Medicine/Healing

[Australian] hospital will trial magic mushroom therapy for dying patients

…[the] study has finally been approved by ethics committees and state and federal authorities, and will see a number of terminally ill patients being given a single dose of synthetic psilocybin—the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms—under the supervision and guidance of psychiatrists to help them come to terms with their own mortality.  Dr Margaret Ross [says],…

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Medicine/Healing

Sure, cannabis is a “gateway drug”, leading toward less use of other drugs

A number of studies, including two published just last month, have also found that cannabis can impact a person’s use of benzodiazepines. One found that 45 percent of participants ceased their benzo use by the end of the study period; the other saw 22 percent of participants substituting weed for benzos. As more and more prohibitionist cannabis policies are reversed…

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Medicine/Healing

[Is it]…too Late For Cannabis, [and] What About the Future of the Psychedelic Industry?

When we try to medicalize therapeutic drug experiences, a doctor’s note can become the difference between a “good” drug user and a “bad” drug user. But, in our broken medical system, medicalizing drug policy is a moral compromise. It redirects the movement, tilting compassion and liberty toward pathology, perpetuating the racist and stigmatizing overtones embedded…

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Medicine/Healing

Here’s why we must continue to study Kratom and other opioid-like drugs

The FDA recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to schedule (as in, effectively ban) Kratom and its alkaloids threatens fledgling efforts by researchers to investigate the alkaloids as potential new pain treatments, would hinder scientific advances as well as crucial preclinical and clinical studies. In February 2018, the FDA commissioner released a statement declaring…

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Medicine/Healing

Fentanyl Now America’s Deadliest Drug, Federal Health Officials Say

It’s the first time the synthetic opioid has been the nation’s deadliest drug. From 2012 to 2015, heroin topped the list, [according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. ​On average, in each year from 2013 to 2016, the rate of overdose deaths from Fentanyl increased by about 113 percent  a year.  The report said fentanyl was responsible…

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