newsletter
The Alkaloid #36: Who DJs the Trip?
Who chooses the soundtrack for psychedelic therapy? An analysis of eight playlists finds only weak evidence for a shared musical arc, without testing whether the music helps patients.
newsletter
Every issue of The Alkaloid — the weekly independent newsletter on cannabis, psychedelics, and plant medicine.
newsletter
The Alkaloid #35: The Shorter Trip Still Needs a Clock
A mebufotenin trial found an antidepressant signal and early discharge readiness. Its protocol still required four hours at the clinic. Those are different findings.
newsletter
The Alkaloid #34: The Label Isn’t the Chemistry
Indica, sativa, hybrid: familiar labels, unreliable predictions. What cannabis chemistry research can tell us—and what it cannot.
newsletter
The Alkaloid #33: The Brain’s Own Cannabinoids
What an ageing-brain review, a mouse experiment and human blood samples can tell us about cannabinoid signalling—and what they cannot establish.
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The Alkaloid #32: What the Flame Adds
Heating THC produced 79 small-molecule breakdown products in a new lab study. What the experiment shows, what it cannot tell us, and why better testing should serve people who use cannabis.
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The Alkaloid #31: The Leaf and the Label
Kratom leaf and concentrated 7-OH can share a name on the shelf without sharing a chemical profile. The distinction matters for safety, research and regulation.
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The Alkaloid #30: The Jobs Behind the Jar
Before a cannabis jar reaches the counter, someone grows, harvests and cures it. Massachusetts' repeal debate is also about those paychecks, the businesses behind them and the limits of promises about what comes next.
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The Alkaloid #29: The Right to Have It. Nowhere Legal to Buy It.
Massachusetts could preserve an adult's right to possess cannabis while closing recreational shops and ending home grows. Who benefits—and what would police be asked to do again?
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The Alkaloid #28: The Medicine Needs More Than a Molecule
The FDA is asking who delivers psychedelic care, how patients are protected, and who pays. The practical work extends well beyond the drug.
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The Alkaloid #27: From the Parking Lot to the Poster
Cannabis gets an official place in the event program. What two upcoming events promise, and what a small music study can actually tell us.
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The Alkaloid #26: The 227 Smells of Cannabis
A new cannabis genetics paper cataloged 227 volatile terpenes across six cultivars. The fun part is what those compounds reveal about flower, genes, and why your nose keeps finding more than a THC label can say.
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The Alkaloid #25: The Deadline That Hasn't Moved
Everyone reported that the federal hemp ban slipped to December 11. It hasn't passed the House, and the delay is narrower than the coverage suggests: it turns on whether a molecule is capable of being naturally produced, not on how it was actually made. What that sorts, and what it strands.