This Week in Psychoactives - 4.26.19

ThisWeekInPsychoactives.jpeg

CANNABIS

  • CBS Poll: Nationwide Support For Marijuana Legalization At All-Time High (NORML)

  • All the Top Democrats Running for President Favor Legalizing Marijuana (Reason)

  • Marijuana Legalization Not Linked To Increased Traffic Deaths, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

  • Years After Legalization, Maine Releases First Cannabis Industry Rules (Leafly)

  • Mexican Lawmakers Plan To Tackle Marijuana Legalization This Summer (Marijuana Moment)

  • The Clean Slate Act's Record-Sealing Provisions Go Further Than Cory Booker's Marijuana Justice Act (Reason)

  • North Dakota: Governor Signs Medical Cannabis Expansion Laws (NORML)

  • Alabama Lawmakers Approve Medical Marijuana Bill (Marijuana Moment)

  • CBD reduces impairment caused by cannabis (EurekAlert!)

  • Homeland Security Says Cannabis Users Lack ‘Good Moral Character’ (Leafly)

  • USDA Clarifies That Farmers Can Import Hemp Seeds From Other Countries (Marijuana Moment)

  • Texas House Votes To Legalize The Farming Of Industrial Hemp (Marijuana Moment)

  • Wisconsin Legalization Would Save Lives, Bring $1.1B Benefit, Study Says (Leafly)

  • Utah is allowing only 10 cannabis farms. Will that be enough to supply the state’s new medical marijuana program? (Salt Lake Tribune)

  • Denver City Council to vote on allowing cannabis clubs to operate closer to daycare and rec centers (KDVR)

  • Cannabis websites in US and Canada crash on biggest 4/20 day (The Guardian)

  • Lawmakers Want Legal Protections For Universities That Research Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

  • SFPD Spread Misinformation about Fentanyl-Laced Marijuana (SF Weekly)

  • The Weed Industry Is Burning Millions on DC Lobbyists and Getting Nowhere (VICE)

  • Earth Day Begs The Question: Is Cannabis Farming Sustainable? (Forbes)

  • USDA Accepting Applications For Hemp Intellectual Property Protection (Marijuana Moment)

  • Cannabis, Marijuana, Weed, Pot? Just Call It a Job Machine (The New York Times)

  • How Israel Became the Global Leader in Cannabis Research (Green Entrepreneur)

  • Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome, Without the Hype (Filter)

  • Where Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

  • Where Presidential Candidate Seth Moulton Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

  • Keeping Score: Major League Sports’ Stance on Cannabis (Leafly)

  • Can Cannabis Replace Wellbutrin? (Civilized)

  • The Indica vs. Sativa Distinction Isn’t Real (Slate)

  • Did a Cannabis Company Just Patent the Spliff? (Leafly)

  • Quitting Cigarettes? Joints Rolled With CBD Might Help (Marijuana Moment)

  • The Paradoxical Power of Medicinal Microdosing (Psychology Today)

  • Uplifting a New Face & Voice of Cannabis: A Happy 4/20 with Safon Floyd of EstroHaze (Psychedelic Times)

LSD

  • “Discover who you truly are.” Albert Hofmann’s Bicycle Day and A Critical Look at LSD (Psychedelic Times)

  • Here's Why You Don't Mix LSD and Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carriers (The National Interest)

  • Is microdosing LSD a solution to the 'crisis of meaning' in modern life? (Montreal Gazette)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

  • Award Winning Filmmaker Brings Psilocybin Documentary To Denver Prior To Decriminalization Vote (Prime Time News)

  • Research shows psilocybin — a Schedule I narcotic — to be of great help to patients with end-of-life problems (Anchorage Press)

MDMA

  • "Japanese Walter White” Accused Of Teaching Students To Make Ecstasy (The Fix)

  • Study Suggests MDMA Could Help People With PTSD, Autism (The Swaddle)

