This Week in Psychedelics - 3.10.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Israel makes it official: Cannabis is not a crime (CNN)
• George Rohrbacher: Trump Administration Plans To Ramp Up Government Regulation and Stifle New Marijuana Businesses (NORML)
• Why Trump Could Be Good For The Cannabis Industry (Forbes)
• The US government grants cannabis patents even though weed is illegal (Quartz)
• Make drugs dull: legalising cannabis the Canadian way (The Spectator)
• Does Cannabis Use Lower Your IQ? (Leafly)
• Pennsylvania Auditor Wants to Close Budget Gap by Legalizing Marijuana (TIME)
• Cannabis boosts risk of stroke and heart attack, independent of tobacco, new study finds (The Telegraph)
• A "cannabis gym" is opening in San Francisco (A.V. Club)
• Pot for pets: Owners treat sick animals with cannabis (ABC News)
• Dancing but no dank: fed threat means toned-down Cannabis Cup (The Cannabist)
• Epilepsy patients turning to medicinal cannabis, survey shows (The Guardian)
• Growing Hemp Legally in Kentucky (Reason)
• Where to Find the Best Legal Cannabis Lounges (Leafly)

LSD

• LSD doesn't just treat mental illness, 'it could actually heal the brain' (WIRED)
• LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley – but can it make you more creative? (The Memo)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• The Psilocybin Solution: The Role of Sacred Mushrooms in the Quest for Meaning (Serge De Vrindt)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• MDMA Overdose Prevention Drug to be Available at all Insomniac Events (EDM Chicago)
• Local therapists' success treating PTSD with psychedelic drug puts FDA a step closer to approving it (Charleston Post Courier)
• Chemical used to make MDMA dumped in Surrey pond (The Now)
• Four schoolgirls aged 13 taken to hospital after 'taking teddy bear ecstasy pills' (The Sun)
• Colchester student died after taking MDMA on night out (Essex Live)
• Jordan Duffy fined for supplying MDMA before death of girlfriend Janie Roberts (Bellingen Courier Sun)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Why I Quit Ayahuasca Shamanism (Uplift Connect)

Salvia Divinorum

• Getting high on salvia (Brantford Expositor)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• After Alex 'N Bomb' tragedy, drug education can prevent more deaths (Irish Independent)

Dissociatives

• Can Ketamine Be Used For Treatment Resistant Depression? (Delray Newspaper)
• Ketamine no 'wonder drug' for depression (Medical Xpress)
• Cops say man high on PCP pointed cellphone at drivers like a gun (NJ.com)

Opiates/Opioids

• NYC Area Heroin Epidemic Is Worst In Years If Not Ever, DEA Says (CBS New York)
• America's heroin epidemic starts in Mexico (The Spokesman-Review)
• Durham police will give addicts heroin to inject in 'shooting galleries' (The Guardian)
• CVS to dispense naloxone prescription-free in four more states (Drug Store News)
• Dozens accused of dealing fentanyl-laced heroin on Chicago's West Side (Chicago Tribune)
• Surge in opium cultivation posing threat to security (Himalayan Times)
• This Community's New Plan to Fight the Opioid Epidemic Started a Debate About Criminal Justice (ATTN:)
• Mysteries at the Museum: The Elixir of Opium (Jacksonville Daily Progress)

Absinthe

• 5 Things You Should Know About Absinthe (Paste)

Kratom

• Kratom: Is the US trying to ban a drug helping heroin addicts beat their habit? (The Independent)
• How to Make Kratom Tea From Crushed Leaves? (Kratom Guides)
• Which Kratom is Best for Sleep and Insomnia? (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Vanuatu kava producers look to reap rewards of growing world market (ABC Online)
• Government encouraging kava quality control (Vanuatu Daily Post)
• Kava shortage pushes up prices in Fiji (Radio New Zealand)

Khat

• East African khat leaf is traded and chewed mostly by men, but it's a global business because of women (Quartz)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• What If Psychedelic Therapy Was Required to Enter Public Service? (Psychedelic Times)
• What Psychedelics Really Do to Your Brain (Rolling Stone)
• Psychedelic Science 2017: Interview with MAPS Communications Director Brad Burge (Psychedelic Times)
• Why Jeff Sessions Is Worrying Drug Policy Experts (ATTN:)
• Integrating a Psychedelic Experience: Two Meditations to Ease Anxiety and Prevent Panic Attacks (Psychedelic Times)
• Horrors of Duterte's Drug War Exposed in New National Geographic Film (TIME)
• Tobacco or No Tobacco? Choosing the Right Rapé Snuff Blend for Your Ceremony (Psychedelic Times)
• 7 myths about psychedelic drugs like LSD that are doing more harm than good (Business Insider)
• From College Dropout To Shaman Apprentice: A Story of Becoming A Leader Of The Secoya And Protecting The Vanishing Amazon (High Existence)
• In a Traumatised World, is Psychedelic Therapy our Best Hope? (Mad in America)
• Tim Ferriss on suffering, psychedelics, and spirituality (Vox)
• Bolivia Doubles Area Allowed for the Legal Planting of Coca (TIME)

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 - 12.2.16

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.

