CANNABIS
Illinois Senate Passes the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (NORML)
TSA Updates Marijuana Rules To Allow Hemp-Derived CBD On Flights (Marijuana Moment)
Cannabis Extracts Are Legal, Arizona High Court Rules (Leafly)
Report Says 70% of CBD Products Are Contaminated with Heavy Metals or Pesticides (MERRY JANE)
Early Presidential Primary State Voters Oppose Federal Intervention In Local Marijuana Laws, Poll Shows (Marijuana Moment)
Marijuana Ban in Public Housing Lifted in NYC––And Nation May Be Next (Filter)
Legal Medical Marijuana Tied To Lower Opioid Use, Another Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)
Colorado Springs dispensary pulls THC-free CBD products because of City Code (KOAA)
CBD and THC May Help Treat Alzheimer's Disease, New Research Suggests (MERRY JANE)
Alberta Lifts Ban on Licensing New Cannabis Stores (Leafly)
States Can’t Block Legal Hemp Shipments Within Their Borders, USDA Says (Marijuana Moment)
Workplace Deaths Fell 34% After Medical Cannabis Legalization (Leafly)
Google won't allow marijuana delivery apps in the Play Store (Engadget)
Nigerians Smoke the Most Weed on Earth, Spend Over $15 Billion on Pot Annually (MERRY JANE)
Man Shoots Himself in Testicles Before Cops Found Weed Up His Ass (MERRY JANE)
Israel is banking on cannabis as its next big industry (Los Angeles Times)
Former NFL Pro Chris Long Admits to Smoking Weed His Entire Career (MERRY JANE)
eBay Says It Will Continue To Ban People From Selling CBD Products (Marijuana Moment)
Most people accept medical use of marijuana: Nida Poll (Bangkok Post)
MAGIC MUSHROOMS
Mushrooms: Today Denver, tomorrow all of Colorado? (GOPUSA)
Psilocybin Could Open the Door to Legal Hallucinogens (Medium)
MDMA
Mums of children killed by ecstasy explain why they want drug to be legalised (Mirror)
Teacher is jailed for six years after he drugged woman's hot chocolate with MDMA then sexually assaulted her and held her captive in his car for five hours (Daily Mail)
Unpredictable MDMA: Here’s why it’s ‘impossible’ to know how the drug affects you (Rave Jungle)
AYAHUASCA
Can and Should Ayahuasca Become Part of Western Medicine? (Kahpi)
Ayahuasca Community Guide for the Awareness of Sexual Abuse (Chacruna)
The Shaman’s Treasure: The Many Plants Added to the Ayahuasca Brew (Kahpi)
What It Takes to Hold an Ayahuasca Ceremony (Kahpi)
5-MEO-DMT
Smoking the Toad (Chacruna)
IBOGA
Biosynthesis of an Anti-Addiction Agent from the Iboga Plant (bioRxiv)
SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS
Researchers Find Synthetic CBD Effective in Treating Seizures in Rats (High Times)
Get ready for a new wave of synthetic cannabinoids and derivatives (Greencamp)
Man died after taking spice and suffering multiple seizures in prison (WalesOnline)
Schoolboy rushed to hospital after eating sweet laced with zombie drug Spice (The Sun)
NITROUS OXIDE
Bill Of The Month: $4,836 Charge For Laughing Gas During Childbirth Is No Joke (NPR)
OPIOIDS
Opioid Maker Agrees to Pay Oklahoma $85 Million Over Claims Company Helped Create Addiction Crisis (TIME)
More Drug Users Are Intentionally Using Fentanyl Amid Overdose Crisis, Study Finds (VICE)
Murphy presents research on police views of addiction (BCTV)
Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart apologises for smoking opium in Iran (Yahoo! Finance)
That guy who made up a story about stealing a brick of heroin from an MS-13 gang member says he now regrets it (Boing Boing)
Most Opioid Deaths in MA Involve Other Drugs (U.S. News & World Report)
Colorado’s Opioid Crisis Slows, In Part Because Of A Drug That Reverses Overdoses (Colorado Public Radio)
The chronic-pain quandary: Amid a reckoning over opioids, a doctor crusades for caution in cutting back (STAT)
CAFFEINE
This is the Best Time of Day to Drink Coffee, According to Science (Civilized)
Energy drink consumption rising in the U.S. (WHTC)
Energy drinks: Here’s what they do to your heart (WAVE3)
Here's the truth about whether you should drink coffee and tea while pregnant (INSIDER)
TOBACCO
90% of lung cancers can be avoided by eliminating tobacco use, new WHO report reveals (World Health Organization)
ALCOHOL
Young people are drinking less alcohol; here’s why (Marin Independent Journal)
KRATOM
Kratom's reputed pain-relief benefits could come from one of its metabolites (EurekAlert!)
Fibromyalgia Stole My Life, Kratom Gave It Back (Pain News Network)
Kratom is called a mood enhancer, but three deaths in St. Louis region are causing concern (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
St. Charles County pausing decision to ban Kratom, instead of looking at new regulations (KMOV)
Herbal supplement kratom could face regulations in Monument (Colorado Springs Gazette)
KHAT
Nyandarua to ban sale of miraa (The Standard)
Turning a blind eye to khat use in the west does vulnerable communities in which it is consumed few favours (Illicit Trade)
MISCELLANEOUS
Oakland Lawmakers Advance Psychedelic Decriminalization Measure (Marijuana Moment)
Colorado Just Passed a Slew of Groundbreaking Drug Reform Laws (MERRY JANE)
Philly’s supervised injection site nonprofit gets tax-exempt status from IRS (Philadelphia Inquirer)
The Drug War's Hidden Foster Care Crisis (Reason)
Nancy Pelosi's Drug Price Compromise Is Bad Policy and Worse Politics (Splinter)
DanceSafe Announces Return To Virginia (DanceSafe)
The Case for Taking Psychedelics Seriously (National Review)
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.
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: