This Week in Psychedelics

A Johns Hopkins study on the spiritual benefits of psilocybin, Apple's Steve Jobs on LSD, and an inquest into the murders of 14 Peruvian shamans make this week's psychedelic news.

• A feature-length article on psilocybin studies celebrates the pragmatic revival of psychedelic research. (Salon)
  
• A study at Johns Hopkins University suggests that a single dose of "magic mushrooms" may create lasting personality change related to the quality of "openness," which includes traits related to imagination, aesthetics, feelings, abstract ideas and general broad-mindedness. (Science Daily, Bloomberg)
• In reaction to the recent JHU study on the spiritual effects of psilocybin, Huffington Post columnist Mark Morford laments that "the best and most illuminating of nature's medicines remain underground, sidelined and fringe while the costly synthetics rage on full force, addicting millions." (Huffington Post)
  
• MAPS makes the national news again in the Washington Post's sympathetic article, which details the remaining hurdles for a proposed marijuana study of veterans with PTSD. (Washington Post)
  
• Doctors prepare for the first clinical MDMA trial treating post-traumatic stress disorder in the UK. (Guardian)
• Steve Jobs's obituary emphasizes that "taking LSD was one of the two or three most important things he had done in his life. He said there were things about him that people who had not tried psychedelics - even people who knew him well, including his wife - could never understand." (NY Times)
  
• A TIME article relates the iPhone to the experience of LSD. (TIME)
  
• A Rutgers student interviews Robert Pandina, the director of the Center of Alcohol Studies, about Steve Jobs's use of LSD. Pandina remarks that his job of trying to persuade young people about the dangers of drug use has become more difficult in light of the association. (NJ.com)
• A gallup poll reports that a record 50% of Americans support marijuana legalization. (Gallup)
• Federal prosecutors launch a coordinated crackdown on California medical marijuana dispensaries. (Washington Post, USA Today)
  
• A U.S. Attorney says that the decision to crack down on medical marijuana establishments was a decision made in California, not Washington. (Huffington Post)
  
• California's largest doctor group is calling for the legalization of marijuana. It is the first major medical association in the nation to do so. (LA Times)
• 14 Peruvian shamans from the Shawi ethnic group have been murdered over the last 20 months, allegedly by order of a local mayor. (Guardian)
• The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would make it a federal crime for U.S. residents to discuss or plan activities abroad that, if carried out in the U.S., would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), even if the planned activities are legal in the countries where they would take place. "Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution." (Huffington Post)
  
• An in-progress indie film documents a group known as the Anonymous Artists of America (AAA), who were given 10,000 hits of LSD and a Buchla synthesizer by Richard Alpert (now Ram Dass) and became notorious shortly after the Summer of Love. (Indie Wire)
• DMT: The Spirit Molecule documentary was re-launched this month through Warner Bros. and Gravitas Ventures. (Gravitas Ventures)
  
• In a recent memoir, Dyan Cannon discusses her former marriage to actor Cary Grant, whom she describes as having used "LSD as a coping mechanism from his traumatic childhood." (FOX News)
• In his new book Converted on LSD Trip, David Clarke attributes to a terrifying acid trip his transformation from "drug-fuelled criminal in the swinging 60s" to a Christian pastor. (Bucks Herald)
• The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) invoked emergency authority to criminalize psychedelic "bath salts" "to protect the public from the imminent hazard posed by these dangerous chemicals." The action will take effect in October and remain in effect for 12 months, giving the Department of Health and Human Services time to work on a permanent ban. (Medicine Net)
• Psychedelic band Bird Names describes its music as "made under the influence of drugs and made for people under the influence of drugs." (Red and Black)
  
• Brian Dodgeon, research fellow at the University of London's Institute, admitted four counts of possession for ecstasy, LSD, 5-MeO-DIPT, and ketamine after an unsupervised party at his home led to the death of a 15-year-old girl. Dodgeon described himself as an "old hippie" and recreational drug user. (Guardian, Telegraph)
• A former NYPD narcotics detective admits to a common practice of fabricating drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas. (NY Daily News)

"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. Like the facebook page.

Image by Christopher Martin Adams.