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Psychoactive drugs

In this Aug. 3, 2007, file photo, psilocybin mushrooms are seen in a grow room at the Procare farm in Hazerswoude, central Netherlands. 

Study: ‘Magic’ mushrooms show promise for treating severe depression

Medicine

A new British study out on Wednesday shows that psilocybin — the substance found in hallucinogenic mushrooms — can help treat people with severe depression. But science writer Dana Smith cautions that psychedelic mushrooms are “not going to be a cure-all.”

authorities standing in a circle

Could Colombia’s incoming president legalize cocaine?

Conflict & Justice
In this April 13, 2010, photo, one gram of psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms, is seen on a scale at New York University in New York. 

This Canadian company is betting big on the ‘psychedelic renaissance’

Health & Medicine
Officers gather kratom plants in Phang Nha province, Thailand. Thailand on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, decriminalized the possession and sale of kratom, a plant native to Southeast Asia.

Thailand legalizes kratom, a mild narcotic leaf

Health & Medicine
several multi-colored MDMA pills

This Australian politician says pill testing could prevent deaths at music festivals

Big pharma’s role in mental illness

Health & Medicine

Claims that pharmaceutical companies play an enormous role in deciding what causes mental illness and how those illnesses should be treated.

Chemical Culprit, Chemical Cure? Challenging Conventional Wisdom on Mental Illness

For almost 40 years, conventional wisdom has been that mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. “Serotonin” is a household word, along with Prozac, Zyprexa, and Zoloft.   But recently, there’s been a vigorous debate within the medical community over whether that line of thinking is accurate. This summer Marcia Angell, a […]

Cannabis, O Canada

It will soon be legal to grow hemp once again in Canada. Next month, the federal government in Ottawa is expected to approve a type of the cannabis plant to be cultivated for its fiber only. Hemp has been outlawed in Canada since the 1930’s because of fears that its cultivation would encourage use of […]