In The News

Germany’s parliament has passed a law allowing individuals and voluntary associations to grow and hold limited quantities of cannabis, making it the latest in a small group of countries and jurisdictions to legalise the drug, at least in part.

The law passed by the chancellor, Olaf Scholz’s ruling three-party coalition, legalises cultivating up to three plants for private consumption, the possession of 50g of cannabis at one time at home, and 25g in public. It follows a heated debate about the pros and cons of allowing easier access to the drug.

“We have two goals: to crack down on the black market and improved protection of children and young people,” the health minister, Karl Lauterbach, said at the start of a rowdy debate where the opposition accused him of promoting drug use.

But Lauterbach said that this amounted to “sticking our heads in the sand”. Not only had cannabis use soared among young people, whose developing brains were particularly endangered, but drugs on the streets were both stronger and more impure nowadays, greatly increasing their harm.

About 7 million Germans are estimated to regularly use cannabis. The government has said previously that many users rely on the drug for medicinal reasons and that the new law will also improve the quality of cannabis consumed by growing numbers of young people.

Doctors against the law change have warned that it will endanger the health of young people by making the drug more accessible and thus increasing the risk of addiction.

The coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens and the pro-business FDP agreed in November to push on with the change, having included it in their coalition agreement on sharing power.

Adults will be permitted to grow up to three plants and possess small amounts of cannabis from 1 April, and three months later it will also be available in licensed not-for-profit clubs established to grow and distribute the cannabis plant.

Opposition has come from some of Germany’s 16 states, which will have responsibility for policing the law, including the southern state of Bavaria, ruled by the conservative Christian Social Union, which has urged the government to think again.

Some of Lauterbach’s fellow Social Democrats have also issued warnings, in particular about the use of cannabis around schools and kindergartens. The minister, in turn, has said legislation will prohibit the smoking of cannabis within 100 metres of educational establishments.

Police authorities have said that they will have difficulty imposing the rules. But Lauterbach responded by saying the policing of the hidden market had also been difficult.

The law change makes Germany the third European Union member state to legalise cannabis for personal use, after Malta and Luxembourg.

Advocates for the drug’s use for medicinal purposes said they were hoping for a positive influence from the decision by Europe’s largest economy that might pave the way for other countries to follow suit.

Observers from around the world will be closely watching how the law works in practice in Germany.

This article was amended on 23 February 2024 to make clear that the new law allows adults to be in possession of 50g of cannabis at home, and 25g in public.

Story from – The Guardian

Germany’s Government Coalition Reaches Final Deal On Cannabis Legalization

Dario Sabaghi – February 5, 2024

After resolving internal disagreements and making adjustments regarding cannabis legalization in Germany, the coalition government seems to have reached a consensus.

The leaders of the so-called Traffic Light Coalition, formed by The Greens, the Social Democrat Party, and the Liberals, announced last week that they have reached a deal on cannabis legalization after disagreements over the details of the proposed legislation. The bill will be voted on this month, with the aim of the legalization taking effect in April as planned.

This development clears the path for the legalization of cannabis for personal use, aligning with the impending vote. If there are no further delays, Germany is poised to become the third European Union member state to legalize cannabis for personal use, following Malta and Luxembourg.

The breakthrough follows an internal disagreement and criticism from the SPD regarding the details of the legislation. However, remnants of criticism still persist within the center-left party.

Although the leaders of the government coalition have officially reached an agreement on legalization, some SPD MPs remain opposed.

For instance, Sebastian Fiedler told the German news website Der Spiegel that he would vote against legalization. He cited his disagreement with a law that could “lead to the decriminalization of dealers and pointless extra work for the police.”

“My professional ethics as a criminal investigator don’t allow me to take any other stance,” he said.

Sebastian Hartmann, the domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, also said in an interview with Zeit Online that he would not support the reform in the Bundestag and couldn’t endorse the proposed plan.

“The coalition agreement originally provided for the controlled supply of cannabis in certified stores, but the current law shifts this supply to the private sector and thus to uncontrollability,” he said.

The path to legalization in Germany has encountered several hurdles. Initially, the coalition government had to revise its plan, which initially involved the sale of cannabis, as it risked breaching EU laws. Secondly, it confronted criticism from opposition parties seeking to obstruct the proposed legislation. Lastly, internal dissent within the government, particularly from the SPD, emerged regarding the details of the bill.

For the government coalition, the legalization of cannabis for personal use marks a significant milestone in modern drug policy, emphasizing prevention and improving health and child and youth protection.

However, the proposed legislation, introduced last year by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, may undergo additional slight revisions to address concerns raised by the SPD, potentially involving the expansion and acceleration of monitoring and reporting obligations related to the illicit market.

“The fight against the black market, decriminalization, and better protection of minors will come as announced. The previous drug policy has failed; a new beginning,” Lauterbach said on X.

Lawmakers recently revised the bill to ease restrictions opposed by advocates and supporters in the Bundestag. Changes included raising home possession limits and eliminating the possibility of jail time for slightly exceeding the possession limit.

The government coalition also plans to introduce a complementary measure establishing pilot programs for commercial sales, set to be revealed after submission to the European Commission.

The final Bundestag reading is expected in the week from February 19 to 23.

The law is set to pass in the week starting February 19, moving to the Bundesrat on March 22 without expected hurdles.

By April 1, the cannabis ban is likely to be lifted, allowing adults to grow cannabis at home and possess small quantities, while cannabis clubs will be allowed from July 1.

Story from Forbes – Germany Cannabis Legalization

Our Friend and Fellow Activist Dana Larson has been Arrested!
Stores have been Raided!

Vancouver police bust three storefronts selling psilocybin and psychedelics

Longtime pot activist Dana Larsen opened the stores on East Hastings, West Broadway and Granville street starting in 2019 …

Published Nov 01, 2023

Police have raided three Vancouver storefronts that were allegedly selling psychedelic drugs illegally. Early Wednesday, businesses in Marpole, Mount Pleasant and Strathcona were searched and psylocybin (magic mushrooms) and other psychedelics were seized, said VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison.

“We have been clear that anyone who breaks the law by illegally trafficking controlled drugs and substances could be arrested and charged with a criminal offence,” said Addison in a release. “This includes people who traffic drugs for profit from unlicensed and illegal retail businesses.”

Addison said investigators believe the controlled substances “were being bought and sold in bulk quantities to walk-in customers” at the stores on East Hastings Street, West Broadway Avenue and Granville Street.

The search warrants are part of an ongoing criminal investigation, and Addison said the VPD will consider recommending charges once it concludes.“Psilocybin is a controlled substance under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act,” noted Addison.

