This Week in Psychoactives - 9.20.19

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CANNABIS

  • A Malaysian Man Was Just Sentenced to Death for Selling Medical Marijuana (MERRY JANE)

  • The Vape Health Crisis Is Pushing Cannabis Labs to Now Test for Vitamin E (MERRY JANE)

  • Federal judge rules that Indiana’s smokable hemp ban is unconstitutional (Hemp Industry Daily)

  • Beto O'Rourke Proposes Drug War Reparations Funded By Marijuana Taxes (Forbes)

  • After A Period Of Confusion And Fear, Many District Employees Can Use Marijuana Off The Clock (DCist)

  • President Influences Public Opinion On Marijuana Legalization, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Legal Weed Convinced Over 150,000 People to Move to Colorado, Study Reports (MERRY JANE)

  • Marijuana Offenses Would No Longer Get Immigrants Deported Under New Congressional Bill (Marijuana Moment)

  • Support Grows For Marijuana Legalization Bill In Colombia (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

  • The mad scientist behind America’s mind-control quest with LSD (New York Post)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

  • The world’s first magic mushroom research center is launching in Jamaica (Quartz)

  • Ann Arbor group aims to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, plants (mlive.com)

  • Fantastic Fungi Offers a Gateway Into the World of Magic Mushrooms (Westword)

  • Tourists Are Flocking To This Tiny Mountain Village For A Trip On Mexico’s Magic Mushrooms (mitú inc)

  • Can magic mushrooms really cure depression? (The Telegraph)

MDMA

  • What Hustlers’ Ketamine-MDMA Drug Cocktail Would Really Do (Refinery29)

AYAHUASCA

  • Getting Arrested and Released for Ayahuasca in Israel (Kahpi)

5-MEO-DMT

  • A single dose of 5-MeO-DMT produces rapid and persistent improvements in life satisfaction and psychopathological symptoms (PsyPost)

IBOGA

  • This Company is Developing a Drug Based on Ibogaine for the Opioid Crisis (DoubleBlind)

  • A Detox Drug Promises Miracles—If It Doesn't Kill You First (WIRED)

NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

  • Could psychedelics tackle the obesity crisis? A longtime researcher in the field says his latest mouse study suggests potential (Endpoints News)

  • The State of the Art of Psilacetin (4-AcO-DMT) (Psychedelic Science Review)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

KETAMINE

OPIOIDS

  • OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma Files for Bankruptcy as Part of a Tentative Settlement (TIME)

  • In Michigan, you can now get Narcan online (Detroit Free Press)

  • Canadian Pharmacist Faces Punishment for Giving Out Naloxone (Filter)

COCAINE

METHAMPHETAMINE

CAFFEINE

TOBACCO

  • India bans e-cigarettes as global vaping backlash grows (The Guardian)

  • New York Bans Sale of Flavored E-cigarettes, the First State in the U.S. to Do So (TIME)

  • Michigan Joins New York in Banning Sale of Flavored E-cigarettes Amid Vaping Health Concerns (TIME)

  • Vapers seek relief from nicotine addiction in — wait for it — cigarettes (NBC News)

  • Fort Lauderdale Passes Ordinance Raising Age For Tobacco Sales To 21 (CBS Miami)

  • Is Juul Making It Easy for Kids to Vape in School? New Study Suggests Yes (Yahoo!)

  • Flavored tobacco a major factor in the popularity of waterpipe smoking, study finds (FIU News)

KRATOM

  • A Leaf Of Faith: Kratom Documentary Review (Kratom Guides)

  • Legal Status Of Kratom In Pennsylvania (Kratom Guides)

  • Point Pleasant Beach Looks To Ban 'Kratom' (Patch)

KAVA

  • Fijians urged not to share the kava bowl (Newsie)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Missouri Man Becomes 8th Person to Die of Vaping-Related Illness in the U.S. (TIME)

  • Ontario Teen Lands in ICU in Canada’s First Reported Case of ‘Vape Pen Illness’ (Leafly)

  • Viking berserkers may have used henbane to induce trance-like state (Ars Technica)

  • White House Cancels Pro-Vaping Meeting as Illness Cases Rise (Bloomberg)

  • It’s Official: VICE's Reporting Makes Readers Take Drugs More Safely (VICE)

  • The whole-planet view (Aeon)

  • Psychedelics and Seniors: Can Drugs Such As Marijuana And Psilocybin Improve Their Quality Of Life? (Forbes)

  • Nanaimo company gets licence to test psychedelic drugs (Nanaimo News Bulletin)

  • Class A drug use among young adults at 16-year high (The Guardian)

  • I Traveled the World Meeting Drug Dealers. Here’s What I’ve Learned (VICE)

  • Why Aren't There More People of Color in the Recovery Movement? (The Fix)

  • Behind the U.S.'s Bogus War on Taliban Drug Labs (VICE)

  • Tripping on virtual reality: The artists trying to replicate psychedelic experiences in VR (New Atlas)

  • Drugs and Creativity (Dope Magazine)

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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.