Modern Culture

The Colorado psychedelic mushroom experiment…

Colorado law does not allow retail sales of psilocybin, unlike cannabis, which can be sold both recreationally and medically in the state. But it allows adults 21 and older to grow, use, and share psychedelic mushrooms for personal use. Despite the retail ban, adjacent businesses have mushroomed. Inside the warehouse and laboratory of Activated Brands…

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Modern Culture

Denver Shroom Fest canceled due to “some bad luck”

On Thursday [3/13/25], organizers announced the second annual event, which was scheduled for June 15, has been cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances and some bad luck.” Co-founder Jonathan Cherkoss suggested the festival may not return in future years either. “Denver Shroom Fest was a huge success, and collaborating with Colorado’s vibrant mushroom community was an incredible experience.…

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Biography/Memoir

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read yanks controversial cannabis audit

Former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan resigned in disgrace in May 2023 after reporting from Willamette Week revealed she had taken a $10,000-per-month consulting gig for the cannabis company La Mota while her office’s Audits Division reviewed the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. Secretary of State Tobias Read on Wednesday [3/12/25] announced that he has withdrawn an Oregon Liquor and…

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Modern Culture

Colorado’s first psychedelic healing centers could offer psilocybin yoga or microdosing at a coffee shop

That could mean retreat centers, yoga studios or social clubs could offer the treatments… While guided trips on large doses of mushrooms may be suitable for some… believe smaller dosing options are more approachable to a broader demographic… Denver business… will focus on microdosing. Their concept includes two separate spaces. The first is a coffee…

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Politics

An NYT story blamed leftists for obstructing psychedelic therapy… truth is…

Without the efforts of this “small band of anticapitalist activists,” the authors argue, Lykos Therapeutics’ “$250 million investment” in MDMA-AT may have paid off by being the first psychedelic therapy to get federal approval – potentially establishing the company as a multibillion-dollar enterprise. As a journalist who has followed the psychedelics movement for years and attended hearings…

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Politics

Oregon board rejects… request to direct all opioid settlement funds to harm reduction

That means Save Lives Oregon, a state-funded program that provides harm reduction resources, training and items such as clean syringes, Narcan and fentanyl test strips to local organizations, will get $5.1 million instead of $21.6 million in opioid settlement funding through 2027. Several members of the 18-person Opioid Settlement Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Board… stressed that…

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Science

…mothers of the mushroom

While large-scale studies are lacking, Mothers of the Mushroom gathered data points concerning mothers who ingested psilocybin during pregnancy and breastfeeding… offers insight from over 400 women who have used psilocybin while pregnant or breastfeeding… …[also] in a controlled study on pregnant rats using c-psilocin, no fetal fatalities were observed. While this does not confirm…

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Psychology

MDMA for active-duty troops…

The Department of Defense (DOD) is launching its first-ever clinical trial of MDMA-assisted therapy for active-duty service members with PTSD at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. …funded via the Defense Appropriations Act, has a number of interesting features. Those include the use of D-amphetamine as a control, a combination of the Lykos Therapeutics model…

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Medicine/Healing

Homegrown trips: desperate for PTSD Relief, veterans turn to each other for DIY psychedelic treatments

A deployment in Afghanistan left her with a traumatic brain injury, a shattered ankle, and a broken vertebra. Like many veterans, she obliged when VA doctors prescribed pain and sleep medication to help numb constant physical pain. But the antidepressants and sedatives she was also taking for PTSD, anxiety, and depression barely touched the gnawing…

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Biography/Memoir

Ex-Rep. Kinzinger on GOP’s internal war over drug policy, cannabis, psychedelics – ‘Quite likely legal in 5-10 years’

Adam Kinzinger has never been one to toe the party line. As a former Republican congressman, he has seen his party shift over the years, growing more divided on key issues – including drug policy. “There is a group within this kind of new whatever-we-want-to-call-it Republican Party, I guess, that is very hardcore anti-drug,” Kinzinger says.…

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