CANNABIS
Cannabis Compound Eases Anxiety and Cravings of Heroin Addiction (Scientific American)
Racial Arrest Disparities Got Worse After Legalization, Study Finds (Leafly)
Scientists Now Believe That Cannabis Evolved in Tibet Over 28 Million Years Ago (MERRY JANE)
Presidential Candidates Are Cosponsoring A New Marijuana Descheduling Bill (Marijuana Moment)
Gun-Related Suicides Fell In California After Medical Marijuana Became Legal, Study Shows (Marijuana Moment)
NJ Lawmakers Advance Medical Cannabis, Expungement Bills (Leafly)
Luxembourg Unveils Proposals for Cannabis Legalisation Law (Talking Drugs)
NFL Teams Up with Players’ Union to Study Weed for Pain Management (MERRY JANE)
Legalization Gave Police Time to Fight Real Crime (Leafly)
‘I Can’t Breathe’: Video Shows Grandmother With Arthritis Arrested For CBD At Disney World (Marijuana Moment)
As a Deadline for Legalizing Marijuana in Illinois Approaches, a New Poll Finds Strong Public Support (Reason)
Texas expansion of medical cannabis nears finish line after Senate approval (The Texas Tribune)
Seven-In-Ten Americans Want Federal Marijuana Convictions Automatically Sealed, Survey Finds (Marijuana Moment)
Colorado Cops Can No Longer Use Drug-Sniffing Dogs Without Probable Cause (MERRY JANE)
Study: Presence Of THC In Blood Not Associated With Crash Culpability (NORML)
CBD Might Help You Cut Back On Drinking Alcohol And Reduce Its Damaging Effects, Study Says (Marijuana Moment)
Kansas Set to Allow Low-THC Cannabis Oil Beginning July 1 (Leafly)
Dogs Keep Getting Accidentally High by Eating Human Feces with Residual THC (MERRY JANE)
A Sniff by a Pot-Detecting Dog Requires Probable Cause and Does Not Justify a Search, Says Colorado Supreme Court (Reason)
Facebook Is Finally Getting Sued for Its Anti-Weed Policies (MERRY JANE)
In a World of Legal Weed, Michael Thompson Languishes in Prison for Selling It in 1994 (The Intercept)
Study: Seniors Report That Cannabis Positively Impacts Their Quality of Life (NORML)
Thailand Will Now Turn Confiscated Weed into Cannabis Medicine (MERRY JANE)
Portland’s Cannabis Taxes Were Mostly Used to Backfill Police Budgets (Willamette Week)
House Committee Approves Immigration Bill With Marijuana Protections (Marijuana Moment)
UFC Inks Multi-Million Dollar Deal with Canadian Pot Company to Study CBD (MERRY JANE)
Overpoliced, Underrepresented: Racial Inequality and Cannabis Capitalism (Harvard Political Review)
Where Presidential Candidate Bill de Blasio Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)
Congress Wants To Offer Protections To Universities That Study Cannabis (Big Buds Magazine)
Nevada County Directs Nearly $2 Million in Pot Revenue to Help the Homeless (MERRY JANE)
LSD
Repair Of Iconic ’60s Era Synthesizer Turns Into Long, Strange Trip For Engineer (KPIX)
LSD could help people overcome alcohol dependency (Mixmag)
MAGIC MUSHROOMS
'A grand experiment': how 'shrooms made Denver America's most drug-friendly city (The Guardian)
MDMA
MDMA heads to Phase 3 trials for helping PTSD (Big Think)
Australian Politician Outs Herself as “Occasional” MDMA User (MERRY JANE)
Embracing Ecstasy: Can efforts to bottle MDMA’s magic transform psychiatry? (The Verge)
Losing Religion and Finding Ecstasy in Houston (The New Yorker)
Mum of teenager who died after taking ecstasy ‘overwhelmed’ by support (Hambleton Today)
AYAHUASCA
The Church Where It’s Legal to Use Ayahuasca (VICE)
These Ontario police officers are using ayahuasca to treat their PTSD (Global News)
Healing Sexual Trauma with Ayahuasca (Chacruna)
James English set to spend four days taking mind-bending drugs in Costa Rican jungle for new documentary (The Scottish Sun)
NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
Emerging threats in addiction: will novel psychoactive substance contribute to exacerbating the ongoing drug overdose epidemic? (Springer Link)
NITROUS OXIDE
Nitrous oxide users unaware of health risks, nurses warn (The Guardian)
Vietnam considers adding laughing gas to banned narcotic list (VnExpress International)
KETAMINE
Study Finds Ketamine Nasal Spray Effective For Treating Depression: What You Should Know (Forbes)
First Sublingual Ketamine Drug for Treatment of Acute Pain to be Evaluated in End-of-Phase 2 Meeting with FDA (Yahoo! Finance)
OPIOIDS
How Joe Biden’s Drug Policies Supercharged the Opioid Crisis (Politico)
Amid opioid crisis, Texas becomes first state where life-saving drug is sold online (Dallas News)
Fighting Fentanyl (The Washington Post)
In Cities Where It Once Reigned, Heroin Is Disappearing (The New York Times)
State Trooper Said Man Took Bag From Fentanyl Supplier, But Video Demonstrated That the Deal Never Went Down (The Appeal)
Improving the use of methadone for drug users with tuberculosis to prevent withdrawal (Medical Xpress)
Epic twitter thread from a guy who became an accidental heroin smuggler (Boing Boing)
State Senate passes amendment to finance Naloxone bulk purchase program (WWLP)
Drug addicts fear arrest if they are caught with kits of lifesaving naloxone (Evening Telegraph)
COCAINE
Cocaine use doubles in Britain in five years and purity levels at record high (The Independent)
How Your Casual Cocaine Habit Is Affecting Your Health (Refinery29)
‘Cocaine Mitch’ McConnell’s campaign rakes in $70K by selling ‘cartel member’ shirts (Washington Examiner)
CAFFEINE
Researchers document impact of coffee on bowels (Science Daily)
Mom Is Heartbroken After Son Dies From Guzzling 4 Energy Drinks Per Day, Sounds Warning (The Epoch Times)
Barista causes controversy by trying to refuse a pregnant woman caffeine (Her)
TOBACCO
Veterans speak out against raising the age of tobacco use to 21 (Washington Examiner)
Proposed California ban on flavored tobacco products shelved by lawmakers (Los Angeles Times)
KRATOM
Spreading Awareness About Kratom Risks in Pregnancy (University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences)
KHAT
Starving Yemen's drug problem (CNN)
MISCELLANEOUS
How to Legalize Every Drug (VICE)
The Scientist’s Drug Dealer: How Researchers Get Illicit Drugs (Discover Magazine)
Indonesia Sentences Frenchman to Death for Drug Smuggling (TIME)
Getting High Is Damaging the Planet – But Mostly Because of Prohibition (VICE)
With Denver’s vote on magic mushrooms, will Colorado anchor a psychedelic medicine revolution? (The Colorado Sun)
Activists plan to set up permanent overdose prevention site (Kitchener Today)
Drinking Water Should Be Free At All Clubs and Festivals, Here's Why (DJMag.com)
Joe Biden Killed Rave Culture (The Slot)
'Sad, Disgusting and Disappointing.' New Mexico Little League Field Littered With Discarded Syringes (TIME)
Psychedelics, Sex, and Consent: A Brief History (Chacruna)
How to Tell Your Doctor You're Using Drugs (VICE)
What's the next step for hallucinogens as a health cure? (Dazed)
Dr Richard Evans Schultes’ Explorations with Amazonian Shamans and Medicines (Kahpi)
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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: