This Week in Psychedelics - 6.25.21

Cannabis

• Connecticut Becomes 18th State to Legalize Marijuana for Adults (NORML)

• Louisiana Governor Signs Bill To Legalize Smokable Medical Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Rhode Island Senate Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Mexico’s Supreme Court Moves To End Marijuana Prohibition Itself After Lawmakers Fail To Act (Marijuana Moment)

• House Appropriations Bill Removes Anti-Marijuana Rider and Includes Banking Protections (NORML)

• Conan O’Brien Celebrates Retirement By Smoking Marijuana With Seth Rogen On TV (Marijuana Moment)

• Flint’s old police academy sold for marijuana grow facility despite objections (MLive.com)

• A Study Finds That Crash Injuries in 5 States Rose After They Legalized Marijuana Use but Not After They Allowed Marijuana Sales (Reason)

• Missouri Activists Plan Marijuana Legalization Initiative For 2022 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• General Motors Is Having a Hard Time Hiring New Employees Due to Its Anti-Weed Policies (MERRY JANE)

LSD

• Berlin Now Has an LSD Shop, Thanks to a Loophole in the Law (VICE)

• Microdosing LSD modulates the perception of time independently of other consciousness-altering effects (PsyPost)

Magic Mushrooms

• It’s Been a Psychedelic Summer of Love for Brood X Cicadas (Lucid News)

• Marley One Is The First Global Functional And Psychedelic Mushroom Brand (Forbes)

• Canada’s Expanding Psilocybin Grey Market (Truffle Report)

• B.C. health researchers harness the 'magic' of psychedelic mushrooms (CBC)

• Numinus files for patent covering application of Rapid Production Process for Psilocybin (Proactive Investors)

MDMA

• The 'MDMA Houseboat' Where Soldiers Went to Deal with the Effects of War (VICE)

• MDMA Gangs Are Literally Polluting Europe (VICE)

• Meth use higher in small towns, cocaine and ecstasy use higher in cities - study (Newshub)

Ayahuasca

• DEA Denies Soul Quest’s Religious Exemption: Impacts on the Ayahuasca Community (Chacruna)

• Doing the Ayahuasca Dieta Year-Round (Reality Sandwich)

• Israelis And Palestinians Turn To Ayahuasca To Heal Conflict Wounds (Benzinga)

Salvia Divinorum

• Salvia Trip: The Basics (DoubleBlind)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• Move Over, Psilocybin And Ketamine: A New Compound Derived From A Naturally-Growing Hallucinogen May Revolutionize Psychiatry (Forbes)

• Cybin Announces Completion of its 51st Pre-Clinical Psychedelic Molecule Study (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Mydecine Selects Substance Use Disorder and Smoking Cessation for Novel Psychedelic Molecule MYCO-004 (Psilocybin Alpha)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Clinical Trial: Low Dose of Synthetic THC Augments Analgesic Efficacy of Opioids (NORML)

Ketamine

• Ketamine Might Help Alcohol Addiction by Rewiring the Brain (Discover)

• Toronto company receives government funding for first-of-its-kind ketamine trial for bipolar depression (The GrowthOp)

• Can tripping on ketamine cure PTSD? I decided to try. (Popular Science)

Miscellaneous

• Atai Life Sciences Goes Public; Now the Largest Publicly Traded Psychedelic Company (Psychedelic Invest)

• Texas Will Study Benefits Of Psychedelics For Military Veterans Under Bill Enacted Without Governor’s Signature (Marijuana Moment)

• The Future Of Psychedelic Medicine Might Skip The Trip (Forbes)

• COVID pandemic fuelling major increase in drug use worldwide: UN report (United Nations)

• Maine Lawmakers Approve Bill To Decriminalize All Drugs On 50th Anniversary Of Nixon’s ‘War On Drugs’ (Marijuana Moment)

• MAPS Canada Wants Changes to Canadian Drug Bill C-22 (Truffle Report)

• Former Head Of Psychiatry Products At FDA Joins Psychedelic Drug Developer Cybin (Forbes)

• Awakn Life Sciences Appoints Addiction Expert Prof. David Nutt as Chief Research Officer (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Mrs. So-and-So, Women’s Participation in Psychedelic Trials (Chacruna)

