This article was produced in collaboration with AlterNet and first appeared here.

This year's United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs is notable for the increasing inclusion of non-governmental voices, with civil society being represented for the first time within the session itself. In this case, civil society refers to non-governmental organizations, most of which seem to oppose the existing international drug prohibition regime.

But as the UNGASS proceeds this week, civil society is making itself heard not only inside the UN, but outside the formal structures of the meeting, too. At Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, in the very shadow of UN headquarters, demonstrators are showing up daily to promote a variety of drug reform-related causes.

On Monday, the Latin American Caravan for Peace, Life and Justice, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), and Moms United -- a group in which many members have lost children to prison, violence, or drug overdoses -- rallied hundreds of people to call for repealing global drug prohibition. On Wednesday, April 20, the cannabis culture contingent was out in force to call for marijuana legalization.

But the demonstration on Tuesday, April 19, was to promote a slightly more esoteric position: support for access to psychedelic drugs. The date is known by psychonauts as Bicycle Day, to commemorate April 19, 1943, the date Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann intentionally ingested his new creation, LSD-25, took off for home on his bicycle, and began tripping brains, inaugurating the modern psychedelic era.

The ride was a bit bumpy, with Hofmann reporting wavering vision, a sense of motionless, and a "weird, unfamiliar world." But it got better, as he wrote in his notes on the hallucinogenic trip:

Now, little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in colored fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux.

Welcome to the psychedelic age. Between then and the late 1960s, LSD was the subject of much fascinating and provocative research, especially on its therapeutic uses for dealing with issues such as alcoholism, trauma, and depression. But that scientific interest was squelched by the prohibition of the drug (and its insertion into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act in the US) after its use spread from scientific and research circles into the population at large, especially the hippies.

Still, interest in LSD and other psychedelics never went away, and now the mind-altering substances are making a comeback, both in the research community and in popular culture. Earlier this month, scientists examined the brains of people on acid using cutting-edge nuero-imaging techniques to show exactly what LSD does in the human brain. And further research on LSD and other psychedelics for therapeutic purposes is ongoing.

But the people in the plaza on Tuesday were, for the most part, not scientists and researchers but enthusiasts and psychedelic explorers. Led by Psymposia and the Psychedelic Society of Brooklyn (one of at least 50 city-based such societies around the world), they took on the question of why use, support, or call for the legalization of the consciousness-changing drugs by providing their own answers under the format of "Psychedelics Because…"

"The science has been there for 50 years, but that doesn't change hearts and minds," began event MC Lex Pelger as he urged a popular push for psychedelic acceptance. "When used properly and with intention, these drugs can be tremendously beneficial," he added, citing the recent (and not so recent) research on their therapeutic potential.

Pelger urged others in the audience to share their own stories, and they did.

"I was seriously depressed and then did iboga and cured myself," said someone identifying himself as Rainbow Star Guide. "Eat the plants!"

Another speaker, also citing problems with depression, said that he used ayahuasca to break free.

"It gave me a feeling of happiness, energy, and contentment," he said. "Think about the influence that psychedelic culture could have. These substances can open us up to try to build a better world, to save the world."

"The war on drugs is stealing happiness from the world!" interjected Pelger.

"Psychedelics can help shake you free of your shit," said another speaker, who identified as a shamanic practitioner who worked with ayahuasca, before playing a trippy ode to the powerful herbal concoction on a very strange drum-like instrument.

A young man who identified himself as a Muslim described his confusion and alienation growing up in the faith in America in the post-9/11 era. He told how he ate magic mushrooms at age 16 in a search for spiritual direction.

"That offered me the resilience and the head space to develop my own framework," he said.

Not everyone claimed profound, life-changing reasons for using psychedelics.

"Psychedelics because they make the music sound great and because my head doesn't belong to the state," said a long-haired man who appeared old enough to have melted his mind listening to Jimi Hendrix.

Some psychedelic researchers were present, including Neil Goldsmith, a psychotherapist and author of Psychedelic Healing: Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development.

"Psychedelics enhanced my practice by illuminating my insides," he said. "I do them and bring that insight and wisdom to my practice. Psychedelics should be permitted as an adjunct to psychotherapy," Goldsmith added.

Psychedelic science, medicine, and culture is undergoing a renaissance. It's breaking out all over, including this week in the shadows of UN headquarters. The nations of the world may not be listening yet, but the clamor is growing louder.

This article was written in collaboration with AlterNet and first appeared here.

