Weekly Psychedelic Links - October 2022

10.7.22

Cannabis

• Biden Announces Mass Marijuana Pardons And Calls For Cannabis Scheduling Review (Marijuana Moment)

• Amsterdam considers banning ‘cannabis tourists’ from its coffee shops (The Guardian)

• Costa Rica’s President Sends Marijuana Legalization Bill To Lawmakers (Marijuana Moment)

• 'It's like the new Amsterdam': The rush to cash in on Thailand's hazy cannabis laws (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

• FBI: Nearly Half of All Drug Seizures in 2021 Involved Marijuana (NORML)

• Morocco issues first permits for cannabis production (Reuters)

• Committee in Colombia Approved Adult-Use Legalization Proposal (High Times)

• Most Americans Don’t Think Marijuana Is Dangerous Despite Prohibitionist Arguments, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Regulators finally approve hempcrete for US homes (Leafly)

• OSHA report ties cannabis worker death to dust inhalation (Leafly)

• Survey: Medical Students Rarely Exposed to Scientific Data About Cannabis (NORML)

Magic Mushrooms

• Oregon enters the home stretch to authorize psilocybin mushrooms (Chacruna)

• This 'magic' mushroom dispensary in Florida is selling psychedelics and testing legal boundaries (Business Insider)

MDMA

• MindMed Collaborators Initiate Phase 1 Comparative PK/PD Trial of R-, S- and Racemic MDMA (Psychedelic Alpha)

DMT

• Prolonged DMT Infusions could be a Breakthrough for Stroke Patients (Psychedelic Spotlight)

Ayahuasca

• Combating Suicidality: A Role for Psilocybin and Ayahuasca? (Psychedelic Science Review)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• These LSD-based drugs seem to help mice with anxiety and depression — without the trip (NPR)

• Are you too high? A promising new ‘comedown drug’ may be on the way (Leafly)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Unexplained Bleeding Linked to Rat Poison in Synthetic Cannabinoids (Medpage Today)

Nitrous Oxide

• Nitrous oxide: Southend mum's campaign over 'laughing gas' (BBC)

Ketamine

• Ketamine and depression: A mechanism of the antidepressant revealed (Medical Xpress)

• PharmaTher Holdings Announces Grant of U.S. Patent Covering Ketamine for Parkinson’s Disease (Psychedelic Alpha)

Miscellaneous

• Alberta to be 1st province to regulate psychedelics for therapy, government says (CBC)

• DEA Admits ‘Racial, Ethnic and Class Prejudice’ Led To Drug Criminalization And The Agency’s Own Founding (Marijuana Moment)

• New York Lawmakers File Amended Psychedelics Legalization Bill, With New Regulations And Protections (Marijuana Moment)

• Psychedelics may flatten your brain’s landscape, but in a good way (Leafly)

• Inflammation Nation: How Psychedelics Could Combat Widespread Chronic Pain (Psychedelics Today)

• Psychedelics: Will Policy Liberalization and Lower Barriers to Access Lead to Future Legalization? (Lexpert)

• Psychedelics are exploding in the startup community as founders say it makes them better leaders (Fortune)

• Timothy Leary’s psychedelic eugenics (Medium)

• Eleusis Holdings Plans To Be Acquired By Beckley Psytech (Lucid News)

• ‘Bad’ Psychedelic Trips Don’t Have To Be Bad (VICE)

10.14.22

Cannabis

• Colombian Chamber Of Representatives Passes Marijuana Legalization Bill In Initial Vote, With Support From Cabinet Ministers (Marijuana Moment)

• U.S. Air Force to Allow Applicants to Retest After Positive THC Test (High Times)

• Why bees love weed — and why it might even be good for them (Salon)

• Cannabis Stock’s Post Pardon Depression Could Be Cured By Lame Duck Legislation (Forbes)

• New Study Shows Cannabis Users More Likely To Have Overactive Bladders (High Times)

• Federal Reserve Bank Says Marijuana Legalization Drives Tax Revenue, Job Creation And Real Estate Sales (Marijuana Moment)

• Spliff Vape: New Tech Allows Cannabis, Nicotine To Be Vaped Simultaneously (High Times)

Magic Mushrooms

• Flight Passenger on Mushrooms Causes Chaos Mid-Flight (High Times)

• Can Psilocybin Challenge Our Pharmaceutical Dependence? (Vogue)

