Last Week in Psychedelic Sundays

The ceremonial and religious uses of psychedelics are much older than their recreational uses and abuses. For most of their history, they have been mysterious, dangerous substances and must be treated respectfully. -Humphry Osmond

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 sailing the digital seas.

The Encounter That Introduced Peyote to Western Science

This photograph is one of hundreds in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution that record people of the Plains tribes in their forced captivity on the reservations in the 1890s. The information attached to it is minimal: “Ceremony, Peyote, gelatin glass negative, no date.” But this one captures a remarkable and historic moment. It was taken in the chill of a November morning in 1893 after an all-night meeting that brought the two great champions of the emerging peyote religion— one Indian, one White—together for the first time. Later that morning, a burlap sack of dried peyote buttons was exchanged between them. These would be carried back east to Washington DC, where peyote’s visions would be scientifically investigated for the first time.

Here are 7 notorious Peyote and Mescaline aficionados who used these drugs to open new doors in human perception and understanding

With the publication of Aldous Huxley’s mescaline-induced musings in The Doors of Perception in 1954, the spiritual and mystical groundwork for the psychedelic revolution of the following decade was laid. But while Huxley’s popularization of drug-induced altered states was to have an enormous impact not just in the 1960s but in the decades since, the drug that started it all has all but vanished.
Mescaline—the psychedelic alkaloid found in only two species of Western hemisphere cacti, the peyote of north-central Mexico and the San Pedro found thousands of feet up the dry side of the Peruvian Andes—hasn’t had a recreational following in decades. As Mike Jay, the author of the just-released Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic, notes, the only place one can find it anymore is occasionally on sites on the dark web along with other exotic psychedelics. As a psychedelic alkaloid, it has been replaced by LSD, which is hundreds of times more potent and thus more user-, research-, and smuggler-friendly.

WHAT TO EXPECT ON AN IBOGAINE TRIP

Ibogaine is among the most powerful psychoactive substances that exist on our planet. It can be found in high concentrations in the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga, Voacanga Africana, and Tabernaemontana undulata, which are endemic to only three countries in Central Africa: Gabon, Cameroon, and Republic of Congo.

There’s Already a Company Developing Magic Mushroom Tea and Coffee in Denver

“Just as cannabis has been misunderstood and controversial for decades, psilocybin from mushrooms has been equally polarizing, yet proponents of both suggest they each can contribute meaningfully to the human experience,” said Sträva’s CEO, Andrew Aamot, in a press release. “As research is proving, with measured consumption, cannabis and psilocybin can both promote physiological, mental, and spiritual health."

POLITICSOregon Activists Take Next Step To Legalize Psilocybin For Medical Use

Oregon activists are one step closer to getting a psilocybin legalization measure on the state’s 2020 ballot.
While an earlier version of the proposal was introduced last year, the organizers behind it are putting their resources into a similar but revised initiative that would create a regulatory framework for the legal use of psilocybin for therapeutic purposes.
The new petition to get the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act on the ballot was filed in early July. More than 1,200 signatures were submitted a couple weeks later, prompting the state’s attorney general to propose a draft ballot title on Wednesday.

The 40 Best Books About Shamanism and Plant Medicines

In 2017 Chacruna was invited to make a selection of ‘state of the art’ social science references on ayahuasca and other plant medicines. We thought that we would share it here. Notwithstanding, any selection is inherently narrow and limited. With this in mind, the following are some of our favorites...