Drugs, power, culture & health @guardian @wired @rollingstone @vice @gq @menshealthmag @playboy @newscientist @atmos @esquire @latimes Signal: matthabusby.93
matthabusby@gmail.com
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In Medellín, Colombia, authorities are cracking down on ‘burundangeras,’ women who use a substance called scopolamine to drug, manipulate and rob foreigners.
‘I lost all my money, but I also lost the ability to think.’
Dispatch for @RollingStone
rollingstone.com/culture/cul…
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I was back on the @voxdotcom Today, Explained podcast to explain the difference between kratom and 7-OH, whether the concern over the two arises from a moral panic or genuine issues, and if banning either of them would be wise.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas…
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A person very high on ketamine may still be able to walk, talk and respond to instructions — while having little idea what is happening.
For @guardian, I looked at what the Cornell case tells us about the dissociative, sexual assault and consent laws.
theguardian.com/society/2026…
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The entropic brain hypothesis has been the leading explanation for how psychedelics work in the brain, but new research suggests it's not that simple.
New for @doubleblindmag
doubleblindmag.com/the-heate…
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In 1976, the future leading light of psychedelic art, Alex Grey, worked at a Boston morgue. Years later, he described having sex with a corpse there as part of a piece he called Necrophilia. Then he recast what happened.
I've profiled him on my Substack:
matthabusby.substack.com/p/a…
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At the World Ayahuasca Forum, 100 Indigenous leaders gathered to discuss what happens when an intense psychedelic potion becomes a global phenomenon. I attended too — and I had questions.
Latest on my Substack: Mattha Busby on Drugs.
matthabusby.substack.com/p/t…
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Mattha Busby retweeted
Available to watch over on YouTube now.
piped.video/watch?v=TjLDM3oF…
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I'm speaking in London with @PsychedelicsUK on 4 Nov. Over more than a decade, I’ve been as much a participant in the psychedelic renaissance as a reporter — along the way I’ve met good shamans and bad shamans. This is the story of it all. (It'll be fun.)
dandelion.events/e/w2fqw
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Mattha Busby retweeted
I wrote a long read for the Guardian about the evolution of the British trap house, focusing on the story of a friend of mine who was 'cuckooed' twice in London. The first time was grim, but the second cuckooing sparked a fascinating friendship.
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He told them he was investing their millions, but the FBI hasn’t been able to recover any of the money, and none of the women who survived The Family have received a cent of the $14 million in restitution ordered by a court.
For the latest @VICE magazine
vice.com/en/article/welcome-…
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Welcome to my new Substack: Mattha Busby on Drugs.
I’ve spent much of the past decade writing about drugs, taking some of them, talking to the people who make, sell, study, administer and consume them, and occasionally learning things the hard way.
matthabusby.substack.com/p/a…
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Mattha Busby retweeted
really interesting conversation with @matthabusby about covering drug legalization, MAHA support for psychedelics, and more! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
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Mattha Busby retweeted
Quaaludes were banned in 1984, but in the years following the 2013 blockbuster hit “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the party drug is resurfacing.
LINK: newsnationnow.com/health/qua…
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Full story by @matthabusby: vice.com/en/article/the-quie…
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Quaaludes all but vanished after the US banned the euphoric sleeping pills in 1984. Then the 2013 movie Wolf of Wall Street plucked quaaludes from the annals of drug history and became a box office hit.
New for @guardian
theguardian.com/society/2026…
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Sonoma county has agreed with the @ACLU_NorCal to effectively end a controversial warrantless drone surveillance operation launched to monitor unpermitted cannabis grows which morphed into a wider code violation search
Latest for @reason
reason.com/2026/09/03/a-cali…
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Long linked to gay clubs, GHB is spilling into London’s wider nightlife — but it’s perilously easy to OD.
‘The optimum dose, which will give you the best threesome of your life, is not far away from that which’ll give you your last.’
For @theLDNstandard
standard.co.uk/lifestyle/ghb…
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Mattha Busby retweeted
Comedian and former late-night bandleader Reggie Watts is a proud ketamine enthusiast.
Loved ones of his ex-girlfriend Katherine tell me that she became addicted to the drug through Reggie’s encouragement to take a heavy array of psychedelics in the name of enlightenment and intimacy.
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A third of British men aged 20 to 34 now live with their parents, including me. The cost of living usually drives us back to the nest, but I wanted to get to know my mother better. This is how it has gone, and what spurred the decision.
For @theipaper
inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/…
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