zero tolerance

This Week in Psychedelics - 6.1.18

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Cannabis

  • Marijuana Compound Removes Toxic Alzheimer's Protein From The Brain (Science Alert)
  • Forget protein shakes. The newest workout supplement? Marijuana. (The Boston Globe)
  • Research Finds That Cannabis Used To Grow Wild In Ancient Europe (Herb)
  • Craft brewers walk regulatory tightrope with cannabis-related products (MiBiz)
  • Utah: Medical Access Initiative Certified For 2018 Ballot (NORML)
  • Use of Toxic Pesticides Increased in California’s Illegal Weed Farms (High Times)
  • Cannabis: the new tobacco? (CBC)
  • Florida: Court Strikes Down Legislative Ban On Medical Cannabis Smoking (NORML)
  • Oklahoma: Polling Shows Strong Voter Support For Upcoming Medical Marijuana Vote (NORML)
  • World’s First Cannabis Bank Advances in California (Leafly)
  • Bad Vibes? Heavy Marijuana Users Hold On to Negative Feelings (Live Science)
  • Greece Prepares for First Government-Backed Medical Marijuana Expo (High Times)
  • Senators Approve Funds For Feds To Restore Cannabis Genetics (Forbes)
  • Epileptic HS football player ineligible for college play because of cannabis oil use (FOX4KC)
  • Longtime Cannabis Activist Marc Emery Fined $5,000 For Drug Trafficking (High Times)
  • Georgia Kidnapped This Boy Because His Parents Used Marijuana to Stop His Seizures (Reason)
  • Cannabis Entrepreneurs Specialize Way Beyond Buds And Brownies (Forbes)
  • Nick Etten: Rescue the returned: Medical cannabis could save veterans’ lives (The Spokesman-Review)
  • Cannabis-based autism treatments front and center at suburban conference (Chicago Sun-Times)
  • Wine may battle cannabis for key consumers with legalization (North Day Business Journal)
  • Smoking Not Your Style? Try a Cannabis Cocktail. (Reason)
  • Does cannabis kill brain cells? (Mashable)
  • American Cannabis Stocks Offer Compelling Relative Value (Forbes)
  • Reason's Classic Pot Brownies (Reason)
  • Cannabis Tax Relief, Workers' Rights Bills Fail in Sacramento (East Bay Express)
  • This Is Not a Pot Pipe (Reason)
  • Enforcement grapples with new cannabis environment (The Ledger)

LSD

  • Security Troops At Wyoming Nuclear Missile Base Used And Distributed LSD – OpEd (Eurasia Review)
  • Does Microdosing LSD Really Improve Cognition? (71Republic)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Fifteen years of crime reporting left me with PTSD. Magic mushrooms helped me begin to recover (The Independent)
  • Mushrooms Aren't Magic (Reason)
  • 'Magic' mushrooms: The next great legalization debate (The Sacramento Bee)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • We went undercover in a Chinese MDMA factory (Mixmag)
  • Study: Party Drug ‘Molly’ Often Not Really Pure MDMA; Pill-Testing At Concerts Could Curb Use (Study Finds)
  • Dad who lost two sons to MDMA overdoses on same night calls for drugs to be legalised after Mutiny festival deaths (The Sun)
  • Tragic young dad and teenage girl may have taken ‘Green Heineken ecstasy pills’ before festival drug deaths (The Sun)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • The Muká Diet of the Yawanawá Indigenous People in Acre, Brazil (Chacruna)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

Dissociatives

  • A ‘breakthrough’ depression drug inspired by ketamine is attracting more attention from big pharma (Business Insider)

Opiates/Opioids

  • Mexico detains wife of drug baron blamed for U.S. heroin scourge (Reuters)
  • Taliban commander orders closure of opium labs in towns and cities (The Guardian)
  • Naloxone and the High Price of Doing Nothing (The Fix)
  • Tons of Poppies Destroyed in California’s Biggest Opium Bust (FOX40)
  • AMA Castigated for Rightly Opposing a National 3-Day Limit on Opioid Prescriptions (Reason)
  • One-Third of New Heroin Users Become Dependent on It (Live Science)

Kratom

  • DEA 'waiting for analysis': Kratom may soon be banned (KIRO)
  • Source of Kratom Contaminated With Salmonella Is Unknown, CDC Warns (Inverse)
  • Which Brands Linked With Nationwide Kratom Salmonella Outbreak? (Kratom Guides)
  • Could Kratom Solve the Opioid Epidemic? (San Diego Entertainer Magazine)
  • Is Kratom Legal In Georgia 2018 (Kratom Guides)
  • Confusion persists over Kratom law in Tennessee (WSMV)

Khat

  • Authorities arrest three suspects for smuggling Khat leaves (ANTARA News)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • The Psychedelic Renaissance: Trip Reports from Timothy Leary, Michael Pollan, and Tao Lin (The New Yorker)
  • Trips Worth Telling (Medium)
  • Asia's newest drug war leaves more than 90 people dead in less than two weeks (Los Angeles Times)
  • You're Not a Drug Dealer? Here's Why the Police Might Disagree (The New York Times)
  • Ending America's War on Drugs Would Finally Unleash the Therapeutic Potential of Psychadelics (TIME)
  • Navigating Your Way Through the Psychedelic Field: How to Get Involved (Psychedelics Today)
  • LAPSS Into Higher Consciousness: Interview with Brad Adams, Ph.D. (Psychedelic Times)
  • Prohibition, the Constitution, and the Path to Legalization (Andrew Joseph)
  • Bangladesh's Deadly Narcotics Crackdown Sparks Fears of a Philippines-Style Drug War (TIME)
  • Hidden Horrors of "Zero Tolerance" – Mass Trials and Children Taken From Their Parents (The Intercept)
  • Psychedelics And Cluster Headaches (Psychedelic Heaven)
  • An Overdose Is Not a Murder (Reason)
  • Microdosing - All You Need to Know About This Dangerous Fad (The Quint)

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.

Weekend Thoughts - 9.19.15

Image by Francois de Halleux, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Francois de Halleux, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. A thought-provoking piece from Wired that describes the tendency of technology workers to be picky about choosing a city to relocate to, sticking mainly to San Jose (Silicon Valley) California, Seattle, San Francisco, and Austin. Technology jobs are growing at twice the national average for all jobs, which makes this an interesting issue—with so many jobs available in that field, why aren't they being filled across the country? The issue is multifaceted and the article does an excellent job addressing several points.

2. In the span of several hours, a news-story broke about a 14 year-old 9th grader in Texas who was arrested the previous day and suspended from school for bringing a homemade clock that his superiors mistook for a bomb, and was quickly personally invited by President Obama to visit the White House. I'm astounded not only by the fact that the original judgment call was poorly-made, but that it made it to Obama's desk in such a short time. What an amazing time we live in. Of course, most people pointed out the racial issue (Ahmed Mohamed is a Muslim name) in this story and missed the fact that school zero tolerance policies are utterly insane, regardless of race.

3. Speaking of ridiculous school zero tolerance policies, how about this case where a student was suspended from school for a year for possessing a maple leaf and a lighter?

4. A fascinating collection of vintage cocaine advertisements from the 70s and 80s, back when it was possible to market and sell the substance.

5. This video on Disinfo explores an interesting thought concept—if a robot that you own and control accidentally murders another human being, should you be held liable for its actions? I'm continuously fascinated by all of the new implications that artificial intelligence is bringing up. Stay tuned for more links on that topic, because I definitely like thinking about it and sharing it!

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.