While there are exemptions in some cases in B.C. for people to possess and consume drugs for personal use, “it is illegal to traffic psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs unless an exemption from Health Canada has been obtained,” such as for a clinical trial.

Longtime pot activist Dana Larsen has publicly promoted his foray into the retail of mushrooms and other psychedelics such as DMT, LSD, peyote and kratom. He launched storefronts at the locations that were raided Wednesday starting in 2019.

Larsen claims his operations are “under attack by the city,” and is urging supporters to attend a public hearing about the business licences on Dec. 6 at city hall.

See Video and Story here – Mushroom Store Raids BC

Legendary Cannabis Chemist Raphael Mechoulam Passes Away in Israel at 92

Chemist Raphael Mechoulam has passed away. He was 92.

Born in Bulgaria in 1930, Mechoulam spent his adult life in Israel. He’s best known for synthesizing THC and other cannabinoids and discovering the endocannabinoid system (ECS).

Mechoulam was the Albert Hofmann of cannabis. (Hofmann discovered LSD.) In fact, Drug Policy Alliance founder Ethan Nadelmann made the same comparision when asked to comment about Mechoulam. “I can’t help but think of Albert Hofmann when I think of Raphael Mechoulam,” he tells CelebStoner. “Both were giants of psychoactive drug reserach who pioneered, led and legitimized the study of remarkable but controversial substances over the course of their very long and productive lives.”

In a recent article in the Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Mechoulam looked back at his life. After surviving World War II and the Holocaust (he father was placed in a concentration camp), he emigrated to Israel in 1949.

“In 1953 I was conscripted and spent about two years doing research in an Army medical research unit,” he wrote. “Most of my work was in chemistry, in collaboration with pharmacologists. A few years later, I moved to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where I continued my research for the next 55 years.”

Mechoulamn got in the ground floor of cannabis research: “My interest in natural products led me to read the literature on the chemistry and pharmacology of Cannabis. I was surprised to note that an active compound had apparently never been isolated in pure form and that its structure was only partially known. Even the structure of a major crystalline component, cannabidiol (CBD), which had been isolated more than two decades previously, was not fully elucidated. Their biological effects as pure or semipure compounds had barely been investigated.”

He explained how they acquired cannabis to study it: “The administrative head of my Institute knew a police officer, who was presumably the number two (or possibly the number three) in the Israeli Police hierarchy. He phoned and told him that a Dr. Raphael Mechoulam needed hashish for research and that he – meaning me – was completely reliable (though he barely knew me). I just went to Police headquarters, had a cup of coffee with the policeman in charge of the storage of illicit drugs and got 5 kg of confiscated hashish, presumably smuggled from Lebanon.”

his led to his discoveries of THC, CBD, cannabigerol (CBG), anandamide, 2-AG and eventually the ECS. “Although all the cannabinoids assayed were rather closely related chemically, only THC was active,” he noted. “Hence, except for CBD and THC, very little research was published on the other cannabinoid constituents for a few decades. However, over the last few years, interest in them has increased.”

In the mid-’80s, his colleague Allyn Howlett “reported the existence of a cannabinoid receptor, known today as CB1.” They further concluded that THC and anandamide “represent the chemical basis of a new biochemical/physiological network: the endocannabinoid system. This system, as seen today, in addition to the two endocannabinoids, also covers the enzymes needed to synthesize and hydrolyze the endocannabinoids as well as two receptors: CB1 and CB2. The endocannabinoid system is of central importance in the animal body and represents an important modulatory network in the brain.”

Mechoulam: “I had a cup of coffee with the policeman in charge of the storage of illicit drugs and got 5 kg of confiscated hashish, presumably smuggled from Lebanon.”

That was huge news. In his “finals thoughts,” Mechoulam speculated: “The endocannabinoid system is a latecomer to our knowledge in chemistry, pharmacology and physiology. Its involvement in biological processes is enormously wide, but most of the endogenous anandamide-like compounds and 2-AG-like compounds have yet to be investigated for their activity.

“I want to stress that in the endocannabinoid area, as well as in other areas, close collaboration between scientists working in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology is a wonderful and fruitful pathway to the discovery of novel biological traits. It has been a pleasure to work with my colleagues in Israel and abroad. I have learned a lot from them. And I hope to learn more.

Story from – Celebstoner.com

Liberal government launches review of Cannabis Act — a year late

The review will look at impact on Indigenous people, youth and home cultivation

B.C. gets approval for legal possession of small amounts of street drugs as deaths soar

Personal possession of up to 2.5 grams to be legal for three years beginning Jan. 31, 2023

Jane Skrypnek – May. 31, 2022

Health Canada has approved B.C.’s request to decriminalize small possessions of illicit drugs, although at a lower threshold than the province sought.

Beginning on Jan. 31, 2023, British Columbians 18 and older will be legally allowed to carry up to 2.5 grams of street drugs on them, which can include opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine or MDMA. Health Canada says the drugs must be for personal use only, and the program will be reviewed in three years.

It says adults found in possession of 2.5 grams or less won’t be arrested or charged and won’t have their drugs seized. Anyone producing or importing or exporting drugs and anyone carrying them for the purposes of trafficking will continue to face legal repercussions, though.

Health Canada says the months leading up to Jan. 31 will be used by B.C. to train law enforcement and health authorities, educate the public on the change, and work with First Nations and Indigenous leaders to ensure safe implementation.

It says it and a third party evaluator will be regularly monitoring the exemption throughout the three years and making any adjustments necessary.

The approval comes shortly after the six year anniversary of B.C. declaring a public health emergency around the opioid crisis. Since April 2016, close to 10,000 people have died to toxic drug overdoses.

Advocates have long pushed for decriminalization as one avenue for reducing the number of deaths. They argue criminalizing drug possession doesn’t stop people from using them, but rather drives them to use alone and turn to more dangerous methods of accessing them. Criminalizing drugs also increases stigma against people who use them and worsens their relationship with law enforcement, advocates say.

In B.C.’s request to Health Canada, it asked for a 4.5-gram carry threshold, which some advocates said was still unrealistically low. When they heard Health Canada was considering a 2.5-gram threshold instead back in April, several said the amount was laughable for many users.

“That’s something I would eat for breakfast,” people told Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users member Brittany Graham at the time.

It says decriminalization requests by Vancouver and Toronto are still pending, and declined to provide any kind of decision timeline.

Story from – The Abbotsford News

Master P Says People Shouldn’t Be Locked Up For Marijuana Offenses

MASTER P
NO ONE SHOULD BE IN JAIL FOR MARIJUANA
… Weed Like Them Freed!!!

May 19, 2022 – TMZ

Epstein-Barr Virus Found to Trigger Multiple Sclerosis

The research could mark a turning point in the fight against MS

A connection between the human herpesvirus Epstein-Barr and multiple sclerosis (MS) has long been suspected but has been difficult to prove. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the primary cause of mononucleosis and is so common that 95 percent of adults carry it. Unlike Epstein-Barr, MS, a devastating demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, is relatively rare. It affects 2.8 million people worldwide. But people who contract infectious mononucleosis are at slightly increased risk of developing MS. In the disease, inflammation damages the myelin sheath that insulates nerve cells, ultimately disrupting signals to and from the brain and causing a variety of symptoms, from numbness and pain to paralysis.

To prove that infection with Epstein-Barr causes MS, however, a research study would have to show that people would not develop the disease if they were not first infected with the virus. A randomized trial to test such a hypothesis by purposely infecting thousands of people would of course be unethical.

Instead researchers at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School turned to what they call “an experiment of nature.” They used two decades of blood samples from more than 10 million young adults on active duty in the U.S. military (the samples were taken for routine HIV testing). About 5 percent of those individuals (several hundred thousand people) were negative for Epstein-Barr when they started military service, and 955 eventually developed MS. The researchers were able to compare the outcomes of those who were subsequently infected and those who were not. The results, published on September 13 in Science, show that the risk of multiple sclerosis increased 32-fold after infection with Epstein-Barr but not after infection with other viruses. “These findings cannot be explained by any known risk factor for MS and suggest EBV as the leading cause of MS,” the researchers wrote.

In an accompanying commentary, immunologists William H. Robinson and Lawrence Steinman, both at Stanford University, wrote, “These findings provide compelling data that implicate EBV as the trigger for the development of MS.” Epidemiologist Alberto Ascherio, senior author of the new study, says, “The bottom line is almost: if you’re not infected with EBV, you don’t get MS. It’s rare to get such black-and-white results.”

Virologist Jeffrey I. Cohen, who heads the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health and was not involved in the research, is cautious about claiming “cause.” He argues that it still must be shown that preventing Epstein-Barr prevents MS but agrees the results are dramatic. “When the original studies were done with cigarette smoking and lung cancer, they found a 25-fold risk factor for people who smoked more than 25 cigarettes a day,” Cohen says. “This is even higher.”

Much of the world’s population, especially in developing countries, is infected with Epstein-Barr very early in life without much ill effect, although the virus can lead to several rare cancers. Everyone else is infected in adolescence and young adulthood, when Epstein-Barr usually leads to infectious mononucleosis, also called “kissing disease” because it is transmitted via saliva. After infection, Epstein-Barr lives on in some B cells of the immune system and the antibodies developed to fight it remain in the blood.

In the new study, which is a much larger expansion of a 2010 investigation, the researchers analyzed up to three blood samples for each individual with MS: the first taken when most of the military personnel were under the age of 20, the last taken years later, before the onset of the disease, and one in between. The team was looking for seroconversion, or the appearance of antibodies in the blood as evidence of infection. Each person with MS was also matched with two randomly selected controls without MS, who were of the same age, sex, race or ethnicity, and branch of the military. Out of the 955 cases of MS, they were able to assemble appropriate samples for 801 individuals with the disease and 1,566 controls. Thirty-five of the people who developed MS and 107 controls tested negative for EBV initially. Only one of the 801 people with MS had not been infected with Epstein-Barr before the disease’s onset. The risk of developing MS was 32 times greater for those who seroconverted by the third sample, compared with those who did not. As for the one case of MS in someone who remained negative for Epstein-Barr, it is possible that person was infected after the sample was taken, but  it is also true that, in diseases that are clinically defined by their symptoms, such as MS,  it is highly unlikely that 100 percent of cases derive from the same cause, even if most do, Ascherio says.

“The numbers are just so striking,” says Stephen Hauser, director of the University of California, San Francisco, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, who was not involved with the study. “It’s really a uniform seroconversion before the onset of MS that is really far more significant than in the control population.”

But to be sure Epstein-Barr was the culprit, Ascherio and his colleagues also measured antibodies against cytomegalovirus, another herpesvirus, and found no difference in levels in those who developed MS and those who did not. Using a subset of 30 MS cases and 30 controls, they conducted a scan to detect antibody responses to most of the viruses that infect humans. Again, there was no difference. And to rule out the possibility that infection with Epstein-Barr preceded MS and not the other way around, the team also measured levels of a protein that is elevated in serum when neurons are injured or die and that therefore serves as a marker of the beginning of the pathological process before clinical symptoms appear. The protein levels only rose after Epstein-Barr infection.

One major question remains, however: How does the virus lead to the disease? That is unknown and “elusive,” Robinson and Steinman wrote in their commentary. They proposed several possibilities, such as inducing an autoimmune reaction.

Even if Epstein-Barr is the triggering event for MS, infection alone is insufficient for an actual diagnosis. Epstein-Barr, it appears, has to combine with a genetic predisposition and possibly environmental factors, such as smoking and vitamin D deficiency, to increase risk. Understanding the underlying mechanism will be important, the experts say. But meanwhile “this is the best epidemiologic lead we have in terms of the cause of MS,” Hauser says.

Historically, we have thought of MS as an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology. “Now we should start thinking of MS as a complication of infection with the Epstein-Barr virus,” Ascherio says. “This should open a new chapter in trying to find a way to treat and prevent the disease.”

Antivirals that target EBV in infected B cells are one possibility. One of the more exciting developments in MS in recent years was the success of B-cell-depletion therapies. In earlier work, Hauser and his colleagues found that the tissue damage in MS is primarily directed by B cells, which attack the myelin sheath protecting nerves. The therapies now approved for use are monoclonal antibodies that kill those B cells, thereby easing inflammation. They are not a cure but are highly effective against MS relapses, reducing the development of new lesions measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain by an astounding 99 percent. They are also the only therapies shown to be effective against primary progressive MS, a previously untreatable form of the disease. “One might be able to refine these therapies that are working well and maybe just target the EBV-infected B cells,” says immunologist Christian Münz of the University of Zurich, who was also not involved in the new Science study.

Others are already working on vaccines that could prevent infection with Epstein-Barr. Moderna, which created an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, launched a phase 1 trial of an mRNA vaccine for Epstein-Barr earlier this month. And NIAID’s Cohen expects to begin a phase 1 trial of another Epstein-Barr vaccine by the end of February. If these researchers succeed, such vaccines might dramatically reduce the incidence of mononucleosis and some cancers. And now it is conceivable that they could do the same for MS.

Story from Scientific American

New Hope for TGN Suffers

Video on CTV Website

Octopuses Rolling on MDMA Reveal Unexpected Link to Humans

“They just embraced with multiple arms.”

