Weekend Thoughts - 12.23.17

Image by nyochi, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Using some new facial recognition technology, Facebook has begun to automatically identify users in newly-uploaded photos and send them a notification each time a picture of them has been added to the service. This will now happen even if your Facebook friend hasn't tagged you in the photo. It will allow users to know about pictures of themselves that have been added without their knowledge, although they will only be notified if the image's privacy settings are configured to allow them to see the picture in the first place. And of course, it'll increase ad impressions for Facebook, which will in turn generate more ad revenue for the company.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

This Week in Psychedelics - 7.28.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Senate Committee Passes Amendment To Protect Medical Marijuana (NORML)
• Colorado: Tax Revenue From The Legal Cannabis Industry Surpasses Half-Billion Dollars (NORML)
• Vote on Veterans' Marijuana Access Is Shut Down (ATTN:)
• Trump's DOJ gears up for crackdown on marijuana (The Hill)
• Marijuana is NORML: 45% of Americans Have Tried Cannabis (NORML)
• The Federal Government is Being Sued Over Marijuana (ATTN:)
• House Committee Blocks Veterans Equal Access Amendments (NORML)
• Sessions Boosts Forfeiture and Mandatory Minimums but Lets Pot Prohibition Collapse (Reason)
• Will cannabis be legalised in the UK, who supports it and where is marijuana already legal? (The Sun)
• Reefer Madness at The New York Times (Reason)
• AAA Is Fighting to Stop Legal Marijuana (ATTN:)
• Cannabis and goggles — the latest in concussion treatments and research (Miami Herald)
• Calgary debates where and how to sell cannabis, eyes liquor store model as template (The Globe and Mail)
• California Wants to Stop Pot Dispensaries from Branding Merchandise (Reason)
• On a Boat? Cannabis Is Still Illegal, US Coast Guard Says (Leafly)
• How Jeff Sessions Could Crack Down on Legal Marijuana (And Why He Might Not) (TIME)
• Sen. Positive Nelson Wants to Bring Medical Cannabis to the Virgin Islands (Leafly)
• GANJASANA: An Authentic Relationship With Cannabis Blooms Through Yoga (Dope Magazine)
• Is microdosing the future of marijuana? (VICE)
• Medical cannabis grow sites are now almost legal in West Berkeley (Berkeleyside)
• Pennsylvania Cities Continue to Embrace Decriminalization of Marijuana (NORML)
• Cannabis Impairment in the Workplace: Easy to Discuss, Difficult to Detect (Leafly)
• In Vermont, Students And Lawmakers Are Getting The Facts On Cannabis (Forbes)
• Why Weed Improves Sex For Some But Not Others (ATTN:)
• Maine Panel Mulls Doubling 10% Tax on Cannabis (Leafly)
• State's Billboard Got Major Backlash For Trying Tone Deaf Tactic To Stop Teen Pot Use (ATTN:)
• How Cannabis Is Used for Nausea and Vomiting Relief (Leafly)
• Online Portals Guide Australian Doctors Through Medical Cannabis Maze (Leafly)
• Medical Cannabis Education Tour launches Thursday in Philly (Philly.com)
• Vancouver pot activist calls for open cultivation of cannabis plants (Vancouver Sun)
• Inside Colorado's psychedelic Church of CANNABIS where chilled-out worshippers smoke joints in the pews while listening to rock music (The Sun)
• How To Smoke Cannabis Wax Without A Rig (Green Rush Daily)
• Cannabis Charges Decline in Canada, But Montreal Bucks Hard (Leafly)
• 5 Keys To Forecasting Sales Of New Products: Cannabis And Other Examples (Forbes)
• How to Trim Your Cannabis Plants for Beautiful Buds (Leafly)
• Smoke and Mirrors: Cannabis, Fashion, and How It All Connects to Rihanna (Leafly)

