This Week in Psychedelics - 5.4.18

Cannabis

• Maine Legislators Override Governor's Veto of Marijuana Legalization (Reason)
• Zimbabwe legalises marijuana for medicinal use (The Independent)
• Thailand Authorises Country’s First Medical Cannabis Programme (Talking Drugs)
• Cannabis versus Cancer (Scientific American)
• Seattle wipes criminal marijuana convictions for hundreds of people (The Independent)
• Study: Frequent Cannabis Use Unrelated To Brain Morphology (NORML)
• Legislation Introduced To End The Federal Government’s Marijuana Production Monopoly (NORML)
• YouTube Remains Silent as Weed Pages Are Purged (High Times)
• An easy policy fix: Jeff Sessions should finally reschedule cannabis (The Hill)
• So far, California has 6,000 licensed cannabis businesses. Here’s what that looks like (The Orange County Register)
• Ninth Circuit Court Rejects Challenge To DEA’s Classification Of Marijuana Extracts (NORML)
• NFL player makes medical marijuana history: 'I have a life to live' (CNN)
• Weed 101: How to Choose Marijuana (Rolling Stone)
• Igniting A Powder Keg: Discussing Cannabis And Cryptocurrency With Dübercoin CEO Glenn Ballman (Forbes)
• It's Dumb Not to Have Investments in Cryptocurrencies, Cannabis in a Portfolio (The Street)
• Trudeau vows cannabis will be legal by summer as senators urge delay (CBC)
• Marijuana Gives Health-Conscious Consumers Something Alcohol Cannot (Forbes)
• Feinstein drops opposition to legal pot, giving legal marijuana a new ally (McClatchy DC Bureau)
• NORML Working With Cory Gardner's Office on Hands-Off-Colorado-Pot Bill (Westword)
• At 89, legendary psychiatrist and marijuana advocate still wonders about Harvard professorship (Boston Globe)
• New York Voters Strongly Support Legalizing Marijuana, Poll Shows (Marijuana Moment)
• Some Prosecutors Are Erasing Old Weed Convictions. Why Isn’t Yours? (HuffPost)
• Getting off opioids with medical marijuana: Patients turn to pot over pills (CNN)
• Is Israeli Cannabis a Bubble Waiting to Burst? (Merry Jane)
• The Quest for an Ancient Culture’s Cannabis-Filled Cooking (Atlas Obscura)
• Moorenko’s Ice Cream Introduces Cannabis Coffee to Silver Spring (Bethesda Magazine)
• Veterans' grass-roots movement shares health benefits of marijuana (CNN)
• Growing 4 cannabis plants for recreational use is not a ‘grow-op,’ experts say (Global News)
• Investing in Australia’s Cannabis Industry: 5 Companies to Watch (Leafly)
• Quebec Lawmaker Explains Provincial Ban on Home-Grown Cannabis (High Times)
• Cannabis tycoons plot to make drug legal in Britain in next five years (The Sun)
• Lidl offers locally grown cannabis to Swiss shoppers (The Guardian)
• Medical marijuana may help combat the opioid crisis. But there are better solutions. (Vox)
• Police Raid Dispensary Over Cannabis-Infused Candy (High Times)
• Medicinal cannabis should be more than pot luck (Asia and the Pacific Policy Society)
• Boyack: Medical cannabis initiative opponents are trying to mislead you (Daily Herald)
• OrganiGram: Medical Cannabis Leader In The Maritimes (Seeking Alpha)
• Aurora Cannabis Set to Challenge Canopy Growth in Australia? (Smallcap Power)

LSD

• I Had a Bad Trip on LSD: This is My Story (71 Republic)
• Diplo, Sia and Labrinth Will Drop New Team Effort 'LSD' This Thursday (Billboard)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Shrooms Could Help Scientists Better Understand Consciousness (Tonic)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Trials testing MDMA as a treatment for alcoholism have begun (Mixmag)
• Active ingredient in ecstasy may help veterans with PTSD, study finds (CNN)
• Ecstasy as PTSD relief for soldiers: ‘I was able to forgive myself.’ (Watertown Daily Times)
• 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans, firefighters, and police officers: a randomised, double-blind, dose-response, phase 2 clinical trial (The Lancet)
• Ecstasy as a Remedy for PTSD? You Probably Have Some Questions. (The New York Times)
• Ecstasy island: The is the story of how MDMA reached the UK in 1988 (Mixmag)
• Lady Gabriella Windsor's ex claims they took ECSTASY at Windsor Castle and swam NAKED in Queen's swimming pool at Buckingham Palace (Mirror)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• The Global Ayahuasca Community Is Reeling in the Wake of Recent Murders (VICE)
• Gun used to kill shaman was purchased by Canadian man lynched in Peru: authorities (Global News)
• Peru's brutal murders renew focus on tourist boom for hallucinogenic brew (The Guardian)
• The epidemiology of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) use: Benefits, consequences, patterns of use, subjective effects, and reasons for consumption (SAGE Journals)
• I had an 11-year addiction to heroin — and I beat it with ayahuasca (San Francisco Chronicle)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• New hope for opioid addicts with innovative ibogaine treatment (San Francisco Chronicle)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Deadly new drug has reached Australia, pill testing reveals (The New Daily)