Inverse- Sarah Sloat

When the California two-spot octopus isn’t attempting to bring more eight-legged cephalopods into this world, it prefers to be alone. Known to scientists as Octopus bimaculoides, the alien-like invertebrate spends most of its time hiding or searching for food, asocial males avoiding asocial females until their biological clocks say it’s time to partner up. That is, until they are on MDMA. In a groundbreaking study, researchers described how octopuses on the drug act similarly to a socially anxious human on MDMA: They open up.

Gül Dölen, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and the co-author of the 2018 Current Biology paper. She tells Inverse that when octopuses are on MDMA, it’s like watching “an eight-armed hug.”

“They were very loose,” Dölen says. “They just embraced with multiple arms.”

While MDMA is known to trigger prosocial behavior in mice and humans, it has never been witnessed in invertebrates, animals that have no backbone. Vertebrates and invertebrates have wildly divergent bodies and brain structures, and for a long time scientists didn’t think the latter had the capacity to be social. They only recently realized invertebrates deserved a second look.

Because of improvements in molecular genetic analysis, Dölen explains, we’re beginning to understand the ways in which both groups evolved from a common ancestor. The findings of the study add evidence to the idea that social behaviors have a long evolutionary history — going back much farther than we ever believed. The electrifying results could significantly impact what we know about the evolution of brains and why MDMA-assisted therapy seems to be such a useful tool in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

“After the MDMA, it was like an eight-armed hug.”

An octopus differs from a human in ways far beyond the obvious. A heap of no bones and 33,000 genes, octopuses are believed to be Earth’s first intelligent beings. They are utterly different from all other animals, with a central brain that surrounds the esophagus and two-thirds of their neurons in their arms. They’re separated from humans by more than 500 million years of evolution. But despite the differences between octopuses and humans, Dölen and her colleague Eric Edsinger, Ph.D., a research fellow at the University of Chicago’s Marine Biological Laboratory, choose to focus on a single crucial similarity. The brain of the California two-spot octopus contains a serotonin transporter that enables the binding of MDMA — much like human brains.

This means that serotonin — believed to help regulate mood, social behavior, sleep, and sexual desire — is an ancient neurotransmitter that’s shared across vertebrate and invertebrate species. Dölen and Edsinger hypothesized this before the octopuses were ever bathed in MDMA.

“We needed to check the genome to make sure that the genes that encode the serotonin transporter, which is the protein that MDMA binds to, was still a binding site in octopuses even despite the fact that so much evolutionary time had passed,” Dölen explains.

“We performed phylogenetic tree mapping and found that, even though their whole serotonin transporter gene is only 50 to 60 percent similar to humans, the gene was still conserved. That told us that MDMA would have a place to go in the octopus brain and suggested it could encode sociality as it does in a human brain.”

That’s a revolutionary suggestion because scientists only very recently began to accept that invertebrates are even capable of being social. After all, without MDMA, California two-spot octopuses prefer to be loners. In a 2017 study in the Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers from Queen Mary University of of London wrote the possibility that invertebrates could have emotions has “traditionally been dismissed by many as emotions are frequently defined with reference to human subjective experience, and invertebrates are often not considered to have the neural requirements for such sophisticated abilities.”

But recent studies, illustrating a shift in thinking, have shown that invertebrates like sea slugs, bees, and crabs all display various cognitive, behavioral, and phsyiological phenomena that suggest internal states reminiscent of emotions.

This is why the fact that octopuses can bind serotonin is so important. Serotonin is a key mitigator of the emotional aspects of human behavior and sociality. That octopuses, one of the most advanced invertebrates, have a similar pathway geared toward social behavior despite the fact that their brains are organized very differently suggests that sociality is spread across the animal kingdom.

“There have been studies showing that serotonin is important for social behaviors for both invertebrates and vertebrates, and this really confirms to me that it’s true that serotonin is conserved across hundreds of millions of years of evolution,” says Dölen.

This became clear when she observed how octopuses acted after they were bathed in MDMA. Individual octopuses were put into the middle zone of a glass aquarium that was divided into three. From the middle zone, the subject octopus had the option to move into the zone on either side of it. On one side, there was another octopus in a cage, and on the other, there was a “novel toy object” (a Stormtrooper figurine). Sociality was measured by the number of seconds the subject octopus spent on the side with the caged octopus compared to the Stormtrooper side. Five octopuses were used in the control experiment, and four were used during the MDMA trial.

Watching the individual control octopuses — those that hadn’t been bathed in MDMA — during 30-minute test sessions, the researchers found that all of the octopuses spent more time with the Stormtrooper when the social chamber contained a male. When the social chamber contained a female, both male and female octopuses tentatively explored that area.

They would “push against the wall and sort of delicately touch the container that had the octopus in it,” says Dölen.

But when these octopuses were on MDMA, they were not delicate with their movements toward the caged individuals. After being placed in a bath with MDMA for 10 minutes, and then washed with saline for 20 minutes,, and they re-entered the three-zone aquarium. This time around, they spent significantly more time with the other octopus, whether it was male or female, and the eight-armed hugging commenced.

“This paper is welcomed, as the behavioral neuroscience of cephalopods is very understudied,” Dalhousie University invertebrate behavioral physiologist Shelley Adamo, Ph.D., who was not involved with the current paper, tells Inverse. Adamo also studies the interactions between behavior and physiology in invertebrate model systems. “We know little about how their brains work. This paper breaks new ground by examining the underlying molecular basis of at least one neurotransmitter system.”

But she also cautions that it’s too early to jump to conclusions because the paper’s evidence that “the octopus were engaging in ‘social’ behaviors is not especially strong.” There could be alternative explanations for all that friendliness. Maybe the drug altered their foraging behavior and the target octopus “smelled” like food (cephalopods are occasionally cannibalistic). Maybe the MDMA changed their typical hunting behavior, and being hungry could explain why both male and female octopuses were interested in the target.

“As with most interesting papers, it raises a number of questions: What would two octopus do if they were both on MDMA and they could contact one another?” Adamo asks. “The small sample size — a necessary evil for most studies on cephalopods — means that the data is not as robust as it could be.”

Dölen has two hypotheses to explain what happened. Qualitatively, it looks like octopuses on MDMA, much like humans, could just like touching in general,, and the octopus in the cage “is the most interesting object that an octopus would want to touch.” Or it could be that the drug really does make them social. The latter, she believes, is the most robust hypothesis: MDMA affects human interest in social touch as well, and that seems to be preserved in octopuses as well.

“What this says to me is that in the brain of an octopus, the neural circuits and transmitters that are required for social behavior must exist,, and they are just suppressed most of the time,” says Dölen. “Octopuses appear to suspend their asociality during important mating periods through a suppression mechanism in their brain.”

