CANNABIS
Senator Files '420' Marijuana Bill To Legalize It Federally (Forbes)
Mexican Senate Report Lays Out Marijuana Legalization Considerations (Marijuana Moment)
New Mexico Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill At Committee Hearing (Marijuana Moment)
Oregon has more legal cannabis than the state can consume in six years (Quartz)
States With Legal Medical Marijuana Have Lower Teen Use Rates, Large-Scale Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)
Why CBD Works Better With a Little THC (Even If You Don’t Want to Get High) (Leafly)
Study Shows How Marijuana Component CBD Can Help People With Substance Use Disorders (Marijuana Moment)
Veterans Medical Marijuana Access Legislation Introduced In House and Senate (NORML)
European Parliament Approves Medical Marijuana Resolution (Marijuana Moment)
Bill to Provide Greater Access for Virginia Medical Cannabis Patients Succeeds (NORML)
Missouri Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Expungement Bill For Medical Cannabis Patients (Marijuana Moment)
Kamala Harris Got So High Smoking Weed in College She Thought She Was Listening To Snoop Dogg and Tupac (Reason)
Where Presidential Candidate Amy Klobuchar Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)
Michigan’s First Cannabis Lounge Is the Chill Alternative to Bars (Leafly)
Marijuana possession bill reintroduced in state Senate (Winston-Salem Journal)
Maury Povich Smoked A Marijuana Strain Named After His Wife, Journalist Connie Chung (Marijuana Moment)
Dan Bilzerian's Weed Company Is Keeping Sexist Cannabis Ads Alive (VICE)
If you support marijuana legalization, you should support safe injection sites (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Here's How New Mothers are Using CBD to Combat Baby Brain (Civilized)
Aurora Cannabis earnings show big growth in pot sales, but worrisome profit trend (MarketWatch)
LSD
The Man who Mapped LSD (OUPblog)
Microdoses of LSD change how you perceive time (Big Think)
Amanda Feilding: ‘LSD can get deep down and reset the brain – like shaking up a snow globe’ (The Guardian)
MAGIC MUSHROOMS
$1m kicked into campaign for magic mushroom therapy (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Push to legalize psychedelic mushrooms gains traction in Eugene (KEZI)
Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Are Having a Moment. Here's What It's All About. (Cheddar)
Magic Mushrooms Show Promising Results for Treating PTSD and Depression (San Diego Entertainer Magazine)
MDMA
MDMA Users May Have a Social Advantage Over People Who Use Other Drugs (Inverse)
Israel's Health Ministry Approves Compassionate Use of MDMA to Treat PTSD (Haaretz)
MDMA Expanded Access is almost here. What’s it all about? (Psymposia)
Use of Ecstasy spreading in Cebu: PDEA 7 (Sun.Star)
Police issue a warning for yellow octopus ecstasy pills (Mixmag)
Daniel Eades, 19, took MDMA at Halo and Wetherspoon (Bournemouth Echo)
Young dad dies after taking ecstasy on New Year's Eve (Derbyshire Live)
AYAHUASCA
The First Indigenous Ayahuasca Conference (Yubaka Hayrá) in Acre Demonstrates Political, Cultural and Spiritual Resistance (Chacruna)
Ayahuasca Shows Huge Potential As a Treatment For Severe Depression (Reset.me)
What Ayahuasca is Trying to Teach Us: An Interview with Dennis McKenna (Reality Sandwich)
Mindful Eating as a support for Ayahuasca Dieta (Tam Integration)
SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS
Severe bleeding associated with use of tainted synthetic cannabinoids (AAP News)
Colorectal cancer: Scientists halt growth with cannabinoid compounds (Medical News Today)
Children as young as THREE are treated in hospital after taking Spice as Britain's synthetic drug crisis deepens (Daily Mail)
NITROUS OXIDE
Laughing gas now an option for women giving birth (Everything Lubbock)
Residents 'disgusted' after piles of 'hippy crack' canisters dumped outside Cambridge home (Cambridgeshire Live)
Everything you need to know about nangs, the worrying craze growing amongst Aussie teens. (Mamamia)
KETAMINE
Taking Ketamine Can Feel a Lot Like a Near-Death Experience (Tonic)
F.D.A. Panel Recommends New Depression Treatment (The New York Times)
Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles Commemorates Five Years of Patient Success Stories (New Kerala)
PCP
Man who killed USA Today reporter in PCP-fueled crash sentenced to six years in prison (The Washington Post)
OPIATES/OPIOIDS
When the Cure Is Worse Than the Disease (The New York Times)
Mapping the Opioid Epidemic (New America)
Overdose remedy naloxone now carried by all Ventura police officers (Ventura County Star)
