This Week in Psychedelics - 2.11.22

Cannabis

• South Carolina Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill Officially Approved In Senate, Heads For House Consideration (Marijuana Moment)

• Maryland Lawmakers Introduce Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization Bill (High Times)

• UK trial of medical cannabis and long covid to get underway this month (Cannabis Health News)

• The Super Bowl won’t be lit: no cannabis ads allowed (The Verge)

• Bill Introduced to Raise THC Limit in Hemp to One Percent (High Times)

• Cannabis Store Co-owned By Top Virginia Senator Sells Mislabeled Products With Illegal THC Content, Media Investigation Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Study Shreds Cannabis ‘Amotivational Syndrome’ Theory (High Times)

• Flower still king of US marijuana market, though supremacy waning (Marijuana Business Daily)

• Oklahoma Becomes Marijuana Legalization Battleground Between Advocates, With Legal Challenges And A New Ballot Initiative (Marijuana Moment)

• New York Cracks Down on Illegal Cannabis Businesses (High Times)

• Missouri Supreme Court Unanimously Orders Medical Marijuana Applicant Disclosures (Marijuana Moment)

• Pennsylvania Senate committee holds first-ever hearing on legalizing recreational marijuana (WGAL)

• Police Seizure Of Marijuana Dispensary Cash Leads To Federal Litigation (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis platform Leafly closes merger with SPAC, goes public on Nasdaq (Marijuana Business Daily)

• The Eternal Pricing Struggle of UK Medical Cannabis Patients (TalkingDrugs)

• Weedmaps Ad Satirizes Plight Of Broccoli Emoji As Marijuana Stand-In On Social Media (Marijuana Moment)

• Young cannabis users at increased risk of repeat stroke (Medical News Today)

• Federally Owned Utility Company Walks Back Threat To Block Electricity For Marijuana Businesses (Marijuana Moment)

• Cali Vibes Rocks Long Beach, Allowing Cannabis (High Times)

• How does cannabis use affect brain health? Caution advised, more research needed, experts say (ScienceDaily)

LSD

• Microdose Psychedelics Presents a Molecular Masterclass: The LSD Conference (GlobeNewswire)

Magic Mushrooms

• Psilocybin microdosing does not reduce symptoms of depression or anxiety, according to placebo-controlled study (PsyPost)

• Lawmakers say no to bill legalizing psilocybin-assisted therapy in Maine (The Portland Press Herald)

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

• More States Follow Oregon’s Lead Toward Legal Psilocybin Therapy (Lucid News)

• Usona Identifies Controlled Crystal Engineering Process for Large-Scale Synthesis of Psilocybin Polymorphs (Business Wire)

• Maine CDC Director Opposes Bill to Legalize Therapeutic Psilocybin (Psychedelic Spotlight)

• The Many Types of Psychedelic Mushrooms (Truffle Report)

• Mazatec Shamanic Knowledge and Psilocybin Mushrooms (Chacruna)

MDMA

• Can MDMA Save a Marriage? (The New York Times)

DMT

• DMT Vape Pen Patent Illustrates a Big Problem in the Psychedelics Industry (Psychedelic Spotlight)

Ayahuasca

• Creating Awareness on Sexual Abuse in Ayahuasca Communities: A Review of Chacruna’s Guidelines (Chacruna)

5-MeO-DMT

• Scientists Create Cell-Based Psychedelic Toad Venom, a Potential 5-MeO-DMT “Bio-Factory” (Lucid News)

Mescaline

• Mescaline As Therapy Is Getting Attention, Despite Stigma (Green Market Report)

Iboga

• Osoyoos Indian Band eyes cutting-edge drug treatment centre (Vancouver Sun)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• Cybin Announces Grant of U.S. Patent Covering its Proprietary Compound CYB004 (Deuterated DMT) for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders (Psilocybin Alpha)

Nitrous Oxide

• Another new weapon to beat Corona, first 'nasal spray' launched in India (News Track)

• Nitrous Oxide Safe For Dental Procedures In Children With Sickle Cell Disease: Study (Medical Dialogues)