The MDMA used in the study was provided by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the nonprofit organization that funds the FDA-approved Phase 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in patients with severe PTSD. This research, Dölen says, has intrigued MAPS founder Rick Doblin, and with good reason. It suggests that perhaps the best way to gain insight into MDMA’s mechanisms and therapeutic importance isn’t by taking an fMRI picture of the brain and examining the regions it activates, which has been standard practice in MDMA research. From Dölen’s point of view, the fact that octopuses don’t have the the same brain regions as humans but still carry the genes that enable MDMA binding means that molecular and cellular information is going to be more useful than anatomical data.

“Octopuses don’t have the same parts of the brain that we think are important for social behavior, a region called the nucleus accumbens,” says Dölen.

“What we’re arguing is that the brain regions don’t matter. What matters is that they have the molecules, the neurotransmitters, and some configuration of neurons. They have the serotonin transporter,, and that’s enough.”

Sarah Sloat is a writer based in Brooklyn. She has previously written for The New Republic, Pacific Standard, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. She likes cheese especially when paired with a full-bodied joke.

Story from – getpocket.com

Could magic mushrooms be the next marijuana?

With active legislation in 7 states, including NY, to allow the therapeutic use of the psychedelic drug, psilocybin could become the next mainstream medicinal high

Tyler Wetherall – December 15, 2021

New mothers are doing it to relieve postpartum depression. Tech CEOs are partaking to enhance productivity. Artists seek a creative boost, and chronic pain sufferers want relief. Microdosing — taking very small doses of psychedelic drugs, such as LSD or psilocybin mushrooms — has entered the cultural consciousness as the panacea of the moment.

The trend — which is also illegal — is part of a new dawning awareness of psychedelics, in particular psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms. Several cities and states, including New York, this year have introduced legislation to decriminalize the compound or allow its medicinal use.

Is the ‘War on Drugs’ over? Canada is seeing a ‘shift’ in its approach to drugs, experts say

By Rachel Gilmore – Gobal News – December 8, 2021

Walking around the downtown core of any major Canadian city, it’s not unusual to see weed dispensaries nestled between restaurants and cafes. It would’ve been a pipe dream just a decade ago.

Since making marijuana legal, the Canadian government has continued to inch toward a softer drug policy.

The federal government introduced legislation Tuesday to repeal mandatory minimum penalties for drug offences, and Health Canada decided last year to allow some palliative patients to use psilocybin — the chemical compound in magic mushrooms — to relieve end-of-life suffering. Toronto and Vancouver have also called for the decriminalization of the possession of small amounts of drugs.

Taking all this together, experts say it’s clear we’re starting to “see a shift” in Canada’s stance on drugs.

“I see an acknowledgment that the war on drugs has been a failure,” said Dr. Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an assistant professor in the department of sociology at the University of Toronto.

“I see a shift in the acknowledgment that many substances that are currently illegal — and people don’t have access to — can be used as medicines. And I see a shift just generally with respect to our openness and the use of drugs for pleasure.”

In a submission to Health Canada last month, British Columbia detailed its intention to decriminalize the personal possession of up to 4.5 grams of illicit drugs such as heroin, crack and powder cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine. Vancouver has also made a similar submission of its own. And just one week ago, Toronto’s top doctor said she’d like to see the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs decriminalized in the city — and she’s got support from the local police chief.

The changes come as the country finds itself in the grips of an opioid crisis that worsened amid the pandemic. Between April 2020 to March 2021, a total of 6,946 apparent opioid overdoses were reported across the country — an 88-per cent jump from the same time period prior to the pandemic.

B.C. reported the highest-ever number of drug deaths in the first seven months of 2021: 1,204, surpassing last year’s record by 28 per cent. Drug toxicity is now the province’s leading cause of death for those aged 19-39, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.

In Ontario, opioid-related deaths rose by more than 75 per cent after COVID-19 hit in 2020, compared with the year before, a report by Ontario Drug Policy Research Network showed.

These figures point to one thing: “What we’re doing isn’t working,” according to Dr. Leslie Buckley, an addictions psychiatrist and the chief of addictions at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

“We’re trending up on all substances. Opioid deaths, crystal meth — we’re seeing so much of that — alcohol and cannabis are both on the way up.”

Drugs have only been illegal in Canada for a little over 100 years, according to the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. Views began to shift in society in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the coalition’s website explains, mainly due to the “influence of Protestantism,” a growing unease in the medical community when it came to “unregulated medicine,” and a growing anti-opium sentiment.

In 1971, then-U.S. president Richard Nixon kicked off the so-called war on drugs, declaring in a historic speech that the United States government planned to treat drug addiction as a “public enemy No. 1” that had to be defeated with a “new all out-offensive.”

Canada followed suit with a harsher approach to drugs in 1987, when then prime minster Brian Mulroney brought about Canada’s first five-year National Drug Strategy.

“The war on drugs has not only been ineffective but in many ways amplified some of the problems around substance use that it is presumably meant to address, by criminalizing users,” said Andrew Hathaway, a professor of sociology at the University of Guelph.

“If you recognize the drug problems are a matter of addiction, are a matter of dependence, things that are typically framed within a public health or a medical framework — it really makes no sense to keep up the war on drugs measures.”

Increasingly, policymakers seem to be in agreement with Hathaway.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far rejected wholesale decriminalization of simple drug possession and consumption. However, his government has taken some steps that treat drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal one.

In 2018, the Liberal government legalized marijuana. Also in 2018, the government made changes to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, allowing health care providers to prescribe, sell or provide methadone without having to apply for an exemption with Health Canada.

The Liberal government is now trying to scrap mandatory minimums for drug offences, too, and is increasingly being lobbied by companies touting the medicinal benefits of magic mushrooms.

“I’m never averse to a positive suggestion or solution, and I’m always willing to assess that,” Justice Minister David Lametti added when pressed about the decriminalizing small-scale possession of drugs on Tuesday.

The new mandatory minimum bill would help “divert” people facing those kinds of charges away from the criminal justice system into “more appropriate forums to address those problems,” he said.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole also showed a slightly softer stance on drugs earlier this year, expressing his concerns about heavy-handed sentences for drug offences.

“It’s not appropriate to have very serious penalties for Canadians who have problems with drugs,” O’Toole said at a news conference in January, according to The Toronto Star.

Still, he does not agree with experts calling for the decriminalization of small-scale possession of drugs.

“We’ve seen horrible cases with opioids and other (drugs). Maybe it’s time for the government to put in place a plan for the well-being of Canadians, on the drugs and on mental health,” O’Toole said.

“It’s not the time right now to legalize all drugs.”

Trudeau’s government has indicated any intention to legalize all drugs. The only proposals to date have dealt with the decriminalization of small-scale possession.

