This Week in Psychedelics

"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.

• A Johns Hopkins study suggests that "magic mushcrooms" can reliably induce transcendental experiences, offering long-lasting psychological growth without negative effect. (Time)
• A sold-out panel at the Los Angeles Public Library discusses Aldous Huxley's relationship to psychedelics. (LA Times)
• An article suggests that psychedelic drugs could become prescription medications within 10 years. (AlterNet)
• Portugal celebrates its 10 year anniversary of decriminalizing drugs, which has resulted in "decreased youth drug use, falling overdose and HIV/AIDS rates, less crime, reduced criminal justice expenditures, greater access to drug treatment, and safer and healthier communities." (AlterNet)
• Study demonstrates that a nonhallucinogenic analog of LSD alleviates cluster headaches. (Science)
• The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration released a decision claiming that marijuana has no medical uses. (NY Magazine)
  
• Author of The End of Faith, discussing drugs and the meaning of life, argues that "[o]ne of the great responsibilities we have as a society is to educate ourselves...about which substances are worth ingesting, and for what purpose, and which are not." (Huffington Post)
• Buyers raced to purchase synthetic substances that mimic marijuana and LSD before a Minnesota ban went into effect. (Star Tribune)
• An opinion piece warns that the current generation of teenagers lacks knowledge about the risks of LSD, "mak[ing] them vulnerable if the drug returns to popularity." (New Brunswick Patch)
• Leaf Fielding's memoir, To Live Outside the Law, discusses LSD dealing in Britain in the 1970s. (Independent)
• Former mob boss Whitey Bulger is arrested after an extensive FBI search; defense might link killings to LSD tests performed on Bulger by the CIA. (Boston Herald; Modern Times
• Marijuana, mushrooms, LSD, and ecstasy are confiscated from suspects headed toward the Electric Forest Music Festival. (Holland Sentinel)
• An 18-year-old is charged with picking hallucinogenic mushrooms from a cow pasture. (Marco News)
• An accused LSD trafficker tops the US Marshals' Most-Wanted List. (MSN)