Monday, September 8, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Australia approves psychedelics for medical use

Published 5 July 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Psilocybe semilanceata, or liberty cap, grows in many parts of the world, including northern Europe.
2 minute read

As of July 1, psychiatrists in Australia will be able to prescribe MDMA and psilocybin, which are found in psychedelic mushrooms. This makes Australia the first country to formally approve these drugs for medical treatment.

Both MDMA and psilocybin are classified as narcotics in Sweden and many other countries. Now, however, patients in Australia can be prescribed the substances as medicine for mental health problems, reports The Guardian. The country is the first in the world to approve the substances for clinical treatment.

Psilocybin is already formally legal in a few countries, including Brazil, Nepal and the Netherlands, but it is not used in medical or psychiatric settings. MDMA is currently under investigation for medical use in the United States, and is permitted for limited personal use in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Psychedelic substances, including psilocybin and MDMA, can exceptionally be distributed in Canada through a special application to the Ministry of Health. However, Australia will be the first country to allow the substances to be prescribed by doctors for treatment.

MDMA is primarily used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while psilocybin is primarily used to treat depression.

Mixed views on the decision

Psychology professor Susan Rossell, who is currently conducting a major study in Australia on depression and psilocybin, is “cautious” about the new legislation, saying that the medical studies are not yet comprehensive enough.

– We’ve got no data on long-term outcomes at all, so that worries me a lot, says Rossel in a comment to The Guardian.

But Dr. Mike Musker, a mental health researcher at the University of South Australia, calls it a success and “one of the biggest evolutions in psychiatry in the last 70 years”.

The role of MDMA in psychiatry has also been discussed in Sweden, including at a 2019 conference on the topic organized by the Network on Psychedelic Science, which was attended by several of the world’s leading researchers in the field. A so-called phase 3 trial at the University of California, published in Nature Medicine in 2021, for the treatment of patients with severe PTSD, including war veterans, has also prompted Gita Rajan, a doctor and PhD student at Karolinska Institutet, to plan a pilot study in Sweden. This study will investigate the effects of MDMA on her patient population of people suffering from PTSD after severe sexual violence.

MDMA increases the possibilities for treatment more than any other drug available today, Rajan said in a commentary on the study to taxpayer-funded SVT.

The Facts: MDMA and Psilocybin

Psilocybin is a substance found in mushrooms of the genus psilocybin that induces so-called psychedelic states of consciousness. Thoughts, feelings, and perceptions are greatly altered in a way that is often described as a spiritual experience. The substance belongs to the class of enteogens, traditional natural medicines with hallucinogenic properties used in psychotherapeutic and shamanistic contexts. In recent years, it has received widespread attention in the West for its potential healing effects, with warnings that careless use is very risky and can cause both panic attacks and psychotic episodes.

MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a central stimulant introduced in the early 1900s and originally used as a weight-loss drug. It is the psychoactive substance in the party drug known as "ecstasy," although in practice it is often a mixture of several different substances. MDMA affects the nervous system and, like psilocybin, can induce psychedelic states of consciousness. It is classified as an empathogen, which affects the state of mind rather than perception. It releases serotonin in the brain, usually causing intense euphoria and alertness, but can also cause hyperactivity, anxiety, and decreased self-control. Like psilocybin, it has attracted attention for its potentially medicinal effects, while also warning that careless use is very dangerous. Among other things, it can cause neurotoxic damage with symptoms such as persistent anxiety, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and depression.

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Cancer rates rising rapidly among young adults in Australia

Published today 11:22
– By Editorial Staff
More young people in the Western world are being affected by cancer, and researchers don't know what is causing the rapid increase.
2 minute read

Prostate cancer has increased by 500 percent among young Australian men. This is just the worst example of a very concerning trend – cancer cases among 30-39 year-olds have risen sharply over the past two decades.

Between 2000 and 2024, about ten different types of cancer have increased among the younger adult population. The technical term for this phenomenon is early-onset cancer, and according to data from Cancer Australia, the federal government’s cancer agency, the figures are alarmingly high.

Among other increases, kidney cancer has risen by 85 percent, uterine cancer by 138 percent, liver cancer by 150 percent, pancreatic cancer by 200 percent, and prostate cancer has increased by 500 percent in this age group. Colorectal cancer has also increased by 173 percent, a type of cancer that is often detected late, making it harder to treat.

Cancer has traditionally been a disease of aging, and bowel cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, they all increase with age, says Dorothy Keefe, chief executive of Cancer Australia, to ABC and continues:

But over the last 20 years, there’s been a real – it’s small in absolute numbers – but it is a real increase in the number of younger adults developing these cancers.

The increase is also occurring in the United States, where more and more young adults are being diagnosed with cancer.

Environmental toxins and childhood obesity

The increase puzzles researchers who cannot explain what causes it. While there are hereditary mutations that cause cancer, the younger patients do not carry these genetic changes. Researchers speculate that the increase may partly be due to environmental toxins in our surroundings.

We are exposed to a broad universe of synthetic chemicals … that our biology isn’t familiar with, and that has left a great deal of uncertainty, says Dr Christos Symeonides, who is an Australian pediatrician and also studies exposure to chemicals and microplastics.

The increase in childhood obesity is also seen as a possible explanation, as well as gut health. The proportion of cesarean sections has increased, for example, and this means that children do not receive the same microbiome as those born vaginally. This could potentially affect the development of their immune system, researchers believe.

We have lots of bacteria in our gut … and it’s that balance between good and bad bacteria that creates a healthy state, says Professor Gianluca Severi, senior cancer epidemiologist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris, France.

