Magic Mushrooms: New Research on Psilocybin and Its Benefits

Marco, writing for Green Camp:

Much like the carefully orchestrated de-legalization of cannabis during the 1930’s, there was a powerful decades-long misleading campaign against psilocybin mushrooms which caused a deep-rooted fear and a subsequent public rejection of this substance. [...]

In the following section we will acquaint ourselves with psilocybin mushrooms a bit better, before moving on to the studies which demonstrate their extensive therapeutic potential.

This is an excellent resource for information about magic mushrooms, including a unique (and evidence-based) infographic titled "4 Medical Benefits of Psilocybin Mushrooms." And if you enjoy a good trip report, it's worth checking out the section about Marco's experiences with psilocybin mushrooms toward the bottom of the piece.

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This Parasite Drugs Its Hosts With the Psychedelic Chemical in Shrooms

Ed Yong, writing for The Atlantic:

Imagine emerging into the sun after 17 long years spent lying underground, only for your butt to fall off.

This fungus surreptitiously doses its host with a psilocybin-cathinone cocktail, driving the cicada to spread fungal spores far and wide, resulting in yet more fungus.

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Psychedelics' Buddhist Revival

Gabriel Lefferts, writing for Tricycle:

Buddhist interest in psychedelics has been around for a long time. Many seekers like to refer to them as “entheogens” to emphasize their spiritual value. Entheogen, derived from the Greek adjective entheos, translates roughly as “God-inspired” and is the root of the English word “enthusiasm.” Almost a quarter-century ago, Tricycle published a special section titled “Psychedelics: Help or Hindrance?” to address Western Buddhists’ somewhat behind-the-scenes fascination with these substances. Now, the willingness to explore them has gone more public.

A brief introduction to an ongoing debate within the Buddhist community concerning whether the use of psychedelics is acceptable for one's Buddhist practice, an argument that takes center stage in the book Zig Zag Zen.

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Cops Are Investigating a Hallucinogenic Desert Toad Heist

Drew Schwartz, writing for VICE:

After sundown on Friday night, a band of thieves allegedly snuck into a conservation area in the Arizona desert with flashlights and grocery bags, and started hunting. According to the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, they'd come there to steal Sonoran Desert toads—innocent-looking little hoppers that produce one of the most potent natural psychedelics on Earth.

Almost seems like it's from a scene in a movie.

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No Magic Mushrooms on the Denver Ballot This Year

Ann Marie Awad, writing for Colorado Public Radio:

Denver voters won’t have a chance to “free the spores,” at least not during the 2018 midterms.

The grassroots campaign behind a proposed ballot initiative that would decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms — known by their scientific name psilocybin — ran into a series of hurdles when it came to getting approval from the Denver elections division.

As of this moment ballot language still hasn’t been approved. Kevin Matthews, one of the people behind the Denver Psychoactive Mushroom Decriminalization Initiative said he’s not worried. The group hardly has time to collect the required 5,000 signatures before the city’s mid-August deadline. Instead, now they’re aiming for Denver’s May 2019 ballot.

Earlier this month, I was hopeful that Denver would get its initiative on the November 2018 ballot. Now we know that the earliest it's going to happen is May 2019, which would still be amazing.

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