Ketamine

• Ketamine effectively silences suicidal thoughts, especially in bipolar patients (Study Finds)

• Researching Ketamine for Social Anxiety Disorder (Truffle Report)

• Yale researcher receives grant to study effects of ketamine in individuals with epilepsy (Yale Daily News)

• Trip Tunes: A Conversation with Producer Jon Hopkins About Making Music for Ketamine (DoubleBlind)

• Ketamine Infusions in the Home May Facilitate Safe Treatment Access During the Pandemic (Pharmacy Times)

Miscellaneous

• Can microdosing psychedelics boost mental health? Here’s what the evidence suggests. (National Geographic)

• Utah House Overwhelmingly Approves Psychedelics Study Task Force Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Maryland Senate Bill Would Provide ‘Cost-Free Access’ To Psychedelics For Military Veterans (Marijuana Moment)

• Psychedelics Offer New Route to Recovery from Eating Disorders (NEO.LIFE)

• Are Psychedelics the Future of Pain Relief? (VICE)

• Michigan Activists Submit Psychedelics Decriminalization Language (High Times)

• DEA Faces Backlash Over Proposed Scheduling Of Five Psychedelic Compounds (Marijuana Moment)

• Proposed Drug-Decrim Ballot Initiative All Set in Washington State (Filter)

• Can Psychedelics Make People More Drawn to Conspiracy Theories? (Sam Woolfe)

• Yes, Psychedelics Do Change Our Metaphysical Beliefs (DoubleBlind)

• Panel Discusses Coalition Building to Unlock Therapeutic Effects of Psychedelics (The Yale School)

• Legal Psychedelics: The U.S. Cities Where Psilocybin, LSD And Others Are Decriminalized (Healing Maps)

• Canada’s Reforms on Psychedelics Are Slowly Taking Shape (Bloomberg)

• Survey Shows 65% of Affected Americans Want Access to Psychedelic Treatments for Mental Health Conditions (Pharmacy Times)

• New Polling by Mind Medicine Australia Reveals Over 60% of Australians Support Increased Access to Psychedelic Medicines (Mind Medicine Australia)

• Big Pharma In Psychedelics: Inside Mindset Pharma’s Deal With Otsuka (Forbes)

• Using Real-World Evidence to Accelerate Psychedelic Drug Development (Truffle Report)

• Is city getting ‘high’ on hallucinating drugs? (The Hindu)

• Drug Euphoria Is a Good Thing, Actually (Filter)

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 Year in Psychedelics - 2021

Before we get into this recap of the biggest psychedelic news stories from 2021, I’d like to address the fact that this blog post is coming out a month late. Normally I strive to publish my yearly recaps on New Year’s Eve, but things have been really hectic on my end lately and I’ve been barely keeping up with putting out the weekly link roundups, much less creating monthly and yearly recaps or other types of content.

So I apologize for not getting this out into the world sooner. I’ve started to realize that I bit off way more than I can chew over the last year and fell behind on things here at Think Wilder. Here’s hoping 2022 will be a little more focused so I can meet my deadlines and get my work out in a timely manner for y’all to enjoy!

Just like last month’s recap, there is no video recap of this year’s psychedelic news recap up on YouTube. I’ll have another update about some changes coming to my YouTube channel that should hopefully be out later this week on my channel, so make sure you subscribe there if you’d like to be informed about things on that front.

Moving on to the main show, there was a ton of huge news in 2021. Without further ado, let’s jump into the news.

Policy

Wins

Nine U.S. cities decriminalized psychedelics:

• Somerville, MA

• Cambridge, MA

• Washington, D.C.

• Northampton, MA

• Seattle, WA

• Arcata, CA

• Easthampton, MA

• Detroit, MI

• Port Townsend, WA

When it comes to cannabis policies there were several successes at the state level, even though attempts to change things at the federal level were unsuccessful. Four states legalized weed:

• New Jersey

• New York

• Virginia

• New Mexico

• Connecticut

In addition, Alabama legalized medical marijuana and New Jersey and Louisiana decriminalized cannabis.

