Politics

Cannabis trade association files motion to halt [Oregon’s]… aspergillus testing

“We don’t have any research or data to cite that show people have fallen ill from inhaling Aspergillus through cannabis products,” [said] Oregon Health Authority spokesman Jonathan Modie. The Oregon Health Authority began requiring March 1, 2023 that cannabis farmers and producers test their products for aspergillus, a fungus that thrives around organic matter… if…

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Politics

Lane County [Oregon] Sheriff’s deputies serve warrant… make arrest…

More than 4,000 pounds of marijuana and… …700 large grow bags of psilocybin mushrooms also were discovered… on a property in unincorporated Lane County [Oregon] [7/25/2023]. [On June 8, 2023, court documents show, police busted a psilocybin grow house and major interstate mushroom-and-weed distribution operation in a 5,000-square-foot mansion bordering a Northeast Portland country club.…

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Politics

Advocacy groups respond to [New Approach PAC] Massachusetts psychedelic ballot campaign

Three Massachusetts community groups are responding to the psychedelic ballot campaign formed this month by New Approach PAC, a Washington, DC-based political action committee. The organizations include Bay Staters for Natural Medicine, New England Veterans for Plant Medicine, and Parents for Plant Medicine… issued a press release… to express concerns… “It seems like this Super PAC wants to turn mushrooms…

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Politics

Making money in the psychedelics industry will be harder than cannabis

As of now [July 2023], only Oregon has a regulated psychedelics industry (psilocybin [cubensis] only)… service centers will also need to be limited in scope due to people consuming psychedelics as part of a religious practice or sacrament. …there is a massive spike in religious use of psychedelics… it seems very clear that religious use of psychedelics far…

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Politics

Minneapolis Mayor makes psychedelics “lowest enforcement priority”

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis issued an executive order [7/21/23]… making the possession and cultivation of psychedelics such as psilocybin the lowest law enforcement priority for city police and officials; instructing the city’s police officers to, in essence, look the other way when it comes to… certain… psychedelic[s]. Many users of psychedelics oppose efforts to…

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Politics

House… psychedelics for military trauma… Crenshaw-AOC partnership

 The US House Representatives… approve[d] mood-altering drugs to treat combat-related brain maladies, capping years of effort by an ex-Navy SEAL from Texas and a New York democratic socialist. The amendments… were added to the annual National Defense Authorization Act… The duo has fought to get Congress to direct Pentagon studies of psilocybin to treat traumatic…

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Politics

FDA issues first draft guidance on clinical trials with psychedelic drugs

The purpose of the draft guidance is to advise researchers on study design and other considerations as they develop medications that contain psychedelics. Within the draft guidance, the term psychedelics refers to “classic psychedelics,” typically understood to be drugs such as psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) that act on the brain’s serotonin system, as…

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Politics

Berkeley says ‘yes’ to psychedelics…

“Berkeley is joining a lot of municipalities and states that have decriminalized or… de-prioritized the enforcement of laws against certain plant-based psychedelics,” author Michael Pollan said. On de-prioritizing the enforcement of laws imposing criminal penalties for entheogenic/psychedelic plants and fungi and their bio-synthesized compounds for personal use… the council’s resolution, however, does not include psychedelics…

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Politics

Berlin, Germany, introduces free and anonymous drug testing

People will get the results back on their drugs three days after submission, with the results sent over to the appropriate counselling centre. Berlin, Germany, has officially launched a legal drug testing scheme, allowing people to anonymously get drugs tested for free. The Senate Department for Health announced the new scheme, named Drug Checking, which carried out…

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