This Week in Psychedelics - 6.2.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• France to quash prison terms for cannabis users (RFI)
• Will Cannabis Businesses Find It Easier To Put Money In The Bank? (East Bay Express)
• Why People Are 'Microdosing' Marijuana (ATTN:)
• DOJ Turns Attention to Cannabis Enforcement (Leafly)
• New Hampshire Cannabis Decriminalization Bill Heads to Governor (Leafly)
• Veterans Affairs Head 'Interested' in Medical Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Say What? Why 'Cannabis' Is Rising and 'Marijuana' Is Fading (Leafly)
• Here Are The Top 5 Financial Leaders In The Cannabis Industry (Forbes)
• The Holidays People Smoke the Most Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Nevada Cannabis License Applications Stream in as Deadline Approaches (Leafly)
• Why More Seniors Are Using Cannabis to Sleep (Leafly)
• The Ultimate Stoned Staycation: Take a Virtual Cannabis-Fueled Train Ride (Leafly)
• Smoking pure cannabis is better for your health than smoking it with tobacco, new research reveals (The Sun)
• Melissa Etheridge: 'Anybody Who Smokes Cannabis Is Using it Medicinally' (Leafly)
• Cannabis Is A Gateway Drug (Disinfo)
• Medical Cannabis Is The Next Boom, but When Will It Bust? (Delaware Law)
• San Diego Cannabis Festival Will Keep Trying After Venue Loss (Leafly)
• Medical Journal slams Cannabis Act for failing to protect youth (KamloopsBCNow)
• Court to Grandma: You Shouldn't Lose Your House Just Because Your Dumb Son Sold Some Weed There (Reason)
• 6 of the Best Cannabis Bath Products on the Market (Leafly)
• Cannabis growers overcome the powerful scent (North Day Business Journal)

LSD

• 'A voice told me to turn on the world': Hippy chemist who made purest LSD in the 1960s (Mirror)
• Bill Ward on the early days of Sabbath and drumming on LSD (TeamRock.com)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Measure To Legalize Psilocybin Proposed At Oregon Psychedelics Conference (OPB News)
• Global Survey Says Magic Mushrooms Are The Safest Recreational Drug (Forbes)
• Death and Family Healing with Psilocybin: A Conversation with Dennis McKenna (Psychedelic Times)
• Woman will share results of her year of psilocybin microdosing (Boing Boing)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Ireland takes MDMA more than any other country in the world (Mixmag)
• The dude who makes Ecstasy artwork is having his own exhibition (Stoney Roads)
• Justin Bieber's Been Searching For 'MDMA' On YouTube And There's Receipts To Prove It (We The Unicorns)
• Drug users warn 'bad batch' of MDMA drug called Gold Bars is on streets following tragic death of teenager (Mirror)
• 21-year-old remains in 'serious condition' after taking MDMA at Plymouth house party (Plymouth Herald)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Path of the Shaman doc goes deep with B.C. ayahuasca healer (MetroNews Canada)
• Holy Shit, People are Finally Building a DMT/Alien Contact Device! (Disinfo)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Treatment of opioid use disorders with ibogaine: detoxification and drug use outcomes (Taylor Francis Online)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• N-bomb alert in Mumbai: Cheapter LSD-like drug has cops on their toes (NYOOOZ)
• One New West teen dead, one critical after taking what they thought was MDMA (CTV News)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine may not reduce post-surgery pain, delirium (Medical News Today)

Opiates/Opioids

• In Mexico, The Price of America's Hunger for Heroin (The Washington Post)
• Overdose mapping system could be used in fight against heroin (WHAS)
• Baltimore makes overdose-reversing drug naloxone available over the counter (The Washington Times)
• North Carolina Police Found 2,000 Pounds of Opium While Looking for a Cannabis Grow-Op (Merry Jane)
• What you need to know about naloxone (Vancouver Sun)
• Dad overdoses on heroin to teach his addict son a lesson (New York Post)
• Opium Dens Are a Terrible Theme for Bars (CityLab)

Kratom

• Susan Ash Steps Down As American Kratom Association Chair (Inquisitr)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Ross Ulbricht Loses His Appeal Over Conviction and Sentencing in Silk Road Case (Reason)
• Mind-altering drugs lower suicide risks; study suggests (Business Recorder)
• Why you can't blame mass incarceration on the war on drugs (Vox)
• GLOBAL DRUG SURVEY 2017: 40% of the Novel Psychoactive Substances taken in Ireland are bought on the internet (Hot Press)
• The Long, Hard Road to a Science of Bad Drug Trips (Motherboard)
• Federal Prosecutors Say They Never See Low-Level Drug Offenders (Reason)
• Study: 'Donald Trump' Tops List of New Meth Nicknames (Rolling Stone)
• The World's Safest and Most Dangerous Recreational Drugs (ATTN:)
• Trump's Repeal of a Welfare Drug-Testing Regulation Backfires (Thankfully) (Reason)
• Psychedelics touted as solution for society (Ashland Daily Tidings)
• Magick & Psychedelic Novelty With Maja D'Aoust (Disinfo)
• Convicted Drug Trafficker Schapelle Corby Has Been Deported to Australia After 12 Years in Indonesia (TIME)
• This Pigeon Exposes a Hole in President Trump's Plan to Stop Drug Trafficking (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.

Weekend Thoughts - 8.27.16

Image by gibbyli, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Libraries are currently places where we can access information—books, magazines, the Internet, audiobooks, etc. This article describes how libraries in the future may change to allow us to create the future, rather than learn about the present. Some libraries already offer 3D printers and laser cutters, but future libraries may have other types of technologies. Imagine experiencing virtual or augmented reality with library equipment and software, "checking out" a trip to another planet or a day in the life as another animal, for example. As someone who currently enjoys libraries, I would definitely welcome a shift away from housing print books to an Epcot-like place where new technologies could be experienced without needing to purchase them for oneself.

2. Millennials have been featured in headlines recently for "killing" paper napkins, wine, golf, and other products. However, the real reasons for this trend are not generational snark and apathy toward capitalism. Instead, it's a combination of multiple factors that contribute to the fact that millennials do not have the spending power of earlier generations. They earn $2,000 less than their parents did in 1980 after adjusting for inflation, drastically more student loan debt, and they work longer hours leaving them with less time to shop. I would like to think that in addition to those facts, millennials are plausibly more environmentally conscious and understand that using paper napkins can be replaced with using alternatives (such as cotton towels and reusable "paper" towels)—although you can compost paper napkins, so there is that option as well.

3. A magickian has written an article taking a critical look at Robert Anton Wilson, focusing on some of the downsides in his reality tunnels. Although I am a RAW fan, I did find some of the points made to be valid, even if those in the comment section did not agree. At any rate, if you're into the late author, I would advise giving it a read and some thought.

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