Weekly Psychedelic Links - September 2022

9.2.22

Cannabis

  • Oklahoma Supreme Court Gives Marijuana Activists Temporary Win As They Fight For Legalization Ballot Placement (Marijuana Moment)

  • Pharmaceutical Industry Suffers Billions In Losses After States Legalize Marijuana, New Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Harvard Grad Student Dies in Bali From Police Brutality Over Cannabis Arrest (High Times)

  • Poll: South Dakota Legalization Initiative in Danger of Failing (High Times)

  • More Americans Now Smoke Marijuana Than Cigarettes, For The First Time Ever, Gallup Reports (Marijuana Moment)

  • Largest ever independent study into cannabis use (BBC)

  • Cannabis researchers say it’s high time to drop ‘lazy stoner’ stereotype (The Guardian)

  • Pennsylvania: Governor Launches Effort to Issue Mass Pardons to Those with Low-Level Marijuana Convictions (NORML)

  • Ghana's Legal Cannabis Hits a Constitutional Roadblock (TalkingDrugs)

  • Joseph Schooling: Singapore Olympic star suspended for taking cannabis in Vietnam (BBC)

  • Cannabis industry inches toward sustainability (Chemical and Engineering News)

  • New Study Shows Evidence That Low-Dose THC Could Help Treat Veteran PTSD (High Times)

  • U.S. Air Force And Space Force Reviewing ‘Common Sense’ Marijuana Drug Testing Policy Change For Recruits (Marijuana Moment)

  • Qualitative Study Reveals Medical Students’ Attitudes Toward Medical Pot (High Times)

LSD

  • LSD decreases binge-like drinking in a rodent model of alcoholism, but only temporarily (PsyPost)

  • Is the Color of LSD an Indicator of Purity? (Lucid News)

MDMA

  • Boy, 16, dies in suspected ecstasy-related incident at Leeds Festival (The Independent)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

Nitrous Oxide

  • Why Some New York Stores Will Require You to Show ID to Buy Whipped Cream (Newsweek)

  • Doctors warn of rise in nerve damage linked to nitrous oxide (The Guardian)

Ketamine

  • This New, Legal Cannabis and Ketamine Therapy is Designed to Heal Trauma in the Body (DoubleBlind)

  • They’re Pushing Cut-Rate Ketamine Therapy on TikTok (Rolling Stone)

  • Yukon woman paid $7K for private ketamine treatment, only to learn that the Yukon gov't covers it (CBC)

Miscellaneous

  • An Inside Look at the Lawsuit that could “Legalize Psychedelics in Canada” (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • MindMed Completes 1-for-15 Reverse Share Split (Psychedelic Alpha)

  • Student Loan Forgiveness Limited By the War on Drugs (High Times)

  • Aspen, Colorado Activists Pursue Psychedelics Decriminalization For 2023 Ballot As Voters Prepare To Decide On Statewide 2022 Legalization Measure (Marijuana Moment)

  • Psychedelic Advocate Facing Charges Calls for Help, Law Reform in New York (High Times)

  • Is the Psychedelic Therapy Bubble About to Burst? (WIRED)

  • In the Wake of Decrim, Police Continue to Target Psychedelics (Lucid News)

  • How Psychedelics Might Fuel a Paradigm Shift (DoubleBlind)

9.9.22

Cannabis

  • California: Governor Signs Bill Prohibiting Doctors from Discriminating Against Medical Cannabis Patients (NORML)

  • Nobody knows how widespread illegal cannabis grows are in California. So we mapped them (Los Angeles Times)

  • UK Government Blocks Bermuda From Legalizing Marijuana On Same Day New Prime Minister Takes Office (Marijuana Moment)

  • Afroman’s Ohio Residence Raided by Local Law Enforcement (High Times)

  • Minnesota Arrests Black People For Marijuana At Much Higher Rates Than White People, State Data Shows (Marijuana Moment)

  • New Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Cannabis Banking Legislation (High Times)

  • Companies Turn to THC Beverages as Next Growing Legal Cannabis Market (High Times)

