920

This Week in Psychedelics - 9.23.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

  • Medical cannabis sales soar in German pharmacies (RT)
  • Tommy Chong Seeks Obama's Pardon for Drug Paraphernalia Conviction (Hollywood Reporter)
  • Memphis and Nashville May Take Steps to Decriminalize Marijuana (TIME)
  • Will The Marijuana Vote Be A Factor This November? (NORML)
  • Cannabis Attracting Mainstream Research Analysts (Forbes)
  • Inside the Company Helping Native Americans Grow Cannabis (VICE)
  • Cannabis Companies Are Attracting Marijuana Investors With a Lost of Green (LA Weekly)
  • 3 Phoenix Cops Resign After Forcing Man to Eat Marijuana (TIME)
  • Can Cannabis Help Anorexia? How Medical Marijuana May Treat the Emotional Trauma Behind Anorexia (Psychedelic Times)
  • California Marijuana Legalization Would Cause 'Sea Change' in Capital for Cannabis Startups (Inc.)
  • Study: Opioid Prevalence Falls Following Medical Cannabis Legalization (NORML)
  • Longest Strike in Colombia’s History Dries Up Bogotá’s Cannabis Supply (Leafly)
  • Legalise cannabis protests outside NZ police stations (Stuff.co.nz)
  • Cannabis oil hailed as 'a miracle' for epileptic son (Vancouver Sun)
  • Nine cannabis clubs ordered to 'cease and desist' in Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs Gazette)
  • Oakland conference focuses on budding relationship between cannabis and Bay Area tech (San Francisco Business Times)
  • Teenage cannabis use rises in Europe - EU Espad survey (BBC News)

LSD

  • How LSD Affects Language (AlterNet)
  • LSD Legalization Activists Savor a Rare Win (Inverse)
  • LSD Candy and Explosive Love Beads: Revelations from the US Government's Private Drug Newsletter (VICE)
  • Weekly Dose: LSD – dangerous, mystical, or therapeutic? (The Conversation)
  • LSD, Spirituality, and Creativity in the Sixties: Interview with Fred Weaver III, M.D. (Psychedelic Times)
  • Lick and get high: LSD stamps creep into Vietnam (VNExpress)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

  • Can 9/20 Become the 4/20 of Magic Mushrooms? (VICE)
  • Psychedelic Mushrooms Help Your Brain (Snopes)

MDMA/Ecstasy

  • 'My therapist gave me a pill': can MDMA help cure trauma? (The Guardian)
  • Legitimising MDMA, 'The Love Drug', For Couples Therapy (VolteFace Magazine)
  • Mum Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, whose son Daniel died after taking ecstasy at illegal rave brings fight for mandatory drugs education to Downing Street (Croydon Guardian)

Ayahuasca/DMT

  • Ethical Ayahuasca Tourism: A Guide for First Time Ayahuasca Users with Matthew Watherston (Psychedelic Times)
  • Ayahuasca as Antidote (Reality Sandwich)
  • How do you cope with losing your hair? I took ayahuasca and felt like an imbecile (The Guardian)

Morning Glory Seeds

  • Multiple Eureka High Schoolers Hospitalized After Consuming Psychedelic Seeds (Lost Coast Output)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

Dissociatives

  • Police officials confirm PCP found in shooting victim Terence Crutcher's car (KFAQ)
  • Police: Fleeing driver on crack and PCP crashed into cruisers (York Dispatch)

Opiates/Opioids

  • DEA Blocks Research Into Promising Opioid Alternatives (Slate)
  • Over 7,000 Candidates Took Money from Opioid Companies During the Epidemic (ATTN:)
  • 6 Ways to Fight America's Heroin Epidemic (TIME)
  • Seattle's new war on drugs: Giving heroin addicts 'safe sites' to shoot up (Los Angeles Times)
  • Oregon Pharmacies Can Now Prescribe Naloxone For Overdoses (OPB News)
  • Searching for naloxone to cure a heroin overdose? The FDA wants an app for that. (The Washington Post)

Kratom

  • What it's like to be high on kratom, according to the people who use it (The Washington Post)
  • Why Kratom's Getting Banned – And How We Can Stop This Madness (Kratom Project)
  • Kratom Movement Draws Attention From Congress, And More On The DEA's Plan To Schedule 1 (Forbes)
  • Survey: Kratom 'Very Effective' for Chronic Pain (Pain News Network)

Kava

Khat

  • Khat cargo plane overshoots the runway at Bardale Airport (Mareeg)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

  • How Drug Cartels Operate Like Silicon Valley Startups (Motherboard)
  • Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte Wants Six More Months for His Drug War (TIME)
  • Colorado Drug Warriors Mistakenly Storm Innocent Family's Home (Reason)
  • 10 Psychedelic Artists You Should Know (Merry Jane)
  • 'Dying to Know': a sedate look at psychedelic pioneers Ram Dass, Timothy Leary (The Seattle Times)
  • The Daughter of a British Aristocrat Has Been Killed by Philippine Drug War Vigilantes (TIME)
  • Is the Drug Trade Really Bank-Rolling Terrorism? (VICE)
  • The Journey of a Psychedelic Marine (Reality Sandwich)
  • New directions in our understanding of addiction: The role of psychedelics (Understanding Addiction)
  • Neil Woods: A 'Traitor' To The War On Drugs (Disinfo)
  • Rodrigo Duterte's Top Critic Has Been Demoted in a Senate Probe into the Drug War (TIME)

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

920 Coalition - Psilocybin Awareness Day

920Coalition.jpg

Today marks the inaugural 920 Psilocybin Awareness Day, inspired by the folks at 920 Coalition. From the coalition's website: "The 920 Coalition is a collaboration of non-profit organizations and individuals organizing events around the world on 9/20/2015 to bring attention to the role of psilocybin mushrooms in our society and health care system."

For the uninitiated reader, psilocybin is one of the primary psychoactive components of "magic mushrooms", a group of fungi that many consider to be sacred spiritual sacraments and medicinal healers, yet simultaneously they are finger-wagged by the authorities in our culture and placed in the highest-level section (Schedule I) of the United States' Controlled Substances List. I highly suggest reading the information in the afore-linked "magic mushrooms" website, which will lead you to the Erowid webpage on psilocybin mushrooms to learn more about them.

Today's event is intended to spread awareness about the current state of research on the role of psychedelic psilocybin mushrooms in our society and health care system. There are plenty of events located across the world in many countries, including Mexico, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States. These events are structured in various formats, including speaker events, film screenings, demonstrations, small educational meetings, parties, concerts, and small home gatherings. If you are interested in learning about what may be happening today near you, please click the "920 Coalition" link at the top of this article.

I believe that psychedelic psilocybin mushrooms (along with other psychedelic substances) have the potential to help transform the world, one thought at a time. I encourage anyone interested to learn more about them by visiting Erowid (which synchronistically is running an annual fund drive at the moment and seriously deserves your support). And those of us who have knowledge to share can take some time today and speak to people who have open minds, ears, and hearts about the benefits of these sacraments and the grave injustice that has surrounded them for the past 45 years.