This Week in Psychedelics - 3.5.21

Cannabis

• Virginia Lawmakers Vote to Legalize Marijuana in 2024 (TIME)

• Mexican Lawmakers To Vote On Marijuana Legalization Next Week (Marijuana Moment)

• Morocco Expected To Pass Cannabis Legalization Soon (High Times)

• New Mexico House Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill, With Senate Action Imminent (Marijuana Moment)

• Hawaii Marijuana Legalization Bill Heads To Senate Floor, Along With Separate Measure To Expand Decriminalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Third Minnesota House Committee Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Tennessee Senators Approve Medical Marijuana Bill In Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• Alabama Senators Approve Marijuana Decriminalization Bill In Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• Washington, D.C. Could Allow Marijuana Sales Under Mayor’s New Bill And Democratic Control Of Congress (Marijuana Moment)

• Top Washington, D.C. Lawmaker Files Competing Legal Marijuana Bill Days After Mayor Unveils Her Plan (Marijuana Moment)

• Montana: Lawmakers Seek to Amend Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization Law (NORML)

• Mississippi House Replaces Senate’s Alternate Medical Marijuana Program With What Voters Originally Approved (Marijuana Moment)

• 'I really love weed': Seth Rogen brings his cannabis company, Houseplant, to U.S. (NBC News)

• Study Indicates Most Patients Don’t Think Doctors Will Understand Cannabis (High Times)

• Pennsylvania Governor Grants 69 Marijuana Pardons As Lawmakers Move Bipartisan Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Iowa Senators Approve Bill To Reduce Marijuana Penalties (Marijuana Moment)

• Review study: Cannabis and driving cognition (Marijuana Business Daily)

• Illinois city uses weed sales tax for reparations (Leafly)

• Marijuana Legalization Could Curb West Virginia’s Overdose Crisis, Governor Says (Filter)

• Decline In Banks Working With Marijuana Businesses Has ‘Leveled Off,’ New Federal Data Shows (Marijuana Moment)

• A New Observational Study Focusing On Cannabis For PTSD Treatment Has Been Approved (Forbes)

• Prisons should trial free cannabis, says UK's former chief drug adviser (The Guardian)

• Connecticut Polls Shows Majority Support For Marijuana Legalization And Expungements As Lawmakers Consider Reform (Marijuana Moment)

• Texas Voters’ Support For Legalizing Marijuana Is Increasing, New Poll Shows (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• Benefits of microdosing LSD might be placebo effect, study finds (The Guardian)

• Can Psilocybin and LSD Relieve Existential Suffering? (Psychedelic Science Review)

• DEA: 'We've seen a very large increase in LSD' (KABB)

Magic Mushrooms

• Iowa Lawmakers Hold Historic Hearing On Psilocybin Decriminalization, But Do Not Advance Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• TheraPsil Launches Psilocybin Therapy Training Program (Truffle Report)

• Core One Labs Initiates First Strain Production for Biosynthetic Psilocybin (BioSpace)

• PsyBio Therapeutics Initiates Pilot Scale Development of Proprietary Biosynthetic Psilocybin with Global Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization (Psilocybin Alpha)

• MINDCURE Completes Its Initial Strategic Equity Investment in ATMA, Canada’s First Commercial Provider of Legal, Psychedelic-Assisted, Therapy Utilizing Psilocybin (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Numinus and Syreon Provide Psilocybin Compassionate Access Trial Update (Psilocybin Alpha)

MDMA

• Promise and challenges for psilocybin and MDMA use in treatment (Peter Attia MD)

DMT

• A Beginner’s Guide to DMT Vape Pens (Truffle Report)

• Algernon Pharmaceuticals to Conduct Phase 1 DMT Stroke Program Study with Hammersmith Medicines Research (UK) (Psilocybin Alpha)

Ayahuasca

• Mail Order Ayahuasca Is Now A Thing (DoubleBlind)

• How Colombian Yagé Communities Confronted the COVID-19 Pandemic (Chacruna)

• Ayahuasca In the Fight Against Drug Addiction (CBD Testers)