LSD

• You're not tripping: LSD is making a comeback (USA Today)
• How microdosing psychedelics like LSD could boost your leadership skills (Quartz)
• Albert Hoffman [sic]: Looking Back At LSD Inventor's First Strange Trip (Worldcrunch)
• Officer Used 'Reasonable Force' When Shooting Man On LSD: State's Attorney (Grayslake Patch)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• At Johns Hopkins, clergy try mind-altering drugs for scientific research (The Washington Post)
• Hallucinogenic mushroom blooms in the Nilgiris (The Hindu)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Could MDMA Save Your Relationship? (Elle)
• What are the dangers, effects, and laws when it comes to Molly (or MDMA)? (Metro)
• The six-month search for a $10-20 million ecstasy lab in Canberra (Newcastle Herald)
• Charlize Theron admits to taking cocaine and ecstasy in her 20s – but now goes to bed at 8:45pm (The Sun)
• 'Five friends go out and take ecstasy, one doesn't come home': the rise of super-strength pills (The Guardian)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Study Shows Psychedelic Plant Medicine Ayahuasca Stimulates The Birth Of New Brain Cells (Collective Evolution)
• Ayahuasca: The Dark Side and Dangers (The Recovery Village)
• Peruvian Ayahuasca Retreat Creates Annual Cash Scholarship Award to Bring Awareness to Amazonian Plant Medicine (Press Release Rocket)
• Global Ayahuasca Project: how nothing is the same after taking 'The Tea' (ABC)
• My night on ayahuasca: the Amazonian hallucinogen known as the 'rope of death' (The Times)
• Incredible pictures show an Amazonian witch doctor introducing his new apprentice, 13 to a sacred and hallucinogenic brew and teaching him the secrets of the forest (Daily Mail)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• What is Peyote? (The Recovery Village)
• Watch: Rare Event: Psychoactive San Pedro Cactus Flower Blooming (Awesome Time-lapse) (EnviroNews)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Tips for success: Ibogaine therapy success rate for substance dependency and addiction. (iBogaine-Thailand)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Synthetic cannabis: New Zealand police issue warning after spate of deaths (The Guardian)
• Friends of teen who died from synthetic cannabis warn others (Newshub)

Dissociatives

• Ketamine proven to treat depression among older Australians in 'revolutionary' pilot program (ABC)
• Govt. bans abuse of nitrous oxide (The Korea Herald)
• Bismarck Clinic Treats Pain, Depression With Ketamine (U.S. News & World Report)
• Ketamine as an adjunct to opioids for acute pain in the ED (American Pharmacists Association)
• Ketamine for depression encouraging, but questions remain around long-term use (Medical Xpress)
• What is Wet Weed? (Green Rush Daily)
• Oklahoma Vice: Woman tossed baby into stranger's car after smoking PCP (NewsOK)
• Man Accused of Fleeing, Ramming Cop Cars While High on PCP (U.S. News & World Report)

Opiates/Opioids

• How Much More Vicious Will the War on Painkillers Get? (Reason)
• Another record year for opioid and fentanyl-related deaths (Indianapolis Star)
• Yes, Poppy Seeds Contain Opiates, And Here's What You Need To Know (The Huffington Post)
• The Female Warlord Who Had C.I.A. Connections and Opium Routes (The New York Times)
• Take a Trip Into the Absurd at This Anti-Drug Museum in the Land of Opium (OZY)
• Heroin highs: Afghani, Pak smugglers use Punjab route (The Times of India)
• The answer to opioid overdose: Naloxone (The Richmond Register)
• What it's like to spend 14 years undercover as a heroin addict (Metro)
• Six overdose deaths linked to two heroin brands, officials say (The News Journal)

Absinthe

• A One-Stop Explainer For Drinking Absinthe (Essence)

Kava

• Kava study unearths new take on reaction times (Radio New Zealand)
• What is Kava? (The Recovery Village)
• Across the Pacific Islands, the price of kava is surging (Newshub)
• One strong mix; kava and prayers (The Fiji Times)
• Cultural clash over medicinal kava (Newshub)

