Category Archives: Entheogens

(Ann Clancy/Leafly)

Welcome to Leaflys guide to psychedelics, where we explore the therapeutic and recreational benefits of these amazing substances.

The word entheogen is commonly used for these substances nowadays, a word in Greek which means generating the god within.

Entheogens are understood as compounds that promote life-altering experiences, encouraging profound insights into the nature of life and consciousness, and the term also alludes to the spiritual aspect of these substances and the idea of them as plant teachers.

Psychedelics are potent psychoactive chemicals or plants that can alter perception, mood, and cognitive processes. Some of the most common psychedelics include:

Mind-altering psychedelic plants naturally grow as far afield as the Amazon, the Himalayas, and the Pacific Northwest of the US.

Psychedelics arent a new fad. Their use predates the written word, with archaeologists confirming their use in ancient ritual and ceremonial contexts. While the ingestion of psychedelics for recreational and sacred purposes has been ongoing, their therapeutic potential was first recognized by scientists in the mid-20th century.

The word psychedelics was first coined in 1957 to identify drugs that reveal useful aspects of the mind. In recent years scientists have begun referring to psychedelic compounds more properly as entheogens.

The term entheogen is commonly used for psychedelics nowadays, meaning generating the god within in Greek.

One of the motivations for this renaming was a concern among scientists that psychedelics carried negative cultural baggage from the 1960s. Use of the term entheogens is intended to allow patients, medical practitioners, policymakers, and the public to approach this emerging field of medicine and discovery without stigma or bias.

Between 1950 and the mid-60s, more than 1,000 clinical papers were published on psychedelic drug therapy, spearheaded by researchers awed by the assorted medical benefits these compounds could potentially offer.

The introduction of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970 saw psychedelics research slow to a trickle as government-sanctioned research ceased, and the compounds became tarred by the War on Drugs.

Fast forward to the present day, and studies into this fascinating compound have picked up momentum again. Scientists are delving back into psychedelic research, exploring the myriad ways this unique medicine may help heal diverse ills. Recent research has shown promise in using psychedelics to treat substance dependency, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and to help with end-of-life care.

Check out more in-depth articles on these topics:

As the stigma of psychedelics is waning, more studies are showing the benefits these substances can offer to help treat a multitude of conditions, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, addiction and much more.

Learn how psychedelics affect the human brain, and how they interact with serotonin receptors and the default mode network (DMN).

See how psychedelic have seen used in some cultures for thousands of years, and how interest in the substances increased in the 20th century, up to today.

The psychedelic legalization movement has been picking up steam recently with cities, districts, and states decriminalizing them, and some even legalizing.

Get to know more about MDMA, LSD, mushrooms, and DMT, their histories, how they make you feel, and why people take them.

Is it a good idea to mix the two, or a recipe for a bad trip? Research is sparse, but we look into the benefits of combining these two substances.

Pat Goggins and Emma Stone contributed to this article.

Excerpt from:

What Are Psychedelic Drugs (Hallucinogenics)? | Leafly

Your dedicated resource to learn about marijuana, from legalization efforts and its history to resources about growing cannabis and more.

The history of cannabis prohibition

Learn how cannabis came to America, how it was prohibited, and how the country is starting to embrace it once again.

The world of dabbing might be confusing to the uninitiated, but fear not: Our guide to dabbing will show you what dabbing is, how to dab, all the different types of dabs and how theyre made, and more.

Whether you want to start your own home grow or are looking for tips on how to improve your existing garden, Leafly has plenty of resources designed to help marijuana growers.

Psychedelics, or entheogens, can alter the mind, encourage profound insights, and promote life-changing experiences. Learn about these many substances and the incredible medical benefits they can offer.

Perplexed by pulegone? Befuddled about BHO? Gobsmacked by guaiol? Browse our marijuana glossary to learn about the many terms, from scientific to slang, used in a cannabis context.

Leaflys guide to growing marijuana

Educate yourself and learn more about social justice to help build a stronger cannabis community.

Marijuana legalization in the United States is a long, ongoing process. Learn about the history of cannabis prohibition and legalization efforts in the US, what decriminalization means (and why it doesnt do enough to help in the fight towards legalization), the differences between recreational and medical marijuana legalization, and why expungement is a necessary step of legalizing weed.

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Cannabis & Marijuana Education: Learn All About Weed | Leafly

VexOverview

Focal world(s):

Mars Mercury Venus Nessus Io The Leviathan Moon Europa Black Garden Ganymede 2082 Volantis[1]

Goals:

Be the only being in existence Weave their way into the fabric of reality

At war with:

Cabal Fallen Hive Taken The City

Average height:

Various

Distinctions:

Single red optic sensor Large, fan-like head with a beak-like protrusion Sparse frame, tails, and long claw-like fingers Biological Mind/Power Core (critical point)

Average lifespan:

Indefinite (possibly thousands of years old[2] or eons)[3]

Notable groups:

Precursors Descendants Sol Collective Sol Divisive Sol Progeny Hezen Corrective Hezen Protective Aphix Invasive Virgo Prohibition

Notable individuals:

Argos, Planetary Core Atheon, Time's Conflux Belmon, Transcendent Mind Brakion, Genesis Mind Consecrated Mind, Sol Inherent Dendron, Root Mind Panoptes, Infinite Mind Protheon, Modular Mind Qodron, Gate Lord Quria, the Dreaming Mind Sanctified Mind, Sol Inherent Sekrion, Nexus Mind Theosyion, the Restorative Mind The Templar The Undying Mind Transcendent Hydra Zydron, Gate Lord

Other Names:

"Milk robots"[4]

The Vex are a cyber-organic species as ancient as the Universe itself. While individual Vex units are robotic in appearance, they are merely walking tools for radiolaria, microscopic organisms suspended in Vex milk that contains the species' collective intelligence. The Vex are capable of great feats of engineering such as reconstructing entire planets like Mercury and Nessus into their Machine Worlds, portal-based space travel, data processing and timeline manipulation on a scale impossible for humanity, but lack language, thought and sentience in the human sense of those words. They cannot be conciliated or reasoned with, and are hostile to every other lifeform but their own.

The Vex have been present in the Solar System for billions of years, predating humanity; their sophisticated and watchfully guarded structures can be found on multiple planets, including Venus, Mars and Io. Some Vex locations, such as the Black Garden or the Vault of Glass, are artificial realms existing outside of normal space and time.

The Vex have been described as a "hyperintelligent time-spanning thought-mesh"[7], a collective mind composed of countless component intelligences distributed across time and space. The mobile Vex machines encountered by Guardians are merely containers for these intelligences, which carry mind cores filled with milky radiolarian fluid - hypothesized to be the only remnant of their distant biological origin.[8]

Vex come in a diverse array of shapes and sizes, but the majority share features such as triangular or conical "heads," single glowing photoreceptors, jointed limbs, and in several cases arrays of flexible tentacles. Despite their often animalistic appearance, the Vex appear to be mass-produced units, constructed of an unknown metal alloy resembling hammered brass.[9] Headshots on humanoid Vex do not do much damage and instead send them into a berserk state; however, shooting the exposed mind cores in their abdomen will cause them to explode.[10] The Vex travel to the Floating Gardens to recycle their mechanical bodies when they are no longer functional.[11]

The Vex originated in the "flower game" conducted between the Light and Darkness in the primordial "garden" that existed prior to the creation of the universe. All of these games would end with a single, self-sustaining pattern emerging and dominating the entire simulation. This was pleasing to the Darkness, but was irritating to the Light, which desired that the game produce endless novel patterns instead.

When the Light and Darkness began to war with one another, initiating the beginning of the universe, the patterns from the flower game escaped into it. In the initial hot state of the universe the abstract patterns existed as quantum fluctuations, before eventually creating a more stable substrate for themselves in the briny seas of the first worlds to form in the universe, the radiolaria. This was the origin of the Vex as they would later come to be known, and from this point forward they were driven to once more totally dominate the reality they found themselves in, though operating on "outdated" rules that did not account for the paracausal powers of the Darkness or the Light.

The rest of the Vex's evolutionary history is a matter of speculation, but Clovis Bray I hypothesized some likely intermediate steps during his studies of the Vex structures around 2082 Volantis. The Vex developed in extremely high energy environments and competition and predation were not optimal strategies. Instead, the group signalling between the radiolaria formed the basis for the evolution of a swarm intelligence. The radiolaria developed crude armor, possibly hydrogel or silica plating to shield themselves from intense cosmic radiation, allowing them to remain close enough to the surface to directly feed off this plentiful energy source. From here, the Vex constructed and developed ever more complex structures, storing the information in the patterns of the radiolaria colonies themselves. Their microscopic nature allowed the Vex intelligence to deduce and experiment with quantum and high energy physics early, while the radiolaria themselves became, in essence, microscopic tool users.

The Vex developed rapidly, and at some point in their development in the early universe, developed mega-structures around the shortlived hypermassive stars their planets originated around. These structures artifically extended the lifespan of these stars, allowing their use to 'forge' heavier elements that would have been otherwise fantastically rare in the early, low metal universe. [12]

The earliest historical event associated with the Vex is when the Hive god Crota, Son of Oryx opened a portal to a place where the Vex were present, hoping to find a secret power for himself. Instead, he allowed the Vex to invade Oryx, the Taken King's throne world, the High War.[13] At first unsuited to the Ascendant Realm and the rules governing its reality, the Vex quickly learned of the Hive's Sword-Logic, creating Quria, Blade Transform to investigate it. Through Quria, the Vex learned to achieve divinity by killing all who opposed them and adopting worship as a primary function. Though Oryx eventually succeeded in eliminating the Vex from his realm, they preserved what they learned and passed it on to the rest of the Vex hive mind.[14] Quria would later ambush Oryx when he attacked the Nicha Thought-ship. In the ensuing battle, Quria generated a simulation of Oryx's original form: Aurash. As Oryx was distracted by the simulation, Quria devoted the rest of its resources to sending what it had learned to the rest of the Vex hive mind. Quria was then Taken and given to his sister, Savathn as a gift, however, Oryx allowed Quria to retain a portion of its own will.

During humanity's Golden Age, Vex structures were found on Venus dating back to a few billion years before humanity's existence.[15] Ishtar researchers suspected that the Vex ruins came from an alternate Venus and came into being when the Traveler transformed Venus into a habitable world.[16]

The Collective also recovered a live specimen of Vex and discovered that it had created an internal simulation of themselves, accurately predicting their every move. To Collective researchers, this ability raised profound philosophical quandaries about the nature of reality. Eventually the researchers were driven nearly to madness, as they started to wonder if they themselves were just Vex simulations, so they decided to bring in a Warmind to intervene on their behalf. Warminds were many orders of magnitude more complex than humans, and it was believed that the Vex would be unable to simulate them; thus, the Warmind's presence and actions would be a sufficiently chaotic variable to allow the researchers to discern which universe was real and disrupt the simulation.[17][18][19]

The Vex first appeared on Mercury during the Golden Age as well, shortly after the Traveler terraformed the planet into a garden world. Dendron, Root Mind was created following the Vex's arrival, and began converting the planet into a Machine World that would house the "reality engine" known as the Infinite Forest within its core.

At some point, Clovis Bray I, the patriarch of the Bray family and founder of the Clovis Bray corporation, arranged for a Vex to be stolen from the Ishtar Collective and transported to his research site on Europa. This Vex then built a gate leading from Europa to 2082 Volantis, a blue giant star system in which the star had been surrounded by Vex megastructures. Clovis I's ensuing research into Vex radiolarian fluid and the mysterious paracausal power he called "Clarity" resulted in a breakthrough in the development of exominds.

During or before the Collapse, the colony ship Exodus Black left Earth on a trajectory out of the solar system. It was intercepted, however, by the planetoid known as Nessus, which had become fully converted into a Vex Machine World and had left its usual orbital patterns. The entire crew of the Exodus Black was captured or killed, with some being kept alive by the Vex for a time for experimentation and analysis.

Sometime before the events of Destiny, the Guardians Kabr, the Legionless, Pahanin, and Praedyth ventured into the Vault of Glass on Venus, a major confluence of the Vex network. Inside, they were quickly thwarted by the Templar and its Gorgons. Pahanin managed to escape, but Kabr was assimilated after giving his Light to fashion the Aegis, while Praedyth was captured and trapped outside of time.

On Mars, the Vex (under the Virgo Prohibition) waged an intense war with the Cabal, who managed to repel the machines despite the vast numbers of them that continually assaulted Cabal positions.[20] This massive, if ineffective, offensive against the Cabal was an effort by the Vex to bar entry to the Black Garden,[21] which the Vex were being summoned to for a then-unknown purpose. Upon successfully infiltrating the Black Garden, the Guardian discovered a collective of Vex dedicated to worshipping an entity within the Garden known as the Black Heart, an aspect or construct of the Darkness.[22] This seemingly-uncharacteristic behavior was later thought to have been as rational as everything the Vex do; they simply determined that worshiping the Heart would be the most advantageous course of action. This hypothesis was supported by the presence of the Sol Progeny, a trio of Vex frames meant to serve as vessels for the Heartand to use its power to further the ends of the Vex network.

Subsequently, a second group of Guardians would enter the Vault of Glass, seeking to further break the Vex's power following the destruction of the Black Heart. The Aegishaving been designed specifically to counter the reality-bending capabilities of the Vaults denizensallowed these Guardians to escape the fates of their predecessors, fight their way to the core of the Vault, and engage and destroy Atheon, Time's Conflux, the Vault's overseer.

The destruction of the Heart had caused the Black Garden to become a part of normal spacetime, with several entryways on and beneath the surface of Mars. The Undying Mind, an ancient Vex Hydra, would later attempt to seal the Garden away from normal spacetime once more, to secure it against further intrusion. Following the destruction of Crota on the Moon, a strike team entered the Garden and destroyed the Mind, stopping its workthough, true to its name, it would eventually return.

In recent times, the Vex had suffered numerous setbacks across the system - a large number of Vex Axis Minds were destroyed by Guardians, leaving the Vex network in disarray. With the arrival of the Taken, attacks against the Vex had only escalated. The Vex have yet to counter these failures, though some believe the cybernetic machines have begun preparing countermeasures as Variks, the Loyal notes, following Skolas' defeat, "Old machines are waking up...".[23]

Praedyth himself was forgotten until the time of the Taken War, when the Taken began to blight the Vex network. After receiving a distress signal from Praedyth, The Guardian was sent to the Vault to investigate and was unexpectedly granted access by the Vex. Inside, the Guardian discovered a series of Dead Ghosts Praedyth had left behind. Praedyth revealed through recordings within the Ghosts that he had seen what the Vex had calculated would be their future: eons hence, they would be completely corrupted by the Taken, becoming an eternal part of the legacy of Oryx, the Taken King. Although the Vex were able to foresee this future and compelled to seek a way to avert it, they concluded that this grim fate was inevitable without the Light; allowing the Guardian to fight the Taken blight that plagued them was an act of desperation. Traveling through a portal, the Guardian was transported to the Vex's future, where the blight was defeated, the Vex were spared from their fate, and Praedyth's remains and Ghost were recovered. Despite this moment of cooperation, however, the Vex still had no intention of returning the favor or sparing the Last City.[22]

By the time of the Red War, two years after the Taken War, the Vex had come under attack by the Fallen House of Dusk and the Cabal Red Legion on Io, Mercury, Mars, and Nessus. Of note, on Mars the Red Legion quickly succeeded against the Vex where other Cabal legions had failed for decades: they destroyed the gate to the Black Garden and drove the Vex out of Meridian Bay.[24] According to Cayde-6, the Red Legion has brought even more of their might to bear on Mars than on Earth. With the gate to the Black Garden having been destroyed by the Red Legion, it is unknown if the Vex still have the means to access the Garden itself. It's possible the entrance from the Tharsis Junction still exists and the Garden is still accessible.[25]

On Nessus, the Red Legion had begun drilling into The Inverted Spire, hoping to study and utilize Protheon, Modular Mind as a weapon but the Vex responded violently, causing a warzone to break out near the drilling sites. The Vanguard found out about the legion's efforts and sent in Guardians to destroy Protheon before the Red Legion could capture the Vex Mind. After fighting through Vex and Cabal forces, the Guardians descended into the Inverted Spire and faced off against the Vex entity. Despite its firepower and altering the battlefield, the Guardians succeeded in destroying Protheon, depriving the Vex of an Axis Mind and the Cabal of a potential new weapon.

While on Io, the Vanguard pin-pointed the Vex's machine conversion of the moon at The Pyramidion, lead by Brakion, Genesis Mind. Not only do the Vanguard want to put a stop to the Vex's plans to turn Io into another machine world but also prevent any lingering Taken from corrupting the Genesis Mind into a powerful Taken entity. Storming the Pyramidion, the Guardians, guided by Asher Mir, evade Vex traps, Vex defenders and Taken enemies and enter a pit that leads to the Genesis Mind. Battling the Vex Mind, the Guardians succeed in destroying Brakion, hindering the Vex's efforts to convert Io and granting Asher Mir a sense of vengeance as it was Brakion who nearly converted him into a Vex machine.

Following the death of Dominus Ghaul and the reawakening of the Traveler, Vex Minds began to call the modern Vex, Precursors, and Descendants to Mercury, in order to bring forth a dark future in which only they dominate all life and both Light and Darkness no longer exist, through the means of the Infinite Forest. This required the Vanguard to locate Osiris, in the hopes of stopping them.[26] Despite her reservations, Ikora Rey, the former student of Osiris, gives her blessing to the mission and gains assistance from the Cult of Osiris.

Though the Vanguard gained an ally in the exiled warlock's Ghost, Sagira, the Guardians traveled across the Infinite Forest to find Osiris while also thwarting the Vex's plans. After encountering reflections of Osiris, the Guardians face the mastermind and instigator of the Vex's plans, Panoptes, Infinite Mind, an extremely powerful Axis Mind with the power to delete the Vex's enemies within the Forest. Though the Guardians lost Sagira to Panoptes during their mission to locate the Infinite Mind's lair, they remained determined to stop Panoptes from bringing about the Vex's desired future. With the aid of Ikora and her abilities, the Guardian was able to enter the Infinite Forest once again and find Panopte's lair, Infinity's Crown.

The Guardians battle with the Infinite Mind but find themselves unable to harm the Axis Mind. Just before Panoptes deletes the Guardian, Osiris himself and many of his reflections arrive to aid the Guardian. Using his power, Osiris stuns Panoptes enough that Guardian was able to harm the Infinite Mind's core using Arc charges. In time, the Infinite Mind was destroyed for good, stopping the Vex from merging reality into their dark future. Leaving the Infinite Gate, Osiris is reunited and reconciles with Ikora Rey but returns to the Infinite Forest to prevent any more Vex plots.

Such plots involved the Vex attempting to salvage themselves from the loss of Panoptes. When Osiris foolishly created a simulation of Dendron, Root Mind, in an attempt to control it, the Cyclops Axis Mind went rogue and made efforts to fill in the void left after the Infinite Mind's demise. However, the exiled warlock managed to contact the Guardians in time to prevent Dendron from taking any action. Traveling to the Simulated Past in the Infinite Forest, the Guardians were successful in eliminating the Root Mind once again.

Further, the Guardians made constant travels into the Infinite Forest, preventing any Vex experiments from bearing anything significant that would work against the Last City. One experiment involved the simulated Cabal Valus Thuun. After the simulation failed to prevent the Guardians from finding the Infinite Mind's lair, Thuun was resurrected as part of a glitch and continuously attempts to destroy the map, only to fail. Osiris contacts the Guardians again and has them eliminate Valus Thuun for good.

At some point, the Leviathan consumed a chunk of Nessus that contained a powerful Vex Mind, Argos, Planetary Core, which caused the world-eater to clog up and malfunction. Emperor Calus immediately invited help of the Guardians to destroy the Vex intrusion, where they succeeded and repaired the Leviathan. Calus saved the Guardians from being sucked into the Leviathan afterward, where he rewarded them for their efforts.

One year after the conclusion of the Red War and Vex's crippling losses in the Infinite Forest, a mass breakout occurred within the Prison of Elders, releasing many imprisoned Vex to roam the facility. According to The Drifter, the Guardians and the Last City have done so much damage to the Vex in recent years that they had consolidated their subtypes, providing an explanation for the singular (so far unnamed) collective that roamed Sol post-Red War.

