Last Week in Psychedelic Sundays

With psychedelics, if you're fortunate and breakthrough, you understand what is truly of value in life. Material, power, dominance, and territory have no value. People wouldn't fight wars, and the whole system we have currently would fall apart. People would become peaceful, loving citizens, not robots marching around in the dark with all their lights off. -Gary Fisher

In this post, I will share with you some of the hidden gems of my recent journey through the psychedelic digital jungle of interesting articles, podcast, and studies that I have found.

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'A grand experiment': how 'shrooms made Denver America's most drug-friendly city

The fungi will still be an illicit, schedule 1 controlled substance under state and federal law, and selling it remains a felony in Denver. But the measure, which passed with a slim 50.6% vote majority, in effect told police to look the other way when it comes to possession, use and cultivation of psychedelic mushrooms in the Mile High City. It also instructed the city not to devote resources to psilocybin prosecutions and created a review panel to assess the impact of the new regulations.

With Denver’s vote on magic mushrooms, will Colorado anchor a psychedelic medicine revolution?

With voters requiring police to slacken enforcement of laws around psilocybin mushrooms, Colorado and the Mile High City are poised to anchor an emerging psychedelic renaissance, where once maligned psychoactive drugs are being championed as therapeutic remedies for illnesses like anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP FOR HALLUCINOGENS AS A HEALTH CURE?

Psychedelics are having a renaissance. Substances that were once exclusively associated with long-haired, tie-dye-wearing hippies are now just as much the subject of official medical trials as they are a remedy for long-standing depression or the productivity hack of microdosing Silicon Valley execs. Just recently, studies have shown the effects of hallucination-inducing drugs like magic mushrooms are not only improving your creativity but also relieving symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD, while a ketamine-like spray has just been approved by US officials that sees the trippy recreational substance adapted to treat depression.
Over 8 percent of Americans will suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives, which is double the global average. Considering the current world population, that means roughly 308 million people will experience short-term or chronic PTSD from a variety of triggers: war, sexual assault, bullying — an entire list of invasive assaults. We're simply not equipped to handle such cognitive and emotional overload.

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MDMA heads to Phase 3 trials for helping PTSD

Over 8 percent of Americans will suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives, which is double the global average. Considering the current world population, that means roughly 308 million people will experience short-term or chronic PTSD from a variety of triggers: war, sexual assault, bullying — an entire list of invasive assaults. We're simply not equipped to handle such cognitive and emotional overload.

LSD COULD HELP PEOPLE OVERCOME ALCOHOL DEPENDENCY

A new study suggests that taking psychedelic drugs like LSD and magic mushrooms could help overcome alcohol dependency.

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Psychedelics, Sex, and Consent: A Brief History

When I started university 34 years ago, I encountered numerous male professors whose personal histories included a former wife (who had typed their dissertation and first book, and was raising their children), and a current wife, who at one point had been a student of that professor. I was in graduate school before I ever heard someone suggest that there was something troubling about this arrangement. As a member of the faculty, I have seen similar examples at numerous universities. Though most of us now call this an abuse of authority, only in the very recent past have I seen any faculty members sanctioned for it.
The abuse, as we understand it, is rooted in the belief (a belief I share) that the power dynamics of teacher-student relationships obviate the possibility that the less powerful party can freely consent to a sexual relationship. Though we still have some outliers, romantics (or predators, depending who you ask) who insist that love is love, and that we should not attempt to prohibit it, it has now become normative to think that these types of relationships should not be permitted on college campuses.

Healing Sexual Trauma with Ayahuasca

These psychedelic medicines have the potential to bring relief to those who are suffering from the aftermath of sexual trauma and enable the release of physical and emotional blockages that have occurred as a result. As my experience has shown me, they can play a pivotal role in the personal healing of sexual abuse cases and should be properly explored as a treatment option.

Dr Richard Evans Schultes’ Explorations with Amazonian Shamans and Medicines

The story of Richard Evans Schultes brings to mind plotlines of wild fictional expeditions that take us through the perils of a harsh jungle in search of the holy grail of knowledge. If you feel like you’ve watched one too many Indiana Jones movies to believe a tale of this sort, set your skepticism aside and read on, because Dr. Schultes’ story is as incredible as it is real.
His exploratory work yielded an unparalleled understanding of the Amazon rainforest flora and brought us a wealth of knowledge about its potent medicinal and shamanic plants. Having identified more 24,000 different plant species in the northwestern Amazon—about 300 had not yet been discovered by Western science—he is among the most accomplished ethnobotanists in history. More than 120 of these species now bear his name, as does the vast area he explored in the Colombian part of the Amazon. In 1992 he was awarded the gold medal of the Linnean Society of London, the highest achievement in botany.