This Week in Psychedelics - 12.25.20

Cannabis

• America's longest-serving marijuana prisoner freed after 31 years (The Guardian)

• Study: Long-Term Cannabis Use Associated with Reduced Symptoms in Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress (NORML)

• Australia weighs wide-ranging medical cannabis reforms (Marijuana Business Daily)

• Congressional Funding Bill Restores Financial Aid For Students With Drug Convictions, And Has Other Marijuana Provisions (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis may help reduce exposure to fentanyl among people taking opioid replacements, study finds (CBC)

• Maryland Lawmaker Files Marijuana Legalization Bill Ahead Of 2021 Session (Marijuana Moment)

• Survey: Majority in Germany still opposes adult-use cannabis legalization (Marijuana Business Daily)

• As Rhode Island Moves To Legalize Marijuana In 2021, Senate Leaders Back Private Sales Model (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis users ‘fail to grasp health risks of smoking,’ study says (The Guardian)

• Congressional Progressive Caucus Calls For Marijuana Legalization In First Six Months Of 2021 (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis: the problem with defining products around THC content (The Conversation)

Magic Mushrooms

• NH Supreme Court rules in favor of religious freedom to use psychedelic mushrooms (New Hampshire Union Leader)

• Psyched Wellness Commences Pre-Clinical Trials of Amanita Muscaria (Psilocybin Alpha)

MDMA

• Equity and Accessibility of MDMA-Assisted Therapy (Psychedelic Science Review)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• Methoxetamine: Cousin of Ketamine (Psychedelic Science Review)

Ketamine

• Ketamine May Be More Effective Than Opioids for Prehospital Acute Pain (Clinical Pain Advisor)

• FDA Guidance Sought for Planned Trial of Ketamine to Treat Dyskinesia (Parkinson's News Today)

• Does Ketamine Have a Dark Side? (DoubleBlind)

Miscellaneous

• Mexico Lawmakers Reclaim Sovereignty From DEA (Filter)

• Remembering Psychedelic Activist and Drug Policy Pioneer Sheri Eckert, 1961-2020 (Lucid News)

• 2020’s Most Groundbreaking Developments in Psychedelics (Lucid News)

• Santa May Have Actually Been a Psychedelic Shaman (Playboy)

• New Congressional Bill Pressures States To Expunge Drug Convictions (Marijuana Moment)

• Lithium and Psychedelics (Spirit Pharmacist)

• Biden Promises Reform of His Punitive Drug Laws (Lucid News)

• How Anti-Racism is a Form of Psychedelic Harm Reduction (DoubleBlind)

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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.

This Week in Psychedelics - 12.22.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Legal Pot: Mexico to Sell Space Cakes, Cannabis Drinks and Marijuana Lipsticks (Newsweek)
• World Health Organization clashes with DEA on marijuana compound CBD (Ars Technica)
• The Safety of Dabbing: An Honest Terpene Story (Psychedelic Times)
• Bitcoin offers the cannabis industry an alternative to banks (CNBC)
• Cannabis ingredient holds promise as antipsychotic medicine (Reuters)
• Move Over California -- Canada's Opening Its Own $5B Cannabis Market In 2018 (Forbes)
• DEA Releases Report Citing No Deaths From Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Study: CBD Effective As Adjunctive Therapy For Psychosis (NORML)
• Mass. Recreational Pot Industry Won't Just Line Pockets Of Big Businesses, Regulators Say (WBUR)
• Cannabis as a Tool to Fight the Opioid Epidemic (Reality Sandwich)
• New Policy Lets V.A. Docs Talk to Veterans About Medical Marijuana Use (Reason)
• An 11-Year-Old Is Suing the Government Over Medical Marijuana Legalization (ATTN:)
• A marijuana salve won best in show at a cannabis convention this weekend (Boston Globe)
• Portland Companies are Fighting a Secret Plot to Monopolize Cannabis (The Potlander)
• Massachusetts May Leap Ahead on Cannabis Cafes (CT Post)
• Even Without the Rider That Protects Medical Marijuana, a Pot Crackdown Is Unlikely (Reason)
• These Kids Prove Marijuana Is Medicine (ATTN:)
• Cannabis and Mental Health: Cause, Cure, or It's Complicated? (Yes) (Leafly)
• Here's how marijuana does, and doesn't, affect your health (The Mercury News)
• Universities Are Offering Marijuana Business Classes (ATTN:)
• This cannabis-infused wine promises to prevent hangovers (Moneyish)
• A Utah Grandma Explains Why She Gave Her Grandson Medical Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Part 1, Leafly's Faves 2017: Our Strain, Product, and Brand Picks (Leafly)
• EnviroGrow expands reach in cannabis industry (CT Post)
• Jury Rejects Damages for Victims of Pot Raid Based on Wet Tea Leaves (Reason)
• How to Make the Most of Cannabis Plant Count Grow Limits (Leafly)
• Cannabis Regulators Busy Rolling Out the Rules for Legal Pot (U.S. News & World Report)
• NORML "Rolls Out" New Rolling Papers (NORML)
• Cannabis Crunch – Arizona MMJ Battle Ends, Denver Closes 26 Legal Dispensaries And WHO Ok With CBD (Psychedelic Times)

LSD

• How Dock Ellis, Player Who Pitched a No-Hitter on LSD, Is Misremembered (Rolling Stone)
• Errol Morris talks about teaming up with Netflix to delve into the LSD-laced mystery of a CIA scientist's death (Business Insider)
• Government staffer's LSD work 'pick-me-up' (NT News)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Santa Is a Psychedelic Mushroom (The New York Times)
• Are Modern Religions All Modeled Off Amanita Mushroom Trips? (Disinfo)
• After Cannabis is Legal, Could Magic Mushrooms be Next? (Good Times)
• 7 mind-bending facts about magic mushrooms (Brinkwire)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Anonymous Bitcoin philanthropist donates $1m to prove health benefits of ecstasy (International Business Times)
• Can the use of MDMA to help treating alcohol addiction make an impact in psychiatric treatment methods? (MIMS)
• Flamefest raver Steven Graves 'took lethal MDMA dose' (BBC)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca Retreats Offers Magical Healing Sessions Based on Sacred Plant Medicine (MilTech)
• 5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT): Patterns of use, motives for consumption, and acute subjective effects (ResearchGate)
• 'HAMILTON'S PHARMACOPEIA' Digs into the Origins of DMT (VICE)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Huachuma: Healing Medicine For Modern Times (Reset.me)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 7: Former underground provider, Dimitri Mugianis, on the regulation of ibogaine (Psymposia)
• The Ibogaine Conversation Pt 8: How Not to Do Ibogaine 101 with Juliana Mulligan (Psymposia)
• The Avante Institute Pioneers Ibogaine Plant-Based Therapy for Addiction in a Beautiful and Tropical Environment in the Bahamas (Digital Journal)
• Johnny Tabaie Explains How the Holistic Sanctuary Got a 90% Addiction Recovery Rate (Newswire)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine Relieved Suicidal Thoughts Within Hours in Hospital Study (Gizmodo)
• Who Laced The Titanic Cast's Chowder With The Hallucinogen, PCP? (Refinery29)
• Synthesis of methoxetamine, its metabolites and deuterium labelled analog as analytical standards and their HPLC and chiral capillary electrophoresis separation (Royal Society of Chemistry)
• Oklahoma City woman believed to have passed out on PCP arrested for child neglect (KFOR)

Opiates/Opioids

• Experimental Heroin Vaccine Triggers the Immune System So Mice Can't Get High (Gizmodo)
• Tech Alone Can't Solve the Opioid Crisis (Wired)
• Why is Big Pharma Raising Prices on Naloxone? (The Fix)
• What's the Difference Between Opiates and Opioids? (Pain News Network)
• Afghanistan has Reached a Record on the Production of Opium Poppy (Novinite)
• The Opium Wars still shape China's view of the west (The Economist)
• Vermont's U.S. Attorney Says Injection Sites Encourage Illegal Drug Use. The Research Shows She's Wrong. (Reason)

Kratom

• Findings suggest kratom's potential to treat opioid addiction (Medical Xpress)
• Kratom: An old plant sparks a new challenge (Capital Gazette)
• Why Banning Kratom May Make the Opioid Epidemic Even Worse (MSN)
• Polis asks FDA to lift public health warning on Kratom (Jared Polis)

Kava

• Stressed New Yorkers Take to Kava, 'Nature's Xanax' (The New York Times)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Gordon Wasson's Hidden Ties to the Vatican: Interview with Jerry Brown (Psychedelic Times)
• Ben Carson Admits War on Drugs Conflicts with War on Poverty (Reason)
• Microdosing LSD and Mushrooms: Guide To A Better Life (Psychedelics Daily)
• These Ten Foods Can Trigger Hallucinations if Over-Consumed (Netralnews)

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.

This Week in Psychedelics - 1.15.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Cigarettes Linked to Lower Grades in Adolescents, Not Cannabis (High Times)
• Study Concludes Biking While High on Marijuana Isn't Dangerous (Marijuana.com)
• Yes, pot is stronger today, but not for the reasons you think (Los Angeles Times)
• After Healing His Own Cancer with Cannabis, Self-Taught Doctor Helped over 5000 Patients (Anti Media)
• Will 2016 Be the Year of Cannabis? (The Huffington Post)
• The Head of the Democratic Party is a Huge Hypocrite on Marijuana (ATTN:)
• An inside look at the ritziest weed parties in America (The Cannabist)
• Study: Marijuana Associated With Decreased Migraine Frequency (NORML)
• Less is More: Medical Cannabis Micro-Dosing (Reset.me)
• NORML's Legislative Round Up January 14th, 2016 (NORML)
• How Cannabis Can Help You Cut Back on Alcohol and Live Healthier (Leafly)
• Serial entrepreneur Mark Hadfield sets his sites on medical cannabis with HelloMD (San Francisco Business Times)
• Israeli Health Ministry Plans to Lift Restrictions on Growing Medical Cannabis (Haaretz)
• Smugglers disguise marijuana as carrots (Boing Boing)
• Dad pushes for medical cannabis to help autistic son (NBC4i)
• Anti-Legalization Lawsuit Shows Conservative Constitutionalists Have Marijuana-Related Memory Loss (Reason)
• Study: Cannabis Use Not Predictive Of Lower IQ, Poorer Education Performance (NORML)
• Windy City Cannabis Set to Open Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Justice (Patch)
• These Oregon Cities Have Banned Cannabis (Leafly)
• Medical Marijuana Seller Faces Prison in Washington, Where Pot Is Legal (Reason)
• Jail for man who grew £12k of cannabis at home (The Gazette)

LSD

• How Taking Acid Helped Me Stop Smoking (Newsweek)
• Five Facts Besides Steve Jobs and Bill Gates that You Didn't know About LSD (Clapway)
• Family sues over Tennessee man's death in police custody (Centre Daily Times)
• Forbes endorses LSD: Is the end near? (SFGate)
• Camp Lejeune Marine charged with trafficking Ecstasy, LSD (Stars and Stripes)
• Teen who used LSD to sexually assault victim sentenced to prison (Petoskey News-Review)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• '4-hour Workweek' author Tim Ferriss plans to donate $100,000 toward studying how to treat depression with psychedelics like magic mushrooms (Yahoo! News)
• Psilocybin Mushrooms Gave Me The Insight I Needed To Ease My Chronic Depression (Reset.me)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• The Creativity of MDMA Pill Pressing (Magnetic Magazine)
• How Reversing Drug Stigmas Can Save Lives: Interview with MDMA: The Movie Director Emmanuel Sferios (Psychedelic Times)
• Kids Company psychologist pleads to keep job after giving MDMA to client (The Guardian)
• Rikers Island Jail Fairly Confident Its Missing Ecstasy Pills Are Gone For Good (Gawker)
• Red Wolf, Cookie Monster and Facebook: How 'killer' ecstasy pills are flooding UK streets (Daily Star)
• Ingleside man gets 6 years for providing Ecstasy before woman's death (Chicago Tribune)
• Give Me Your Love – ingenious PTSD play boxes itself in (The Guardian)
• Johor police bust Ecstasy drug lab (The New Paper)
• MDMA discovered in glasses case of Barnstaple man (North Devon Journal)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca And Cancer: One Man's Healing Experience (Reset.me)
• Sacred Plants: In Praise of Wildflowers and Ayahuasca (Tablet Magazine)
• How A Spiritual Practice Supports Ayahuasca in Personal Healing (Reset.me)
• The Canadian Man Who Killed a British Guy at an Ayahuasca Retreat in Peru Speaks Out (VICE)
• Pope Francis Reveals White Smoke At Papal Conclave Is Actually DMT (Wunderground)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Ayahuasca & Huachuma: One Person's Account Of Their Experience (Neon Nettle)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Medical Use of iBogaine Treatment Approved in Brazil (iBogaine Thailand)