Taking things a bit further, Baltimore, MD and Scotland decriminalized the use of all drugs.

The governors of Connecticut and Texas signed legislation that will enable the states to study the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. And New Zealand legalized drug checking, becoming the world’s first country to do so.

Industry

One of the biggest stories in the psychedelic industry involved the fight over patenting various aspects involving psychedelics. The one that probably stirred up the most discontent was when COMPASS Pathways submitted a patent application that attempted to claim the right to common, preexisting psychedelic therapy techniques. This prompted a discussion about patents in psychedelia, with many people wondering if companies should own the future of the field. COMPASS Pathways has five U.S. patents and a total of ten worldwide, so they are quickly claiming rights to a lot of intellectual property in the space. But not without a fight—last month a non-profit known as Freedom to Operate submitted a new legal filing that argues against COMPASS Pathways’ patent on its form of synthetic psilocybin based on the idea that it is not a novel invention. The results from this case will set a precedent for not just COMPASS Pathways but for other psychedelic companies as well.

Psychedelic companies started making waves on the stock markets around the world, with five companies joining the Nasdaq (Mindmed, atai Life Sciences, Field Trip Health, Enveric Biosciences, and Bright Minds Biosciences) and Cybin joining the New York Stock Exchange.

Psychedelic companies secured a historic amount of funding, estimated at a cool $2 billion.

A few other interesting stories in the realm of psychedelic industry from 2021:

• A failed attempt at rolling out a legal snortable marijuana product dubbed Canna Bumps

• An above-ground “LSD shop” in Berlin that was opened by a relative of Donald Trump

• Wearable psychedelics that will give patients the ability to fine-tune their dose or automatically administer doses to the wearer

• Hamilton Morris ended his show and joined COMPASS Pathways

Research

Published Studies

Several studies came out:

• MAPS Phase 3 MDMA trial indicated the drug may be effective at treating PTSD

• The largest psilocybin trial to date yielded mixed results

• There seems to be a correlation with microdosing and mental health benefits

• However, Imperial College London found that the reported benefits from microdosing may come down to the placebo effect

• The world’s first trial studying MDMA for alcohol addiction was promising

• A study showed that psilocybin has the potential to induce new neural connections

• Psychonauts should remain skeptical of at-home genetic testing to identify whether someone will have a bad trip

• Classical music may not be as superior for psychedelic therapy as was once thought

• MDMA therapy could be less effective for people who take antidepressants

• SSRIs can be used safely with psilocybin to treat depression

• And psilocybin was found to be as effective at treating depression while producing fewer side effects

Future Studies

Looking ahead:

• A study looking to treat tobacco addiction with psilocybin will receive federal funding

• The NIH granted Yale nearly $200k to fund the studying of psilocybin for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder

• The Australian government earmarked $15 million for psychedelic research

• The DEA has proposed a dramatic increase in the production of cannabis and psychedelics for research in 2022

Research Centers

A record-breaking number of psychedelic research centers were announced or opened:

• The Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at Mount Sinai

• Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Neuroscience of Psychedelics

• COMPASS Pathways’ Drug Discovery Center

• New York University’s Center for Psychedelic Medicine

• Aion Therapeutic’s Aion International Center for Psychedelic Psychiatry in Jamaica

• Usona Institute’s Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances

• A first-of-its-kind psychedelic therapy research center in Melbourne, Australia

• Canada’s first psychedelic therapy research center under Toronto’s University Health Network

• The Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy at the University of Texas at Austin

In addition to these new psychedelic research centers, Harvard Law School’s Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation will contribute to the effort to create evidence-based laws and policies involving psychedelics.

Harm Reduction

The FDA and CDC issued warnings to consumers about potential risks involving delta-8 THC, a relatively new psychoactive cannabinoid that has grown in popularity due to its widespread legality but remains essentially unregulated at this time. Apparently there has been a significant increase in reported adverse health effects from people using this drug.

However, before you go ahead and toss any of these products you may already own out of the window, it may be helpful to know that it’s not like people are getting poisoned. In fact, it’s far more likely that they are unintentionally getting high after using delta-8 THC because of misunderstandings, bad labeling, and a lack of experience.

The Fireside Project has been helping people process psychedelic experiences via its free peer support phone line since it launched last April, but the organization took things to the next level by releasing a psychedelic peer support app. Now psychonauts in need of support can find help on either the phone or via chat, which may be helpful for people who prefer one form of communication over another.

Drug checking is an essential practice for any responsible psychonaut, and new technologies are coming out that will ensure more innovative and accurate results than ever before. The popular harm reduction organization known as DanceSafe released a new ketamine test kit (called the Morris reagent) that was engineered to identify the difference between ketamine and common analogues like DCK and 2FDCK. And a startup called Miraculix took things one step further by creating rapid at-home test kits that can assess the potency of various psychoactive drugs, including MDMA, LSD, and psilocybin.

Harm reductionists have yet another tool that can be used to help psychonauts use drugs as safely as possible; a new app called Pill-iD lets users scan pills to see what they contain.

However, it’s not a perfect option because rather than find out what’s actually inside a pill, the app instead uses machine learning to cross-check the user’s image against a large database of scanned pills to provide details about what drug is actually contained within, the risk level from taking it, and any potential side effects.

So while it’s not advisable to rely solely on this new app to find out what’s inside your pill, it could help inform naïve users that there is a possibility they might have bought an adulterated drug. As I’ve tried to hammer home over and over again, it’s always advisable to use a reagent test kit to further rule out the possibility that your pills contain unwanted drugs and to properly weigh your substances before you take them.

Miscellaneous

• More people started talking about sexual abuse in psychedelic therapy

• A self-appointed psychedelic guru known as the “QAnon Shaman” joined a group of insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol

• There were significant updates to the Elijah McClain case, with an independent investigation leading to a new Colorado law and the criminally-negligent homicide and manslaughter charges given to the officers and paramedics involved in McClain’s death

• U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was disqualified from an Olympic race because she failed a drug test

• Activists in Washington, D.C. and a Michigan dispensary gave out free cannabis to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine

• A man injected magic mushrooms into his veins and developed a life-threatening infection that resulted in a month-long hospital stay

• President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, published a memoir in which he detailed an account of how he worked with psychedelics to help him abstain from alcohol and crack cocaine

• A former Latter-day Saint politician with some impressive cajones formed a psilocybin church in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dubbed “The Divine Assembly”, the church serves magic mushrooms as a sacrament that enables its members to commune with the divine

• Causing a bit of a stir in the global psychedelic community, a publication known as Psychedelic Invest published a list of the 100 most influential people in psychedelics ranking candidates based on the following factors: social reach, scientific accomplishments, legislative initiatives, and value creation/contribution

• Three new psychedelic holidays: Tram Day and World Psychedelics Day in June, and Entheogenic Plants and Fungi Awareness Month in August

  Conclusion

What a year! Tons of new psychedelic research studies, a streak of drug policy reform wins, the growing psychedelic industry, and several important developments in psychedelic culture… last year was certainly a lot to take in.

Now that you’ve read my recap of the biggest psychedelic news from 2021, I’d like to recommend the following highlights from other publications that you might enjoy:

• Psychedelic Spotlight: “2021: A Year in Review for the Psychedelics Business”

• Marijuana Moment: “Here Are The Biggest Marijuana, Psychedelics And Drug Policy News Stories Of 2021”

• Truffle Report: “Looking Back at 2021’s Psychedelics Milestones”

• New Atlas: “Highlights from a landmark year in psychedelic science”

• Psilocybin Alpha: “Psychedelics 2021: A Year in Review”

• The Microdose: “The Year in Psychedelic News”

And lastly, I will leave you with the links to the annual psychedelic news recaps I’ve published over the last six years. I hope you have a wonderful 2022 and make sure you subscribe to my monthly newsletter to keep up-to-date with all the latest psychedelic news.

Previous Years in Psychedelics

• 2020

• 2019

• 2018

• 2017

• 2016

• 2015

That’s all for this year’s update. Remember to always test and weigh your drugs and until next time—keep thinking wilder.

