The Opioid Crisis and the Future of Pain Relief

The opioid crisis (or opioid epidemic) is still a major public health issue in the US; despite news headlines being dominated by the coronavirus pandemic and lack of coverage of the opioid crisis, the number of opioid overdoses has been increasing. A recent paper in The Lancet reports that in 2019, drug overdose deaths reached…

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Psychedelics and the Experience of the Sublime

The connection between psychedelics and philosophy isn’t made too often, despite the fact that there are myriad ways in which the psychedelic experience can relate to, challenge, contextualise, and add weight to various philosophical ideas and theories. There is, however, a definite history to the philosophy of psychedelics, with writers such as William James and…

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Is DMT an Effective Antidepressant?

Many anecdotal reports suggest that DMT can have antidepressant effects, both in terms of microdosing the substance and by means of larger doses, which result in mystical experiences. While we have seen a flourishing of research into the antidepressant potential of psilocybin (the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’), little research has been carried out into…

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Why the Drug Scheduling System Makes No Sense

There are various issues with drug scheduling systems around the world. In the eyes of many researchers, the way we classify drugs is far from evidence-based and makes no sense. The legal framework in which drugs exist, some argue, is largely based on tradition, fear, and ignorance. The correct way to respond to these issues…

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Book Review: Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon

Star Maker (1937) is a sci-fi novel written by British writer Olaf Stapledon. It describes the rich tapestry of cosmic evolution, surpassing in scale his previous novel First and Last Men (1930), which details the history of humanity from the present day back to two million years ago. Star Maker tells the story of a…

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