This Week in Psychoactives - 7.5.19

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CANNABIS

  • Congress Schedules Hearing To Discuss Ending Marijuana Prohibition (Marijuana Moment)

  • Study Finds ‘Recreational’ Cannabis Consumers Using It Medically (Leafly)

  • Maine: Governor Signs Legislation Finalizing Rules for Retail Marijuana Sales (NORML)

  • Marijuana Decriminalization Officially Takes Effect In New Mexico (Marijuana Moment)

  • The Cannabis Debate: 63 per cent of Londoners think UK should follow Canada and make drug legal (London Evening Standard)

  • Scientists Sue DEA Over Marijuana Cultivation Application Delay (Marijuana Moment)

  • Virginia: New Medical Cannabis Laws Take Effect July 1 (NORML)

  • New Jersey: Medical Marijuana Expansion Measure Signed Into Law (NORML)

  • Into the light: New Zealand's cannabis growers gear up for referendum (The Guardian)

  • The cannabis-psychosis debate is being driven by fear mongering, not facts (The Globe and Mail)

LSD

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

  • The psychedelics evangelist: A German financier wants to turn magic mushrooms into modern medicine (STAT)

  • Magic Mushrooms Guide: Where Shrooms Are Legal and How To Take Psilocybin (Newsweek)

  • Do you know the mushroom man? (Mashable)

MDMA

  • Police warn of ‘punisher’ ecstasy after 19-year-old found dead in Shanklin (On The Wight)

  • Teenage Boys Taken To Hospital After Suspected MDMA Incident In Warwickshire (Heart)

  • Mourners asked to wear blue at funeral of Preston teenager killed by MDMA overdose (Lancashire Post)

AYAHUASCA

  • What Is Ayahuasca? Experience, Benefits, and Side Effects (Healthline)

IBOGA

  • The iboga tree affair: A confiscated shrub, hallucinogenics and suspended professors rile Miami University campus (Cincinatti.com)

KETAMINE

  • US Veterans Can Now Get Ketamine for PTSD, But Not Cannabis (MERRY JANE)

OPIOIDS

  • The US opioid epidemic is driving a spike in infectious diseases (Nature)

  • Facebook Is Censoring Posts That Could Save Opioid Users' Lives (VICE)

  • Stop persecuting doctors for legitimately prescribing opioids for chronic pain (STAT)

  • How Mexico Became the World's Second Largest Opium Producer (Sputnik International)

COCAINE

  • Global cocaine production reaches all-time high after soaring 25% in one year, UN study concludes (The Independent)

METHAMPHETAMINE

  • Meth addiction is an epidemic, and it’s complicating the homeless relief effort (Los Angeles Times)

CAFFEINE

  • Teens Are Probably Drinking Too Much Caffeine (The Atlantic)

  • PBR Just Released a Hard Coffee With Alcohol and Caffeine (Thrillist)

TOBACCO

  • Age for buying tobacco, nicotine products in Virginia now 21 (Channel3000)

  • Governor signs bill to increase tax on all tobacco products in Maine (News Center Maine)

  • Researchers find correlation between vaping cannabis and other tobacco use (Medical Xpress)

  • Can vapes save the world from smoking? (Medical Xpress)

ALCOHOL

  • New report reveals staggering cost to NHS of alcohol abuse (The Guardian)

  • Alcohol's secondhand effects are more serious than we think, study says (Big Think)

  • Trump Says He's 'Never Had a Glass of Alcohol.' These People Say Otherwise. (VICE)

  • Alcohol bottles might be more dangerous than the alcohol (New York Post)

  • What to know about alcohol and brain damage (Medical News Today)

  • Alcoholic beverages should carry cancer warnings, health groups say (CBS News)

  • Man claims he was served ‘toxic’ alcohol instead of water at Bronx eatery (New York Post)

KRATOM

  • As Indonesia Plans to Crack Down on Kratom, the FDA Denies Involvement (Inverse)

  • Current perspectives on the impact of Kratom use (Dove Medical Press)

  • City Council to consider Kratom ban for anyone under 21 (KQ2.com)

KHAT

  • Tough battle against ‘muguka’ chewing culture (Daily Nation)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Canadian Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Decriminalize All Drugs (Marijuana Moment)

  • What to expect when your city is expecting a supervised injection site: Lessons from around the globe (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • How a confidential informant ran a North Philly drug business — all while working for the DEA (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Presidential Candidate Kirsten Gillibrand Praised Anti-Drug Scientology Group (Filter)

  • Why is psychedelic culture dominated by privileged white men? (AlterNet)

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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: