“The psychedelics are a powerful educational tool. They are the surest way to learn the arbitrariness of our ordinary perception. Many of us have had to use them to find out how little we knew.” ― Gregory Bateson
In this post, I will share with you some of what I found on my neverending journey through the psychedelic digital jungle of interesting articles, podcasts, and studies that I have found:
Basel: The birthplace of hallucinogenic science
This Swiss city is where Albert Hofmann accidentally discovered the hallucinogenic properties of LSD, which transformed popular culture as well as psychology and brain science.
New psychedelic research sheds light on why psilocybin-containing mushrooms have been consumed for centuries
“Psilocybin, in the form of hallucinogenic mushrooms, has been used for centuries for the psychoactive effects. Recent US survey studies show that lifetime psilocybin use is relatively modest and quite stable over a period of decades,” Griffiths explained.
Magical (Psychedelic) Thinking in the Era of Climate Change and COVID-19
His magical thinking—a belief that one’s desires can influence the external world or that unrelated events are causally linked—did not surprise. The psychedelic movement has long been plagued by hand wave-y speculation that chemically-occasioned oneness will “save the planet” while failing to offer thoughtful analysis as to how.
The Power of Psychedelics
“The drug is a skeleton key which unlocks an interior door to places we don’t generally have access to,” says psychologist William A. Richards, one of the researchers who successfully treated patients with hallucinogens in the 1960s and early 1970s. “It’s a therapeutic accelerant.”
LSD and Psilocybin May Alleviate Cluster Headaches
As of May 2020, three clinical trials of psychedelics for treating cluster headache are running worldwide. The Heffter Research Institute is currently sponsoring a psilocybin trial at Yale, using low and high doses.8 A similar study is running at one of the largest hospitals in Denmark. And the University of Basel in Switzerland, one of the most prolific sources of research on LSD these days, is testing hallucinogenic doses of LSD in their Phase 2 trial.
Ibogaine Can Help Us Better Understand Addiction, but Will it Solve the Opioid Crisis?
We're facing the most devastating overdose epidemic in American history. But can we overcome the "great disconnect" between science and stigma in order for ibogaine to become to help with the solution?
The Growing Evidence for Psilocybin-Facilitated Smoking Cessation
Over the past decade, however, new evidence has emerged in favour of a treatment paradigm using psilocybin combined with CBT. Psilocybin is a compound found in so-called magic mushrooms. It is a prodrug of the active metabolite, psilocin. Research has demonstrated that psilocin binds to the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor and elicits psychedelic effects.
Get to Know the Beta Carbolines – Newcomers to the Science of Magic Mushrooms
In 2019, Blei et al. announced that they had isolated new compounds from four species of magic mushrooms, including Psilocybe cubensis.1 Of course, the better-known compounds like psilocybin, psilocin, and baeocystin were present in the mushrooms, but also were some compounds called beta carbolines (ß-carbolines). This groundbreaking discovery has changed the magic mushroom paradigm for psychedelic researchers.
Americans Increase LSD Use—and a Bleak Outlook for the World May Be to Blame
“LSD is used primarily to escape. And given that the world’s on fire, people might be using it as a therapeutic mechanism,” says Andrew Yockey, a doctoral candidate in health education at the University of Cincinnati and lead author of the paper. “Now that COVID’s hit, I’d guess that use has probably tripled.”
How to Harvest Mushrooms
For starters, the process of growing magic mushrooms is extraordinarily time sensitive and subject to volatility. You need to craft a contained environment that reaches nearly 100 percent humidity, carefully mist the mushroom bed without overwatering, and provide the exact amount of light to ensure the production of a healthy and aesthetically attractive psychedelic mushroom.
The legalization of psilocybin: Is it necessary?
In the state of Oregon, residents will be able to vote in November on whether to legalize psilocybin, which is an active compound in psychedelic mushroom. Within the United States, psilocybin is illegal, and a Schedule I drug, defined as having a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use in treatment. However, in some states, it is legal to purchase magic mushroom spores and legal to grow them, such as in New Mexico, where growing does not constitute manufacturing under New Mexico law. Along with the state of Oregon, cities such as Oakland, California, and Denver, Colorado, had already decriminalized psilocybin.
Lessons for Psychedelic Advocacy from the Front Lines of Cannabis Reform
In 2016, I found myself with the horrifying responsibility of informing traditional cannabis farmers, with decades of cultivation experience, that their assets and knowledge would not be enough to move through the legal licensing process following California’s legalization of recreational cannabis. For some farmers, there were options: work with local government to find a solution, join forces with other local growers, carefully consider taking on investment. For many others, the cost of continuing operations in any form was simply unfeasible, forcing them underground. Many of the most significant barriers that prevented cannabis farmers from participating in the legal market were documented in California Growers Association’s report, An Emerging Crisis: Barriers to Entry in California Cannabis. This report categorizes these major barriers into five main categories: