Golem, a cerebral short film about human culture
Golem is a short film by Patrick Mccue & Tobias Wiesner. It’s hard to describe, but the filmmakers say it’s based on ideas of “freedom and curiosity, fear and security, abstraction and fiction, the lack of accessibility in face of unknowing and the need for generating meaning.” Watching it, I couldn’t help but think of how very psychedelic these topics are — not because they’re “far out, man,” but because they are important. These are exactly the kinds of big-picture revelations that cross my mind while in a state of heightened awareness. Thoughts like these–whether inspired by an...
Forbes: Meet Dread Pirate Roberts, the man behind Silk Road
The Semptember issue of Forbes has a very interesting interview with the Dread Pirate Roberts, which is available online for free. The whole thing is worth a read, but here are some highlights. Competition and Publicity Despite the giant DEA crosshairs painted on his back and growing signs that the feds are probing the so-called “dark Web” that Silk Road and other black market sites inhabit, Roberts spoke with FORBES in his first-ever extended public interview for a reason: As with physical drug dealing, a turf war has emerged. Competitors, namely a newly launched site called Atlantis with a real marketing...
Psychedelics Linked to Lower Risk of Mental Illness
It seems that all the best news about psychedelics lately is coming from scientists. You know, those people whose job it is to discover the truth even if it flies in the face of cultural and legal prejudices? Turns out the truth about psychedelics is not so convenient for those who insist on banning them. In a new study, a Norwegian neuroscience team has found that use of psychedelic drugs is not associated with increased risk of mental health problems. In fact, psychedelic users were shown to have a lower risk of mental health issues, including psychosis, anxiety, mood disorders,...
RollSafe.org, the MDMA Harm Reduction Guide
There’s plenty of information out there about using MDMA, but never before has it been so cleanly presented. Check out RollSafe.Org, a handy little guide on how to use MDMA as safely as possible. The guide has lots of good tips on testing MDMA purity, using supplements (such as Tums, magnesium, vitamin C, ALA, and 5-HTP), safe and dangerous drug combinations, and more. Any other good tips for rolling? Let me know in the comments! Liked this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed to get much more! Or enter your email address for weekly updates:
A Treatise on Psychedelics Part 3/3: The Implications
This guest post by Martijn Schirp continues from Part 1 and Part 2, discussing the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research that he attended. It was originally published on higHExistence.com. What are the larger implications of the mystical experience? One aspect of the mystical experience is what psychology calls “ego death.” If we anchor our worldview on the self and constantly think self-oriented thoughts, we are blinded to our interconnection with everything around us. This privatized perspective is utterly destructive to everything alien to it. Psychedelics can “kill” the ego responsible for this self-oriented perspective, opening us up to a greater, more boundless reality. Some thinkers,...
Atlantis, the new virtual drug marketplace
Update: Atlantis has shut down permanently as of September 20, 2013. There’s a new anonymous online drug marketplace, and it’s making quick strides. Due to a rapid and aggressive marketing campaign, Atlantis getting lots of exposure–not only to potential buyers, but to many established Silk Road vendors who see it as an attractive new outlet for their goods. Perhaps what’s most surprising is how social and public the branding has been. Atlantis, which opened in March, has a Facebook page, Twitter handle, and its own Reddit thread. All Things Vice even published an interview with two of its founders. Want...
Mirror City, a trippy kaleidoscopic time-lapse of cityscapes
Mirror City is a short time-lapse film showing five American cities like you’ve never seen them before. Filmmaker Michael Shainblum took footage of urban landscapes and reflected it at different angles to create the mind-bending kaleidoscopic journey below. Some shots are mirrored only 2 or 4 times, but others show 8 or even 16 reflections of a cityscape at once. Filmmaker Michael Shainblum describes the video on the Vimeo page: When I first started Mirror City, I wanted to create a video that was completely out of the norm. I wanted to showcase something unique and artistic, which takes...
Shrooms for Five: My First Psychedelic Experience
It is a wet February night, and we are gathered at Lee and Dan’s suburban apartment. There are five of us — our hosts, plus Alex, Jason, and me. We have a larger group of friends, but the rest of the crew is not into “serious” drugs. The five of us jokingly call ourselves the “Psychonautic Subcommittee” ever since we tried MDMA for the first time together last fall. [pullquoteleft]Absolute euphoria floods through me, as though each moment of existence is a triumph.[/pullquoteleft]Tonight, it’s time to explore a new psychedelic frontier. We each grind an eighth of an...
New Zealand’s synthetic drug law goes into effect
New Zealand’s synthetic drug bill, called the Psychoactive Substances Act, became law today after passing Parliament last week in an almost unanimous vote. It is aimed at establishing a regulated market for legal highs, and ending the cat-and-mouse game of prohibition in which new chemicals crop up as soon as existing ones are banned. This law is the first of its kind, and (arguably) represents a step forward in intelligent drug policy. I say “arguably” because the intent of the law is to crack down on “legal highs” by requiring them to complete rigorous testing (at an estimated...
A Treatise on Psychedelics Part 2/3: The Mystical Experience
This guest post by Martijn Schirp continues from Part 1, discussing the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research that he attended. It was originally published on higHExistence.com. If we recognize the plant as an autonomous power which enters in order to put roots and flowers in us, then we distance ourselves by several degrees from the skewed perspective which imagines that spirit (Geist) is the monopoly of human beings and doesn’t exist outside of them. A new world-picture has to follow the planetary leveling; that is the task which the next century will take up. –Ernst Jünger, The Plant as Autonomous Power. Where are the...
Visionary collages by Eugenia Loli
Eugenia Loli’s collages remind me very much of psychedelic exploration. The canny juxtapositions, spacey visuals, and surreal portraits of humanity all speak directly to my subconscious, which loves to throw around this kind of imagery when I’m dreaming or in a mystical state. These psychedelic qualities are no accident. In the artist’s words: I’m intrigued by DMT’s ability to make people more spiritual, and bring them closer to their true nature and potential. Some of my art tries to capture just that, rather than simply describe a trip. I’m not into making representational art, so I capture the...
The Chain of Destruction and the persecution of drug users
It’s almost Independence Day in America, and millions of people will celebrate this weekend with backyard cookouts, fireworks, and time with family and friends. But please take a minute to consider the people in America and abroad whose freedoms have been revoked because they committed the non-violent crime of drug possession. The War on Drugs is a war on people, most especially poor people and minorities. It the modern version of a witch hunt. Eugene Jackecki’s documentary The House I Live In discusses the American War on Drugs with refreshing candor. This seven-minute segment covers the “chain of destruction” which occurs...