Following the discovery of a Pyramid on Luna, which is revealed to be a remnant of the Darkness that brought about the Collapse to the Solar System, the Guardian had retrieved an unknown artifact from within the structure for Eris Morn to study. Soon enough, the artifact emitted a signal that reached deep within the Black Garden. Following Eris' suggestion, the Guardians formed a Raid team to trace the end of the mysterious signal. Breaching into the Black Garden once more, the Guardians encountered a Vex Mind known as the Consecrated Mind, that they tailed through a winding labyrinth and destroyed it. Soon, they found a Pyramid Scale left in the Garden that the Vex were attempting to harness its Darkness with the Sanctified Mind. Despite its newfound paracausal power, the Guardians managed to destroy the Sanctified Mind, halting the Vex's attempts to harness the Pyramid's power.[27]

Despite the victory in destroying the Axis Mind and bridging a new portal to the Black Garden, Sol Divisive Vex were pouring from the Black Garden and invading the lunar surface. As the Guardians dealt with the Nightmares and the Hidden Swarm, the Vex began to take measures to claim the Moon for themselves. Realizing that the Vanguard's foothold on the Moon is threatened, Eris Morn called upon the Young Wolf to investigate the Vex invasion and report to Ikora Rey. The Young Wolf reported that after they destroyed multiple Vex incursions on the moon and they managed to enter the Black Garden itself, allowing them to disrupt the flow of Vex platforms by assaulting the gate network to the moon.

Between the Young Wolf's assault and other reports from the moon, Ikora had determined that The Undying Mind had once more been reactivated by the Vex and was continuing with its primary directive to retake control of the Black Garden and restore the Black Heart at its core.[28] Furthermore, Ikora Rey noted that the Undying Mind itself learned from its previous mistakes, causing her to theorize that the Mind is hiding between timelines to avoid destruction. Resolving to defeat the Axis Mind, the Warlock Vanguard requested the Guardians to gather more data to develop a plan for when they will confront the Undying Mind again.[28]

Some weeks later, after Zavala and Ikora managed to destroy dozens of Undying Mind copies, Ikora instructs the Guardian to do the same. Using a beacon Ikora created, the Guardian forms a team to combat the latest Vex Offensive and use that opportunity to breach into the Black Garden. After hacking into the Vex network, destroying scores of Vex forces and pushing forward, the Guardians set up Ikora's beacon to pull one of the Undying Mind's copies out of the timeways, then to destroy it. The beacon proved a success, forcing the Undying Mind to appear, and the Guardians face off with the Axis Mind once more. After an arduous struggle, the Guardians managed to breach through the Undying Mind's defenses and destroy the copy. However, as this was just one of a possible thousand copies, the Guardians understand that a lot more work is to be done in the mission to destroy all the Undying Mind's copies.

After an exhausting campaign, the Guardians were successful in destroying all the copies of the Undying Mind. However, upon finally destroying the true Undying Mind, the timeways over Mercury became disrupted. As a result, access to the Vex timeways became available to other factions. Taking advantage of this, a council of Cabal Psion Flayers seek to assume control of the timeways to undo their defeat during the Red War and create a better future for themselves. Seeking to prevent this, Osiris emerges once more to organize the Guardians to prevent the Cabal from perverting the timeways, preserve their reality and possibly save a legend, Saint-14.

During the past, after Saint-14s last mission to find Osiris and prior to the Guardian's awakening, the Vex, in their desperate attempt to kill Saint-14, built Agioktis, Martyr Mind at Infinity's Siphon, specifically designed to kill the legendary Titan by draining him of his Light. However, the Martyr Mind would get into a skirmish with the Guardian who used the Sundial to travel through time to save Saint-14. As a result of this distraction, the Martyr Mind would manage to detain the Guardian instead, but releasing Saint-14 in the process, where it would be destroyed by the Titan it was designed to stop.

Due to the Guardian's actions, Agioktis, Martyr Mind failed in its specific purpose to kill Saint-14, thus changing the course of time where Saint-14 never died and bringing him to the present.

Having failed to take control of the Vex timeways with the Sundial, the Red Legion, under the leadership of the Psion Flayer Amtec, enacted a last resort plan to crash the warship known as the Almighty into the Last City. To stop the Almighty, Guardians began arming the Warmind Rasputin on Earth, the Moon, and Io. Operations on Io attracted the curiosity of Vex forces, much to the chagrin of Asher Mir, who would complain to Ana Bray about "stirring up" the Vex. In addition, Vex responsible for machine conversion managed to excavate their way into the Seraph Bunker outside the Pyramidion, requiring it to be cleared out frequently for it to maintain a connection to Rasputin's mainframe.

Following the arrival of the Pyramids and the deactivation of Rasputin, the Vex would begin to study the new arrivals first on Io. As Eris Morn and the Drifter attempted to contact the Pyramids, the Vex would take interest in these Darkness-harvesting operations and attempt to sabotage their efforts, often deploying Champions to steal any of the coalesced and bloomed darkness for further analysis. One of the Pyramids reciprocated this study, scanning the Pyramidion on Io in preparation for an incursion into the structure to learn the secrets of the Vex. When Asher Mir learned of this, he ventured into the Pyramidion to protect it from the Pyramid, initially encountering resistance from the Vex, who later seemed to welcome and simply observe him.[30][31]

By the time of the Festival of the Lost, the Haunted Forest Iteration who come around in the Infinite Forest again, the Vex are aware of the several parties boarding the Dreadnaught and salvaging what they can from it. The Vex would then simulate these events in order to steal what the Fallen have found. [32][33][34][35]

During the conflict between the the Guardian and the House of Salvation on Europa, Eramis, Kell of Darkness sought to wipe out her enemies with an invasion of Vex unleashed from the ancient portal to 2082 Volantis constructed by Clovis Bray. She activated the portal, releasing Belmon, Transcendent Mind and waves of Transcendent Hydras. After a lengthy battle, The Guardian was successful in destroying Belmon and sealing the portal, however many Vex would escape and attack Riis-Reborn. In addition, The Guardian is unable to stop Eramis from draining the massive pool of Radiolaria at the portal and sending it to Atraks in the Deep Stone Crypt (raid) to forge her Exo bodies.

Following the Guardians' trials with the Cabal, the Vex somehow have plunged the Last City into an endless night, threatening the safety once found beneath the watchful presence of the Traveler. To combat the Vex's latest intrusion, Ikora and Osiris have the Guardians call upon an unlikely ally: Mithrax, Kell of the House of Light and one of the last of the Sacred Splicers. As a member of this order, he possesses the knowledge needed to combat the Vex technology that ensnares the Last City.

The Guardian managed to locate Mithrax on Europa after he was attempting to grant safe passage to Eliksni refugees fleeing from the House of Salvation but was ambushed by the Vex. After meeting with the Kell, Mithrax asks the Guardian to aid him in "blinding" the Vex so he can lead his people to safety. The Guardian agrees and, using a special device of Mithrax's, they enter into the Outer Nexus of the Vex Network. With Mithrax's guidance, they manage to slay the Curator in charge, bringing back a sample of its living code for study and escaping before the Vex could retaliate. Sharing a common enemy and understanding that Mithrax and his house are different than the other Fallen, Ikora offers Mithrax and the House of Light safe haven with the Last City, to which the Kell gratefully accepts.

With Mithrax's guidance in training them as Sacred Splicers, the Guardians make progress in continually breaching the Outer Nexus and slaying various amounts of Oppressive and Subjective Minds, bringing back their codes to study and hopefully find a solution in ending the Endless Night the Vex have placed over the Last City.

For weeks to months, the Guardians constantly breach into the Vex Nexus domain and battle against a number of Subjective Minds, gathering data that could explain the nature of the Endless Night. From this data, both the Vanguard and Mithrax discover that the true architects of the Endless Night are the Taken Vex Mind, Quria, the Dreaming Mind and its master, Savathn, the Witch Queen. With this knowledge in hand, Osiris delves into learning all they can about the Witch Queen while Mithrax continues to pinpoint Quira's position, allowing the Guardians to corner it. Eventually, Mithrax was able to gain Quria's position and trap it, giving the Guardians' the chance to destroy it. After a long battle, the Guardian succeeds in destroying the Dreaming Mind despite its use of the Vex simulations and Taken powers, dealing a crippling blow to Savathn. Despite the Dreaming Mind's destruction, the Endless Night didn't dissipate immediately, but the Vanguard and Mithrax believe it would slowly fade away given time.

Ultimately, after a period of weeks, the Endless Night did indeed lift, allowing daylight to cover the Last City once more. However, the Vex would gain an opportunity to launch a direct attack at the Last City when Future War Cult leader, Lakshmi-2, opened a Vex rift within the Eliksni Quarters. Lakshmi, along with her fellow Faction leaders, had grown increasingly wary and paranoid towards the Eliskni of the House of Light, believing they were no different than the Fallen the Last City had battled for centuries. The Factions leaders, Lakshmi in particular, were frustrated by the Guardians' refusal to see their point of view and further driven by the device that her faction uses to see into the future, was convinced that the House of Light would lead the Last City to a tragedy. On her last broadcast, Lakshmi claimed she was aided by Osiris when the rift was opened, leading to the Vex to pour into the Last City for the first time. However, instead of being under her command, the Vex attacked humans and Eliksni indiscriminately, which ultimately led to Lakshmi's death. The Guardians scrambled to protect the Last City and the Eliksni Quarter, managing to close the rift by destroying the Vex Subjective Mind controlling them. Afterward, the combined strength of Mithrax, Saint-14, Ikora Rey, Zavala, and Amanda Holiday managed to hold the line and destroy the remaining Vex, saving the House of Light and the Last City.

The Vex do not have a subjective consciousness as understood by humans. The Vex pattern of thought does not include semiosis, which is the use of symbols to represent ideas, concepts and meanings in human language and thought. The Vex instead simulate all phenomena within themselves to express and manipulate ideas. Whereas a human when touching fire will use symbols to represent this stimulus, process them and produce an output to extinguish the fire, the Vex pattern of thought is adapted so that, if it is burned, the destructive imput of the fire to the pattern inherently causes a repertory output to extinguish with no middle process. The Vex do not necessarily know why they do what they do, they simply do. As the Vex mode of thought is entirely based on the manipulation of internal simulations, the Vex swarm mind has very little or perhaps no ability to distinguish between simulation and reality; there is merely the internal model, and the external that must be changed to match it. There are no individual experiences in the Vex collective, and perhaps nothing analogous to sentience as welleach instantiation of the Vex is a fractal mirror of the master pattern that makes the Vex, leaving the whole able to occupy and utilize any substrate for their processing. The Vex are capable of manifesting consciousnesses as simulation, as part of their interrogation of reality, and even use these simulations to achieve their goals in certain situations.

The Vex in their biological form are aquatic microorganisms known as radiolaria.[37][38] Though Ikora Rey believes that this is not the true form of the Vex themselves, as she believes that if the Vex could manifest their consciousness in such a form, it would be able to take on other forms. [39] The "mind-fluid" inside each of their mind-cores is composed of a milky substance wherein radiolaria cells float; this centralized mind-core is also a localized receiver for each individual Vex "component" of the Nexus.[38] Their aquatic origins are strongly implied through their architecture.[38] Vex cells are noted entheogens and physical contact with Vex units can produce dangerous mind-altering effects. [16]

According to notes taken by Clovis Bray I, the dynamic mobility of radiolaria within their fluid environment renders them exceptionally well-suited for performing certain difficult calculations. He also noted that the Vex language as embodied within radiolarian fluid does not involve semiosis, or the use of symbols; instead of utilizing "placeholders" for concepts, the Vex directly mimic or simulate concepts or phenomena as they communicate about them to one another. The asymbolic nature of Vex language is the fundamental difference between Vex cognition and human cognition.[40]

It is believed that Vex are not born or made, so much as converted. When Asher Mir was infected with Radiolarian fluid, his arm turned into a Vex construct. Kabr, the Legionless would have suffered a similar fate had he not used his Light to become The Aegis. This also explains why Radiolarian fluid deals damage when stepped in. In the opening cinematic for Season of the Undying however, Vex constructs are seen inactive in what is described as a "gestation lake",[41] where Radiolarian fluid finds its way into constructs to bring them to life. It is possible that manufacture supplements conversion, or that newly-converted constructs may need to undergo additional processing before they can be activated.

It is stated that when Vex become Taken, that they can definitely feel it, including Vex constructs such as Asher's converted arm, that is is equivalent to ripping the essence from them. Asher even stated that Taking Vex would be suicidal and risky as the Vex infect everything they touch, their self-replicating subroutines would consume them from the inside out, whether they are ignore or it is part of a calculated risk is still unclear at the time.[42]

Emperor Calus describes the Vex as "cocoons" for "something greater". He also describes all the Vex previously encountered merely as gardeners, engineers and managers, and implies that Guardians have yet to encounter their true warriors.

The ultimate goal of the Vex is to remake all of reality in their image, but the exact details of that goal are ambiguous. Praedyth described the Vex as being motivated by a "Pattern," which drives the Vex to either reshape or destroy everything in their path. Osiris referred to the Vex's objective as "Convergence," an outcome where all life in the universe has been converted to a simplified, digital form. Savathn believed that the Vex sought to dominate "every possible end state of the universe."[14] According to Maya Sundaresh, a universe ruled by the Vex would be one in which every star is collapsed into a black hole and every new universe created as a result similarly conquered, and their combined processing power used to simulate and conquer every possible past, and these simulated pasts used to host and invade additional simulations in infinite recursion.[44] As seen in the Infinite Forest, to ensure their ideal future, the Vex seek to bring about a state where neither the Light nor the Darkness exist any longer. The Vault of Glass on Venus serves as a testing ground for the Vex to manipulate reality through ontological means.

In his studies of the Vex, Clovis Bray I noted that the Vex were so utterly adapted to survival and adaptation that any destructive input would automatically be used as a means to enable a self-correcting or reparatory response; an analogy he used was that, if a Vex unit were exposed to a fire, then the energy of that fire would be utilized in putting it out. This approach to existence permeates every aspect of the Vex, so much so that even their thoughts and language are intrinsically virulent when other minds and software are exposed to them.[40]

The Vex have displayed an interest in studying the behavior and strategies of other species in order to further their own aims. At least one known programming is known to study its enemies, taking prisoners for observation and conducting a variety of experiments; examples include the Ishtar Collective scientists, Failsafe's crew, and later The Guardian.

As a result of having originated in the primordial reality predating the arrival of Light and Darkness, the Vex are unable to simulate paracausal forces or beings. However they have demonstrated the capability to either siphon or erase such forces through deduction [45] or by using ontological weapons, and consequently have a particular interest in understanding paracausality and co-opting paracausal forces for their own use where possible. When the Vex first encountered the Hive after Crota inadvertently released them into the Ascendant realm of Oryx, the Taken King, the Vex manifested an Axis Mind dedicated to understanding and utilizing the Sword-Logic. The Black Garden is another example of a Vex effort to harness paracausal forces for their own use, in this case by creating the Sol Divisive to worship what appeared to be a fragment of the Darkness and the Sol Progeny as its vessels for harnessing that power in conjuction with the ontological Vault of Glass. The pulse of Light emitted by the Traveler when it defeated Ghaul was apparently instrumental in allowing Panoptes, Infinite Mind to predict a future where Convergence was achieved, and to enact a plan to achieve that future.

The source of Venus Spirit Blooms might be a byproduct of Vex-influenced flora.[46] It is said that Vex encryption is unbreakable.[22] [47]

The Vex are all connected to one another in a massive hive mind, but individual Vex units called Axis Minds act as leaders by storing all information necessary to complete a particular goal, freeing up individual Vex to pursue local tasks while the Axis Mind can plan globally. This creates a centralized weakness for the Vex, but they seem to consider it worth the risk.[49] The Vex are divided up into different programming collectives, each with a different set of directives intended to advance the Vex race as a whole. Whether the Vex in question are devoted to engineering projects, full-scale war, or religious devotion, all Vex are united by a single, unfathomable purpose.[6]

It is thought that the Vex have embedded structures within every known celestial body, linked together in a massive trans-dimensional and trans-temporal gate network, which spans thousands of divergent realities all at once. Using this gate network in the present timeline, machinoforming engines are utilized by Vex Minds in the conversion of new worlds into massive Vex machines; Mercury was converted into a Machine World within days of the Collapse to house the reality-simulating Infinite Forest. Ostensibly, Vex strive to achieve Convergence by incorporating themselves into the fabric of the current universe itself, either through conventional or paracausal means.[22] The Vault of Glass, a location on Venus where the Vex can ontologically manipulate reality at will, is potentially a testing ground for this power. This power is limited to the Vault, though Ikora hypothesizes that the Sol Progeny were meant to carry this ability into the rest of the universe.[50] Both the Vault of Glass and the conversion of Venus are both currently undertaken by the Hezen Protective, though the process of the latter was drawn out for centuries for unknown reasons.[51]

According to notes taken by Clovis Bray I, Vex gates appear to lack meaningful structure or instrumentality, instead being a seemingly arbitrary arrangement of elemental metallic components. He speculated that a gate's structure instead serves as a kind of "password" that is recognized by some technology far away in time and/or space, which will manifest a gate only when the component pieces of the gate have been assembled in the correct shape.[52] An AI analysis included in his notes shows that transport through a gate appears to be facilitated by a non-gravitating, geometric Ellis wormhole that can be traversed into another point in local spacetime, or a nearby parallel universe.[53]

Overall, the Vex network is compartmentalized and operates in localized nodes called subnets, which can each work independently from one another. If one suffers, it will not affect the rest of the network as a whole. They all function differently, but work toward the same goal of Convergence. The Infinite Forest, and possibly the Vault of Glass, are their own subnets, where the former represents only a fraction of Vexs overall power. [54]

The Vex display a mastery of teleportation, and use a variety of teleportation modes for transporting troops and resources. Entire squads of Vex can drop into combat zones anywhere in the system, their arrival preceded by shimmering angular patterns and clouds of mist. According to Ghost, the Vex are capable of teleporting between star systems in seconds. Minotaurs are infamous for using teleportation aggressively, warping in and out of existence as they close with enemies. Stationary warp gates are also used to transport Vex between distant locations. Weapons such as the Slap Rifle and Line Rifle utilize teleportation as part of their core mechanisms, drawing power from highly energetic and vastly distant sources.

According to simulations within the Infinite Forest, the first Vex structures on Mercury arrived via teleportation from some other location in space, and possibly time as well.

As machine intelligences with incredible amounts of processing power at their disposal, the Vex are capable of generating simulations of reality to a degree of accuracy and realism exceeding even the best efforts of Golden Age humanity. According to records from the Ishtar Collective, Vex are capable of generating simulations of real-world events with perfect fidelity and predictive ability essentially running a parallel reality in their minds which is arguably indistinguishable from the "real" universe. Even lone Goblins have the processing power to nest such simulations up to 227 times through the simple expedient of simulating themselves along with their surroundings in the pockets of the universes that are being simulated. [17][55] Due to the nature of Vex cognition, they cannot actually distinguish between their simulations and reality, and only recognize that the two must match.[56] The predictive capacity of these simulations appears to be limited only to ordinary physics, as the Vex are apparently unable to simulate complex phenomena that are linked to a paracausal power. These include Guardians,[57] and Oryx; in the latter case they were only able to bootstrap a simulation of his original incarnation as Aurash. Warminds are also complex enough to resist simulation, at least by a single Vex unit.