LSD

  • LSD-assisted therapy induces rapid and lasting reductions in anxiety and depression symptoms, according to new research (PsyPost)

Magic Mushrooms

  • Placebo-controlled study suggests that the benefits of psilocybin microdosing can be explained by expectancy effects (PsyPost)

  • Psilocybin Study To Investigate the Serotonin System in Autism (Technology Networks)

  • Optimi Health Completes Largest Legal Natural Psilocybin Harvest in Canadian History (Psychedelic Alpha)

  • 'Flesh of the Gods': The Trippy History of Magic Mushrooms (VICE)

MDMA

Ayahuasca

  • Why Are Scientists Dosing Fish with Ayahuasca? (DoubleBlind)

5-MeO-DMT

  • As Use Of The World’s Most Potent Psychedelic Skyrockets, New Site F.I.V.E. Fills An Education Void (Forbes)

Peyote

Novel Psychoactive Substances

Nitrous Oxide

  • Laughing gas: 'A 20-second high is not worth losing your life over' (BBC)

Ketamine

  • Scientists Discover That a Surprising Factor Improved The Effects of Ketamine in Mice (ScienceAlert)

  • Low-dose ketamine is safe and effective to treat children with ADNP syndrome, study suggests (News-Medical.net)

Miscellaneous

  • San Francisco decriminalizes psychedelics (Leafly)

  • Drug Executions in Iran Are Back on the Rise (TalkingDrugs)

  • This Psychedelic Company is Leading the Way on Reciprocity and Holistic Approaches to Healing (DoubleBlind)

  • WOC-led psychedelics conference champions gender equality with all-women speakers (Leafly)

9.16.22

Cannabis

  • Killings, robberies, extortion. California can’t stop its booming illegal cannabis stores (Los Angeles Times)

  • New Zealand Approves Domestic Medical Cannabis Products (High Times)

  • World Anti-Doping Agency Set To Keep Marijuana On Banned Substance List, Saying U.S. Didn’t Back Its Removal (Marijuana Moment)

  • Biden To Meet With Family of Brittney Griner (High Times)

  • Study: CBD Oil Safe, Effective for Autism Patients (High Times)

  • Missouri judge blocks attempt to kick legalization off ballot (Leafly)

  • GOP Missouri Lawmaker Files Revised Marijuana Legalization Bill, Urging Special Session Action To Compete With Ballot Initiative (Marijuana Moment)

  • Pregnant Women in Alabama Are Being Jailed For Smoking Pot (High Times)

  • Oklahoma Prosecutors Are Targeting Pregnant Women For Using Medical Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

  • Thai Lawmakers Withdraw Bill to Regulate Cannabis (High Times)

  • New Jersey Employers Can’t Punish Workers Based On A Marijuana Test Alone, State Officials Say (Marijuana Moment)

  • Nevada Judge Orders State Board to Remove Cannabis from Schedule 1 (High Times)

  • Analysis: Legal Cannabis Businesses Associated with Increased Home Values (NORML)

  • Weed Legalization in Germany Hampered by EU Laws (High Times)

  • What’s Next For Cannabis Mergers And Acquisitions? (Forbes)

  • Oregon Officials to Deploy Decoys to Catch Underage Weed, Alcohol Sales (High Times)

  • Small Marijuana Growers Could Sell Directly To Consumers Across State Lines Under New Congressional Bill (Marijuana Moment)

  • Republican Congressmen Push for Environmental Impact Study on Cannabis (High Times)

  • US Court of Appeals: Federal Scheduling of Cannabis “Irrational,” But Not Unconstitutional (NORML)

  • In Hawaii, People Prefer Black Market Cannabis to State-Managed Facilities (High Times)

Magic Mushrooms

  • Scientists have started to examine whether “magic” mushrooms can help in the fight against obesity (PsyPost)

  • Oregon Overcomes Bureaucratic Delays to Therapist Training Program Approvals (Lucid News)

  • The shroom edibles market proliferates underground (Leafly)

  • Revive Therapeutics Provides Update on the Psilocybin Clinical Study for Methamphetamine Use Disorder and Oral Psilocybin Thin Film Strip Program (Psychedelic Alpha)