Khat

• Once a Killer Drug, Qat Is Now a Dropout Drug, If You Believe The New York Times (Reason)
• Remove miraa from harmful drugs list, Munya tells Bett (Citizen TV)
• For Ethiopia's Underemployed Youth, Life Can Center on a Leaf (Nazret)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Police Body Camera Appears to Catch Baltimore Officer Planting Drugs for a Search (Reason)
• Psychedelic medicines can help heal the trauma of mass incarceration (Psymposia)
• When Do Prescription Drugs Really Expire? (ATTN:)
• Meeting McKenna in His Jungle (The Huffington Post)
• An Introduction to Shamans of the Global Village (Psychedelic Times)
• How technology can help government fight the war on drugs (The Hill)
• We Are All On Drugs... (Collective Evolution)
• Vigilante Psychopharmacology: An Interview with Psychedelic Comedian Adam Strauss (Reality Sandwich)
• If Jared Kushner Wants to Reform Federal Drug Sentences, Here's What He Should Keep in Mind (Reason)
• England's new psychedelic renaissance (PRI)
• Psychedelics and Normality (The Huffington Post)
• Reasons to Consider Trying Psychedelics (Fox Weekly)
• Healing the Hurt at the Center of Addiction (Reality Sandwich)
• Another Day, Another Article About Psychedelics in an Incredibly Mainstream Publication (Disinfo)

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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Weekend Thoughts - 7.1.17

Image by Jody McIntrye, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. This week marked the 10-Year Anniversary of the release of the original iPhone, and John Gruber at Daring Fireball wrote a short piece that explored some of the various ways that the iPhone changed the world. Among some of the things to consider:

"The iPhone’s potential was obviously deep, but it was so deep as to be unfathomable at the time. The original iPhone didn’t even shoot video; today the iPhone and iPhone-like Android phones have largely killed the point-and-shoot camera industry. It has obviated portable music players, audio recorders, paper maps, GPS devices, flashlights, walkie-talkies, music radio (with streaming music), talk radio (with podcasts), and more. Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft wouldn’t even make sense pre-iPhone. Social media is mobile-first, and in some cases mobile-only."

As usual, it's an extremely well-written piece and I'd like to suggest that we take some time to think about all of the things that the iPhone (and other smartphones) catalyzed over the past decade that are taken for granted nowadays.

2. Speaking of Uber and Lyft, the surge pricing model that those companies employ may start coming to your local parking meters soon. Imagine pulling up to a parking space on a Saturday night—the same one that you parked in earlier the same day for one dollar—and being charged eight dollars instead. It definitely seems like this is plausible and I wouldn't be surprised to experience this in the next few years.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

This Week in Psychedelics - 2.24.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• White House Promises 'Greater Enforcement' of Federal Marijuana Laws (TIME)
• Washington may have finally found bipartisan consensus with Congressional Cannabis Caucus (Salon)
• Polling: Voters Support Marijuana Law Reform By Record Numbers (NORML)
• Most Republicans Oppose Federal Interference With Marijuana Legalization (Reason)
• When Retirement Comes With a Daily Dose of Cannabis (The New York Times)
• Australia Loosens Cannabis Import Rules to Speed Patient Access (Leafly)
• Dutch Lawmakers Extend Tolerance Policy to Cannabis Cultivation (Leafly)
• Houston D.A. Will No Longer Prosecute Pot Cases, Outraging Other Prosecutors (Reason)
• Understanding the Intersection of Poverty and Access to Medical Marijuana (Psychedelic Times)
• Which Teens Are Most Likely to Smoke Pot? The Smart Ones, Study Finds (TIME)
• How a Federal Crackdown on Marijuana Could Affect Mexican Cartels (ATTN:)
• The Future of Designer Cannabis: Interview with Josh of Level Blends (Psychedelic Times)
• Which U.S. Presidents Would Have Tried Cannabis? (Leafly)
• Irvine-Based Lawyer Discusses History of Cannabis and How It'll Effect Employment In The Future (OC Weekly)
• Colorado's First Drive-Through Cannabis Shop Will Open Next Month (Leafly)
• Microdosing with Cannabis (Psychedelic Press UK)
• Cleveland's Cannabis College Is Here to Train Ohio's Next Medical Marijuana Professionals (Merry Jane)
• What Researchers Found in California's Marijuana (ATTN:)
• How and where to attend cannabis-infused dinners (and a cooking class) in Los Angeles (Los Angeles Times)
• The Weed You're Smoking Might Not Be What You Think (ATTN:)
• Texas Has a Medical Cannabis 'Prescription' Problem (Leafly)

