Biography/Memoir

A… fight looms over Kratom…

Now, kratom advocates suggest Washington is behind the World Health Organization’s interest – an attempt to end run the federal regulatory process by taking the international route to finish what it could not accomplish domestically. The WHO’s drug dependence committee will conduct a “pre-review” of kratom. The analysis could set the stage for the drug…

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Biography/Memoir

Kratom… herb [in the coffee family]..

“Before it became legal, I’d have to hide the leaves under my car seat and they’d shrivel from the heat by the time I got home,” she said. “Now I don’t have to worry.” In Thailand, decriminalisation is getting good reviews from people like Phatcharaphon Thupaphong, a 47-year-old caddie who chews kratom to get an…

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Biography/Memoir

[“Homebrewing”] psilocybin…

…the authors of the new study claim to have developed an extremely cheap method of producing psilocybin… “In less than [two] days, we successfully produced approximately 300 mg/L of psilocybin under simple conditions with easily sourced equipment and supplies,” write the study authors. “This work demonstrates the biosynthesis of psilocybin at concentrations in the 100s…

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Biography/Memoir

Psychedelic patents: nature, IP law, & exclusion

…the private sector is hoping to capitalize on the ongoing medicalization of psychedelics through manufacturing, drug development, and clinical administration of these substances and their proprietary, patentable derivatives. It isn’t news that there are certain for-profit companies that have been openly challenged on their questionable practices in this process of monetization. When examined closely… U.S. patent laws…

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Biography/Memoir

…[the evolving] vocabulary of the psychedelic experience

Compared to other psychotropic drugs available in the 1950s, LSD induced “something phenomenal, … of unimaginable intensity,” according to its creator Albert Hofmann. Speaking in an interview in 2004, he continued, “There is a vast difference between the emotional experience of this sensation and its purely abstract, philosophical description. It would be like trying to…

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Biography/Memoir

…Sacklers’ immunity threatened as Department of Justice moves to block opioid deal

The Department of Justice is fighting to strip the billionaire Sackler family of the sweeping legal immunity granted as part of a controversial $4.5 billion opioid settlement. …in filings, DOJ trustee Harrington argued that the releases are unconstitutional because they deprive people of the ability to make legal claims – a form of property – against the…

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Biography/Memoir

The Sackler deal… will it hold? Oregon Attorney General weighing an appeal…

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said she was weighing an appeal… the questioning of Sackler in the 337-page deposition centered on Purdue’s marketing of OxyContin. Following the release of the revealing deposition’s contents – which Purdue fought for three years to keep secret… the settlement denies the thousands of plaintiffs – whose lawsuits total a staggering $40 trillion – their…

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Biography/Memoir

DEA to increase psilocybin… production for research purposes

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) has proposed an increase in the manufacture… psilocin and psilocybin for clinical trial and research purposes… stated that its objective was to assist in the development of new federally approved therapies. …increased its production goals for psilocin and psilocybin, which are the main psychoactive components of magic mushrooms. Initially, the…

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