Biography/Memoir

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read yanks controversial cannabis audit

Former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan resigned in disgrace in May 2023 after reporting from Willamette Week revealed she had taken a $10,000-per-month consulting gig for the cannabis company La Mota while her office’s Audits Division reviewed the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. Secretary of State Tobias Read on Wednesday [3/12/25] announced that he has withdrawn an Oregon Liquor and…

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Biography/Memoir

Ex-Rep. Kinzinger on GOP’s internal war over drug policy, cannabis, psychedelics – ‘Quite likely legal in 5-10 years’

Adam Kinzinger has never been one to toe the party line. As a former Republican congressman, he has seen his party shift over the years, growing more divided on key issues – including drug policy. “There is a group within this kind of new whatever-we-want-to-call-it Republican Party, I guess, that is very hardcore anti-drug,” Kinzinger says.…

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Biography/Memoir

Shrooms on Main…

…night at Shrooms Cafe at 139 E. Main Street, [Ashland, Oregon] next door to O’Ryans Irish Pub… a large open room filled with music and colored lights.  “We want to be an example that casual dosing is an experience that is light, fun and social. We’ve been conditioned that it’s bad, or is a drug that’s manufactured.…

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Biography/Memoir

Biotech company testing psilocybin pill requests preemptive change in Kansas law

A lobbyist requested House Bill 2218 on behalf of Compass Pathways… “This bill does not decriminalize or legalize psilocybin or any other psychedelic substance, nor does this bill allow access to drugs that have not been FDA-approved,” said Tess Bettler, a representative from Compass Pathways, in written testimony to the House health committee. The bill would specifically legalize…

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Biography/Memoir

Psilocybin treatment for cancer patients rejected by court

A Seattle doctor lost his legal bid to use psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, to treat terminally ill cancer patients under a… ruling by the country’s largest federal appeals court. The US Drug Enforcement Administration acted within its authority in barring Sunil Aggarwal from prescribing the psychedelic, a three-judge panel for the US…

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Biography/Memoir

Inside… psychedelic…

Tara Austin… an expert in behavioural science and a self-described “psychedelic utopian”… calls psychedelics a frontier in “the new civil rights movement” for what many call “cognitive liberty”, or the right to explore and perturb inner space as much as our exterior lives. They might seem eccentric, but in many ways it is Paul Stamets…

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Biography/Memoir

…Vancouver drug activist targeted

The B.C. government says more than $100,000 seized in police raids of Vancouver mushroom dispensaries should be forfeited as the proceeds of crime. …activist Dana Larsen, who is named as a defendant in the civil forfeiture lawsuit, said he will fight to get the cash returned… Larsen said his lawyer suggested they have a good…

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Biography/Memoir

…Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht

Trump… signed a full pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of… online marketplace Silk Road… He was convicted in 2015 on seven counts related to the site, including distributing narcotics on the Internet… Original Article (The Hill):Trump pardons Silk Road founder Ross UlbrichtArtwork Fair Use: Public Domain

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Biography/Memoir

Biden commutes sentences of nearly 2,500 people in prison for drug offenses, including some who are locked up on marijuana charges

Sarah Gersten, executive director and general counsel at [LPP] Last Prisoner Project, said… “historic decision offers hope – not just for those freed today, but for all the individuals still incarcerated for cannabis and their families that have been impacted by the War on Drugs. President Biden’s actions remind us that meaningful change is possible when…

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