5-MeO-DMT

• A Beginner’s Guide to Psychedelic Amphibians (Truffle Report)

Iboga

• MINDCURE Announces Manufacturing of Synthetic Ibogaine to be Used in Company's Clinical Research (PR Newswire)

• MINDCURE Discovers Potential Opportunity for Ibogaine-Assisted Psychotherapy to Treat Neuropathic Pain and Traumatic Brain Injury (Psilocybin Alpha)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Drug Testing and Synthetic Cannabis in Prisons (Drug Science)

• Dangerous batch of synthetic cannabis may be behind Christchurch death (Stuff.co.nz)

Ketamine

• PharmaTher Expands to Neuromuscular Diseases with Exclusive License Agreement for Ketamine in the Treatment of Lou Gehrig’s Disease (GlobeNewswire)

• Awakn Announces Exclusive License Deal with the University of Exeter to Commercialise the ‘Ketamine in the Reduction of Alcoholic Relapse’ (KARE) Intervention Validated in a Phase II Clinical Trial (Psilocybin Alpha)

Miscellaneous

• Washington State Supreme Court finds state's felony drug possession law unconstitutional (Q13 Fox)

• U.S. Tells Mexico Drug War’s Failure Requires New Strategy (Bloomberg)

• Sewage Samples Reveal the Dutch, Australians Are Biggest Users of Synthetic Drugs (VICE)

• Canada’s Government Moves To End Mandatory Minimums For Drugs, But Voters Back Full Decriminalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Want To Take A Psychedelic Trip Without Drugs? There’s Now An App For That (Forbes)

• European companies set to dominate psychedelics market (Sifted)

• Online Psychedelic Community Options to Ride Out the Rest of Covid-19 (Psychedelics Today)

• Are Natural Psychedelics Or Synthetic Psychedelics Better For Your Body? (Healing Maps)

• CryptoPsychedelic Conferences Examine Links Between Psychedelics and Blockchain Technology (Lucid News)

• Psychedelics and Environmental Sustainability (Truffle Report)

• Growing popularity of therapeutic psychedelic experiences creates demand for underground guides (CBC)

• Investing In Psychedelics: Why Is It In Such High Demand These Days? (Healing Maps)

• Most People With Addiction Outgrow It Naturally. We Need to Hear Them. (Filter)

• Finding the Psychedelic Sweet Spot (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Does Animal Consciousness Expand From Psychedelics Too? (Reality Sandwich)

• Best Practices For Tripsitters (Maps of the Mind)

• What Effects Do Psychedelics Have on Social Perception? (Truffle Report)

• Christian Siriano’s Psychedelic Trip (The Cut)

• Red Light Holland’s iMicro Digital Care App Launches Virtual Telecounseling with a Membership Program Led by Certified Therapist and Microdosing Expert (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Growing interest in psychedelic treatments for mental illness, but expert warns more robust research needed (CBC)

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 Psychoactives - 11.1.19

Cannabis

• Mexican Senate Committees Agree To Comprehensive Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Some States With Legal Weed Embrace Vaping Bans, Warn Of Black Market Risks (NPR)

• There's 'Scarce Evidence' to Suggest Cannabis Improves Mental Health Symptoms, a New Research Review Says (TIME)

• Quebec passes cannabis law that will raise legal age to 21 (CBC)

• An Israeli Company Is Combining Mushrooms with Marijuana to Treat Illnesses (MERRY JANE)

• USDA Issues Hemp Regulations (NORML)

• Medical Marijuana Laws Improve Health And Reduce Alcohol Use For Certain Groups, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Microscopic Images Reveal the Most Potent Cannabis Flowers in Incredible Detail (Newsweek)

• Senate Approves Bill Protecting Medical Marijuana States From Federal Intervention (Marijuana Moment)

• A Man Had a Bag of Weed Removed From His Nose After 18 Years (VICE)

• 20 Out of 25 Denver Pot Shops Were Selling Moldy Weed, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• Is Cannabis a Psychedelic Drug? (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Number of illegal cultivation sites plummet in Nevada after marijuana legalization (The Hill)

• Head Of Nation’s Only Federally Legal Marijuana Farm Develops THC Eye Drops (Marijuana Moment)

• Mass. hemp farmers say they face ruin thanks to state ban on most CBD products (The Boston Globe)

• Edinburgh mother vows to go on 'hunger strike' over cannabis oil (BBC)

• University of Guelph to study cannabis as treatment for bladder cancer in dogs (Global News)

• Wisconsin Lawmakers File Marijuana Decriminalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis Open Houses Are Putting the High in High-End Real Estate (The Wall Street Journal)

LSD

• LSD tests that heralded Denmark’s second age of enlightenment (The Copenhagen Post)

Magic Mushrooms

• People Are Deliberately 'Horror-Tripping' on Mushrooms (VICE)

• 6 Music Playlists For Psilocybin Journeys (Maps of the Mind)

• Psilocybin Trial Patients Describe Their "Trips" To Anderson Cooper (The Fix)

• Are Magic Mushrooms Beneficial For Mental Health Therapy? (Worldhealth.net)

MDMA

• Family of teenager who died from lethal ecstasy dose support drug legalisation (The Guardian)

• Warning over super-strength Rolls Royce ecstasy pills circulating at Warehouse Project (Manchester Evening News)

Ayahuasca

• Ayahuasca tourism an overlooked driver of trade in jaguar body parts, researchers say (Mongabay)

• Hallucinogenic Amazonian brew shows promise as an anti-depressant - study (Stuff.co.nz)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Spice saliva drug test 'could save lives' among users (BBC)

• Spice is more than a deadly drug – it's a window on our society (The Guardian)

Ketamine

• The Complete Guide to Ketamine Therapy for Depression, From Someone Who’s Tried It (Allure)

PCP

• Man allegedly high on PCP injured three Stamford police officers (Stamford Advocate)

• Kansas City man accused of sexually assaulting 7-year-old girl while high on PCP (FOX4)

Opioids

• Opioid misuse highest among construction workers, new NYU study finds (New York Daily News)

• 'It’s an overdose crisis': Mac Miller's death investigation highlights a dangerous trend in the opioid epidemic (Good Morning America)

• Should law enforcement be securing patients before naloxone is administered? (EMS1.com)

Cocaine

• Like weed before it, is cocaine becoming normalized? (Rooster Magazine)

Methamphetamine

• Meth devilishly hard to kick for addicts: ‘No effective treatment’ (San Francisco Chronicle)

CAFFEINE

• What to know about caffeine pills (Medical News Today)

TOBACCO

• Trump Considers Retreat From Ban of Mint, Menthol Vaping Flavors (The Washington Post)

• Former Juul Finance Executive Alleges Company Shipped 1 Million Tainted Products (TIME)

• A Fight Over Vaping “Bots” Is Blazing While E-Cigarette Bans Loom (BuzzFeed News)

Alcohol

• Illegal Alcohol Vaping Device Confiscated From Minnesota Bar (CBS Pittsburgh)

• Alcohol intake and reduced brain volume: What explains the link? (Medical News Today)

Kratom

• Arkansas Kratom Laws: Reasons For The Ban & Updated Info (Kratom Guides)

• Could a kratom ban be coming to Clearwater? (WFTS)

Miscellaneous

• Four More Major Cities Take Steps To Decriminalize Psychedelics (Marijuana Moment)

• Tripping in Groups Is Better for Meditation and Self-Dissolution, Study Says (MERRY JANE)

• Australia's rural drug use tops city consumption: crime commission analysis (The Guardian)

• Women And Children Are The Emerging Face Of Drug Addiction In Afghanistan (NPR)

• Witnessed Urine Screens in Drug Treatment: Humiliating and Harmful (Filter)

• Pills in the post: inside the dark web drug market (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• The Ecuadorian Fishermen Snatched Away by US Drug Warriors (Filter)

• Molecule Catalyst and UTM to crowdfund psychedelics research with blockchain (Yahoo! Finance)

• Goodbye DARE — more schools are embracing realistic drug education (Salon)

• Intersecting Movements: Drug Policy Reform and Climate Action (Psymposia)

• Psychedelics for Healthy People (Elemental)

• Congress, Grappling With Tainted Chinese Drugs, Is Baffled by Lack of FDA Oversight in U.S. Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (Newsweek)

• She lost her son to addiction, then lost her house to save her daughter (Vox)

• Public Drug Testing Sites Are Helping Dealers Prevent Overdoses (VICE)

• 13 Steps for Promoting Access and Inclusion in Psychedelic Science (Chacruna)

• David Nutt slams UK drugs policy as Scottish deaths soar (The National)

• The Two Black Women Helping To Reclaim & Encourage Natural Psychedelics Use In Oakland (Okayplayer)

• Safe injection rooms save lives – yet the UK government continues to oppose them (Talking Drugs)

• Could Psychedelics Help to Heal the Crisis of Disconnection? (What is Emerging)

• So Mushroom for Growth: New Psychedelic Club at UCSB Aims To Shift Conversation and Culture (Daily Nexus)

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.

This Week in Psychoactives - 2.15.19

CANNABIS

• Senator Files '420' Marijuana Bill To Legalize It Federally (Forbes)

• Mexican Senate Report Lays Out Marijuana Legalization Considerations (Marijuana Moment)

• New Mexico Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill At Committee Hearing (Marijuana Moment)

• Oregon has more legal cannabis than the state can consume in six years (Quartz)

• States With Legal Medical Marijuana Have Lower Teen Use Rates, Large-Scale Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Why CBD Works Better With a Little THC (Even If You Don’t Want to Get High) (Leafly)

• Study Shows How Marijuana Component CBD Can Help People With Substance Use Disorders (Marijuana Moment)

• Veterans Medical Marijuana Access Legislation Introduced In House and Senate (NORML)

• European Parliament Approves Medical Marijuana Resolution (Marijuana Moment)

• Bill to Provide Greater Access for Virginia Medical Cannabis Patients Succeeds (NORML)

• Missouri Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Expungement Bill For Medical Cannabis Patients (Marijuana Moment)

• Kamala Harris Got So High Smoking Weed in College She Thought She Was Listening To Snoop Dogg and Tupac (Reason)

• Where Presidential Candidate Amy Klobuchar Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Michigan’s First Cannabis Lounge Is the Chill Alternative to Bars (Leafly)

• Marijuana possession bill reintroduced in state Senate (Winston-Salem Journal)

• Maury Povich Smoked A Marijuana Strain Named After His Wife, Journalist Connie Chung (Marijuana Moment)

• Dan Bilzerian's Weed Company Is Keeping Sexist Cannabis Ads Alive (VICE)

• If you support marijuana legalization, you should support safe injection sites (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Here's How New Mothers are Using CBD to Combat Baby Brain (Civilized)

• Aurora Cannabis earnings show big growth in pot sales, but worrisome profit trend (MarketWatch)

LSD

• The Man who Mapped LSD (OUPblog)

• Microdoses of LSD change how you perceive time (Big Think)

• Amanda Feilding: ‘LSD can get deep down and reset the brain – like shaking up a snow globe’ (The Guardian)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• $1m kicked into campaign for magic mushroom therapy (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• Push to legalize psychedelic mushrooms gains traction in Eugene (KEZI)

• Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Are Having a Moment. Here's What It's All About. (Cheddar)

• Magic Mushrooms Show Promising Results for Treating PTSD and Depression (San Diego Entertainer Magazine)

MDMA

• MDMA Users May Have a Social Advantage Over People Who Use Other Drugs (Inverse)

• Israel's Health Ministry Approves Compassionate Use of MDMA to Treat PTSD (Haaretz)

• MDMA Expanded Access is almost here. What’s it all about? (Psymposia)

• Use of Ecstasy spreading in Cebu: PDEA 7 (Sun.Star)

• Police issue a warning for yellow octopus ecstasy pills (Mixmag)

• Daniel Eades, 19, took MDMA at Halo and Wetherspoon (Bournemouth Echo)

• Young dad dies after taking ecstasy on New Year's Eve (Derbyshire Live)

AYAHUASCA

• The First Indigenous Ayahuasca Conference (Yubaka Hayrá) in Acre Demonstrates Political, Cultural and Spiritual Resistance (Chacruna)

• Ayahuasca Shows Huge Potential As a Treatment For Severe Depression (Reset.me)

• What Ayahuasca is Trying to Teach Us: An Interview with Dennis McKenna (Reality Sandwich)

• Mindful Eating as a support for Ayahuasca Dieta (Tam Integration)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Severe bleeding associated with use of tainted synthetic cannabinoids (AAP News)

• Colorectal cancer: Scientists halt growth with cannabinoid compounds (Medical News Today)

• Children as young as THREE are treated in hospital after taking Spice as Britain's synthetic drug crisis deepens (Daily Mail)

NITROUS OXIDE

• Laughing gas now an option for women giving birth (Everything Lubbock)

• Residents 'disgusted' after piles of 'hippy crack' canisters dumped outside Cambridge home (Cambridgeshire Live)

• Everything you need to know about nangs, the worrying craze growing amongst Aussie teens. (Mamamia)

KETAMINE

• Taking Ketamine Can Feel a Lot Like a Near-Death Experience (Tonic)

• F.D.A. Panel Recommends New Depression Treatment (The New York Times)

• Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles Commemorates Five Years of Patient Success Stories (New Kerala)

PCP

• Man who killed USA Today reporter in PCP-fueled crash sentenced to six years in prison (The Washington Post)

OPIATES/OPIOIDS

• When the Cure Is Worse Than the Disease (The New York Times)

• Mapping the Opioid Epidemic (New America)

• Overdose remedy naloxone now carried by all Ventura police officers (Ventura County Star)

• Mass. Issues Guidelines After Boston Nurse Was Denied Life Insurance For Carrying Naloxone (WBUR)

• Even in best-case scenario, opioid overdose deaths will keep rising until 2022 (Los Angeles Times)

• Opioid-Related Deaths Decreasing in Iowa, Report Shows (WHO-TV)

• Veterinarian sentenced to 6 years for stitching heroin into puppies and turning them into drug mules (INSIDER)

• Why the Rural Opioid Crisis Is Different From the Urban One (CityLab)

• Opium cultivation business squeezed by market shift towards meth (Myanmar Times)

• Vet saves Victoria puppy with naloxone injection (Maple Ridge News)

• Offer: help solve the opioid crisis, have your student loans forgiven (Rooster Magazine)

• Indy coffee shop is the newest place to offer life-saving drug naloxone (Fox 59)

• Coroner: No carfentanil spike locally, but OD deaths are up (Dayton Daily News)

• 'Church Of Safe Injection' Offers Needles, Naloxone To Prevent Opioid Overdoses (NPR)

• It's too late to save my son's life, but this drug can save others (The Sacramento Bee)

• Houston Cop Involved in Deadly Drug Raid Relieved of Duty Due to 'Ongoing Questions' (Reason)

• Naloxone training could help save numerous lives (KVAL)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• Crystal Meth Is North Korea's Trendiest Lunar New Year's Gift (The New York Times)

• Officials: Iowa sees higher-quality meth, increased drug use (The Daily Nonpareil)

BENZODIAZEPINES

• The Deadly Worst Case Scenario for America's Xanax Obsession (VICE)

ALCOHOL

• Beer before wine, you'll feel fine? Not according to a new study (CTV News)

• More than 100 dead after drinking bootleg alcohol in India (Reuters)

• Man 'under influence of alcohol' allegedly beats stepdaughter to death (Jakarta Post)

• How heavy drinking might boost your appetite for alcohol (Health24)

• Alcohol Problems Grow as Booze Gets a Bigger Kick (WebMD)

• Alcohol’s effects on the brain (The Ithacan)

• Plan to raise alcohol limits in beer at Utah stores approved (Cache Valley Daily)

• Report says Utah has lowest alcohol consumption per capita in country (KUTV 2News)

• Thousands sign petition to stop ban of alcohol on some Michigan rivers (WXYZ)

• I Stopped Drinking For 30 Days — & My Skin Got So Much Better (Refinery29)

• Giving up alcohol made our lives better — and turned us into terrible guests (The Washington Post)

ABSINTHE

• Does absinthe really make drinkers hallucinate? (Fox News)

NOOTROPICS

• Brain‑Enhancing 'Smart Drugs' Promise a Boost in Creativity, Memory (The Swaddle)

• Seven Mental and Athletic Performance Benefits of Nootropics (Youth Health Magazine)

• Noopept: one of the most potent brain boosters on the market (London Post)

KRATOM

• Kratom Is A Drug, But Indonesia Really Wants It To Remain An Unlicensed Supplement (Science 2.0)

• The FDA is wrong about kratom (The Washington Post)

• Regulations Are On Hold as Kratom Debate Rages (WebMD)

• Kratom No Longer Allowed In Columbus (WCBI)

• What Is Kratom & Why Is It Being Used For Opiate Self-Detox? (Psychology Today)

• Miracle treatment or dangerous drug? (The Star Online)

MISCELLANEOUS

• El Chapo, the Notorious Drug Kingpin, Has Been Found Guilty in His U.S. Trial (TIME)

• 'Kitty Flipping' and the Psychonaut Obsession with Mixing Drugs (VICE)

• FDA explores using blockchain to track drug supplies (Engadget)

• How Brexit Will Shape Britain's Drug Supply (VICE)

• GOP Iowa lawmaker proposes decriminalizing psychedelic drugs for medical use (The Hill)

• Sri Lanka hiring hangmen, inspired by Philippines' war on drugs (Reuters)

• Will El Chapo's conviction change anything in the drug trade? (The Guardian)

• Victoria city councillors call on B.C. to provide safe-inhalation sites for drugs (Times Colonist)

• Tennessee bill would charge pregnant women using drugs if baby born addicted (KMPH)

• Students Turn To Study Drugs And Alcohol To Cope With Campus Life (Forbes)

• Is there something divine about gender and psychedelics? (The Psychedelic Scientist)

• Microdosing Hallucinogens Has Positive Effects—but Not What You Might Suspect (Pacific Standard)

• Riverstyx: A Small Family Foundation That Funds Psychedelic Research and Other Fringe Causes (Inside Philanthropy)

• Sex On Drugs (PSU Vanguard)

• The case for drug decriminalization in Baltimore (The Baltimore Sun)

• Japan managed to win its war on drugs, why can’t we? (The Spectator)

• Trip Sitters and Conscious Bachelorette: Interview with Chi of Truffles Therapy (Psychedelic Times)

• Psychedelics Live Up to Early Promise (Discover Magazine)

• How 'Russian Doll' flirts with psychedelic therapy (The Outline)

• Becoming an Entheogen (Medium)

• Psychedelic Meditation (The Third Wave)

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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:

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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.

FDA Explores Using Blockchain to Track Drug Supplies

Jon Fingas, writing for Engadget:

The US Food and Drug Administration wants to be sure sketchy drugs don't find their way to hospitals and pharmacies, and it's mulling a technological solution to keep medicine safe. The agency has launched a pilot program that will let the drug supply chain explore ways to track prescription medicine. While the FDA isn't specific about what tech companies would use, it noted that blockchain was one example. The same decentralized trust system that can trace the origins of your lettuce could also verify that your pills come from a legitimate source.

Blockchain has a ton of potential. But don’t expect this FDA pilot program to start anytime soon—its not supposed to get going until 2023.