LSD

• Microdosing LSD: Author Ayelet Waldman 'finds insight' through drug experiment (ABC)
• LSD gets stuck in your brain — literally. This could help us develop better (health) drugs (ZME Science)
• Acid Flashbacks (VolteFace)
• LSD 'microdosing' trend popular with tech entrepreneurs may be putting their lives at risk, claim Cambridge University students (Daily Mail)
• 'I was given LSD at 14': Inside Australia's notorious cult The Family where children were drugged and brainwashed to believe their female leader was Jesus Christ (Daily Mail)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Teen Dies of MDMA Overdose After Fear of Sniffer Dogs Finding Her Pills (Noiseporn)
• Crime lord offered to kill drug dealers who sold ecstasy to teenager Leah Betts (Mirror)
• Driver took MDMA and crashed into 12 cars (ITV)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Ayahuasca, meditation and activism: On cultivating the mindful politics of love (Salon)
• Powerful hallucinogenic drug DMT seized by police in New Glasgow (CBC News)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Stephen Colbert tells Alex Jones to stop 'mixing steroids with peyote' (Monsters & Critics)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Ibogaine: A Powerful Plan That Could Kick Serious Drug & Alcohol Addictions (Collective Evolution)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• N-bomb inquest told young people need drug education (The Irish Times)
• Man charged in Prince Albert after six people hospitalized following apparent overdoses of psychedelic drug 2C-B (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)
• Daniel Horton from London drowned on holiday in Liskeard after taking what he thought was LSD (Cornwall Live)
• Woman fighting for her life after taking 'bad batch of MDMA' – a month after 20 partygoers were hospitalised with similar drug (Daily Mail)

Dissociatives

• A New Treatment for Depression Could Help Millions of Americans (Digital Journal)
• New antidepressant works on mice in hours, not weeks (Knowridge Science Report)
• RESTORE KETAMINE INFUSION: The New Treatment for Depression That Works in Hours is Now Available in Pensacola Florida (MENAFN)

Opiates/Opioids

• Psychedelics Help Reduce Opioid Addiction, According to New Study (AlterNet)
• Seattle Is Taking a Big Step in the Fight Against Opioid Addiction (ATTN:)
• 25% of all overdoses are from heroin (CNN)
• How Doctors Are Fueling the Opioid Epidemic (TIME)
• Teens Say Heroin Is 'Probably Impossible' to Get (Live Science)
• America's Opium War: How Fentanyl Will Lead All Overdose Deaths in 2017 (Paste)
• China White, Mexico's New Heroin Threatening the United States (InSight Crime)
• The War That Made Asia: How the Opium War Crushed China (The National Interest)
• Naloxone: How it saves lives by reversing the effects of opioids (Ottawa Citizen)
• Bloodletting, voodoo and opium: New Orleans museum spotlights medical methods of the past (The Washington Post)
• What's Disappearing from Veteran's Hospitals Is Alarming (ATTN:)
• Mexican Heroin Cartel Operating in North Carolina (CNS News)
• First 'End Heroin' walk happening in Birmingham this weekend (AL.com)
• Legislators Who Supported Criminal Justice Reform Now Sponsoring Tougher Heroin Bills (Reason)
• Where does heroin come from? (Asbury Park Press)

Kava

• Counting on the Trendy to Revive Kava, a Traditional Drink (The New York Times)
• Kava becomes popular (The Fiji Times)

Khat

• Clerk charged with selling 'khat' at East Raleigh convenience store (The News & Observer)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Is Eating Hallucinogenic Himalayan Honey A Good Idea? (The Alternative Daily)
• Understanding How Psychedelics Therapy Uses Rebirth to Treat Psychological Disorders (Psychedelic Times)
• Photographers in the Philippines Recall Harrowing Scenes of the Drug War (TIME)
• Psychedelic therapy gains traction as evidence based treatment for IPV (Blasting News)

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 are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.