Psychology

The second coming of psychedelics

Three years later, Ric Godfrey says he hasn’t had a single symptom of the shakes or night terror since he came back from the jungle. He’s relaxed and holding down a great job. “I’ve always been afraid that someone was out to get me, but I don’t have that fear anymore,” he says. “I still…

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Biography/Memoir

DEA asked public to comment on its proposed kratom ban and 99 percent opposed it

“Of the 2,416 comments submitted to the DEA with profession-related information, nearly half self-identified as either veterans, law enforcement officials, health care professionals or scientists. The overwhelming majority of these were in favor of keeping kratom legal, with veterans supporting by a margin of 448 to 1 and medical professionals supporting by a margin of…

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Modern Culture

The DEA scheduling system is a joke

Let’s get some more really obvious stuff out of the way: most, if not all, of these substances have well-documented medical use. As a thought experiment, let’s pretend that the DEA rescheduled and the FDA approved your medicine of choice tonight. Most people focus on how ridiculous it is to lump heroin, LSD, and cannabis…

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Politics

Oregon moves to protect marijuana buyers’ personal info

The committee that crafts Oregon’s pot policies has proposed legislation that requires marijuana businesses to destroy customers’ personal information, such as names, addresses and birth dates, gathered for marketing purposes, within 48 hours. ​ The measure is scheduled for its first hearing Tuesday. It must pass the full Legislature and be signed by the Democratic…

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Science

What LSD tells us about human nature

‘The Higgs boson of neuroscience’… Not all drugs are created equal, and I would never encourage anyone to soothe their existential discomfort with heroin or amphetamine, both of which I have taken. But psychedelics have a value I can’t help but admire. And now we understand more about how they do what they do. A…

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Psychology

Evidence of altered consciousness when using psychedelic drugs

Evidence that psychedelic drugs may offer some benefit has caused some psychiatrists to call for a reclassification of the drugs. A reclassification would make it easier to research potential benefits of these drugs. The role of psychedelic drugs in mental health, and especially in mental health treatment, continues to be controversial. Previous research suggests some…

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Psychology

People use drugs…

During… [the] tragic opioid crisis, many have written some variation of the sentence, “The war on drugs has failed.” It’s true. Decriminalizing drug use is required to solve this problem. But accompanying a policy shift will need to be a major attitude adjustment, including among us bleeding hearts…. In other words, our imposition of “help”…

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Anthropology

The link between drug policy and access to medicines

Harmful drug use is certainly a public health problem, but in many countries, drug control policies lean too heavily towards limiting access to medicines for which patients have a legitimate and urgent need. Drug policy can undermine research that could uncover the medical value of many substances. For example, cannabis and related compounds known as…

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