Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine claim to have determined the proper dose levels needed to create positive changes in attitudes, mood, life satisfaction, and behavior that persist for more than a year with the psychoactive substance in so-called "magic mushrooms."

The findings are the latest in a series of experiments done at Johns Hopkins to investigate psilocybin, a psychedelic substance contained in certain mushrooms. The findings were published online this week in the peer-reviewed journal Psychopharmacology.

Questions?

"The Hopkins psilocybin studies clearly demonstrate that this route to the mystical is not to be walked alone," Jerome Jaffe, M.D., who served as the first White House "Drug Czar," commented. "But they have also demonstrated significant and lasting benefits."

"That raises two questions: Could psilocybin-occasioned experiences prove therapeutically useful, for example in dealing with the psychological distress experienced by some terminal patients? And should properly-informed citizens, not in distress, be allowed to receive psilocybin for its possible spiritual benefits, as we now allow them to pursue other possibly risky activities such as cosmetic surgery and mountain-climbing?"

[Thanks, Soma Junkie!]

Psychiatrists in Switzerland have nearly completed their study of LSD-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of anxiety associated with life threatening illnesses.

The study is the first of its kind to be undertaken in 35 years. Although most people associate the psychedelic drug LSD with the hippie counterculture of the 1960's, psychiatrists had been studying the use of LSD as an aid to psychological therapy before it was federally banned in the United States in 1968.

Peter Gasser, M.D., a psychiatrist and lead investigator of the study, said to friends and colleagues that "all the 12 participants reported a benefit from the treatment." The study was begun in 2007 after being approved by Swiss legal authorities and the final LSD-assisted psychotherapy session was completed on May 26.

"I am proud to say that we had in 30 sessions (22 with full dose 200 micrograms LSD and 8 with placebo dose 20 micrograms LSD) no severe side effects such as psychotic experiences or suicidal crisis or flashbacks or severe anxieties (bad trips)," Gasser wrote in his letter. "That means that we can show that LSD treatment can be safe when it is done in a carefully controlled clinical setting."

[Thanks MAPS and Mason!]

Avi: Give us a synopsis of you and your brother's adventures in La Chorrera

Dennis: The short answer is that we had scoured the ethnobotanical literature and had learned of an orally-active form of DMT that the Witoto Indians of S. America prepared from the sap of Virola species (a genus of trees in the nutmeg family). We were frustrated by the fact that the DMT experience, when smoking synthetic DMT, was overwhelming, quite intense, but very short (about 10-15 minutes). It was hard to spend enough time in that 'place' to really get a handle on what was going on. So when we stumbled across a paper by Schultes about this orally active form of DMT, we thought that maybe, in that form, the experience would last longer and we could understand it better. No one knew about ayahuasca and the fact that it is an orally activated form of DMT at that time; this was 1970, before the chemistry and pharmacology of ayahuasca had been thoroughly understood.

[Thanks Mason!]

Sunrise Celebration is a four day sustainable living, arts and music festival, which took place in Somerset between the 2 -5 of June, 2011. With a host of workshops, psychedelic talks and music, folk, world, funk, reggae and off-grid living, Sunrise remains one of the most magical weekends of the year.

Saturday sparkled psychedelically -- glimpses of clarity in amongst the mystical. A fragment from Breaking Convention had spun off and been subsumed into the Wolf. Talks by Drs. Ben Sessa and PsypressUK contributor David Luke in the Portal for the Immortal tent, set the tone for psychedelic integration. Andy Roberts, author of Albion Dreaming, gave an informative and entertaining talk on the history of LSD in Britain. And, Andy Letcher, author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom, returned to Sunrise and expanded his critical theory project on the cultural-contingency of mushroom consciousness, emphasizing the need for a diverse approach to its understanding. Fragments of history, approach, use and theory that worked together in psychedelic lines of flight; the Wolf was living the lines.

Ayahuasca religion is a strange concept to get your head around, even before you drink ayahausca. At my first session about ten years ago, I was very keen to try the brew, but the shirts and ties and general Christian vibe made me feel instantly uneasy. A question arose: What does Christianity have to do with psychedelics?

Amongst anarchists, occultists and hedonists, there is much which is objectionable about Christianity. This article is about my induction into the Christian mythos; but fear not, you proud and proper transgressives, there will be no repentance for my old devilish ways. Much of modern Christianity smells as rotten as ever, but Daime is as fresh as a starry night in the rainforest.

Two U.S. senators said Sunday they will ask federal authorities to crack down on a secretive narcotics market operated on the Internet with anonymous sales and untraceable currency.

Heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines are among the drugs being sold in the well-protected website apparently operating for just a few months.

Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, both Democrats, said they asked the Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration to shut down and investigate the website, often referred to as the Silk Road after an ancient Asian trade route.

"This audacious website should be shut down immediately," Manchin said.

According to Acme_Rocket, the rules about selling drugs over the internet are:

1. Don't talk about it
2. Don't talk about it

I think we all know what it's like to take so many pills that we develop psychic powers and become supervillains, am I right?

From the Trailer Park Boys, of the The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour.

Trippin’ With Leigh is a documentary series about Mike Smith, Robb Wells, and John Paul Tremblay following Mike’s cousin Leigh around the world as he tries a variety of legal hallucinogenic drugs from different cultures. We could really use your help raising enough to make this adventure a reality - please help us spread the word and any amount helps. Thanks!

[Thanks Sam Hell!]

Dame Judi Dench, Sir Richard Branson, and Sting have joined an ex-drugs minister and three former chief constables in calling for the decriminalisation of the possession of all drugs.

The high-profile celebrities together with leading lawyers, academics, artists and politicians have signed an open letter to David Cameron to mark this week's 40th anniversary of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. The letter, published in a full-page advertisement in Thursday's Guardian, calls for a "swift and transparent" review of the effectiveness of current drugs policies.

Its signatories say that all the past 40 years has produced is a rapid growth in illicit drug use in Britain, and significant harm caused by the application of the criminal law to the personal use and possession of all drugs.

[Thanks James!]