This Week in Psychoactives - 8.23.19

CANNABIS

• Federal Data Shows Youth Marijuana Use Isn’t Increasing Under Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Illicit Cannabis Vape Carts Hospitalized 7 in California, Doctors Say (Leafly)

• Maryland Court Rules Marijuana Odor Not Enough To Search A Person (NPR)

• Step Aside, Cannabinoids: Weed’s Flavonoids Fight Cancer, Too (MERRY JANE)

• Marijuana Flower Offers More Pain Relief Than Other Cannabis Products, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Texas Might Have Accidentally Decriminalized Marijuana (GQ)

• Bernie Sanders Calls For Legalization Of Marijuana And Safe Injection Sites (Marijuana Moment)

• Canadian Men Are Twice as Likely to Use Cannabis as Women, Survey Says (MERRY JANE)

• New Industry-Backed Marijuana Legalization Measure Filed In Florida (Marijuana Moment)

• The FBI Just Launched a Corruption Probe Into the Weed Industry (MERRY JANE)

• No eating, no drinking, and now, no marijuana before surgery, doctors say (The Boston Globe)

• Oklahoma Bans Employment Discrimination Against Marijuana Patients (MERRY JANE)

• Netflix Curbs Tobacco Use Onscreen, But Not Pot. What's Up With That? (NPR)

• Elizabeth Warren’s Criminal Justice Plan Involves Legalizing Marijuana And Safe Injection Sites (Marijuana Moment)

• State shuts down Walled Lake marijuana testing lab for fudging test results (Detroit Free Press)

• Canadian woman faces lifetime ban after getting caught with CBD oil at U.S. border (CBC)

• Credit Unions Can Bank Hemp Businesses, Federal Agency Announces (Marijuana Moment)

• Jacksonville lawyer who claimed marijuana was legal must pay arrested clients $370k (The Florida Times-Union)

• Fatty meal might affect how you absorb CBD (UPI)

• North Carolina House OKs Ban on Smokable Hemp (Leafly)

• Oregon Has Way Too Much Legal Weed. This Is Where It's Going (VICE)

• Colorado man who says he was delivering hemp charged in SD with selling marijuana (Rapid City Journal)

• Nearly every single person arrested for weed in NYC this year was black or Latinx (Queens Daily Eagle)

• CBD Infused Food Products Ruled Illegal in Washington State (Sapling)

• ‘The system is swamped.’ Canada can’t keep up with requests to study cannabis (Science Magazine)

• Marijuana Can Boost Risks of Drinking Alcohol (Psych Central)

• Canadians continue to buy cannabis illegally (Quartz)

• Contrary to widespread belief, cannabis addiction is possible. Here’s what it’s like (Global News)

LSD

• Tripping on Broadway: A New Musical Explores LSD Use by Cary Grant and More (The New York Times)

• How Peter Fonda’s LSD trip with the Beatles produced a classic John Lennon lyric (Los Angeles Times)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Psilocybin-assisted mindfulness meditation linked to brain connectivity changes and persisting positive effects (PsyPost)

• Canada Now Has Psilocybin Dispensaries (DoubleBlind)

• Why Do Magic Mushrooms Cause “The Yawns”? (Psychedelic Science Review)

• The trippier side of fungus (Telluride Daily Planet)

MDMA

• MDMA treatment for alcoholism reduces relapse, study suggests (The Guardian)

• Man dies from 'severe reaction' to MDMA days after the authorities warned of a strong batch of the drug circulating in Jersey (Jersey Evening Post)

• Woman fell off Cornwall cliff and died after quitting social media and taking MDMA pills (Cornwall Live)

• Girl, one, found CHEWING on MDMA capsule she found in dumped in a playground (The Sun)

DMT

• How to Breakthrough on DMT (Greencamp)

AYAHUASCA

• The Ayahuasca Privilege (DoubleBlind)

SALVIA DIVINORUM

• Salvia and “The Wheel” (The Psychedelic Scientist)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Dangerous Synthetic Cannabinoids Found in Liquid Claiming to be CBD (Cannabis Now)

• Spice crisis deepens as 9 kids collapse after taking zombie drug and deaths surge (Mirror)

NITROUS OXIDE

• Mum died after self-medicating with 100 canisters of laughing gas (Metro)

KETAMINE

• A single ketamine infusion combined with mindfulness-based therapy shows promise in treatment of cocaine addiction (PsyPost)

• Ketamine may not be an actual antidepressant, but may decrease the burden of symptoms (Medical Xpress)

• Boise organization researches ketamine use to treat depression (The Arbiter)

