Science

User demographics, use patterns, and implications: kratom

Kratom was primarily taken orally in doses of 1−3 g (49 %), with daily use (59 %) being most common. Kratom was used for pain (91 %), anxiety (67 %), and depression (65 %), with high ratings of effectiveness. 1,144 (41 %) used kratom to stop or reduce prescription or illicit opioid use, citing decreased…

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Drinking ayahuasca can increase mindfulness and cognitive flexibility…

A new study in the journal Psychopharmacology suggests that drinking ayahuasca generates lasting improvements in mindfulness and cognitive flexibility, which may explain its therapeutic properties. Based on these apparent lasting increases in both mindfulness and cognitive flexibility, the study authors state that the ayahuasca afterglow period “could be therapeutically significant because a loosening of ‘cognitive grip’ may…

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[Nitrous Oxide] can ease symptoms of depression in just two hours by acting on a brain chemical with no side-effects, new research suggests

A pilot study involving 20 patients who’d previously not responded to up to 12 different antidepressants found they were significantly more likely to improve with ‘laughing gas’ treatment than those given a placebo gas. The benefits lasted several days. Now researchers have discovered that nitrous oxide also acts on glutamate, but in a slightly different…

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Magic mushrooms and LSD give sustained boost in mood after recreational use, study concludes

“Our results show that people who take psychedelics ‘in the wild’ report positive experiences very similar to those observed in controlled laboratory studies,” said lead author Matthias Forstmann. By surveying 1,242 UK and US festivalgoers over a four-year period, the researchers were able to characterise the psychological effects of the “afterglow” often documented in laboratory-based…

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U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

Only cigarettes are deadlier than alcohol. The research shows that in 2017, alcohol proved to be even more deadly than illicit drugs, including opioids. That year there were about 70,000 drug overdose deaths — about 2,300 fewer than those involving alcohol Death certificates spanning 2017 indicate nearly 73,000 people died in the U.S because of…

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CBD for hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD)

HPPD is incredibly rare… In the 1960’s and the 1970’s, an estimate surfaced to show 1 in 20 people with hallucinogenic experiences had intermittent cases of HPPD. Fast forward to the 1990’s, and it was believed to be 1 in 50,000 regular users have chronic HPPD… Countless anecdotes from HPPD… sufferers vouch for the effects…

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Why chronic microdosing might [be risky to the] heart

There have been several FDA-approved medications with 5HT2B receptor activation withdrawn from the US market due to the risk of VHD with heart valve thickening and murmurs: Fen-Phen (fenfluramine/phentermine) and Redux (dexfenfluramine) in 1997 and Permax (pergolide) in 2007. Roughly 25% of patients taking these medications daily developed new onset VHD according to incidence statistics…

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Meth use up sixfold, fentanyl use quadrupled in U.S. in last 6 years

Samples testing positive for fentanyl also tested positive for meth rose almost 14-fold… and by more than sixfold for cocaine and heroin. Similarly, the percentage [of] tests coming back positive for the highly potent — and sometimes fatal — opioid fentanyl have more than quadrupled since 2013, the study found. Original Article (UPI):Meth use up…

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