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Post Permalink

This Week in Psychoactives - 1.11.19

CANNABIS

• Read Congress’s New H.R. 420 Marijuana Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Washington Governor to Pardon Thousands of People Prosecuted for Marijuana Prior to Legalization (Drug Policy Alliance)

• Marijuana Legalization Bills Already Filed In Half A Dozen Red States For 2019 Sessions (Marijuana Moment)

• Congress Just Legalized Hemp, but What Does That Mean for CBD? (VICE)

• Weed is safer than alcohol, people believe, yet they respect pot users less than drinkers (Rooster Magazine)

• Alcohol Sales Aren’t Impacted By Marijuana Legalization, Trade Association Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Pot company recalls cannabis product sold in Alberta over contamination concern (The GrowthOp)

• New York Bills Would Allow Medical Marijuana Smoking And Cannabis At Schools (Marijuana Moment)

• Vancouver approves city's first 3 cannabis outlets (CBC)

• Feds To Spend $1.5 Million On Research Into Marijuana’s Lesser Known Components (Marijuana Moment)

• What Advocates of Legalizing Pot Don’t Want You to Know (The New York Times)

• Is Marijuana as Safe as We Think? (The New Yorker)

• New Congressional Cannabis Caucus Takes Shape (Marijuana Moment)

• Cities Across Michigan Ban Legal Marijuana Sales (NORML)

• D.C. Lawmaker Files Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales Despite Federal Concerns (Marijuana Moment)

• MPs criticise NHS over failure to prescribe medical cannabis (The Guardian)

• Soda made from cannabis will soon hit store shelves (KOMO)

• Quebec cannabis retailers can't meet demand with limited supply (Montreal Gazette)

• Oregon grew three times as much cannabis as it smokes — and that could change the weed game forever (Rooster Magazine)

• Most Medical Marijuana Patients Stop Or Reduce Pharmaceutical Use With Cannabis, Survey Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Can CBD Support Fertility? (Civilized)

• Federal Officials Recognize How Marijuana’s Legal Status Blocks Research, Documents Show (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis Companies Struggle To Become More Sustainable (Forbes)

• New Hampshire Lawmakers File Three Marijuana Bills Ahead Of Possible Full Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Massachusetts inching closer to licensing ‘cannabis cafes’ (Boston Herald)

• FDA Officials Confiscated CBD Edibles, Yuma Shop Owner Says (Phoenix New Times)

• Kamala Harris Calls For Legalizing Marijuana And Ending War On Drugs In New Book (Forbes)

• Virginia Lawmaker Adds Full Legalization To Growing List of Marijuana Bills Being Consideration (Marijuana Moment)

• Legalize marijuana to beat Pennsylvania’s opioid crisis (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

• The Case for Legalizing Weed (Reason)

• Kansas lawmaker makes racist comments about African Americans, marijuana (The Kansas City Star)

• For racial justice, legalized marijuana must be taxed correctly (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

LSD

• Acid Farmers: The Original LSD Producers that Turned on the World (Prohbtd) 

• Man who drove on LSD convicted of homicide in fatal crash (Madison.com)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Psilocybin Decriminalization Backers Submit Signatures for May 2019 Ballot (Westword)

MDMA

• Can Santa Cruz MDMA Research Change Mental Health? (Good Times)

• 'What’s with the dumb warning?': Why young drug users do not believe the agony of ecstasy (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• Cultivating Inner Growth: The Inner Healing Intelligence in MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy (Psychedelic Frontier)

• Belarus MDMA Death Case Highlights Danger of Prohibition (Talking Drugs)

AYAHUASCA

• Where Do Ayahuasca Visions Actually Come From? (Kahpi)

• Ayahuasca Joined the Parliament of the World’s Religions (Kahpi)

IBOGA

• How One Ibogaine Clinic Has Learned From Its Mistakes (The Third Wave)

NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

• Monkey dust 'first of its kind' task force set up to tackle use of illegal substance (Staffordshire Live)

• Super-strength fake ketamine 50 times more potent arrives in UK for first time (Mirror)

• Calculating the fatal dose of novel psychoactive substances (The Pharmaceutical Journal)

• Testing shows Bath-Salt Laced MDMA Circulating Over NYE (Rave Jungle)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Slidell man sentenced to 30 years for death of teen who smoked Mojo (WNGO)

• UK to reconsider classification of synthetic drug spice (Financial Times)

• How The Wave Of Synthetic Cannabinoids Got Started (NPR)

NITROUS OXIDE

• New police warning over 'dangerous' laughing gas craze after used cannisters are found in Barwell (Leicester Mercury)

KETAMINE

• Dual studies highlight ketamine’s potential to treat anxiety and addiction (New Atlas)

• Intranasal ketamine as effective as fentanyl at relieving acute pain in kids (MDLinx)

• Harebrained Approach To Treating Depression With Horse Tranquilizer Turns 10 Years Old (PR Newswire)

• Ketamine shows potential in anxious treatment-resistant depression (Healio)

• A Survey of the Thriving Ketamine Infusion Therapy Industry in Denver, Colorado (MENAFN)

OPIATES/OPIOIDS

• Former Insys CEO pleads guilty to opioid kickback scheme (Reuters)

• Despite an opioid crisis, most ERs don’t offer addiction treatment. California is changing that. (Vox)

• A White House Report on the Opioid Crisis Overlooks Gender Differences in Addiction (Tonic)

• Heroin vaccine to be tested in Syracuse (WRVO)

• This smartphone app can detect an opioid overdose and save your life (CNBC)

• Most With OD Can Be Discharged From ED an Hour After Naloxone (Medscape)

• D.C. police don’t carry the overdose antidote naloxone. Should they? (The Washington Post)

• I Was Injecting Heroin in the Bathroom While Working at One of the UK's Biggest Papers (VICE)

• Looking Into the Lifesaving Naloxone (The Link)

COCAINE

• Eco-friendly drug dealers are now selling cocaine in reusable plastic vials (Metro)

• Cocaine overtakes opioids as drug-related killer for first half of 2018 (CBC)

• Why Crack Cocaine Sentencing Reform Could Mean Mean Thousands Out of Prison — Including Cannabis Convicts (Civilized)

• Model claims social media influencers use cocaine to stay thin (Courier Mail)

• Cocaine Prevalent Among Footballers In England According To Expert (Pundit Arena)

Benzodiazepines

• How benzos and Xanax culture propel the opioid crisis (CBC)

KRATOM

• Is the Kratom Nature’s Answer to Opioids? (The New York Times)

• Bill prepared to keep kratom legal in Utah (KUTV)

• Does kratom kill? (AlterNet)

• What is American Kratom Association (aka kratom)? (Kratom Guides)

• A Guide of Preparing Kratom Tea (Endo Nurse Magazine)

• Elephant Kratom: What Is Up With This Mysterious Plant Strain? (Kratom Guides)

MISCELLANEOUS

• The extraordinary therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs, explained (Vox)

• UK Drug Checking Study Shows How Coachella Should Do Harm Reduction (Inverse)

• Music festivals are offering to test the safety of people’s drugs, and police increasingly like the idea (The Washington Post)

• Pill testing at festivals leaves room for potentially fatal error (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• Rally in support of festival pill testing organized in Sydney (Mixmag)

• While law makers squabble over pill testing, people should test their drugs at home (The Conversation) 

• How the Sinaloa Cartel is using Chinese chemicals to fuel America's opioid crisis (VICE)

• Democrats Faked Online Push to Outlaw Alcohol in Alabama Race (The New York Times)

• Safehouse hires leader to open Philly’s supervised injection site (WHYY)

• Alchemically Stoned: The Psychedelic Secret Of Freemasonry (Graham Hancock)

• Psychedelics and Blockchain: Two Technologies Key to Our Future (Chacruna)

• A Journey in Sound: Music in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy (Psychedelic Support)

• Best Psychedelic Videos of 2018 (The Daily Psychedelic Video)

• Ian Hamilton: Dry January is no match for the growing harms of alcohol consumption (The BMJ)

• Overdoses Prompt Policy Change in Vermont Prisons (Seven Days)

• Four reasons medication-assisted treatment may not help inmates (CommonWealth Magazine)

• Trump’s Border Wall Won’t Block the Drug ‘Pipeline’ (Reason)

• Two Ayurvedic Tips to Support Winter Psychedelic Integration (Tam Integration)

• Why Drug Traffickers Laugh at Trump's Border Wall (Reason)

• Experience: I manage the drug service in the ‘drug death capital’ of Europe (Medium)

• Traveling High & Tripping Hard by Joseph Davida (Psychedelic Press UK)

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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.