I flew in the Friday morning for opening ceremonies and the first thing I did was go say hi to Jon Hanna, Earth and Fire, and all the lovely people at the Erowid table. Alex and Allyson Grey were passing by so I stopped to say hello and ask permission to use one of Alex’s paintings in Psychedelic Information Theory. Alex was in good spirits despite still being in a white plastic turtle-shell for mending his broken back; it looked like he was sporting high-impact body armor under his suit jacket. Alex and Allyson were delighted with the review galley of the book and agreed to let me use the image. Score. [NOTE: Permission to reprint the image was subsequently revoked via e-mail. FAIL.]

Shortly after that I ran into J.R. Irvin from GnosticMedia.com and skimmed through a copy of his book: The Holy Mushroom Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Christianity. It struck me as something unique so I grabbed it. We talked about Andy Letcher and Shroom, and then digressed into discussions about his plans to do an expose on Wasson’s ties to the CIA, JP Morgan, and the Kennedy assassination. This reminded me of territory that was covered in Dan Russell’s Drug War: Covert Money, Power, and Policy in America’s War on Drugs, an amazing text but in low circulation and hard to find, even at a conference with three vendors and at least a dozen tables stacked with drug books. Many conjectures were forwarded.

About that time I ran into Stephan Beyer, author of Singing to the Plants. We had been meaning to do an interview but it fell apart due to scheduling issues, and we agreed to get some time together later. Wandering around I also had time to meet and have a short chat with Charles Shaw of Exile Nation. I said hi to Rick Doblin and thanked him for putting on such a great event. I talked to Ethan Nadelmann from the Drug Policy Alliance about the wave of media appearances when the legalization issue was stuck in the echo chamber in January. I wondered what the cycle was for those kinds of swells in media attention; Nadelmann admitted it happened every so often, but the last one was certainly the biggest. Conjectures on various legalization initiatives were forwarded.

I also ran into Bruce Eisner; James Oroc, author of Tryptamine Palace; Charles Hayes, author of Tripping; and got to say hi to Robert Tindall, author of The Jaguar that Roams the Mind, sporting his cute baby girl in a snuggy on his chest. I also ran into Evan, the owner and operator of The Teleomorph, as well as Dave Nichols, Charlie Grob, and many old friends I only see at events like this. While hanging out at the Erowid table I met many new people of exceptional quality, all brimming with new hope now that psychedelic research and science was alive again. Almost everybody I spoke to had a book or a project or a study or a practice or something they were doing to advance the field. It appeared that we had weathered the dark period and were officially in the future. Amazing.

I'm writing from Geneva, Switzerland. I want to point your interest to 2 short videos we, a bunch of friends, did recently. This winter, we had the habit of meeting in a yurt to sing, sometimes we had salvia before. I know it's not the usage to smoke and sing, but i have an "altermodern" approach to it, and for us it work great for group therapy. In the darkness of the yurt, we saw sounds waves and almost felt the emotion of the songs. I must say we practice free singing. Hope you'll find them interesting and respectfull of this powerful masterplant.

Respect!

[Thanks Christian!]

Over the last few years, a small group of friends decided that it was time to do something about the sad state of marijuana politics in the United States. Millions of Americans admit to using cannabis, and still it remains illegal. Laws can be changed, but it can be difficult to get someone to stand for something when he or she is threatened with arrest, jail time, loss of ability to receive student loans, and many other punishments. With more than 800,000 arrested on marijuana charges last year alone, we felt the need to find a way for those who live in fear of fear of prosecution to voice their support in favor of legalization.

The 1400 lighters collected, and the 964 on display here are the voices of those disenfranchised citizens. We stand united in the belief that marijuana should be decriminalized, regulated, and taxed. We believe the time to take a stand is now, and there is something you can do. Californians will vote on legalization, and Washington should too. Sign the petition for Washington Initiative 1068, or call someone you know in Washington and tell them to do so. If you live in Idaho, call Tom Trail, and tell him you support his bill for medical marijuana in Idaho, and that you would like it expanded even further. Use your voice, your signature, and your vote to tell our government: These rules are absurd, and they need to change. It is the only way.

[Thanks Mill!]

I myself tend to think of Chapel Perilous as the place where you
find yourself when the sheer absurdity of it all can no longer be ignored. When it all starts to add up and multiply while remaining somehow stubbornly indivisible. When synchronicity spirals out of control and you finally discover that you really are, in fact, the center and purpose of the universe after all. Either that or you're stone-cold crazy. Or maybe it's both. It's the dark night of the soul, and it's generally understood to be some kind of a trap. But it's also a doorway, if one has the courage, strength, intelligence, and luck to pass through it.

The drug replicates many of the effects of MDMA, or ecstasy, and was developed as an antidepressant by a team at Purdue University in the US during the 1990s. Experts believe its chemical blueprint could soon be mass-produced by the Chinese manufacturers who flooded the UK with mephedrone. Last year mephedrone became the fourth-most popular drug in Britain behind cannabis, cocaine, and ecstasy.

The many websites selling mephedrone closed down last week with the final deadline for placing online orders 3pm on Wednesday. At the same time, sites began advertising or offering MDAI, most describing it as a "research chemical". One of the most popular mephedrone websites states: "New products for April – MDAI." Another announced the arrival of MDAI by declaring it was "proud to introduce a new compound to our product range". The cost of the chemical is about twice that of mephedrone, with a gram – which users say is enough for five hits – costing 25 pounds.

From the album Drink The Sea, release date 5/25.

420 College, L.A.’s self-described “premier” marijuana trade school, has completed its first year in business, and according to the school’s website, business is booming. With over 400 students having completed its program thus far, 420 College joins Oakland’s Oaksterdam University as one of California’s top marijuana vocational schools.

420 College is “helping people find a new career in America’s most exciting new industry,” says the site. Offering such courses/seminars as, “Starting a Business in Cannabis,” “Cultivation,” and “Cooking, Edibles and Extracts,” 420 College promises students “the training it takes to become a medical marijuana professional.”

For many the ‘psychedelic era’ is a time period located during the Sixties but whilst optical, visionary and, indeed, psychedelic artistic sensibility found its earliest popular expression during the decade, its historical reach is much larger. In his forward, Marion Ottinger Jr., writes that this book “explores the visual impact that the psychedelic culture of the 1960s and earlier has had on an impressive assortment of artists working over the past five decades.”