Dissociatives

• Pharma giants are looking to ketamine for clues to the next blockbuster depression drug — and science says they're onto something big (Business Insider)
• Police say Bryan man rammed his car into other vehicle, possessed PCP (The Eagle)

Opiates/Opioids

• Cocaine Deaths Are Rising At An Alarming Rate, And It’s Because Of Fentanyl (BuzzFeed News)
• The US Opioid Crisis Started in India (VICE)
• Maine Gov. Vetoes Bill Increasing Access to Naloxone Overdose Drug (Governing)
• To Save Lives, Make Naloxone an Over-the-Counter Drug (Reason)
• De Blasio Moves to Bring Safe Injection Sites to New York City (The New York Times)
• Questions Raised About Study Of Device To Ease Opioid Withdrawal (NPR)
• Afghan Farmers Stick to Growing Opium in the Face of Less Lucrative Options (U.S. News and World Report)
• The Four Main Reasons People in Denver Overdose on Heroin (Westword)
• A Vet Helped Smuggle Drugs by Implanting Puppies With Heroin, Police Say (TIME)

Kratom

• Experts Are Concerned that Kratom Will Become the Next Marijuana (Tonic)
• Pro-Kratom Scientist Blasts Denver Ban, Federal Policies as Recipe for Death (Westword)
• What is Kratom and why is it banned in 5 states? (CBS17)
• Maya Distribution, LLC Recalls Dragon Label Kratom Because Of Possible Salmonella Contamination (US Recall News)

Khat

• Khat (Plant) Market to Set Phenomenal Growth from 2018 to 2023 (The Financial Analyst)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Politicians Are Finally Getting On Side With Pill Testing After The Success Of Groovin The Moo (Junkee)
• Antidepressant Use Leads to Worse Long Term Outcomes, Study Finds (Mad in America)
• Storming the Gates of Psychedelia: Scientists Commit to Collaboration in the Face of Capitalist Competition (Chacruna)
• The Timothy Leary Project: Interview with Jennifer Ulrich (Psychedelic Times)
• The New Science of Psychedelics (The Wall Street Journal)
• Jon Hopkins interview: My new album is a psychedelic experience (Evening Standard)
• President Duterte’s Son Cleared of Drug Trafficking, as Extrajudicial Killings Continue (Talking Drugs)
• The FDA receives a petition to prohibit sugar alongside cannabis, LSD and heroin (Herb)
• Everything You Need to Know About Microdosing (The Cut)
• Pill Testing Probably Won’t Happen In NSW Any Time Soon Because Of This Idiot (Junkee)
• A New Netflix Series Tells the Story of the Philippines' Drug War. But Its Critics Are Condemning Amo as Propaganda (TIME)
• The Best Books About Microdosing and Psychedelic Therapy (The Strategist)
• New Clues In The Psychedelic Treatment Of Depression (High Existence)
• Kacey Musgraves: ‘Psychedelics have made me compassionate’ (Hollywood.com)
• People Trying to Quit Their Psychiatric Medications Can Get Help from This Online Group (Healthline)
• Australia’s First Sanctioned Pill Testing Trial Is Just the Beginning (Sydney Criminal Lawyers)

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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

This Week in Psychedelics - 4.27.18

Cannabis

• Top Democrats Embrace Marijuana Reform Ahead of Midterm Elections (Truthout)
• Dr. Sanjay Gupta to Jeff Sessions: Medical marijuana could save many addicted to opioids (CNN)
• NEW POLL: 63% of Americans Believe “Marijuana Should Be Made Legal” (NORML)
• Sessions Admits There ‘May Well Be Some Benefits From Medical Marijuana’ (Marijuana Moment)
• Marijuana Legalization Will Be on Michigan's Ballot in November (Reason)
• Cannabis is having its 'smartphone' moment (Engadget)
• How activists are fighting for full cannabis legalization in Washington, D.C. (Psymposia)
• The End of the Joint As We Know It (The Ringer)
• NORML Delivers Over 10,000 Citizen Comments To The FDA Calling For The Reconsideration of Cannabis Prohibition (NORML)
• The best way to fight illegal pot is with legal cannabis (The Hill)
• Why Are Marijuana Policies So Behind in 4/20-Heavy Places Like New York? (Rolling Stone)
• How Seniors Joined the Cannabis Craze (The New Yorker)
• Cannabis Flowers Are Legal in Italy. You Just Can’t Eat or Smoke Them. (The New York Times)
• How 'dank' became a compliment for both beer and marijuana (Detroit Free Press)
• Greens' cannabis plan could raise $3.6bn (9NEWS)
• Isle Of Man Could Be The First Place In The British Isles To Decriminalise Cannabis Possession (HuffPost)
• These Five States Lead the Nation in Marijuana Arrests (AlterNet)
• Miracle drug or the devil's lettuce? (The Washington Post)
• The Complicated History of Cannabis in the US (History)
• FDA Rejects Anti-Legalization Pharma Co’s Cannabis Drug Request (Marijuana Moment)
• Legalising marijuana is a lot more complex than you might think (The Age)
• 4/20 Special: How Advocates and Entrepreneurs of Color Are Fighting for Equity in the Legal Weed Business (Colorlines)
• Liberal party members overwhelmingly vote for decriminalizing drugs while Trudeau repeats opposition (The Georgia Straight)
• Assemblyman introduces bill that would allow vets to prescribe cannabis for pets (KABC-TV)
• Utah Medical Marijuana Measure Has Enough Signatures For Ballot (Marijuana Moment)
• Is marijuana decriminalization possible in the Middle East? (The Washington Post)
• Anxiety Relief Without The High? New Studies On CBD, A Cannabis Extract (NPR)
• YouTube Continues Its Cannabis Purge and Nobody Knows Why (Leafly)
• Facebook Has a Cannabis Problem That ‘Community Standards’ Don’t Solve (Leafly)
• Two Cannabis Entrepreneurs Share Their Secrets For Success (Forbes)
• Police Department Offers Prize For Possessing The Most Cannabis (High Times)
• Medical cannabis oil is legal in Texas, but epilepsy patients still struggle (The Texas Tribune)
• A Multibillion-Dollar Cannabis Company Has Announced Its Asia-Pacific Headquarters In Australia (BuzzFeed News)
• Senator Wants Jeff Sessions To Meet With Drug War Victims (Marijuana Moment)
• Psychedelic Rapper Challenges New Jersey's Cannabis Laws In New 420 Song (PR Newswire)
• 'The Truth About Cannabis': Inside New Pro-Pot Web Doc (Rolling Stone)
• Cannabis Cultivation Will Be A Race To The Bottom (Forbes)
• 'Women of Cannabis' Cultivate Ideas and Relationships (Seven Days)
• Cannabis and psychosis: what is the link and who is at risk? (The Conversation)
• Marijuana moguls optimistic about legalisation of recreational cannabis in Australia (ABC)
• Can Cannabis Make You Sick? (The Stranger)
• Is This The Most Expensive Marijuana In The World? (Forbes)
• Could 'one puff' of cannabis ease depression? (Medical News Today)
• Understanding Terpenes: Linalool (Cannabis Now)
• Harvard Medical Students Say Schools Need to Teach More About Medical Marijuana (Civilized)