When asked for an updated statement on Tuesday, the Conservatives provided Global News with a statement from their justice critic, Rob Moore.

“Canada’s Conservatives believe those struggling with addiction should get the help they need to recover,” the statement read.

Overall, the policy changes and softening stances show that there’s a sea change happening with respect to Canada’s approach to drugs, according to Owusu-Bempah.

“I think we’re seeing some fairly large —I’d almost say momentous — shifts with respect to our view on what are currently a variety of illegal substances,” he said.

Illegal, untested CBD products are everywhere and could be putting you at risk

Thriving black market full of misleading health claims, potentially contaminated products

Steven D’Souza, Tyana Grundig, Greg Sadler – CBC News – Oct 22, 2021

The claim from the sales person to the undercover Marketplace crew seemed straightforward enough: a CBD-infused balm will “100 per cent” help with back pain and “in 15 minutes it will feel like relief.” But not only is that promise a complete exaggeration, both that claim and the product are illegal.

A CBC Marketplace investigation has found hundreds of illegal CBD products for sale in a thriving Canadian black market. Going undercover, we found products are easily available and salespeople are willing to make extravagant and illicit health claims.

• Watch Marketplace tonight at 8 p.m. (8:30 in NT) on CBC-TV and CBC Gem.

While Canadians look to CBD, or cannabidiol, for its promise as a health remedy, Marketplace has found there’s no control over what goes into the illegal black market products — and no way to test them.

• Have questions about this story? We’re answering as many as we can in the comments.

Unlike in the U.S., CBD is a controlled substance in Canada; it is considered among drugs the government thinks can be addictive or potentially abused. These include illegal street drugs and prescription medication. CBD was lumped in with THC when cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018.

That means, like other cannabis products, only government-licensed retailers are allowed to sell CBD products and there are strict rules and regulations around who is allowed to grow, process and distribute CBD products.

For example, in Ontario, authorized CBD products can only be legally purchased online at the Ontario Cannabis Store, from authorized licensed dispensaries or with a medical note from authorized stores such as Shoppers Drug Mart. In British Columbia, BC Cannabis Store is the only legal place to buy CBD online.

It is also illegal to make any health or cosmetic claims about CBD products in Canada. To make a health claim, the product requires approval as a prescription drug under the Food and Drugs Act. No CBD products in Canada have that approval.

That didn’t stop a salesperson at Calyx Wellness, another unlicensed CBD store in Toronto, from making bold claims about CBD: “From what I’ve heard, it depends on your situation, but it’ll help with anything,” she told the undercover Marketplace crew.

‘We’ve got very little evidence’

CBD is one of many compounds found in the cannabis plant, but unlike the more well-known THC it doesn’t get you high. While some preliminary research suggests therapeutic uses for CBD — primarily for anxiety, insomnia and pain — experts say more research is needed.

Take that CBD-infused balm from Sensitiva on Queen Street West in Toronto, for example. Jason Busse, the associate director of McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research, says CBD doesn’t dissolve in water and most topicals, he says, are unlikely to penetrate the skin. While a minority of individuals will find some benefit, Busse says, “We’ve got very little evidence as to whether these topical preparations work and whether CBD in isolation works.”

The lack of strong scientific evidence around CBD hasn’t stopped the black market from offering everything from tinctures, oils, creams and chocolate to shampoo, face masks and personal lubricants, with claims CBD can help with everything from writer’s cramp to “halting the duplication of cancerous cells.”

At Sensitiva, the salesperson pitched us on the benefits of topical CBD products: “CBD helps with inflammation in your body and that can be something topical like skin rashes, psoriasis, acne, wrinkles, sun damage, etc., which is why most of our products are topical.”

“Right now there’s an opportunity to sell this product and sell a lot of it, and because we don’t have a lot of evidence [to back up health claims], marketing fills that gap,” said Busse.

An exploding market

The popularity of CBD, or cannabidiol, has exploded in recent years, riding a wave of anecdotes and celebrity endorsements, with everyone from Kim Kardashian to Martha Stewart promoting its benefits. Early research has found that while CBD may interact with other drugs, it does not have any addictive properties or major side effects, according to the World Health Organization.  

In the U.S., legislation around CBD was relaxed with the 2018 Farm Bill, removing CBD derived from hemp (CBD with less than .3 per cent THC) from the Controlled Substances list. Sales of CBD in the U.S. grew to US$ 4.7 billion in 2020.

Experts say because of widespread availability in the U.S., Canadians may not realize that the CBD products that have sprung up at their local farmer’s market, CBD boutique store, unlicensed websites or even pet stores are all illegal.

“It’s a Wild West, it’s buyer beware. There’s hundreds of these websites making all kinds of claims from A to Z,” Busse said. “And it’s left to the consumer to somehow sort all this out.”

What’s in black market CBD?

CBD products sold on the black market don’t undergo the same rigorous standards of testing that licensed CBD products go through.

While some of the black market sites Marketplace examined did provide test results, it wasn’t clear if all lots or batches were tested, and some sites provided results that were years out of date.

Busse says because CBD is regulated as a controlled substance, which puts it in the same legal category as drugs like fentanyl, he and other researchers have run into the same legal hurdles as the CBC in their attempts to test black market CBD products.

“These products can be acquired by anyone in Canada with an internet connection and a credit card,” Busse said. “But you can’t actually test what all these people are using, which seems very counterintuitive.”

U.S. tests find half of CBD products contain undisclosed THC

Testing may be tricky in Canada, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regularly tests CBD products. Busse says that removing CBD as a controlled substance in the U.S. has made it easier for U.S. researchers to study, evaluate and to test the products on the market.

The FDA has found many products do not contain the CBD they claimed, and up to 50 per cent of products the agency tested contained undisclosed THC.

Unexpected THC can cause sedation, anxiety or even paranoia. That’s what happened to a New Brunswick woman in 2019 after she unknowingly purchased an unlicensed CBD product to help with her anxiety.

“We have a real problem in terms of what people think they’re buying and in many cases what they actually get,” Busse said, noting CBD products are not cheap and can cost up to hundreds of dollars.

The missing science around CBD

As popular demand outpaces medical research on CBD, the lack of study is both a worry and frustration for doctors like Hance Clarke.

Clarke, who is director of Pain Services at Toronto General Hospital, is also running an observational study on how cannabis, including CBD products, can help with chronic pain, sleep, anxiety and depression.

Clarke estimates about one in every three individuals get some benefit from CBD treatments, but he says it is no “utopia” and more research is needed. He says doctors need more clinical trials and proven data to confidently discuss CBD with their patients. He agrees with Busse that the legal hurdles placed by Health Canada around testing and research need to be removed.

“Show me that it works better than a placebo,” Clarke said. “Until we can get some of that data, which we are handcuffed right now to get, that’s when we can actually be certain what we’re doing.”

CBD metabolizes in the liver, and both Clarke and Busse want to see more research done on how CBD can interact with medications like blood thinners, antidepressants, opioids and benzodiazepines, as well as anti-seizure and chemotherapy drugs.

CBD for pets is also illegal

Pet owners treating their animals is another big growth area for CBD, and another example of consumers often crossing into illicit territory and maybe not realizing it.

In Canada, any CBD products marketed for pets are illegal and veterinarians are prevented from prescribing it.

So when palliative care veterinarian Dr. Sarah Silcox was called to help Robyn Golding find an end-of-life treatment for Golding’s dog, Georgia, Silcox could only offer “guidance” and dosage help. Silcox recommended Golding try CBD, and suggested human CBD from a legal dispensary on the nine-year-old Shiloh Shepherd.

The results, Golding says, are more than her family ever dreamed. Six months after complications from surgery left Georgia in chronic pain and unable to use her hind legs, Georgia is now hobbling around happily, a new lease on life that Golding says is thanks to CBD.

While it is illegal to test black market CBD products in Canada, Marketplace did find one group of veterinary researchers in Saskatchewan and Ontario who tested a small sample of illicit Canadian CBD products marketed for pets. The study found the CBD levels were often mislabelled; some of the CBD potencies were either “dramatically lower than the stated cannabinoid content, or simply undetectable.” One CBD pet product had almost no CBD but high levels of undisclosed THC. Contaminants and pesticides were also found.

Silcox, who is also president of the Canadian Association of Veterinary Cannabinoid Medicine, says undisclosed THC is a big concern as animals can end up in the emergency room with adverse effects from THC ingestion and intoxication.

Silcox said she would like to see pet products containing CBD regulated by Health Canada. She also wants vets to have the power to authorize CBD to pet owners.

• Click here for Health Canada’s full response, tips on how to buy legal CBD, and more on our investigation.

The two unlicensed CBD stores Marketplace visited with hidden cameras, Calyx Wellness and Sensitiva, did not respond to CBC’s request for comment.

Health Canada says it is reviewing how Canadians use cannabis. The agency held public consultations in 2019, and in November 2020 launched the Science Advisory Committee for Health Products Containing Cannabis. A review of the current legislation is also in the works, but a report isn’t expected until about 2023.

Health Canada did not say whether or not it will be declassifying CBD as a controlled substance.

“If we can get there,” Busse said, “I think we can start to provide evidence that can fill these very large gaps that currently exist out there, and push back where needed on some of the overly aggressive marketing claims that are being made.”

• If you have tips on this or any other story, please email the Marketplace team at [email protected]

Story From CBC Website

Analysis: Marijuana Legalization Opponents’ Fears Have Not Come to Fruition in Canada

NORML – August 17,2021

Concerns that legalizing marijuana for those ages 18 and older in Canada would lead to adverse public health consequences have not come to fruition, according to an analysis published in the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

The analysis finds that there has been “no marked increase in cannabis youth by use” in the three-year period following legalization. Authors further highlight the positive societal impact of reducing marijuana-related arrests among adults and young people following the policy change. Regulating marijuana has also led to more targeted public health messaging, authors suggest.

They conclude: “In the lead up to legalization, professional associations … suggested that legalization posed a threat to public health, advocated for the legal age for cannabis use to be set at a minimum age of 21 or 25, or that Canada should not legalize at all because it would place youth at greater risk of harm. With such categorical fears now shown to be largely unfounded, this should provide the basis to move forward on more nuanced grounds. … [O]n the balance, cannabis legalization – especially when considering the severe adverse social impacts of criminalization, and especially for youth – continues to offer the potential to better protect and achieve consequential net benefits to public health and welfare of cannabis users and society at large.”

Commenting on the data, NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri said: “From a public health standpoint, regulation and education are preferable strategies to criminalization. Overall, adult-use legalization is working largely as voters and politicians envisioned, which is why an increasing number of jurisdictions are shifting their policies in this direction.”

Separate assessments of Canada’s legalization policy have no uptick in the percentage of motor vehicle accidents attributable to marijuana and no changes in either cannabis use or access among higher-risk youth. Additional data published in April in the journal Health Reports finds that Canadians are rapidly shifting from the illicit market to the legal market – with an estimated 70 percent of cannabis consumers now reporting obtaining the plant from legal sources.

Analyses of state-level adult-use regulation laws in the United States have similarly failed to find significant upticks in either youth use or access that could be attributable to legalization. Other studies have reported no association between legalization laws and any increases in either drug treatment admissions, violent crime, or overdose deaths.

Full text of the study, “Youth cannabis use and legalization in Canada – Reconsidering the fears, myths, and facts three years in,” appears in the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Additional information is available from the NORML fact-sheet, ‘Marijuana regulation: Impact on Health, Safety, and Economy.’

Story from – NORML

Senate Leader Unveils Long-Awaited Marijuana Descheduling Plan

NORML- July 14, 2021

Washington, DC: United States Senate Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), along with Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) unveiled draft legislation repealing the federal prohibition of marijuana at a press conference on Wednesday.

The draft legislation, titled the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, makes numerous changes to federal marijuana laws while providing deference to states’ cannabis policies.

Upon introducing the legislation, Sen. Schumer said: “This is monumental because at long last we are taking steps in the Senate to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs. … I will use my clout as Majority Leader to make this [legislation] a priority in the Senate. … It makes eminent sense to legalize marijuana.”

NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri said: “The days of federal prohibition are numbered. These actions by Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Senators Booker and Wyden reflect the fact that the supermajority of Americans is demanding that Congress take action to end the cruel and senseless policy of federal prohibition. It is time for legislators to comport federal law with the laws of the growing number of states that have legalized the plant, and it is time for lawmakers to facilitate a federal structure that allows for cannabis commerce so that responsible consumers can obtain high-quality, low-cost cannabis grown right here in America without fear of arrest and incarceration.”

NORML Political Director Justin Strekal added: “Our main priority is to ensure that Americans who choose to responsibly consume cannabis are no longer discriminated against under the law. “With one in eight Americans choosing to consume on a semi-regular basis, including nearly one in four veterans, we must end the practice of arresting over 500,000 Americans every year and denying countless others employment, housing, and other civic rights if we are truly to be the ‘Land of the Free’. The federal government can take great strides toward rectifying this situation by advancing the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act through the legislative process.”

Specifically, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act directs the US Attorney General to remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act — thereby allowing states to either maintain or establish their own cannabis regulatory policies free from undue federal interference. Under this scheme, state governments – if they choose to do so – can continue to impose criminal penalties for marijuana possession offenses. However, states would not be permitted to prohibit the interstate commerce of legal cannabis products transported through their borders.