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this year’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.

This Week in Psychedelics - 8.6.21

Cannabis

• Louisiana: Marijuana Decriminalization Law Takes Effect (NORML)

• Missouri Probation Officers Are Sending People Back to Prison for Legally Using Medical Cannabis (MERRY JANE)

• Trial to test if cannabis-based mouth spray can treat brain tumours (The Guardian)

• Wyoming Marijuana Decriminalization And Medical Cannabis Initiatives Clear First 2022 Ballot Hurdle (Marijuana Moment)

• Puerto Rico: Law Signed Protecting Medical Cannabis Patients from Employment Discrimination (NORML)

• Arkansas Marijuana Activists Push For Legalization Ballot Initiative In 2022 (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

• How the CIA used LSD to fight communism (Big Think)

Magic Mushrooms

• Canadians Overwhelmingly Support Legal Access to Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy, Poll Reveals (Psilocybin Alpha)

• COMPASS Pathways’ Psilocybin Patent Questioned By UK Patent Examiner (Psymposia)

• Does This Medieval Fresco Show A Hallucinogenic Mushroom in the Garden of Eden? (Atlas Obscura)

• Filament Health Is the First Public Company to Be Issued a Patent for Extraction of Natural Psilocybin (Psilocybin Alpha)

DMT

• Enzymes Responsible for DMT Synthesis Coexist in Mammalian Brain Cells (Psychedelic Science Review)

• PharmaDrug Forms Research Collaboration with Terasaki Institute for Novel Ocular Drug Formulation Program to Deliver DMT and Other Tryptamines to Treat Eye Disease (Psilocybin Alpha)

Ayahuasca

• Addiction Treatment: Ayahuasca May Help Addicts Stop Abusing Alcohol and Drugs (Gilmore Health News)

Mescaline

• Could Synthetic Mescaline Protect Declining Peyote Populations? (Chacruna)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• Deadly drug 25B-NBOH sold as powdered LSD in Melbourne, spike in Victorian hospitalisations (News.com.au)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

• Lawsuit Filed Over Massachusetts Prisons’ Use of Faulty Drug Tests (Ganjapreneur)

Ketamine

• With a nudge from AI, ketamine emerges as a potential rare disease treatment (STAT)

• Ketamine May Combat Depression in Teens (Lucid News)

Miscellaneous

• Usona Institute Breaks Ground for Global Center in Psychedelic Science (The Joplin Globe)

• Drug deaths in England and Wales highest since 1993 (BBC)

• The Story of “El Chapo” and Why the Drug War Will Never End (The Nation)

• First-ever research centre for psychedelic drug therapy is opening in Australia (Mixmag)

• Fireside Project Releases App for Psychedelic Peer Support (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Modernization of Sacred Plant Medicine Traditions: At What Cost? (Psychedelics Today)

• The Wonderful and Absurd Adventures of Rosemary Woodruff Leary: Fashion Icon, Fugitive, and Psychedelic Pioneer (Part One) (Chacruna)

• Researchers Concerned About Whitewashing of Psychedelic-Assisted Mental Health Research (Mad in America)

• Awakn Life Sciences Announces Its Second Location in the UK for “Awakn Clinics London,” Providing Treatment to the Largest City in the UK (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Two Years After Oakland’s Psychedelic Decrim, What’s Been the Impact? (Filter)

• Improving Y/Our Relationship with Psychedelics (Maps of the Mind)

• Advancing the Psychedelic Renaissance (Reality Sandwich)

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 - 12.11.20

Cannabis

• Mexican Supreme Court Extends Deadline To Legalize Marijuana As Lawmakers Continue To Advance Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• House Approves Marijuana Research Bill Days After Voting To Federally Legalize Cannabis (Marijuana Moment)

• What To Expect From The House Of Representatives’ Passing Of Federal Cannabis Reform (Forbes)

• Feds’ Post-Election Warning: Marijuana Still Banned For Federal Workers Despite State Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• NBA Will Reportedly Not Test Players for Marijuana Next Season (Complex)

• New Jersey lawmakers agree on recreational marijuana legalization bill (Marijuana Business Daily)

