This Week in Psychoactives - 2.28.20

Cannabis

• Marijuana use is rising sharply among seniors over 65, study says, and there are serious risks (CNN)

• Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales Officially Passes Vermont House Of Representatives (Marijuana Moment)

• Mexican Senate Committees Meeting This Week To Finalize Marijuana Legalization Plan (Marijuana Moment)

• Luxembourg’s government reportedly weighs plan to legalize recreational marijuana (Marijuana Business Daily)

• Presidential Candidates Clash Over Marijuana Legalization At Democratic Debate (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis for pain: Does medicating with marijuana increase abuse risk? (Leafly)

• Israel's Prime Minister To Explore Marijuana Legalization (Reason)

• Moldy, Yeasty Legal Weed Products Prompt Health Advisory in Nevada (MERRY JANE)

• Elizabeth Warren Has A New Plan For Legalizing Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Labor unions flex their muscle in fight with California cannabis industry (Los Angeles Times)

• Cannabis excellence: LSSU launches new chemistry facility (The Mining Journal)

• More Than 80% of Denver Teens Don’t Smoke Weed, New Study Says (MERRY JANE)

• Henderson marijuana dispensary hosts cannabis-based blood drive (KTNV)

• Ohio Marijuana Legalization Measure To Be Filed For November Ballot This Week (Marijuana Moment)

• Weed Is Better at Preventing Cavities Than Most Toothpaste Brands, Study Says (MERRY JANE)

• Mississippi Lawmakers Attempt To ‘Kill’ Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiative With New Strategy (Marijuana Moment)

• Capitol Confidential: THC bill would kill Arizona’s medical marijuana system (Leafly)

LSD

• This Is What Happens When You Take 550 Doses of LSD At Once (VICE)

• Microdosed LSD: Finally A Breakthrough For Alzheimer’s Disease? (Forbes)

Magic Mushrooms

• Could CBD and Psilocybin Treat Brain Injuries? This University Plans to Find Out (MERRY JANE)

MDMA

• Israel Makes A Big Move Toward The Acceptance Of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy For PTSD (Forbes)

• Belgian woman dies after taking sip of MDMA-laced wine (The Guardian)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

• The Unintended Consequences of Prohibitionist Policies - Mephedrone (Drug Science)

Ketamine

• Lawsuit: Ketamine clinic caused psychosis (Albuquerque Journal)

Opioids

• In 2019 speech, Bloomberg mocked Brooklyn father and son who died from heroin as ‘not a good family’ (NY Daily News)

• Inside the Middlesbrough clinic where heroin users get a 'last chance' (BBC)

• Teaching Children How to Reverse an Overdose (The New York Times)

• Mother of dead heroin addict to Chicago Police Department: ‘Enforce the law’ (Chicago Sun-Times)

• What happens when naloxone expires (KUSA)

• Enhancing Rates Of Opioid Overdose Education And Naloxone Distribution In Emergency Departments (Health Affairs)

Cocaine

• The World's Biggest Legal Coca Industry Might Get Shut Down (VICE)

• Why the FDA Approval Process Is Under Scrutiny Following Approval of ‘Numbrino’, a Cocaine-Based Nasal Spray (Grit Daily)

• U.S. drug deaths dipped in 2018, but cocaine and meth overdoses rose (Science News)

Methamphetamine

• Meth Still a Missouri Problem, but Now It Comes From Mexico (The New York Times)

• DEA labels North Texas a 'meth hub' after spike in drug seizures (WFAA)

Nicotine

• Inside the Philip Morris campaign to 'normalize' a tobacco device (Reuters)

• New Juul patent application hints at AI-powered vape to help users quit nicotine (The Verge)

• House tobacco bill revives talk of nicotine limits (Politico)

• A New Bill Would Ban The Sale of All Flavored Nicotine Products (Colorado Public Radio)

• Governor Cuomo pushing ban of flavored nicotine vaping products, restricting ads aimed at youth (INFORMNNY)

Benzodiazepines

• Understanding the link between nicotine use and misuse of 'benzos' (EurekAlert!)

