Science

College student discovers psychedelic fungus that eluded LSD inventor

Morning glories were already known to contain a class of chemicals called ergot alkaloids. These chemicals, made exclusively by fungi, are the same class that the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann used to create LSD in the 1930s. Hofmann worked with the fungus Claviceps purpurea, commonly found on rye, to synthesize LSD; he came to suspect that Mexican…

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Spirituality

The day the Pope met a psychedelic evangelist

The pope met an emissary from the psychedelic world at a “holy meeting” at the Vatican, where a Jesuit lawyer named Brian Muraresku presented Pope Francis with a manifesto for a psychedelic “New Reformation.” Pope Francis accepted a copy of Muraresku’s 2020 book The Immortality Key at the meeting, which took place in late 2021 or early…

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Science

The first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of psychedelics [was] published in 2012… 

[In December 2024]; a [new] synergistic, multi-level understanding of psychedelics; a novel, synergistic understanding of psychedelics arising from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of three hierarchical levels of analysis: (1) subjective experience (phenomenology), (2) neuroimaging and (3) molecular pharmacology. The Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) scale is one popular questionnaire that captures several of these subjective…

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Science

Older people who use psychedelics show fascinating brain functions

A recent survey of 3,294 US adults, aged between 42 and 92, has found that… compared to those who did not use psychedelics, those who did scored higher on tests… which assessed inductive reasoning, verbal fluency, working memory, processing speed, attention switching, and inhibitory control. Psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, and other psychedelics appear to stimulate new connections between…

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Psychology

What psychedelia can learn from Clusterbusters

…if someone is desperate and suicidal, of course they should be able to try psychedelics, as quickly and safely as possible. The healthcare system is broken, the FDA approval system is slow and very expensive…and people can sometimes heal themselves outside of the medical system.  Clusterbusters is a really interesting example of a peer support group which…

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Biography/Memoir

‘It makes me more thoughtful’: push to… magic mushrooms gains momentum…

[Oregon is poised to legislate the return to recriminalizing personal possession of psilocybin-containing mushrooms (as well as LSD and MDMA) on Tuesday March 12, 2024; with citizens awaiting Democratic Governor Tina Kotek’s signature to do so.] “There is more awareness when it comes to psychedelics, especially mushrooms,” Valera said. Salem City Councilor Andy Varela believes…

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Politics

Oregon pioneered… drug policy…

“We knew that we didn’t want to go backwards on what was happening with regard to the war on drugs, we can’t go back to that…” Oregon Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber said. …the hearing by the Joint Committee On Addiction and Community Safety Response focused on Republican-backed Senate Bill 1555 [creates the crime of…

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