Legislation [was introduced] on Friday, June 10, 2019 to remove a legal barrier that scientists say makes it unnecessarily difficult for them to study the medical benefits of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin and MDMA. “Academics and scientists report that provisions like this create [stigma] and insurmountable logistical hurdles to researching schedule I drugs,” the summary…
While… [some] initiatives, including the “medicalization”… are an important step in the right direction… it is time to go further. In contrast to “legalization,” “decriminalization” involves the loosening of criminal penalties… [for the use of the natural variety found in over one hundred species of psilocybin-containing mushrooms that grow worldwide] and, as in the case…
If common antidepressants dull emotions to help people cope… psilocybin [containing mushrooms] work… on our serotonin system to heighten emotional responses and encourage people to actively confront their depression, which can prompt enduring shifts in mind-set. Much about the neuroscience of psychedelics remains unknown, but fMRI scans of patients’ brains after taking psilocybin showed reduced…
Electric cars and power tools could harness this hemp technology, the US researchers say. The waste fibres from hemp crops can be transformed into high-performance energy storage devices, scientists say. They “cooked” cannabis bark into carbon nanosheets and built supercapacitors “on a par with or better than graphene” – the industry gold standard. Original Article…
Twenty prosecutors from major cities across the U.S. are touring Portugal this month to learn about the successful implementation of the country’s drug decriminalization law. In Portugal, where all drugs were decriminalized in 2001, the prosecutors will observe the impacts of that nationwide policy, which according to research has reduced incarceration rates and improved public health…
…crafting a 2020 ballot initiative to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms for medical and religious purposes in California. While the measure would simply lift criminal penalties for psilocybin, the group’s website also states that the campaign is meant to “build the framework for eventual legalization.” Original Article (Marijuana Moment):California activists take first steps to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms…
The idea that mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs might be decriminalized seemed almost laughable a few years ago, when activists in even the most progressive states were fighting tooth and nail to legalize marijuana. “This initiative aims to empower the Oakland community by restoring their relationship to nature,” reads a city council analysis of the…
Unlike last month’s landmark initiative in Denver, which specifically targeted psychedelic mushrooms, this broader resolution groups together a variety of plants and fungi under the banner of entheogenic plants or plant compounds. The term entheogen generally refers to psychoactive substances used in religious or spiritual contexts. The Oakland resolution more specifically defines the term in reference…
Entheogenic plants have long been used in religious and cultural contexts. “Hemp oils, mushrooms and yerba buenas — an aromatic plant known for its medicinal properties — that was our Walgreens. We didn’t have a Walgreens. We didn’t have a way to pay for any drugs. These are plants we have known for thousands of…
The resolution was presented by [an] Oakland City Council member. “We have many mental challenges on our streets today, and it’s important to be able to freely provide whatever medicinal support we can, including the use of plants that have beneficial effects for thousands of years,” Noel Gallo said. Supporters hope the decision will begin a…