• Donald Trump Thinks He Can Stop Veteran Suicides With Ketamine (Spin)

OPIOIDS

• Wide distribution of Naloxone effective in preventing opioid-related deaths (Medical Xpress)

• ‘Saved from a horrible fate’: Legal heroin prescribed to hundreds of UK drug users, figures reveal (The Independent)

• 76% of opium produced in the world is discovered in Iran (Tehran Times)

• Access to naloxone reduces opioid overdose deaths, saves money, study says (UPI)

• Naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses, can save lives. Here's why you should learn how to use it. (The Washington Post)

• How often is fentanyl in your drugs? Some hard data (Rooster Magazine)

• Canada Might Have Found a Back Door to End the War on Drugs (VICE)

• How the Shakers Became America’s Best Opium Producers (The Daily Beast)

• Op-Ed: A drug called buprenorphine saved me from heroin addiction. It could save millions more — if we let it (Los Angeles Times)

• People Have Used, Abused Opioids For Thousands of Years (The Fix)

• Opium addiction in Korea's past (Korea Times)

• Babies born after opioid exposure deserve legal recognition, lawyers argue (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

• Wisdom teeth removal is contributing to the opioid crisis, experts warn (CBS News)

• 'What Would You Do?' focuses on the opioid crisis (ABC News)

COCAINE

• Mexico judge approves recreational cocaine for two users (BBC)

• Crack Cocaine Makes a Paris Neighborhood ‘Hell’ for Users and Residents (The New York Times)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• Meth and heart disease correlation not fully understood (Medical Xpress)

• The ‘fourth wave’ of the opioid crisis: Feds warn of a rise in meth use (TribLIVE)

CAFFEINE

• Mormons warn that coffee, vaping are no-nos despite fancy names, alluring flavors (Fox News)

• Is It Better to Drink Coffee Before or After You Exercise? The Answer Might Surprise You (Yahoo! Lifestyle)

TOBACCO

• Tobacco industry anti-smoking ads reached less than half of U.S. adults (Reuters)

• Why US lags behind on graphic cigarette warnings (BBC)

• NYC Is Coming For Your Flavored Juul Pods (Gothamist)

ALCOHOL

• Costa Rica Confirms 2 More Suspected Alcohol Poisoning Deaths, Raising Death Toll to 25 (TIME)

• Why Warning Pregnant Women Not to Drink Can Backfire (The New York Times)

KRATOM

• Kratom would require prescription in Michigan under Senate bill (WJRT)

• Kratom Legality In Texas: Is It Legal To Buy, Carry, and Consume In The State? (Kratom Guides)

• Is It Legal To Carry Kratom Products In Ohio? (Kratom Guides)

• Does Kratom Really Help Athletes in Sports? (The Sports Daily)

• What is kratom and why is its safety being questioned? (Health24)

KAVA

• Kava Consumption Still An Issue Says Methodist Church President (Fiji Sun)

SANANGA

• Sananga: Amazonian Eye Drops That Improves Vision! (The Costa Rica News)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Dozens of People in Multiple States Have Lung Disease Linked to Vaping, and No One Knows Why (Gizmodo)

• Vaping May Harm Your Blood Flow—Even Without Nicotine (WIRED)

• The World’s First Clinical Trials on Microdosing LSD and Psilocybin Are Coming (MERRY JANE)

• Berkeley, CA May Be Next the City to Decriminalize Natural Psychedelics (Filter)

• Synthetic Drugs Will Change the Global Drug Trade Forever (VICE)

• Extinction Rebellion founder calls for mass psychedelic disobedience (New Scientist)

• Pupils who take drugs, drink and smoke more likely to be unhappy (The Guardian)

• Americans spend $150B on cocaine, meth, marijuana, heroin (UPI)

• Use of Marijuana, Meth, Hallucinogens Up in New SAMHSA Survey (Medscape)

• What Science Says About Using Sleep Medications (Discover Magazine)

• Psychedelics and Women’s Health (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Argentina Tries To Stop Synthetic Drug Traffickers Sidestepping Prosecution (InSight Crime)

• Should Psychedelic Therapists Have First-hand Experience with Psychedelics? (Chacruna)

• Safe injection rooms are key to halting rise in drug deaths – expert (The Guardian)

• Psychedelic Yoga (Psychology Today)

• Man Who Died of OD Was Allegedly “Kicked Out of Treatment for Smoking” (Filter)

• Why are stimulant-related deaths spiking in the U.S.? (Salon)

• Turf war between rival drug gangs sparks surge in shootings (Liverpool Echo)

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Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychoactives" 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 Psychedelic Astronaut.