DMT

  • Algernon Pharmaceuticals Receives Approval for Groundbreaking Phase 1 DMT Human Stroke Study (Psychedelic Alpha)

Ayahuasca

  • Comedian Ron White Shares How Tripping On Ayahuasca In Costa Rica Turned His Life Around (BroBible)

5-MeO-DMT

  • ‘I’m not a shaman – I just want to help people’: shoe designer Patrick Cox on his psychedelic toad awakening (The Guardian)

Peyote

  • Native American Church of North America Advocates at Capitol Hill for Protections of Peyote (Native News Online)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

  • Mindset Pharma Receives Scientific Advice from UK Regulator Facilitating Advancement of Phase 1 First-In-Human Clinical Trial Plan for Its Lead Clinical Candidate, MSP-1014 (Psychedelic Alpha)

Ketamine

  • New study highlights ketamine’s promise for treatment-resistant depression (Popular Science)

  • Dealers Are Giving Discounts on Cocaine and Ketamine in Honour of the Queen (VICE)

  • Study Explores Effects of Experimenter Sex on Ketamine Response (Psychiatric Times)

PCP

  • PCP (aka Angel Dust) May Actually Have Therapeutic Potential (DoubleBlind)

Datura

Miscellaneous

  • Atlanta is considering the decriminalization of magic mushrooms and other psychedelics (Leafly)

  • Sexual Abuse in Psychedelic Therapy: Important Steps Being Taken to Support Survivors (DoubleBlind)

  • Oregon Voters Continue To Support Drug Decriminalization Law They Approved In 2020, New Poll Shows (Marijuana Moment)

  • Psychedelics Were the Hot Topic at This Year’s World Economic Forum (Lucid News)

  • Local Michigan Lawmakers Vote To Make September Psychedelics Awareness Month After Decriminalization Enacted (Marijuana Moment)

  • A Channel for Magic: Ralph Hood’s Mysticism Scale and the Occult Roots of the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Program (Psymposia)

  • Psychedelic Twitter is Swarmed by Plug Bots (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • Finding Nuance in the Psychedelic Hype Bubble (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • Psilera Receives First Patent Allowance for Transdermal Patch Formulations (Psychedelic Alpha)

  • Adverse Events in Psychedelic Clinical Trials are Underreported (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • Psychedelic South: The Quest to find Good Drugs in Alabama (Psychedelic Spotlight)

9.23.22

Cannabis

  • Canada to review impact of cannabis legalization four years on (Reuters)

  • Marijuana Is Staying On The Banned Substances List For International Athletes, World Anti-Doping Agency Announces (Marijuana Moment)

  • California: Governor Signs Legislation Providing Employment Protections for Cannabis Consumers (NORML)

  • NY finally approves medical homegrow (Leafly)

  • Australian Cannabis Patients Turning to Prescriptions Over Illicit Market, Study Shows (High Times)

  • New Yorkers with weed convictions will have priority in retail market, state says (Leafly)

  • German Lawmakers Tour California Marijuana Businesses To Inform National Legalization Plans (Marijuana Moment)

  • Las Vegas City Council Approves Cannabis Consumption Lounges (High Times)

  • Leafly Report: ‘Opt-out’ towns are encouraging illegal marijuana sales (Leafly)

  • University of Kentucky Opens New Cannabis Research Center (High Times)

  • We spoke to the author of that new study on prenatal cannabis exposure (Leafly)

  • Apple Lets Users Search For Marijuana And Pharmaceutical Interactions In Latest iPhone Health Update (Marijuana Moment)

  • The Role of Cannabis in Treating Long COVID (High Times)

  • Canada’s rich and complicated history of psychedelic research (Leafly)

  • Oklahoma: Court Rules that Voters Can’t Decide on Legalization Ballot Measure This Year (NORML)

  • Arkansas: High Court Approves Marijuana Legalization Measure for the November Ballot (NORML)

  • Majority Of Maryland Voters Back Marijuana Legalization Referendum And Expungements, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Two Out Of Three Missouri Voters ‘Certain To Vote Yes’ On Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Poll: Majority in Minnesota Want Legal Weed (High Times)