• Entheon Biomedical Subsidiary, HaluGen Life Sciences, Announces Agreement with Third Wave (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Psychedelics and Perception Part 1: The First Era of Research (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Queering Psychedelics: A Pathway to Inclusive Research (Truffle Report)

• My Psychedelic Journaling Practices (Maps of the Mind)

• Plant Medicines as a Force for Indigenous Sovereignty (EntheoNation)

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 Week in Psychedelics - 6.18.21

Cannabis

• Louisiana Governor Signs Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Into Law (Marijuana Moment)

• Texas: Governor Signs Medical Cannabis Expansion Legislation into Law (NORML)

• Connecticut Marijuana Legalization Bill Heads To Governor’s Desk (Marijuana Moment)

• Poll: 92 Percent of Americans Say Marijuana Should Be Legal Under Certain Circumstances (NORML)

• Florida Supreme Court Kills Another Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure For 2022 (Marijuana Moment)

• Stoned Driving Is Far Safer Than Operating a Vehicle on Prescription Drugs, Study Says (MERRY JANE)

• Rhode Island Marijuana Legalization Bill Approved In Senate Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• Montana: Opponents Drop Lawsuit Challenging Voter-Approved Legalization Initiative (NORML)

• Two cannabis legalisation bills to be considered in Portugal (CanEx)

• Nebraska Marijuana Activists Plan ‘Mass Scale’ Medical Cannabis Campaign For 2022 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Local Marijuana Decriminalization Efforts Launch In Ohio, South Carolina And West Virginia (Marijuana Moment)

• Wyoming Activists File 2022 Marijuana Decriminalization And Medical Cannabis Ballot Measures (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• Could LSD Really Be a Better Smart Drug Than Modafinil? (Sam Woolfe)

Magic Mushrooms

• Oregon’s psilocybin program starts to take shape (OPB)

• Filament Announces First GMP Batch of Pharmaceutical Grade Natural Psilocybin (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Psyence Group Announces Collaboration with the Scientific Research Council (SRC) of Jamaica for Psilocybin Product Development (Psilocybin Alpha)

Ayahuasca

• How Ayahuasca Can Help Gay Men Create Better Dance Parties (Chacruna)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• Cybin Selects Anxiety Disorder Indications for Proprietary Psychedelic Molecule CYB004 (Psilocybin Alpha)

Nitrous Oxide

• Laughing gas could help people with hard-to-treat depression (Popular Science)

Miscellaneous

• Federal Drug Decriminalization Measure Introduced in the House (DoubleBlind)

• Introducing the Mormon Psychedelic Summit (DoubleBlind)

• The problem at the heart of modern psychedelic clinical research (New Atlas)

• This Summer Might Be a Psychedelic Dumpster Fire. Are You Ready? (Lucid News)

• West Coast Psychedelic Update (Dr. Bronner's)

• Toronto board of health to ask Ottawa to decriminalize drug possession in the city (Toronto Star)

• Clinics Seek to Widen Access to Psychedelic Therapy for BIPOC Communities (Lucid News)

• Can Psychedelics Help Make Dying Easier? (Rolling Stone)

• Hippie Girls in Yorkville: Canada’s Haight-Ashbury (Chacruna)

• Whole-Body Effects of Psychedelics – Part 1 (Psychedelic Science Review)

• The Brain’s Psychedelic System (Reality Sandwich)

• As the Pandemic Wanes and the Party Kicks Off, Drug Testing and Safety Are More Important Than Ever (Lucid News)

• Consent is Psychedelic. Here’s Why. (DoubleBlind)

• Psychedelics and Surfing (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 Week in Psychedelics - 6.11.21

Cannabis

• Nevada: Governor Signs Bill into Law Regulating Cannabis Consumption Lounges (NORML)

• Senate Votes to Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Conn. (NBC Connecticut)

• Washington state offers ‘joints for jabs’ to boost vaccination rates (The Guardian)

• Louisiana lawmakers pass bill to decriminalize marijuana (The Hill)

• Biden Administration Wants to Uphold Ban on Adult-Use Cannabis Sales in DC (MERRY JANE)

• Testing People For Marijuana Impairment Based On THC Levels Is ‘Not Reliable,’ Federally Funded Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Study: Enactment of Adult-Use Marijuana Laws Doesn’t Encourage Drugged Driving Behavior (NORML)

• Medical Cannabis Users Are More Likely to Cut Back on Cigarettes, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• NFL Funds Marijuana Research As Federal Prohibition ‘Adversely’ Impacts Studies Into Opioid Alternative For Players (Marijuana Moment)

• Virginia: Marijuana Arrests Fall Dramatically Following Enactment of 2020 Decriminalization Law (NORML)

• Bill Would Finally Let Researchers Obtain Marijuana From Dispensaries (Filter)

• LA Is Literally the Worst Place to Buy Legal Weed, Thanks to Exorbitant Sales Taxes (MERRY JANE)

LSD

• Susi’s Tram Ride: Recognizing the First Woman to Take LSD (Chacruna)

• Deepak Chopra did LSD for the first time in a lab and felt his consciousness shift while staring at a photo of Mother Teresa (Insider)

• Blotter paper part of LSD mixture, must be weighed too (The Times of India)

• LSD and the Anarchic Brain (Psychedelic Science Review)

• LSD for Bipolar Disorder: Is LSD the Answer? (The Third Wave)

Magic Mushrooms

• Silo Pharma Announces Collaboration with University California San Francisco to study Psilocybin as an Anti-Inflammatory agent in Parkinson’s and Bipolar Patients (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Psilocybin Oral Strips: Benefits and Drawbacks (Truffle Report)

• Mydecine Discovers Over 40 Groundbreaking Potential Pharmacologically Active Novel Compounds in Mushrooms (Psilocybin Alpha)

MDMA

• Pill-iD App Lets Users Scan MDMA Pills To See What They Contain (LADbible)

• MDMA soaring in popularity in New Zealand, making its way into high schools (Newshub)

• MDMA, Water, Seizures, and Death: Interview with Gabriel Kearns, M.D. and Founder of Elevation Chemicals (Psychedelic Times)

Ayahuasca

• Is Ayahuasca Legal? (DoubleBlind)

5-MeO-DMT

• A hallucinogenic toad in peril (High Country News)

Iboga

• Iboga Conservation (Chacruna)

Nitrous Oxide

• Can Laughing Gas (Nitrous Oxide) Help People With Treatment-Resistant Depression? (Forbes)

Ketamine

• Colorado bill to restrict ketamine use outside of hospitals close to passing (Colorado Newsline)

• Deaths Resulting from Ketamine Injection Rare, Study Indicates (JEMS)

Miscellaneous

• Connecticut Governor Signs Psychedelics Study Measure As He Awaits Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• The FBI Secretly Ran an Encrypted Messaging Service To Conduct the Same Old Drug War Stings (Reason)

• Aphrodite Health Is Here To Shift The Narrative: The First Psychedelics Company ‘For Women, By Women’ (Forbes)

• Poll Shows Huge Public Opposition to “War on Drugs,” After 50 Years (Filter)

• Seattle City Council Signs Letter Proposing Psychedelic Use in Opioid Addiction Treatment (Truffle Report)

• Field Trip Health Ltd. Applies to List Its Common Shares on the NASDAQ Stock Market (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Over One Third of US Voters Know Psychedelics Have Valid Medical Use, Poll Says (MERRY JANE)

• Psychedelics For Frontline Clinicians With Covid-Related Burnout? A Study Is Looking Into It (Forbes)

• Accountability & Transformative Justice in the Psychedelic Space: A Roadmap for Change (Psychedelics Today)

• Study Links Hallucinogen Use to Emotional Dysregulation, Risk Taking Among Youth (Psychedelic News Wire)

• Life Sciences Announces Launch of Initial Public Offering (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Are Psychedelics the Next Big Cure? (Good Housekeeping)

• Is Absinthe an Hallucinogen? Debunking the Green Fairy (Truffle Report)

• Tolerance, Tachyphylaxis, and Psychedelic Drug Action (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Basics for Tripping in Nature (Maps of the Mind)

