CANNABIS
World Health Organization Recommends Reclassifying Marijuana Under International Treaties (Forbes)
The Most Efficient Way to Smoke Cannabis? Study Says Dabs (Leafly)
Jury Convicts Church Of Cannabis Founder On Public Consumption Charges (Colorado Public Radio)
Most Strains of Weed Are More Alike Than People Think (Men's Health)
Hawaii Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill In Committee (Marijuana Moment)
Pennsylvania Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Legalize Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)
A New Study Says Pot Smokers May Have Higher Sperm Counts. But There’s a Catch (TIME)
Patients Frequently Substituting Cannabis For Anti-Anxiety Drugs (NORML)
CBD-Infused Food Banned by Health Department at NYC Restaurant, Owner Says (Eater)
After A Decade Of Testing, Israeli Medical Cannabis Comes To The US (Forbes)
Republican Senator Pitches Weird Conspiracy Theory About Weed Legalization, Menthol Cigarettes, and the FDA (Reason)
Science Backs Most Medical Cannabis Treatment, Study Finds (Leafly)
Medicinal cannabis legalisation opens gateway for psychedelic research (Small Caps)
Traffic fatalities on a high after cannabis legalisation (Medical Xpress)
Nebraska Could Vote On This Medical Marijuana Ballot Measure In 2020 (Forbes)
Congressional Democrats Plan Hearing And Vote On Marijuana Business Banking (Marijuana Moment)
Pot for pets: Cannabis products for our furry friends increasing in popularity (The GrowthOp)
A Hemp Company Sues After Police Mistake Their Product for Weed (Reason)
Trump Allies Consider Using Hemp Concrete To Build Border Wall With Private Funds (Marijuana Moment)
Here’s Where Ontario’s First Private Cannabis Stores Could Open (Leafly)
More Seniors Are Using Marijuana and It May Decrease Their Opioid Use (Green Entrepreneur)
New Hampshire Considers Legalization, but Gov. Sununu Vows to Veto It (Leafly)
Maryland Lawmakers Introduce Marijuana Legalization Bills (Marijuana Moment)
Latest Medical Marijuana Bill Proposes Full Use Of Cannabis Plant In Tennessee (WPLN)
Reports Claim Bisexuals Smoke the Most Cannabis. Is There Any Truth to It? (Leafly)
Why do so many Americans now support legalizing marijuana? (The Conversation)
Study Reveals Little-Known Trick To Make Marijuana Plants Grow More Bud For Less (Marijuana Moment)
Toronto Maple Leafs Suing Snoop’s Cannabis Brand Over Logo (Leafly)
Smoke without fire: Cannabis for the observant Jew (ynetnews)
Where Presidential Candidate Cory Booker Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)
A Patient’s Guide to Using Cannabis for Cancer (Leafly)
Cannabis in Small Commonwealth States: Turning a New Leaf? (Talking Drugs)
How To Invest In Cannabis IPOs (Forbes)
Why We Should Treat Cannabis like Organic Food or Fine Wine (Civilized)
LSD
LSD allows more information to flood into the brain by altering activity in the thalamus (PsyPost)
MAGIC MUSHROOMS
Denver Will Vote on Psilocybin Decriminalization in May (Westword)
The Push to Legalize Magic Mushrooms for Depression and PTSD (WIRED)
Shrooms Are the Safest Drug You Can Take (VICE)
Oregon "Psilocybin Services" Ballot Measure Has Significant Support, Poll Shows (PR Newswire)
'Magic Mushrooms' May Soon Be Decriminalised in Parts of The US (Science Alert)
Magic Truffles in Amsterdam and the Monastic Path: Interview with Chi of Truffles Therapy (Psychedelic Times)
MDMA
MDMA users more empathetic than people who take other drugs, study finds (The Independent)
Parents whose son died after taking ecstasy want to educate others on dangers of drug (WGN-TV)
Antisocial Species Of Octopus Becomes Friendlier On MDMA, Study Finds (Study Finds)
DMT
Why Do Jesters and Tricksters Appear in the DMT Experience? (Sam Woolfe)
NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
Man filmed dying girlfriend at festival after taking 2C-P instead of helping her (Rave Jungle)
First National Study on Flakka Finds Disturbing Trend Among Teens (Psychedelics Daily)
SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS
Synthetic cannabis may stop colorectal cancer from growing, study suggests (Daily Mail)
K2 Overdose Calls Reach Lowest Numbers since 2014 (Spectrum News)
Natural and synthetic cannabinoids for agitation and aggression in Alzheimer’s disease: A meta-analysis (MDLinx)
'Spice turns you into a zombie': Battling an addiction with synthetic cannabis (Shropshire Star)
NITROUS OXIDE
Longmont United Hospital Offers New Pain Management Option for Laboring Mothers (Longmont Observer)
Laughing gas now available for women in labor (WGME)
KETAMINE
Ketamine Could Be the Key to Reversing America’s Rising Suicide Rate (Bloomberg)
New variation of ketamine to be approved by FDA for treatment of depression (Mixmag)
Ketamine Noninferior to Fentanyl for Traumatic Injury Pain in Children (Clinical Pain Advisor)
Kansas City woman credits controversial depression treatment with saving her life (Fox 4 Kansas City)
Can ketamine help depression? (WTSP)
Fears grow that Ketamine use by young is on the rise in England (The Guardian)
OPIATES/OPIOIDS
U.S. Prosecutors Sue To Stop Nation's First Supervised Injection Site For Opioids (NPR)
Family Behind OxyContin Made Billions By Pushing to Keep Patients on Drug Longer, Filing Shows (TIME)
Study: Illicit opioid deaths to rise by 147 percent by 2025 (UPI.com)
Fentanyl Overdoses Spike on Mexico’s Northern Border But Remain Invisible (Filter)
#MSLeg: 'Parker's Law' would punish drug dealers for death or injuries (Clarion Ledger)
Struggling to Compete with Fentanyl, Mexico’s Poppy Farmers Ask for Legalization (Filter)
Naloxone boxes to be placed in Downtown Cincinnati in new bid to stem overdose deaths (Cincinnati.com)
Ohio doctors must now offer overdose antidote naloxone to some pain patients (The Columbus Dispatch)
Cops Claimed She Set Up A Drug Deal. Now She's Being Prosecuted for Manslaughter. (The Appeal)
Alphabet's Verily is opening an opioid addiction center in Ohio (Engadget)
Trump Decries Unjust Crack Sentences but Wants to Repeat the Mistake With Fentanyl (Reason)
The Third Opium War (Manitoba Post)
New bill clarifies who can dispense, administer Naloxone (KIVI-TV)
Program trains high school officials to give naloxone (Tuscaloosa News)
Myanmar's opium farmers cling on to lucrative crop (Mail and Guardian)
IN PICTURES: Myanmar, the second biggest source of opium in the world (The Courier)
Why we need to talk about take-home naloxone (Australian Journal of Pharmacy)
How to Get and Use Fentanyl Testing Strips (Lifehacker)
Let's define terms to understand the opioid crisis (Murfreesboro Post)
COCAINE
This Is Why Cocaine Dealers Should Fear Venezuelan Unrest (OZY)
METHAMPHETAMINE
DEA testing shows meth is running rampant in New Jersey (New Jersey 101.5 FM Radio)
Iowa sees increase in methamphetamine use (Sioux City Journal)
ALCOHOL
Richer, older men more likely to drink to excess, figures show (The Guardian)
Heavy Drinking in Teens Causes Lasting Changes in Emotional Center of Brain (Neuroscience News)
Utah lawmaker wants to scrap low-alcohol beer rule (KUTV)
Some Super Bowl ads seem to suggest that some kinds of alcohol are better for you. Health officials say it's better to punt on the drinking altogether (Deseret News)
Alcohol related deaths in England and Wales rocket in past decade (Yahoo! Sports)
Know how alcohol is harming your teeth! (Times of India)
10 things that can happen to your body when you give up alcohol (INSIDER)
ABSINTHE
This Maine-made absinthe won’t make you hallucinate (Bangor Daily News)
NOOTROPICS
Nootropic spearmint extract may improve reactive agility, according to new study (Nutritional Outlook)
The future's getting smarter (Mashable)
Nootropics: A Necessary Mental Aid in Modern World? (The Frisky)
Are ‘smart drugs’ all they claim to be? (ZME Science)
KRATOM
Kratom Now Banned in Columbus (WCBI)
Advocate: Kratom 'should be regulated,' not illegal (The Dispatch)
Residents seek Kratom ban in Lowndes (The Dispatch)
MISCELLANEOUS
Does microdosing improve your mood and performance? Here’s what the research say (The Conversation)
GOP Lawmaker’s Bill Would Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms And MDMA For Medical Use (Marijuana Moment)
How the Drug War Eats the Poor (VICE)
El Chapo Jury Begins Deliberation in Bombshell Drug Trafficking Trial (TIME)
This is what psychedelic mainstreaming looks like…in Arizona (Psymposia)
Houston Narcs Were 'Clearly Labeled' During Deadly Drug Raid, Police Spokesman Says (Reason)
Why More and More People Are Leaning Toward Microdosing for Depression (Civilized)
Are Electronic Cigarettes Facilitating Illicit Drug Use? (News-Medical.net)
Is Permatripping Real? (Gizmodo)
Should I Drug Test My Kids? Why the Experts Say No (Filter)
Sri Lanka to begin hangings within months, ending 43-year stay on executions (The Guardian)
Cory Booker Invites Former Drug War Prisoner To Trump’s State Of The Union (Marijuana Moment)
Psychedelic Privilege: Report from the Women and Psychedelics Forum (Chacruna)
The GOP Needs A Better Drug Policy to End HIV (Medium)
Drug Reform Campaigner Calls For Legal MDMA, Cannabis & Pill Testing in Australia (Your EDM)
Meet the Artists Designing Clothes For Businesswomen Who Micro-Dose LSD (Interview)
Nine pill testing myths (Australia's Science Channel)
This is why you should vote to make drugs safer (The Bristol Cable)
I took daily doses of magic mushrooms to improve my performance and mental health. Here’s what happened (news.com.au)
Psychedelics could treat mental disorders (4BC)
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.