Science

Magic mushrooms seem to have a strange effect on color blindness

After self-administering a color blindness test, known as the Ishihara Test, the subject took five grams of dried mushrooms, which is considered a relatively high dose of psilocybin. He then took the Ishihara Test periodically over the next four months. This test is composed of a series of flashcards that each feature a number made…

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Science

How MDMA resensitizes the brain

…in mice, MDMA can reopen the critical period for social learning after it should have closed permanently. In 2019, neuroscientist Gül Dölen’s laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, found that the psychedelic drug MDMA resensitizes the brains of adult mice so they can learn from their social environment in a way that’s normally…

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Science

…forage… grow…

For many mycophiles, psychonauts, and avid foragers, the start of shroom season is the highlight of the year… unlike cannabis grown from seed, hundreds, if not thousands, of unique subspecies can result from a single multi-spore inoculation. …magic mushrooms can be found on every continent except Antarctica. In the United States, psychedelic shrooms can be…

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Science

Myriad new drugs…

…by definition, the compounds are new and poorly understood… most people who use drugs wouldn’t want to use most NPS anyway, if better-known and better-studied equivalents were legally and widely accessible. An effort out of the University of Copenhagen called HighResNPS collects mass spectrometry data on novel psychoactive substances (NPS) from around the world. Its list, which…

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Science

…magic mushroom… smell loss?

Later that night, he reveled in the enchiladas they had for dinner. “I could taste the individual ingredients,” he said. “I mean, it’s not anything I’d wish on anybody to lose their sense of smell, but to lose it and have it come back that abruptly was really — it was a special experience.” Neuroscientist…

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Science

Psilocybin… breakthrough

…to the uninitiated… ‘magic mushrooms’… could be dismissed… …evidence from animal trials suggests psilocybin’s effect on mental wellbeing may be connected, in part, to its ability to reduce inflammation – an immune response in the body’s tissues to dangers ranging from stress to physical injuries… Original Article (Time Magazine):Psilocybin could be a therapeutic breakthrough for addictionArtwork…

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Science

Scientists create cell-based… potential 5-meo-dmt “bio-factory”

You can’t blame people for wanting the expansive and often life-changing jolt that 5-MeO-DMT can deliver. But this kind of transcendence comes at a cost. The practice of collecting defensive secretions from toad parotoid glands isn’t a pretty sight. It often involves harassment of the animal that leads to mutilating them and destruction of their habitats.…

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Politics

WHO Panel finds insufficient evidence to review kratom

An advisory committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded there is insufficient evidence to recommend a “critical review” of kratom, which potentially could have lead to international controls on the herbal supplement used by millions to treat pain and other medical conditions. “It is a great victory for kratom consumers, for science and…

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Science

Now psychedelics are coming to your medicine cabinet

Adding psychedelics to mainstream drugs may seem a bit “out there,” but in fact it’s on trend… Synthetic versions of psychedelic substances are easier to manufacture uniformly according to industry standards, but they may not work as well as natural versions. “We believe there’s a big difference between biological and synthetic molecules, especially in how…

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Science

Safe consumption sites are opening in New York city

…people will be able to obtain sterile syringes and other safer-use supplies, access treatment options and other services, and bring their own drugs to use, with trained staff and naloxone on hand. “This is a watershed milestone in the fight to end overdose deaths in New York,” Melissa Moore, the director of civil systems reform…

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