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On the Monday following each edition of “This Week in Psychoactives,” I post a “Last Week in Psychoactives” video recap to my YouTube channel. After that is done, I retroactively add the video to the corresponding blog post. Here is this week’s video recap, which actually covers the past four weeks’ worth of news since I was away on vacation for a few weeks:

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This Week in Psychedelics - 8.17.18

Cannabis

• Study: Medical Cannabis Access Laws Associated With Fewer Workplace Fatalities (NORML)
• Massachusetts Cannabis Activists Warn Against Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Worker Behavior in Industry (Psychedelic Times)
• 5 Reasons Why Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Are Essential in the Cannabis Industry Business (Entrepreneur)
• Seed-To-Sale Tracking And Compliance: If Coffee Was Regulated Like Cannabis (Forbes)
• New UMass Medical School study on mice helps explain why cannabis reduces symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (MassLive)
• UN Launches First-Ever Full Review Of Marijuana’s Status Under International Law (Marijuana Moment)
• Multiple sclerosis patient calls medical cannabis trial 'a miracle' (Montreal Gazette)
• Can Article V Federally Legalize Cannabis? (Forbes)
• Employers In Medical Marijuana States Can Still Drug Test Employees, Federal Judge Rule (Marijuana Moment)
• Trump Tariffs Set To Hit Cannabis Industry (Forbes)
• Marijuana Emerges As Key Issue In Nevada U.S. Senate Race (Marijuana Moment)
• Legalization Initiative Qualifies for November Ballot in North Dakota (NORML)
• More Americans want legal medical marijuana than legal alcohol or cigarettes, polls say (Rooster)
• Marijuana Policy Project Welcomes New Executive Director (Marijuana Moment)
• Texas Medical Marijuana Ad Launched (NORML)
• New Congressional Bill Would Automatically Seal Marijuana Records (Marijuana Moment)
• 'I don't think I look like a stoner': the women changing the face of the cannabis industry (The Guardian)
• Scientists Discover You Can Use Espresso Machines To Make Marijuana Extracts (Marijuana Moment)
• Working With Pot: Marijuana Job Searches Spike in Canada Ahead of National Legalization (Newsweek)
• Marijuana-Friendly Gubernatorial Candidates Win Big In Tuesday’s Primaries (Marijuana Moment)
• Cannabis Now Magazine CEO Eugenio Garcia Talks Marijuana, Publishing And The Future Of It All (Forbes)
• Anti-Marijuana Group Wants Campaign Finance Transparency, Kind Of (Marijuana Moment)
• Canadian Cannabis Debut Delayed In Ontario (Forbes)
• Marijuana Ballot Measures Could Affect Key U.S. Senate Election (Marijuana Moment)
• Utah’s medical marijuana ballot measure would violate Mormons’ religious beliefs, opponents say in new court filing, which initiative supporters call a ‘Hail Mary’ (The Salt Lake Tribune)
• One In Four Young Americans Consume Marijuana, Survey Finds (Marijuana Moment)
• A New Way of Getting High Is as Easy as Applying Deodorant (Tonic)
• Dogs With Arthritis Benefit From Cannabis Oil, Study Says (Marijuana Moment)
• Legal Weed: How Republicans Learned to Love Marijuana (Newsweek)
• DEA Wants More Marijuana Grown And Fewer Opioids Produced In 2019. Really. (Marijuana Moment)
• Policing of cannabis possession is largely accidental – and many officers don’t think it makes a difference (Policing Insight)
• Cypress Hill Rapper Who Opposed California Legalization Opens A Marijuana Store (Marijuana Moment)
• At Weed for Warriors, Military Veterans Harness the Healing Powers of Marijuana (MERRY JANE)
• South By Southwest Fans Choose From Dozens Of Marijuana-Themed Panels For 2019 (Marijuana Moment)
• Cannabis Mega Deal Sets Stage for Global Weed Empire (Bloomberg)
• The Company Behind Corona Beer Is Investing Nearly $4 Billion in Legal Pot (TIME)
• I’m Mandela not Al Capone — my cannabis speakeasy helps the sick (The Times)

LSD

• Pro jiu-jitsu fighter says LSD helps him whoop ass (Rooster)
• 9 Facts About LSD Everyone Should Know (Psychedelics Daily)
• Microdose Acid in 7 Easy Steps (Psychedelics Daily)
• Naked man high on LSD pees on security vehicle, fights officers in east Lincoln, police say (Beatrice Daily Sun)
• Student who took LSD, cocaine and alcohol before being found nude outside shopping centre 'mortified' at video, court hears (Independent.ie)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Microdose Mushrooms in 7 Easy Steps (Psychedelics Daily)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Ecstasy dealer faces jail after selling deadly dose to schoolgirl, 14, who fell ill after taking two tablets (Mirror)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• DMT Models the Near-Death Experience (Frontiers)
• The Connection Between Ayahuasca, Your Stomach, and Your Mind (Tonic)
• Ayahuasca Healed My Autoimmune Disorder and Depression (Reset.me)
• The fatal thirst for Peru’s Ayahuasca drug (Channel 4 News)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Huachuma– The Healing Visionary Cactus From Peru (Reset.me)
• Carlos Castaneda Was Right: High Dose Peyote Initiation (Medium)

Salvia Divinorum

• 5 Important Tips For New Salvia Users (Psychedelics Daily)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• The Truth About 'Monkey Dust', UK Media's Latest Drug Obsession (VICE)
• In hours, about 20 people overdosed in same park. Police say they found the culprit (Miami Herald)
• New batch of MDMA and ecstasy pills being made with potentially lethal chemical (Metro)
• Federal Drug Cops Conflate Synthetic Cannabinoids With Marijuana (Deliberately?) (Marijuana Moment)
• Microdose 4-AcO-DMT in 7 Easy Steps (Psychedelics Daily)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine shows potential in teens with treatment-resistant depression (Healio)
• Lufkin police: Man possibly high on PCP said white wolves chased him, his family (KTRE)

Opiates/Opioids

• Fentanyl Used to Execute Nebraska Inmate, in a First for U.S. (The New York Times)
• Does Smoking Heroin Really Cause Brain Damage? (Tonic)
• Norway to test free heroin for drug addicts (Channel NewsAsia)
• Bleak New Estimates in Drug Epidemic: A Record 72,000 Overdose Deaths in 2017 (The New York Times)
• Facebook cracks down on opioid dealers after years of neglect (TechCrunch)
• Sending Your Kid to College? Send Them With Fentanyl Testing Strips and Naloxone. (Slate)
• New report shows increasing trend of EMS-administered naloxone for overdoses (Medical Xpress)
• Nevada’s Opioid Task Force Continues to Explore Options (NORML)
• The Western War on Afghan Farmers (Beckley Foundation)
• Could a Name Change Increase Support for Safe Injection Sites? (Pacific Standard)
• Ignoring the benefits of supervised injection facilities isn’t just callous. It’s deadly (The Boston Globe)
• What the media gets wrong about opioids (Columbia Journalism Review)
• How law enforcement is taking action on the opioid crisis (The Boston Globe)
• Man dies after swallowing heroin following raid targeting gang with Chicago connections (Chicago Tribune)
• 81-year-old Woman Tried to Smuggle 92 Lbs. of Heroin Across US-Mexico Border: Police (People)

Kratom

• Kratom Association Calls FDA Review of Drug ‘Junk Science’ in Scathing Report (Rolling Stone)
• New Kratom Death Reports Still Leave More Questions Than Answers (HuffPost)
• How Often Can You Take Kratom (Kratom Guides)
• Salmonella scare prompts Kratom recall (Washington Examiner)
• Herbal supplement sold at gas stations and smoke shops kills Arvada man (9News)
• What Is Kratom? (Civilized)
• List of 5 Best Kratom Capsules: Benefits, Dosage & Legality (Kratom Guides)
• Who Sells The Best Kratom Capsules – 20 Top Kratom Vendors Online (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Kava Business Launched In Canada (Fiji Sun)
• Kava Demand Creates Trade Opportunity Between Fiji, Madang (Fiji Sun)

Khat

• Farmers protest proposal to outlaw Khat (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)
• Somali women divorce violent husbands addicted to chewing narcotic leaf Khat (Radio Ergo)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• How America Convinced the World to Demonize Drugs (VICE)
• These Psychedelic Drugs Show Promise for Treating Mental Health Disorders (Live Science)
• People With Depression and Anxiety Could Benefit From Hallucinogens (Teen Vogue)
• The Long Burn: A 30-Day Sananga Challenge (Psychedelic Times)
• The New Wave of Psychedelics in Buddhist Practice (Lion's Roar)
• Beyond Psychedelics 2018: Listening, Talking, Filming – Review Of A Psychedelic Forum in Prague (Maps Of The Mind)
• The War on Drugs Is Inseparable from US Imperialism (VICE)
• Psychedelic Drugs Shown To Promote Neural Plasticity (Psychedelics Daily)
• Psychedelics Reduce Violence Against Intimate Partners (Psychedelics Daily)
• Top 5 Myths About Psychedelics You Need To Know (Psychedelics Daily)

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.