The Infinite Forest within Mercury is perhaps the most impressive example of Vex simulation technology, being a massive "reality engine" capable of simulating countless variants of past, present and future realities. These simulations can be entered by non-Vex through a gateway on the surface of Mercury, and are "real" enough such that intruders can be damaged by attacks from simulated Vex or other entities within the Forest. Simulations can somehow leave the confines of the Infinite Forest if left unchecked, and can achieve sentience to operate independently.[18]

As a collective intelligence spanning across alternate realities, the Vex are intrinsically tied to the Corridors of Time that they can traverse through it in a manner similar to time travel; the Precursors and Descendants subtypes having originated from the past and future respectively, and numerous Vex units have titles or functions that allude to an ability to manipulate time. Skolas, Kell of Kells attempted to leverage Vex time-travel technology to pull the entire House of Wolves through time from the past to the present.[58] However, according to Sister Faora of the Cult of Osiris, the Vex may not be capable of "time travel" as is commonly understood; if they were, she claims, neither the Guardians or any other obstacles to the Vex would still exist.[59]

While hacking into a major Vex terminal, the A.I. Failsafe was captured by the Vex in the network; by the time the Guardian retrieved her, she explained that a decade had passed inside the network despite only a few minutes passing outside as time works differently between the two. [60] On Nessus, the Vex have apparently also engaged in spacetime engineering and "folded" the dimensions of normal spacetime, adding 6 new dimensions to the 4 dimensions of the spacetime continuum and making past and future interchangeable from the present moment on the planetoid.[61] Certain Vex Minotaurs on Nessus and in the Infinite Forest are equipped with "Temporal Shielding," which will retroactively eliminate projectiles as if they were never fired at all.

According to the Drifter, Vex weapons retrieved from destroyed Vex no longer function.

Hezen Protective defending the Nexus

Theosyion, the Restorative Mind

Vex Weavers protecting Theosyion

Bakrion defending himself

Entrance into the Pyramidion

Cabal projection of Protheon

Vex draining Saint-14's light

Argos attacking the Leviathan

Pagouri, Beloved by Calus

Hasapiko, Beloved by Calus

Sanctified Mind, Sol Inherent

Another view of Simulant Past

A Vex structure on Mercury

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Vex - Destinypedia, the Destiny wiki

The council cites the medicinal properties of these psychedelic substances as one of the reasons for the resolution.

SEATTLE The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday in favor of a resolution in support of decriminalizing the use of psychedelic drugs, like mushrooms containing psilocybin.

The resolution was sponsored by Councilmember Andrew Lewis who called the resolution a way for [the council] to go on the record in support of policy goals that make the enforcement of current laws regarding psychedelics (or entheogens) the lowest possible priority.

The resolution is limited to natural substances, notably psilocybin and ayahuasca, and doesnt include any manufactured psychedelic drugs like LSD or peyote, which was not included due to disagreements on the substance and the need for further information.

Obviously, this is part of a broader policy conversation nationally, and following on the heels of similar resolutions that have been passed in cities like Denver, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Oakland, California, among other jurisdictions, Lewis said Monday.

Among the reasons for the resolution, legislation cites scientific and clinical studies that have shown the medicinal properties of psychedelics for those experiencing depression, post-traumatic stress, grief and other physical and mental ailments.

Additionally, the legislation says entheogens are sacred to many cultures and spiritual practices and have been for centuries, but the current Seattle Police Department (SPD) policy does not protect those participating in these cultural activities from being arrested.

These non-addictive natural substances have real potential in clinical and therapeutic settings to make a really significant difference in peoples lives, Lewis said Monday.

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, while supporting the resolution, expressed disfavor for a resolution in place of a legally binding ordinance.

"I am a little confused by this resolution because it is a resolution and not an ordinance, and why this resolution is being passed when there is an ordinance from my office, and it has been available for months," Sawant said during the council meeting.

According to Councilmember and Public Safety Committee Chair Lisa Herbold, whom Sawant blamed for stalling her office's ordinance to legalize psychedelics, the ordinance was held until the council could hear recommendations from the Overdose Emergency Innovative Recovery Task Force.

When the task force delivered its recommendation, Herbold said it suggested cities without independent ordinances specifically criminalizing psychedelics should "direct their law enforcement agencies, local prosecutors and municipal courts to deprioritize enforcement and should publicly communicate this as municipal policy."

Additionally, Herbold said the council is anticipating state action on the decriminalization of psychedelics in the next legislative session in response to a decision by the Washington Supreme Court to strike the law criminalizing possession of controlled substances as unconstitutional.

While the resolution does not make these psychedelic substances legal, it does request that SPD formally codify and adopt policies that protect those who cultivate psychedelics for use in religious, spiritual, healing, or personal growth practices and those who share entheogens with others, without financial or other consideration, for their mutual use in such practices.

SPDs current enforcement practice, according to the legislation, is to neither detain nor arrest those who are solely in possession of controlled substances.

The resolution is also asking the Office of Intergovernmental Relations to add support of decriminalizing entheogens to the 2022 state legislative agenda.

Originally posted here:

Seattle City Council wants to decriminalize 'magic ...

SEATTLE Using psychedelics to treat or and even cure depression. Thats what new studies are showing is possible.

Since the Seattle City Council passed a resolution last month showing unanimous support for decriminalizing the personal use, growing and gifting of things like magic mushrooms, people are sharing their experiences.

KIRO7s Deedee Sun spoke with people who say psychedelics have changed their lives, including a mom who microdoses psychedelic mushrooms regularly.

Others are showing their home cultivation systems used to grow magic mushrooms right in their Seattle apartments.

Dana Phillips, 32, is mom to two girls. She lives in Skagit County and microdoses psychedelic mushrooms regularly somewhere from every few days to every few weeks.

We powder our mushrooms and put it in a little capsule, Phillips said, pulling a brown pill out of her bag. If Im feeling stressed out or anxious that day, I take a little microdose, she said.

A lot of people would be surprised to hear a mom is microsoding on mushrooms, KIRO7s Deedee Sun said.

Yes, oh definitely. And thats part of the reason why I havent really shared my story, Phillips said. There is a lot of stigma behind psychedelics in general.

The 1960s and counterculture movement gave psychedelics a bad rep. Mushrooms and LSD were labeled as dangerous party drugs that could melt your mind. And with the launch of the War on Drugs during the Nixon Administration, studies on psychedelics were banned and any emerging research from the time were set aside.

Now, all of that is changing. More studies are being conducted from by major universities on the therapeutic possibilities of psychedelics, and the research is showing overwhelmingly positive results.

In a recent Johns Hopkins study, researchers found two doses of psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, produce rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms. The patients were also guided by therapists. The study found most participants showed improvement, and half were still in remission four weeks later.

A NYU study found cancer patients experiencing challenges like depression and anxiety, showed mental health benefits even four years after treatment with magic mushrooms.

Phillips said she has been struggling with depression for the past decade. Her mental health declined after an abusive relationship.

My first major boyfriend sexually abused me. It was pretty intense, Phillips said. A lot of mental abuse.

She got out of that relationship and met her husband. But after the birth of her first child, the depression came roaring back.

" I actually got to a point where I was having really, really hard thoughts about not wanting to exist. So it was really tough for me to even move throughout my day and see that the people who loved me actually loved me and cared for me, Phillips said.

She said while therapy helped, the depression never went away. Then it worsened again after her second pregnancy.

I got to a point where I was journaling things like, oh I dont know if I can stay in my relationship because it was just being torn apart from my emotions, Phillips said.

Thats when she and her husband started researching psychedelics -- like magic mushrooms -- as an option for treating depression.

We realized theres a lot of research and studies, Phillips said.

A quick search and youll find long lists of videos on YouTube from TED Talks to videos from universities -- many of them scientists explaining how psylocibin, the active compound that makes mushrooms magic, can impact the mind.

With psylocibin treatment, we were seeing immediate reductions in depressive symptoms, immediate relief that last for months without side effects, said Dr. Rosalind Watts, in a TED Talk. Watts was a key researcher in a study on depression launched by Imperial College in London.

That treatment produces rapid and large reduction in depressive symptoms, with most patients studied, said Dr. Ronald Griffiths, with the Johns Hopkins psylocibin study.

For Phillips, on this past Mothers Day, her husband surprised her with magic mushrooms.

I was really nervous. And I was like okay, Phillips said. They blitzed mushrooms -- not a microdose, but whats called a mega or hero dose into a smoothie, drank it, and waited.

What the first effects you started noticing? Sun asked.

It probably take about 20-ish minutes. And you really just start to feel like - you know when you get really big butterflies and nerves? You kind of start to get that all over your body. And everyone is different, Phillips said.

The research studies are guided by therapists, but Dana was doing this on her own with her husband.

I was really afraid of what I was going to find in there. Because I knew psychedelics help you open up and look at your own consciousness, Phillips said.

Dana says the experience was profound - and immediate.

I processed through all of my emotional, abusive, traumatic - super traumatic relationships I had had throughout my 20s. And I was able to see them from such a different perspective. I was able to actually able to forgive myself for putting me in those situations, Phillips said. My life is completely changed. I wont ever look at my depression in the same way ever again, she said.

If it sounds far-fetched to you - maybe a bit too magical - heres the theory on how it works.

Scientists believe conditions like depression and anxiety, and even PTSD and addiction, travel across neurological paths in your brain. The thought patterns become ingrained and hard to break.

One idea is that psychedelics can break those patterns and allow neural networks to connect in ways people cant achieve by themselves.

I remember telling my husband, oh my gosh I just feel so alive. And hes like youre back! Thank you for coming back to me. Because he was worried that I was getting lost in my darkness again. It makes me want to cry right now, Phillips said. Its not what I wanted for Mothers Day, but its exactly what I needed, she said.

Phillips experience treating her depression is considered illegal.

But now in Seattle, City Council has unanimously passed a resolution supporting decriminalization.

The resolution applies to most entheogens -- or naturally occurring psychedelics from plants and fungi.

It says the the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of anyone engaging in entheogen-related activities should be among the city of Seattles lowest enforcement priorities.

That includes possessing, taking, gifting, or growing these substances.

There are not very many resolutions that pass unanimously and we were extremely excited, said Ben Sercombe, a Seattle resident who volunteers with Decrim Nature Seattle. The grassroots group has been fighting to get psychedelics decriminalized for years .

Other cities like Washington D.C.; Denver; Oakland, CA; and Cambridge, MA have all decriminalized psychedelics in some form. The state of Oregon has even legalized psilocybin therapy.

Detroit voters just decriminalized entheogens in a ballot measure this election.

Sercombe says getting the growing part included in city councils resolution was critical.

We see that as something thats absolutely important because we know that if this was just through a medical model, not a lot of people can afford $2,000 treatments and that limits the scope of who can have access to these medicines, Sercombe said.

