This week, our editors recommend stories by Yessenia Funes, Carl Elliott, Courtney Shea, Jillian Steinhauer, and Ed Simon.
drugs
Posted inEditor's Pick
The High-Stakes Race to Engineer New Psychedelic Drugs
As the drumbeat of psychedelic drugs’ therapeutic impact grows louder, it’s little surprise that companies are looking for new compounds that can rival psilocybin and LSD — while also being proprietary and patentable. Enter Compass Pathways and their star chemist, Jason Wallach. As John Semley reports for Wired, Wallach’s mad-scientist act is a childhood dream […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Pregnant, Homeless and Living in a Tent: Meet Mckenzie
In 2018, reporter Gale Holland, photographer Christina House, and videographer Claire Hannah Collins spent time with young unhoused people in an encampment above the Hollywood Freeway. Their Hollywood’s Finest series for the Los Angeles Times tells the stories of three women, including Mckenzie Trahan, a young woman who has been in and out of foster […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Acid Church
An essay by Courtney Desiree Morris on Louisiana, her grandmother, drugs, feeling alive, and finding one’s queer tribe. I roll my hips like the Mississippi, joints loose and easy, feeling light and free. I cannot remember the last time I felt this way. That makes me sad. I accept this insight and let it go […]
Posted inNonfiction
A Carefully Constructed Li(f)e
Tim Brown seemed like a typical Florida retiree: He loved doting on his wife, fishing with friends, and flying his plane. But his life was built on a secret.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Gentrification of Consciousness
“San Francisco’s Mission district has become synonymous with well-paid tech workers displacing non-white longtime residents. It’s now the setting for a new battle, as the coming psychedelic-industrial complex threatens to strip hallucinogenic drugs of their historical and religious significance.”
Posted inReading List
A New Leaf: A Post-Legalization Cannabis Reading List
Five stories demonstrating how the green rush nurtured the best and worst that U.S. capitalism had to offer.
Posted inNonfiction
The Cult That Promises to Cure Addiction
For 50 years, Enthusiastic Sobriety programs have offered to help teenagers kick drugs and alcohol. But former followers say ES doesn’t save lives—it destroys them.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Can Tripping on Ketamine Cure PTSD? I Decided to Try.
“While the precise mechanism at play remains unknown, when ketamine is effective, it can be like flipping a switch.”
Posted inNonfiction
Postcard from the (Literal) Edge
In an excerpt from her recovery memoir, Erin Khar recalls the depths of her self-destruction as a heroin addict.