Alcohol

• 27,000 Mass. drunken-driving convictions may be tossed out due to faulty breathalyzer machines, lawyer says (The Boston Globe)

• Alcohol-Linked Deaths Soaring in U.S., Women Hit Hardest (U.S. News and World Report)

• Chicago Approves Earlier Start for Sunday Alcohol Sales (Eater)

GHB

• New report shows illicit drug GHB deaths could be prevented (Medical Xpress)

• Call for 'date rape' drug GHB to be reclassified (BBC)

Kratom

• Kratom at Risk in Colorado Without Legislation, Activists Say (Westword)

• Drug Tests Show Kratom Use Doubled in U.S. (Pain News Network)

Kava

• Utah's Attorney General hosts a kava ceremony in the Capitol (Fox 13 Now)

Miscellaneous

• Supervised-injection site in Philadelphia gets final green light from federal judge (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

• South Philadelphia to become site of nation’s first supervised-injection facility next week, organizers say (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

• DEA agent accused of conspiring with cartel (Associated Press)

• Europe’s psychedelic science renaissance has started (Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research)

• Beyond Mushrooms: The Mysterious, Magical World of African Plant Medicine (DoubleBlind)

• Should Breakthrough Psychedelic Research Make Us Question Our Assumptions About Mental Illness? (Psychedelics Today)

• End-to-end solution in psychedelic therapies establishes Numinus as leader in emerging space (Investing News)

• Scotland's drug death crisis in six charts (BBC)

• Psychedelics May Aid in Deprogramming Addiction (Psychedelic Science Review)

• They Fell In Love Helping Drug Users. But Fear Kept Him From Helping Himself (NPR)

• Podcast Host Joe Rogan Is Steadily Documenting A Psychedelic Record Of The 21st Century (Forbes)

• Vans Adds Psychedelic Tie-Dye To Their Iconic Checkerboard Print (Sneaker News)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

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.

This Week in Psychoactives - 12.20.19

CANNABIS

• Marijuana’s Ten Biggest Victories Of 2019 (Forbes)

• Illinois cannabis dispensaries open New Year’s Day for adult-use sales (Leafly)

• New Jersey: Governor Signs Marijuana Expungement Bill into Law (NORML)

• Italy legalizes 'cannabis light' (The Local)

• Opioid Prescriptions Down In States With Legal Marijuana, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Marijuana Referendum to Send to Voters in 2020 (TIME)

• Kids Aren't Buying Weed From Legal Pot Shops, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• Majority Of Americans Support Marijuana Legalization, Two More New Polls Show (Marijuana Moment)

• State recalls cannabis vape cartridges tainted with deadly vitamin E acetate (Detroit Metro Times)

• Survey shows boom in marijuana vaping among school kids (WHDH)

• Regular Cannabis Use Linked to Changes in Heart Structure, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• EPA Approves Pesticides For Hemp In Time For 2020 Growing Season (Marijuana Moment)

• Zenabis recalls mislabeled CBD gelcaps that actually contained THC (Leafly)

• Millions of Americans are driving under the influence of marijuana, CDC says (CNN)

• Atlanta Will Seal Records for Minor Weed Offenses by February (MERRY JANE)

• Oklahoma Activists Take First Step To Put Marijuana Legalization On State’s 2020 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Indiana resists legalization, but it’ll be a hot issue in 2020 state elections (Leafly)

• Medical Marijuana Legalization Measure Officially Qualifies For South Dakota 2020 Ballot (Marijuana Moment)

• Elizabeth Warren Files Marijuana Bills For Veterans And Immigrants (Marijuana Moment)

• Patients rally in Ecuador for legal use of medical cannabis (San Francisco Chronicle)

LSD

• Microdosing LSD for Alzheimer’s proves safe in early human trial (New Atlas)

• Paul McCartney Disturbing Teen Drug Claim Revealed (Alternative Nation)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Andrew Yang Says He’s ‘Very Open’ To Legalizing Magic Mushrooms (The Inquisitr)

• 'Magic mushroom' ingredient could be used to treat depression, study says (CNN)

• E. coli Could Produce a Popular Psychedelic for Therapeutic Use (Scientific American)

• Psilocybin: Four Important Takeaways from a Clinical Trial (Psychology Today)

• 5 Fast Facts About Magic Mushroom Compounds (Psychedelic Science Review)

MDMA

• MDMA Is Inches Away From Getting FDA Approval (MERRY JANE)

• Why MDMA must be reclassified as a Schedule 2 drug (Health Europa)

• MDMA-assisted couples therapy: How a psychedelic is enhancing intimacy and healing PTSD (The Conversation)

5-MEO-DMT

• Psychedelic drug 5-MeO-DMT induces rapid changes in inflammatory markers (PsyPost)

