Biography/Memoir

Duterte war on drugs ‘hugely successful’

A top government official shrugged off allegations of rampant human right violations including the alarming rise in extra-judicial killings and described President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte’s bloody war on illegal drugs as “hugely successful.” ​ “I think the communities are safer and our young people are better protected against drugs,” Roque said even as he expressed…

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Biography/Memoir

Peter Thiel is betting on magic mushrooms to treat depression — and he’s not the only one

One of them is Compass Pathways, a for-profit company that Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel invested in last year. London-based entrepreneur Christian Angermayer, ex-hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz, and film producer Sam Englebardt are also backers of Compass … It has some notable advisors, including Tom Insel, the former director of the US National Institute…

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Biography/Memoir

Letter: Tell DEA to leave kratom alone

If kratom is banned many people will suffer or even die. They will be forced to seek stronger and more dangerous options. Kratom is a necessary and under-utilized tool to combat this nation’s opioid epidemic. Show the people that you will actually listen. Show them that we do have a voice. Renew our faith in…

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Biography/Memoir

…China won’t arrest two fentanyl kingpins wanted by U.S.

Yu Haibin, director of precursor chemical control at the National Narcotics Control Commission, the Chinese equivalent of the DEA, also blamed the “growing demand” for fentanyl among U.S. users, and said the opioid problem is “strongly connected” to state-level marijuana legalization. “Many states in the U.S. are still working on legalizing marijuana, trends like this…

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Biography/Memoir

Dark web dealers voluntarily ban deadly fentanyl

Major dark web drug suppliers have started to voluntarily ban the synthetic opioid fentanyl because it is too dangerous, the National Crime Agency has said … It is the first known instance of these types of operators moving to effectively ban a drug.  One type of fentanyl, carfentanyl, is thousands of times stronger than heroin and…

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Biography/Memoir

The psychedelic [renaissance]

Psychedelic drugs have been typecast as the preserve of hippies, jungle shamans, and psychonauts (people who use drugs to explore their own mind), and more recently the playthings of privileged elites seeking spiritual nirvana, but this stereotype is a chimera … why should those attempting to view the world and themselves honestly, critically, with empathy and…

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Biography/Memoir

Healing the empire and elevating the underground : a conversation with Rick Doblin

I liken their view [of some] to a kind of “cultural bypass” in the vein of spiritual bypass- a yearning for instant easy enlightenment or overnight sociopolitical revolution without any of the hard work, practical concerns, or steady incremental effort it takes to fully integrate and embody a new perspective. – Wesley Thoricatha Yes, and I’ve thought…

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