Salvia Divinorum

• Salvia Divinorum (California Poison Control System)

Dissociatives

• WHO Opposes Chinese Request to Restrict Access to Ketamine (Psychiatry Advisor)
• FDA and Congress should let doctors, patients take K train (The Register-Herald)
• CBS News Features Dr. Ashraf Hanna Describing How IV Ketamine is Successfully Treating Fibromyalgia Pain Patients (PR Newswire)
• The novel ketamine analog methoxetamine produces dissociative-like behavior in rodents. (National Institutes of Health)
• New type of antidepressant found to act quickly in mice (EurekAlert!)
• We're Entering A New Era In How We Treat Depression (Newsy)
• Chemical fights thoughts of suicide (The Australian)
• PCP seized from vehicle, two arrested (Your4State)
• Police seize 25kg of drugs worth HK$6.25 million at private Hong Kong housing estate (South China Morning Post)

Opiates/Opioids

• Anatomy Of Addiction: How Heroin And Opioids Hijack the Brain (NPR)
• Did Painkiller Crackdown Cause Heroin Epidemic? (WebMD)
• Delhi sees sharp rise in seizure of opium, poppy heads (The Statesman)
• Panel recommends FDA approve implant to treat opiate addiction (USA Today)
• Heroin Is the Worst Thing to Ever Happen to Me, and I've Never Touched It (The Huffington Post)
• Naloxone overdose antidote should be available over the counter, Health Canada says (CBC News)
• Heroin laced with pesticide making way through N.J. (NJ.com)
• Sailor held with 52kg opium denies drug charges (Gulf News)

Absinthe

• Get out with the Green Fairy: Where to Drink Absinthe in the Bay Area (7x7)

Kratom

• Product Seizure Shows FDA Serious about Kratom (Natural Products Insider)
• Kratom: A drug to cure a different addiction? (WJZY)
• How Kratom Can Make 2016 Your Best Year Yet (Return Of Kings)
• What is Red Bali Kratom? Positive/Negative Effects and Cost of Red Bali Kratom (Kratom Guides)
• Kratom Crackdown re: Dietary Guidelines (The National Law Review)
• AG: Grateful Toad violates Kratom labeling requirements (Press Republican)

Kava

• Vanuatu to host major international Kava Conference (Vanuatu Daily Post)
• First Colorado Springs kava bar promises relaxing, happy time (Colorado Springs Gazette)
• Greenville's first kava bar mixes it up (Greenville Online)
• 215 two-year old kava plants sold at vt255, 000 in Vanuatu (One Papua New Guinea)
• Learning to relax on Fiji time (Stuff.co.nz)

Khat

• Illegal 'miraa' farming blamed for poor student performance (IPPmedia)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• DanceSafe Founder Emmanuel Sferios Discusses Harm Reduction and Festival Drug Testing (Psychedelic Times)
• Drug Cartel Kingpin 'El Chapo' Guzman Recaptured in Mexico (ATTN:)
• Baltimore psychologist pioneers team using psychedelics as 'sacred' medicine (The Guardian)
• 20 Safety Suggestions for Participating in Ceremonies That Use Psychoactive Substances (Reality Sandwich)
• Everything You Wanted To Know About Microdosing (But Were Afraid To Ask)
• David Bowie's Infamous Mugshot Is Indicative of Early 'War on Drugs' (ATTN:)
• How Long Drugs Stay in Your System (ATTN:)
• What is Psychedelic Therapy? How Visionary Plants and Other Psychedelics Give Hope to the Weary (Psychedelic Times)
• How a psychedelic sex GIF animator went viral after getting banned on Facebook (Boing Boing)
• How the Mexican Drug Trade First Began (TIME)
• Psychedelic Spiritual Experience—An Integral View (Reality Sandwich)
• 5 books that bust the myths of drug writing (Boing Boing)
• The band of psychiatrists who are looking to reclaim psychedelics for medicine again (Medical Xpress)
• Androgyny and psychedelic make-up: David Bowie's impact on fashion can't be overstated (The Telegraph)
• How the War on Drugs Came Between the U.S. and Mexico (TIME)
• Bruce's History Lessons: The father of '60s drug culture (Appeal-Democrat)

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.