To be clear, shrooms will not be fully legal here. They will be treated the way marijuana was in Denver after decriminalization in 2005: city cops’ and the district attorney’s “lowest law enforcement priority.” The new ordnance specifies that no city funds are to be used to jail, arrest or even ticket someone for possession…
…toxicology tests determined that other drugs were present [in recent deaths attributed to “kratom”]. Fentanyl, the powerful opioid, was listed as a cause of death in just over half of them. Other prescription opioids, heroin and benzodiazepines like Valium were each listed as a cause of death in about a quarter of those 91 fatalities.…
Caught in the conflict are thousands of chronically or fatally ill patients, many of whom are in pain and unsure where their next medicine will come from. Around 5,000 patients have already run out of their medicine, and an additional 3,000-4,000 will likely run out next week, according to Dana Bar-On, the CEO of the…
…[the] study has finally been approved by ethics committees and state and federal authorities, and will see a number of terminally ill patients being given a single dose of synthetic psilocybin—the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms—under the supervision and guidance of psychiatrists to help them come to terms with their own mortality. Dr Margaret Ross [says],…
A number of studies, including two published just last month, have also found that cannabis can impact a person’s use of benzodiazepines. One found that 45 percent of participants ceased their benzo use by the end of the study period; the other saw 22 percent of participants substituting weed for benzos. As more and more prohibitionist cannabis policies are reversed…
Clearly, there is more to MDMA-assisted psychotherapy than just swallowing a pill. But, I have to wonder who is profiting when a drug with a street price of around $15 a pop may end up costing over 1,000x more after approval and regulation. Estimates [are] $15,000 as the standard price estimate for treatment with MDMA-assisted…
When we try to medicalize therapeutic drug experiences, a doctor’s note can become the difference between a “good” drug user and a “bad” drug user. But, in our broken medical system, medicalizing drug policy is a moral compromise. It redirects the movement, tilting compassion and liberty toward pathology, perpetuating the racist and stigmatizing overtones embedded…
The FDA recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to schedule (as in, effectively ban) Kratom and its alkaloids threatens fledgling efforts by researchers to investigate the alkaloids as potential new pain treatments, would hinder scientific advances as well as crucial preclinical and clinical studies. In February 2018, the FDA commissioner released a statement declaring…
It’s the first time the synthetic opioid has been the nation’s deadliest drug. From 2012 to 2015, heroin topped the list, [according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. On average, in each year from 2013 to 2016, the rate of overdose deaths from Fentanyl increased by about 113 percent a year. The report said fentanyl was responsible…
Many scientists and legalization advocates have complained that the classification requires investigators who wish to study cannabis to jump through extra hoops that don’t exist for for studies on other drugs. “Just as we need to look at criminal justice laws, rules and regulations, we need to look at health laws, rules and regulations, and…
