CANNABIS
Guam Becomes First U.S. Territory To Send Marijuana Legalization To Governor In 2019 (Marijuana Moment)
House Will Vote To End Federal Marijuana Prohibition Within ‘Weeks,’ Key Chairman Says (Marijuana Moment)
Cannabis Out! New York Drops Legalization From Budget Bill (Leafly)
Marijuana Legalization Vote Cancelled Due To Lack of Support In New Jersey Senate (Marijuana Moment)
Marijuana Banking Bill Approved By Congressional Committee (Forbes)
Louisiana Takes a Step Toward Finally Delivering Medical Marijuana (Leafly)
Marijuana Legalization Bill Clears Another Major Hurdle In New Hampshire (Marijuana Moment)
Cannabis-related ER visits in Colorado jump threefold after legalization, study says (CNN)
Mexican Government Launches Poll To Ask Citizens If Marijuana Should Be Legal (Marijuana Moment)
Connecticut Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill In Key Committee (Marijuana Moment)
CVS Ignores DEA, Says It’s Already Selling CBD Products (Leafly)
Texas: Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Advances Out Of Key Committee (NORML)
San Diego Considers Cannabis Cafes (NBC Los Angeles)
States With More Immigrants Are More Likely To Legalize Marijuana, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)
Seth Rogen launches weed company 'to make it easier for people to learn to love cannabis' (CNBC)
FDA Chief Clarifies Enforcement Priorities For CBD Products (Marijuana Moment)
Flood of products containing marijuana extract puts FDA in a bind (Politico)
CBD for sport: legality and benefits (The Sports Daily)
Where Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)
LSD
Missouri Man Spikes Coworkers' Drinks With LSD (KOLR)
Stanford double checking applications following LSD and admissions scandals (Palo Alto Daily Post)
MAGIC MUSHROOMS
Explorer’s Guide: Taking Magic Psilocybin Truffles in Amsterdam (& The Netherlands) (Maps of the Mind)
MDMA
'Popular' schoolgirl, 13, died at home after taking ecstasy (Mirror)
AYAHUASCA
We Need to Talk About When People Feel Worse After Ayahuasca (Kahpi)
Considerations for Engaging with Amazonian Ancestral Practices, People, and Places (Psymposia)
How Ayahuasca Can Be Used to Build Cohesion and Better the World (Reset.me)
Wade Davis on the Popularization of Ayahuasca and the Climate Crisis (Reality Sandwich)
How Ayahuasca Connected Me To The Divinity Of The Universe (Reset.me)
5-MEO-DMT
Study Finds 5-MeO-DMT Effective in Relieving Depression and Anxiety (Psychedelic Times)
NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
Mice tripping on psychedelics help explain neural origins of hallucinations (New Atlas)
The Dangers of Synthetic Drugs (The Fix)
SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS
Researchers Gave People Synthetic Pot. Here's What Happened. (Live Science)
GMO Brewer’s Yeast Used to Produce THC and CBD (Oregon Cannabis Connection)
NITROUS OXIDE
No laughing matter – nitrous oxide helps to unravel rapid antidepressant mechanisms (Medical Xpress)
Florida man was high on erotic-themed nitrous oxide when he killed lawyer, cops say (Miami Herald)
Jim Nielsen’s bill to ban sale of nitrous oxide passes committee (Chico Enterprise-Record)
Frat denies hazing claims in lawsuit over student's death (San Antonio Express-News)
KETAMINE
From Popular Anesthetic to Antidepressant, Ketamine Isn’t the Drug You Think It Is (Discover Magazine)
Ketamine: A Promising Novel Therapy for Anxiety and PTSD (Psychiatry Advisor)
FDA Approves Ketamine Derivative as Depression Treatment for First Time (Discover Magazine)
Ketamine IV Infusions Made Me Myself Again. Here’s Everything You Need To Know (High Times)
Esketamine to become available for Yale students (Yale News)
Ketamine: can it really be an antidepressant? (The Guardian)
OPIATES/OPIOIDS
Purdue Pharma and Sacklers Reach $270 Million Settlement in Opioid Lawsuit (The New York Times)
You can’t overdose on fentanyl by touching it (Vox)
As They Profited From the Opioid Crisis, Sacklers Funded Anti-Muslim Network (Sludge)
The White House And Federal Scientists Are Pushing The Myth That Marijuana Is Laced With Fentanyl (BuzzFeed News)
New York State Sues Billionaire Sackler Family Behind OxyContin (TIME)
Want to Reduce Opioid Deaths? Get People the Medications They Need (The New York Times)
How I overcame my heroin addiction – and started to live (The Guardian)
