Before it’s given to patients, the marijuana will be kept inside steel narcotics lockers bolted to the wall in a room with surveillance cameras and a combination keypad on the door. Each locker has tamper-proof hinges and requires two keys—each held by a different person. If someone puts the wrong key in one of the…
That total does not include the dollar value of other seized assets, like cars, homes, electronics and clothing. These seizures are all legal under the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture, which allows authorities to take cash, contraband and property from people suspected of crime. But the practice does not require authorities to obtain a…
Employers will have to review and amend existing workplace policies and procedures once the Cannabis Act comes into force. This legal change may also require a social shift away from traditional views on the recreational use of marijuana. One key change will include removing any express policy references to marijuana usage as an illegal “off-duty”…
There are plans at the BC Center for Excellence to start doing some trials with psychedelics. Elena Argento, a researcher for the BC Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDs, claims psychedelics could play a significant role in decreasing the risk of suicide in vulnerable groups such as female sex workers. Argento’s research is based on a…
The aim, she says, is to offer a space for thoughtful integration—or the mental processing of a psychedelic experience long after the effects of a drug have worn off. It’s an aspect of psychedelic experimentation that’s often overlooked in mainstream culture, but that devotees say is equally as important (if not more important) than the…
The study by José Carlos Bouso and others examined the brains of 22 long-term users of Ayahuasca. When their brains were measured for thickness in the posterior cingulate cortex it was found that they had reduced levels of brain activity in that region. This isn’t as bad as it sounds; this part of the brain…
In the 1990s, scientists demonstrated in rodents and humans that MDMA was reasonably safe when taken a few times in a controlled setting. The FDA permitted researchers to move forward with clinical trials exploring the drug as a treatment for PTSD. About 8% of the US population will experience PTSD at some point in…
But it’s more than that—psychedelic substances really do cause the brain to enter this “higher” state, according to a new study by a team of UK scientists. By studying the changes in brain activity caused by these drugs, we are gaining a better understanding of what exactly is happening in a person’s brain as their…
Arguably the most dangerous part of psychedelics is our lack of understanding… Schedule I drugs allegedly have no medicinal use, but there is now strong evidence to refute that. Mental illness is a public health crisis. Veteran suicide rates are immense. Homelessness is being linked to mental health at an alarming rate. At what point…
If psilocybin or LSD can reduce DMN activity, it stands to reason that it might help those patients feel better. “People get locked into these very negative loops of thinking and feeling,” says Dr. Stephen Ross, an addiction psychiatrist at NYU who led the recent study on psilocybin. “It’s possible that by deactivating these kind…
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