MDMA

• Eels Living Near Music Festivals Test Positive For MDMA And Cocaine (IFLScience)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Synthetic Marijuana In Florida Tainted With Rat Poison, 52 Sick, 4 Dead (Forbes)

• Five-Year-Old Missouri Child Gets Delta-8 Edibles in Halloween Bag (High Times)

Nitrous Oxide

• Nitrous Oxide: Harm Reduction and the Muslim Community (VolteFace)

Miscellaneous

• These States Are Voting On Marijuana And Psychedelics Legalization On Their November Ballots (Marijuana Moment)

• Elon Musk reportedly goes on 'exploratory journeys' and likes to show friends a chart of the benefits of MDMA and mushrooms over alcohol (Business Insider)

• To Standardize Psychedelic Therapy, A New Organization Launches (Forbes)

• Horizons Conference Returns to NYC for Its 15th Year (Lucid News)

• Treating postpartum depression with psychedelics (The Print)

• A Santo Daime Church’s Legal Success Paved a Path Towards Psychedelic Legalization (Lucid News)

• Instagram’s Page-Deletions of Black Women in Psychedelic Advocacy (Filter)

• Math Over Myth: These Psychedelic Stocks Made Confirmed Bottoms in Q3 (Psychedelic Spotlight)

• What Made María Sabina Unique (DoubleBlind)

• The Politics of Psychedelics: Legalisation vs Decriminalisation (Sam Woolfe)

10.21.22

Cannabis

• German cannabis legalisation plans LEAKED (VolteFace)

• Washington DC lets tourists self-certify for medical cannabis (Leafly)

• Poll: Two-Thirds of Voters Say “Nobody Should Be in Jail” for Marijuana Possession (NORML)

• States With the Most Arrests for Marijuana Possession (U.S. News and World Report)

• Why does marijuana make it hard to remember stuff? (Salon)

• NBA Won’t Test Players For Marijuana For Third Season In A Row, Report Says (Marijuana Moment)

• Nearly Four Out of Five Patients Drop or Reduce Opioids After Using Medical Weed (High Times)

• Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine Bans CBD Prescriptions for Adult Patients (TalkingDrugs)

• Cannabis Had Highest Tax Revenue in Colorado and Washington Over Alcohol, Cigarettes (High Times)

• Marijuana was illegal 4 years ago. Now, Uber Eats delivers it in Toronto (CBC)

• Missouri Police Object To New Ad For Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative That Shows Officers (Marijuana Moment)

• Oklahoma Governor Sets March Special Election for Weed Legalization Initiative (High Times)

• Texas Activists Unveil Marijuana Decriminalization, Police Reform And Abortion Rights Initiative For San Antonio 2023 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Puerto Rico Bill Would Expunge Low-Level Weed Possession Convictions (High Times)

LSD

• Acid for Anxiety: Fast and Lasting Anxiolytic Effects of LSD (Psychedelic Science Review)

• A Communist LSD Trip: The Story of Czechoslovak Acid (Prague Morning)

Magic Mushrooms

• Oregon is voting on medical psilocybin, again (Leafly)

• NYC smoke shops are selling magic mushroom candy bars (New York Post)

• Study To Examine Why Shrooms Evolved with Psychedelic Properties (High Times)

• Why Everyone Cares So Much About Colorado’s Psilocybin Bill (DoubleBlind)

MDMA

• MDMA-assisted psychotherapy shows promise in the treatment of eating disorder symptoms (PsyPost)

5-MeO-DMT

• The toad boom: the false narrative of ancestral 5-MeO-DMT use (Points)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• Scientists Discover ‘Disconcerting’ New Imitation Ketamine on the Market (VICE)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• New novel drug test can identify latest synthetic cannabinoids (Cannabis Health News)

Ketamine

• Ketamine May Reduce Suicidal Ideation in Treatment-Resistant Depression (Psychiatry Advisor)

Miscellaneous

• Australian Lawmakers Approve Drug Decriminalization Bill For Federal Territory That Includes Nation’s Capital (Marijuana Moment)

• DEA Proposes Dramatic Increases In Marijuana And Psychedelics Production In 2023 For Research (Marijuana Moment)

• Large national survey suggests that the use of psychedelics is not associated with lifetime cancer development (PsyPost)

• Will Medical Insurers Agree to Cover Psychedelic Trips? (Bloomberg)

• Why is the American right suddenly so interested in psychedelic drugs? (The Guardian)

