This Week in Psychedelics - 11.23.18

Cannabis

• Massachusetts mayor first in line as recreational marijuana sales begin (CBS News)

• Federal Marijuana Action Is An ‘Inevitability,’ Trump FDA Chief Says (Marijuana Moment)

• Joe Kennedy III calls for legalizing marijuana at the federal level (The Hill)

• Here’s When Michigan’s Marijuana Legalization Law Goes Into Effect (Marijuana Moment)

• US Senate: Leading Marijuana Prohibitionist Out As Senate Judiciary Chair (NORML)

• Two New Studies Reveal How Marijuana Can Treat Different Kinds Of Pain (Marijuana Moment)

• Weed and Pregnancy: How Cannabis Laws Are Hurting Mothers (Rolling Stone)

• Hemp Will Be A Top 10 Product In 2019, Whole Foods Predicts (Marijuana Moment)

• The 'Hypocritical' Loophole in New York's Pledge to Stop Prosecuting Marijuana (The Appeal)

• Canada’s Grand Cannabis Experiment Has Set Scientists Free (The New York Times)

• Missouri’s Largest County Stops Prosecuting Marijuana Possession (NORML)

• Here's how N.J. is likely to legalize marijuana under new bill just unveiled by top Democrats (NJ.com)

• Feds To Discuss Drug Testing Programs In Era Of Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• Antigua and Barbuda Set to Pass Inclusive Cannabis Regulation Law (Talking Drugs)

• Artisanal Edible Cannabis Honey Causes A Buzz (Forbes)

• Go Ahead and Pack Your Weed This Thanksgiving—the TSA Probably Won't Find It (Reason)

• FGCU to offer cannabis studies program 2019 (Wink News)

• 'Blow themselves up:' Police worried about butane hash oil extractions at home (The Daily Courier)

• Ontario Cannabis Store aware of mouldy products shipped to customers (Daily Hive)

• How Canada marijuana legalization impacts on Latin American drug policy? (openDemocracy)

• New Poll Says Cannabis Prohibition Doesn't Work And Americans Don't Want It To (Civilized)

• Three Incoming House Committee Chairs Call For Marijuana Reform In Next Congress (Marijuana Moment)

• Teens are trying marijuana before alcohol and tobacco (The Verge)

• South Africa Cannabis Ruling Leads to Pot-Themed Products (Voice of America)

• Totally Unchill NASA Orders SpaceX Safety Probe Because Elon Musk Legally Smoked Weed (Reason)

• What's the deal with cannabis capsules? (The GrowthOp)

• Do We Need Roadside Marijuana Tests? (The Crime Report)

• Hope for cannabis as treatment for opioid addiction (The Conversation)

• Greece eyes pot of gold as medicinal cannabis licensed (Reuters)

• 6 Ways American Colonists Used Cannabis (Civilized)

• How medical marijuana made me a better mom (The Washington Post)

• ‘Outliers’ Author Malcolm Gladwell Is Himself An Outlier On Marijuana Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

• How Much Weed Should Someone Try If It's Their First Time? (WIRED)

• Legalizing Marijuana Is One Of New Connecticut Governor’s ‘Priorities’ (Marijuana Moment)

• What You Need To Know About Microdosing Cannabis, The New Wellness Trend (Psychedelics Daily)

LSD

• 'Open-minded, immersive and fun': a review of 'All You need is LSD' (The Boar)

• News Focus - Dangers of LSD consumption among children (ANTARA News)

• Yale, Zurich scientists find why LSD makes people trip (Psychedelics Daily)

• REVEALED: The eerie conspiracy that connects JFK, Charles Manson and Britney Spears (Daily Star)

• To avoid a bad trip, be prepared before trying LSD (Psychedelics Daily)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• High Dose of Psilocybin in a HIV+ Homeless Shelter (Chacruna)

• Denver, Colorado Might Decriminalize Psychedelic Mushrooms As Soon As May 2019 (IVN.us)

• The FDA Has Acknowledged Psilocybin As A Potential Treatment For Depression (Psychedelics Daily)