• Psychedelic Cartoons: Through the Decades (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 Week in Psychedelics - 6.4.21

Cannabis

• Bill To Federally Legalize Marijuana Reintroduced In Congress As Senate Prepares Separate Measure (Marijuana Moment)

• Amazon Now Supports Federal Cannabis Legalization (Forbes)

• Nevada: Lawmakers Approve Measure to Regulate Cannabis Consumption Lounges (NORML)

• Idaho Marijuana Activists Launch Limited Legalization Campaign For 2022 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Medical cannabis has ‘96% chance of seizure reduction’ in childhood epilepsy (Cannabis Health News)

• Tennessee Governor Signs Bill To Expand State’s Limited Medical Marijuana Program (Marijuana Moment)

• Colorado: Senate Lawmakers Advance Measure Amending State’s Medical Cannabis Access Law (NORML)

• Mississippi Lawmakers Hold Medical Marijuana Hearing After Court Overturns Voter-Approved Law (Marijuana Moment)

• As legal marijuana booms, people push for justice for those impacted by war on drugs (ABC News)

• Illinois: Lawmakers Approve Equity Measure to Award Over 100 New Dispensary Licenses (NORML)

Magic Mushrooms

• Want to Measure the Magic in Your Mushrooms? You Can Now Test Psilocybin Potency at Home (DoubleBlind)

• Psilocybin May Reduce Suicidal Thoughts in Terminally Ill Patients, Suggests New Study (Lucid News)

• Psychedelic Mushroom Shops Reach The Americas (Forbes)

• Psilocybin-assisted Therapy for Mental Health: A New Paradigm? (Volteface)

• COMPASS Pathways and Kings College London publish cognition results from COMP360 psilocybin study in healthy volunteers (Psilocybin Alpha)

• The Psilocybin vs. Escitalopram Trial – Part 2 (Psychedelic Science Review)

MDMA

• One Man Took 40,000 Ecstasy Pills In Nine Years – This Is What Happened To Him (IFLScience)

5-MeO-DMT

• Studying Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT for Traumatic Brain Injuries: Interview with Amber Capone of VETS (Psychedelic Times)

San Pedro

• Microdosing Huachuma: Sacred Cactus of the Andes (EntheoNation)

Iboga

• MINDCURE Successfully Completes First Stage of Manufacturing Synthetic Ibogaine for Use in Psychedelic Clinical Research (Psilocybin Alpha)

Salvia Divinorum

• Salvia Flowers: Cultivation and Consumption (DoubleBlind)

Ketamine

• Ketamine a game changer in treating eating disorders (Toronto Sun)

Miscellaneous

• California Senate Approves Bill To Legalize Possession Of Psychedelics Like Psilocybin And LSD (Marijuana Moment)

• Psychedelics Patent Claim Raises Questions From Researchers Who Say They Did It First (VICE)

• Texas Bills To Expand Medical Marijuana Program And Require Psychedelics Study Head To Governor’s Desk (Marijuana Moment)

• New York Bill Would Create State-Sponsored Psychedelics Research Institute (Marijuana Moment)

• The psychologists signing up for psychedelic therapy training: ‘Amazing things can happen’ (The Guardian)

• NIH: It’s time to make your mark on the renaissance of medicinal psychedelics (STAT)

• Andrew Yang Proposes Legal Psychedelic Therapies For Veterans In NYC Mayoral Plan (Marijuana Moment)

• New Zealand scientists explore medical benefits of psychedelic drugs (Newshub)

• Can Psychedelics Help Heal Moral Injury? (Psychedelics Today)

• Psychedelics: A New Fountain of Youth? (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Pandemic Drug Use and the Cartel (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 Month in Psychedelics - May 2021

May was yet another busy one for psychedelic news, with plenty of drug policy reform progress, industry developments, groundbreaking research, and a couple controversial events taking place. In this month’s update we’ll dive into these topics and much more.

Here is a slimmed-down video recap version that is available for those who prefer an easier-to-digest option:

There’s a lot to get through this month, so without further ado, let’s jump into the news:

Drug Policy

Wins

Two states made huge progress on cannabis reform. First, Montana’s governor signed a bill to implement the recreational marijuana program that voters approved last November. Retail sales for adults 21 and older will begin in January of next year. And continuing an emerging pattern of Southern states revamping cannabis laws, Alabama’s governor signed legislation to legalize medical marijuana in the state. The country is turning more and more green every month!

A few other bills made huge progress as well but have not crossed the finish line yet: an attempt to decriminalize psychedelics in California, legislation that would enable Texas to conduct psychedelic research, a cannabis legalization effort in Minnesota, and Switzerland is getting closer to legalizing marijuana as well.

Losses

Some bills hit a wall though. In Mexico lawmakers failed to legalize cannabis ahead of a Supreme Court deadline, Aspen’s city council chose not to decriminalize psychedelics, drug possession is now a misdemeanor in Washington State, Mississippi’s Supreme Court overturned a medical marijuana legalization ballot that voters approved last November, Colorado and New York banned delta-8 THC, China banned synthetic cannabinoids, and Amsterdam and a London borough banned nitrous oxide.

Future

Looking ahead, Republicans in the U.S. are pushing for the federal legalization of cannabis to ensure individual liberty, so legal weed in America is looking more and more like becoming a possibility sometime soon.

Industry

An NHL star’s brain trauma led him to found a psychedelic startup company, legal cannabis states have generated nearly $8 billion in tax revenue since recreational sales launched, Champignon Brands changed its name to Braxia Scientific, and MindMed announced Project Angie, the company’s attempt to treat pain with psychedelics.

Research

The results from MAPS’ Phase 3 trial of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD are in, and things are looking promising for this novel form of treatment. Out of 90 participants who enrolled in the study, the group which received MDMA during therapy experienced a more significant reduction in the severity of their PTSD symptoms compared to the placebo-controlled group. In fact, two months after treatment 67% of people in the MDMA group no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis whereas only 32% of the placebo group did. These results are promising and lend credence to the idea that MDMA will be legally available for medical use within the next couple years.

Other research studies found that psilocybin may be able to treat migraine headaches, how LSD opens the doors of perception, that frequent cannabis consumers are more physically active than non-users, and that actual drug education is far better than the government’s typical approach of “just say no.” In addition, the U.S. federal government announced a new standard THC dose to be used in cannabis research.

Miscellaneous

Causing a bit of a stir in the global psychedelic community, a publication known as Psychedelic Invest published a list of the 100 most influential people in psychedelics ranking candidates based on the following factors: social reach, scientific accomplishments, legislative initiatives, and value creation/contribution. The list was criticized for its lack of diversity, which prompted a public response acknowledging the fact the publication failed to prioritize the inclusion of a diverse group of people when creating it. In today’s political climate it’s no wonder that the publication of a list like this was heavily criticized, but the constructive reaction from Psychedelic Invest indicates that the publication is willing to learn from its mistake.

A new cannabis product generated an uproar on social media. Dubbed Canna Bumps, this unique cannabis concentrate looked kind of like cocaine and was intended to be snorted by consumers. Needless to say, it caught a lot of flack from industry insiders and judgmental marijuana smokers alike. Claiming that it would hurt the movement to legalize cannabis on a federal level, enough people complained that the product was quickly pulled from the market.

Now me personally, I can see how a product like this could be used by drug warriors to hurt the effort to reform drug laws, but I’m also in full support of people consuming their preferred drugs by whatever route of administration they see fit. Hopefully one of these days a snortable marijuana product will be available for consumers, but until then things are just going to keep moving a bit more slowly.

Wrapping up this month’s recap is an update on where Decriminalize Nature stands when it comes to peyote. You may recall that some Native American groups around the country have spoken out against the drug decriminalization movement including peyote in its recommendations for drugs to be decriminalized, and now Decrim Nature has officially announced a peyote conservation plan that is intended to work in tandem with the conservation strategy that is already underway.

Under this resolution, peyote found in its natural habit would be available only for indigenous communities and poaching would continue to be penalized, but the personal cultivation of peyote by non-indigenous people would be decriminalized, which would hopefully address the existing demand for the cacti and help assist with the ongoing conservation effort.

That’s all for this month’s update. Remember to always test and weigh your drugs and until next time—keep thinking wilder.

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this month’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.