• Second United States Patent Granted for Small Pharma’s Psychedelics Portfolio (Psychedelic Alpha)

10.28.22

Cannabis

• Germany’s Government Approves Marijuana Legalization Plan, But Reform Depends On European Union Sign-Off (Marijuana Moment)

• Russian court upholds Brittney Griner’s sentence (Leafly)

• Biden's Marijuana Pardons Did Not Free a Single Federal Prisoner or Deliver the Expungement He Promised (Reason)

• Activist Arrested At White House Protest Pushing Biden To Release Marijuana Prisoners (Marijuana Moment)

• Missouri’s legalization measure is drawing unexpected opposition (Leafly)

• Five States To Vote on Recreational Cannabis This Election Season (High Times)

• Most Americans Say Alcohol And Tobacco Are More Dangerous Than Marijuana, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• California Lawsuit Alleges Weed Didn't Get Plaintiffs High Enough (VICE)

• Research: Does Cannabis Really Make You More Creative? (Harvard Business Review)

• Israeli Company Clones Cannabis Cells—Not Plants—With Up to 12 Times the Potency (High Times)

• It's not a myth: Marijuana really is more potent than it used to be (Salon)

• Study: Cannabis Use Not A Risk Factor in Liver Transplants (High Times)

• Strange Bedfellows Team Up To Oppose Missouri Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure (Marijuana Moment)

• Research Shows Cannabis Users Experience More Pain After Surgery (High Times)

• Support For Arkansas Marijuana Legalization Initiative Falls To Slim Majority As GOP Lawmakers Urge Opposition, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• How does THC affect prenatal development? (Leafly)

Magic Mushrooms

• The world's first Phase 3 psilocybin clinical trial is about to commence (New Atlas)

• DEA Faces New Legal Challenges Over Denying Psilocybin Rescheduling Petition And Doctor’s Federal Waiver Request (Marijuana Moment)

• New Study Will Explore Psilocybin as a Treatment To Stop Smoking (High Times)

• N.S. company launching clinical trial to examine magic mushrooms as treatment for PTSD (CBC)

• The Potential Health Benefits of Microdosing Psilocybin With Chocolate (Psychology Today)

• Psilocybin Common Denominator in Several Recent Albums (High Times)

DMT

• Algernon Pharmaceuticals Enters into a Clinical Trial Agreement with Yale University for a DMT Phase 2 Depression Study (Psychedelic Alpha)

Ayahuasca

• Couple Sentenced to Eight Years for Czech Ayahuasca Ceremonies (Psychedelic Spotlight)

• A Legal Ayahuasca Church Thrives in Southern California (Lucid News)

Peyote

• Native American Church Asks Congress for Peyote Funding (DoubleBlind)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• WTF is 3-MMC, Berlin’s Weird New Club Drug? (DoubleBlind)

• Electric Picnic drug testing finds 'new psychoactive substances' never seen before in Ireland (The Irish Mirror)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Utah Medical Cannabis Flooded With Synthetic Cannabinoids From Hot Hemp (Forbes)

Ketamine

• Electroconvulsive Therapy Could Be Better Than Ketamine At Treating Depression (IFLScience)

Miscellaneous

• Beckley Psytech Strengthens Pipeline and Development Team With Acquisition of Eleusis Therapeutics Limited (Psychedelic Alpha)

• People Who Use Psychedelics Are More Connected To Nature And Knowledgeable About Climate Change, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Use of Psychedelic Therapies for Treatment Resistant Patients Again Rejected by Government, Despite Strong Supporting Safety and Efficacy Data and Australia’s Worsening Mental Health Crisis (Mind Medicine Australia)

• With Promise of Legalization, Psychedelic Companies Joust Over Future Profits (The New York Times)

• Manipulating light can induce psychedelic experiences – and scientists aren’t quite sure why (The Conversation)

• The ideological war at the heart of the psychedelic renaissance (New Atlas)

• Research, remedy and regulation: the changing dynamics of psychedelic therapy in Alberta (CBC)

• An Exploration of Psychedelics and Creativity (Drug Science)

• Variants in 5-HT2A Receptor Gene Alter Psychedelic Pharmacology (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Guidelines for Ethical Sponsorship and Transparency in Psychedelic Conferences (Chacruna)

• Terence McKenna's secret bad trip (Ecstatic Integration)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this month’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalog how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 3.11.22

Cannabis

• Costa Rica Moves Forward with Medical Cannabis Reform (High Times)

