Last Week in Psychedelic Sundays
“The [psychedelic] experience corresponds almost excactly to the theological concept of a sacrament or means of grace—an unmerited gift of spiritual power whose lasting effects depend upon the use made of it in subsequent action.”—Alan Watts, The Joyous Cosmology
In this post, I will share with you some of what I found on my neverending journey through the psychedelic digital jungle of interesting articles, podcasts, and studies that I have found:
Participate in a Confidential Survey Assessing Cannabis Use Patterns During the COVID-19 Pandemic
A team of researchers affiliated with the University of Miami School of Nursing is collecting epidemiological data to better evaluate how cannabis consumers, and patients in particular, are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
More People Are Seeking Medical Marijuana Cards Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
The rise in medical marijuana patients comes as recreational pot shops have been forced to shut down — as part of a state order that required all non-essential businesses to close during the pandemic.
Coronavirus gave cannabis companies a big bump in sales and it wasn’t just for the wake-and-bake set
Last month, as a wide range of American economic sectors ground to a halt in response to the coronavirus crisis, one particular industry headed in the other direction. Across the United States during the week of March 16, cannabis dispensaries saw their sales soar by double digits. One company dealt with hour-long lines at its Pennsylvania stores. On March 16th alone, sales doubled in California.
Adult-Use Pot Shops Are Supplying Medical Dispensaries with Weed During Pandemic
While most adult-use states have deemed both medical and recreational cannabis retailers essential services during the COVID-19 outbreak, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker made the unusual decision to force adult-use stores to close while allowing medical dispensaries to remain open. Immediately following the announcement, Bay State residents started rushing to apply for medical marijuana cards, flooding the state Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) with over 1,000 applications in just one single week.
How psychedelic clinical trials are being affected by coronavirus
Almost all clinical psychedelic drug research is being affected in some way or another by COVID-19. But, response measures vary from one organization to the next.
National Psychedelics Advocacy Group Takes Next Step In Movement
A Denver-based psychedelics advocacy group announced last week that it has secured a nonprofit status that will enable it to better empower activists, educate the public and pave a path so that people ultimately have equitable access to entheogenic substances such as psilocybin mushrooms.
Should FDA Fast-Track Psychedelic Treatment Under Coronavirus Pandemic?
A Wisconsin psychiatrist called upon the FDA to temporarily allow psychedelic treatment to combat the inevitable spike in depression and PTSD from the pandemic.
Life During Lockdown: Psychedelics, Prison and COVID-19
Many of us are 'on retreat', living in lockdown as we desperately try to buy time for our medical services to cope with the effects of COVID-19. Some people have been on lockdown for days, others for many weeks.
Psychedelics in Addiction Recovery: Taking a Deep Look at “Sober” Communities that Use Psychedelics
In clinical trials with classic psychedelics like psilocybin, a high dose, monitored entheogenic experience with clinical support is being shown to help people break addictive relationships with substances like alcohol, tobacco, and cocaine. For example, at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, clinical psychologist and researcher, Peter Hendricks, and his team are finishing up a study on psilocybin-assisted therapy for cocaine addiction, and their preliminary results are quite striking. Although they haven’t completed their data collection yet, Hendricks says they have looked at the first 10 participants, six of whom received psilocybin and four a placebo. And those who received the magic mushroom compound used cocaine much less frequently than those who received the placebo following their dosing session.
Magic mushrooms, ayahuasca and LSD can all act as catalysts of connection to the natural world
Nature connectedness or relatedness is a measure of one’s self-identification with nature, an individuals’ experiential sense of oneness with the natural world. It is something direct and emotional. Nature connection can be considered similar to the concept of biophilia, defined as “the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.”
Integration: The Upside of Coming Down – Debriefing, Disrupting & Dark Journeys
In the immediate aftermath of a journey, one is especially sensitive to censure, rejection, negation and misunderstanding. It is important to be discerning about with whom we share, and what to share – especially with the sharing of the more extraordinary details. One approach is to thoughtfully safeguard the integration process by sharing of our experiences only with highly trusted others, particularly those who are experienced with altered states and non-ordinary reality – or those who are sincerely open-minded about it.