XPost: alt.hemp, rec.drugs.misc, rec.drugs.psychedelic
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From: bliss@mouse-potato.com

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1027 -- 7/6/18
Phillip S. Smith, Editor,psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1027

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director,borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. CAN MAGIC MUSHROOMS TREAT COCAINE DEPENDENCY?
A clinical trial underway right now hopes to find the answer -- and more participants. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jul/05/can_magic_mushrooms_treat

2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
A powerful Senate committee calls marijuana's Schedule I status an obstacle to research, an Arizona appeals court ruling gets ignored, Oklahoma sees its first
medical marijuana clinic, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jul/05/medical_marijuana_update

3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
A Paterson, New Jersey, cop gets ready to pay for going buck wild, a New Mexico
state trooper uses stolen drugs to woo women (and girls), a Florida deputy gets
nailed for falsely busting people for drugs, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jul/05/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

4. CHRONICLE AM: SCHUMER FILES MJ DECRIMINALIZATION BILL, CANADA RELEASES LEGAL
MJ REGS, MORE... (6/28/18)
Chuck Schumer files a federal marijuana decriminalization bill, a Delaware pot legalization bill wins a majority, but not a needed supermajority, Health Canada releases legal marijuana regulations, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jun/28/chronicle_am_schumer_files_mj

5. CHRONICLE AM: SENATE VOTES FOR LEGAL HEMP, STATE DEPARTMENT PUSHES AERIAL COCA ERADICATION, MORE... (6/29/18)
The US Senate votes to legalize hemp, the State Department gets behind Colombia's plan to reintroduce aerial fumigation of coca crops, an Arizona court rules that hash isn't medical marijuana, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jun/29/chronicle_am_senate_votes_legal

6. CHRONICLE AM: VERMONT MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION IN EFFECT, ACTING DEA HEAD NAMED, MORE... (7/2/18)
Vermont becomes the 9th legal marijuana state, the DEA gets a new acting administrator, Mexico elects a new president who has new ideas for ending drug war violence, and much, much more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jul/02/chronicle_am_vermont_marijuana

7. CHRONICLE AM: NJ DEMS SAY LEGALIZATION HAPPENING SOON, SWISS MOVE TO RELAX MARIJUANA LAWS, MORE... (7/5/18)
Democratic legislative leaders in New Hampshire and New Jersey are pushing forward on marijuana legalization, a powerful Senate committee slams marijuana's classification as a Schedule I drug, the Swiss government is moving
toward pilot programs on
marijuana legalization, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jul/05/chronicle_am_nj_dems_say

(Not subscribed? Visithttps://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up today!)

================

1. CAN MAGIC MUSHROOMS TREAT COCAINE DEPENDENCY? https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jul/05/can_magic_mushrooms_treat

The hunt for a pharmacological agent to help people strung out on cocaine get off the marching powder has been a long one, and non-traditional types of treatments are among the possibilities being studied. Ibogaine (https://www.ibogainealliance.org/
ibogaine/therapy/detox/efficacy/) is one pharmacological therapy being studied.
Another is psilocybin (https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/9565-study-can-taking-a-hallucinogen-curb-cocaine-use), the chemical that puts the magic in magic mushrooms.

Scientists at the University of Alabama-Birmingham's (UAB) School of Public Health are now conducting a clinical trial to see whether psilocybin can help break cocaine addiction.

The trial currently has almost 20 people enrolled, but researchers are looking for more subjects -- people who are currently using cocaine and have a strong desire to quit.

"Our goal is to create a tool or drug that provides significantly better outcomes for individuals addicted to cocaine than those that currently exist," said Sara Lappan, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Health Behavior

In the trial, participants receive a dose of psilocybin and are monitored for six hours, about the duration of the experience. Then, the researchers track his or her cocaine use.

"Our idea is that six hours of being under the effects of psilocybin may be as productive as 10 years of traditional therapy," Lappan said.

The researchers theorize that psilocybin works on three levels: the biochemical, the psychological, and the spiritual. In terms of biochemistry, psilocybin disrupts brain receptors thought to reinforce addictive behaviors. Psychologically, the drug is
believed to reduce cravings, increase motivation, and increase one's sense of self-efficacy. Spiritually -- or transcendentally -- psilocybin (along with other psychedelics) is thought to increase both a person's sense of purpose and
his or her sense of
universal connectedness or oneness.

"If our hypotheses are supported, this has the potential to revolutionize the fields of psychology and psychiatry in terms of how we treat addiction," Lappan
said.

But don't run out and start gobbling down magic mushrooms to quit cocaine just yet, the researchers cautioned.

"We aren't advocating for everyone to go out and do it," said Peter Hendricks, Ph.D., associate professor of health behavior in the School of Public Health at
UAB. "What we are saying is that this drug, like every other drug, could have appropriate use
in a medical setting. We want to see whether it helps treat cocaine use disorder."

They're not the only ones looking into the secrets of psilocybin. UAB is one of
a half-dozen universities studying its potential medicinal benefits. The others
are Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London, New York University, University of
California-San Francisco and Yale.

This article was produced by Drug Reporter (https://independentmediainstitute.org/drug-reporter/), a project of the Independent Media Institute.



================  ...


                                         ___________________

                                          It's time to correct the mistake:
                                       
Truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>

                                      Cops say legalize drugs--find out
why:
<http://www.leap.cc>

                                       Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
                                       ___________________

     bliss -- Cacao  Powered... (-SF4ever at DSLExtreme dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

      "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
      It is by the beans of cacao that the thoughts acquire speed,
      the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
      It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
         --from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

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