Anthropology

OSU launches global hemp research center

Jay Noeller, an OSU professor of crop and soil science who is to head the new center also noted a sense of an historical cycle coming around. “By bringing the center to Oregon, you can also think of it as we’re returning it home, because this was the site of national research on hemp from…

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Anthropology

A new age dawns for legal cannabis

During the past few months, so many of you have spoken with legislators, or with the media, or with each other. Today that work has paid off. But this is just the beginning. On the afternoon of June 20th, 2019 Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 582, the so-called “cannabis export” bill. In doing…

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Politics

States consider decriminalizing magic mushrooms

Iowa state Rep. Jeff Shipley, who filed a bill in February to decriminalize psilocybin in [Iowa] State, brings up another argument: personal freedom. “Where did government derive authority to regulate substances to begin with?” he asks … Decriminalization is not the same as legalization; Denver and Oakland will no longer use city money to impose criminal penalties on people age…

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Science

CBD and the psychedelic receptor

CBD and… [psilocybin] act at 5-HT2A, the psychedelic receptor, in different ways, resulting in markedly different effects. Whereas CBD has little binding affinity for the classical cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, several serotonin receptor subtypes are key docking sites for CBD, [including the 5-HT2A]. Original Article (Project CBD):CBD and the psychedelic receptorArtwork Fair Use: DrLee

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Psychology

Eating mushrooms isn’t [just] like smoking a joint

“Under legalization, you would have big companies not just making mushrooms available but aggressively marketing them to people, as we’re seeing with cannabis,” said Michael Pollan. Under decriminalization, Oakland police will now put enforcement down among its lowest priorities (which means it won’t be a priority at all), and the city is forbidden from prosecuting…

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Politics

The heady, thorny journey to decriminalize… [psilocybin containing] mushrooms

How quickly is the push to decriminalize psilocybin progressing, exactly? So quickly that it’s even surprised psychedelics advocates. “The fact that it’s happening so fast is kind of amazing,” says Brad Burge, spokesperson for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), which leads studies of psychedelic therapies, including the aforementioned MDMA trial. “Here we have…

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