The proposal also mandates for the expungement of the records of anyone convicted of a federal, non-violent marijuana offense. The expungements must take place within one year of the law’s enactment.

The Act also forbids federal officials from taking discriminatory actions against those who legally use cannabis. It prohibits “individuals from being denied any federal public benefit … on the basis of [the] use or possession of cannabis.” It also, for the first time, permits physicians associated with the US Department of Veterans Affairs to make recommendations to their patients to access medical cannabis.

The proposal transfers primary agency jurisdiction over cannabis regulation from the US Drug Enforcement Administration to the Food and Drug Administration and to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau in manner similar to the ways in which these agencies already oversee alcohol and tobacco products. A federal excise tax of 10 percent would be imposed within the first year of the law’s enactment. Medical cannabis access programs, which are operational in the majority of US states, would not be disrupted under this federal plan.

Pending language in the US House of Representatives, the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2021, similarly removes (deschedules) cannabis from the CSA and facilitates the expungement of past federal marijuana-related crimes. House lawmakers passed a previous version of the MORE Act in December by a vote of 228 to 164, marking the first time that a chamber of Congress ever advanced legislation to end the federal prohibition of cannabis. Senate lawmakers, however, failed to take up the bill.

Senators are seeking feedback on the draft legislation through September 1. Public comments may be provided to [email protected]. In an interview with the publication Politico in April, Sen. Schumer pledged that he would hold a floor vote on the bill “sooner or later” this term. The Senate has never held a floor vote on legislation pertaining to descheduling cannabis.

Story From NORML

After crime plummeted in 2020, Baltimore will stop drug, sex prosecutions

State’s Attorney Mosby stopped non-violent prosecutions for the coronavirus, but then violent crime dropped 20 percent.

New York lawmakers agree to legalize recreational marijuana

Liberals introduce new bill to relax penalties for drug offences

Legislation also includes measures to reduce incarceration of Indigenous, Black Canadians

Opioid deaths highlight need to decriminalize hard-drug possession, police chiefs say

Smoke up! NBA won’t test players for weed, could help take the game … higher

The NBA will not test its players for marijuana during the 2020-21 season, sources tell Ben Dowsett.

The league did not test the players in its reboot of the 2019-20 season in the Orlando Bubble and according to Dowsett’s sources, the decision to continue not testing these athletes was predicated mostly on COVID-19 precautions. Yet, it seems that we are inching closer to the league permanently getting rid of marijuana testing.

The drug is already legal in nine of the states and districts that the NBA plays in and has been proven to provide healing effects for the body as well as helping with anxiety.

Many athletes have advocated for the use of marijuana during the season as they try to recover from injuries sustained on the job.

Former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson admitted to smoking that green while in the league.

The late NBA great, Cliff Robinson, was a pioneer for the legalization of marijuana. He even created his own life of weed products called Uncle Cliffy Sports cannabis products.

If the NBA decides to stop testing for the drug it could set a precedent for other sports leagues and companies to follow suit. The change could potentially improve the lives of many of its players.

The ramifications of the NBA’s decision could also help to reverse negative stereotypes created during the war on drugs that adversely and disproportionately affected young men of color. After a summer where the NBA was at the forefront of racial justice, this decision to stop marijuana testing could be crucial in repairing the detrimental impact that coincides with punishing people for this drug.

The movement for nationwide legalization of weed is already growing exponentially.

The NBA will tip off the 2020-21 season on Dec. 22 without the presence of a bubble and will look to push through the impact of COVID-19.

Story from Deadspin

From pot to shrooms: What’s next for decriminalization?

Jane Stevenson – August 16, 2020 

Are shrooms the new cannabis in Canada?

In the U.S., the Washington D.C. Board of Elections is allowing an initiative to decriminalize psychedelic plants, including “magic mushrooms,” to appear on November’s ballot, after supporters gathered more than 25,000 signatures, according to the Washington Post.

If approved, the U.S. capital would join Denver, Oakland, Calif., and Santa Cruz, Calif., which have decriminalized psychedelics.

But, not so fast, says Canada’s federal government.

Yes, earlier this month, Health Minister Patty Hajdu allowed four incurable Canadian cancer patients to undergo therapy which used psilocybin — the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms — to ease their distress.

But that doesn’t mean magic mushrooms, and other psychedelics, currently banned and only allowed in clinical trials or research in Canada, are on the fast track to decriminalization or legalization.

“The Government of Canada is not proposing to decriminalize psilocybin or other controlled substances at this time, “ said Public Health Agency of Canada spokesman Tammy Jarbeau.

“In 2019, Health Canada authorized psilocybin for use in a clinical trial for patients with treatment-resistant depression.”

Still, CNN reported that the Canadian government’s decision marks the first time since 1974 a legal exemption cleared the way for patients in this country to use psychedelic treatment.

Local cannabis advocate Lisa Campbell believes medicinal mushrooms are following the path of medicinal marijuana in Canada with recreational mushroom use still years away.

“There are so many companies that are pivoting from cannabis to psychedelics, we’re going to see a lot of research to not only decriminalize but legalize psychedelics, at first for medical use, but it could push them to recreational use, as cannabis has done,” said Campbell, the Toronto-based CEO of Mercari Agency Ltd., a cannabis sales and marketing company.

“A lot of universities are finally more open to psychedelic research. It’s finally becoming mainstream,” she added. “It’s really fascinating that this is being done in Canada. For many years, people have been preparing for this paradigm shift in drug policy so the fact that we’re finally here in 2020 is really progressive and inspiring to be at the forefront of this movement.”

Campbell said a Toronto clinic recently opened to treat those suffering from drug-resistant depression and anxiety with ketamine. While abused as a party drug, ketamine is primarily utilized in veterinary surgery.

She also said there are also mushroom dispensaries popping up online.

“In Vancouver, there’s almost de facto decriminalization,” said Campbell. “It’s much more progressive there.

“It has been for years,” she added. “They had the medical cannabis dispensary movement that started in Vancouver on the West Coast. It’s so interesting to see how the same trends that we saw with cannabis, with the medical (use), are happening as well with mushrooms.”

CNN reported New York University Langone Health researchers published a study this year in which 29 patients suffering from cancer-related anxiety and depression were given a single dose of psilocybin with psychotherapy. According to the findings, and 60% to 80% showed improvement.

Story from The Toronto Sun

Police Chiefs Group Calls for Canada to Decriminalize Drug Possession

Canada Should Legalize All Recreational Drugs

The social harms of prosecuting drug users far outweigh any public health benefits from prohibition

By Akwasi Owusu-Bempah

Story from U of T Magazine