‘Mistreatment’ centers shouldn’t be adding to the opioid crisis (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Vt. committee approves bill decriminalizing drug (WCAX)
What NJ is doing to take down unimaginable number of heroin mills (New Jersey 101.5)
Mother charged in Mount Holly man's overdose death (The Sentinel)
FINDING HOPE: Utah law allows librarians to distribute opioid reversal drug, Naloxone (KiviTV)
Pharmacists Role in Providing Naloxone Is Expanding (Pharmacy Times)
COCAINE
Here’s What a Legal Market for Cocaine Could Look Like (Filter)
'Special offers' on crack cocaine fuelling big rise in use in England (The Guardian)
Deaths from cocaine and fentanyl mixtures a growing concern in Northeast Ohio: What you need to know (Cleveland.com)
Cocaine making comeback amid opioid epidemic, officials say (WCVB)
METHAMPHETAMINE
Florida Woman Faced 10 Years For 'Meth' That Was 'Just a Rock' (The Appeal)
CAFFEINE
There's Evidence Coffee Acts on Your Brain Like Cannabis, But in Reverse (ScienceAlert)
Myanmar to try growing, exporting more coffee as alternative to opium (Myanmar Times)
Mouse Studies Suggest Protective Effects of Caffeine in Parkinson’s Disease (Parkinson's News Today)
If you have a daily caffeine habit, do you know how much is too much? (WXYZ)
Can Taking Caffeine During Your Workout Actually Be Dangerous? (Runners World)
10 health benefits of living caffeine-free (MDLinx)
TOBACCO
As Pa. prisons ban tobacco, new informal currencies arise: chips, ice cream tickets, ramen (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
How Big Tobacco uses Big Tech to hook new smokers (Fast Company)
Washington State Legislature Votes to Raise Age for Buying Tobacco to 21 (KPQ)
Two more Minnesota cities make 21 the legal age for tobacco purchases (MPR News)
New Denver proposal would ban tobacco sales to people under 21 years of age (FOX31 Denver)
ALCOHOL
Could ‘alcosynth’ provide all the joy of booze – without the dangers? (The Guardian)
Scientists Have Cured Alcoholic Rats by Shooting Lasers at Their Brains (ScienceAlert)
Utah's New Beer Law Isn't Lifting Many Spirits (Reason)
NOOTROPICS
Could These Nootropics Help You Achieve Peak Mental Performance? (San Antonio Express-News)
Improving brain health with nootropics (Personal Liberty)
Is Modafinil the new Wonder Drug? (Thrive Global)
Best Nootropics for Athletic Performance (The Sports Daily)
KRATOM
Monroe County looking to ban Kratom drug (WTVA)
Your Guide to Kratom (San Diego Entertainer)
MISCELLANEOUS
Acid test: how psychedelic virtual reality can help end society's mass bad trip (The Guardian)
Researchers examine classic versus novel psychedelic use in United States (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
Ralph Metzner, Bay Area expert on hallucinogens, death and psychology, dies (San Francisco Chronicle)
German biotech startup raises $43 million for psychedelic medicines (Axios)
Stigma Is Barrier to Health Care for People Who Inject Drugs (Boston University School of Public Health)
Schedule I Sacrament (Harvard Political Review)
Going to Burning Man? The Feds Want You Searched for Drugs (Reason)
A New Resource to Measure Good and Bad Drug Policies (Filter)
Investors are starting to bet big on psychedelic medicine (CNBC)
Wicked Ecstasy: Altered States in The Name of the Rose (The Oak Tree Review)
Jump in antidepressant prescriptions in England (BBC)
Houston police investigator probing failed drug raid relieved of duty (Chron)
Legal Syringe Programs Could Finally Be Arriving in Iowa (Filter)
Kensington neighbors angered by potential location of supervised injection site (WHYY)
Psychedelic Integration: The Importance of Community and a Daily Practice (Psychedelics Today)
Houston Narcs Implicated in Deadly Drug Raid Will Soon Be Receiving Pensions (Reason)
Here are 6 psychedelic trips from legal drugs you probably didn’t know about (Raw Story)
Could psychedelic medicine be the new cannabis? (Proactive Investors)
Are psychedelics the new anti-depressants? (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychoactives" 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 Psychedelic Astronaut.
On the Monday following each edition of “This Week in Psychoactives,” I post a “Last Week in Psychoactives” video recap to my YouTube channel. After that is done, I retroactively add the video to the corresponding blog post. Here is this week’s video recap: