minister hopes drug deaths record will be 'wake-up call' (BBC)

  • How Psychiatry and Hallucinogenic Drugs Meet in Painting (Hyperallergic)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

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:


This Week in Psychoactives - 6.14.19

ThisWeekInPsychoactives.jpeg

CANNABIS

  • Oldest evidence of cannabis smoking found in ancient Chinese cemetery (Ars Technica)

  • Nevada bans employers from refusing to hire those who fail marijuana tests (CNN)

  • Maryland Legalizes Medical Marijuana Edibles, With Caveats (Reason)

  • Drivers With Common THC Limit Are Not More Likely To Cause Accidents, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Oregon: Governor Signs Law Prohibiting Landlords From Discriminating Against Medical Marijuana Patients (NORML)

  • Texas governor signs law legalizing hemp, CBD products (The Hill)

  • Court squashes Colombia’s ban on smoking pot and drinking beer in public (Colombia Reports)

  • Coroner claims woman overdosed on cannabis, scientists call bullshit (The Next Web)

  • Illinois Cancer Patient Sentenced to Four Years in Jail Over Cannabis Edibles (MERRY JANE)

  • Study: Veterans Often Substitute Medical Cannabis for Alcohol, Prescription Drugs (NORML)

  • U.S. Postal Services Unveils New Policy On Mailing Hemp-Derived CBD Products (Marijuana Moment)

  • Recreational Weed Hurts Medical Cannabis Programs, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

  • Huge Cement Blocks Bar Access to Illicit Toronto Dispensaries (Leafly)

  • Poll Reveals Top Reasons People Support Or Oppose Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

  • Nearly All Hospice Professionals Support Medical Marijuana Access, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

  • Las Vegas OK’d Cannabis Lounges but Nevada Just Said No (Leafly)

  • Marijuana arrests target mostly blacks and Hispanics in region (Times Union)

  • Baby Boomers Are Consuming Pot at Ten Times the Rate of Past Senior Generations (MERRY JANE)

  • Ohio board rejects adding insomnia, depression as conditions for medical pot; tables autism, anxiety (WBNS)

  • California Appeals Court Rules Cannabis Possession in Prison Legal (Courthouse News)

  • Legal Cannabis May Not Lower Opioid Overdose Deaths After All (Gizmodo)

  • Ontario Law Now Prevents Pot Shops From Showing Vape Pens to Customers (MERRY JANE)

  • Oregon Is About to OK Cannabis Exports. What’s Next? (Leafly)

  • Alabama Bucks Its History of Prohibition, Plants First Hemp Crop Since 1937 (MERRY JANE)

  • Federal Employment Protections Demanded In Appropriations Bill (NORML)

  • Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Industry Sold $23 Million Worth of Weed in May (MERRY JANE)

LSD

  • The U.S. Army Once Kept $1 Billion Worth of LSD in a Maryland Office for Some Reason (Gizmodo)

  • The Highs and Lows of LSD Literature (The New York Times)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

  • Magic mushrooms could replace antidepressants within five years, says new psychedelic research centre (The Independent)

  • 'They broke my mental shackles': could magic mushrooms be the answer to depression? (The Guardian)

  • I Took Magic Mushrooms To Treat The World’s Worst Headaches... And Got Arrested For It (HuffPost)

MDMA

  • Ecstasy warning over high strength MDMA pills at Parklife (Daily Star)

  • More than 2000 children need help to ditch ecstasy problem (Mirror)

DMT

  • What’s DMT and why are techies and entrepreneurs secretly taking the drug? (The American Genius)

AYAHUASCA

  • Psychedelics, dance steps and giant snakes: inside the ayahuasca show (The Guardian)

5-MEO-DMT

  • Mike Tyson Says Smoking Toad Venom Cured His Addictions (Civilized)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

  • Synthetic Marijuana Is Making People Bleed From Their Eyes and Ears (Cosmopolitan)

  • Milton teens found in medical distress didn't overdose on opioids, police say (CBC)

KETAMINE

  • FDA Overlooked Red Flags In Testing of New Depression Drug (Daily Beast)

PCP

  • 'It's an evil drug': Authorities see increase in demand of PCP (KTUL)

OPIOIDS

  • Naloxone nasal spray is more available in Philly neighborhoods with more white residents, study finds (Philly Voice)

  • Drug Users Armed With Naloxone Double As Medics On Streets Of San Francisco (California Healthline)

  • Free heroin? Unusual clinic offers 'chance at being human again' (CBC)

  • Insys, the Opioid Drug Maker, Files for Bankruptcy (The New York Times)

  • Former champion MMA fighter describes battle with heroin addiction (WKRC)

COCAINE

  • Michael Gove: Cocaine 'mistake' a 'deep regret' (BBC)

  • Plumbers, builders and cabbies are doing it in the local pub – stop calling cocaine a middle class drug (The Sun)

  • Why Peruvian wellness and a 'cocaine massage' could change your life (The Independent)

  • Teens with prenatal cocaine exposure exhibit altered patterns of amygdala functional connectivity (PsyPost)

CAFFEINE

  • Algorithm provides customized caffeine strategy for alertness (ScienceDaily)

  • If We Wrote About Caffeine Like We Do Other Drugs… (Filter)

TOBACCO

  • Texas Raises Age To Buy Tobacco To 21 (Inquisitr)

  • A Flurry of States Have Raised Their Smoking Ages. But Big Tobacco's Involvement Has Some Health Groups Uneasy (TIME)

  • E-cig companies use cartoon characters as logos, and new study shows it works (The Conversation)

  • FDA finalizes guidance for premarket tobacco product applications for electronic nicotine delivery systems as part of commitment to continuing a strong oversight of e-cigarettes (FDA)

  • Tobacco 21 to take effect June 24 in Mankato (Mankato Free Press)

ALCOHOL

  • A Ten-Year Plan To Reduce Global Alcohol Consumption Is Showing Results (Forbes)

  • Prohibition worked better than you think (Vox)

  • Alcohol main cause of substance-related deaths in hospital (CBC)

  • Drinking alcohol at conception shown to harm rats – new study (The Conversation)

  • We Drink Basically The Same Wine As Ancient Romans — And That's Not So Great (NPR)

NOOTROPICS

  • The Truth About Nootropics and What They Do to Our Brains, According to a Neuroscientist (Good Housekeeping)

  • 10 Modafinil Myths You Can’t Afford To Believe (Dreamland Magazine)

KRATOM

KAVA

  • Australia’s discussion of kava imports reflects lack of cultural understanding (The Conversation)

  • Crackdown on health standards at Vanuatu kava bars (Radio New Zealand)

DATURA

MISCELLANEOUS

  • AOC Pushes To Make It Easier To Study Shrooms And Other Psychedelic Drugs (Forbes)

  • Seven Tory leadership candidates admit they’ve dabbled in drugs after Gove shock coke revelation (The Sun)

  • Say "High" to the World's First Venture Fund Exclusively for Psychedelics (MERRY JANE)

  • Drugs expert barred from policy panel after criticising Home Office (The Guardian)

  • Rhode Island Senate Approves Bill Allowing Supervised Consumption Sites For Illegal Drugs (Marijuana Moment)

  • Fashion is having a seriously psychedelic moment (Los Angeles Times)

  • I Think I Hated This Tech Conference on Psychedelics (WIRED)

  • New Government Estimates Offer Early Hope That Drug Overdose Deaths Are Waning (TIME)

  • Harm Production: Ontario’s Brutal Cuts Add Fuel to the Overdose Fire (Filter)

  • El Chapo: what the rise and fall of the kingpin reveals about the war on drugs (The Guardian)

  • Dark Web Drug Sellers Dodge Police Crackdowns (The New York Times)

  • Palm Beach County wants to start Florida’s second needle exchange program (The Palm Beach Post)

  • What to do when your friend gets too high (The Tab)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

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: