FUH-cake! psilocybin is almost respectable

6.17: web.wealth/psilocybin:

17/06/2011 (2000 GMT) bbc world service:
listen:
. the last segment (at minute:46) is
"(what makes mushrooms magic)
about a new study by Roland Griffiths, PhD,
contradicting doctrine by the war on drugs
(he shows psilocybin has therapeutic value).

. the newscaster, Julian Marshall,
was very angry at the end!
(it's barely audible in the replay version).
. well, he always sounds angry,
but he was actually cussing the researcher!
. this is a UK reporter;
and UK law had been strengthened in 2005
to make possession of even unprepared mushrooms
a schedule I offence .

. here is the end of the interview:
JM: think it should be legal for therapeatic uses?
Dr: that would be premature,
we're just know resuming experiments;
regulatory approval would need more scientific data backing it
JM: FUH-cake! (sounding quite like "(ache)
and a certain forbidden 4-letter word ).

. so what was that about?

Dr Griffiths' study in J.Neuropsychopharmacology
. at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Dr. Griffiths, is Professor of Behavioral Biology,
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences,
and, Professor of Neuroscience,
Department of Neuroscience .
. the study was partly funded by the
Council on Spiritual Practices .

Doses were based on body size and were 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg,
or 30 mg for every 154 pounds of body weight.
About 40% of study participants, or seven out of 18,
reported feeling extreme anxiety and fear
while they were on the two highest doses of the drug.
Six of the seven, however, experienced the fear while on
the highest dose of the drug.
Only one person reported negative fear effects on the 20 mg dose.
nearly 3/4 of people on the highest psilocybin doses
rated their experiences as mystical, transformative,
and highly beneficial.

graphic details at motherjones:
. 20mg per 70kg body weight was the
optimal dose for persisting positive mood
and increased well-being or life satisfaction .
. best working up from lesser doses
rather than starting with the target dose .

he did a similar study in 2006:

Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Roland Griffiths,
in a landmark 2006 experiment
published in Journal of Psychopharmacology
has 36 volunteers on 30mg psilocybin
who hadn’t previously taken the drug.
-- 30mg is [very]roughly equivalent to five grams
of dried psilocybe cubensis mushrooms .

. That study was the first in 40 years
to test a hallucinogen on people
in a clinical setting in the United States.
Formerly the focus of academic and government inquiry,
hallucinogens were abandoned by researchers
in the aftermath of the Sixties .

lib's for psilocybin info:
beckleyfoundation.org
drugwarfacts.org
council on spiritual practices
wiki
2008 psychiatric controls of shrooms

history of Psilocybin law:

The usa law that specifically banned psilocybin and psilocin
was enacted on October 24, 1968.
The latter substances were said to have "a high potential for abuse",
"no currently accepted medical use"
and "a lack of accepted safety".
On October 27, 1970, both psilocybin and psilocin
became classified as Schedule I
-- no known therapeutic benefit --
and were simultaneously labeled "hallucinogens"
under the “Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act”
(section "Controlled Substances Act").
Most national drug laws have been amended to
reflect this convention
(see US Psychotropic Substances Act,
the UK Misuse of Drugs Act 1971,
and the Canadian Controlled Drugs and Substances Act),
with possession and use of psilocybin and psilocin
being prohibited under almost all circumstances,
and often carrying severe legal penalties.
[ in the UK you can get 7 years with the FUH-cakes .]
However,
in many national, state, and provincial drug laws,
there is a great deal of ambiguity about
the legal status of psilocybin mushrooms
and the spores of these mushrooms,
as well as a strong element of
selective enforcement in some places.
Additionally,
there has been a general shift in attitudes
regarding research with hallucinogenic agents .
. after a long moratorium,
many countries are revising their positions
and have started to approve studies to
test their physiological and therapeutic effects .

Magic mushrooms ban becomes law (2005)

. while dried mushrooms were illegal
fresh mushrooms were not;
The [UK] Drugs Act 2005 ends that loophole
and makes them a class A [usa`schedule I] drug

Exceptions will be made for people who
unknowingly pick the mushrooms in the wild
or find them growing in their garden,
and critics have argued
that the act will be difficult to police.

. use of the fungi has risen 40% in a year:
2002/03: 180,000
2003/04: 250,000
-- especially since the internet age,
and 400 "headshops" around the country.
. the vast majority of mushrooms sold [in 2005]
came from mushroom farms in Holland.
The law change does not affect
Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)
another, much more rarely used magic mushroom .

paddos in the netherlands

. risk assessment for paddos (mushrooms)
containing psilocin and psilocybin .
. the [Amsterdam] Coordination Centre
for the Assessment and Monitoring of new drugs .

. psilocybin and its metabolite psilocin
can be found in Psilocybe ssp.
Psilocybe semilanceata, Psilocybe cubensis,
Conocybe, Panaeolus and Inocybe, ...)
-- Psilocybe, is easily confused with
the highly nephrotoxic Cortinarius spp .

. of those under 24 who had tried it,
50% had done so only once or twice;
most youth are into socialable party drugs,
not religious experiences .
. regular users wait 3 weeks between doses
due to drug tolerance .

Amsterdam and the border regions
contain a relatively high number of
grow shops, and head shops,
in addition to smart shops,
esp'ly in the Red Light District .

. the sale of paddos makes up
50% of smart shops turnover.
--[ it appeared from their vague language
that this had to do with its being illegal;
ie, it was the shops themselves -- not the product --
that was turning over! ]

. biological variation of the active ingredient
is between 1% and 3.5% (usually higher in wilds,
and inactivated at temperatures above 50°C).
Usual dose is 1 gram of dried mushroom
= 10 grams of fresh mushrooms;
. approx. 6 – 12mg of psilocybin
is the typical hallucinogenic dose .
[6.18:
. according to the recent study, this might
simply be a safe starting dose for a batch
since the potency is so varied .]

. it causes an increase in serotonin in the brain
and a temporary reduction in
noradrenaline, dopamine and histamine.
. sideaffects:
. dilated pupils, loss of balance,
parestheses (pins and needles all over the body),
muscle relaxation, accelerated heartbeat,
dry mouth and nausea.
Psychological symptoms:
. many hallucinogenic compounds can cause
long-forgotten memories to resurface
and leave a deep impression on users.
[. the long-term psychiatric complaints
"(flashbacks, panic attacks)
are consistent with schiz'ia;
ie, the people who are smart eno' to
keep their schiz'ic delusions a secret
(involuntary thought broadcasting? loser!)
will complain only of flashbacks, panic,
anxiety or depression .]

Adrenergic blockers (such as neuroleptics and propanol)
generally act as imperfect antagonists.

6.17: the Silk Road
. speaking of room for shrooms,
here is an anonymous drug sales network:
http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/index.php
-- that's a TOR address;
the transactions are done in Bitcoins,
a potentially anonymous online currency .
To avoid seizures Silk Road recommends
using vacuum packing
and creative disguises to send goods.
6.18:
. one of the Bitcoin developers, Jeff Garzik, wrote:

"(Attempting major illicit transactions with bitcoin,
given existing statistical analysis techniques
is not very smart );

however,

there are methods of using Bitcoin in a fairly
anonymous manner .
not tying your Bitcoin address to any known alias that you use.
“washing” coins could be done via
many small transactions to various addresses
or by sending them through “laundering” services .
You could also have fresh coins
that you have “mined” yourself
which will not yet have a real trail
in the transaction log.

6.18: welcome to the underworld:

. after seeing the underworld links on tor

(ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion - silk road (drugs)
627kx22vati6uqkw.onion
That's a guy who steals **** for you.
vms43o4cqysakvyb.onion - buy bitcoins via cash
am4wuhz3zifexz5u.onion
****-ton of books/other things to read.
Fo mah niggaz a bunch of PDF downloads on
building firearms and firearm training:
http://p2uekn2yfvlvpzbu.onion/
... )

at first I thought
all this anonymity makes it seem like
our law enforcement job is hopeless;
but did you see our computer security?
how could those guys be that dumb?
I suspect industry is in bed with the law:
deliberately creating security holes .