• Psychedelic Toad Makes People More Accepting and Less Depressed, Study Shows (MERRY JANE)

• Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze: The Impact of Climate Change, Development, and Psychonauts on the Sonoran Desert Toad (Psychedelics Today)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• More than a dozen children collapse after vaping fake cannabis oil laced with ‘spice’ (The Independent)

• DEA approves synthetic marijuana for big pharma company against legalization (Stock Daily Dish)

NITROUS OXIDE

• Doctors issue warning after 'whippits' misuse lands B.C. woman in hospital (CTV News)

KETAMINE

• Ketamine-like drug for depression gets UK licence (The Guardian)

• In 2019, a ketamine-based antidepressant raised hopes and concerns (ScienceNews)

OPIOIDS

• We have a solution for the opioid epidemic. It’s dramatically underused. (Vox)

• Purdue's Payments to the Sackler Family Grew Amid Scrutiny Over the Opioid Epidemic, Court Filing Shows (TIME)

• Naloxone Dispensing Sees Major Increase In Last Two Years (Indiana Public Media)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• A New Drug Scourge: Deaths Involving Meth Are Rising Fast (The New York Times)

CAFFEINE

• New insights into anti-obesity mechanisms of caffeine (New Atlas)

NICOTINE

• Congress Approves Raising Age to 21 for E-Cigarette and Tobacco Sales (The New York Times)

• Vaping Damages Your Lungs, But Is Still Safer Than Smoking, a Long-Term Study Suggests (TIME)

• WHO launches new report on global tobacco use trends (World Health Organization)

• Instagram bans influencers from getting paid to promote vaping and guns (CNBC)

• Plan to ban tobacco sales to anyone under 21 will hit the military too (Military Times)

• Addictive nicotine in Juul nearly identical to a Marlboro: study (Reuters)

• US permits sale of cigarettes with 95% less nicotine (The Seattle Times)

• Why is Texas throwing high schoolers in jail just for vaping? (Washington Examiner)

BENZODIAZEPINES

• Benzodiazepine Overdose Rates Increasing in Teens (MD Magazine)

• Problem Drinking Linked to Higher Benzo Use (Sleep Review)

• Are benzodiazepines the new opioids? (Medical Xpress)

ALCOHOL

• Two standard alcoholic drinks a day no longer safe, health officials say (The Guardian)

• The sale of alcohol at the University of South Carolina athletic events has been approved (ABC News 4)

• My Friends Serve Underage Kids Alcohol. Should I Speak Up? (The New York Times)

NOOTROPICS

• People Tell Us About Using ‘Smart Drugs’ to Max out Their Productivity (VICE)

KRATOM

• Justice minister says he’ll speed up kratom decriminalisation (The Thaiger)

• Five uses of mitragyna speciosa (The Leaf Online)

• Kratom for Chronic Pain? (WholeFoods Magazine)

KANNA

• Kanna: The Soothing Succulent of the San People (World of Lucid Dreaming)

KAVA

• Kava and anxiety: What science says about the popular plant supplement (Inverse)

• Increased Import Of Kava For Personal Consumption Allowed Into Australia (Fiji Sun)

• Welcome to Kava Culture: A Spreading Alternative to Reduce Anxiety (Filter)

DATURA

• Vet on call: Watch out for datura plant, an animal killer (Daily Nation)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Drug Prohibition Makes Illegal Drugs Cheaper and More Lethal, New Report Finds (MERRY JANE)

• On Drug Decriminalization in the United States (Playboy)

• The Vaping-Related Lung Disease Outbreak May Be Coming to an End (TIME)

• More Americans Facing Murder Charges in Drug Deaths (Truthdig)

• Call for pill tests as more than 50% of music festivalgoers say they take drugs (The Guardian)

• How to Rethink Drug Dealing and Punishment (The Appeal)

• Why Chronic Microdosing Might Break Your Heart (Chacruna)

• “The state only detains, beats and kills us”: Testimonies from women who use drugs in Mexico (Talking Drugs)

• How to Trip Sit (DoubleBlind)

• Why Doctors Are Turning to Psychedelics to Treat Depression and Addiction (Men's Journal)

• Could Micro-Dosing Psychedelics Lift Depression? (Psychology Today)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

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.

