Anthropology

Oregon triples penalties for underage marijuana sales

The new penalties take effect today and will run for six months. They include a 30-day license suspension or a fine of $4,950. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission announced … that it was temporarily increasing penalties for pot shops that sell marijuana to minors. Previously the penalty was a 10-day license suspension or a $1,650…

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Anthropology

Avoid saying ‘drug user’ to combat stigma, report urges

It said it acknowledged the “negative impact” of some drug use but added that prohibitionist policies “increased stigma”, telling political leaders not to “stoke fears” about drug use. It added that current laws treated people who use drugs as “sub-human, non-citizens and scapegoats for wider societal problems”. The Global Commission’s latest report advises political leaders…

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Anthropology

Iranian religious authority considers psychedelic medicines Halāl

In mid-March 2014, Sayyed Mohammad Sadeq Hussaini Rohani, who is a Grand Ayatollah (meaning the highest authority on Shi’ite Islam—basically, the equivalent of the Pope), announced that entheogenic drugs are permissible (ḥalāl) for Muslims under traditional Islamic law. That means, that so long as psychedelics are taken under the observation of a trained specialist, it’s…

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Anthropology

Drinking yagé to resist capitalist violence

Recently, I have been living among the Siona and have seen how they are able to resist and contest, relying on collective yagé encounters, the plans of an multinational oil company that intended to pursue oil exploration in their territories. As we shall show here, the ability to “see” and “heal” associated with yagé is…

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