• New York Regulators Unanimously Advance Rule To Let People With Marijuana Convictions Open Shop Before Big Businesses Can Enter Market (Marijuana Moment)

• Morocco Moves into Medical Cannabis Cultivation (High Times)

• DC’s recreational marijuana ambitions blocked in federal bill (Marijuana Business Daily)

• NCAA Relaxes Drug Testing Policies for Cannabis (NORML)

• Kentucky Lawmakers Approve Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill In Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• Delaware: House Members Fail to Advance Legalization Legislation (NORML)

• Key GOP Kansas Lawmaker Files Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill In Senate (Marijuana Moment)

• No, The World’s Biggest Cannabis Company Is Not Russian-Owned (Forbes)

LSD

• Blackhawk's unit invests NZ$2.3M to advance microdosing LSD in phase 2 trials (Seeking Alpha)

Magic Mushrooms

• Head of Oregon’s Psilocybin Advisory Board resigns (OPB)

• Oklahoma House Passes Psilocybin Decriminalization And Research Bill, Sending It To Senate (Marijuana Moment)

• Hawaii Senate Unanimously Approves Psilocybin Task Force Bill, With Decriminalization Measures Still Pending (Marijuana Moment)

• Z Strain Mushrooms: Effects, Cultivation, and More (DoubleBlind)

• Washington State Ballot Initiative Would Legalize ‘Facilitated’ Psilocybin Sessions (Marijuana Moment)

• Demand grows for UK ministers to reclassify psilocybin for medical research (The Guardian)

Ayahuasca

• Ayahuasca and Childbirth in the Santo Daime Tradition: Solidarity Among Women and Psychedelic Cultural Resistance (Chacruna)

San Pedro

• Numinus Adds Ayahuasca & San Pedro to Federal License for Psychedelic Research (Psilocybin Alpha)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• New Machine Learning-Based Test Could Improve Detection of Synthetic Cannabinoids (PR Newswire)

Miscellaneous

• Fireside Project’s New Equity Initiative Expands Psychedelic Support Services (Lucid News)

• Maryland House And Senate Committees Consider Drug Decriminalization Bills (Marijuana Moment)

• Rhode Island Lawmakers File Psilocybin And Broader Drug Decriminalization Bills While Legal Marijuana Momentum Increases (Marijuana Moment)

• GOP Missouri Lawmaker Files Psychedelics Therapy And Decriminalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Will Psychedelics Become Commercialized Like Weed? (Westword)

• Georgia Bill Would Create Psychedelic Study Committee To Recommend Reform Policies (Marijuana Moment)

• HPPD and Flashbacks: Everything You Need To Know – And What We Don’t Know, Too (Psychedelics Today)

• Drug companies are investing big in psychedelics, but can they engineer out the trip? (Chemical and Engineering News)

• Psychedelics, the War on Drugs, and Violence in Latin America (Chacruna)

• New Age of Psychedelics (Pharmaceutical Executive)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalog how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 2.18.22

Cannabis

• Virginia Senate Votes To Start Recreational Marijuana Sales This September Through Current Medical Dispensaries (Marijuana Moment)

• Sha’Carri Richardson, Suspended Over Marijuana, Suggests Racist Double Standard After Olympics Lets Russian Skater Compete Amid Doping Scandal (Marijuana Moment)

• Israel Announces New Cannabis Decriminalization Plans (High Times)

• Apple Secretly Joined Amazon In Advancing Commercial Cannabis Reform (Forbes)

• New York Lawmakers Send Marijuana Licensing And Equity Bill To Governor’s Desk (Marijuana Moment)

• South African Government to Fast Track Cannabis Reform Regulations (High Times)

• D.C. Mayor Signs Bill To Let Older Patients Get Medical Marijuana Without Doctors And Create 4/20 Cannabis Tax Holiday (Marijuana Moment)

• Marijuana for trauma: Report shows positive effects of medical cannabis (The Jerusalem Post)

• Hawaii Senate Committee Approves Bill To Legalize Marijuana For Senior Citizens 65 And Older (Marijuana Moment)

• Bill To Create State-Run Marijuana Shops In New Hampshire Approved By House (Marijuana Moment)

• Alabama Senators Approve Marijuana Decriminalization And Expungements Bill In Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• South Dakota Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization And Taxation Bills In Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• WA researchers look at potential to use medicinal cannabis for weight loss (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

