1,000-Year-Old Pouch Contains Traces of 5 Ancient Psychoactive Drugs

Peter Hess, writing for Inverse:

Long before ayahuasca became popular among Silicon Valley seekers, it was the domain of specialized healers and spiritual leaders. Archaeologists have long known that ancient peoples throughout the Americas consumed various plant-based drugs to heal, find meaning, and connect to a spiritual world, but research published Monday in PNAS suggests that they were used even more widely than scientists suspected.

In the paper , an international team of archaeologists identified traces of five different psychoactive chemicals in a bundle of belongings dating back to about 1,000 years ago. The objects, found in Cueva del Chileno, a rock shelter in the Andes in present-day Bolivia, include animal-skin pouches and a headband, as well as spatulas, two trays, and an intricately carved tube — tools that were most likely used for sniffing a plant-based psychedelic drug.

Using radiocarbon dating, the team showed that the leather bag containing the objects dates back to somewhere between 905 and 1170 CE. And using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, they found that the kit contained traces of cocaine, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), harmine, bufotenine, and benzoylecgonine — psychoactive chemicals that are all found in various plants native to South America.

Humans have been using psychoactive drugs since time immemorial. Now we have proof that people have been working with these particular substances for at least a thousand years. What’s amazing about this story is that these chemicals did not originate from the area where the bag was found:

Perhaps most significantly, the plants that produce the chemicals analyzed at the site do not grow in the place where they were found. The archaeologists note that while the site is located in the mountains, at an elevation of almost 13,000 feet above sea level, most of these plants grow in the lowland forests of the Amazon.

In other words, these shamans were either acquiring these drugs from a trading network or going on long treks to collect them on their own.

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Mexico’s President Proposes Drug Decriminalization With Legal Supply via Prescription

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and members of his administration have often talked about removing criminal penalties for certain drug offenses and diverting people suffering from addiction into treatment programs. And that’s exactly what he proposed in the new plan, which was submitted to the nation’s Congress and is expected to inform future legislation. […]

The document says it is time to “renounce the claim” that addiction can be combated through prohibition and to instead “offer detoxification treatments” to people with addiction “under medical supervision,” and calls for money that’s currently used to enforce anti-drug laws to be used instead to fund treatment programs. […]

It also suggests providing consumers with a “supply of doses with prescription,” indicating some form of legal distribution of currently prohibited drugs.

It’s amazing to see Mexico’s President endorsing a plan like this, and my hope is that these harm reduction-based approaches to drug policy reform will start sprouting up more and more as the public learns how effective they are.

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A Device That Heats Tobacco, But Doesn't Burn It, Can Now Be Sold in the U.S.

Jamie Ducharme, writing for TIME:

After a two-year wait, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday green-lit the sale of a new gadget that heats tobacco instead of burning it.

The device, which is called IQOS (pronounced EYE-kose) and made by Philip Morris International, works by heating tobacco-filled sticks, called Heatsticks, to produce a nicotine-rich aerosol. The FDA’s decision means the device may now be marketed in the U.S. — but even though IQOS has been shown to produce fewer of the cancer-causing chemicals found in traditional cigarettes, the FDA has not yet approved a separate application to call IQOS a lower-risk alternative to cigarettes. It’s also not entirely clear whether IQOS will help smokers quit.

Philip Morris USA and its parent company Altria will sell IQOS in the U.S., according to a company release, and it will first be introduced in the Atlanta area in 90-120 days, an Altria representative told TIME. Specific pricing information is not available, but the spokesperson said it will be “priced to incent” adult smokers “who are looking for alternatives to cigarettes.”

This device a bit like e-cigarettes—with actual tobacco leaf instead of liquid. But there is one significant difference:

While e-cigarettes may come with their own risks — some early research has linked them to heart problems, respiratory disease and DNA damage — and their long-term effects aren’t known, [Dr. Michael Siegel] says they have a safety edge compared to IQOS since they don’t contain tobacco. (E-cigs produce an aerosol by heating and vaporizing a liquid that usually contains nicotine.) So while IQOS could theoretically be good for public health if it helps cigarette smokers quit outright, it could do damage if it draws current or former smokers away from e-cigarettes and back to tobacco, Siegel says.

So on the harm reduction ladder, this is a step safer than smoking cigarettes, but less safe than vaporizing with e-cigs.

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The World’s Biggest Dark Net Market Has Shut Down

Mike Power, writing for VICE:

Just over two weeks ago, on the 26th of March, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide logged on to the dark net market site, Dream, and found the following message:

[This market is shutting down on 04/30/2019 and is transferring its services to a partner company, onion address: [REDACTED] onion (currently offline, opening soon)]

All buying and selling on Dream (the largest, longest-running and most-used dark net market) had been halted. Most vendors and users have, however, been able to access the site and withdraw funds. But when it shuts for good at the end of the month, it will mark the closure of hundreds of thousands of listings generating millions of dollars in trade each week.

The move has left customers, observers and dealers wondering whether Dream’s closure could mark a shift in the way the dark web is used to buy and sell drugs. There is talk of a mysterious new and yet-to-open partner site, but many are wondering whether this could be a honeypot devised by the authorities.

Something seems a bit off here.

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Inside an Innovative Study of MDMA Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder

Kiran Sidhu, writing for Filter:

Dr. Ben Sessa, a UK-based psychiatrist, is currently running Britain’s first ever clinical study with MDMA, in Bristol, for people with alcohol use disorder. So far, seven people have completed the course with no relapse.

I’m a huge Ben Sessa fan—can’t wait to see the results from this study.

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