LSD

• LSD Provokes Synesthetic Hallucinations in a Congenitally Blind Man (Psychedelic Times)
• Couple drop LSD to see if it makes them better at assembling IKEA furniture (Metro)
• Psychedelic Cyclists – An Irishman’s Diary about Albert Hofmann and Flann O’Brien (The Irish Times)
• St. Pete man on LSD punches 13-year-old girl in face, knocks her out (WFLA)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• The Man Who Treated His OCD with Magic Mushrooms (VICE)
• Inside Jamaica's magic mushroom retreat for women (The Independent)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Can MDMA Treat Alcoholism? Scientists Begin First Clinical Trials (Newsweek)
• MDMA research meets Australian antipathy (Cosmos Magazine)
• An Amsterdam house had so much MDMA discovered inside it's been locked down (Mixmag)
• Teen dies after taking 'Netflix and Chill' ecstasy pills (New York Post)
• Melissa McCarthy Snorts Ecstasy With Sex Crazed Puppets in ‘Happytime Murders’ (Variety)
• Gardaí fear 'bad batch' of MDMA may have killed teen (17) (Independent.ie)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Canadian Lynched by Mob After Being Accused of Killing Shaman at Ayahuasca Retreat (VICE)
• UN condemns murder of Peruvian indigenous leader (Andina)
• A Judge Has Ordered Arrests Over Killing of a Canadian in the Peruvian Amazon (TIME)
• Effects and risks of ayahuasca, the hallucinogen sought after by Canadians travelling to the Amazon (CBC)
• How Did Avicii Die? Details On The Artist's Sudden Passing (EDM Sauce)
• Doctor sees healing power in psychedelic plant as Peru investigates deaths (The Reminder)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Why opioid addicts desperate to quit are turning to this risky treatment (New York Post)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine Nasal Spray May Help Reduce Depression Symptoms, Study Says (The Fix)
• Oral ketamine does not ease cancer-related neuropathic pain (medwireNews)
• Beneficial effects of ketamine in a chronic pain state with allodynia, possibly due to central sensitization (Science Direct)
• Document: Hagerstown man smoked PCP before shooting woman (Herald-Mail Media)
• Boyfriend of Morgan Freeman's slain kin knew what he was doing despite being in PCP haze (New York Daily News)

Opiates/Opioids

• New York Could Open the First Safe Injection Site in the US (The Nation)
• asha bandele: Prince could still be alive today if America didn’t shame people for using drugs (Mic)
• Google uses its search skills to help fight opioid addiction (Engadget)
• The New York Times Suggests Opioids Should Be Reserved for Terminal Patients (Reason)
• Will Getting Tough on Dealers Curb the Opioid Crisis? (The Crime Report)

Kratom

• Leading Scientists Say Salmonella Outbreak Tied To Kratom May Be Side-Effect Of FDA Crackdown & Underscores Need For Regulation … Not A Ban (PR Newswire)
• Kratom Products Recalled for Risk of Salmonella (Coherent Chronicle)
• Kratom Wars: FDA, Proponents Square Off on Controversial Opioid-Like Plant (Pain Medicine News)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Lessons from Portugal: The Case for Drug Policy Reform (Beckley Foundation)
• Becoming a Psychedelic Researcher: Alan Kooi Davis (Psymposia)
• Are psychedelics the answer to depression and addiction? (Salon)
• Not all drug dealers are the same – it’s time to ditch outdated stereotypes (The Conversation)
• Harm Reduction: More than just clean needles (Julian Buchanan)
• A Survey Shows The Most Used Drugs At Music Festivals: Here’s What We Learned (Dance Music Northwest)
• Antidepressants and Withdrawal: Readers Tell Their Stories (Mad in America)
• A revolution in teen drug education (New York Daily News)
• Police chiefs studying decriminalizing drugs as possible solution to opioid crisis (CBC)
• Just Because You Can't Stop Taking Antidepressants Doesn't Mean You're Addicted (VICE)
• Pill-testing trial approved for Groovin the Moo festival in Canberra (ABC)
• Why we should test drugs for safety (Virgin)
• The Best Drug Documentaries On Netflix Right Now (HotNewHipHop)
• 'Archaic and harmful': report condemns strict handling of student drug takers (The Guardian)
• Psychedelic Scholar Robert Forte Talks Conspiracy Theories and Consciousness (Santa Barbara Independent)
• New Research Provides First Peek at Ancient Mesopotamian Drug Use (Ancient Origins)

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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

This Week in Psychedelics - 4.7.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• The TSA Sent a Mixed Message About Bringing Weed on Planes (ATTN:)
• California Leaders Want to Block a Fed Move Against Cannabis (Leafly)
• Trump and Cannabis: Which Way Will the Wind Blow? (Forbes)
• What Marijuana Legalization in Canada Could Mean for the United States (TIME)
• The Future of Legal Pot Under Trump: Marijuana Entrepreneurs Speak Out (Reason)
• West Virginia NORML Makes Final Push For Medical Marijuana Legislation (NORML)
• HB 185 – North Carolina's Medical Cannabis Bill (2017) (NORML of North Carolina)
• Hurdles and Hopes in the Development, Production and Distribution of Cannabis (Entrepreneur)
• Houston Has Decriminalized Marijuana, Reveals Conflicting Attitudes and Budget Priorities of Law Enforcement (NORML)
• Colorado Governor Concedes Legal Marijuana Hasn't Turned His State Into a Stoner Hellscape (Reason)
• Diet and the Endocannabinoid System (Reality Sandwich)
• WATCH: John Oliver Explains The Mayhem That Is U.S. Cannabis Law (Forbes)
• Could the extraordinary compound in cannabis that helps kids with epilepsy make you feel better? (Los Angeles Times)
• Oregon's Marijuana Industry Sold 11,000 Lbs. of Pot in 3 Months (TIME)
• The Dallas Cowboys' Owner Is Right: NFL Should Change its Nonsensical Marijuana Prohibition (Reason)
• Govs Urge Sessions to Keep Cannabis Legal (Leafly)
• Hebrew University launches cannabis research center with high aspirations (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
• California Could Become The Cannabis Industry's Safe Haven (Forbes)
• Trudeau's Handling Of The Cannabis Industry Risks Public Safety (The Huffington Post)
• Cashing in on cannabis: how new freedoms began a green gold rush in the United States (The Telegraph)
• KC NORML Successfully Decriminalized Marijuana in Kansas City (NORML)
• What Is Charas Cannabis Concentrate? (Leafly)
• Oregon State Bar Offers Lawyers a Cannabis Section (Willamette Week)
• How to Not Smell Like Cannabis After Smoking: 5 Items to Have On-Hand (Leafly)

LSD

• Scientists show how LSD reduces brain activity related to handling of fear (News-Medical.net)
• 'The Sunshine Makers' brings good vibrations to Netflix (The Contributor)
• Inside the doomsday cult where children were given LSD and had hair dyed blonde to be like sinister leader (Mirror)
• LSD at Lassonde: Microdosing to Enhance Creativity (The Daily Utah Chronicle)
• Coroner: Man killed by Round Lake officer had LSD in his system (Daily Herald)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• An addiction specialist reveals what happens to your brain on Ecstasy (Business Insider)
• Orange police and Lyndon Community's deputy CEO sound warning over Blue Koalas (Central Western Daily)
• A teenager who 'hated drugs' died after taking ecstasy (Metro)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Breaking Down the Brew: Examining the Plants Commonly Used In Ayahuasca (Psychedelic Times)
• This psychedelic drug seems to affect the brain in ways that are surprisingly similar to meditation (Business Insider)
• An Artwork for an Age of Anxiety and Ayahuasca? (The New Yorker)
• Who is most at risk of psychosis after ingesting ayahuasca or DMT? (PsyPost)

Dissociatives

• A Dosing Guide for Using Ketamine for Psychedelic Therapy (Psychedelic Times)
• If ketamine helps treat depression, why can't doctors prescribe it? (The Guardian)
• Ketamine for Chronic Pain on the Rise (Medscape)
• Cleveland man high on PCP takes swing at Lakewood night club bouncer, police say (Cleveland.com)
• PCP Blackout Causes Accident; Leads to Arrest (KSST)

Opiates/Opioids

• Heroin became 'epidemic' as race of victims changed (NJ.com)
• When heroin kills, the appeal grows – and policing the drug becomes harder (The Washington Post)
• Massachusetts Doctors Want a Safe Place for People to Use Illegal Drugs (Reason)
• Opioids Aren't the Problem and Chris Christie Isn't the Solution (CounterPunch)
• Does Afghanistan grow more opium poppies than before 2001? (PolitiFact)
• Heroin Users Are Less Likely to Be Dependent But More Likely to Die (Reason)

Kambô

• How to Stay Safe During a Kambo Ceremony If You Have Bulimia (Psychedelic Times)

Kratom

• What Does Kratom Feel Like? (Kratom Guides)
• How To Make Kratom Soap? (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• The impact of kava (The Fiji Times)

Khat

• Scientists say miraa source of crucial human medicines (The Standard)
• Oman crime: Four arrested for smuggling Khat (Times of Oman)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Breaking Convention 2017: Europe's largest psychedelic conference returns (Psychedelic Press UK)
• How Will We Train the Next Generation of Psychedelic Researchers and Therapists? (Psychedelic Times)
• Tripping out: the highs and lows of psychedelic therapy (Marie Claire)
• What can we learn from China's long history of fighting illicit drugs? (Rappler)
• This Senator's Claims About Flavored Drugs Is Dangerous (ATTN:)

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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.