Spirituality

Understanding… magic mushrooms

To this day, many individuals who use psychedelic [entheogens/ethnobotanicals] feel they grant a certain kind of perspicacity, and the number of people who are using psychedelics appears to be growing. While under the influence… users typically experience changes in mood and perception, a sense of oceanic boundlessness, radically altered reasoning and thinking, and auditory and…

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Medicine/Healing

Dear psychedelic researchers, [advocates, citizens, and educators]

…two major contributors to the mental health epidemic are staring us in the face: wealth and health inequality… [which] perpetuate traumas that frequently manifest in treatment-resistant mental illnesses. In this context, the story that psychedelic medicalization will revolutionize mental health in the absence of socioeconomic change is nothing more than a persistent hallucination…we acknowledge that…

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Science

DEA sued [by scientists] over ‘secret’ cannabis law interpretation

Scientists are suing the Drug Enforcement Administration over its alleged use of a “secret law” to delay the expansion of marijuana research. They want access to an internal Justice Department memo that could reveal how the federal government is relying on an interpretation of international treaties to impede studies … The new revised rule … shifting jurisdiction…

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Psychology

Psychedelic therapy has a sexual abuse problem

Several women… said the psychedelic community was slow to show concern over the risk of sexual abuse. Tourists who travel to countries where psychedelics are permitted are also at risk by virtue of being in a new place with an unfamiliar culture, language, and legal system. Many psychedelics lower inhibition and create a sense of…

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Medicine/Healing

Legalizing marijuana increases housing prices [potentially exacerbating homelessness and housing affordability for low-income], study finds

As they describe it, the economists found “positive effects in the top of the distribution following the success of the ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana, but no effect in the lower half.” Why the lopsided effect? The economists say a number of mechanisms could be at work, with a big one being access to liquidity…

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Psychology

…what’s [one of] the worst things that the wellness industry could do to psychedelics?

In the context of a for-profit system, there is a need to cut costs to remain competitive. Could expensive mental healthcare professionals be substituted for digital “equivalents?” If you think that psychedelic integration should be done through an app, raise your hand. Currently, though, COMPASS therapists are using [smart-phone app] – designed “training bot” which helps them “develop and…

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