This Week in Psychedelics - 11.25.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• BREAKING: Anti-Marijuana Zealot Tapped for Attorney General (NORML)
• Why Cannabis Is An 'Exit' Drug, Not A 'Gateway' (Civilized)
• The U.K. Should Legalize Marijuana and Make $1.3 Billion a Year in Tax Revenue, Report Finds (TIME)
• Trump's Choice For Top Law Enforcer Has Cannabis Proponents Fearing Future (NPR)
• Marijuana Was Legalized In Your State? 5 Ways to Support Responsible Cannabis Usage (Psychedelic Times)
• Colorado Regulators Ban Marijuana Use in Businesses That Serve Alcohol (Reason)
• Cannabis a 'tantalising horizon' for combating severe seizures (The Irish Times)
• Ga. mom taking lead on next push for legal cannabis oil (11 Alive)
• 'Green Friday': Bay Area cannabis dispensaries promote one-day sales (East Bay Times)
• States That Legalize Marijuana Need to Do This Too (ATTN:)
• Pets on Pot: Cannabis for animals takes off in California (Los Angeles Daily News)
• Oregon Charts an Uneven Course Toward Legal Marijuana Sales (Reason)
• Marijuana Marketing Just Got Classier Thanks to This Cannabis Creative Agency (L.A. Weekly)
• How Idaho's Drug Warriors Stole from Epileptic Kids (Reason)
• Governor Christie Blocks New Jersey's Bridge to Legalization (NORML)

LSD

• Win free acid! The darknet's largest LSD producer is holding an art competition and you can enter (Happy)
• Should You Take Acid (a Very Small Amount) Before Work? (Esquire)
• This guy made the best LSD of the '60s (New York Post)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• How MDMA Therapy Could Promote Healing and Bonding After a Difficult Birthing Experience (Psychedelic Times)
• Teaching Happiness: How MDMA Can Help Those With Depression Identify and Mimic Physical Pleasure (Psychedelic Times)
• Poway High student died of ecstasy OD (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• It's Time for Cautious Excitement About Ayahuasca As Depression Treatment (New York Magazine)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Deadly pill peril: Illegal killer drug freely available online (Daily Star) 

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Bengaluru: There is a new drug in town; it's called NBOMe (Times of India)

Dissociatives

• There's a new cure for migraines and stubborn headaches – ketamine! (Metro)
• Marion Christopher Barry, son of infamous D.C. mayor, died of a PCP overdose, autopsy reveals (New York Daily News)

Opiates/Opioids

• Heroin being replaced by this even deadlier drug (Asbury Park Press)
• Two Men Overdosing On Heroin In McDonald's Parking Lot Captured On Facebook Live Stream (Inquisitr)
• Virginia now allows anyone to buy naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote (WJLA)

Kratom

• We Still Have a Chance to Stop Kratom Prohibition – And the DEA Actually Wants to Hear Your Thoughts (AlterNet)
• Kratom Could Still Get Banned. Here's What You Need To Know (Forbes)

Kava

• I Tried an Ancient Drug and It Didn't Work (The Rival)
• Muller's launch Kava Academy to boost kava growing for export (Matangi Tonga)

Khat

• Elephant killed by speeding Miraa truck (TUKO)
• Khat dealer given 18-year prison sentence (Bloomington Pantagraph)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Psychedelics and MDMA are helping cure PTSD, addiction, depression and anxiety (Perth Now)
• How Psychedelics Helped Me Deal with Excruciating Cluster Headaches (VICE)
• Trump's Pick for Attorney General Is a 'Drug War Dinosaur' (Reason)
• Should Teens Be Eligible for Psychedelic Therapy? (Psychedelic Times)
• Setting Up a Rapé Ceremony: Honoring Intention and Ritual in Sacred Tobacco (Psychedelic Times)
• Drug War Fail: Drugs Now Kill More People Than Car Crashes (AlterNet)
• Saskatoon prof. hopes event highlights and destigmatize research of psychedelic drugs (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

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.