• Psychedelic healing: could magic mushrooms help reboot the brain? (Science Focus)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• People on love drug MDMA still know who to trust (ResearchGate)

• MDMA is now proven to help those with trauma – so let’s decriminalise it and put it back in the medicine cabinet (The Independent)

• ‘It can rewire people’s brains’: how traumatised veterans turned to underground MDMA therapy (The Guardian)

• Horrfying moment mother ‘high on ecstasy’ drops her baby and cracks his skull (Metro)

• Boy, 16, died after taking ecstasy when pal’s mum didn’t call his parents in case they got into trouble (The Sun)

• What is MDMA and why have there been so many deaths in the West Country? (ITV News)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Controversial hallucinogenic drug use explored in 'Kentucky Ayahuasca,' TV series (Lexington Herald Leader)

• Everything You Need to Know about Choosing an Ayahuasca Retreat (Kahpi)

• Welcome to the jungle: experiencing the Amazon in psychedelic virtual reality (The Guardian)

• A Punch In The Soul: HighExistence Founder Jordan Lejuwaan’s First Ayahuasca Journey (HighExistence)

• What ayahuasca — Silicon Valleys latest drug of choice — does to your brain and body (Psychedelics Daily)

• DMT: Learning Science from our Ancestors (in-Training)

• Ayahuasca Research Boosts Brazilian Psychedelic Science (Psychedelics Daily)

• What Ayahuasca Is, and What You Should Know About It (Psychedelics Daily)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Ibogaine: One Mans Journey To Mexico For Psychedelic Addiction Treatment (Psychedelics Daily)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• 'Legal highs': Street dealers now main source of supply after ban (BBC)

Opiates/Opioids

• The Radical New Fentanyl Trend That Could Save Lives and Screw Dealers (VICE)

• Sackler family members face mass litigation and criminal investigations over opioids crisis (The Guardian)

• UN: Afghan Opium Cultivation Down 20 Percent (Voice of America)

• AMA Decries the Impact of the CDC's Opioid Guidelines on Pain Treatment (Reason)

• Multiple vials of naloxone now required to resuscitate Metro Vancouver opioid users (Standard-Freeholder)

• Understanding Naloxone Standing Orders Is Vital (Pharmacy Times)

• Saving your child from an opioid overdose (CBS News)

• Opioid Series: 'Naloxone saved my life' (ABC 4)

• Naloxone: The life-saving drug more Americans Need (CBS News)

Cocaine

• Mental health hospital admissions linked to cocaine use treble in 10 years (The Guardian)

• Mother at large after 2-year-old daughter ingests cocaine (KPRC)

Kratom

• Scientists Identify the Lethal Dose of Kratom's Active Ingredients (Inverse)

• Converting Animal Doses to Human Doses (Kratom) (Medium)

• Federal Authorities Tight-Lipped on When Kratom’s Future Will Be Revealed (Inverse)

• Is FDA ‘Shadow Ban’ Causing Kratom Shortages? (Pain News Network)

• American Kratom Association Announces Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Standards for Vendors (PR Newswire)

• Kratom Erowid – Which Types of Kratom Information You Will See On This Website? (Kratom Guides)

• Kratom: The leafy green plant that could help with opiate withdrawals (KFMB)

• Green Bali Kratom: Effects, Dosage, And User Reviews (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Grant awarded to further study effects of kava (Radio New Zealand)

• Pacific countries to promote kava as food product (Radio New Zealand)

Khat

• Little-known banned drug is becoming worryingly popular in Liverpool (Liverpool Echo)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Take Part in the World's Biggest Anonymous Drugs Survey (VICE)

• A Brief History of Swedish Psychedelia (The Oak Tree Review)

• I Survived Sexual Abuse In The Amazon And Victim Blame At Home (Psymposia)

• Let’s Talk About Compass And Psychedelic Capitalism: Interview with Rick Doblin (Psychedelic Times)

• A Brief History of Psychedelics in the Western World (Psychedelics Today)

• A Vermont needle exchange isn’t just giving out syringes. It’s offering treatment on the spot. (Vox)