• GOP Missouri Lawmaker Unveils Wide-Ranging Marijuana Legalization Bill As Others Pursue 2022 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Kentucky Democrats File Bills To Legalize Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Lawmakers, Cops Consider Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization in Pennsylvania (NORML)

• Wyoming Legislators Introduce Cannabis Decriminalization Bill (High Times)

• Maryland Lawmakers Take First Step To Putting Marijuana Legalization On 2022 Ballot With Hearing On Two Bills (Marijuana Moment)

• New York Senate OKs bill to allow hemp farmers to grow adult-use marijuana (Marijuana Business Daily)

• Majority Of Arkansas Voters Back Cannabis Legalization (High Times)

• IRS Official Clarifies That Medical Marijuana Is Not Tax-Deductible Under Federal Law After Misstatement (Marijuana Moment)

• Proposed Bill Could Protect Employees in Colorado who Use Cannabis (High Times)

• Hemp-Reinforced Bobsled and Luge Tracks Debut at Winter Olympics in Beijing (High Times)

LSD

• Another trial finds no evidence LSD microdosing does anything (New Atlas)

• LSD, afterglow and hangover: Increased episodic memory and verbal fluency, decreased cognitive flexibility (Beckley Foundation)

• New study addresses the question; ‘Can LSD boost creativity?’ (leafie)

Magic Mushrooms

• Psilocybin Treatment for Major Depression Effective for Up to a Year for Most Patients, Study Shows (Johns Hopkins)

• Top Italian Court Blocks Marijuana And Psilocybin Referendum From Going Before Voters (Marijuana Moment)

• Psilocybin use associated with lowered odds of having been arrested, study finds (PsyPost)

• Oklahoma Lawmakers Approve Psilocybin Decriminalization And Research Bill In Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• Mushroom rabbi grows ceremonial psilocybin for Denver congregation — but is that legal? (The Denver Post)

• Hawaii Senators Approve Psilocybin Task Force Bill In Committee, With Decriminalization Measures Still Pending (Marijuana Moment)

• Oregon proposes only using one type of mushroom for new psilocybin system, and no pills (OPB)

• Nova Mentis Study Confirms Oral Microdose Psilocybin Treatment of Autism (Psilocybin Alpha)

• These Four Companies Want to Take You on a Psychedelic Voyage in Oregon (Willamette Week)

• No Need for Magic Mushrooms? Producing Synthetic Psilocybin from Bacteria and Yeast (Truffle Report)

• Psyched Wellness Announces Key Findings from the 90-Day Oral Toxicity Study on AME-1 (Psilocybin Alpha)

MDMA

• Bar-Goers Were Poisoned by Ecstasy-Laced Champagne, German Police Say (Gizmodo)

DMT

• The Latest in DMT Research: Leading Companies and Key Studies (Truffle Report)

• What is DMT therapy? (Drug Science)

Ayahuasca

• Deontay Wilder contemplates using ayahuasca to help decide his boxing future (leafie)

• When Is Drinking Ayahuasca a Religious Experience? (Reason)

5-MeO-DMT

• More Companies Embrace 5-MeO-DMT to Create Therapies (Lucid News)

Peyote

• Calling on Federal, State, and Local Governments to Protect and Respect Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) and its Byproducts (Chacruna)

• How peyote — used as a ceremonial, legal medicine — helped heal one family’s grief (Rocky Mountain PBS)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• Mydecine Announces MYCO-005 Family of Improved Safety Microdose Novel Molecules (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Awakn Files Patent For A New Class Of Entactogen-Like Molecules (Psilocybin Alpha)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Report finds too many New Zealanders are dying from preventable drug overdoses (Newshub)

Nitrous Oxide

• Doctors warn of emerging public health issue from recreational use of laughing gas (Irish Examiner)

Ketamine

• Ketamine No Better Than Placebo for Reducing Suicidal Ideation in Depression (Mad in America)

• Ehave, Inc. Launches KetaDASH, Its In-Home Ketamine Therapy In The San Francisco And Sacramento Market (GlobeNewswire)

• FDA: Safety Concerns With Compounded Ketamine Nasal Spray (MPR)

• PharmaTher Announces Grant of U.S. Patent on Ketamine Formulation (Psilocybin Alpha)

Miscellaneous

• Judge Grants Hearing for Opposition to DEA Proposal to Criminalize 5 More Psychedelics (Psychedelic Spotlight)

