Psychology

[Is it]… time to legalize psilocybin mushrooms?

While… [some] initiatives, including the “medicalization”… are an important step in the right direction… it is time to go further. In contrast to “legalization,” “decriminalization” involves the loosening of criminal penalties… [for the use of the natural variety found in over one hundred species of psilocybin-containing mushrooms that grow worldwide] and, as in the case…

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Psychology

They broke my mental shackles’: could magic mushrooms be the answer to depression?

If common antidepressants dull emotions to help people cope… psilocybin [containing mushrooms] work… on our serotonin system to heighten emotional responses and encourage people to actively confront their depression, which can prompt enduring shifts in mind-set. Much about the neuroscience of psychedelics remains unknown, but fMRI scans of patients’ brains after taking psilocybin showed reduced…

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Science

Hemp fibres ‘better than graphene’

Electric cars and power tools could harness this hemp technology, the US researchers say. The waste fibres from hemp crops can be transformed into high-performance energy storage devices, scientists say. They “cooked” cannabis bark into carbon nanosheets and built supercapacitors “on a par with or better than graphene” – the industry gold standard. Original Article…

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Biography/Memoir

Leading U.S. prosecutors visit Portugal to learn about drug decriminalization

Twenty prosecutors from major cities across the U.S. are touring Portugal this month to learn about the successful implementation of the country’s drug decriminalization law. In Portugal, where all drugs were decriminalized in 2001, the prosecutors will observe the impacts of that nationwide policy, which according to research has reduced incarceration rates and improved public health…

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Politics

California activists take first steps to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms statewide

…crafting a 2020 ballot initiative to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms for medical and religious purposes in California. While the measure would simply lift criminal penalties for psilocybin, the group’s website also states that the campaign is meant to “build the framework for eventual legalization.” Original Article (Marijuana Moment):California activists take first steps to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms…

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Politics

Oakland City Council decriminalizes all “natural psychedelics” in landmark resolution

Unlike last month’s landmark initiative in Denver, which specifically targeted psychedelic mushrooms, this broader resolution groups together a variety of plants and fungi under the banner of entheogenic plants or plant compounds. The term entheogen generally refers to psychoactive substances used in religious or spiritual contexts. The Oakland resolution more specifically defines the term in reference…

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Politics

Oakland in California… [decriminalizes] magic mushrooms and peyote

The resolution was presented by [an] Oakland City Council member. “We have many mental challenges on our streets today, and it’s important to be able to freely provide whatever medicinal support we can, including the use of plants that have beneficial effects for thousands of years,” Noel Gallo said. Supporters hope the decision will begin a…

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Politics

Oakland becomes 2nd US city to… [decriminalize] magic mushrooms

The City Council voted unanimously to decriminalize the adult use and possession of magic mushrooms and other entheogenic, or psychoactive, plants and fungi. Denver voters in May approved a similar measure for people 21 and older. The vote makes the investigation and arrest of adults who grow, possess, use or distribute entheogenic plants one of…

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