Anthropology

Will psychedelic mushrooms be on Denver’s ballot in November?

A growing contingent of Denverites are advocating for the medicinal efficacy of psilocybin, ​ …the initiative… is not completely unprecedented. According to Colorado Public Radio, New Mexico effectively legalized the cultivation of psilocybin via a 2005 appeals court decision. Furthermore, Oregon and California both recently reduced possession charges for a variety of banned substances, including…

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Anthropology

The uncertain future of iboga, a psychotropic plant of Gabon

Iboga seems victim of its growing popularity abroad and could disappear, worried environmentalists. Gabon also ratified in 2012 the “Nagoya Protocol” which provides for a “sustainable” trade of biodiversity resources … Absorbed as a bark powder from its root, iboga, a shrub endemic to the equatorial forest of Central Africa, gives “visions” and allows “to…

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Anthropology

Iranian religious authority considers psychedelic medicines Halāl

In mid-March 2014, Sayyed Mohammad Sadeq Hussaini Rohani, who is a Grand Ayatollah (meaning the highest authority on Shi’ite Islam—basically, the equivalent of the Pope), announced that entheogenic drugs are permissible (ḥalāl) for Muslims under traditional Islamic law. That means, that so long as psychedelics are taken under the observation of a trained specialist, it’s…

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Anthropology

Abuse and torture masquerading as drug treatment methods in Russia

Treatment methods reported include flogging, beatings, punishment by starvation, long-term handcuffing to bed frames, ‘coding’ (hypnotherapy aimed at persuading the patient that drug use leads to death), electric shock, burying patients in the ground and xenoimplantation of guinea pig brains. ​ “Such methods are not only cruel but ineffective. As the Russian Federal Drug Control…

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