Psychedelics

Companies Are Mailing Patients Ketamine—But Not Everyone Is On Board Reports DoubleBlind

Published

2 years ago

February 10, 2023

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They write

One morning, a plain brown box arrived on my doorstep. According to the sender, the contents inside should be handled carefully, because they could change my life. “EMPOWER YOUR INNER HEALER” was printed on the box’s inner flap—a savvy marketing mantra from a company taking ketamine therapy out of clinics and into your living room. A strange feeling of transgression came over me as I ripped open the packaging, uncovering a strip of ketamine lozenges—bright blue, candy-like tablets stamped with the company’s floral logo. They reminded me of giant ecstasy pills.

I wondered: how is this even legal?

Ketamine therapy is a burgeoning industry built on novel legal grounds. While ketamine is a controlled substance first synthesized as an anesthetic in the 60s, conversations about it as a mental health treatment only began gaining traction in the 2000s, when a wave of research showed its potential as an antidepressant. This led to a spike in consumer demand for ketamine as a therapeutic treatment, and a cottage industry of clinics grew around providing access to the drug as a wellness tool—often charging hundreds of dollars per session and thousands for the recommended full course of sessions. Then, during the pandemic, Congress passed provisions that allowed clinicians to prescribe medications virtually, a legal shift that transformed both the ketamine industry and healthcare at-large.

Read on at https://doubleblindmag.com/at-home-ketamine/?_kx=d_Mivh5iowsZVHztLW6iHDiywAqyLNNI6foafqGBsBU%3D.WLzrRC

This article in the Washington Post is also worth a read

This doctor prescribes ketamine to thousands online. It’s all legal.

People can take the drug at home, thanks to federal action during the pandemic. Some experts worry it’s now too easy to get.

In the past two years, Scott Smith has become licensed to practice medicine in almost every U.S. state for a singular purpose: treating depressed patients online and prescribing them ketamine.

The sedative, which is sometimes abused as a street drug, has shown promise in treating depression and anxiety. But instead of dispensing it in a clinic or under the strict protocols endorsed by the Food and Drug Administration, the South Carolina physician orders generic lozenges online for patients to take at home. He says this practice, though controversial, has benefited more than half of his 3,000 patients. “People are beating a path to my door,” he said in an interview.

Smith is part of a wave of doctors and telehealth start-ups capitalizing on the pandemic-inspired federal public health emergency declaration, which waived a requirement for health-care providers to see patients in person to prescribe controlled substances. The waiver has enabled Smith to build a national ketamine practice from his home outside Charleston — and fueled a boom among telehealth companies that have raised millions from investors.

As the urgency around covid-19 subsides, many expect the waiver to expire. Companies are lobbying to extend it, and patients are bracing for a disruption to purely virtual care.

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Psychedelics

Alert: We are just over a week away from the Natural Medicine Division opening our application process to individuals who are interested in becoming business Owners or Natural Medicine Handlers, and to business applications for Healing Centers, Cultivations, Testing Facilities and Product Manufacturers.

Published

2 days ago

December 27, 2024

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Dear Interested Parties:

We are just over a week away from the Natural Medicine Division opening our application process to individuals who are interested in becoming business Owners or Natural Medicine Handlers, and to business applications for Healing Centers, Cultivations, Testing Facilities and Product Manufacturers.

This week, we wanted to share some logistical information about the application process.

We encourage you to submit your application online, and there will be instructions on how to submit applications on the Natural Medicine Division website.

However, based on stakeholder feedback, we will be opening up limited appointment slots for in-person assistance at our Lakewood office starting on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. At this time, Fridays will be the only day that we will be offering in-person natural medicine licensing application assistance. We will be open from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for in-person Friday appointments.

We are finalizing the applications and will be sharing those prior to our application process coming online. You can always check out our Public Resources folder to find information and compliance tools.

As always, please reach out to us at [email protected].us if you have any questions.

Stay tuned!

The Natural Medicine Division

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Psychedelics

Mexican “Shamen” on The Run After Actress Dies In Frog Ceremony

Published

3 weeks ago

December 9, 2024

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An actress in Mexico tragically lost her life after she ingested Amazonian frog venom as a part of a cleansing ritual while at a spiritual retreat. She experienced severe diarrhoea after taking part in the ceremony and was rushed to a hospital, but the doctors failed to save her life.

A shaman at the spiritual retreat where the actress took the Amazonian frog venom that caused her death has fled.

The 33-year-old actress Marcela Alcázar Rodríguez took part in the traditional South American Kambo ritual, which involves drinking water, getting burns on the body, and ingesting frog venom to cleanse the body of toxins, reported the Mirror. However, this ritual is known to have deadly consequences.

How is the Kambo ritual performed?

The participants in the ritual are made to drink more than a litre of water. Small burns are then created on their skin, following which frog mucus is applied on the wounds.

The mucus, which contains venom, increases blood pressure and induces vomiting, reported the outlet. It also causes diarrhoea in some cases. Other symptoms involve fainting, dizziness, swollen lips and face. Usually, the symptoms last for nearly half an hour. However, extended exposure of the venom to the blood stream can cause seizures and also death.

What happened to Marcela Alcázar Rodríguez?

Soon after beginning the ritual, Rodríguez reportedly started throwing up and eventually suffered from severe diarrhoea – these symptoms are often considered the body’s “healing” reactions during the cleansing process. Initially, she refused help but gave in when her friend visited her.

According to the Metro, a shaman at the retreat in Mayocoyani, Durango, told her she couldn’t leave. However, after her condition worsened, the person fled. Reportedly, police are now searching for the shaman.

Tribute to the actress

In a social media post, Durango Film Guild paid tribute to the actress after her untimely demise. They remembered her as “a young woman who worked in various short films, series and movies filmed in Durango.”

The guild added, “She leaves a void in the hearts of the people who knew her working in what she loved: cinema.”

https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/actress-dies-after-taking-amazonian-frog-venom-during-cleansing-ritual-at-spiritual-retreat-101733371832107.html?ck_subscriber_id=1050193520

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Psychedelics

Dutch police find gnome made of MDMA during drug bust

Published

1 month ago

November 23, 2024

admin

BBC

Officers in the southern Netherlands have found a garden gnome weighing nearly 2kg (4lb) and made of the drug MDMA.

“Drugs appear in many shapes and sizes, but every now and then we come across special things,” Dongemond Police said in a translated social media post.

The gnome was found among suspected narcotics during a large drug search.

“In itself a strange place to keep your garden gnome,” the force said. “That’s why we decided to test [it] for narcotics”.

“The gnome himself was visibly startled,” police said, referring to the gnome having its hands covering its mouth.

It is not known which area the gnome was recovered in, but the Dongemond Police covers the municipalities of Oosterhout, Geertruidenberg, Drimmelen and Altena.

MDMA – which is an illegal substance in the Netherlands – is a synthetic party drug also known as ecstasy.

As of 2019, the Netherlands was among the world’s leading producers of MDMA.

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