  • War, Morality, and MDMA: A Conversation with an Anonymous Military Psychologist (Psychedelic Times)

  • To Unravel PTSD, She Took MDMA. A Promising Therapy Offers Hope (KJZZ)

AYAHUASCA

  • Do Ayahuasca Shamans See Microbial Worlds in Their Visions? (Kahpi)

  • Police intervene in 'healing ceremony' after death: report (NL Times)

  • Ayahuasca Spirits Are Special Because They Are Not Real (Kahpi)

  • Ayahuasca: the alternative antidepressant (The Vermont Cynic)

5-MEO-DMT

  • Psychedelic Toad Venom Relieves Depression, Anxiety And Stress, Studies Find (Marijuana Moment)

PEYOTE

IBOGA

  • The Future of Medical Ibogaine (Psychedelics Today)

  • Serotonin transporter–ibogaine complexes illuminate mechanisms of inhibition and transport (Nature)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

  • Spice-related overdoses on the rise in Alabama - again; feds warn about ‘disturbing’ trend (AL.com)

NITROUS OXIDE

  • Arctic Laughing Gas Emissions Could Accelerate Global Warming (EcoWatch)

  • Hippy crack is no laughing matter (GQ)

KETAMINE

PCP

  • Man accused of PCP-crazed shotgun killing of Chinese missionary pleads guilty in KC (The Kansas City Star)

  • Driver was high on PCP in crash that split car in half, cops say (Lehigh Valley Live)

OPIATES/OPIOIDS

  • The FDA Just Approved the First Generic Nasal Spray to Reverse Opioid Overdoses (TIME)

  • After Leaving Thousands in Agony, the CDC Is Finally Clarifying Its Painkiller Restrictions (Tonic)

  • Demystifying buprenorphine misuse: Has fear of diversion gotten in the way of addressing the opioid crisis? (Taylor and Francis)

  • FDA clears Psychemedics hair test for fentanyl (Seeking Alpha)

  • Do Electronic Health Record Prompts Increase Take‐Home Naloxone Administration for Emergency Department Patients After an Opioid Overdose? (Wiley Online Library)

  • Fentanyl Speedballs Are the Latest Disturbing Trend in America's Opioid Crisis (VICE)

  • Narcan is just the start of fighting the opioid overdose epidemic (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Heroin used to pass through South Africa en route to Europe. Now much of it stays, with devastating effects (Los Angeles Times)

  • Vancouver pot king hopes to brew opium tea to help drug addicts (The Chronicle Herald)

  • How the US military's opium war in Afghanistan was lost (BBC)

  • New “Generic” Naloxone: Expect More Big-Pharma Sleight of Hand (Filter)

  • Fentanyl killed a Penn physician’s son. Now she works to save other families from the same pain. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Life after a life of addiction (Cincinnati Enquirer)

METHAMPHETAMINE

CAFFEINE

  • Beverages containing caffeine more harmful to liver than alcohol? (The Asian Age)

  • Unless we act now, scientists warn, that coffee so many of us love could become extinct (WCPO)

  • Wholesale coffee is cheaper than it’s been in years. That’s not good news. (Vox)

  • Experts Find Out How Many Cups of Coffee Are Needed to Enhance Your Workout (Inverse)

  • Coca-Cola is making a big push into coffee (CNBC)

  • Leading expert warns of dangers after man (34) dies from caffeine toxicity (Irish Independent)

  • SC could ban kids from buying caffeine-packed energy drinks, but not this year (Charleston Post Courier)

  • Is Kombucha Environmentally Friendly? Here’s The Real Tea (Bustle)

  • Dear Pharmacist: Caffeine is a natural option for ADHD (The Gainesville Sun)

  • The One Thing I Gave Up That Made A Massive Difference In My Anxiety (mindbodygreen)

  • 9 Benefits Of Matcha Tea That Will Make You Want To Drink It Every Day (Woman's Health)