• Nebraska Senators Will Work To Put Recreational Marijuana On The Ballot In 2022 (Marijuana Moment)

• 70% in U.S. Support Expunging Marijuana Convictions After Vote to Decriminalize Weed: Poll (Newsweek)

• Embracing Marijuana Legalization Could Have Offset Democratic Election Losses, Poll Indicates (Marijuana Moment)

• Dumping CBD Oil On Strawberries Extends Their Shelf Life And Stops Mold Growth, New Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Why Europe's big cannabis route is so hard to shut (BBC)

• Majority Of Republican Voters Support House-Passed Marijuana Legalization Bill, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Jay-Z’s Cannabis Brand, Monogram, Launches With $50 Hand-Rolled Joints (Forbes)

LSD

• Mumbai: ‘Paper weight can’t be counted while quantifying LSD’ (Times of India)

Magic Mushrooms

• N.J. bill to lessen jail time for ‘magic’ mushrooms moves forward (NJ.com)

• Canada Will Let Health Care Professionals Legally Use Psychedelic Mushrooms, Health Minister Says (Marijuana Moment)

• Mydecine Innovations Group to Make First Commercial Export of Legal Psilocybin Mushrooms (Globe Newswire)

• Magic Mushrooms Are Expanding Minds and Advancing an Emerging Field of Science (Discover Magazine)

• Can the active ingredient in magic mushrooms help treat anxiety? Researchers want to know (The Age)

MDMA

• MDMA-assisted couples therapy investigated in landmark pilot trial (New Atlas)

DMT

• Psychedelic drug DMT to be trialled in UK to treat depression (The Guardian)

• Why Does the Brain Make Its Own DMT? (DoubleBlind)

• How to Integrate a Difficult-to-Remember DMT Experience (Maps of the Mind)

Ayahuasca

• Miley Cyrus Says Ayahuasca Changed Her Life (Lucid News)

• Preserving Entangled Ayahuasca (Chacruna)

5-MeO-DMT

• Usona Institute Publishes Synthesis and Characterization of cGMP 5-MeO-DMT (Psilocybin Alpha)

Peyote

• Directing to the Divine Among Native American Peyotists (Spirit Pharmacist)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• New Compound Related to Psychedelic Ibogaine Could Treat Addiction, Depression (UC Davis)

Ketamine

• PharmaTher Files FDA Pre-IND Meeting Request for Ketamine in Parkinson’s Disease (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Mind Cure Moves into Psychedelic Assisted Therapy with British Columbia Location Offering Ketamine and Psilocybin Therapy (Psilocybin Alpha)

Miscellaneous

• Psychedelics Weren't As Common in Ancient Cultures As We Think (VICE)

• The Top 10 Psychedelic Research Papers of 2020 (Psychedelic Science Review)

• This Is How Psychedelics Hack the Brain, According to Scientists (VICE)

• The Case for Macrodosing (Rolling Stone)

• Psychedelic Guide Abuse: High-Control Group Dynamics and Complicity in the Perpetuation of Harm (Psychedelics Today)

• UK government set for psychedelics investment windfall (Financial Times)

• It Takes Guts: Psychedelic Treatment Approaches to Autoimmune Disorders (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Humans Have Used Drugs With Sex For Millennia – The Reasons Are Much Broader Than You Think (TalkingDrugs)

• How To Provide Psychedelic Support (Lucid News)

• Psychedelics, Therapy, and the Law (Psychedelic Frontier)

• Christopher Valore (AKA The Architect) talks “Conductor,” His Virtual-Reality, Psychedelic-Visual Sandbox Platform (Psymposia)

• Psychedelics, Shadows, and Spiritual Bypassing (The Third Wave)

• How Music Therapists Helped Build Psychedelic Therapy (Chacruna)

• How to Change Your Ability to Change (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Combining Movement and Microdosing: Athletics, Exercise, and Flow (The Third Wave)

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.