  • Two In Three Pennsylvania Voters Support Marijuana Legalization, New Poll Shows Amid Key Political Races (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

  • Miami clinic kicks off first national study of LSD, once a ‘public enemy,’ to treat anxiety (Miami Herald)

Magic Mushrooms

  • The Viagra of the Himalayas—the World’s Most Expensive Fungus—Faces Serious Decline Due to Growing Demand (DoubleBlind)

  • Liquid Culture vs. Spores (Reality Sandwich)

MDMA

  • Disruption to Australian ecstasy market following COVID-19 restrictions, report finds (Medical Xpress)

  • MindMed Collaborators Dose First Patient in Phase 1 Investigator-Initiated Trial of MDMA-Like Substances (Psychedelic Alpha)

DMT

  • Researchers Studying Psychedelic Drug as Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease (High Times)

Ayahuasca

  • Packers Bust Out Ayahuasca TD Celebration Weeks After Aaron Rodgers Revealed Psychedelic Use (BroBible)

  • Aaron Rodgers Defends Ayahuasca, Says He May Be 'Called' to Take the Psychedelic Again (People)

Peyote

  • Native American Church Leaders Ask Congress For Funds To Support Peyote Cultivation And Preservation (Marijuana Moment)

  • The Complicated Ethics of Legalizing Indigenous Psychedelic Substances (Ethos)

Iboga

  • You Can Now Get Ibogaine-Based Addiction Treatment In A Hospital Setting In Brazil (Forbes)

Nitrous Oxide

  • What Nitrous Oxide Showed The Father of American Psychology (Lucid News)

Ketamine

  • Looking at Images of People Smiling at You Extends Antidepressant Effects of Ketamine (Neuroscience News)

DXM

  • Please don't cook chicken in NyQuil, the FDA asks TikTok users (NPR)

  • The FDA may have unintentionally made 'NyQuil Chicken' go viral on TikTok (Engadget)

Miscellaneous

  • Math Over Myth: Psychedelic Stock HAVN Life Collapses (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • Psychedelics face corrupting influence of financial interests (UC News)

  • Biden Administration Considers Psychedelic Therapies Task Force (Lucid News)

  • Colorado Polls Show Conflicting Results On Psychedelics Ballot Measure That Voters Will Decide On In November (Marijuana Moment)

  • Algernon Pharmaceuticals Announces Receipt of CDN $450K Cash Refund from Australian Research Program (Psychedelic Alpha)

  • Baby Boomers (Re)Discover Psychedelics as Tools for Aging with Grace (DoubleBlind)

  • Does Microdosing Impact Meditation? New Study From Beckley Foundation and Quantified Citizen Investigates (Newswire)

  • Colombia’s President Tells UN That ‘Democracy Will Die’ If World Leaders Don’t End Drug War And Pursue Different Strategy (Marijuana Moment)

  • The Undergrowth of Psychedelic Australia (Kahpi)

  • Beyond Michael Pollan: Where to learn more about psychedelics. (Medium)

  • Can Psychedelics Help Veterans with Chronic Pain? (Psychedelic Spotlight)

9.30.22

Cannabis

  • Switzerland: Revision of Narcotics Act – Switzerland fully legalizes medicinal cannabis (Global Compliance News)

  • Free medicinal cannabis to be donated to epileptic children in the UK (Sky News)

  • Medical cannabis for doggies, kitties is fully legalized in California (Leafly)

  • Medical Marijuana Helps Patients Reduce Use Of Addictive Opioid Painkillers, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Maltese Non-profit Cannabis May be The Way Forward (TalkingDrugs)

  • Check in, smoke up and tune out: Cannabis-friendly vacation rentals are catching on (CNBC)

  • Despite The Munchies, Marijuana Legalization Is Tied To Lower Obesity Rates, Stereotype-Busting Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Investigators say more than 70% of cannabis growers use illegal water (Santa Barbara News-Press)

  • Germany Versus The United States: Which Will Legalize Cannabis First (Forbes)

