This Week in Psychedelics - 12.17.21

Cannabis

• Malta becomes first EU country to legalise cannabis for personal use (Euronews)

• St. Louis Mayor Signs Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana Possession And Cultivation (Marijuana Moment)

• No Fentanyl Found in Cannabis After All, Vermont Police Say (High Times)

• Viral story shared across social media about two teens overdosing on fentanyl-laced marijuana in Springfield was untrue (MassLive)

• Ministry pushes full cannabis legalisation (Bangkok Post)

• Government-Funded Study Shows Unprecedented Decline in Marijuana Use By Young People (NORML)

• Pfizer to Acquire Pharmaceutical Company Testing Cannabinoid Treatment (High Times)

• Heavy metals in cannabis plants could affect human health, study finds (New Atlas)

• Rhode Island Legalization Bill Set for Early 2022 Introduction (High Times)

• Baltimore: City Officials Move to Abolish Pre-Employment Drug Screens for Many Public Employees (NORML)

• Smoking CBD-Rich Marijuana Has ‘No Significant Impact’ On Driving Ability, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis use could cause harmful drug interactions (ScienceDaily)

LSD

• Cary Grant Is High on LSD in ‘Flying Over Sunset.’ Everyone Else Has a Bad Trip. (The Daily Beast)

• PharmaTher Announces Positive Research Results for LSD Microneedle Patch (BioSpace)

• MindMed Initiates Phase 2a LSD Trial for the Treatment of Adult ADHD (Psilocybin Alpha)

Magic Mushrooms

• New Filing Challenges Compass Pathways’ Infamous Patent on Synthetic Psilocybin (VICE)

• Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy reduces loss of meaning and suicidal ideation among cancer patients (PsyPost)

• With health care workers hurting, a doctor wants to see if a psychedelic can help (NBC News)

• COMPASS Pathways announces positive outcome of 25mg COMP360 psilocybin therapy as adjunct to SSRI antidepressants in open-label treatment-resistant depression study (Psilocybin Alpha)

• More patients granted psilocybin exemption by federal government (CBC)

• Warning: Oregon Legalized Supported Adult Use of Psilocybin, Not Psychedelic Therapy (Chacruna)

• New York Lawmaker Files Bill To Legalize Medical Psilocybin Treatments, With Focus On First Responders And Veterans (Marijuana Moment)

• This Trippy New Book Takes You Through Modern Mushroom History—With Cartoons (DoubleBlind)

• Psyched Wellness Announces Path to Market for AME-1-derived Products in the USA (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Silo Wellness announces series of psilocybin retreats in Jamaica (Globetrender)

• HAVN Life Successfully Exports Psilocybin from Jamaica Facility into the U.S. for Research Purposes (Psilocybin Alpha)

MDMA

• The Big Return – and Decline in Quality – of MDMA (VICE)

• Latest trials confirm the benefits of MDMA – the drug in ecstasy – for treating PTSD (The Conversation)

• MDMA could soon be used to treat PTSD according to physicians (Mixmag)

Ayahuasca

• Study links the ceremonial use of ayahuasca to robust reductions in neuroticism (PsyPost)

• Educating Gringos in Shipibo Ways (Chacruna)

• Esther Jean Langdon: Half a Century of Research About Shamanism and Ayahuasca (Chacruna)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• Cybin Awarded Notice of Allowance from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for CYB004 (Deuterated Psychedelic Tryptamine) for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders (Psilocybin Alpha)

• atai Life Sciences Announces Successful Outcome of Phase 2a Biomarker Trial of RL-007 in Cognitive Impairment Associated with Schizophrenia (Psilocybin Alpha)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Tainted synthetic marijuana linked to severe bleeding cases in Florida (Live Science)

Miscellaneous

• Psychedelics Rejected for Therapeutic Use in Australia (VICE)

• Can a Values-Centered Psychedelic Ecosystem Effectively Compete? (Lucid News)

• Mind Medicine Australia’s Response to the Announcement of the TGA NOT to Reschedule the Medical Use of MDMA for Treatment Resistant PTSD and the Medical Use of Psilocybin for Treatment Resistant Depression as Part of Therapy. (Mind Medicine Australia)

• How Do Psychedelics Change Your Personality? These Researchers Tried To Find Out (IFLScience)

• ‘This isn’t the 60s again’: psychedelics business takes off amid culture clash (The Guardian)

• 2022 Global Drug Survey: Help make it bigger than ever for its 10 year anniversary (TalkingDrugs)

• Most Addiction Specialists Support Legalized Therapeutic Psychedelics (Medscape)

• Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy on the Rise in VA Hospitals (Lucid News)

• Psychedelics and Substance Use Disorder: 4000 BCE to Present Day (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Many Indians Are Experimenting With Psychedelics, Other Drugs to Deal With Mental Health Issues (The Swaddle)

• Editor’s Choice Award 2021-Best Study on Psychedelics and Neuroplasticity (Psychedelic Science Review)

• atai Impact Establishes the atai Fellowship Fund in Psychedelic Neuroscience with Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics (Psilocybin Alpha)

• How to Start Microdosing Psychedelics (DoubleBlind)

• Understanding HPPD to Prioritize Harm Reduction of a Very Real Psychedelic Risk (Psychedelic Spotlight)

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.

Book Review - Living Buddha, Living Christ

“When you are a truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist. And vice versa.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

I first added Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Living Buddha, Living Christ to my “Want to Read” list on Goodreads ten years ago but didn’t actually get around to reading it until earlier this year. I’m not sure exactly what enticed me about the book the first time I came across it, but something in me knew that I needed to eventually read it. I’m glad I followed that calling and gave it a try, even if it took me a decade to finish.

Living Buddha, Living Christ provides a high-level overview of the similarities and differences between Buddhism and Christianity. The book certainly isn’t a deep dive into either tradition, so if that is what you’re looking for then you should move on and continue your search.

But if you want to read a respectful, highly-digestible, thought-provoking take on the two spiritual paths, then look no further.

In the book, Hanh (the bestselling author of Peace Is Every Step) explores the teachings and practices brought to us by two of the most influential figures in the history of humankind. Jesus Christ and the Buddha have helped shape the lives of people and cultures for two millennia. Yet their followers do not always agree. Have you ever wondered what Buddha and Jesus would say (or do) to each other if they met on the road?

Something tells me that they wouldn’t kill each other, despite the sage advice from Zen master Linji Yixuan that is often repeated in Buddhist centers and temples throughout the world:

If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.

Instead, it’s likely that the two would engage in a friendly discussion similar to the one that Hanh has been having with Christians for several decades, where he has tried to build a bridge between the two contemplative traditions. Thankfully, the wisdom from that discussion has been skillfully translated for readers in Living Buddha, Living Christ.

The book explores several striking similarities between Buddhism and Christianity, like how the Buddhist idea of reincarnation lines up perfectly with “pre-incarnation”, a teaching from the third-century Christian theologian Origen that you’ve probably never even heard of. Or the ways that Buddhism’s notion of nirvana echo the sentiment of Jesus’ description of the Kingdom of God.

This book will help you see both Buddhism and Christianity in a different light, but also more clearly than you ever have before.

My completion of Living Buddha, Living Christ marks the 10th book by Thich Nhat Hanh that I have read. His books are incredibly simple yet they serve as powerful guides to live a better life, and this book is no exception. If you want to learn more about the intersections where Buddhism and Christianity overlap as well as where they diverge, I can honestly recommend that you give this book a read.

However, as one last note, I wouldn’t suggest Living Buddha, Living Christ as your introduction to Thich Nhat Hanh. Personally I think that Peace Is Every Step, The Art of Communicating, Being Peace, and Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames are much better places to start. But if you’re really into the concept behind Living Buddha, Living Christ, then you surely won’t be disappointed.

Either way, be sure you check out Hanh’s body of work; it has the potential to change your life.

Click here to buy the book.

Disclaimer: Think Wilder is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.

Book Review - MindApps

With an increasing amount of psychedelic research being published each and every year, those of us with an interest in consciousness have found ourselves needing a more specific framework and language that could be leveraged to analyze and discuss altered states of consciousness. MindApps: Multistate Theory and Tools for Mind Design, written by Dr. Thomas B. Roberts and published earlier this year, presents a so-called “multistate theory” as a potential framework to fill that need.

Although a lot of energy being pumped into psychedelic research is focused on finding ways to heal the sick, another equally viable application for these drugs is the betterment of well people and benefit optimization/maximization. After all, why should these powerful plants and chemicals be relegated to only those members of society who qualify as having a condition or disorder? In MindApps, Roberts explores this concept and many others in a unique, innovative, and intriguing manner.

In case you aren’t already familiar with the author, Thomas Roberts is professor emeritus at Northern Illinois University, where he’s been teaching the world’s first catalog-listed psychedelics course since 1981. He is a founding member of the Multidiscipinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a former visiting scientist at Johns Hopkins, editor of Spiritual Growth with Entheogens, and the author of the books Psychedelic Horizons and The Psychedelic Future of the Mind.

After a brief foreword by James Fadiman (author of The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide), Roberts opens the book with a description of his first psychedelic trip, which took place at Lake Tahoe in February 1970. As is the case for many psychonauts, Roberts’ first psychedelic experience had an enormous impact. While it wasn’t his first introduction to psychedelic ideas per se, it did send him further down the psychedelic path, which eventually led to the writing of this revolutionary book.

For those of you who don’t already know, the term “psychedelic” means “mind-manifesting,” and Roberts’ mind has graciously manifested several ideas that are introduced in the book: ideagens, mindapps, multistate theory, mind design, and mindapp artificial intelligences.

Roberts proposes the concept of the “singlestate fallacy,” which is the “hegemonic assumption that all worthwhile thinking takes place only in our ordinary, default mindbody state,” or what most people refer to as our normal waking state of consciousness. This fallacy has as its opposite a framework that Roberts has coined as “multistate theory,” a collection of many different kinds of “mindapps” into one single large, inclusive group.

You might be wondering, “What are mindapps?” Roberts explains them by using a clever analogy: “apps are to devices as mindapps are to minds.” In other words, you can “install” them on your mind for a variety of reasons and benefits. Mindapps include things like exercise routines, meditation, psychoactive plants and chemicals, yoga and the martial arts, sleep and sleep deprivation, chanting, dream work, breathing techniques, and many more like them.

MindApps explores an innovative concept dubbed “MindappAI,” which entails synthesizing new mindbody states and developing them to their highest potential. This will be a task for psychologists and other so-called “mind designers” to tackle, whipping up fresh recipes involving two, three, or even more mindapp ingredients, creating new mind-body states, relating their characteristics, and researching and perfecting them through trial and error.

Mindapps have a myriad of possible use cases—Roberts argues that they can be used to enhance the sciences and save the humanities, and that a newly emerging field of psychedelic philosophy will need to make use of them in order to reach it’s full potential.

The book closes with several points of justification for qualifying multistate theory as a new paradigm, and I have to say that I found Roberts’ argument to be quite persuasive.

But wait, there’s more! Three appendices follow the final chapter, exploring some very intriguing topics—a syllabus for a psychedelic class, how psychedelics can use the corporate system to spread around the globe, and the story of how Roberts created the LSD holiday known as Bicycle Day. These appendices are very thought-provoking and I’m interested to see what a world with widespread psychedelic college classes and psychedelic corporatism might end up looking like.

I found MindApps: Multistate Theory and Tools for Mind Design to be an excellent book. This is the first of Roberts’ books that I’ve read, and I was so impressed with it that I am looking forward to checking out his other works. If you have any interest in psychedelics, consciousness, mind design, or any of the other topics mentioned in this review then you will definitely like this book.

Click here to buy the book.

Disclaimer: Think Wilder is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.

In addition, the author provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. However, this is not a sponsored post—all thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

This Week in Psychoactives - 8.16.19

CANNABIS

• Scent of unburnt marijuana exclusively is not grounds to search warehouse, SJC rules (The Boston Globe)

• Vaping linked to marijuana use in young people, research says (CNN)

• Here Are The Top 20 Most And Least Marijuana-Friendly U.S. Colleges (Marijuana Moment)

• UC Davis Partners With DEA-Approved Company to Conduct Cannabis Research (UC Davis)

• Cannabis restaurants are coming to California, with 'budtenders' and 'flower' service (The Washington Post)

• Where Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Outside Lands Music Festival Raked in $1 Million in Legal Weed Sales (MERRY JANE)

• Adults who mix cannabis with opioids for pain report higher anxiety, depression (Science Daily)

• Medicinal cannabis: the hype is strong, but the evidence is weak (The Guardian)

• Lack of Patient Protection Gets Colorado a "B" Grade in Medical Marijuana (Westword)

• Is Your Weed Vegan? How Vegan Weed and Veganic Farming Avoids Fertilizers that Impact the Purity and Safety of Cannabis (Psychedelic Times)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• There’s Already a Company Developing Magic Mushroom Tea and Coffee in Denver (MERRY JANE)

• Oregon Activists Take Next Step To Legalize Psilocybin For Medical Use (Marijuana Moment)

MDMA

• Swingers Love Combining Ecstasy with Sex, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• Ecstasy 'too child-friendly' as deaths rise to record levels (BBC)

• Devastated mum of girl, 13, who died after taking ecstasy blames herself and wishes she’d told her ‘I love you’ (The Sun)

IBOGA

• What To Expect on an Ibogaine Trip (The Third Wave)

NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

• Synthetic MDMA-Like Drug Banned, Reportedly Linked to 125 Deaths (Your EDM)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Synthetic Cannabinoids and the Developing Fetus (Advanced Science News)

NITROUS OXIDE

• No laughing matter: Netherlands considers ban of nitrous oxide (The Straits Times)

OPIOIDS

• Overdose survival rates high with naloxone, Stockton study finds (The Press of Atlantic City)

• How to get naloxone, the antidote for an opioid overdose, in Maryland (The Baltimore Sun)

• ETSU installs overdose drug Naloxone in every residence hall (WCYB)

CAFFEINE

• Drinking coffee before bed does not affect sleep quality, study finds (Fox17)

• Comparing different caffeine doses, as opposed to comparing to placebo alone, leads to robust sports nutrition conclusions, paper argues (NutraIngrediants-usa.com)

TOBACCO

• The World Health Organization Blithely Denies Vaping Science (Filter)

• FDA Rolls Out New Graphic Warnings For Cigarette Packages And Tobacco Ads (NPR)

• WHO statement urging governments to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship at international expositions (World Health Organization)

ALCOHOL

• Religion and Drinking Alcohol in the U.S. (Gallup)

• Bud and Booze Make Bad Bedfellows, Study Says (MERRY JANE)

KRATOM

• Oxford becomes latest Mississippi government to ban kratom (Mississippi Business Journal)

MISCELLANEOUS

• All U.S. Adults Should Be Screened for Illicit Drug Use, National Panel Urges (U.S. News & World Report)

• Stay Off Your Phone While You're High, Study Says (MERRY JANE)

• Benefits and challenges of psychedelic microdosing – as reported by microdosers (BMC Blogs Network)

• The 40 Best Books About Shamanism and Plant Medicines (Chacruna)

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.

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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, which actually covers the past four weeks’ worth of news since I was away on vacation for a few weeks:

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Book Review - The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide

I have absorbed a lot of information concerning psychedelic substances during the past 13 years. Some sources took a scientific approach, full of statistics, surveys, and other assorted data. Others have focused on the spiritual use of these substances, which include direction for practices like meditation, yoga, and breathwork. There are also accounts of recreational use, which clearly illustrate the possibilities of both positive and negative outcomes of using and abusing these substances. I ate up as many books, movies, podcasts, YouTube clips, and audio lectures as I possibly could.

I also have my own experiences with several of these substances, and had already come to my personal opinion that they have the potential to awaken in me unexpected paths in my life, greater self-understanding, an ability to engage in self-healing, and a stronger connection with the Universe and the inhabitants of our planet that we call Earth.

Over the years, I learned a lot about psychedelics and often come noticed myself thinking to myself, "Oh, I've learned that already" while reading a book or watching a documentary. However, when I read James Fadiman's The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys back in 2012 I found it to be the first work in quite a while that had so many new things to teach me. This book covers many aspects concerning psychedelic use that I was previously unaware of, such as the concept of sub-perceptual dosing and the importance of listening to non-vocal music such as Classical during the beginning of a psychedelic experience.

I first heard of this book from Lorenzo Hagerty's "Psychedelic Salon," a podcast that I have listened to since 2006. Fadiman is the guest on episode 302, during which Lorenzo interviews him about the book and his experience in the psychedelic research field. After hearing Fadiman speak about these things, I put the book on my "To-Read" list and purchased it a few months later. My intention when reading this book was to learn how to become a guide for others undergoing psychedelic experiences. I was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of information contained in the book afforded to those of us who wish to better integrate our psychedelic journeys into ordinary reality as well as learn to be a better guide to others. Following my reading of this book, I identified some aspects of my own psychedelic practice that I ended up changing in an effort to focus more on the therapeutic and spiritual uses of these substances, rather than my previous goal of just having a good time. While I still believe that the recreational use of these substances can have a positive outcome, this is the book that sold on the concept of using them in a more intelligent manner.

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide does a great job of dispelling some of the myths about psychedelics, offers a practical and positive itinerary for a successful experience, introduces several important people in this field, and does so in a way that is unbiased and helpful. It is important for the psychedelic community to have truth on its side, and Fadiman does an excellent job of collecting both scientific and anecdotal evidence and arranging it in a way that is easily understood. I commend him on his work and look forward to more coming from him in the near future.

5/5 stars. 352 pages.

Click here to buy the book.

Disclaimer: Think Wilder is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.