• El Chapo Witness Details Brutal Drug War Murders (The New York Times)

• Denver City Council will OK supervised drug use to save people from overdosing (Denverite)

• Drugs and alcohol complicate sexual consent, but context can make things clearer (The Conversation)

• Radical Risk Reduction For Event And Community Organizers (Chacruna)

• Opioids Are In the Spotlight. But Meth Hospitalizations Are Surging (TIME)

• Time’s Up For “Silencing” Tactics (Psymposia)

• Joe Biden’s Ideal Drug War (Drug WarRant)

• Harm reduction is the right way to treat drug abuse (The Economist)

• How 'fixing rooms' are saving the lives of drug addicts (The Guardian)

• We need harm reduction drug education, not drug prevention education (AOD MEDIA WATCH)

• Exploring Consciousness with Psychedelics (Psychedelics Daily)

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.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Weekend Thoughts - 1.27.18

Image by susannp4, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. It's been roughly six months since Amazon announced its intention to acquire Whole Foods Market. When that story first broke, I speculated that it wouldn't be too long before we would be "walking into a store and making a purchase without interacting with another human being." Well, that time is now. Amazon opened the first store cashier-less in Seattle this Monday, dubbed Amazon Go. It is essentially a partially-automated grocery store, stocked with sandwiches, salads, snacks, and even beer and wine. There is little-to-no interaction between customers and human employees—once you scan your cell phone at the entrance, cameras track your behavior in the store and your credit card is automatically charged when you leave the store. That's right, there is no cashier at all. The only time you would need to interface with a human is if you were attempting to purchase an alcoholic beverage, because that would involve someone verifying that you are of legal age to buy booze. If you're interested in seeing what the store looks like, Recode has an excellent set of photographs for you. Just walking out of a store and not being required to wait in a line is an innovative, exciting concept. We'll have to wait and see how this experiment goes though—unless you're in or near Seattle this type of store isn't yet available.

2. Burger King came out with an advertisement dubbed "Whopper Neutrality" this week that explains the basics concepts of Net Neutrality. After interviewing several people in a Burger King parking lot about their understanding of what Net Neutrality really is and finding out that the general public is fairly clueless about this issue, the video moves into the restaurant. The prices have been changed to reflect the speed with which the customers will receive their Whoppers. Customers who want to get their burgers quickly must also be willing to pay $26! In addition to being entertaining in a kafkaesque way, this ad may do a lot for helping the mainstream understand this topic a bit better.

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

Weekend Thoughts - 11.18.17

Image by maneepoi, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

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

1. Ever since Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market earlier this year, I've been wondering how that would affect the Whole Foods shopping experience. Now we have our first hint of what's to come—Whole Foods will be offering a set of special discounts for Amazon Prime members. It seems that Prime will become the official rewards program for Whole Foods. As a current Prime member, I'm happy to see yet another perk being added to my membership. It's worth clicking through the link to take a look at the specific items being discounted at this time, and I imagine we'll see more to come soon.

2. Tesla made some pretty cool announcements this week—a new big rig Tesla Semi and a fancy-looking Tesla Roadster that is expected to come out in 2020. There are plenty of nifty features packed into the Semi, like a 500-mile range, Enhanced Autopilot, jackknifing prevention, sensors for blind-spot detection, and data collection to assist with fleet management. It also looks pretty cool—at least I'd be in favor of replacing today's big rigs with Tesla's version, that's for sure. But that's not all that Tesla announced at their event; the upcoming Roadster was a nice surprise for those in attendance. Elon Musk claimed that the car would be the fastest production car ever made, and it boasts a 620-mile range, zero-to-sixty in less than 2 seconds, and a top speed of over 250 MPH. I'm glad to see some innovative products being previewed by Tesla, but I do wonder if they're going to be scalable, because Tesla has recently run into issues with producing a sufficient quantity of its Model 3 offering.

3. If you're like me, it's probably been a while since you've taken a look at how much information you're sharing with others on social media. There is a guide that shows you how to lock down your Facebook account with more privacy that is worth checking out. In fact, there may be some settings that you would've sworn were set differently than they actually are...

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