Memory problems increase among Nordic children

Published 27 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Memory-related medical visits have tripled in a short time among children aged 5-14 in Sweden.
2 minute read

More children and young people are seeking medical care for memory problems in both Sweden and Norway. The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation believes the increase may be linked to radiation exposure, which has also increased during the same period.

In Norway, there has been an increase in recent years in the number of people seeking medical care for memory problems, not only among adults but also among children. Between 2019 and 2024, for example, the number of doctor visits related to memory problems more than doubled, from 41,722 doctor visits to 98,910 doctor visits in 2024. Among children aged 5-14, visits had nearly tripled.

I have never seen such a dramatic increase in these figures before, says Richard Aubrey White, researcher and statistician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI), to Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.

In Sweden too, the number of doctor visits regarding memory problems has increased, both among children and adults. Memory problems, which can be classified as mild cognitive impairment, is a diagnosis found under diagnostic code R41. In 2011, 577 children were registered with diagnosis R41 as the primary diagnosis; by 2024, the number had increased to 5,975.

Microwave radiation

The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation believes the increase may be due to increased exposure to microwave radiation among people, pointing out that repeated research has shown, for example, that radiation has a harmful effect on memory.

Repeated scientific studies have also shown that people exposed to elevated levels of this radiation have an increased occurrence of various symptoms, called microwave syndrome, where impaired memory is one of the most common symptoms“, writes the Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation.

Cell towers associated with worse memory

Even in case studies examining the health effects of 5G, impaired memory tends to be one of the most commonly reported effects. Reports of impaired memory, concentration difficulties, and headaches are also common when living near cell towers.

The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation notes that radiation has increased dramatically during the same period as the increase in doctor visits for memory problems has occurred. At the same time, mobile phones have begun to be used more extensively by both children and adults during the same period.

The increased memory problems, both among children and adults, are thus an expected effect resulting from the increase in people’s exposure to microwave radiation”.

Colorectal cancer affects more young Swedes

Published 23 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The study also shows that mortality has increased among both younger and older patients for up to ten years after cancer diagnosis.
2 minute read

Colorectal cancer is increasing among young people in Sweden, according to research from the Karolinska Institute. Researchers suggest that lifestyle factors, such as sedentary behavior and obesity, may be the cause.

In the study, which was published in Annals of Oncology, researchers examined over 135,000 Swedish patients who had colorectal cancer between 1993 and 2019.

The results show that the number of younger people under 50 who develop this form of cancer has increased over the past three decades. For rectal cancer, the number of new cases among younger people has increased by 2.04 percent per year, and for left-sided and right-sided colon cancer, the increase is 2.41 and 2.64 percent per year respectively. Overall, the disease has become two to three times more common among younger people.

Detected later in younger patients

Younger patients also more often had metastatic cancer compared to older patients, suggesting they had lived with symptoms longer before the cancer was discovered. Researchers emphasize that it’s important for both the public and healthcare professionals to know that this type of cancer can also affect younger people. This is particularly important since the chance of curing cancer increases with early detection.

The study also shows that mortality has increased among both younger and older patients up to ten years after cancer diagnosis.

This is remarkable, since patients are often considered cured after such a long time. Our results challenge that view and underscore the need for more research into why this is happening, as well as long-term follow-up and support for both young and older patients, says Cecilia Radkiewicz, researcher at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Lifestyle may be the cause

It’s unclear what actually lies behind the increase in colorectal cancer among young people, but researchers believe it doesn’t appear to be driven by traditional risk factors such as inflammatory bowel disease or heredity. Instead, the results suggest that lifestyle factors may be decisive.

Childhood obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and antibiotic use have been highlighted as contributing factors, although the underlying biological mechanisms remain unclear, says Radkiewicz.

Just a few puffs are enough – how quickly vaping damages the lungs

Published 21 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Researchers have for the first time been able to demonstrate a direct link between inhaled nicotine from e-cigarettes and inflammatory markers in the blood.
2 minute read

Just a few puffs of an e-cigarette, or vape, containing nicotine can trigger inflammation in the lungs, according to research from Uppsala University in Sweden.

The researchers, who received funding from the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, tested 22 healthy individuals on two different occasions. The participants then smoked e-cigarettes both with and without nicotine for half an hour each.

When the researchers analyzed the blood samples, they found that participants exposed to nicotine-containing e-cigarettes showed elevated levels of inflammatory markers in their blood. According to the researchers, this could mean that just a few inhalations are enough to trigger an inflammatory reaction in lung tissue.

The results are alarming, as they clearly show that e-cigarettes with nicotine are not a harmless alternative to cigarettes. We have long worked to spread scientifically-based knowledge about nicotine’s health effects, and this research strengthens our conviction that tobacco and new nicotine products should be treated equally under the law, says Kristina Sparreljung, Secretary General of the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, in a press release.

For the first time, researchers have been able to demonstrate a direct link between inhaled nicotine and specific inflammation markers in the blood that are connected to the lungs. The researchers believe the absorption rate is particularly concerning, as the body absorbs nicotine faster than with nicotine patches, for example.

Our results are in line with previous studies where nicotine from e-cigarettes has been shown to affect blood vessels by increasing levels of vascular damage markers in the blood. It’s remarkable that even single occasions can produce biological effects. In the long term, this could contribute to the development of both lung diseases and cardiovascular disease, says Fariborz Mobarrez, lecturer and researcher at the Department of Medical Sciences at Uppsala University.

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