This Week in Psychedelics - 12.2.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• On His Way Out the Door, Obama Suggests Marijuana Should Be Legal (Reason)
• Berlin to Legalize Cannabis Coffee Shops? (Weed News)
• Legalising cannabis and opium in India (The Asian Age)
• Some State Leaders Challenging Marijuana Election Results (NORML)
• Teva Pharm to market medical cannabis inhaler in Israel (Reuters)
• Opinion: WHO's Silence on Cannabis (The Scientist)
• The Cannabis Exception to the Second Amendment (Reason)
• Mapped: The countries that smoke the most cannabis (The Telegraph)
• Meme Sums up the Debate on Marijuana Use by NFL Players (ATTN:)
• New Yorkers Will Soon Be Able To Use Pot For Chronic Pain (TIME)
• Hunter S. Thompson's Widow Plans to Clone and Sell His Marijuana (TIME)
• First Vape Lounge for Cannabis Patients Opens in Rome (Leafly)
• GP Michael Harty claims Bill aims to legalise recreational cannabis (Irish Times)
• Investors Hoping To Ride High On Trailblazing Marijuana Company (TIME)
• Texas lawyers sing about why you shouldn't eat weed in front of cops (Boing Boing)
• Minnesota OK's medical pot for post-traumatic stress disorder (MPR News)
• Pet owners use cannabis for animal ailments (The Recorder)
• Medical cannabis could see movement in Iowa (Des Moines Register)
• The Stranger's Cannabis Gift Guide (The Stranger)

LSD

• The Science Behind LSD Flashbacks: Truth or Myth? (The Science Explorer)
• The Last Word: Carrie Fisher on LSD, Death and Sex With Han Solo (Rolling Stone)
• LSD, Sophia Loren and living in Batchelor Hall: thing you didn't know about Cary Grant (The Telegraph)
• Retracing the Steps of Psychedelic Outlaws on an LSD Mission From God (KQED)
• Exploding Cigars To LSD Poisoning, These Are The Craziest Plots To Kill Fidel Castro (ScoopWhoop)
• Accidental Discoveries: LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) (Daily News & Analysis)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Magic mushroom ingredient psilocybin could be key to treating depression - studies (The Guardian)
• Psilocybin: A Journey beyond the Fear of Death? (Scientific American)
• I Took A Psychedelic Drug for My Cancer Anxiety. It Changed My Life (TIME)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• MDMA could be on the market legally by 2021 (Popular Science)
• How MDMA Treats PTSD: Everything You Need to Know (Rolling Stone)
• FDA Approves Final Stage of MDMA Drug Trials (Reason)
• Couples and the Love Drug: Integration Therapy With Your Partner After a Difficult MDMA Experience (Psychedelic Times)
• The Past, Present, and Future of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy - Preparing for a Post-Prohibition World (SFStation)
• Can MDMA help combat post-traumatic stress disorder? (CBC News)
• Three who died after Hard Summer rave overdosed on Ecstasy, coroner says (Los Angeles Times)
• Funeral held for Jamie Burns who died after taking tablet during Belfast night out (Belfast Telegraph)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Understanding the Science of Ayahuasca (Collective Evolution)
• DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: Interview with Rick Strassman (Psychedelic Times)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Peyote has no bearing on church registration (Mexico News Daily)
• Scalia's Legacy Is Great, But Don't Forget The Bind He Left Us In (ValueWalk)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• An Ancient African Remedy Helped Me Kick My Opioid Addiction Overnight (Woman's Day)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Two 13-Year-Olds Killed By Drug More Powerful Than Heroin (KIIS)
• A new kind of high (Deccan Chronicle)

Dissociatives

• From Club To Medication: Party Drug 'Ketamine' Is Said To Effectively Cure Migraines (Parent Herald)
• Ketamine Considerations for Prehospital Use (Satellite Press Releases)

Opiates/Opioids

• When it comes to opioids, a stronger naloxone dose will save lives today (The Hill)
• This Drug Reverses Overdoses, But 3 States Make It Hard to Get (Governing)
• Walgreens makes Naloxone available without prescription in Louisiana (WWLTV)
• Israeli Cannabis Inhaler May Get Tested With Opium Poppy Next (Bloomberg)
• Rising Price of Naloxone Concerns Some Addicts' Families (EMSWorld)
• One Solution to the Threat of the Opioid Epidemic Spreading HIV (ATTN:)
• Opinion: Geographic shifts in heroin production caused more powerful strains (Maroon)
• More than 30 percent of North Koreans use meth, opium (UPI)
• The most horrifying mannequin challenge you'll see: Campaigners create video which shows the scene of a 'heroin overdose' to draw attention to epidemic sweeping America (Daily Mail)

Kratom

• We Still Have A Chance To Stop Kratom Prohibition – DEA Wants To Hear Your Thoughts (Reset.me)
• Kratom Research Gains Supporters in the Race to Replace Opioids (Inverse)
• Kratom: The Bitter Plant That Could Help Opioid Addicts—if the DEA Doesn't Ban It (Wired)
• Kratom and Adderall combination, does it really work? (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• What is Kava Kava used for? How well does Kava work for anxiety? (Kratom Guides)

Khat

• ROP increases border patrolling to crack down on khat smuggling (Muscat Daily)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• From Rapé to Mapacho: Uncovering the Ceremonial and Medicinal Benefits of Sacred Tobacco (Psychedelic Times)
• Psychedelics and MDMA are helping cure PTSD, addiction, depression and anxiety (News.com.au)
• Random drug testing is a scam on behalf of big pharma (Echo Net Daily)
• Ross Ulbricht's Lawyers Think There's More Evidence of Law Enforcement Misconduct in the Silk Road Prosecution (Reason)
• Global Drug Survey set to peel back curtain on professionals microdosing on LSD and magic mushrooms (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Study Concludes Alcohol is More Harmful Than Psychedelics (Collective Evolution)
• Q&A - Shane Mauss on The Chemistry of Comedy and Psychedelics (303 Magazine)
• It's time to give psychedelic drugs another look (USA TODAY)
• Researchers Say Psychedelic Drugs Could Help Cure Addiction (IFL Science)
• Psychedelics reduce anxiety, depression in patients, study finds (The Baltimore Sun)
• Legalizing entheogens? (Telluride Daily Planet)
• Trump Picks El Chapo to Run D.E.A. (The New Yorker)
• Conviction rate in drug trafficking sees steep spike in four years (The Times of India)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Book Review - The Last Laser Show

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. However, rest assured—the following review reflects how I genuinely felt about the book.

The Last Laser Show: A Dark, Laugh Out Loud Comedy is a debut novel from the English author Ian Avery, and it is described as "a wild dark comedy with underlying themes of longing and loss".  It follows the adventures of Arthur Deadman, a writer who is attempting to sell his story and make it in show business.

The writing style is reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson, although it has more of a British feel to it and the protagonist doesn't appear to be as crazy and reckless as Thompson was. As a debut novel, I was very impressed by the book. There were some parts that could have been edited a bit better, with spelling or grammatical errors, but it didn't really take away from my overall positive impression of the book.

There certainly are many laugh-out-loud moments, the plot is thoroughly engaging, and the characters are interesting, fresh and believable. The book takes a bit of a turn toward the end, away from action-packed events and focusing more on a fledgling romance, but that change seems to be for the best.

All in all, I'm very glad I read this book. I encourage you to read it if you get a chance!

4/5 stars. 334 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.

Weekend Thoughts - 5.14.16

Image by Akuppa John Wigham, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Let's face it—everybody poops. However, the facilities used around the world can be quite different. Here is a collection of photos of toilets from around the world. Compared to some of the countries, I am very grateful to have the levels of sanitation that I enjoy in the U.S. However, Finland's concept of requiring users to text the word "OPEN" to gain entrance to the bathroom seems like it could encourage an elevated level of responsibility. And for the countries that offer squatting toilets, I find that intriguing as well. It's also reminiscent of the Squatty Potty, which, by the way, has one of the best commercials I've ever seen.

2. Speaking of pooping, a report was released this week showing that poultry plant workers have been denied bathroom breaks and required to wear diapers so they don't lose their jobs. Yet another reason not to support the meat industry—companies like Tyson Foods mistreat their employees as well as they treat their "products".

3. I'm a huge Hunter S. Thompson fan, so I was excited to see that a short documentary this week that focused the collaboration with him and artist Ralph Steadman that covered the 1970 Kentucky Derby, which resulted in the jaw-dropping book The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved. I'd highly suggest reading the book, but at the very least you can get a sufficient teaser by watching the documentary.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 2.27.16

Image by Francis Chung, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Before he became a successful writer, a friend asked Hunter S. Thompson to give advice on how to find meaning and purpose in life. He responded with a must-read stellar letter that may make you question your own life's direction. Reader beware!

2. If you are a Facebook user, you may have noticed that the service has rolled out "Reactions", which allows users to have a wider emotional range of reactions to choose from other than just "liking" a post. Now you can choose to "love", "haha", "wow", "sad", and "angry" your friends' posts. This is in response to years of customer feedback requesting a "dislike" button. Although we didn't get a "dislike" button, now you can show sympathy for a friend going through a hard time or anger for a family member who got rear-ended on the highway. What's going to be really interesting, however, is how advertisers and marketers use Facebook's new "Reactions" for more targeted marketing. Make no mistake, this is really valuable data for marketers, and we can expect to see more specifically-targeted ads in the near future.

3. It turns out that the "Best Seller" badge on an Amazon book's page is fairly worthless. How worthless, exactly? Well, this article shows that it takes about $3 and five minutes for a book to be marked as a "Best Seller" on Amazon. Interestingly (albeit not surprisingly), Amazon removed the example book from the article after it was published.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 1.30.16

Image by David A. LaSpina, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Many of us don't think about what to do when police come to our door (assuming they even knock—police can be so rude sometimes!). Hopefully you will not have to deal with that situation, but if you do—this guide covering what to do when police show up to your door uninvited may come to your rescue. The main tips include asking for a search warrant with the door closed, following the police while they conduct a search, and recording the event on video if possible.

2. In thinking about what will make for the next evolutionary level of artificial intelligence, engineers are finding that creating a bot that has the ability to engage in believable small talk to be of upmost importance. And that does make sense—when dealing with entities that we know are computers we generally prefer to work with the ones that have a personality and an ability to chitchat. The article argues that is why people like speaking to modern chatbots that are able to hold a conversation, and they are much preferred over software that is strictly computerlike. And another article predicts that chatbots will be making a resurgence in 2016, as companies find various ways to monetize them and their interactions with human users will presumably become more believable and enjoyable.

3. The late Hunter S. Thompson is one of my favorite authors and journalists that ever put ink to paper, but he wasn't always a successful writer. In fact, when he was fresh out of the military and sick of working as a lowly copy boy at TIME Magazine, he sent an extremely forward letter to Jack Scott, the editorial director of The Vancouver Sun, announcing his potential desire to work for the publication. Wow, he really did have some gumption, didn't he!?

4. For those of us on the East Coast of the United States, winter storm Jonas (which was classified as a blizzard in many locations) offered a beautiful snowy view mixed with the challenges of dealing with said snow. In North Carolina, we mainly received sleet, which made for extra slick streets. One of the good things that came out of the snow is this video of some people tandem snowboarding through the streets of New York City, even after a ban on driving personal vehicles was put into place. Even better, the police officer in the video who pulled over the snowboarder and the vehicle that was towing him was really chill and essentially let them off the hook completely. It's worth a watch, for its aesthetic quality and the uplifting exchange with the officer. Kudos to all involved!

5. As one of the backers for the Fantastic Fungi Kickstarter campaign, I have received a link to a sneak peek of the documentary, which is now aiming for a 2017 release. Although the link to this newly-released footage is only intended for the backers of the campaign, I wanted to spread the word about the film to the Think Wilder audience in hopes of piquing some of your interest before it is released. The project is intended to be a life-affirming, climate-changing, bee-saving film about mushrooms, directed by Louie Schwartzberg, featuring Paul Stamets and produced by Lyn Lear. I'm definitely looking forward to viewing it when it comes out next year!

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.