TOBACCO

  • Walgreens, Rite Aid to Raise Tobacco Buying Age to 21 and Older (The Wall Street Journal)

  • Vermont House Gives Final Approval To Tobacco 21 Bill (WAMC)

  • 21 and older: Proposal to raise tobacco-buying age nationwide drawing mixed feelings (WEAR)

  • New Evidence of Smoking Disparities Underlines That Tobacco Harm Reduction Is Social Justice (Filter)

  • ‘Tobacco 21’ Proposal Draws Debate In Florida (WLRN)

  • Vaping teens exposed to as much nicotine as tobacco smokers but don't know it (NBC News)

ALCOHOL

  • Why faking positive emotions at work can lead to heavier alcohol consumption (Quartz)

  • Illinois Senate approves statewide rule for alcohol delivery (WQAD)

  • 5 Reasons You're Depressed After Drinking too Much Alcohol (Mens Health)

  • Anne Hathaway doubles down on giving up alcohol until her son is 18, but says she'll spend the 'back half of my life completely sloshed' (INSIDER)

NOOTROPICS

  • An Experiment With Smart Drugs – What I Learned From Modafinil (The Quint)

KRATOM

  • Kratom Craze: After wife’s death, Franklin County man seeks ban on popular substance (KMOV)

  • What is kratom? ‘Controversial’ herbal supplement leads to overdoses in the U.S. (Global News)

  • Kratom: Castle Rock Deciding What to Do About Controversial Substance (Westword)

  • When pregnant women take kratom, their babies may suffer (Medical Xpress)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Another dark web marketplace bites the dust --Wall Street Market (ZDNet)

  • Joe Biden’s long record supporting the war on drugs and mass incarceration, explained (Vox)

  • Survey of subjective "God encounter experiences": Comparisons among naturally occurring experiences and those occasioned by the classic psychedelics psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, or DMT (PLOS)

  • Imperial launches world’s first Centre for Psychedelics Research (Imperial College London)

  • Psychedelics as a treatment for disorders of consciousness (Neuroscience of Consciousness)

  • How a drug gang devastated our helpless family (The Guardian)

  • America’s Only Publicly Traded Addiction Treatment Chain Makes Millions Off Patients. What Could Go Wrong? (Mother Jones)

  • Trump Justice Department Goes After Overdose Prevention Sites as ‘Crack Houses’ (The Daily Beast)

  • Psychedelic therapy: The patients paying $2k to get high with their doctor (news.com.au)

  • B.C.’s chief health officer calls for decriminalization of illicit drugs (The Globe and Mail)

  • British Police Are Raising Their Voices Against the Drug War (Filter)

  • Confronting Sexual Misconduct in the Psychedelic Community: An Interview with Daniel Pinchbeck (Chacruna)

  • Trump has been... good?... for psychedelic drugs???... (The Outline)

  • What Politicians Daring Each Other to Be Drug Tested Reveals (Filter)

  • Building a Psychedelic Community During the War on Drugs (Chacruna)

  • Psychedelics to treat mental illness? Australian researchers are giving it a go (The Conversation)

  • Psychedelics as a Path to Social Learning (The Wall Street Journal)

  • Shades of Sobriety: Life Shows That Recovery Needn’t Mean Abstinence (Filter)

  • The Five Phases of Psychedelic Initiation (Chacruna)

  • How drug decriminalization could help stem an epidemic of drug overdoses (The Globe and Mail)

  • Trump Praises China for Killing Drug Traffickers (Reason)

  • Young People of Color As Leaders in The Movement To End the War on Drugs (Psymposia)

  • Prison For Forced Addiction Treatment? A Parent's 'Last Resort' Has Consequences (NPR)

  • The Psychedelic State of South Texas (Texas Monthly)

  • Drug Use in Music Festivals Across the United States (One EDM)

  • Your Guide to Microdosing for Anxiety and Depression (Allure)

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: