This Week in Psychedelics

In this week's psychedelic news, 60 major public figures call for a debate on drug decriminalization, a survey reveals past-month marijuana use has outstripped cigarette smoking by high school seniors, and two psychedelics conferences convene on opposite sides of the globe.

• 60 major public figures including Sting, Yoko Ono, and the former American president Jimmy Carter have urged the UK's David Cameron to legalize drug use. (Telegraph)
• Two church directors were charged in the UK for importing DMT for use in ceremonial services. (This Is South Devon)
  
• The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) celebrated its 25th anniversary with a five-day conference in Oakland, CA. (MAPS)
  
• Entheogenesis Australis (EGA) convened for its eighth year as an outdoor psychedelic symposium in Victoria, Australia. (Entheo)
• Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former chief of Britain's intelligence agency MI5, called on the government to consider decriminalizing cannabis. (BBC)
  
• A Guardian article asserts the need for a new approach to drug policy in the UK based on scientific evidence. (Guardian)
• The December 2011 issue of Vanity Fair features an article on the recent explosion of interest in the therapeutic and spiritual uses of ayahuasca. (Vanity Fair)
  
• Bloomsburg Businessweek reports that nearly 40 years after Richard Nixon called Timothy Leary "the most dangerous man in America" for promoting the use of hallucinogenic substances, there is a rebirth of interest in their therapeutic benefits. (Business Week, Wall Street Journal, SF Gate)
• An LA Times article addresses the increased study of therapeutic uses for "hallucinogens and other street drugs." (LA Times)
• The latest update to the annual "Monitoring the Future" survey reports that past-month marijuana use is more commonly reported by high school seniors than smoking cigarettes. (TIME)
• Recent surveys show that one in fourteen people who enter treatment for addiction are under 18 years of age, and student-aged addicts primarily go to rehab for alcohol, marijuana, hallucinogens like LSD, salvia and mescaline, and prescription stimulants like Ritalin and inhalants. (Official Wire)
  
• The governors of Rhode Island and Washington called on the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, which would allow it to be dispensed for medical use. (Huffington Post, AZ Central)
• A Boston Globe columnist writes of marijuana that "the federal government is falling behind the science, the sentiment of states, and even compassion." (Boston Globe)
  
• Veterans have launched an online petition asking the feds to change their course on marijuana as a treatment for PTSD. (WIRED)
• Legal proceedings have been issued against the UK Home Secretary by Des Humphrey and Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR) after the government refused to consider his application to grow cannabis for personal medical use. (CLEAR)
  
• The city of Copenhagen voted overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing the sale of marijuana through a network of state-run shops and cafes. (Telegraph)
• Cannabis smokers in Switzerland will soon be allowed to grow up to four marijuana plants. A household of four can grow up to 16 plants as long as each person is tending their own. (Daily Mail)
  
• The Czech Republic decriminalizes the growing of peyote and magic mushrooms. (The Weed Blog)
• Vanderbuilt University researchers provide evidence that recreational ecstasy use can lead to chronic loss of serotonin in humans. (Daily Mail, LA Weekly)
• No arrests have been made in the month since Peru's government sent investigators to the Amazon to prove the brutal murders of at least 14 shamans. (Truthout)
• An editorial addresses a resurgence in the UK of stronger ecstasy pills over the past year, emphasizing the need for policies that emphasize harm reduction. (Telegraph)
  
• Nick Schou, author of "Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and its Quest to Spread Peace, Love and Acid to the World", tours key locations from Laguna Beach's late-'60s and early-'70s heyday as the international capital of LSD trafficking. (Patch) 
• A new "participatory biography" by Mark Christensen, "Acid Christ: Ken Kesey, LSD and the Politics of Ecstasy", chronicles the life of a Merry Prankster. (eNewsChannels)
• Separate studies suggest that post-surgery cancer patients and psychiatric patients could benefit from controlled use of marijuana and psychedelics. (Kalw)
• A proposed clinical trial in Australia would give MDMA to bushfire victims, flood survivors, and soldiers suffering from PTSD. (The Age)
• David Jay Brown reports that psychedelic-inspired visionary art is establishing new trends in the art world. (Santa Cruz Patch)
  
• Erika Dyck, professor of the history of medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, presented a lecture in St. John's about the use of LSD in Saskatchewan clinics and hospitals in the 1950s. (The Muse)
• Yale University alumni recall a greater presence of drugs like LSD and mushrooms at "The Game" - the annual football game between Yale and Harvard - over hard alcohol in the '60s and '70s. (Yale Daily News)
  
• An author describes his psilocybin ceremony during a spiritual trip to Mexico. (Times of India)
  
• One author describes his experiences with Datura, "the only substance I ever happened on that scared the mother-loving bejesus out of me." (Sabotage Times)
• A Pennsylvania man is in jail for trying to sell shiitake and porcini mushrooms as psychedelic mushrooms. (LA Times, Stuff, Sacramento Bee)
  
• A Wyoming man's car attracted the attention of police with a sign reading "driver being drugged by LSD," but no wrongdoing was determined. (Twin Cities)
  
• On December 7, the US Congress considered federal legislation that would outlaw synthetic marijuana and "designer drugs" that mimic the effects of cocaine, methamphetamines, and LSD but are marketed as bath salts, incense and fish food. (Des Moines Register)
• Ohio officials worry about the potential reemergence of psychedelic "bath salts" despite the success of the state's recent ban. (Ohio)
• An Ohio man is indicted on felony charges for allegedly putting LSD into a woman's drink at a concert. (NBC4i)
  
• A university lecturer in England who admitted possessing Class A drugs at his home where a schoolgirl died several months ago has been spared jail. (Yahoo News)
  
• A man accused of killing his wife blames involuntary carbon monoxide poisoning, citing a 1983 case where involuntary LSD intoxication was used as a successful defense. (LA Times)

"This Week in Psychedelics" is a Reality Sandwich column that follows the multifaceted media appearances of this class of chemicals and their effects in popular culture. Share your psychedelic news links on the facebook page.

Image by Christopher Martin Adams.