Last Week in Psychedelic Sundays

It's time to move on to the next step in the psychedelic revolution. We've reached a certain point, but we're not moving any more. (Ken Kesey)

It seems that Psychedelic Research is reaching a critical point. Psychedelic research has given us so much. Thanks to the revival of psychedelic science, we’ve (re)discovered that psychedelic therapy can benefit sufferers of severely debilitating conditions where current treatments fail. We’ve started to develop an understanding of what psychedelics do to the brain, and how psychedelics can have such transformative power…

For those who follow my work, it will be no surprise that the topic I research the most is Psychedelics. 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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Breaking News! Psychedelics on the News;

News 4 Tucson Reports: Magic mushroom sleep aid

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“If you want to have fun, take them alone or with friends and spend the day in a beautiful setting. If you want to learn something about yourself and your relationships, take them with a therapist. If you want to feel part of humanity, take them at a concert, rave, or other large gatherings. If you want to experience a deeper relationship with the divine and its creations, take them with a religious teacher, community, or in Nature. If you want to contribute to the research endeavor, volunteer for a scientific study. These categories are somewhat arbitrary, and all sorts of effects might occur in any one of these possible settings; spiritual experiences may occur in a research study, for example, and psychotherapeutic ones in a religious context. (RICK STRASSMAN)

Important psychedelic researching is being done right now:

Magic mushrooms are now being legally tested in therapy sessions in the US

The US Food and Drug Administration has given a group of psychiatrists permission to treat patients with magic mushrooms in therapy. Specifically, these trials aim to test the effects of psilocybin, the active chemical in psychedelic mushrooms.

MDMA Clinical Trials Are Now Open for Enrollment at Five Sites in the US

MAPS, a non-profit psychedelic medicine research organization that’s been at the forefront of the effort to bring MDMA-assisted therapy into the mainstream, is sponsoring the Phase 3 trial — the final phase before the US Food and Drug Administration can approve a drug for medical use.

A New High: Phase 2 MDMA Study Results in 76% Success Rate for Treating PTSD

A study published last month in Journal of Psychopharmacology supports the idea that MDMA (the psychoactive compound in the street drug known as “ecstasy”) may be one of the most viable options we have in our proverbial toolkit. It found that 76 percent of participants in a Phase 2 trial didn’t meet the standard clinical criteria for PTSD one year after receiving MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, a quite impressive result.

Toad Medicine: New Psychedelic Knowledge under Construction?

The increasing supply and consumption of the so-called “toad medicine” in various parts of the world has led to a series of claims without theoretical, scientific or historical support, and have allowed it to become an important lucrative activity for various stakeholders. The presentation of neurological data, supposed ancestral use, and psychological and spiritual interpretations are presented as a justification for the implementation of new practices that are potentially dangerous, such as combining it with ayahuasca or iboga,1 or supplying large doses of toad to force an “entheogenic” experience. Although there is a small field of serious researchers, therapists, and facilitators investigating the possible human uses, only one statement can be made with strong assurances: toad medicine is in the process of knowledge construction, which is why it is vitally important to thoroughly remove the myths caused by disinformation.

A Response to the Government Review of the Blindly Misinformed Psychoactive Substances Act

Protecting public health should be the principal aim of drug policy. And by these standards, the Psychoactive Substances Act has been an abject failure, as we predicted three years ago when the legislation was first tabled. As the review states, the rate of use of New Psychoactive Substances among children has not changed in the wake of the Act. But now, children will go into secluded alleyways, or into drug dealers’ cars, to access these substances. The groups that have seen decreases in the use of, and deaths from, NPS, have witnessed an accompanying growth in the market for, and a sharp rise in the harms from, more traditional illicit drugs. As so often with prohibitionist legislation, the Act has not dampened the market for drugs – it has merely displaced it, as the urge to alter consciousness remains.

Medical Psilocybin Initiative Planned for Oregon 2020 Ballot

We’re excited to gather signatures in support of establishing a community-based service framework, in which licensed providers, along with licensed producers of psilocybin mushrooms, can blaze new trails in Oregon in accordance with evolving practice standards. — Tom Eckert, OPS co-founder

Returning to Ayahuasca after three years away(Graham Hancock)

I feel restored in my health and my energy and have a much better grip on what I know my priorities must be. The medicine tonight will be stronger, and stronger again on Wednesday, and strongest on Thursday night. Likely it will become challenging, but I’m so glad to be here with a great group of people and feel like I am undergoing some kind of rebirth. Close to 100 of us drank together last night. That is a BIG group, and normally I prefer to drink in smaller circles. But they have such expertise at Rythmia, the facilitators have such a calm reassuring presence, and the ceremonial space is so beautiful, that everything worked together perfectly to create a synergy of joy, peace and love. Who could ask for anything more?

A Mother-Daughter Mushroom Trip Captured on Film

Would you take psychedelic mushrooms with your mom and then document it? For actress, writer and millennial Rivka Rivera, the answer is yes. Whether you’re a writer, a psychonaut, a psychotherapist, scientist or an artist, this project brings these worlds together in a truly millennial manner: sharing the experience through a crafted lens.

What if psychedelics could revolutionize the way you die?

I also found myself in a bind: The science was telling me that psilocybin is the treatment most likely to benefit patients with existential anxiety when other treatments have failed; my ethical code from the B.C. Association of Clinical Counsellors tells me to act to my client’s benefit; federal law forbids me to use this treatment.

I'll leave you with some words by someone who knows about how psychedelics can revolutionizing the way we die, Aldous Huxley:

The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less sure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable mystery which he tries, forever vainly, to comprehend. (ALDOUS HUXLEY)