This Week in Psychoactives - 8.23.19

CANNABIS

• Federal Data Shows Youth Marijuana Use Isn’t Increasing Under Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Illicit Cannabis Vape Carts Hospitalized 7 in California, Doctors Say (Leafly)

• Maryland Court Rules Marijuana Odor Not Enough To Search A Person (NPR)

• Step Aside, Cannabinoids: Weed’s Flavonoids Fight Cancer, Too (MERRY JANE)

• Marijuana Flower Offers More Pain Relief Than Other Cannabis Products, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Texas Might Have Accidentally Decriminalized Marijuana (GQ)

• Bernie Sanders Calls For Legalization Of Marijuana And Safe Injection Sites (Marijuana Moment)

• Canadian Men Are Twice as Likely to Use Cannabis as Women, Survey Says (MERRY JANE)

• New Industry-Backed Marijuana Legalization Measure Filed In Florida (Marijuana Moment)

• The FBI Just Launched a Corruption Probe Into the Weed Industry (MERRY JANE)

• No eating, no drinking, and now, no marijuana before surgery, doctors say (The Boston Globe)

• Oklahoma Bans Employment Discrimination Against Marijuana Patients (MERRY JANE)

• Netflix Curbs Tobacco Use Onscreen, But Not Pot. What's Up With That? (NPR)

• Elizabeth Warren’s Criminal Justice Plan Involves Legalizing Marijuana And Safe Injection Sites (Marijuana Moment)

• State shuts down Walled Lake marijuana testing lab for fudging test results (Detroit Free Press)

• Canadian woman faces lifetime ban after getting caught with CBD oil at U.S. border (CBC)

• Credit Unions Can Bank Hemp Businesses, Federal Agency Announces (Marijuana Moment)

• Jacksonville lawyer who claimed marijuana was legal must pay arrested clients $370k (The Florida Times-Union)

• Fatty meal might affect how you absorb CBD (UPI)

• North Carolina House OKs Ban on Smokable Hemp (Leafly)

• Oregon Has Way Too Much Legal Weed. This Is Where It's Going (VICE)

• Colorado man who says he was delivering hemp charged in SD with selling marijuana (Rapid City Journal)

• Nearly every single person arrested for weed in NYC this year was black or Latinx (Queens Daily Eagle)

• CBD Infused Food Products Ruled Illegal in Washington State (Sapling)

• ‘The system is swamped.’ Canada can’t keep up with requests to study cannabis (Science Magazine)

• Marijuana Can Boost Risks of Drinking Alcohol (Psych Central)

• Canadians continue to buy cannabis illegally (Quartz)

• Contrary to widespread belief, cannabis addiction is possible. Here’s what it’s like (Global News)

LSD

• Tripping on Broadway: A New Musical Explores LSD Use by Cary Grant and More (The New York Times)

• How Peter Fonda’s LSD trip with the Beatles produced a classic John Lennon lyric (Los Angeles Times)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Psilocybin-assisted mindfulness meditation linked to brain connectivity changes and persisting positive effects (PsyPost)

• Canada Now Has Psilocybin Dispensaries (DoubleBlind)

• Why Do Magic Mushrooms Cause “The Yawns”? (Psychedelic Science Review)

• The trippier side of fungus (Telluride Daily Planet)

MDMA

• MDMA treatment for alcoholism reduces relapse, study suggests (The Guardian)

• Man dies from 'severe reaction' to MDMA days after the authorities warned of a strong batch of the drug circulating in Jersey (Jersey Evening Post)

• Woman fell off Cornwall cliff and died after quitting social media and taking MDMA pills (Cornwall Live)

• Girl, one, found CHEWING on MDMA capsule she found in dumped in a playground (The Sun)

DMT

• How to Breakthrough on DMT (Greencamp)

AYAHUASCA

• The Ayahuasca Privilege (DoubleBlind)

SALVIA DIVINORUM

• Salvia and “The Wheel” (The Psychedelic Scientist)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Dangerous Synthetic Cannabinoids Found in Liquid Claiming to be CBD (Cannabis Now)

• Spice crisis deepens as 9 kids collapse after taking zombie drug and deaths surge (Mirror)

NITROUS OXIDE

• Mum died after self-medicating with 100 canisters of laughing gas (Metro)

KETAMINE

• A single ketamine infusion combined with mindfulness-based therapy shows promise in treatment of cocaine addiction (PsyPost)

• Ketamine may not be an actual antidepressant, but may decrease the burden of symptoms (Medical Xpress)

• Boise organization researches ketamine use to treat depression (The Arbiter)