Hes embracing Seattles new stance and showed KIRO7 how hes setting up a psychedelic mushroom grow.

I wanted to show my face and let people know a little more about the process about growing because its not this big bad scary drug that I think a lot of people maybe associate with it, Sercombe said.

He used mushroom spores - essentially the fungis seeds - and started growing them jars of wheat berries.

The mushrooms spores are legal to buy online because they dont contain the active compound in magic mushrooms - psilocybin.

This is mycelium which basically means the mushrooms roots have colonized this jar of grain, he said.

Then its time to actually grow the mushrooms. Sercombe mixed the jar of mycelium with something the mushrooms could continue to grow in.

What we have is sterilized substrate, the coyer, Sercombe said. He said it would take about a month before the psychedelic mushrooms would start to grow.

Sercombe said psychedelic mushrooms changed his life. He used to suffer from depression and anxiety and took an anti-depressant called Celexa.

What I found was, anti-depressants werent working for me, Sercombe said. It was in college and it just made me feel so dull to the world. I remember just feeling like - something had happened that was pretty traumatic in my life and I just remember not being able to feel anything. And the inverse of that, if something happy would happen, I wouldnt feel that happy. It was just like my emotions were muted, he said.

He says a psilocybin trip opened his eyes.

Instead of shielding you from a problem it exposes you to the problem. So youre able to understand why am I feeling this way, what are the factors in my life that are making me depressed and bringing me down, he said.

In clinical trials -- the guided psychedelic experiences did not work for everybody. But in all the studies conducted by major universities, most patients showed lasting improvement after one or two doses

It could reshape mental health treatment options for the 17 million Americans who suffer from depression.

Phillips said thats why she wanted to share her story.

I really want people to see how much this helps. It makes me emotional because I know there are so many other people in this space of feeling like theyre stuck, she said.

She now sometimes microdoses mushrooms to help keep her depression and anxiety at bay and believes magic mushrooms have even helped make her a better mom.

You never change unless you step out of your comfort zone, Phillips said. Its time to shed the light, she said.

Some people are worried about increased DUI cases with magic mushrooms, as prosecutors saw with marijuana. But KIRO7 did not find experts in the field who are against decriminalizing entheogen psychedelics.

2021 Cox Media Group

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Tonight at 11: The unseen side of magic mushrooms, from moms to home growers - KIRO Seattle

The history of consciousness-expanding substances may bring to mind the counterculture of the 1960s and 70s. However, their Indigenous use extends far beyond this historical flash in the pan. Entheogen is a neologism that highlights the ancient spiritual role of these pharmacologically-diverse substances. The human use of entheogens for spiritual and religious purposes dates back to prehistoric times. This was a period devoid of dogma and religious institutions that attempt to monopolize the sacred. For thousands of years, entheogens have played a pivotal role in shamanic societies. They have granted direct access to visceral awe and divine reverence, everywhere from the humid jungles of the Amazon to the frigid Arctic Circle.

Entheogen is a term coined in 1979 by R. Gordon Wasson, Jonathan Ott, Carl Ruck, and other of their colleagues to describe psychoactive drugs, usually of plant origin, that produce transcendent experiences and facilitate spiritual development. Etymologically, the word entheogen is derived from two Greek words: entheos (god, theos, within), and the root word gen (the action of becoming). Thus, entheogen means literally becoming the divine within.

As Carl Ruck and colleagues describe in their original 1979 article introducing the term,

In a strict sense, only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens.

However, over the past century, entheogenic substances have found worldwide use well beyond ritualistic and shamanic settings. Moreover, organic chemistry labs have produced various synthetic substances with entheogenic effects. With this in mind, Ruck expands the definition of entheogen, noting:

but in a looser sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial, that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens.

The word entheogen is not synonymous with other terms in the psychoactive lexicon, including psychedelic and hallucinogen. Psychedelic, which literally means mind-manifesting, is perhaps the most accepted term among psychonauts and researchers alike. However, the term carries the weight of contemporary Western counterculture. Thus, it arguably resonates more with the recreational, rather than the sacred and venerated, use of these substances. In addition, entheogen rehabilitated the term hallucinogen, a word that, if at all, only narrowly describes the mental experience produced by the substance in question. It is also fraught with pathological associations to psychosis and similar hallucinatory states of mind.

According to many ethnobotanists and historians, entheogens have played a crucial role in the development of various world religions and spiritual traditions. Even today, many religious practitioners legally consume entheogens to produce states of ecstatic and shamanic possession, two states that are intimately intertwined. Indeed, shamanism has been described by Mircea Eliade as the archaic techniques of ecstasy. The use of entheogens is just one technique in the shamanic toolkit to achieve transcendent states, often used alongside other time-honored methods such as drumming, ecstatic dance, prayer, meditation, yoga, and chanting.

Entheogenic plants and fungi have been venerated as sacred sacraments and tools of divination and healing among Indigenous peoples for millennia. The traditional and religious use of entheogens has thrived in many cultures: ayahuasca and yopo in the Amazon basin, mescaline-containing cacti in South and North America, psilocybin mushrooms and Salvia divinorum in southern Mexico, and iboga in western Africa. In this section, we will overview some of the most common plant-based and fungal entheogens.

Ayahuasca, also known as yage, is a Quechua word meaning vine of the souls. It is an entheogenic tea that Indigenous groups in the Amazon basin have used sacramentally for millennia. Most commonly, it is made from the DMT-containing shrub Psychotria viridis (known as chacruna), and the Banisteriopsis caapi vine. B. caapi acts as an MAOI, rendering the DMT in P. viridis orally active. The ritualistic use of ayahuasca is foundational to several religious organizations, including the Brazil-based Unio do Vegetal (UDV) church andThe Santo Daime Church.

The Indigenous people of Amazonian Peru have traditionally used ayahuasca for healing, spiritual transformation, and to attain peak mystical experiences. Historically, ayahuasqueros have claimed they received instructions on how to make ayahuasca directly from the plants or plant spirits themselves. Ayahuasca began to receive more exposure from the West following the publication of True Hallucinations by the McKenna brothers, who documented their experiences in the Amazon.

Yopo is a powerful entheogenic snuff that has been used in healing ceremonies and rituals by a multitude of South American tribes for over 4,000 years. The name refers to the Anadenanthera peregrina tree, a perennial native to South America and the Caribbean. Its seeds, which are ground to make the snuff, contain the psychedelic tryptamines DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and bufotenin. Traditionally, it is consumed by having another person blow the snuff into ones nasal cavities with a bamboo tube or similar pipe-like object. Some South American tribes have used yopo alongside the MAOI Banisteriopsis caapi, producing effects similar to those of ayahuasca.

Peyote is a small psychoactive cactus native to Mexico and the southwestern United States. The word peyote comes from the Aztec Nahuatl word peyotl. Peyote contains the psychedelic phenethylamine mescaline, which produces similar effects as LSD and psilocybin. In terms of human use, it is one of the oldest psychedelics. Archaeological evidence has shown that Native American tribes in Mesoamerica have used it for over 5,500 years. Its medicinal and spiritual use originated with the Tonkawa and Mescalero tribes. In addition, the Huichol, Chichimeca, Tarahumara, and Cora tribes have also used it sacramentally.

By the 19th century, the ceremonial use of peyote by the Indigenous peoples of Mexico spread north to native tribes in the United States. This diffusion of peyote practices north of Mexico coincided with the establishment of the North American Church, also known as Peyotism. As of the 1979 passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom act, ceremonial use of peyote by Native Americans is legal in the United States.

San Pedro is a mescaline-containing columnar cactus native to the Andes mountains in Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. It is also known by the Quechua word huachuma, which translates roughly to removing the head, a probable nod to its ego-annihilating potential. Traditionally, San Pedro has been consumed by itself or with other plants in an entheogenic brew known as cimora. In these forms, shamanic healers use it as a spiritual tool to facilitate the divination of their patients afflictions and to communicate with their ancestors.

The effects of San Pedro are characterized by out-of-body journeys, ego dissolution, and powerful empathogenic effects, all of which catalyze significant personal transformation and healing. San Pedro has been used for thousands of years by several pre-Colombian cultures, including the Cupisnique, Chavin, Lambayeque, and Moche.

Psilocybin mushrooms refers to roughly 200 gilled mushrooms that contain the serotonergic tryptamine psilocybin, and/or its derivative psilocin. The tryptamine itself is found predominantly in the genus Psilocybe, but also in other genera such as Panaeolus, Inocybe, Gymnopilus, and others. Shamanic and religious ceremonies have used psilocybin mushrooms for thousands of years. Prehistoric art across the world has depicted the mushroom, with some murals from the Sahara Desert dating as early as 9000 BCE. Shamanic cultures within pre-Colombian Mexico used psilocybin mushrooms widely. These cultures included the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya, and Aztec.

The Aztecs referred to psilocybin mushrooms as teonanacatl, or flesh of the gods. Once the Spanish conquistadors conquered the Aztecs in the 16th century, they declared psilocybin mushroom use heresy. This forced the practice underground for several hundred years. After the ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson published an article in Life Magazine titled Seeking the Magic Mushroom in 1958, the West began to popularize magic mushrooms. This article detailed his psilocybin experience in Oaxaca, Mexico with the Mazatec mushroom shaman, Maria Sabina.

Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive plant in the mint family, endemic to the Sierra Mazateca region of Oaxaca, Mexico. Traditionally, users consume Salvia by chewing the fresh leaves or by drinking an infusion. Salvinorin A is the main psychoactive compound found in the leaves. It produces entheogenic effects by binding to -opioid receptors in the brain.This atypical pharmacological action distinguishes it from the classical psychedelics, which bind mainly to the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor.

Mazatec shamans have used S. divinorum sacramentally for healing, divination, and religious communion, often when psilocybin mushrooms werent available. The Mazatec see the plant as an incarnation of the Virgin Mary, referring to it as ska Maria Pastora, meaning the herb of Mary, the Shepherdess.

Tabernanthe iboga, or commonly just iboga, is a rainforest shrub indigenous to central west Africa. Its roots and bark contain the tryptamine ibogaine, a pharmacologically-complex alkaloid that binds to multiple neurotransmitter systems. At mid-to-high doses, ibogaine produces powerful visionary, introspective, and dissociative effects. Similar to ayahuasca, iboga has a long history of ceremonial use, particularly in the coming-of-age rituals among the practitioners of the Bwiti religion in Gabon, Africa.