A man who died after being hogtied by police in South Haven, Mississippi, earlier this year, was killed by "complications of LSD toxicity," the State Medical Examiner office announced Tuesday, ruling the death "accidental" in an official autopsy report. But given that there are no known cases of fatal LSD overdoses, the examiner's findings are hard to credit.

The family of Troy Goode isn't buying it. And they have their own, independent autopsy findings and the science of psychedelics to back them up.

Goode, his wife, and friends were in the parking lot of a Widespread Panic concert before the show when he began behaving erratically after taking several hits of LSD. His wife attempted to drive him home, but at some point, he got out of the car and began creating a disturbance. Police were called, and they chased and arrested him, hogtieing him face down on a stretcher. He was charged with resisting arrest, then taken in an ambulance to a hospital, where he died two hours later.

Last month, Goode's family and their attorney, Tim Edwards, cited an independent autopsy report that found Goode died after being hogtied and left prone for an extended period. That stress position caused him to have trouble breathing and, as his heart attempted to compensate, it went into cardiac arrhythmia.

"He was suffocating. His heart increased into what is called tachycardia," Edwards said. "There is no scientific basis to attribute his death to LSD. This was lethal force, putting someone in a prolonged hogtied position," Edwards said. "This was not a situation where a 300-pound man attacked a police officer in the dark. This was a science nerd."

At the time, Edwards said the family was asking the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation into Goode's death and that the family planned to file a lawsuit in January seeking compensation and a ban on hogties.

The Goode family, now represented by attorney Kevin McCormack, isn't any happier today. McCormack said he was "shocked and surprised" by the official autopsy finding.

"It says the cause of death was due to complications resulting from LSD toxicity. My initial reaction when I read that was shock and surprise. As I mentioned numerous times, there's not a single reported death in all of the medical literature from the beginning of human time, not a single reported death due to LSD toxicity," said McCormack.

"In the medical literature there are cases where people took 1000 and 7000 times more LSD than Troy did and ended up fine," said McCormack. "I have no idea what they would mean by complications. What we do know is that LSD, even extremely high doses, is very unlikely to kill anyone and that hogtieing is extremely likely to kill someone," said McCormack.

"We know why Troy died, we know what caused it, and we know it was not LSD," said McCormack.

The widely-acclaimed drug information website Erowid has reviewed the evidence around LSD fatalities, and it backs up what the Goode family lawyers have been saying: "Put simply, LSD does not cause death at recreational or therapeutic doses… Fewer than a handful of human deaths have been tied in the medical literature to the pharmacological effects of LSD, and none of these deaths have been unquestionably attributable to LSD's actions."

Erowid is relying on the scientists:

"No well-documented human deaths resulting directly from the toxic effects of LSD itself have occurred, though LSD has been implicated in accidental deaths, suicides, and homicides," Haddad and Winchester noted in 1990.

"LSD is not toxic in the biological sense," Dr. Paul Gahlinger wrote in his 2001 book "Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse."

"There have been no documented human deaths from an LSD overdose," a 2008 review of the scientific literature by Passie et al concluded.

Erowid expanded on the accidental death theme to note that some deaths have been associated with inebriated or combative behavior, "including falling or jumping from a height or dying after beaten by police."

Goode was beaten by police, bitten by a police dog, and then restrained. The official autopsy notes cuts to his cheek and chin, bleeding between his scalp and his brain, more cuts or scrapes on his chest, and three fractured ribs. Goode also suffered puncture wounds from a dog bite to his left arm and bruises on both wrists, both ankles, "multiple contusions on the lower left leg," and bruises and cuts or scrapes to his right thigh.

But it was the LSD that killed him, according to Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Erin A. Barnhart, M.D., who signed the autopsy report: "Based on the autopsy findings and current investigational information, the 30-year-old male died as a result of complications of LSD toxicity."

DeSoto County District Attorney John Champion is prepared to wrap it all up. He said Tuesday that, based on the evidence, there was no police misconduct. Now it's up to the family to decide whether to pursue other means of recourse.

A Pennsylvania poll shows the state evenly split on marijuana legalization, Massachusetts medical marijuana sales increase as a new dispensary comes online, the Horizons psychedelics conference is this weekend in New York City, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Pennsylvania Poll Shows State Split On Legalization. A new Quinnipiac University poll has support for legalization at 47%, with 49% opposed. Given the poll's margin of error, voters are evenly split. There is no such divide when it comes to medical marijuana: 90% of respondents were okay with that. Click on the link for more poll details and methodology.

Wyoming Legislators Prepare Marijuana Reform Bills. Even in the Cowboy State, solons are moving to lighten up on weed. With the legislative session starting in February, bills are already being proposed to decriminalize possession, allow for reciprocity with medical marijuana states (meaning patient travelers from those states could pass through Wyoming without fear of arrest), and allow the use of CBD cannabis oil.

Medical Marijuana

Massachusetts Sales Climb as More Dispensaries Open. Medical marijuana patients purchased some 1,676 ounces of marijuana in September, up from the 1,488 ounces sold in August. The increase comes as the state's second dispensary opens in Brockton. Click on the link for more details.

Missouri Medical Marijuana Initiative Filed. Show-Me State activists under the aegis of New Approach Missouri Thursday filed a pair of initiatives aimed at legalizing medical marijuana. The group has about $70,000 in the bank and needs to gather some 160,000 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November 2016 ballot.

Psychedelics

Horizons Psychedelics Conference in New York City This Weekend. The ninth annual Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics conference will be held at the Cooper Union and The New School in New York City on October 10th and 11th. Horizons focuses on state-of-the-art research into the wide range of applications for psychedelics, providing an invaluable forum for experts and interested others to share ideas and insights, and to rethink the future of these unique substances in science, medicine, culture, and history. This year, researchers, scholars, and practitioners from the United States, England and Brazil will present new research and insights in neuroscience, end-of-life anxiety, PTSD, substance abuse/addiction, recreational use, public policy, activism, and more. Click on the link for more details.

Another Indian tribe will grow marijuana, Arkansas voters want medical marijuana, British MPs will debate marijuana legalization, psychedelic drugs may have value in treating some mental conditions, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Maine Indian Tribe to Grow Marijuana. The Passamaquoddy tribe has signed a letter of intent with Denver-based Monarch America, Inc. to design, construct, and manage a marijuana cultivation facility on tribal land, Monarch said Tuesday. The company has also contracted with the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe in South Dakota to run a similar operation there. The Justice Department has taken a hands-off approach to marijuana cultivation by Indian tribes.

Medical Marijuana

Arkansas Poll Has Support for Medical Marijuana at 84%. A new Talk Business & Politics poll shows very strong support for medical marijuana in the state. More than half (56%) strongly agreed that adults should be able to use marijuana with a doctor's prescription, with another 28% somewhat agreeing. Only 14% disagreed. A medical marijuana initiative barely failed there in 2012, winning 48.5% of the vote. That initiative included a provision for home grows, but this poll found a slight majority opposing home grows. Support for outright legalization was much lower, at 42%.

Heroin and Prescription Opiates

Wisconsin Lawmaker Prepares Anti-Heroin Legislative Package. Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette), who introduced seven bills last year to address opiate addiction, said at a Tuesday news conference he's preparing four more. He said the new bills would be designed to go after addiction to opioid pain medications, which he said was at the root of rising levels of heroin use. Nygren offered up few details, though.

Psychedelics

Study Says Psychedelics Could Be Useful in Treating Some Mental Disorders. A meta-study reviewing small-scale and preliminary studies finds that psychedelic drugs may be beneficial for people suffering from anxiety, addiction, or PTSD. "In the right context, these drugs can help people a lot, especially people who have disorders that we generally treat poorly, such as end-of-life distress, PTSD, and addiction issues involving tobacco or alcohol," said study coauthor Matthew Johnson, an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. The study is available behind a pay wall here.

Drug Testing

Wisconsin Governor Takes First Steps Toward Welfare Drug Testing. Gov. Scott Walker, a contender for the GOP presidential nomination, Tuesday approved "scope statements," the first step in implementing drug testing of some welfare recipients. The state will test "certain applicants for unemployment benefits as well as for able-bodied adults seeking benefits and/or training through FoodShare, Transform Milwaukee, Transitional Jobs, noncustodial parents on the W-2 program, and Children First." Those "certain applicants" are ones the state deems likely to have been using controlled substances without a prescription.

International

British MPs Will Debate Marijuana Legalization. After a citizens' petition drew more than 200,000 signatures from Britons, Parliament has agreed to hear debate on the issue. The debate will be October 12 and will be led by long-time drug reformer MP Paul Flynn (Labor-Newport West). The Conservative government has already insisted it will not legalize marijuana, but the debate will go on nonetheless.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)