• Donald Trump Thinks He Can Stop Veteran Suicides With Ketamine (Spin)

OPIOIDS

• Wide distribution of Naloxone effective in preventing opioid-related deaths (Medical Xpress)

• ‘Saved from a horrible fate’: Legal heroin prescribed to hundreds of UK drug users, figures reveal (The Independent)

• 76% of opium produced in the world is discovered in Iran (Tehran Times)

• Access to naloxone reduces opioid overdose deaths, saves money, study says (UPI)

• Naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses, can save lives. Here's why you should learn how to use it. (The Washington Post)

• How often is fentanyl in your drugs? Some hard data (Rooster Magazine)

• Canada Might Have Found a Back Door to End the War on Drugs (VICE)

• How the Shakers Became America’s Best Opium Producers (The Daily Beast)

• Op-Ed: A drug called buprenorphine saved me from heroin addiction. It could save millions more — if we let it (Los Angeles Times)

• People Have Used, Abused Opioids For Thousands of Years (The Fix)

• Opium addiction in Korea's past (Korea Times)

• Babies born after opioid exposure deserve legal recognition, lawyers argue (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

• Wisdom teeth removal is contributing to the opioid crisis, experts warn (CBS News)

• 'What Would You Do?' focuses on the opioid crisis (ABC News)

COCAINE

• Mexico judge approves recreational cocaine for two users (BBC)

• Crack Cocaine Makes a Paris Neighborhood ‘Hell’ for Users and Residents (The New York Times)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• Meth and heart disease correlation not fully understood (Medical Xpress)

• The ‘fourth wave’ of the opioid crisis: Feds warn of a rise in meth use (TribLIVE)

CAFFEINE

• Mormons warn that coffee, vaping are no-nos despite fancy names, alluring flavors (Fox News)

• Is It Better to Drink Coffee Before or After You Exercise? The Answer Might Surprise You (Yahoo! Lifestyle)

TOBACCO

• Tobacco industry anti-smoking ads reached less than half of U.S. adults (Reuters)

• Why US lags behind on graphic cigarette warnings (BBC)

• NYC Is Coming For Your Flavored Juul Pods (Gothamist)

ALCOHOL

• Costa Rica Confirms 2 More Suspected Alcohol Poisoning Deaths, Raising Death Toll to 25 (TIME)

• Why Warning Pregnant Women Not to Drink Can Backfire (The New York Times)

KRATOM

• Kratom would require prescription in Michigan under Senate bill (WJRT)

• Kratom Legality In Texas: Is It Legal To Buy, Carry, and Consume In The State? (Kratom Guides)

• Is It Legal To Carry Kratom Products In Ohio? (Kratom Guides)

• Does Kratom Really Help Athletes in Sports? (The Sports Daily)

• What is kratom and why is its safety being questioned? (Health24)

KAVA

• Kava Consumption Still An Issue Says Methodist Church President (Fiji Sun)

SANANGA

• Sananga: Amazonian Eye Drops That Improves Vision! (The Costa Rica News)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Dozens of People in Multiple States Have Lung Disease Linked to Vaping, and No One Knows Why (Gizmodo)

• Vaping May Harm Your Blood Flow—Even Without Nicotine (WIRED)

• The World’s First Clinical Trials on Microdosing LSD and Psilocybin Are Coming (MERRY JANE)

• Berkeley, CA May Be Next the City to Decriminalize Natural Psychedelics (Filter)

• Synthetic Drugs Will Change the Global Drug Trade Forever (VICE)

• Extinction Rebellion founder calls for mass psychedelic disobedience (New Scientist)

• Pupils who take drugs, drink and smoke more likely to be unhappy (The Guardian)

• Americans spend $150B on cocaine, meth, marijuana, heroin (UPI)

• Use of Marijuana, Meth, Hallucinogens Up in New SAMHSA Survey (Medscape)

• What Science Says About Using Sleep Medications (Discover Magazine)

• Psychedelics and Women’s Health (Psychedelic Science Review)

• Argentina Tries To Stop Synthetic Drug Traffickers Sidestepping Prosecution (InSight Crime)

• Should Psychedelic Therapists Have First-hand Experience with Psychedelics? (Chacruna)

• Safe injection rooms are key to halting rise in drug deaths – expert (The Guardian)

• Psychedelic Yoga (Psychology Today)

• Man Who Died of OD Was Allegedly “Kicked Out of Treatment for Smoking” (Filter)

• Why are stimulant-related deaths spiking in the U.S.? (Salon)

• Turf war between rival drug gangs sparks surge in shootings (Liverpool Echo)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

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.

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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, which actually covers the past four weeks’ worth of news since I was away on vacation for a few weeks:

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This Week in Psychoactives - 5.17.19

CANNABIS

• Two Tiny Caribbean Islands Legalized Cannabis for Private and Adult Use (MERRY JANE)

• Arkansas: Licensed Medical Cannabis Sales Begin (NORML)

• Washington: Governor Signs Marijuana Expungement Bill Into Law (NORML)

• Alabama Senate Passes Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill (MERRY JANE)

• Nebraska Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• New Jersey Voters, Not Lawmakers, Will Decide On Marijuana Legalization In 2020 (Marijuana Moment)

• Leafly Study Debunks Dispensary Myths Around Crime & Teen Use (Leafly)

• Illegal Marijuana Grows In Pacific Northwest Declined After Legalization, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Can CBD Really Do All That? (The New York Times)

• Legalized ‘Light Cannabis’ Linked With Drop In Pharmaceutical Sales, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Grandmother arrested for CBD at Magic Kingdom hires Ben Crump, threatens lawsuit against cops and Disney (Orlando Sentinel)

• Gov. Cuomo Bails on New York Cannabis Legalization (Leafly)

• Serious Injuries From Domestic Violence Dropped After Marijuana Decriminalization, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• America’s Longest-Serving Marijuana Prisoner Released After 39 Years (MERRY JANE)

• Joe Biden Endorses Marijuana Decriminalization And Rescheduling—But Not Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Half A Million Canadians Are Getting High at Work, According to New Report (MERRY JANE)

• Detroit Will Pay Out $60,000 to Woman Whose Dogs Were Shot on a Marijuana Raid (Reason)

• Texas Senate Unanimously Approves Hemp Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• No More Horsing Around: CBD Now Banned in Equestrian Competitions (MERRY JANE)

• New Congressional Bill Aims To Resolve Marijuana Industry Border Issues (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis Study of Expecting Mothers Causes Social Media Controversy (Forbes)

• Canada Is Seeing Its Fair Share of Dab Lab Explosions, Too (MERRY JANE)

• Cannabis kombucha, gluten-free edibles: weed companies jump on wellness trends (The Guardian)

• Oregon Senate Votes To Legalize Interstate Marijuana Imports And Exports (Marijuana Moment)

• Doctors and Teachers in Utah Can Now Smoke Medical Marijuana Without Fear (MERRY JANE)

• Where Presidential Candidate Steve Bullock Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Illinois Survey That Supposedly Shows Support for Legalizing Marijuana Is 'Dwindling' Actually Shows It Is Rising (Reason)

• Medicinal cannabis users focus of new research (Scoop)

LSD

• Jeopardy Contestants Are Getting Tested On Their Marijuana And LSD Knowledge (Marijuana Moment)

• Inside the first placebo-controlled studies testing if microdosing LSD actually works (WIRED)

• The Sad Tale of Frank Olson, the US Government's Hallucinogen Fall Man (Pacific Standard)

• How LSD May Facilitate Communing With Nature (Medium)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Michael Pollan: Not So Fast on Psychedelic Mushrooms (The New York Times)

• Denver Psilocybin Decriminalization Activist Pushes Back Against Michael Pollan’s Criticism (Marijuana Moment)

MDMA

• Yorkshire police issue MDMA warning after death of 15-year-old girl (The Guardian)

5-MEO-DMT

• A statement regarding the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the study of 5-MeO-DMT (Psychedelics Today)

MESCALINE

• The Fascinating History of Mescaline, the OG Psychedelic (VICE)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Canada Is Giving Prisoners Synthetic Weed, Not Real Medical Marijuana (MERRY JANE)

• Synthetic cannabinoid alert system to be in place by end of year (Newsie)

OPIOIDS

• Only One Major Ontario City Refuses to Let Police Carry Life-Saving Naloxone (VICE)

• 5 More States Sue Purdue Pharma and Other Drugmakers Over the Opioid Epidemic (TIME)

• Heroin Overdose Parties Are a Dehumanizing Myth (VICE)

• A new study backs up a lifesaving approach to the opioid epidemic (Vox)

COCAINE

• Global Drug Survey: Large Majority of Cocaine Users Would Pay More for Safer, “Fair Trade” Supply (Filter)

• Study may help prevent relapse in cocaine use disorder patients (EurekAlert!)

