Biography/Memoir

U.N. not a place to find good policy

“No, the U.N. leadership is not that open to reform… the U.N. was confiscating copies of the letter calling for the end of the drug war that were being handed out in front of the U.N.” UN Security was apparently ordered to confiscate the letter, and attendees were ordered to hand over their copies upon…

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Psychology

Can ‘magic’ mushrooms ease the pain of rejection?

“Lead researcher Katrin Preller of the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich explained that psilocybin has much more specific targets than antidepressants currently on the market.” It’s too small of a study to draw any strong conclusions from, and the participants were all healthy — they didn’t actually suffer from severe social anxiety or depression. But…

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Biography/Memoir

‘Magic mushrooms’ study challenges stereotypes of psychedelic drug use

“[Our goal was to bring] an unknown topic to most people on campus and the Madison community,” Hanley said. “But it also highlights this really unique research happening on campus.” Wisconsin Union Directorate Society and Politics Committee hosted the event in collaboration with Nicholas Cozzi, a pharmacologist in the School of Medicine and Public Health.…

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The ‘war on drugs’ in numbers: a systematic failure of policy

“However, where long-term data is available, it does point to systematic failures in drug policies”. Those risks [to drug use] include punishment by the justice system. However, there too the efficacy of policy is highly questionable. The Brookings Institution published an overview of global counter-narcotics policy in 2008 which compared three different approaches: “the punishment…

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Science

[LSD] …lights up the brain’s visual cortex and points at the brain regions involved in “altered consciousness.”

“What they discovered could have major effects on the way we use psychedelics to model and treat psychiatric diseases.” Rather than using LSD itself as a psychological drug — there are certainly other scientists working on that — Carhart-Harris and his team used it as a probe for understanding what they refer to as the…

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Politics

Ten compelling reasons to end drug prohibition today

“Number Ten: We’re wasting human resources. The large majority are men in their prime. Given the right opportunities, an illegal cannabis grower or a meth dealer could use their knowledge and ingenuity…” Globally, tens of millions of nonviolent people have ended up in prison for drug offenses. The large majority are men in their prime.…

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Psychedelic Advocates take their case for freedom of consciousness to the United Nations (UNGASS 2016)

Led by Psymposia and the Psychedelic Society of Brooklyn (one of at least 50 city-based such societies around the world), they took on the question of why use, support, or call for the legalization of the consciousness-changing drugs by providing their own answers under the format of “Psychedelics Because…” Earlier this month, scientists examined the…

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Biography/Memoir

UNGASS 2016 meets ECfES.org

“I hope it [the Eugene Center for Ethnobotanical Studies] becomes a nationally known center soon.” -Jim Fadiman, PhD (author of The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys) Now the seed had sprouted. Whatever the outcome of UNGASS 2016, ECfES has positioned itself to become a local, grass-roots non-profit which will continue to champion…

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