Last Week in Psychedelic Sundays

satorid (67)in #psychedelic • 5 years ago

For those who follow my work, it will be no surprise that the topic I research the most is Psychedelics. In this post, I will share with you some of the hidden gems of my recent journey through the psychedelic digital jungle of interesting articles, podcast, and studies that I have found.

Psychedelics help to accelerate a maturation process, where we can see that we’re not operating within silos. Instead, we’re operating as part of a larger collective and part of a larger community. Thanks to the revival of psychedelic science, we’ve (re)discovered that psychedelic therapy can benefit sufferers of severely debilitating conditions where current treatments fail. We’ve started to develop an understanding of what psychedelics do to the brain, and how psychedelics can have such transformative power…

“Three hundred and fifty years ago, Shulgin notes, the Church proclaimed, “The earth is the center of the universe, and anyone who says otherwise is a heretic.” Today, the government proclaims, “All drugs that can expand consciousness are without medical or social justification, and anyone who uses them is a criminal.” In Galileo’s time, the authorities said, “We do not need to actually look through that mysterious contraption.” Now the government says, “There is no need to actually taste those mysterious compounds.” In the past, the Church said, “How dare you claim that the earth is not the center of the universe?” Today the government says, “How dare you to claim that an understanding of God is to be found in a white powder?”(DANIEL PINCHBECK)

A trip with the acid countess: Amanda Feilding and the medical case for drugs reform

Feilding has only recently built an evidence base for her early work. Three years ago, her foundation and Imperial College London produced the first ever imaging of an LSD-influenced brain. The drug was found to limit humans’ “ego” mechanism, which could help override the rigid thinking and learned behaviours associated with depression, addictions and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Her other studies have shown the positive effects of psilocybin (or magic mushrooms) on participants with treatment-resistant depression, while a petri dish containing ayahuasca (a hallucinogenic spiritual brew of the Amazon) generated new neurons, suggesting potential for treating Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Sub-Acute Effects of Psilocybin on Empathy, Creative Thinking, and Subjective Well-Being

Creative thinking and empathy are crucial for everyday interactions and subjective well-being. This is emphasized by studies showing a reduction in these skills in populations where social interaction and subjective well-being are significantly compromised (e.g., depression). Anecdotal reports and recent studies suggest that a single administration of psilocybin can enhance such processes and could therefore be a potential treatment. However, it has yet to be assessed whether effects outlast acute intoxication. The present study aimed to assess the sub-acute effects of psilocybin on creative thinking, empathy, and well-being. Participants attending a psilocybin retreat completed tests of creative (convergent and divergent) thinking and empathy, and the satisfaction with life scale on three occasions: before ingesting psilocybin (N = 55), the morning after (N = 50), and seven days after (N = 22). Results indicated that psilocybin enhanced divergent thinking and emotional empathy the morning after use. Enhancements in convergent thinking, valence-specific emotional empathy, and well-being persisted seven days after use. Sub-acute changes in empathy correlated with changes in well-being. The study demonstrates that a single administration of psilocybin in a social setting may be associated with sub-acute enhancement of creative thinking, empathy, and subjective well-being. Future research should test whether these effects contribute to the therapeutic effects in clinical populations.

What is 2-CP, what does it do and where does it come from?

The 2C drugs were invented in California through the 60s, 70s and 80s by the late Alexander Shulgin, the most celebrated of all psychedelic chemists, known as the godfather of Ecstasy for his role in rediscovering the chemical synthesis and effects of MDMA in the late 70s.

The 2C drugs include the nowadays relatively common 2C-B, which is, at the right dosage, a benign party drug that delivers cartoony visuals and an increased libido. It is today enjoyed in pressed pills containing around 10mg-17mg of the drug. The experience lasts around 5 hours. 2CB is produced in the Netherlands in huge bulk and low cost at around £3-£5 a pill retail. Of all the 2Cs, 2CB is the least risky.

These psychedelic 2C drugs are extremely potent, and have what neuropharmacologists and dedicated trippers call a “steep dose-response curve” – if you take even just a few milligrammes more than a standard dose, the effect is exponential. Imagine if your third pint got suddenly you as pissed as your tenth. That’s the 2Cs. So, take 10mg of 2C-P, and you’ll trip out. Take 20mg after a bit of ketamine, booze, and MDMA and you’re playing with your life.

Psychedelic revolution: Initiative to legalize psilocybin in 2020 sprouts in Oregon

According to the 2020 Psilocybin Service Initiative of Oregon, the proposed measure will allow “any individual over 21 years of age, upon attaining medical clearance from a physician, [to] participate in a sequence of sessions, provided on-site at an independently licensed psilocybin service facility.”

Denver Voters Could Decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms in May

At this moment in time, the global psychedelic community seems to be collectively standing at the frontier of a brand new world. With many drug policy reforms around the world inching toward a variety of decriminalized, medicalized, and legalized models, it’s looking more and more likely that the days of de facto illegal psychedelics may be on their way out.

One place anticipating a potential change to its drug policies in the near future is Denver, Colorado. After a year-long struggle, a group in the Mile-High City recently collected enough signatures to get the Denver Psilocybin Initiative on the May 7th Municipal Elections ballot. If it passes, Denver would become the first city in the country to stop prosecuting people for psilocybin mushrooms.

Australia’s psychedelic drug trial

Advocates of psychedelic drug research are hoping the psilocybin trial for treating anxiety in the terminally ill, at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital, is the beginning of a new acceptance for the potential of the field.

Psychedelics: A Historical Account of Use and Rejection

Nobody can deny the history of psychedelic use since archaic times. Without a doubt, countless individuals have used these products as a form of opening up the mind to another reality. Ancient accounts on the global scale, as analyzed by Dr. Monnica J. Williams, a researcher at UConn, describes experiences with psychedelics as an unearthly way of connecting with the inner consciousness.

Beyond recreational use, psychedelics were also associated with religion as a key aspect of their prevalence in society, as this will be their downfall in the future. Shamanism was and still is a form of faith in the world that took a hold on early civilizations. It gave them senses of hope and belonging. This religion expressed itself as a crossover to the spiritual world, to pay dues to ancestors or deceased relatives.

Bootsy Collins Explains How LSD Played A Role In His Split With James Brown’s Band

“LSD was a big part of why I left James Brown’s band,” Collins admits. “I promised myself I’d never do it during a show, but we had a father-son relationship, and he pestered me so much not to do it that one day I just did. My bass turned into a snake and I can’t even remember playing. After, he called me in the back room, as he always did, and was explaining how terrible I was – even when I wasn’t taking LSD. I laughed so hard I was on the floor. To him, that was very disrespectful. He had his bodyguard throw me out.”

Hear Underground 12, the Earliest Known Case of Musicians Recording While Under the Influence of LSD (1966)

Music and LSD: after “Tomorrow Never Knows” and Sgt. Pepper, we knew what an acid trip should sound like. Other folks needed to know more. Somewhere in Los Angeles in 1966 a group of musicians were dosing and recording while tripping.

The resulting recording--credited to “Underground 12” and considered the earliest known case of musicians recording while under the influence of LSD--was only available, as the legend goes, by mail order--you can see a copy of it here on discogs, a plain red label with only an address: 12457 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, CA.