psychedelic mushrooms
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For centuries, shamans and healers have been using psychedelics in sacramental rituals in the belief that the substances have healing qualities and can lead to meaningful spiritual experiences. It turns out contemporary science may back these ancient claims.
A new study conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health found that participants who took controlled doses of “classic” psychedelics – magic mushrooms, DMT, mescaline and LSD – had significantly reduced incidences of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and psychological distress in the long term.
The study, published recently in the Journal of Pharmacology, analyzed data from an annual survey conducted by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health that measures substance abuse in relation to mental illness. The data were compiled between 2008 and 2012, and drew from the experiences of 190,000 adults. Participants took the survey online, answering pre-recorded questions about their individual use of classic psychedelics.
Of those surveyed, 13.6%, or about 27,235 people, […]
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Rather than retreat from the massive tax cuts that are crippling his state’s finances, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) wants to cut classroom funding for Kansas schools by $127 million and push pension fund payments off into the future.
The defining characteristic of the governor’s various proposals for fixing the nearly billion-dollar deficit is that they will create larger problems down the road. The proposed budget would replace the state’s current financing formula for schools with block grants that districts could use as they see fit. But that flexibility masks a significant cut in classroom resources for a state that has already been accused by judges of falling hundreds of millions of dollars short of the bare-minimum level of education funding required by the Kansas Constitution.
Even if courts don’t step in and order higher funding levels, economic research shows that under-investing in education raises longer-term costs in other areas. Future public assistance spending will be higher, (because education funding cuts produce higher poverty among the students affected, and the state will […]
Cameramen and photographers work under a pannel displaying exit poll results in Athens, January 25, 2015. Credit: Marko Djurica/Reuters
Voting in Sunday’s much-watched Greek elections has ended, and exit polls suggest that the far-left Syriza party has captured nearly 40 percent of the vote. While this may not be enough to ensure a parliamentary majority in Greece’s electoral system, it’s now clear that Alexis Tsipras, a fiery 40-year-old once considered too radical for national politics, will lead the next Greek government. Tsipras has promised to end Greece’s “austerity program,” a series of spending cuts and tax hikes designed to reduce the country’s enormous bailout debt, which equals 175 percent of its GDP. Freed from this burden, Tsipras argues, the Greek government will implement policies to generate economic growth.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, Greece has endured an extreme version of the troubles plaguing Europe as a whole. One in four Greek adults do not work, and the unemployment rate for the country’s youth exceeds 50 percent. The black market is estimated to […]
Justices Antonin Scalia, John Roberts
Credit: AP/Dave Tulis/Larry Downing/Photo montage by Salon
It’s been five years since the Supreme Court decided Citizens United, which allowed unlimited corporate money into the political system and increased the domination of democracy by the wealthy elite. Money has indeed overwhelmed the system since 2008. This rise of big money in politics has endangered democracy and emboldened those who want to put democracy up for sale to aggressively attack the modest campaign spending regulations that still remain.
- In the 2012 election .01 percent of all Americans contributed more than 28 percent of all individual contributions.
- In the 2012 election, Sheldon Adelson spent an estimated $150 million, $98 million through dark money channels. In 1980, by contrast, the largest donor gave $1.72 million (inflation-adjusted).
- A 2013 study finds, “millionaires receive about twice as much representation when they comprise just 5 percent of the […]
Asking “[w]ho really rules?” researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America’s political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power.
Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.
TPM Interview: Scholar Behind Viral ‘Oligarchy’ Study Tells You What It Means
“The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy,” they write, “while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.” (emphasis added)
As one illustration, Gilens and Page compare the political preferences of Americans at the 50th income percentile to preferences of Americans at the 90th percentile as well as major […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