Mass. Issues Guidelines After Boston Nurse Was Denied Life Insurance For Carrying Naloxone (WBUR)
Even in best-case scenario, opioid overdose deaths will keep rising until 2022 (Los Angeles Times)
Opioid-Related Deaths Decreasing in Iowa, Report Shows (WHO-TV)
Veterinarian sentenced to 6 years for stitching heroin into puppies and turning them into drug mules (INSIDER)
Why the Rural Opioid Crisis Is Different From the Urban One (CityLab)
Opium cultivation business squeezed by market shift towards meth (Myanmar Times)
Vet saves Victoria puppy with naloxone injection (Maple Ridge News)
Offer: help solve the opioid crisis, have your student loans forgiven (Rooster Magazine)
Indy coffee shop is the newest place to offer life-saving drug naloxone (Fox 59)
Coroner: No carfentanil spike locally, but OD deaths are up (Dayton Daily News)
'Church Of Safe Injection' Offers Needles, Naloxone To Prevent Opioid Overdoses (NPR)
It's too late to save my son's life, but this drug can save others (The Sacramento Bee)
Houston Cop Involved in Deadly Drug Raid Relieved of Duty Due to 'Ongoing Questions' (Reason)
Naloxone training could help save numerous lives (KVAL)
METHAMPHETAMINE
Crystal Meth Is North Korea's Trendiest Lunar New Year's Gift (The New York Times)
Officials: Iowa sees higher-quality meth, increased drug use (The Daily Nonpareil)
BENZODIAZEPINES
The Deadly Worst Case Scenario for America's Xanax Obsession (VICE)
ALCOHOL
Beer before wine, you'll feel fine? Not according to a new study (CTV News)
More than 100 dead after drinking bootleg alcohol in India (Reuters)
Man 'under influence of alcohol' allegedly beats stepdaughter to death (Jakarta Post)
How heavy drinking might boost your appetite for alcohol (Health24)
Alcohol Problems Grow as Booze Gets a Bigger Kick (WebMD)
Alcohol’s effects on the brain (The Ithacan)
Plan to raise alcohol limits in beer at Utah stores approved (Cache Valley Daily)
Report says Utah has lowest alcohol consumption per capita in country (KUTV 2News)
Thousands sign petition to stop ban of alcohol on some Michigan rivers (WXYZ)
I Stopped Drinking For 30 Days — & My Skin Got So Much Better (Refinery29)
Giving up alcohol made our lives better — and turned us into terrible guests (The Washington Post)
ABSINTHE
Does absinthe really make drinkers hallucinate? (Fox News)
NOOTROPICS
Brain‑Enhancing 'Smart Drugs' Promise a Boost in Creativity, Memory (The Swaddle)
Seven Mental and Athletic Performance Benefits of Nootropics (Youth Health Magazine)
Noopept: one of the most potent brain boosters on the market (London Post)
KRATOM
Kratom Is A Drug, But Indonesia Really Wants It To Remain An Unlicensed Supplement (Science 2.0)
The FDA is wrong about kratom (The Washington Post)
Regulations Are On Hold as Kratom Debate Rages (WebMD)
Kratom No Longer Allowed In Columbus (WCBI)
What Is Kratom & Why Is It Being Used For Opiate Self-Detox? (Psychology Today)
Miracle treatment or dangerous drug? (The Star Online)
MISCELLANEOUS
El Chapo, the Notorious Drug Kingpin, Has Been Found Guilty in His U.S. Trial (TIME)
'Kitty Flipping' and the Psychonaut Obsession with Mixing Drugs (VICE)
FDA explores using blockchain to track drug supplies (Engadget)
How Brexit Will Shape Britain's Drug Supply (VICE)
GOP Iowa lawmaker proposes decriminalizing psychedelic drugs for medical use (The Hill)
Sri Lanka hiring hangmen, inspired by Philippines' war on drugs (Reuters)
Will El Chapo's conviction change anything in the drug trade? (The Guardian)
Victoria city councillors call on B.C. to provide safe-inhalation sites for drugs (Times Colonist)
Tennessee bill would charge pregnant women using drugs if baby born addicted (KMPH)
Students Turn To Study Drugs And Alcohol To Cope With Campus Life (Forbes)
Is there something divine about gender and psychedelics? (The Psychedelic Scientist)
Microdosing Hallucinogens Has Positive Effects—but Not What You Might Suspect (Pacific Standard)
Riverstyx: A Small Family Foundation That Funds Psychedelic Research and Other Fringe Causes (Inside Philanthropy)
Sex On Drugs (PSU Vanguard)
The case for drug decriminalization in Baltimore (The Baltimore Sun)
Japan managed to win its war on drugs, why can’t we? (The Spectator)
Trip Sitters and Conscious Bachelorette: Interview with Chi of Truffles Therapy (Psychedelic Times)
Psychedelics Live Up to Early Promise (Discover Magazine)
How 'Russian Doll' flirts with psychedelic therapy (The Outline)
Becoming an Entheogen (Medium)
Psychedelic Meditation (The Third Wave)
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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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.