Free Republic

HONOLULU — The state is looking into the safe use of breakthrough therapies which include the use of psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms. The state has created the “breakthrough therapies task force” made of up mental health professionals, physicians, lawmakers, and government leaders. Their job is to help the state expand therapeutic access to two substances — psilocybin and MDMA. The state says research shows both have been effective in treating ptsd, addiction, and depression.

A group of experts has discovered proof that people during the Bronze Age used drugs in their ceremonies. By examining hair strands from a burial location in Menorca, Spain, researchers have learned that our ancestors took in hallucinogenic drugs derived from plants. This new information presents the initial clear evidence of drug use in olden Europe. These drugs may have been an important part of their traditional events and practices, according to the researchers. The scientists identified three specific substances, scopolamine, ephedrine, and atropine, in three separate hair samples that they replicated. The researchers noted that due to the dangerous...

Many journalists in Washington, D.C. are taking small doses of psychedelic mushrooms to improve their performance, according to Politico.A 2020 D.C. ballot initiative made enforcement of bans on the purchase and distribution of psychedelic mushrooms the lowest priority of law enforcement, making the substance “basically legal,” according to Politico. The substance is used recreationally in full doses as well as in smaller “microdoses,” which some believe can improve brain function.“Microdosing mushrooms as a kind of performance-enhancing brain boost — already wildly popular among the California tech set — is now fairly common in Washington, especially in media circles,” the Politico...

The Ancient Greeks and Romans used opium, marijuana, and other narcotics to relieve pain and induce sleep. They may have also enhanced rituals and enlivened banquets with hallucinogens.Drug Use in Ancient Greece and Rome | September 17, 2021 | toldinstone | 23:03

Things are getting serious. The Coronavirus will pass but losing our freedom is something that we will regret. The criminals are being released from prison and being replaced with peaceful, law-abiding citizens who dare go outside. A 33-year-old Colorado man was handcuffed in front of his wife and 6-year-old daughter for allegedly violating a social distancing order. 33-year-old Matt Mooney said his young daughter was terrified the police were going to arrest him after the cops swarmed his family. The father reassured his daughter they were doing nothing wrong by playing tee-ball in the park, however, the police cuffed him...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New Yorkers who die at home are not being tested for COVID-19, even if they had flu- or coronavirus-like symptoms at the time of death, which is likely leading to a massive underreporting of COVID-19 fatalities. ..... A spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office told Gothamist that an additional 200 people are dying at home each day, in addition to the 20 to 25 people that died at home each day before the pandemic.

We’re living in strange times. “Morality” used to be a set of behavioral dictates not too dissimilar to the Ten Commandments. But these days, the rules are a bit more complex. Sometimes, it seems, one of the most offensive things someone can do is be born. On Wednesday, Hollywood actress Rosanna Arquette — whose Twitter profile notes that she “[resists] fascism on a daily basis” — apologized for her skin. And her birth. She’s sorry for it. And disgusted with herself. And ashamed of herself for doing it. Waaay more advanced than “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”   Her tweet...

They thought it was Armageddon and wanted to save their neighbours. They believed police were monsters. They showed super strength after being pepper sprayed and Tasered. And all but one of them were naked because, with the end of the world, they didn’t have time to get dressed. A court document has provided more details in a bizarre naked kidnapping case that happened last year south of Edmonton, but some questions remain. Two women and one man, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, each pleaded guilty in Leduc provincial court last week to a charge of unlawful...

A new Norwegian study has shown that alcohol and drug abuse is much more common among patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression than in the population at large. The study, conducted by the Norwegian Institute for Public Health, looked into the extent of drug and alcohol dependence among Norwegians diagnosed with serious mental health disorders. Every fourth patient with schizophrenia and every fifth with bipolar disorder also suffered problems with substance abuse.  One in ten people who were severely depressed also had problems with alcohol or drug-related health problems.  It is estimated that one in forty Norwegians indulge...

Tracy James knew the drug she'd just swallowed was working when her old injuries from high school started twitching with new life. Pressure throbbed from a forgotten busted knee. Her ankle tingled. The fingers she'd sprained roller-skating decades back began to ache. Whatever the 37-year-old had just taken, it shot feeling back into the long-gone ailments. "When I did vomit, it was one of the most amazing moments of my life." For the past 45 minutes, the hut had been dark and silent, the air dripping with jungle moisture. James and nearly 20 others were sitting cross-legged on ornate rugs....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Magic mushrooms," used by Native Americans and hippies to alter consciousness, appear to have similar mystical effects on many people, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. At least one team of doctors is already testing whether using them can help terminal cancer patients come to terms with their fates. More than 60 percent of volunteers given capsules of psilocybin derived from mushrooms said they had a "full mystical experience." "Many of the volunteers in our study reported, in one way or another, a direct, personal experience of the 'beyond,'" said Roland Griffiths, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God. Justices, in their first religious freedom decision under Chief Justice John Roberts, moved decisively to keep the government out of a church's religious practice. Federal drug agents should have been barred from confiscating the hoasca tea of the Brazil-based church, Roberts wrote in the decision. The tea, which contains an illegal drug known as DMT, is considered sacred to members of O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, which has...

Alexander Shulgin, Sasha to his friends, lives with his wife, Ann, 30 minutes inland from the San Francisco Bay on a hillside dotted with valley oak, Monterey pine and hallucinogenic cactus. At 79, he stoops a little, but he is still well over six feet tall, with a mane of white hair, a matching beard and a wardrobe that runs toward sandals, slacks and short-sleeved shirts with vaguely ethnic patterns. He lives modestly, drawing income from a small stock portfolio supplemented by his Social Security and the rent that two phone companies pay him to put cell towers on his...

History is a fascinating subject. I have a hunch that between now and November, we will see some interesting history being made. I see some vicious partisan politics on the horizon and it is becoming very clear to me that the Bush junta is coming to a close. Based on a number of things, I think we will see Bush's approval rating tank before November. I believe unfolding events will serve to totally discredit Bush. Assuming that Peroutka and Nader will be unable to achieve ballot access in a majority of states, Libertarians may see what amounts to a 2-way...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Illegal drug use and cigarette smoking among sixth- through 12th-graders increased slightly during the last school year compared with the year before, says a new survey. Alcohol use remained at the same level during both years.</p> <p>Nearly one-fourth, or 24 percent, of these teenagers reported using illegal drugs -- marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and others -- at least once in the 2002-2003 school year, compared with 22 percent the year before, according to the private study by Pride Surveys.</p>

President Saddam Hussein stressed that Iraqis would defend their country by all available means so as to maintain its independence. The President impressed on real US motives of targetting Iraq that is rich in its oil and natural resources. He also commented on Chile’s delegate in the UN when she asked to specify several weeks as a limited time to Iraq to achieve disarming weapons of mass destruction. The President criticized the Chilean proposal and inquired how can the weapons be destroyed with limited time. “The Chilean officials either do not understand the case or they mean to perturb the...