Paulo Jales is a designer and artist from Brazil. He shared the enclosed illustration with ayahuasca-info.com, and they were kind enough to send it to us. Check it out in high resolution.

[Thanks Tomas!]

I knew I would one day make it to the big time. Thanks to Jedi Mind Traveler for putting this together.

Do you think the psyche is naturally drawn toward mystical attractors, even if it means going through chaotic transitions and perhaps reliving and integrating uncomfortable unconscious material?

I think some people are drawn towards mystical states, and would risk their lives to have a mystical experience, just as some would risk their lives to jump out of a plane for an adrenaline rush. But I don’t believe there is one single mystical attractor pulling all people towards transcendence, just like there is no universal attractor pulling all people towards jumping out of planes. For the most part it is self-selecting, only certain people are drawn towards mysticism and transcendence. You can take psychedelics and become paranoid and disoriented and pulled towards the wrong sort of attractor, like an anxiety spiral or a manic self-important jag, and miss the transcendent aspect altogether. So no, I don’t think the psyche is naturally drawn towards mystical attractors. Most often the mystical component of psychedelics is due to drivers in set and setting providing a mystical framework for parsing the experience. Anyone can get there, some people are naturally drawn there, but in my experience it really depends on the individual to seek it and find it.

"Square Grouper: The Godfathers of Ganja," a documentary about marijuana smuggling in South Florida in the '70s, was just picked up for distribution by Magnolia Pictures, prior to its world premiere at SXSW next month. This is pretty big news, considering how gun shy U.S. distributors have been regarding drug-related documentaries in the past. Hopefully, this is a sign of European and Canadian influence, based on interest in the subject outside the U.S.

After bubbling and brewing away for millennia in the Amazon, ayahuasca began seeping out through the foliage at the turn of the 20th century. This powerful visionary tea was adopted by rubber tapper communities in what is now the Brazil-Bolivia-Peru borderland, and various sects emerged, including Santo Daime. A syncretic mix of Catholicism, Spiritualism, and indigenous shamanism, it spread to the rest of Brazil in the 80s, and today there are groups dotted around Latin American, Europe, and the US, as well as in Japan, India, Israel, and other places. This article focuses on the legal history of Santo Daime (SD), of which I am a member, though other lineages also have international profiles, the most widespread being the Uniao de Vegetal (UDV).

Yes, if I had a reality touchscreen, I too would use it to generate immense waves of beautiful swirling colors.

As frequent poster Mason says, "Astonishing". Watch in high resolution and this is truly a fine representation of deep psychedelic hallucination. Full screen, sound on. At the 1:06 mark where the edges start to cascade into mist along the return curve... hell yes. Soundtrack: 'Ethereal Awakening' by Project Divinity. Well done!

An investigation into methoxetamine (3-MeO-2-Oxo-PCE), an arylcyclohexylamine ketamine derivative that has recently appeared on the research chemical market. By Hamilton Morris for Vice.

M. is one of the most respected chemists in his underground field. Singlehandedly, he has popularized and discovered numerous novel drugs for gray-market distribution. His most recent investigation of ketamine and its chemical variations produced a new dissociative anesthetic named methoxetamine, which has recently made its way into the nostrils and anuses of lay experimenters worldwide. Methoxetamine is an exemplary product of rational drug discovery; each of its atoms is the result of arduous study and consideration, all created independently on a minuscule budget. But the success of drugs like methoxetamine does not entail great profits for their inventors. Indeed, it is they who wring their hands most over the unknown fate of the chemicals they conceive. Herein we shall explore the great bioethical quandary faced by the underground medicinal chemist.

"Flannel emerged from Brighton's anarcho-narco underground scene in 1996. It consisted of Bloke (bass), Cosmo (guitar and voice) and Fat Stan (drums). The original line-up till 1997 also included Mohammed el Gimley (tablas) and DiscoDaveDaRave (keyboards).

Hijacking producer Al Scott, (Levellers, Gunshot), their first release was the hip-hop/punk collision Just Another Screwed Up White Kid with a Guitar, (March 1996). Shunning the usual methods of "making it," in true DIY culture stylee, the band toured the UK's network of squats, summer festivals, protest sites such as the anti-Newbury bypass camp, and Reclaim the Streets environmental protest parties. They also committed guerrilla gigs in shopping centres, parks and other highly inappropriate places."

[Thanks Awooga!]

Jack's thoughts on drugs these days:

These days the hard drugs are gone, but he continues – against the Hollywood grain – to smoke cannabis. ‘I don’t tend to say this publicly, but we can see it’s a curative thing. The narcotics industry is also enormous. It funds terrorism and – this is a huge problem in America – fuels the foreign gangs. More than 85 per cent of men incarcerated in America are on drug-related offences. It costs $40,000 a year for every prisoner. If they were really serious about the economy there would be a sensible discussion about legalisation.’

Or you will get arrested.

A student in Connecticut stunned police dispatchers when he dialled 911 to ask how much trouble he could get in by growing marijuana.

When told he could get arrested he said 'thank you' and hung up, only for police to trace the call and arrest him when they found drug growing equipment and pot at the house.

Robert Michelson, 21, was hauled to the Farmington, Connecticut police station where he was released on bail, swearing at officers as he left to return home, minus his pot.

The police report said that once arrested Michelson admitted spending hundreds of dollars online buying everything he needed to grow marijuana.

He was released on a $5,000 bail and will appear in court next week charged with marijuana possession and other crimes.

The report goes on to say: 'Michelson was released on bond and left the police station, but not before giving the dispatchers two middle fingers, presumably for doing such a good job.'

A woman who answered the phone at his home Friday said he wasn't available for comment.

[Thanks Seth!]