This Week in Psychedelics

Psilocybin shows promise in the treatment of depression, the UK Home Affair's Select Committee kicks off its first evidence session on drug policy, and a Polish politician threatens to light up a joint in parliament in this week's psychedelic news.

• In a recent study, psilocybin was shown to power down the brain's seat of reason and disconnect it from regions that process the way we see, hear, and experience the world: "Reducing the brain’s activity interfered with its normal ability to filter out stimuli, allowing participants to see afresh what would ordinarily have been dismissed as irrelevant or as background noise." (LA Times, io9, TIME)
• Two studies suggest that the active ingredient in magic mushrooms may help people with depression. In the first study, activity in the medial prefrontal cortex - which is hyperactive in depression - was shown to be lowered. In the second study, just published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, psilocybin was shown to enhance volunteers' recollections of positive memories. (The Age, Guardian, NPR, Disinfo, NY Daily News, Fox News, Nature, The Economist, Reuters)
• Early evidence suggests that a single dose of ketamine "could offer an almost instant remedy for severe depression". (Daily Mail, ABC News, CBS News, NPR)
  
• A study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that moderate marijuana smoking may boost lung capacity. (NPR, Newser)
• A UCSF study suggests patients with chronic pain may experience greater relief if their doctors added cannabinoids to an opiates-only treatment. (Science Daily)
  
• An international team of scientists have demonstrated that burning incense is psychoactive. (Science Daily)
• A new study published by the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests that smoking marijuana can improve mental sharpness for middle-aged men. (LA Weekly, Toke of the Town)
  
• Former UK government drugs adviser Prof David Nutt argues that regulations should be relaxed to enable researchers to experiment on mind-altering drugs. (BBC)
• The Independent reports that after 40 years, Washington is "quietly" giving up on its futile war on drugs. (Independent, ABC)
• In an online conversation with American voters, President Barack Obama ignored a barrage of questions about medical legalization and the drug war, despite the fact that 18 of the 20 most popular questions submitted via YouTube related to these subjects. (Huffington Post)
  
• Americans for Safe Access, the country's leading medical marijuana advocacy group, filed an appeal brief today in the DC Circuit to compel the US federal government to reclassify marijuana for medical use. (Americans for Safe Access)
  
• The Economist advocates treating narcotics (including mushrooms and LSD) as an issue of public health rather than of criminality. (Economist)
  
• A medical study published in The Lancet found that about 200 million people worldwide use illegal drugs each year, with cannabis as the most popular. Australia and New Zealand share the highest rate of marijuana and amphetamine usage. (NZ Herald)
  
• Australia's NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell urges marijuana smokers to stop smoking in the wake of a report showing high Australian cannabis usage. (Telegraph)
• According to the analysis of two senior economists, an Australian health campaign to raise taxes on cigarettes is less helpful than advocates claim, since higher prices could lead to "unhealthy outcomes" such as turning to marijuana smoking. (Post-Tribune)
• The Sydney Morning Herald reports that nearly two-thirds of searches by poice drug sniffer dogs result in someone owning up to having recently taken drugs or been in their presence. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Stastistics recently produced by NSW Police show that in 80 percent of cases sniffer dogs indicate false positives. (ABC)
• More than 160 people were arrested on drug charges at New Year's Day music festivals in Sydney and Melbourne. (Yahoo)
• 115 drug detections were made at ConFest, an alternative lifestyle festival in New South Wales, including magic mushrooms, LSD, hash cookies, and a stuffed toy filled with bags of white powder. (Nine MSN)
  
• In an Czech study, marijuana smokers scored higher on mystical aspects of spirituality than did alcohol drinkers. (Epiphenom)
  
• Crime statistics show that in the last decade the number of people over age 51 arrested for drug possession has doubled in Germany and tripled in New Zealand. (Otago Daily Times)
  
• Scott Morgan of the Huffington Post analyses an anti-legalization piece by Manon McKinnon in The American Spectator. (Huffington Post)
  
• The UK Home Affairs Select Committee's first evidence session on drug policy kicked off with oral evidence by Sir Richard Branson and Ruth Dreifuss, the former President of Switzerland. (Parliament)
• New sentencing guidelines in the UK avoid jail time for recreational drug users and acknowledge the medical use of cannabis for serious conditions. (Guardian)
• Liberal delegates in Canada voted 77% in favor of legalizing marijuana. (National Post)
• An online poll by the Sydney Morning Herald found that 81% of the 14,645 respondents favored drug decriminalization. (Sydney Morning Herald)
  
• Janusz Polikot, the leader of a new party that submitted a bill to legalize marijuana, lit up a large incense joint in Poland's parliament that he claimed was marijuana. He told reporters, "Someone said they would smoke a joint in parliament and the reaction was tantamount to someone announcing a coup d'etat." (Raw Story, Toke of the Town)
• MAPS' communications director Brad Burge debunks sensationalist headlines about the dangers of ecstasy use in conversation with the Chronicle of Higher Education. (Chronicle)
  
• The White House removed NORML's YouTube question about marijuana legalization, which it deemed inappropriate, after it received over 4,000 votes and was one of the highest rated questions. (NORML)
• Colorado US Attorney sent letters to 23 medical marijuana dispensaries and their landlords across Colorado warning them to shut down in 45 days or lose their property. (AlterNet)
• The Dutch government banned the use of khat, a leaf native to East Africa that is chewed for its stimulant properties, which is mainly used by the Netherlands' sizable Somali community. (AFP)
• Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul lays out a historical analysis of the racist roots of the drug war. (Huffington Post)
  
• One author points out that legalizing drugs is publicly Ron Paul's least controversial idea. (AlterNet)
• Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney dodged questions about the drug war and medical marijuana from members of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy in New Hampshire. (Raw Story, Huffington Post)
• A team from the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre at the University of New South Wales is trialling an oral spray to help ease marijuana withdrawal symptoms. (ABC, Sydney Morning Herald)
• A British drug manufacturer is hoping to get FDA approval for Sativex, its medical marijuana mouth spray. (CBS St. Louis)
• One journalist writes that while the FDA is under pressure to sanction research on non-synthetic versions of marijuana for medical use, potential approval will likely be reserved for "Big Pharma" corporations. (Natural News)
  
• Research published in the journal Biological Psychiatry suggests that teenagers who smoke cannabis are likely to have been born a smaller orbitofrontal cortex, which controls memory, reward, and decision-making. (Daily Mail)
  
• After a spate of recent deaths in Canada, police are reluctant to tell the public what unique markings are on ecstasy pills suspected to contain a lethal additive in fear of users thinking they're sanctioning the rest of the pills. (CTV)
• David Jay Brown, MAPS, and the narcotics unit at the district attorney's office counter Santa Clara County's claim of an ecstasy "epidemic". (San Jose)
  
• Before the recent first arrest for selling "magic mushrooms" in India, police were not aware that they were banned. (DNA India)
• A 125-year-old woman who died in India claimed smoking marijuana every day was her secret to a long life. (Cafe Vale Tudo)
• One reporter has a "hands-on" look at ayahuasca tourism in the Madre de Dios region of the central Peruvian Amazon. (Global Post)
  
• Alibi interviews Dr. Rick Strassman about his research with dimethyltryptamine (DMT). (Alibi)
• Antero Alli recalls a meeting with Robert Anton Wilson, "a psychedelic mensch with a genius IQ," during the summer of 1979. (BoingBoing)
• Apple co-founder Trip Hawkins recounts a time that Steve Jobs derogatively referenced Hawkins' lack of experience with LSD after the two disagreed on business matters. (Forbes)
  
• The University of Arizona's Daily Wildcat interviews NeuroSoup's Krystle Cole about drug laws and the potential benefits of psychedelics. (Daily Wildcat)
  
• The New York Times profiles Dana Beal, marijuana activist and ibogaine advocate. (NYTimes)
• A feminine anti-inflammatory product is being misused for a "legal high" with hallucinatory effects. (BBC)
  
• Although sunny days following rain on the North Coast of Australia have created perfect conditions for magic mushrooms to grow, experts warn that consuming wild mushrooms can be fatal. Two people recently died in Sydney after mistakenly eating death cap mushrooms, which look similar to edible mushrooms. In total there are 20 species of psychotropic mushrooms in Australia, the most common including "gold tops, blue meanies, and liberty caps". (Northern Star)
  
• A San Francisco Bay area weekend film retreat explores the health and creativity benefits of psychedelic drugs. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• An editorial equates Indian aesthetics with LSD use. (India Times)
  
• One author explores the relationship between Aldous Huxley's mescaline visions and his poor eyesight. (Guardian)
• Huffington Post publishes the top 10 cannabis science stories of 2011. (Huffington Post)
• openDemocracy presents a roundup of 2011's major developments in international drug policy. (openDemocracy)
  
• "Indie-rap supergroup" Gangrene released the CD "Vodka & Ayahuasca," their third album to come out in the last 15 months. Watch the video for the title track. (Consequence of Sound, DJ Booth, Smoking Sections)
• Madonna revealed that her upcoming 12th album will be named MDNA, a play on the main ingredient in ecstasy. (Noise11)
• In their Rolling Stones cover story, the Black Keys reminisce about tripping on mushrooms while traveling from Amsterdam to Paris. (Celeb Stoner)
  
• Jennifer Aniston's character takes ayahuasca in Wanderlust, a comedy film to be released next month. (Reality Sandwich)
• In a medical questions column, "Dr. Wallace" inaccurately claims that LSD has no potential for medical use and "may be stored in the body and released into the system weeks or even months after using the drug". (Post-Tribune)
• Professional skateboarder Jereme Rogers, after having a similar "episode" on magic mushrooms in 2009, went on a PCP-fueled rampage on the 11th floor of a hotel. (NY Daily News)
• A Christmas Eve incident involving LSD use by inmates at the state prison in Faribault, Minnesota turned chaotic when six prisoners suffered violent "drug reactions" that sent two to the hospital by ambulance and four to the Twin Cities by medical helicopter. (Star Tribune)
• Actress Demi Moore was reportedly hospitalized after inhaling nitrous oxide. (CBS)
• A Reality TV casting call searches for young people with "an interesting story" to appear in a TV documentary series entitled "I'm Addicted to Psychedelics". (Reality Wanted)
  
• DMT is described by a police sergeant as the "poor man's ecstasy or LSD." (Eagle Tribune, Ocala)
• A satirical article jokes that "Newt Gingrich could be derailed by his most recent campaign video after it was revealed he took over six tabs of LSD before filming." (Daily Squib)