This Week in Psychedelics - 11.20.20

Cannabis

• Mexican Senate Passes Bill To Legalize Marijuana Nationwide (Marijuana Moment)

• Israel Announced Intentions To Legalize Recreational Cannabis (High Times)

• Argentina redraws medical cannabis rules, allowing home cultivation (Marijuana Business Daily)

• Cannabis resin now 25% more potent, global study reveals (The Guardian)

• New Jersey Senate Approves Marijuana Decriminalization Despite Contentious Psychedelics Provision (Marijuana Moment)

• CBD is not a narcotic, says EU court as it rules French ban is illegal (The Guardian)

• Lawmakers In Wisconsin Capital Vote To Allow Marijuana Use In Public (Marijuana Moment)

• How marijuana legalization made strides across the US in this election (The Guardian)

• New Jersey Senate And Assembly Committee Pass Marijuana Sales Bills Despite Pushback From Equity Advocates (Marijuana Moment)

• New Jersey: Senate Lawmakers Approve Legislation to End Low-Level Marijuana Arrests (NORML)

LSD

• Joanna Harcourt-Smith, Lover of Timothy Leary, High Priest of LSD, Dies at 74 (The New York Times)

• MindMed Receives Approval of Protocol Design to Evaluate Microdoses of LSD For Adult ADHD In Phase 2a Clinical Trial from Swiss and Dutch Health Authorities (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Florida man on LSD tackles Disney security guard at Animal Kingdom (Orlando Weekly)

Magic Mushrooms

• First Non-Palliative Canadian Granted Access To Psilocybin Therapy (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Usona Offers Psilocybin to Eligible Researchers at No Cost (Usona Institute)

• Revive Therapeutics Announces Research Collaboration with PharmaTher for Development of Psilocybin in Cancer and Discovery of Novel Uses of Psychedelics (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Psilocybin increases the expression neuroplasticity-related genes in rats (PsyPost)

• Psilocybin for Depression Study Approved and Funded by German Government (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Pilot Study of Psilocybin-Assisted Group Therapy in Older AIDS Survivors (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Single Dose of Psilocybin Reduces Migraines for at Least 2 Weeks (Psilocybin Alpha)

• Aeruginascin Identified in Psilocybe cubensis Magic Mushrooms (Psychedelic Science Review)

• NeonMind Commences Preclinical Trial to Examine Psilocybin for Weight Loss (Psilocybin Alpha)

• How will Oregon’s new psilocybin therapy program work? (OPB)

• Numinus Announces Compassionate Access Trial of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for Substance Use Disorders (Psilocybin Alpha)

• ACT and PcbAP for Depression – A Natural Synergy Part 2: The Technical Integration (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Field Trip Health Ltd. Announces Expansion to The Netherlands and Launch of Proprietary Truffle Program (Psilocybin Alpha)

Ketamine

• Happiness during ketamine infusion predicts treatment-resistant depression outcomes (Healio)

• Ketamine May Be Helpful in Treating Alcohol Use Disorder (Psychology Today)

• Veterans Are Using Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy To Help With PTSD (Green Entrepreneur)

Miscellaneous

• Vancouver proposes decriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs (The Globe and Mail)

• Canadian Officials Respond To Psychedelics Decriminalization Petition, Saying No Legal Changes Needed (Marijuana Moment)

• UK on the Brink of a Psychedelic Therapy Revolution (Filter)

• One Simple Way Biden Could Prove He Regrets His Role in the Drug War (Slate)

• How Tripping Can Help Us Reimagine Capitalism Ahead of Psychedelic Commercialization (DoubleBlind)

• High Country: The Aspen Brain Institute examines the promising future of psychedelic-assisted therapy (The Aspen Times)

• The Oregon Model (The Baffler)

• Keys for Integrating Psychedelic Experiences (Psychedelics Today)

• Kin Spruijt: A Psychedelic Nurse in a Dutch Psychiatric Clinic (Chacruna)

• Paraphernalia Decrim Advances in DC—Just Not for Drug Sellers (Filter)

• Breaking Barriers So Psychedelic Experiences Can Become Mainstream (Forbes)

• What is the Default Mode Network? (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Avoiding Negative Experiences With Microdosing (The Third Wave)

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.