• MAPS Accepts $500,000 Donation From Atai Life Sciences’ Philanthropy Arm (Forbes)

• Maryland Senators Propose Free Psychedelics for Veterans with PTSD (Truffle Report)

• Psychedelics Open Opportunity to Study Synesthesia (Lucid News)

• Trauma and Vulnerability to Suggestion: Redefining How We Understand Consent (Psychedelics Today)

• The Psychonaut’s Guide to Kabbalah and Spiritual Journeying (DoubleBlind)

• What Are the Prospects for Canada’s Federal Drug Decriminalization Bill? (Filter)

• Maryland Lawmakers Work To Decriminalize Drug Paraphernalia (Marijuana Moment)

• The 5 Craziest Places On Earth to Do Psychedelics (DoubleBlind)

• The Religious Uses of Licit and Illicit Psychoactive Substances in a Branch of the Santo Daime Religion (Chacruna)

• “Largest-Ever” Harm Reduction Ad Campaign Demands Services, Honors the Dead (Filter)

• Naming and shaming drug users is focus group fodder – Labour must do better (LabourList)

• Co-Creating a Psychedelic Commons: A Commoner’s Guide (Chacruna)

• Meet the 16 Most Influential Women Shaping the Future of Psychedelics (Business Insider)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalog how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 10.30.20

Cannabis

• New Zealand Marijuana Legalization Trails In Early Referendum Results, But More Votes To Be Counted (Marijuana Moment)

• New Jersey Lawmakers Approve Bill Providing Medical Marijuana Patient Insurance Benefits (Marijuana Moment)

• Study: Seniors Report Using Cannabis Products to Mitigate Symptoms Associated with Older Age (NORML)

• Mississippi Supreme Court Won’t Consider Challenge To Medical Marijuana Measure Until After Election (Marijuana Moment)

• South Dakota: Oglala Sioux Enacts Ordinance Legalizing Marijuana Use on Tribal Lands (NORML)

• New Jersey Marijuana Sales Could Start Just Weeks After Election Day Under Key Senator’s Plan (Marijuana Moment)

• Study suggests that cannabis can reduce OCD symptoms by half in short term (Hindustan Times)

• Idaho Activists Submit 2022 Medical Marijuana Initiative Following 2020 Complications (Marijuana Moment)

• Schools And NCAA Could Ban Marijuana Sponsorships Under Bill To Let Student Athletes Monetize Their Success (Marijuana Moment)

• Virginia NORML Calls for Legalization to Protect Marijuana Consumers from Potentially Tainted Products (NORML)

• South Dakota Voters Back Marijuana Legalization And Medical Cannabis Ballot Measures, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• The Music Never Stops With Jerry Garcia’s Just-Launched Cannabis Collection (Forbes)

LSD

• Killer High: Exploring the Phenomenon of LSD-Fuelled Murder (VICE)

• The psychedelics revolution has arrived in New Zealand (The Spinoff)

Magic Mushrooms

• Covid Can't Kill Mushrooms: The coronavirus has infected, but not killed, the movement to bring magic mushrooms to the masses (Rooster Magazine)

• Expanding On Psilocybin Research, John Hopkins Hoping To Hear From More Users (CBS Baltimore)

MDMA

• ‘Sorted’ for Es? Women and Ecstasy in 1990s Britain (Chacruna)

DMT

• SLU professor is authority on drug that landed him in jail (WWNY-TV)

Ayahuasca

• Ayahuasca Ceremonies and Tourism Return to Costa Rica (The Costa Rica Star)

• Studies lift the veil on psychedelic brew ayahuasca, its mental health benefits and potential to treat depression and trauma (South China Morning Post)

• Documentary looks at mystery medicine, Ayahuasca (The Leaf Online)

Mescaline

• What Is Mescaline? A Guide to this Cactus-Derived Psychedelic (DoubleBlind)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Synthetic cannabinoids linked to increased hospitalizations and deaths in older adults with COPD (Marijuana Business Daily)

• Synthetic Cannabis Could Disrupt The Marijuana Industry In A Big Way (Green Entrepreneur)

Ketamine

• Wearable Ketamine Delivery Device Developed As Alternative to Opioid-Based Pain Management (Lucid News)

• Ketamine Helps People Dislike Themselves Less (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Pharmather Files for FDA Orphan Drug Designation for Ketamine in Neuropathic Pain (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Can Dissociative Side Effect of “Floating” Predict Response to Ketamine in MDD? (Psychiatry Advisor)

Miscellaneous

• No Drugs Should Be Criminalized. It’s Time to Abolish the DEA. (Truthout)

• ‘Drug Free USA Forever’ Stamps Launched By DEA, Postal Service And Miss America (Marijuana Moment)

• Inside the ‘Psychedelic Exceptionalism’ Debate: Should All Drugs be Legal, or Just Pot and Psychedelics? (DoubleBlind)

• Psilocybin Group Therapy Improves Demoralization for AIDS Survivors (Chacruna)

• Children and Psychedelics: Re-examining Cultural Paradigms (Psychedelics Today)

• International study finds 79% of individuals who microdose with psychedelics report improvements in their mental health (PsyPost)

• Ketamine Meditation, Jungle Tripping and Modern-Day Shamans: Meet a ‘Psychedelic Concierge’ (VICE)

• The Role of Psychedelic Plant Medicines in Addiction Treatment (The Fix)

• A Collective Call for Accountability in Plant Medicine Experiences (Chacruna)

• Who owns psychedelics: patents and state therapeutic access laws (New Amsterdam Psychedelic Law)

• Field Trip Health Ltd. Provides Update on FT-104, Its Next Generation Psychedelic Molecule in Development (Psilocybin Alpha)

• What do Santo Daime and Raves Have in, Common? The Answer Might Move You (Chacruna)

• Journey Colab bags $3M from 'moonshot' fund to push new development model for psychedelic treatments (Fierce Biotech)

• Where Witchcraft Meets Plant Medicine (DoubleBlind)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

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.

Not All Ayahuasca Is Made Equal

Jasmine Virdi, writing for Psychedelics Today:

As the use of ayahuasca becomes increasingly widespread, the Amazonian vine has extended its roots beyond the traditional indigenous and religious contexts of South America, lending itself to a newly evolving field of practice. However, the economic viability of ayahuasca ceremonies combined with the vine’s complicated legal status opens the field to a plurality of malpractice, particularly when it comes to what practitioners actually serve in the cup.

Since it is a plant medicine, ayahuasca naturally varies in quality (including differences in strength, chemical makeup, psychoactive and physical effect, and taste) depending on the plants that are used, where those plants come from, the skill of the person concocting the brew, and other factors. To better understand this phenomenon, researchers from Estonia and Brazil analyzed the differences in ayahuasca brews from multiple traditions:

Their study, yet to be published, analyzed changing distributions of DMT, harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine (THH) across 102 ayahuasca samples. These samples were taken from different locations in Europe and Brazil, spanning across different traditions including indigenous shamanic, Santo Daime, and neo-shamanic.

Interesting tendencies emerged based on the traditions from which the samples came, with indigenous brews showing a balanced ratio between the concentrations of DMT, THH, and harmine. Samples that came from the ayahuasca religion, Santo Daime, also showed a similar balance between chemical compounds, although some brews tended towards increased concentrations of DMT.

However, when it came to brews received from neo-shamanic facilitators of different backgrounds, there was notably more variation between chemical constituents, and on average, they contained substantially greater concentrations of DMT than indigenous brews.

This study found that the ayahuasca brewed in indigenous communities and the Santo Daime church is more consistent than the brews made by neo-shamans. Perhaps not surprisingly, neo-shamanic brews are more likely to include additional additives and contaminants, and some neo-shamans are effectively creating a counterfeit product and attempting to pass it off as legitimate ayahuasca. That’s because so-called “anahuasca” and “pharmahuasca” brews are not made from traditional plants but instead use different plants, fungi, or pharmaceutical drugs to imitate the effects of classical ayahuasca. Interestingly, this practice is virtually nonexistent within more established ayahuasca traditions:

Comparatively, there was no counterfeit ayahuasca found among disciplined ayahuasca traditions such as the Santo Daime and among indigenous practitioners. In South America in general, the raw materials to make ayahuasca are both abundant and affordable, removing any incentive to replace them with other plants or pharmaceuticals.

Kronman argues that “we as a community [need to] work to develop self-regulating mechanisms that foster and encourage transparent practices” and I agree. The issue is not that alternative brews should be avoided altogether (I’m all for responsible psychoactive experimentation), but rather that people who drink ayahuasca should always be informed about the specific plants that were used in the brew, and they should absolutely steer clear of drinking with facilitators who aren’t fully transparent about what is in their ayahuasca brew or act offended when asked what ingredients are in it.

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