• Canada ranks second in the world for cocaine use (but feels conflicted about it): Report (National Post)

• 'The cocaine trade is booming': 54% of Irish people who use cocaine want to cut down (TheJournal.ie)

• Top health experts warn cocaine is ‘absolutely rampant’ in Ireland as Health Minster Simon Harris launches plans to tackle epidemic (The Sun)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• The Many Health Benefits of Meth (Pacific Standard)

CAFFEINE

• How Much Coffee Is Too Much? Drinking 6 Cups In A Day Is Bad For The Heart, Study Shows (Study Finds)

• This Cup of Joe Costs $75 and Is Being Touted as the World's Most Expensive Coffee (TIME)

TOBACCO

• Maryland raises legal tobacco purchasing age to 21 (The Hill)

• Campaign to raise minimum smoking age to 21 finds unlikely supporter: Big Tobacco (CNBC)

ALCOHOL

• Psychedelic Drugs Can Help Alcoholics Stop Drinking, According To New Study (IFLScience)

• Britons get drunk more often than 35 other nations, survey finds (The Guardian)

• Doctors turn to alcohol, food and drugs to cope with work stress (The Guardian)

• OU approves alcohol sales at sporting events (KTUL)

NOOTROPICS

• The Majority Of People Are Fine With Brain Doping, As Long As You Don't Call It That (Forbes)

KHAT

• New study shows chewing miraa bad for mental health (Tuko.co.ke)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Leading U.S. Prosecutors Visit Portugal To Learn About Drug Decriminalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Joe Biden once said a fence was needed to stop 'tons' of drugs from Mexico (CNN)

• Elizabeth Warren Knows What It Will Take to End the Drug War (The Slot)

• The Ethics of Taking the Drugs You Study (VICE)

• Bolsonaro Cuts Harm Reduction, Escalates Drug War (Filter)

• Queering Psychedelics conference aims to expand definitions, minds (48 Hills)

• Number of Women Arrested for Drugs Increases at Four Times the Rate of Men (Filter)

• Seeking a safe place: Vancouver’s story (The Boston Globe)

• Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelics and Chronic Pain (Pain News Network)

• Booker Bill Would Protect Students With Drug Convictions From Losing Federal College Aid (Marijuana Moment)

• How the War on Drugs Kept Black Men Out of College (The Atlantic)

• Lawmakers Schedule Psychedelic Decriminalization Hearing In Oakland (Forbes)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

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.

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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:

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This Week in Psychoactives - 5.10.19

CANNABIS

• Debunking Reefer Madness: New Study Says Weed Doesn’t Actually Cause Psychosis (MERRY JANE)

• Top Congressional Democrats Announce Bill To Federally Deschedule Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Study: 80 percent of cannabis users say weed helps their workouts (Fox 8)

• New Zealand Government Releases Details Of Marijuana Legalization Referendum (Marijuana Moment)

• China Cashes In on the Cannabis Boom (The New York Times)

• Illinois Governor Announces Plan to Legalize Marijuana (TIME)

• THC-Blood Levels Can’t Be Determined Postmortem, Research Finds (Leafly)

• Cannabis Users Have Worse Sperm Health Than Tobacco Smokers, Study Finds (MERRY JANE)

• North Dakota: Governor Signs Law Reducing Marijuana Possession Penalties (NORML)

• The First Arkansas Medical Marijuana Dispensary Just Got Its License (Leafly)

• TSA to Travelers: We’re Not Looking for Your Weed (MERRY JANE)

• Louisiana House Unanimously Approves Bill to Allow CBD Sales (Leafly)

• Cannabis Industry Work Costing U.S. Veterans Their Retirement Pensions (Forbes)

• The Great White Shortage: Canada May Soon Run Out of CBD (MERRY JANE)

• Alabama Senate Approves Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Workers Are Smoking Weed More Than Ever, So Employers Are Dropping Drug Tests (MERRY JANE)

• California Cannabis Market Not Tracked or Traced as Promised (Leafly)

• Marijuana Patients Are Ditching Benzos for Weed, Study Says (MERRY JANE)

• The Feds Prosecuted Even Fewer Marijuana Trafficking Cases In 2018 (Marijuana Moment)

• Ohio May Become First State to OK Medical Marijuana for Depression and Insomnia (MERRY JANE)

• Federal Agency Clarifies Rules On Adding CBD To Alcoholic Beverages (Marijuana Moment)

• American Accused of Growing Weed in Myanmar Faces 10 Years in Prison (MERRY JANE)

• Texas House Votes To Expand State’s Medical Marijuana Program (Marijuana Moment)

• The Science Behind Combining Cannabis And Caffeine (Benzinga)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Denver Voters Approve Measure To Decriminalize Psychedelic Mushrooms (Forbes)

• California Activists Take First Steps To Decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms Statewide (Marijuana Moment)

MDMA

• MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD may have benefits beyond reductions in clinical symptoms (PsyPost)

• MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of PTSD: study design and rationale for phase 3 trials based on pooled analysis of six phase 2 randomized controlled trials (Springer Link)

• Consider This Before Self-Medicating With MDMA (The Wall Street Journal)

AYAHUASCA

• Health Canada allows more religious groups to import ayahuasca (Global News)

• Ayahuasca and the Twelve Steps: An Anonymous Friendship (Chacruna)

• The Problem With Ayahuasca (Thrive Global)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• CDC traces unexplained bleeding outbreak to synthetic cannabinoids (Healio)

KETAMINE

• Former Playboy Model’s Killer Was ‘Out Of His Mind’ On Ketamine During The Brutal Slaying, Lawyer Says (Oxygen)

OPIOIDS

• Opioid overdose deaths decline when pharmacists can dispense naloxone (Reuters)

• Study: Naloxone Prescriptions Low Despite Deadly Opioid Crisis (U.S. News and World Report)

• Federal Court Rules Inmate Must Have Access to Opioid Addiction Treatment (Reason)

• Narcan, the lifesaving overdose-reversal drug, is scarce in N.J. cities that need it most (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• AHN Researcher Working To Develop Longer-Lasting Naloxone For Opioid Overdoses (WESA)

• Inside Elizabeth Warren's $100 Billion Policy Plan to Tackle the Opioid Epidemic (Fortune)

• White patients far more likely to get popular addiction treatment prescription, study finds (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Report: nurses who carry naloxone denied life insurance coverage (WKBW)

• Louisiana prisons pilot addiction-fighting implants for inmates; lack of FDA approval draws criticism (The Advocate)

• Deputy and two firefighters hospitalized after fentanyl exposure (WDBO)

COCAINE

• Feds: A popular drug from the disco era is making a deadly return (NBC News)

• The mums who took cocaine during play dates (BBC)

• FLASHBACK: Bernie Asks Group Of Young Children: ‘Anyone Ever Seen Cocaine?’ (The Libertarian Republic)

METHAMPHETAMINE

• Meth Abusers At Risk For Little-Known But Potentially Deadly Disease (NBC 7 San Diego)

TOBACCO

• Walmart is raising the minimum age to buy tobacco to 21 (CNN)

• Colorado Senate votes down tobacco, nicotine tax hike effort (Cherokee Tribune and Ledger-News)

ALCOHOL

• Alcohol use soaring worldwide: The average adult now consumes about 1.7 gallons of pure alcohol per year (USA Today)

• These policies were supposed to stop pregnant women from drinking. A new study says they’re hurting babies. (Vox)

• One in five harmed by others drinking alcohol over past year, survey finds (The Guardian)

• The War On Alcohol: Is This Prohibition 2.0 (Forbes)

KRATOM

• The Debate Over Kratom, An Opioid-Like Plant Legal In Massachusetts (CBS Boston)

• Oxford Police proposes ban on Kratom products (The Oxford Eagle)

• How Cannabis and Kratom Can Help With Addiction Recovery (Civilized)

MISCELLANEOUS

• 1,000-Year-Old Pouch Contains Traces of 5 Ancient Psychoactive Drugs (Inverse)

• Mexico’s President Proposes Drug Decriminalization With Legal Supply Via Prescription (Marijuana Moment)

• Feds Dismantled the Dark Web Drug Trade—but It's Already Rebuilding (WIRED)

• Berlin park designates 'pink zone' areas for drug dealers (The Guardian)

• Drug-testing device gives false positives on poppy seeds, CBD oil, says Vancouver lawyer (CBC)

• Overdose In An Arizona Prison? Get Ready to Pay Up. (The Appeal)

• Where Philadelphia stands on supervised-injection sites, per two polls (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Houston Police Shot Man Killed in Fraudulent Drug Raid at Least Eight Times (Reason)

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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.

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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:

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