This Week in Psychedelics - 4.22.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

  • The Growing Acceptance of Marijuana Smoking in Society (NORML)
  • Decriminalizing cannabis would hurt Islamic State, mafia- Style prosecutor (Town Hall)
  • Canada's Health Minister Says Pot Legalization Bill Coming Soon (TIME)
  • How the President Can End Pot Prohibition Without Congress (Reason)
  • DEA Finally Approves Study on Cannabis and PTSD (Leafly)
  • California startup offering subscription snack box with cannabis-infused treats (FOX News)
  • Does Marijuana Cure Depression? Why Treating Depression With Cannabis Requires Moderation (Psychedelic Times)
  • Puff The Magic Dragon is not about smoking weed (Boing Boing)
  • Watch Californians Explain Why They Use Medical Marijuana (TIME)
  • Native American Church Resists Pot Enthusiasts (Courthouse News Service)
  • "Crawl for Cannabis" aims to bring legal medical marijuana to Missouri (FOX 2 Now)
  • A New Crop of Marijuana Geneticists Sets Out to Build Better Weed (Wired)
  • Whoopi Goldberg's Women's Health-Focused Cannabis Products To Begin Shipping Soon (Forbes)
  • A Brief History of Marijuana Law in America (TIME)
  • The Best Portable Vaporizer for Most People (The Wirecutter)
  • What the World Can Learn From Colorado's Marijuana Experience (Reason)
  • Holy Moses These Fake Nuns Totally Grow Weed (Wired)
  • What a Looming Patent War Could Mean for the Future of America's Marijuana Industry (VICE)
  • The Lemonade Is $150. The Pot Is Free. (Reason)
  • The Best Marijuana Strains for Treating Social Anxiety (ATTN:)
  • Here's the Real Reason We Associate 420 With Weed (TIME)
  • Marijuana Memo: Seriously, Guys. Do We Even Ned 420 Anymore? (Wired)
  • What I Learned From Medical Marijuana Refugee Families (ATTN:)
  • All the Apps You Need to Make This 420 the Best 420 EVAR (Wired)
  • The Best Marijuana Strains for Cramps (ATTN:)
  • If Weed Got Branding Like This, Maybe the Man Wouldn't Hate on It (Wired)
  • A Marijuana Miracle: From Disabled Vet With Debilitating MS To Modern Weed Warrior (Reset.me)
  • Cannabis users gather at London '420 picnic' (The Guardian)
  • Best Marijuana Strains for Productivity (ATTN:)
  • The Guardian view on cannabis and psychosis: how do we protect teenagers? (The Guardian)
  • Cannabis: scientists call for action amid mental health concerns (The Guardian)
  • Heavy cannabis use 'DOES have a negative affect on your brain - in regions linked to learning and memory' (Daily Mail)

LSD

  • How an Army of Deadheads (And Their LSD) Invented Silicon Valley (WIRED)
  • Medical Marijuana Designed for Instagram; What About LSD? (Clapway)
  • Bicycle Day marks LSD discovery by Albert Hoffman as psychotherapy research continues (ABC Online)
  • New LSD study opens depression treatment path using opioid system for major depression relief (Bel Marra Health)
  • What LSD tells us about human nature (The Guardian)
  • LSD Makes Your Brain More 'Flexible', Less Anxious (The Daily Beast)
  • Photos: Flashing back to the days when Laguna Beach was an LSD mecca (The Orange County Register)
  • Really bad trip: Frenchman on LSD beats girlfriend, hacks penis, & jumps out window (RT)
  • Your Brain On LSD Looks A Lot Like A Baby's (NPR)
  • The woman behind a new LSD study has a history of experimenting on herself (PRI)
  • Minneapolis Brewer Forced to Rename Its LSD Beer (The Daily Meal)
  • Vogue Williams to take LSD on new RTE show (BreakingNews.ie)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • 'Magic Mushroom' Drug Psilocybin May Help with Feeling Rejected (Live Science)
  • Psychedelic Mushrooms Can Ease Your Crippling Anxiety (Your EDM)
  • The Latest Prescription Psychedelics Idea? Treat Addiction With Magic Mushrooms (Inverse)
  • How Shrooms Work and Affect the Brain: What Psilocybin Is Really Doing to Your Head (Mic)
  • Psychedelic Pizza Hoax Spawn EPD Investigation (North Coast Journal)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • Meet a Former Soldier Who Overcame His Life-Threatening PTSD With MDMA-Therapy (The Science Explorer)
  • New study examines the effect of ecstasy on the brain (Medical Xpress)
  • MDMA Effects: Drug Reduces Serotonin Transport In Brain, Leading To Cognitive Deficits (Medical Daily)
  • VIDEO: Warning sounds as drug death investigation progresses (Sunshine Coast Daily)
  • Ecstasy to blame for my son's death, says mother of student who drowned in canal (Evening Standard)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • How Ayahuasca Works to Heal the Illnesses of Civilization (Psychedelic Times)
  • Church Offering Halluicinogenic Experiences Near Mineral on Hiatus, Moves Retreats to Peru (Centralia Chronicle)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

Dissociatives

  • Repeated Ketamine May Sustain Antidepressant Effect (Medscape)
  • Galvanising support for ketamine as an essential medicine (Veterinary Record)
  • Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court Judge slams rise of 'monkey dust' drug (StaffsLive)
  • Man who ran naked down I-71 on pot, PCP (Cincinnati.com)
  • Man accused of home invasion, PCP possession (Monroe News Star)

Opiates/Opioids

  • SNL tried to joke about the heroin epidemic in America. Not all of America laughed. (The Washington Post)
  • Medical LSD to be Legalized; Is Heroin Next? (Clapway)
  • A Controversial Response to Heroin Epidemic: Supervised Injections (U.S. News & World Report)
  • Using Naloxone (Narcan) As A Last Resort (Forbes)
  • How history and paranoia keep morphine away from India's terminally-ill patients (Quartz)
  • No end yet to Afghanistan's opium trade (Reuters)

Kratom

Kava

Khat

  • Somalia:The Financial and Cultural Importance of Khat and the Current Threat to its Use (SomalilandPress)
  • Uhuru and Ruto should sweet-talk wazungu into chewing miraa (Standard Digital)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • Smoking dead scorpions is KP's latest dangerous addiction (DAWN)
  • How imperialism and eugenics during America's Progressive Era spawned international drug control (Raw Story)
  • Psychedelic Advocates Take Their Case for Freedom of Consciousness to the U.N. (AlterNet)
  • Do Psychedelics Have The Power To Wake Us Up? (Collective Evolution)
  • Eight Common Items That Can Make You Test Positive for Drugs (ATTN:)
  • The Highs and Lows of the Psychedelic Experience: How to Avoid the Dangers of Psychedelics (Psychedelic Times)
  • How Long It Takes for 6 Commons Drugs to Leave Your System (ATTN:)

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.