  • As cannabis usage grows, so does the need for employers to revisit their workplace drug policies (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Could Cannabis and Psychedelic Drugs Make Breast Cancer Treatments More Effective? (PR Newswire)

  • Federal Marijuana Prohibition Is Putting Patients At Risk Of Consuming Contaminated Products, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Supreme Court trial on homegrow ban reveals a bigger issue in federal cannabis legalization (Leafly)

  • Medical Marijuana Patient Plans To Sue Feds For $3.5 Million Over ‘Discriminatory’ Cannabis Raid On Tribal Land (Marijuana Moment)

  • Is Big Tobacco Pivoting to Big Cannabis? (High Times)

  • Wisconsin Governor’s Push To Allow Ballot Initiatives Could Put Marijuana Legalization Before Voters (Marijuana Moment)

  • Majority Of D.C. Voters Support Marijuana Legalization And Oppose Crackdown On Unregulated ‘Gifting’ Market, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Missouri Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative Leads In New Poll, But With Less Than 50 Percent (Marijuana Moment)

LSD

Magic Mushrooms

  • Connecticut to Offer Legal MDMA and Psilocybin Therapy as Early as Next Year (DoubleBlind)

  • DEA Claims Doctors Requesting Psilocybin For Dying Patients Have Commercial Interests (Benzinga)

  • Woman’s Breast Cancer Returned Immediately After Dropping Treatment With Cannabis, Shrooms (High Times)

  • Psilocybin Shows Gender-Specific Effects on CNS Reactivity and Behavioral Responses (Gilmore Health News)

  • Psyence Group Completes Export of Psilocybin Mushrooms to Portugal (Psychedelic Alpha)

MDMA

  • MDMA in the UK Is Finally Pure Again (VICE)

Ayahuasca

  • Aaron Rodgers fumbles the science on psychedelics. Drugs like ayahuasca can alter the brain—but how? (Salon)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

  • 'A lot of MDMA that wasn't MDMA': The early results from inside Australia's first drug testing clinic (SBS)

  • atai Life Sciences Announces Initiation of Phase 1 Trial for its MDMA Derivative, EMP-01 (Psychedelic Alpha)

  • LSD-Like Molecules Counter Depression Without the Trip (UC San Francisco)

  • BetterLife Files Comprehensive Patent for BETR-001 and Other LSD Derivatives (Psychedelic Alpha)

Synthetic Cannabinoids

  • A new urine test could help curtail the use of the latest synthetic cannabinoids to enter the drug scene (Medical Xpress)

Ketamine

Miscellaneous

  • How Interdisciplinary Research Could Reveal Psychedelics’ Blind Spots (Microdose)

  • New Theory Believes Psychedelics Could Benefit Long-Term Space Travelers (High Times)

  • After rocky start, hopes up in Oregon drug decriminalization (ABC)

  • Psychedelic drugs: how to tell good research from bad (The Conversation)

  • Do You Even Trip, Bro? A Look At Psychedelic Masculinity, From Joe Rogan To Mike Tyson (Benzinga)

  • I went to the only psychedelic dispensary in North America—here’s how they do it (The Manual)

  • The Racism and Classism Hidden Behind “Moms who Microdose” (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • Whole-Body Effects of Psychedelics Part 3 – The Heart (Psychedelic Science Review)

  • Majority Of Mainers Support Drug Decriminalization And Other Harm Reduction Policies, Poll Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Why Tripping at Raves Can Be Just As Healing as Ceremony (DoubleBlind)

  • Math Over Myth: MindMed’s Self Destructive Stock Mission (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • Men More Likely To Have Substance Abuse Disorder, Women More Likely To Overdose (High Times)

  • Psychedelic Retreats Offer Healing Only for the Wealthy (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • Psychedelic therapy could reduce anxiety, distress among patients with cancer (Healio)

  • The Narrowing of Psychedelic Discourse (Psychedelic Spotlight)

  • Is Now a Good Time to Invest In Psychedelics Stocks? (The Motley Fool)

  • The Messy Job of a Psychedelic Integration Coach (Psychedelic Spotlight)

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Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalog how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.