This Week in Psychedelics - 1.15.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

  • Cigarettes Linked to Lower Grades in Adolescents, Not Cannabis (High Times)
  • Study Concludes Biking While High on Marijuana Isn't Dangerous (Marijuana.com)
  • Yes, pot is stronger today, but not for the reasons you think (Los Angeles Times)
  • After Healing His Own Cancer with Cannabis, Self-Taught Doctor Helped over 5000 Patients (Anti Media)
  • Will 2016 Be the Year of Cannabis? (The Huffington Post)
  • The Head of the Democratic Party is a Huge Hypocrite on Marijuana (ATTN:)
  • An inside look at the ritziest weed parties in America (The Cannabist)
  • Study: Marijuana Associated With Decreased Migraine Frequency (NORML)
  • Less is More: Medical Cannabis Micro-Dosing (Reset.me)
  • NORML's Legislative Round Up January 14th, 2016 (NORML)
  • How Cannabis Can Help You Cut Back on Alcohol and Live Healthier (Leafly)
  • Serial entrepreneur Mark Hadfield sets his sites on medical cannabis with HelloMD (San Francisco Business Times)
  • Israeli Health Ministry Plans to Lift Restrictions on Growing Medical Cannabis (Haaretz)
  • Smugglers disguise marijuana as carrots (Boing Boing)
  • Dad pushes for medical cannabis to help autistic son (NBC4i)
  • Anti-Legalization Lawsuit Shows Conservative Constitutionalists Have Marijuana-Related Memory Loss (Reason)
  • Study: Cannabis Use Not Predictive Of Lower IQ, Poorer Education Performance (NORML)
  • Windy City Cannabis Set to Open Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Justice (Patch)
  • These Oregon Cities Have Banned Cannabis (Leafly)
  • Medical Marijuana Seller Faces Prison in Washington, Where Pot Is Legal (Reason)
  • Jail for man who grew £12k of cannabis at home (The Gazette)

LSD

  • How Taking Acid Helped Me Stop Smoking (Newsweek)
  • Five Facts Besides Steve Jobs and Bill Gates that You Didn't know About LSD (Clapway)
  • Family sues over Tennessee man's death in police custody (Centre Daily Times)
  • Forbes endorses LSD: Is the end near? (SFGate)
  • Camp Lejeune Marine charged with trafficking Ecstasy, LSD (Stars and Stripes)
  • Teen who used LSD to sexually assault victim sentenced to prison (Petoskey News-Review)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • '4-hour Workweek' author Tim Ferriss plans to donate $100,000 toward studying how to treat depression with psychedelics like magic mushrooms (Yahoo! News)
  • Psilocybin Mushrooms Gave Me The Insight I Needed To Ease My Chronic Depression (Reset.me)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • The Creativity of MDMA Pill Pressing (Magnetic Magazine)
  • How Reversing Drug Stigmas Can Save Lives: Interview with MDMA: The Movie Director Emmanuel Sferios (Psychedelic Times)
  • Kids Company psychologist pleads to keep job after giving MDMA to client (The Guardian)
  • Rikers Island Jail Fairly Confident Its Missing Ecstasy Pills Are Gone For Good (Gawker)
  • Red Wolf, Cookie Monster and Facebook: How 'killer' ecstasy pills are flooding UK streets (Daily Star)
  • Ingleside man gets 6 years for providing Ecstasy before woman's death (Chicago Tribune)
  • Give Me Your Love – ingenious PTSD play boxes itself in (The Guardian)
  • Johor police bust Ecstasy drug lab (The New Paper)
  • MDMA discovered in glasses case of Barnstaple man (North Devon Journal)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • Ayahuasca And Cancer: One Man's Healing Experience (Reset.me)
  • Sacred Plants: In Praise of Wildflowers and Ayahuasca (Tablet Magazine)
  • How A Spiritual Practice Supports Ayahuasca in Personal Healing (Reset.me)
  • The Canadian Man Who Killed a British Guy at an Ayahuasca Retreat in Peru Speaks Out (VICE)
  • Pope Francis Reveals White Smoke At Papal Conclave Is Actually DMT (Wunderground)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

  • Ayahuasca & Huachuma: One Person's Account Of Their Experience (Neon Nettle)

Iboga/Ibogaine

Salvia Divinorum

Dissociatives

  • WHO Opposes Chinese Request to Restrict Access to Ketamine (Psychiatry Advisor)
  • FDA and Congress should let doctors, patients take K train (The Register-Herald)
  • CBS News Features Dr. Ashraf Hanna Describing How IV Ketamine is Successfully Treating Fibromyalgia Pain Patients (PR Newswire)
  • The novel ketamine analog methoxetamine produces dissociative-like behavior in rodents. (National Institutes of Health)
  • New type of antidepressant found to act quickly in mice (EurekAlert!)
  • We're Entering A New Era In How We Treat Depression (Newsy)
  • Chemical fights thoughts of suicide (The Australian)
  • PCP seized from vehicle, two arrested (Your4State)
  • Police seize 25kg of drugs worth HK$6.25 million at private Hong Kong housing estate (South China Morning Post)

Opiates/Opioids

  • Anatomy Of Addiction: How Heroin And Opioids Hijack the Brain (NPR)
  • Did Painkiller Crackdown Cause Heroin Epidemic? (WebMD)
  • Delhi sees sharp rise in seizure of opium, poppy heads (The Statesman)
  • Panel recommends FDA approve implant to treat opiate addiction (USA Today)
  • Heroin Is the Worst Thing to Ever Happen to Me, and I've Never Touched It (The Huffington Post)
  • Naloxone overdose antidote should be available over the counter, Health Canada says (CBC News)
  • Heroin laced with pesticide making way through N.J. (NJ.com)
  • Sailor held with 52kg opium denies drug charges (Gulf News)

Absinthe

  • Get out with the Green Fairy: Where to Drink Absinthe in the Bay Area (7x7)

Kratom

Kava

Khat

  • Illegal 'miraa' farming blamed for poor student performance (IPPmedia)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • DanceSafe Founder Emmanuel Sferios Discusses Harm Reduction and Festival Drug Testing (Psychedelic Times)
  • Drug Cartel Kingpin 'El Chapo' Guzman Recaptured in Mexico (ATTN:)
  • Baltimore psychologist pioneers team using psychedelics as 'sacred' medicine (The Guardian)
  • 20 Safety Suggestions for Participating in Ceremonies That Use Psychoactive Substances (Reality Sandwich)
  • Everything You Wanted To Know About Microdosing (But Were Afraid To Ask)
  • David Bowie's Infamous Mugshot Is Indicative of Early 'War on Drugs' (ATTN:)
  • How Long Drugs Stay in Your System (ATTN:)
  • What is Psychedelic Therapy? How Visionary Plants and Other Psychedelics Give Hope to the Weary (Psychedelic Times)
  • How a psychedelic sex GIF animator went viral after getting banned on Facebook (Boing Boing)
  • How the Mexican Drug Trade First Began (TIME)
  • Psychedelic Spiritual Experience—An Integral View (Reality Sandwich)
  • 5 books that bust the myths of drug writing (Boing Boing)
  • The band of psychiatrists who are looking to reclaim psychedelics for medicine again (Medical Xpress)
  • Androgyny and psychedelic make-up: David Bowie's impact on fashion can't be overstated (The Telegraph)
  • How the War on Drugs Came Between the U.S. and Mexico (TIME)
  • Bruce's History Lessons: The father of '60s drug culture (Appeal-Democrat)

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.