The tools of science are increasingly quantifying and expanding upon the time-tested Indigenous knowledge of entheogenic substances. As a result, the healing potential of these substances is becoming politically undeniable, thereby opening up new vistas for mental health treatment in the West.

Entheogen therapy refers to the use of entheogenic substances in conjunction with therapeutic practices to heal emotional and psychological issues and catalyze significant personal and spiritual growth. The most promising molecular candidates for entheogen therapy, while certainly not the only ones, are serotonergic psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA.

Psilocybin, which achieved breakthrough therapy status by the FDA in 2018, has proven highly effective in treating anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Just a single dose of psilocybin can provide immediate and lasting relief from the existential fear of dying. This remarkable finding comes from the 2016 study by Roland Griffiths and colleagues. Research on the therapeutic potential of LSD dates back to the 1950s, when extremely promising results were found in the treatment of alcoholism, anxiety, and depression. MDMAs empathogenic effects lend itself well to the therapeutic environment, allowing patients to explore traumatic memories within a safe and connected environment without becoming emotional overwhelmed. MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has been found to successfully address treatment-resistant PTSD in phase II clinical trials, and phase III trials are currently underway.

When treated with ritual, reverence, and respect, entheogenic medicines are powerful plant teachers that catalyze powerful energetic experiences between the ego and transpersonal self. Such energetic experiences facilitate introspection, healing, religious expression, and unity with the source of being.

In traditional ceremonial contexts, entheogenic medicine is taken by shamans to access the spirit world and divine the cause of their patients ailments. As Terence Mckenna describes in his book Food of the Gods,

The plants used by the shaman are not intended to stimulate the immune system or the bodys other natural defenses against disease. Rather, the shamanic plants allow the healer to journey into an invisible realm in which the causality of the ordinary world is replaced with the rationale of natural magic. In this realm, language, ideas, and meaning have greater power than cause and effect.

Shamanic diagnosing and treating, outside of the materialist models of disease, are therefore crucially dependent on the regular access to the altered states of consciousness enabled by entheogenic medicine.

In the 21st century, entheogenic medicine has emerged as an increasingly popular and more effective alternative to conventional pharmaceuticals. Iboga is becoming well-known as an anti-addictive aid to alleviating drug withdrawals and breaking out of addictive behavior patterns. It has been found to reliably reduce the rate of relapse and the intensity of drug cravings. However, like all other entheogens, iboga doesnt come without risks. It can be dangerous or even fatal in individuals with preexisting cardiac conditions, or when combined with certain other drugs, particularly stimulants.

Ayahuasca ceremonies have been highly successful in treating addiction and various mental issues. But its medicinal effects may extend beyond this efficacy as well. A 2016 paper by Frecska and colleagues investigated the medicinal effects of ayahuasca. They noted the therapeutic brew is best understood from the perspective of a bio-psycho-social-spiritual model. In addition, the researchers conclude that ayahuasca may act against chronic low-grade inflammation and oxidative stress. specifically through its sigma-1 receptor agonist action. This receptor system is implicated in a host of diseases, including Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, cancer, cardiomyopathy, and more.

Its just a matter of time until mainstream culture more widely accepts and legalizes entheogenic medicine and therapy. Ultimately, this will allow the healing of modern-day ailments en masse with the sacred tools that Indigenous groups around the world have employed for thousands of years.

Dylan Beard is a freelance science writer and editor based in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. After finishing his physics degree and dabbling in neuroscience research at UC Santa Barbara in 2017, he returned to his first love: writing. As a long-term fan of the human brain, he loves exploring the latest research on psychedelics, nootropics, psychology, consciousness, meditation, and more. When not writing, you can probably find him on hiking trails around Oregon and Washington or listening to podcasts. Feel free to follow him on Insta @dylancb88.

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Guide to Entheogens: Plants, Therapy, Medicine

Reading Time 6 minutesImage of two beautiful mushrooms among other entheogens.

Entheogens are part of human culture, a necessary tool to know ourselves better, to find out where we come from or to understand our mission in life. There are many ways to call this kind of drug: psychotropic, hallucinogenic, psychedelic or psychic, and they all refer to the same thing. Do you want to know a little more about these very special substances? If you keep reading in a matter of minutes you will know everything you need to know

According to the dictionary, the meaning of entheogens is substances that possess hallucinogenic power and provide divine experiences to those who use them. If we analyze the word we can observe that entheos comes from the Greek and means With God inside (God inside to be more exact) and geno which can be translated as origin, principle or birth, although it can be applied as to help or to become. So it can be said that the word entheogen means to help communicate internally with the gods.

Understanding it from our modern and western point of view, we can say that entheogens are substances that have the capacity to alter the mind or consciousness. In ancient times these substances were used for different purposes, such as predicting the future, curing diseases or even in a playful way as is usually done nowadays.

There are entheogenic substances that come from many sources, plants, fungi and even animals. There are many species that contain alkaloids or other molecules with these powers, and the most common are the following ones:

Within mushrooms with psychedelic powers we have to separate 3 types, being the Monguis or Psilocybes the most important ones, since they contain mainly psilocin and psilocybin, 2 substances very appreciated by psychonauts. There are many varieties within this group of mushrooms, spread throughout the world, and some even produce truffles or sclerotia that also contain the active ingredient. Here you can see a list of the main mushrooms with entheogenic effects:

Another well-known type of hallucinogenic mushroom is the Amanita Muscaria, the typical mushroom with a red hat and white dots, that of Super Mario Bros. This mushroom is quite dangerous if it is not used properly. It contains muscarine, ibotenic acid and muscimol, but I dont recommend you to try it because of its deadly potential.

And another fungus less known, but very important as a precursor of entheogenic substances is Ergot, which acts as a parasite in some plants. An example of these is the Ergot of rye, an essential element to produceLSD.

Another important group of natural entheogens are some types of cactus plants, especially because of their importance in the development of some cultures. As with hallucinogenic mushrooms, within cacti there are also different varieties with entheogenic powers, although in this case the most important psychoactive active principle is the same, mescaline. Below you can see a list of the most important entheogenic cacti in the world:

There are many other species of plants that produce powerful psychoactive effects, especially from the Solanaceae family. The curious thing is that some share certain types of alkaloids, but many have their own, which are not found in any other species discovered so far on our planet.

These plants were widely used in some ancient European cultures, such as Celtic, and in many sacred rituals, until the Inquisition forbade their consumption and the church has maintained this ban to this day.

Some psychotropics have the ability to release greater amounts of dopamine or serotonin into the brain. Others act on the reuptake of the receptors of these substances, and some like LSD directly are molecules very similar to that of serotonin, so they are very easy to adhere to.

Normally these drugs eliminate our ego, or rather they clean or reset the filter that we are creating throughout our lives, that which we strengthen with prejudice daily, many times dragged by the morality that the system inculcates in us. Modifying the usual way of thinking, memories or the ego itself can be very beneficial, its like seeing things from a different point of view, surely with a greater reality load than the one we usually perceive in our daily life.

In the illustration below we can see how a normal brain that has been given a placebo acts, compared to one under the effects of LSD. In it we can see how enteogens modify the brain activity, causing a greater interneuronal communication in people who have used these alkaloids.

These substances are not harmless, some can even cause death by overdose, or other causes related to its effects, so you must have much respect and be well informed before consumption. Among the most common side or undesirable effects are the following ones:

Did you know that the great ethnobotanist and philosopher Terence McKenna wrote a theory proposing that the missing link in the evolution of the human race was a doped monkey? It sounds strange, but among the primate ancestors of our race there is a big gap in the size of the brain that experts are not able to explain. McKenna thinks that it could have been due to entheogenic causes, that some of these primates accidentally or intentionally ate some magic mushrooms and the effect could encourage them to repeat and invite others of their species. And of course, not for a few, but many for centuries or millennia, it is possible that by amplifying the mind and consciousness, they could also increase the brain size of our ancestors.

If we go back only a century, we can see how some entheogens have changed aspects of the culture. Music, literature or painting have been greatly influenced by these substances during this time. In this case it has been more the LSD, the cannabis and the MDMA the 3 drugs that have had the deepest impact on the Beat, Hippie, Punk, Hip Hop, Skate, Rasta generations, etc.

Francis Crick was a British neuroscientist and molecular biologist who discovered the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. Crick confessed years later that during his discovery he was experimenting with LSD and, not only that, that it was a very common practice among Cambridge academics.

Steve Jobs has revolutionized the way we live and communicate over the last few years. We dont know to what extent LSD influenced his work, but a few years ago he published that it had been one of the 2 or 3 most important things in his life.

Carl Sagan was a great astrophysicist, cosmologist and astronomer that, besides working in great theories on the universe, also published with the pseudonym of Mr X, an essay in which it spoke on the benefits of the cannabis, that was included in the book Marihuana reconsidered from 1971.

These are just a few examples of how some entheogens have helped to evolve some scientific aspects, but there are many more. Nowadays, microdoses of LSD or psilocybin are being widely used by many workers in Silicon Valley, where a significant part of the most interesting current inventions come from.

The relationship between people and entheogens is indivisible, otherwise we would not have an endocannabinoid system, nor would the pineal gland produce DMT, among other things. But it is also true that their use cannot be taken lightly, they must be handled with the proper respect they require, and they are not for everyone. On that basis, the best thing is to be thoroughly informed as I said before, and thats the purpose of this article, which I hope you liked and you share it on your social networks.

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What are entheogens and which are the best ones

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Seattle Times mental health reporter Esmy Jimenez, Publicola police accountability reporter Paul Keifer, and Crosscut editor at large and host of the Mossback's Northwest, Knute Berger.

Seattles city elections are set to tally this Tuesday. At the center of this years elections is what seems to be a lot of doom and gloom -- struggling business downtown, a rampant homelessness problem, and the fragile state of pandemic recovery in the region. Maybe its a little old fashioned, but whatever happened to optimism as a selling point for politicians? Is sunny optimism in politics a privileged piece of the past, or is it something we still want?

In other political news, the Biden administration has named Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman to an election-security post in the Department of Homeland Security. Like many Secretary of States before her Wyman is a Republican, and has been a key supporter of voting by mail -- a political position thats become more fraught for conservatives in the fallout of the 2020 election. Who will take her place here in Washington?

You might remember that back in May of this year Seattle Inspector General Lisa Judge sent a letter to Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz asking SPD to eliminate traffic stops for minor civil and non-violent violations. In the letter, Judge wrote that Stopping a person is a significant infringement on civil liberty and should be reserved for instances when a person is engaged in criminal conduct that harms others. This week Diaz sent a memo to the city council and Mayor Durkan agreeing to phase out the stops. How will this decision change police work in Seattle?

Speaking of the Seattle Police Department, earlier this month the Seattle city council passed a resolution that asks Seattle cops to make enforcement of entheogens, aka psychedelic drugs, their lowest priority. The Seattle Police Department already doesn't detain or arrest people solely for possession, but you can still get in trouble for growing your own entheogens, or possession if youre already in trouble for something else. A resolution isn't legally binding, so it's up to the police department to decide if they want to phase out enforcement. But that doesnt mean psychedelic companies are waiting to get started - according to Geekwire, CaaMTech, a Seattle-area startup developing new psychedelic agents, recently raised $22 million in funding. What could the roll out of legal entheogens look like?

In Covid vaccine news, the Eatonville school district has refused to fire non-compliant workers, a position that could result in a drop in funding. And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that Seattle officers who were let go over vaccine status are welcome in Florida, and is looking to sign legislation that would provide $5,000 bonuses to officers who elect to move. How big a deal is this pushback? Will we see school employees and police officers flocking to Eatonville or Florida?

On Wednesday a federal jury determined that the for-profit firm that operates the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma violated Washington's minimum wage laws by paying detainees only $1 per day for their labor. The jury ruled that the firm in charge of the center, GEO Group Inc, will need to begin paying all workers the state's $13.69 hourly minimum wage immediately. What will this mean for current and former detainees?

Finally, Monday November first is Dia de los Muertos, a holiday for celebrating and honoring the dead. Traditionally, celebrations involve making an ofrenda an offering that features a photo of the person being remembered, candles, food, cempaschiles (marigolds), papel picado and calaveras (sugar skulls). But with the pandemic, things might look a little different. For example, the LA Times has created a digital Dia de los Muertos alter, for anyone to contribute to. What does mourning, and remembrance, look like now? Can the digital world be a good mourning space, or a good space for celebrating life?

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An upcoming election, pay requirement, and holiday, this week - KUOW News and Information

Another California city has effectively decriminalized a wide range of psychedelics, with the Arcata City Council unanimously approving the reform on Wednesday.

The 5-0 vote means that the possession, cultivation and distributions of entheogenic substances like psilocybin and ayahuasca will be among the citys lowest law enforcement priorities.

The measure further calls on the Humboldt County District Attorney to consider the spirit and intent of this resolution when evaluating whether to prosecute persons involved in the use of Entheogenic Plants and Fungi.

It explicitly states that the commercial sale and manufacturing of psychedelics, as well as driving under the influence, will remain prohibited.

Danielle Daniel, lead organizer of Decriminalize Nature Humboldt, told Marijuana Moment that this reform represents a pivotal point in history by reclaiming our sovereign right to explore our consciousness, and to choose the path of healing that we see best fit for ourselves.

With decriminalization, Arcata residents will be able to ingest, gift, gather, grow, and share entheogens without fear of arrest, she said. By destigmatizing entheogens, the community will have more openness to conversing about the healing potential of psychoactive plants and fungi.

This marks the third California city to decriminalize psychedelics, following similar reforms that lawmakers have enacted in OaklandandSanta Cruz.

In Oakland, the first city in the country where a city council voted to broadly deprioritize criminalization of entheogenic substances, lawmakers approved a follow-up resolutionin December that calls for the policy change to be adopted statewide and for local jurisdictions to be allowed to permit healing ceremonies where people could use psychedelics.

A bill to legalize psychedelics in California advanced through the Senate and two Assembly committees this year before being pulled by the sponsor tobuy more time to generate support among lawmakers. The plan is to take up the reform during next years second half of the legislative session, and the senator behind the measuresays hes confident it will pass.

California activists are separately collecting signatures for a ballot initiative to legalize psilocybin mushrooms in the state.

But reform efforts concerning entheogenic plants and fungi are hardly limited to California.

Seattles City Council approved a resolution on Monday todecriminalize noncommercial activity around a wide range of psychedelic substances, including the cultivation and sharing of psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, ibogaine and non-peyote-derived mescaline.

In Massachusetts, the Northampton City Council passed a resolution in April stipulating that no government or police funds should be used to enforce laws criminalizing people for using or possessing entheogenic plants and fungi. SomervilleandCambridgehave also moved to effectively decriminalize psychedelics.

In Michigan, the Grand Rapids City Council approved a resolution last monthcalling for decriminalization of a wide range of psychedelics.

Elsewhere in Michigan, the Ann Arbor City Council has already elected to make enforcement of laws prohibition psychedelics like psilocybin, ayahuasca and DMTamong the citys lowest prioritiesand lawmakers recently followed up by declaring SeptemberEntheogenic Plants and Fungi Awareness Month.

After Ann Arbor legislators passed that decriminalization resolution last year, the Washtenaw County prosecutor announcedthat his office will not be pursuing chargesover possessing entheogenic plants and fungi, regardless of the amount at issue.

A local proposal to decriminalize various psychedelicswill also appear on Detroits November ballot.

At the same time that local activists are pursuing decriminalization, a pair of Michigan senators introduced a bill earlier this month tolegalize the possession, cultivation and deliveryof an array of plant- and fungi-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.

Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,200 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they dont miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.

The top Democrat in the Florida Senate filed a bill last month that would require the state toresearch the medical benefits of psychedelicssuch as psilocybin and MDMA.

Earlier this year, Texas enacted a law directing state officials tostudy psychedelics medical value.

The governor of Connecticut signed a bill in June that includes language requiring the state to carry outa study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms.

Oregon voters passed a pair of initiatives last November tolegalize psilocybin therapyanddecriminalize possession of all drugs. On the local level, activists inPortland are mountinga push to have local lawmakers pass a resolutiondecriminalizing the cultivation, gifting and ceremonial use of a wide range of psychedelics.

Washington, D.C. voters also approved a ballot measure last year todeprioritize enforcement of laws criminalizing psychedelics.

A New York lawmaker introduced a bill in June that would require the state to establish an institute to similarlyresearch the medical value of psychedelics.

The Maine House of Representativespassed a drug decriminalization billthis year, but it laterdied in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Denver activists who successfully led the 2019 campaign to make the citythe first in the U.S. to decriminalize psilocybin possessionhaveset their eyes on broader reform, with plans in the works to end the criminalization of noncommercial gifting and communal use of the psychedelic.

In a setback for advocates, the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted against a proposal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) thatwould have removed a spending bill riderthat advocates say has restricted federal funds for research into Schedule I drugs, including psychedelics such as psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine. However, it picked up considerably more votes this round thanwhen the congresswoman first introduced itin 2019.

Report provisions of separate, House-passed spending legislation also touch on the need toexpand cannabis and psychedelics research. The panel urged NIDA to support expanded marijuana studies, for example. It further says that federal health agencies shouldpursue research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelicsfor military veterans suffering from a host of mental health conditions.

There was an attempt by a Republican congressman to attach language into a defense spending bill that would promote research into psychedelics therapy for active duty military members,but it was not made in orderin the House Rules Committee last month.

For what its worth, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a longstanding champion of marijuana reform in Congress, said on Wednesday that he intends tohelp bring the psychedelics reform movement to Capitol Hillthis year.

Report provisions of separate, House-passed spending legislation also touch on the need toexpand cannabis and psychedelics research. The panel urged NIDA to support expanded marijuana studies, for example. It further says that federal health agencies shouldpursue research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelicsfor military veterans suffering from a host of mental health conditions.

NIDA also recently announced its funding a study intowhether psilocybin can help people quit smoking cigarettes.

An official with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs also said at a recent congressional hearing that the agency is very closely following research into the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics like MDMA for military veterans.

In May, lawmakers in Congress filed thefirst-ever legislation to federally decriminalize possession of illicit substances.

Read the Arcata psychedelics decriminalization resolution below:

California Governor Signs Bill Legalizing Smokable Hemp And Sale Of CBD-Infused Foods And Drinks

Image courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.

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Congressman Says He'll Bring The Psychedelics Reform Movement To Capitol Hill 'This Year' - Marijuana Moment

Resurgent Biosciences, a subsidiary of Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. (CSE:GDNS) (OTCQX:GDNSF), is launching a survey study that will look into the varying effects of entheogen and psychedelic experiences for therapeutic, religious and spiritual purposes.

The goal of the company is to understand the naturalistic use of entheogens and other substances typically used for healing in specific cultural and spiritual contexts.

Goodness Growth recently changed its name from Vireo Health in a move to encompass the psychedelics and natural medicine space, expanding beyond its cannabis MSO operations.

The studys approach seeks to complement current research into psychedelics, which is often done with synthetic substances (like MDMA, LSD or isolated psilocybin), in a strictly clinical context.

Lab-based research will always be an essential aspect of our research and development process. However, to create more effective psychedelic-based therapies and services, we believe it is equally important to thoroughly explore the tremendous wealth of experience and wisdom that already exists and is active today based on centuries of both spiritual and therapeutic practices, said chief medical officer Stephen Dahmer.

The observational pilot survey, which will be done online with one hundred anonymous subjects, has received approval from an independent Institutional Review Board registered with the Office for Human Research Protections at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the FDA, an Institutional Review Board is an appropriately constituted group that has been formally designated to review and monitor biomedical research involving human subjects.

The board has the authority to approve, require modificationsor disapprove research. Its aim is to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects.

The survey will help inform Resurgent on future developments into psychedelic-based therapies by collecting anonymous data from 100 adults who self-report having participated in entheogen therapy centers and retreats during the last five years.The survey currently is open for participation via this link.

Photo byVlada KarpovichfromPexels.

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From Cannabis MSO To Drug Development: Goodness Growth Wants To Understand Traditional Psychedelics Use - - Benzinga